Disclaimer: Of course NCIS… characters… and such belong to the powers that be & not ME!!! Story created for purely entertainment value.

You know the drill… The character of Kathleen, the 2nd Mrs. Gibbs, is complete fiction and has no connection to actual show history.

A/N: Sit back, suspend belief and enjoy it as the fiction it's meant to be.

Warning: THIS STORY will CONTAIN NON-SEXUAL SPANKING; ABORT THE MISSION… DO NOT READ… TURN BACK NOW IF THIS ISN'T YOUR THING.

****Sort of forgot this in the last chapter****

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Silence prevailed for the duration. The girls, head back and against the window respectively, were each focused on their own thoughts. Only an occasional glance or sudden jar of the car, which caused instant momentary contact, brought them from their private reverie.

Gibbs, well he could only multi-task so many major issues. The girls were presently taking a back seat to Stan's latest outburst over Jenny's newest bout of insubordination, Pacci's inability to book an irate and demanding suspect without his hand being held, and a nasty phone call with someone named Coleman from the motor pool. They were a few blocks away from the house when the car made an abrupt screeching stop underneath one of the neighborhoods old sycamore trees. Both Stacey and Kate lurched forward clutching their respective headrest. Gibbs flipped his phone open violently. When his verbal onslaught ensued the reason for the stop became clear.

"You better be somewhere secure… I don't want to hear excuses Jen… you're damn right I'm taking his side… no, no you don't… as a matter of fact don't say another word just listen… I'm putting Stan on the first flight out to deal with the consulate. You will do EVERYTHING he says, you will follow every order explicitly and without debate... I don't care, I don't care! Oh, and Jennifer if he reports so much as a snide comment or an eye roll you will deal with me… being written up will be the least of your worries do I make myself clear Special Agent Shepard?... I asked you a question… get your head on straight Jen. Finish the job the way I expect… we'll deal with the rest of it when we're all on the same continent."

Just as abrupt as the stop was so was the pull from the curb back into the flow of traffic. The look shared in the backseat conveyed the shared thought, 'WOW! It was really possible for him to be even more pissed off and whatever was worse than being written up they wished Jen luck… for her safety and choices'.

Not waiting to be instructed on the obvious both backdoors flew open as soon as the car was shut-off. Kate walked around to her dad and Stacey's side. Walking in Gibbs sighed loud and large. Only the faint glow and intermitten sound bites coming from the family room gave clue to the whereabouts of the occupant in the house. The girls followed at a 'safe' distance.

Tony was sprawled over the sofa. Brown and blue pillows were tossed about on the floor. One of Diane's must have purchases, a handmade cashmere blend chocolate, navy and tan afghan, was haphazardly pulled across his mid-section.

"HEY!" Jethro barked inches above his son's head as he turned on the lamp, flooding the room in a soft white wash of light. Tony nearly slipped from the cushions with a comedic flair that threatened to send the girls into hysterics.

"Ah, dad ever heard of easing a guy awake?"

"You ever heard of following orders? What is it with you and your sister and alarms?"

Tony wasn't sure why the man's blood pressure was so elevated, but his father didn't seem to be in the mood for a lot of smart ass flip comments. "This looks like hanging out, but I did finish studying. Ladies," Tony finally acknowledged them being in the room.

"Nice outfit Tony." Stacey was happily distracted.

"Put on your damn shirt," Gibbs tossed him his discarded t-shirt before turning to the girls.

"You two upstairs and get ready for bed. Tony clean up the mess set the alarm and hit the rack."

As he was crossing out of the room his son tossed one of his usual off-the-cuff question at him. "So, what you picked them up on the side of the road?"

"Set the alarm Anthony!"

Now Tony had a handle on his father's mood and the cause for it. Things must have gone as bad as he thought they would with his sister's little 'field-trip'. He knew she was definitely dead, but he couldn't figure out Stacey's being there for it. As he started gathering stuff to take to the kitchen he knew he'd find out everything soon enough.

~*~*~*~*~

Kate had given Stacey some pajamas and one of the extra toothbrushes from the medicine cabinet. They were basically moving around one another in silence. Kate's stomach cramped, bubbled and burned. Stacey was feeling a queasy herself. Maybe he'd just let them all sleep on things until the morning was Stacey's wish, but her friend knew differently. Gibbs was not a fan of letting things fester until the next day. When everyone woke up in the morning it would be to a fresh start.

They were lying across the bed horizontally with their feet dangling off the side. Each had an ear bud in from Kate's I-pod not wanting the edgy Agent to think they were up there partying as though nothing was wrong.

Stacey was the closest thing Kate had to a sister since Kelly died and she barely remembered her. It sucked to get caught by her dad, the pending punishment for getting caught would majorly suck and seeing the look in her grandparents eyes had sucked to the power of three. The only thing that took the edge off every aspect of the situation was going through it with her best friend… her 'sister'.

"Katie I'm tired. Does your dad expect us to wait up all night for him?"

"Believe me this is something you want to put off." They both put their heads down while their bodies swayed with the song.

"You gonna get grounded forever, huh?"

"Least of my problems Stace."

Back up on an elbow, "sort of like that Jen person he was on the phone with in the car?"

"Something like that."

"Who is she? Is she his type?" The girls often attempted to play matchmaker after Jethro's divorce from Diane.

"I have no idea. I only met her once and honestly from the pictures around the house of my mom and considering my last two stepmoms I would say it was a real possibility she was his type. He's seeing Stephanie though and he's no cheat."

"So, who is she?"

"Shouldn't we be focused on plausible excuses rather then my dad's love life?"

"We went, we had fun, and we got caught. There's nothing to focus on. Who is she?"

"Uugghh! Jennifer Shepard was a new agent transferred to Mike Frank's team about a month before he retired. When my dad took over as team leader he kept her on and added Stan Burleigh. Since Jennifer started on the team a little before Stan she felt like she should have been made Senior Field Agent. My dad disagreed and made Stan his second."

"Major chauvinistic move," the man was seriously old fashion.

"Not really. Stan had more actual field experience, better contacts from working in the senate and had worked TAD with my dad and Franks before Jen. Or at least that's the way I heard my dad explain it to Uncle Ducky in the basement one night."

"Proud of the eavesdropping efforts," Stacey rolled in to face her friend who had moved to a front facing position. "I'm guessing it stings having to take orders from your dad and Stan."

"I guess. I don't know about Stan, but taking them from my dad is a major hassle."

"It's no picnic having them disobeyed on a regular basis either."

Snatching the ear buds out both girls sat up on the bed facing the door. Gibbs was standing in the frame of the door with his hands shoved in his pockets. His hair was damp. Obviously in all that time he had opted to take a shower. Wearing his worn jeans and NIS sweatshirt he didn't look as imposing. His fear factor had gone down exponentially.

"Stacey you can sleep in Tim's room tonight. Bed's all made up for you."

"Kate and I don't mind sharing a bed. We have a couple of guest rooms and we still always share at my house."

"My fault, did that come out as a suggestion? It wasn't. You are not here for a fun filled sleepover with music, snacks, and hours of giggling. It's time for bed."

Jaws dropped at the harsher ton he was taking. Stacey got off the bed and moved in his direction. Kate stood on the other side of the bed, but didn't move.

"You two have had your last hurrah tonight. There will be no more schemes. I did reach the Commander. He wasn't thrilled to hear from me again so soon." Stacey's knees may have visibly buckled.

"You spoke with my dad? How upset was he? Did you tell him I had permission to be there?"

"He gave me permission to handle your punishment since technically you're on my watch now."

"Daddy!?"

"I declined. Stacey your mother will pick you up after breakfast. Your dad has plans on calling her first thing. The one thing we agreed on was that you two will be taking a hiatus from each other. When your punishments are over you can have supervised visits."

The girls exchanged obvious confused, panicked glances.

"Daddy please don't. Nothing like this will ever happen again."

"She's right Agent Gibbs we'll stop… we'll…" They were cut off.

Stepping from the door so she'd have room to pass, "good night Stacey."

Well, this wasn't open to discussion. Since she was getting off relatively easy for the night Stacey decided to cut her loses. "Good night sir… night Katie."

"Night Stace," Kate sat back on her bed and watched her friend go through the door. This was worse than Alice down the rabbit hole. Neither girl knew what would happen next.

When the door had closed Gibbs walked to the foot of his daughter's bed. Clutching the foot board he looked down sternly at Kate's glassy doe like brown eyes in preparation for what would have to come next.

"Now how about you tell me what possessed you to think anything you did tonight was a good idea."

*~*~* TBC *~*~*