See Chapter 1 for disclaimers and warnings.

Chapter 3

Warning: Talk of spanking.

In town, the guilt was eating at Billy. He knew he needed to tell Chris what he had done, but knew he'd be in trouble. He also knew that he'd get JD and Abby in trouble too. He just didn't know what to do. Meanwhile, Chris had noticed something wasn't right with Billy. Chris waited. Billy approached Chris and asked, "Pa, can I talk to you about something?"

"Yes Billy?"

"Pa, I need to tell you something." Billy said nervously.

"Billy, come here." Chris held his arms out for Billy to crawl in his lap. Once Billy was settled on Chris' lap he said, "Son, there's nothin' you can tell me or nothin' you do that will stop me from being yer Pa or lovin' you. I can tell somethin' has been botherin' you. What is it?"

"It's hard to tell you. Promise me you won't get mad?"

"Now, that's a promise I can't make. I need to know what's goin' on then I'll decide. I promise to listen."

"You know that lie of omission stuff we talked about?" Billy asked.

"Yup." Chris knew this was the problem already. He remembered the conversation in the wagon on the way home.

Billy told his version of the story from what he remembered and had been told later. "I heard the men talking about helping decorate the two cabins, so after you and Momma sent me to bed the night before the wedding, I sneaked out and hid in the wagon under a tarp. I must have fallen asleep and ….."

Flashback:

There was a small bump under the tarp in the back of the wagon that everyone thought was supplies. The wagon began to move down the road. Suddenly the wagon came to a stop at the first cabin and the unloading began. Abby and JD found the small bump. It was Billy. Billy was sound asleep.

"Awww look how cute." Abby said with compassion.

"Oh, he'll be cute alright when Chris gets his hands on him." JD said knowingly.

"You don't think he'll spank him do you?" Abby asked.

"I know he will. He put himself in danger just by leavin' home without telling anyone. Then he hid in the wagon. What if it had turned over and we didn't know he was in it?"

Abby's eyes widened. "I hadn't thought of that. He looks so innocent, though. I'd hate to know he got spanked when all he wanted to do was help."

"We'll cover him back up and hope he doesn't wake up. We'll make sure we unload the wagon." JD said nervously. "If one of the other men finds him, we won't be able to save him from Chris' attention." JD almost rubbed his own backside at the thought of that kind of attention.

The night went on without any problems and JD was able to make an excuse that he would put the wagon away. He woke Billy and …..

End flashback

"The next thing I knew, JD was waking me up and telling me to sneak back in and go to bed. He said we'd talk the next day about what happened. The next morning he explained what he and Abby did and how I got home. I'm sorry, Pa." Billy said nervously, but with some relief that he had finally confessed.

"I'm glad you finally told me. I knew somethin' was botherin' you. So, you eavesdropped and left the house durin' the night?"

"Yes Sir."

"Do you realize that you coulda' been hurt and me and yer Momma wouldn't have even known you were gone?"

"Yes Pa."

"Go on to yer room and wait for me."

Billy hurried to his room.

Mary had heard the whole conversation from the kitchen. Chris had realized she was listening in. "Mary?" He called.

"Well Chris, I am proud that he wanted to help with the decorations. I'm also proud that he came to you with it. I know we can't let him think it is alright to put himself in danger." With that she kissed him and said, "You are the Pa now. I'm glad you are here to teach him right from wrong. I would not have married you if I did not trust you to husband and father."

Chris nodded and walked to Billy's room. Once Chris was in the room, Billy asked with apprehension, "Are you gonna' spank me Pa?"

"Yup. I think you know you deserve it or you would have let the guilt eat at you longer."

"Yes Pa." Billy whispered.

Then Chris had a thought, "I want you to stay in yer room until I get back to take care of this. I want you to really think about the danger you put yerself in and how this could have gone bad."

"Yes Sir."

Chris grabbed his hat and began walking out.

Mary knew Chris had not had time to spank Billy and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Mary, this is serious. He is grounded to his room for a while. I want him to have time to think about what happened. I want him to think about this before I give him a spankn'. This ain't like he took a cookie out of the jar without askin'. He could have been hurt. I want him to learn from this."

Mary smiled and showed her understanding.

Chris continued, "I have somethin' I need to take care of first. It seems to me that there are two other kids that need to come to the fact that they played a part in this. I'm gonna' go to the Gibbs ranch and talk to Gibbs about Abby. Then I'm gonna' teach a certain young JD that he needs to protect his little brother from danger not from me."

Gibbs had just left the room he and Jenny now shared. He and Jenny had taken some "time" together as he promised and Jenny was now taking a short nap. He decided to work on the furniture he had started. He was going to take some time to relax with no anticipated troubles. He should have known better.

Before long, Chris arrived at the Gibbs ranch. Gibbs heard the horse and stepped outside the workshop. His famous gut activated again.

"Chris." Gibbs said with a nod.

"Gibbs I'll get right to why I am here."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Gibbs said with a smirk.

Chris then proceeded to tell Gibbs about Billy's confession. The more Chris spoke, the more Gibbs got frustrated.

"I'm sure she meant well Gibbs, but I can't have anyone protecting Billy from me. I'm his Pa now. He could have been hurt."

"I totally agree with you. These kids do the same with me." Gibbs chuckled and said, "We are the bad guys because we are protecting them."

Chris smirked and said, "Yup. We protect everything but their backsides."

Both men chuckled and then came to an agreement as to how they would handle Abby.

Meanwhile, the siblings were in the boys' room. Tony and Tim were still nursing their sore backsides. Soon, they heard a horse. Abby went to the window and quickly realized it was Chris. "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" Abby spoke in a panic.

Alarmed about Abby's sudden panic and ready to go on the defensive Tony asked, "Abs what's wrong?"

Abby then told her siblings what transpired the night of the decorating.

"As nervous as Billy was last night, I had a feeling he'd spill the story." Abby said with dread.

"Oh, Baby Girl, why didn't you at least let Gibbs know?" Tony asked with sympathy in his voice. He couldn't help rubbing his backside at the thought of another lie of omission.

"Billy was so cute asleep all curled up in the wagon. JD and I couldn't let on he was there. I have a feeling Chris would not have taken a liking to the fact that Billy left the house at night." Abby tried to make excuses.

"Abby, Billy is not a stray puppy. Chris is not going to be happy with you." Ziva tried to make Abby see the seriousness of this omission.

Tim interjected, "Chris is so much like Gibbs too."

Abby said, "Guys! Not helping here!"

When Abby looked at Jimmy for his input, all she saw was him pale and shake his head. "Maybe Chris is here to talk about horses or something."

At that moment the siblings heard, "Abigail! Workshop! Now! Don't make me come get you."

TBC….