Extinguished

~5~ Fair

Ellie's POV

I can't say I was surprised at Taylor's impromptu hug fest: I wasn't. That's the kind of man he is. He always does the unexpected, but it's always the right thing to do.

I was still so mad at Liam. I never made the connection that Taylor did; I should have. That little girl was weighing heavy on my heart. I should have come to the same realization that at least he was safe.

With Taylor, he makes me a better person. A better parent.

That hug was a healing moment for me. It was what I needed to have a level head as we walked back to the back offices, to deal with Liam.

Taylor opens the door and holds it open for us as we go in. He quietly shuts it behind him, and closes the blinds.

"Have you lost your mind?" I demand as soon as the door was shut. Well, so much for keeping a level head.

"What were you thinking? The car we bought for you wasn't good enough, so you needed to swipe a minivan?" I ask, folding my arms.

"It wasn't a minivan," Liam says, rolling his eyes.

"Don't get smart," Taylor says sharply. Three simple words, yet it's enough. Liam's body language immediately changes from defensive, to scared.

He sighs and looks at us as we silently wait for an explanation.

"Dax and I were talking about it the other day, as a joke. The rest of the football team overheard, and decided it would be a pretty cool senior prank. So since it was our idea, we were the ones who got nominated to do it."

"Fantastic," I groan as I look at Taylor. "There's a whole entourage of idiots at that school."

Taylor chuckles quietly as he turns back to Liam.

"So, what I'm hearing from you is that you've had this planned for days—This wasn't just a hasty decision that you regretted immediately...Taylor begins. "Well, that just made it worse for you."

Liam slumps his shoulders and looks at Taylor, not even bothering to look at me. Like I said, Liam hates when Taylor is mad at him.

"It wasn't supposed to happen the way it did! We were just supposed to drive around the block, and then park the car on the football field. But we got caught as soon as we got in the car, and had to drive quick to get out of there."

"You're telling me that you started driving erratic in a parking lot? Where people are walking all of the time? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED SOMEONE, LIAM!!!" Taylor is now shouting at this point, making Liam flinch.

There's silence for a moment as we all try to calm down. Taylor is the first one to speak again.

"For starters, unless your mom disagrees with me, I think you've lost your license and your car for a while." He looks at me to see if I agree before he continues.

At my nod, he reaches his hand out, palm up, to Liam and continues... "I want your keys and your license, now. I'm not sure when you'll get it back, but I can guarantee it's going to be a long time from now."

"YOU CAN'T TAKE MY CAR!!!" Liam shrieks. What's with this kid? Does he have a death wish all of a sudden?

Liam has gotten taller these last two years, so he's now eye level with Taylor. Taylor leans in closer and points to his ear, mimicking being hard of hearing.

"What was that?" He questions, giving him another chance before its game over for Liam.

Liam takes the hint and remains silent as he reaches into his pocket to grab his keys. He then takes out his wallet and gives Taylor his license with a sigh.

Taylor hands me the keys and license as he continues. "You're obviously grounded. Your mom and I will talk about the technicalities of that later. However, once we're done in here, I'm putting you with the candidate. Normally they get stuck with all the dirty work during shift. I don't think Gibbs will mind letting you take over today though. I know for sure he had bathroom cleaning and floor mopping detail. I can have him come up with a more thorough list for you, seeing as how you'll be with us all day."

Liam groans but says nothing. It's obvious that Taylor isn't going to let anything else slide.

"Alright, we'll talk about this more tomorrow after shift, your mom and I have work to do."

As he's saying this, he's also taking off his belt at the same time. Liam stares at the belt, knowing what's headed next.

We hardly ever have to spank him. There's been occasions, sure, but I can only count on one hand the number of times that Taylor has done it. Actually, I believe this is only the fourth time in two years.

Taylor's silent as he motions towards the desk. "You know what to do."

Liam goes over and puts his hands down on the desk, placing his head in his hands. He's already bracing himself. He knows how painful the belt is.

Taylor walks over to him and puts his hand on his back, pushing him slightly to get him to bend over a little more. Then Taylor starts in.

The first few, Liam's a trooper. He didn't even make a sound. However, shortly after was an entirely different story. He starts squirming first, then whimpering, then crying. I hate this. I hate hearing him cry.

Taylor brings down crack after crack, making sure that he'll feel this every time he sits down for a day or so. Liam's cries turn to sobs. He never once begs Taylor to stop, though—Not once. He knows he messed up.

Taylor stops once he felt like it was enough. That's another thing about this man—He's fair. He never goes overboard on a punishment. Never. He always makes sure that the punishment fits the crime, but that the punishment is only that. A punishment. Never abuse.

Once he puts his belt back on, he pulls Liam into him and rubs his shoulders, getting him to calm down. He kisses the top of his head gently, and tells him that he loves him.

Liam gains his composure back, and Taylor starts moving him towards the door. "Alright bud, I believe you have some showers to scour. Let's go find Gibbs," He says, clapping him on the back.

We go back into the common room where the majority of the crew is sitting around, hanging out. Everyone's looking at Liam. They know what happened in there.

That is, everybody but Moss. She's looking from Liam, to Preston, to me, wondering what the heck was going on. Once Taylor hands Liam off to Gibbs and goes to grab a plate of lunch, Jessica quickly fills her plate and sits next to him. She was waiting to eat until he got back.

I shake my head and roll my eyes. I'm not gonna let her get to me.