Subtext

The front door slammed during that accusation and they heard Tony enter. Both paused to listen as he hung up his coat and dropped his keys on the foyer table. He was smiling when he joined them. "I'm not late am I?" he asked when he saw Abby's angry expression. "What's going on here? Did I interrupt something fierce?"

Abby sputtered, "Gibbs is being mean and ridiculous and unreasonable, that's all. Other than that, no, you didn't interrupt anything."

Tony's head swung from Abby to Gibbs, shocked at her words. It was not often that Abby attempted a battle with her hero.

Gibbs responded to the tirade calmly. "Keep that attitude up, young lady, and losing the phone won't be the only thing that happens to you this afternoon."

Tony sucked in his breath. He had been on the receiving end of that tone of voice in the past, and it didn't bode well for Abby.

Abby thought that threat over, considered her options, then relaxed her scowl a bit while continuing to keep her posture defiant. That should satisfy him.

"That doesn't do it for me, Abby, so let me make this very clear. If you don't straighten up immediately, and I do mean immediately, you will find yourself in a whole lot more trouble with me," Gibbs clarified.

Tony intervened at that. "Abby, don't be stupid. I don't even know what this is about, but I can tell you from experience that you will lose this. Whatever it is, you are always going to be defeated in a Gibbs standoff."

Abby was a bright girl, and she honestly knew that she wasn't doing anything that was beneficial to her cause. Blinking rapidly, she uncrossed her arms and said quietly, "Ok, I dropped the attitude. Is that ok?"

Gibbs nodded and turned back to the meal preparation. Abby silently finished setting the table, then returned to the living room. Tony followed her, and they flopped down on the sofa together. Tony threw his arm around her and pulled her against him. "Come, Baby Girl, tell me what had my goth so spitting mad." Abby giggled, snuggled closer, and explained the afternoon's confrontation. "Well, you should have seen that coming," Tony pointed out. "You know he's told us not to text in the car a zillion times. What did you do, get a death wish and decide to disobey him just for the fun of it?" Abby laughed out loud at that, and Tony started tickling her, glad to have gotten her mind off of her misery.

Jethro came out of the kitchen and smiled at the sight of them playing like kids. They were good together, and shared an intense sibling relationship, despite the fact that they weren't actually brother and sister. A typical evening would find one of them trying to get the other in trouble by any means possible, but when one actually did get into trouble with Jethro, like tonight, the other would immediately turn into the comforting voice of reason. Shaking his head in pride, Jethro returned to the kitchen. Parenting was the hardest job in the world.