It had been over a week since Gibbs and Kristin had had their discussion about the rules and for the most part, life had been better because of it. Kristin seemed more relaxed and talked more and more, but she still had an itch she needed to scratch. She needed to test this man she found herself trusting and find out if he was for real. She really hoped he was for real.

At school, things had been going really well. The work, thanks to her seemingly well advanced previous school, was very easy, but she kept this to herself, remembering her promise not to draw attention to herself. Not that this promise was going all that well. Mr Franklin was an exceptionally perceptive teacher. He was also funny and friendly and his British accent made everything sound like he was making a joke. He told her sneaky stories about Tony, (who she now realised was Mr Franklin's frat brother in college) which she revealed to him in small increments to make him squirm.

Capri's friends, Zac and Dan had return from their soccer match and taken an instant liking to Kristin. Zac had longish blonde hair and a smile that made Kristin not believe that he wasn't more popular, while Dan had a natural goofiness and soft Irish accent which intensified when he argued with Mr Franklin over soccer results.

All in all, Kristin was happy. Happier than she'd been in a long time, which made doing what she had to do all that much harder.

Finally, on Wednesday morning, a week and a half after her talk with Gibbs she cut school. For no particular reason. She had no where to go, nothing to do, in fact, she was going to go to the library in the city where she wouldn't be noticed. But the fact was, she was just breaking enough of a rule to get Gibbs mad enough to see what he would do without her hurting anyone or putting herself in any major danger.

Back at school, Capri, Zac and Dan wondered where Kristin was and upon confirming that she hadn't mentioned anything about being away, began texting her to find out the reason.

After math first period, Mr Franklin called the 3 over and enquired as to their friend's whereabouts. When they all claimed not to know of her whereabouts, he dismissed them and began filling out the appropriate paperwork noting her absence.

By some miracle, at least by Kristin's standards, the school had seemed to take an extremely long time to contact Gibbs regarding her absence. In fact, as she walked home checking her phone for what must have been the 900th time that day, she wondered if in fact it really was that easy to skip school in a public school. She thought about the irony of not being caught the one time she wanted to.

This moment of brief amusement was however short lived, when, having not been home 5 minutes she heard Gibbs pull up in the driveway and come storming into the house. Walking into the dining room to meet him she saw that his face was full of rage and what she thought might have been fear. Could he have been worried about her? Her father never cared where she was when she wasn't at school, he just worried about giving child services reason to snoop around. Backing away from Gibbs slowly, Kristin jumped as he addressed her in a low, barely controlled voice,

"Did we have a miscommunication about going to school everyday Kristin?"
Kristin looked at the floor and shook her head, then winced as she heard Gibbs sigh,

"You have been here not even 2 weeks and I have lost count of the number of times you have answered me by shaking or nodding your head. Let's try some verbal answers and look at me please"
"No sir, you were clear." Kristin replied

"Then why did you decide it would be ok for you not to go to school?"
Kristin looked down, then remembered his words and looked straight back up again.

"I….I can't say"

She could say, she would say. But not yet. After the punishment. Everything had to be real. She had to know what would happen if she screwed up for real under his roof.

"You can't say, well there will be plenty of time to talk about that later. But for now, let's talk about which of my rules you broke today?"
Realising he wanted her to tell him she replied,
"I lied to you about going to school and I didn't tell you where I was"
"That's it? You didn't put yourself in danger?"
Kristin suddenly realised that even when she told him where she was, he would probably argue that she was still in danger and he was probably right.
"And I put myself in danger."
"All this for something you can't talk about. Well, for now, go and stand in that corner and think about whether this is a secret you want to keep from me."
Feeling completely ashamed and juvenile, Kristin stood in the corner, surprised at how disappointed Gibbs sounded in her, a girl he'd only just met. After 10 minutes, Gibbs called her over and Kristin turned to see him sitting on the couch and she now realised exactly how he planned to spank her. And suddenly her oh so brilliant plan seemed like the worst idea she'd ever had. Strengthening her resolve she reasoned it couldn't be any worse that what he father put her through and so she raised her eyes to meet Gibbs' and was surprised to see that he looked considerably less angry than before.

Standing in front of him he held her gaze and said,

"You're grounded for the rest of the week. You come to NCIS everyday after school where you will sit and do homework. You will see Andr…Mr Franklin in the morning and admit to him what you did and accept the school's punishment as well. Understood?"
"Yes sir"

"I think you also know that I am about to spank you. But after this, it's over. I forgive you and we move on. After the grounding, we don't mention it again. Clear"
Kristin nodded and mumbled an almost incoherent "yes sir."

"Good"

With that Gibbs reached out and pulled her over his lap, supporting her tiny frame with his left arm. He could feel her body shaking and so he rubbed her back slowly as she squirmed into position.

Raising his hand, he felt her inhale and hold her breath.

SMACK. His hand was harder than her father's and the strength of that first smack took her breath away. Nonetheless she was determined to stay quiet.

Gathering his resolve, he brought her trembling body closer and continued to rain the smacks down.

SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK.

As he began to lecture, he quickened his pace, determined to finish this quickly.

"You don't skip school whenever you feel like it and you certainly don't disappear for the day without telling me where you are!"
"YES SIR!!" Kristin almost yelled, as loud as Gibbs had ever heard her.

With one more great SMACK he stopped and began rubbing her back as she quietly sobbed.

Kristin had never had such a caring punishment, in fact, she had never believed there was such a thing. Suddenly, she realised she had to clear the air once and for all. As Gibbs helped her up, she wiped away the few stray tears and raised her shaky head to look him in the eyes.

"I….I didn't go anywhere today"
Gibbs looked at her, wondering why she would now try to protest her innocence.
"I went to the library, I just, I just wanted to know what would happen if I screwed up." Kristin whispered,

"I told you what would happen?"
Kristin broke eye contact and looked down

"I didn't believe you. I wanted to but….if you turned out to be like him….I couldn't stay here. I had to know. I'm sorry."

Gibbs pulled Kristin over to her and helped her sit on the couch, which, to her credit, she did without complaint. He pulled her into his side and wrapped his arm around her.

"Well, did I pass?"
"Yes sir"

"I'm sorry you felt you needed to test me but I can understand why you would. Is there anything else I need to clear up or can I expect another act of disobedience in the near future?" Gibbs asked, with a smile in his voice

"No sir, got you loud and clear."

"Good. Kristin? I was worried about you today. Don't do it again"
Kristin allowed herself to relax into the man's hug, unbelieving that such an event had occurred. She finally felt safe.

One day of detention and 3 days of grounding later, Kristin relished in Gibbs word to forget her transgression and found herself laughing, talking and smiling more that she ever had. Having had an initial fear that Gibbs now expected her to never screw up again, she shared her fears with Tony who laughed and guided her over to Gibbs desk, who looked up, confused with the interruption.
"Boss, she's so cute, she thinks you think she'll be an angel from here on in and she'll never screw up again!" Tony laughed,

"Kristin," Gibbs replied, "If I gave up on someone after 1 mistake, I'd have gotten rid of Tony year ago. You're 14, you'll make mistakes. Just don't make them on purpose again."

Kristin laughed and nodded and walked back with Tony to his desk before a thought occurred to her,

"Wait, so he spanks you too?"
Turning around just in time she saw a very red faced Tony mumble something about Abby before scurrying off.