Chapter 29 - Voyeurs

"Oh my god!" Piper blew out a breath and turned to Curie, who had a similar look of shock upon her face as well.

The two of them had worked their way, quietly, as close to the professor's house as they could, without running the risk of being spotted. However, when Nate had opened the shutter to the bay window, the girls had slowly crawled to a perfect hiding spot just across the road, outside the front of the house. They had frozen when Cait had come outside to cut some switches, Curie visibly wincing as she imagined what they would feel like. However, by lying still and using some foliage as cover, they both had a clear view into the library, and were able to watch Cait's entire punishment. Currently the girls lay, open mouthed as they watched their Irish companion, curled up in Nate's lap, passionately kissing her punisher.

"This is the second time I have had to watch something so incredibly hot, and again, I am not involved." Piper stated sulkily.

"I am not sure you would want to be involved in that," Curie exclaimed rather too loudly, "look at the colour of Cait's poor backside, she will not be sitting for weeks!"

"But still, it was so…" Piper sighed dreamily.

"Come on, let us go before Nate sees us, or it won't just be Cait who has the problem sitting down." Curie tapped the leg of her companion as she began to slowly crawl backwards, away from their hiding position.

Piper delayed for a few more seconds, enjoying the view of her two friends lost in their passionate embrace, before carefully crawling away herself.

Back at the boat Piper and Curie quickly stashed their kit and readied the boat for departure. It wasn't long before they could see Nate and Cait walking up the road to the boathouse.

"Ha!" Piper laughed, "she has just had the hiding of her life and look at the spring in her step." She indicated to the couple walking towards them.

"You don't think that has anything to do with the kiss she has just received?" Curie smiled back.

Piper playfully pushed her companion's arm, "you romantic sop, you." She grinned.

As Nate and Cait arrived at the boat, Piper and Curie were busying themselves with nothing, in such an awkward and contrived way, that it would have been obvious to a blind man that they had been watching.

"Curie," Nate asked, "Can I ask you to take a look at Cait, just to make sure she is ok, please?"

"Looking at Cait, what do you mean?" Curie responded, a guilty expression on her face. Then realising what it was Nate was actually asking, she blushed and answered, "of course."

"I am fine," stated Cait, "I am not made of glass you know." She exclaimed.

"We all know that." Nate smiled at her, "but I still would like Curie just to make sure you are ok. I wouldn't want that lovely butt of yours to get any permanent marks."

Cait gave Nate a salacious grin, "you will have to rub it better then, won't you," Cait purred.

Piper laughed, "Get a room you two!"

Cait and Curie went into the accommodation section of the boat as Nate turned to Piper. "Everything quiet whilst we were gone?" Nate grinned knowingly at the reporter.

Piper paused, looking at Nate and blushing. 'Crap!' she thought, he knows.

"Erm, yeah, everything quiet, you know, as usual, nothing to see." Piper began digging her hole in earnest.

Nate stopped stowing his kit into the wheelhouse lockers and raised an eyebrow at Piper. She looked away, blushing an even deeper scarlet.

"We didn't …." Piper stammered, "It was just that we wanted…" Struggling with an explanation, she gave up and lowered her eyes.

"It's fine." Nate stated, smiling at Piper. "Of course you two were going to want to watch, it's only natural."

"I'm sorry, we just wanted to …" Piper began.

"Listen," Nate held up his hand, "I get it." He moved to stand in front of Piper, resting his hands on her folded arms. "Not only are two of your friends becoming … well … more than friends, but also your team leader is dating one of the soldiers."

Piper smiled, "Well I wouldn't have put it quite like that, but you can always rely on a military man to take the romance out of a situation." Piper paused, "Yes, it is quite a change but one that has been coming for a while now."

Nate looked surprised. "What do you mean, 'coming for a while now'?"

Curie came out of the accommodation block and joined the two as they were stood next to the lit brazier. "Oh come on, Blue!" Piper smiled, "You two have been going doe-eyed over each other for weeks now."

Nate stood open mouthed for a few seconds, enough time for Curie to jump in. "I have given Cait some Calendula cream and told her to lie on your bed for a little while, to let the cream work. Oh, and yes, when Piper told me what to look for, you two have been super sweet and very romantic to each other." Curie sighed wistfully.

"Like fuck have we…!" Came the voice from inside the accommodation block. Cait obviously able to hear the conversation.

Nate nodded, "Yeah, exactly when have we been doing all this romantic stuff?" he folded his arms defensively.

Piper sighed as if explaining something to a pair of very slow children. "Well," she held up her fingers as if checking off a list. "The lingering touch on the shoulder when you pass each other. Ha! Yes, then there are the eyes you have for each other when we are on the road. The catching a look when the other is getting dressed."

"Yes, this I see also." Curie jumped in enthusiastically.

"The hugs as well. You know, those ones you give each other even when Cait hasn't just had a tanning." Piper continued.

"And at home, when you brush past each other, it is so adorable." Curie clapped her hands with delight. She then began acting out a scene where she squeezed, first coquettishly, and then suggestively past an imaginary person, grinning and nodding a silent apology as she did.

"We are that obvious?" Cait said softly as she stood naked at the door of the sleeping quarters.

"You will catch your death," fussed Curie, shooing the Irish girl back into the warmth of their cabin.

"See!" Piper laughed and pointed to Nate, "That look!" It was clear Piper was referring to where Nate's eyes had been the moment Cait appeared at the doorway and when she had returned back inside. "You look at Cait as if she was an inviting meal." Then Piper pulled a face, "Ew! No, I don't mean that, wrong phrase, but you know what I mean." She stated.

On hearing that, a laugh came from inside, "Give me time, Piper." Cait responded lasciviously.

Nate made his way into the cabin. "Give you time for what?" he asked.

"Nothing honey, just girl talk, that's all." Cait smiled as she stretched out on Nates bed, lying on her front. "Curie was impressed, she said you had done a thorough job." She grinned, propping herself up on her elbows and turning to look down to her bottom, which was now very shiny due to Curie's application of cream. She gently brushed the fingers of her left hand over the still very obvious welts. The colours on Cait's bottom had died down a bit and now the entire area was painted various shades of red. The middle section of each cheek was the darkest part, just over her sit bones. This was the area Nate had used the wooden spoon on and it was obvious that this part of Cait's bottom would be sporting some impressive bruises for a few days to come. Around that area there were other splotches of burgundy and red, with both cheeks striped with multiple lines from the birch rod. The tips and the areas where strokes had crossed were a much darker, almost purple in colour. Nate had to admit that the picture he had in front of him was of a very well punished bottom indeed.

"Well, although I do say so myself, I am quite impressed with my handiwork." Nate grinned. Curie left the cabin to take Piper a cup of coffee, and Nate crossed over to sit on the end of his bed. "But not half as impressed as I am with you." He said softly, resting a hand on one of Cait's legs. "You took my breath away."

"As did you, Mister," Cait said quietly as she rolled on to her side, reaching up to kiss him. She then winced, "but you will be finding me on my best behaviour for a good few weeks," she laughed carefully touching her well punished rear.

"Hmm," Nate grinned as he looked hungrily at Cait, "that would be a real shame." He leant in for another kiss.

"Oh no you don't," Cait pushed Nate away, "I am not lying on my back for all the tea in China right now." She grimaced, as she returned to lying on her stomach.

"Well, seeing as I can't take advantage of you in your weakened state, I guess I shall have to get the boat moving." Nate smiled.

Cait flung Nate's pillow at him, "I'll give you weakened state!", she pouted.

"That's my pillow, I sleep on that!" Nate scolded as he scooped it up from the floor and began brushing off imagined dust and dirt.

"Our pillow now, darling." Cait smiled.

Piper, Curie and Nate cast off from the jetty at Taffington Boat House and Piper navigated the Red Wave back down the Malden River and out on to the Mystic River. Whilst the Finch's farm was situated almost exactly due east from the boathouse, the Red Wave had to travel south past Boston Airport and Fort Strong, before turning North and up to Gibson Point Pier. The trip took the remainder of the day, with Piper navigating, Nate took first watch on the top deck. As he scanned the far horizon for signs of threats, he couldn't help smiling to himself at the recent turn of events. The myriad of emotions coursing through his body was making his heart thump in his chest.

Not only had he been asked by Cait to punish her so severely that she screamed, but then the two of them had released months of pent-up feelings with a kiss. Alongside the rush of adrenaline that session with Cait had given him, he ached to be able to continue that embrace. As he stood there on watch, replaying the events in his mind, his body began to react to this rush of emotions and feelings. He also couldn't help but feel guilty. Picturing the stricken and screaming girl, her bottom a mish mash of lumps and bumps, welts and bruises, and all having been given by his hand.

After the kiss, Nate had cradled the still sobbing Cait in his arms for a long while, just holding her tight. He had eventually asked if she was ok, feeling the question was a little stupid after what she had gone through. However, when she finally answered, she simply kissed him again and said, 'thank you'. He wanted to talk to her fully now, to ask her a million questions about what had happened. Was she really ok, did he go too far, did she find what she was looking for? And then there was the kiss. He guessed that meant they were officially a couple but what did that mean and were the others genuinely cool about it? Heading north and under something of a time constraint, maybe he could grab all the girls before they headed back home and discover their true feelings. He smiled, this was definitely a wine and whiskey type of conversation.

Nate also thought about Nora, his childhood sweetheart and first love. Having discovered her murder close to a year ago, what would she think of him and Cait. He chuckled to himself remembering a chat the two of them had when Nate was about to go on his last deployment with the Army. As always Nate had ensured his will had been signed and on their traditional date night before deployment, she had laughed when Nate asked if she would date again should he be killed in action.

"I am not intending on losing you." She had said, "if you ever died, I would find you and kill you myself, again."

Nate knew she was always fearful just before a deployment, but here they were, discussing his final operation with the military.

"No but I am serious," Nate continued, "if anything ever happened to me, I would want you to find love again, move on, you know."

Nora had smiled and reached up to Nate's cheek. "I would always carry you with me, whatever happened, but if I am agreeing to eventually find new love then you have to agree as well. This works both ways, you know." She mimicked Nate's voice for the last two words.

"Are you mimicking me, young lady?" Nate asked suggestively.

"Maybe I am, and what are you going to do about it?" Nora had answered back.

'Maybe I have always been a spanko, then' Nate thought to himself as he enjoyed his reminiscing. Curie came up the stairs to join him, as she brought him a coffee. The afternoon was overcast and the wind had built up as the boat had rounded Fort Strong. The warmth was a welcome relief.

"Thank you," Nate smiled, as he cradled the mug in both hands. "Can I ask you something?" He continued.

"Of course." Curie responded, coming to sit on the stool next to where Nate was stood. Nate noticed she had brought her own coffee, so was probably planning on keeping Nate company anyway.

"I know you and Piper were watching us at the Professors house," Nate began.

"I am so sorry, monsieur, I know we shouldn't have but…" Curie began to stammer an apology, real worry etched on her face. Nate smiled to himself at Curie's reaction. It had been just under a year since the girls and Nate had begun using discipline in their relationship, and often Nate would take for granted the way the girls reacted around him, when one or more of them were potentially in trouble. However, on occasion the actions of one of them would remind him of exactly why they were responding in that way. Curie, especially would be like this if she thought she was about to receive a spanking, her sincere apology would be her attempt at avoiding her punishment. Cait was usually bolshy and defiant when she knew she was in trouble and Piper would try a mixture of flattery and debate to try to wrangle her way out of a hiding. Curie was, by far, the most open and honest, often crying real tears of remorse before eventually accepting her fate.

Nate looked at Curie and smiled reassuringly, "It's ok, I am not angry at you." He took a sip of his coffee.

"You are not?" Curie asked in surprise, "I am not going to get punished?"

Nate chuckled, placing his mug down he took hold of Curies right hand. She also placed her mug down and turned on her stool to face Nate, a remorseful look on her face.

"No, I am not angry at you and no you are not going to get punished." Nate confirmed. "I am not at all surprised you both came to watch, and I am very glad you did." He squeezed her hands.

"You wanted us to watch so we would promise to be good and never earn what Cait got?" Curie blurted out nervously.

"No," Nate smiled at Curie's honesty, "I like the fact that you came to watch because that would tell me that you cared for Cait and wanted to make sure she was ok. That is why you followed us, wasn't it?" Nate asked.

Curie looked down, "Yes, both of us wanted to make sure she was safe, but I also wanted to try to work out why she had asked for a punishment." Curie shrugged. "I knew she wasn't in danger or anything like that, she was with you, but when you started I …" Curie shook her head, "I just couldn't work out why she would want such treatment to make her feel better." Curie paused, as if collecting her thoughts. "What you did, and how she reacted, it all looked so …"

"Harsh?" Nate finished her sentence. Curie nodded. "Having witnessed the thrashing I gave Cait this morning, I am not surprised you have questions, but I fear most of the answers are complicated and perhaps best got from Cait." Nate picked up his drink and faced out to sea. "Cait is the most magnificent, strong, beautiful, annoyingly stubborn woman I have ever met, and I am sure I have been in love with her for months now." Nate said softly, Curie smiling at the comment.

"She is, however, also someone who has a different relationship with violence than you, Piper or myself. She has known one sort of violence or another almost her entire life, and so it is not surprising that it is a language she is most comfortable speaking." Nate looked at Curie, "I am no psychologist, but I wonder if violence is now an integral part of who Cait is, but for the first time in her life, she gets to control it for her own use, rather than have it used to control her?"

Curie nodded, "Yes, I can see how Cait would want to turn the tables on that."

"You were the one who understood a potential physiological explanation for Cait's feelings, just after she had been spanked, you know, that feeling of being high?" Nate remembered back to Cait's explanation to the team, of why she might sometimes ask for a punishment. Curie nodded in agreement before Nate continued. "Well, isn't Cait asking for a punishment, her way of gaining, not only control over her need to feel violence, but a way to gain enjoyment from it?"

Curie shrugged, "Maybe, but I am not sure how much a person can control how endorphins and adrenaline make them feel when receiving a punishment spanking." Then she blushed, "I know I hate getting spanked and it hurts when I do. Yes, I feel better afterwards, with much less guilt, but I cannot say I have ever enjoyed getting punished. I can't see how anyone can." Curie looked at Nate wide eyed. "And I cannot say that Cait looked like she was enjoying what you gave her this morning?"

"I am not saying that Cait asked for this morning's punishment because she could in someway 'enjoy it', but I think she is enjoying the feelings since." Nate answered.

"Because you kissed her afterwards?" Curie asked innocently.

Nate laughed again, "No, nothing like that. I mean she is enjoying the feeling of having forgiven herself." He stated. "After what happened at the Saugus Iron Works, she was so overwhelmed with guilt that she was convinced that only a severe punishment, at my hands, would be enough to allow her to forgive herself."

Curie nodded in understanding, "this is more of her controlling the narrative. She is using the physical discipline we have implemented, amongst us four, to make herself feel good within herself. If you follow what I mean?"

"Yes, I believe that it is exactly that." Nate agreed. "Your relationship with corporal punishment is what I would call reactionary. Yes, you have admitted that you often think about it to keep you on track, but when you are punished, you react to the punishment by hating the actual spanking but feeling better afterwards, is that fair?" Nate asked.

"Yes." Answered Curie.

"For Cait, however, when she is punished by me, she doesn't get to set the agenda, to decide on what she gets and how severe it is." Nate smiled, "It is as if it doesn't really matter what I think or whether I am satisfied you girls have paid for a mistake after you are punished. If Cait doesn't feel like she has paid an adequate price, she will be back asking me for more."

"… and so she will be taking control of the narrative." Curie nodded in understanding.

"Exactly!" Stated Nate, "I am sure neither you or Piper will ever critique my spanking skills, and just after a punishment, come back and ask for more." Curie laughed at that as Nate continued, "but I am going to have to accept that Cait may well do just that on more than one occasion."

"So, is she doing it to be bad, to be … difficult?" Curie asked, obviously searching for the right word.

"No," Nate smiled at the thought of that, "I don't believe she is being bad or difficult, I think she is just being … well … Cait."

"And how will this change, now that you two are an item?" Curie asked.

"A fair question," Nate replied, "it is my earnest wish that nothing changes, even though we are now an item. We will definitely have to sit down and chat about this, maybe over one of your incredible suppers, Curie, but I have no intention of changing anything, that's for sure."

"Even if you have to punish Cait and she doesn't want her spanking?" Curie asked cheekily.

"Even if I have to punish Cait when she doesn't want it," replied Nate. "My wish to keep you all safe and away from harm won't change now that Cait and I are an item, so I won't suddenly be going soft on her. If anything, I should be going harder on her than you two." Nate smiled.

"That sounds fine to me," Curie laughed back.

"But in all seriousness, I see no reason why anything has to change except maybe the sleeping arrangements, but I guess we will have to speak about that as well."

As dusk settled, the boat navigated past Gibson point and into the small cove next to the Finch's Farm. The team soon had the Red Wave tied off and were packed and ready for their march north. They quickly checked in with the Finch family, retrieving their stash of loot they had gained from their last trip north, that they had asked Abraham to look after, and were on the road by eight that evening. The walk would, if there weren't held up, bring them to Parsons around midnight.