Please See Chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimers.

Chapter 9

Ashlynn's mind was awhirl with thoughts and emotions. Most of them centered around Leroy Jethro Gibbs and that fact that he'd...done what he had. Anger and indignation warred with other emotions that she really couldn't place. Gibbs had acted…well he'd acted like he was her father. He'd chastened her for underage drinking, the way she dressed, and having a hickey or two on her neck. Like he was really worried about her, rather than the impact her actions would have on her brothers or the case. When she had first seen Gibbs in the club, relief like she had never felt washed over her, and it wasn't just because he allowed her to escape from Nicolao's amorous attention. She was tired of being in charge and for the briefest moment it just felt good to let the responsibility pass to someone else.

Her mother had always treated her like an equal and a friend, which was really nice in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, the weight of responsibility that it placed on Ashlynn sometimes felt too heavy for her young shoulders. Just briefly, Ash wondered what it would have been like if she, like her brothers, had fallen under the custody of a loving but strict father. Where certain decisions were taken out of her hands, and the consequence for a bad choice was being grounded…well, in Gibbs' case that might not be the extent of the consequences. Still what would it have been like to feel protected? Because to some degree that's how Gibbs made her feel.

Deirdre wouldn't have said word one about finding Ashlynn in a club having a drink wearing a designer dress that accentuated her attractive figure. Somehow it had sent a frisson of gratification through Ash that Gibbs even cared. Of course if those things put him in such a state, she really wasn't sure she wanted to discuss ditching the FBI (again), interfering with a federal investigation, or going undercover with the son of someone responsible for recruiting American turncoats. Not to mention the trouble Cam had got in just to keep Gibbs occupied for her! Or the lies.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Ashlynn took a calming breath. She just needed to explain to Gibbs calmly and rationally that she was an adult, fully capable of making decisions involving risky situations. This plan was nothing more than a means to an end and thus certain actions had been necessary. Her mother had raised her to be self-sufficient and she had done nothing more than take some initiative. Ashlynn smiled as her thoughts drifted once again to Deirdre. They had been best friends, and quite honestly she had been the more mature of the two. Ash really missed her mom.

The car spun into a parking spot, pulling Ashlynn from her ruminations. Gibbs walked around to open Ashlynn's door. Looking up to meet his eyes, she noted that he was still thoroughly pissed. Deciding not to poke an angry bear, she accepted his help getting out of the car and didn't complain as he ushered her into the elevator. Once in the elevator, however, Ash decided it was time to get a few things straight.

"Agent Gibbs," she started, pleased with the quiet calm of her voice, but she didn't get to continue.

"Not one word."

"What?"

"I'm taking you down to interrogation where you can wait for me to get a Sit Rep from my team. Then we'll talk. Until then, not one word."

Ashlynn's mouth dropped open, but snapped closed after a moment, her lips pursing in irritation as she glared at the man. If he thought she was going to say one more word to him tonight, or technically this morning, he was sadly mistaken! Noting her mutinous look, Gibbs took two menacing steps toward her staring Ash down, but her temper had won out over reason and she just glowered back.

"Do not test me right now."

Ash swallowed, and dropped her gaze not wanting to admit how much Gibbs really did intimidate her. When he looked down at her like that she felt as if she were about Cam's age. The elevator doors opened and he led her to an empty interrogation room. He forcibly sat her in a chair and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind him. Within seconds, Ash had her phone out, but before she could so much as hit one button the door reopened and Gibbs approached, plucking the phone from her hand.

"HEY!"

He lifted his eyebrow and the silent warning was undeniable. Ash didn't argue further. Gibbs exited and she sat there for a few moments just stewing. All of her earlier sentiment about feeling protected or cared for dissolved, giving way to indignation and frustration. She had helped out both NCIS and the FBI by serving up the perfect opportunity to track down Castillo. They had absolutely no right to treat her like a criminal…or a child!

She glowered at the two-way mirror, wondering if anyone were behind it. Highly unlikely she decided. It must be close to two in the morning. Opening her purse, she took out a small leather packet and approached the door. She was unsurprised to find it locked, but Gibbs had made a mistake in taking just her phone and not her purse. Ash smiled and set about opening the door, trying to ignore the sense of foreboding that kept tickling at the back of her consciousness. Just as she freed the latch, the door swung open forcibly and she jumped back, dropping the implements onto the floor.

Gibbs looked from Ash to the fallen tools and back to Ash, his face a mask of fury. She immediately dropped her gaze, feeling as if his eyes might actually burn holes into her flesh. Closing the door forcibly behind him he bent to pick up what Ashlynn had dropped and slipped it into his pocket. Without a word he took hold of Ash's arm and led her back to the table. He took a seat and pulled her unceremoniously across his lap. Ignoring her struggles, he landed fifteen sharp slaps to her silk-clad backside before letting her up.

"You son of a bitch!" She spit at him taking several steps back and trying to blink away the tears in her eyes.

"New rule. Respect. Meaning you don't swear at me. Tobias is going to be here in less than five minutes. You have two choices. You and I can finish this now, in front of Fornell, or we can deal with it later just the two of us."

Ashlynn was shaking her head vehemently. She had no intention of allowing Gibbs to 'finish' anything. The swats earlier and the spanking he'd just delivered hurt quite enough and she had no desire to experience any more.

Gibbs looked the teen squarely in the eyes, an edge to his voice as he continued, "Take a seat now or I'm assuming you choose the first option."

Ashlynn held his gaze for all of five seconds before moving to sit down, making a point not to wince when her bottom hit the chair. Despite all of the things she wanted to say right now, she had decided it just wasn't worth the humiliation of Fornell seeing her punished like a child.

They didn't have to wait long before there was a sharp knock on the door and Fornell entered. He took a seat next to Gibbs facing Ashlynn. His face registered his own displeasure with her actions the past day.

"What do you know about Castillo?" Gibbs started.

"Thought I wasn't allowed to speak." Ashlynn signed sarcastically.

Gibbs got up, and took his jacket off, hanging it on the back of his chair. "Sorry Tobias, I thought Ash was ready to cooperate." It was obvious to both parties in the room that despite the vocabulary used, this was no true apology and Fornell's lips quirked as Gibbs continued, "If you'll give us just a few minutes –"

"No!" Ashlynn exclaimed as the man started rolling up his sleeves. "I'll tell you what you want to hear. Okay? All I know is that he might be linked with Covas. That he's possibly a legman for his recruiting efforts in the states."

Pinning her with a warning glare, Gibbs reseated himself.

"How did you find out about Castillo?" Fornell wanted to know.

Ashlynn's cheeks turned a bit pink and she focused her eyes at a speck on the far wall next to the two-way mirror, biting her lip nervously.

"Answer him," Gibbs growled.

"I uh," she cleared her throat. "Bugged your phone. When I swiped it, that first day."

She was met with two identical scowls and dropped her eyes to the table.

"How did you get the information on Reyes?" Gibbs asked, moving on.

"My mom's contacts."

"Why the hell, didn't you just tell us?" Gibbs demanded his voice getting louder.

"I don't know. I wasn't sure. Didn't want to waste your time on a long shot."

Gibbs slammed his hand on the table. "Don't lie to me!"

"I thought you might scare him off."

"We're professionals, trained to do this," Fornell replied angrily. "You aren't! You could have blown our one lead!"

"A lead I got for you! And I didn't blow it did I? What exactly are you upset about anyway? Your hands would have been tied in legalities. I handed him to you on a silver platter."

"You interfered with a federal investigation! You realize that we could charge you for that?" Fornell responded heatedly.

"Oh, yeah, that's it. Arrest me for doing your job better than you do!"

"Enough!" Gibbs barked. "Respect, remember?"

Ashlynn opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it closed again, thinking better of voicing her thoughts.

"What else do you know?"

"There's a possibility that your Navy Captain attempted suicide out of more than guilt. Covas might have something hanging over his head. Have a look into the alias Jerome Brown and the bank accounts associated with him."

"HOW –"

Ashlynn held up her hand to forestall Fornell's rant. "I just got that piece of information today and haven't substantiated it. It may or may not be true."

"Anything else?" Gibbs asked.

The girl shook her head.

"Rudy Davis?"

Ashlynn shrugged. "Just an old acquaintance. He's got nothing to do with Covas or Castillo."

"The assassination attempt?"

"I told you it wasn't Covas."

At Gibbs's sharp look, Ashlynn sighed. "I set it up. It wasn't real. No harm done."

"Outside of the wasted man hours that could have been used on the case!" Gibbs yelled, unhappy with her laissez-faire attitude. "What exactly did you think you were doing going into that meeting with Reyes?"

"Trying to verify his identity for one, and making him traceable for two," she yelled back.

Fornell's phone rang and he excused himself to answer. After a few moments the FBI agent reappeared. "I need to head out, Jethro."

"Night Tobias," Gibbs answered before turning back to Ashlynn. "Walking into that situation tonight was stupid! You could have been killed!"

"I doubt that. Sexually assaulted, maybe, but I don't think killed," she answered flippantly.

"You think this is funny?" Gibbs thundered in response. When she didn't answer the man continued. "Because it isn't. You've been treating this like some big game set for your amusement just like Deirdre would have but THIS IS NOT A GAME!"

"Don't you think I understand that? My mother's dead!"

"Which is exactly the way you're going to end up if you don't knock it off. Deirdre might have let you be apart of this type of thing, but I'm here to tell you, I WON'T."

"You have no authority over me."

"You are a part of my family."

That brought her up short. Ashlynn looked at him quizzically. Surprise was written all over her face.

"Your brothers are my sons. They are your family and that makes you mine." While Ashlynn was still mulling that over he continued, "So now we're going to talk about your behavior. You lied – repeatedly. You withheld information and interfered with an investigation. You wasted valuable time with your antics. You disappeared leaving no indication of your whereabouts. Walked into an extremely dangerous situation, looking like," he waved his hand "That! And I'd hate to even tally all of your illegal activities on top of all that."

"I delivered Nicolao," she stated quietly.

"There were better ways to have done that. I want you front and center, now!" he commanded sharply, turning his chair and pointing to the spot in front of him.

"Oh, no! Hell no!" She replied spinning out of her chair and holding it in front of her.

"If we have to do this the hard way, you're the one that's going to regret it," he stated coldly not moving from his seat.

"I answered your questions. Now I want to leave. Go back to my hotel and get some sleep," she replied still holding the chair.

"That's not going to happen."

Ashlynn inched towards the door, still holding the chair between them. Gibbs just shook his head standing to his feet, an almost resigned look on this face. Ash raised the chair higher.

"I'm telling you right now, young lady, if you throw that chair at me, I'm going to be using my belt."

Ashlynn swallowed and brought the chair back down, though she didn't release it entirely. Her eyes shot to the door, but before she could make a dash for it, Gibbs was at her side, prying her hands from the piece of furniture. She pulled away from him with all her might, trying to land a kick to exact her freedom, but he evaded her attack and before she knew it she was once again staring at the floor, secured over Gibbs's lap. Ashlynn squirmed and kicked for all she was worth, but as it turned out she was no match for the former marine.

Ashlynn hissed at the searing pain of the first powerful swat to her upturned bottom. Nothing he'd delivered thus far even compared. Just as her brain was registering exactly how bad this was going to be, another mighty slap landed just below the first and an involuntary yelp of pain escaped from her lips. By the time the third smack fell she was struggling to get away, but Gibbs just snugged her close to his body and continued with the onslaught.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" the teen shrieked in desperation.

His only reply was another resounding smack of his heavy hand on her backside, then another. Determined to curb the girl's reckless behavior, Gibbs continued to spank in a forceful, measured cadence for several minutes until her bottom was radiating heat through the thin silk of her dress.

Ashlynn had abandoned her attempts at escape and now focused on holding it together. Undermining her attempts to hold her breath, the painful swats brought involuntary gasps of pain. Cam was right – Gibbs had a hard hand. Ash was cursing her decision to avoid unseemly lines by wearing a thong. It felt like her rear was on fire. Tears streamed down her face and she began to wonder how long this would go on. As the heat built in her posterior, her ire cooled; a very small piece of her realized that she might just have this coming, and that if it was anyone's right to do this, it was Gibbs's. She immediately pushed the thought away and then heard herself offer a muted whimper as several scorching swats landed on the juncture of her bottom and thigh. Releasing one last hitching breath, Ashlynn started to sob.

Gibbs paused. For a few moments he rubbed comforting circles on her back and let her catch her breath, but held her fast not ready to let her up. Though he knew he had been far from easy on her, he also knew that if Ashlynn didn't make some changes she would indeed end up hurt, in prison or even dead. It may not be his right, but he'd decided he wasn't going to let that happen. When Ashlynn had calmed considerably, Gibbs spoke.

"What have her learned?"

"Not to mess with you," she sniffed.

"That's a start. What else?" Met with silence, Gibbs brought his hand down again, noting as he did so that the skirt to her dress had ridden up during the spanking, revealing the reddened skin of her upper thigh.

"Not to lie."

"What else?"

"Not to take off without notice or interfere with a federal investigation," she said in a rush.

"What else?" When she didn't answer he landed another three swats causing her to squirm involuntarily.

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"I think you do," he said slapping his hand down sharply.

"Ouch! Not to beak the law," she answered figuring that should cover most of her other offenses.

"One more thing."

Ashlynn almost panicked. She ran through the rules Gibbs had set for her brothers and realized what he was getting at just as the next swat hit her blazing derriere. "Safety," she blurted out. "I mean not to walk into a potentially dangerous situation."

"Okay, then we're done," Gibbs said loosening his hold on the girl and helping her to stand. "But if we have to revisit these lessons, I won't be so lenient."

"Lenient?" Ashlynn sniffed in disbelief as she gained her feet.

Gibbs stood up, pulling her into a hug. "Lenient," he answered definitively offering a kiss to the top of her head. "You have a lifetime of bad habits that need breaking, kiddo."

Unable to deny the comfort he offered, Ashlynn leaned into the embrace and laid her head on his chest. She knew she should be raging at him for his treatment of her, but for just a few moments she didn't want to be strong and independent. Just for a little while it would be nice to allow herself to be taken care of for a change. It felt so good to be held and feel safe. Morning would be soon enough for protestations and righteous anger. Right now she would let the tears fall unchecked and relish the feel of strong arms around her.

TBC...

(If you noted that Ash getting Cam into trouble was not brought up, I haven't forgotten. That will come up later.)