*I do not own NCIS*

No Smoke Without Fire

Taylor stared at the second hand of the large clock on the wall. Unlike the one in her classroom, it seemed to be moving at an alarming rate of knots. Right now she'd give anything to be stuck at her desk, with nothing more to worry about than how long Mrs Tilson would make them spend on math problems. Each tick made her realise just how much she had screwed up. A muffled voice could be heard from the adjoining room, the Principal was on the phone, sealing her fate. It wouldn't be long now, before her dad showed up, and Taylor was absolutely certain, he was going to kill her!

A wave of panic hit her, and her eyes scanned the room frantically, searching for escape routes. There were none. The school secretary stood, arms folded, leaning against a filing cabinet, right beside the door to the hallway, watching her carefully. She jumped when the door to the Principal's office opened, " I've just spoken to your father, he'll be here in twenty minutes".

Taylor's eyes were on the clock again. Closing her eyes, she replayed the events of the morning in her head again. There had to be some excuse she could come up with. Anything.

Ok, it was probably a dumb idea from the start, she had to admit that, but thinking things through had never been Taylor's strong point. Acting on impulse was often fun, fun enough to remove any thoughts of consequences. It was just a little weed, lots of the older kids had tried it, and having such a curious nature, Taylor was going try it if the chance ever presented itself. And it did. Just one joint - research, she had told herself. Smoke it at the weekend, no-one would ever find out. Yeah right! The fatal mistake had been hiding it at the bottom of her pencil case. When the contents had spilled over the floor during a pop quiz, joint included, she knew she was in trouble. The look on Mrs Tilson's face confirmed this. Now, while the rest of the school carried on as normal, Taylor was waiting, and now, a little too late, considering the reality of consequences.

When the door swung open Taylor looked up to meet her father's glare, and instantly regretted it. She didn't think she'd ever seen him so mad, and quickly dropped her gaze to the floor. She waited for the explosion, but none came, and she heard him close the door to the principals office behind him. Taylor slowly let out the breath she had been holding. A few minutes later the door opened.

" Did you manage to print out Taylor's attendance record ?" Mr Walker asked the secretary. Nodding, she lifted a sheet of paper from her desk and handed it to him. He turned and headed back into the office again. Taylor felt the blood drain from her face. "Shit, shit, shit!" the little voice in her head screamed. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse.

Ok, this was bad, very bad. Think Taylor, think! Potential excuses raced through her head, but she mentally shot down each one. There was no way she was going to be able to talk her way out of this. The urge to run was starting to kick in again, but any hopes of freedom were dashed when the door opened again and the Principal ushered her into his office towards two chairs placed in front of the large desk. Both were empty. Her dad was on his feet, leaning against the wall, looking every inch the special agent. He didn't look at her but kept reading the sheet of paper in his hand. She sat down quickly, and looked round in surprise as she realised they were on their own. On the desk was the evidence. Taylor tried to ignore both it and the silence, and waited.

"Start talking." he didn't shout, but Taylor jumped regardless. Chewing on her lip she crossed her arms defensively, stared at the laces on her sneakers, and stayed silent. He had moved from his position against the side wall and was now somewhere behind her, out of her line of sight. Oh, she hated that so much. Taylor felt him lean on the back of her chair. "NOW!!!!!!!!" That was definitely a shout. Leaping to her feet she spun round to face him, then wished she hadn't, when she saw how mad he was.

"Sit down" he growled as he pointed to the chair. Not wanting to piss him off any more than he already was, she slowly lowered herself onto the seat again.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he said, more softly now as he moved to stand in front of her. It was obvious he was fighting to keep a hold on his temper, so Taylor swallowed awkwardly before whispering "I don't know……..I just wanted to try it……..."

"JUST WANTED TO TRY IT? " Gibbs bellowed at her " DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU'RE ACTUALLY IN?"

Fighting back the tears that were welling up at the back of her eyes, Taylor slowly shook her head.

"You're going to be suspended, for two weeks, and that's before THIS is even dealt with" He held up the piece of paper. "You've missed seven days this term already. Refresh my memory, but I don't remember you being sick!"

"I…..I …I'm ….sorry………" Taylor couldn't think of anything she could say to make the situation any better, so she just shrugged. He looked at her in disbelief. "Oh, believe me, you will be! When we get home .." He was interrupted mid-threat by the return of the Principal. This time for company he had Mrs Tilson, complete with a handful of notes, HER notes. She handed them over to Gibbs.

Taylor had spent a lot of time perfecting her dad's signature, she was good, and no-one had suspected anything before, but now she realised there was a fatal flaw in her plan. No matter how good the letters explaining her absences from school, they wouldn't be much good if her father saw them.

Taylor tried to zone out when Mr Walker launched into his "Dangers of Drugs" speech but couldn't. Everyone in the room was watching her closely. He explained that bringing drugs onto school property was totally unacceptable and under normal circumstances the police would be involved. "Your father has assured me that he will handle this and it will not happen again." He paused, waiting for her to respond. She nodded. Hoping that was the end of the lecture, she was disappointed when he took a deep breath and continued. "It better not. Consider skipping school and forging letters to be your first strike, that has earned you a months detention when you return. The cannabis is your second strike, and for that you're facing a two week suspension. Any further rule breaking from you will result in a third strike and you will be expelled. Do you understand?"

Taylor looked at her father before replying with a meek "Yes sir".

Mr Walker nodded and shook hands with her dad. He escorted them both into the outer office where Taylor's bag was now sitting on one of the chairs. Someone must have brought it from her classroom. Lifting the bag her dad let out a guff "Lets go!" As they made their way back out towards the car park the lunch bell rang, and Taylor struggled to keep up, walking against the flow of students heading towards the canteen. She wished with all her heart that she could turn around and follow them, but one backwards glance from her dad forced her to move faster and before she knew it they were at the car.

Instead of her normal seat up front, Taylor slid quietly into the back. She needed to figure out what to say. Taylor was under no illusions that, although she hadn't had to explain her actions there would be plenty of questions when they got home. Damage control was paramount, and this was her last chance to sort everything out in her head. Weighing up the pros and cons of telling the truth or lying wasn't easy. Either way didn't look good. The problem with Taylor was that she never considered the possibility of being caught - until now.

When they pulled into the driveway Taylor tried to open the door, but to her surprise the child lock was on. Gibbs turned round to look at her for the first time since getting into the car, before getting out and making his way to round to her. He opened her door and waited. As soon as she climbed out he grabbed her right arm and dragged her up the path. He still hadn't said a word since leaving the school, and it was really starting to freak her out.

Once through the door, Taylor was propelled into the living room with a hard swat. Spinning round to protect her backside from further attack she tried to rub the sting out. She eyed her father warily as he took off his jacket then turned to face her. Taylor backed up a couple of steps. He pointed at he sofa, and she sat down.

"I don't even know where to start!" he said running a hand through his hair. "Drugs, skipping school, lying…."

"Lying? W….when did I lie?" Taylor spluttered. She knew exactly what her dad thought about lying and she was in enough trouble already.

"So the letters that you forged by signature to were truthful? He said sarcastically

"Oh……I didn't think about that…" she whispered

"I THINK IT'S PRETTY OBVIOUS YOU DIDN'T THINK!" he roared

Taylor cringed.

"Have you tried drugs before?

She shook her head.

"I want to hear your answer. Have you tried drugs before?"

"No Sir"

"Alcohol?"

"No"

"Cigarettes?"

Taylor paused

"The truth Taylor" he warned

"Yes Sir" she said as she dropped her gaze

"Where did you get the dope from?"

Taylor just stared at him.

"Where?"

Still no answer.

In a split second she was staring at the dark varnished floorboards.

Taylor yelped when his hand made contact with her backside. She tried to wriggle free, but was unable to avoid the next nine swats, before being placed back onto her feet and led to the corner. He lifted her chin with his finger until she was looking into his eyes.

"You stand there and decide whether you want to do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way you're going to tell me exactly what's been going on!" Turning her to face the wall he retreated to the kitchen and the coffee maker.

Hearing her father walk away Taylor lent her head forward against the wall. Her butt was stinging and it only made her worry about what was coming next. If she thought there was any way to reach the front door without being caught she would do it, but previous experience taught her it wasn't worth the risk. Closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh, she tried to focus her mind. Landing anyone else in trouble was the last thing she wanted. The smell of coffee filled the room and Taylor knew she was running out of time.

"Get over here!"

Taylor turned round to see her father pointing at the floor in front of him, and slowly made her way over. She looked up at him. At least he looked a bit calmer now.

"Lets try this again. Where did you get the pot?"

"I found it……..in the bathroom……at school" Taylor dropped her gaze

Silence

Risking a quick glance to gauge his reaction she knew immediately he didn't believe her.

"Ok. You want to do it the hard way" he stated simply as he reached to unbuckle his belt.

Taylor's hands flew back to cover her butt as she took a step back.

"No……. I'm sorry……..Dad…………please……."

He slid the belt easily through the loops, and doubled it over making sure the buckle was safely in his hand,

"You lied to me!"

"I'm sorry!" Tears started to form in her eyes and she quickly brushed them away with the backs of her hands.

Without saying a word he reached down and took a hold of her wrist and gently pulled her over towards the coffee table. Putting his foot up on the top he lifted her and placed her over his knee. Taylor's feet dangled just above the floor and she felt her dad's hand steady her.

Then the first lick struck. It hurt. It really, really hurt. Taylor had just enough time to draw in a ragged breath before the next one hit. "Owwww" the fire in her backside started to spread, making her squirm and try to escape but a vice like grip kept her in place.

Seemingly immune to her cries a he landed another dozen searing licks before placing her back on her feet. By now the tears were flowing freely and her breathing was a mass of sobs. He sat down on the coffee table and pulled her in front of him. Waiting for her to calm down a little he handed her a tissue.

"Where did you get it?"

Taylor sniffed before replying "From a guy at the arcade. I don't know his name"

She reached behind her to pull the her jeans off her burning ass.

"Is that where you went instead of school?"

"Mostly"

"Where else did you go?"

"The woods, up behind the mall, there's an old hut up there."

"You went into the woods on your own?" he said in disbelief

Taylor shook her head "No, I went with some of the others from the arcade."

"Who?"

"Don't know their real names, just nicknames, they don't go to my school."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You don't even know them! What if you got into trouble and no one knew where you were?"

Taylor hung her head, tears threatening to fall again.

"I think it's pretty clear I've been giving you way too much freedom. That's gonna change. When we're through here there's going to be a new set of rules for you to follow until I can trust you again."

"We're not through yet?" she looked up at him in surprise

Gibbs met her gaze. "You think you've been punished?"

"But you spanked me!"

He sighed "Taylor I spanked you for refusing to answer my question and because you lied to me."

"Oh…" her eyes dropped back to the floor again.

"We still have to deal with all the rest. You put yourself in danger every time you cut school, and as for the drugs, that's both dangerous and illegal!"

He paused to place a finger under her chin and didn't speak again until Taylor was looking directly at him.

"Do you understand?"

She hesitated before nodding.

He took her hand and led her back to the sofa. Sitting down he reached for the button on her jeans. Before she knew it her jeans were down and she was over his knee.

Without any warning the swats started to land hard and fast. Taylor started wriggling and tried to reach round to block the smacks but her hand was captured and held firmly at the small of her back. Just when she thought the fire in her ass couldn't get any worse, Taylor felt her shorts move rapidly down towards her knees, followed by the hardest swat yet. The intensity took her breath away, and a few more swats landed before she was able to make any sound.

"Ahhhhh…….I'm sorry……..stop"

He kept spanking until her cries turned into sobs.

"Are you ever going to pull anything as stupid and dangerous as that again?"

He paused and waited for her to reply.

Taylor shook her head and managed to get something that resembled a "No" out.

Gently her underwear and jeans were pulled back up.

When she was standing in front of him again Taylor launched herself into his arms and cried herself out.

Lifting her he carried her up to her room, and laid her gently down on her bed.

Kissing the top of her head he whispered "I don't want to see you getting hurt Taylor."

"I know" she mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.