AUTHOR'S NOTE: McLance, Tamilyn313, AshtynnAlba, SevenRuby, wandamarie, Special Agent Ali, Claire, Happygoddess2003, Yasmin, spades4891, MariaKate, sjwmaw, SherryO, Myst1989, Marryzinha Black, elliesamdeangirl, Jessiwazhere, Lexie Lou, Ponygirlrunner25, Auphepet, merilarosa, Emily Ann McGarrett Winchester, and guests, thank you for leaving reviews and comments, I got a kick out of them! Unfortunately, we've all known children like Aubrey and Addison in real life! As a parent and former teacher, I know all too well just how obnoxious kids can be! Claire, I loved the idea of a chapter from Dean's POV, so part of this one is from the third person POV actually. He and Sam talk to the parents of the girls, about rules and discipline, and spanking is mentioned. I'd just like to say that because I write about it, doesn't mean that I advocate for spanking kids in real life. And just a reminder, this is a work of fiction, an AU where spanking is not frowned on like it is in the real world.
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I turned around, and saw with a shock that my door was gone. The room looked funny without the door there.
I walked over and stood in front of Uncle Sam, noticing that the paddle was on my dresser.
Uncle Sam was sitting on the end of my bed, his hands on his thighs. I put my hands behind my back, covering my bottom.
He was just sitting there looking at me, and I couldn't keep looking back at him. I dropped my eyes to the floor, pushing a piece of lint with my toe.
"What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" his voice was hard.
"Uh-" I looked up at him. "Why'd you have to take my door off? That's not fair!" My voice came out as a whine, even though I felt mad.
"Really? That's what you're going to say to me?" he reached for me, and then all of a sudden I was looking at the floor over his lap, and his huge hand was coming down on my bottom. I shrieked, and tried to catch my breath as the spanks fell hard and fast. Usually Uncle Sam lectured me before he spanked me, I didn't know why it was different this time.
My butt was stinging, and tears were dripping off my face onto the floor, when he stopped.
"I have had enough of your behavior, young lady," he said, and his voice was hard and clipped, "No more attitude, no more sassing me, no more rudeness. I'm going to have a talk with your father, and we'll see what needs to be done."
"Wh-what d'you m-mean?" my chest hitched.
"Maybe you need more rules. Maybe you just need to have the attitude spanked out of you with a week's worth of bedtime spankings. Maybe you need to have all the sass washed out of your mouth."
I squirmed on his lap. "Noooo Uncle Saaaaam," I whined. I didn't want any of that!
"DON'T—tell—me-no!" he snapped, and then he pulled my pants and panties down, and began to spank my bare butt. I wailed and started crying harder, kicking my legs.
It felt like I had been there for hours when I heard someone say something. Uncle Sam stopped spanking me, and I turned my head. Daddy was standing in the doorway.
"She slammed and locked the door after a big blow-up, so I took it off. It's in my room," Uncle Sam said.
"A big blow-up, huh? What happened?" Daddy asked.
Uncle Sam let me go, and I slid off of his lap and ran to Daddy. I threw my arms around him, not caring that my bare butt was hanging out of my shirt.
"Uncle S-sam made my f-friends go home an' he was m-mean an' he t-t-took my door off! H-he said he's gonna wash my mouth out!" My chest heaved as I told Daddy what had happened.
"Did you swear?" Daddy took my chin in his hand and tilted my head back, his green eyes flicking back and forth between mine.
"Uh-uh-"
"I've had it with how she talks to me, Dean, she is rude and disrespectful, and I'm not putting up with it any longer." Uncle Sam said firmly.
Daddy raised his eyebrows. "Is that the case, Charlie? You've been sassy again, even after we've talked about this more than once?"
I let go of his waist and stepped back from him. "Uh-"
"Why don't you tell him what really happened, Charlie," Uncle Sam said. "It wasn't that I was mean, her little friends were being insolent, watching inappropriate shows, complaining about the snacks that I offered, the older one was outright nasty to my face." Uncle Sam shook his head.
"Really?" Daddy looked from Uncle Sam to me.
"But—but- why couldn't we have better snacks for them, 'cause they were visiting?"
"That's not how it works, Charlie. When you go to someone's house, you eat what's offered or you say no thank you if you don't like it, and you do what the adult of the house tells you." Uncle Sam said.
"That isn't- you're not—why can't I do things like my friends do!" I sputtered angrily.
"Well, I can see that all the talking that we've done with you over the past couple of weeks has gone in one ear and out the other," he said dryly.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that everything we've talked about, after you've gotten yourself in trouble because of those girls, doesn't seem to matter to you. Your dad and I have both talked to you more than once about making sure that you don't let your friends influence your behavior too much, and it hasn't changed. So I think the time for talking is over. It's time for something different. Maybe more rules and consequences." Uncle Sam looked at Daddy and they did their 'talking without words' thing.
My tummy twisted with nervousness. "I—I don't want more rules!" I exclaimed, tears filling my eyes again.
"I think you and I need to have a talk about this, Sam," Daddy said. "We'll come up with something to curb this behavior."
I clenched my fists and stomped my feet. "You—you- you're always takin' his side! This isn't fair!"
Daddy's eyebrows went up again. "Excuse me?"
"You—you're all just mean, and you like to be not fair!"
"Charlie, if I hear you say 'not fair' one more time-" Uncle Sam gritted out, and I turned on him. "I'm not talking to you ever again!" I snapped, "Don't talk to me!" I folded my arms on my chest.
Daddy looked stunned. "Little girl, who do you think you are?" he growled, stepping towards me. He took my arm and turned me, and then looked at my butt. "Well, I guess you've had enough of a spanking tonight, but tomorrow my hand is going to have some things to say to your butt about how you talk to people, Uncle Sam in particular. Right now, you're confined to quarters."
"What does that mean?"
"You're in your room for the rest of the night. Someone will bring you dinner. Sam-" Daddy let me go, and jerked his head. Uncle Sam stood up and they walked out, and went downstairs.
I threw myself down on my bed again and cried, feeling sorry for myself.
After a while I could smell food cooking, and my tummy rumbled. I hadn't eaten any of the snack that Uncle Sam had offered before, so I was hungry.
I thought I heard the front door open and close, and I ran over to my window. I watched as Daddy and Uncle Sam walked up the sidewalk towards Addi and Aubrey's house. What were they going to do?
Then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Without the door on, I could hear a lot more of what was going on.
Grandpa John appeared in the doorway with a tray. He came over and sat down on the bed, setting the tray in front of him. There was a plate of noodles and meat sauce, and a small salad next to it.
"Where'd Daddy and Uncle Sam go?" I asked.
"They went over to talk to the Williams'. Come eat."
I walked over and sat down on my bed, folding my arms and glaring at him. "Are you gonna yell at me too?"
"No, I'm not," he said in a reasonable voice. "Everyone seems pretty upset tonight."
"Yeah, I am," I retorted, and then paused. "What do you mean, everyone?" I picked up my fork and began to eat.
"Your dad and uncle are upset as well as you."
"Well—well- Uncle Sam's bein' mean to me! He wants to make even more rules an' stuff!"
"Why do you think he's doing that?"
"'Cause he likes to make lots of rules! No-one else has all these rules!"
Grandpa John looked at me. "Your Dad and Uncle had a lot of rules."
I stopped eating and looked back at him. "They did?"
He nodded. "I made a lot of rules for them, because I wanted them to be safe. And...well, I left them alone a lot, when they were growing up, which wasn't right. That's why I made the rules that I did. To make sure that they'd do the right thing when I wasn't around."
"Like what?" I started to eat the salad.
"Well, they weren't supposed to answer the phone, I had a special way of calling them so they'd know it was me. I didn't want them to get involved with school activities, because I wanted them to be training to hunt. They had to learn Latin and how to speak it and translate it, and memorize certain things. Then when I started teaching them how to use weapons they had to remember how to use each one safely, and learn how to take apart and clean guns, and all the rules that are involved with gun safety."
"That's a lot of rules."
He nodded again.
"Did they get in trouble if they didn't follow your rules?"
"Yes, they did."
"What would happen?"
"Depending on what the rule was, they'd have to clean all the guns more than once, or do some copying and translating of Latin, or run extra laps. If they did something dangerous, they'd get a spanking. And I was very serious about them staying safe." He shifted on the bed. "Sam used to get mad at me, when he was a teenager, he'd argue with me. He didn't understand why I made all the rules that I did, why it was so important that they did exactly as I told them. He thought I was just trying to control them and not let them have normal lives. But I knew what was out there, and I wanted them to be prepared for anything and everything. I wanted them to have as much knowledge and training of the supernatural and how to fight it, as they could, so that...if I wasn't around, they'd be able to hold their own against it, and carry on the fight without me, if they had to."
"Now, your Dad isn't training you to hunt, like I trained him, but I know that you think he has a lot of rules for you. You didn't have any when you were with your mom, so having all these rules now is a lot to get used to, and then when you see other kids with different rules, it's confusing. However, the rules that your Dad has for you aren't that out of the ordinary. Parents should be making rules about when their kids go to bed, what they watch on t.v., and what they eat. That's normal. And your Dad and Uncle Sam are making rules to take care of you, because they love you, and want what's best for you. How would it be if you just went to bed whenever you wanted, and didn't have to worry about doing any school work, and you ate whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted?"
"It would be fun." I insisted.
He laughed. "The problem with that is, we wouldn't be teaching you how to behave in the real world. Parents make rules for kids so that they can learn how to grow into responsible adults. Parents teach their kids how to act and give them consequences, so that they know how it's going to be later. Because it doesn't change all that much when you're a grown up, there are just different rules to follow. How do you think your friends are going to deal with it, the first time they get a speeding ticket, or a late fee from a library, because they aren't used to living with rules?"
I shrugged. "I dunno." I put my fork down. "I'm done."
"All right. Put your pajamas on and then get into bed."
I was surprised. "What? Why?"
"Well, your Dad already said that you're in here for the night. He wants you to go to bed early."
"But—who's going to tuck me in?"
"I will. I'm not sure when they're going to come back."
I got up and changed into my nightgown, and then went to brush my teeth. After I got in bed, Grandpa John hugged me and kissed me, and then pulled my covers up. "Good night, little one. I hope you have a better day tomorrow." He picked up the tray and walked out of the room. I tried to stay awake, hoping to talk to Daddy when he came back, but I fell asleep.
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Darlene opened the door and let Sam and Dean into the living room. Jim came walking out of the kitchen, eating a slice of bread.
"Hey, Dean, how's it going?" Jim stepped forward and shook Dean's hand, and then Sam's.
"Come and sit down," Darlene held her arm out towards the sofa. Dean and Sam walked over and sat down next to each other. Darlene perched on the matching armchair, and Jim sank down into the battered recliner that was next to her.
"What did you want to talk about?" Darlene looked expectantly from Dean to Sam, raising her eyebrows.
"Where are your daughters?" Dean asked.
"Oh, they're in Aubrey's room, probably. They came home, went straight to the kitchen and got snacks, and then went upstairs. They like to watch t.v. before dinner." Darlene explained.
"Well, we had...a situation...when they came over to our house..." Sam started, clearly uncomfortable.
Darlene glanced at Jim with a worried look. "What...kind of situation?"
"Uh..." Sam shifted, putting his hands on his knees. He'd never been in a circumstance like this before, where he had to talk to an adult about a child's behavior. On one level, he felt almost like he was "tattling", but his irritation with the whole thing outweighed his discomfort.
He took a deep breath. "Jim, Darlene, I've enjoyed getting to know you, and I'm glad that Charlie has found friends here. But your daughters...they're not the most pleasant."
Jim shifted and folded his arms over his chest. "Go on."
"One thing we noticed when Charlie comes home from your house, is that she's got a lot of attitude and is a lot more sassy than normal. She tends to pick up the behavior of kids around her." Dean told them.
"Well, I don't think you can blame our girls for that, I mean, it's not like they're telling Charlie to act that way, and Charlie's in control of her behavior." Darlene's voice was defensive.
"Yes, she is," Sam nodded, "But today, something happened. Your daughters were very rude during their visit, especially with me." He looked back and forth at Darlene and Jim as he told them everything that Aubrey had said and what had transpired.
Darlene looked shocked, her face pale. Jim's lips had tightened and he was shaking his head.
"I'm so sorry that happened, I'm embarrassed that they'd be that way," Darlene said with chagrin.
"Well, I'm sorry to say this, but for now, we're not going to allow Charlie to play with your girls. They—their influence on her isn't a good one." Dean said.
"Well, that's just-" Darlene sputtered, drawing herself up straight. "My girls can't help it if Charlie is—sensitive like that!"
"I told you," Jim turned to Darlene, "Those notes home weren't just the teacher fussing. She had valid concerns, and you blew them all off." He looked over at Sam and Dean. "We've been having- issues for quite a while with Aubrey, and this past year, she's gotten into some sticky situations at school, with bad behavior. She's had issues with classmates, and the teacher and even the guidance counselor contacted us."
"What do you mean, bad behavior?" Dean asked.
Jim sighed. "She-"
"Jim, they don't need to hear all that-" Darlene interrupted him.
"No, I'd like to hear what they think. Dean has a well-behaved, polite little girl, that all the kids seem to like, so obviously he's doing something right with her."
"Thank you," Dean said self-consciously, but inside he was bursting with pride. Charlie was a sweet little girl and a joy to be around, most of the time.
"Aubrey has a real attitude, not just with us, but with everyone. When the girls were younger, they did soccer, and we had to remove Aubrey from the team because- she just wasn't a team player. She's rude to teachers and kids, and even the girls that she's friends with get upset with her from time to time. She's gotten to the point that she barely has anyone. She's refused to do work in school, and when she's mean to other students, she won't apologize."
"I don't understand," Darlene said tearfully, "I've given them everything they want, and they're still not happy. What else can be done?"
"Charlie said that both girls have a t.v. in their room, and Addison has lots of Barbies and toys, and Aubrey has a computer and stereo. Is that what you mean by given them everything?" Sam asked.
"Well...yes." Darlene nodded.
Jim was shaking his head again. "When I was a kid, I had to earn that stuff, I didn't have my own t.v. until I was a teen, and we had a family computer."
Darlene rolled her eyes. "Yes, Jim, we all know about how hard your life was. I want my girls to have something different."
"Let me ask you something. What happens when Aubrey gets a note sent home? Or when she doesn't do what you've told her to do?" Dean asked Darlene.
"Well, I...I speak to her about it."
"And...?"
"What do you mean, and?" Darlene looked confused.
"Is there a consequence?"
"Yes, I've spoken to her about her behavior and told her she needs to not do that."
"You don't even do that anymore," Jim scoffed. "I hate to say this, but the girls have turned into brats. I don't-" he sighed, "I sometimes have to make myself talk to them, but I don't want to, because it's so unpleasant."
"That's not right," Dean said.
"No, it's not, but what can we do?" Darlene asked.
"Do they have rules to follow? Chores that they're supposed to do? Consequences that happen if rules are broken or chores aren't done? Charlie mentioned that they get an allowance. Do you take that away?" Dean looked at Darlene.
She looked uncomfortable. "No, they get their allowance every week. I don't require them to do chores, it's just easier for me to do things, they end up making a bigger mess. And well...that's it."
"Can I ask why?"
"What do you mean? Why they don't have rules?" Darlene looked even more uncomfortable. "Well...I was the oldest of 7, and I had to basically raise the younger ones. My parents both worked, and were very busy. My mother had everything down to strict schedules for everyone, and if things didn't go the way she wanted, I was the one who got into trouble. Do you know how hard it is to get 4 kids under the age of 5 into bed every night in an hour's time? And then I also had to do my homework. I got so tired of hearing that I was a terrible daughter and lazy, just because I didn't do things to her specifications, but really, it was too much for one teenager. So I told myself that when I had kids, they wouldn't have the same life I did, I wouldn't expect them to have chores, and I wouldn't make them do things if they didn't want to, and I'd be their friend and their mom."
Dean shook his head. "You can't be their friend. They need to know that you're in charge."
Darlene made a face. "I hated when my parents pulled that 'I'm your father and you'll do as I say' crap. I don't think it's fair when parents say 'because I said so'. I'm going to talk to my kids and reason with them, explain things."
"That's fine," Dean agreed, "However, there comes a time when you don't need explanations or reasoning, when your kid needs to do what they're told."
Now Darlene shook her head. "I'm not going to just order my kids around like a- like a sergeant in the army! They need patience and understanding."
"You can still be patient and understanding while laying down the law," Dean insisted, "Kids need rules and boundaries, it makes them feel safe and cared for. And they need consequences when they break the rules."
"That's what I've been saying." Jim nodded in agreement. "How do you do things with your daughter?"
Dean glanced at Sam. "Sam helps raise her, and he's her home-schooling teacher, so he has a hand in everything. We put her in time-out, or give her early bedtime, take away things like her 3Ds or t.v. watching privileges, or she has to write lines sometimes. And... we also spank her."
"I thought you were only supposed to use time out for young children." Darlene said.
Dean shrugged. "We don't use it very often, and you're right, I think it'd probably be hard to get an older kid to sit in time out. But Charlie came to us from a situation where she had absolutely no rules, or anything, so we had to teach her how to do what we say."
Jim looked at Darlene. "See, I told you. You're not a bad mom if you scold your kids or give them a punishment."
"Well..." Darlene's face got red and she stared at the floor.
"You've got to let go of the idea that you're gonna be your kid's friend. Our Dad used to say, "I'm not here to be liked, I'm here to raise you right." He had a lot of rules for us, but we knew exactly what was expected of us and what would happen if we didn't toe the line."
"And you seem like a pretty good guy, so he must've done something right," Jim said.
Dean nodded at him. "Thank you, I think the old man did a good job, considering."
He looked back at Darlene. "You're going to have to lay down the law with your girls, make some rules, and stick to them, and then bring out the consequences when the rules get broken."
"But—what if they say no? I mean, we've never required any of that from them," Darlene said nervously.
Dean chuckled. "If you tell them what to do and they say no, then they get a consequence. And that's that. If it keeps going, they get another consequence."
"Well...I just don't know..." Darlene twisted her hands together.
Jim looked at her. "We've had discussions like this before. And you know I think that the girls need rules and all that. I think the time is long past due for this, and it's time to deal with this behavior. I'm ready to fall in line with what Dean is saying."
"Oh, but...it's not that bad, I mean, a lot of those girls at school were very sensitive and picky-"
Jim shook his head. "Stop making excuses. Our daughter got kicked off of her soccer team because she was being such a little- hellion! She barely has any friends! Multiple teachers tried to talk to you about her awful behavior at school, multiple times! She refuses to do her schoolwork, right to the teacher's faces! And it's influenced our younger daughter so she's starting to act like that too!" Jim looked at Dean. "You know what would have happened to me if I'd pulled any of that?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah, me too. Our dad was a firm believer in hand-to-butt motivation."
Jim grinned. "My father worked in construction, and he was a strong man, with a thick tool belt."
"Our Dad's an ex-Marine, same thing." Sam nodded with a grin.
"Well...I don't know," Darlene said doubtfully, "I'm going to let you take the lead on this, Jim. I don't think...I don't think I could do any of that."
"We'll see, you get really frustrated with them too. Remember, you used to say you wanted to pop them on the butt, but you felt guilty about it? Maybe we wouldn't be in this situation if you'd done that a few times when they were younger, and not gotten upset at me for wanting to spank them," Jim said to Darlene, "First we need to sit down and figure out rules for the girls, and then consequences. And then we'll talk to them about it."
"Expect pushback. Expect things to get worse while they test you and push boundaries." Dean said.
"All right. I think we can do this." They all stood up, and Jim reached out to shake Dean's hand. "Thank you for talking to us—and for being honest, about everything."
"No problem," Dean shook Jim's hand.
"Before you go, I want the girls to come down and apologize to Sam," Jim walked over to the stairs. "Girls! Come downstairs!" he called.
There was no reply. "Addison! Aubrey! Come downstairs!" Jim repeated.
He waited, and then walked upstairs, shaking his head. A few minutes later, the girls came downstairs, complaining under their breath.
"Sam told us that your visit to Charlie's house didn't go well. He said that you were rude and nasty to him. Both of you need to apologize."
Aubrey folded her arms. "I don't see why. He wasn't being nice!"
"Aubrey, honey, he's an adult, and you can't speak that way to an adult," Darlene said to her.
"We're going to have a talk about your behavior, and some things are going to change around here," Jim looked at the girls.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. "You've said that before and nothing happened!"
"Well, this time, Dad's in charge of things. And like I said, things are going to be different." Jim said firmly. "Now, I want to hear apologies."
Aubrey huffed.
"Charlie's father doesn't want you girls playing with her for now, because you were so- unpleasant," Jim looked at Aubrey.
Addison looked unhappy. "But—but-" she stared up at Dean, and then Sam. "I'm sorry! M'sorry for anything I said or did...can I play with Charlie?"
Dean shook his head. "Not for the time being. She's grounded to the house for a couple of days."
Addison looked at Aubrey. "Aub, say you're sorry! Charlie's my friend!"
Aubrey didn't say anything.
"Aubrey, come on!" Addison stomped her foot.
Aubrey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fiiine. I'm sorry, okay?" she sniffed haughtily.
Jim folded his arms. "I'm not happy with the attitude, but it'll have to do for now. Go to your rooms, your mother and I have to talk."
"When's dinner?" Addison whined.
"In a little while. We need to decide some things, and then we'll talk after dinner. Go upstairs." Jim said.
Addison trudged up the stairs and Aubrey stomped.
"You've got your work cut out for you," Dean said to Jim.
"I may call you for some pointers," Jim chuckled, and showed them to the door. "Thanks again, guys, and I'm sorry about Aubrey. She'll give you a better apology later."
Dean glanced at Sam as they walked back towards their house. "Well, that went better that expected. I was nervous that they'd just tell us that we were full of it, and kick us out." Sam said.
"Well, Jim's got a good head on his shoulders, and he wants to do the right thing. A couple times when he was waiting in the lobby for his car, either Aubrey or both girls were with him, and you should have heard how she mouthed off at him. And boy did he look pissed. He finally got angry one time and just told her to shut her mouth and stop talking, that he was done listening to her." Dean told Sam.
"Now we've got to decide what to do about that sulky little girl in our house," Sam said.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm curious as to what you all think the guys should do with Charlie...and please tell me if you'd like to see a chapter from Dean's actual POV! If you are interested, let me know, and maybe I'll give it a try!