At the NJC
Mike's pov
"How did it go with Dr. Curtis, darlin'?" I asked Lisa when she returned from his office. She didn't seem too upset but she certainly didn't look happy either.
"What do you care?" Lisa mumbled, as she tried to brush past me.
Grabbing her by the shoulder before she could get by, I said, "Hey, what was that for? You know I care about you, Lisa. Although, I don't particularly care for your attitude right now."
"Whatever. Just leave me alone." Her words held more sadness than rudeness, which concerned me.
"No, I won't leave you alone." I reached for her arm when she turned to walk away from me. "Come on," I said, leading her to my room. "We obviously need to talk."
Despite the exasperated sigh and eye roll, Lisa followed me quite willingly. Once we reached my room, I told her to take a seat on my bed.
"Now, why don't you tell me what went on in Dr. Curtis's office." Lisa should know I'm not so much asking her for an explanation as I am demanding one.
"Nothing. Ok? It was no big deal. Can I go now?" Lisa sounded quite annoyed.
"No, you may not go and getting arrested is most certainly a big deal, young lady," I said in a tone indicating I'm more annoyed than she is.
"Fine, but haven't I been punished enough? Why do I have to sit here and listen to you pretend like you give a crap, when we both know you don't?"
"Hey! You best check your mouth and your attitude right now because I won't hesitate to belt your sorry behind again. Understand?" I don't know what's going on with this girl but I won't tolerate her disrespect. When Lisa hesitated to respond, I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Yes sir." Lisa wisely decided to heed my warning.
"I most certainly do care. Now tell me what happened when you met Dr. Curtis at the Foundation."
"I just have to go to some business meetings with him for the next two weeks. It's no big deal, like I said." Lisa frowned as she fiddled with her hands in her lap to avoid looking at me.
"He's letting you attend meetings with him?" I asked, speaking more to myself than Lisa. I'm honestly shocked Neil's not only allowing that, but mandating it as well. "You should be honored, Lisa, he doesn't typically let anyone sit in on those meetings. He must really like you."
"Well at least somebody does," she grumbled under her breath.
"Alright, that's it," I said, sitting next to her on my bed so we were face to face. "Why don't you think I like you?"
"Cuz all you want to do is yell at me since I don't act like a baby to get out of my punishments." Lisa failed to mask the frustration and disdain in her tone, making it quite clear how upset she was.
"What the he... heck does that mean?" I stopped myself from escalating the volatility of the situation by moderating my words and volume.
"You guys don't even punish Julie anymore. You let her get away with everything when she acts like a baby." She sounded both sad and angry as she vented.
"First, that's not true and secondly, how we discipline your sister is none of your concern," I said sternly.
Her voice rising in volume, Lisa retorted, "IT IS TRUE! Shane barely even spanked her for the way she acted at dinner the other night. Julie told me that herself. If Carrie, Stacey, or I had acted like that, we wouldn't be able to sit for a week."
I silently fumed processing what Lisa just said about Shane's punishment. Damn him for disobeying me and going directly against my wishes. I momentarily put my anger regarding that situation aside while I put my arm around Lisa and pulled her into a side hug.
"Lisa, Shane and I love you very much. You haven't received any punishments that haven't been justified and I think you know that." I tilted her chin up so she'd look me in the eye, not only hearing the sincerity in my voice but seeing it on my face. Julie's situation is unique, darlin'," I gave her chin a gentle squeeze, "and something you don't need to worry about. Shane and I will handle her. Am I clear?" I kept my tone stern but soft so Lisa would know I'm serious but not angry, well not angry at her anyway.
I felt Lisa's body relax as she accepted my embrace, finally hugging me back.
"Yes sir," she replied, sounding relieved to have finally gotten this off her chest.
After sending Lisa to her room, since she was still grounded, I went to confront Shane. As soon as he opened the door to his room, I laid into him.
"You told me you'd take care of disciplining Julie and like a fool, I trusted you to do just that!" I angrily spewed my accusation at the Admiral.
"Well, hello to you too, Mike." Shane stepped aside and ushered me in, checking the hallway first before closing the door to give us some privacy. "Care to tell me what this is about?" He kept his tone calm and steady which for some reason infuriated me even more.
"I allowed you to discipline my daughter on the condition you'd take her over your knee and give her a proper spanking but now I come to find out you only gave her a few mild swats."
"First off, what happened to she's our daughter? I guess she's your daughter the majority of the time and our daughter only when it's convenient. Secondly, what do you mean you allowed me to discipline her? I wasn't aware I had to ask your permission to act like a parent. Thirdly, I don't know where you're getting your information from because she got twenty spanks and the majority were quite hard."
"Don't put words in my mouth, Admiral. You know very well what I meant. Of course she's our daughter and you don't need my permission to parent any of our girls."
"I'm not putting words in your mouth, doctor, those were your words verbatim."
"Let's not argue semantics, Shane. You know damn well Julie played you and you let her get away with murder. If any one of our other daughters had spoken to us the way Julie did and behaved that impudently, you would have gone a helluva lot harder on them."
"When she's in the mindset of a preschooler, Mike, you can't punish her like an eighteen-year-old. Why do I even have to explain this to you? Aren't you a medical professional, for chrissake?"
"SHE WOULDN'T BE IN THE MINDSET OF A GODDAMN PRESCHOOLER IF YOU HADN'T PHYSICALLY ABUSED HER AT THE PARK WHEN SHE WAS FOURTEEN! So don't try to turn this around on me, Shane. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"I knew you felt I was to blame because of what I did to her at the park. It's about time you finally had the balls to say it."
"None of that matters now. All that matters is the fact that Julie's got you feeling so guilty, you're afraid to punish her."
"That's not true and you know it. I'm trying to be understanding and grant her some leeway like Marlena suggested."
"Why can't you just admit that your overwhelming guilt and shame for what you did to her four years ago is overriding your common sense?"
"You're way off base, mate."
"Am I, Admiral? Because I think you know damn well you went easy on her even though you promised to discipline her appropriately and now here I am left to clean up your mess, once again."
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? When have you ever needed to clean up my mess before?"
"How about when you let Stacey run around with that little douchebag Sean behind my back for several months?"
The look on Shane's face confirmed my suspicions.
"How long have you known about that?" he asked, shocked.
"A LONG FUCKING TIME, SHANE!" I turned my back to him so he couldn't see how much him keeping the secret that Stacey was dating Sean, long before I knew about it, hurt me. "A long fucking time," I repeated sadly.
"Mike, I..." He let his voice trail off, unsure of what to say.
"You betrayed me, Shane," I said, shaking my head. "I think of you like a brother. How could you do that to me? Do you really think that little of me? That I can't be trusted?" As the words left my mouth, I finally realized how badly I hurt Neil when I kept from him the fact that Stacey stole Julie's anti-anxiety medication.
"Mike, no, it wasn't like that." Shane grabbed my shoulder to turn me towards him. "I love you like a brother too and I trust you with my life. You know that. Right? Please tell me you do."
Pulling away from his touch, I said, "I don't know what to think, Shane. I just know I would never do that to you."
"Mike," Shane paused seeing the hurt look on my face. "I'm sorry. I never should've kept Stacey's relationship with Sean from you. I didn't do it to hurt you, I just wanted to give Stacey some time to think about it. Please believe me."
"All I know is that I have to go punish Julie now," I said, as I walked out.
"Mike, please wait," Shane called after me, "MIKE!" but I ignored him and kept going.