Author’s Note: This was written for ‘Spankvent’ over on the LiveJournal group spanking_world. It is in response to the following prompt: 'Tim and Cabe start working even more closely together on missions and Walter's insecurities kick into high gear.' This takes place sometime after Season 3 Episode 7, but before Season 3 Episode 8.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, and I’m not making any money from this story.
Warning: Non consensual spanking of an adult by his mentor.
Insecurities
Walter sat in the back seat of the black SUV pretending to work on his laptop to hide his growing irritation. If Cabe said one more complimentary thing to Tim, Walter doubted he’d be able to hold his tongue. The older man was driving, and Tim was beside him in the passenger seat. Happy and Paige were in the middle seats, while Toby and Walter were in the very back.
“That kind of marksmanship takes serious skill,” Cabe said.
“A skill that anyone who practices enough can master,” Walter muttered under his breath.
“What?” Toby said.
“Nothing.”
Toby went back to hovering over Happy and talking about the importance of neo-natal vitamins, while she glared out the window and refused to acknowledge anything he said.
Paige on the other hand turned her head back, and gave Walter a small glare.
Realizing she’d heard him, he focused back on his laptop with a frown. Ralph’s words from a few days ago kept ringing in his ears, along with Cabe’s lecture about his feelings towards Paige and her feelings towards Tim. Walter had missed his chance with Paige, and she deserved a guy who was ready for a romantic relationship. But he didn’t have to like it.
Walter’s attention was drawn to the conversation between Tim and Cabe again. Tim was talking about being at the top of his class in marksmanship in the Navy SEALS. Walter rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth, and focused on his computer. It really sucked that Tim actually had saved the day less than thirty minutes ago, when he’d shot the knife out of the bad guy’s hand from half a mile away.
He tried to focus on Toby’s rant about his unborn offspring that Happy was carrying, but just then Happy suddenly turned in her seat, glared at her boyfriend and said, “One more word about vitamins during this trip, and you’ll be banned from my apartment for a week.”
Toby’s mouth snapped shut, and he sat back in his chair with a wounded expression.
With a put-upon sigh, Happy muttered, “I’m already taking them, so just… shut up already.”
Walter saw Toby’s eyebrows go up, and then the man grinned and turned to the other conversation going on in the SUV.
Cabe was currently talking about being in the top of his class also, except that had been many years ago.
“How about a friendly competition?” Toby said. “We could all go to the shooting range together to watch.”
Walter scowled at his friend, but Toby didn’t notice, because Happy had turned around to say, “Why does everything have to be a competition with you?”
“I don’t know,” Paige said, “I think it could be fun.”
Tim turned around to smile at her. “I’m up for it. Cabe?”
The older man chuckled. “Only if you’re prepared to lose.”
Tim laughed. “We’ll see about that.”
Walter kept his face down to hide his scowl. He hated the easy camaraderie between the two men. It was bad enough that Tim was monopolizing Paige’s attention, but now apparently he was going to monopolize Cabe’s attention as well.
Toby leaned forward and said, “You could both do one of those courses where they have the cardboard cut outs of innocents and bad guys that jump out at you.”
“I guess that could be entertaining,” Happy admitted.
“Ralph says he’d like to see that, and I would, too,” Sylvester said over the communication devices in all of their ears.
“Okay, I’ll set it up, and give you all the details once I schedule it,” Cabe said.
Paige asked Sylvester for an update on Ralph’s science project, and Walter was able to quell his growing unease once Cabe and Tim stopped being so chummy.
# # #
The next day when Cabe came to work, he handed a slip of paper to Tim, and pointed to the logo. “I reserved their course from nine a.m. to eleven a.m. this Saturday.”
Walter pretended to be busy with his computer, so he could ignore the upcoming conversation.
Tim smiled as he looked at Cabe’s paper. “I’ll be there.” He held out the paper to Paige and said, “They have a viewing room, so you can watch the person in the room while they run the course.”
“You’ve been there before?” Cabe asked.
“I have. Does that give me an unfair advantage?” Tim asked.
“Nope, I’ve been there plenty.”
“I’ve aced this course several times,” Tim admitted.
“Me, too.”
“Wait,” Toby interrupted, “If you’ve both beaten the course, then what’s the point of a competition? You’ll just tie.”
Both Homeland men shook their heads, and Cabe said, “It’s a point system. They test for accuracy of the shot, and reaction time, not just whether you only shoot the bad guys.”
“What’s your best score?” Tim asked.
“Eighty-nine. What’s yours?”
“Ninety-one.”
Toby clapped his hands once and then rubbed them together, “Now we’re talking. You guys have no idea how much I want to bet on this.”
Happy cleared her throat.
“What?” he asked. “I said want to, not I will. The desire to bet is never going away; I’m just choosing not to act on it.”
“I’ll be there,” Happy said, and then added, “Someone needs to keep an eye on this one.” She jerked a thumb towards her boyfriend.
“Can we go, Mom?” Ralph asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Paige said, while looking at Tim with a sweet smile.
“Sly?” Cabe asked.
Sylvester looked at the address and said, “I’ll be there for the start of it, but I might have to leave early. I have to be across town at eleven for a convention.”
“Walter?” Cabe asked.
Pretending not to know what they’d been talking about, Walter said, “Yes?”
“Did you want to come root for team Cabe at the shooting range tomorrow morning?” the older man asked.
With an apologetic smile, Walter said, “I’d like to, but I’m in the middle of this new project, and I really need to focus on it all morning.”
“Oh.” After a short pause, Cabe said, “Well, I hope you’re able to get a lot done on the project since you’ll have the building to yourself.”
“Happy and I will be Team Cabe,” Toby said.
“Thanks, kid.” Cabe smiled.
Walter felt a smidgen of guilt for not supporting his mentor, but he knew it would be better for everyone if he stayed away, and kept his snide comments to himself.
They all heard a honk outside, indicating that Ralph’s carpool driver had arrived, and everyone turned their focus towards other things.
# # #
Saturday morning, Tim ran the course first, and got ninety-three, his best score to date. While Cabe was finishing up his turn in the course, Tim got a call from Homeland.
Seconds later, when Cabe exited the course, Tim immediately said, “We’ve got an urgent case,” and handed his phone to Cabe.
Cabe talked to his boss for a few seconds, and then hung up. “Okay everyone, we’ve got a job.” He started towards the door and added, “Let’s get out to the cars; I have a set of earpieces for everyone. We’ll call Walter on our way to pick him up, so I can explain the job to all of you at once.”
“What about your score?” Toby asked. “Don’t you want to know who won?”
Cabe scowled at him. “Did you miss the part where Tim said it was urgent? We can get my score later. Right now I need your ass in the car.”
Toby walked out grumbling.
With a pout Sylvester said, “I’m going to miss my entire convention.”
As they were all walking to the parking lot, Paige said, “I’m going to need to drop Ralph off at the babysitter’s.”
“No time,” Cabe replied. “Toby can watch him at the office, and help with psychological profiles from there.”
Cabe unlocked his SUV, and gave each of them an earpiece. “We’ll meet up at the office, pick up Walter, and drop off Toby and Ralph. I’ll let you all know as soon as I get Walter on the line.”
A few seconds into the drive, Walter had his earpiece in, and Cabe was describing the situation to everyone at once.
“Early this morning someone hacked the First National Bank. They are slowly draining electronic funds from their reserves into an account overseas. It was such a small amount that no one noticed it at first, and by the time they did, they’d been locked out of their own system. All indications show that it’s going to a terrorist cell.”
For the rest of the drive, Walter and his team came up with theories and ideas to shut the hacker down. By the time they arrived at Scorpion’s headquarters, the team had a plan of action. Everyone except Ralph and Toby climbed into Cabe’s SUV, and they all headed towards the bank’s physical location, so Sylvester could check their server.
Over the next three hours, the team worked together smoothly to stop the hackers from draining the money. Everything went well, until Walter got the possible physical location of the hackers, and rattled off the address to the team.
Cabe looked at Tim and said, “We’ll go check it out.”
Walter grabbed his laptop and said, “I should come, too. If it is the correct location, I’ll need to look at their computer so I can reverse their virus.”
Cabe nodded and the three men left. It only took fifteen minutes to get to the hacker’s location. As soon as Cabe pulled up, he turned to Walter and said, “Stay in the car until we give you the all clear. We don’t know what we’ll be walking into, or what kind of firepower they’ll have, if any.”
Walter nodded and watched while Cabe and Tim stealthily walked to the house, and gestured silently to go over their plan of attack. Seconds later, both men were in the house, and Walter anxiously waited, hoping they would be okay. He sighed with relief when Cabe opened the door and waved at him.
Walter walked into the house and saw two young men in handcuffs sitting on the floor. Tim had his gun pointed in their direction to keep them where they were. Walter saw a laptop on the coffee table, and purposefully moved towards it.
“Wait!” Tim cautioned. “Don’t touch it until Cabe’s done checking the back.”
Walter scowled. “I don’t see the relevance of waiting for Cabe, time is of the essence.” As he spoke he shook the mouse to get the screen on.
“No!” Tim said, but it was too late.
The screen showed a rapid countdown in flashing red numbers with five minutes left, which jumped down to three minutes after the word ‘tampering’ flashed on the screen.
“I told you not to touch it,” Tim said, clearly pissed.
“You didn’t say it was booby-trapped!” Walter yelled.
“I didn’t know if it was! I just knew that these guys said it was.”
“That was vital information you should have shared first!”
“It wouldn’t have been a problem if you’d followed my orders!” Tim yelled.
“I’m the team leader! I don’t have to follow your orders, you follow mine!”
“Not when we’re in a combat situation!”
“Hey!” Cabe shouted, stepping into the room. “What’s the problem?”
Both younger men spoke at the same time. “He touched the computer.” “He left out vital information.”
Cabe glared at the laptop and then back at Walter, “Stop bickering and fix that.”
Walter scowled, but focused on the laptop, and conferred with Sylvester and Happy through his earpiece on the best way to stop the countdown. He was able to shut it down with three seconds to spare. Once that crisis had been averted, everyone took a deep breath of relief.
# # #
Thirty minutes later, the electronic funds had been put back where they belonged, and the local authorities were taking the hackers into custody. Once Cabe was sure they were no longer needed at the hacker’s house, he told Tim and Walter it was time to go pick up the rest of the team at the bank.
Once the three men were in Cabe’s SUV, the older man turned towards the back to look Walter in the eyes instead of starting the car. He took out his earpiece and gestured for the other two men to do the same. Once all three of them were cut off from the rest of the team, Cabe said, “Wanna tell me what happened between you two back there?’
Walter and Tim both started talking at once, so Cabe held his hand up and said, “Tim first.”
Walter scowled while Tim spoke.
“I told him not to touch the laptop until you got back, and he did it anyway. He made it clear that he’s my boss, and that he doesn’t have to follow my orders in the field.”
Cabe turned to the back and said, “Walter?”
“He didn’t tell me that the computer was booby-trapped, he just barked out an order not to touch it with zero explanation. He could have, and should have immediately said the hackers had tampered with it, and then I would have approached the situation with caution.”
Cabe sighed and shook his head. “We’ve talked about this. Just because someone isn’t a genius, that doesn’t mean they don’t have valuable input. If Sylvester had cautioned you not to touch it, you would have taken a moment to find out why.”
Walter hated getting lectured in front of Tim, and tried to defend himself. “I never said Tim didn’t have valuable input, I said he went about giving his input in an unsatisfactory manner.”
“Son…” Cabe seemed to be at a loss for words.
Hating the disappointment he heard in his mentor’s voice, Walter felt compelled to admit to a small portion of wrongdoing. “But I was out of line when I told Tim that I don’t have to follow his instructions. Clearly there are some situations where his experience in combat would make it illogical for me not to follow his instructions.” He looked at Tim and said, “But this wasn’t one of those times. There was no immediate danger, and that laptop wasn’t going to explode with the countdown ended, it was just going to fry its own circuits.”
“And then terrorists would have gotten millions of dollars,” Tim pointed out.
“But they didn’t because I figured out how to stop it.”
“Enough.” Cabe said sharply. He pointed a finger at Walter and said, “This discussion isn’t done, but we need to go pick up the rest of the team.” Cabe put his earpiece back in, and the other two men followed suit.
Walter slouched in his seat and opened his laptop to distract himself. Of course Cabe would take Tim’s side. Thinking about what Cabe would have to say later made Walter cringe. Working with his mentor and sometimes father figure, really sucked when the older man was irritated with him. No one else on the team could make him feel like he was eleven again.
Halfway to the bank to pick up the team, Toby’s voice over their earpieces said, “Hey Cabe?”
“Yeah?”
“You got a ninety-three, also. It’s officially a tie between you and Tim.”
Cabe chuckled and said, “Well, I guess we’ll have to have a tie breaker. Do you know of any other courses around town, Tim?”
“I don’t,” Tim said.
“I could make you a course,” Walter said, thinking about ways he could assure Cabe would win. “Something that would be more difficult to determine a winner.” It would be highly satisfying to see Tim humbled.
“We can’t use our firearms outside of a shooting range,” Tim said.
Walter could hear the condescension in the other man’s voice, and that spurred him on to make sure Tim lost, preferably in front of Paige. “I was thinking paint guns.”
Other members of his team started putting in their two cents about how to build a course inside the Scorpion offices. By the time they got to the bank to pick up the others, Cabe and Tim had been talked into trying it out the next morning.
# # #
Later that day, when everyone was back at Scorpion’s office, Toby encouraged both Tim and Cabe to leave so they wouldn’t see the course as it was being worked on. Tim took it all with good humor, and headed out the door after getting a kiss from Paige, and the promise of dinner with her and Ralph that night. Cabe also was smiling, but still asked to see Walter alone for a few minutes before he left.
Walter reluctantly followed Cabe to his car. Once they were alone, Cabe said, “I appreciate you making this course as a peace offering after today’s assignment.”
Struggling to keep the surprise off his face, Walter cleared his throat and shrugged.
Cabe put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder and said, “I know Tim isn’t your favorite person, and you don’t have to like him, you just have work with him.”
Walter nodded in agreement.
“Okay, I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
Cabe got in his car and drove away, and Walter waved at him as he left, feeling slightly uneasy. He stuck his hands in his pockets and slowly walked towards the office. He purposely tried not to analyze his feelings too often, because he never was able to come up with a definitive answer as to why he was feeling a certain way, or what those feelings meant, or how he should react to them. So he ignored the warning signs his body was giving him, and continued to devise a plan to make Tim lose.
# # #
That evening, once everyone else had gone home, Walter had to admit that his team had done a brilliant job of creating a highly difficult course. He’d be surprised if either one of the men could get through the entire course without an error. But as far as Walter could tell, both Cabe and Tim would have an equal chance to do well, although Tim would have a small advantage simply because of his age. Tim was physically at his prime while Cabe was slightly past his.
Walter went to his computer, trying to think of ways to distract Tim while he did the course. He googled the other man, trying to find social media sites that might have useful information. One of the first things he found was a picture of Tim at a barbecue with some of his military friends. The picture didn’t say anything about them all being in the Navy SEALS together, but Walter could tell they were all former military.
Looking at that picture gave Walter a fantastic idea. With a grin, he quickly hacked the Navy database, and found Tim’s information. He didn’t read the documents, simply searched out pictures. Once he found the ones he wanted he saved them to his computer, got out of the Navy’s system, and went to the store for some supplies.
# # #
The next morning, everyone was in good spirits as they gathered together at Scorpion’s office. Walter had them draw straws to see who would run the course first, and he was prepared to do some slight of hand to make sure Tim went first, but Cabe happened to draw the long straw anyway.
While Tim geared up, Toby brought all the cameras they’d put up online, so the team could watch the men run the course from up on the roof.
Ralph pushed the buzzer to start the course, and everyone eagerly watched Tim start out. The very first particleboard cut out of an ‘innocent’ person popped out, and Tim quickly passed him without shooting. The next cut out was holding a gun, and Tim went to shoot, but froze for a second before shooting.
“What was that?” Toby asked.
“That, my friend, was Tim losing,” Cabe said with a smile.
Another particleboard bad guy popped out at Tim, and again he froze. He blinked a couple of times and shook his head before shooting.
Toby shook his head. “His stance, and facial expressions are showing indicators of distress.”
“Distress?” Paige asked with worry.
“Probably because he knows he’s not doing well,” Walter said, trying not to grin.
An innocent popped out on the course, and Tim showed no delay as he passed her without shooting. When the next bad guy popped out, Tim froze again, lowered his weapon a few inches, and shook his head. Instead of shooting, the former military man rushed over to the nearest wall, put his back against it, held his gun close to his chest, and looked around wildly.
“He needs to stop,” Toby said, turning off the course they’d devised. “He’s having an episode of PTSD.”
“Post traumatic stress disorder?” Walter mumbled with a frown. He’d wanted Tim distracted, not acutely distressed.
Toby called over the intercom, “Tim, we’ve stopped the course.”
Paige started towards the door, to go see Tim, but Toby put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Give him time to calm down first.” He looked around at the group and cautioned, “No one goes in until I give the okay.”
Once he saw people nodding, he started talking to Tim over the intercom again. “Tim, I need you to take a deep calming breath. Then as you’re breathing out, I want you to feel your body start to relax.”
Tim did as he was told, and his eyes stopped darting around the room.
“Good,” Toby said. “Now I need you to set your gun down on the floor.”
Tim held the gun closer and his eyes checked the exits. Walter’s mind raced, trying to figure out why Tim was reacting this way.
“Take another deep breath, Tim,” Toby said in a soothing voice. “Very good. You are in a safe place, here with friends. No one needs your protection. No one is in danger, and no one is a threat. I need you to put your gun down on the floor.”
Tim slid down with his back still against the wall, set the paint gun down on the floor next to him, and then sat down himself.
“Very good,” Toby said. “Now I need you to take one more deep breath for me, and feel the tension draining from your shoulders.”
The man visibly did that, and then put one hand on his forehead.
“Thank you, now push the gun out of your reach.”
Once Tim had complied, Toby nodded and said, “Good. Your friend Cabe would like to come in and talk to you. Would that be okay?”
Tim nodded, and Toby cut off the intercom. He gestured for Cabe to go in, and said, “The episode appears to be over, but approach him cautiously, don’t touch him unless he initiates it, and ask him what went wrong.”
Turning the intercom back on, Toby said, “Cabe is coming in.”
Cabe walked slowly over to Tim, and snagged a rolling desk chair on the way. “Hey, Tim, why don’t you get up off the floor, and sit down right here.”
Tim saw the chair, and slowly hauled himself off the floor, and sat in the chair.
“I’m sorry.” Tim said, shame coating his voice.
“Don’t be,” Cabe said. “Wanna tell me what happened?”
Tim shook his head and gestured to the bad guy cut out. “I kept seeing…” He looked at the figure again and shook his head. “No, I keep seeing the men I lost during my last tour.”
Walter’s eyes opened wide, and he shook his head no. These were supposed to be the faces of Tim’s old friends to distract him, not the faces of dead men to give him trauma.
Cabe glared over at the particleboard cut out of a bad guy, and purposefully walked over to it. After a second to inspect it, he reached up, and pealed off a large sticker that had been covering the original face of the bad guy. He held the sticker of a different face up to the camera, and said, “Someone better start talking, right now.”
Everyone outside looked around wildly, except Walter, who kept his eyes on the computer screen.
Toby shook his head and said, “Walter? You did this?”
“Walter?” Paige asked with confusion.
He refused to take his eyes off the computer, or acknowledge that either of his friends had spoken.
Tim quickly realized what had been done, and shouted, “What the hell?! Walter did this to me on purpose?!” He stood up and grabbed the sticker out of Cabe’s hands. He was shaking with anger as he stuck the sticker to his shirt, and then purposefully walked back to pick up his paint gun. “I don’t need a confession, he’s the only one who would do this to me, and he’s gonna pay.”
Cabe rushed over to block Tim’s path.
“Get out of the way, Cabe.”
“No.” Cabe stood his ground and added, “You’re still upset, and not thinking clearly.”
Tim glared at him, “I’m thinking Walter is going to go home full of bruises.”
Cabe shook his head. “You need to think about who else is out there watching this. What kind of example are you setting for Ralph?”
That seemed to shock Tim out of his determined stance, and he relaxed his grip on the paint gun.
“Yes Walter screwed up,” Cabe said, “Yes he probably deserves some kind of punishment, but he also deserves a chance to explain himself, and shooting someone in anger, even with a paint gun, isn’t ever going to be okay in my book.”
Tim closed his eyes for a moment and then said, “You’re right, I’m not thinking clearly.” He went and set the gun down on the office chair and then turned back to Cabe. “I want an explanation, and then I’ll leave, so that I can calm down.”
Cabe stayed between Tim and the door, but turned to look back at the camera. “Walter, give us your explanation over the intercom.”
Walter kept his eyes on the computer screen, so he wouldn’t have to see the faces of his team. “I swear on the memory of my sister that I didn’t know these were pictures of dead men. It was never my intention to hurt Tim or bring up traumatic events in his life. I thought these were pictures of his friends, old friends that were alive and well. It was meant to distract you, Tim, not cause you a psychological break.”
Tim closed his eyes, shook his head, and muttered, “Damn it.” He glared at the camera and said, “Fine. I believe you.” He looked back at Cabe and said, “I’m going home. I need some space.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” Cabe said.
Tim looked back at the camera and he said, “I’m sorry, Paige. I’ll call you in a few hours.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Paige responded. “Take all the time you need.”
Everyone watched in silence as Tim left the building. As soon as the door shut behind him, Cabe turned towards the camera and said, “Time for everyone else to go home. Walter and I need to have a conversation alone.”
Felling sick to his stomach, Walter shook his head, not wanting any part of that conversation. He finally looked at the members of his team and said, “I swear I didn’t anticipate this outcome.”
With tears in her eyes Paige said, “For a genius, you can really be an idiot sometimes.” She took her son’s hand and said, “Come on, Ralph, let’s go home and see if we can come up with a special dinner for Tim to help him feel better.”
Walter hadn’t thought he could feel worse, but watching Paige and Ralph leave made his chest hurt. He watched while both Sylvester and Happy simply walked away with Paige without saying anything to him.
Toby turned off the cameras with his laptop, and then closed it. Once he and Walter were alone on the roof with the intercom off, Toby said, “Walter, I know you believed it when you said you had no intention to do Tim any harm, but animosity has been brewing between the two of you since the day he started. You had to know that there was a strong possibility that some of Tim’s military friends had died on missions. The fact that you didn’t take the time to consider whose faces you were putting on those cut outs, tells me that a small part of you didn’t care if Tim was traumatized.”
Walter shook his head, not wanting to believe it. His stomach twisted painfully, and he said, “I didn’t want this to happen.”
“I know,” Toby said with certainty. “But you did want him to be embarrassed, and upset.”
Walter looked away, unable to refute that statement.
“Not your finest moment, Walter.” Toby walked towards the door and said, “I suggest you get rid of every part of the course before Monday morning.”
Then Walter was alone with his emotions. If he’d been on the bottom floor, he probably would have made a dash for his car, but as it was, there was no escaping Cabe. Not wanting the older man to be even more pissed than he already was, Walter tentatively went down the stairs to face the music.
He found Cabe standing alone in the middle of the office with his arms crossed and a glare on his face. Walter stayed several feet away from the angry man and said quietly, “You believe me, don’t you, Cabe?”
Cabe strode over to him and grasped his upper arm. “I believe that you acted like a rotten kid pulling a prank without giving any thought to who might get hurt.” He tugged Walter towards the office chair where the paint gun lay. “I believe that you wanted to embarrass Tim and make him lose.” Cabe let go of Walter’s arm, picked up the paint gun, and put it over on Toby’s desk. “I believe that you should have known better.” He walked back over to the chair and Walter. After taking a deep breath, Cabe looked Walter in the eyes and said, “And I also do believe that you had no intention to cause Tim that kind of pain and suffering.”
Walter closed his eyes for a moment and nodded, grateful to hear that Cabe knew he didn’t have malicious intent when he’d set up the course.
“But,” Cabe added, while putting his hand on Walter’s arm again. “I also believe that you’re due some serious punishment.”
“Punishment?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this ashamed of your behavior, son, and that’s saying something.” With that sentiment, Cabe sat down in the office chair and forcibly yanked Walter down to lie across his lap.
A soft grunt of surprise came out of the younger man, and his body jerked in response to the sensation of falling. Once he realized the position he was in, he immediately started to push himself up. Cabe’s hands were on him, keeping him down, and trying to wrestle one of the younger man’s arms behind his back.
“Cabe stop!”
Walter felt a harsh slap land on his backside, and automatically yelped in shock.
“If you don’t stop fighting me, I’m going to handcuff your hands behind your back, bend you over a desk, and take my belt to you. Is that what you want?”
Walter stilled. “You wouldn’t.” His mind was racing. As a child his father had spanked him a few times, but Cabe never had, and he found it difficult to believe that the older man would.
“Normally I wouldn’t. But then normally I wouldn’t spank you either. Today is an exception.” While Walter was being still and thinking that over, Cabe took the younger man’s arm and held it behind his back.
Cabe started smacking the seat of Walter’s slacks repeatedly, with as much force as he could muster.
Another small yelp came out of Walter, as he tried to come to terms with what was happening to him. After several slaps Walter called out, “You can’t do this to me! This is assault.”
“Yes it is.” Cabe continued to spank him. “If you wanna report me once this is done, that’s fine.”
“Cabe, please…” Walter squirmed with growing shame and embarrassment as the reality of this situation set in. The man he’d looked up to since he was eleven was actually spanking him as if he was still that eleven-year-old kid.
“I don’t wanna hear it, son. You deserve this.”
Those words hurt even more than the smacks landing on his ass. He couldn’t exactly disagree. Judging by everyone’s expressions as they left today, everyone on the team probably felt like he deserved this. But he hadn’t meant to cause Tim any actual trauma. It wasn’t his fault that Tim was traumatized by his time in the Navy. After a full thirty seconds of thinking while Cabe kept up a steady rhythm of whacks, Walter yelled, “You wouldn’t do this to Tim!”
Cabe paused for a moment. “Of course I wouldn’t do this to Tim. What’s going on in that huge brain of yours?” Walter pushed to get up again, but Cabe tightened his hold and said, “Not happening, son. We’re nowhere near done. Now answer the question.” He landed another solid swat.
Emotionally distraught at hearing this spanking wasn’t close to being over, Walter blurted out, “You treat Tim like an adult, and you treat me like a child!”
“Is that what this is about?” Cabe asked. “Jealousy?”
Walter struggled to get up even harder than before. Cabe shook his head, pushed Walter’s arm up to the point where it would be strained, and started spanking as hard as he could.
“Ow!” Walter quickly stopped struggling, and yelled, “Statistically, you have eighty-eight percent more in common with Tim than you do with me!”
Cabe sighed and stopped spanking again. “Son, how much does Paige have in common with Ralph?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
Cabe gave him a harsh swat.
“Ow! I don’t know!”
“You’re smart enough to make an educated guess.”
A few seconds later, Walter tentatively said, “Maybe twenty-five percent.”
“And even though they don’t have much in common, Paige still loves Ralph and wants to spend time with him, doesn’t she?”
“Of course she does. Parents have a biological instinct to keep their offspring close.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t spank Tim, because Tim isn’t my son. You on the other hand, well, I don’t think I could keep you any closer than this.” He started spanking again, and lectured at the same time. “Tim and I do have a lot in common, and I do enjoy spending time with him, but once his assignment to our team is over, I won’t seek out his company. But no matter what happens with team Scorpion, I’ll always want to spend time with you, check up on you, and make sure you’re happy, healthy, and safe, because you’re my son.”
Some tears ran down Walter’s face, and all the jealousy he’d been feeling faded. His voice wavered as he said, “You’re not making me happy right now, you’re causing me pain and distress.”
“Yes I am.” Cabe agreed. “If Paige had a choice between Ralph being unhappy but safe, or happy but in danger, which would she pick?”
Walter ran his hand across his cheeks to wipe off the tears. “Safety obviously comes first, but that has no bearing on this situation.”
“No bearing?” Cabe asked with disbelief. He shook his head, and reached under Walter to undo the kid’s slacks.
“What are you… Cabe!”
The older man shoved Walter’s pants down and started whaling on top of the kid’s underwear.
“Ooow! Cabe!”
After several seconds of harsh smacks, Cabe paused and said, “I cannot believe you just said safety has no bearing on this situation. Tim was going to shoot you.” He started spanking again.
“With a paint gun!” Walter yelled as his toes started to drum the floor as the pain became unbearable.
“Which can cause damage, especially at close range!” Cabe yanked the underwear down, too, and started spanking bare skin.
“That’s not even what I meant!” Walter yelled as more tears ran down his face. “Ow! Cabe, please listen!”
The older man paused, and Walter said, “I realize my safety was in jeopardy today. I meant your analogy had no bearing because Paige would never spank Ralph.”
Cabe nodded. “I’m sure you’re right about that, but she would punish him in some other way to keep him safe, even if it made him really unhappy. Wouldn’t she?”
“Yes,” Walter reluctantly agreed.
“Well, I’m not one of those modern day parents, I’m old school. But the reasons behind this punishment are the same. I’m causing you unhappiness now to keep you safe later.” He started swatting again and said firmly, “The next time you feel jealous, you come and talk to me. You do not set up an elaborate prank that could backfire.”
“Ow! Okay! I won’t! Cabe, I won’t do it again! I promise! Cabe, I’m sorry!” The spanking, the lecture, and the words of parental dedication all jumbled together with the guilt Walter already felt for what he’d done, and the slow tears turned into full on crying.
Cabe ignored the tears and kept spanking for several more seconds, making sure every inch of Walter’s behind was a bright red.
As soon as the smacks stopped landing on his very sensitive and raw backside, Walter tried to apologize again, but it wasn’t a particularly coherent apology due to the tears.
Cabe pulled the younger man’s underwear up into place and said, “I know you’re sorry, son, and I forgive you.” He let go of Walter’s arm, and patted his back a few times. “As far as I’m concerned, the slate is wiped clean, and we start fresh, but you’re going to have to work pretty hard to get the rest of the team to forgive you.”
Walter nodded and wiped at his face with both hands, before pushing to get up. As soon as he was upright, he immediately reached down to pull up his slacks. By the time they were buttoned, Cabe was standing too. The older man tentatively pulled Walter into a hug. Walter immediately wrapped his arms around Cabe, seeking out comfort as the tears continued to slowly leak out of his eyes.
Cabe held him tight and said, “It’s going to be okay. Everyone will forgive you eventually.”
After a long hug, Walter eventually let go first, and mumbled, “I need some tissues.”
While Walter was wiping off his face, and blowing his nose, Cabe gestured to the shooting course. “Once you’re ready, we should start taking all this stuff down.”
Walter groaned, dreading the thought of manual labor for the remainder of the afternoon with a throbbing backside. He put both hands back and tentatively rubbed it. “It’s really sore,” he complained.
“Not as sore as you would have been with a body full of welts from a paint gun,” Cabe said without much sympathy.
Walter nodded and trudged over to the first particleboard cut out to start dismantling the course.
The two men spent the rest of the day together putting the office back to normal. By the time they were done there was no doubt in Walter’s mind that any jealousy he felt about the relationship between Tim and Cabe was unfounded. He still didn’t like Tim, and he hated seeing him with Paige, but he wouldn’t be jealous when Tim and Cabe were getting along, because they were just friends, while Cabe and Walter were family.
The End
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