AN – As ever thanks for all the reviews and the e-mail feedback. I know people are anxious to know what Richie chooses, but the whole point of this story is to examine how and why he arrives at that choice, which won't happen if I just give the solution! This way his choice should make more sense and, I hope, provide a better story. Let me know what you think!
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"You want to me tell you how I should be punished?" Richie repeated carefully.
"Yes." Duncan nodded.
"How about, not at all?" Richie offered instantly.
"If that's what you think, c'mon Tess." Duncan stood up and started to walk towards the door.
"Hang on," Richie's voice stopped him. "You're actually serious about this?"
Duncan turned to face him.
"Rich, I've never been more serious about anything in my life."
"This is what we have decided." Tessa agreed.
"So, if I say I don't think I deserve any punishment, then you'll leave it at that?" Richie wanted to be sure.
Duncan came back to sit on the bed.
"Is that what you think?"
"What do you care what I think?" Richie looked away guiltily. "You made the stupid rule. You get to decide the punishment."
"Was it such a stupid rule?" Tessa asked gently, "If it would have stopped you from getting hurt?"
"I was doing fine," Richie protested. "Mac startled me!"
"Oh, so this is Duncan's fault?" Tessa raised a brow. "Perhaps, he is the one who should be punished?"
"Get real," Richie snorted "Adults don't get punished."
"That's not true." Duncan corrected. "What about speeding fines? Or jail sentences? Actions have consequences Rich, that doesn't stop just because you get a bit older."
"Mac, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you're a lot older."
"Doesn't change anything Rich."
OK, I'll bite," Richie looked up. "When was the last time you guys got punished for anything?"
"I have more than a few parking tickets." Tessa murmured.
"You do?" Richie grinned.
"You do?" Duncan repeated. "How many more than a few?"
"I do not know!" Tessa threw up her hands. "There is never anywhere in this city to park!"
"So we know Tess is only human," Richie looked over at the Immortal. "What about you Mac? When was the last time your halo slipped?"
"Yesterday," Duncan surprised him.
"Huh?" Richie blinked.
"You know, how I've always said that you have to treat that which is precious and fragile with the utmost care?" Duncan asked.
"Uh huh," Richie nodded. "No breaking the irreplaceable stuff."
"Well, I forgot that," Duncan made a face. "And as a result of my negligence, the most precious thing in the Store got broken."
"Oh man," Richie breathed. "Was it worth a whole lot?"
"Priceless." Duncan admitted ruefully.
"Yeah, but you've insurance, right?" Richie pointed out. "So, its not a real punishment, is it?"
"I'm being punished, because my precious lad got hurt," Duncan looked at him. "And it is my duty to do everything in my power to prevent that, and I failed."
"Oh," Richie swallowed hard, at the realisation that he had made the Immortal feel bad. "But, I mean, it was me. You didn't have anything to do with it. I didn't mean that before. I already had the sword out of the case and everything, before you got back."
"I know, I found the nick in the floor." Duncan said dryly.
Richie blushed.
"Still, that doesn't change the fact that I left a sword mad lad in his own personal candy store," Duncan continued. "That was negligent and no mistake. I knew those locks were no material barrier to you."
"Yeah, but you trusted me." Richie looked down at his hands. "You thought it would be OK."
"I trusted you to behave like an adult," Duncan pointed out. "But that was unfair and unreasonable. You're only sixteen."
"I'm almost seventeen," Richie protested. "That's practically an adult. And I've been passing as eighteen for the last year. If all that stuff with Teresa hadn't come out, you wouldn't have known any different."
"And that is at least half the problem. You've become accustomed to being treated as an adult. But with adult freedoms comes adult responsibilities and its neither right to fair to expect a lad of your age to shoulder such a burden." Duncan told him.
"You should have the chance to enjoy being a child," Tessa agreed. "Our child."
"So?" Duncan looked at him. "What do you think about choosing your own punishment for this?"
"I think its an adult responsibility." Richie grumbled.
"It is supposed to help you think about the consequences of your actions." Tessa advised him.
"You could stop my allowance." Richie offered with a scowl.
"You don't get an allowance." Duncan retorted.
"My point exactly." Richie challenged. "If you guys are gonna get to torture me like actual parents, then I should get some of the compensations."
"Torture?" Duncan enquired mildly.
"You've already grounded me to my room." Richie said pointedly. "That's a punishment in itself."
"That is not meant as a punishment," Tessa looked shocked. "We simply wish to be sure that you get enough rest, so you will be well."
"Feels like a punishment." Richie muttered.
"That's funny, because it seems to me we spend half our lives trying to get you to come out of your room?" Duncan raised a brow.
"Perhaps, if we confiscated some of his amusements .." Tessa put in.
"You know, there are rules in the Geneva convention about locking people up in bare, windowless, cells." Richie cut in.
"We'll leave you the window." Duncan grinned tightly at him.
"What if I said I didn't want that as my punishment?" Richie tested the waters.
"Then you get to pick something else." Duncan assured him.
"Do you wish to choose something else?" Tessa asked.
"What would your folks have done?"
"Well, we did not have so many swords in my family," Tessa smiled. "But my father was a great man of letters. So, when we broke a rule, he would have us write an essay, examining why the rule had been made and why it should not be broken.."
"I'm guessing, because I gotta write this stupid essay now, wasn't exactly the kind of thing he was looking for huh?" Richie smiled.
"Certainment pas!" Tessa giggled at the very idea. "He wanted us to understand that the rule had been made for good reasons, to keep us safe."
"I'm not that hot at spelling and stuff," Richie offered, uncertainly. "But I could write an essay, I guess."
"Not with that hand, Tough Guy." Duncan vetoed that idea. "Its supposed to be punishment. Not torture."
"I could use my left hand," Richie suggested. "Or type it on the computer. I still have the one good finger."
"And how long would that take you?" Tessa shook her head. "The punishment should fit the crime, non?"
"Tessa's right," Duncan agreed. "You didn't kill anyone, so I think we can pass on the life sentence. Think of something else."
"Mac, this is not how it works," Richie protested. "You're the loco parents, you get to decide the punishment."
"Do you mean, in loco parentis?" Duncan frowned.
"I guess," Richie blinked at him. "They were always pretty mad, anyhow."
"Some people are not fit to be parents," Tessa declared hotly. "If they teach only that punishment is about retribution what are you supposed to learn from that?"
"Not to get caught." Duncan said flatly.
Richie gave him a quick, startled, glance, for his understanding.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
"What would your Dad have done?"
Duncan sighed. He had hoped Richie wouldn't ask that. But he had promised that he would never lie to the teenager.
"He would have taken his belt to my backside for being so foolhardy." He admitted.
"Oh," Richie looked at his hands.
Tessa opened her mouth to speak, but Duncan held up his hand to silence her. Richie needed to work this through for himself.
"Did he, like take down your pants and everything?" Richie squirmed.
"Well, I didn't actually wear pants back then," Duncan reminded him. "You've seen my kilt."
"But that was just for special occasions, right?" Richie looked up. "I mean, you didn't wear it everyday, did you? Like for school and stuff?"
"Well, of course, I didn't actually go to school, either."
"What did you do? I mean, all day?" Richie asked curiously.
"Gathered the wood, tended the flocks, .. practised with my sword." Duncan winced.
"Duncan!" Tessa protested.
"Tessa, that's just the way it was," Duncan defended himself. "In four hundred years you have to expect a few changes."
"Not that many." Richie muttered darkly.
Behind him, Duncan heard Tessa's gasp of shock. But he had been expecting this.
He strove to keep his tone calm and conversational.
"Have you been punished with a belt in the past?"
"Oh yeah." Richie breathed.