So all in all it had been a stressful week and now Gibbs found himself summonsed to Vances' office. He had not been told why and truth be told he was not really focused upon the reasoning behind it as he made his way up to the Directors Office. Instead he was focusing on how he was going to deal with the youngest and newest member of his team and her latest escapade. Sure the others had been trying his patience all week but nothing had got his blood boiling like this for some time.

DiNozzo had been a little distracted at the start of the week with his enthusiasm to track down his British Royal ancestry. His own eventual realization that he was possibly related to the 17th Earl of Trent who was suspected in some exalted historical circles to have been Jack the Ripper had calmed him down quite considerably. The occasional head slap had helped too…. Just to remind him to do his research in his own time.

DiNozzo had also come to his own realization that he had been dismissive of their victims' (Major Newton) suspicions over the years and had been positively rude about him. Ducky had reported to Gibbs that DiNozzo had been down to autopsy to make his apologies to the man. Perhaps a little late but it certainly marked a new level of maturity in his young protégé and Gibbs had not had to give him help in getting there.

The only time Gibbs had really had to get anywhere close to having a private chat in the conference room with Tony was after his visit to see Master Sergeant Dillon at Quantico when he had been somewhat disrespectful to the man scoffing at his performing in Le Cage aux Folles and suggesting he was playing the part of the Drag Queen Za Za. A quick word with Tony following an unofficial complaint made directly to Gibbs by Dillon and the threat that anymore of this sort of thing would result in Tony being forced to attend every equality and diversity seminar going in the State for the next month had brought forth the requisite apology.

No Tony was not the problem and could not be the cause of the summons to the office.

Tim, well he had been Tim; a little jealous of Tony at the start of the week and a few comments and jibes made about Tony here and there but a glance, well perhaps more of a glare from Gibbs had swiftly put a stop to all of that. The only other thing that he had slightly annoyed Gibbs with was his not picking up the call from Ellie when she was trying to alert him about the suspects. Sure he was trying to follow up on a lead but a quick answer and an improvised conversation would have saved a lot of problems. Tony had however taken him to one side and ripped into him about being uncontactable and had then provided him with a master class in telephone acting for him to use on any further undercover ops.

Abby had already confessed to him a week before about her little run in with the police and her need to complete online traffic school. He had been angry that once again Abby's disregard for the rules of the road and her own safety behind the wheel had brought her into conflict with the law but he had dealt with that by grounding her for a month so that she would have no need to be texting Sister Rosita whilst driving to arrange their next bowling session. For what it was worth Sister Rosita had agreed with this line of punishment and had also given Abby a piece of her mind about the dangers of driving and texting too. That had stung and Abby had promised to become a reformed driver.

Gibbs was angry with her over Ellie's latest exploits. She had known Ellie had gone into the suspects' house alone and had not alerted anyone. Only at the last minute when it was already too late had she called Gibbs in panic and terror. She had then watched her little sister being attacked by Hudson through the tv link and had experienced the abject fear that she may never see her alive again. That was a lesson in and of itself and one which Gibbs had re-inforced when he found her later in her lab in tears, cuddling Bert the Hippo and offering up whatever prayers she could that Bishop would come back to her in one piece. The spanking she had received had not needed to be a particularly long or harsh one and after the first few smacks from Gibbs rough hand she had dissolved into a mess of heart racking sobs and sniffling. It had been delivered more to help her get over her feelings of guilt than anything else. Abby could not be the source of the summons.

It had to be Ellie Bishop that was the cause of the demanded meeting and that knowledge and belief was doing nothing to quell the anger brewing in Gibbs' gut. He reached the Directors door and marched right in. No point in putting this off any longer, he had other problems to resolve.

As he strode into the office with the appearance of more confidence than he actually had in the situation, he found Leon on the phone clearly trying to appease some political figure or another. Vance looked up from the call at the unceremonious entrance to his office. He had long ago given up on expecting Gibbs to knock but he sure as hell got annoyed by the confident stomp right up to his desk and the steely gaze that fell upon him almost demanding that he end the call to SecNav and deal with Gibbs now.

Vance gradually drew the call to an end, taking in several deep breaths, apologizing for the umpteenth time and promising to have a report into the situation on the SecNavs desk within the next 48 hours. As he finally replaced the handset back into the cradle he took one final deep breath before standing up to meet Gibbs glare head on.

"Why'd you summons me he here Leon?" Gibbs started the discourse in a rather terse tone.

"Because Gibbs, it may have escaped your notice, but I am still the Director of this little set-up and you answer to me, not the other way round" came the angry retort.

"Jeez and I thought you might have a reason as to why you are calling me here rather than letting me get on sorting my team out and putting this latest case to bed," remarked Gibbs in a surly and sarcastic manner.

Wanting to bite back, but knowing that one of them would need to bite their tongue if they were going to sort this out Leon refused to be further goaded by Gibbs on this occasion. Instead he moved around the desk and over to the drinks cabinet to pour himself and Gibbs a single malt whisky.

Pointing to a seat around his conference table he indicated for Gibbs to sit himself down and then placed the crystal glass with the smooth amber liquid in front of him. As he too took a seat and a deep sigh he looked at the leader of his MCRT and realized, not for the first time, that Gibbs looked tired. Perhaps he should tread a little more carefully with him.

"That was SecNav on the phone," he started. "He wants to know why he has a $500 an hour lawyer on the phone to his personal secretary demanding the head of the lead investigator on the Hudson case at Quantico." He paused but no answer was forthcoming from Gibbs.

Vance continued, "It seems that Hudson has hired himself an aggressive attorney to defend him, probably using his wife's'inheritance to fund it. The attorney is threatening that she is going to sue the Marines for unlawful search of her clients home and for injury caused during that unauthorized entry. Tell me that we at least have some kind of a defence to this."

Gibbs frowned, "Hell Leon the guy had his ex-wife butchered, preserved in formaldehyde and shrink wrapped into vacuum packs and stored in boxes in his spare bedroom and you want me to explain why he should not be suing the Government?"

"Yes I do," came the reply, "Convince me that some fancy assed Beltway lawyer is not going to get this bastard off on some sort of a technicality and then rub salt in the wound by getting compensation for him."

Taking a long sip of the whisky in front of him, Gibbs paused before replying, "I'll sort it Leon, it's on me, I'll sort it." With that he stood from the table. "Is there anything else or can I get back to the team?"

"Make sure you do sort it, I need your report to me about what happened and whether you have disciplined your team on my desk by close of play tomorrow." Demanded Vance.

"You'll have it," came the short reply, "you'll have it" he repeated as he turned and made his way to the door.