Leigh looked up at the sound of the door opening. It took her about half a second to realise that she didn't give a damn about military decorum. She leapt to her feet, and Gibbs barely had the door closed behind him before she launched herself into his arms. She sobbed against his shoulder, not caring that she was rumpling her uniform or that naval officers were not supposed to break down weeping.

To her relief, he didn't say anything, just hugged her tightly and let her cry. It was only when her sobs had given way to quiet sniffles that he took a step back and held her at arm's length.

'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I did! I called and...'

'You told me that your CO spanked you. You didn't tell me that he beat you.'

'I thought...'

'Why did you lie to me?'

'I didn't!'

'Leigh...'

'How was I supposed to know? I'd never been spanked with a belt before!' Leigh protested, almost hysterically. Her heart was racing, and her hands were clammy. She pulled in a long, shaky breath, trying to calm down.

Bending over to let her commanding officer whip her with his belt had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done. She'd been terrified, and humiliated. She knew he was right – she'd never be accepted for pilot training if she had a black mark like this on her record. And she wanted to fly... needed to fly. And if that meant accepting informal, off-the-record punishment for a massive screw-up, then that's what she would do. Even without Gibbs's warning that this might be a possibility some day, she knew she would have made the same decision. She'd have been more shocked by the offer, but it wouldn't have affected the outcome. But that didn't mean it was easy to agree to let a man she didn't particularly like, or respect, punish her in a way that was both personal and painful.

And to have Uncle Tony, and now Gibbs, telling her that she'd done something wrong by accepting her CO's discipline, that he'd done something wrong by inflicting it, was turning her world upside down.

She wasn't used to having to seriously question whether or not a punishment was fair. Sure, she'd grumbled and complained at times, growing up, trying to talk her way out of a spanking, or angling for sympathy, afterwards. But she hadn't honestly felt like she didn't deserve it. She didn't think of spankings in terms of abuse. And it hadn't occurred to her, this time, to do more than decide that Capt. Simmons had a heavy hand, and resolve never to incur his displeasure so spectacularly again.

'How was I supposed to know it wasn't supposed to be like that?' she continued, her voice cracking.

To her surprise, Leigh found herself drawn back into a hug, so tight that she could barely breathe. After a moment, Gibbs murmured in her ear, 'Do you honestly think I'd ever spank you like that?'

'No... but...'

'That's how you know, Leigh. That's how you know.'

Leigh's efforts to pull herself together evaporated and she dissolved into tears again. And, again, Gibbs held her until she was spent before gently wiping a finger across her cheek and offering her a tissue from his pocket.

'Ok. You ready to get an agent in here to take your statement?'

Leigh felt a wave of panic returning.

'No! I can't!'

'You can, and you will,' Gibbs replied, sounding, to Leigh's ears, for all the world like he was once again directing her younger self through some hated task.

'You don't understand! I have to...'

'You think I don't understand how hard it is to file a report against your CO?' Gibbs demanded in a voice that made Leigh cringe.

Good one, she told herself. Suggesting the Gunny doesn't understand life in the military is such a good idea!

'I know it's hard. But you're going to do it anyway. Because it's the right thing to do.'

'But...'

'No buts, Leigh. You are not going to cover for him.'

'I'm not...'

'You let him get away with this, you let him go back out there and do the same thing to someone else under his command, and you're no better than he is.'

'But why can't Lieutenant Nielson...'

'You are not going let your fellow officer carry the whole load on this! That's not the way your parents raised you, and that's not the kind of officer you're going to be.'

'Yessir.' She knew Gibbs hated being called 'Sir', and on some level she even recognised the absurdity of an officer sirring a non-com, but she couldn't help herself. The response was too ingrained, too instinctive. And the smirk he gave her told her that he understood.

'Good. Now I'm going to send that agent back in here, and you are going to co-operate fully with her investigation. Understood?'

Leigh just nodded, chewing on her lower lip. Her heart was still racing and her palms were still sweating and she still hated the idea of everyone knowing what had happened and knowing that she had broken the military code of silence and made an official complaint about her commanding officer and thinking of her as a complainer or, worse, a victim. She felt her chin being tipped up, and Gibbs forced her to meet his eyes.

'Good girl,' he told her, before pressing his lips against her forehead.

Watching him open the door and step out into the hallway, Leigh braced herself. She had a feeling that her day was about to get even worse.