Just Say Yo

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them.

Authors Note: This is my first fan fiction story, comments welcome but be constructive if possible please.

"I'm sorry Uncle Phil, I really am" said Will in a hitched voice.

"I know you are Will, please go to your room and I'll be up shortly to 'discuss this further'"

Will slowly trudged up to his room, trying to control the tears. He entered the room and threw himself on the bed and found that his tears didn't ease they got worse. He was overcome with the guilt he was feeling. 'They must hate me now I don't know how they can't'' he thought to himself, 'Uncle Phil will never forgive me, he will send me back to 'philly now.' Crying completely uncontrollably now Will never heard Uncle Phil's gentle knock on his bedroom door.

"Will, can I come in? Are you OK?. Not hearing any reply but the sound of racking sobs, Uncle Phil put his hand on the door handle and slowly opened the door. When he saw Will lying on side on his bed with his back to the door, he could see Will's whole body shaking with his sobbing, he rushed over to him. "Will what's wrong, why are you so upset?

Will was unable to answer his uncle, as although he could hear him, it sounded like the sound was coming through water as his head felt so heady with all of the crying. He felt a presence and large gentle hand on his arm though and he turned to see who had touched him when he saw it was Uncle Phil.

"Will, please sit up", Uncle Phil said whilst gently rubbing Will's upper arm. Will, now he was facing towards his uncle, heard the words a bit better although it was still sounding fuzzy. As soon as Will was sitting on the edge of his bed. Uncle Phil sat down next to him and pulled Will gently towards him, enveloping him in his huge arms, comforting Will just like he would have when one of his children were little. Will, initially tried to resist but, Uncle Phil held firm and said "Will it's OK, it's OK, you are safe now."

Will's normal bravado did not surface, he slumped into the loving embrace and started sobbing all over again. In between hitching breaths "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I never meant for Carlton to end up in hospital", he tried to continue but his sobbing got worse. Uncle Phil just held firm and rubbed Will's back up and down gently whilst whispering soothing words. He was struggling to contain his own tears but he knew he could not let himself go as Will needed him to be strong at this moment in time.

Uncle Phil held Will for about 10 minutes, constantly rocking gently forwards and backwards whilst whispering "it's OK Will cry as much as you want I'm here and I will always be here for you".

As the time passed Will's fuzzy head was clearing and although he was getting a headache caused from all of the crying, his uncle's words were penetrating the "brain fog". He looked up at his uncle suddenly embarrassed to be being rocked like a baby and he said "Uncle Phil "sob" I feel better now "sob", can you please let me go?" Phil stopped rocking and looked at Will, seeing that his crying had slowed he slowly relaxed his arms. "Will, are you sure that you are going to be OK?"

Looking slightly embarrassed, Will slowly nodded his head not wanting to look into his uncles eyes. Uncle Phil gently released Will from his embrace but he held onto Will's right arm although not tightly.

"Will, look at me please". "I can't Uncle Phil". Philip looked at his nephew again and decided to be a little firmer "William, please look at me son"

At the change of tone, Will looked at his uncle, expecting to see anger in his eyes, but was surprised to see that his uncles eyes looked slightly puffy, like he was holding back tears. When Will looked at him Uncle Phil said "Will, nothing you can do will ever stop me from loving you son. Although by the rules of life you are my nephew, I think of you like the extra son I never had." Phil took a deep breath before continuing "I know you never meant to hurt your cousin. Carlton is OK and and you are OK. Hopefully you have both learnt a very harsh lesson not to get involved with taking drugs for any reason. I love you very much, that means that sometimes I will need to be, in your eyes the 'bad guy' the person who holds you accountable for your behaviour but, know this young man, it is always done with love."

Will nodded his head barely sobbing now, but feeling very strange, uncle Phil had never said anything quite like this to him and he didn't quite know how to respond. He felt a lump in his throat that he wasn't able to determine whether it was because Uncle Phil said he loved him like a son or, because he was still worried about his uncle's choice of punishment. Grounding him and taking away his allowance didn't seem to be an enough this time. At least, after his uncles words it didn't seem that he was going to send Will home to 'philly. Will decided in his mind that he was prepared to take any punishment his uncle determined, so that he could get past this and rebuild the trust and relationship with his Uncle, aunt and cousins. He knew his mom would be embarrassed and mad and him too.

Uncle Phil, seeing that Will had calmed down a lot, decided that it was time to deal with Will's punishment. Although he certainly wasn't looking forward to it, he knew that Will needed to be punished to reinforce the lesson on not getting involved with drugs and he also knew that it would help Will release the guilt he felt.

"Will" he said firmly standing up and pacing as he felt he needed to give Will the 'whole firm strict judge treatment'. "It's time to talk about your punishment, but before we do I want you to tell me exactly what happened, who gave you the drugs, how they came to be in your locker and how Carlton ended up taking them".

Will feeling very guilty again, looked down at the floor and mumbled "Uncle Phil I don't want to be a snitch"

"Young man I don't care what you want or don't want to be, it is not snitching. You are very lucky that this situation did not end up being much worse. Carlton could have died, you could have ended up in jail and that is just not acceptable, your friend does not deserve your loyalty. However, if it makes you feel better about talking, just this one time, I'll make you a promise that I will not take what you tell me up with either the Police or the School. I will talk to the young man's parents though."

Will feeling very chastised nodded his head "yes sir, I understand." and he began his story. "I was feeling the pressure you know, what with studying for the exams at school, Spending time with Cindy, working etc. and it was making me tired and I was yawning a lot. "This guy Freddie is a class mate and he really is a good guy." chancing a look at at his uncle to try communicate that he did really feel that Freddie was a good guy. Uncle Phil frowned at Will but let him continue. "Well anyway " Will continued. "Freddie saw me yawning and offered me the pills, he did tell me what they were but said that he thought of them as like 'caffeine shots'. I told him that I didn't know that they were a good idea and he told me that he used them and that it was OK like you know, whatever gets the job done. I took them but they were only going to be a last resort I promise. Anyway someone called me and I just put them in my locker before I went on to class. When I saw Carlton behaving so strangely at the prom I realised that I recognised the signs we had learnt about drug usage and when Carlton had said that he took some vitamins from my locker and he felt great I knew that I need to act fast." Will stopped talking, remembering with horror, Carlton collapsing and the paramedics turning up and taking Carlton to the emergency room.

"Uncle Phil, I really am sorry, I should never have taken the drugs from Freddie and I promise I will never be involved with drugs again. I love Carlton like a brother and I know it seems that we are chalk and cheese most of the time but I only tease him verbally I'd never want to hurt him. Please will, you forgive me?" There were no tears this time, but Will said all of this whilst looking at the floor as he could not look at his uncle.

Sighing Uncle Phil looked down at Will. "Thank you for telling me the truth Will, I will be having a discussion with Carlton about taking pills that he clearly didn't check what they were. I know he thought that they were vitamins but he didn't check what he was taking and he should know better than to take something that he isn't sure of. I will also be talking to Freddie parents reminding them that I am, just this one time prepared to not take thing further with the school or the police but, I do expect them to ensure that their son knows that this is a one time deal and if anything like this happens again I will ensure that he gets prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

"Uncle Phil" said Will interrupting, "your not gonna punish Carlton are you it was my mistake please don't punish him for it".

"Will, Carlton is approaching adulthood just like yourself and he will soon be going of to college and will not have me or his mother to guide him all of the time. He will be put in situations just like you were, where someone may offer him 'something to help him study' and he will need to be strong enough to make the right choices for himself and so will you and I suggest that you forget about how I help him make those choices and concentrate on yourself."

"Yes sir, I'm sorry".

Deciding that it was time uncle phil said "Will stand up, turn round, drop your shorts and boxers and bend over and put your hands on the bed. Will's eyes bulged and he gulped as Uncle phil was removing his thick leather belt as he was speaking. Will slowly stood up, he fought the urged to bolt out the door or tell his uncle he had no right to do this but he suddenly got a picture in his head of Carlton dead in the emergency room and he knew that he deserved this. Will turned his back on his uncle and fumbled with the button and zip on his shorts, he then lowered his boxers starting to sob quietly already but he put both his hands firmly on the bed.

Uncle phil heard Will's sobs and his eyes started to moisten over, he wiped this eyes and tried to harden his heart. He knew that Will need this and he visualised Carlton's lifeless body in the morgue and Will behind bars in jail. He took a deep breath and stepped forwards and stood on Will's left hand side. He doubled over the leather belt ensuring that the buckle was safely in his large right hand. He rested his left hand gently on Will's back both to provide Will some reassurance and to hold him firmly in place. "Will, this will hurt but when it is over you will be fully forgiven, I want you to focus on letting all of your guilt go do you understand me?" Will nodded his head, "I need a verbal answer Will" "'sob' yes 'sob' sir, I understand."

Without further ado Uncle Phil began, SWAT - "arrgggghhh" - Will was determined that he was going to try and be stoic and an adult about his punishment but, the intensity of the first lash surprised him. Biting his lip he waited for the next one. SWAT, "arrrrggghhh" shit thought Will, that stings 'how the hell am I going to cope with this?' Uncle phil then struck again, this time Will as well as the arrrrggghhhh Will started crying out "I'm sorry Uncle Phil, please stop I can't take any-more, please, please stop I promise I will never let you down again."

Philip was not immune to the young man's pleas but he knew that he could stop just yet, he had intended to give 12 lashes as a suitable punishment but, he didn't think that he would reach that number now. However he knew that he needed to push Will over his pain threshold to get him to really give in and to release the guilt. He deicide that he would give carry on but speed up the pace, he could see the welts he had already made on Will's backside and he didn't want to split the skin he tried very hard to ensure that each swat was slight lower than the last one as he didn't want them to overlap. Phil thought to himself OK just 3 more but I'll make them faster and perhaps that will be enough. SWAT, SWAT, SWAT. Will yelped loudly as each lash landed, he could not believe the fire his uncle was lighting in his backside and as the 6th lash landed he realised he really couldn't take any-more. He had never been in so much pain and it overwhelmed him so much so that he couldn't concentrate on anything else.

Uncle Phil paused for a second and then felt Will give in, before Will collapsed to his knees, Philip took his hand off of Will's back and he put both his hands around Will's waist. Philip gently helped Will stand up and he turned him around to face him. Helping Will to adjust his clothes. Will allowed his uncle to help him but feeling the pain increasing exponentially as his boxers touched the raw skin, decided that he couldn't cope with pulling his shorts up too so he kicked them off. "It's OK Will it's all over" uncle phil said and pulled Will into his arms. Unlike earlier Will readily accepted the offer of hug. Will was crying uncontrollably now, his backside smarting fiercely but he still felt able to feel his uncle's love .

Will relaxed into his uncles embrace. Uncle Phil held Will up whispering soothing words again in to his ear until he heard Will's sobs change tone, then he gently pulled back until he could see Will's face.

He said in a hoarse voice as he has also been crying whilst he held his nephew, although of course his tears had been silently released. "Will, you are forgiven, I love you and so do the rest of the family, you have a clean slate now and we all move on. I do not want to ever have this conversation again do you hear me. You are grounded to the house for two weeks and your allowance is cut until then too. As the holidays are now here you are only allowed out of the house with your aunt or myself. Your aunt and your cousins will forgive you, try and spend some of this time with them and I'm sure that you will see that. Now why don't you take all the time you need to settle down and come down for dinner when you are ready. I'll get Geoffrey to save you something." With that he kissed Will softly on the top of his head and giving Will a quick squeeze on the top of his arms he released him and walked out of the door.

The sudden loss of comfort left Will feeling lost initially but, when Will thought about his uncle's words he smiled wryly. Reaching back to try and rub some of the sting out of his backside he decided that it was far to early to touch it. He turned back to the bed and slowly lowered himself down onto it so that he was laying face down.

Although Will's backside was extremely sore he found himself feeling very tired, the emotions of the day seeming to tire him out. He lay there trying to stay as still as possible to reduce the pain in his butt and after approximately 15 minutes he was asleep.

After dealing with Will, Philip had decided that he needed a coffee and he needed to speak to Vivian before he dealt with Carlton. Going downstairs he walked into the kitchen. Geoffrey watched Philip walk into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table looking completely drained. Geoffrey poured Philip a coffee and took it over the table. "Your coffee Sir". Philip looked up surprised as he hadn't said a word yet "Thank you Geoffrey but how did you know?". "I've work for you for many years sir and I think I can tell when you need a coffee, if you forgive me sir I'd like to say that I think you are dealing with the situation with Masters William and Carlton just fine sir, I know it's hard but you are doing the right thing." Surprised that Geoffrey felt the need to offer a comment Philip looked at Geoffrey and smiled half-hearty and said "Thank you Geoffrey I truly hope so, do you know where my wife is?" Geoffrey nodded "yes sir she took the children out for a trip to the local doughnut store to save them hearing how you were dealing with Master William. She said that she would be back in an hour." With that Geoffrey stepped away from Philip and returned to his housework duties in the main family room.

Shortly afterwards Philip heard the car pull into the drive, Geoffrey also heard the car and he went to open the front door. Seeing Geoffrey at the door Viv asked him if Philip was downstairs. Geoffrey replied "yes madam the Master is in the kitchen and was looking for you. Vivian said "thanks you Geoffrey" as she walked in the door the others following her. Geoffrey closed the door and returned to the kitchen, seeing that Vivian was standing comforting master he coughed gently, "Is there anything I can get you Sir, Madam?" "no thank you Geoffrey but could you ask Carlton to come in here please?". Certainly sir" replied Geoffrey.

Geoffrey proceeded to the family room where all 3 of the banks children were sitting quietly. "Master Carlton your father would like you to go and see him in the kitchen please". Looking at the 2 girls he said "may I suggest young ladies that you make yourself scarce, Miss Hillary might I suggest that you take you sister out to the summer house." Hillary looked up at Geoffrey and for once in her life nodded and started to leave the room with her sister. Before she went out the door though she stopped and asked softly "Geoffrey did daddy kill Will?" "No Miss Hillary, you father did not kill Master William, I'm sure that he is not feeling too happy at the present but Master William will be just fine. Now you will be able to see for yourself soon enough but, at the moment Master William needs time to work though his feelings. Now please do as I suggested." Both girls silently left the room and preceded to the summer house.

Meanwhile in the kitchen...Philip and Vivian had spoken about how to deal with Carlton. Vivian was in complete agreement with Philip that he needed to speak to Carlton about taking the pills. She did though ask him to remember that Carlton had a real scare and that he has a different outlook on life to Will and would find it much harder to bounce back if he was punished in the same way as Will. Philip understood where Vivian's comments were coming from and he promised to bear that in mind when he spoken to Carlton.

Carlton walked into the kitchen. "Hi dad, Geoffrey said that you wanted to see me." Yes, yes, I do son, your mother and I have been talking and we would like to talk to you about why you took those pills. Would you please sit down and talk to us." Carlton sat down at the table. Thinking back to the prom night which was only a few days away he began " Well I was at the prom and I was feeling tired, Will was snoozing at the table and I saw Cindy get mad at him, my date seemed to be getting restless too so I approached Will and said that I needed some of the vitamins he was taking. Will did have some vitamins in his locker and so I thought I'd just go and take a few of them" I took 3 because I really wanted an energy burst you know and then you know the rest" he finished his voice growing quieter.

"Did you look at the label on the bottle young man?" "No , no sir, I didn't think about it, after all why would Will have drugs in his locker he's not like that, he had some vitamins the other day and I thought that I was taking them." he said quietly.

"Carlton please go and wait in your room your mother and I need to talk." "yes dad". Carlton walked off and walked up the stairs to his room. He remembered hearing "go and wait in your room" from a long time ago and it was looking like it was going to have the same ending. The only difference this time was that he didn't think that he had done anything wrong.

"Vivian what do you think, I still think that Carlton needs to be punished to reinforce the need to check the bottle of any pill he takes especially, when it is not something he has been prescribed directly" "Honey I agree with you I am just worried about how is best to tackle it. I know that you used your belt on Will and it was really hard on both of you but appropriate as Will did need to deal with the guilt he felt about the situation. However, I don't think that Carlton will feel guilty about his part in this and he may not understand why you feel the need to physically punish him. After all he nearly died."

"I know that Vivian I have no intention of using my belt on Carlton, I was thinking of just using my hand but ,do you think that Carlton will react and understand or will he just hate me?" "Philip, Carlton is your son, he idolises you and nothing you so or say with change that, he needs you to set boundaries for him with consequences if necessary to keep him safe. I know that is is a very long time since you spanked any of our children but, I think that if you follow your heart you will judge it correctly at the time. I love you honey now go and deal with Carlton before he has a meltdown." kissing his wife gently on the lips Philip proceeded up to Carlton;s room.

Philip was passing Will's room when he decided to stop and check in on Will as he had not heard or seen him. He knocked gently, not hearing any response he cracked the door open slightly and saw Will lying face down head facing the door but he was asleep his upper body rising and falling slowly with his breathing. Philip could see that the breathing was regular and not hitched so he closed the door promising himself to check again on his way downstairs.

Philip continued onto Carlton's room. Knocking on Carlton's door he heard "come in" and he opened the door and went into the room. Carlton was sitting on his bed. "Hey dad am I in trouble?". Philip looked at his son incredulously but then remembered Vivian's words. "yes son, you are in a bit of trouble but I can see that you don't understand why. Let me take a seat and well will discuss it." Philip grabbed the desk chair and moved it across the room so that he could sit on it facing Carlton.

"Son, do you remember the lessons you had at school about not taking drugs and how to recognise that someone else is taking drugs?" "yes sir". "Did they mention at this lesson about drugs being tampered with i.e. powered bleach being added to them etc." "Yes Sir, but I am still not sure why you are asking me these questions I don't take drugs dad, I thought I was taking vitamins and they are not illegal." If it has been anyone else Philip would thought that the person was being facetious but Carlton was quite calm and was clearly not trying to con his father. Philip sighed wondering how best to put things so that he would understand.

He sat quietly for a moment and then said "Carlton if you though you had a medical condition that was the same as someone else you knew and they offered you their prescription pills would you consider taking one?" "No Sir of course not". At last thought Philip we might be getting there. "Why son?" he asked. "Well sir, doctors prescribe pills to someone knowing that they work for a particular problem and they also know the persons medical history so they are also aware of what the person might be allergic too." Thinking about what he just said Carlton suddenly realised why his father was talking to him. "Dad I'm sorry I understand now, you are mad at me because I didn't read the label of the pill pot, vitamins would be clearly labelled as such so I would have known then at least that I didn't know what the pot contained so I probably wouldn't have taken the pills. It's my fault I ended up in hospital isn't it, I'm sorry I worried you and mom."

Carlton sat back on his bed and brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them. He started rocking backwards and forwards, and he was crying it was his fault he was stupid and he could have died. Philip was momentarily stunned that Carlton understood so quickly and was looking at the floor so he didn't see Carlton rocking backwards and forwards. He looked up and saw Carlton and he immediately rushed over and pulled Carlton's arms away from his knees and for the second time that day he pulled a young g man into his arms. "sshh son it's OK I never meant to scare you." He whispered whilst holding his son tightly and rocking him like he did when he was little. Carlton hugged his father back and when is sobs slowed Carlton said "dad I'm sorry I guess I'm grounded then." Philip smiled realising that whatever happened next Carlton would accept it and be OK. "yes, son you are grounded. Now I am glad that you understand why I was concerned but there is something else we need to discuss young man. You tried to cover for Will, Why, you should have trusted your mother and I, you were lucky this time, things could have been so different. Will also tried to cover for his friends the one who gave him the drugs. Now I am proud of you for feeling so loyal to you cousin but you should have trusted your mother and I. Loyalty is fine but not if it is at risk of concealing the truth."

"I'm sorry dad, I was worried that as Will is always getting in trouble that you might have thought that this was the final straw and send him away from here. I knew that Will was feeling guilty and I didn't want him to feel any worse. You are right though I should have trusted in your judgement I'm sorry sir."

Philip nodded accepting Carlton's apology. "Son you know don't you that Will was punished severely because of his involvement in this don;t you now do you think that you should be off scotch free?" "ahh, no sir, probably not, but you already said that I was grounded". "Carlton, I know that it's been a long time but what would I have done if you were younger?" "you would have spanked me but dad I'm eighteen I'm too old to be spanked". Really said Philip do you really think so, you think that being grounded for a few weeks is punishment enough for putting your family through all this worry, I thought that you were going to die so did your mother and so did your sisters." Philip knew that this time he was deliberately putting pressure on Carlton to see his point of view but he really did want Carlton to understand he was going to spank him anyway as he felt that it was necessary but he wanted Carlton to at least accept that it wasn't an unfair punishment.

Carlton looked straight in his fathers eye and saw love there not anything else, he also knew that his father had never been unfair or harsh in his life when is came to disciplining his children. He reviewed his fathers points, he Carlton, had taken a couple of pills that he couldn't identify which had nearly killed him, he'd concealed information in an attempt to protect his cousin and by doing both these acts by choice he had caused worry in those that he loved and had had not trusted his father enough to be honest up front and that was not like him. Reluctantly he came to the conclusion that his father was right, he did deserve a spanking he just didn't want one – well your weren't supposed to were you after all that is the point of them.

Philip sat back watching Carlton's face twitching slightly as he could almost see the cogs in his son's brain working things out. After a few minutes Carlton looked him in the eye and said "yeah dad I do accept that I probably do deserve a spanking I just don't want one". "Your not supposed to want one that's what makes them so effective son, lets gets this over with shall we."

Philip encouraged Carlton to get up and then sat back more comfortably on the bed. "Son pants down please". Carlton looking horrified at first shook his head. "Son I'm not going to tell you again, pant down NOW" the last word a much louder tone had Carlton fumbling with his pant buttons and zip, let his pants fall down to his knees and looked back as his dad silently asking if the boxer had to go too. Philip shook his head and pulled Carlton over his knees onto his lap. Raising his right hand high in the air he began swatting starting quite hard SWAT, ow! SWAT, ow! SWAT ouch SWAT, ouch SWAT. ow. Philip began hitting harder SWAT owww SWAT owww SWAT owww, SWAT ouch, SWAT, ouch d,,dad I p,,promise to be good pl,,please ssstop. Seeing that he had reached Carlton's pain threshold Philip decided to stay at that intensity and started again only intending to do 20 swats anyway he wanted to get them over and done with so he swatted hard and fast. SWAT ouch SWAT ouch SWAT arrrgh SWAT, arragh SWAT argghh SWAT arggggghhh SWAT arrrgggghhh SWAT- argggggghhhhh SWAT and SWAT being the last and the hardest by far Carlton's screamed and then lay limply on his fathers lap, sobbing uncontrollably.

Philip rubbed his son's back gently waiting for Carlton to calm down. Whilst he was rubbing Carlton's back he was talking to him, "ssh son it's all over now, you are forgiven" Philip kept saying the same thing over and over until Carlton calmed down and it was just the occasional sob. Philip helped his son stand up and pulled him to him, Carlton accepted the hug gratefully unlike Will he was more comfortable showing his feelings towards his father. The hug lasted a few minutes before Carlton realised he was still standing there in his boxers and he pulled back. Not wanting to pull up his pants yet he kicked them off but he still felt embarrassed about standing around in his boxers with his dad in the room. Philip sensing Carlton's discomfort hugged his son quickly and said, you are grounded to the house for a week and your allowance is cut for the same amount of time. You are not allowed out of the house unless it is with your mother or myself are we clear about this.?" "Yes sir". "take a little time to get yourself together and then come downstairs for so dinner Geoffrey is saving something for will I'll get him to do the same for you. I love you son. "love you too dad" was the reply. Philip then left the room and headed downstairs, alcohol was what he needed now.