Chapter 5

"Mom...Dad?" greeted Peter as his folks, Tim and Maggie Burke stood at the doorway.

"This is a surprise...won't you come in," El said as she greeted her in-laws. "I was just about to cut some cake; won't you join us and have some."

"Your chocolate cake?" replied Tim and at El's nods hurried past her to get a seat causing them all to laugh out loud.

"Tim just loves your chocolate cake and I must admit, so do I," laughed Maggie as she casually walked in with El.

In no time the four of them were laughing and eating when El glanced up to see Neal at the doorway looking nervous. "Neal come in...these are Peter's folks, Tim and Maggie Burke," El introduced.

"And this is Neal Caffrey...he started out as my CI but soon wormed his way into our hearts and we consider him our son and adopted him," Peter said as he pulled Neal further into the room.

There was a moment of silence as Maggie and Tim digested that information then both grandparents stood up and pulled Neal into their embrace. "It's good to meet you at last Neal. Peter has been talking about you in such a loving fashion that we knew you had to be someone special," Tim said as he patted him on the back.

"We finally have a grandchild from you...why didn't you tell us?" asked Maggie with Tim looking sternly at Peter.

"We weren't sure how you would take it," replied Peter.

"If you think he is someone special so do we...come on son and have some cake...your mom makes the best chocolate cake on the planet...well next to your grandmother," Tim added hastily as he pulled Neal down in the chair next to him only to hear a yip and see the boy shoot up. He raised his eyebrows at Peter as to ask what's up.

"Neal pulled a prank on Agent Michael Russell, our interim director, and I had to punish him for it," replied Peter.

"You spanked him?"

"I used my belt on his bu...backside," replied Peter catching himself in time.

Tim looked sternly at Neal and asked, "Come and sit back down and tell me all about it," he ordered.

"If it is all the same to you I'll just stand over here and eat my cake...my backside is still a bit warm," replied Neal as he took his cake to the nearby counter to enjoy.

"Nonsense...have a seat here. Whenever I had to spank Peter he had to sit on his sore bottom...it was part of the punishment," Tim said as he motioned for Neal to join them.

Neal took one look at Tim and then Peter trying to decide. "You had better do it dear," Maggie said as she looked at her newest grandchild, "unless you want to find yourself over Tim's lap for one of his spankings for disobeying. Peter can tell you that they are nothing to laugh about."

Neal dejectedly picked up his cake and came over and just as he was sitting down a pillow miraculous appeared in his seat. "Tim just said you had to sit, not what you had to sit on," replied El as she deftly placed a fluffy pillow in Neal's chair.

"Ahhh...thanks Mom," replied Neal as he sat down and started to eat his cake leaving his grandfather speechless at El's actions.

"I always wanted to do that," laughed Maggie as she slapped her husband lightly on the arm.

Tim looked at his wife and started laughing as well...the tension had been broken. He watched as he grandson consumed his cake and asked for more.

"You had better hurry up and finish your cake before Neal starts to eat your's as well," El said as she set a glass of milk down in front of her son before getting him another slice of cake. After that it seemed to be a contest between the men folk on who could finish their cake first. Neal won hands down each time until Elizabeth ended the contest by removing the cake.

"That's it; three slices should be enough for anyone."

As Neal finished the last of his milk he said quietly, "I'll think about you granddad when I have a slice for a midnight snack." The comment brought down the house and when everyone was able to talk without laughing the group moved into the living room and Neal made a beeline for the softest piece of furniture there, the couch, and sat down gingerly.

"Now tell your old grandfather what you did to earn yourself such a sore backside?" Tim asked as he got comfortable on the couch.

Neal hesitated as he looked to Peter for help. "Our director, Reece Hughes was out of town for a week and got his old friend, Michael Russell, to fill in for him. Neal's reputation preceded him to such an extent that Russell thought it best that Neal stay in the office. He gave him cold cases to work on and filing case files and when he didn't come up to his expectations he spanked him. In all of the cases the spankings were for petty offenses. Now, the spankings always took place behind closed doors with blinds down but the agents there knew what was happening and Neal felt embarrassed. The last straw came when one of the junior agents set him up and Russell hit the roof and gave Neal twelve licks with his ruler. I was able to convince the junior agent to confess and Russell grudgingly apologized...but he didn't apologize to Neal's face...but through me," Peter explained before turning to Neal to add,

"Do you think you can carry on from here, son?"

Neal nodded and continued, "I was so mad...I was punished for something that wasn't my fault that I guess I snapped and wanted payback...so I 'borrowed' some stinky cheese from Mom. She was catering the Stinky Cheese Festival held here and I planted them in Russell's luggage Friday. Hughes was due back Friday to resume his duties and I knew it was going to take Russell five to six hours to drive back home. He lives just over the Canadian Border and would have to stop at a border crossing where I was sure that the smell coming from the trunk would

draw the attention of the guards and he would be checked out as would his trunk...but Dad said I was disrespectful to Russell and he spanked me."

"I see," replied Tim as he glanced at his wife. "It kind of reminds me of another incident...do you remember when Peter did something similar to his math teacher...Jonathan Kennedy I think his name was," recalled Tim.

Maggie nodded, "And it seems to me that you said the same thing to Peter about being disrespectful and then you turned him over your knee and spanked his bare bottom."

"MOM!" hissed Peter as his face turned red with embarrassment.

"It was that incident you were talking about when you mention granddad spanking your bare butt when you told me how lucky I was to only receive my spanking with your belt!" exclaimed Neal as he looked wide eyed at his dad and then turning back to Tim to ask,

"What happened?"

"I think we should let Peter explain, don't you dear," Maggie replied before he husband could tell the tale.

"Yeah...explain to Neal how you both went off half-cocked and choose smelly ways to get back at your superiors. A math teacher for you son, just like Neal did with Mr. Russell," ordered Tim giving him a glare.

Peter knew that look...when he was young it always meant either come clean or face a spanking and he didn't want to test it now as an adult. "When I was ten I had the misfortune of getting the same math teacher that my older brother had...Mr. Kennedy. He made my life miserable by comparing my efforts with those of my brother. Steven, your uncle, made straight A's in Mr. Kennedy's class while I had problems...this was before I became good in the subject. Steven was always praised and I was belittled...called dummy for every mistake I made. Finally I had enough when my classmates began calling me dummy outside the classroom and vowed that Kennedy would pay. Since we lived out in the country I had no problems in finding and catching a skunk which I put in Kennedy's car at the end of the week and waited for the explosion to occur."

"Only you weren't expecting the explosion that soon visited your backside once your father heard about it," Maggie interjected in the story. Peter shook his head.

"What happened...how did they know it was you that planted the skunk?" asked Neal enthralled in the story.

"I, like you, unintentionally dropped something that tied me to it. In my case it was my pencil case with my initials on it that was dropped in the car when I enticed the skunk to climb in. Once the car was searched and it was found, I was in more trouble than I had ever seen in ten years of living," explained Peter.

"Wow…and you got spanked, too Dad. Hey, why didn't you tell me about this before?" asked Neal.

"I had hoped that you wouldn't follow in my footsteps and use it against anyone that pissed you off," replied Peter as he looked at Neal. "But the way this turned out I guess it wouldn't have done any harm. This proves one thing for sure…you are my son how else would you have chosen a smelly way to get back at Russell if you weren't."

Neal brightened at that. He had been looking for a dad all his life and he found one in Peter…and this definitely proved it. He looked lovingly at Peter before turning back to Tim to ask, "Granddad was there any times that Peter got spanked when he was older?"

"There was that time when he got picked up for drinking and driving…he was a senior in high school at the time. He kept on telling me that he was too old to be spanked…but he learned differently the next day, didn't you son," replied Tim with a twinkle in his eyes.

Peter put his face in his hands and moaned.

"That's what I keep on telling him granddad…I'm too old to get spanked but he does it nonetheless," pouted Neal.

"That's because you act like a kid most of the time…and while we are at it tell your grandfather how old you are…and I warn you Neal Dad can sense when he's being lied to," warned Peter.

"I'm twenty-five years old," replied Neal confidently but when he saw the disbelief in both of his grandparents faces he added, "you can check my birth certificate, if you don't believe me."

"Neal, what was the charge I finally convicted you of?" asked Peter conversationally.

"Bond forgery," Neal reluctantly replied.

Tim caught on to what his son was trying to get his grandson to admit to and asked again, "Tell me the truth this time, son. How old are you?"

"Twenty-three?" Neal replied tentatively and before he got the words out of his mouth he found himself pulled over his granddad's lap getting another spanking. It didn't take long before Tim had rekindled the fire in his bottom and Neal cried out, "I meant to say that I'm twenty-two," expecting the spanking to come to an end but was horrified to find Tim fumbling with his sweatpants and pulling both them and his boxers down to his thighs, exposing his now pink backside.

SWAT…SWAT…SWAT! Tim's hard hand found his backside again and again before asking once again, "How"…SWAT…"old"…SWAT…"are"…SWAT…"you"…SWAT!

Finally unable to take anymore Neal sobbed out, "I'm nineteen years old!" And as soon as Tim heard that he stopped the spanking and put Neal's clothes back in order. "Now why can't you just tell the truth son…it would be so much easier on your backside if you did?" Tim said as he pulled the boy into a forgiving embrace and held him until he stopped crying.

Neal held on, so filled with emotion…he knew he was loved by El and Peter but was overcome with the love that flowed from the man who had just punished him for lying. "Neal there is something I'm sure that my son and El have been trying to teach you…family does not lie to each other….and when they do they can expect to be spanked. I hope I have made that clear…and one other thing. I want you to send Agent Russell a letter of apology for the prank you pulled. Peter is right, that was an act of disrespect. He learned that the hard way because as soon as I finished with him he sat and wrote one to Mr. Kennedy and I made him do it over again and again until I was sure that it was respectful and he did that while sitting on his sore bottom. There is one thing I can say about my son…he learned from his spankings and seldom did I have to correct him for a previous offense. I hope that soon the same can be said about you," Tim explained as he kissed the top of Neal's head and sent him to his room to write his letter of apology.

As Neal climbed the stairs to his room he heard his granddad say out loud, "Quick while he's writing that apology letter lets have one more piece of cake!"

Neal turned and raced down the stairs, "Not without me!"

The End