A/N Thanks to all those who have reviewed so far.
Gibbs swept up the remaining glass from his basement floor when his cell phone rang and in his anger he snapped it open,
"What!" he barked.
"It's me. Listen we need to talk, there is something you need to know about your team."
Gibbs scowled, "Is this about them on some damn TV show?"
There was an awkward period of silence.
"You saw it?" the quiet voice rasped.
"Yeah, let's just say the one in a million chance that McGee mentioned actually happened"
Jen sighed, "Oh God, are you as pissed off as I am?" she growled,
Gibbs couldn't help but smirk, "pissed off doesn't entirely describe how I'm feeling at the moment Jen"
He could tell that talking to him had calmed her down a little, "I was so God-damned angry, I trashed my TV before the commercial break"
Jen gasped, "You didn't hear them sing? Well you needn't worry about that, I'm having the network send me a tape under SecNav's authority. You can see the whole sorry mess in my office 0700 hours Monday morning. I'll be spending the rest of the weekend trying to placate and do a spin job on this with Mr Secretary"
Gibbs snapped his cell phone shut and continued to clear up the broken glass.
Monday Morning
Gibbs stormed into Jen's office at 0700 hours on the dot. Jen raised her hand to silence him as she continued to talk on her phone,
"Yes sir, I can assure you that it will be taken care off and yes I am extremely grateful for your approach on this. Yes sir, I can absolutely guarantee that this Agency will not be involved in anything like this ever again Mr Secretary, you have my word on that Sir."
Jen hung up the phone and rubbed her brow. Gibbs set down the coffee he had brought her and she smiled with thanks as she took it from him.
"SecNav?" he asked quietly.
Jen nodded and then took a deep breath, "He has agreed to leave this for me to deal with, quite frankly, he is trying to keep the whole thing as low key and as informal as possible in order to save himself the embarrassment of the endless justifications and explanations. He has this misguided notion that despite a global audience seeing four members of this Agency demonstrate blatant disregard for the rules that if we stick our heads in the sand it will all go away. On this occasion I am glad the spin has worked and he sees it that way. Our orders are to deal with this as quietly as possible in order to prevent it becoming a major incident and embarrassment for the Agency."
Gibbs frowned, "So we just ignore it?" he snapped angrily.
Jen folded her arms in defiance, "Ignore yes, let go unpunished, no. I'm saying Jethro that we should think ourselves damn lucky that we can keep this internal and as low key as possible. But one thing is certain and that is that it is time you pulled the reins a little tighter on your team. They crossed way over the line with this one and I think a reprimand from me as their Director will be a sharp shock they deserve!"
"No way Jen! They lied to me, not you! I'll handle this! You know how I feel about lying!"
Jen pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes and let the silence hang in the air to calm them both down a little,
"Can you guarantee that they will be physically fit enough to do their jobs if I let you...handle it?"
Gibbs raised the corner of his mouth slightly and looked Jen straight in the eye.
Jen eyed his reaction and silence with confusion and turned her head to the side and then the realization struck. She winced and swallowed hard,
"Okay Jethro, it's a deal, but first of all I get to chew them out, they need to know that I find their behavior unacceptable too and that they realize what implications their little stunt had on the reputation of this Agency."
Jethro nodded in agreement as Jen took another gulp of her coffee.
"Very well, let's get them in, let them squirm as we make them relive their finest moments on tape and then you and I can deal with them and get this whole sorry mess over and done with and hope to God that they never play hooky again."
--oooo--
Ziva David bit her bottom lip cautiously as she stepped out of the elevator and made for her desk. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed the bullpen was empty and after a quick scan of the room she sat down and powered up her computer.
It was only a few minutes later when Tony and Tim arrived together, "Is he here?" Tony asked quietly.
"I think he is in, but he is obviously somewhere else, his computer is on and there is an empty coffee cup in his trash can"
Tim sighed, "So...uh...did you see it on Saturday?"
Ziva gulped and failed to hide her sudden embarrassed smile, "Yes, I did manage to catch the clip. It was...very embarrassing...I regret it now"
"Well if you ask me I think Cowell was way out of line with you Zee-vah" Tony winked as he sat down at his desk.
Tim stood in the centre of the bullpen and frowned, his lip begining to pout nervously, "You don't think he saw it do you?"
"Probie! Probie! Probie!" Tony said sweetly as he placed a comforting arm around his shoulder,
"It's Monday morning, if he had seen it, do you honestly think he would have kept quiet about it until today. Now, how many times do I need to tell you? Do not worry! Gibbs will never find out about it, we are home and dry with this one. Now, be a good little Elf Lord and find out if Abby has arrived yet."
Tim smiled and phoned down to the lab and after a few moments Abby bounded into the bullpen with a wide beaming smile,
"Tony, you rock!" she said punching him playfully on the arm.
"I know Abbs, but even though I wasn't good enough for Hollywood, I am grateful to count you as one of my biggest fans!"
Abby's face fell slightly and Tony raised an eyebrow, "What's up?" he asked sweetly.
"Uh…nothing, I'm just a little worried about…you know who."
Tony stood tall and raised his eyes to the ceiling, "As I have explained to McGeek, there is no way, if Gibbs had seen us on TV, that he would have waited until today to haul us in."
"Yeah, you're right Tony...or should I say Julio!"
Tony grinned and Abby turned and skipped towards the elevator back to the lab.
Half an hour later Jethro Gibbs stood at the top of the stairs and took a moment to eye his team working away quietly. He took in a deep breath and steeled himself for the events the morning would bring. A flash of the beaming faces of his team on his TV screen came to his mind and he felt his gut start to writhe with anger.
"HEY!" he yelled sharply,
"DiNozzo! David! McGee! Get Abby and get your butts up here!"
Three faces staring upwards paled and froze wide-eyed.
"MOVE IT!"
to be continued...