An: Thanks to all those readers who reviewed and faved. I need to express a mea culpa for accidentally posting the tag with the wrong title. I blame it on exhaustion and the manic craziness of the holidays. I've rectified it now and I'll once again thank Arress for lending her beta'ing skills to the story even though I've tinkered with it a bit and the Trips and RCEpups for technical advice.

Warnings: Previous warnings apply! Please not that email addies are blocked by fanfic dot net so while I've spaced them out, they still might eat then - it's a crap shoot . Sorry about that!

This tag is my Christmas gift. Have a safe and happy holiday everyone.

Chapter 2: Viva la revolucion!

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Billy Graham

"I'm busy. Got a case. Can't it wait?" Gibbs growled into his phone.

"Nope, this is important. Grab a coffee and haul ass, Jethro," Balboa retorted and hung up before Gibbs could protest further. Also, psychologically, Ric wanted the upper hand – hanging up on Gibbs... he knew it would piss him off.

The unfortunate truth was that Gibbs was a master of psychological intimidation and could browbeat the entire contingent of SSAs if they gave him an inch. He was so damned used to bulldozing his way over the top of everyone to get what he wanted and Balboa was determined that this time he was going to end up on his ass.

Since Ric was a realist, he was going to take any and all advantages and use them to maximum potential in order to win this round. Failure was not an option.

Within a few short minutes the senior supervisory agent of the MCRT stomped into the conference room, armed with a large coffee and one massive chip on his shoulder. Situation normal for Leroy Jethro Gibbs!

"What?" he barked, sending a laser-like glare at everyone in the room individually, as more than half of the other SSAs dropped their eyes submissively.

Balboa could see that Jethro was surprised that it wasn't a full house. Some of his peers held his gaze. Interestingly their baby SSA wasn't one of the ones to submit. Good on him!

Balboa stepped up to the plate. "We've come to a resolution about the ongoing discipline issues plaguing your team Gibbs and felt it was only fair to inform you of the outcome."

The Marine fairly bristled with outrage. "There aren't discipline issues on my team, Balboa," he growled menacingly and Ric was dismayed to see Caroline Whitty visibly shrink in her seat. "I say jump, my team asks how high, how long and what else should they be doing while they're in the air."

"There is a chain of command structure within each team, Gibbs just like when you were Corps. It wasn't just you as gunny and a platoon of privates. DiNozzo is their superior too and he didn't just get the rank because he can do the extra paperwork that goes with the SFA position." Benson stated firmly.

"Maybe in your teams but it's really not necessary in mine, except on paper to keep the pencil pushers from crawling up my ass. I was given carte blanche to run my team the way I want to. Got my own set of rules and I'd say they're working pretty damned well since I have the highest closure rate in the whole damned agency.

"So, you see nothing insubordinate with what McGee told DiNozzo before?"

Gibbs looked puzzled. "What?"

"Just push the buttons I tell you to push, Monkey. You didn't find that unacceptable... disrespectful...insubordinate?"

"Nope. He was a bit wound up because of his new girlfriend was giving him a hard time."

The SSA for the sex crimes team, Ryan Donnelly narrowed his eyes crossly. "Oh really? That's his excuse? How long have they been together – a few days, a few weeks? No one on the team cut Tony any slack when he was devastated by the crap with La Grenouille's daughter when they broke up - they were together for a hell of a lot longer. than that. Hypocritical much, Jethro?"

Balboa rolled his eyes. "Excellent point Ryan! Straw poll, guys. Show of hands if you think telling your supervisor 'just push the buttons I tell you to push, Monkey,' is insubordination?"

Fourteen hands plus Ric's were raised in the air and Gibbs scowled. "It was just DiNozzo, not a supervisor. My team banters – it's how we work. Besides when you lie to your team, ya gotta expect there to be blowback.

"You're saying that if McGee had told you to 'just push the buttons I tell you to push, Monkey' you'd have been fine with it, Jethro? I mean it's no secret that you are a real Luddite when it comes to technology and think that when you smash your phone it can be fixed by 'rebooting' it. And you conceal things from your team regularly." Marisol probed.

"That's different, Myers. I'm the senior supervisory agent."

"So was Tony when he was ordered undercover by your old probie and given a direct order not to reveal his mission to anyone. That includes his team mates. I was under the impression that the director was your, McGee and David's superior but I guess he was supposed to ignore her orders and do what the three of you told him to do. But you didn't answer the question," Myers persisted. "You would have been fine with being told to, 'push the buttons I tell you to push, Monkey.'

"Hell no! I'd have ripped his head off and forced it up his ass but I'm his boss."

Jerry cursed. "Son of a bitch, Jethro. DiNozzo IS McGee's supervisor – it's not banter, it is a serious lack of respect for a senior field agent. A junior agent has no more right to speak to him like that than he does you. Not ever! No matter what the provocation.

"It belittles the position of SFA for all of our 2ICs and all the supervisory staff have had a gutful of it. We aren't here to debate the issue with you either, just to make sure it stops because your team is undermining agency rules and procedures."

"I don't think so, Jerry. My team, my rules."

"The last time we looked it was the agency's team and their rules, so not any more. This affects us all, Jethro." Jerry insisted stolidly.

They proceeded to argue, the other SSAs listing all the hypothetical situations that they felt could arise due to the junior agents' failure to follow any orders that weren't his if things went south. Gibbs scoffed at their fears, insisting he'd trained his team to perform like a well-oiled machine. That as a Marine he had higher standards than the agency did. He counter-attackeded that this was just a ruse to stick their oars into his business because they were threatened by his team's superior performance.

Balboa was pissed off. "Don't be a dumb ass, Jethro. This stops NOW! We've passed several resolutions. You either go out there publicly and tell your agents that what McGee said today was completely unacceptable behaviour for a junior agent towards a senior agent and issue him with a formal written caution or I will," Ric insisted harshly.

"And from now on, every single time we observe an infraction of agency rules and regulations be it insubordination, failure to observe the chain of command or not following the orders of a superior we will all have no choice but to write them up for an official caution. If you refuse to take action, we will submit it directly to Human Resources." Jerry Rankin stated, determined to have Balboa's six on this.

"That pair of agents of yours are so out of line, thanks to you that it won't take long before HR will have no choice but to step in and your precious team will be significantly smaller." Ed warned him gravely. As the elder statesman of the DC office he hoped it added weight to the other agents' threats.

"I can't believe you two would be a party to such petty jealousy." He glared at Rankin who he perceived as the more easily intimidated of the veteran agents. "Why try to sabotage my solve rate?"

Rankin chuckled. "Get over yourself Gibbs! Some things are more important that statistics – like principles and acting ethically but I shouldn't have to tell that to a Marine." He shook his head in disgust.

Benson just glowered at him.

"BUT you wanna talk stats, the fine?" Balboa demanded, furiously. "Let's talk solve rates. If my memory serves, YOUR solve rate wasn't that impressive, not until after you poached DiNozzo from Baltimore PD back in 2001 because you couldn't get anyone to stick around and put up with your crap. And it also didn't improve, at least not in a statistically significant sense when you added Todd, McGee or David to your prized team. Nor did it fall off when you went to Mexico; so, my question is - who's solve rate is it really?

"I'd say it's DiNozzo's solve rate and as to why we're doing this? It's our agency and our rules – we're enforcing them. Yep Jethro, we're finally demanding back control of the lunatic asylum." Jerry chimed in cheekily.

The rest of the SSAs clapped and cheered him like a bunch of excited children, even the ones Gibbs had managed to cower with his gunny-glare earlier on.

Rankin wasn't done yet, either. "And by the way, you're pissed off with DiNozzo for not telling the team he was undercover? Well tough shit! Unlike the rest of your team he actually follows orders from a superior. Don't like it- then be a man and transfer him out instead of emasculating him because it isn't fair to him and it isn't fair to every other SFA in the place."

Balboa looked at his colleagues' nods of agreement. "Yeah, I'd take DiNozzo in a flash, any other takers?"

Fourteen other hands were raised, even Russell Jones from the team handling computer crimes.

Gibbs barked a sharp laugh. "Now I know this is a joke, Russ! DiNozzo can barely switch on his computer."

"No joke, Gibbs. You've got a short memory if you can't recall who did all the routine, grunt work which was computer or tech related for three years before McGee joined the MCRT. Granted Abby did all the heavy lifting but he can certainly handle the everyday stuff. Not as fast I'll admit and he can't write programs or hack like McGee can but let's face it, we're law enforcement professionals and hacking is illegal and it doesn't stand up in a court of law. Ya remember what that is don't'cha?" he taunted Gibbs sardonically before continuing.

"Sure, DiNozzo will never be McGee when it is computer related but from where I'm sitting that's probably a pretty good thing because unlike your junior agent, he also knows how to follow orders and respects the chain of command." Jones shook his head, wondering if Gibbs had selective memory loss or he was just acting dumb. "And while he respects the law he also thinks creatively. Got enough techies on my team who think like a computer – I'd love having a lateral thinker on board to complement them. Say the word and he's gone."

Before Gibbs could reply, Tom Walsh parried. "And anyone else find it interesting that the only team member that did follow orders and respect the chain of command and DiNozzo when you were gone was little Michelle Lee? Someone with zero field experience and who you hadn't trained, yet she still conducted herself with far more professional propriety and decorum. Even though she'd never even heard of Rule No. 1 she did a far better job of observing it."

"Mind you with only three years field experience between the three of them, I guess it's no surprise that she was able to exceed such very basic expectations. Still as a qualified lawyer it's interesting that she was no prima donna. SHE knuckled under and followed orders. Shame her reward was being booted off the team." Caroline summoned her courage and stood up for the young lawyer. Whitty had always thought the kid got the rough end of the pineapple.

Gibbs scowled at his colleagues. Interfering bunch of fools, jealous of his team's performance. They were bluffing, they wouldn't dare carry out their threat. He stood up and stalked out. "We're done here."

The rest of the SSAs exchanged glances. Balboa quipped. "Well…that went well." There were a few nervous titters.

Donnelly grinned. "There's no blood on the floor or walls. Our asses are intact. I'd say it was a great outcome. I for one am ecstatic"

"He's going call our bluff, isn't he?" Walsh asked his colleagues.

Jerry guffawed. "Does the bastard mainline Marine strength coffee? Course he is, Tom. May I suggest that when we go back to our desks, we all prepare a written warning about Special Agent McGee's insubordinate remarks to a superior today and give Gibbs one hour to issue his own? Otherwise we do exactly what we threatened to do."

Gibbs made it back to his desk without managing to deliver the mother of all head slaps he was itching to give DiNozzo but it was line-ball. Of course, the fact he was talking to someone on the phone was probably what ultimately saved his head from getting up close and personal with Gibbs hand. The former Marine was seething inside at his fellow senior supervisory agents' meddling and DiNozzo was always going to be his preferred pressure relief valve.

Morrow had given him carte blanche to recruit his own agents before he hired Tony and he'd taken that to mean he could govern his team how he saw fit, running roughshod over law enforcement procedures he thought were a crock and pretty much ignoring the agency's rules and regulations ever since. And he huffed, the proof of the pudding was definitely in the eating with his team having the best closure rate in the whole damned agency... if not all alphabets. That being the case, he was pretty damned sure that his fellow SSAs were bluffing – they'd had this discussion many times before and nothing ever came of it. He doubted that they had the guts to cross him. Few people did!

So, Gibbs did what he did so well, he ignored anything he didn't like because in his smugly secure belief, no one had the conjones to make him do anything he didn't want to. In this instance, he ignored the Instant Message from Ric Balboa informing him he had an hour to respond or the other SSAs would call his bluff and went on working while the rest of the bull pen was on tenterhooks.

Tony meanwhile was glancing at Gibbs repeatedly, sensing something other than their new case had crawled up the Boss' butt since he was so adept at reading Gibbs non-verbal skills. He had to be since the functional mute would rather have his toenails ripped out than speak if he could avoid it.

Looking at his superior he could tell he was absolutely seething and frankly, that didn't bode well for someone – usually him but he had no idea what had set Gibbs with two Bs off this time. Ziva and McGee kept shooting annoyed looks at Tony, convinced he was the cause of Gibbs obvious ill-humour since he was aiming his death ray glare at Tony. Clearly, they were expecting him to draw fire away from their precious butts like he always did.

Not that they ever appreciated it when he did draw the fire. Just bitched when he didn't – like it was their God-given right to be protected. And yeah, he'd done it without them requesting it but if he was going to be head slapped into a concussion it would be nice to receive some acknowledgement even if it was merely gratitude as opposed to a sense of entitlement.

Everyone else on the floor was tense too, except Balboa who seemed to be positively cheerful at the prospect of finally having some resolution on the issue. He was going to sleep like a baby tonight – even if he scored a black eye or sore jaw. So worth it!

The one-hour deadline expired and as Rankin had predicted, Gibbs had been calling their bluff by ignoring them. Time to show him that they weren't messing around no more. He instant messaged the SSAs – 'We're up, folks! JR.'

'Yep, into the breech…,' Ric IM'ed him back before sending another to the other SSAs at the meeting saying that their bluff was being called and if they wanted to participate, to be advised that ETA at Gibbs' bull pen was in two minutes.

Gibbs was sitting, feeling suitable smug when his Marine honed situational awareness made him conscious of the fact that there was movement on the floor, a lot of movement. Ric and Jerry, Marisol and Ed were heading to the MCRT's bull pen. Caroline, Jones and Aveson got off the elevator. More people exited the stairwell – Donnelly and Walsh among them and made their way towards McGee's desk.

He'd clearly made a grave tactical error… CRAP!

This wasn't a bluff, not this time and he'd underestimated the other SSAs quite badly it seemed. If he didn't want to lose serious face with his team and the other agents, then he was going to have to issue McGee with a formal warning for insubordination. He was being backed into a corner and nothing pissed Gibbs off worse than being forced to do something he didn't want to.

'Suck it up Marine. No choice, so get it over and done with,' he told himself. He stood up from his desk and stalked over to McGee.

"Special Agent McGee, I'm issuing you with a formal warning for your insubordinate behaviour towards your superior, Special Agent DiNozzo earlier today. You were way out of line with your comment about the monkey and it's not gonna fly. Perhaps I've been too lax in not rebuking you and Officer David about your insubordinate and disrespectful attitude in the past. This would include but is not limited to your failure to follow his orders without an argument and failure to observe the chain of command. Well no more, is that clear Special Agent McGee and Officer David?"

"But Gibbs, it's just Tony, he's not my superior. He's not anyone's superior." Ziva objected.

"Not true, Ziva. He's a superior pain in the neck." McGee quipped.

"Correct Tim. He's a superior screw up." Ziva 'bantered' back and forth with Tim in their usual 'teasing' fashion, not noticing how Gibbs was glowering. Not to mention the other SSAs.

"He's your immediate superior and perhaps you two need to study the NCIS handbook to learn about the duties and the responsibilities of a senior field agent. If you can't or won't understand that you're subordinate to him then your days on our team are numbered, David. Do you want me to make that censure of yours includes a suspension, McGee?"

"But Boss I was just joking." McGee protested strenuously, unable to see what was suddenly wrong with heaping crap on DiNozzo when they did it every day or why the Boss was only now being pulled up over it - hours after the fact. Gibbs hadn't batted an eyelid when he'd said it.

"So, you weren't pissed off and lashing out at someone ya knew would let it go?"

"No boss, it was just a bit of fun." McGee pouted. "Tony makes jokes all the time."

"And you weren't pissed that your girlfriend Bumbler stole your identity to carry out credit card fraud in your name?"

"I believe McGee called her Bimbo, Gibbs." Ziva supplied helpfully, realising she may have grossly misread Gibbs' mood and was hoping to earn back some fairy points again.

"It's Bimby, not Bumbler...not Bimbo." Tim pouted. "But it was just a joke." McGee insisted.

"The credit card fraud or the monkey? I did not know monkeys pushed buttons, Tim." Ziva asked sweetly, though her eyes gave away her vindictive attempt to distance herself from the crap he now found himself stuck in. "And is that not the second time… no wait… the third time you've had your identity embezzled? That is quite careless for a federal agent."

"Um… no Boss?" The junior agent whined responding to Gibbs inquiry and ignoring Ziva's taunting, though he scowled at her.

"I see. So, you sayin that you'd have thought it was funny to say that to me, Elf Lord?" Gibbs glared, furious that McGee was proving Balboa's point.

McGee went white. "Um ah…well that is to say no, Sir."

"Why not? Ya sayin I don't have a sense of humour?"

"You're the boss. It would be um…ah disrespectful to call you a monkey or suggest you are ah… stupid, Sir um Boss."

"Well the same applies to DiNozzo, Special Agent McGee."

God damn it! The idiots arguing with him about DiNozzo in front of the other SSA's wasn't just undermining his own authority but it was making the case for Balboa and his toadies. He was gonna have to come down on them like a ton of bricks! He was so going to kick is sorry ass on the mats later.

Seeing the unsmiling faces of the other fifteen SSA's standing around closely observing the proceedings, Gibbs who was nothing if not a brilliant strategist, decided to save as much face as he could from this FUBAR situation.

"From this point on, you step out of line and I will slap you with a written caution every time you even think about putting a toe over the line. Even if you don't respect the man you will respect his position or lose yours. DiNozzo is going to turn into a hard ass, stop turning the other cheek and start writing either of you up if you even think about stepping out of line." He yelled at them, suddenly morphing into a rabid drill instructor, circling in close around them and yelling at them from behind.

"See all these SSAs?" he demanded. "They're gonna be my eyes and ears in the bull pen when I can't be here. I've told them I want them to write you up too and I'm also inviting all of their senior field agents to come down on ya like a ton of bricks. Both of ya."

Gerry Rankin laughed sardonically. "Gee Gibbs, that's effing brilliant." He looked mockingly at his fellow SSAs. "Now why the hell didn't we think of that?"

The other SSA's reactions varied from amusement to hostility but in the buzz with the other agents all talking at once, any antagonism from his peers went largely unnoticed by most of the others present.

Meanwhile the SFAs on the floor all stood in unison and cheered loud and long, bar one abstainer. Tony was standing frozen, his jaw hanging open. His look of amazement, disbelief, suspicion and then scepticism was pretty easy to read. Things had just gone totally alternate universe and he was wondering if it was a dream and trying to figure out when the bomb was going to blow up in his face.

Indira Singh, one of the newer SFAs siddled up to him and pinched him hard on the arm and as he frowned and rubbed it, she leant up close to him and murmured.

"Bizarre is it not? But you are not dreaming or if you are then we all are."

He smiled gratefully at the newbie and watched in fascinated horror as Gibbs stalked up to McGee and gave him his best gunnery sergeant glare and a head slap to match. The junior agent caved, almost instantaneously dropping his head, his shoulders slumping submissively. The boss grinned, shark-like before hightailing it up to Ziva and repeating the process but she was not so easily cowed.

"I think that you have forgotten that I am with the Mossad and do not have to follow NCIS rules."

"You're here as liaison. Subject to the same rules as any NCIS agent. At the risk of repeating myself, you'll both respect the position if you can't respect the man who holds it. Don't like it, I'll pack your bag, drive you to Dulles and put you on the first plane out to Tel Aviv, myself. We clear Ziva?"

She glared at him but really had little choice. "Yes Gibbs."

"Muh...Gee, if you think that's gonna be a problem for you then I'll write a transfer for you to another team, if you want." He threatened, knowing that McGee would never want the loss of prestige.

"No Boss. I want to stay."

"Good, now let's get back to work. DiNozzo, stop catching flies and find me Thomas Zuri.

"On it Boss." Tony reply reflexively, still not understanding what just went down. There were too many undercurrents and sub-plots for him to untangle and he was usually on top of what took place in the murky realm of interpersonal office politics.

Coda:

From: indirasingh ncis. gov

To: seniorfieldagents ncis. gov

My esteemed fellow senior field agents.

What just happened? Did we all just get invited to write up Gibbs' junior agents if they step over the line and ignore COC, are insubordinate or do not follow orders? What is with SSA Gibbs? Is he perhaps dying?

Indira Singh Senior Field Agent, NCIS

From: tdinozzo ncis. gov

To: seniorfieldagents : indirasingh ncis. gov

Hey Indira,

Didn't I tell you we don't expect that degree of formality when emailing each other? If not… then my bad. And to answer your question, frankly, I'm still pinching myself and wondering the same thing. Still… judging by the poisonous looks from the aforementioned agents that I've been copping across our bull pen, I'd say that yes, yes he did. Off to check the pod!

T

From: indirasingh ncis. gov

To: tonydinozzo ncis. gov; seniorfieldagents

Tony,

What is a pod? I am not familiar with that aspect of the role of a SFA. Could you explain so I may also check it?

TIA Indira

From: carmendowney ncis. gov

To: seniorfieldagents ncis. gov; indirasingh ncis. gov

Relax Indira,

Just DiNozzo's warped sense of humour from a movie. I propose a SFA movie night next week in MTAC – theme - aliens. Tony organises the movies, one of which must contain pod people. I'll organise the snacks!

Cheers

Carmen Downey

From: tonydinozzo ncis. gov

To: carmendowney ncis; seniorfieldagents ncis. gov

Sounds good, Carmen. You really can't beat Invasions of the Body Snatchers. I'll attend to it ASAP.

T

From: stevebaker ncis. gov

To: seniorfieldagents ncis. gov

Guys,

Getting back to solving the mystery of what just happened - Ric had a formal written censure clutched tight in his trigger hand when he headed off to Gibbs' bull pen today. Saw the other SSAs all packin heat (paper) too.

I think what we just witnessed was a showdown at the It Aint Okay Corral.

Praise the lord and pass the beers! Rocky knew I was mightily pissed 'bout their disrespect for us SFAs, actually he knew that we all were cuz yours truly told him so! *Takes a modest bow. * You may all thank me later! (See below.)

Guess the SSAa decided to locate their gonads and finally stand up and be counted. Better late than never I s'ppose.

What say we head on down to the saloon after work to celebrate the victory for senior field agents against the forces of evil. Tony, first beer is on me.

Cheers Steve

From: tdinozzo ncic. gov

To: seniorfieldagents ncis. gov

Steve

Interesting analysis – all the SSAs you say?

Cool analogy. You a Duke fan by any chance?

Probably need a raincheck on the beer unless we find the gypsy cab driver.

Catch ya later, cowboy!

T

Later that same day:

From: edbenson ncis. gov

To: seniorsupervisoryagents ncis. gov

Elvis has left the building! I repeat, Elvis has left the building.! Vote we convene for a short ten-minute post mortem.

Ed

From: jerryrankin ncis. gov

To: seniorsupervisoryagents ncis. gov

Out looking for a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich to go with the coffee, ya think? Let's say the break room on Rocky's level in five.

Jerry

From: edbenson

To: seniorsupervisoryagents

Snort! Much more likely a coffee sandwich!

Ed

~o0o~

"That hypocritical bastard!" Rod Averson growled aggravated. He took credit – made it seem as if he was responsible, not us."

Ed Benson chuckled. "That's why he's the original 'Teflon Coated Man.' Crap don't stick to him."

Jerry Rankin nodded his agreement. "He's got them damned big balls practically dragging the ground and he thinks quick on his feet."

"I don't care if he saved face. Every one of us here knows the truth and I'll wager that the SFAs know it too since they've all seen him egging on David and McGee. All I care about is that it's finally going to stop. My SFA is happy and I can sleep tonight." Ric declared placidly.

Caroline gave a wry smirk. "It is galling; I'll admit but whatever it takes. At the end of the day we won and hopefully it will put Gibbs on notice to treat his SFA with more respect too. If not, then I propose that we all ask DiNozzo to transfer onto one of our teams. I for one suspect that it would have a dramatic effect on our closure rates as well. If he can run a full time undercover Op. and practically singlehandedly run the MCRT with three rookies, I reckon he'd do wonders for our stats too."

"I propose a toast, ladies and gentlemen. To us and what the SFAs have dubbed the 'Showdown at the It's Not Okay Corral.' Jerry Rankin raised his coffee mug jubilantly, clinking it with Caroline's and Ed's and soon everyone had forgotten their pique and were congratulating each other on a job well done.

Balboa grinned. Yeah this was a great win for righteousness but he wasn't prepared to rest on his laurels, not just yet. There were still some pretty big unresolved issues for them to address, especially when it came to Gibbs, his bullying of agents and tacit approval of bullying. Most notable but not restricted to those damned head slaps. Despite being forced to attend the mandatory Harassment Training that the Department of Defence required all its employees to attend, it seemed that Gibbs still hadn't got the message that striking another agent for any reason was not permissible.

Failed to comprehend, since he thought those rules didn't or shouldn't apply to him and/or he was totally incapable of understanding the harm that it caused – morally, ethically, medically, physiologically and psychologically. Not to mention the effect brought to bear upon espirit de corps in his team and the agency, even if Tony had managed, in an astounding example of mental contortionism, to rationalise it as a sign of affection. Which to be brutally honest, Ric felt was deluded. Woefully, deluded.

He might have been more persuaded of the SFA's heart-rending 'sign of affection' line of reasoning IF Gibbs had also been head slapping him when they worked alone on the team for a year, since as partners, their relationship had appeared to be based on friendship and mutual respect. Yet there'd been no such head slaps back then.

In fact, it wasn't until Gibbs started bringing probies onto the team, probies with zero investigative experience and treating them as the equal of his former partner, ignoring chain of command and encouraging them to ignore it too and insisting that they all compete for his meagre approval; only then Gibbs had begun head slapping Tony. So, from where Balboa was standing, it had all the hallmarks of wanting to demean his 2IC - to put him in his place so he didn't threaten Jethro's established position as Demigod Deific and nothing whatsoever to do with signs of affection.

That and Ric truly believed that it also partly served as a relief valve, allowing the SSA to blow off steam due to his appalling temper and the tension he experienced due to the idiocy of the people he chosen to work on the MCRT. Plus, everyone else not on the team who didn't fall fawningly or petrified at his feet when he was working (i.e. breaking rules) to reach his target.

Ric's cousin Elizabeth Reyes was a clinical psychologist and he'd recently decided to ask her how someone like DiNozzo, a seemingly healthy, sane and intelligent adult male could rationalise continual physical assaults on their person by their superior. And that was despite it clearly flying in the face of Department of Defence Rules and Guidelines. Liz had pursed her lips disapprovingly, especially when he'd mentioned Tony's claim that it was a sign of affection, before cautioning that obviously she was speaking in generalisations, not having talked to the individual concerned.

His cousin explained that acceptance of clearly inappropriate physical contact occasioning assault and the attempt to justify it could easily be symptomatic of abusive and or neglectful relationships experienced during formative years. Liz talked a whole heap of psychobabble about addictions and children of addicts and alcoholics, parental psychopathology and them having personality disorders like Borderline Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder plus a heap of stuff he didn't understand.

Nevertheless, Balboa felt like it went a long way to explain why Gibbs' SFA, who seemed to have so much going for him, would take such a heap of toxic crap from the team and consent so eagerly to be Gibbs' whipping boy. It was status quo for him and he probably didn't realise it wasn't normal.

That particular minefield aside, there was also the issue that Officer David had just raised in the bull pen when she pointed out, 'I think that you have forgotten that I am with the Mossad and do not have to follow NCIS rules.' Which made Ric wonder exactly what was the legal situation with having a foreign national working for their national security and intelligence agency being given access to highly classified and sensitive US military and intelligence data. If she really believed she didn't have to obey their rules, then where did that leave national security?

He already knew it wasn't lawful for her to issue warrants or arrest suspects during investigations and he knew that when Tony was working with her he made sure he didn't allow her to do either task, despite the fuss she made about it. Nor was it lawful for her to interview suspects and that meant if she did, cases could end up getting thrown out on a technicality. That wasn't even touching upon the issue of her picking locks to gain unlawful entry to premises and her intimidation of persons, including persons of interest, witnesses, bystanders and other agents.

And that seemed wrong on so many levels. What the hell were SECNAV and Shepard thinking when they made her liaison on the MCRT? Perhaps they were communing with Mama Coca at the time, since he didn't think that getting rip-snortingly drunk could possibly explain it. And seriously, where did that leave all of the agents whose continued existence relied on sensitive information remaining classified?

Maybe it was time to start documenting all the instances when Gibbs and his team broke the law, just to be on the safe side for everyone concerned.

~o0o~

Director Shepard emerged from the supply cupboard which had a vent in it that made it perfect for spying on the staff using the break room. She'd managed to pry that useful piece of intel. out of Jethro (along with various other spying ruses of his he used on his team) when he was post coital., right before he collapsed into unconsciousness during their short lived and tempestuous affair. Actually, she wouldn't have been at all surprised to find him in here too except, that he'd gone out for a cup of the good stuff, which had in turn resulted in the impromptu senior supervisory agent's meeting.

She smiled coquettishly, remembering her Jethro interrogation technique. It was amazing what she'd managed to worm out of him. Trying to torture intel out of Gibbs was like banging your head up against a brick wall; similarly, getting him drunk didn't work either. Apart from the fact that the jarhead had a phenomenal tolerance for bourbon, it just seemed to make him more taciturn and morose, not chatty. But she'd found out that Gibbs could be 'persuaded' to part with information for the cost of a good blowjob or far more to her liking, tight leather bustier and pants, a whip and some serious pain, since he was a masochist.

It amused her greatly to eavesdrop on the water cooler gossip about him, especially in the secretarial pool where those silly young and not so young women had Jethro pegged as a Dom. No doubt many of whom had secret fantasies about him dominating them sexually when the truth was that he was so screwed up over the loss of his wife and child, he could only ever truly enjoy sex when it came with pain. There was a very good reason, after all, why he gravitated to domineering, harridan types such as Hollis Mann and his three ex-wives. Even his surrogate daughters were overbearing, bossy and aggressive.

So, it was fairly easy to give him what he craved – a deep seated need to punish himself for feeling pleasure. Coupled with his fetish for a red head, and clad in black leather and he was putty in Jenny's hands – so to speak. Pity he never forgave her for leaving him with just a Dear John letter. She'd quite enjoyed learning to wield a whip, especially on the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

But at least she could now spy on her people as effectively as the almighty Gibbs. She had to admit, it was an awesome advantage to be able to listen in on private conversations, like now for example. It seemed that the other a/gents weren't going to be as malleable as she hoped any more. Maybe it had been a mistake to let the MCRT get so out of control but she'd hoped that in time DiNozzo would get over the La Grenouille business, get pissed at his team mates and come back to her. He was a very valuable asset to have in her corner but it seemed that with the SSAs and SFAs having his six, there was now little incentive to become her loyal Saint Bernard, instead of Gibbs. Crap!

Time to head back to the drawing board to figure out Plan B. Maybe she should have seduced him after all.

End Notes:

In this episode, Tony stated that he worked for the transit Police in Baltimore for 9 months. Four episodes later in Stakeout he then stated he worked Vice for two years in Baltimore PD. It has been mentioned in s03e09 Frame-Up that he'd spent a year undercover with the Mafia family to bring down Mike Macaluso while he was attached to Baltimore PD. In the episode Baltimore s08e22 he was a homicide detective and in Once A Crook, s11e05 he was working as a beat cop. You really have to admire how DiNozzo managed to squeeze so much into the two years that he was supposed to have served on the BPD. Gives a whole new definition to the term multi tasking, don't you think?