Chapter Four – Someone Who Cares

WARNING: SPANKING OF MINOR IN THIS CHAPTER.

Peter sat in silence as his daughter slept fitfully in his arms. He couldn't think; he couldn't speak. The scene that had played out kept playing over in his head, and it made him want to scream. He should've done better, made sure that Kaitlyn knew that she was wanted, that she was loved. He felt like a failure even though a part of him told him that this had been unavoidable.

Even in her sleep, Kaitlyn held onto Peter tightly, like she was afraid that he would leave her while she was sleeping. He didn't know what had caused such a lack of trust and self-worth in the girl, but it was heartbreaking. Peter aimed to take care of that.

Neal quietly crept into the room and sat down next to Peter, lightly stroking his sister's hair. "Is she OK?" he asked.

"Probably," Peter sighed. "That was one hell of a breakdown she had back there."

"I noticed. I don't think any of mine were ever that bad, even before I met you."

Peter sighed again. He wished Kaitlyn could be as happy as she'd been when she had first come to live with them. He missed her laugh, which sounded like heavenly little bells. Over the course of time she seemed to just close herself off from them. She'd get lost in her thoughts, so much so that she would forget that they could see her and her face would vary from a wide variety of expressions, from extreme sadness to a hint of a smile. Peter wished more than anything to could see what went through her head.

"What are you going to do about the fact that she tried to run away?" Neal asked.

"Exactly how I would handle it if you attempted to run away," the older man said. "She'll be taking a trip over my knee as soon as she and I have a very in-depth conversation about how much we love her."

Neal nodded. He knew from past experience that this was going to be so hard for Kaitlyn, but she was strong – he could tell just by looking at her. Not invincible, but strong.

oOo

Kaitlyn was shaking. They hated her. They realized that they had taken on a problem way too hard to deal with. Why did I try to run away? She thought to herself. Maybe if I'd just tried harder. Been a better daughter. Hadn't screwed up and called Peter 'dad.' I'm so stupid…

The door to her room opened and Peter entered. He didn't even say anything. He immediately wrapped the girl in his arms and just held her, refusing to do anything until Kaitlyn finally relaxed into his arms. Once she did he said, "You really scared us today."

"How?"

"We could've lost you, never seen you again. That would've killed us."

Instead at going into another breakdown, this time his words brought tears to her eyes. He didn't hate her, he cared about her. Peter loved her as much as he loved Neal or Elizabeth. The realization of that was shockingly powerful and caused tears to spill down her cheeks. Peter, seeing her tears knew that he could proceed.

"I can't let you go unpunished for running away," he said quietly. Kaitlyn tensed but said nothing. "You'll be getting a spanking; it's nothing more than what Neal gets when he misbehaves."

Still nothing. Just tensing. Taking a chance, he turned her over his knee and gauged her reaction. She wasn't fighting and him and that was definitely a good sign. He took a deep breath and started the spanking.

The first swat left her stunned, surprised at how much one swat actually hurt. Peter peppered her bottom with swat after damn hard swat, and Kaitlyn swore her rear end was on fire. She cried, reaching back to shield her bottom with her hand. Sighing, Peter firmly locked her hand at the small of her back and continued on with her spanking. Normally he would have bared her butt for a stunt like that, but it was her first spanking – Peter figured it was fair to be lenient this time.

A few minutes later, Kaitlyn broke, sobbing hard and giving up any struggles she had left.

"Don't you ever try to run away again, understand?" Peter asked.

"Y-YES!" she cried, nodding wildly.

"We love you – are family isn't complete without you, Kaitlyn."

"I-I'm soooo s-sorryyyy," she sobbed, burying her face in her arm. "D-Didn't mean t-to scare you."

"I know," Peter said softly. He brought her back into his arms and held her until he heard soft snores coming from his little girl. Kissing the top of her head, he gently tucked her into her bed and switched out the light. He made his way downstairs for some much needed comforting from his wife.

Elizabeth saw the barely noticeable tear tracks on Peter's face and knew exactly would had just taken place. They embraced each other, not saying anything until El broke the silence.

"You cried when you first spanked Neal, too."

"What? No I didn't."

"You fell asleep on the couch with him in your arms. I don't think you ever noticed your tears."

That didn't surprise Peter that much. It was always hard spanking his son. Neal was a very kind, big-hearted young man, and it killed Peter to have to punish him.

"I think we should get them a pet," Elizabeth said a little while later.

"What, like a goldfish?"

"No, like…like a kitten."

Peter considered this. He knew how much Neal loved kittens, and while Kaitlyn loved Satchmo, he knew that it was in a girl's nature to adore little kittens. "That's a really good idea, hon. I think I'll take them over to the shelter to decide on one this weekend."

Smiling, El pecked him on the lips and went upstairs to get her children for dinner.

Neal was already out the door upon hearing his mom's footsteps coming up the stairs. Elizabeth creaked open Kaitlyn's door and saw that she was still fast asleep, and looking very comfortable. She sat on the bed next to her and gently nudged her awake.

She moaned and muttered a 'hi, mom,' before rolling over to catch a couple more minutes of sleep. Chuckling, Elizabeth nudged her again. "Come on, sweety, it's time for dinner. I made spaghetti and garlic French bread."

At the mention of garlic French bread, Kaitlyn sat right up. Wincing at the soreness of her bottom, she walked hand-in-hand with Elizabeth down to the dinner table. All in all, it was very enjoyable dinner, filled with laughter and bonding, and everything else Kaitlyn hadn't experienced as a family in a very long time. She would always miss her old family, and she didn't think she'd ever truly get over their deaths, but now she had a new family to help her cope with life after that tragedy.

And she was perfectly okay with that.

THE END

I really hope you guys liked it! I felt like this was a good time to end this one. Kaitlyn will pop up in later one-shots, I promise! HOWEVER I have made a decision.

If you are a fan of my wrestling story "Big, Happy Family", then you're in luck – I've decided to keep posting chapters for it. I KNOW, AWESOME RIGHT? Be sure to check it out – they're enjoyable even if you don't watch wrestling

LOVE YOU!
~Rebecca