Juvenile Justice System?
Jethro concluded the dressing down by ordering Tony, Kate, Tim, and Abby to narrate their own personal accounts of their crimes to the rest of the family right then and there.
"Start, Tim," Gibbs barked, leaning his forearms on the table and inclining his body in Tim's direction. "And as you speak I want to hear you recount motive, crime, and accessories- every bit of it."
Four teens glanced wide eyed at each other as if to gauge the seriousness of their father's command.
Tim shifted in his chair but remained mute.
Annoyed with the delay, Jethro slammed his palm on the table. "Now, Tim!"
And thus a long, painful ordeal began for the four teen aged Gibblets.
Tim stammered out his story in less than five minutes and managed to not wander off topic too badly. He provided a bare bones view of what had led up to the deed- Dr. Vineville's leadership style- as well as the undertaking of the deed itself. Throughout the telling his dad did not interrupt a single time.
Nevertheless, Jethro's piercing blue eyes never left his son's face.
Tim perched anxiously on the edge of his chair once he finished, not certain whether his explanation had satisfied his dad or not.
Jethro devoted the next several nerve wracking seconds to sipping his coffee. Finally he turned in his chair to allow himself to peer at Tony over his shoulder. "All right, your brother Tim has spoken. Now what did Tim leave out?"
Tony's green eyes widened in surprise. "I think he covered all of it."
"I'll ask again," Jethro repositioned his chair and indulged in another swallow of coffee. Then he raised his voice. "Once more, Tony, what did Tim omit?"
Not willing to bolster the mountain of evidence against his younger brother Tony responded sincerely, "Sounds like he covered it, Dad."
Jethro glanced from Kate to Abby before once again focusing on his eldest. "Let me rephrase the request one last time and clarify its importance." He motioned at Tim with one hand and at Tony with the other. "Each time I find myself forced to repeat instructions I will add an additional punishment to you, Tony, as well as to you, Tim."
"Go ahead," Tim directed Tony in a frantic tone. "Just do it, Tony. Tell him all of it."
Jethro nodded, "Wise idea, and Girls, this applies to you both as well."
Tony added the fewest details he thought he could but his father's pointed follow up questioning managed to highlight Tim's willing participation and genuine excitement after he'd placed the tracker.
Gibbs knew everything.
The children began to sink back into their seats.
They simply could not outwit their dad.
Once Jethro finally declared Tim's story complete the Marine reversed direction and ordered Tony to describe his own evening with his friends.
Again, Jethro did not interrupt. He followed Tony's account with a demand for Tim to provide detail to the story.
Once satisfied with Tim's involuntary contribution and equipped with Tim's details, Jethro launched an interrogation of his eldest.
Thus, Gibbs discovered Tony had drunk more than the very small sip from a glass that he had first admitted to his father in his earlier version of events.
Pressing for the same accounting method from Abby and Kate Jethro determined Kate had premeditated the cookout plan by enlisting her friend's help and by her utter dishonesty. In addition, the savvy dad verified not only the danger but also the threat of Kate's firing if the store had discovered she had personally concealed Abby's shoplifting.
As Jethro had intended, the long drawn out Sunday supper yielded quite a bit of ammunition for Jethro's arsenal and it all came to him directly from the parties involved.
Then finally after what felt to the teens like days, Jethro dismissed them.
Since Tim and Kate had after dinner chores that week by default Abby and Tony were the first to experience their father's line of fire.
In one memorable elementary school evening years prior, Tony and Kate had spent hours arguing over whether it was worse to be the first punished or the second child punished.
Tony recalled that debate, and decided that on this Sunday night the order would not matter. None of the four would emerge any more or less unscathed than the others.
To Abby Jethro delivered the spanking she had most dreaded he would dispatch. To make matters worse, she ignored his instructions and used her hands to shield her bottom before the first smack and her dad added another five smacks for that blatant disobedience. Not one to appear stoic, she sobbed loudly as each of the eighteen swats from his calloused hand blistered her backside as she did her best to squirm out from under the calculated blows.
Jethro kept his youngest across his lap until her sobs diminished to shuddery breaths, then helped her right her clothes and stand before him. He reiterated his expectations for her behavior and reviewed exactly why he had punished her.
Further, Jethro banned the teen from any activities outside of the house for the next three weeks and switched her bedtime to an hour earlier for the same period of time. He overruled her tearful protests by reminding her that she had demonstrated nothing but immaturity for the past couple of weeks.
Finally he kissed her on top of the head and ordered her to bathe and get ready for bed.
As Jethro crossed the hall to Tony's room he could still hear Abby crying.
Jethro lectured Tony on his disregard for his father's rules, his defiance of the law, and ignoring his own sense of right and wrong. He informed his son that Tony's willingness to succumb to the peer pressure of wanting to appear grown to his date and friends actually highlighted the immaturity of his actions.
Jethro debated snatching the car out from under his eldest but Tony's genuine regret and willingness to take responsibility for his behavior tempered Jethro's thinking. Instead he allowed his son to keep the car to use to help transport Kate, Tim and Tony himself to and from work.
Having his driving privileges restricted to ferrying his siblings crushed Tony.
Tony just reeled under the grounding Jethro levied. He passionately protested the other conditions of his punishment as well- four long weeks of nothing but work and home- no outside activities, no phone, and no friends during his precious and finite summer vacation.
Jethro remained firm against the sixteen year old's impassioned pleading. He pointed out that Tony had shown no self restraint or common sense while out of his dad's jurisdiction, so he would spend the upcoming month convincing his dad he had gained some much needed maturity.
Once Jethro stood up to leave the bedroom a devastated Tony voluntarily decided to shower and get himself ready for bed.
What else did Tony have to do with his evening?
Two down, and two to go. Jethro rubbed his temples in a futile attempt to alleviate some of his tension.
Then the Gunny changed his focus to his younger son.
Strangely enough Gibbs genuinely found it harder to discipline Tim than his other three, probably because Tim would simply fall apart with any major correction or from knowing he had disappointed his father. Just raising his voice with his third child usually kept Tim in line.
From Tim's perspective inviting his father's anger onto his head wreaked havoc with his conscience.
Still, Jethro weighed the seriousness of his son's actions and as he had done with Abby, delivered an excruciating and embarrassing spanking with Tim positioned across his lap. And as he had with his little sister, Jethro held him firmly afterward until Tim actually regained his composure. Once he stood and righted his clothing Jethro reminded his son of how his actions had earned him that spanking and reminded him of what his dad expected from him in the future. Further, Gibbs grounded Tim for three weeks.
Still reeling over the humiliation and pain of having his fourteen year old butt blistered Tim did not try to sway his dad's decision. He knew nothing would change the Marine's mind and deep inside of himself he admitted he deserved the additional punishment.
Gibbs jogged down the steps to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee before summoning Kate.
Never one to self filter, Kate accepted her four weeks of house confinement with such bad grace that her father added another week, making it five. As he recounted the list of offenses she had accrued Kate interrupted twice to contradict their severity. Out of patience, Gibbs yanked her against him and delivered ten stinging swats to her bottom.
Under the painful prodding of her father's strong hand Kate switched from vehement protests to begging forgiveness.
By the time he finished she had lost all trace of attitude and Jethro made her repeat what restrictions she had earned. When she repeated the loss of the phone she dissolved in a fresh onslaught of tears.
Jethro kissed her cheek and sent Kate upstairs to get ready for bed.
By nine o'clock that evening he had tucked Abby into bed for her new bedtime and passed his other three children playing cards in the kitchen, already in their pajamas.
He excused himself to the basement and worked on his boat for a couple of hours. Finally exhausted he climbed the steps from the basement to an empty kitchen.
Kate, Tim, and Tony had retired to their own rooms and he popped in and kissed them goodnight before he showered himself.
Privately, though, as exhaustion overtook him late that night Jethro Gibbs drifted off to sleep proud in the knowledge that when the chips were down, his children would resort to honoring the bond of loyalty among them. They had stuck together against outsiders and stuck together at home.
Delinquents? Absolutely, but delinquents from the Team Gibbs Family!
The aroma of freshly ground coffee permeated the air and Jethro Gibbs opened his eyes to slowly survey his environment. It took just a few moments for the Marine to orient himself.
He recalled that he had injured his knee chasing a suspect that morning and that Ducky had escorted him home and dosed him with painkillers.
Jethro yawned. Just what time was it? He pivoted his upper body and glanced out of one of the living room windows. From the sun's position he could tell early evening had arrived.
Reluctantly Gibbs employed both hands to physically slide his leg from the coffee table in front of him and onto the floor. Pins and needles coursed through his entire leg and he closed his eyes again and inhaled as he waited for the current to subside.
Finally it eased and he began maneuvering his body with careful movements so that he could pull himself to a standing position.
Abby's voice from the kitchen's entrance interrupted his progress. "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, stay on the sofa! Don't move." Pigtails bouncing, she bounded to his side and slid carefully onto the cushion beside his. "We have everything under control and you needn't do anything except rest right there and let us wait on you."
Before he could summon a response, Tony emerged with a steaming cup of coffee and the bottle of painkillers. The young agent grinned as he replaced the forgotten glass of water with the mug. "Hey there, Boss. Good nap?"
Gibbs grunted a reply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Who gave you two time off work?"
"Tony," Abby beamed in response.
Steely blue eyes narrowed upon his senior field agent's green eyes. "Oh, did he now?"
"Yep," Tony confirmed, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. He raised his eyebrows. "I did. In fact, I turned the whole team loose. Kate and Timmy should join us momentarily with Ducky and the Autopsy Gremlin right behind them."
"They stopped for Chinese takeout and some dessert and salad so we can picnic tonight," Abby elaborated.
"What made you delinquents dream you could knock off work or grant my team a vacation?"
"Solved the case, Boss," Tony divulged. His face lit with a smile and his green eyes danced. "Broke the guy in interrogation in a record eleven minutes. He confessed to both robberies and threw his accomplice under the bus. McEagle swooped down on the accomplice- a private- at his job site and dragged him into headquarters where he and Katie had him squeal out more confessions. And the Forensics maestro here," Tony pointed to Abby, "worked record time and linked fabric threads from their uniforms and a metal shaving from a broken zipper pull to the trace evidence left at the crime scenes."
Abby popped up to peer out the window and announced, "I hear them. They have all arrived now."
The Gunny glanced from Abby to Tony. He cleared his throat and his voice softened. "That's good work. Both of you- you two did a fine job."
The conversation halted as four more NCIS team members burst through the door. For the next hour the extended team ate and rehashed the case all over again.
Afterward Jethro ordered Jimmy, Abby, Tim, Kate, and Tony to clear the supper remains. The five argued good naturedly over which one would take out the trash and who would wash and dry the dishes.
Ducky fixed himself a cup of tea before leisurely pulling up a chair across from his friend's seat.
The sound of laughter erupted from the kitchen and the two men nodded to each other.
Ducky's mouth twitched. "Delinquents, Jethro?"
"Delinquents," Jethro confirmed with a smirk, inclining his head toward the kitchen. "But delinquents who do have their moments."
10