AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for all your words of support, it means a lot. I'm trying to make sure I do things to take care of my physical and mental health right now, because self-care is important, especially around the holidays. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a lovely holiday with lots of love and good food to eat. Take care of yourselves during this time of year! XXXOOO
Content Warning: Charlie gets paddled again, it's all Castiel's fault! (you'll see what I mean) Do not read if this will upset or bother you.
~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~
"Daaaddyyyy, how much longer?" I whined, putting the coloring book on the seat beside me. "I gotta go pee!"
Daddy glanced at his watch. "I guess we can pull over for a break, it's almost dinner time. Sam, call Dad and let him know."
Uncle Sam pulled his phone out and dialed. "Hey Dad, we need to stop for a rest room break, and it's about time for dinner, we should stop for the night...what?" Uncle Sam glanced at Daddy, "Well, I don't know...I mean, we're going to need to stop and get a room for Charlie and all, you know? She's not used to—I know, Dad, but—listen, can we just stop for a break, and we can talk about it more? All right..." he glanced out the window, "We just passed exit 193, I think the next one has signs for gas stations and all, we'll pull off there, and find a Gas-n-Sip. Okay, see you in a few."
He disconnected the call and glanced at Daddy again, sighing. "He wants to drive straight through, says we should be there in another few hours."
Daddy shook his head. "I know he wants to get there as soon as possible, but I got a feeling about this—it's not going to really matter if we get there in 6 hours or in 12, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know," Uncle Sam agreed, "But he's back to being obsessed and he's not going to let it go, you know how he gets."
In a few minutes, Daddy had pulled into a parking lot, and we got out of the car. I took Daddy's hand and we hurried into the building. Once I was finished in the rest room, I took his hand again as he walked up the aisle with snack food. At the end was a cardboard shelf with blinking lights at the top, advertising that they had fresh doughnuts and pastries at this store.
I tugged on Daddy's hand and tried to step over to the shelf. "Look, Daddy, fresh doughnuts!" I pointed.
He looked down at me, and pulled me back towards him. "Don't you go anywhere," he said sternly.
"I'm not," I said, looking up at him.
He frowned at me. "What did I say about wandering away in a store?"
"I—I wasn't!" I protested, stepping next to him, "I'm still holding your hand, aren't I?" I held our hands up. He relaxed. "You stay right by me," he reminded me.
"Yes, Daddy," I said, not wanting to get into any kind of trouble.
We walked over to the counter that had the coffee machines on it, where Grandpa John was fixing himself a large coffee. "-think we can do it, it's only another few hours," he was saying to Uncle Sam.
"Dad, we should stop for the night. It's not going to matter-" Uncle Sam replied.
"It very well could matter, I think time is of the essence here, and we've got to get out there ASAP," Grandpa John said in a low voice.
Daddy glanced around. "Let's talk about this outside, huh?"
We walked out to the car, and Daddy put me in the back seat. Grandpa John's truck was parked two spaces away, and they stood next to it and talked for several minutes. I couldn't hear them, but I could tell that they were all being serious and close to getting angry.
Finally they came back to the car and got in.
"We're going to go through a drive-through, and keep driving for now," Daddy told me, and we followed Grandpa John to get food.
It was dark, but I had started to notice little flecks in the headlights of cars as they drove past us.
"Daddy, it's—it's snowing!" I said excitedly, "Look!"
"Yeah, I noticed," he said.
I turned to the window and watched the snow falling under the streetlights. "Can we go play in the snow when we stop?"
"I don't know," Daddy said distractedly.
"You don't have any boots, do you?" Uncle Sam turned to look back at me, "I know we got you a coat and hat and all that, but you've only got tennis shoes. We'll have to get you some boots."
"Well, that's kinda a low priority right now," Daddy said, "I'm just trying to keep my eyes on the road here."
"I know, Dean, I'm just mentioning it," Uncle Sam said.
It had started to snow harder, and it was now covering the road and blowing up in puffs of white air.
Daddy finally sighed. "Dude, call Dad, we're gonna have to stop. I don't have snow tires on Baby and I'm a little concerned about driving in this."
Uncle Sam called Grandpa John, and after a heated conversation that lasted several minutes, Daddy got off at the next exit. It took a couple of tries to find a motel with rooms that were available. Apparently the snow had come on suddenly, and travelers were unprepared, so a lot of them were looking for places to spend the night, like us. Daddy finally found a motel with two vacancies, but the rooms were a few doors down from each other.
Uncle Sam helped us bring our duffles into the room. "I'll talk to Dad, see what he wants to do. Thank God this place has free Wi-fi."
Daddy shook his head. "I hope he doesn't want to keep trying to go, we're going to have to just wait this out. I don't even have any chains for the tires, and the guy at the front desk said this storm is looking to be a bad one."
There was a knock on the door, and Uncle Sam and Daddy looked at each other. Daddy pulled a gun out and kept it low.
Uncle Sam walked over and peered through the peephole. "It's Castiel," he said, opening the door.
Daddy said, "Wow, you remembered to use the door finally," as the angel walked in.
"Yes, I am trying, although I do not understand the point of all this etiquette," Castiel said in his gravelly voice. He looked around. "Where is John Winchester? I must speak with him, this is not a wise course of action he is on, the demons-"
"Hey!" Daddy interrupted loudly, jerking his head at me, "Not in front of her, remember?"
"We had to get a room a couple of doors down," Uncle Sam told Castiel.
Castiel stepped over towards me. "Charlie, you left something in the last motel room," he said, pulling something out of his coat pocket. My mouth went dry as he held the paddle out to me.
Daddy came over to him and grabbed it out of his hand, turning to me. "What the hell, little girl?" he growled.
I looked up at him, and then over at Uncle Sam, my mouth going dry. They were both frowning at me.
"I can't wait to hear your explanation for this," Uncle Sam said dryly, putting his hands on his hips.
"I, uh-" my face felt hot as I began to blush. I turned to Castiel and glared at him, trying to cover over my nervousness with anger. "What were you doing, spying on me?" I snapped at him.
"I am your guardian angel, it is my job to watch over you, and I know that humans do not like it when they lose belongings or items get left behind," Castiel explained calmly.
"And just how did you 'leave the paddle behind', young lady?" Uncle Sam's voice dropped a notch.
I glanced at him and stared at the floor. "I, uh- you went into the other room to pack, and Daddy left to go do the check-out thing. You left the paddle on the bed, an' I just...grabbed it an' shoved it under the bed," I said to Uncle Sam, feeling my face get even hotter.
"Damn, I didn't even think to check if it was packed, everything happened so quickly," Daddy said.
Tears came to my eyes. "I'm sorry!" I exclaimed.
"No you're not. This was deliberate, you didn't 'lose the paddle', you hid it so that it would be gone," Uncle Sam's voice was hard, "You're only sorry because you happened to get caught."
"And it's also lying," Daddy said, in an equally hard voice.
I looked up at him in surprise. "I didn't lie!"
"A lie of omission, you did something in secret, that wouldn't be found out until later," Daddy said, "Go stand in the corner."
"But-" I looked up at him, and he narrowed his eyes at me and pointed. "Corner, now."
"I do not understand, the child left-" Castiel started to say.
"Thanks for nothing, you got me in trouble!" I yelled at him.
Daddy landed a hard swat on my bottom. "GO!" he said loudly, and I hurried over to the corner and stood there, tears coming to my eyes.
"Let's go talk to Dad," Uncle Sam said, and I heard him and Castiel leave the room. I heard Daddy walking around, moving things, and the zipper on his duffle, and wondered—hoped-that he was putting the paddle away.
Finally, I heard him say, "Come here, Charlie."
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and turned. Daddy was sitting in a chair, he had pulled it away from the table. I gulped and walked over to him. The paddle was sitting on the table, and my stomach clenched up with nervousness.
Daddy looked at me for a long moment. "I'm very disappointed in you," he said sternly, "Doing something sneaky like this? Right after everything that just happened with you running away, and putting the pillows under your covers, and all that? I wanted to spend some time just fixing our relationship, not having to punish you for lying."
When he said he was disappointed in me, that hurt, and I started to cry. "Daddy I'm sorry, I won't lie or do that ever again, I p-promise!" I blurted out.
"I want to believe that, Charlie, I do," he said, "But you need to realize how serious I am about lying. We have to always be able to trust each other 100 percent in this life, and that means no lying. We need to be honest about things that are happening, because you have to be able to trust that the people you're working with have your back and they'll work with you and defend you. And there are some supernatural creatures out there that will use lies and deceit to-to mess with you, so that's another reason that telling the truth and not hiding things is important. Family doesn't lie to each other."
I sniffled and swiped my hand across my face. "I'm sorry, Daddy," I said again.
"Well, it's going to take a while for me to feel like I can trust you again," he said.
I gulped, and more tears spilled out of my eyes. "I—I didn't mean for it to—to be like this!" I protested, "I didn't think that—that-"
"That what? That we'd just let it go? What did you think was going to happen the next time I had to use the paddle? 'Oh, the paddle's lost, I guess we won't need it any more', is that what you were hoping would happen? Is that what you thought I'd say?"
I blushed again. "I—I dunno," I whispered.
"Well, you made a mistake, little girl, big time," Daddy said in a hard voice. He pulled me over next to his leg, and then he unsnapped my jeans and started to pull them down.
"Daddyyyy," I whimpered, "What're you doing?"
"From now on, lying is a bare-butt spanking," he said, pulling my jeans down to my knees, and then my panties. He lifted me up and put me over his lap, and I panicked and tried to push up, but there were no rungs on this chair, because the legs were metal and came down in the front only. I tried to push on Daddy's lower leg and move my body up but by then Daddy had his arm across my back and had pinned me down.
"Daddy, please, m'sorry!" I cried out, and he began to spank me. I burst into tears as his hand fell again and again. Even though I'd been spanked earlier in the day, there hadn't really been any leftover pain, but it seemed like now, my butt was on fire almost right away. I wailed and kicked as his hard hand covered my bottom with stinging swats.
He stopped for a moment. "No sneaking something like this ever again, you will not ditch the paddle. And NO LYING," he said in a hard, loud voice that made me shudder. His hand peppered the lowest part of my butt and I sobbed aloud as the sting built up.
He leaned over and I heard the scrape of the paddle as he picked it up.
"Daddyyyy pleeeease!" I wailed, as he tilted me forward on his lap. Then I heard the loud smack of the paddle landing the first time and a second later felt it, and I howled. The paddle fell two times on each side, right on that spot where my butt turns into my thighs. I was crying hard as I heard him put the paddle down. He pulled my panties up, and I laid there sobbing. After a couple of minutes I had calmed a little, and he pulled me upright and into his arms.
"I don't want to have to spank you for lying again, little girl, don't lie to me," he murmured, stroking the back of my head.
"N-no, Daddy, I w-won't," I sniffled. I buried my face in his flannel and put my arms around him, and he hugged me tightly. We snuggled until my chest was hitching every once in a while. Then he set me on my feet. "Go get ready for bed," he told me.
"Y-yes, Daddy," I said, stepping out of my jeans.
"Wait," he picked up the paddle and held it out to me. "I want you to put this in my duffle, in the outside pocket on the front."
I looked at him and gulped. "Do I—do I have to?" I whined.
"Yes," he said sternly.
I took the paddle from him, and walked over to the dresser, where his duffle sat. I shoved the paddle into the pocket and then zipped it closed, and turned to him. He was watching me.
"I'm going to check and make sure that it's there, too," he said, "Understand?"
I swallowed. "Yes, Daddy." I walked over and got my pajamas out, and then went into the bathroom to do my routine.
When I got into bed I winced, because sitting made my butt hurt. Daddy hugged me and kissed me, and I rolled onto my tummy as he pulled the covers up.
"I'm going to go into the bathroom to talk to Sam on the phone," he told me, "even though he's just four doors down, I'm not leaving you alone here."
"Okay, Daddy," I said sleepily. I fell asleep listening to the sound of his low voice behind the bathroom door.
When I woke up, it felt cold in the room. I sat up and shivered, noticing that the light looked funny around the edges of the curtains. I got out of bed and ran over to the window, remembering that it had been snowing last night. As I pulled the curtain over I was confronted with brightness- it had snowed all night, and everything was blanketed in white! I heard a scraping sound, and saw men walking in the parking lot with big metal shovels.
"Daddy, it snowed! Lots!" I exclaimed, runnig over to him and jumping on the bed.
He sat up with a jerk. "Huhh?" he mumbled, wiping his eye with the back of his hand. I pulled on his arm. "Come look! Everything is white!"
He got out of bed and followed me over to the window. "Well look at that..." he said in a rough voice.
"Let's go outside! Can we go play in the snow? I want to make a snowman!" I jumped up and down excitedly.
"Uhh, hold on, kiddo, I just woke up," he said with a chuckle, glancing at his watch. "It's not even 8 AM."
"C'mon, Daddy, call Uncle Sam and ask him! Pleeease?"
"I've got to call them and see what they want to do," he said, walking over to the heating unit. He twisted a knob and pressed a button, and then heater came on. "I don't know why it didn't kick on last night, it's cold in here!" he shivered. He walked over to his bed and sat down, picking up his cell phone. He dialed a number and then said, "Hey, have you looked out the window yet? It snowed a lot last night... yeah, go look," he paused for a moment and then chuckled, "I've got a kid over here who's bouncing off the walls to go play in it. Has Dad seen it yet? Okay...we're going to have to figure out what we're doing, I don't know what's happening with the weather at all. We'll have to see if we're going to get more. I don't want to try and leave, and then end up getting stuck on the side of the road, you know? Yeah. Okay, will do. Bye." He disconnected and placed the phone on the table between the beds.
"Get dressed, kiddo," he told me, "We're going to see if we can find a place to eat breakfast. This motel has a diner attached, hopefully they're open."
I got some clothes out of my duffle, including one of the sweaters that Uncle Sam had bought for me.
When I came out of the bathroom, Daddy was standing next to his duffle, buttoning up his flannel. As I walked by him, he grabbed me and picked me up, hugging me.
"Daddy!" I yelped with surprise.
"I missed our snuggles in the morning," he said quietly. I hugged him back, and wrapped my arms and legs around him, burying my face in his neck.
"I missed it too," I said, feeling emotional. I hadn't realized I had missed it until this moment. When we had been at the cabin I had just laid around for a couple of days on the sofa and hadn't done much of anything.
There was a knock on the door, and we heard Uncle Sam's voice calling, "It's us."
Daddy walked over and opened it, and I shivered as they came in.
"I called over to the diner, they're open, but the're filling up fast," Uncle Sam said.
Daddy put me down. "Put your shoes on so we can go," he told me.
"I glanced at the weather, we're not supposed to get any more snow here, but there's a storm moving ahead of us, right where we need to go," Grandpa John said grimly.
"Well, Dad, maybe we're supposed to just stay here and hang out, huh?" Daddy asked.
"I don't want to just 'hang out', this could be the only chance to get-"
"We're stuck here for now until they get the roads cleared, let's just enjoy the time together," Uncle Sam said to Grandpa John.
I pulled my coat on and put my Hello Kitty hat on my head. "I'm ready!"
Grandpa John sighed. "You're right," he said to Uncle Sam, and he smiled at me. "You don't have any boots?" He leaned down to zip me up.
"Uh-uh," I shook my head.
"I'll carry you across the parking lot then, so your feet don't get all cold and wet," Grandpa John picked me up and set me on his hip. I put my arms around his shoulders.
We walked across the lot to the diner, which was noisy and crowded with lots of people. We had to wait for a few minutes to get a table.
The waitress brought coffee for them and I asked if I could get a hot chocolate.
"You said we could share some bacon," I reminded Grandpa John. He had been looking out the window with a serious expression, but he turned to me and smiled again. "I remember, darlin'," he said, "We'll get a plate just for us, all right?"
"Eggs," Uncle Sam said to me, "I want you to get some eggs this morning too."
I sighed. "Okaaay," I said.
When the waitress came to take our order, I asked for the pancake platter that came with eggs, and sausage or bacon. "Can I have scrambled?" I asked, "and bacon."
Grandpa John got the "breakfast sampler" meal, and then said, "And a side order of bacon, for us," he pointed to me and then himself.
"How many pieces of bacon is in a side order?" Daddy asked.,
"Four," the waitress told him.
"Put in another side order, I want some extra too," Daddy winked at her, "I'll have the steak and eggs, medium, scrambled, with a toasted bagel."
"All three of you are going to be drowning in bacon grease," Uncle Sam rolled his eyes, "And you're supposed to be watching your cholesterol!" he said to Grandpa John.
"A couple pieces of bacon every morning isn't going to hurt," Grandpa John said easily.
By the time we finished eating, a snowplow had come through the parking lot of the diner and motel and cleared everything. There was a large open field next to the motel, and a lot of the excess snow had been piled there. As we walked back to our rooms, we could see lots of people in the field, running around and playing in the snow.
"Let's go over and play, pleeeease?" I looked up at Daddy as we walked, "Look, some people are building snowmen too! Can we? C'mon!"
"Well...all right," Daddy agreed, "For a little while, but we've got to decide what we're going to do."
"You tell one of us if you'e getting cold, Charlie," Uncle Sam said.
"Okay...hey, where are you going?" I called to Grandpa John. He had started to walk away from us.
"Oh, I want to talk to Bobby, see if he's got any updates," he looked a little uncomfortable.
I ran over to him and grabbed his hand. "Come with us, Grandpa John, come help me make a snowman! Pleeease?"
He looked down at me, still uncomfortable, and then his face changed. "All right...I'll help you," he smiled at me and patted my head.
"Yay!" I let of of him and started to run towards the field.
"Charlie! Not too far ahead!" Daddy called. I slowed down and waited for them to catch up with me.
There were two families making a couple different sized snow people, and we helped them for a while. Then Daddy and Uncle Sam got involved with a group of people who were starting a snowball fight. Grandpa John showed me how to make a snowball and pack the snow tightly, and we started to make snowballs for them. I tried to throw some too, but I didn't have good aim.
Uncle Sam turned to me and looked at my face. "We should go inside now, your lips are blue," he said to me.
"M'okay, let's keep playing!" I told him.
Daddy turned and looked at me too. "No, I agree, let's go in and get warm."
I sighed heavily. "Okaaaay."
"Wait," Grandpa John handed me 2 snowballs. "These are the last two I just made, throw them at your Dad and Uncle Sam," he told me with a grin.
"Okay!" I grinned back at him, and threw the first one at Daddy, and the second one at Uncle Sam.
Both snowballs barely hit them, but they laughed.
"Why you little-" Daddy ran over to me and scooped me up, pretending that he was going to throw me in a big pile of snow. I shrieked with laughter, and he carried me back to our room.
After we got changed into dry clothes, we walked over to Uncle Sam's room so that they could make plans. Uncle Sam made coffee for everyone and let me have a cup too, to help me warm up. I curled up on the sofa in a blanket and watched t.v. while they stood around Uncle Sam's laptop looking at maps and stuff and talking. Eventually I fell asleep.