Lisa's pov

My sisters and I are currently in the emergency room at Salem General. Well, technically only Stacey and I are patients, Julie and Carrie were brought along for the ride and are sitting in the waiting room. I have a bump on my shin about the size of a ping pong ball and Stacey has a cut over her right eye that was deep enough to require stitches. None of us wanted to be here but the paramedics didn't really give us a choice.

Carrie's pov

Julie and I are screwing around on our phones, trying to pass the time while we wait for Stacey and Lisa to be released.

"That's funny, Carrie. That TikTok you're listening to sounds just like Mi..."

"Mike!" I say in shock, interrupting Julie as I look up to see him standing in front of us. "What are you doing here?"

"Did the four of you really think I wouldn't find out you were brought in for treatment just because you refused to give the staff your names?" Mike's glaring at us, his arms crossed over his chest. "You do know I worked here for many years, right? In fact, I still help out in the o.r. occasionally and Dr. Curtis is still the acting CEO here. Are you truly surprised one of our colleagues recognized you and passed the information along?"

"Uhhh." I look at the floor, ashamed of our naivete.

"HONESTLY! I seriously wonder what goes through your minds sometimes."

"Usually, it's a combination of hot guys, chocolate, and how much we hate school," Julie replies flatly, never taking her eyes off her phone. "You can relate to at least one of those."

Grabbing her phone out of her hands, Mike warns, "I'm not finding anything about this situation amusing, Julie."

Julie just looks at Mike and slumps back in her chair, crossing her arms defiantly.

Mike momentarily considers addressing Julie's attitude on the spot but thinks better of it.

"I'm going to check on Lisa and Stacey." He raises one eyebrow and commands strictly, "When I return, I expect the two of you to tell me exactly what happened. Understand?"

I immediately respond, "Yes sir."

Mike looks expectantly at Julie, waiting for her to duplicate my response but instead he hears Julie say, "What?" indicating her extreme disinterest.

Bending down to meet her at eye level, Mike asks in an eerily calm voice, "Do you really think testing my patience is currently your best course of action, Julie Elizabeth?"

When she hesitates to respond, Mike grasps her chin tightly in his hand and growls, "ANSWER ME NOW! DO.YOU.UNDERSTAND.ME?"

Finally meeting his gaze, Julie astutely recognizes the signs of an impending spanking contingent on her response so she wisely chooses the appropriate answer, "Yes sir, I understand."

Mike slowly releases his hold on her and then proceeds to the admit. desk to speak to the staff.

After speaking with Stacey and Lisa, making sure they were okay, Mike filled out all the necessary paperwork and returned to question us while we waited for them to be discharged.

"Start talking, ladies. I want to know how the four of you ended up in the e.r. as a result of a car accident involving only one car when you were supposed to be at Suzanne's watching movies?" Mike tapped his foot impatiently.

I looked at Julie but she quickly shook her head from side to side, indicating I shouldn't say anything.

Aware of the look we just exchanged, Mike commands, "Julie, I want you to tell me what happened, and I want to know right now!" Mike's short temper is becoming evident.

"Sounds like you already know. Car plus accident equals e.r. visit. Not a complex equation, Mike." My jaw dropped hearing Julie's brazenly disrespectful response.

Mike took a step back, closed his eyes, and breathed in and out slowly, trying to keep his anger from escalating to an unsafe level.

After a couple of minutes practicing calming techniques, Mike looked at me and said, "Carrie, your sister is dangerously close to being taken into an empty operating room where I'll perform an ass-ectomy with my belt as I remove her ability to sit."

He glared at Julie before continuing to address me, "You, my dear, are in a unique position to provide a stay of execution... I mean operation. All you need to do is tell me in detail how the four of you ended up here."

I looked at Julie, silently asking permission to tell Mike what happened and she granted it with a nearly imperceptible nod.

"Suzanne's boyfriend Jeremy stopped by her house and asked if we wanted to cruise around with him and since we were bored, we said yeah. We got lost at some point and he ended up going straight on a T-road 'cause it was really dark and he ignored the road sign and was kinda speeding so we ended up in a field."

Mike looked really mad so I avoided eye contact.

"Does Jeremy even have a driver's license?" Mike asked, boring holes in my soul with his piercing glare.

"Yes sir," I replied, looking at the floor.

Lifting my chin and sighing, Mike continued, "Carrie, look at me when you're speaking to me. How long has he had his license?"

"I don't know," I replied timidly, but honestly. I really have no idea how long he's had his license.

"Julie?" Mike looked to my sister for an answer since he didn't get the information he wanted from me.

"What?" Julie acted thoroughly bored with this conversation, or more likely she wasn't acting, she was just really disinterested.

Mike took a deep calming breath before repeating his query a little louder, "How long has Suzanne's boyfriend had his license?"

Julie exhaled loudly and rolled her eyes.

"Look, Jeremy's an idiot, okay. I don't know how long he's had his license and I don't know who he blew to get it because he's a lousy driver and we shouldn't have gone anywhere with him in the first place and to answer your next question, Lisa and Stacey didn't have seatbelts on 'cause his backseat only fits two people and there were four of us back there. Yes he was speeding. No, nobody was drinking. Can't we just take Lisa and Stacey home now? I mean you are a doctor, right? Why can't they just release them into your care so we can get the Hell out of here already."

Mike knelt down in front of the chair Julie was sitting in, held up her phone, and replied, "Obviously, you don't want this back anytime soon because your smart mouth just earned you a three week separation."

"Whatever. Can we just get out of here, please?" I have no idea why Julie continued to mouth off to Mike since we were clearly in the wrong here.

"Four weeks it is. Do you want to keep talking, Julie, because I can keep extending your time apart?" he asked, waving her phone in her face. Getting no response, he grabbed her chin to force her undivided attention while adding another warning, "There's only one correct answer, Julie, and I strongly suggest you produce it if you know what's good for you."

Done poking the tired angry bear, Julie correctly replies, "No sir, I'm done talking."

Mike gently pats Julie's right cheek with his open hand.

"Wise choice, darlin', wise choice." He pats her cheek a little harder before standing up and walking back over to the desk to get my sisters' discharge papers.

Back at the NJC

"It's late, ladies, and we could all use some rest. Go to bed and we'll discuss your consequences in the morning. Goodnight." Mike closed our bedroom door and retired to his room.

Lisa's pov

The next morning, Mike called and told us to meet him in the conference room at 8am, which was too early on a Saturday in my opinion, but we obliged since we were in enough trouble already. Walking in, we were surprised to see Shane there too.

"Shane, when did you get back?" I squealed, as I ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, about four hours ago, I guess," he replied, checking the time on his watch.

Shane was in London the past five days on business and we all missed him terribly as Mike's been in a pissy mood since he left. I think he and Tristan had a fight but we don't dare ask as we're too afraid of facing his wrath when his short fuse finally fizzles out.

My sisters all gave Shane a hug before Mike barked at us to sit down.

"I'm sorry I wasn't back in time to go to the hospital but I'm thankful none of you were seriously hurt," Shane says, smiling softly. "Mike filled me in this morning and I think we can all agree how lucky you are things didn't turn out differently. You put yourselves in a dangerous situation and I, we (Shane gestured to Mike) simply cannot overlook that." Shane's face took on a serious scowl as he joined Mike in leaning against the table with his arms crossed.

Mike jumped in, "Since you left Suzanne's house without permission, you're all grounded to your room for one week. No phones, Julie I'm still keeping yours for four weeks, no tv, no electronics of any kind, and no friends over. Lights out at 8:30pm and bedtime will be 9pm. Do I make myself clear?"

We all begrudgingly replied with the obligatory, "Yes sir."

Shane picked up where he left off.

"Now, to address the consequences for putting yourselves in harm's way by getting in a car with a newly licensed driver, who I'm sure is still under restrictions limiting how many kids he can legally transport. Not to mention the incredibly dangerous and reckless decision to have more passengers in the car than seatbelts, which in turn led to a trip to the e.r. due to Stacey and Lisa being injured during the accident."

We each held our breath in anticipation of this punishment, knowing it would surely be more severe than a week's grounding.

"The four of you are going to traffic school today, every night this week, and again next Saturday." Shane looked quite proud of himself after delivering this most heinous of punishments. "Oh, and the course is four hours long, by the way, and you'll be staying for the entire class, each and every time."

We all groaned.

"That borders on torture, Admiral. Didn't they teach you about the Geneva Convention at the naval academy?" Stacey can't help mouthing off.

"You watch your tone of voice, young lady! And stop bringing up the Geneva Convention everytime you object to a punishment," Shane warned her. "You're not wounded or captured military personnel and this isn't a time of war."

The Admiral never misses an opportunity to educate or correct misinformation, I thought chuckling to myself. Two can play at that game.

"None of us even have our driver's license yet so doesn't that mean we can't attend traffic school? I'm pretty sure it's only for licensed drivers," I say smugly.

"That never stopped you from getting behind the wheel before. Why the sudden moral platitude on following the rules of the road, Lisa?" Mike queried sarcastically, giving me a look indicating I'd be wise to keep my mouth shut.

"Don't worry, luv. Dr. Curtis and I have made all the arrangements. The fact that none of you are licensed drivers won't be an issue. Trust me. Plus, this will be a good prelude to your driver's ed. course." Shane couldn't suppress an evil smirk from gracing his face.

Julie's pov

"You can go to your room now and start cleaning, ladies. I expect it to be spotless before we leave for traffic school." Mike dismissed us. Grabbing my arm, he coldly ordered, "Not you, Julie. Did you honestly think I was going to let you get away with the way you spoke to me at the hospital?"

Honestly, I kinda did so I refrained from responding, fearing reprise if I verbalized my answer.

"You're lucky I didn't take you into one of the empty o.r.s and whip your behind with my belt but don't think for one minute because I didn't, I was condoning your inappropriate language and attitude." Mike still had a tight grasp on my arm, preventing my escape.

"Would you like to proffer your theory on how Jeremy obtained his driver's license to Admiral Donovan?" Mike dared me.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Wow, I can't believe Mike let me get away with that until now. There was no way I was going to say that to Shane's face though.

"No sir, I would not."

"That's probably best. Is it not, Julie?" Shane asked.

"Yes sir. It's better left unsaid or at least not repeated at this point." I decided to cut my losses.

"Do I need to give you a refresher course on the consequences for using disrespectful language, young lady?" Shane narrowed his gaze and broadened his stance in a clearly threatening manner as he grabbed his belt buckle.

"No sir." Turning to address Mike, I Immediately and sincerely apologized, "I'm sorry I spoke to you that way, Mike. It was inappropriate."

A little surprised and taken aback by my submissive and contrite demeanor, Mike hesitated before replying, "You're forgiven..."

Mike beckoned me closer and once I was within reach, took the opportunity to loop his arms around me and hold me against his chest. I didn't fight his embrace in the slightest.

"...but if it happens again, I assure you I won't be nearly so understanding and you'll lose a lot more than your phone for a month." Mike smacked my behind harshly as a warning before pushing me back just far enough to lock my gaze without breaking his hold on me. "Have I made myself clear, Julie?"

"Yes sir," I replied respectfully. Mike was clearly upset with me but that's not what disarmed my teenage rebellion. For the first time in a long time, I saw the sacrifice in his eyes, heard it in his voice, and felt it in his touch. Without a doubt, it had always been there but I'd just been too young, stubborn, and foolish to notice.