Author's Note: This story was written in the form of an RPG (roll playing game). I'm playing Don and John, and my friend Nocturnal08 is playing Charlie. This story takes place directly after episode 3.23 'Money for Nothing', and there are spoilers for that episode.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, and I am not making any money from these stories.
Warning: Non consensual disciplinary spanking of an adult by a sibling.


Brother Therapy


The Epps brothers were driving home from a therapy session. During the session Charlie had revealed some news that still had Don on edge.

Many years ago their father had taken Don camping for his 13th birthday along with some of Don's friends, and eight-year-old Charlie. During that trip Charlie had gone missing. Everyone had assumed that Charlie had gotten lost. Don had been blamed and Charlie had always felt bad about that... not bad enough to come clean about what had really happened though. Not when their dad was royally pissed, their mom was crying, and Don himself was so upset.

Charlie hadn't told anyone what he'd really been doing when the police picked him up on the side of the road until today. During their therapy session when he saw that his big brother was still carrying a lot of guilt around about that night, Charlie had admitted to Don that he hadn't gotten lost the way everyone thought, but had instead decided to try and walk home on his own.

Charlie looked over at Don, straining a little to see if he was mad. Charlie hated when Don was pissed at him, pretty much more than anything. Don was sitting stiffly in the driver's seat, face unreadable. "Don, I'm sorry," Charlie said, smiling to placate his older brother.

Don's jaw clenched in an effort to keep his temper in check. He said, "It's fine Charlie."

People said that Charlie didn't always read people very well, but he read the anger radiating off Don loud and clear. Don was about ready to blow, and it was all because of him. "Don, it was twenty five years ago." He pleadingly tried to reason with him.

Don gave a curt nod, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. "I know, and I said I was fine."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "You're obviously not fine. You look like you're going to have a heart attack. And I guess THAT would be my fault too!"

"You think YOU get blamed for everything? That's a laugh. Dad told me to watch out for you that weekend, and because YOU were having a hissy fit and ran off, I'M the one who got blamed. Did you get blamed for running off? No, because everyone assumed that you just got lost, and that I let you get lost."

Don realized his voice was getting louder as his rant went on. He stopped, took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself down.

"You're driving erratically," Charlie informed him as Don swerved to avoid a collision.

He swallowed nervously and glanced over at his brother. "You know, I never told anyone that I was lost. It's not my fault that's what everyone assumed. And Dad wasn't thrilled with me, either. You weren't the only one who got lectured!"

Don looked down at the speedometer, realized he was going way over the speed limit, and eased his foot off the gas a little while listening to Charlie. But when Charlie assumed Don had gotten lectured the same way Charlie had, Don knew he was too upset to drive. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and screeched to a stop. He turned to glare at Charlie and yelled, "I didn't get just lectured; I also got spanked! I got spanked on my actual birthday, after all my friends had already been picked up, and before we ever actually got to camp."

Charlie couldn't help wincing at his brothers angry yelling. His stomach flipped a little when Don said he'd been spanked. He blinked back tears. "Don, I never meant..."

Charlie had never been spanked much as a kid. A LOT less than Don, but he had always thought that was because he had always tried to do what his parents wanted. The idea that maybe he just got away with things because he was the youngest made him sick.

"I'm SO sorry," he said quietly.

Don could tell from Charlie's expression that he really meant it. He felt some of his anger draining. Looking back at the road, Don sighed and said, "The worst part was that I didn't even blame Dad for doing it. I felt so bad about the whole thing it was almost a relief. Watching Mom cry, seeing how scared and helpless Dad was, and knowing that if I'd just watched out for you like Dad had asked, it would have prevented all of it."

Don shook his head. "But knowing that you did it on purpose just because you thought I didn't want you there...."

He looked over at Charlie and said, "I think the wrong kid got spanked."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, I guess." He was ready to put the whole thing behind them.

Feeling himself getting pissed again at the response, Don scrutinized Charlie, and as he saw Charlie's smile, he could actually picture him as eight again. In that moment he decided that his therapy needed a more hands on approach.

He loved Charlie, would take a bullet for him in a second, but he also resented him, resented the time and attention that was given to his baby brother when they realized how smart he was. And now he resented him for the camping trip as well. But he knew how to fix that one, and even if Charlie hated him for a little while, he knew Charlie deserved it, and that he had a big enough heart to eventually forgive him.

Don felt much calmer after having made a decision; he had been headed to Charlie's house, but now he turned the car around and started driving towards his apartment. He said, "How many times did you get spanked as a kid? Five or six times maybe?"

Charlie gave his brother an alarmed look. He didn't like talking about getting spanked. It made him feel guilty, like a little kid. "I don't know! Not very much! What's your point?!" he burst out.

"My point is that I think you're past due."

"I'm sorry you think that," Charlie said, trying to keep his voice even. "But I am way too old to get spanked." He paused. "WAY to old," he said again, because the first time didn't wipe the predatory look from his brother's face.

Don's therapy sessions were closer to his apartment then they were to Charlie's house, and now they were only a few blocks away. With a grim countenance Don said, "I don't care if you're too old."

Charlie couldn't help it, his jaw dropped in horror. "Don, you can't!" His protests fell on deaf ears. "I'LL TELL DAD!" Charlie yelled, starting to panic.

Don pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building and said, "Go ahead and tell Dad. Maybe he'll spank you too."

Don parked, and killed the engine.

Charlie chuffed his disbelief. "Don, this is crazy. You can't spank me for something I did when I was a kid! I'm not getting out so you can beat on me." Charlie crossed his arms stubbornly. "Take me home."

With a glare Don said, "I'm not taking you home, and you are getting out even if I have to drag you."

He took a breath and said with less anger, "Do the math Charlie. Take your height, weight, and muscle mass compared to mine and take into consideration my training in physical confrontations, and you tell me what percent chance you have of getting out of this if I've decided it's going to happen."

"Approximately 9.4%," Charlie muttered. "15.3% if I wasn't such a good person." He pouted, but gave in. Reluctantly he unbuckled his seatbelt and cautiously edged his way out of the car, keeping his butt as far away from Don's hand as possible.

Pleased that Charlie appeared to be done fighting him on it, Don got out of the car as well. He made sure to keep Charlie in front of him, so that he couldn't make a run for it and said, "You know where my apartment is. Lead the way."

Charlie looked at his brother nervously, but had no choice but to do what he said. He walked quickly, resisting the urge to reach back to cover his butt.

Once they got to Don's apartment door, Don got out his key and opened it. He let Charlie go in first, and then closed and locked the door behind them. Charlie stood next to the coffee table looking nervous. Don said, "Wait there."

He took off his gun and badge and put them away. Then he walked into the kitchen, and dug through one of his drawers until he found a plastic spatula. Grabbing the spatula in one hand, he grabbed a kitchen chair in the other, and took them both back to the living room. Don set the chair down a few feet away from where Charlie was standing and sat down in it. "Come here."

Charlie couldn't help fidgeting while he waited for Don, and he blanched when he saw what Don was holding. "You're going to hit me with that?" he squeaked, eyes wide.

After looking at the spatula for a second, Don turned back to his brother. "If you'd gotten spanked for this stunt at eight like you should have, Dad would have just used his hand. So I'll use my hand at first, but since its twenty five years past due, you get one swat with the spatula for each of those years."

Don set the spatula on the floor beside him for later and said, "Are you coming over here, or am I going to have to come get you?"


Charlie approached awkwardly. "But Don..." he whined, "You're not my father. You don't have any right to do this."

"I don't have any right? I may not be Dad, but I'm a pretty close second. Can you honestly say that you don't think you owe me any kind of restitution for what happened?"

"Fine!" Charlie pouted, awkwardly leaning over his brother's lap. "But I think you're being totally immature about this!"

Ignoring the comment, Don pushed Charlie further forward over his lap, and circled his left arm around Charlie's waist to keep him in place. Looking down at the pants Charlie was wearing, Don remembered that the spanking their father had given him had been bare. But the thought of having his brother over his lap without his pants on, was more then a little awkward, and he figured the spatula would make up for the difference.

"This part of the spanking is for deliberately walking off while we were camping." He raised his right arm high, and brought it down on the center of Charlie's butt with a solid smack.

It didn't really hurt, not at first, anyway. But Charlie made sure to yelp pitifully. He didn't want this to go on for too long.

Don was a little surprised at the vocal response so soon in the spanking, but then when they were younger Charlie was never stoic about any kind of pain. Don spanked hard and fast for quite a few seconds while making sure every inch of Charlie's butt and upper thighs got swatted a few times.

When Charlie was not only yelping, but also trying to squirm away from his hand Don paused and said, "You scared the hell out of all of us that day. Not just Mom and Dad, but me too. You said that you could tell I didn't want you around, and while that may have been true at the time, I didn't want you to disappear either. That was one of the worst days of my life, and not just because of the guilt of having lost you, but also from the fear. Not fear of what might happen to me for losing you, but fear of what might have happened to you. I kept picturing you lost, scared, and physically hurt, and wanted nothing more then to find you and make sure you were safe."

Don shook his head at the remembered fear and leaned down to pick the spatula up off the floor.

Charlie, himself, was brought back to that night by his brother's lecture. He hadn't been scared at all, not until he saw his mom crying. The shock of that had nearly had him in tears himself. And his Dad had crushed him to his chest, despite having been very stern. And in all that, he had nearly forgotten about Don and his birthday.

He had probably never deserved a spanking more; Charlie had to admit to himself. Tears of regret and pain started tracking down his face.

Don got a tighter grip on his brother's waist and said, "This part is for letting everyone think you'd gotten lost, instead of telling us the truth."

Don brought the spatula down on Charlie's left cheek. It made a loud 'thwack', and a millisecond later Charlie's body jerked in response. Don put a matching swat on the right side before Charlie had time to recover from the first swat, and then gave him a couple of seconds to settle down before giving him two more.

Charlie stopped yelping and tried to stay still, but by now his butt was throbbing and he grunted and jerked with every "thwack". His head was heavy, the blood having rushed downward and pumping almost painfully though his ears. It didn't help much to have tears and snot running freely either. He was utterly miserable. "Don, please..." he gasped as the spatula came down again.

Don could tell Charlie was crying, and on the one hand felt bad for making his little brother so unhappy, but on the other hand still felt that he deserved what he was getting. When Charlie pleaded with him, Don found it much more difficult to continue, and after the twentieth swat he didn't have the heart to keep going. But he also didn't think it would send the right message to Charlie if he stopped before he said he would, so he gave Charlie the last five swats in quick succession with very little force so they could both be done.

Once it was over Don tossed the spatula on the nearby couch and rubbed his brother's back as he said, "Okay I'm done, and I'm not pissed about it anymore. I forgive you for what you did back then, and I hope you can forgive me for what I did today."

Charlie was crying too hard to answer coherently, but he stumbled off his brother's lap quickly and wiped his nose on his shirt, hiding his face behind his arm. He didn't want Don to see him crying like a baby.

Don stood up as well and could tell that Charlie was hiding behind his arm. He'd seen him do that more then once while growing up, and knew what was going through his mind. He gently pulled Charlie's arm away from his face, and leaned down slightly to look into his eyes. He said gently, "Hey, don't be embarrassed. I'd cry too. In fact, after Dad spanked me, I couldn't stop crying during the whole car ride back home."

Don wasn't sure if it would be wanted or accepted, but he couldn't stop himself from pulling Charlie into a hug.

Charlie couldn't help thinking that he wasn't doing that much better now than Don had at 13, but he gratefully accepted the comfort. "Don, I'm sorry," he said, voice muffled from where his mouth was pressed against the crisp cool fabric of his big brother's shirt. "I feel like such a little shit..."

Don hugged Charlie a little tighter and said, "Don't beat yourself up about it Charlie. You were only eight, and I know I was partially to blame, because you're right I didn't want you there at the time. But you know what? I love having you around now. Every time you come into the office to help out, I'm happy to see you."

The thought that his big brother really did want him around made Charlie grin despite his tears. He stepped back, rubbing his watery eyes and smiling up at Don mischievously, "What now? Am I, like, grounded? Are you gonna send me to my room?" he teased.

Don chuckled; glad to know that Charlie could have a sense of humor about the whole thing so soon after it had happened. He said, "Well you have two options. Option number one, you can hang out with me, have a beer, and talk about a new case I've been working on. Or option number two, I can take you home right away, and we can tell Dad what you did."

Charlie groaned at the prospect of facing his father. "You don't really think he'll spank me again, do you?" he asked anxiously, absently rubbing the sore flesh through the seat of his pants.

Don thought about it for a few seconds. "No, I don't think he will. I'm sure he'll have plenty to say about it, probably plenty to say to both of us once he finds out what I did, but he won't spank you again. But I do think he deserves to know. Don't you?"

Charlie ducked his head. "Yeah, I guess," he admitted reluctantly, much preferring to wait until his ass felt better before sitting in the car.

Don smiled and picked up the spatula and the chair to take them back to the kitchen. After putting them away, he opened the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of beers. He went back to the living room and handed one to Charlie. Don sat on the couch and said, "I would say have a seat, but I'll understand if you'd rather stand."

Charlie chuffed softly as he opened his beer, making no move to sit down. "How considerate of you."

After opening his own beer and taking a few swallows, Don decided to try and get things back to some kind of normal between them, and he thought the best way to accomplish that would be to talk about their most recent case together. Don said, "I don't know if I say this to you enough, but I appreciate all the work you do for us... for me. Without your formula telling us where to look today, we never would have found those people in time."

Charlie ducked his head, but a soft smile spread across his face. He glowed with pride, hiding it by taking a few sips of his own beer. "I am glad that I can help you," he said, looking up seriously.

"Yeah, I'm glad too." Don said honestly. Then he leaned back and said, "So explain the theory behind that formula to me again. I was in too much of a hurry to find them to really listen when you told me the first time."

He listened while Charlie talked, asking questions when he didn't understand something. The conversation turned to other cases, and before either one of them knew it, forty five minutes had passed.

Don took the last sip of his beer and said, "I should probably take you home. Ready to face Dad?"

Charlie grimaced, languidly downing the last of his beer. "I guess," he admitted. "Are YOU ready to face dad?" he asked playfully as he moved over to the kitchen to drop the can in the recycling.

Don groaned at the thought as he followed Charlie to put his can in as well and answered, "Not really, so let's get it over with before I change my mind."

He grabbed his keys on the way out of the apartment and the two of them headed for Don's car.

Charlie eased himself down into the seat, trying hard to repress his natural tendency to squirm. It was just too painful at the moment. Still, his hands tapped nervously at the side of the door until they pulled up beside their old family house.

Don found himself more nervous then he'd like to be about telling his father what had happened. His dad had a pretty clear no tolerance rule when it came to hitting his younger brother when they were growing up, but Don hoped that he would view spanking differently. As he pulled up to the house and parked, he couldn't help but feel nervous. He looked at Charlie and said, "You wanna confess first, or should I?"

"Logically, I think I should," Charlie said, putting on a brave face, "And Don. I- I think you did the right thing. And that's what I'm gonna tell Dad."
Don gave Charlie a smile and said, "Thanks Charlie. I hope Dad sees it that way too. But no matter what Dad has to say about it, I'm glad that you and I are okay."

Don got out of the car and waited for Charlie to do the same.
Charlie scrambled out and led the way up the walk. "Hey Dad?" he called, as soon as he was inside.
Alan was in the kitchen thinking about starting something for dinner when he heard Charlie arrive home. He walked towards the living room and said, "In here."

Once he got to the living room and saw Don was there too he said, "I was about to make some dinner if you'd like to stay."

Don stuck his hands in his pockets and said, "Actually Dad, there's something Charlie and I wanted to tell you."

Don looked over at Charlie, and Alan following Don's line of sight looked at Charlie as well.._

Under the combined gaze of his father and older brother, Charlie felt his resolve slip. He looked pleadingly at Don, eyes wide and panicked, before he swallowed hard and looked back at his Dad. "Yeah, Dad. It's about that camping trip, you know, the one we talked about before... things didn't happen quite the way everyone thinks that they did."

Alan raised his eyebrows and looked back and forth between Don and Charlie a couple of times. It was obvious from their demeanor that this was going to be something big, and that he probably wasn't going to like it. That weekend had been a nightmare come true for him and his wife when Charlie turned up missing. He still had regrets about asking Don to watch Charlie in the first place, and even though he still felt Don had deserved the spanking he'd given him, it had been hard on both of them. Alan nodded and headed to the couch. "Okay, let's have it then."

Charlie swallowed hard, wiping his hands on his pants. "See, the thing is. I- I didn't get lost. It wasn't Don's fault. I was the one who decided to walk home. So, when Don wasn't paying attention, I just left. I'm really sorry for making you guys worry and I know I should have said something before." Charlie sank down (carefully) on the chair in front of his dad, too ashamed to meet Alan's eyes.

Alan couldn't believe his ears and looked over at Don who gave him a slight nod to indicate it was true. Alan looked back at Charlie and said with obvious surprise, "You left camp on purpose?"

Charlie cringed, but forced himself to look up. "Yeah, Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't know Don got spa- in so much trouble... not until today." He looked down at his hands again.

Alan felt a little sick to his stomach thinking about the fact that he had spanked Don for something Charlie had done. He looked up at Don and said, "I'm so sorry Donnie."

Feeling uncomfortable with his father's apology, Don blushed a little, and shrugged while looking away. "It's okay Dad, it was a long time ago."

Getting angry, Alan said, "No, it's not okay."

He turned back to Charlie and said in a no nonsense Dad voice, "Why in the world would you walk away from camp on purpose?"

Charlie felt his stomach flip. It had been a long time since Alan had talked to him like that. "I-I wanted to go home. Nobody wanted me there."

Alan leaned forward, looked at Charlie, and said with a carefully controlled voice that signaled to both his sons that he was trying hard not to yell, "Intellectually you've always been ahead of your peers, but emotionally you've always fit your age. I don't care if nobody wanted you there or not, at eight you should have known better then to try and walk home, even if you were emotionally hurt. Do you know how terrified your mother and I were that day Charles?"

Charlie leaned back, eyes darting around the room. "I'm sorry!" he protested, mortified that tears sprung to his eyes. "I just-- It's not like I was trying to get Don in trouble. O-or to make you and mom worry. You were the ones who made me go on the camping trip in the first place. I didn't want to go."

Alan lost the grip he had on his temper with that response, and raised his voice, "You didn't want to go?!"

He took a deep breath to calm down, and his voice went back down as he said, "So you were basically throwing a tantrum because you didn't like what your mother and I were making you do. Then when we found you, and you saw how serious it was, you decided to let us believe you had gotten lost instead of telling us what really happened."

"Dad, this was so long ago. Seriously. Can't we just let it go already!" Charlie looked pleadingly at Don, hoping for a little support. Alan was seriously pissed and the look in his Dad's eyes was making the mathematician more than a little nervous.

Alan was about to tell Charlie that they most certainly were not going to let it go when Don said, "That's not all Dad. I have something to confess as well."

Alan turned towards Don and said, "There's more?"

"Charlie just told me about this today during my therapy session, and... Well I was pretty pissed about it."

Don paused trying to find the right words, but nothing good came to mind, so he just blurted it out. "So I took him to my place and spanked him for it."

Alan was at a loss for words. He looked back and forth between his two boys a few times, and noticed neither one of them could make eye contact now. He said, "Charlie?"

Charlie ducked his head, face turning red. God, he hated how that sounded. He was a full grown scientist, for god's sake. "Yeah, okay? He spanked me and we're good now. We just-- we had to tell you," he managed to choke out.

Still not able to wrap his mind around it, Alan turned back to Don and said, "You spanked him?"

Don had the fleeting thought that maybe they shouldn't have told their father about the whole thing, but he knew that was because he was worried about Alan's reaction, and not because he actually thought Alan shouldn't know. Don stood up a little straighter, looked Alan in the eye, and said, "Yes I did, and not just because I was angry about it. I thought he deserved it. If I hadn't done it, I would have held a lot of resentment towards him for that day, and I wanted to be able to move past it."

The room was silent for a few seconds while Alan thought about it. He turned back to Charlie and said, "And you're okay with it? You're not angry with Don?"

Well, I wouldn't say I was OKAY with it," Charlie said, smiling a little. "But, no, I'm not mad. I deserved it... and I wanted Don to be able to, you know, get passed it. So we could keep working together."

Alan shook his head. He gave Don a serious look and said, "I'm not very happy to hear that you decided it was okay to spank your brother for something he did so many years ago."

He gave Charlie a serious look and said, "And I'm not very happy to hear that you left camp on purpose so many years ago."

He took a deep breath and gave them both a small smile. "But it sounds like the two of you have worked it out and made up, so I don't see the point in me getting mad about it too."

Don sighed with relief and gave Charlie an encouraging smile.

"Dad, I'm so sorry," Charlie said earnestly, before he glanced back at Don and briefly returned his smile. "And when I think of mom..." Charlie swallowed hard. "I just wish I could have told her..."

Alan stood and patted Charlie on the shoulder. "I wish you could have told her too. She might not have liked what you did, but she would have understood it. She always understood your motives, even when Don and I were clueless."

Charlie smiled at the memory. "Yeah, you're right," he said quietly. He looked over at his brother. "I should have told her, Don. I hope you can forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you. I already told you that I forgave you... though you were kind of... well... crying at the time."

Charlie laughed, wiping his eyes in acknowledgment of the fact that he wasn't too far from tears now, either, though it was the memory of his mother who brought them this time and not his brother's hard hand. "Whadda you say we watch the game?" he prompted.

More then ready to be done with the emotional conversation Don readily agreed. "Yes please."

Alan turned to Don and said, "I was thinking about making some hamburgers for dinner. You wanna stay?"

Don smiled and said, "Sounds great Dad."

Alan patted Don on the shoulder on the way to the kitchen, and Don went to sit on the couch while Charlie found the remote and turned on the TV.

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