Hi, everyone!

Sorry that I haven't posted anything new for awhile. I think that I've just needed a bit of a break, but now I'm excited to be posting some new things! I hope to post the next chapter of "Echoes" tomorrow, and Monday just might see a new one-shot appear! ;) See? I'll make it up to you!

This story is based on two prompts. The first was actually a suggestion by "A" back in a comment on "Adjustment". So surprise, A! I hope that you will enjoy!

Prompt from A: I would love to see a story from you where Abby gets in to big trouble and because she is afraid of the consequences she tries to tell Gibbs she takes away his "permission" to punish her and how they work though that.

This story is also based on a prompt by the talented fiftyshadeswritergal, who helped to edit!

Prompt from fiftyshadeswritergal: Abby is super excited bc an old friend from her hometown is coming to visit for the weekend. Gibbs has asked her, threatened her and cajoled her to focus throughout the week as they work on a case. None of his tactics have worked. He enters the lab for an update on evidence he gave Abby four hours ago and finds her googling for night clubs she and her friend can hit up that evening. The evidence is not processed. What does he do?

So this is my response to both of those prompts. I hope that you enjoy. This will be a four-part story.

...

Abby knew that she was in trouble. On top of that, she knew and fully accepted that she deserved to be in trouble. This time there was no excuse. She had let the team down.

...

Everything was great that morning. An old friend was visiting town for the weekend. Angela had been working as a humanitarian overseas for the last year and had only flown in last night. Abby had been delighted that morning when she received a call asking her if she would like to meet up for the evening. Of course she would! And she promised Angela a great time to make up for a whole year away.

"Great news, Abs," Gibbs had said absently when she tried to tell him the great news. "Can you check these vitamins? Ducky is concerned that they might have been poisoned."

"Did you hear what I said, Gibbs? Angela is FINALLY back in town!" Abby had repeated, much to excited to think about boring old vitamins which still appeared to be sealed.

"Did you hear what I said, Abby?"

"Yes."

"Then get to work."

Abby frowned a little. "Wake up on the wrong side of the boat this morning?"

"Yep. Now will you get to work?"

"Sure," she mumbled, taking the package held out to her. She was not used to Gibbs being so short with her. It was kind of a damper on what was going to be an amazing day.

"Hey," Gibbs said. Abby looked at him. His face seemed to have softened. "I'll bring a Caf-Pow! on my next trip. Earn it, okay?"

"I always do!" she responded cheerfully, back to her sunshiny self.

Gibbs left - Abby always wished that she could hear the poof! when he disappeared - and Abby started about her day. She fully intended to get to the vitamins immediately, but it was then that everything started to go wrong. Major Mass Spectrometer started making a strange whirring sound and she had to investigate. The mail came and she had to sort through the junk mail to see if her monthly postcard from her brother came through. It had and she enjoyed examining the photo on front and laughing over the message on the back before pinning it to her wall. Will came up from the garage, needing to confirm that she had a certain piece of evidence. The two of them got into a conversation about bands coming to town that summer.

An hour had passed.

With no Gibbs Caf-Pow! to channel her energies, Abby had to go get one herself. On the way back she met Ducky who told her about a strange mark on his current body. It sounded so fascinating and - no, she didn't have anything urgent at the moment - she ended up going down to see it herself. Back in the lab twenty minutes later an email was waiting from the director about a certain upgrade that Abby had been begging for over the last two years. She quickly got off the reply. She had to respond to another few work emails while she was at it and then a fingerprint match came through for another team that had needed her help. She had to call that agent - he never appeared like Gibbs, such a pity.

Another hour was gone.

"Ready for lunch?" Tim asked, coming to the doorway. Oh, yes, they had plans. It was going to be a working lunch, trying to figure out the code to break a tough encryption that they had encountered. Abby was off for a third hour. At least by the end they had a good start on figuring out the coding and Tim left her with a grateful kiss on the cheek.

When she returned to the lab she saw the vitamins and began to work on analyzing them. She felt guilty that they had been ignored for so long. It was surprising that Gibbs had not been down before now. She began the slow process of prepping the samples for testing, but just then Tony came in, looking for a stain eraser for something on his shirt - he could not tell if it was blood or cherry juice, so Abby had to try several combinations before finding the right fix. Then Ziva was in, wanting to borrow a hair elastic and Abby ended up braiding the ninja's hair for her. She did a little more work on her samples, then was interrupted by a cleaning man who asked her if she had seen his missing broom. Of course, she had to go help him find it. Then, Palmer came by with some candies for her to try. And then she received a phone call.

The phone call.

It came at the end of the fourth hour.

Angela was wondering what the plans were for the night. Abby immediately pulled up a list of nightclubs on her computer and began listing off her favourites. Their phone call went on and on; Abby was so absorbed in the conversation that her first sign of something amiss was when she felt the phone being taken from her hand.

"Angela? Sorry, Abby has to deal with some things here at work. I'm sure she'll get back to you when she's free. Yep, bye."

Abby felt her stool being spun around very slowly. And then her chin was being pushed up and she was looking into the very disappointed blue eyes of Daddy Gibbs.

"Abigail, why are the vitamins still on the table?"

I ... don't have an answer.

"Sorry," she mumbled, going straight for hoping for mercy rather than stumbling through a pile of weak excuses.

"What have you been doing all day?"

"Working."

"Working?" Gibbs asked with a warning tone in his voice.

"Well ... some of it, at least. I was really busy, Gibbs!"

"But not busy doing what I asked - and what you told me that you would do." It was a statement rather than a question.

"I didn't necessarily say..."

Gibbs' jaw tightened. "Are you trying to make excuses or are you going to be honest?"

"I suppose honesty would be the best choice?"

"Abigail!"

"Sorry." She took a deep breath and hazarded a peek at Gibbs' face. "How are you going to punish me?"

"Discipline," Gibbs corrected. "And really, I don't know, young lady. Because there is no excuse for you to ignore your job like this! I know that you were not on your phone and computer this whole time, but you are paid to do a job here and that is to process evidence - not help the janitor, do Ziva's hair - as much as that needed to be done - or do everything else in the building."

"I guess that I've been a little distracted all day, excited about going out tonight," Abby admitted.

"Well, that won't be a problem anymore, because you're grounded. You're not going anywhere except bed tonight."

"But Gibbs! I have plans!"

"You mean that you were making plans - and I can see that. That's why you're not going."

"But ...!" Abby protested, her eyes becoming fiery.

"No, Abigail, unless you want to add a spanking to your consequences. Now, get back to work or you won't have any choice about that either."

Abby's temper flared dangerously.

"No! You can't discipline me if I say that you can't - and I won't let you!"

Gibbs turned sharply. He looked very carefully at her face for one impossibly long moment. Abby felt like her heart stopped as his piercing eyes scrutinized her.

"Understood," he said at last. "Just remember, I love you."

And then he turned on his heel and left Abby, free.

But why was that freedom so frightening?

...

Abby processed the vitamins and handed over the results when Gibbs stopped by. There was no Caf-Pow! but he did give her a kiss on her cheek like normal. He did not mention her ignoring the evidence earlier, just quietly thanked her and went on his way.

It felt strange to step out of the lab that night to go clubbing with Angela despite Gibbs' earlier pronouncement, but Abby did it anyway. After all, she was right and Gibbs did agree.

The two girls chatted and caught up on the last year. Angela, quite obviously, was having a great time. Abby was too - on the surface. In her heart, she was regretting every word that she had said to Gibbs.

...

It was a good thing that the girls were out most of the night because it was useless for Abby to try to sleep. Once she was home - well, one of her homes - in her specialty coffin bed - made with help from Gibbs - dressed in her second-favourite pair of pajamas - her favourites were at Gibbs' - she tossed and turned until daybreak.

This is just not going to work, she finally admitted to herself.

But what was she to do?

She could not very well go rushing to Gibbs saying, "Now that I had my night out, you can ground me. Oh, sorry about all those other things I said, by the way." It would seem too manipulative.

Although wasn't it manipulative to pull the "you-can't-discipline-me-without-my-permission" card yesterday? Oh, what a brat I was! And the look from Gibbs! He was so disappointed in me! And all because I wanted to have a night of fun. He was right. The only reason that I was in trouble was because I decided to place fun before work - and I know so much better. I suppose that I could go back to him and tell him that I'll take any discipline that he decides that I deserve and make it clear that I'm willing to take more for being such a brat about it in the first place last night.

But could I actually face him? I'm not really so scared about the consequences - he's always fair and reasonable - but I disappointed him! For years we've trusted one another, working together using our agreed rules. He's been there through the most difficult times of my life, and taken care of me even when I was being the most difficult! And then I go throw that all out, waste all of his love and patience through the years, for what? To go spend a night out on the town?! Angela had even told me that she would understand if I couldn't get together due to work or anything. I could have easily explained that I was spending the weekend with a team member - that would have been truthful and it would have protected my dignity. But because I was too self-centered, I could not trust Gibbs.

And now I've hurt him!

There was no doubt in Abby's mind that she regretted every second of that bitter exchange yesterday, but she had no clue as to how to go about fixing it. But one thing was sure - she was not going to hurt Gibbs anymore. He did not deserve being stuck with a brat who refused to let him follow through on his side of a deal. There was no doubt in her mind that she deserved to be punished - so punished she would be. She would make sure that things were taken care of, but she would do it herself.

And then maybe, someday, this guilt would leave her alone.

And even more importantly, maybe, someday, Gibbs would be, if not proud of her, at least not disappointed in her.