Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas is a writing job… a writing job. Gee, all I want for Christmas is writing job on NCIS!!! Alas, that may be a wish even Santa can't fulfill!
So, you know the drill… I haven't purchased the rights in the last 24 hours… I still don't own it!
A/N: Thank you to the many readers that have shown their support for this story with their reviews, and tags as a favorite story/author... you have my Muse on fire & you ROCK :-)!
Warning: THIS STORY will CONTAIN NON-SEXUAL SPANKING; ABORT THE MISSION… DO NOT READ… TURN BACK NOW IF THIS ISN'T YOUR THING.
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As she dragged him off Kate temporarily forgot about her over tender bottom. She had bigger issues on her mind. Dinner was moments from being delivered and she figured her time to be limited before her next appearance in front of the 'firing' squad.
"Hey! What have I told you about the man-handling?" Tony freed his arm from his sister's vice-grip once they entered his room.
Flopping on his bed he patted the spot next to him so Kate would follow suit.
Rooted to her spot she responded to his non-verbal gesture. "No, I'm good."
"He really roasted your ass didn't he?" Tony's tone wasn't necessarily gloating, but it wasn't laced with sympathy either.
"Not what I wanted to talk about Tony."
"Well, come on Katie what'd you think would happen with you two all snuggled up like you were running the joint?"
"Could you please focus? I need you to do something for me." Tiring of looking down at his lanky body Kate finally lay across the bed on her stomach.
Propped up on his elbow Tony eyed her suspiciously. "What could you possibly want?"
"You have to tell dad that the whole Hilton thing that went down was your fault and doing."
Tears were streaming down his face within seconds of his laughter beginning. Tony thought his father must have landed a blow or two to her frontal lobe if she thought that was going to happen. He was in hysterics. It was by far the craziest request his sister had made of him to date.
"Tony! I wasn't joking."
"Then you must be insane. There is no way in HELL I'm doing it Kate. Besides, did you forget the photographic evidence the man has? It's an 8x10 glossy of us leaning over the Headmistresses computer in her locked office… after hours. I'm thinking he's gonna go with the picture and not my word on how things went down."
"Come on T-man you can sell anything. Just say I was forced to participate. That I came along as the voice of reason to you and Abby's shenanigans." Alright it was an outrageous request she thought as she said it out loud.
"And I would do this why?" Sitting up Tony pressed his back against the headboard and forced his sister to roll over to see him. It also forced a cheek down on the bed and it was a vibrant reminder of her resent run-in with their father.
"Dad is so furious about the Ashen thing I'm one screw up away from not being able to see him at all. Leaving Georgetown is running a close second on his consequence list. Please Tony."
"No Kate, NO. Look right now I'm only in for a stupid choice that ultimately was about protecting my baby sister. For once I'm not in it deeper than you two. I am not giving that up for FREE!"
"What do you want?"
"You can't afford it."
Kate got up fully prepared to beg if need be. She cared about Ashen too much to just give up on the first no she got. Knowing that torturing her would probably be par for the course with her brother she was willing to play the game.
"I'll give you whatever you want. I have…"
"You have nothing I want Caitlin Marie. Nada. Zip. Zilch."
"Hear me out. You just know dad has some hideous punishment meant just for you. Something to ensure you have a miserable holiday break. I'll do whatever it is."
"Um… not sold." He was starting to take a little pleasure in the groveling. Frankly he knew she hadn't made her best offer yet and he was holding out.
"Damn it Tony."
"So not the way to persuade Katie and you haven't told me how I'm supposed to 'sell' dad on my very singular guilt."
"Look, you tell him Abby called me and I told her to call him and mom. She got hysterical… which is mostly true… and begged me to call you. You heard my message and drove down to Georgetown so we could go up and see what was going on in person. Then you add that I protested the whole way. When we got there you two bounced around ideas and I got so panicked that you'd do it with or without my help that I went along to make sure you didn't get in too deep. Just add that you took my phone because you thought I might snitch and he should totally buy it."
"That is the second craziest thing I've heard today." When he looked over he could see in her eyes though that she was serious. In her mind she saw this working. Tony thought love or fear or plain stupidity must be motivating her. Why she saw this as viable at all was beyond him.
Turning her back to him Kate's eyes were starting to fill with unshed tears. They looked all brown and mournful like she'd just killed her pet gerbil… again. Abby's tears were one thing. She was always on the verge of hysterics especially if there was an audience, but Kate even hinting at tears was going to break his heart. Damn her and her sad eyes.
"You know what dad says Kate 'I'm not moved by fake tears'"
"I'm not faking Tony. I'm scared. I swear I wouldn't ask if it was so important to me."
"He's just a guy Kate. Look I've been the boyfriend to the girl with the scary dad. We don't hang around long if it gets to complicated. You're only seventeen sweets so trust me dad's rules will get too complicated, even without the Hilton mess on the table. I'm sorry kid."
She was into full on tears now motivating her big brother to follow through with an action he reserved for only the most extreme circumstances. Tony stood up and embraced his sister letting her drip salty staining tears onto his sweatshirt while he rubbed her head.
"I don't think it'll work, but I'll give the ole' Tony D sell. It'll be okay Katie. I promise."
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Abby was indeed fascinated by her mother. She always had been. Not that admitting it would ever come into play, well not intentionally, but moments like now Jenny could feel her baby girl's love and admiration. The relationship with her girls was very different. Abby was the baby and it was taking a lot longer to break her pouting then it ever did with Kate. Being the middle child Kate wore her strength and independence like armor most days leaving Jenny and Jethro with other things to 'break' in her. Kate admired everything about her mom openly. If Jenny were a mold Kate wanted to be melted down and poured directly into it. Abby wanted to break it just to prove she could and then she'd sneak bits and pieces into her 'original' masterpiece. How did the same two parents create such different children?
Coming out of her closet in jeans and one of her husbands old NIS t-shirts Jenny sat at her vanity to remove her make-up and brush her hair down. She kept it up in a pony-tail most days because Mike Franks wouldn't deal with a high maintenance woman on his team. Reflected in the mirror was her daughter with her jet black hair, black lipstick, one two many holes in her ear (and body), and her usual dark color clothing. When she first started dressing that way Jenny thought her daughter was going through a depression or had started hanging around the 'wrong' crowd, but she was still Abs on the inside. Slowly her mother was dealing with Abs on the outside. Oddly enough, minus the piercing (gotten without permission) he wouldn't let her keep filled with earrings, Jethro was much more accepting of outside Abby. He was more concerned with actually behavior not fashion.
Sitting on the bed Abby just watched in silence for a long while. Even though her mom had brought her into the room to have some sort of conversation Abby noticed she was in no hurry to start it.
There was only so much quiet introspection the girl could take. "Mommy I'm sorry I said those awful things to you last night. They were really mean and I didn't mean them I was just angry."
Never stopping what she was doing the agent and mother took a note from her husbands rule book and let her lack of a response propel her daughter to keep talking.
"I've been getting that way a lot lately. I don't know why. Sometimes I just don't think people are listening to me and it makes me mad. I'm proud of you and Kate for graduating from Hilton. I don't hate it or you. I just want to come home."
Walking over to her daughter Jenny gathered her up in her arms using a few words to say much. "I'm listening Abby."
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He was on his third cup of liquid nitro. His wife often wondered how the man ever got to sleep after so many cups during the day. She sometimes teased that she thought their vigorous lovemaking was just a ploy he used to wear himself out. Never one to complain though Jenny chose to see it as a mutually beneficial circumstance.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Marine Gunny and NCIS senior field agent loved order, rules, and structure. Presently his home life didn't seem to have any. In his head he knew it was completely chauvinistic, but in his heart he felt it his sole responsibility to get things back on track. Seeing Kate in bed with Ashen hadn't been erased from his brain at all. Photos of his kids breaking and entering was right up there with mind scorching imagery and he hadn't spoken to his son yet, but didn't doubt his dealings in all this would amount to disastrous at best and criminal at worst.
Working on his miniature wooden boat project had done little to settle him. Usually if he used his hands his mind freed up and solutions came forth. It just wasn't working tonight. He wouldn't hear from Mrs. Updike until the morning and therefore wouldn't be able to confirm anything he was told tonight. The talk still had to happen, but he wasn't looking forward to it.
His father had never been one to shy away from a little corporal judgment if the behavior called for it no matter his age, but Jethro was torn. Spanking the girls wasn't easier, but Tony was twenty years old now. He hadn't given him more than a violent pop to the back of the head since he blackmailed his sister with compromising photos and planted a pregnancy test. Behavior like that called for nothing less than a belt to the backside.
Hearing the doorbell Gibbs set aside his sandpaper and his angst. They needed to have dinner. He would let the evening play out and the evidence guide his choices. It had always worked in the past.
Coming up from the basement he met his wife and youngest at the door paying the delivery guy as his two older children came down to meet them.
"Um, what'd you decide to get mom? It smells great." Tony could make the shift from turmoil to foodie in seconds.
"It's Thai Tony. You three go set the table please." Jenny handed each of them a bag taking her husbands arm holding him back a few paces.
"What Jen?"
"Just thought you could use this," she said hugging him close. Whispering in his ear she continued, "You're a great father Jethro to all of our children. You'll figure out what to do with Tony when the time comes and it'll be the right thing."
"How'd you know?" He asked not releasing her.
"I have a gut too you know. Plus twenty-two years of marriage doesn't hurt either. Let's go eat. I'm starved and our children have been known to leave us with the scraps."
They both took off for the kitchen their pace slightly quicker than usual.