Author's Note: Hello, dear readers. I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy. Spring has sprung in my corner of the world, and everyone in my family has been fully vaccinated, so I'm ready for life to return to some semblance of normal.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to post a comment or review. Keep 'em coming, I love seeing them in my inbox.
CHAPTER 15
"This looks like it's healed," Sam said as he ran an antiseptic wipe over the tattoo on Krissy's shoulder. "I don't think we need to do this anymore." He picked the empty wrapper up from where it lay on the metal gurney beside her hip and, wadding it up with the wipe, he moved to toss it into a nearby trash can. It gave Krissy time to pull her t-shirt back on and gather her thoughts.
"So, how's your backside?" he asked casually as he leaned against the counter across from her.
"Would you believe me if I told you I'm still tender?" she asked.
"Not really, you're sitting too easily for that," Sam replied before giving her a slight grin. "No, I wanted to open the conversation. I know you're expecting me to bust your ass, too, and, believe me, you deserve it. But, I'm going to give you a choice." His expression grew serious.
"A choice?" Krissy repeated suspiciously, not sure whether or not that was going to be a good thing.
"Yes, a choice. What you did was serious. I think Dean's already made that point perfectly clear to you. I'm not all that happy with you, either. But, as I told you before, there are other options to punish you besides spanking you. In this case, you can choose between me paddling your ass or you cleaning the bunker from top to bottom." He held up a hand to forestall the comment she started to make. "Let me finish," he directed. "That means you scrub every floor, wall, and fixture in all the bathrooms, including mine and Dean's. That includes every toilet, every sink, and every shower stall. You scrub - not just mop and wipe down - but scrub with a brush every floor and wall in the common areas and hallways. Same goes for the kitchen walls, floors, and appliances. You will polish and dust every piece of furniture in the library, lounge area, war room and other common areas. You will also wash, fold, and return all the linens from each bedroom and all the towels from each bathroom. You have a week to do it, and you will be grounded during that time - no phone, no computer, and no tv."
Krissy's eyes grew wide before her features settled into a scowl. She hadn't missed Sam's use of the word paddling. "Does all that count against the debt I have to work off?" She had to factor that into her decision.
"No," Sam responded. "You will still have to work that off. And, there will be no complaints or whining about the work - the punishment detail or the work to pay off the money you stole."
Krissy sighed heavily. She didn't know which would be worse - getting her ass busted or all the manual labor. At least with the ass busting it would be over relatively quickly. Cleaning the bunker sounded like pure torture.
Sam straightened to his full height. "Why don't you go to your room and think about your choice. I'll be there in ten minutes or so, and we'll talk about it."
Krissy nodded and slid down off the gurney. With one last glance back at Sam, she left the room.
Sam sighed as he watched her leave. He wasn't sure which option he hoped she chose. He gave her a few minutes to make it to her room before he, too, left the infirmary and made his way to the kitchen. He found Dean still sitting at the table, surfing news sites on the Internet and nursing his after breakfast cup of coffee.
"I may have found us a hunt," Dean said as he looked up. He could see the tension in the set of his brother's shoulders and narrowed his eyes slightly. He knew Sam intended to punish Krissy that morning, but he didn't know if that had been done. "You deal with Krissy?"
"Not yet," Sam responded as he opened a cabinet. "I gave her the choice we discussed and sent her to her room to think about it." He closed the cabinet door and opened another one, clearly looking for something.
Dean nodded. He knew playing the heavy wasn't a role Sam was very comfortable with and the idea of potentially having to physically punish the teenager was stressing him out. He also knew what his brother was looking for. "Bottom cabinet next to the wall. It's in the back," Dean said, nodding his head in the direction of the cabinet. "Thought I'd hide it in plain sight."
"Yeah, thanks," Sam said as he crouched down and opened the designated cabinet. He reached inside and grabbed the cutting board Dean had turned into a paddle. "Got it," he said as he stood up. "What was that about a hunt?"
"Looks like people are going around Devil's Lake, North Dakota. Get the irony of that name?" Dean grinned at his own joke before continuing. "Anyway, their corpses show up a few days to a couple of weeks later with the flesh ripped from their bones. Authorities suspect some kind of wild animal attack, but they're not sure because none of the victims had been reported missing from wilderness areas. My guess is werewolf or wendigo."
Sam accepted the computer Dean handed to him and scanned the article. "Hmm, does sound like something that would be right up our alley. I wonder how far that is from Jody, and whether she'd be interested in joining us." He handed the laptop back to Dean. "We need to see what Krissy decides first, though. If she opts for scrubbing the bunker, I don't want to allow her to put that off by taking her on a hunt."
"Yeah, you got a point there," Dean sighed as he sat back. "I suppose if you and the kid can't go, I could still get in touch with Jody and ask her to join me - or at least put her on notice of the problem so she can handle it or get in touch with some other hunters in the area."
"Sounds good to me," Sam replied as he glanced at his watch. It had been a little longer than the ten minutes he'd given Krissy. He sighed heavily. He couldn't put this off any longer. He didn't know which was worse, he thought ruefully, being on the receiving end or dishing it out. He didn't say anything to Dean as he started toward the door that led from the kitchen into the hallway.
"Good luck," Dean said softly as he watched his brother leave the room. "You're gonna need it."
Sam paused just outside of Krissy's open bedroom door. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm his racing nerves as he rubbed his free hand across the back of his neck. He knew he needed to appear completely in control of the situation, but that was far from how he felt. He glanced down at the paddle he held in his hand. Taking one last fortifying breath, he straightened his shoulders, set his features into a stern expression, and moved to knock on the frame of the open bedroom door.
He almost lost his resolve when he spotted Krissy sitting on her bed. She was hugging a pillow to her chest and had her legs drawn up. She looked up at his knock, and Sam could see that she had already been crying.
Krissy swallowed hard as Sam stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. She'd hoped he hadn't been literal earlier when he'd said he was going to paddle her. But, the paddle held in his hand dashed those hopes.
He moved across the room and took a seat on the foot of his bed, his body angled so that he could look at her. "So, what did you decide?" He asked as he laid the paddle on the bed beside his hip.
Krissy reached up and wiped at the tears running down her cheeks. "I'm really sorry for what I did, Sam. I promise, I'll never do anything like that again."
Sam sighed. "Scoot down here," he said as he patted the bed beside him. He watched as she did as he'd directed. When she was in place, he draped an arm around her shoulders and drew her in close to his side. "I know you're sorry. I never doubted that. But, the thing is, Krissy, you consciously made the decision to do what you did. We aren't talking about you making a mistake or something that happened by accident. No, your actions have consequences. What's going to happen here isn't just about punishing you. It's also about giving you a reason to think before you decide to do something like this again." He gave her a squeeze. After giving her a moment to absorb what he'd said, he asked her again, "what's your decision?"
"I'll take the paddling," Krissy whispered just loud enough for Sam to hear.
Sam nodded. He really didn't want to do this, but he knew it was the right decision for both of them. He knew that neither of them would have had an easy time if she'd opted to scrub down the bunker.
"Okay," he said, "stand up."
When she stood, he took her hand and guided her to stand at his right knee. "Tell why you're going to be spanked," he directed in a stern voice.
"Sam, please," Krissy begged rather than answer the question.
"No, Kristina. You and I have spoken about this more than once. I do feel bad that your consequences for your actions have been drawn out so long, but it couldn't be helped. Regardless, this is going to happen. It's up to you how hard you make it on yourself." Sam paused to allow Krissy a moment to digest what he had said. "Now, I'm only going to ask you once more. Why are you being spanked?" His voice clearly warned her that he wasn't going to put up with any further attempts to evade the punishment.
Krissy swiped at the tears streaming down her cheeks. "I lied to you, I stole money from your bag, and I put myself in danger by using a sigil I didn't know anything about."
Sam nodded as he reached out and took Krissy's hand. "I want you to think about how badly that could have gone wrong," he instructed as he pulled her over his lap.
After getting her positioned and secured to his liking, he tossed the tail of her t-shirt up and landed a hard swat on the seat of her jeans. He had tossed the problem presented by the thick material around in his head, but he'd ultimately decided that he could get his point across just as well through them as he could if he made her remove them. If the grunts and squeals that came from her with each slap he landed on her backside, sitspots, and upper thighs was any indication, he was succeeding.
Krissy lost track of the number of swats that landed. She'd stopped counting at fifteen. All she could think about was the fire that was growing on her rear end and how sorry she was to have even come up with the idea of the tattoo. "I'm sorry, Sam. Please stop," she begged in a voice so filled with tears that Sam could hardly understand what she said.
Sam's heart twisted at her words, but he continued spanking until the palm of his hand was on fire and Krissy lay limply over his lap. Given how his hand felt, he could only imagine what condition her backside was in.
He rubbed circles on her back to help her calm down and get her breathing under control. When Krissy tried to push herself off his lap, Sam decided it was time to move on to the next part of her punishment.
"We aren't finished," he said as he took her arm and helped her to her feet. He stood with her and released her arm. He watched her wipe tears from her eyes as he reached over and grabbed both pillows and stacked them on the foot of her bed.
"Bend over the pillows," he instructed as he picked up the paddle.
Krissy's face lost what little color it still had as she realized what his order meant. She opened her mouth to beg him not to do it, but quickly shut it again at the stern look on his face that promised she would regret it if she didn't follow his order.
Once she was in position, Sam hooked a finger through the belt loop on the back of her jeans. He used his grip on the material to pull the garment taut against her backside and to secure her in place against the side of his hip.
"You do not lie to me," he said as he delivered three hard swats with the paddle - one each to the middle of her backside, sit spots, and upper thighs. She cried out with each smack of the wooden implement on her already painful flesh.
"You do not steal from me." Sam repeated the same sequence of swats with the paddle. Krissy tried to shift away from the smacks, but Sam's grip on her jeans kept her in place. She did manage to curl one leg back, but he merely pushed it down out of his way.
"We're almost finished," he said, not quite sure if he was saying it for her benefit or his own. He signed heavily. "You do not use sigils you do not know anything about or completely understand for any reason." Six of the hardest swats yet followed the same path, causing her to howl out in pain.
Sam tossed the paddle onto the bed and released his grip on her jeans. He had to tamp down the guilt that threatened to wash over him at the sight of Krissy lying over the end of her bed sobbing her eyes out. Gently, he reached down and, with a hand under each arm, pulled her to her feet.
Once she was standing Krissy flung herself at Sam hard enough that he had to take a step backward to keep his balance. She wrapped her arms around his middle and cried into his shirt while he rubbed her back.
They stood that way for a few minutes before Krissy mumbled something into Sam's chest. He pulled back slightly and looked down at the top of her head. "What was that?" he asked.
Krissy turned her head slightly so that she was no longer speaking into the fabric of Sam's shirt and repeated, "I'm never going to do anything to get in trouble again."
Sam chuckled as he dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Learned your lesson did you? Well, I guess I can consider that a job well done, then." He couldn't help but grin at the way the teenager stiffened at his words. "Relax," he said lightly. "I'm not going to hold you to that."
Krissy released her grip on him and stepped back out of his embrace before rubbing her backside with both hands. She barely suppressed the groan at the pain brought about by even that gentle pressure on her inflamed flesh.
"Why don't you take a nap," he suggested as he glanced at his watch. "You need to be in the library at 2:00 for your hunting lessons. That gives you about four hours to rest, then grab some lunch beforehand."
"Yes, sir," Krissy responded as she turned to crawl into bed. She wondered if she would be able to sneak into the kitchen for ice before she had to be in the library.
Sam nodded to himself and grabbed the cutting board turned paddle from the bed before making his way out of her bedroom into the hallway. He closed her bedroom door and leaned against it before running his hand over his face. Straightening, he headed toward the kitchen with the intention of returning the paddle to its hiding place before going to grab a stiff drink from the small liquor cabinet he and Dean kept in the library.
He was surprised when he stepped into the kitchen to see Dean still sitting there. The computer Dean had been using earlier was still on the table, but Dean was carrying on a conversation with someone on his cellphone.
"Yeah, sounds good. We'll see you sometime tomorrow." Dean glanced over at Sam as his brother made his way through the kitchen to return the cutting board to the cabinet. He ended the call as Sam was reaching into the refrigerator for a beer.
"You okay?" Dean asked as Sam neared the table.
Sam sighed. So much for making his escape, he thought. He pulled a chair out from the table and sank down into it before popping the cap on the bottle and taking a long drink. He'd decided to go with a beer instead of something stronger for the sheer reason that it was closer. "Yeah, I'm great," he said sarcastically. "I just beat on a fifteen year old kid."
"You didn't just beat on a kid," Dean said, exasperated. He'd expected his little brother to be feeling some guilt over the punishment he'd just delivered, but he was a bit surprised by his comment. "You delivered a well-earned punishment. There's a difference."
Sam wrapped his still sore hand around the cold beer bottle, letting the icy temperature alleviate some of the lingering discomfort. "Is there really?"
"Hell, yes, there's a difference. Those times Dad went too far with us, those were beatings." Dean sat back and studied Sam for a moment. "You've spanked her before. Why are you beating yourself up about it this time?"
"Last time it was contemporaneous with her misbehavior, and I only used my hand. This time," Sam paused to take a drink of his beer and gather his thoughts. "This time, it happened almost a week later, and I paddled her. She begged me not to do it, but I did anyway."
Of all the freaking nonsense to be eating at his brother's conscience, Dean thought. "First of all, you wanted almost a week because that was the right thing to do. Would you rather have done it in the motel room where Charlie or anyone passing by the room could have heard it? Or, I know - the moment we got back here and were all so exhausted we could barely think straight. Of course, you could have done it right after I'd already lit into her. She really would have learned a lesson that way, getting paddled when her ass was raw from my belt."
Dean knew he was getting through to his brother by the way Sam shifted in his chair. "What we both did wasn't about retribution or just punishing her because we didn't like what she did. It was about teaching her that her actions have consequences." Dean intentionally used Sam's own words against him. "And it was about giving her a reason to think twice before doing something like that again."
Dean let Sam digest his words for a moment before continuing. "And of course she begged you not to do it. What kid wouldn't?" He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as a memory of begging his dad not to spank him came to mind. "I seem to recall you trying to beg your way out of a spanking a time or two."
Sam's only response was a shrug and another pull on his beer.
Dean sighed and ran his hand over his face in frustration. Sam was going to have to work through his guilt on his own, it seemed. "Okay, have it your way," he said. "Just don't let this affect how you handle things in the future, or Krissy will run roughshod all over you. Now, aren't you the least bit curious about who I was talking to?" Dean asked, deciding it was time to change the subject.
Sam straightened in his seat and set the now empty beer bottle on the table. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, what was that about?"
Dean grinned. "I figured since it was obvious that Krissy had gone with option A, we'd be free to check out that case in Devil's Lake. I called Jody. Her place is on the way, and she wants to join us on the hunt. She's taken some time off work and is getting bored."
"Since when does Jody Mills take time off work?" Sam asked, suddenly concerned for his friend.
"Apparently the powers that be decided she had to use her vacation time or lose it. She's not real happy about it."
"I can imagine," Sam replied.
"Anyway, the plan right now is to head up to her place tomorrow and spend the night with her. We'll head up to Devil's Lake from there."
"And Krissy?" Sam didn't need to elaborate on his concerns.
"We involve her in the hunt as much as we can. Otherwise, she stays at the motel." Dean gave a quick grin. "For some reason, I don't think we'll have any trouble from her this time."
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
Sam glanced up from the tome he was studying at the sound of footsteps approaching the library. He glanced at his watch and realized it was time for Krissy's lessons. He placed the notepad he'd been using in the book to mark his place and turned to watch her enter the room.
"Leave the pillow and come take a seat." There was a trace of humor in his voice as he pointed to the chair across the table from him. He had to smother a grin at the grimace that crossed her features as she dropped the pillow into a nearby armchair then gingerly lowered herself onto the hard wooden seat of the desk chair.
"You let me have a pillow last time." Krissy didn't bother to try and hide the whine in her voice.
"That was last time," Sam said as he rose to his feet to grab another notepad and pen. "This is now, and your discomfort is part of this lesson." He slid the notepad in front of her.
"I thought we were going to work on my latin? I don't see how my sore ass is going to help me learn that."
"We're going to do something a bit different today, " Sam responded as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He nodded toward the notepad. "You'd better take notes."
Krissy smothered a groan as she pulled the paper and pen toward her. She started to say something sarcastic, but a twinge from her tender backside made her think twice. Instead, she sighed and said, "go on."
"You are going to write a research paper on that sigil you're now wearing on your shoulder. There's no set length requirement, but I want you to explain in detail its origin, its meaning, all possible uses for it - both good and evil - and the dangers associated with each use. You have access to all of the books in this library, but you may not do any electronic research. The paper is to be written in your best handwriting, not typed."
This time Krissy didn't bother to smother her groan as she dramatically laid her head down on the table. This was turning into a nightmare, she thought. "How long do I have to do it," she asked as she sat back up.
"Let's see how far you get before dinner tonight, " Sam responded. "We're leaving on a hunt tomorrow, and we'll probably be gone a few days. You can pick it back up, and I'll give you your deadline then." His expression grew serious and he pointed a long finger in Krissy's direction. "That doesn't mean you can goof off this afternoon. I want you in this library working diligently on it." He studied the mutinous expression on her face. "Consider it part of your hunter training."
Krissy barely suppressed the urge to salute the younger Winchester as she responded, "yes, sir." She didn't know if she'd ever regretted a decision as much as she did the one to sneak off and get that damned tattoo.
"And, Krissy," Sam said as he rose to his feet with the intention of leaving the library, "if I'm not satisfied with the effort you put into it, you will be redoing it, and there will be additional consequences." He hadn't planned that far ahead, so he sincerely hoped she wouldn't ask what those consequences would be. He picked up the tome he'd been studying. "I'm going to continue this in my room. Come find me if you have any questions. "
"Hey, Sam" Krissy said to get his attention before he could leave the library. "How am I supposed to know which books to look in? I mean, there has to be at least a couple hundred books in this place."
"Use the card catalog," Sam replied over his shoulder.
"What's that?" Sam had mentioned a card catalog when he first showed her the library, but he'd never told her what it was or how to use it.
"Shit," he replied, exasperation evident in his voice. "Sorry, I forgot I hadn't shown you how to use it." He retraced his steps to where Krissy was now standing and put the heavy book in his arms back on the table. "Come on, I'll show you."
He led her to the back of the library where a large, chest-high cabinet containing dozens of little drawers took up most of the wall. With a flourish of his hand he said, "I present to you for all of your research needs, the card catalog."
Krissy had never heard of a card catalog before, much less ever seen one. She stood, dumbfounded at the sight before her. "How the hell am I supposed to use that to do research?"
Sam laughed. "Before libraries began using computerized indexes, they would index their books using cards." He pulled open a random drawer and took out the front card, studied it for a moment, and then handed it over to Krissy. "For each book there would be a separate card for its title, its author, and each topic covered in the book. The main information about that card would be printed at the top, with the rest of the information printed below it. Some libraries color coded their cards, but the Men of Letters apparently couldn't be bothered with that." He pointed to the card in Krissy's hand. "That is a subject card about jakkals. It gives you the title of a book where you can find information about them. If there is more than one book that has information about jakkals, there will be a separate card for each book. It also tells you where the book can be found in the library."
"So, if I were doing a research paper on jakkals, I'd have to make a list of the books I found in the catalog and go pull them off their shelf to look at them?"
"Exactly," Sam responded, pleased that Krissy was quickly grasping the concept. "Any question?"
"What if you bring in a new book?" Although the system was so antiquated, Krissy was curious about it.
"Then I add cards for it." He gestured toward a box of blank cards sitting on top of the cabinet. "I'm also developing a computer index. For right now, though, I'm only adding new books to it." He grinned slightly as a thought occurred to him. "That's something you could do to work off some of your debt - start adding cards from the card catalog to the computer index."
"How much would I work off by doing that?" She asked. The idea of doing something like this rather than manual labor intrigued her.
Sam though for a moment. "Well, minimum wage in Kansas is $7.25 an hour. I'll be generous and add another quarter to that, so you'll earn $7.50 toward the debt for every hour that you put in."
"That's going to take me forever!" Krissy didn't like the sound of that.
"You owe me seventy dollars, so that's just a little over nine hours of work," Sam replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You can start on it after you finish your paper on the sigil, and you can easily do it in a couple of days - even in a single day if you wanted." He paused and studied Krissy for a moment. The expression on his face was serious. "Or, I can find something else for you to do."
She thought of all the possibilities that might entail, including that morning's option to scrub down the bunker. She mentally shivered at the thought of what other job he might come up with for her to do. "What about the money I owe Dean?"
"That's between you and Dean," Sam replied. "I'm only concerned about what you owe me."
Krissy sighed. "Okay," she said. "I'll do it."
Sam grinned at her, pleased that she'd accepted the order. "I'm glad. Like I said, you aren't to start working on it until after you've finished your paper on the sigil." He turned to head back to where he'd left his book. Krissy followed him so she could retrieve her notepad and pen and begin searching through the card catalog for books that might have information on the sigil.
She frowned as she watched Sam pick up his tome, then stop to scoop up her pillow before exiting the library. Krissy had hoped he'd forgotten about it and would leave it behind. Oh well, she thought. At least she could stand up while searching out the books she would need for her research.
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
"Dinner's almost ready," Sam said as he approached the table where Krissy sat surrounded by stacks of books. He'd actually had to search the library for her, as he hadn't found her at the table they usually used or at the table in front of the card catalog in the back of the large room. "How's the research going?"
He picked up a notepad that she had used to scribble down notes and perused what she'd written. He noticed she'd developed a sort of short hand while jotting down her notes. The thought of it made him grin, as he'd done the same over the years.
"I'm finding out a lot about that sigil. I think I might have enough to start writing the paper," Krissy responded as she turned in her seat to face him. She accepted the notepad back from Sam and, after closing the book she'd been reading, laid it on top. "Luckily, most of the books I needed were in english, but I found a few that were in some pretty weird looking languages."
"That's great!" Sam was truly impressed about the amount of work she had been able to do on the assignment. "You can knock off for the night. It's up to you if you want to take your notes with you to work on the paper while we travel or while you're waiting at the motel during the hunt. Otherwise, just leave everything here and pick it up when we get back in a few days."
Krissy came to her feet so quickly that she nearly knocked over the chair she'd been occupying. "What do you mean while I'm waiting at the motel?" she demanded, focusing only on the end of Sam's statement and completely ignoring the compliment he'd given her. "Are you and Dean going to keep me away from the hunt again? That's bullshit!"
"Calm down," Sam directed and he crossed his arms over his chest. "We aren't going to be keeping you away from the hunt completely. However, there will be times during this hunt when you won't be able to go with us." His expression and voice grew stern. "This will be your chance to prove to us that you learned your lesson and can be trusted to follow orders. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"
"Yes, sir," she replied quietly. She didn't like the idea of being left behind at the motel, but she liked the idea of being in trouble even less.
"I'm giving you fair warning right now, Krissy," Sam said, his voice softening slightly, but retaining its serious tone, "Dean will not take kindly to you disregarding any of his orders during this hunt - even the ones you think are minor - and neither will I. I suggest you keep that in mind, or we may just have to reconsider allowing you to hunt at all."
"Yes, sir," Krissy responded quietly. She definitely didn't want to take the chance on being banned from hunting altogether.
"Now come on," he said as he stepped over to her side and draped a companionable arm around her shoulders. "Dean's probably got dinner ready, and we have a hunt to plan."
TBC
So, do you think Krissy has learned her lesson and will follow orders during the upcoming hunt? How do you think she'll get along with Jody? Honestly, I don't even know the answers to those questions myself right now. I hadn't planned for them to go on a hunt again so soon. I had a time jump and Krissy starting school in mind for the next chapter. Whatever muses guide fanfic writers apparently had other ideas, though. Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think about the upcoming hunt. Who knows, your comments might even inspire me.