Chapter 4

Neal's appetite wasn't up to standards for lunch mainly due to what was going to happen afterward but he managed to finish everything on his plate before excusing himself to go to his room knowing that Peter wouldn't be too far behind.

"Neal, we need to talk," Peter said upon entering a few minutes later.

"Talk? Don't you mean spank, Dad?" replied Neal snippily.

Peter raised his eyebrow at Neal's remark but sat down next to him on his bed anyhow. "No, I mean talk. Son, why is it that you don't feel that you did anything wrong yesterday?"

"Because he was worse to me than I was to him," replied Neal. "He repeatedly spanked me for petty offenses and even though he took me behind closed doors and pulled blinds everyone there knew I was being spanked...it was embarrassing."

"I'm sorry Neal but that is FBI policy and something every agent went through when they became junior agents; most of them learned quickly but a few like your old man had to relearn several times before the spankings stopped," Peter recalled as he suffered several times at Russell's hands. "If I had protested Russell's treatment I might as well have turned in my badge...part of it was a way of testing if we had what it took to become a full-fledged FBI agent and I must have passed," Peter explained with a smile.

"It's still not fair," pouted Neal. "He was picky and when I retaliated, I'm the one who is going to be punished and not him for his original treatment of me," Neal added.

"Well, whether you feel that it is right or not you pulled a prank on your superior, a prank that I may add included you breaking in to his car trunk and planting substances that caused him to be pulled over and held as a suspicious character and that isn't to be tolerated," Peter stated as he stood up and motioned for Neal to do likewise.

"Neal I want you to bend over your desk. I'm going to give you a spanking," ordered Peter as he quickly pulled his belt from their loops and folded it in anticipation of the spanking Neal had earned.

Neal just glared at him and refused to move. "NO! I'm not going to let you spank me," he replied defiantly.

"Neal...I remember when I was defiant towards my dad concerning a spanking and I can tell you now that he lit a fire in my backside that wasn't extinguished for days afterward. Please do not make me cause you to experience it as well," pleaded Peter as he thought back to that time when he was a boy and he too retaliated against an unfair teacher and how he was punished for it. He was startled to remember that he too had chosen a smelly form of revenge although his version was worse than just having some stinky cheese left in the car.

His memory was interrupted when Neal stood and silently got into position. "I trust you dad, but I still don't think it's fair," Neal stated as he nervously waited for the first lick.

As Peter moved to get in position to he was carried back to that day many years ago when he found himself in a similar position. He was unfortunate to walk into his math class and find that Mr. Kennedy would be his math teacher. He remembered, "Peter Burke didn't I have your older brother Steven as a student when he was ten? Peter nodded and said, yes, sir," and then everything went from okay to bad as he was compared to his big brother time and time again and each time his brother was praised while he was belittled. It finally got to a point that Peter couldn't stand it any long and only wanted payback.

At the word payback Peter was brought back to the present and said, "You know you are lucky that I am only spanking you on your jean covered butt."

"Lucky? How is that lucky?" asked Neal.

"I could have spanked you like my dad did me and that was over his knee and on my bare butt," replied Peter as he brought his belt down on Neal's backside catching him off guard and bringing a cry of pain from his lips. Peter brought his belt down again and again and with every lick to Neal's backside Peter was reminded of his own spanking as his father's hand.

"Peter I am so disappointed in you...you caught and hid a skunk in Mr. Kennedy's car so when your teacher got in to go home he startled the skunk who then sprayed him and everything in the car. It almost caused him to wreck and then how would you had felt if he had been seriously hurt," lectured his father as he brought his hand down over and over on his son's bare bottom.

Peter even remembered his defiance as he replied, "it would have served him right for all of the humiliation he caused me this year." He remembered how his dad just started to hit harder...he just sobbed until his father realizing that he had enough and brought his spanking to an end." Peter came out of his remembrance realizing that his son, Neal had also had enough as he sobbed and he too brought Neal's spanking to an end.

"It's okay son...your slate is wiped clean," comforted Peter as he pulled Neal into a hug and held him until he got his emotions back under control. Peter remembered as well that his father did the same for him and how safe he felt in his father's arms. It was after that spanking that his father had a long talk with Mr. Kennedy and the humiliating session came to an end and he started to like math...so much so that he majored in the subject in college and got a degree in accounting before he applied for and was accepted as an FBI agent, specifically in the while collar division...where he eventually caught the kid he had just spanked...his son Neal. Peter nearly chuckled with the thought of how much his son was like him even to the point of mimicking him in his manner of retaliation.

"I guess it is true…like father like son."

Once he felt Neal's tears end he pulled him away and said, "Next time you decide to retaliate against someone, please come to me first...it could save your bottom a world of hurt. Now go and wash up and we will see if your mother has any more of that chocolate cake left."

Neal nodded and smiled at the thought of another slice of cake. "Thanks dad, for caring."

"How is he feeling, other than having a sore bottom?" El asked as her husband came down the stairs.

"He trusts me, but still feels that it isn't fair that he is being punished for the prank and being spanked repeatedly throughout the week by Agent Michael Russell for petty offenses. He doesn't understand that what he did to a superior is called being disrespectful," explained Peter.

"Is he coming down?"

"Yep, I promised him another piece of your chocolate cake," Peter replied with a smile.

El smiled; she knew that Neal would walk through fire for another piece of her cake and hurried to slice him a piece. She had only made it half way when she heard a knock to the front door and turned around to see Peter answer it.