"Do I have any restrictions today, Ma'am?" Alex asked, looking up from the restaurant's breakfast menu in her hand. Since they were in a restaurant, Alex couldn't kneel at Olivia's feet and be fed by hand as she usually was, so giving Olivia the authority to choose what she was going to eat was Alex's way of submitting in public. Waiting for Olivia's answer, Alex tried to focus on her Mistress's kind eyes instead of the crowd of people sitting around them. In reality, no one was paying any attention to her at all, but Alex couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was staring at her.
"You may choose whatever you would like to eat, but I want you to have fruit with your breakfast this morning. What kind of fruit you want is your choice. You can have a cappuccino if you want one or you can have milk or orange juice, no soda and no alcohol. And you can have bacon, no sausage." Olivia laid out the rules, knowing how much Alex craved structure.
"Does it count if the fruit is inside pancakes?" Alex asked hopefully, her mouth already watering.
"Yes, it does." Olivia smiled indulgently.
"Good morning, ladies. Can I start you off with something to drink?" a waitress walked up to their table and offered a friendly smile.
"I'll have a small coffee, please." Olivia said, and then looked over at Alex, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze when the blonde hesitated fearfully, suddenly feeling like no matter what answer she gave it was going to be the wrong one and Olivia was going to be angry and punish her.
"Actually, scratch that. Could you give us a few extra minutes, please?" Olivia requested kindly.
"Yes, of course." the waitress nodded and walked away.
"Look at me, baby love." Olivia gently caressed the side of Alex's face until fearful baby blues clashed with gentle chocolate brown orbs, "You're perfectly safe, my angel. This isn't a big deal, it's just breakfast. You know your rules, so no matter what answer you give will be the right answer and you aren't going to be in any trouble, I promise. Let's review the rules: you can choose whatever you would like to eat as long as there is fruit somewhere on your plate. What kind of fruit you want is your choice. You can have cappuccino, milk, or orange juice to drink, no soda and no alcohol. And you can have bacon, no sausage. Can you repeat all of that back to me in your own words?"
Alex did as she was told and obediently repeated her list of rules.
"One more time." Olivia instructed.
Once again, Alex did as she was told, visibly more relaxed as she gazed into Olivia's eyes and saw nothing but honesty.
"That's my good girl." Olivia praised lovingly and looked around until she caught the waitress's eye.
After breakfast, Alex moved to Olivia's right side without having to be reminded as they left the restaurant to walk home. Olivia slipped her hand into Alex's and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Ma'am?" Alex asked as they walked.
"Yes, baby?" Olivia smiled.
"I'm sorry I got scared in there." Alex blushed lightly.
"You don't have a single thing to be sorry for, my love. It's okay to be scared sometimes, you've been through a lot and it's going to take some time to heal. That's what Dr. Lindstrom is here for and, more importantly, that's what I'm here for, to teach you that you can trust me to take care of you and that even though you are under my authority, it's okay to make some decisions for yourself. That's what training is all about, it's about building trust. Speaking of training, when we get home, we'll get started on position drilling now that your knees are completely healed and you don't need Monique's pillow to kneel on anymore."
"Yes, Ma'am."
When they arrived home, Alex stripped out of her clothes, leaving her in her bra and panties as Olivia closed and locked the door behind them. Olivia spent a lot of time patiently teaching Alex to assume different positions; kneeling with her bottom resting on her heels and her hands resting on her thighs with her palms facing the ceiling, kneeling up on her knees with her feet together and her hands grasping her elbows behind her back, lying flat on her belly with her arms wrapped around Olivia's ankles and her forehead resting on Olivia's feet, kneeling with her face on the floor and her bottom raised up in the air, down on all fours with her back straight, standing with her feet shoulder-width apart and her hands on her head, and countless other positions. Each time Alex assumed a position correctly, she was rewarded with verbal praise and a piece of chocolate. If she assumed a position incorrectly, she received one sharp pop on her bottom with the wooden spoon from the kitchen and Olivia made her do it over again twice. By the time Alex's training session was finished for the day, her bottom was a vibrant shade of red, but she had received more chocolate than spanks and Olivia was pleased.
"That's my good girl. You did so well, baby." Olivia praised lovingly.
Feeling tired and surprisingly emotional, Alex crawled into Olivia's lap to be held and Olivia welcomed her with open arms, gently rocking her and showering Alex with praise while the blonde whimpered on her shoulder.
"It's okay, lovey, you can cry it out if you need to. I'm right here to hold you. I'm so proud of you, baby girl." Olivia soothed, gently rubbing Alex's spanked bottom.
"Thank you for loving me, Ma'am." Alex said softly.
"It's my pleasure, honey. I will always love my good girl." Olivia smiled.
"It's just that… well… I feel like I'm broken, and I keep expecting you to get tired of me and put me in the car to take me back to Kincaid just to be rid of me, but you spend all your time training me and reassuring me. You wouldn't spend so much time on me if you didn't love me, but I don't understand why you love me. They ruined me… so many men… they just… ruined me..." Alex's lower lip trembled.
"Look at me, little one. Now." Olivia spoke a little more sternly and Alex's head snapped up.
"I will spend the rest of my life reassuring you, baby. I'll reassure you a million times a day if that's what you need me to do to help you feel safe, and I will never get tired of reassuring you. You are so loved and so treasured, and nothing will ever change that. I will love you until there isn't a single breath left in my body, and then I will figure out some way to keep on loving you. You are not broken, and you are certainly not ruined. I know you were hurt, baby, and I won't rest until every single man who hurt you is held responsible for his actions. But in my eyes, it doesn't matter how many men there were, you are still my good and sweet little Alex no matter what. It doesn't matter to me if you decide that you never want to go to the club again or if you decide you never want to have sex again. If you decide that you want to focus solely on service submission, I will be fine with that. I love you, not your body, and we will be okay no matter what happens. I love you simply because you're you. I promised you that I would never let anybody hurt you again. That promise includes me. I will never hurt you by taking something from you that you haven't given to me of your own free will. Well, except your ability to sit. So let's try to stay out of mischief for a while, okay?" Olivia gently patted Alex's bottom, and Alex laughed, successfully reassured for the time being.
"Welllllllllllll, I'll think about it." Alex replied in the brattiest tone she could muster. Now it was Olivia's turn to laugh.
"Oh, you'll think about it, will you? Come here, you little brat!" Olivia teased.
Alex gasped in surprise as Olivia flipped her across her lap right there on the couch, pulled her panties down, and began to spank her already spanked bottom with her strong right hand.
"Ouch!" Alex squealed through laughter.
"Naughty, naughty little girl. If you need to think about it, you can just think about it while you're over my knee." Olivia scolded, her tone completely playful, reassuring Alex that she wasn't in any real trouble.
Alex's laughter gradually gave way to tears in a much-needed emotional release. Olivia was a very attentive Mistress and could sense that her sweet little Alex needed another good, long, cleansing cry over her lap and so she willingly gave Alex what she needed even though Alex hadn't asked her for it. Fairly regular stress-relief spankings were imperative to Alex's emotional and mental well-being, and she hadn't had one since the day she came home from her placement trial, so it was time for another one.
"That's my good girl. Just cry it out, little one." Olivia encouraged when Alex began to sob.
Without thinking, Alex reached back to cover her bottom. Olivia took Alex's hand and held it securely in the small of her back.
"No." Olivia sternly popped each of Alex's thighs with the wooden spoon twice, making Alex yelp, before resuming the spanking with her hand on Alex's bottom. Alex knew better than to reach back during any spanking, whether it was for punishment or for stress-relief. It was something that she rarely did because she simply knew better, but after spending six weeks in captivity Olivia knew that Alex would need to be lovingly reminded of her rules and it would take a while before Alex no longer felt the need to test the rules.
Alex eventually laid limp across her Mistress's lap, sobbing with all the abandon of a small child and Olivia knew that it was time to bring the spanking to a proper end. She delivered ten final spanks to the fullness of Alex's bottom and then it was over.
"Up or off, little one?" Olivia inquired lovingly.
"Off." Alex sobbed, knowing that Olivia was talking about her panties.
Olivia took Alex's panties from around her legs and set them aside.
"That's my good girl. You can lie here as long as you want to, baby. It's all over. Get up when you want to." Olivia gently stroked Alex's long blonde hair and heaving back to soothe her.
Alex sobbed for quite a while before she felt strong enough to push herself up from Olivia's lap and crawled back into Olivia's arms to finish shedding her tears on Olivia's shoulder. Olivia gently wiped away the last of Alex's tears with her thumb. Alex's baby blue eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying as she yawned tiredly.
"My sweet baby, you had a good cry. Go to our room and I want you to crawl into bed and lie down for at least an hour. If you can't sleep, then just lie quietly and rest. No reading and no phone. Don't forget to take your bra off before you lie down."
"Yes, Ma'am." Alex sleepily stood up from Olivia's lap. She put her phone on the coffee table to avoid temptation and went to the bedroom for her nap. She crawled into bed without taking her bra off and quickly fell asleep on her belly.
About fifteen minutes later, Olivia quietly entered the bedroom to put away laundry, being careful not to disturb her sleeping submissive. When she saw Alex lying in bed wearing her bra, Olivia rolled her eyes, but decided to just let Alex sleep. They would discuss it later. She might have been willing to overlook it since Alex was so exhausted, except it had been the last thing Olivia had said to her before Alex came in to lie down and Alex had given an affirmative response, so Olivia knew that Alex understood the rule.
Alex's eyes fluttered open and she gazed about the room until her eyes landed on the clock. She had slept for over an hour, but she had clearly needed the rest. She winced a little as she sat up, having forgotten about her spanked bottom. She got out of bed and went crawling down the hall in search of Olivia. She found the brunette detective sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and reading the newspaper. Olivia looked up when Alex came crawling toward her.
"Position four." Olivia ordered, watching carefully to see what Alex would do.
Alex obediently assumed the correct position at Olivia's feet.
"I see you're still wearing your bra, young lady." Olivia observed.
Alex suddenly paled, knowing that she had been caught breaking one of her rules.
"What's the rule, young lady?" Olivia inquired.
"I'm not allowed to wear a bra or panties in bed, Ma'am." Alex admitted.