Author’s note: To be safe, I’ve marked this as non-con, though I think it’s closer to dub-con. Additionally, while this is marked as incest, I personally categorize it as “soft incest”. I tried to make the relationships shown step-relationships, but that made the story more contrived than it already is. Additional info behind the spoiler warning: While Frank is present during the punishment and he sees Ellie naked and made to orgasm, he takes no part in her punishment.

1

It's still warm inside the truck. Though he turned the ignition off more than five minutes earlier, Frank feels himself sweat into his undershirt. There's not much to say, and so the two are silent. Anything which could have been said was laid on the table the night before. And so now it's just a gulf of silence between them, punctuated by the occasional clink from the cooling engine. Frank can't get a good read on her right away.

Ellie. "Christ", he thinks to himself. "From this angle, she looks just like her mother when she was her age". Twenty-two. Where did the intervening years go? Was it the factory? School? "It seemed just like yesterday when" - Frank stops himself. Yesterday is gone. There's only the here and now. Not angry. No, he can feel it when Ellie is angry. The air becomes charged and the silence is even more deafening. This isn't like that. It doesn't have the cold quality. Unsure? Definitely. Scared? Maybe a little. Ellie puts on a tough front, but she cries and hurts just like anyone.

The snow outside continues to fall on the ground and the headlights illuminate the flakes as they drift toward the ground. Flipping the switch, the ground around the front of the truck immediately becomes dark. The late winter yields this every year; early darkness and scattered snowfall. Seeking to cross the gulf between them, Frank reaches over and pats Ellie's knee. She looks down and then toward him. "I" she begins before trailing off. The fear is evident in her movement, her voice, her very being.

Frank has always been quick to reassure Ellie. But today, at this moment, he hesitates. Neither of them is truly aware of what resides inside the building in front of them. They have fixed in their minds an image, but it is fuzzy, and likely incorrect. Neither Frank nor his daughter knows how this place will change her. Them. Their relationship. "And yeah", Frank thinks to himself. "Turn the truck back on, put it in drive and never return". But there is so much riding on this. Ellie has already lost her scholarship. A black mark on the hope of her life being better than his. And as her grades continue to slip it becomes clearer to Frank that this is a matter of will, not skill. This was their last, best chance, and he was going to take it.

"I promise I won't leave your side" Frank says. He extends his hand. After a moment, she slides hers in, her supple skin dwarfed by his gentle but calloused grasp. Letting go after a moment, Frank takes a deep breath and opens his door. The crunch of the snow underfoot is nearly silenced by the snow itself; a cushion stealing away most of the noises from the nearby interstate. Aside from this building, there wasn't really anything else out here. It loomed over father and daughter, two immigrants into a country foreign to them until moments ago.

2

The trek across the parking lot feels like forever. Ellie's brown snow boots crush the snow, and it's deep enough for her to need a hand from Frank. She tries to clear her mind during the trip and steady her breathing. To her right, near the entrance to the driveway is a tall sign. It isn't decorated in any way. No flashing lights. It looks like a sign one might see for a roadside church. Instead of "Jesus Saves", however, it says "Punishment Center".

"Punishment Center" Ellie thinks to herself. Before yesterday, the concept had never touched her ears or mind. Now it was all she could think. It started when she returned home from school. She wasn't sure when she would bring up the issue of her grades. Another semester of Ds and Fs. Another semester on academic parole. If she didn't bring her grades up, she would be suspended from school, the letter had said. The letter her dad had found before she could sequester it away.

They talked most of the night. Neither raised their voices, though she cried for a while as he gently laid out the reality. Without her scholarship, he had to dip into his retirement savings to fund her education. He expected results. She was smarter than this. Better than this. He had the SAT and entrance exam scores to prove it. Neither played the trump card. Neither mentioned Caroline. Caroline, who Ellie so resembled. Caroline who fell asleep ten years earlier.

And that's when the Punishment Center came into their discussion. "It's guaranteed to work" Frank had said. He showed Ellie the brochure. The young women on it looked so confident and happy. Carefree almost. Were these girls punished, she thought, or were they paid to look like that? Inside the pamphlet, the platitudes were plentiful and the details scarce. Ellie pushed back with the only defense she had "Dad, I'll try harder. I'll do better". Frank shook his head. "I've already made you an appointment" he finally said. Neither spoke for a few moments. And then a few moments became the rest of the night as Ellie left for her room. The only sound of her existence the music from the CD's her Mom had left her.

Now it was the next day. Now it was time.

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