The last chapter! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed :)

"I am sorry, Gibbs." Ziva said when she stopped in front of him. "I, we, made a mistake in turning off the feed."

"Yeah, you did." Gibbs said.

Ziva nodded. "Over the table, then?" She said, looking up at him with wide, dark eyes. Despite how angry he was, Gibbs let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, Ziver. Everything down."

Ziva wasted no time in unfastening her pants and sliding them and her panties down her legs. She bent over the table, unashamed at being exposed in such a way.

As she was gathering her bearings, the belt thwacked hard against the center of her butt. Ziva gasped and clenched her teeth, determined to ride this out as Gibbs slammed the belt against her backside again and again. In the Mossad, she had learned how to retreat into herself, to stave off the worst of the pain of any sort of torture her enemies may inflict.

She let out another gasp as the belt hit lower, warming the delicate skin on the lower part of her ass. She chose not to employ those techniques. This was a disciplinary measure, and she would accept it as such.

"Why, Ziva?" Gibbs began, aiming another thwap at her backside.

"It was just—" Thwack! "Ah…more peaceful without his voice!" She yelped. "There is no good reason, Gibbs."

Thwap! Slap! Tears dribbled down her face, but Ziva stayed quiet, enduring and absorbing the blows her father figure was inflicting on her. Her own father had punished her and her siblings many times as children, and at times, she had hated him for it. With Gibbs though, it was somehow different.

He smacked her thighs and she winced, closing her eyes as tears leaked down her face.

She never once hated Gibbs for the spankings he gave them. Eli's discipline was harsh and drove the family apart, but she always felt a deep sense of closeness to her team on the rare occasions when all three of them were squirming at their desks with sore backsides after enduring Gibbs' belt. Her and McGee would be squirming tomorrow for sure, but not Tony. She definitely owed him an apology for this. Something more than an "I'm sorry" in the men's room.

Ziva wiped her face, openly crying now. Her ass was blazing. Gibbs had never punished any of his team for this long and hard before. It felt like hours had passed before the red hot whacks ended, leaving her ass feeling extremely raw and tender. She sobbed quietly, and after a moment, a warm hand rested on her shoulders. Gibbs rubbed at the tense muscles before guiding her to her feet.

"Pull up." He said in a soft tone. She did, closing her eyes as the fabric caressed the sore skin.

"Tim." Gibbs called.

McGee hurried over to them and Ziva wiped the last of the tears from her eyes.

"You know what comes next?" Gibbs said, his tone firm but not mean.

"Apologize to Tony." They both said.

"Damn right. Tomorrow you both tell him what you did and why. Remember, if he accepts, you stay on the team, if he doesn't, you're both getting transferred."

He saw the fear that that statement brought up on their tear-stained faces, and he couldn't deny he was glad it was there. They both knew how badly they'd messed up, now the ball was in Tony's court.

Tony walked into the office the next bright, early morning, bag and coat in tow. His throat was a little scratchy, but an evening spent with Abby and her homemade tea had made all the pain go away. He grinned, pleasantly surprised, at the large coffee that was sitting on his desk.

"Good morning, Tony." Ziva said. She was standing, leaning on the partition beside her desk, reading something in a file folder.

"Ziva." Tony nodded. "Gibbs."

Gibbs grunted a greeting and Tony dropped his bag on the floor and draped his coat over his desk chair. He picked up the coffee and inhaled the bittersweet scent of it. He brought the cup to his lips, but paused when he saw Ziva's eyes on him.

"What did you do to this?" He said suspiciously, pointing at the cup.

"Nothing." Ziva said. Tony glanced around. McGee's desk was dark and empty, and Gibbs was reading something on his computer screen, ignoring them both. "Can someone get coffee for their partner?" She asked innocently.

"Someone? Yes. You? No." Tony pulled the lid off the paper cup and looked at the liquid. It seemed okay. It wasn't purple or anything. He took a tentative sip, pleased to taste that it was sweetened just as he liked it.

The elevator dinged, and McGee appeared. He greeted everyone, then handed Tony a cup of coffee identical to the one he was holding.

"Uh, thanks." Tony said. He looked between the two coffees, then past his teammates to Gibbs. "What's going on?" He asked Gibbs, his voice tinged with worry. "I'm not getting fired, am I?"

"Nope." Gibbs said.

"Just thought I'd get you some coffee." McGee said defensively, pulling out his chair and glaring at it. "Can't someone buy their partner some coffee?"

Tony narrowed his eyes before slowly sitting down at his desk. "I guess they can." He conceded.

The morning rolled along at a dull pace. They didn't get a call out, so they finished up the paperwork from the last case and started sifting through cold cases. At about nine am, Ziva still hadn't sat down and she offered to get Tony something from the vending machine. He declined politely and wondered what was going on. At ten thirty, McGee leaned over gingerly and with a wince pulled a donut out of his bag, asking Tony if he wanted half. Tony's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. By noon, both his partners were practically arguing about who was going to pay for his lunch. Tony caught Gibbs' eye, helplessly lost. Gibbs simply smirked before turning his gaze on Tim and Ziva, bickering about Mexican or Italian.

"Hey!" He whistled sharply and they fell silent, staring at him. Gibbs pointed at the elevator. "The three of you, go. Bring me something back."

Tony, more confused than ever, made sure he had his wallet and phone before following his partners to the elevator. The three of them stood there awkwardly as the car descended before Tony flipped the switch.

"What's going on?" He said.

"I'm sorry, Tony." McGee blurted. Tony blinked a few times.

"For what?" He said, mystified.

"Yesterday…" Ziva began. She and McGee exchanged a look before she pressed on. "When you were talking to the residents…"

"The hot lonely housewives." Tony clarified with a grin.

"Yes…McGee and I, well…"

"We didn't have your six." McGee finished.

Tony frowned. "Go on."

"We turned off the feed of you talking to the residents." McGee said.

Ziva jumped in. "It was off for a couple of hours." She looked up at Tony, trying to gauge a reaction.

"We're sorry, Tony." Tim said, fidgeting. "If something had happened to you..."

"Yes." Ziva said. "We are very, very sorry. Such a breach in conduct will never happen again."

Tony didn't say anything for a few moments.

"Tony?" McGee said.

"Does Gibbs know?" Tony asked quietly.

"Yes." Ziva said.

"He belted us." Tim told him.

"Really?" Tony said, feeling a certain happy warmth knowing that Gibbs thought enough of him and his safety to actually punish Tim and Ziva. "Oh," he said, realization dawning on him. "That's why you two have had ants in your pants all morning." He couldn't help it, he grinned. Ziva rolled her eyes and Tony crossed his arms, thinking.

"Why did you guys turn the feed off?" He asked.

"There is no good reason." Ziva said.

"We just got sick of listening." Tim said bluntly. He watched the hurt pass over his friend's face and felt absolutely awful.

"Am I really that annoying to you guys?" Tony asked in a small voice.

"No—well, not always." Ziva said.

"I guess it was supposed to be a joke or something." McGee said. "When Gibbs told us that you coulda been shot or hurt or…seriously, neither of us thought anything like that would happen."

Ziva nodded. "In hindsight, it was very stupid and selfish."

"I'll say." Tony groused.

"Gibbs also said," Ziva continued, "that if you want…we will be transferred to another team."

"Wait, what?" Tony said.

Tim nodded. "He said that if you don't accept our apologies, we'll be off the team."

Tony stared at the nervous faces of his teammates, watching him the way starving dogs would stare at a steak.

"You guys are serious." He said.

They nodded.

"So Gibbs gave me permission to break up the team?" Tony clarified.

"I…suppose so." Ziva said.

Tony sighed, then flipped the elevator switch. The car shuddered and started moving again. There was silence for a moment.

"Tony?" Tim said.

"Yeah, yeah, you're forgiven." He could almost feel them exhale behind him. He flipped the switch again and swung around, stepping forward into their personal space and growling. "Though if either of you ever leave my six hanging in the breeze like that again, you're never gonna work on another MCRT at NCIS or any other agency." He looked them both in the eye. "I'll damn well make sure of it." He promised.

They both nodded vigorously.

"I'm not kidding." He said, glad he'd taken Abby up on her tea offer and that his voice didn't sound like Minnie Mouse anymore. "What you guys did was really shitty. C'mon, we're partners, right? Partners don't abandon each other."

"It won't happen again." Tim assured him.

"Never." Ziva said.

"Better not." Tony growled. He stepped back and flipped the switch once again. He smiled. "So Gibbs really spanked you both, huh?"

Tim pursed his lips. "Yeah."

"Last night?" Tony asked.

"Yes, Tony." Ziva said. "He brought us into the conference room and spanked us. Bare."

"Can we not talk about it anymore?" Tim mumbled.

"Fine." Tony said, still feeling perversely pleased that Gibbs had whipped them on his account. "What are we doing for lunch, Mexican or Italian?"

"Night, guys." Tim gathered his things and headed for the elevator later that evening. Ziva had already gone for the night.

"See ya, probie!" Tony called loudly. "Make sure to ice your cheeks."

Tim rolled his eyes at him but couldn't hide the smirk on his face. Tony gave him a wink. He watched as Tim entered the elevator and the doors slid closed behind him.

"What's on your mind, Tony?" Gibbs said, powering off his computer.

"Noth—what makes you think something's on my mind?" Tony asked, surprised but not surprised that Gibbs could tell.

"You're still here." Gibbs said.

Tony opened his mouth, then closed it again and got up, going over to his boss' desk.

"Tim and Ziva told me what happened." He said, resting a hip on the corner of Gibbs' desk.

"Uh-huh."

"I accepted their apology."

Gibbs nodded.

"Why, boss?" Tony said, picking up the bullet Gibbs used as a paper weight and squeezing it in his fist.

"Why what?"

"Why'd you leave it up to me? It's your team."

"They wronged you." Gibbs said simply.

"Yeah, but…it's your team." Tony repeated.

"Tony," Gibbs said, "I can replace my team, I can't replace you."

Tony frowned thoughtfully. "That's nice, boss."

Gibbs switched off his desk lamp and got up. Tony put the bullet back on the stack of pages.

"You coming?" Gibbs called from the edge of the bullpen. "Got a couple steaks at home if you're interested."

Tony leaped off the desk and grabbed his jacket and bag before trotting after his boss.

"Aw, you picked up an extra steak just for me?" Tony said, grinning cheekily as they got in the elevator.

"Nah, they were two for one on sale." Gibbs said.

Tony frowned and Gibbs grinned at him as the elevator doors slid shut.

The end.

Thanks again, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed this fic :)