The next few days went quickly with getting all the papers which were Mac and Claire needed to keep Danny with them. Danny's mother acceded in Mac's plan to get the guardianship for Danny.

The guest room was changed into Danny's room. Danny and Claire spent a whole day in the shopping mall to buy all the things Danny would need.

Although Mac and Claire cared about him it was hard for Danny to learn how to live in a family. He had no problems with helping his new parents in the house. But it was nearly impossible for him to accept the rules his new parents lay down. The hardest rule was being home a ten.

One day Claire called Mac at the station. It was half an hour past midnight.

"Mac?! Danny is still out. He left the flat at five o'clock in the afternoon. I told him to be home at the time but he didn't come. He told me he wanted to go to the park."

Mac shook his head in disbelieve "I will find him. And I swear if a get my hands on this boy he won't even think about going out for the next week."

"But please don't be too hard on him. He's only fifteen and his birthday will be in four days. He's new in our family and……."

"Shh honey! I promise he will survive. His little butt will hurt for a wile but on his birthday he will be okay for his birthday spanking."

"Oh Mac! That's not funny. Stop teasing me! Just bring him back home."

"I will honey. I love you!"

"I love you too."

Mac laid the phone down. His new partner Don Flack looked at him and asked "troubles?"

"No Danny. But I think trouble would be the better name for this boy. He's still out in the park although I've told him to be at home at ten. Claire called me."

Don laughed "Daddy Mac! It was hard to imagine but now I see you are a real dad."

"I didn't know it would be such a hard job. I mean I love Danny. He's a perfect son but it's nearly impossible for him to follow rules. I told him to be home at ten. I told him not to go into the park after eight. And I warned him he would end over my knee if he would disobey. But he……."

"He's testing the line Mac. Maybe he wants to know if you will care enough to bring him home. Maybe he wants to find out if you would keep your promise. But I think he has just forgotten the time. I mean he's fifteen. Were you always on time when you were a teenager?"

"Sure not! I gave my parents a hard time but my dad didn't care if I had forgotten the time or if I was testing the line. When I stepped over the line too often he told me exactly what he thought about my behavior or to be exactly he let his hand to the talking to my butt."

When the two left the station Don laughed "I think our dads were made from the same wood. My dad was a very tolerant man but when I was disrespectful or so on he worked it out on my backside. But I think it's time to find your little brat so that the two of you can have your let's say your little talk."

The men drove to the park. When they left the car Mac could see three boys playing basketball. They walked over to the boys. Suddenly they recognized the policemen and stopped their game.

When Danny saw Mac he looked on his watch. "Oh shit!" he said.

"Daniel Messer I want you to come with me right know" Mac yelled.

The other boys decided it would be the best to run away. Danny stayed on his place looking to his shoes.

"Danny now!" Mac ordered.

As slow as possible Danny walked over to Mac and Flack.

"Hi Danny!" Fack greeted.

"Hi Don! Mac I'm really sorry. I just forgot the time and when I looked on my watch and saw it was half past eleven I decided it didn't matter if I would come home one or two hours too late."

"You decided what?" Mac asked in disbelieves.

"I think I will go back to the car." Flack told them.

Mac looked up "You can take the car and drive back to the station. Our shift will be over in half an hour. Danny and I will need much time to talk and I think we will walk home after our talk. But please call Claire and tell her we found our little boy."

When Flack had left Danny gave Mac his best puppy dog look.

"Am I in deep shit?" he asked.

"Oh yeah Danny boy you are. You decided to stay out for another hour although you had recognized you were over your curfew. You staid in the park although you were told you were not allowed to be in the park after eight o'clock in the evening. Why Danny?"

Danny started to yell "Because I was allowed to stay out as long as I want the last years. Because my friends asked me to stay. And because I knew you would beat me for coming home late no matter if I would be one or two hours late."

"Stop this attitude right now Mister I think you have already earned yourself enough problems. And now to your arguments. You are not in the position to decide when it's time to go home. If I tell you to be home at ten you'll have to be home at ten. You are fifteen and it doesn't count if you were allowed to stay out the whole night in the last years. Claire was afraid. I was afraid and you decided it wouldn't matte if we had to be afraid for another hour. We love you Danny. We care about you."

Danny looked up "But I shocked you."

"We were afraid because we don't want to lose you. Because we love you we care about you. We lay down rules to keep you safe not to make your life harder."

Danny hugged Mac "I love you too. I didn't want to scare you."

Mac smiled a little "You know I made a promise to you about what would happen if you disobey."

"You told me you would beat me."

"No Danny. Never in my life will I beat you. I love you and I would never beat a person I

love."

"So you tell me we can go home?" Danny asked and started to turn around.

Mac smirked and took the boy by his upper arm "Not so fast Danny boy. Tell me exactly what I promised you what would happen if you would disobey."

Danny answered "You told me if I would stay out over my curfew you would bend me over your knee and sp…. But you can't. I'm fifteen and not……. Please Mac"

Mac sat down on the next bench and guided Danny over his knee "I can and I will. You are fifteen and you are my son. I don't care how old you are. If you do something that stupid I will bend you over my knee and spank your little butt no matter if you are fifteen, twenty fife or thirty."

Mac pulled the boys shorts down to his knees with a quick move.

"Mac! Please not! Please Daddy!" Danny started to plead but Mac didn't hesidate to raise his hand and to land firm swats on the boys boxers.

SWAT SWAT "You are not allowed to stay out after ten" SWAT SWAT "You are not allowed to stay in the park after eight" SWAT SWAT "you are definitely not in the position to decide if you should go home one or two hour too late" SWAT SWAT "and I don't want an iterance of the behavior you showed me before" SWAT SWAT

"OW! OW! Dad please I will be good! I swear! OW" Danny started to sob and flounce over Mac's lap.

But Mac knew he had to bring the message home right now. He tipped the boy a little more to be able to land five hard swats on Danny's tender under curve.

Danny lay sobbing over Mac's lap. Tears were running over his face.

"Shh! Danny it's all over. I'm here." Mac gently rubbed circles over the boy's back. When Danny has calmed down he brought his shorts back in place and helped him to stand up.

"It hurts" Danny complained.

"I know Danny. But that's why it's called punishment. Now let's go home. I think Claire is still waiting for us." Mac told the boy.

Danny moaned a little. "How angry will Claire be?"

"I don't know. But we will find out. Claire loves you Danny."

"I know. You love me too but my butt's still on fire because of your way to show your love."

Mac couldn't help but laughed. "You will survive. You are grounded for the next four days so you can lay down on your stomach tomorrow."

Danny started to argue again "That's not fair. You have already spanked my so why …….OW!"

Mac had landed a firm swat on Danny's rear end. "I told you to stop this attitude. You are grounded till your birthday. It's just to help you to remember to obey our rules."

"My butt will help me to remember" Danny murmured but he didn't dare to say it loudly.

"You said anything?" Mac smirked.

"No sir!" Danny answered "Everything's okay."

On their walk home they talked about sports and cars and Danny's birthday. When they arrived at the flat Clair opened the door.

"Are you okay?" she asked Danny.

"I'm very sorry. Mum!" Danny told her "I didn't want to scare you. I just forgot the time. It will never happen again."

Claire smiled about hearing the word mom out of Danny's mouth.

She gave the boy a kiss on his forehead "That's to show you how much I love you."

Then she raised her hand and landed five stinging swats on Danny's butt "And that's to teach you to follow our rules."

"Ow!" Danny rubbed his butt "I think I will go to bed. That's definitely not my day. And if I get any more displays of affection I will never be able to sit down again."

Claire and Mac laughed when Danny made his way to his room.

"He's grounded for the next four days." Mac told her "I hope he will behave when I'm at work. But I've seen you know how to handle our little troubleshooter."

Claire laughed "C'mon Mac. He's a little boy. It's his job to be a troubleshooter and I'm pretty sure he will behave till his birthday. He calls us Mum and Dad."

"I know and I can tell you this is one of the best days in my life." Mac answered while he made his way to the bedroom.

TBC