Shane's pov

Neil informed us a little bit ago that Julie was on her way back to the NJC. We want to discuss her decision to have Neil administer her punishment for playing in Friday's basketball game. I for one am still in shock she went straight to his office and asked him to discipline her. Knowing how strict Neil can be, Mike and I head over to her room to make sure she's okay.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Lisa opens the door and stands in the doorway blocking our entrance.

"Hi, Lisa, we want to talk to Julie. Is she here?" Mike questions politely.

"Julie's not receiving guests right now, maybe you can stop by later." Lisa tries to close the door.

Stopping the door with his hand, Mike and I don't move as he repeats more sternly this time, "We want to speak to Julie."

"Julie's currently unavailable but if you'd like, I can take down your name and number and jot a brief message which I'll be sure to pass along to her," Lisa says, arms outstretched preventing our entry.

"If you don't let us in right now, I'll take your pants down and my belt will jot a brief message on your behind." I look Lisa in the eye as I reach for my buckle.

"Perhaps her schedule has opened up, freeing some time. I'll check on that now." Lisa turns toward Julie's bed, allowing us partial access to their room but Julie's not there. "She must be in the bathroom," Lisa says, looking at the closed door.

Hearing the shower turn on, Mike tells Lisa, "Tell Julie to come to Shane's room when she's done."

When Lisa doesn't respond, he reiterates, "Am I clear?"

Recognizing the proximity to our limit of patience, Lisa wisely responds, "Yes sir," so Mike and I turn to leave, heading back to my room to wait for Julie.

Twenty minutes later

Shane's pov

"You wanted to speak to me?" Julie asks, peeking her head into my room.

"Sit down, Julie, so we can discuss what transpired in Dr. Curtis's office," Mike says, pointing to Shane's bed.

Julie exhales loudly and rolls her eyes.

"Why?" she asks with attitude, wincing as she sits on her still sore bottom.

"Why did you go straight to Dr. Curtis, instead of mulling it over and discussing it with us first?" Mike asks, mostly out of curiosity.

"Because you left it up to Shane and I didn't want him to punish me, especially after he belted my cousin for no reason," she replies back to Mike, making sure to avoid looking at me.

Mike looks to me for an explanation of Julie's accusation.

"I gave your cousin three strokes of my belt for a very valid reason, two actually. Her inappropriate language and disrespectful response more than warranted what she received, Julie."

"That's your opinion," she replies snottily.

I'm honestly a little surprised by Julie's combative attitude. I would have expected more repentance after enduring one of Neil's disciplinary sessions.

"Julie, if your tone in any way resembles your cousin's, then it's quite evident why Stacey received correction with Shane's belt," Mike warns.

"Whatever. I'm sorry I defied you, Shane, and, Mike, I'm sorry I lied to you. I promised Dr. Curtis I would apologize, so there. Are you happy? Can I go now?" Julie's clearly annoyed with the direction this conversation is taking.

"Probably not the apology Neil had in mind," I voice my thoughts out loud. It's obvious Julie's hurting or she wouldn't have gone to Neil in the first place. She just won't admit it due to her pride.

"Julie, I really don't want to spank you before I have to go to this meeting..." Mike gives her a warning look before continuing, "...but if you keep up this attitude, you'll leave me no choice."

"Look, Julie, we just want to know why you went to Dr. Curtis and we want to make sure you're okay." I step in, trying to diffuse the escalating tension between her and Mike.

"I'm peachy. Thanks for your concern." Neil apparently failed to paddle the piss poor attitude out of her.

I see Mike turn away, close his eyes, and take a deep breath to cool his currently rising temper.

"I swear if I hear one more disrespectful snide comment pass your lips, Julie, I will not hesitate to take you over my knee. Understand?" Mike's inches from crossing the line drawn between allowance and retribution.

Julie stubbornly ignores his edict.

As soon as I see Mike move towards her, I grab his arm and tell Julie, "Answer him now!"

Correctly assessing the scene unfolding before her, she wisely responds, "Yes sir."

Standing between Mike and Julie, I ask her again, "Why did you go to Dr. Curtis?"

Sighing loudly, Julie explains, "I went to Dr. Curtis because I knew he'd be fair. That's the long and short of it. No ulterior motive, no hidden agenda, no misplaced animosity. Pretty simple, basic really. The two of you shouldn't take everything so personally. No offense but the world doesn't revolve around Mike and Shane. Can we just agree to disagree on this matter and say it's water under the bridge?" Julie laid it out there and wrapped it up neatly with a bow.

Mike and I looked at each other and we both shrugged, unsure of what to think and how to respond.

Taking full advantage of our bewilderment, Julie asks again, "Can I go now?"

Mike shakes his head and shrugs, still confused as to what took place here.

"It's may you, and yes you may, Julie," I respond affirmatively, knowing that Mike has to get to his meeting. "But this isn't over, we'll revisit this later," I tack on an addendum.

After Julie leaves, Mike turns to me and apologizes, "I'm sorry, Shane, I know that's not how you wanted things to go." He exhales audibly before continuing, "I had every intention..." He sighs and shakes his head. "She just has this way of knowing precisely how to push all my buttons."

"It's alright, Mike, I'll talk to Julie while you're at the meeting," I reassure him with a pat on the back.

One hour later

Shane's pov

I head back to Julie's room hoping she'll be less combative and more willing to talk after having some time to decompress. As I knock on their door, my phone vibrates indicating an incoming call. I decide to ignore it, feeling this conversation takes precedence. Lisa opens the door before returning to her desk. Julie's lying on her stomach, on her bed, thumbing through a magazine.

"Julie, I'd like to revisit our earlier conversation now." My phone vibrates again, signaling another call.

Julie looks at Lisa, sighs, and rolls her eyes before giving me a curt, "Fine, whatever."

Feeling my phone vibrate for the third time, I decide to finally check who's trying to contact me, in case it's important. I see two missed calls from the girls' school.

"Why is your school calling?" I wonder out loud. I also see one text from Mike which reads:

I need u2 call the school- still n meeting- Neil's already ripped me new 1 4 forgetting 2 silence phone- shit ttyl

I quickly dial the school.

"This is Shane Donovan returning a call I just missed a few minutes ago." I listen attentively, not liking what I'm hearing, however. "SHE DID WHAT?" I ask loudly, not believing what I just heard. I give Lisa a piercing stare as the school administrator repeats herself.

I grab Lisa's arm as she tries to make a hasty exit.

Gripping her tightly above the elbow to prevent her escape, I end the call saying, "Thank you for letting me know. I'll be sure to handle the situation."

Turning my attention to the very guilty looking daughter I have a current grasp on, I sternly command, "Wait for me in my room and do not even think of moving an inch until I get there." Lisa gulps and takes off running.

Exhaling forcefully, I shake my head and sigh. Placing Julie's desk chair next to the bed, I take a seat and address her, "Julie, tell me the real reason you went to Dr. Curtis."

"Shane, you can keep beating that dead horse but you're not gonna resuscitate it."

Hmmm, it appears Neil's punishment didn't eliminate her snarkiness either.

"Were you seriously concerned I wouldn't punish you fairly?" I choose to ignore her snide remark, determined to get her to open up to me.

"You really want me to answer that, Admiral?"

The girl is brazen, I'll grant her that.

"Yes, Julie, I do."

"How can you seriously ask me that question with a straight face?" Julie's raising her voice as she grips her magazine so tightly, I can clearly see the veins mapped on her forearms.

I'm close to breaking through the wall she's so carefully constructed to keep me out.

"Answer me, Julie," I say sternly, without breaking eye contact. I see her jaw clench as she hesitates to respond. "ANSWER ME NOW, JULIE ELIZABETH!" I shout, getting to my feet quickly, knocking my chair over backwards, adding the fuel needed to ignite this confrontation into a raging fire.

Julie immediately gets on her feet to challenge me.

Matching my tone, she yells, "YES! YES, I WAS AFRAID YOU WOULDN'T BE FAIR. WERE YOU FAIR WHEN YOU TOOK ME TO THE DUGOUT? WERE YOU, SHANE? TELL ME HOW THAT WAS FAIR!"

And there it is, the accusation I've been waiting to hear, wanting to hear, and dreading to hear. My heart breaks seeing Julie in tears but I try to convince myself this is a good thing. She's finally going to confront me about what happened in the dugout. Julie turns away from me, possibly due to guilt, fear, anger, resentment, animosity, shame, embarrassment, or some combination thereof.

I grip her shoulder and turn her towards me.

"Talk to me." There is no way I'm leaving this room until she gets this off her chest. She's been bottling up her anger from that night far too long.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME, SHANE?" She tries to turn away from me again but I grab her other shoulder so she has to remain facing me. Pounding her fists against my chest as she sobs, she repeats softly this time, "How could you?"

I pull her into my arms, holding her against my chest as she continues to tightly grip my shirt in her fists. As she cries her heart out, she severs mine in the process. I know I hurt her that night in ways I can't possibly even imagine. She didn't deserve what I did to her, despite how I've tried to justify it for all these months.

"I'm so sorry, Julie." I tear up as I clutch her tighter, feeling how tense her body is against mine. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you that night." I clutch her face in my hands. Looking her in the eyes, I tell her, "You didn't deserve it, baby girl. You didn't deserve what I did." I hold her even closer as I sway her back and forth until she finally stops fighting my embrace and goes limp in my arms.

Julie's pov

Taking a deep breath and fighting through the tears, I finally speak my mind.

"Shane, I want to forget what happened that night but I can't. I want to believe you'd never do that again but I don't. I want our relationship to go back to the way it was before that night but it won't. But more importantly, I think I'm okay with that." I finally give my feelings a voice.

I guess I was harbouring a lot more resentment towards Shane regarding that night than I realized. I was angry and hurt and I subconsciously wanted to punish Shane for what he did to me. Now, I just want to put it behind me. I don't want to hold on to this any longer.

"I'm sorry I tried to hurt you, Admiral. I'm sorry I never truly forgave you." I'm only able to say these things because I can't see the hurt look on his face.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Julie." Shane rubs my back, soothing me. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, gov'nor." Breathing in deeply and slowly, upon exhaling, I finally let this burden go.

Shane gently pats my bottom. "Neil didn't go too hard on you, did he?"

"No, he's actually a pretty cool guy. Scary as fu..."

Shane warns me by clearing his throat.

"I mean, he scares me but he's alright," I say, modifying my response.

"He scares me too." Shane appears to be lost in thought for a moment. He shakes his head, snapping himself back to the present. "Are you going to be okay, luv? I have to go deal with your sister now." Shane gently pats my bottom again before pulling away, awaiting my response.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," I assure him. After he leaves the room, I finish my thought out loud, "I think we'll be okay too, Admiral."

Shane's room

Lisa's pov

Shane comes in looking extremely tired and beaten down. Maybe he won't have the energy to go too hard on me. I honestly don't even know why the school called but judging by Shane's reaction, they weren't relaying good news.

"Care to tell me why you skipped last period on Friday, young lady?" Shane is looming over me scowling with his arms crossed.

It takes me a minute to process his request so I hesitate before responding. Wait, last period is bscs. I didn't skip last period Friday. Did I? No, what am I thinking? I didn't skip.

"I didn't skip last period." Now that I'm sure, I say it emphatically.

Shane sighs and shakes his head.

"Then why would the school call Mike and I claiming you did?"

It's obvious Shane doesn't believe me and now I'm getting worried.

"I don't know, Shane, but I swear I didn't skip."

"If you're so innocent, Lisa, why did you try to run from me?" Shane's not buying what I'm sellin'.

"I don't know. You looked so mad at me, it was just instinct I guess. I didn't want to be in trouble." Even I know my attempted escape makes me look quite guilty but I really didn't skip. I bet that stupid sub read the seating chart wrong.

"Well, you wouldn't be in trouble if you had just gone to class like you were supposed to." Shane's patience is wearing thin. He's emotionally drained after his conversation with Julie and doesn't have the energy to do battle with Lisa right now.

"I DID GO TO CLASS!" I'm on my feet yelling now because I'm pissed he doesn't believe me.

Shane roughly grabs me by my left elbow and pulls me flush against the inside of his left thigh as he raises his hand high and delivers five painful slaps to my unsuspecting bottom.

"How dare you raise your voice to me."

Shane turns me to face him. I rub my now stinging behind and try to unsuccessfully fight back tears as I once again proclaim my innocence, "I didn't skip class, Shane. Why don't you believe me?" I'm whining now as tears of frustration and anger adorn my cheeks.

"Give me your phone, Lisa," Shane sternly demands, holding his hand out.

"NO!" I shout angrily, exasperated by the unfairness of this situation.

Shane turns me sideways again as he peppers my behind with more harsh spanks.

"DID YOU BLOODY SERIOUSLY JUST TELL ME NO, LISA?" he shouts rhetorically. "GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NOW!" Shane stops spanking me long enough to hold his hand out.

I slap my phone in his palm with force and attitude.

"I didn't skip class!" I'm full on sobbing now. My ass is burning and I'm so mad he doesn't believe me. Shane pockets my phone and then continues to spank me as I stand before him in tears.

"Don't take an attitude with me, Lisa, and don't lie to me," he warns, as he slaps my bottom harshly a few more times. I've given up trying to convince him of my innocence now so I quit fighting him. Sensing this, Shane delivers one last stinging smack to my thigh before I angrily tear myself from his grasp.

I'm so furious right now, I'm starting to hyperventilate.

"I didn't do anything wrong, Shane!" My fists are balled tightly at my sides as I attempt to yell at him with limited voice due to my shallow breaths and hiccupping sobs.

"You're grounded for one week, Lisa. Go to your room." Shane's exhausted and has no more energy to do battle with his second youngest. "Just go," he repeats softly, as he sadly shakes his head.

"FINE!" I grunt loudly, and stomp off to my room.