Gibbs watched almost sadly, as Ziva obediently slunk into the living room. He would have given anything in that moment to forego what he knew he needed to do.
Sighing, and berating himself for his uncharacteristic self pity, he pulled himself together.
Pulling open a nearby drawer, he reluctantly extracted the thick, old fashioned wooden spoon that resided there.
This particular wooden spoon had never stirred a sauce or stoked a stew in its relatively short life. Instead, it was despised by all four of his brood with a healthy passion. Clutching the heavy spoon firmly, he strode into the living room, resolving to get the whole thing over and done with.
Ziva was sat on the sofa, nervously chewing her thumb, a habit he'd grown used to over time.
Sitting down beside her, he placed a warm hand on her knee.
"I don't think you need the lecture. You know what you did wrong, and why it was wrong, right?"
She nodded sadly, but instantly.
"We put ourselves in unnecessary danger, broke our promise, and lied to you."
Gibbs had to smile at that.
Of all of his four, Ziva was definitely the most like him when it came to articulation.
Short, sweet and to the point.
If only he could get DiNozzo to follow suit.
"Ok Ziva, let's get this over with" he said wearily, trying to muster up the strength it took to bring his youngest to task.
She again nodded, and before he could instruct her further, was up and walking towards the end of the sofa where she and the two boys had been draped over many times before.
Seeing this, Gibbs sighed.
As guilty and compliant as Ziva was now, when she learned of the form of punishment he intended to dish out, he knew he was going to have a fight on his hands.
"Stop, Ziva."
Turning to him in confusion, the young woman suddenly spied the wooden spoon resting by his side, and predictably baulked.
Shaking her head furiously, she immediately put her deep brown eyes to their fullest and their most devastating effect.
"Gibbs no… not like that, please" she wheedled, throwing him a morose look of pure misery.
Shaking his head firmly, Gibbs shot the protesting girl a stern glare.
"Do not argue with me Ziva, you're in no position."
Scowling and shaking her head again, she stood her ground.
"I am not a child, it is surely not necessary to punish me like one" she replied, relatively pleased with the disdainful tone that she allowed to colour her voice.
She spied the furrowed brow and the intensifying of the glare, but again, held her stance.
"You really want to stand there and tell me that you think you behaved like an adult?" Gibbs shot straight back, arching his infamous brow in scepticism.
Being slightly floored by this, Ziva floundered and stared at him helplessly.
Being struck by sudden inspiration, she smiled and held onto it tightly.
"Two wrongs do not make a right, no?"
Gibbs gritted his teeth and stared his youngest girl down in traditional style.
"Ziva David, do not push your luck with me. You are in quite enough trouble as it is. Now, come here."
Her tense poise instantly melted and she resumed her full usage of her poodle puppy eyes.
"Gibbs…please. I hate it…" she all but whispered, shuffling miserably.
Sighing, the elder agent wondered briefly was it possible to actually die from exasperation.
"Well, yeah…that's kind of the point kid. It's not exactly walks by the lakeside for me either, so how about we just it over and done with?"
She moved tentatively towards him, before apparently being struck by stagnation once more, and rooting herself to the spot.
"Please, can't I just lean over the sofa?" she murmured pleadingly, fidgeting steadily.
Gibbs sighed, and remembering that he still had to deal with Abby, he sighed even more.
"No, and it's a no for two reasons. The most important one being, I'm not risking any damage to your ribs. I know its bruising, but still. The second one being, you know the rule. You act like a brat, and I will treat you like one. Now, for the final time, come here."
Knowing all hope was lost; Ziva made a face but obediently began to walk towards what she considered to be her heinous doom.
She stopped short when she saw Gibbs reach over to the other sofa and grab the softest cushion he owned, placing it half on his knee and half on the sofa seat.
She was so surprised, that she didn't have the awareness to object when he gently took her by the wrist and carefully laid her over his knee.
He meticulously placed her torso on the pillow, ensuring no part of her rib cage was exposed to either his knee or the well worn sofa cushion.
"Try to keep still Ziva, I know it's hard, but I don't want that bruising getting any worse. Ok?"
She felt, to her horror, tears spring up in her eyes.
No one had ever cared for her well being like this.
Her father had been rigidly consumed with the idea that his daughter be the best there was.
But he had never given a seconds consideration to the idea that his daughter was…his daughter.
He had treated her with clinical indifference, much like how one would fine tune an operating system.
Gibbs…was different.
He was so different.
Biting her lip to keep from crying before the first swat even fell, she buried her head into her arms.
Gibbs for his part carefully wrapped a very loose arm around his youngest's waist, overtly conscious of not pressing upon any of her tender ribs.
Taking in a deep breath, and sternly reminding himself that the girl currently over his knee could just have easily been the girl he was identifying one of Ducky's tables, he raised his hand high.
The first swat fell with much more bite than usual, and despite herself, Ziva let out a surprised hiss.
This was going to be bad.
Quickly finding his well versed rhythm, Gibbs smoothly settled into a steady and rapid tempo, methodically peppering Ziva's backside with deliberate and firm swats.
He didn't scold. He knew she didn't need to hear it.
The only sounds that drifted around the room were the crisp sounds of hand meeting backside and the odd yelp a particularly hard smack elicited.
Gibbs concentrated on spanking his headstrong girl with as much thoroughness as he could force himself to use, ensuring that no part of the upended rear end went without his own special brand of attention.
His keen ears caught a few faint sniffles as they wafted upwards, which let him know his harder than usual force was having the desired effect.
Groaning to himself, he quickly reached up and easily tugged the young woman's loose fitting trousers down just enough to give him access to her panty clad backside.
He instantly picked up the pace, and brought his broad hand down once more, settling back into a steady tempo. The faint sniffles were now becoming not so faint and his own hand was stinging as he continued to dole out yet another punishment to one of his brood.
Ziva bit her lip as the first tears began to roll down her cheeks.
She marvelled once again at how low on the pain scale the current heat in her backside registered, compared against much more severe punishments she had received at her father's hands.
Or her father's people's hands, when he was too busy to deal with his daughter himself.
She had never shed a tear during any of those chastisements.
She had never uttered a syllable of discomfort.
She had completely zoned out, and taken the pain for what it was…simple, calculated, pain.
But as the hand came down across her stinging posterior once more, she gasped and allowed herself to begin crying softly.
Hearing this, Gibbs resisted the urge to pluck his weeping girl off his knee, and instead he reluctantly reached up and pulled her panties down to meet her slacks.
Gritting his teeth, and battling with himself, he reached out and took a firm hold of the spoon beside him.
Rubbing a hand over the small of Ziva's back, he sighed.
"Nearly there kid…nearly there…you're doing great" he murmured gently, "now, try and hold still like I said, ok?"
The answering sob and nodding of the wild mop of curls made his stomach shrivel up, but he too nodded, albeit sadly.
"Good girl" he praised quietly, before raising his arm high once again.
The spoon connected with its usual resounding force, and the strangled whimper it extracted from the crying assassin was far from unexpected.
Gibbs did the best he could in tuning out his youngest girl's now open sobbing, as he diligently lit a fire across her now scarlet backside with the thick wooden spoon.
The room continued to be alight with the brisk swats and loud whimpering and crying.
It was as the sting began to be ignited in the tender sit spots of the well reddened backside that, to his intense relief, Gibbs began to sense the telltale signs that the kid had had enough.
Her sobbing was now a quietly racking weeping. Her torso was beginning to deflate from its tense posture across his knee, as she slumped dejectedly into the protective pillow.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the elder agent issued one last peppering of swats and with one well placed thwack to each sit spot, he threw the spoon out of his hand with gusto.
He immediately placed a hand on the lively mop of hair, and began to gently card it through the curls.
"Breathe for me kiddo, just breathe for me" he soothed quietly, "it's all done now….all done."
She continued to weep across his knee, and he made absolutely no effort to dislodge her.
Murmuring gently to her, he continued to tousle her hair softly and waited with his usual paternal patience for her emotions to come back under her control.
She always took a bit longer to compose herself after being put over his knee as opposed to over the couch, and he was quite willing to settle in for the long haul.
Considerable time passed, and he kept up a constant stream of sincere comfort.
With each word spoken, the crying began to fade and the breathing began to return to normality.
Soon, only the odd muffled sniffle escaped the fiery young woman, and Gibbs knew she was nearly emotionally spent.
Sure enough, a moment or two later, the girl made to right herself and the elder of the two instantly stood with her and quickly located the flung away spoon, giving the young woman some well needed privacy.
Scooping it up and eying it with hatred, he strode quickly back into the kitchen and took his time putting it back where it resided, wishing fervently he wouldn't have to remove it for a long time.
Leaning over the counter, he closed his eyes briefly, and tried to remove the sounds of his girl's sobbing and yelping out of his mind.
Whilst he knew it needed to be done, it never stopped him feeling like a brute when he had cause to reign in any one of his four.
Sighing, he shook his head and pulled himself together.
Quickly barrelling back into the living room, he groaned when he took in the red eyes, and the flushed face looking back at him.
"How you doing Ziver?" he asked kindly, but with an anxious note in his voice.
Smiling slightly at her nickname, she looked up at him ruefully.
"I will let you chauffeur me in future" she mumbled with chagrin, peeking up through red rimmed eyes.
Crossing the room, he deftly reached out and gently cupped her chin in his hand.
"You'd better Ziva, because I don't want to have to repeat this lesson, ok?"
She nodded instantly, and smiled shyly up at him.
Smiling back down at her, he opened his arms and sighed happily as she shot into them.
He breathed another sigh of relief as she squeezed the life out of him.
Eventually breaking apart, she looked up at him uncertainly.
"What it is it?" he asked immediately, having no difficulty in reading the look on her face.
Hesitating slightly, she shuffled somewhat before taking in a deep breath.
"How long am I grounded for this time?" she asked in a small voice, peering up at him with hopeful eyes.
Chucking in amusement at her tone, Gibbs reached out and ruffled her hair.
"Oh I think for life, kid."
The narrowed eyes and the thinly veiled snarl had him chuckling even further, as he held up his hands in defence.
"Ok, well maybe not life" he conceded, "but definitely for the foreseeable future."
"I don't want to hear any whining about it either" he added sternly "grab a bag after work tomorrow and get settled into your cell, because work and home are the only two places you're going to be seeing for quite a while, clear?"
Groaning, Ziva looked up pleadingly.
Of all the four, she was the one who hated restrictions on her liberty the most.
Taking in the now very firm expression on Gibbs' face and feeling the heat radiating in her backside, she bit down the protest that was nearly out of her mouth.
"Clear, Gibbs" she murmured quietly, albeit with a fairly pronounced pout.
Reaching out, the older agent carefully drew her into her arms once again.
"Good girl" he mumbled quietly, "try and behave yourself now, ok?"
He caught the rolling eyes when he released her, and chuckled.
She was well on her way to being back to normal then.
"Ok Ziva, why don't you go on up and get washed up, and send Abby down to me."
With that, he threw himself wearily into his usual armchair and did his best not to let out a groan of protest of having to repeat the whole process he'd just gone through.
Ziva didn't move for a moment.
She knew there was no hope in pleading Abby's case, but looking at Gibbs, she felt a pang of guilt for how… weary he looked.
They always thought about hard it was for them to have their asses kicked by their unconventional boss, but…they never really thought about how hard it must be him.
Hide it as he might, they all knew he was as kind a man anyone could hope to meet. Blistering their hides couldn't exactly be easy for him.
Acting on instinct more than anything, she suddenly started towards the slumped Gibbs.
Hearing her approach, he looked up questioningly, jolting himself out of his reverie.
The quick kiss she dropped on his forehead was accompanied by a rare bout of emotional speech from the usually reserved assassin.
"Kelly… would have grown to be an amazing young woman with you for a father, Gibbs."
With that, she turned and padded from the room and had vanished from sight before Jethro had time to blink back the tears that had suddenly formed in his eyes.
…
TBC
….