Allie & Natalie in the FBI

In case you missed the first story in this series, you can find it here:  Allie & Natalie Run Away.  

Allie and Natalie are stuck going to work with their foster dad, who enlists in the help of a fellow FBI agent to watch over them while he’s busy with a case.  The only problem is that waiting for him becomes excruciatingly boring and the girls need a new form of entertainment.  Their creativity and wits can help pass the time, but won’t keep them out of trouble.

by Lenore and Breanna

———–

The warm rays of sunshine stirred Natalie, and for a minute she wondered if yesterday had all been a dream.  Silently praying that it had, she allowed her eyes to peel open and gaze out at the unfamiliar bedroom. Of course it hadn’t been a dream… nothing ever worked out the way she wanted.  But at least she was alone. At least she could figure out an escape plan without being interrupted.

Except her stomach growled, signaling that she’d have to eat before getting any thinking done.  So she staggered out of the bedroom towards the kitchen, shielding her eyes from the blinding sunlight that spilled in from all seven curtainless windows.  Allie was already up and about, tossing a tennis ball to Satchmo, her loud giggles ringing through the air. She was so happy that she was even carrying on a one-sided conversation with Peter.  The realization that Allie had already made this her home made a sick feeling creep into Natalie’s stomach.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Peter said with a smile as he flipped a pancake into the air. “Are you hungry?”

Natalie groaned and plopped down at the table.

“That’s a yes,” Allie translated, continuing to babble to Peter like she had been before her big sister barged in. “And Satchmo and I are gonna be best friends! We had a long talk about it…  Natty, Satchmo slept in my bed last night! Can you believe it?”

Natalie responded with a grunt, staring at the pancakes and wishing that she could be a little kid again.  Then she wouldn’t have so much pressure from everyone to always do things right and always take care of everyone. Allie had no idea how lucky she was… she didn’t have to worry about being responsible or anything yet.  And even though Peter would supposedly be taking care of them, Natalie couldn’t help but feel suspicious that he’d end up like all the rest of the adults in her life — selfish and absent.

She was about to offer to make coffee when Neal burst through the back door uninvited, wearing a big smile that was way too happy for it to be so early in the morning.  “Good morning, Betty Crocker,” he teased at Peter.

“Ha, ha, very funny.  El already had that Chicago event planned for tomorrow.  She had to fly out early this morning.”

Before he could answer, Allie squealed, “Neal!!!!!” and she ran for her father, arms wide open.

Neal knelt down and scooped Allie up in a hug. “Did you sleep well?”

“Satchmo kept me safe!” Allie enthused as she wrapped her arms about his neck. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, Kid,” Neal replied as he glanced at Natalie. “Morning.”

Natalie gave a nod of acknowledgment, trying to ignore the little pang of jealousy that ripped through her at the sight of the two of them together.  Instead, she turned back to Peter. “Where do you keep the coffee?”

Peter glanced at Natalie as he flopped a couple of pancakes onto a plate. “You’re a little young for coffee.”

Natalie rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Ugh! I hate this place!” she roared and thrust her chair back almost knocking it to the floor, then bolted out the back door, tears brimming her eyes.

Allie frowned. It made her nervous when her sister said she didn’t like their new home. Even if it was better than what they’d had before, she was still uneasy at times and her sister wasn’t helping her to feel any better.  Fortunately, Neal caught onto her negative feelings and distracted her by asking questions about Satchmo, who’d followed Natalie outside. Any conversation about Satchmo would be a sufficient distraction.

In the meantime, Peter finished up the last few pancakes and contemplated what he was going to do with Natalie. She wasn’t even a teenager yet, and already had an attitude!  Sure, she’d had a rough life, but that didn’t justify her outbursts and rebellion.

Peter solicited the help of Neal and Allie to set the table, then called out to Natalie to come eat. Of course, she didn’t come — she was too busy pouting on the tire swing as Satchmo wagged his tail trying to convince her to play with him. “Go away, stupid dog,” she muttered, taking the ball from him and throwing it as hard as she could.

Peter glanced at her through the window, sighing. “Neal, you should go talk to her.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Neal asked, peering out at Natalie.  

“Yes. Go,” Peter ordered, sitting down beside Allie, who was digging eagerly into her pancakes, too distracted by the food to pay attention to Peter and her father.

Neal trudged outside, not looking forward to this conversation.  He knew she wanted nothing to do with him, and couldn’t really blame her… He’d been a really crappy dad and didn’t really deserve for her to give him the time of day.  But Peter had insisted, and he also couldn’t blame him. Somebody had to talk to the errant preteen… and Peter had dealt with her all night, so it was his turn.

He leaned against the tree, looking down at her for a minute before speaking. “You know, it’s really not so bad here. Peter may be a little rough on the edges, but he’s a good guy.  And you’ll always have a nice, safe place with people who care about you.”

Satchmo came galloping back with the ball, wagging his tail happily.

Natalie snatched the ball from Satchmo and narrowed her eyes at Neal, turning away from him and throwing the ball for Satchmo again.  She didn’t feel like talking to her father at all. She’d rather deal with Peter than her sperm donor.

“You know, eventually you’re going to have to talk to me,” Neal reminded her. When she didn’t answer, he added, “Natalie… I didn’t plan on staying away so long.”

She continued to ignore him, swinging back and forth. Satchmo came back with the tennis ball and Natalie entertained him for a few minutes, begging for tears not to fall. She wasn’t going to let Neal think he could get the best of her.

Peter looked on from inside, worried at how this was going. He glanced down at the happy 6-year-old, stuffing her face full of pancakes. It felt like he should make conversation, but wasn’t quite sure how to start it.

Allie felt Peter looking at her, so she glanced up at him curiously. “Are we doing something fun today?”

“What would you like to do?”  He was better at asking questions than answering them.

“I like going to the park,” Allie told him. “And going to the toy store… and I wanna go to the zoo and…”

He nodded, making a mental note of her favorite places to go.  “The park sounds like a great idea, there’s a nice one around…”  He was interrupted by the loud shrill of his cell phone. Groaning, he glanced at it to see he was being called from the office.  How frustrating — he’d already taken the day off!

Neal was also quite frustrated as he continued trying to reason with Natalie:  “When I left that day I had intended to come back…”

“Yeah, but you didn’t,” Natalie interrupted with an icy glare.

Neal went towards the preteen, now standing in front of her and holding onto the rope so she couldn’t turn.  “Natalie, I’m…” but he, too, was cut off.

“Neal,” Peter called from the doorway.  “We have work to do.”

“I thought we were free today?” he asked, slightly annoyed.  

But Peter just shook his head, muttering something they couldn’t understand.  

“What about the kids?”

-x-x-x-x-

An hour later, Peter arrived at the office, two kids and Neal in tow.  Allie was fascinated with the rows and rows of computers, and almost got lost when she ran towards a couple of FBI dogs in the hallway.  Natalie, on the other hand, was still pouting. She was now avoiding both Neal and Peter, angry that they didn’t trust her enough to stay home alone.  She was 12 years old for goodness sake! Not a baby!

Peter found an unsuspecting newbie agent and pawned the children off on him.  Before leaving to solve his case, he stooped down to Allie’s level and eyed both girls. “If you two are good for Agent Smith, we’ll go to the park as soon as we’re finished here.”  Glancing at Natalie he added, “and something special for you, too.” He had no idea what she’d want but hoped it would be enough incentive for her to behave.

Allie’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I’ll be super good!” she gushed. “I haven’t been to the park in forever!”

Natalie was happy that at least Peter remembered she existed, which is more than her actual dad seemed to do.  But this was going to be suuuuper boring.

The girls and Agent Smith were locked away in a plain grey room with nothing but a lonely table and a half-dozen ugly chairs that didn’t even squiggle or have wheels for them to use as entertainment. Natalie looked at her little sis, feeling like a criminal. What were they supposed to do for the next few hours?  Neal had left them with a deck of cards and nothing else, not even a phone. This was torture!!

Allie glanced around the small room then nudged her big sister. “We should explore,” she whispered.  “This place is huge! And they’ve got doggies!” Her voice squeaked with excitement as she struggled to contain herself.

Looking at Agent Smith Natalie asked, “can we play with the dogs?”

The rookie agent didn’t bother answering, just laughed and looked back to his phone.

Natalie sighed and tried to distract Allie. “Show me the trick Neal taught you.”

“Okay!”  Allie grinned widely and began passing out cards for her trick.  “You think I can be a magician someday Natty? I love magic so much.”

“Sure,” Natalie said, only half paying attention. She was really trying to figure out an escape plan. This day was already becoming excruciatingly boring. How could they distract Agent Smith?

“I have to go pee!” Allie announced suddenly. “I gotta go bad! Where are the bathrooms!?!?!”

Natalie smirked slightly, wondering if Allie could read her mind. She bolted up and shouted, “I’ll take her!”

Agent Smith was unimpressed and didn’t allow them to go alone, but Natalie knew they could figure out how to escape without him noticing, especially since he seemed to be addicted to his phone.  So she paid close attention to her surroundings, scoping out the best escape route as Agent Smith led them to the bathroom.

“So how are we getting away from him?” Allie asked after doing her business.

Natalie shrugged and peeked through the door to see that Agent Smith had his back towards them and was busy looking at his phone. She motioned for Allie, mouthing “shhhh” so she’d scamper quietly. On the count of three, the two of them shot out of the bathroom as fast as their little legs could carry them.  Both girls had to stifle giggles as they raced down the hallway, high off adrenaline.

Agent Smith heard them running and looked up startled. He cursed under his breath and gave chase but soon lost sight of them, embarrassed and confused at how they’d managed to get rid of him so easily.  It was because of Natalie’s impressive memory: she’d remembered every sharp turn she’d have to make and held tightly to Allie’s hand until they approached the offices where they’d seen the dogs earlier.

“Doggies!” Allie squealed when she spotted a couple. “Can we play with them Natty? They look like they need some friends!”

One of the dogs wagged her tail, but there was an old bald man behind the nearby desk that looked pretty evil, so Natalie figured it probably wasn’t a good idea.  “Better if we find somewhere else to go.”

Allie frowned, giving her sister a pout. “But I like doggies….and they want to play!”  

“That guy though,” Natalie said, and Allie realized her sister was right — it was best not to anger the scary man.  He’d definitely tell Neal and Peter, and then they absolutely wouldn’t take her to the park or zoo.

The girls continued walking and were soon distracted to what could be deemed the hidden treasure of the FBI:  the evidence locker. There was a line of boxes in front of a lone agent sitting behind a desk, counting what looked to be fake Gucci bags.  Natalie gasped, stopping and holding her sister back. “Look!” she whispered, pointing at the goods.

“Oooh. Pretty!” Allie whispered in awe. “Do they have a store here? I like shopping!”

Natalie shushed her. “We have to get past that guy. Any ideas?” She always asked Allie for ideas because her childlike creativity sparked Natalie’s older-child intuition.

“What if the doggies got loose?” Allie asked. “I got a ball in my pocket.”

“Great idea!”

Allie beamed. “I bet they like to play ball like Satchmo. I can toss it for them to chase.”

“Do it,” Natty whispered, nudging her sister.

The little girl nodded and tiptoed back to where the dogs were. As quietly as possible, Allie waved the ball to get their attention, then threw it hard.  When it bounced against the tiled floor, one dog barked, the other gave chase, then the first followed.

When the commotion began, the evidence locker guard moved from his post, happy for a change of pace. Natalie grabbed her little sister and they snuck in. The room was much larger than she’d expected, with rows and rows of evidence boxes. They could spend hours snooping around in there! Though it may not be a great idea to stay too long.

“Ooooh!” Allie said in awe as she twirled in a circle to take it all in. “Where should we start? I want a new bracelet!”

The girls dispersed and each found boxes to dig through. “Ooh! Air Jordan’s!” Natty nearly shrieked. They were even her favorite color: purple! Too bad she couldn’t sneak them out without being caught.

“Bracelets! Look!” Allie held the shiny chains up for her sister to see, feeling like she’d hit the jackpot.

Natalie continued to sift through boxes until she found the Rolex watches… probably they were fake but looked legit. She ran her fingers over them, finally deciding on two that she really liked. She looked back over to Allie, who now had bracelets all down her arm, admiring the way they sparkled in the light.

“I want these.”

“Not all of them,” Natalie snapped. “Remember what happened at Macy’s that time?” Allie had taken too many things and set off the alarms. The big scary security guards detained them for hours. It was probably one of the worst days of Allie’s life.

“Oh….right,” Allie nodded as she put a couple back. “Four is good.”  

Each girl stuffed her treasure into her pockets — It was too risky to wear it out — then they replaced the boxes as they’d found them and headed out. Except the stupid guy was back at his desk… how would they get out?

Allie crouched down low and pressed up against the wall, inching her way out easily while staying invisible… Being small had its advantages sometimes. As before, she went to distract the dogs, then hid while giggling softly and waiting for Natty.

Once Natalie found her sister, the two of them fell over in the hallway giggling until they were caught by Agent Smith. He was not pleased, but Natalie knew he wouldn’t tell Peter — because if he told on them, they would tell on him. After all, he was the one who hadn’t been doing his job.

-x-x-x-x-

The girls behaved the rest of the afternoon, Natalie trying to build a house of cards with half the deck while Allie used the other half to make up her own magic tricks. It was really boring to say the least, so both girls jumped with joy when Peter and Neal came back after having solved their case. “Are we going to the park now? And can I get some new Jordan’s? Everyone has them ‘cept me!”

Happy to see the change in Natalie’s attitude, Peter smiled. “Yes, we’ll go to the park now, and we’ll see about the Jordan’s.”

Allie crammed the cards back into their box and sprinted towards her family, bouncing up and down with excitement. “I love parks! I get to be a monkey and climb everywhere and swing!”  It was her way to get rid of some of the excess energy in her tiny body.

Neal smiled and tossed Allie onto his shoulders as they waved goodbye and thanked Agent Smith. When they got outside Allie felt so tall… It was like she could see for miles!  

The oldest daughter looked on jealously but decided to busy herself with Peter. It wasn’t Allie’s fault that their dad liked her more. And at least Peter was hopefully going to get her new shoes. And he seemed to like them equally… for now.

Once they reached the park, Allie dashed away towards the slides, shouting for Natalie to join her. The preteen wasn’t a huge fan of parks, and didn’t feel much like playing, but had to admit that she also had an abundance of energy after sitting around all day. So she allowed herself to play with Allie, running around excitedly, sliding, swinging, climbing, and being mean to some of the other little kids. It was great fun!

Then a boy started teasing Allie, to which she responded by smacking him on the arm so hard that the sound echoed through the playground. He promptly started crying and tried to hit her back, but Allie shielded herself with her tiny arms, threatening: “Don’t you hit me! My sister will beat you up!”

Natalie towered over the boy, trying to be as intimidating as possible and shouting at him to leave her kid sister alone. Neal saw the commotion and went over just in time to notice something drop from her back pocket: it was the watch. Half-suspicious, he glanced at Allie whose arms were still blocking her face. She was also bouncing around aggressively, so much that Neal could see a gold bracelet peeking out above where Satchmo’s ball rested in her front pocket.

“Hey hey, what’s going on?” Neal asked, grabbing ahold of Natalie’s wrist right before she punched the kid.

“Let go of me!” she shouted a little too loudly, and everyone (including Peter) turned to stare. Natalie blushed and muttered “sorry,” then, seeing the watch, snatched it up.

Everyone went back to their business and the girls explained that the other kid had started it. “He was mean! I don’t like him!” Allie cried. “I HATE him!” She pressed her body against her father’s, burying her face into his stomach.

“No more hitting,” Neal stated. “You’re lucky Peter didn’t see you or you’d both be in big trouble right now.” He felt Allie shiver with fear, and felt it was an appropriate time to ask, “where did you girls get that watch and bracelet?”

Allie shrugged. “Around.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you’d know anyway since you’ve been gone the last 6 years,” Natalie snapped.

The words punched Neal in the stomach, but Peter came up suddenly so he didn’t have time to respond. “Everything okay? Are you girls ready to go home?”

“I guess so,” Allie sighed dramatically. “I was having fun….but I am hungry!”

-x-x-x-x-

Neal tried to forget about the jewelry, reassuring himself that the girls weren’t thieves like him. And he was almost successful at believing their innocence until a couple of days later when he overheard Peter with a colleague talking about watches and bracelets missing from the evidence locker. He felt a pang in his chest realizing that both kids had lied to him.

Shortly after the news of the missing jewelry, Peter appointed Neal as babysitter for the evening as he would be working late to figure out what happened to the missing evidence. Neal nodded and headed back home where the girls had stayed with his friend, Mozzie, all day — both he and Peter had been worried about the kind of trouble they could cause with Moz but knew it would be better than leaving the girls at the office every day while Elizabeth was out of town.

Allie was out in the backyard swinging on the tire swing and shouting like Tarzan. She was quite content to be playing in the yard as she enjoyed being outside.

“Hey Moz, how’s it going?” Neal asked, also waving at Allie.

“Baby suit has too much energy,” he said, referring to Allie, “and middle suit has locked herself in her room all day. And I still can’t believe you have children.”

Neal nodded.  “I’ll take it from here — thanks for your help.”

Holding out his hand Mozzie said, “My services are not free.”

Neal cut him a glare but handed him a couple of 20s anyway. He really was grateful for the help.  “Allie, let’s go inside, I need to talk to you and Natalie.”

“But I’m in the middle of rescuing Jane!” Allie protested as she kept swinging. “The bad guys got her and she needs to be rescued!”

“You can rescue her later, come on,” Neal said firmly.  He was rarely strict with her but was under pressure to get the jewelry back before Peter found out who took it. He was worried because he didn’t want his boss to change his mind about taking care of the kids — who else would let him see the girls on a daily basis? Who else could he trust like Peter and Elizabeth?

Allie pouted as she hopped down from the tire swing. “You’re no fun,” she told him as she came to stand next to him. “You better show me more magic tricks, Mister.”

“First we have to talk.”  He took her little hand in his and walked her inside and upstairs where Natalie lay on her bed reading a book.  Instead of knocking, Neal barged inside and asked Allie to sit next to her sister.

“What do you want?” Natalie sneered.

Allie climbed up onto the bed next to her sister. “He’s not fun today,” she informed. “He wouldn’t let me finish rescuing Jane.”

“You two stole from the FBI,” Neal said, taking the book from Natalie and tossing it aside.

Allie cocked her head and looked at him innocently. “No, we didn’t. We went shopping.” She was still convinced the room was a store.

“Yeah, in an actual store.  But thanks for thinking of us as criminals.”  Natalie’s heart skipped a beat, though, knowing deep down she’d been caught.

“Peter knows that 2 watches and 4 bracelets are missing from the evidence locker… jewelry that looks exactly like what I saw fall from your pocket the other day.  Do you want Peter to look at the surveillance footage and catch you? Or do you want to tell me the truth?”

“What’s an evidence locker?” Allie wanted to know as she looked between her father and her sister. “And what’s sur-surveillance….?”

“Evidence locker is where evidence for criminal cases are kept,” Neal responded. “Surveillance tapes are from video cameras that record what people are doing in buildings and stores. It means someone is watching.”

“So that wasn’t a store we were in?” Allie asked in innocence. “I thought people just liked lots of boxes.” She didn’t realize she had just spilled the beans.

Natalie shook her head and smacked her sister.  “Allie! Shush! Don’t rat us out,” she said, giving her a death glare.

“OW!” Allie yelped, tears filling her eyes. “What did I do? I only asked a question!” She swatted at her sister in retaliation.

“Girls…” Neal said, trying to get their attention, but they kept swatting at each other until he shouted: “GIRLS!  That’s enough!”

Both of them stopped upon hearing him yell — Neal rarely raised his voice, so he had to be at wit’s end to become so loud.

“Don’t you realize how much trouble you could get into for stealing from the FBI?”  His blue eyes danced in flames, steam rising from his head. Didn’t they know how close they were to losing each other all over again?

Allie’s eyes widened in fear as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, her lower lip quivering. She didn’t like it when adults were mad at her.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Natalie said. “It’s stuff that the FBI stole from other people so we’re just stealing it back.”

Neal glared at her, now on the verge of losing his patience. “It is a big deal! People go to prison for that sort of thing… Is that what you want?” He shook his head, anxiously pacing in front of them and trying to figure out how to handle this situation.

“But I don’t wanna go to jail!” Allie cried. The thought scared her… in fact, just being detained at the mall by security that one time had been terrifying enough.

Natalie was torn between apologizing to her dad, or hugging Allie and calling him a big meanie for making her cry.  Instead, she opted for sneering, “It’s not like you’ve never stolen anything before.”

“Yeah, and you see where I ended up?!”

Silence swept over the room after he said it, and for a breathless moment, one could hear a pin drop.  Natalie now hugged Allie and allowed a few tears to fall, too, having been hit with the realization that she was turning into her dad, which was the last thing she wanted to happen.

Neal sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Being a disciplinarian was definitely not his thing.  He just wanted to help the girls, get them a break. But Peter’s voice barked in his head, reminding him that they needed consequences.  And while he wasn’t the type to agree with corporal punishment, they’d already been in trouble for stealing before.. if they didn’t get punished for this, it’s likely they’d continue down the same path as he. Neal really hated to hurt them but felt he had no choice. “You’re both getting a spanking for this,” he stated firmly.  

“NOOOOO!” Allie shrieked, clinging to Natalie a little tighter. “I don’t want one!!!! I thought it was a store!” She’d a feeling it was a little different when her sister kept getting her to distract people but had gone along with it anyway.

Neal had to take a deep breath to calm himself down. “When you’re in the FBI building, you are not to touch anything, let alone take it from there… and… how did you get into the evidence locker anyway? When did this happen?”

Allie explained their scheme and Neal couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at their creativity and wits. Then he put his serious face back on and stooped down to her level. “You mean that you distracted Agent Smith and snuck into someplace that was being guarded by someone?” He looked from Allie to Natalie.

“We were bored,” Natalie said. “You should’ve just let us stay home.”

“He was on his phone.”

“Those are just excuses. You both know better than to sneak away from your babysitter and take something that doesn’t belong to you. You’re both getting a spanking. Who’s first?”

Eyes wide, Allie let go of her sister to scramble away. She was not getting spanked! No way no how! “NO!” She shouted tearfully as she scurried away. “NO! NO! NO!”

Before she could get very far, Neal caught her. “No running, Allie,” he scolded. He held her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Allie, you did something wrong and are going to be punished. You can’t go around stealing things.”

Allie gave him her best puppy dog look with tear filled eyes. “I won’t do it again….” She really didn’t want to be spanked. He was supposed to be her magic buddy, not someone who punished her.

“Good, then I won’t have to spank you for it again,” Neal replied.

Natalie was starting to feel annoyed again, so through her own tears she said, “You don’t have the right to spank us… you’re not our dad!”

This was turning into a bigger challenge than he’d hoped. Sighing, Neal said, “I’ll give you a choice: we can keep this between us and I’ll return the missing items so Peter doesn’t find out. Or, you can keep them and I can tell Peter. Your choice.”

Natalie huffed. Some choice it was.

Allie started to cry again as she stood there. “I don’t want Peter to know! He’ll lock us up with the bad guys!” She wailed and threw her arms about Neal.

He patted her on the back, hugging her tightly. “Natalie, your sister has made her choice… what is yours?”

Natalie growled but agreed that she would accept Neal’s punishment over Peter knowing. “You’ll really return the stuff without Peter finding out?” she wanted to know.

“Yes,” Neal nodded. “I will. Once you’ve been spanked you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

Allie tightened her grip on him, still crying some as she was pretty upset.  “Can’t you just make us stay in our rooms all day instead? That would be awful ‘specially to me since I love playing outside.”

“I gave you the choice, kid… either I deal with it or Peter.” He waited for a moment and she didn’t respond, so he sat down and pulled her over his lap, ignoring the cries and also the look on Natalie’s face.

The little girl squirmed, not liking this position at all. “But it’s gonna hurt!” she complained through her tears. “I don’t want my bum to hurt!”

“I know you don’t, so hopefully this won’t happen again, but you have to learn the difference between right and wrong.” With that Neal tugged her shorts down to her knees and rested a hand on her bottom. “What are you getting spanked for Allie?”

“For taking stuff that’s not mine,” Allie whined through her tears. She was upset too as her pants hadn’t come down for a spanking yet and she bet this was gonna hurt more than last time.

“And what else?” he asked, planting a firm swat to her backside.

Allie let out a yelp. “No more lying!” she wailed. “Owwwww!”  That swat had hurt much more than last time.

“Anything else?” he asked as he delivered another swat.

“I don’t rememberrrrr!”  And how did he expect her to think with all that spanking going on?  Her little legs kicked furiously, hoping it would help end the pain already.

“Tricking someone to get inside the evidence locker, running off from Agent Smith…” Neal reminded, landing a few more mild swats.

Allie cried more, throwing a small hand back. “No more! It hurts!”

Neal grabbed her hand and held it away from her bottom as he pulled her panties down now. “You have to stop with all the tricking and stealing or you may end up in jail — is that what you want?” he asked, raining down a few more spanks to her now-bare bottom.

“Nooooo!” she screeched. “I don’t wanna be with bad guys! Cops are scaryyyyy!” She hiccupped then spoke again.  “But I like tricks! They’re funny!”

“Some tricks are okay, and some are not. If you want to make sure you don’t get in trouble then you need to ask me or Peter or Elizabeth,” Neal warned then delivered a couple of more swats to her sit spots.

Allie kicked and squirmed but wasn’t able to go far. “What if you’re n-not t-there????”  It was becoming harder and harder to speak with all of the crying.

“Then find another adult to ask — not Natalie,” Neal said now eyeing his oldest. He gave Allie a final spank and lifted her up for a hug, helping dry her tears.

Allie buried herself into him sobbing. She clung to him tightly as she tried to catch her breath and get her crying under control.

Neal rubbed her back gently and stroked her hair. “It’s okay, little one, it’s all over now,” he said, rocking her back and forth until her eyes dried. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and lifted her, as she scrambled to pull up her shorts and panties. Then she climbed back up onto the bed and lay down far enough away from Neal that she could curl up and rest.

He then turned to Natalie who was actually crying herself with anticipation. She’d seen the way Neal spanked her little sister on the bare bottom and wasn’t looking forward to the same thing happening to her. In fact, she was contemplating running out like Allie had tried… but knew it’d be useless. She could run away from Agent Smith because he’d underestimated her abilities. But her dad was always one step ahead, and he’d certainly be alert enough to not let her get away.

Neal eyed the preteen warily as he motioned for her to come to him. As if reading her mind he warned, “don’t even think about running… you won’t get far at all.”

Even though she wanted to argue a million reasons why her dad shouldn’t spank her, Natalie knew that she was going to get it anyway — he’d already spanked Allie, and it wouldn’t be fair to just spank one of them. So she trudged towards Neal, looking at the floor.

Once she was close enough Neal spoke.  “You know the difference between right and wrong Natalie. You should be keeping your sister out of trouble, not getting her into it.” He reached over and tugged her pants down so she was standing there in her panties. “I’m going to keep you two from going down the path I did no matter what it takes. I don’t want for either of you to end up like I did. Got it?”

Natalie just nodded, feeling a little awkward and embarrassed to be standing there with her pants down… the only thing more awkward than that would be when she was over his lap!

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and for the first time, the preteen noticed how similar his eyes were to hers. Then, without warning, he took her wrist in his hand and tugged her forward so that she would fall over his lap.  

“I’m doing this because I care,” Neal said, immediately landing a hearty smack.  “Why are you being spanked, Natalie?”

The preteen winced with the first swat, trying to act like a big girl and not cry out.  She could do this… there was no way Neal could spank her as hard as Peter had a few days ago!  “For taking things that aren’t mine and sneaking away from Agent Smith,” she said softly, biting on her lower lip and squeezing her eyes shut as she braced for more spanks.

“And?” Neal asked as he landed another swat.

“I dunno… everything?”  Thinking about it was torture, couldn’t this just be over already?

Unimpressed with her response, Neal increased the intensity of the spanking and lectured, “no more convincing your sister to trick people.”

“Ow!  Okay okay, I’ll try to be a better influence…”

“You better,” her father replied as he landed four swats to her sit spots. “I don’t want to have to do this again.”

Natalie squirmed, almost forgetting about her efforts to stay strong and not cry, but it was really starting to hurt!! “Ouchh, you don’t have to do this you know…”

“Yes I do,” Neal stated firmly.  “You need consequences.” The fact that it sounded like Peter was not lost on him, but he pushed the thought away as he peeled Natalie’s panties down to her knees. “I don’t enjoy doing this but will when it’s necessary.”

Six brisk, hard smacks fell onto Natalie’s backside and she finally gave up all hope of not making a scene.  Now her cries echoed through the room, tears fell freely as she kicked and squirmed. Her bottom felt like it was on fire! Maybe Peter spanked a little harder… but this bare bottom stuff was no joke!  And Neal kept spanking, making each smack count to ensure this lesson would stick for a long time.

“If we have to talk about this again, it’ll be much worse, got it?” Then glancing over at Allie added, “that goes for the both of you.”

Natalie kicked and squirmed and howled in pain as he moved to smacking only her sit spots now.  “Okay Neal, okayyyy, pleaseee no moreee,” she whined reaching her hand back to block the barrage of hard swats.  She couldn’t handle anymore! “I’m sorry!”

Neal grabbed her hand with ease and gently pinned it to her back. He landed another six extra hard swats to her sit spots and now she shrieked, beginning to sob.  Ugh… him restraining her made Natty feel so powerless like she was a little kid again, and just wanted to shout at everyone so they understood her — she was 12 years old already!  She’d been taking care of herself and Allie most of the last 2 years since their mom was always off paying more attention to her cons than her own children.

It took a moment for Natalie to realize that Neal had finally stopped the spanking, and she hurriedly wiped her eyes and pushed herself up, at the same time easing her pants and panties to their proper position.

Now that all the spankings were over, Allie crawled over to Neal and climbed back into his lap and snuggled in. Smiling, he held her close then brought a reluctant Natalie in for a hug, snuggling them both together. “Now just to figure out how to return the jewelry…” he pondered and noticed Allie fast asleep.

“I’ll help you figure it out,” Natalie said, seizing the opportunity to finally bond some with her dad.

Neal smiled.  “C’mon, let’s tuck Allie in, then we can plan downstairs.”  

And they did just that.

To be continued…

To be continued….