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Kaitlyn’s practically jumped on by Cleo the moment she walks in the door after a long workday. She doesn’t mind though, accepting the hug from hers and Jack’s Little without complaint, chuckling as the younger girl attempts to burrow deeper into her.
It’s then that she realizes that Cleo’s sniffing and squirming more than she usually would, burying her face into Kaitlyn’s shoulder.
Kaitlyn puts down her keys into the glass dish near the door and uses the freed hand to run her fingers through Cleo’s dark curls, starting to backwards walk them both to the living room. She can hear the TV on — still playing an episode of Rocko’s Modern Life — and she knows Jack is probably in there on the couch waiting for them to join him.
“Leo, sugar, what’s got you all wound up?” Kaitlyn asks gently, finally coming to a stop at the entry way to the living room, where her suspicions were confirmed as she sees Jack practically oozed out across most of the silver couch, looking too comfortable in his Britney Spears hoodie and donning one of the crowns from Cleo’s Pretty Pretty Princess board game.
“Dada got me!” Cleo half whines, voice muffled by Kaitlyn’s leather jacket, but not so much so that she wasn’t heard.
It’s then that Jack looks up from his phone and finally makes eye contact with Kaitlyn, who arches a finely lined eyebrow at him. He just pockets his phone and shakes his head with a small smile. Ok, so it wasn’t too serious, then. But still a small something all the same.
“Well, honey, did you do something to deserve it?” Kaitlyn asks, because she wants to hear their baby’s side of the story before she just asks Jack what happened to put Cleo in her current pouty mood.
Cleo whines softly and clutches at her tighter. “Dada was a big ‘ol meanie!”
Her response makes Jack involuntarily snort, which then makes him bite his lower lip and blush.
“Daddy wouldn’t just be mean to you for fun, Leo,” Kaitlyn says gently as she shucks off her shoes as best she can while still being in a koala hold “You didn’t happen to earn a spanking from him today, did you?”
Cleo pulls back from her hug and screws up her face adorably, at least in Kaitlyn’s opinion.
“My dolls don’t like being in the toy box! It’s dark and scary in there, Mama!” Cleo insists strongly, fully pulling back now, her hands flapping a bit in exasperation at her sides.
“Oh, I see,” Kaitlyn hums, taking her new freedom to pull off her jacket and toss it on the bench in the entryway to hang up later, then moving to follow Cleo as she shuffled further into the room, over to where her timeout corner was “So you had a little hissy fit for Daddy, sugar? We talked about your attitude just last weekend.”
It was true; Cleo had trouble regulating her emotions when she was in her headspace, and it led to her losing her temper or talking back to her Mama and Daddy more than she intended to. They were working with her on ways to calm down before she blew up, but it was still a work in progress.
“They’re MY toys, Mama! Sides, they weren’t in the way, anyways.” Cleo says, crossing and uncrossing her arms as she looked past Kaitlyn’s shoulder and into the middle distance in lieu of looking away.
“Ok, Leo, let’s not get back into the weeds about it now. Daddy gave you your spanking and I’m sure you already put your dolls away like you were supposed to. Did you apologize to Daddy for your lip?” Kaitlyn asks.
Cleo whines deep in her throat, and full body squirms as she looks up at the ceiling. Kaitlyn and Jack know it’s a step away from the Little running to hide completely, she’s overwhelmed and embarrassed enough. Though she hasn’t tried to safeword.
“I think you should do that while I’m upstairs, baby. I’m gonna go get in my comfy clothes and if you’re all sorted out by the time I come back down we can order some pizza for dinner,” Kaitlyn says, reaching out and brushing her pointer and middle fingers down Cleo’s exposed lower arm, not wanting to touch her too much and push her into a meltdown.
“But, Mama, Dada spanked me!” Cleo cries out sharply, jumping just once in place as her eyes dart from Kaitlyn to Jack and back to the ceiling.
Kaitlyn looks over at Jack again, who’s keeping an eye on the situation and allowing her to take the lead, which she will forever appreciate from him. He doesn’t seem any more concerned than before, so she assumes that he’d been waiting for her to come home to give Cleo the push to apologize.
Sometimes even a spanking couldn’t get Cleo to apologize right away, and they understood that it was because that wasn’t what the young woman wanted from the discipline anyways. She would always apologize eventually, she just needed a verbal push rather than a physical one. The spankings and timeouts were more of a reminder that she would be held accountable for her actions in the end.
“I know he did, baby, but I half think you want another reminder of how we act treat each other around here, hmm?” Kaitlyn replies softly, moving closer and giving the Little’s bottom a couple of gentle swats, noting how she hopped a little in place and how the area radiated heat even through the sweatpants and pull-up she was wearing.
Obviously Jack had warmed her up pretty decently not too long before she’d come home. She’d interrogate him about what exactly went down later in the evening.
Cleo shakes her head frantically and reaches out for Kaitlyn, wanting a hug even though she’d been smacked again.
Kaitlyn doesn’t deny her the request, and gathers her in her arms again for a big squeeze. After a moment she pulls away and slowly turns Cleo around to face Jack, who’s now sitting up on the couch, position and expression open and loving of both his girls. Kaitlyn can’t help the little smile that passes her face before she schools her serious face back for Cleo.
“Alright, well you’re going to go over there and apologize to your Daddy. For acting out and speaking to him and about him unkindly. Daddy’s never going to be mean to you for the heck of it, and neither would I,” Kaitlyn says firmly, hands squeezing Cleo’s shoulders reassuringly “We love you so much, sugar. To the moon and stars all the way back here. But that doesn’t mean we won’t warm your naughty bottom right up when you need it. It’s certainly not nice to be mean to Daddy after he’s already, yeah?”
Cleo shakes her head again, making small self soothing whines in her throat as she slowly steps over to Jack, who wraps his arms around her middle and pulls her into a tight hug.
Kaitlyn only looks on for a few more seconds before she exits the room, knowing that Jack has their girl well handled while she goes and sheds the final dredges of her workday away.
It doesn’t take her too long to change from her work clothes to her favorite Carolina blue UNC soccer hoodie and comfiest black sweatpants, and get a few cuddles from their golden retriever Chaplin before coming back downstairs.
She hadn’t heard anymore extended crying that would’ve accompanied a second spanking from Jack, so she’s not surprised to find Cleo practically curled up in Jack’s lap, face tucked away between his neck and collarbone as her hands fiddle with a fidget cube he had to have whisked out of thin air for her.
As Kaitlyn comes closer to the couch, Jack hangs his head over the arm with his lips slightly puckered out. She closes the distance and meets his lips for a deep but quick kiss. God, she’d missed her loves while she’d been at work that day.
“Welcome home, babe. I already ordered pizza before you came home, you can chill here with us until it comes.” Jack says with a grin after they part from their kiss.
“You’re the best, Jack. I love you so much.” Kaitlyn says with a huge smile as she ruffles his bleached hair and bounces away from his swatting hands to settle next to him on the couch.
“Love you too, Kait.”
Kaitlyn sighs contentedly and leans against Jack, a hand moving the rub Cleo’s back as another episode of Rocko’s Modern Life started on the TV. She wouldn’t have this any other way.
.end.