AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know that the text conversation between Aly and her friend is not how teens text each other "in real life" but for the sake of fiction, let's pretend that it is! Beta'd by Edge_of_Clairvoyance. Hope you enjoy!

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

All during the day I was aware of the paper in my pocket. I didn't want to take it out during class and risk a teacher or one of my friends seeing it and asking questions. I listened to my friends talking about the weekend, burning with jealousy. Haley and Ben had finally hooked up at the party and had become a couple, and Haley was glowing with happiness. Jenny had flirted with a senior named Gregg, and he had asked her to slow dance twice, but she didn't think he was going to ask her out or anything.

I wasn't looking forward to seeing Dean at pickup- I still felt embarrassed by my outburst from the night before.

When my name was called, I walked slowly out to the car with my head down, and climbed into the front seat while not looking at Dean.

"How was your Monday?" He asked, putting the car in gear.

"Uh...okay." I looked down at my lap.

We drove in silence for a few minutes, then I blurted, "Listen, I-I'm sorry about last night, I'm sorry I yelled and threw a fit and all."

"Is that why you're acting so weird? Look, it's all right, I get it. The old man can be frustrating when he tells you no all the time with no explanation."

I glanced at him- he was looking at me earnestly. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. It's okay."

I looked back down at my lap. "I'm just embarrassed because I-I got so mad and then Dad- he spanked me in front of you guys."

He huffed a laugh and waved his hand. "That's no big deal, we've seen it before, we've all been punished in front of each other. It's worse when Dad kicks your ass in front of strangers."

"Yeah, Sam told me."

"Oh really? What'd he say?"

"Um, he told me about when you guys were training with some other hunters and kept arguing about guns and Dad swatted you both and then ended up spanking him."

Dean laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, the mouth on him when he was younger…"

I gave him a sly look. "I heard that you had quite a mouth too, and you used to get spanked with the hairbrush a lot."

He looked over at me, his face coloring slightly. "Yeah, I was full of sass back then, and got in trouble for it." He rubbed the back of his neck. "So yeah, we've all gotten it from Dad in front of other people. Don't worry about it."

"I'm just embarrassed."

"Well, don't be, it happens." He turned the wheel. "So, did you really have fun at the restaurant?"

"Yeah, I did. Thanks for taking me."

"Sam and I put in a good word for you with Dad about training, so hopefully he'll make a decision soon."

"He told me I was gonna have to 'show him a certain level of maturity' if I wanted him to talk to me about hunting stuff." I said with chagrin.

He laughed. "Yeah, Dad's big on all that, 'show me you can handle the responsibilities that I give you', but if you think about it, it makes sense. He needs to know that the people he hunts with are responsible and that he can trust them to have his back."

When we got home, I went straight to my room, spreading my textbooks and notebooks out on my bed. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and started tracing Dad's signature with a sheet of lined paper.

There was a knock on my door. I hastily shoved the notebook under my math book and called, "Yeah?"

The door opened and Dean leaned in. "I don't feel like cooking tonight, is Chinese okay?"

"Sure. Can I have sweet and sour chicken and fried dumplings?"

Dean smiled at me. "Trade you a dumpling for a spring roll?"

"Yeah." I smiled back at him, and he closed the door.

That meant I had a limited amount of time to practice before dinner. I kept at it, tracing 'Winchester' over and over. Finally I ripped the practice paper up into tiny pieces and then wrapped another piece of paper around it and buried it in the bottom of my backpack. I folded up the document again and also hid it in the bottom of my backpack. The field trip was on Thursday and the permission slips were due by Wednesday, so I had one more day to practice getting the signature right.

We were sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner when Dad said, "All right, Alyson. You brothers talked to me, and we'll start doing some training with you. I'd like to start with some hand-to-hand first, so you can learn the basics, and we can take you to a shooting range soon and get you started. How does that sound?"

I was surprised. "Um...okay?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Well, if you're not certain about it-"

"It's not that, I'm just surprised, I figured you'd take longer to think about it." I said.

"Sam brought up that in order for you to mature, I need to give you some learning experiences. You can't grow and change if you're kept in the same situations all the time. Everyone needs a chance to try and learn new things." Dad took a drink of beer. "Dean, see if we've still got that extra .22 Beretta in the weapons duffle and give it a good cleaning, Aly can use that."

Dean gave Dad a salute.

"Thanks, Sam." I said gratefully. "Thanks, guys, for wanting to give me a chance. I know I sucked before."

"Well, hey, you were a kid then, you were pretty small and the kickback on most guns would've knocked you down. I think you'll be able to handle things just fine now." Dean smiled at me.

"You didn't suck, you were really nervous about everything back then." Sam said. "You have more confidence now."

"As long as you act responsibly with everything, and show me that you can handle your emotions, we'll keep going." Dad said.

"Okay, thanks!" I felt positive- maybe this would change things, maybe Dad wouldn't treat me like an inconvenience as much, maybe he'd realize I wasn't a child anymore.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

As I was leaving the cafeteria the next day, I noticed Marc lingering nearby. He caught up with me. "Can I walk with you?" He asked.

"Sure." I said. "I have to go to the B wing for Social Studies, what do you have now?"

"Uh, I gotta go to PE, but it's okay if I'm a little late, we're just running around the track." He pumped his arms at his side like a runner.

"Oh." I moved over to the right side of the hallway and he followed me.

"You, uh...that 'Hymn to the Virgin' song is, uh, really great."

"Yeah, it's beautiful." I agreed.

"You have a really pretty voice, Aly, and I think you're really pretty too." Marc blurted out suddenly.

I remembered Dean telling me that he could tell that Marc liked me. I didn't know what to say! "Uh- well, I, uh-"

He blushed bright red from his hairline to his neck. "Sorry, I-I gotta go-" and with that, he turned and sprinted down the hall in the opposite direction.

I stared after him- was he for real? Did he like me? Did he want to date me? What should I have said? What if he decided not to like me because I didn't say anything? I had to talk to Jenny! I looked for her in the hallways between classes so I could tell her, but I didn't see her until the last class of the day, English.

I hurried into the room and sat down next to her. "You're not gonna believe what happened!" I hissed.

"What?" She asked.

"After lunch Marc asked if he could walk with me, and then, all of a sudden-um- he says that the Hymn to the Virgin song is really pretty and so am I! And then he blushed and ran away!" I whispered.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "No way!"

I leaned closer to her. "So, did he, I mean, has he ever said anything to you?"

"You mean about you? No, but he usually doesn't talk about girls with me. You can bet I'm gonna give him the third degree when I get home!" Jenny lived next door to Marc and they had known each other since they were little kids.

"Well- maybe you shouldn't say anything yet. I mean, he was blushing pretty bad, and if he's embarrassed-"

Jenny tossed her hair. "Hell no! He's gonna tell me everything!"

"Jenny and Alyson, would you care to join us?" Mrs. Hines boomed from the front of the class. Everyone around us tittered and we both sat up straight. I stared at my desk, feeling my face get hot.

It was hard to concentrate on the class because I kept thinking about Marc, thinking back to previous interactions I'd had with him. He was a cut-up in choir, always joking with people, and he teased me as well. There were times that I'd looked up from my music and caught him staring at me, but I had figured that he was just watching the sopranos sing.

By the time I had gone to my locker and was standing in the rider pickup line, I was full of doubt. "Uh, I don't think you should say anything to Marc." I told Jenny.

"Why not?" She had pulled her phone out and was texting someone.

"Well, what if he- what if he changes his mind because I didn't say anything?"

She put her phone down and looked at me with raised eyebrows. "That's not how it works, Aly." She shook her head. "A guy doesn't stop liking you just like that." She snapped her fingers. "Or just because he says something and you don't respond. He didn't give you a chance, anyway, did he? He just ran off."

"I guess…"

"Aly, come on!" She hit the side of my arm. "Do you really think that?"

"Well, I just don't -I've never been in a situation like this."

"You haven't?" She smiled. "You've never had a guy like you before?"

I shook my head. "No."

"I'll talk to Marc and see if he says anything to me first, and then if he doesn't, I'll ask him, okay?"

"Uh, I don't know-"

"Alyson Winchester!" The teacher called down the hallway.

"See ya later." I said to Jenny.

"Okay, I'll text you later and let you know what I find out!" She called.

After I got in the car, Dean looked at me for a long moment. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing." I said. I wasn't going to tell him about Marc!

"You sure? You've got this...look...on your face. Did something happen, you get a perfect score on a test or another singing gig?"

"No, Dean, nothing like that happened. Can't I just be in a good mood?"

"Well, sure."

The first thing I noticed when I went inside was that there was a dartboard on the wall in the living room.

"I went out and bought one, so you can practice." Dean said proudly. "I think you should practice at least a couple times a week."

"Okay, I guess." I said.

"Not, 'okay, I guess'. If you're serious about this then you need to get on a schedule." Dean said.

"Okay, I'll think about it. I've gotta do my homework." I said. I really needed to practice copying Dad's signature some more. I went into my room and pulled out the document, and spent a good while practicing. Finally, I felt ready to write it on my own. I wrote the signature out freehand a couple of times and then got out the permission slip. This was it! I took a deep breath and wrote out the signature one more time, then I signed Dad's name on the permission slip. Again, I tore the practice paper into tiny bits and stored them in a crumpled sheet of paper, and then I tucked the permission slip into my math textbook.

I picked up my cell phone- I had been getting notifications while I was writing. I had a couple of texts from Jenny.

"Hey, are you there?

I have some news for you!

Don't worry, it's good"

"What's up?" I texted her.

"Omg, where have you been?" she responded.

"Sorry, was doing homework." I replied.

"So...I talked to Marc."

"Oh no!" I felt panicked- what if he had just been joking around?

"It's ok!

He actually brought it up to me. He asked if I knew if you were interested in anyone. He talked about a couple of his friends who are thinking about asking girls out and then he asked if I thought you'd go out with him."

"WHAAAT?!" I texted back. My stomach clenched with nerves.

She texted a smiley face. "Yeah, he said that! And I said I thought you would...is that okay?"

"Um. I guess."

"You GUESS?"

"Well, I just- I don't know what to think! I've never had this happen before!" I was smiling without even thinking about it.

"Be happy! This is awesome!"

There was a tap on the door and Sam called, "Dinner's ready."

"Okay, I gotta go eat dinner. Talk more later!" I texted Jenny.

I still couldn't believe it- that Marc liked me, he had told me my voice was pretty and that I was pretty, and he wanted to ask me out! What would it be like to go on a date? Would we hold hands? What if he kissed me?

"Hey, earth to Aly," Sam snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"What?" I looked at him. All three of them were watching me.

"We've only been talking about training and weapons for the past five minutes, and you've been in la-la land, what's going on?" Dean asked.

"Oh, uh, sorry." I glanced down at my plate and speared a piece of chicken. "This is good barbecue sauce." I said as I chewed.

Dean's face brightened. "Yeah, I was lookin' at the different kinds at the store and this one had the recipe on the back of the bottle, so I decided to try it. It is good, isn't it?"

"Yeah." I agreed. "So what were you saying about training?"

Dad said, "Your brothers can work with you this weekend. And I think darts a couple of times a week is a good idea, like Dean suggested. If you're serious about this, you should start running every day like the boys did when they were your age."

"Running...every day?" I asked weakly.

"Yeah, best thing is to have a morning run before school." Dean said. "Really gets your blood pumping."

"Uh, I don't know...couldn't I do it when I got home?"

"Yeah, but you might be tired from school. That was always the excuse that Sammy threw out, 'I'm too tired, I've got a lot of homework', so we started doing morning runs." Dean grinned at Sam. Sam frowned back at Dean.

"Let's see how you do with what we've planned and we can add on runs if you're handling it." Dad said.

"Okay." I said with relief.

When we finished eating, Sam said, "I'll clean up in here, Aly, show Dad how well you do with darts."

"Um, I don't know…" I said nervously.

"C'mon, I'll play with you, so you don't feel put on the spot." Dean said.

"Okay, Dean."

Dad followed us into the living room and sat down on the sofa. I tried not to think about him sitting there, possibly judging me. Dean and I took turns warming up at first, and then we started to play.

Dad stood up and came over to stand near us, his arms folded over his chest. I glanced over at him and he was watching Dean as he threw a dart.

"That's it, Aly won." Dean said. He held his hand up, and I high-fived him. "You're awesome, short stuff!"

"Great job, Aly!" Sam said. I turned- he was standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Well, Alyson, I'm impressed." Dad smiled at me. "You have good hand-eye coordination, and good form when throwing. I think training you is going to be a breeze." He came over and gave me a hug.

"Thanks, Dad! Thanks, guys!" I said happily. Maybe I really could live up to the Winchester name.

~ ~ spn ~ ~

The next day in school, Jenny told me that Marc had said he was thinking about asking me out soon, but she didn't know when. I turned in the permission slip, my hands sweaty with anxiety, and said a little prayer that it would all work out. When I threw away the trash in the bottom of my backpack I sighed with relief.

At the end of the day, Jenny and I were waiting in the car rider pickup line when Marc approached us. "How's it going?" He asked casually, glancing around.

"It's going okay." I said.

"So, uh, do you like superhero movies?" Marc asked me. "Like, y'know, Batman?"

"Um, I guess? I mean, they're not my favorite. My big brother Dean is a huge Batman fan so I've seen all of them with him."

"Oh." He looked down at the floor. "'Cause the new Batman movie with Christian Bale is out. Do you like other superheroes?"

"Aly's more of a Jane Austen type of chick rather than a comic book type." Jenny said.

"Oh." Marc glanced at her and then me. "I heard that another movie that's-"

A tall guy ran by us, shoving Marc's shoulder. "Dude, c'mon, if you're late, Coach is gonna make all of us run extra laps and then we'll have to kick your ass!"

"Crap, I gotta go." Marc said regretfully. "Don't want the whole team on my case. Talk to you later!" He turned and jogged away.

Jenny screeched and grabbed my arm. "He was just about to ask you to the movies!" She shook my arm, grinning.

"You think so?"

"Well, duh!" She let go of me. "He was trying to find out what you like!"

"Should I have said something different? He seemed disappointed that I didn't like Batman."

"No, you tell him what you want to watch, and he'll take you to see it. If he wants to be with you, he'll watch whatever you want."

"Oh, okay."

The teacher called my name just then, and I practically skipped down the hallway.

Dean stared at me as I buckled my seatbelt. He pulled away from the curb and said, "Okay, now I know something's going on, you've had this look on your face for a couple of days now, so spill."

Could I trust Dean? What would he say, would he think I was still too young? Would he tell Dad right away? What if Dad said no?

"How old were you when you started dating?" I asked.

"You mean hangin' out with chicks, or like, dating dating?"

"What's the difference?" I was confused.

"Well, sometimes, you might have a friend that's a girl and you both kinda have feelings for each other, but you don't want to get all involved, so you just, you know...make out every once in a while."

"You mean like friends with benefits."

He nodded. "Yeah, right-wait, how do you know about that?" A blush crept up his face from his collar. "Why are you asking, anyway?"

I looked down and played with my zipper. "Well, I...I might have heard...there's this guy…" I looked up at him. "There's a guy in my friend group and he likes me!" I blurted, a big grin on my face.

"Let me guess, that Marc guy?"

"Yeah."

He drummed on the steering wheel. "I knew it!" After a moment, he said, "So wait, he likes you...what does that mean? Is he gonna ask you on a date, or what?"

I hoped Dean wouldn't be negative about it. "Yeah, I think so."

"You think so?"

"He hasn't asked yet. Not in so many words."

"Not in so many words? What does that mean?"

"He asked me what kind of movies I like."

He nodded. "Yeah, sounds about right. How do you know he's interested?"

I looked down again. "My friend Jenny told me. They're really good friends and he asked her about me."

"And she told you, of course." He rolled his eyes.

"Um...do you think...if he asks me, would Dad...would he let me go?"

Dean looked uncomfortable. "Uh, I don't know."

I leaned over and put my hand on his arm. "Can you put in a good word with him? Please?"

He blew out a breath. "I don't know, Aly, let me think about it."

"I'm not a little kid any more, Dean, I'm fourteen now, I'm old enough to do things like go on a date!" I sat up with a huff.

"I know, I know, don't go getting all huffy on me. Let me think about it. I just can't wrap my head around- you're still my baby sister-" he held his hand up at my noise of protest- "and you're always gonna be, even when we're both old and gray." He glanced at me. "I'm just going to have to get used to you growing up, is all." He said quietly.

"Don't tell Dad yet, okay?" I asked. "I don't want him to get all grumpy and make a decision that I'm not allowed at all."

He sighed. "Well...I don't like that idea, but...okay, I won't say anything. But when this guy does ask, you come talk to Dad, all right? No sneaking around behind his back. Behind any of our backs." He gave me a serious look.

"Okay, Dean." I said gratefully.

When we walked in the house, we could hear raised voices. Dean shot me a concerned look and hurried down the hall, me hot on his heels.

Sam and Dad were in Dad's bedroom. Dad was sitting on the bed surrounded by stacks of newspapers, books, and a couple of open maps. Sam was holding his laptop, standing near the end of the bed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Dean asked with a smile.

Sam turned to him. "I found him, Dean."

"Found who?"

"The guy from my dream." Sam said. "At least I'm pretty sure it's him. There was a report of a John Doe who was found stabbed to death in Indiana."

"Okay, well, he's dead, so that's it, right?" Dean asked weakly.

"No, Dean, that's not it! I want to figure out who he was, why he was where he was when he got killed-"

"Sam, it's one report of a stabbing of an unidentified person. That's a big leap to make that it's the man you saw in your dream." Dad stood up. "I don't want you running off to Indiana on a wild goose chase."

Dean looked at Sam. "You want to go to Indiana just to check out this John Doe?"

"I need to get to the bottom of this!" Sam snapped.

"Look, Sam, I understand you have a sense of urgency about this. But you know that a hunter doesn't go off half-cocked on a hunch." Dad said patiently.

"Don't patronize me!" Sam glared at Dad. "I know you still think my dream wasn't real!"

"I'm not patronizing you. Whether your dream was real or not, I can't say. But what I do know is that I need you here, now, working with me, not off investigating something that might just be a product of your imagination."

Sam's shoulders slumped. "I can do both, you know."

Dad shook his head. "I don't want you to. You were the one who said, let us be more involved, let us shoulder some of the work, and so I did. If you've got your attention spread out over too many things, there's a higher chance you'll miss something important. You know that, that's why I've always only ever done one hunt at a time."

Dean walked over to Sam and put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Can you shelve your investigations for now? Just until we get through this...what we're working on?"

Sam sighed. He still had dark circles under his eyes, which always meant that he wasn't sleeping well. "Yeah, I guess." He glanced at me as he left the room. "Hey, Aly."

When I went to get him for dinner, he had fallen asleep sitting up on his bed, so I didn't wake him, and he slept through the night.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

I jiggled my leg nervously as I watched out the window of the van as cars pulled up. My classmate would stand up, their parent would get out of the car and come over to the van, and Mr. Brown would greet them and chat for a moment, then she would call the kid's name and they would leave.

I had had everything all planned out for the day of the field trip- Jenny had brought me a black skirt to wear, and I had worn my white button down shirt to school and hidden it under my hoodie. I had changed into the skirt at school, and Haley had put some makeup on me. We had performed at the elementary school and the kids had been awed by our singing and acted like we were rock stars. We had left the school feeling on top of the world.

During the drive back to school the van had broken down, and now we were on the side of the road, and all my happiness had drained out of me. After making a few phone calls, Ms. Brown had told us that we'd have to have our parents come pick us up- it was dismissal time for the high school and all the buses were in use, and the other van wasn't available. When she had announced we needed to call our parents, I thought I was going to faint. This was not happening!

I had my purse with me, so I had pulled out my cell phone to call Dad, my stomach twisting with nerves.

He answered after a couple of rings. "Alyson-is everything all right?"

I cleared my throat. "Hi, Dad, yeah, everything's fine...well...I, um, I need for you to come pick me up."

"What's-are you sick?" He sounded concerned now.

"No, I, um…" I took a deep breath. Better to just say it! I had to act casual, though, so that the people around me wouldn't get a sense that I was feeling guilty. "I'm, uh, I'm on the field trip, and we-the van broke down on the side of the road."

"Wait a-you're on the field trip." Dad's voice was like a stone. "The field trip to the elementary school."

"Yeah." I squirmed, imagining him glaring at me. "We're about two miles away from the intersection of Hilltop Road and Route 4, on Hilltop."

"I'll find you with the GPS. I'll be there soon." He hung up abruptly.

Now, it was just me and one of the basses, Edward, a guy I didn't know very well. I heard the Impala's engine before I saw the car, and my nervousness increased.

I could see two people in the front of the Impala, I figured it was my brothers. I felt a shock as I saw Dad get out of the driver's seat instead of Dean.

He was dressed in a dark gray suit and tie, so he must have gone to talk to police or something official like that. He walked over to Ms. Brown and they spoke, and I saw her give him the clipboard with the permission slips on it.

Ms. Brown called my name and I stood up, my stomach dancing with anxiety. Dad was standing right outside as I walked down the steps.

"See you later, Ms. Brown."

"See you tomorrow. Good job today!" She smiled.

I looked at Dad- he didn't look angry, but I could tell by the set of his jaw that he was. "Alyson."

"Hi, Dad." I said.

He turned to walk back to the car, and I had to hurry to keep pace with his long strides.

He stopped by the car and turned to face me. "You're in a lot of trouble, young lady." His voice was stern.

My face got hot as he opened the door for me. I climbed into the back seat and set my purse next to me.

Dean was in the passenger seat, wearing his dark blue suit. He looked at Dad as Dad got behind the wheel. "Did she?" he asked, and Dad nodded.

Dean turned to me. "Man, Aly, you have some balls, forging Dad's signature. I mean, I've skipped out on classes and stuff, but this takes the cake." He shook his head.

"Enough, Dean." Dad rumbled. "We'll discuss it when we get home."

My face got even hotter as my stomach twisted itself into a knot. What was I thinking? Dad prized honesty as the most important thing in our family- honesty and obedience. And I had disobeyed him, and gone behind his back, and forged his signature. I was really in for it.

Unshed tears prickled my eyes as we drove home. I was so stupid thinking I could actually do this! How could I have thought this would work out? Dad always knew things, he had always caught my brothers when they snuck out or got drunk or whatever. Why did I think it would be any different for me?

I was ready to cry by the time Dad had parked the car. I followed him into the house, Dean walking behind me.

Sam came into the living room, a book in his hand. "What's Aly doing home? Is she sick?"

"Your sister decided that she was going to go on the field trip that I expressly forbid her to go on." Dad said. "Apparently, she forged my signature on the permission slip."

Sam's mouth fell open. "What?"

I felt my face get hot, and I stared at the ground. There was nothing I could say in my defense.

"Alyson, go to your room and wait for me." Dad said tersely.

"May I please use the restroom?" I asked. "We were sitting there for over an hour."

"Go ahead." Dad nodded.

I turned and trudged down the hall slowly. I wanted to dawdle, to stay in the bathroom as long as possible to hopefully stall my impending punishment, but I knew that Dad would probably only get angrier if he had to come find me.

I could hear them talking in low voices as I closed my door. I changed into my pajamas, figuring that Dad was probably going to say I was confined to quarters for the rest of the day anyway. I hung up my shirt and then folded the skirt so I could take it back to Jenny. I set the skirt on my dresser, right next to the hairbrush, and froze. I was probably in for a hairbrush spanking because of this.

I sat down on my bed and tried to calm down. I thought about texting Jenny, but I didn't want to admit anything to her, it would make my guilt more real.

It felt like I sat there for hours waiting, but eventually there was a knock on my door.

"Uh-come in." I called. My bottom clenched with nervousness as I thought about the hairbrush.

Dad entered the room, rolling up one of his shirtsleeves. He had removed his jacket and tie and unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt.

He closed the door, looking down at me. I expected him to start scolding, but he just stood there until I started to squirm. Finally he spoke. "So not only did you sneak behind my back, you changed clothes at school. You did quite a bit of planning."

I gulped. "I-"

"Report." His voice was brusque.

Dangit, that meant I had to tell it all, right now.

I sat up, clasping my hands together. "Dad, I'm sorry." I said quickly.

"I said report." His voice dropped a notch.

"I, uh, I really wanted to go. I love choir, and this was gonna be neat, to sing for the elementary school kids. And, uh, you said, you told me no, and I-I, uh, I took the permission slip, and I-" I felt my face get hot again. "I, uh, I-" I swallowed, trying to bring some moisture back into my mouth which had suddenly gone dry. "I-" I could barely force the words out. "I forged-your signature."

He folded his arms. "And why is that wrong?"

Suddenly I couldn't think straight. "Um-um-because it's-um, forging something is, it's a-bad thing-to do." I trailed off.

"Forgery is a crime of fraud. It's a felony in all fifty states, and it's something that adults can end up doing jail time for!" His voice was hard. "I can't believe this-after the talks we've had about you being trusted to be alone on the weekends while we hunt, you go and-you pull this stunt!" He pointed at me. "I am very disappointed in you, young lady. I told you that you weren't allowed to go on the field trip. You disobeyed me and went behind my back. And you did something that's illegal!" He put his hands on his hips. "I would have thought that after the debacle that ended with you getting expelled, you'd be on your best behavior as far as school was concerned. You haven't been getting in trouble at school, but your attitude has certainly changed for the worse since I let you join that choir."

"Dad, I am sorry." I said quickly. "I know now that I shouldn't have done it, it was stupid-"

"You're not sorry." He said in a hard voice. "If you had gotten away with this, you wouldn't be feeling regretful at all. The only reason you're sorry is that you got caught." He shook his head. "You've been planning this for days. I took a look at the permission slip- you must have taken one of my papers and used it to copy my name. And then you arranged with a friend to change your clothes, and put on makeup, which is another thing I have forbidden." He glared at me. "This throws your integrity into question, everything we've been talking about recently- you want me to trust you, treat you more like an adult, share hunting information with you? What you did is not the actions of someone who is trustworthy. You've lost my trust again, Alyson, and it's going to be harder to rebuild it this time."

I wrung my hands, tears filling my eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Dad!" I didn't know what else to say.

His hands went to his belt buckle. "You've earned the belt for this."

I shrank back. "Th-the belt?" My stomach did a flip. "Please, Dad-" I thought back to the first time he had used the belt, after I had been expelled from school last year. He had only given me 6 strokes, since it had been my first time, but it had hurt a lot and I had sworn never to do anything bad enough to warrant a belt spanking ever again. I looked up at him, my nervousness increasing. "Please, Dad, you don't have to- I'll never do that again, I promise, just please-I'm sorry, I really am-" Tears started to drip down my cheeks.

He pulled the belt out of the belt loops with a slithering sound, and folded it in half. "Alyson." He motioned with his head as he stepped over to stand next to the bed.

I scooched back further against the headboard. "Please, Dad, please-"

He set the belt down on the bed and then reached for me. In seemingly one motion, he had grabbed me, sat down on the edge of the bed, and secured me over his left thigh. My torso was resting on the bed and my legs were trapped between his.

He put his hand on my back. "Why are we here?" He asked.

I grabbed handfuls of blanket and closed my eyes. "Be-because I-I went on a field trip after you said no, I-I-f-forged your signature so I could go." I let out a sob.

"You went behind my back and lied to me." He said, and then he started to spank me.

I burst into tears as his hand traveled across my rear end. "Ow, Dad, please, I'm sorry!" I cried out, but of course that didn't stop him. The swats continued to fall at an even pace, warming up every inch of skin. I couldn't help it, I started to kick as he concentrated on the lower part of my butt.

"No kicking." He said sternly, landing a harsh swat to the top of my right thigh. I squealed and stopped moving. He kept up the spanking, his hand traveling from the top of my behind all the way down to the undercurve.

I felt his hand on the waistband of my pajama pants, and he pulled them and my panties down together. I squealed again as he started spanking-it always hurt so much more on the bare.

"Please, Daddy, I'm sorry, I really am!" I whimpered, as his hard hand fell again and again. I started to struggle, and he wrapped his arm around my waist. I buried my face in my blankets and wept as the swats landed randomly all over. My rear end was a mass of stinging now.

Finally he stopped. "Your teacher didn't know that you forged my signature." He said. "If someone had realized, you could have gotten into trouble with the school. You didn't even think about that, did you? You just did what you wanted to, without thinking it through, like you usually do. You had better never do something like this again, young lady, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Daddy, yes, I'm sorry," I sobbed.

He leaned over and I heard the buckle jingle, and my stomach clenched up again. I pushed up with my feet, trying to get away. "Please, Dad, no!" I begged. "Please, not the belt!"

"You're getting fourteen this time, Alyson." He said implacably.

I wailed the first time the belt landed, and tried to move my torso again, but he just snugged my body against him and held my waist tighter. I wasn't going to be able to get away, and he was right, I had earned this. I stopped fighting and just laid there, crying out each time the belt fell. The sound of the belt snapping against my skin filled the room as he layered stripes of pain on my bottom. The belt traveled down my rear end until he got to the sensitive spot where my thighs turn into my butt, and then he landed the belt over and over right there, and I howled.

Finally, he stopped, and I heard him put the belt down. "It's done," he said, and then I felt him rubbing my back. After a few minutes, he pulled up my panties and pajama bottoms, and then helped me up onto his knee. He put his arms around me and pulled me into his chest.

I clutched at his shirt, crying again. "I'm sorry, Daddy, I'm so sorry."

"All right, it's over now, it's all done." I felt him stroking the hair on the back of my head.

"M' sorry I'm su-such a fu-a s-screw up." My chest hitched.

"You're not a screw up. You're a teenager, and you misbehave sometimes, and it's my job to correct you when it happens. It's done now." He rubbed my back.

I buried my face in his chest as I sobbed, not caring that I was getting snot and tears all over his dress shirt. Eventually I calmed and my breathing evened out.

Dad's voice was firm. "You're confined to quarters for the rest of the day, Dean will bring you your dinner. And tomorrow we'll talk about the rest of your punishment."

I pulled back to look up at him. "The-rest- of my p-punishment?" Oh no, was I in for another spanking?

"Yes, you're on lockdown, no more extracurricular activities. And you're going to be copying from 'Creatures of North America' as well." Creatures of North America was a book about monster lore that a lot of hunters used as a resource, and both my brothers had had to copy chapters of it as punishment in the past.

"Yes sir." I lowered my head. "I'm sorry I d-disappointed you." Tears filled my eyes again.

He smoothed his hand over my hair and lifted my chin to look me in the eyes. "I don't like having to punish you, Alyson. I love you, and I want to be able to trust you. I expect you to be on your best behavior now, and you're going to have to really work at showing me that you can be trusted."

"Yes, Daddy." I sniffled. "I love you too. I'm really sorry."

"I know." He kissed my forehead and then patted the side of my thigh. "Up."

I climbed off of his lap and he stood up and threaded his belt through the loops. I wiped my face with my pajama sleeves.

He walked over to the head of my bed and pulled the covers down. "Come on, lie down."

I got into bed, laying on my side.

He pulled the covers up and tucked them around my shoulders, then leaned down to kiss my temple. "You get some rest, Pumpkin." He said gently.

He turned off the overhead light and closed the door quietly as he left the room.