Charlie had watched Stella leave through a window in the upstairs hallway. Not wanting to face the man he looked up to, he headed, not for the bedroom, but the room he used as an office of sorts. He went in and locked the door, hoping that maybe, just maybe, John would forget about him.

John went down the driveway to where he’d parked the beat up Toyota Corolla he’d bought to make the last leg of his trip to find Stella and Charlie and grabbed his duffle bag containing his dirty clothes and personal effects. After going back to the house, setting his clothes in the washer, brushing his teeth, and washing up the breakfast dishes, John grew weary of waiting for Charlie to reappear. He headed up the stairs, and after seeing the bedroom door open continued down the hallway until he came to the only closed door in the house and lightly wrapped on the door as he stated, “Charlie; open up. I want to talk to you alone while Stella’s in town.”

Charlie jumped when he heard the knock. His head bumped against his desk before slowly made his way to the door. He didn't want to open it...really, really, didn't want to open the door. He slid down against the wall silently praying that when no answer came, John would leave him alone.

John did not leave, and instead, he knocked harder raising his voice, “Charlie, you can’t run from this conversation forever! Do you really want to have it with Stella present?” John was growing irritated with Charlie’s avoidance, and he planned to confront Charlie and get everything all out in the open here and now.

He and Charlie had had their disagreements, but they had always been able to talk things out… well there was that one time when Charlie had decided to show off his skills a little too much that had ended up putting the whole team in danger all for a girl. John had taken him aside and gave him a good talking to that involved a little more than words. That was a good ten years ago when Charlie was nineteen and needed guidance. The boy was shocked that John would go to such extremes as to take a belt to him, and if Charlie had been anyone else, John wouldn’t have wasted his time, but Charlie was a good kid and worth a little extra effort.

John and he had become very close after that incident, and Charlie had seen him as a father figure ever since. John had never found the need since, but now, with the way Charlie was behaving, he was seriously considering a repeat performance.

Charlie blanched when the knock came harder but hearing John's words, his heart rate sped up. The threat of having the conversation when Stella was home was all he needed to scurry to the door. Even as he opened it, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he couldn't sneak out the window. He gave a small smile, "Hi John."

John gave him a side long glance before asking, “May I come in? I think we need to have a talk.”

Even knowing he was playing with fire, Charlie couldn't seem to help himself, "I'm a-a little busy..."

John sighed responding, “Charlie, I’m not leaving until you open this door, and we have a talk. How long do you really think you can avoid me?”

'Forever, if I can help it,' Charlie thought to himself. However, Charlie was also smart enough to know that he had no choice. He opened the door fully and walked back in. "Have a seat," He said trying to sound nonchalant.

John was not happy, but he held his cool and followed Charlie’s direction. Once seated, he waited patiently for Charlie to come and join him.

Charlie eyed the door longingly. What he wouldn't give to be able to dash out of the room. However, John's glare stopped him. 'He doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know,' became his silent mantra. With that he sat down across from John and smiled, "So, what can I help you with John?"

John stared at Charlie a good long moment before replying, “Well first off, why don’t you tell me why you would lie to me, I mean I gather you involving Stella in the heist to get our gold back could be seen as upsetting by me. But, to tell you the truth, I don’t know which is worse to know right now, the fact that you got her involved, or the fact that you decided to try and blow smoke up my ass with a bold faced lie.”

The 'he doesn't know' mantra was soon changed to 'he knows'. Charlie paled as he realized the implications. Life really wasn't fair sometimes! Charlie didn't hesitate to respond, "I don't know what you're talking about."

John raised an eyebrow at Charlie’s choice to try and continue pushing his lie as truth. John wasn’t wearing a belt, but there was a vanity with some of Stella’s jewelry, make-up, and a hairbrush. John rose out of his chair and stormed over to the door closing and locking it before grabbing the brush off the dresser top. He shook his head in disappointment as he stated, “You know, you’re absolutely incorrigible. You’re acting like a child, and if that’s the way you wish to act, then that’s the way I plan to treat you.”

Charlie could only watch as John seemed to move in slow motion to the vanity. The brush, coupled with John’s words made his jaw drop. For the life of him, he couldn't seem to form a coherent thought, "I...you don't...I'll..."

John wasn’t hearing any of it as he grabbed Charlie’s bicep and pulled him effortlessly out of his chair, and just as quickly as he’d pulled him out of his chair, he sat down dragging Charlie with him to land unceremoniously over his lap as he remarked, “Let’s start again shall we?” John landed three quick hard swats before adding; “Now I want the truth, why did you decide to lie to me?”

"No! John!" Charlie started to struggle as he felt himself being pulled down. He couldn't stop the yelp that came to his lips with the first swat. If there was ever a motivation to talk, this was it. "I knew you'd be mad!" Charlie answered quickly squirming to be let up.

John held fast pinning Charlie in place before continuing to swat his upturned ass and scolded, “Mad? What do you think I am now?”

"Really mad?" Came the snide come back. Charlie hung his head, wanting to smack himself for the smart ass comment. 'I will never learn' he thought to himself.

John frowned at the sarcasm, and he decided he must not be getting through to Charlie and that the stakes needed to be raised to really get his attention. John reached up to Charlie’s waistband and gave his slacks a good yank pulling them down to the cleft of his ass in on swift pull.

"NO!" Charlie pleaded, squirming more, "John pleae, I'm sorry!"

John raised the brush in his hand wrapping his arm tightly around Charlie’s waist as he stated, “Not as sorry as your about to be Charlie.” He didn’t let his words linger long as he dropped his heavy hand to cover Charlie’s now bared ass with a fresh barrage of swats.

"NOOOOOO!" Charlie cried out. Heaven help him, but he couldn't stop his feet from kicking. "S-stop, please!" Strong though he may be; Charlie was not about to take the spanking quietly.

When Charlie’s legs started to kick, John pulled Charlie’s hips forward, so that he was draped across John’s other knee as he wrapped his legs around Charlie’s to secure him from bucking off of John’s lap. Once he was sure the younger man wasn’t going anywhere he picked back up where he left off letting the flat of the brush land over and over as John asked, “You want me to stop? Can you give me a good reason why I should?”

One good reason? That, Charlie could answer easily enough not even caring that he probably sounded like a child, "It huuuurts!"

John did not stop spanking as he responded, “It wouldn’t be much of a punishment if it didn’t hurt. We’re not stopping here until we get to the bottom of this. How long this goes on for is completely up to you.”

"A-alright," Charlie quickly conceded defeat. "I-I'll answer your questions. John, p-please stoooop!"

John stopped swatting, but when Charlie tried to rise off of his lap, John held his hand into the small of his back to keep him in place as he said, “You’re not going anywhere until we’ve had this discussion. Now that you’re ready to talk, tell me why Charlie, why would you involve Stella?”

Charlie bit back a groan. He wanted up! He wanted to avoid the conversation! He knew avoiding the conversation wasn't about to happen. He pleaded his case, "Please John, I'll answer the question; I swear. Just let me up first."

John answered flatly, “No. Whatever you’ve got to say, you’ll be saying it right here over my lap, and if you don’t start talking soon, I’m going to let this brush pick up the conversation.”

Charlie shook his head frantically, silent tears falling. He had no choice, "I wanted to give her a chance to get revenge on Steve. And she was the only one I trusted besides you."

John sighed, “I can understand the logic Charlie, but do you know what really upsets me? The fact that you broke one of the cardinal rules, you let things get personal.” He let the brush come down again in a slow mantra. “You brought Stella in using me as a motivation. You know how anger clouds judgment, and yet you let it lead you.”

"Hell yes, I was angry!" Charlie shouted. "I thought he killed you!"

John responded, “There’s a fine line between taking back what was rightfully ours to make Steve pay for what he did and taking unnecessary risks to get revenge. I never said your anger wasn’t justified, but you used that anger as a tool to manipulate my daughter into working with you. That’s what I have such a problem with.”

Charlie let out a growl, "You don't understand. you could never understand!" He once again start tried to buck off the older man's lap. "Let me go."

John quipped, “I don’t understand? No, you don’t understand,” he began swatting harder, “this didn’t have to go down like this; we could have talked this out like adults, but you decided to avoid me and to try and deceive me. You know what that tells me Charlie? That tells me you knew you were in the wrong, and you had absolutely no intention of facing that fact, so here we are now.”

Charlie squirmed, "I did what I had to do! P-please John!" Charlie couldn't stop the sobs that came to his lips.

John slowed his pace understanding the why, but he wanted to make sure Charlie would never decide that lying to him was a better option than being straight forward as he said, “You ‘had’ to lie to me? Is that what you had to do?”

Charlie's mind couldn't form a thought well enough for him to speak. Did he have to lie to John? He thought he did. He didn't want John mad at Stella or worse...to hate him. Unable to vocalize his thoughts he said nothing. He cried and tried to squirm from under the volley of swats.

John stopped spanking his voice became gentle realizing Charlie could no longer find his voice as he stated, “Charlie, no matter how bad something is, you need to know you can trust me; I love you like a son, and there’s nothing you could do that would make me feel any less towards you.”

"I got her i-involved," Charlie whispered finally releasing the guilt he'd been holding onto since the day Stella showed up and agreed to help. "I-I know you wouldn't want her t-too but I w-was so m-mad. He killed you..." Remembering the feel of a lifeless John in his arms, trying went limp and sobbed.

John pulled Charlie’s pants back up and rubbed small circles on his back as he comforted, “It’s okay Charlie, I understand why you did what you did, and it’s over now. You and Stella are safe, you got the gold back, and I’m not dead. I want you to forgive yourself, can you do that?”

Charlie continued to cry, unsure if he could answer the question truthfully. Could he forgive himself? He wasn't sure.

John let Charlie cry himself out silently comforting him until he was ready to talk again.

Charlie slowly started to calm down. Still though, he could only think of one thing to say, "I'm sorry."

John helped him stand steadying him before standing and embracing him in a tight hug. He assured, “I know you are kid; I know.”

Charlie allowed the last of his tears to fall as the arms around him comforted him in a way he thought they never would again. For once everything seemed right...he was in love with Stella, his dad/mentor was alive (and strong)...a throb in his backside caused him to wince. hmm...maybe some things weren't right...

John held the embrace until Charlie had pulled away; he placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze as he said, “We don’t have to tell Stella about this unless you want to. It’s up to you.”

Charlie thought about it momentarily, "Maybe we can just tell her that you know she was involved?"

There was no way he was going to tell Stella the specifics of the conversation.

John laughed giving Charlie a knowing smile and responding, “I understand completely! So, Stella did well did she?” He shook his head his smile never wavering as he added, “chip off the old block I gather.”

Charlie couldn't help the look of pride on his face, "She really pulled it off John; you would have been proud. I didn't how she'd get along with the guys but she held her own."

John lifted an eyebrow replying, “Oh, I don’t doubt it. How about you and I go on downstairs for a cup of coffee.”

Charlie nodded his agreement and led the way out of the room. As his stomach grumbled he wondered aloud, "i wonder if there's any food left..."

John smirked responding jokingly, “Well, if you hadn’t spent breakfast hiding in the kitchen you might not be feeling so hungry now.” While Charlie cooked a couple eggs and some toast. John threw his clothes into the dryer and started a fresh pot of coffee. Within twenty minutes the two were joining each other at the kitchen table to settle in to hours of conversation.