A/N: Thanks for the reviews :) Just a warning there is spanking in the start of this chapter.

Tuesday Afternoon

Jack made his way up the stairs, opting to deal with the person who had offended the least first. He would then move on to Sarah, and finally he would deal with Zach.

He knocked on the door once, before walking in and taking a seat next to the miserable looking twelve-year-old. "Why skip school Jayden? I know I haven't known you for very long, but you don't strike me as the type of kid that likes to get into trouble"

Jay shook his head, remembering he had agreed to go with Zach's story. "I don't. I just thought it would be fun to go to the zoo, and meet Holly."

"I'm guessing you don't need me to lecture you then do you?" The elderly man sighed. Punishing Jay was nothing like it was with Jethro, and he assumed Zach too. Jethro would have fought him till the very end, but Jayden looked far too guilty and accepting.

The brunet boy shook his head. "No grandpa Jack. I'm sorry I caused trouble."

"Come on then kid, lets get this over with" Jack didn't want to punish the child, but he knew he had to.

He knew it wouldn't be fair to either Zach nor Jayden if he let one of them get away with it and the other didn't. Considering Zach was his biological grandchild, it may have opened up feelings of doubt in the twelve-year-old, and Jack wouldn't have that. Also, he knew it would help ease the guilty the boy was feeling.

He nodded for the boy to stand up in front of him, getting him to push his jeans down his thighs before pulling him over his knee. He spanked him hard enough to leave an impression, but not so hard because he knew he was already sorry. The boy wouldn't even be feeling this by tomorrow night.

The boy was crying all the way through it, but Jack was sure he wasn't hurting him that much. He guessed it was just that he was feeling sorry for what he had done. He soon let him up, pulling him in for a quick hug before getting him to stand in front of him.

"Don't go along with your cousin's schemes anymore Jayden. Because they will just end up you being in a lot of trouble." Jack had a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gently squeeze.

"I … I won't grandpa" The boy bit his lip, willing himself not to cry again. It wasn't about the pain, it was about the tremendous guilty he was feeling about letting Zach take the heat.

"Good boy" Jack ruffled his hair, telling him he would call him down when tea was ready before leaving him in his bedroom to deal with the next miscreant.

Vance had left his son in the school car park, telling him he would see him in his study later tonight when he finished work. But right now he was on the screen in NCIS LA, talking to the team about their mission.

"…Leon, did you find the kids?" Gibbs asked once they had finished talking business. It was always Leon and Jethro when they were just being dads, rather than Director and Agent.

"I did, at the Zoo. And I gotta say, your son has got one smart mouth on him" Leon was still highly annoyed with his own son, and he knew Gibbs was fuming, and rightly so, with his.

Gibbs rubbed his face tiredly; the case was keeping him running off coffee, and hearing tales about his disobedient offspring was not helping matters. "Don't be afraid to whack him around the head like it do. I find that that helps his smart mouth"

Callen and Sam were once again amused by the boy he had never met. Nate was here this time too and was busy profiling Gibbs when he was talking about his son with the director, while Tim and Abby were listening in on the conversation, wanting to hear news about their own children and little sister.

"Oh, believe me I was tempted. I was seconds away from putting him over my knee, I don't know how you cope with him" Leon said exasperated.

"You should have. Anyone who wants to take a shot at controlling that mouth of his is welcome." Gibbs knew he didn't mean that. He wouldn't mind Vance or his trusted friends disciplining his child, but he would never let just anyone do so.

Leon nodded "like wise. You ever have a problem with Jared, I expect you to treat him like that."

Gibbs snorted "You honestly think your son would be a problem? I bet the others just dragged him along today."

"Hmm…" Leon pressed him lips together "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. I have a sneaky feeling he could be behind something, because Zach convinced the principle that it was him that hacked the school server, so Zach's gotten three day's suspension."

"Zach wouldn't be able to do that." Tim interrupted, now knowing the part his son played. "That had to be Jayden."

"I didn't think that Zach had done it. He was far too defensive about it. But he took the fall for it" Leon replied.

Gibbs couldn't help but feel proud that his son had protected his cousin, but he couldn't concentrate on that feeling long enough without being ticked off that his son had gotten them all into that situation in the first place. He was sure that after this had blown over, he could revisit his feelings of pride.

"Any chance that we can come home early Leon? I have a feeling that my dad is in way over his head here" Gibbs gut was churning, and he knew something else was up other than what he had just been told.

"Sorry Jethro. But Zach will still be here when you get back. I can scare him into thinking you're coming home early though, if you want?" The man on the screen smirked. He thought it would be quite humorous to scare the cocky teenager into behaving.

It was a tempting offer Gibbs thought, but declined it. He knew how horrible it was waiting in anticipation, and even though his son completely deserved it, he wouldn't do that to him.

Sarah was waiting anxiously in her bedroom. Sarah had let the young girl pick the theme for the bedroom, and she had chosen Scooby Doo. They had Scooby doo wall paper, bed sheets and accessories, with bats painted on the ceiling done by Abby. It was very childish, but Sarah didn't mind.

She was in tears as she heard Jayden cry, and she now knew that Jackson wasn't a pushover. She couldn't help but think of the upcoming consequences for Zach, which was going to be a lot worse than either her or Jayden's because he was taking the blame for it all.

Jack knocked on her door, and made his way into the room, sitting on the bed opposite her. The girls had opted to have separate beds rather than bunk. She decided then and there that she couldn't live with the guilt if she had to listen to Zach getting severely punished for something they had done.

"Grandpa Jack, I got something to tell you. And I think Jayden has too" She was already in tears, unsure if she was doing the right thing or not by confessing. On one hand she was telling the truth, but the other she may just make it worse for all of them like Zach had said.

Jack frowned. "I've all ready talked to Jayden. He didn't have much to say"

"That's… that's because Zach made him not say anything. Don't get mad with Jay, or Zach. Especially Zach." She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Please don't try to tell me you're playing the martyr now" Jack said, his patience he had entered the room with slipping away slowly.

Sarah shook her head. "No, I'm not playing martyr. I'm going to tell the truth, something we haven't been doing an awful lot of lately."

"I'm all ears" The elder man was interested in what she had to say now, rather than impatient.

"Well you know about the concert last night, that's where it all started. Zach didn't surprise me with it, it was my idea. He said we shouldn't go, but I convinced him too. He warned me that you wouldn't be happy about it, but I didn't believe him" Sarah told him, looking straight up at him and not fiddling with anything so he knew she was being honest.

"Even so, you both lied to me and broke my trust. So, telling me that hasn't lessened either of your punishments." Jack told her, but he was pleased that she was telling him the whole story since Zach didn't seem willing to.

"Okay…" Sarah said unsurely now. She had thought the teenager's punishment would lessen slightly because of that, but clearly not. "When we got home, I snuck into his room and he told me to leave, but I didn't."

She took a deep breath now, knowing she was going to dog her nephew in it "And he told me about the girl Jayden met on the internet and was going to meet up with. Jay was going to go, with or without us, Zach was just looking out for him and making sure he didn't meet up alone. He thought it would be fun to go to the Zoo, and get everyone involved."

"Does it still seem like fun now?" Jack was still beyond reason with his grandson, he knew he just needed sometime to think over everything he was being told before he went to deal with him.

"No." She sighed "But I'm not finished. Jay wanted to tell you, and he did try to tell the principle twice but no one would listen to him. It was him who hacked the school server, not Zach. Zach was just trying to protect him."

Jack honestly didn't know what to think or say, so he kept quiet. If he forgot about everything except the exclusion, which was what he was most angry about. His grandson would still have made a promise in vain when he told him he was telling the truth and that didn't sit well with him.

But then again, the boy had just been trying to protect his family; something which he knew was just apart of whom the boy was and he knew that if he was given the chance again, he would make that promise each and every time to protect Jayden. Very much like how Jethro would go to the ends of the earth to protect the ones he loved.

"Zach really does mean well, he does. But he just doesn't go the best way about it. Please don't be too harsh on him" Sarah spoke quietly, breaking the silence.

Jack rubbed his eyes. Since when had a simple problem like play hooky become so complicated. He was wondering if he would need a holiday once the children left.

"I won't be as harsh as I was going to be" Jack stood up, patting her on the shoulder. "I'll be back upstairs afterwards, and we will deal with this all then. Just beware young lady; you are not out of the woods yet"

He left the room, going back downstairs and carried on putting shelves on the wall in his shop. He needed time to think about everything he had been told, and decide what the best course of action to take would be.

Zach walked through DC airport, unsure of what he was doing. He got searched past security and was waiting in the lounge near the terminals. He must have looked slightly odd when he was checking in, because he had no luggage what so ever.

"Flight 232 to Los Angeles is now boarding" a voice called out over the speakers, and Zach was heading down to the gate.

He honestly wasn't thinking clearly about this, he just thought it best option was to get away from his grandfather and his switch, and go to his dad.

He knew he was going to get into lots of trouble for this, but he thought it would be less because only his dad would punish him then and his grandpa wouldn't. If he stayed it would have been both of them. And he also knew he was getting extra trouble for swiping the card from his father's bedroom, his dad had a huge problem with people snooping in his stuff. It wasn't like he was robbing it, it was his own card, but it was supposed to be used for collage.

"Can I see you ticket sir?"

"Sure" Zach smiled pleasantly, showing her the ticket and boarded the plane.