Immediately, my heart and brain went into overdrive, How did Nick find out I was sneaking out? Did Maddie squeal? How the heck did he get into my room? I swear I locked that door, didn't I?

"H-how did you get in here?" I stammered, the force of my heart beating in my chest literally making my voice shake. He looked pissed and tired,definitely NOT a good combination.

"I have a key," he answered.

A key? There is a key?

"The better question is why are you sneaking into the house at 2 am?"

There was no acceptable answer to this question. It was really more rhetorical. No matter what the answer was, I was in a shit ton of trouble regardless. This was definitely one of those times where honesty was NOT the best policy. The only purpose the truth would serve would be to get Matt in trouble as well. In this situation, the best policy was to DENY DENY DENY.

"You know what, dont bother, I know exactly why," he said, sounding even more irritated. "You are not allowed to date him anymore."

"What?! Why not? I wasn't even with Matt!" I argued.

"Oh, is that so?" asked Nick mockingly. It was clear he didn't buy my story.

"Yes, it is! I was at Morgan's, call her, and ask," I challenged knowing he wouldn't dare call her house at this hour.

My challenge only seemed to fuel his frustration. "You are grounded, Cecelia! You aren't supposed to be spending time with your friends let alone sneaking out of this house in the middle of the night to see them," he said his voice no longer quiet or calm as he stood from my desk chair grabbing his belt already laying on my bed waiting.

Shit shit shit.

"Nick, I..."

"We are done discussing this tonight," he said, cutting me off as he set the chair from my desk in front of him.

I sighed, giving Nick my best pleading look as a last attempt to change my fate. I was not successful.

"Now Cecelia," he barked. My breath hitched at his tone. He was definitely in no mood for my stalling.

Accepting my fate, I walked over and assumed the position bending over and gripping the seat of the chair in my hands. Nick wasted no time or words for that matter, as the first lick of the belt cracked down across my ass making me jump. I hadn't been quite ready for that one, Nick usually gave some sort of verbal cue, letting me know he was about to start. Tonight, I was not given that luxury. I had no time to get over the shock of the first lick before the second, third, and fourth lick landed in a constant stream of fiery stripes across my ass. I have NEVER been brought to tears so quickly by Nick before. The reluctance he usually showed when having to give me the belt was not present. The licks he was delivering were STRONG and with purpose. It was clear he wanted to make damn sure I was sorry for disobeying him.

-Nick's POV-

When I woke up around 12:30, sweating and thirsty, I knew my blood sugar was high...unfortunately, that was the least of my worries. I had stumbled my way to the kitchen for a bottle of water before heading upstairs. I knew CeCe would still be awake. She always has been a little night owl and my late night highs buddy. When I found the door locked my heart sunk...there are only two reasons for her to lock her door, and seeing as how I didn't hear any sound coming from the room I knew that she was gone. I can't believe she snuck out. Well, I mean, I CAN believe it. This used to be the room Joe and I shared in our teen years, that tree outside the window had been used to sneak out many a time...it was inevitable that she would sneak out at some point; I was just hoping it would be Joe to bust her doing it not me. To make matters worse, I had already grounded her. She deliberately disobeyed me. I hated giving my sister the belt and not because I didn't find it to be an effective form of punishment. It is how we were all raised, I just hated administering it. Of course my hesitation about her punishment and my high blood sugar had dwindled as I sat in her room for almost two hours in a full blown panic waiting for her to get home, and then she didn't even seem to feel sorry about disobeying me or breaking the rules. I am fairly certain she is lying to me about where she has been. I wasn't holding back this time. She deserved this punishment for sure. For the most part, Cecelia stays pretty silent when getting the belt. It's a pride thing, and she would much rather bite through her own lip than to admit defeat. This time was different. She was not as successful at hiding the fact that she was crying as I rained the belt down. When I landed the tenth stripe of her punishment across the tops of her thighs, she let out a hiss as she drew a breath through her clenched teeth and started to sob. Thighs.hurt. My heart shattered, and suddenly, tears flooded my own eyes. My only solution was to just get it over with as quickly as possible. The last six licks of the belt I landed swiftly and soundly to the underside of her butt, those would be the ones she felt for a while...every time she went to sit, she would be reminded. I tossed the belt onto the floor and pulled her into a hug.

-CeCe's POV-

Tears were streaming down my face even before Nick landed the last licks on the sensitive underside of my ass, but those sealed the deal. I had definitely just gotten the worst spanking I had ever received, and it was from Nick. I would have expected it from Joe, the one I had until now considered to be the worst but not my youngest brother, he avoided using the belt at all cost, he must hate me right now. I half expected him to storm out after he was done. Instead, he dropped the belt and pulled me into a hug. I buried my face into his shoulder and cried, partly because of the punishment and partly from the relief of knowing he didn't hate me.

"Im s-sorry." I managed to stutter out between sobs. He took a deep, ragged breath and sighed before kissing the top of my head.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow. Get some sleep, ok?" he said, his forehead pressed to the top of my head. I nodded, and he kissed my head again, "Love you."

"Love you too."

I could see the tears in Nick's eyes, and it made me want to cry that much more. He gave me a squeeze before grabbing the belt off the floor and walking to my door. "I'll see you in the morning," he said, opening the door.

I nodded, wiping my face with the back of my hand as I attempted to swallow the knot that had formed in my throat.

"Goodnight, baby girl." he said, his voice sad as he pulled the door closed.

"Night," I mumbled, picking up my desk chair and placing it back at my desk.

The second the door shut, my tears started flowing again. I was mad, at myself more than anything, mad that I had been so stupid and snuck out, mad that I got caught, mad that I had upset Nick, and then of course there was the throbbing burning pain radiating across my ass and thighs...that also didn't help.

I tried for hours to get some sleep to no avail. I could not seem to ignore the burning of my ass long enough to drift off, and when the pain finally subsided, I still couldn't get Nicks look of disappointment out of my head. When 7 am rolled around and I still had not fallen asleep, I decided to just get up for the day. At this point, it was too late to go to sleep. Throwing one leg over the side of the bed, I lazily stood and shuffled to the kitchen so deliriously tired at this point that I practically walked with my eyes closed. Joe was sitting at the counter reading the paper and cocked a brow as I shuffled in.

"Morning sunshine," he said, surprised. "What are you doing up so early?" he asked as Nick walked into the kitchen looking ragged. It made me feel even worse.

"Couldn't sleep," I mumbled.

"How late did you stay up last night?" he asked.

"She was up really late," Nick interjected. Ugh, I was not looking forward to Joe learning about my little late night outing. One brother being disappointed was bad enough. I dropped my head. "I was flying pretty high last night, and she kept me company," he added. My head shot up when I realized I was not about to be ratted out to Joe, however my momentary joy was soon blanketed by a more powerful guilt...Nicky was high last night, that's why he was awake, that's how he noticed I was gone, he had come to wait it out with me and I wasn't there. And the worst sister in the world award goes to me. I looked at Nick, my eyes both thankful and apologetic; he smiled weakly and nodded, signaling he understood.

"I never went to sleep," I said, rubbing my eyes, willing them to open fully...I was not successful.

Nick poured a bowl of cereal and set it on the counter top next to Joe. "Eat," he instructed, pointing to the bowl before placing the milk back inside the fridge. I've never been a breakfast eater, to be honest I have personal issues with it being deemed the "most important meal of the day" in my opinion morning meals and anything to do with daytime before the hour of 10 am should be outlawed.

I crinkled my nose in distaste. "It's ok, I'm good," I said, turning it down. I was not in the mood to produce the energy to blink, let alone eat.

"Sit!" Both Joe and Nick ordered in unison. This was almost a daily routine by now. They would try to get me to eat breakfast, I would politely decline, and the request would be escalated to an order that, depending on my level of resistance, would also include threats of grounding. This was a battle I never won, I blame diabetes. Since big D entered the picture, Nick's life (literally) has revolved around monitoring food; unfortunately for me he also tended to monitor mine as well and has grown increasingly concerned with me skipping meals and my odd eating habits. I decided not to argue and sat down, immediately wincing as the hard seat made contact with my recently punished backside.

"Why didn't you go to sleep?" Joe asked, not noticing my discomfort in sitting as he continued to read the paper.

I shrugged and spooned a bite of cereal into my mouth. "I dunno," I said, my mouth full of cereal, "just couldn't fall asleep." Joe nodded, only half paying attention. I quickly shoved a few more bites of cereal into my mouth and stood from the stool."Im gunna go take a shower," I said, taking my bowl to the sink and quickly making my exit. Nick walked out of the kitchen and called out for me as I was hitting the stairs, I turned to face him.

"You and I are going to have a talk after church," he said, his voice low, obviously so Joe wouldn't hear.

When we walked into church, I immediately made a b-line for Morgan, who stood in her usual spot, greeting the congregation as they arrived next to her father, our pastor. I immediately threw my arms around her shoulders pulling her into a hug "I was with you till two" I whispered simply in her ear and pulled out of my hug just as Joe and Nick walked up behind me. I shook her father's hand and quickly made my way to the sanctuary, praying to God she heard what I had said. There was no doubt in my mind that Nick would be checking on my story about being with Morgan last night. Without her confirmation, my lie would be exposed.

Dear God,

Please don't let him find out I lied. Amen

Sure, maybe it was morally wrong to pray that someone else would lie to back up my lie, but at this point, I was desperate.

Chapter End Notes:

*singsong voice* REVIEW!!!! Or I will spank you!