Greg was surprised that Nikolai didn't say anything about his protest over Ellis' orders for pool exercises. He was worried that perhaps he was in for a disciplinary session when they got to the hospital but Nikolai unleashed him in his office and wished him a good day, reminding him to be in his office at five, so that they could leave in time for the dinner that evening.

"Master Nikolai?"

"Yes, Greg?"

"Am I in trouble for objecting to Dr. Ellis' treatment plan?"

Nikolai chuckled and shook his head. "No, Greg. You aren't in any trouble. Ellis dealt with your objections. He's plenty capable of disciplining a slave on the spot, no matter whose slave it is. He didn't consider what you did worthy of discipline and neither do I."

"That's something else that's different in the Brotherhood then," Greg said, relieved to not have to worry about that all day.

Nikolai agreed and nodded that he should head up to diagnostics. Once Greg was gone, he sat down at his desk and phoned Dr. Wilson's assistant.

"Please tell Dr. Wilson I need to speak to him today before two."

"He's in if you'd like to hold I can put you through, sir," the assistant said politely.

"No. Just give him the message, thank you," Nikolai said, hanging up the line. Not speaking to Wilson personally would give the man a greater sense of urgency and bring him to Nikolai's office sooner rather than later. He was still very angry at the way Wilson had circumvented the tagging rules and used Greg, let alone the way he had blatantly gone outside of their apprenticeship training agreement. It made Wilson a liability to him and a danger to Greg as well as Nikolai's plan to get the Brotherhood to purchase Greg. He'd be damned if he'd let Wilson destroy this chance to get Greg out of the Slave Administration's direct supervision.

Wilson arrived in Nikolai's office at 11:30 am, after his 11 a.m. appointment cancelled.

"Come in," Nikolai said briskly. "Lock the door and pull the blinds."

Wilson blinked, looking around for a slave in the room, thinking this would be a training session, as he complied with Nikolai's orders. He came into the room and started to take a seat.

"Did I say that you could sit down?" Nikolai asked sharply from behind the desk. He hadn't even looked up from the paperwork he was working on yet.

Wilson froze halfway into the chair then slowly rose out of it, uncertain what to make of this strange situation. He stood in front of the desk while Nikolai finished whatever he was working on and put it aside.

"I require all slaves that I own or tag to report all interactions they have with people that they work around and people who give them orders during their shifts. Greg told me about your lunch with him yesterday."

Wilson smiled with relief and fond memory of the event. "Yes, I brought lunch from home, enough for two and enjoyed his company. He wasn't late to clinic, was he? I sent him out in plenty of time to get there," he asked, thinking perhaps Greg had hidden instead. He started to sit down again.

"Stand up until your are given permission to do otherwise!" Nikolai snapped.

"I don't understand why you're so angry," Wilson said, straightening up again. He was confused and becoming irritated. "I don't know what kind of story Greg fed you, but I did not hurt him, hinder him from his job, or violate your tagging rights in anyway. I fed him a good meal, even gave him a milkshake for dessert."

Nikolai got up from his chair and stalked around his desk. Wilson turned to face him. "Greg arrived on time. He is learning his place well. You on the other hand, I have grave doubts about."

"What do you mean? It wasn't all that different from what you did when Greg refused to eat the sandwich you sent me up with," Wilson explained. "Yes, I did have him strip, sit on the floor at my feet. Yes, I did strap him. But I didn't use him and I didn't have him give me a blowjob or anything. He got fed well. I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is that you specifically investigated just how much you could get away with and stay just barely within the rules that apply to tagging rights. Masturbating while having him suck on a calf's bottle of milkshake, then sucking on your thumb with cold lips and tongue while you cum. That sounds very much like a blowjob to me, even if he never took you directly into his mouth."

"You and I made an agreement, James. That you would be apprentice and learn to master a slave from me. I expected that you would be using your free time to observe and think on different training and discipline methods, not researching how to get around the rules that I laid out. I consider what you did yesterday a violation of my tagging rights and a large violation to the training agreement we have," Nikolai told him with dark disapproval.

"I didn't violate the tagging rights," Wilson asserted. "Yes, all right, I checked into them and made sure that what I had planned didn't cross the line. I told you that Greg was the reason I wanted to learn in the first place. I don't know why you're so surprised that I would try to find a way to snag some time with him and still stay within the rules," he added with exasperation. "It's not like I hurt him."

"There are other ways to hurt slaves than physically," Nikolai stated coldly. "Let me make my expectations clearer to you. While Greg is tagged by me, you will have no contact beyond that of doctor colleagues except while under my direct supervision. This means you will not leash him, engage in any sexual activity, order him to strip, flog him in anyway, gag him, or ask him to eat in any manner other than as a free person would. Is that perfectly clear to you now?"

"Perfectly," Wilson answered irritatedly. "I don't get any time with Greg as a slave unless you've agreed and are present. Fine."

"This does not bode well for your apprenticeship, you realize?"

"How so? How does this have anything to do with it?" Wilson asked, half angry and half confused.

"An apprentice must follow the instructions of the master exactly in order to learn. Especially in the beginning. If you are willing to go to such extremes to find a loophole in the tagging rules, I can only assume you will go to equal lengths to circumvent my rules as an apprentice."

"I haven't challenged your rules as an apprentice though. And even if I did, I can't be the only apprentice to ever do that," Wilson argued.

"No, there have been others. They either learned their place quickly or were thrown out of the program entirely," Nikolai answered. "Now I have to decide whether you can learn your place or if I should just cut you free right now."

"Look, I'm sorry. I miss Greg. None of the other slaves intrigue me like he does. They're all…" Wilson floundered for the right words. "They're all too submissive. Broken."

"And that explains why you could never master him properly," Nikolai returned. "You want him just obedient enough to be kept but rebellious enough to act out and prove he hasn't been broken. You must enjoy watching him be punished for his transgressions."

Wilson rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and offered a rueful smile. "Well… I do. I know I probably shouldn't but I do."

"That's not as unusual as you seem to think it is. But mishandled, overused, it can put you down a very dark and dangerous road." Nikolai contemplated Wilson for a long moment. After hearing his proclivities and his obsession with Greg, it would be safer to keep the man close, where he could keep an eye on him.

"If you submit yourself to a correction for violating my tagging rights, in spirit if not by the letter of the rules, then I will keep you on as an apprentice."

"You will? Great. What kind of correction?" Wilson asked.

"A test of willpower, James. I want you to take off your jacket, belt, tie, shoes and socks. Now."

Wilson frowned but complied, setting all the items neatly aside and looking back at Nikolai.

"Now, sit down on that chair," Nikolai said, pointing to one of two in front of his desk. "Get into a position you are comfortable in. Good. Now your task is to remain silent and still until I tell you otherwise. Do not fidget. Do not look around the room. Clear?"

"Yes, clear," Wilson answered as he settled into the chair, thinking this was silly but if that was what Nikolai demanded then so be it.

As soon as Wilson was settled and still, Nikolai returned to his seat at the desk and went back to work, ignoring Wilson just as he ignored Greg before. He set a timer on his laptop, wanting to see just how long could Wilson last this way. Ten minutes. Wilson lasted ten minutes before he started to have to stifle his desire to move, to rub his neck, move his feet, and any number of small nervous habits. Nikolai continued to ignore him, just as he would Greg although he was greatly amused at what a struggle Wilson was having. Maybe he should have strung him up like Greg, he mused. Tempting but Wilson was a free man and not a member of the Brotherhood. It was far too risky to do anything like that with him.

For his part, Wilson was finding it increasingly difficult to sit still the longer this went on. The more he tried to force himself to sit still, it seemed the more he wanted to move. And Nikolai just sat there doing paperwork. Twenty-five minutes in, Wilson was sure that this was some form of torture. He itched everywhere! Felt like something was crawling on him and the desire to leap up and scratch was almost overpowering. He was starting to sweat, getting anxious.

Nikolai had turned on the camera on his laptop, so that he could watch Wilson without actually looking up at him. Good, he had finally gone past annoyance and was actually experiencing a true correction. Nikolai opened up his email and worked so he could watch even more closely. He wanted to release him just before the point where he would jump up and break it on his own. The point was for him to comply not to fail. Another six minutes and he saw the signs building.

"You may move now, James. There's cold water in the fridge, help yourself. I'll order in some lunch for us," Nikolai said. Wilson leapt to his feet, rubbing his hands up and down his arms to get rid of the creepy crawly feeling and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Nikolai called Linda and had her go to the cafeteria to pick up two lunches while he put on some water to boil for tea.

"Okay, that was… wow. That was harder than I thought it would be," Wilson said after chugging half the bottle of water in one go.

"It can be quite hard to achieve if you aren't used to being still and silent for long periods," Nikolai acknowledged, letting him pace around the office to burn off the anxious energy he'd built up.

"Why did you have me take off these?" Wilson asked, gesturing to his clothing though he made no move to put it back on yet.

"I find it's better to remove any restrictive clothing first in this type of exercise and let the mind provide its own restrictions. And there is a degree of vulnerability raised by the removal of clothing. Ask any slave," Nikolai said with a meaningful look.

Wilson let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah that makes sense."

It took most of the meal before Wilson had burned off enough of his nervous energy to sit down and finish. Nikolai didn't react to him pacing around, nor push him to sit down and when he had finished eating, he sent him on his way.

A couple of hours later, Cuddy came into his office accompanied by an upset woman. "Mr. Airsid, this is Ms. Kennedy. She has a complaint about Dr. House."

"Ms. Kennedy," Nikolai greeted her respectfully. "Please tell me what happened."

"I came to the clinic to get treatment for a sore throat that I thought was a cold. Dr. House listened to what described then he called me an idiot and told me to stop wasting his time."

"Did he give you a diagnosis?"

"He said I strained my vocal chords at the football game last weekend."

"Did you attend the football game?"

"Yeah, it was a great game," she said breaking out into a grin. "But even if that's the reason, I don't think a doctor should have the right to call me an idiot and tell me to stop wasting his time."

"No, he certainly did not have the right to say those things to you. Let me call him down to apologize to you and I assure you, I will take disciplinary action against him."

"Okay but… I don't want him to lose his job or anything," she said with a frown.

"No, he isn't going to lose his job. But I do need to impress upon him that this type of behavior can't be tolerated."

"I'll send someone for him," Cuddy said, intending to send security up to drag him down.

"No need, he's perfectly capable of walking down here on his own," Nikolai said staring pointedly at Cuddy until she relented and nodded. He picked up the phone and called Diagnostics.

"Doctor House? Greg, I need you to come to my office right away. There's no need to change, just come down right now. Thank you."

Cuddy frowned at Nikolai but said nothing more in front of the patient. She had always had to send security to grab Greg and bring him down for punishment and Nikolai thought that he would walk down here on his own to receive it just because of the short time he'd been working with him? Not possible.

Upstairs in diagnostics, Greg set the phone back on the cradle with a trembling hand and stared at it in shock. It took about a minute for him to muster the courage to move but he forced himself to go. He was pale and shaking when he arrived at Nikolai's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Nikolai said. "Dr. House, you treated Ms. Kennedy in the clinic today. You called her an idiot and told her that she was wasting your time. This type of behavior is unacceptable to me. Apologize to Ms. Kennedy."

Greg swallowed hard and turned to face her. "I was out of line. What I said was rude and inappropriate. I'm sorry."

"Thank you for apologizing. And thank you for taking this so seriously, Mr. Airsid, Dr. Cuddy."

The woman left and Greg stayed frozen in place, knowing that there was going to be more to this than merely apologizing to a patient.

Cuddy stood up and smiled at Nikolai. "Wow. I would have put good money down that he wouldn't walk down here on his own. Whatever you've been doing is working."

"Thank you, Dr. Cuddy," Nikolai answered, getting up and moving an upholstered side chair into place directly in front of his desk. "Greg, strip down."

Greg mechanically began to remove his clothes, folding them and setting them aside on a small end table.

"Come here." Nikolai picked up a small throw pillow and held it on the back of the chair. "Bend over the chair and hold onto the front legs with your hands."

Greg licked his lips and stepped forward, getting into the position Nikolai ordered. It was awkward and a little uncomfortable although the pillow helped quite a bit. He blinked as a gag bit appeared in his field of vision then opened his mouth and bit down on it, surprised when Nikolai didn't buckle it into place.

"Do not drop the bit and keep your position until I release you, Greg."

Nikolai went back to his desk and sat down while Cuddy looked between him and Greg with some confusion.

"Aren't you going to discipline him?" she asked after it became clear that he wasn't going to do anything else.

"I am disciplining him," Nikolai said casually. "Just because it doesn't fit in with your idea of discipline, doesn't mean that I'm not doing it."

"But-" Cuddy began but subsided at a gesture from Nikolai.

"The board's ruling gave me free rein to make my own program. I'm sure it appears unconventional compared to the way your slave manager runs the hospital's program, but that program didn't work with Greg. I think his behavior overall since I tagged him demonstrates that unconventional is working for him, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, yes. Yes, it is. I'll leave you to it then," Cuddy agreed, realizing that Greg had had only one clinic complaint and no staff complaints so far under Nikolai's training. She wouldn't argue with success, especially when Nikolai's version kept Greg healthy and able to work everyday, rather than require three days recovery time in the slave ward after a judicial whipping.

Nikolai ignored Greg for well over an hour. Greg shifted around a lot as time went by, Without being physically restrained, he had to hold himself in position and couldn't relax his muscles and let restraints hold him. Even having to hold the bit was a strain. All of his muscles were screaming at him to move after the first twenty minutes but he forced himself to stay put. Finally, Nikolai got back up and came around the desk to Greg.

"Alright, stand up," he said, taking hold of his arm and supporting him as he struggled upright again. Nikolai took the bit out of his mouth. "Get yourself a bottle of water to drink. Use the restroom if you need to."

While Greg did this, Nikolai gathered his laptop and some files to work on, carried them over to the sofa and sat down. When Greg emerged from the bathroom, Nikolai crooked a finger at him to come over.

"I know this thing with Wilson yesterday and Ellis this morning put you on edge, and I understand you were anxious and frustrated. But under no circumstances will I tolerate you acting out like that. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Master Nikolai."

"Good." Nikolai pushed the coffee table out away from the sofa with his foot. "There's a yoga mat in the corner over there. Roll it out on the table top and sit down facing me. Good. Now, let's continue practicing. Turn slightly to the side, bend your knee and put your foot flat on the table. Put your arm behind you and lean on your hand. Now, remember, the idea of this position is to look seductively appealing."

"I don't think I can get it up, Master Nikolai," Greg said cautiously.

Nikolai smiled and nodded. "I'll excuse that this time. Practice the rest."

Nikolai worked while Greg practiced finding and holding appealing positions, even with Linda coming in once to discuss a few things with him for the following day. Nikolai let Greg shift around and change up positions this time, reminding him to move as smoothly as possible. Finally at four o'clock, he released him.

"Alright, get dressed and go back to diagnostics. Wrap things up for the day and be back here at five."

Greg promised to be on time and headed back to diagnostics.