"Oh, yes, I see," Olivia rolled her eyes, "Of course he didn't, just stick it in an evidence box and put it on my desk and I'll look at it in the morning, I'm not coming back in today…. Well, no, not according to the paperwork. I've got the file right here in front of me and according to the arresting officer, some rookie I've never heard of, there were two witnesses who both claim they saw…" Olivia spoke with her cell phone pressed to her ear and a small stack of files on her lap while Alex was kneeling on the floor massaging Olivia's sore feet. Olivia gently pulled her right foot out of Alex's hands and gave her the left one to massage. Alex caught Olivia's eye and tapped her lips twice with two fingers.
"Hold on a sec, Fin," Olivia pulled her phone away from her ear, "you may speak, baby girl."
"May I use the bathroom and then go downstairs to switch over the laundry, Ma'am?"
"Yes, you may. Good girl for remembering how to get my attention. Run along and come right back when you're done." Olivia instructed.
"Yes, Ma'am." Alex crawled down the hall while Olivia returned to her phone call.
Olivia sighed as she hung up the phone and turned to the next file on her lap while she waited for Alex to return from switching over the laundry. She was trying to make sense of an officer's terrible handwriting when her cell phone rang again.
"Benson." Olivia offered her typical professional greeting.
"Hey, Liv, it's me again. Barba was just here looking for you. He's on his way over, says he's got some news, so you might want to get Alex in some clothes if she isn't already." Fin said.
"She already is, but thanks for letting me know. By the way, can you let the sergeant at the desk downstairs know that Witherstead has terrible handwriting and needs to be allowed to type all of his reports from now on? He either wrote 'blunt force trauma' or 'I like cheese', but damned if I can tell the difference." Olivia replied before hanging up the phone again.
Alex returned from switching over the laundry and dropped to her knees to assume her position kneeling at Olivia's feet.
"Little one, can you make sense of what this says?"
"Something about three-cheese pizza?" Alex guessed, peering at the spot on the page Olivia was pointing at.
"This guy should have been a doctor instead of a police officer. Anyway, Fin just told me that Barba is on his way over with some kind of news."
"Should I make some coffee to offer him?" Alex asked.
"So polite. That's a great idea, baby." Olivia smiled.
"Ma'am? Something happened while I was downstairs. I'm probably going to be in trouble, but you always say you would rather hear about my behavior from me instead of from someone else." Alex admitted hesitantly with a light blush. Olivia raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I am proud of you for confessing on your own and not trying to hide it from me. What happened?"
"While I was in the laundry room, I ran into-"
Alex was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"We can discuss it after Barba leaves. Answer the door." Olivia said, getting up from the couch.
"Yes, Ma'am." Alex stood to her feet and went to open the door.
"Good afternoon, ladies." Barba greeted as he walked into the apartment.
"Hey, Barba. Do you want some coffee?" Olivia asked.
"No, thanks. I can't stay long, I just popped in to let you know that the criminal trial against Dave Kloss and Michaela Brightman has been set for two weeks from tomorrow, and I guess they liked the way John Buchanan handled himself during Alex's placement trial even though he lost, because they hired him to be their defense attorney. Now, I have to warn you that this trial is going to be a lot different than the last one. There will be a jury of twelve instead of just the judge and instead of it just being a one day trial it could potentially drag on for several days depending on a variety of factors like how many people get called to testify, what kind of tricks Buchanan decides to pull out of his sleeve, and things like that."
"They can't take me away again, can they?" Alex began to visibly tremble and Olivia was by her side in an instant.
"Nobody is ever going to take you away from me again, sweetheart. Never again." Olivia assured her, tenderly kissing Alex's temple.
"This trial has nothing to do with your placement, Alex. You will go to the courthouse for several hours each day and when you leave, you will leave with Olivia and come back here to your apartment to live your daily life." Barba assured her.
"Little one, go to the bedroom and wait for me kneeling by the bed. I'm going to see Barba out and then I'll be right there in a few minutes and we can continue our discussion from before."
"Yes, Ma'am." Alex disappeared down the hall.
"Oh my God." Olivia moaned when Alex was out of sight.
"Did I miss something?" Barba asked.
"She has refused to step foot outside of this building since her placement trial, and now you expect me to work a miracle and get her comfortable with being dragged all the way down to the courthouse in two weeks? She won't even walk to the coffee shop, never mind going all the way downtown."
"Well, if she doesn't show up in court, the judge can subpoena her to make an appearance, and if she still doesn't show, she can be arrested for contempt of court. She was a lawyer, she knows that. And if she doesn't show, Dave and Michaela and everybody else who hurt her wins, and I know that isn't what she wants. I know her, she wants to see justice served just as much as the rest of us do. You're her Mistress, you know her better than anyone else, you'll figure out a way to help her. I'm due back in court in an hour. Enjoy the rest of your day."
Barba left then and Olivia sighed as she walked down the hall to the bedroom to find Alex obediently kneeling by the side of the bed with her hands behind her back gripping her elbows. Olivia sat down and held out her hands. Alex obediently offered Olivia her wrists and Olivia held them in a strong, dominant grip that made Alex feel safe. Olivia gently glided her thumb across the delicate skin of Alex's wrist, inconspicuously searching for Alex's pulse.
"I'm sorry our conversation got interrupted, little one. We are going to talk about the news we just heard and your feelings about it, but for right now I want to hear what you were trying to tell me when Barba arrived." Olivia said kindly.
"While I was in the laundry room, I ran into Cheryl, the neighbor from downstairs who doesn't like us. She started in on me again and I may have cursed her out rather loudly."
"You may have or you did?"
"I did. There were several people in the laundry room who heard me. I'm sorry, Ma'am." Alex hung her head in shame.
"Look at me, little girl. As I said before, I am proud of you for coming right to me and confessing on your own and not trying to hide it from me. With that said, I am disappointed in your behavior. I know Cheryl isn't one of our favorite people, but I expect you to treat our neighbors with the same respect you show me. If Cheryl or anyone else is disrespectful to you, I don't expect you to just lie down and take it without standing up for yourself, what I expect you to do is come tell me and let me handle it. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am. Do I have to sleep by myself tonight?" Alex asked sadly.
Olivia thought for a moment. Before Alex was kidnapped, the rule had always been that if Alex got a punishment spanking, then that night she slept by herself on her mattress on the floor instead of in the bed with her Mistress. When they found Alex locked in the warehouse, she had been made to sleep on an old, grimy, worn out mattress for six weeks. Olivia knew that she had to stay consistent with rules and punishments, but she didn't want being made to sleep on her mattress to send Alex spiraling into a flashback or a panic attack. There had to be a balance between strictness and compassion or Alex would be the one who suffered.
"We'll see how well you accept your punishment, and tonight at bedtime we'll see where you're at mentally and emotionally, then I'll decide. Stand up. Do you understand why you're being punished?"
"Yes, Ma'am. Because I was disrespectful and cursed out a neighbor." Alex stood to her feet.
Olivia pulled Alex's jeans and panties down to her knees and Alex obediently draped herself across Olivia's lap in the familiar position, offering her naughty bare bottom for her first real punishment spanking since her placement trial, only her second punishment spanking since she had been rescued from the warehouse, and laid her head down on the bed, forcing herself to relax her bottom muscles without being told. Alex had been getting plenty of warning spanks, and had been slippered once for failing to complete all of her chores, but even that hadn't been a true punishment spanking, that was just part of training. Olivia raised up her strong right hand and brought it down sharply on the bare bottom draped over her lap, quickly falling into a steady, punishing rhythm, making Alex wince at the sharp sting. When Alex's bottom was blushing a healthy shade of pink, Olivia picked up the wooden hairbrush that Alex hated with a passion.
"OWIE!" Alex yelped as the hairbrush connected sharply with her bottom, gripping the bed sheets until her knuckles were white to resist the urge to reach back and cover herself. Reaching back during a spanking was never allowed.
Finally, Alex went limp across Olivia's lap, her punished bottom a deep shade of cherry red. The spanking was immediately over and Olivia threw down the hairbrush as if it had burned her.
"Get up when you want to, baby." Olivia reached underneath Alex's shirt to gently rub her heaving back.
Alex indulged in her sobbing for a while before slowly pushing herself up from Olivia's lap. Her tears increased when Olivia led her into the bathroom and Alex had to plant her freshly spanked bottom on the hard porcelain of the toilet seat lid. Alex watched as Olivia prepared a cloth with soap suds, knowing full well what was about to happen. Olivia placed her hand on the back of Alex's neck as if drawing her to her.
"Open."
Alex hesitated for only a split second before she squeezed her eyes closed and obediently opened her mouth. Olivia scrubbed the inside of Alex's mouth, including her tongue, the sides of her mouth, and against her teeth. Alex gagged on the foul taste of ivory. Aside from lying, using disrespectful language was always punished with a mouthsoaping. Olivia removed the cloth and put the bar of soap in Alex's mouth. Alex was allowed to rest her head on Olivia's hip while Olivia held her hand to support her through it and gently stroked Alex's long blonde hair. Alex whimpered as tears fell from her remorseful baby blue eyes.
"Leave it." Olivia scolded sternly when Alex started to reach up toward her mouth.
Alex looked up at Olivia pleadingly with fresh tears streaming down her face.
"I know, baby. I don't like this either, but I want you to remember how awful that taste in your mouth is the next time you are tempted to use disrespectful language, whether it's with Cheryl or anyone else. You are intelligent and beautiful, you don't need to use that kind of ugly language to get your point across. Do you understand?"
Alex nodded, unable to speak with the soap in her mouth.
"That's my good girl. Three more minutes, then this whole thing will be over and forgiven."