Serena smiled to herself as she rode the elevator up to the fourth floor of the apartment building where she lived. She was so happy to be home after being out of town for a week. She technically wasn't due back for two more days, but when the opportunity presented itself for her to come home early, she took it. Serena reached into her purse and pulled out her key, letting herself into the apartment. It was only ten o' clock in the morning, so she knew that Casey would be at work. Wanting her early return to be a surprise, Serena hadn't called or texted to tell Casey the news.

The pretty blonde stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the remains of what used to be her apartment. Laundry everywhere, empty pizza boxes, empty soda and beer cans, dishes piled in the sink and on the coffee table. Serena shook her head in disbelief as she counted at least four pizza boxes and Lord knows how many soda and beer cans. Either Casey had an insane amount of sugar, alcohol, and greasy junk food running through her system, or Casey had a party while Serena was gone. For the sake of Casey's stomach, Serena hoped it was the latter. With a sigh, she put her suitcase away, changed her clothes, and began to clean up the mess. By all rights, Casey should be the one to clean it up, but she wouldn't be home for hours and Serena couldn't live with the mess until then. If Casey wanted to throw a party while she was gone Serena didn't really care, but allowing a mess like this to accumulate really was unacceptable and Serena would definitely be conveying that to her little redhead when she arrived home. It broke Serena's heart to think that the first thing she would have to do after not seeing her wife for a week was to put Casey over her knee. Poor Casey had just earned herself a spanking and she didn't even know it yet.

Casey was still floating on cloud nine from winning a tough case earlier in the week, so when she pulled into her spot in the apartment's parking garage several hours later, she didn't notice Serena's car back in its usual spot. When she entered the unexpectedly clean apartment, she had to do a double take. A quick glance at the door confirmed that this was indeed where she lived. Her mind was still processing when Serena appeared from down the hall with a full laundry basket on her hip. She put the basket down on the floor just in time to catch Casey in a hug.

"Honey! I thought you weren't coming home until Thursday!" Casey squealed happily.

"Boss sent me home early. My job was done so they really didn't need me. I wanted to surprise you." Serena smiled.

"Mission accomplished." The lovebirds went in for a long, passionate kiss. A week was a very long time to be apart from the love of one's life. Somehow video chatting before bed just didn't compare to being able to hold each other at night.

"Well, unfortunately, you weren't the only one who got a surprise today. When I came in this morning, this place was a wreck." Serena gently patted Casey's bottom when the couple finally came up for air.

"Oh… um… well, I got a little behind on the housework, I guess. I won that case I was working on before you left!" Casey hoped that the good news would distract Serena.

"That's great, sweetheart! After we have a little chat in the bedroom, we'll have to go out and celebrate. Or did you already do that?" Serena was genuinely happy for Casey, but she didn't want her to think that she had distracted her from the issue at hand.

"Well, yeah, I did have a little get together Saturday night to celebrate with Alex, Huang, Kim, and Abbie." Casey confessed.

"Cassandra, if you want to have a party while I'm out of town, I don't really care. You're a grown woman and you don't need my permission to hang out with your friends. But making a mess like that and not even bothering to clean it up is unacceptable and irresponsible. I really don't want to have to enlist Olivia Benson as a babysitter every time the boss says I have to go out of town. If I have to do that, she will have my full permission to spank you, and if she has to spank you while I am gone, I will spank you double when I come home. Go to the bedroom, stand in the corner, and think about what I just said while I go downstairs and finish the laundry." Serena lectured sternly.

"But-"

"One… two… three…"

Casey knew better than to let Serena get to five. She ran to the bedroom, stripped naked, and stood in the corner with her hands behind her back grasping her elbows, her nose touching the wall. Casey knew full well that Serena did not make idle threats. Casey would indeed be dropped off at Olivia and Alex's apartment the next time Serena was called out of town if Serena deemed it necessary, so Casey resolved to be a good girl to prove to Serena that she didn't need to do that. It would be humiliating to be babysat like a child. Tears welled up in Casey's eyes and slid down her face. Serena just got home and she was already in trouble with her! Casey hadn't earned a trip over Serena's lap in nearly three months, after a particularly strict punishment where Serena soaped her mouth, took the cane to her bare bottom sixteen times, and then gave her eight swats with the belt. Casey had been a good girl ever since.

Serena arrived back upstairs and put away the last load of laundry before heading for the bedroom. She grew concerned when she noticed that Casey was already crying. She gently took Casey from the corner and wiped Casey's tears with her thumb.

"I haven't even touched you yet, hon. What's wrong?"

"Y-you just g-got h-home and you're m-mad at m-me. I m-missed you." Casey wept sadly.

"I'm not mad at you, baby. I'm just going to remind you to be the good girl I know you are even when I'm not around. I missed you too, but letting me come home to a mess like that isn't the proper way to show me I was missed. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Casey felt a little better knowing Serena wasn't mad at her.

"That's my girl. C'mere, lets get this over with."

Serena opened the bedside table drawer and took out the hairbrush, causing Casey to whimper. She never used her hand to spank Casey. Serena believed that her hands were for loving Casey, not punishing her. She sat on the edge of the bed and guided her naked wife across her lap. Serena insisted that Casey be naked for all of her spankings, having discovered that the embarrassment of being laid naked over her fully clothed wife's lap was an excellent additional deterrent, aside from the spanking itself, from further naughtiness.

Casey's was not a severe offense, so this was not going to be an unduly harsh punishment. Serena silently counted out two full minutes in her head. By that time, Casey was limp across her lap crying freely and Casey's bottom nearly matched her hair.

"Into the corner with you, young lady." Serena ordered Casey to her usual post-spanking corner time. Casey got up from Serena's lap and resumed her earlier position in the corner, her arms locked behind her and her nose touching the wall. She hated being sent to the corner straight from getting a spanking, but she knew that Serena would hold her as soon as her corner time was over. The fifteen minutes seemed to pass very slowly.

"Come here to me, baby girl." Serena's tone was soft now.

Casey turned from the corner and immediately began to rub her bottom as she walked over to Serena, who was putting the hairbrush back in the drawer. Serena took Casey in her arms and cuddled the crying redhead.

"Good girl. Good girl. See? That wasn't too bad, hmm?" Serena cooed.

"N-not for y-you." Casey stated quietly. Her hands never left her burning bottom. Serena just smiled sympathetically and kissed the top of Casey's head.

Little did Casey know just how wrong she was. Serena loved Casey very much and it killed her to be the reason that Casey was crying, but she knew that her little redhead needed the discipline and the structure their relationship provided her with. Casey struggled with impulsiveness and Serena's consistent, loving discipline had helped with that tremendously.

This had indeed been a mild spanking and Casey soon stopped crying, but stayed cuddled in Serena's arms feeling safe and loved. The women looked into each other's eyes and saw the hunger there. Casey ran her fingers through Serena's hair and began to undress the woman.

"Why am I the only one naked here?" she purred seductively.

Serena grinned. She couldn't agree more.