The whole ride home was a silent one. Haley would cast a side look to Christy every now and then, but other than that, he didn’t dare say a word, not unless she wanted to talk first, at least.

That very morning, during the Sunday service which was usually held at 10am in the Brimleys’ community church, Chris had performed the voice solo she had been waiting for in the last month – and for which she was supposed to practice a lot. But it had gone awfully wrong: at the moment of stepping on and out of the choir, she had forgotten half the lyrics, and by the time she actually got to sing, her voice had come out hoarse, and the whole church was soon trying to hide their smirks and giggles, and not quite succeeding. If it was due to lack of practice or whatever, Haley didn’t know, but he knew that Christy had blushed deep red at such a reaction from the whole crowd. And good thing that her mother had to visit her sister and was away for the week-end, or she would be even more mortified to have her hear such a thing.

Gathering up some courage, Haley finally tried to say: “Little one... wanna talk about it?”

Christy shrugged. She turned and looked out the window, in an attempt to hide the tears that were beginning to streak her flushed face. It didn’t take long before that was no longer a worry for her, though; the isolated tears were joined by others, and soon turned into small sobs. She began muttering to herself under her breath, hoping her father wouldn’t notice, but he did.

“Aww sweetheart,” he said, outstretching a hand and caressing her hair. His heart broke at hearing her cry like this, because he knew how embarrassing it must have been for her.

“It wasn’t your fault... was it? I mean, it was an accident, it happens.” He thought about pulling over and stop by the side of the road, but home was just five minutes away, so he kept driving.

With her father’s words her sobs just increased. She silently shook her head and whispered ‘no’, then her sobbing got the better of her, and she couldn’t say anything more. She just sat there, hugging herself for comfort, seeing the countryside pass aside her as the car devoured the road.

Seeing how she was crying helplessly, Haley sighed and finally decided to stop the car. He leaned over to his sobbing child and held her in his arms. “Come on honey, it’s alright. It’s a mistake, it happens... those people didn’t want to be mean to you.”

Christy finally let herself go and sobbed into her father’s shirt. “I was so bad, Daddy!” she wept. “It was awful! They had every right to laugh!” She clutched at his shirt as she cried into his welcome shoulder.

“There, there, don’t worry,” he said, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head from time to time, knowing how soothing she always found that. “It’s not your fault, everyone has a bad day now and then; you should see what rubbish I write on my worst days! And then you practised so hard for today, you can’t really blame yourself, sweetie, can you?”

Her father’s motions, though appreciated, were having such mixed effects. How was she supposed to tell him that she had barely practised at all? That the night before she had sung herself hoarse doing karaoke with her friends at a stupid party? That she had done everything to herself? She just couldn’t, and so she was one mixed up little girl who felt so much younger and so much smaller than her fourteen years of age, and just wanting to have affection after such an embarrassing morning, but also hating all of his comments regarding its being an accident. How was she supposed to explain that it was not?

Finally, after almost a minute, she forced herself to calm down. “Let’s just go home, Daddy,” she said quietly, detaching from his embrace.

Of course, Haley couldn’t know what was going on in Christy’s little head. All he knew was that he had seen her practice not once, but several times, and even though those might have just been isolated cases, he still wanted to believe she had been doing like she had said she would, and that sealed the matter, on his behalf. It was an accident.

Kissing Chris’ forehead, he said: “Okay, let’s go home and maybe we’ll watch something funny together, hmm? I love you, baby.” And with that he started the engine again and drove till they reached home.

That afternoon seemed like such a long one to Christy. She made so many attempts to act like she was enjoying the movies, but she just couldn’t get into them. She forced out a few laughs, yes, but it was all she could do to sit there without crying again, and again she prayed he wouldn’t know about her discomfort... and again all of that didn’t go unnoticed to Haley, though he said nothing and just carried on. Until, after the third Blake Edwards movie in a row, he switched off the DVD player and confronted his child.

“Sweetie, are you feeling any better?” he said, taking her hand.

How she hated lying to her father! She just couldn’t tell him; she just couldn’t. So she lied once again and nodded. “Daddy,” she sighed, her eyes still downcast, “may I go upstairs and lie down for a little while?”

Haley sighed as he saw that she wasn’t telling him whatever it was that it was pestering her, and though he would want to pry, he didn’t. He just nodded instead: “Yes of course you can... but hey, cutie, you can tell me everything, you know that, don’t you?”

Christy afforded him a small smile. “Yeah, Dad, I know.” She gave him a peck on the cheek and left the room.

Once upstairs, she threw on her favorite night-gown, despite its still being light outside; it always made her feel better when she wore it. She climbed into bed, but found herself staring at the wall. The tears she held back the entire afternoon came steadily falling until her shoulders were rising and falling silently with the sobs. Eventually she managed to cry herself to sleep, but it was a fitful sleep. She tossed and turned, until she finally woke up about an hour later. That was it! She had it!

She left the safety of her cozy bed and made her way downstairs to the living room. Her father was no longer there, so she called out softly for him: “Daddy?”

From his study, Haley heard her voice and called back: “In here, sweetheart!”

For the last hour and a half he had just waited, and rather anxiously, too, for her to re-appear out of her bedroom. First thing after she’d gone upstairs he had listened in, ear to her door, and had heard some small sobs and crying, and though he felt for her, he had decided to leave her alone. Now he was glad to hear from her again, and he stood from behind his desk and walked towards the door to meet her.

“Daddy...” her voice trailed off nervously. Her mouth was dry, her palms sweaty. “I... well, I mean, that is... can we talk?” Tears were streaming down her face again, but she tried to maintain some composure.

Haley smiled, inside and outside, hoping that finally she’d pour her heart out and tell him what was this burden that was obviously wrenching her. “Sure we can, little one. Come on, sit here,” he said, and with that he plopped himself down on the sofa in his study and tapped his lap.

Chris silently made her way over to her father and perched on his lap like she only did now when something was truly wrong. “Daddy, I feel so bad about church today,” she began as she leaned into him.

“Yes, I can very well understand that,” he said, moving some hair off her forehead and drying some of her tears with delicate gestures. “Is this what is bothering you so much, honey? That everyone laughed and that it went that bad in the first place?”

Christy was at her last chance; after this there was no turning back. “No,” she squeaked.

“Alright,” he replied, in a calm voice. “You can tell me anyway, whatever it is. Still has to do with the performance? I hope you’re not feeling guilty, Chris...”

Her lower lip trembled. She was having a very difficult time saying too many words at a time. “But I am, Daddy...”

Seeing her more and more upset finally raised a suspicion in Haley’s mind. “Chris, but why? There’s no reason, unless it is that you didn’t practice enough, but that’d be so unlike you.”

Christy gave a shuddery breath. “I didn’t Daddy.” She looked down. A little silence passed. What thoughts were going through her father’s head she didn’t know, but she did know what were going through hers. “I... also did a lot of karaoke last night at the party,” she sobbed. “That’s why I was so hoarse.”

“Oh,” Haley said, and it was all he could say for quite a while. He just sat there, looking away from her, trying to understand why Christy would do something like that; he was feeling disappointed but mostly hurt for her. “But... I thought singing this solo was the most important thing for you, wasn’t it?”

Chris was having trouble gauging her father’s emotions. “It was! I liked it and was excited... but there just were so many other things to do... I put off practicing and put off practicing. I figured I could do it. And I don’t know why I did so much singing last night, I was just having fun, and was caught up in it all.” She hung her head, tears still falling in drips and drops.

“I understand, honey.” Recovering a bit from the shock of such unexpected news, Haley nodded and again looked at her. “Christy, it was a solo performance, alright, but the rest of the choir... and Carrie, mostly... were looking up at you for that. You were supposed to take it a little more seriously, don’t you think?”

The young teen began softly sobbing again, especially thinking of Carrie Harrington, her voice coach and the youth choir conductor. “I know, Dad, I know. The whole thing’s messed up and it’s all my fault!” Unable to take it she got off her father’s knees and came around and sat on the couch next to him. She hugged her knees up to her chest, crying into the soft material of her night-gown.

If ever there was a moment in his life when Haley felt the closest to Chris, it was that. Unable to restrain himself from doing so, he hugged her very tight and kissed her shaking head. “Sweetie, it’s not all your fault, you just did a mistake. You under-estimated the task, or over-estimated your own skills, if you prefer. Next time it won’t happen, but this time, you were wrong, is all.”

“But you said it yourself!” she cried. “The choir and Carrie were relying on me! I messed up the whole song...” Her voice trailed off in another fit of tears. She did, however, return her father’s embrace. Finally she detached. “I just feel awful,” she said while looking at her socked feet.

“And for a good reason, Chris, honey,” he said, still keeping one of her hands into his. “I’m not saying you’re not wrong, you are, only that you shouldn’t make a huge deal out of it. Yes, the way you handled it was not satisfactory, and that must not happen again, but it’s no big deal, really.”

She sniffled but nodded. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was it. She had actually hoped for a spanking; it was the only way she could see herself feeling better. But it looked like her father was going to let this just pass by! She really didn’t want to have to bring it up herself, but deep down she knew she would if she had to.

Ironically enough, Haley was questioning himself about the same exact thing. He knew that under normal circumstances he should have spanked Christy for being careless, but something was restraining him from doing so. She felt so sorry for herself and was beating herself up too much already, without him having to do more “beating up”, and of the corporal kind, for that matter. But after long, long seconds of palpable tension, he finally gathered his strength and found his resolution, and without a word grabbed Christy’s elbow and very gently started to pull her over his lap, hoping she would get the not-too-subtle hint and do the rest herself.

The girl almost sighed in relief as she felt herself being taken into the familiar position, which she was seeing now as the only solution to how she was feeling. Just as she was about to be bent over, she caught her father’s eye, and gave him a small smile. Haley returned it, though not a very convinced one, and helped his daughter into position, draping her face-down over his lap, something that though not very frequent had indeed happened many times over the years. This time it felt weird though, for some reason... as though something was wrong, as though this one spanking was going to be different from all the others. Haley’s mind went through all of this as he lifted Christy’s night-gown, exposing her white underwear.

Chris just sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to like what she was in for, but she also knew that deep down this was what she needed more than anything. She wasn’t sure how awful this spanking was going to be, but she felt she deserved it, and was more than willing to accept anything she was given. Meanwhile, another wave of doubts stormed over Haley as he reached for her thin cotton panties and started working them off her hips and down her thighs, to her knees; he did this with insecure gestures, fumbling with his fingers, and when he was presented with Chris’s quivering bare bottom, he raised his hand and gave it a feeble smack.

She barely even felt the sting. By now she realised that her father was having second thoughts about this, although she wasn’t completely sure why. “D-daddy? It... it’s okay,” she said in a nervous tone, but convincingly enough, or so she hoped.

Nodding and swallowing, Haley raised his hand again, and brought it down on her other cheek... but it came out a weak, possibly even more feeble swat than the previous one, which hardly left a pink blush on her skin at all. Taking a deep breath and squeezing his eyes shut, Haley felt all of a sudden that that was all wrong, that he shouldn’t hit her, and definitely not for ‘not practising’.

“Stand Chris,” he barked.

“Daddy?” she whimpered while at the same time she scrambled off his lap, re-adjusting her underwear. She wasn’t complying with his order, though, but rather wanted to look at him and see if he was serious. All the relief that had come with the knowledge she was about to receive a spanking was flooding out of her in a confused river of emotions.

Haley gulped and shook his head, not looking at her and feeling even worse than before. “I... you... err...” he struggled to find the words, which just weren’t coming. “You ain’t getting spanked.”

Tears sprung out of her eyes again. “Daddy? Why?!” she asked, whining just a bit.

“Don’t argue!” Haley snapped, in a much louder voice than he would have wanted. He stood and walked back towards his desk, shaking his head with vigour. “You did nothing after all, you don’t deserve a spanking. Go to your room, “ he added matter-of-factly, waving his hand as though he was trying to get rid of her – which was partly true.

Chris walked dejectedly toward the door, but stopped just short of going through it. “Daddy... I... please! Don’t do this!!” By now she was softly sobbing again, not believing this was happening.

“I said go to your room!” he snapped again, almost yelling now, and on the verge of losing his temper. Her sobs were making him, if possible, even more upset... and what unsettled him was that he had no idea as to why. What was going on there?

Chris looked at her father in hurt and shock for a second, and then ran from the study. Once she reached the safety of her bedroom she flung herself down on her bed, clutched her pillow, and sobbed her heart out. Why was her father acting this way? She just couldn’t understand it! She needed to think, and figure it out, so she stayed in her room, feeling so very sorry for herself, very ashamed and puzzled, not having the faintest idea what had come over her father. She cried until she had no tears left, and then finally curled up in the fetal position, clutching her stuffed dog Smidge. Another flood of thoughts made its way through her head, from feeling just plain confused to even slightly unloved, even though deep down she knew that wasn’t true.

After a while, she started drifting in and out of sleep, although it was a very restless and uneasy sleep. Almost any sound would wake her, which led her to feeling sorry for herself all over again until she could go back to dreamland. She couldn’t help but wonder how much longer this ban to her room could go on. Surely she wasn’t going to have to go without her dinner, was she? Was that maybe what her father had decided?, to starve her instead of spanking her?

Downstairs, Haley had no idea what was going on. After pounding the study wall with the closed fist and realising it hadn’t been a good idea, the man made his way to the kitchen and got some ice for his knuckles, cursing under his breath, then let himself fall on the sofa and stayed there looking at the ceiling for a long time. He loved Chris so much, and at the same time he was being upset because he couldn’t bring himself to spank her. He wondered if he was losing his strictness after all.

After having counted the small cracks in the ceiling time and time again, Haley looked at the wall clock and watches its hands turn round and round; that and the constant ticking of the seconds hypnotised him to almost a state of drowsiness, a semi-dormant state it was hard to remain lucid with. In his confused mind, thoughts crawled and slithered over each other in a messy scramble of emotions, making it all the more difficult to see the big picture clearly. Until he realised that it was quite simple, actually: he had chickened out. He hadn’t wanted to give Christy pain, not even to educate her. He realised only now just how hurt and lonely she must be feeling at the moment.

But most of all, what bothered Haley was that she might be thinking ill of him, which was the very thing he always wanted to avoid. Sure, she might feel resentful or angry right after a spanking, that was understandable because she wasn’t supposed to like it... but maybe now she was feeling that because there had been NO punishment, and that was unbearable to him. Had he unleashed his anger and frustration on her by sending her away? Oh yes he had. What a major let-down he had been. He had never felt so low about his daughter.

Eventually, after several minutes spent watching the clock, he also read it, and the realisation that it was almost 7:00pm struck him. He jumped up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen.

“Chris, dinner!” he yelled, grabbing two pairs of frozen tacos our of the refrigerator and stuffing them in the microwave, slamming the door shut without the least delicacy.

Well, there went Christy’s theory of missing dinner, anyway. But how could he yell up just like there was nothing even wrong? Had he forgotten about it all already? She waited a moment before finally getting the courage to go downstairs. As she came into the kitchen she still wore her night-gown, but she also sported a worried look, and red, swollen eyes from all the crying. Sure that would not go unnoticed on him, would it?

Haley was in the process of putting glasses and beverages on the table as she walked in, and he gave a little smile and greeted her, but otherwise made no comment. Then he took the tacos out of the microwave and brought them to the table.

“I’m sorry, didn’t have time to cook... time sort of slipped by after we... well...” He left it hanging, and just sat down. He was not exactly trying to avoid the topic, he just had no idea what to say even though everything was quite clear in his mind by now.

And that was just what Christy did not want: to avoid the topic. She decided to placate her father for the time being, and sat down sullenly, sectioning her tacos open with fork and knife. They ate the spicy but plastic-tasting supermarket Mexican food in silence for a while, but finally she had it:

“D-daddy?”

Haley had tried to look as though nothing had happened for a while, too, even though he did want to deal with it, himself... he just had no idea how, or where to start, or what to do. He was feeling helpless, and totally unable to say or do something that she expected him to.

“Yeah...?” he said as she spoke, raising his eyes to meet hers, from the first time since they had started dinner.

“D-daddy... about this afternoon... w-what happened? I mean...” She shook her head, at a loss for words. “Why wouldn’t you spank me?”

To his ears, it was as though she was asking: “Why does the world exist?”... there was no answer, it just did. Still, he knew he couldn’t just reply ‘because’, and that he had to say something, and yet without sounding or looking too weak or uncertain in her eyes.

“I don’t know Chris,” he started, weighing every word. “It seemed the best thing to do, I reckon. There was really no reason for me to spank you, don’t you think?”

The young teen squeezed her eyes shut, and shook her head. “No, Daddy,” she whispered, “I don’t. I feel awful. Maybe what I did wasn’t all that bad to someone else, but I can’t feel better. I thought you understood me when you put me over your lap, but... it was rather cruel when you just sat me up again.” Some tears trickled out of her eyes, and she struggled to wipe them away.

“Oh, Chris,” he started, suddenly feeling his stomach tying in too tight of a knot to continue eating, and he pushed the tacos away and leant over on the table, towards her. “I just couldn’t, you... I mean, you haven’t been ‘naughty’, it was a little slip. I just didn’t feel it appropriate to spank you.” Then he considered her words... ‘cruel’, she had said... “Why did you feel it was so cruel, baby?”

“You... you had smiled back at me when I was, you know, going over your lap, and I thought that meant that you understood what I was feeling. And then when you yelled at me when I got up... I dunno...” she looked downwards, not quite able to make eye contact.

“I’m sorry I yelled,” he apologised, really regretting losing his temper with her, “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. It’s just that... how can I say... I do understand what you’re feeling, but Chris, I can’t spank you just because you feel guilty over something. Your mother and I have set rules, and you’re punished when you break them. In such a borderline case like this one, when you didn’t really break one, I didn’t feel like doing it, period.” He would not admit, though, that he had also been afraid to do it.

“But... but Daddy... you didn’t make a rule out of this maybe because it didn’t occur to you. But... I feel like I broke a rule. Why can’t you just understand?” Was this special bond between her and her father being tested?

Sighing, he stood from the table and knelt by her chair. “Chris, honey... I know how it is for you. You want your slate clean, you want to get rid of guilt, but there are things you can’t understand. Do you have any idea of how much it hurts for me to have to spank you? We all know the good intentions, yes, but it’s still tough, very though. This time, resolution failed me, I can’t deny that,” he blurted out, realising one second too late that he was revealing the true reason of his backing out.

Chris knew it hurt her father to have to spank her, although she had never realized just how much. “Well... I’m sorry, but... please... Daddy! Can’t it be better for you if I tell you I want you to do it?” She felt herself beginning to grow slightly angry again, although she didn’t want to.

Starting to feel some anger mount just as well, Haley shook his head and looked straight in her eyes. “Christy, I can’t. It won’t feel right, because to my eyes, you did nothing wrong. What do you want, an easy way out of your guilt? Well, look elsewhere,” he added, again sounding much rougher than he meant to. Realising it right away, he turned back to her and mumbled: “Sorry.”

But it was too late: Chris looked at her father in hurt, barely even registering the “sorry” he gave. Finally she pushed her chair away and fled back to her room, just not being able to help it.

And this time, instead of punching a wall or something, Haley followed her. “Chris, wait, we’re not finished!” he called after her as she slammed her bedroom door. “I’m sorry I said that, but why can’t you just understand my reasons? You’re being close-minded...” he stopped at the entrance of her room and tapped on the door. “... can I come in?”

Laying face-down on her bed on her stomach, with her face buried in her pillow, Chris pondered for a second. She really didn’t want to see her father right now, but she knew she would have to face him some time, so one moment or the other, it didn’t make that much of a difference after all.

“Yeah,” she replied dully.

Taking another deep breath, he stepped in her lilac-themed room and knelt by her bed so he could look in her eyes, which were getting watery yet again. He felt so bad for her, but he was determined to make his point. “Christy, please listen: don’t think I’m ignoring your pain, because I’m not. Put it this way: in the past, who decided whether you had to be spanked or not, hmm?”

“You...” she whispered reluctantly.

“That’s right, and why do you think it was us and not you?” he asked again.

Chris paused to consider a moment. “Because if it were me, it wouldn’t be really punishment,” she replied at last. Her eyes were downcast, for she could tell where this was unfortunately going.

“Yes, and no,” Haley said. “It is partly because of that, but also because we are supposed to know better than you when punishment is needed and when it is not. Can you agree to this?”

“I guess,” she replied, not really wanting to, but not willing to lie just to uphold her wishes.

He nodded. “Good...” he started, but he saw how unconvinced she was of his reasoning, which was flawless, but was apparently not enough for her. “... but that won’t help you feel better, will it?”

She shook her head no and looked at him. “No, it won’t, Daddy,” she finally choked out.

Haley sighed. “Oh baby... I wish I could help you with that...” he said, leaving it hanging.

“Daddy?” she finally asked. “What if you did... not as punishment, just to make me feel better?”

The first thing that went through his mind was “no way”, but he didn’t voice that. Instead, he looked down, thinking it through, and starting to see a point in that. Could that really be a way for her to feel better and for him to have made it clear that the final decision didn’t rest with her?

“Chris... I don’t know... are you suggesting that I spank you for, you know, sort of like a therapy?” he said, shrugging, that being the first word coming to mind.

The girl bit her lip both out of nervousness and partial ‘excitement’. “I... well, yeah, I guess so,” she replied, trying to mask the excitement coursing through her.

Under other circumstances, that would have been amusing: a fourteen-year-old practically begging for a spanking. Still, Haley shook his head and thought it through again and again, until finally he took her small hands in his and said: “Okay... but you have to accept a compromise.”

Chris looked up at him, her eyes gleaming. “Anything...” she whispered.

Haley didn’t expect *such* a total co-operation, but he still continued: “You must understand it is not punishment, and that it’s a concession I’m doing exceptionally; you must agree that though not exactly ‘right’, what you did wasn’t ‘wrong’ either; you must agree to discuss this with mum just like every other time you’re spanked. Can you agree to these things?”

Chris thought for a moment, carefully weighing each condition, and finally nodded: “Yes sir... I... that’s more than fair.” Once again she bit her lip, this time in anticipation. “I agree.”

Again, he nodded, but this time he gave a little smile, looking in her eyes. “Alright then... I love you so much, Princess Chris, please, never forget that... okay?” he said, almost imploringly.

“I know, Daddy,” she replied. “And I love you too... so much!” She took her hands away from her father’s, and flung her arms around his waist.

Hugging her back so tight her ribs might break any second, Haley felt a tear escape the corner of his eye. For a moment he thought of giving in and join her in her crying, but knew that wouldn’t be good, so he detached from her after a while and said: “Let me sit, honey, so we can do it, hmm?”

She gave a small smile, which he couldn’t see, nodded, and finally let go of her father. It wasn’t that she was looking forward to the pain, but ever much so to the relief it would be sure to bring And just like her, he felt the exact same: he didn’t want the spanking as much as she didn’t, but longed for the release it would grant them both. So he sat on her bed and motioned for her to lie across his lap like always... like a few hours before, but this time, it would be different.

Almost eagerly the teenager trotted over to his right side and leant onwards. She settled her lithe, dancer’s body across his knees, and waited anxiously for him to begin, not quite sure what to expect, but glad of whatever he would give.

With much secure gestures now, Haley lifted her night-gown, again revealing her white underwear. He took them down to her knees with a firm tug, exposing her round, bare bottom facing the ceiling. Without further hesitation, he raised his hand and delivered four brisk smacks in rapid sequence. Christy whined a bit at the smacks, but was able to keep from complaining much. No way was she going to be a chicken on such a lovingly-given spanking!

And though indeed out of all of his love for her, Haley spanked firmly, not ‘hard’ but still making each of the smacks raining down on her backside count. He spanked her non-stop for almost a full minute, seeing how her cheeks blushed from pale white to pink. By this time Chris was crossing and uncrossing her ankles like she always did, and crying lightly. Already she was beginning to feel better. Not completely, of course, but some of the guilt had fled: the release she so much longed for was taking place. She hung onto her father’s leg for support, and did her best to maintain her position, not wanting to be difficult for him, not during this one.

Haley noticed the unmistakable signs of a well-received spanking, and continued to smack her rump with continuous swats. He never increased the intensity, keeping it reasonably moderate, but now he focused some on her sit-spot. It was to be a symbolic spanking, yes, but for the relief to come Christy needed to have a good cry and feel properly attended to.

And indeed she started to feel like that, and she squealed some as she felt the smacks shift more toward her most tender areas. By now the light crying was turning into more of a steady cry. She was also panting just a tad, but not overly so, and she was definitely beginning to feel spanked. Seeing that there was an effect indeed, Haley kept it up with the same rhythm, but spanking a bit harder now, again down on her sit-spot and start of thighs, then all the way up to her full bottom cheeks, and then back again. He held Christy’s slightly squirming body with his other hand, and saw the light pink turn into a darker one.

Indeed, Chris was beginning to squirm despite her best attempts to be helpful and co-operative. Soon her cries were turning into sobs, but she didn’t beg. True, she cried out every once in a while with the occasional harder blow, emitting some louder ‘oww!’ but she still kept her composure for the most part... at least as much as one can during a spanking! A mild spanking from her father, after all, was probably like many other parents’ hardest punishments.

It was now two and more minutes into it, and normally Chris would be bawling by now – if Haley had been spanking full force like he did sometimes, that is. True, this was not to be a regular punishment, but yet again, she needed not to feel neglected, so he circled her waist with his free arm and finished it up with a dozen final, hard blows to her sit-spot and thighs, snapping his wrist.

“OWWIIEEE!” The girl finally lost it and collapsed into the sobs that Haley had been looking for all along. But as bad as her bottom felt, her heart felt one hundred times better. Still she just lay across her father’s lap, bawling, but feeling loved and safe.

She didn’t lay there for long, though, because only a few seconds after finishing, Haley picked her up under her armpits and put her on his lap, she facing him, hugging her very tight and kissing her head and forehead all over, feeling her shaking shoulders rise and fall with the sobs.

“Honey... how... err... is it okay?” he asked, feeling quite embarrassed, as though he was asking for a review.

Chris couldn’t quite get the words out, but she nodded with enthusiasm. The last thing she wanted was her father to feel bad about this, still. She just flung her arms around his neck, sobbing, but still nodding.

“Oh lovey,” he nodded back, kissing away at her hair. “I’m sorry if I let you down, I didn’t mean to, really...” He broke the hug, feeling that he could show his true feelings to her now, and that he had to, or he wouldn’t have his own relief. “Will you forgive me?”

Chris smiled through her tears. “O-of course I forgive you, Daddy. It just... seemed like you didn’t care at first. B-but now I know better... a-and I’m sorry I put so much pressure on you. Forgive me?” She asked imploringly as well.

He smiled too, finally allowing a couple of lonely tears to trail down his cheeks. “Of course I forgive you, sweetheart... and I will always, always care... even though sometimes it’s a bit hard to show it...”

He wished to continue, to explain everything, to make it all even clearer, but knew that there really was no need for any more words at this stage, so he just hugged her again, feeling close to Chris like he had never felt before, not even that afternoon. His child gratefully hugged him back, all the guilt feeling washed away. It took a while, but her sobs finally calmed down to just the occasional tear, but still she was locked in her father’s embrace, and it was an embrace he did not want to break. He didn’t know for how much time they stayed like that, but it must have been quite long if Christy’s crying calmed down entirely until she was breathing regularly again, and he too felt calm as before. At long last, he gently pushed her away so he could look into her face.

“I love you Chris,” he just said, “and now I want to hear that solo again,” he added with a smile.

She looked at him rather bewildered. “I love you too, Daddy... but... I... I don’t know the solo...”

Without the slightest hesitation, he nodded and smiled. “Yes you do, Chris.”

It was all she needed to hear. She looked at him nervously at first, and licked her lips: “I...” she began to question him, but she stopped short: soon her confidence was beginning to grow, and she felt strong and resolute like never before. She opened her mouth, and to her own amazement out came the solo, crystal clear:

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll… whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well, with my soul…”

– The End –

(Christy’s solo: words by Horatio G. Spafford, music by Philip P. Bliss)

This story does not necessarily represent the authors’ point of view about anything. It is simply a work of fiction. The characters herein portrayed are invented and do not resemble reality to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This account is entirely fictitious. Any similarities to other persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

This story is written for the sane amusement of adult readers. It does not intend harm and does not promote violence of any kind, including spanking. No offence is meant to any group, ethnicity or individuals.

The authors do not necessarily endorse the non-consensual disciplinary spanking of actual children and/or teenagers.

Copyright © 2004 Haley Brimley, Christy. Contact for information and/or feedback.