Gibbs looked at his watch for about the fiftieth time. Ziva had gone down to the lab more than forty-five minuets ago and was still not back and, truth be told, he was worried about her. She insisted that she was fine but she was looking very pale and vulnerable. He was beginning to regret not making her take the whole day off, although he wasn't sure if his sanity could survive that.

A sudden yell of "Tony!" drew him out of his musings and he looked up to see McGee with his hands stuck to his keyboard. . .again.

"DiNozzo! That's getting old, quit it! McGee! You're one of the smartest people I've ever met, can you not check the damn keyboard before you put your fingers on it?" He threw a bottle at Tony. "Help him DiNozzo!"

"Damn it!" Abby muttered as she and Ziva were dragged through the squad room, much to the amusement of their co-workers. "He sounds mad already, Jenny this is silly. Gibbs doesn't need to know about. . ."

"Don't even bother finishing that sentence Abigail Scuito! He does need to know and there is no way I'm keeping it from him!"

Giving one last sharp pull Jenny yanked the women in to the bullpen to face three astonished males.

"Jenny? What's going on?"

"Good afternoon Jethro. I believe your 'daughters' have something they want to tell you."

Gibbs turned to face the two women. "Girls?"

"Um, it's nothing. It doesn't matter. Sorry to waste your time." Abby babbled, attempting to leave. But as she turned around she was met with one very pissed off Jennifer Sheppard.

"Tell him! Now!"

"Um, uh, you see. . ." Ziva stuttered.

"Well, I. . .um. . .we. . .uh."

"We don't have all day! Out with it!"

"'. . ." Abby gabbled and the exact moment that Ziva spoke.

"'snotherfault."

"Okay, okay," Gibbs said shaking his head. "Say that slower and one at a time."

At a barely audible level Ziva whispered, "I did not go to the hospital yesterday."

There was a moment of silence.

"You. . .did not. . .go. . .to the hospital?" Gibbs said slowly and quietly.

Ziva shook her head, "I did not need to. I felt fine and. . ."

"YOU DIDN'T NEED TO?" Gibbs thundered. "YOU SUFFERED A SEVERE HEAD TRAUMA! YOU ALMOST DIED! YOU DAMN WELL DID NEED TO!"

Ziva stepped back slightly. "I. . .I. . .I did not mean. . ."

"I don't even want to hear it Ziva. Jen? Are you busy?"

"Not at all."

"Take her to the hospital will you?"

"Of course."

"Gibbs! What part of 'I am fine' do you not under. . ."

"ZIVA! You are in more than enough trouble as it is! I highly suggest you be quiet. You two, stay here. Jethro, can I speak to you for a moment?"

As the two older adults left the bull pen, Tony got up and sauntered over to his two, now very nervous looking colleges.

"Oooh! Someone's in trouble! Two someones actually!"

"Shut up Tony!" Ziva said to clenched teeth.

"Why're you looking so worried Zee-vah? Scared of a little spanking are ya?"

"I am NOT scared! Shut UP Tony!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you want to talk about Jen?" Gibbs asked as they reached the stairs.

"I just think that we need to be on the same page in terms of what we're going to do about this. This is serious Jethro."

"No kidding. And as for what I'm going to do about it, I'm going to tan both their backsides, Abby first, Ziva when she gets back from the hospital, till they never even think about disobeying me again, let alone lying about it." He shook his head. "What were they thinking?"

"I don't kn. . ." Jenny was cut off by a sudden eruption of sound from the bullpen.

"I am NOT scared! Shut UP Tony!"

Jenny sighed. "Oh dear, here we go again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the five or six seconds that it took Gibbs and Jenny to run back to the bullpen a large crowd of interested looking agents had gathered. The two shoved their way though to be met with the alarming sight of a massive fight taking place. All four of their little miscreants were involved as well as a fifth body who Gibbs couldn't quite see.

"How the hell did Jimmy Palmer get involved in this?" Jenny whispered in his ear.

"That's Jimmy Palmer?"

Jenny nodded.

Gibbs shook his head. The entire balance of natural life seemed to have been turned on it's head today.

"HEY!" Gibbs yelled, and a frozen silence descended on the room as everyone stopped talking and moving.

At any other time the situation would have been hilarious. Tony was sat on top of Abby's back and she had her arms wrapped around his neck and appeared to be trying to bang his head into the floor. Tim was led on his back beside them and was trying to drag Tony off. Tony was grabbing on to Jimmy's jumper. Jimmy had his foot wedged awkwardly under McGee whilst pulling on handful's of Ziva's hair as she attempted to climb over him to get to Tony.

But in the bullpen there was no laughter, not out loud in any case, only quiet as everyone waited with baited breath for Gibbs' next words.

"Everyone who's not on the floor behaving like juvenile delinquents, get your asses back to work! Everyone who is, get up!"

Everyone jumped to attention and soon the spectators were back at their desks, though most kept a curious eye on Team Gibbs.

Gibbs and Jenny surveyed the five hoodlums before them.

Abby's hair had been pulled out of it's pigtails and Ziva's was sticking up all over the place. Tony's band new Armani shirt had been torn and Jimmy's glasses were broken. Aside from their dishevelled appearance, Gibbs was thankful to note that no-one seemed badly injured, which was a miracle really considering the participants.

"Would I be correct to assume that this started from Ziva yelling at Tony?"

"She attacked me boss!"

"That wasn't the question!"

Five heads bobbed up and down.

"Okay, so how did the rest of you get involved? Abby?"

"Tony was being really mean so I went in to help Ziva."

"Tim?"

"I was trying to rescue Abby."

"Palmer?"

"I was looking for Abby to give her some things to test and they were rolling round on the floor and I tried to tell them to stop but someone pulled me in and I just started punching and kicking."

Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose, trying desperately to keep a lid on his temper. He turned to Jenny.

"Are we using any interrogation rooms at the moment?"

"No."

"Okay, everyone except Ziva, get in an interrogation room. Ziva, you're with Jenny."

"But Gibbs! I do not want. . ."

Gibbs did not have to say another word. Just his glare told Ziva that arguing further would be futile and in the long run would just cause her increased pain and discomfort.

"I will go with Jenny," she said hurriedly rushing towards the elevator as the others made for interrogation.

Jenny smiled at Gibbs. "Sucks to be you!"

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Gibbs said glaring at her. "I wouldn't fancy bringing Ziva to the hospital."

Jenny made a face as she considered this. "Yes, well. . ." She sighed. "Why are none of my employees capable of behaving like adults?"

"Do you find me particularly childish Jen?" Gibbs smirked.

"So apart from you."

"What about Ducky?"

"Fine, why are none of those employees capable of behaving like adults?"

"Because Abby and DiNozzo have extremely low mental ages, Ziva hasn't surpassed the defiant teenager stage and Palmer and McGee are just too impressionable."

Jenny laughed. "That sounds about right. Have fun!"

"You too."

Gibbs laughed as he watched Jenny head across the bullpen towards a still irritated looking Ziva. It surprised him how easily they'd fallen into the easy joking banter they'd shared in Paris but he found he liked it. He liked it a lot.

"JIMMY!"

Gibbs sighed. It had much easier to enjoy Jenny's company when they hadn't had all these 'children' running around.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite the fact that it pretty much completely diverted from the plot. I just started writing it and then had the sudden urge to drag the boys into it as well. Please R&R!