Disclaimer - I do not own NCIS.

Warning - Contains spanking, don't like, don't read - Step away from the story now!

A/N - This is for Crazy4Gibbs who wanted another story to read whilst she was on vacation. Enjoy!

Jethro Gibbs looked at his reflection in the mirror and took in a deep breath. He was trying desperately to calm down.

As a Marine, he was used to being able to deal with fear. He could handle the prospect of death, and, the fact that the buddies he spent time with one moment, could be gone the next, in the heat of battle. He had learned to deal with that sensation in his gut, which was a volatile mix, of fear, relief, anticipation and alertness.

As a father, he had recognised similar feelings in his gut when he watched Kelly take teetering steps towards the edge of a table, or when he watched her wobbling on her bike, trying desperately to stay upright. There had only been one time when he had gotten close to those Marine feelings, when her delicate fingers were perilously close to a lit candle. He could still remember her frightened face, wet with tears, as he yelled at her. Although a Marine who had no fear, he was still a father who was scared at the prospect of his baby being hurt.

He sighed heavily.

He never expected to have those feelings again. They had resurfaced automatically as soon as he had found out what was going on. When it was all over, he had resolved, just as he had done with Kelly, to clearly explain to those involved, what the consequences of their actions could have been. There was a lesson to be imparted to make sure such an incident would never happen again.

"I swear, you guys are gonna give me a coronary, one of these days," he muttered to himself.

He straightened up, and stretched his neck a little, steeling himself for what he was about to do, as his mind replayed his earlier confrontation with Jen.


"Jethro, are they okay?" Jen asked, with a worried look.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, instantly reassuring her.

"They're fine Jen. Ducky is checking them over as a precaution, but they are okay."

She placed a hand on her brow, and sighed with relief.

"What the hell happened?"

He took a few moments to respond, carefully measuring his tone and eye contact.

"It was an accident Jen. They were working on some tests from a cold case and there must've been a problem with what they were using. Abby can explain later, but for now, all you need to know, is that everything's almost back to normal."

She smiled and then inhaled deeply,

"Okay. I want a full report on my desk by tomorrow morning."

He nodded and headed towards the bathroom. His gut on overdrive.

...end of Flashback

Having reassured the Director that it was a legitimate accident, he reconciled his lies within himself and began to focus on the behaviour of those involved.

He knew he had one more thing to do, before he could put the whole sorry mess behind him.

And then get some damned coffee down his neck.

To be continued...