"I don't get it, Duck, why can't he figure kids out?" Gibbs groused, leaning against the M.E's desk with a lukewarm coffee in his hand while he waited for the man to finish examining a chief petty officer's liver. "He's not much older than one, hell, he still actslike one most of the time!"

Ducky concentrated on his work at hand, still able to understand the thread of what the man behind him was saying. His multi-tasking skills had vastly improved ever since coming to work with the intense MCRT agent.

"You mistake his immature behavior for actually understanding the nature of a child. The simple truth of it is, is that he doesn't even realize how he is behaving, otherwise he would cease immediately."

"I'm not getting ya, Duck."

"Jethro, you know what his childhood was like, how can you possibly expect someone to know how to behave around a child when he was never allowed to be one! He simply has no reference point! Paraded around and shown off at dinner parties and country clubs in a sailor's suit, for heaven's sake, behaving only as ordered to, as if he were a puppet on strings!"

"He must have been around them in boarding school, Duck! He must have been allowed to be a kid then, for Christ sake!"

"Jethro, do you have even the slightest idea of what goes on in most boarding schools, at least any of the ones that Anthony's parents would have sent him to?"

"Not really, Duck, why would I? Ya just have to follow the rules, do your homework, and wear a uniform, right?"

The older man huffed an indignant snort as he finished his task and turned back around to Gibbs, snapping off his bloody latex gloves and tossing them into the bio hazard bin.

"Yessss, Jethro." Ducky ground out tartly, he himself having endured seemingly endless years in boarding schools back in the British Isles. "A veritable utopia everywhere you turn, everyone behaving so civilized and enlightened, no school masters or mistresses coddling their favorite students on the basis of who their parents are and leaving the others to be bullied and strong armed by the teacher's pets. Nor would I liken it to a prison environment for many hapless boarders, at the mercy of those with no conscience or scruples when it comes to taking advantage of others who are more unassuming or weaker than they themselves. No, Jethro, a grand time is had by all, where no rule is too stringent, love flows like water from a fountain, and one may leave at any time they wish to go back to the comfort and shelter of their parents enveloping arms."

"You were bullied in boarding school, Duck?"

"Not on a daily basis, but only because my parents threatened dire consequences for the head master in charge if anything should be allowed to happen to me that I might report back to them about. My family was a long-time benefactor to the school, going back generations, so I, as Abby or Anthony might say, lucked out.

"Now do tell, do you believe young Antony to be one of those children whose parents gave it even a passing thought as to how a sensitive and thoughtful child such as he would be treated by older, less reticent schoolmates, not to mention how certain instructors would be determined to "toughen the boy up" with their own harsh methods? Not a single soul to defend him, I assure you, not that he would in any lifetime admit such vulnerability. I promise you, Jethro, any shred of what might have been a childhood for that poor boy vanished into thin air once he was old enough to understand exactly what was expected of him and the consequences of not fulfilling those expectations. Some parents like to think of it as discipline and strength of character. I consider it nothing short of abuse, with or without physical punishment."

"He seemed to get over it though, Duck, I mean – he's tough enough now to be a homicide detective, not to mention work for me."

"Yes, by the grace of God he did manage to find some sort of coping mechanisms, though many would scoff at what those mechanisms are and how 'politically correct' they may or may not be."

"Deflection. Avoidance. Hyperactivity." Gibbs ticked off.

"Low self-esteem, anxiety to please, commitment issues, inventing falsehoods to divert attention. The list goes on, unfortunately. Fortunately, our Pinocchio found his Geppetto."

Gibbs gave his friend a half smile and tossed his empty coffee cup into the trash as he set to leave the office.

"Haven't read that story since I was kid, Duck."

"Nor have I, but it bears retelling, does it not? Do not badger the boy about not having the gift with children that you do, Jethro. He is hardly at fault for it. Perhaps in time you can show him what a real childhood is and he will know the difference between what you had and what he endured."

"Don't really wanna rub something like that in, Ducky."

"Oh, you need not 'rub it in', merely – bring him into the fold, as it were. Give him a taste of what he missed and let him assimilate it. Who knows, perhaps eventually he'll stop some of his more destructive behavior in favor of adopting some constructive hobbies."

"S'pose anything's possible, Duck. I'll have to get back to ya on it."

"Please do. Goodnight, Jethro, I will see you Monday morning."

"Yup. Sure thing, Duck. Thanks for the talk."

"It was my pleasure, Jethro. And perhaps in teaching Anthony the finer points of childhood, he may teach you some of what makes him tick, as they say, and you might understand him a bit better."

"Could be, Duck. G'night."

Gibbs waved a hand behind himself and stabbed the elevator call button. Time to go home and relax a little, let the weekend sink in and the stress levels seep out. It would give him an opportunity to chew on what Ducky had told him, too, and maybe come up with a strategy to help his second in command.

TBC