Title: The Too Young series: The Forbidden

Disclaimer: I don't own the show NCIS, I'm just borrowing the characters for the story.

A/N: This story is part of my series called Too young, where Ziva is nineteen years old and has been assigned as Liaison Officer to Gibbs' team (just like on the show). She is taken care of by, and also seen as the responsibility of, Gibbs and occasionally also Director Jenny Shepard who were the ones that decided she could stay at NCIS regardless of her young age.

I wrote "Staying Focused" as the first story about a younger Ziva and I've had to make some changes in that story to make everything work better as a series. "Staying Focused" is still included in the series though of course.

The first change is that Ziva is nineteen, not twenty three and I have my reasons for making that change. The second change is that in this series Gibbs only administers Corporal Punishment to Ziva, (because of her age and the fact that he has taken responsibility for her training and safety) not the rest of the team. The third and last change is that "Staying Focused" takes place at the beginning of season three, not the end of the season. In this story the team has been informed of Ziva's age.

A/N 2: This is the third story about Ziva in my Too Young series.

CHAPTER 7

Ziva, Tony and McGee stood in the elevator on their way up to the bullpen. Ziva shifted uncomfortably. She was starting to feel extremely nervous about what would happen as soon as the elevator stopped and they had to get out. Possible scenarios were running through her head and finally she could not take it anymore. She reached past Tony and hit the emergency stop button with a bang.

"What did you do that for?!" McGee exclaimed. He didn't like the feeling of being trapped inside the elevator even though he knew they could always just press the button again and the elevator would continue up.

"I just needed a moment to think." she said, quietly.

Tony turned to her with a concerned expression on his face, "Are you worried? About what Gibbs is going to do to us I mean."

She swallowed hard. She didn't even want to think about it. But she could not help herself. She recalled Gibbs' promise to her the last time he spoke to her about driving.

"You are not allowed to drive any vehicle. If I see or hear that you have...you will find sitting a very difficult task for a week. Am I making myself clear, Ziva?"

"Yes" she whispered in a tiny voice.

McGee looked at the girl standing between him and Tony. She was looking so much smaller than she usually did. Not that she was usually very big but right now she was actually looking kind of tiny. He felt sorry for her. "I'm sure it won't be that bad, Ziva. Maybe he'll just make us do some additional paper work...or help Ducky out in autopsy with some yucky business or something." he said with a comforting smile, hoping he was making her feel better.

Ziva looked up at him with the same expression as before, "I do not know what he will do to you...but I have a pretty good idea what he is going to do to me, McGee." When she saw the expected confusion on his face and felt the upcoming question she quickly hit the button again. She did not want the two agents to know how Gibbs was most likely going to punish her.

The elevator doors opened and the three of them stepped out. Tony and Tim started walking but after only a few steps they noticed Ziva wasn't with them. They exchanged a knowing look and walked backwards all the way back to her. Each man put an arm around her waist and they started moving her forward. They let go just before turning and entering their work area.

Gibbs was seated at his desk and looked up when he saw them enter. He had of course heard them long before they were within sight but now that he could actually look at them he did so with a suspicious glare. They had been away twice as long as he had thought they'd be. He had called when they were on their way back and gotten a status report but not been able to get straight answers as to what was taking so long. All he had managed to find out was that they had somehow been attacked by their suspect, who they were now completely convinced was guilty, and a second person who was linked to the suspect. Now he was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Um...hi boss." Tony said.

When they didn't get a response the three Agents moved to sit down at their desks but stopped themselves when Gibbs growled, "No, you don't get to sit. Line up!"

They all stood still at first but then slowly moved to stand in front of his desk. Ziva put her hands behind her back and looked her boss and mentor straight in the eyes.

"I want to know what's been going on all day and I want to know now!" he said in a threatening tone that they all knew meant he meant business. "You've been gone almost all day."

Tony spoke first, feeling his heavy responsibility as the senior in the team, besides Gibbs and Ducky of course. "We had some trouble apprehending the..uh...suspect, boss. It took a little longer than anticipated. Sorry."

"Don't apologize! And what trouble?"

"Uhm, you want me to be specific?"

"Well yeah, DiNozzo. That would be good."

Just as Tony opened his mouth to speak he was interrupted by a female voice from behind them.

"Jethro, just out of curiosity, where have you been driving your car? Or did you feel the need to change the color?"

Gibbs let his gaze shift from his Agents to the Director and gave her a puzzled look. "What?!"

"Your car. It's a mess. I just walked by it in the garage."

"I haven't been driving my car today, Director. My team here has." he fixed them with a glare again that sent a shiver up Ziva's back. The room fell quiet for a moment that seemed like an hour to Ziva. She felt as if Gibbs already knew she was responsible for the state his car was in. But that was impossible. Or perhaps it was not when it came to Gibbs. "I would like one hell of a detailed briefing to what the hell the three of you have been doing today." Gibbs waited but no one spoke. "NOW!"

They all flinched and Tony jumped into an explanation in rapid speed. "The car ran out of gas right next to an old gas station and McGee and I hitchhiked to Cornville in the back of a truck."

"Filled with sheep." Ziva nervously filled in.

McGee sent a glare her way. "Thanks, Ziva."

"Hence the smell, I take it." Jenny said, careful not to step too close to the two male Agents. "Where was Ziva?" she asked.

Gibbs was already angry and quickly turned and faced his boss when he felt she was getting too close to taking over interrogating his team. She fell quiet, taking the hint.

"DiNozzo, same question. Where was Ziva?"

Tony looked away a second before answering that question. He knew his boss was not going to like the answer but figured there was no point in lying. They were going to have to confess to everything. Gibbs could feel when someone was holding out on him and he knew them all too well to let them get away with that anyway. "Ziva was still at the gas station, boss."

"Doing what?"

"We left her there." he said in a more quiet voice, feeling extremely ashamed of himself as he said the words out loud. He hadn't really thought about it until now but they sure had screwed up big time leaving her alone like that.

Gibbs stepped around his desk and was in Tony's face in a second. "YOU WHAT?!!!!" he turned to McGee who was looking ready to throw up. Then turned back to Tony again.

"She was already inside when the truck stopped and the driver tipped us about Warren being in town for another half hour." Tony continued "We jumped in, figuring we would be back for Ziva in just a little while and that she would be fine."

Tony could see Gibbs was trying to keep his temper under control. His face was a shade of red, "Why did the car run out of gas?"

Tony swallowed again, "Because I forgot to gas it up this morning when we returned from Petty Officer O'Neill's apartment." This conversation was even worse than he had imagined. And they hadn't even confessed to everything yet. "So we hitchhiked to get there." he took a deep breath, "With the Christopher Warren's friend it turned out...out to his farm...where Warren was waiting and caught us by surprise."

Gibbs' anger dissipated a little and his face held more concern than anger. "He tried to kill you?"

"You could say that yeah. He held us at gun point and was planning on moving us to a more sheltered spot to execute us." Tony looked at the girl standing next to him, nervously glancing at their boss but obviously trying to remain stoic. " However, Ziva came to our rescue."

Jenny walked the rest of the way over to her former mentor and stood at his side, eying the Agents under her command warily. She wanted to speak but waited for Gibbs to continue. She was well aware of his opinion on others taking command of his team.

Gibbs looked at Ziva suspiciously. "How did you get to them? Tony just said they left you at the gas station."

Ziva looked first at Gibbs and then at the Director. Why did Jenny have to show up now? Talk about timing. It was worse enough to have to face Gibbs but Jenny at the same time, that was just cruel.

"I...drove your car there." she said in a voice that shook a little.

Gibbs was quiet. He was much too quiet to her liking. Jenny did not speak either. Ziva knew Jenny had agreed with Gibbs about her not driving until she had presented a certificate, showing she had passed a driving test. And now she had broken a rule they had both set up for her. But she had done it to save Tony and McGee, and to her that was much more important than following some stupid rule.

Suddenly anger flared up inside her. "I had every right to!" she yelled right in Gibbs face. Realizing what she had just done she also knew there was not much point in taking it back now. She had already acted disrespectfully. "I did it to save their lives!" she pointed at Tony and McGee who were both looking paler than a second ago. "And you two" she gestured at the Director and Gibbs, "are just plain STUPID if you think I should have just stood by and let them get executed!"

That was it Gibbs decided. He had had enough of her temper. It wasn't long ago that the two of them had talked about her getting that temper of hers under control and she obviously needed to hear it again. He took a step forward and took a firm hold of Ziva's arm and gave her a little shake. She calmed down immediately. After fixing her with a stare he simply started marching her away from the rest of the team with a "Let's go."

"But..." was all she managed to say before seeing that she was not going to get a chance to argue.

Gibbs marched her up the stairs, never letting go of her arm, straight into Jenny's office. For once Cynthia didn't stop him, she just looked confused as they passed her. Ziva kept her head down, embarrassed over Cynthia seeing her being dragged along like a child. Once inside Gibbs walked her straight over to a corner and placed her there. "You wait here. Don't you dare move until me and Jenny come back."

After having said that he left her standing there and slammed the door behind him and headed downstairs again.

To be continued

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! Please let me know what you think of this longer chapter.