Midnight Flock

Chapter 4: Punishment and Reward

"But, they care and they're worried. They should be. I wouldn't be surprised if they've snuck onto the cameras to see you and check in on you since we've cut off every other line of communication. Thankfully, I never agreed to install the microphones in the various rooms or I don't doubt they'd have those on too." Owen, Sean and I all looking up to the vent in the ceiling near my bed, the camera light was on for about five seconds before it blinked off. Busted. I couldn't quite hide the smile on my face at the knowledge that they did care and were worried.

"Ok. They feel bad. But do they feel bad about doing it, or for getting caught and hurting my feelings?"

"Ohhh Pookie, you know they feel bad about doing it. At the time, they thought they were doing something good, at least they had convinced themselves of that. Obviously that's not necessarily the case since they didn't tell Owen and I about it and they hid it from you. They were well aware we would object to this so they knew on some level what they were doing was wrong, it's why they did it."

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Sean. No matter what they intended with their actions, it was the wrong course to pursue."

"Grounding. Hours. Team building and trust exercises. Time. It's going to take time too." I added.

"This could be bad for the team as well, if the Academy were to found out. They could punish the team or even disband it for these actions. We need to tread carefully if you don't want to see that happen." I nodded at Owen's statement. I don't want to see my family broken apart because of this. It's why I'm struggling so much with it. If I didn't care, I would just walk away. But, I do care, so I can't walk away. I let out a heavy sigh.

"Let's start with docking everyone's favors. They can each give up one favor to you. That'll give you seven favors in the family. Next, grounding will commence immediately. No social activities, especially those involving you, Sang. Unless you specifically agree to an activity at which Sean and/or I will be present at as well. No individual dates, no sleep overs. Family dinners are acceptable and at least two other family members are present at any time with you. We won't forbid them from seeing you, that seems harsh, but not on an individual basis. They choose to betray the family as a group. They get two hours every morning, and we'll organize a conditioning activity which will make them regret ever pissing us off, which will be mandatory involvement every other day for the two week period. After that two week period is over, we will start trust exercises with the family all together. We will not consider accepting any family missions until after three weeks and that will only be based on the progress we made during the trust building." Owen looked at me for approval of the plan thus far.

I thought about the implications. No dates with my guys, no sleep overs, which was code for sex with the guys. No alone time with them. I sighed at the thought of losing out on that intimacy I shared with them, but did I really want to be intimate with someone if I couldn't trust them? No. But, I didn't think it was fair to punish them all equally when some were far less involved than others. Gabe didn't do anything but keep his mouth shut. Nathan distracted me, but it was a standing training session we had since I joined the Academy. Thanks to him, I was stronger, faster, more agile and could kick some serious butt. It's possible Nathan didn't even know about it until after our session had ended. Or perhaps he was just informed that Luke would be borrowing my phone for some reason and wasn't given details until later. I needed to get some details from him about his involvement. If he really hadn't known about the plan until after his role was done, I wouldn't hold any more of a grudge against him than I did Gabe for simply not telling me. Loyalty can make someone do strange things. But, I would definitely need more details about everyone's involvement.

How do you choose between your brothers you've known for years and a girl you've known significantly less. I shook my head. I needed to stop thinking like that. That was my step-mother creeping into my head again. They shouldn't have to choose between someone they love and their brothers. I agreed to join the Academy and to be with all of them so they wouldn't have to choose. They all said they loved me. They showed me in millions of little ways. I didn't doubt they loved me, but I couldn't trust them. The tears I'd been fighting all day threatened now as I thought about this whole predicament. I was really mad at them for causing this and making us go through this. A tissue appeared in front of me. Sean held it out with sympathetic eyes. I couldn't hold back anymore, the tears fell freely now.