Without a Doubt

"What did you do?" Jethro repeated, his anger straining to surface at her display of attitude. "First, Kate, as your parent, I really do not owe you an explanation of any decision I make."

That did not please her, and she protested loudly, "Dad, no, you said I could go and now you just took it back! You never treat me fairly, and you just want to be mean to me!"

With that vehement contradiction, Gibbs reached his breaking point with his daughter. "Close your mouth and do not say another word until I give you permission to do so! You, Young Lady, have outdone yourself conspiring, lying, and deliberately planning to deceive me. Because you lied, because you acted both dishonestly and disrespectfully, your butt will sit home until a distant day arrives when I tell you differently. Other than school, your interactions with your friends have just been stopped indefinitely. Also, since you could not own up to what you knew you had done and chose to blame me instead, I just cut out your television viewing, as well. Now, the only decision still up in the air involves whether I will be blistering your bottom tonight. If you don't pull yourself together immediately I will deliver that spanking and it will be one you will not forget for a while."

He regarded her pointedly, clearly expecting her to reverse course.

Nevertheless, anger over the destruction of her Friday night and the prospect of days and days of grounding still controlled her expression, and by no stretch of the imagination did she want to accept responsibility for deserving the punishment.

Her reply was to regard him with a smoldering expression in lieu of any other option.

"Upstairs," he ordered, and she realized with a shock that she had allowed her attitude and her behavior to go too far.

Crossing her arms across her chest she slipped some of the defiance out of her expression and regarded him anew, "Ok, satisfied?"

"No, and I meant go to your room now."

"Dad, I…"

"If I have to repeat myself, Kate, you will receive that spanking right here along with the probability of your brothers witnessing the punishment."

Her obstinacy stunned the boys, who cringed at even a threat of corporeal punishment. It had been quite some time since any of the four children had elicited that consequence from their dad, who reserved spanking for really egregious deeds. Regarding their sister wide eyed, her siblings advised urgently, "Kate, just go," and "You are making this so much worse!"

Finally it dawned on her that she had lit a powder keg with her smart mouth and attitude and had made her own situation much worse.

She began to cry.

Tony and Tim, still stunned at her dramatically ridiculous response, both motioned her to obey.

Finally, she slid out of the chair and regarded her father hopefully through her tears. Maybe he would change his mind. She whispered, "Dad, I am sorry about the way I behaved…"

Not bothering to acknowledge the words, he pointed to the stairs.

She obeyed then.

As all four of his children could attest, Jethro Gibbs did not spank often, but once he decided to do so, he followed through at once.

Watching their sister's figure disappear, both boys exchanged panicked glances and swallowed.

Glancing nervously at his father, Tim tried to gauge whether his father knew more than just about Kate's attempt at subterfuge.

As soon as Jethro turned to Tony, his oldest sucked in a breath and bit his bottom lip in an attempt to calm his rising fear.

Somehow his dad already knew about his grade sheet- that was abundantly evident. In seventeen years of experience as Jethro's son, Tony knew how to interpret his father's body language and facial expressions.

Thinking quickly, he licked his lips and flashed a brilliant smile at his father. He would just ride out the storm and hope for the best.

Instead of dealing with his oldest first, though, Gibbs turned to Tim, who immediately crumbled.

Tony shot him an incredulous look. At least Tim could wait until he knew Jethro had the goods before capitulating!

Gibbs did not waste time describing the details of what he knew about Tim skipping school. Nor did he share that once he ascertained Tim was ditching classes, he surmised easily that Tony and Tim had aided and abetted each other. Common sense pointed to a quid pro quo situation. It didn't take him long to guess what Tony would have demanded from Tim. Recalling Tony's stellar progress report, confirming the grades had been easy to do.

Accepting the inevitable, Tony threw in the towel before his father finished tearing Tim out of the frame.

Determined not to share their sister's fate, both boys admitted culpability, apologized immediately, and accepted their punishments with quick "Yes, sirs" rather than by arguing with the Gunny. Though just as upset with their future confinement and loss of privileges, neither wanted to push their dad's buttons the way that Kate had done earlier.

Commiserating with each other at bedtime, they also congratulated each other for de-escalating the situation rather than inflaming it. They considered Kate's rebellion stupidly misplaced, but did agree that she had shown some daredevil characteristics in the confrontation. Their sedate sister had lost control, all right!

Lying on her tummy across the hall as her brothers whispered to each other, Kate found no comfort in holding the record for being the only one to have gotten spanked in a span of several months.

Groaning miserably, she promised herself that she would do nothing to earn a repeat of that punishment. Her stomach tightened just recalling that miserable time that elapsed until her father left the kitchen and appeared in her room. The dread of knowing what he would deliver almost rivaled the actual butt blistering itself. Embarrassing as it had been to have been yanked unceremoniously across her dad's lap, the sheer agony of his heavy, calloused hand connecting with her bare bottom for ten excruciating slaps overshadowed that.

Never again!

Some time later, the Marine Gunny, NCIS team leader father made the rounds to check his four children.

One day, he assured himself- some day, all four would make good decisions and would act responsibly.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose and reminded himself that today was a setback, but that from babyhood he had groomed them towards a milestone day when they would not actually require his guidance.

Until then, though, he would have to remember, and they would have to be reminded, that in their home, Father always knew best.

"It looks like Boss might be waking now," observed Tim to the others, speaking softly.

Opening his eyes to an audience, Team Leader Jethro Gibbs saw that Tim, Tony, Abby, and Kate surrounded him, all watching him anxiously.

Trying to make sense of why they were there and why he was on the sofa, he rubbed his mouth. "Why are all of you watching me?"

"Cause we love you," beamed Abby.

Tony nodded his agreement, "and because we want you to know we have the rest of the day off."

"That is, of course, because you will not be heading back to work," Kate elaborated, softly clapping her hands together.

"Not today, anyway, you won't," Tim assured him. "because you wrenched your knee again, Boss, on the case."

Gibbs struggled to a sitting position and then carefully stood, bracing by grabbing the arm of the sofa.

In unison, Tim and Tony motioned him back towards his seat.

Annoyed that they questioned his move, he stood his ground and demanded, "Why do you feel it necessary to refuse to allow me to go make a cup of coffee?"

Clearly, he considered it a rhetorical question and did not expect a reply from any of them. He meant it as a warning.

"Because," Abby tilted her head to make eye contact and bestowed a sweet smile upon him, "because we made you coffee already, Gibbs."

Kate supplied more detail, "along with soup and sandwiches, so you are set for a relaxing rest of the afternoon and evening."

"Impressive, don't you think, Boss?" Tony batted his eyes. "Admit that we know just what to do for you today. We really did consider what we determined as being in your best interests considering your injury."

"If it makes you feel better, Boss, we already ran our care plan by Ducky, and he agreed," Tim reassured him.

A rush of pride came over the agent, and for several moments Jethro Gibbs regarded the four eager faces before him, first as a group, and then each one individually.

Finally, he grinned. "Ok, let's do what you four think best."