A/N Thanks for the reviews. To the guest who asked about the black jacket...you are very perceptive :) Read on to find out what happened to it.
Gibbs is an intuitive person. I think we can all agree with that. I believe Gibbs wouldn't be one to just punish a child without having a clear message in mind to impart. Yes, he's irritated about Makayla running away but I believe he's trying to get to the root of why she feels the need to run away. All that said to give you fair warning; there will be a fictional teenager disciplined by a fictional adult in this chapter.
Makayla's heart thumped hard as she strained to hear the discussion outside the door. Her mind was imagining the worst as the muffled conversation lasted longer than she'd anticipated. Anytime adults spoke for that length of time, things didn't bode well, at least from her experience anyway. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton as she thought about what might happen now. The worst in her mind would be her aunt summoning her parents' home from Europe early. Her father would be beyond furious, and her mother would take away every privilege she had, including her coveted art classes. She'd already been warned before to give up her ridiculous idea of being an artist. Any chance of realising her dreams would be shattered. How could she have been so stupid?
Makayla stood to her feet when Gibbs returned. The man looked considerably less angry and she was thankful for that. When he'd first approached her, she'd actually felt like vomiting on the spot. Gibbs could be downright terrifying when he wanted to be.
"Is she mad?" whispered Makayla, breaking the silence first.
"What do you think?" he asked, sitting across from her on the brown leather sofa.
"Is she gonna call my mom?"
Gibbs shook his head, eying her closely. "No, that wouldn't solve anything, and I suspect it would only serve to make things worse for you in the long run, wouldn't it?"
Makayla nodded, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Gibbs motioned to the chair beside him. "Take a seat, Mak."
Makayla inhaled deeply, puffing the air from her cheeks quietly. She really wished the ground would swallow her up. The last thing she wanted to do was explain but she nodded in resignation and sat down in the large butterfly chair behind her.
"Now, tell me what 's going on."
"You won't understand, Agent Gibbs."
"Try me." He shot her a look that told Makayla that his patience was wearing thin.
Makayla took a long, deep breath and did her best to explain about the Fine Art School in New York. It really was a long story, and she didn't think she'd be able to make any of it make sense but she told it anyway. Gibbs for his part didn't interrupt except with a question or two for clarification. When she was finished, she dropped her chin to her chest. After explaining everything out loud, she felt like a complete imbecile. It was suddenly very easy for her to see that she had screwed up big time. No excuse in the world would make it any better. Her decision had been senseless and her timing even worse.
Gibbs sat quietly for a moment before standing to his feet. Makayla wrung her hands nervously, tears threatening to avalanche down her cheeks at any given moment. Gibbs walked towards her and stood directly in front of her.
"I think you've figured out already how dumb this scheme of yours was, huh?"
Makayla's bottom lip quivered but she remained silent, tears were flowing in a steady stream down her cheeks.
"C'mere," he said, pulling her up into a hug. "It'd be a lot easier to stay mad at you if you didn't look so damned pathetic," Gibbs chuckled softly.
Makayla choked back a sob, not really seeing the humour. Every part of her was freaking out at all the trouble she was in, probably more than she'd ever been in her life. But a part of her still felt justifiably defiant. Getting caught meant she hadn't accomplished anything she set out to do. Her body tensed up against Gibbs. That thought frustrated her to no end. She was still stuck in the same rut and she hated it!
Gibbs sighed. "This isn't over with you, is it?"
Makayla didn't respond.
Gibbs rubbed circles on her back. "See, I think that, in as much as you're sorry for your actions, you're still not going to change your mind. And if I was a betting man, I'd wager that you'd consider trying something like this again."
Makayla pulled away and tucked her hair behind her ears but refused to look at him. She stuck her hands in her pocket and took a few steps away from him. He was right but she wasn't going to admit it. She wasn't going to deny it either. There was no use adding lying to her list of offences.
Gibbs put his hands on his hips. "You're a great kid, Makayla. You've got a good head on your shoulders. I think you can come up with other ways to self-advocate."
She sniffled and shook her head adamantly. "No. No, I can't. My mom doesn't listen to me, Agent Gibbs. She gives me no other choice."
Gibbs pointed a finger towards her. "See, that's where you're wrong. You always have a choice. No one is holding a gun to your head," he stated firmly, and then he poked her chest. "The decision is entirely yours to make. You can choose to do the right thing, and you and I both know that running away is NOT the right thing, is it?"
Makayla looked into Gibbs' cobalt blue eyes, tears blurring her vision. The place where he'd poked burned but not because he'd hurt her. It was her conscience eating away at her, making her bottom lip quiver in response. She shrugged her shoulders. She would never be able to make Gibbs understand. There was no point in even trying.
"Is it?" he prompted again, his voice a little louder casing her to startle.
Pent-up anger in Makayla suddenly exploded, surprising both of them. "Running away might not be the right thing to do, Agent Gibbs, but I have no other choice. No one listens. What else am I supposed to do? Huh? Don't you get it? My mom is forcing me to do this. She won't listen to me! It's her fault and as soon as I can, I'm leaving. I'm going to New York and you can't stop me." Her voice held an air of belligerent confidence completely shocking her. Makayla hadn't realised she'd had it in her to speak up for herself like that, and for a fleeting moment, she felt vindicated.
Gibbs nodded calmly. "Okay, then you give me no other choice."
Makayla's heart skipped a beat, her bravado fading away as quickly as it had come. "What do you mean?"
Gibbs reached for her arm and pulled her towards the nearby leather sofa. He sat down and pinned her between his knees.
"Do you remember your promise to me?"
Makayla looked away. She remembered only too well.
Gibbs reached up and cupped her cheek with his warm hand, forcing her to look at him. "You promised me you wouldn't run away. I told you how I felt about it, Mak. You have no idea what it does to a parent when they don't know where their kid is!"
"I'm not a kid!" she mumbled angrily. "And you're not my parent." She returned one of his glares. She'd learned from the best.
Gibbs' narrowed eyes told her she was pressing her already fleeting luck with him. "I may not be your father but I thought we were friends. I care about you, Makayla, and the last time I checked you were 13 years old so yah, you're a kid! "
"I'm 14!" She snapped, ignoring his comment about caring about her.
"Makayla!" Gibbs growled. Exasperation could be heard in his voice. "If you can't use your head to make the right choice then I'm going to give you some motivation to do it, catch my drift here?"
Tears flooded Mikayla's eyes once again and her heart hammered fiercely in her chest. She wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what Gibbs meant and she shivered at the thought. The look on Gibbs' face was so resolute and determined that it was making her panic. If she ever regretted speaking her mind, she did now. Gibbs wasn't someone to be messed with. Makayla tried to free herself but her effort was useless. Gibbs wasn't letting her go anytime soon.
"You're not my friend!" Makayla said with an air of defiance, her last ditch effort to wound him. "I don't even like you! Lemme go!" As soon as the words tumbled from her lips, she regretted them. Gibbs had been nothing but kind to her. He was the only one who had made an effort to listen to her. He had been more of a friend to her than anyone.
Gibbs was unfazed. "Well, your aunt is my friend, and I just listened to her sobbing on the phone because she was so afraid for you! I warned you I wouldn't allow you to disrespect your aunt."
"I didn't…" argued Makayla, feeling desperate and trapped.
"You did! You made a conscious choice to take off without telling her where you were going. Disregarding her feelings is the ultimate form of disrespect." Makayla licked her dry lips as more tears traced the path down her cheeks. Gibbs continued, giving her a stern shake. "Running away is never an option and if you can't see that then you and I have a problem." He pinned her with one last firm glare and before Makayla could respond further, he flipped her across his knee.
Taken aback, Makayla sucked in an astonished breath. "Agent Gibbs, please don't do this!" She tried to push herself off his lap but he held her tightly and pulled her waist in closer to him making it difficult for her to move. Time seemed to stop dead when she felt the first crashing blow land in the middle of her jean-clad backside. It took several seconds for her brain to catch up with the sound and then her entire bottom was set ablaze but Gibbs didn't stop with one swat. He landed five more searing swats in the same spot that took her breath away.
"Stop…p-please, stop…" she yelped, gasping for breath.
"You won't listen to me, Mak. You give me no other choice!" he said firmly but he did stop and rested his hand on her lower back. The running away set aside, Gibbs had a message he was trying to impart. He was willing to slow things down so she could clearly see and understand the point he was making.
Makayla struggled to get away but he held her tightly to his waist. Her mind whirled trying to find a way to escape her predicament. If the few swats he'd given her were any indication of what was to come, things were about to get really bad.
"Lemme go…." She whimpered, kicking her legs trying to get free.
Gibbs readjusted her, pinned her legs under his and delivered five more stinging swats that just happened to land in the same spot as the others. Makayla yelped in pain feeling completely trapped.
"I'm sorry." she whimpered, deciding to try another tactic. Struggling to get free wasn't working. Maybe being apologetic would. "I'm sorry, Agent Gibb. I'm s-sorry. Please stop."
Gibbs stopped again, granting her a reprieve as he spoke. "Sorry isn't good enough. I've tried to talk to you, Mak. You don't listen so you've given me no other choice."
Through her pain and tears, Makayla began to feel frustrated. Why did he keep saying that? He lifted his hand from her back once more and landed another five blistering swats, even more, painful than the last. Makayla shrieked. It was really hurting now. She bit down hard on her lip, trying to think of a way, anyway, to make him stop. He wasn't giving her any indication that he was anywhere near finished and that thought was actually terrifying to her.
Suddenly it dawned on her. He said she hadn't given him any other choice. That made no sense! He'd just finished telling her that people made their own choices. Now he was saying just the opposite. She wasn't forcing him to do this. He was doing it to her. This was his choice, not hers.
She wiped at her tears and craned her neck to look at him. "You're such a hypocrite." She shouted at him and then stiffened expecting another swat. None came. Instead, she was lifted to her feet once again and found herself staring into Gibbs stern blue eyes.
"Why did you say that?" he asked looking up at her, his face deadpan but his voice soft.
Makayla stood weeping and trembling wanting desperately to rub the aching sting out of her backside. Gibbs held her tightly to her hands.
"Why did you call me a hypocrite?"
Blinking back fresh tears, Makayla choked back a shuddering sob. She was unsteady and finding it difficult to recover from Gibbs demonstration of authority. "B-because. Y-you said we make our own choices." She choked again, gasping for breath and finding it difficult to speak.
Gibbs rubbed her hands with his thumbs. "Take a minute to calm down."
Makayla nodded, closing her mouth and sniffling, forcing herself to take a deep breath through her nose to slow her breathing down. The action served to help her calm down.
Gibbs smiled at her. "So, you were listening. I'm glad to hear that." Makayla worried her lip and nodded. Perspiration mixed with tears marred her face. "You're right, I did say that."
"Then, w-why? Why did you…" Makayla pulled her hands away and this time Gibbs let her. She covered her face and dissolved into sobs once more. She felt completely humiliated. Her butt was on fire and she couldn't stop sobbing.
Gibbs pulled her into a hug. He held her securely for a few moments before he spoke again. As much as Makayla wanted to hate him and shove him away, she found herself melting into his embrace.
"I was making a point, Mak." He stroked her clammy head gently. "I did make a choice and you didn't force me to make it. I decided to spank you. Me alone. I could have decided to do anything else but I didn't. Just like you choose to run away rather than make another choice. You could have picked another way to assert yourself but you didn't. You made a choice. Get what I'm saying here?"
Makayla stopped sobbing and sucked in a deep, haggard breath, resting her cheek against his chest. She took a few moments to think about what he was saying. It did make sense. She did understand what he was getting at. She didn't have to run away. There were other ways to get what she wanted, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she had a sympathetic friend in Gibbs. Maybe, just maybe if she confided in him, he would be able to help. Suddenly she felt like she had a huge weight taken off her shoulders.
"Are you alright?" he asked, giving her a gentle squeeze and pulling away to look at her.
She sniffled and nodded. "It hurt." A lot!
His face was deadpan. "Your choice hurt too, do you see that now?"
Makayla shuddered and nodded but remained silent as she looked at him sheepishly.
He gave her a sharp look. "I'd hate to think I'm going to need to repeat this."
Makayla's eyes widened and shook her head quickly. "Don't worry, you won't!" There was no way she planned to mess with him again. She'd rather have him on her side.
"Good." Gibbs looked at his watch and rose to his feet. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, "C'mon, let's head back to NCIS. I've got a room full of boxes that need to be moved into storage. That ought to keep you busy and out of trouble."
Makayla grimaced and heaved a sigh. It had already been a long day and it sounded like it was about to get a lot longer.
xXx—NCIS—xXx
"Where did this come from?" asked Gibbs, holding up the black jacket that he'd found resting on his desk. He'd returned to NCIS a half hour ago and had left Makayla with Jenn. He figured they needed some time alone to talk and he needed some space to clear his head. He was relieved that at least one of the girls had been found safe. He hoped that his conversation with Makayla would help ensure that she wouldn't be a worry to them anymore. He had seriously reached his limit.
"It was at the scene, Boss. I grabbed it and tossed it into the back of the car. Thought maybe we could use it to help us find out more about that kid," said Tony, looking up from his desk. Gibbs saw the black circles under Tony's eyes which only served to remind him about his concern for the younger man. He had a bone to pick with DiNozzo Senior. He made a mental note to speak with the creep so he could figure out the root of things.
"Where'd ya find it?"
"On the ground where she fell. Should I take it to Abby?"
Gibbs looked at the jacket a moment and nodded his head. Abby would be able to see if it had any DNA on it that might be able to tell him if it had been Aimee or not. He walked across the bullpen and went to hand it to Tony when something dropped out of the pocket. He reached down and picked up a folded piece of paper.
"What is it, Boss?" asked Tony grabbing the jacket and standing to his feet.
Gibbs opened the paper and quickly skimmed it. "Looks like note to the marine, Riley. Must be his jacket." Gibbs folded the paper up and stuck it in his pocket.
"What's it say?"
Gibbs grimaced. "It addressed to you, DiNozzo?"
"No…"
"Then it must be none of your business."
Tony didn't say anything but made a show of rolling his eyes and headed towards the elevator with the jacket.
Gibbs returned to his desk and sat down again, pulling out the letter. He cringed when he quickly skimmed it over. By the looks of things, Riley had a rough life. The note was from someone named Roy Janssen and it wasn't a kind one. The letter existed solely to rip the young marine to ribbons, basically tearing him down in every way imaginable. Why in the blazes would anyone keep such a letter? It was demeaning and derogatory and just downright nasty. Gibbs strained his eyes as he browsed the sloppily handwritten note and then flipped it over. He arched a troubled brow as he read the signature at the end of the note. Dad? It was signed dad? What the hell? The older Gibbs got, the more he came to the realization that of all mammals, humans were the most abhorrent. Any imbecile could father a child but it took a real man to be a dad. He'd already lost one child and now he was facing losing another. He wasn't sure he had it in him to crawl out of another abyss.
"Gibbs?"
Gibbs looked up to see McGee looking intently at him. The younger man was dressed in a tweed jacket complete with the patches on the shoulders. "How are you holding up?"
Gibbs folded up the letter he'd been reading and shoved it in his desk. "I thought you were attending some kind of writing thing, McGee." Gibbs was always good at ignoring questions regarding his feeling. And how could he answer that question? Of course, he wasn't okay. He would never be okay until they found Aimee. Not knowing was eating him alive. But he was their team leader, the one everyone depended on. He needed to remain in control so they did.
McGee shook his head. "I was but I couldn't concentrate with everything that's going on. I thought I might be of some use here."
Gibbs chiselled jaw clenched subconsciously. His team were good people. Every single one of them. Frankly, they weren't just a team, they were family. Family was more than just DNA. How many times had he said that?
"Thanks, McGee."
McGee managed a small, hesitant smile and then looked at Gibbs expectantly.
Gibbs was silent a moment. "Find everything you can on a Private Riley Janssen."
"Boss?"
"It's a long story but we may have a lead on where Aimee might be, or at the very least who's she with. I'm heading down to the lab. Let me know what you come up with."
McGee headed to his desk, pulling off his jacket and hanging it on the hook. "On it, Boss."
Music to his ears, thought Gibbs. He headed towards the elevator mulling over the note about Riley. Something about the young marine gnawed at him.