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"Whatever I did, I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything."
"Then why are you doing this to me, Bruce?"
Bruce smirked, shaking his head. Barbara may have been annoyed, but she was obviously putting on a show. Complaining to complain.
"Come on, you'll do fine," Bruce encouraged, squeezing her shoulder firmly. He slipped on his cowl and smiled at her. "He really isn't that bad."
"Then let Alfred babysit him," Barbara shrugged, returning the grin. "I have a Criminal Law paper to write and a smooth talking librarian I want to make out with."
"Alfred can't take Jason out on patrol," Bruce reminded her. She followed him as he walked towards the Watchtower warp point. "More importantly, he can't really chase after Jason if he gets bored and tries to run around Gotham unsupervised."
"Oh, but I can?" Barb chuckled. "Thanks. What should I do if I catch him?"
Bruce gave her a wry look. "Spank him."
Barb stuck out her tongue. "Bruce, I don’t wanna," she whined. "Where's Dick?"
"I believe he's helping Gar track down the Doom Patrol. And I have to go. The League needs my help to strategize against Vandal Savage before he unleashes his doomsday weapon," Bruce explained. "I'm not asking for help to be mean to you. I'm asking because you're the only person I can trust to watch my kid."
"Manipulative," Barb huffed cheerfully. "Still feels like you're punishing me."
"If you need it to feel like punishment, I can explain to Superman that I was late because I had to turn Batgirl over my knee," Bruce teased in what was almost a sing-song voice. It was deeply unsettling in his Batman costume.
"No, no, I'm fine!" Barbara blushed. It had been six months since Batgirl had gotten a spanking, and she wanted to keep the streak going. "Get out of here, Batdad."
"You're going to do great," Bruce insisted.
And with that, he was gone in a flash, teleported to the Justice League's satellite. Barbara shivered - while she had gotten used to what she called "James Bond Shit" as part of the Batfamily, she still couldn't quite get used to the Star Trek insanity that came with him being part of the League. It all seemed so far above her paygrade.
Speaking of that, she was going to make sure Bruce bought her a new bike for this. Or at the very least a reservation at Bamonte's so she could make up for ditching her date. She stretched a bit, and took a deep breath.
Maybe this wouldn't be as horrible as she expected. And if it was, she could at least take it out on Two-Face and his goons. Bruce had been sure to give her homework of his own for the couple of nights he expected to be away. It would be nice to get back into the cape and cowl and kick some butt.
***
By around midnight, Barbara realized she had blown things out of proportion. Her limited experience working with Jason had led her to believe that he would be arguing and questioning her at every turn. That's how the new Boy Wonder acted towards Bruce. She wasn't sure what motivated him to act out so much, but she was prepared for a long night of bickering. While she hoped she didn't need to use it, she did remember to store a hairbrush in the Batmobile's glove compartment. Just in case.
She didn't have to use it. When she laid down the ground rules of who was in charge, he listened and didn't argue. This made her suspicious, but once they went on patrol and he continued to obey her without so much as a smart comment, she decided not to worry too much. When he did something well, she made sure to reward him with sincere praise. He seemed eager to impress, and Barbara wondered if the precocious fourteen year old had a crush on her. Robins tended to do that.
"I hope you know I'm much too old for you," she finally teased him while they were driving. The search for Two-Face was proving to be a frustrating ordeal, as he had several bases of operation throughout Gotham and didn't seem to actually be at any of them. It gave them plenty of time alone without having to fight for their lives.
Jason's response was a cocky laugh, and he shook his head. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'm not stupid. I can't even get a date with a high school sophomore."
"Good," Babs answered, reaching over and ruffling his hair. "I was starting to worry. You haven't argued or sassed or disobeyed orders all night."
"Well, you aren't Bruce," Jason shrugged. "He's my Dad, you're my babysitter. Wouldn't be fair to take out my issues with him out on you, now would it?"
Barbara gave him a scrutinizing look. When he started to blush impishly, she arrived at what should have been an obvious conclusion.
"He spanked you before I came over, didn't he?" she asked rhetorically, wanting to see how the subject affected him.
"Oh yeah," Jason laughed. "But good. And he told me that if I didn't behave for you while he was away, I'd get bedtime spankings for a week."
"Bedtime spankings?" Barbara gasped.
"Yeah. It's what happens when you piss off Batdad so much he gives you a second spanking before bed," Jason explained sarcastically. "I may like to rile him up, but even I'm not dumb enough to try and get in that much trouble. So you get Good Boy Jason instead."
Barbara couldn't help laughing. Dick had been so embarrassed when she told him about the punishments she'd overheard Bruce giving him. Even when she became the second inductee into that club, he was pretty shy about the discussion. But Jason seemed to wear Being Punished like a badge of honor.
"You know, if you were a good boy more often, maybe Bruce wouldn't give you so many bedtime spankings," she pointed out.
Jason raised his hands dismissively. "But behaving isn't fun."
"Hmm. I don't know, I don’t recall any of my spankings being very fun either," Barbara mused, trying to gently coax him into behaving. Maybe empathy would work where Bruce's strictness had failed.
"You? Bruce spanked you?" Jason seemed almost offended on her behalf.
"Oh sure, at least a dozen times," she sang, matching his energy. "He's an equal opportunity Batdad. I'm the one who started calling him that, actually. The Commissioner is my Dad, Batman is my Batdad."
Jason looked bewildered, and started drumming the passenger side windowsill. Apparently she'd left him speechless.
"Anyway," she continued. "Whatever the reason, I appreciate you being on your best behavior tonight. I was pretty bummed about having to spend my night with a bratty teenager instead of my new boyfriend. But I think I had more fun doing the 'Batgirl and Robin' team up thing again."
"You're welcome, I guess," Jason granted, trying to sound nonchalant and not quite managing it. "So what happens if I start misbehaving?"
"You're in the Bat Family, Jason Todd," she reminded him. "Daddy might be gone for work, but Mama will spank in his absence."
Jason looked ready to melt into a puddle of red, green and yellow goo. Barbara wondered what made him utterly fail to have a comeback; he'd had no problem talking about being spanked. Maybe it was the way she said "Mama": Babs knew Jason had grown up with parents and that both had died. Perhaps his Mommy issues were of an entirely different breed than his Daddy ones. Regardless, she reached out and pinched his cheek.
"But you aren't going to misbehave, are you?" she prodded. All she got in response was an uneasy laugh. "Jason..."
"Of course not!" Jason balked at her nudging. "All I want to do is find Dent and kick both of his asses, okay? Let's focus on that."
Barbara snorted. At the very least, Jason was amusing to torment. Bruce was always too serious to have any fun, and Dick had always tried to impress her. Compared to those two, Jason was much easier to navigate, and she was enjoying the chance to step into the role of leader. Perhaps the two of them could be the new Dynamic Duo in Gotham.
It took a few more hours, but they found Harvey Dent's hiding place before dawn. He was at Gotham Harbor, leading a heist to steal something that should have tipped them off - the Gotham Museum was about to display solid gold Comedy and Tragedy masks for their Greek Theater exhibit, and such a prize was too much for the criminal fixated on duality. Once he was found, it was a simple matter for the well-polished vigilantes to take him and his goons down. Babs manipulated Dent into a coin toss that compelled him to turn himself in, while Jason had left a trail of bloody noses, chipped teeth and bruised ribs in his wake. Different approaches, but the same results.
"Don't you think you could have gone a little easier on them, Robin?" Barbara scolded as she secured Harvey's restraints.
"Why?" Jason huffed, pulling a handkerchief out to clean the blood from his gloves. "They know the risk they run for running with criminal scum in this town."
Dent laughed madly. "Sometimes I miss the old brat, but you're something else, kid. Maybe one day I'll have you audition to be my bodyguard."
Jason bared his teeth and knocked out Two-Face with a haymaker to the acid-scarred half of his jaw.
"Don't count on it."
Barbara couldn't think of anything to say. It was one thing to hear Bruce talk about how angry and violent Jason could be. Seeing him lash out at an unarmed, restrained man awaiting arrest? Yeah, it reminded her why she didn't want to follow in her father's footsteps.
"Not necessary," she tutted. "Just because we can beat them up doesn't give us the right to do so if there's a different solution."
Jason shrugged. "If the roles were reversed he would have shot you on a coin flip. I don't think we need to consider all the options."
Barbara let the matter drop. She kept an eye on Dent, who started to wake up just in time for her to pass him off to Detective Renee Montoya. Once he was formally arrested, Babs went after Jason, hoping to find a less angry teenager who would be more receptive to her ideas. She found him pacing at the end of a boardwalk, a telltale cloud of smoke following each of his turns.
"Filthy habit," she chided softly, folding her arms. Her father had been trying to quit for three years.
"Hardly a habit," Jason laughed. "Bruce keeps them out of my hands before I can ever form it."
"Well that's a relief. Where did you even get those?"
"Nicked 'em off one of Harvey's goons." He took a long drag before tossing the butt into Gotham Bay. The lack of any adverse effect told Barbara that it was hardly his first experience with cigarettes. "Way easier than stealing from a convenience store."
Barbara waited for him to pop a breath mint into his mouth before closing the distance. She gave him a look of mild sympathy. "I don't think stealing from anyone fits into the Bat Family Values, Robin."
"I didn't say I've been stealing from them recently," Jason countered, full of indignation. "Anyway. You gonna rat me out to Bruce?"
"Depends on if you keep the rest of them," she answered matter of factly. She extended her hand expectantly.
Jason frowned, and turned his head away to look at the rising sun. "I don't have any more."
"Jason," Barbara whispered through gritted teeth. "Don't act like I'm stupid. You can't even have the decency to look me in the face when you lie."
Jason met her eyes, and folded his arms. "I don't have any. I took one cigarette, Batgirl. Back off."
Barbara was not convinced. She'd had enough experience with her father to know when a smoker was lying. In his case, she couldn't do much more than beg and guilt trip. But this boy, who wasn't even fifteen yet and only came to her shoulder? She could do something about him. Having memorized Bruce's technique, she yanked him by the wrist to turn him to one side, and fired off a trio of sharp slaps to his rear.
"Hey, wait a minute! Ow! Oww! Hey!" Jason protested. "Cut it out!"
"There'll be more where those came from if you keep being obstinate," Barbara promised. She held out her hand. "Last chance, Bird Boy."
"Go to hell!" Jason shouted, stomping his foot.
"You first," Barb declared, spurred on by his out of turn comment. If he wanted to lash out at her, she'd give him a good reason. "I'll warm you up for it."
Barbara braced herself for a fight; she was confident in her ability to defend herself. As good as Jason was, he was sloppy when angry, and she was a master of using an opponent's momentum against them. He threw the anticipated punch, and Barb ducked the blow, grabbed him at the wrist and shoulder to extend his arm. With a controlling grip, she spun and pushed him to the edge of the boardwalk. Soon, the only things keeping Jason from going for a swim were the toes of his boots and Barb's firm grip on his arm.
"Hey! Hey! Not cool, not cool," Jason blathered as he tried to rebalance himself.
"Unless you want a nice refreshing drink, you'll cooperate with me," Barbara told him plainly. She did a quick pat down and found the pack of cigarettes in Jason's utility belt. "Aha! So, how many cigarettes did you steal again, Robin?"
"I don't know!" Jason squealed, feeling far less secure now that Barb's grip on him was looser. "Most of a pack?"
"Mmhmm," Barbara acknowledged, stuffing the contraband in her own belt before securing her hold again and pulling him away from the ledge. Once he was no longer in danger of taking a dip, she released him. "That's a much better answer."
She gave him a second to stretch his arm before grabbing him by the ear.
"Ouch! Hey! Lemme go," he demanded as Barb pulled him along.
"We're going to the Batmobile. We're going back to the mansion," she explained without any nonsense in her manner.
"I can walk on my own!" Jason assured her as he struggled to keep pace with her walk.
"When we get home, you are going up to your room and getting ready for bed. Before you sleep, I'm going to give you a serious spanking," she promised.
"Why?"
"I'm sure you'll figure that out on the ride home." She let go of his ear, tired of how slow the actual walk was going on. Holding his hand instead, she started prodding him forward with firm pats on Jason's bottom. "Keep going."
"Batgirl!" Jason protested, somehow remembering that he should not announce her secret identity to the world while complaining loud enough to wake the dead.
***
Jason didn't try to dissuade her too much once they got in the car. It seemed to Barbara that he was more upset about the fact that she was embarrassing him in public than the fact that she had promised to punish him. Perhaps he knew he deserved it, or maybe he was simply afraid that she'd give him worse consequences if he kept pushing her. Whatever the reason for his silence, Barbara was relieved that she didn't have to argue with him on the drive back. She was reminded of the first time Bruce had put her over his knee, and how uncomfortable the drive had been for her. Now that it was Jason in the passenger's seat, she could better understand how exhausting it must be for Bruce to constantly work with bratty teens. Considering how fed up he had to be at all times, the restraint he showed before actually punishing them was downright saintly.
Once they were parked in the escalator that took them from the lowest level of the Batcave to the hub level, Barbara finally broke the silence. "So. Have you done any thinking about why you're in trouble?"
"Is it seriously just because you caught me smoking?" Jason asked.
When he didn't continue, Barbara raised her eyebrows. Had he given any thought towards his behavior at all? What was his barometer for acceptable behavior if that was the only thing he thought he'd done wrong?
"No, Jason," she sighed. "It isn't just because you were smoking. It's because you lied about having them, refused to give them over when I asked for them, and you stole them off someone you probably used excessive force on."
"But Barbara, I-"
"And speaking of excessive violence, you tried to punch me when you weren't getting your way," Barbara finished. "So no. You aren't getting a spanking for smoking. You're getting a spanking for the incredibly negative attitude and behavior surrounding it. I expect better from you, young man."
Jason flushed, and averted his gaze. It seemed that her lecture had finally gotten through to him, based on how dejected he was.
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
"I hope so," she acknowledged. "It's too late to get yourself out of trouble, but I appreciate it."
He grumbled and pouted, sinking into his seat and folding his arms. Even when she opened the passenger side door, he didn't make a move. She seriously considered dragging him out and swatting, but decided on a gentler approach first. Leaning in, she placed a reassuring hand on his right shoulder and pecked his forehead.
"Hey. It's gonna be okay. You're going to go to bed sore, get some shut-eye, and wake up with a better attitude. It's no big deal," she reminded him.
"Are you going to tell Bruce?" he grumbled, clearly not thrilled at the prospect of having his litany of offenses reported to his Dad.
"Hmm. Not as long as you start obeying me," she decided. "Consider this a freebie. I'll see if I can't smack some sense into you before I resort to tattling. Okay?"
"Okay," he echoed, finally raising from his seat and stepping away from the Batmobile.
"Good boy. Now, go to your room, brush your teeth, change into your night clothes, and stand yourself in the corner," she instructed. "I'll be up in about fifteen minutes."
"Barbara," he whined. "Do I have to-"
"Yes, Jason." Whatever it was he was about to argue against, the answer was the same. "Do as you're told unless you want to be in even more trouble."
That was the end of the conversation for now, as Jason bolted up the stairs to the mansion. Barbara breathed a sigh of relief. This part of babysitting was much less fun, but she felt good about her decisions thus far. Apart from the warning smacks and the promised spanking, she'd managed to negotiate good behavior out of Jason without having to resort to violence. She hadn't lost her temper or made any rash choices. Now all she had to do was follow through.
Barbara took a few minutes to change back into normal clothes, and to steel her nerves. She went back to the Batmobile to retrieve the hairbrush she’d stashed in the glove department. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself by hurting her hand in the middle of her task. After a few deep breaths, she started her own march up the several flights of stairs it would take to find Jason’s room.
It was no great surprise to her that Jason was not standing in the corner when she arrived, and was instead laying on his bed throwing Batarangs at the ceiling. At least he’d gotten out of his Robin suit and was now wearing an oversized t-shirt and boxers. Evidently, he did want to be in more trouble. Barbara had come up with the intent of easing him into the procedure, but his blatant show of disrespect coaxed her back into scolding mode. She rushed over to the bed and set her hairbrush on his bedside table. Then she rolled him over, and held him firmly in place with her left hand in his back while her right hand launched its opening salvo upon his rear.
“Hey, hey!”
“Jason Peter Todd, what is the matter with you?” she demanded while unleashing rapid fire slaps. “I specifically told you to have your nose in the corner, and instead you are sticking batarangs into the ceiling? Are you capable of quiet self-reflection, or do you just brood and break things until you feel better?”
“Barbara!” Jason grumbled. He was refusing to acknowledge that she was hurting him, though she could see his hands clutching at his sheets to cope.
“Well I have news for you, young man. I will not tolerate you brooding and lashing out like a four year old having a tantrum. You’re too old for that, and I am not going to sit idly by and watch you grow up to be an angry little manchild.” She punctuated this by spanking at his thighs, where his boxers didn’t adequately cover him up.
“Ouch! Barbara!” he hissed, and reached back with his hands to cover up. Barbara rolled her eyes, grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the small of his back. Then she followed up with slower, harsher smacks to his bottom, punishing him with all of the righteous fury she could muster.
“I mean it, Jason. You’re a good boy, and you’re capable of becoming a good man.” She wanted to make sure he heard this long before the punishment was over, so that he had no delusions that she hated him or thought little of him. The focus needed to be on his behavior, not on him. “But you are angry, and you need to find healthier, more mature ways to cope with it. Unnecessary violence, aimed at either criminals or the people who love you, is neither of those things. It’s childish, and when you act like a child, I’ll treat you like one.”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” he growled. “Barbara, stop it!”
“I don’t really think you do,” she responded simply. She did not relent, and she held his hands in place no matter how much he tried to move them. “I am going to spank you until I’m convinced you’ve taken everything I have to say to heart, young man.”
“Stop calling me that!” he shouted. “You’re not my mom.”
“I may not be, but you clearly need some mothering and I don’t mind stepping in,” she announced without interruption, only swatting after a whine signified that he’d registered what she’d said. “Let me make this very clear to you, young man. Your disrespect is not appreciated. Your disobedience is not amusing, and your disregard for yourself and other people is not acceptable. So I am going to put you over my knee, bare your sorry little bottom, and spank you until you’re red and weeping. And then you are going to have the time out that you thought it was okay to skip.”
“But Barb!” he barked when he was no longer able to contain his complaints.
“But nothing,” she hissed, smacking the inside of each thigh to make it perfectly clear she would not entertain any argument. “After lashing out, stealing cigarettes, smoking them, giving me an attitude, trying to punch me, and putting holes in your ceiling, you deserve every single smack you’re going to get. And if you don’t start listening to Mama, I’ll make sure Dad knows exactly what a naughty boy you’ve been and you can get all those bedtime spankings you’re so worried about.”
This seemed to break something in Jason. While he hadn’t been especially articulate up to this point, his only reaction to this was to squirm and kick his feet while growling. It was a full blown temper tantrum. Barbara was sure he’d be pounding his fists if she wasn’t keeping them securely trapped.
She waited until he was done kicking to address him. He probably needed to get that out of his system.
“Are you ready to start obeying?” she asked firmly.
A few tense moments passed without answer, and Barbara took aim in case she had to smack some more sense into him. But then, she got the answer she wanted.
“Yes Mama.”
Barbara smiled. Instead of landing the smack she’d had waiting, she rewarded him with soft, affectionate pats on the bottom. He whined, but she could also feel his body growing less tense. She released her grip on his arms and started rubbing his back.
“I hope so,” she encouraged. “Now. Stand up,” she instructed, nudging with very firm love taps.
Jason got up from the bed, and stood next to her. Barbara waited to see if he would try to make a run for it, but when he didn’t, she took a seat on the edge of his bed.
“Come here,” she prodded, her voice truly gentle for the first time since she’d entered the room.
Jason whined as he approached, and stopped short of going over her knee. Barbara couldn’t blame him for that; she knew all too well how difficult it was to take that particular plunge. She grabbed his hand and helped him over, situating his frame over her left knee. Anticipating more kicking, she placed her right leg over his dangling limbs, effectively trapping him before she yanked his briefs out of the way.
“No,” Jason lamented. His tone wasn’t argumentative, so Barbara didn’t respond except to secure her grip and resume the spanking. She started with her hand, warming Jason’s cheeks once again and watching the flashes of red that she left behind. He tried to squirm free, but it was impossible with the measures she’d taken.
“Tell me why you’re in trouble, Jason,” Barbara encouraged softly, giving him a glimpse of the tender care she had to offer once they were done. “I want to hear it in your own words.”
“Because I stole cigarettes from a two-bit hoodlum and smoked them,” he said through gritted teeth.
Barbara waited for more, but it didn’t come. She decided to address this issue now and deal with the rest later. “That’s part of it. I’m not a fan of you smoking, though I wouldn’t have spanked you if that was the only thing you’d done. It’s dangerous, and you’re too young to make an informed decision about that. When you’re older, you can make stupid decisions, but until then, I’ll be keeping an eye to make sure you don’t sneak away with any more of them.”
Jason continued to whimper and grasp at his blankets.
“What did you do that was worse? That really got you in trouble?” she demanded.
“I told you to go to hell and tried to punch you when you swatted me,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. It was an overreaction.”
“Overreacting is kind of a speciality of yours, isn’t it?” she pointed out, her lips thinning. She retrieved her brush from his bedside table before continuing. “I don’t know why you have such a short temper. That’s probably something you should go to therapy for, and there’s no shame in that; we all could use a therapist. What I do know is that I won’t allow you to take out your anger on people who don’t deserve it.” With that made clear, she smacked him with the brush, pulling a sharp gasp from his lips.
“Ow! Oww!” Jason yelped, his pride yielding to the sharp sting of the wood.
“That includes me, obviously. And Alfred, and Bruce, and the rest of our family,” she continued, landing a firm spank with every name. “It’s also not okay to take out your aggression by throwing batarangs at the mansion, or by leaving the goon squad with broken bones. Just because we are vigilantes doesn’t give us the right to beat up people for any reason other than self-defense.”
"They’re just criminal punks!” Jason argued.
“You’re a criminal punk!” Barbara fired right back. “Do you want me to beat you up and send you to the hospital?” She figured it was best to make it clear that spanking him did not equate to “beating him up”, since he wouldn’t need a hospital visit. Maybe some ice, at worst.
“That’s not the same!” he huffed.
“We do not mete out justice,” Barbara explained simply, punctuating every word with a hard swat from her brush. Jason’s bottom was starting to splotch red everywhere she struck, and she deliberately sought out flesh that was not reddened to punish. “Most criminals have a good reason for doing crime; it may be the only opportunity they have to take care of themselves and their families. Once they aren’t armed, we are more dangerous than they are. If you take advantage of that, you’re no better than them. Do you understand me, Jason?”
Jason groaned without commitment.
”Young Man, do you understand me?” she asked, spanking the exact same spot four times in a row as she asked this.
“Ouch! Oww! Yes, yes I understand!” Jason hollered. “I’m sorry, okay? Ow, oww!” Jason continued to call out as Barbara matched the pattern on the other side of his bottom. “Stop it, please! Ouch! Mama, please!”
“Not yet, Jason. Tell me how you’re going to behave going forward, and I’ll decide how much more discipline you need,” she instructed, returning to a comparatively nicer rhythm, bouncing from one side to the other.
“Ow! I’ll control my temper, okay? I won’t lash out at you or anyone else!” Jason answered, bursting into tears. “Ouch! Please, I promise. I won’t beat up defenseless crooks or damage property or try to punch you again. Mama, I’m sorry. Really, really sorry!”
Barbara was not completely sure if she believed Jason. She was not foolish enough to think that she had a magic touch that could change his nature. But maybe having someone other than Bruce give him some perspective on his behavior would help him consider it more closely. Maybe some genuine attention and care, with the occasional dose of correction, would steer him down a better path. She had to believe that. But for now, she spanked until he was a sobbing mess that didn’t even have the energy to squirm.
“Alright, sweetie. I think you’re done,” she announced, setting the brush back on the side table. He whimpered, and she started to rub his back. Her free hand found his and held it, and he squeezed back in response. She soothed him, shushing his cries and patting between his shoulder blades until she heard him breathing normally. “I think it’s time for you to go to bed now, Jason.”
“You’re not going to send me to the corner?” he whimpered, sounding quite surprised.
“Hmm,” Barbara considered, rubbing his back with more pressure so that it was more like a massage. “I don’t think you could stand there very long. You’ve had a real tough morning, haven’t you?”
“Yeah,” Jason nodded, and she heard him sniffling.
“You’ll have your time out after breakfast,” Barbara decided, lifting his boxers back where they belonged. “For now, I think you’re due for a tuck in.”
Jason gave a token whimper, but Barb ignored that, setting him on his feet. She stood up and lifted his blanket. “Get on in, Jason.”
“But-”
Barbara gave him a look. “Do you need more smacks, young man?”
“No,” Jason gulped, and he did as he was told, covering his bottom as he slid into bed.
“I didn’t think so,” she mused, and favored him with a smile. She took her time tucking him in, applying pressure to every inch of his blanket so that it hugged him closely. Once the only thing not locked securely in the blanket was his head, she leaned in and left a lipstick stain on his forehead. “Hey. You’re going to be okay, alright? Just get some sleep, and try again tomorrow.”
Jason frowned, and then yawned. Exhaustion had finally caught up to him now that it was almost sun up. “Yes Ma’am.”
Barbara ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead again. “Attaboy. Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight,” he mumbled.
She got up from the bed, walked to the window and closed the curtains, then turned off the light. Once she shut the door behind her, she allowed a yawn to escape and started for the Guest room where she was staying. Privately, she hoped she’d never need to spank Jason again, but imagined that she probably would have to. Mothering him might be the most important job she could have right now.