DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Magnificent Seven or its characters. This story will contain SPANKING so if that bothers you please don't read any further

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CHAPTER 6

Getting back to the boarding house Chris showed the kids their new room. The guys had moved an extra bed from the attic into the room so there were two – didn't leave much room for anything else but it would do for now. Sarah Beth was so excited to have a room again – one with her own bed.

Dinner with seven men and two kids was noisy but really good and both kids ate until they thought there bellies would bust! After desert was finished everyone settled down in the living room. Sarah Beth was so happy about the idea of school she could barely contain her excitement. She had a ton of questions for the guys and bounced from one lap to the other asking each one a different question. Caleb couldn't remember the last time he had seen her so happy.

Vin handed each child some packages to open up as they sat.

"What are these?" Caleb asked

"Presents? You got us presents?" Sarah Beth said excitedly. She hadn't gotten presents in so long she couldn't wait to tear into them but knew she needed to be polite and ask first.

"Can I open the presents you got me Vin..can I please, pretty please?" Sarah Beth asked in a high pitched voice of excitement.

"They're not just from me sweetie, they are from all of us. These will help replace some of what you lost in the fire." Vin explained.

Sarah Beth was so excited as she opened up her new shoes and two new dresses and stockings, but that was nothing compared to the squeals of happiness and clapping when she opened the new dolly and book of bedtime stories.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you" she cried, running around the room hugging each of the tough men one at a time. Melting each of their hearts with that hug…

Caleb opened his packages and found 2 new shirts and pants, shoes and a pocket knife. Inside his heart there was a battle going on – he was so excited to get the new things, especially the knife, but he hated feeling like he was depending on these men to take care of him and his sister – that was HIS job - not theirs.

He wanted to smile and say thank you, but he couldn't – he was getting angry – angry that they just jumped in and took over – angry that they thought they could just take his place with his sister – "HE provided for her, NOT THEM!" he all but screamed to himself.

Putting the stuff down on the floor and then taking Sarah Beth's away from her he looked at Vin and said "thank you for the thought but we can't accept those – its too much and I can't afford to pay for them."

He turned to grab Sarah Beth's hand to leave but she pulled away – starting to cry "No Bubby - NO I WANT MY DOLLY BACK!"

She tried to get past him to the doll on the floor and he spun her around to stop her and she fell, crying harder.

All of the men jumped up at the same time – everything happening so quickly – Vin picked up the doll and Sarah Beth making sure she was ok – calming her down…

At the same time, Chris grabbed Caleb by the arm and growled to the others in the room, "If you'll excuse us, we need to have us a talk upstairs" and roughly marched Caleb up to the room that he would be sharing with his sister that just happened to be right next door to Chris' room.

Walking up the stairs Caleb heard Sarah Beth ask Vin if Chris was mad at her brother and he heard Vin answer, "don't worry about it baby girl - Chris and Caleb just need to have a little talk – they'll be back soon, why don't we read a story while we wait ok?" Feeling Chris pull him up the stairs, Caleb had a feeling this was not a talk he was going to enjoy very much…

Leading Caleb into his new bedroom Chris shoved him down to sit on the bed and pulled out a chair sitting almost knees to knees in front of him.

"What the HELL was that about kid, and I swear if you tell me you ain't accepting our charity I'm gonna take my belt to ya before you finish the sentence" Chris all but growled at Caleb.

Caleb knew he was wrong downstairs – he felt terrible for making his sister cry, but his anger at Chris was so strong right now he just couldn't even think clearly. He didn't even know why he was so angry, he just was!

"How dare you threaten to give me a lickin', you ain't my Pa – you got no right to punish me!" Caleb yelled trying to stand up and move away from Chris.

That was the wrong move for him to make though, cause as soon as Caleb stood to move Chris easily tipped him over one knee, trapping Caleb's legs with his other leg. Caleb's hands immediately went to the floor trying to stop himself from falling further down.

"I know I ain't your Pa son, but right now I'm the closest thing you got, and I ain't about to let you get away with hurting your little sister like that just cause of pride and you sure as Hell ain't gonna get away with raising your voice to me like that." And with that short speech done Chris smacked down on the seat of Caleb's pants with enough force to illicit an immediate yelp from the boy. He followed that swat with 5 more in rapid succession on the same spot.

Pausing for a minute, Chris asked "Now tell me why you refused those gifts?"

Instead of answering though Caleb tried to push himself up off of Chris' lap spitting out a couple of cuss words at Chris he had heard some other men say.

Shaking his head Chris pushed him back down, "wrong answer kid" SMACK SMAKC SMACK SMACK SMACK six more swats delivered all to the same spot, directly across from where the first set of six landed, just a little harder than the last ones.

Caleb was fighting not to cry – his butt was really starting to sting – he hadn't been on this end of a tannin' in a long time and had forgotten how bad they can hurt! He tried again to push himself off Chris' lap only to be rewarded with another 6 swats, this time to his thighs which stung so bad he couldn't help but react but yell with each one.

"Let's try this again Caleb - Why did you refuse the gifts and take that doll from your sister? You might want to think about your answer here kid cause I can keep this up all night – not sure your backside could say the same thing"

When Caleb paused a little longer than Chris wanted Caleb felt four more searing swats, this time to the spots right between his butt cheek and thigh. "OW OW OW STOP OWWWWWW OK OK I'M SORRY I'LL TALK" Caleb all but screamed.

Chris paused again with his hand resting on Caleb's back "I'm waitin' kid" Chris said impatiently.

"It made me mad ok" Caleb said, having a hard time focusing with his butt burning and the blood rushing to his head.

"Mad?" Chris questioned "It made you mad that we were trying to be nice to you guys?"

"YES" Caleb yelled, then slumped his head when he realized for the first time why it had made him mad…

"That's the first time I saw Sarah Beth laugh like that since Ma and Pa died, and it wasn't me that caused it…I couldn't make her happy like that and in just 2 days ya'll did" hanging his head further Chris could barely hear him say, "I guess I was jealous, I'm sorry Chris"

Chris was finally starting to realize what the problem was…poor kid – so much responsibility for such a young kid – he had tried so hard to do right by his sister and then they came in and took over – it hurt his pride and pride was something Chris could understand.

It only took him a minute to decide how to proceed – he understood why the kid reacted that way, but he still couldn't allow it to go unpunished – if they were going to stay with him and his friends in Four Corners, then Caleb would have to learn that he was still a boy and there would be rules and consequences – Caleb had been in charge for a long time and although he understood what was going on with the kid, Caleb needed to know he was not the one in charge anymore…

That's when Chris realized it… realized that somewhere in the course of the day he had stopped thinking of this as temporary and started thinking of his situation with Caleb, and Sarah Beth, as more permanent – "well ain't that somethin'" Chris smiled to himself – shaking his mind back to the matter at hand, he pushed the other thoughts back for now – right now, he needed to deal with the squirming backside in front of him…

"Caleb, I get why you got mad at the gifts, that you got your pride hurt some" pausing a little Chris continued "but do you get why what you did is unacceptable? You let your pride fuel your temper and it got the better of you, caused you to hurt your sister. Now I know you're used to being the adult with Sarah Beth and you've done a mighty good job raising her. But you need to realize that you are still a kid and the boys and me, we're the adults here and I ain't gonna let you get away with behaving like that, do you understand me?" Chris asked not letting Caleb move out of the position over his knee

"Yes sir, I know and I'll tell Sarah Beth I'm sorry – I can't believe I made her cry like that" Caleb responded sadly.

Sighing, Chris said "Alright – let's finish this up so I can get you back downstairs before your sister thinks I killed you" and with that Chris raised his hand and began spanking again, this time without asking any questions or talking – that was done, now was just the punishment so they could move past it.

Caleb tried not to cry but it was no use – between the guilt he was feeling over how he acted and Chris' hard hand Caleb was crying heavily by the time the spanking was done.

Standing the kid back up Chris brought him into a hug and let him get his composure back. Hugging Chris was awkward for Caleb at first, in his whole life only his Pa had ever given him a lickin' and then hugged him like this after, but it didn't take long for Caleb to relax into Chris' comforting hug. Once he was just sniffling Caleb stepped out of the hug, lowering his eyes he again apologized to Chris.

"I'm really sorry I acted that way Chris, you and the guys have been nothin' but nice to Sarah Beth and me and..and if… if you want us to leave now cause of how I acted I'd understand."

Standing up and putting his fingers under Caleb's chin so that he had to look up at him, Chris gently responded "No more apologizes needed son, you paid for your behavior and now its over- forgiven. And as for leavin' – I don't want you and Sarah Beth to leave… not now, not ever." Chris almost couldn't believe he was saying the words as they were coming out of his mouth – it had only been 2 days but the thought of either of those kids leaving made his heart hurt – he didn't know what kind of a father he would make now, it had been a long time since he had been someone's Pa and he had changed a lot since then, but he knew he would do everything in his power to protect those two kids and he wanted them with him – it just felt right to him.

Caleb was surprised by Chris' words "You w..wa…want us to stay…forever? Here with you?"

"yeah I do" Chris said, more confidently this time and then continued "I know I'm not your Pa, and I won't try to replace him, but me, you and Sarah Beth – we can be our own kind of a family. What do you think?"

"I think Sarah Beth will be really happy to not have to move anymore" Caleb replied, warring with himself a little – he wanted to be really happy but he had been disappointed so many times – what if Chris just felt sorry for them but then later changed his mind…

As if sensing the worry going on in the young boys mind Chris took hold of his shoulder's and said "I don't make promises I don't keep – if I say I will take care of you, I will – not cause I hafta but cause I want to- I want to be your new Pa if you'll let me"

Smiling a little, Caleb reached his hand back to rub at sting still burning his butt and looked up at Chris "Then I guess I better warn Sarah Beth about what a hard hand our new Pa has"

Tussling the kids hair Chris chuckled "yah and don't you forget it either – I don't much like spankin' you but I will if you earn one and the same goes for Sarah Beth - but there's plenty a time to talk about the rules, lets us go on downstairs and tell her and the guys the good news"

Following Chris down the stairs Caleb couldn't help but keep trying to rub the sting out of his butt, smiling the whole time at the way life seemed to be changing for him and his sister.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK…SHOULD I END IT HERE OR KEEP GOING? I CAN'T DECIDED…