Two weeks later

Stacey's pov

Lisa and I are sitting on Mike's bed watching him agitatedly pace the floor. Just fifteen minutes earlier, we were sitting in the vice principal's office, dreading Mike's arrival as Lisa and I had started a food fight during our lunch period in the cafeteria. To say Mike was displeased having to leave work early and pick us up, would be the understatement of the year. He was livid.

"What on earth possessed the two of you to do something so immature and juvenile?" Mike is glaring at us but I'm pretty sure that question is rhetorical as he's just getting warmed up. He didn't say a word to us at school. He merely snapped his fingers and pointed to the door upon exiting Vice Principal Bates's office when he walked past us. He remained eerily silent during the ride home as well, indicating he was too furious to deal with us at that time.

"You're lucky your stupid stunt didn't result in a suspension. Vice Principal Bates was gracious enough to give you only two weeks of after-school detention and to let me handle the rest in-house."

I do not like the idea of being handled in-house.

"A food fight, seriously?" Mike asks, giving us an incredulous look due to our infantile behavior. The two of you want to act like toddlers, then you'll be treated as such. Your bedtime for the next two weeks will be 8pm." Mike turns his back to us, hands on his hips, brushing back his suit coat.

Turning back around, he says, "Now, I'd like an explanation for your behavior, ladies, start talking."

"Oh my gosh, Mike! You and Vice Principal Bates are making such a big deal out of nothing. It was just some food. No one got hurt and the janitor cleaned it up. Just get over it already," Lisa blurts out, red in the face.

"I should be hearing apologies right now but instead, you're trying to downplay your idiotic shenanigans." Mike is quickly losing his patience.

Lisa rolls her eyes.

I scoff and reply, "Whatever."

"I'm tired of constantly having to address your attitude, girls." Mike rakes his fingers through his hair, a clear sign of his frustration with our behavior.

"You're not the only one," Lisa says under her breath, in a rather snarky tone. Mike gives her a warning glance but foolishly, Lisa doesn't heed it, instead saying, "I'm just playing along since toddlers don't know how to filter their speech. They just say what comes to mind, ya know."

Mike bends down to Lisa's level, grabs hold of her chin rather roughly, forcing eye contact, he says, "I'd tread very lightly if I were you, darlin,' because I can make this punishment even more uncomfortable than I originally planned."

Lisa looks away from his penetrating gaze, just now starting to regret her previous statements.

"The two of you can hand over your phones, since toddlers don't have cell phones." Mike holds out his hand and Lisa and I slap our phones into his palm.

"The ones with nice parents do," I mumble, looking down at the floor, knowing I could never say this to his face.

Mike sighs audibly and clasps his hands together in front of his face.

"I don't know if the two of you are purposely trying to push my buttons, or if you're both just really this disrespectful. I guess it doesn't matter, since neither answer pleases me. In the first scenario, I clearly haven't driven home how much trouble the two of you are in right now because if you knew, you surely wouldn't be testing me."

I shift uncomfortably on the bed, finally realizing Lisa and I are in for a world of hurt as Mike's not going to let this go.

"If the second scenario is true, then I obviously have failed in my duties as your guardian to raise you to be polite and respectful to adults."

Mike is standing in front of us with his hands on his hips and an extremely stern look on his face.

"So which one is it, ladies? Are you unaware of how much trouble you're in, or am I just lax in my duties as your guardian?"

No way I'm answering that question. Thankfully, Lisa keeps her mouth shut too.

"Does it even matter, Mike? 'Cause in either case, it kinda sounds like it's your fault. Ya know, it sounds like a 'you' problem."

Perhaps I spoke too soon. What the hell are you doing to me, Lisa? I pinch her thigh and give her a look that says shut the f up.

"Ow," she protests, swatting my hand, clearly oblivious to how annoyed I am with her big mouth.

"THAT'S IT!" Mike yells, as he removes his suit coat and folds it over the back of his desk chair, which he has now dragged to the center of the room. "You know what happens to toddlers when they misbehave?" Without pausing, he answers his own question, "They get spanked."

Mike rolls up the sleeves of his dress shirt and takes a seat in his desk chair.

"Get over here, Lisa!" Mike growls. "Stacey, wait in your room."

Lisa reluctantly stands in front of Mike.

"Act like a toddler, get punished like one."

Lisa's cheeks blush from embarrassment.

"Bare your bottom and get over my knee, Lisa."

"Mike, please," Lisa whines, even more embarrassed hearing Mike tell her to bare herself.

"You're right, Lisa. I wouldn't ask a toddler to prepare for her punishment, I would simply do it myself." Mike grabs Lisa's arm and pulls her over his lap. He then wastes no time, yanking her pants and underwear down to her knees.

"Mike, please, I'm too old for this," Lisa pleads, now thoroughly ashamed of the position she's in. Her hands on the floor bracing herself and her bare bottom on display, propped up nice and high to allow Mike easy access to her upper thighs and the most sensitive spots of her behind.

"Nonsense, Lisa. How could a toddler possibly be too old to receive a spanking?" Mike taunts. He's rather enjoying Lisa's newfound humility, versus her usual snarky teenage attitude. "Tell me why you're receiving this spanking, Lisa."

Lisa exhales loudly, "Come on, Mike, are you serious?"

Mikes spanks Lisa hard on her upper thighs, three times.

"What do you think?"

"Uggh," is the only response he gets from Lisa, so he spanks her even harder, three more times. Her bottom is already turning a nice shade of pink.

"I suggest you answer my question now, Lisa."

"No! This is ridiculous!" Lisa yells.

"You're going to keep getting spanked until you answer my question, Lisa, and at that point your actual spanking will begin." Mike continues to deliver one harsh spank after another to Lisa's bare bottom.

"WHAT? That's not fair!" Lisa's flabbergasted upon hearing her punishment hasn't even begun yet.

Mike amps up the intensity behind each painful slap.

"Fair," he mutters under his breath. Lisa's bottom is already changing to a light red color as Mike continues peppering it with harsh slaps. "Are you ready to answer me now?" Mike spanks her left buttcheek hard enough to leave a handprint.

"Okay, okay," Lisa finally relents.

"Why are you receiving this spanking, Lisa?"

"Because we acted like toddlers and started a food fight in the cafeteria." Lisa is squirming uncomfortably on Mike's lap, her bottom quite sore already.

"Good, now I can begin your spanking."

Lisa grimaces knowing she won't sit comfortably for quite a while.

Mike rubs Lisa's red bottom, feeling the heat radiating off her punished skin as it warms his hand.

"I think twice your age is considered a fair amount for toddlers. Let's begin, shall we?"

Mike doesn't hold back delivering the rest of Lisa's spanking. By the time he's done, she's in tears, her bottom a bright red color and throbbing painfully. He pulls up her underwear and pants before lifting her off his lap and standing her inbetween his knees.

"Do you have something to say to me, Lisa?"

Lisa silently stares at the floor.

"This is the part where you apologize for your behavior and promise not to do it again, darlin'." Mike gently lifts Lisa's chin.

Lisa sniffles as she says, "I'm sorry for acting immaturely and starting a food fight. I won't do it again." Her breathing is labored as she tries to stop crying.

Mike gives his "naughty toddler" a comforting hug before swatting her on the bottom and sending her to bed early. "Send Stacey over straightaway," he calls after her.

Stacey returns to Mike's room

"Are you unable to stay out of trouble, Stacey, as did you not just finish your two week grounding stint for your misbehavior at the fundraiser?" Mike sighs out of exasperation. He doesn't know what to do about Stacey's misbehavior anymore. She can't seem to stay out of trouble for more than a day or two.

Yes, I did not? No, I'm unable?

Unsure of how to answer the Riddler's question, Stacey hesitates before stammering, "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"You seem to be having a lot of difficulty staying out of trouble as of late, Stacey. How can we change that?" Mike is growing weary of constantly chastising his oldest daughter.

Stacey's taken off guard, seeing how defeated Mike looks and hearing the uncertainty in his voice. He's usually very strict and authoritative, so his current apprehension and indetermination is unsettling, to say the least. She wonders what happened to Mike.

"I don't know what to say, Mike."

Mike closes his eyes and shakes his head, dejected and disheartened by his unsuccessful disciplinary measures in relation to curbing Stacey's behavior.

"What do I need to do to get through to you, Stacey? What's it going to take to improve your behavior?" Mike is clearly at a loss on how to proceed, so he looks to Stacey for answers.

Stacey is now completely unnerved as she was expecting to be confronted by a very angry Mike who would swiftly deliver her spanking upon returning to his room. He instead appears to be asking her how she should be punished. Can this be true? Is this really Stacey's get out of jail free card? Surprisingly, this turn of events doesn't make Stacey happy, she actually finds it to be quite upsetting. Has Mike given up on me, she wonders?

"I just don't know what to do anymore, Stacey. I've tried spanking you, grounding you, taking away your phone and other privileges but yet, here I stand once again addressing your misbehavior." Mike is seriously tempted to just give up at this point but he knows that's not an option. No one ever said being a parent was an easy job. In fact, he knew damn well it would be not only difficult, but exhausting and oftentimes thankless.

"Uh, so what are you gonna do, Mike?" Stacey asks hesitantly. As much as Stacey dislikes Mike's punishments, the thought of him not caring enough to bother disciplining her anymore is much worse.

That's a good question, Mike thinks to himself. Seeing the anxious child standing before him, Mike realizes there's only one thing he can do. Suck it up and be the father Stacey needs him to be, right now and always. Mike takes a seat in his desk chair.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Lisa. Act like a toddler, get punished like one. Get over my knee, Stacey Marie," Mike commands sternly.

This is the Mike I know, Stacey thinks as she lays over Mike's lap in the all too familiar position, bracing herself for the spanking she's about to receive. A small wave of relief washes over her, knowing her first guardian hasn't deemed her a lost cause.

That sense of relief quickly vanishes, however, when Mike bares Stacey and begins spanking her, until he's satisfied with the bright red color his punishing hand has painted upon her bottom.

Now in tears, Stacey gladly accepts the comforting embrace Mike offers, knowing she's forgiven for her juvenile behavior. Mike is aware this spanking won't stop Stacey's troublemaking ways but that's okay, because as her guardian he's only responsible for enforcing the consequences, not for dictating her behavior. Stacey's always had a wild untamed side and Mike wouldn't want it any other way.

After Stacey apologizes for her childish behavior, Mike sends her off with a swat on the bottom to join her sister in a well deserved toddler appropriate early bedtime. Thoroughly exhausted, Mike says a silent prayer before heading off to bed early himself. God, grant me the serenity...