Choices

Written by: LJ

I wish to sincerely thank Dee for another terrific beta job
and Myst for the loan of Stewart.


“Well, love, all we have left to pack in the morning is our toiletries,” Lucas commented as he zippered up their large duffle bag and swung it off the bed. “Then a quick breakfast with a thermos of coffee for the road, and we’re outta here.” He set by the bedroom door next to a smaller one.

“Yeah, four whole days salmon fishing in Discovery Passage. I’ve been so looking forward to this.” Stewart was sprawled across their bed, lying on his stomach with several brochures opened in front of him.

“We’ll not only be fishing. There are a lot of other activities; swimming, hiking, sailing and kayaking are just a few that come to mind.” Lucas stretched out beside his partner.

“You bet. We’ll try all those things and more.” Stewart was getting excited about their upcoming trip. He showed Lucas the route he had mapped out. “First, we drive down to Vancouver where we catch the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, drive up to Campbell River and take another ferry to Quadra Island. Our guide will be meeting us at the landing, right?”

“Yes, he’ll be waiting for us when we get off the ferry in the village of Quathiaski Cove, and then take us to the Tsa-Kwa-Luten resort at Cape Mudge.” Lucas gave the map one last look, kissed Stewart’s cheek and moved up to lean on the pillows piled against the headboard while pulling the blankets up over his legs.

“Don’t we have a private cabin reserved?”

“We have one right on the ocean, but we’ll still be spending some time up at the main lodge when we’re not doing our own thing.”

“We have to remember to take recyclable bags,” Stewart mused while reading over the information on one of the pamphlets. “Quadra Island is plastic free. Neat, huh?”

“That’s very handy to know,” Lucas agreed. “Now put all those in your backpack and get up here beside me. I can see where it’s going to take longer than usual for you to fall asleep, but at least tonight it won’t be gingerbread running through your head.” Lucas smiled when his partner huffed indignantly at the teasing referral to the numerous cookies he baked for the children in town.

“I hope you have a plan of action to help me relax enough to sleep, Lucas. I should think that would be a Top’s responsibility; to settle his restless Brat.” Stewart obediently packed the brochures before crawling back onto the bed and turning off the light. Then he squirmed around in order to get as close to the older man as possible, trusting his hint had fallen on fertile ground. He smiled when hands began exploring his body and removing the two articles of clothing he was wearing.

Lucas quickly had both of them naked and their bodies pressed together as he teasingly nibbled at the other man’s ear. “Is this what you had in mind, precious Brat of mine?”

“You’re heading in the right direction, but I want so much more,” Stewart panted, grinding his erection against his lover’s.

After coating his fingers with lube, Lucas set about preparing Stewart and in a matter of minutes had him begging to have Lucas inside him. Lucas of course was more than happy to comply with the breathlessly uttered pleas.

A short time later, two very sated men lay sleeping in each others arms.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lucas was first to rise the next morning and was therefore the first to shower and shave. He buttoned up his light cotton shirt while trying to coax a lazy Brat out of bed. “Come on, Stewart. I’d think you’d be anxious to get going.”

“Five more minutes,” Stewart muttered and pulled a pillow over his head. He associated not having to go to work with sleeping in a bit later than he normally would.

Lucas yanked the covers off the bed and landed a firm swat on his partner’s bare bottom. “Now, Stewart. I want you on your feet before I leave the room.”

Stewart tossed the pillow aside and glared up at the older man. Recognizing the expression on Lucas’ face, he wisely but reluctantly scrambled off the bed and headed into their en suite.

Lucas smiled and hastily made the bed as a deterrent to his Brat crawling back into it should he be so inclined when returning to the bedroom and finding himself alone.

“I’m going downstairs to get breakfast ready. Try not to be too long, okay?” Lucas called over the sound of running water. He took it for granted that the mumbled answer he received was in the affirmative. He grabbed the larger of the two pieces of luggage on his way out of the room.

Stewart came bounding into the kitchen just as Lucas was pouring orange juice into their glasses; cereal, milk, toast and jam were already on the table.

“I brought down the last case and our shaving kits,” he announced, lifting them high for Lucas to see.

“Thank you,” Lucas laughed, wrapping a big arm around Stewart’s neck and hugging him. “Just put them by the door with the other one.”

They quickly finished off the meal with a minimum of conversation and were enjoying the last of their coffee when the phone rang.

“Don’t answer it!” Stewart shouted. “Whoever it is can just leave a message,” he continued in a calmer voice.

Lucas just shook his head and picked up the receiver. “Hello, Hudson/Hayes residence.”

Stewart could tell from his partner’s body language that he was not going to like the outcome of this call. He watched as Lucas checked his wristwatch.

“Yes, yes, of course. I understand,” Lucas was saying as he nodded gravely. “I’ll meet you and Chad at the bank as soon as possible, Kipper,” he assured the caller before hanging up.

He took one look at Stewart’s face and determined an explanation better be forthcoming. “Before you say anything, sweetheart; I have to do this. I won’t be long, half an hour at the most. Financial paperwork that has not originally due until late next week is needed immediately. Chad and Kipper have to meet with the lawyers for the mine before noon.”

“Yeah, right!” Stewart couldn’t hide his disappointment and didn’t bother trying. “If you go into the office, you’ll be gone most the morning,” he groused, getting up and dumping his half cup of coffee into the sink.

“Not so, Stewart; only ten minutes to walk downtown, less than ten minutes signing papers, and then ten minutes to walk back home. Thirty minutes in all.” Seeing a scowl of scepticism forming on his Brat’s face, Lucas continued. “You have a choice here. You can accept the situation gracefully or you can silently rant your frustration and work yourself up. Whatever you choose, don’t go anywhere as I don’t think it unreasonable of me to expect you to pack us a lunch for the road. The cooler is next to the counter. If you’re so inclined you can also load the car so we’ll be ready to leave as soon as I get back.”

Lucas knew his clients’ request was reasonable enough, but could see that the younger man wasn’t ready to accept it as such. Grabbing up his briefcase he gave Stewart a firm kiss and hoped that he wouldn’t work himself into a state that would need addressing before they left. He did not think his Brat would enjoy traveling while sitting on a sore bottom.

Stewart gathered up the dirty dishes and piled them next to the sink. To him the request was a major inconvenience and it pissed him off. The more he thought about the change in their plans, the angrier he got.

“To hell with this; what’s fair for one is fair for all,” he griped, heading for the door intent on getting to the bakery and checking on things. He had no trouble persuading himself that his actions were justified in light of Lucas taking off like he did. “My business is just as important as his bank is,” Stewart pointed out convincingly.

True to his word, Lucas walked in through the back door twenty-eight minutes after having walked out of it and with two minutes to spare. He stopped short when he picked up on the echo-like sensation of an empty house. Breathing out a deep sigh of exasperation, he realized he wasn’t overly surprised to find Stewart gone.

With the noticeable absence of one Brat and the dishes sitting on the counter, all was just as he’d left it half an hour ago. Lucas set about packing the cooler with fresh fruit, bottles of water, quickly-made ham and cheese sandwiches, a package of cookies and a bag of rippled chips to go with the herb dip. Once that was taken care of, he hastily washed the dishes and left them to air-dry on the drain board.

He then loaded up the car and went back inside to give the house a final check. The front door was bolted and all lights turned off with the exception of the one in the back porch when he locked up and got into his car.

Minutes later, Lucas pulled up in front of the bakery and texted his strong-willed partner. “I’m outside; you have three minutes!”

The allotted time was almost up when the passenger door opened and Stewart dropped down onto the seat. He began babbling reasons for being where he wasn’t supposed to be, but clammed up when he saw Lucas’ raised eyebrow. The older man just wasn’t swallowing any of them.

“Okay, I know it wasn’t absolutely necessary for me to come down here this morning but…..” Stewart searched his brain for anything even half-way acceptable and came up blank.

“But you were annoyed at my going to the office and just couldn’t let it go.” Lucas finished for him.

“Well, I did kind of want to touch base with Mom one last time to see if any problems had come up.” Stewart almost cringed as he admitted, ‘that was feeble at best.’ He busied himself by doing up his seatbelt so he wouldn’t have to look at the man beside him.

“Stewart, your assistant knows what he’s doing and with your Mom serving customers until your part-time help arrives, everything will be fine. There was no need for you to deliberately do what I’d told you not to. As far as I’m concerned, your actions were nothing short of a temper-tantrum.” With that, Lucas put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.

“It most certainly was not!” Stewart insisted a little too belligerently. “I can’t believe some of my responses to upsetting events that you consider temper-tantrums.”

“Tell you what; we have a four-and-a-half hour drive ahead of us to the ferry. That should give you plenty of time to think it over.” Lucas knew that given enough time, his Brat would eventually figure it out. To point out where Stewart had gone wrong would only cause the younger man to get his back up and dig himself in further.

For the first two hours, the miles sped by. Lucas put on some music and was driving in a very relaxed state. Stewart, on the other hand, was pretending to dose off while nervously contemplating his earlier actions. He was slowly coming to the conclusion that he may have dug a rather deep hole for himself.

Stewart felt like smacking himself on the side of the head when he finally accepted what a jerk he’d been. Aside from leaving all the packing to his partner instead of pulling his own weight by doing his fair share, he had in all likelihood left his mother and assistant baker wondering if he lacked faith in their ability to carry on in his absence. Hell, they probably thought he was a control-freak or something.

His thoughts were interrupted by the car decelerating. He sat up and looked around. What he saw did nothing to improve his attitude. “For shit sake; they’re still working on widening this bloody highway. God, they’ve been at it for over two years now. We’ll get hours behind schedule.”

“We have plenty of time, babe. It’s a work day; we might have known we’d run into delays along this stretch of our trip. This is a three-year undertaking and from all reports, it’s running on time. Go back to sleep and stop worrying. We’ll easily make the two-thirty crossing.”

Lucas smiled at the other man’s grumbling as Stewart twisted and turned in an effort to get comfortable. The older man rightfully suspected his Brat hadn’t been sleeping, but wanted to give him his space.

The next part of their trip was slow going but they finally got passed all the construction and Lucas was able to pick up speed, soon making up for lost time.

They were standing at the rail of the ferry, watching it pull away from the dock when Stewart decided he had spent enough time thinking and that now was as good a time at any to fill Lucas in on his conclusions.

“I’m sorry for taking off the way I did this morning, Lucas. I was unreasonably angry at the last minute change in our plans. I know your having to keep that unexpected appointment couldn’t be avoided.”

“We are both entitled to our feelings, sweetheart. It was all right if you feel disappointed, frustrated, or angry. It is your reaction to those emotions that can get you in hot water.”

“I didn’t react in a positive manner this time, did I?” Stewart turned sad eyes up to the bigger man beside him. “You were right when you called it a temper-tantrum.”

Lucas felt his chest swell with pride. Stewart found it extremely difficult to own up to any wrongdoing. “Well, you did have choices; you just chose the wrong one. But we’ll work it out later.”

“I guess we can’t very well take care of things in the here and now,” Stewart muttered dishearteningly. Once he acknowledged he’d broken a rule, he hated having the inevitable discussion put on hold. The discrete tightening of Lucas’ hand on his arm helped some. At least his Top understood.

“All in good time, my love,” Lucas whispered in his partner’s ear. “Put it out of your mind for the present and try to enjoy the rest of our trip.” Having a pretty good idea of how hard it would be for his Brat to follow that suggestion, Lucas spent the majority of the crossing making small talk about the various activities they could look forward to over the upcoming extra long weekend.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour and a half ferry crossing and a two hour drive to Campbell River followed by a second much shorter ferry crossing to Quadra Island seemed to drag on and yet pass all too quickly.

It was just after six in the evening when Stewart stood holding most their luggage and gazing around the chalet they would be living in for the next four days. The wall he was facing had a mammoth fireplace reaching up to the highest point in the ceiling. To his left was a kitchenette and dining area; to his right was the only bedroom and en suite. The wall behind him was floor to ceiling windows over-looking the water and although the view was breathtaking, Stewart could not find the enthusiasm to appreciate it the way he should. However, he was optimistic about his mood changing for the better by sunset.

Lucas placed the cooler on the table, removed the items from Stewart’s hands and walked into the bedroom. He dropped the duffel bag on the floor and the backpack on the bed. Then he unpacked their grooming kits and took them into the bathroom.

Stewart reluctantly dragged himself towards the bedroom, stopping in the doorway. Even knowing he deserved what was coming didn’t make the walk any easier. Lucas had a solid right hand and a powerful right arm; his spankings hurt, a lot.

Lucas saw his partner’s hesitation as soon as he came out of the en suite. He stifled a sigh of resignation. This is not how he would have chosen to begin their holiday, but knew neither of them could enjoy themselves until the matter was taken care of and put behind them.

“Come sit with me,” he softly invited, taking a seat on the end of the bed and tapping the space beside him.

Stewart slowly walked over and sat down. He made sure to sit as far as possible from his Top, focusing intently on his folded hands. He tensed when he felt Lucas move closer and drape an arm around his shoulders.

“All right, babe; we both know why we’re having this discussion. You made a wrong choice earlier.” Lucas was interrupted by Stewart leaning forward to cover his face in an effort to hide a sob.

“I’m sorry, Lucas. You gave me several options but I opted for one of my own.” Stewart was beginning to work himself up.

“Shhh, easy does it, sweetheart.” Lucas tried to soothe the younger man by caressing his back and murmuring endearments.

“Your request to pack a lunch was perfectly reasonable, but I chose to do the one thing you told me not to do. I almost ruined our trip by getting my nose out of joint and ignoring your advice.” Stewart cried as he tried to pull away.

“Our holiday hasn’t been ruined, love,” Lucas assured him, holding him even tighter.

Stewart gave up on trying to pull away and clung onto the older man instead. “I didn’t mean to do it,” he whispered miserably.

“I know you didn’t. You just acted without thinking first. Listen to me,” Lucas firmly instructed, pushing the slightly smaller man away from his chest. “Stewart, I want you to look at me.” When a tear-stained face glanced upward, Lucas continued. “You are going to be punished and then this whole episode will be over.”

Stewart wiped his eyes. “And you’ll forgive me for what I did?” he asked quietly.

“As always, baby. But I want you to understand that you’re only being punished for disobeying and not for getting upset or angry. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control, like my having to meet with clients at the last minute. We both know you would never deliberately plan to sabotage our trip, right?”

The younger man stared into a face completely devoid of reproach or irritation and nodded. “Right!” he breathed out on a sigh of relief.

“Then let’s get this over with.” Lucas offered a helping hand in getting Stewart to his feet. Both knew what was expected.

Stewart was to drop his pants and get into position, but the younger man wasn’t making any moves and was actually beginning to back away. This last minute stalling had occurred in the past. Taking an active part in your own punishment was far from easy, no matter how much you agreed with living in a discipline relationship.

“Do you need me to help you?” Lucas kindly inquired, wanting only to make this process as easy as possible.

Stewart nodded and drew in a shaky breath as his belt was unbuckled. His pants sliding off his hips caused a whimper to escape his lips. When he felt his boxers about to be lowered, he tried to pull away again. He realized he needed this; on some level he even wanted it. A sore bottom would be easier to bear than the guilt that had been gnawing at him throughout most the day.

“Easy,” Lucas cooed as he wrapped a hand around Stewart’s arm, gently tugging on it until he had his Brat settled facedown over his thighs. He felt Stewart struggle against him as he placed a heavy arm across his lower back, and was just raising the other arm when the younger man began to cry.

“I’m sorry, Lucas,” Stewart mumbled through his tears, only to feel a large hand rubbing his bare backside reassuringly for a moment before lifting off it again.

“I know you are, but we have to make sure you don’t continue to let your emotions run wild and repeatedly make the same wrong choices.”

Stewart pressed his face into the smooth cotton of the comforter. He let out a small sob and his whole body jerked when the first swat landed. Lucas merely tightened his hold around his Brat’s waist and continued spanking. Only when Stewart’s bottom was a deep shade of red and his sobs were filling the room, did Lucas end the punishment.

“Shhh, it’s over now,” Lucas said soothingly.

Stewart stayed lying across his partner’s lap, moving just enough to wrap his arms around his head while Lucas lightly massaged his back and murmured quietly to him until he calmed down some. He knew from past experience that the burn would last for quite some time.

A couple of minutes passed before Stewart pushed himself up to stand on shaky legs in front of his chastiser who helped him put his boxers back on. He winced as the fabric scratched over his tender skin and immediately found himself securely enfolded in Lucas’ strong arms.

“The slate’s wiped clean, Lucas.” Stewart knew it was but always liked to make sure.

“Squeaky clean, babe!” the older man adamantly declared.

“So now we can finally get started on our vacation, right?” Stewart lifted his head off his Top’s shoulder and a smile made its’ way across his tear-stained face.

“You got it, my beautiful dough-boy,” Lucas lightly teased as he wiped away the remaining tears with his thumbs. He chuckled when their stomachs simultaneously let them know they needed nourishment.

Stewart glanced down and laughed. “Got any plans for supper?”

“We were supposed to go up to the main lodge for our evening meal, but we can stay here if you prefer. We still have plenty of food in the cooler.”

“I like the idea of a picnic in front of the fireplace,” Stewart announced and pushed out of Lucas’ embrace to dig through the duffel bag. “I better slip on a pair of flannel sleep pants though because with all those windows out there, it’ll be like living in a goldfish bowl. Every move we make can be seen by anyone interested in gawking.”

“Two excellent choices, my love.” Lucas readily agreed.

The End