At All Times

Summary: Ray chases after a suspect without his gun. Walter is not pleased
Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for the movie Thunderheart; AU; references to violence
Pairing: Walter Crow Horse/Ray Levoi
Author’s Note: Another fic/art exchange with the amazing TheCarlySutra. The awesome artwork she did for me can be found on the homepage

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Ray had really screwed up this time. If the suspect getting the drop on him (and only failing because Walter had been in the right place at the right time) hadn’t clued him in to that fact, the tense, angry posture of his husband would have made it absolutely clear.

Walter hadn’t said a word to him since all but dragging him out of the precinct (where their colleagues could see, no less) and bundling him into the car. Ray had kept his mouth shut, not wanting to piss his lover off even more than he already was. But now that they were over halfway home and Walter still hadn’t said anything, Ray had to speak. “I was on my lunch.” As soon as he said the words, he couldn’t help but cringe.

“You don’t want to dig yourself in deeper, Ray.” Walter’s voice was low and carried a warning note. He didn’t even glance at Ray, clutching the steering wheel tighter.

Ray opened his mouth.

“I mean it.” Walter didn’t raise his voice. He’d done plenty of that at the time, when he’d first spotted Ray’s behaviour. But his whole body was tense; practically vibrating with it.

Ray subsided, biting his lip.

The rest of the drive was made in silence. Ray hunched in on himself, casting several sideways glances towards Walter. But he didn’t try to speak; and his husband didn’t say anything, either.

Ray wasn’t sure how long it was until they got home, as caught up in his thoughts as he was. He came back to himself as Walter parked outside the house and swallowed hard.

This was it, then. His moment of reckoning. His mouth turned dry and his palms began to sweat. He wiped them on his pants.

Walter broke the silence. “Go and cut a switch.”

Ray flinched and cast a look at his husband, tensing even more as he saw the pocket knife Walter held out to him. “Walter, I….” His voice trailed off. What could he say? There was nothing. No excuses. No reasons. He breathed in deep and let it out slowly as he reached out and plucked the knife from his husband’s hand.

“I’ll be inside.” Walter opened the door and got out of the car without a further word.

Ray exited the vehicle a little more slowly, his shoulders slumped and head hanging. While he was tempted to take his time in cutting the switch, he didn’t want to make Walter even more pissed at him than he already was.

There were several trees on the grounds surrounding the house and Ray walked over to one of them. He tested one of the branches before cutting it free. After taking a few practise swings through the air, he then began to cut the twigs and leaves from the wood.

By the time the switch was cut to what Ray knew would be Walter’s satisfaction, it was entirely smooth, with no sharp edges that would risk cutting him.

Drawing in another deep breath, Ray gripped the switch in a white-knuckled grasp and stepped into the house.

There was no sign of Walter downstairs, so Ray headed up the stairs and into the bedroom.

His husband stood to one side of the bed, three pillows stacked in the centre. Walter held his hand out wordlessly and Ray placed the switch on his palm.

His husband tested the strength of the switch, then pointed it towards the bed. “Take your pants down and bend over.”

Swallowing hard, Ray moved his hands to his pants. As he pushed them down, he made one last attempt to plead with his partner. “Walter, I didn’t mean to go after a suspect without backup.”

“Or your gun?” Walter pointed again at the bed. “Bend over.”

Ray wanted to argue. To protest. To plead. He even opened his mouth yet again to do so. But then he looked at his husband’s implacable face. His protests died in his throat and he moved towards the bed, bending over and shuffling forward enough for his hips to rest on the pillows, leaving his bottom the highest point of his body.

There was a whistle as Walter swung the switch through the air; and a crack as it snapped across the fullest part of his backside. A split second later, he felt it: a thin line of fire that burned through the thin material of his briefs.

Before he had a chance to fully absorb the pain of the first stripe, the switch was whistling through the air again and again. Each subsequent stripe left another line of fire below the first and ripped gasps from Ray’s throat.

Eight stripes left fire raging over Ray’s entire backside. He clenched his fingers in the bed sheets, breath hitching as he tried to fight back tears. He couldn’t hold back his yelp when the switch landed across the bare skin of his thighs.

It didn’t take long before Ray lost count of the stripes, his whole bottom burning. As much as he tried to hold himself still, he couldn’t help writhing in place over the pillows. “I’m sorry!” he burst out, tears escaping along with the words.

In answer, Walter tugged his briefs down, removing that last bit of protection. He spoke as he began to lash the switch against bare skin. “You could have died today, Ray. Do you understand that? I could have lost you.”

Ray gripped the bed sheets tighter, so that he wouldn’t throw his hands back to protect his bottom. At Walter’s words, he began to sob, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I didn’t think…!” He fought to get the words out through his cries.

“I know you didn’t think, Ray.” Walter rested his hand on Ray’s lower back and began to lash harder with the switch. A severe note crept into his voice as he continued, “Maybe the next time you’re tempted to run after a suspect without backup and without your gun, you’ll remember this.”

The switching was painful, but the weight of Walter’s disappointment crashed down heavily on Ray’s shoulders. He squirmed and writhed over the pillows for a few more moments before he slumped, limp, his tears soaking into the bed below him.

By the time Ray became aware of the fact that the switching had stopped, his entire bottom and thighs felt like he’d sat in a fire pit. Barely aware of the bed dipping next to him, he moaned and turned his head into Walter’s touch, looking up at his husband pitifully as Walter stroked his damp, sweaty hair and wiped his face with a damp cloth.

“I’m sorry.” Ray whispered the words in a voice hoarse from his tears.

“I know you are.” Walter sighed and leaned forward to brush a kiss against his lips. “But I’d rather you behave than act dangerously and recklessly and be sorry after the fact.”

“I’ll try and remember next time,” Ray promised.

Walter helped Ray to stretch out, his head pillowed on Walter’s thigh, and began to stroke his hair. “We’re going to take the day off tomorrow. Before we go back to work, though? In the morning, I’m gonna take you over my knee and spank you. Hard enough that you’ll feel it all through the day. And those maintenance spankings will continue every week for the next two months.”

Ray whimpered at his sentence, but it wasn’t in him to argue. He wrapped his arms around Walter’s waist and pressed in close. “Forgive me?” he whispered.

“Of course. Any time.”

Kissing Walter’s thigh, Ray looked up at him. “Still love me?”

In answer, Walter leaned down to kiss him. “Always,” he whispered against his lips.

The End