A/N: Gracie gets a spanking when she gets caught playing with a knife in the kitchen.
"'Manda, wha's dat?" Gracie asked as she sidled up to the counter and watched Amanda chopping up various ingredients.
"Well, it's almost time for our lunch, and Mommy told me that you really like spaghetti. When I make spaghetti, I like to make the sauce myself, so I'm chopping up all the ingredients I need to put in the sauce. This is garlic, these are onions, and right now I'm chopping up mushrooms."
"I loves 'shrooms in sketti! I help?" Gracie's dazzling blue eyes lit up happily.
"Oh, this knife is very sharp, baby, it would be very dangerous if you cut yourself. You should never handle knives by yourself unless it's one of your pretend knives from your toy kitchen. But you can help me a lot by taking the tomatoes to the sink and rinsing them with water for me, please." Amanda replied, pointing to the tomatoes.
Gracie happily picked up the tomatoes and carried them over to the sink. She paused for a moment in thought and remembered that Mommy had taught her that the cold water was on the right hand and the hot water was on the left hand, just like the sink in the bathroom. She reached for the correct faucet and turned on the cold water, rinsing the tomatoes thoroughly and then turning off the water and taking the tomatoes back over to the counter where Amanda stood.
"Such a good girl." Amanda praised with a smile, remembering Olivia telling her how important it was for Gracie to know when she had done right.
While she made the spaghetti sauce, Amanda listened patiently to Gracie babble happily about all the things little girls love to talk about. She chuckled when Gracie started asking her random questions, barely giving her enough time to answer one before moving on to the next.
"My goodness, we are little miss curious today, aren't we?" Amanda teased, giving Gracie's belly a gentle tickle and making the little one giggle.
"Mommy says is good to ask questions. Dat means I's learning."
"That's true, it's good to learn as much as we can. Mommy is very wise." Amanda agreed.
Amanda gently placed Gracie's bib around her neck and Gracie happily ate her lunch, still babbling away, and she smiled when Amanda gave her a cookie as a reward for finishing her plate just like Mommy would. When lunch was over, Amanda gently wiped Gracie's face and carried the tired little one to her room where she cuddled Gracie on her lap and read several of Gracie's favorite stories. She then tucked Gracie into bed with Jewel clutched in her arms and gently rubbed her satisfied belly until she fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. Gracie smiled softly as she fell asleep, thinking that Amanda rubbed her belly almost as good as Mommy did. Amanda quietly left the room and went out to sit on the couch, turning the TV on low volume to catch up on the news while she waited for Gracie to wake up.
A little over an hour later, Gracie's dazzling blue eyes fluttered open and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stretched. With renewed energy, the brunette little one reached over to pick up a pacifier and popped it into her mouth as she got out of bed and went in search of Amanda with Jewel still clutched in her arms.
"'Manda, I's wet." Gracie blushed lightly, the big girl side of herself unsure as to how this news was going to be received. Duarte had always beaten her whenever she wet her diaper, despite the fact that he was the one who encouraged her to use them in the first place. In contrast, Mommy never seemed to mind when she wet her diaper, Mommy simply changed her into a dry diaper and they moved on with their day. Gracie hoped that Amanda would take a page out of Mommy's book and wouldn't be angry with her.
"Well, let's go take care of that right now, sweetie. We don't want you to get a rash." Amanda smiled, turning off the TV and picking Gracie up to carry her back into her bedroom where she gently laid Gracie on her bed and gently changed her diaper. She could tell that Gracie was having an internal battle with herself and she showered her sweet little charge with praise throughout the entire process to keep her calm and relaxed. With a dry diaper, Gracie giggled as Amanda sent her on her way with a playful spank. Gracie went to the kitchen and happily settled herself down at the table to color a picture for Mommy when she came home.
A while later, Amanda hadn't heard a peep out of the little brunette and went to the kitchen to check on her. She panicked a little when she found Gracie standing by the counter intensely examining a big kitchen knife that she had pulled from the sink. The blonde detective calmly walked up and gently took the knife out of Gracie's hands, setting it back in the sink, and then gave Gracie a sharp pop on her tender thigh unprotected by her diaper.
"No." Amanda scolded sternly.
"Owie!" Gracie winced.
"Sweetie, do you remember when I explained to you earlier that it's very dangerous for you to use knives? You could have cut yourself and really hurt yourself." Amanda explained.
"I sowwy. I jus' wanted to see it. Tie-ow?" Gracie's lower lip trembled, gently rubbing her spanked thigh.
"No, I'm afraid this is too serious for a time-out, sweetie. I'm going to have to give you a spanking." Amanda said reluctantly.
"I's sowwy! No 'pank tushy!" Gracie started to cry.
"Yes, spank tushy. Come here, now." Amanda picked Gracie up and carried her into Olivia's bedroom, gently deposited on her feet, and retrieved the hairbrush from its place in the bedside table drawer, feeling so mean for deciding to use it the very first time she had to discipline Gracie, but knowing that this was much too serious of an issue for a simple hand spanking. Knowing how much Olivia cared about safety, Amanda had a hunch that Olivia would regard this incident as a serious offense.
Gracie wept sadly as she found herself bent over Amanda's lap with her diaper pulled down to her knees, staring down at the familiar patch of carpet in Mommy's room, and felt the familiar sting of the hairbrush spanking her tender bare bottom, but she didn't fight it, wanting to prove that she was a good girl to make both Amanda and Mommy proud of her. Whenever big girl Grace was spanked at work, she was always spanked again at home, and never having been spanked by anyone besides Mommy, Gracie wasn't sure if Mommy would spank her again when she came home, and she was hoping that if Amanda told Mommy that she had been a good girl for her spanking, Mommy wouldn't spank her again.
To the brunette little one it seemed to last forever, but it was only a few minutes until Amanda tossed the hairbrush aside. Remembering what Olivia had told her to do, Amanda retrieved the arnica and gently rubbed a generous portion onto Gracie's bottom to soothe the sting, then Amanda scooped Gracie up into her arms and carried her across into her own bedroom to cuddle and comfort the sobbing little one on her lap.
"'Manda, I's sowwy!" Gracie sobbed on Amanda's shoulder as Amanda cuddled her close and gently rubbed her bottom.
"You were so good for me, sweetie. It's all over now. All over and forgiven. You're a good girl." Amanda soothed lovingly.
"'Manda, paci, peeze." Gracie requested as she started to calm down.
"Good girl, so polite." Amanda praised as she popped a pacifier into Gracie's mouth. She gently shifted Gracie's position on her lap so that she could rub Gracie's belly while still keeping her cuddled securely in her arms, showering Gracie with gentle words of praise as Gracie gradually stopped crying and snuggled down into Amanda's arms, still needing the comfort and cuddling. With her red bottom pretty much forgotten, Gracie soon found herself giggling happily as Amanda once again played the "This Little Piggy" nursery rhyme with her feet, squealing in delighted surprise when Amanda suddenly tickled her belly instead of her feet.
Several hours later, the door opened and Olivia stepped into the apartment and kicked off her shoes, tired and immensely happy to be home after a long day. Amanda looked up and smiled.
"Hey, how was work?"
"Eh, same old, same old. McGrath is lucky I didn't wring his neck after the way he spoke to me this afternoon. And I realized today that you have about a million DD5s to catch up on." Olivia glared at her detective and Amanda blushed, knowing that she had been procrastinating on her work.
"Mommy!" Gracie cried out happily, appearing from down the hall and running into Mommy's arms for a hug. Olivia caught her baby in her arms and hugged her close, giving Gracie a kiss to her forehead.
"There's my angel. Were you a good girl for Amanda today?" Olivia inquired.
Gracie hesitated and looked up at Amanda, not quite sure how to answer that question.
"Well, we had a little problem this afternoon, but I took care of it so as far as I'm concerned it's over and forgiven." Amanda gently stroked Gracie's hair.
"I see. We can talk about that later. For right now, Mommy is tired and hungry, so who wants Shake Shack for dinner?"
"Me!" Gracie beamed happily from her place still wrapped in Mommy's arms.
"That's what I thought. Go wash your hands, and I want any toys on the floor all picked up before the food gets here." Olivia instructed kindly.
Gracie disappeared to obediently do as she was told, and Olivia turned to Amanda.
"Okay, spill. What did she do?"
Amanda explained the situation and Olivia sighed when she heard that her baby had been handling a knife from the kitchen. She was tempted to have a stern word with her naughty little one herself after dinner, but Amanda had already assured Gracie that she was forgiven and Olivia didn't want to confuse her little one by spanking her again for something she thought she was already forgiven for. Big girl Grace always understood why she was spanked again at home after getting spanked at work, but baby girl Gracie wouldn't understand why she was being spanked again after she had already been spanked and forgiven. Duarte had already confused her enough, Olivia wasn't going to add to the confusion.
"Mommy, I maded dis pic'sure for you!" Gracie suddenly appeared again and proudly held up the picture she had colored that afternoon.
"This is beautiful, sweetheart! Tell me all about it." Olivia smiled lovingly. The pumpkin was pink instead of orange and the mice were green instead of brown. Olivia wasn't sure if this was because Gracie was colorblind or because she had simply decided to march to the beat of her own drum, but she didn't say anything about it either way.
"Dis is da mousies from Cin'erella! Dey's turnin' into da horsies! And da pun'kin gonna be da carriage!" Gracie explained, pointing out the various parts of the picture and smiled when Mommy gave her a kiss.
"Well, Mommy is going to put this right on the fridge so we can all enjoy it. Amanda, you're welcome to join us for dinner if you would like." Olivia looked at Amanda.
"Thanks, but I'll have to pass. I need to get home and rescue my carpet from Frannie before it's too late." Amanda smiled, and Olivia chuckled.
"Sounds fun. Gracie, come say goodbye to Amanda and thank her for looking after you today." Olivia called out to her little one who had disappeared into the kitchen.
"Bye, 'Manda! T'ank you for coming!" Gracie ran in and threw her arms around Amanda.
"You're very welcome, sweetie. Maybe the next time Mommy needs to go somewhere, I can come play with you again." Amanda kissed Gracie's head.
"Otay. I sowwy you hadda 'pank mine tushy." Gracie said genuinely.
"I know, sweetie. Remember what I said, you are all forgiven now." Amanda smiled.
"Mommy, you gonna 'pank mine tushy too?" Gracie asked sadly after Amanda had left and Mommy had ordered dinner.
"Well, I could do that. But I think I'd rather tickle you instead." Olivia teased.
Gracie squealed in delight as she was suddenly swept off her feet and Mommy carried her over to the couch. Olivia settled Gracie on her lap, lifted her shirt to have access to her belly, and Gracie giggled in delighted anticipation as Mommy's wriggling fingers slowly inched toward her sensitive skin, Mommy's teasing voice swirling in her ear. Later that night as Gracie was having her diaper changed before bedtime, Mommy checked her still red bottom and gave her another dose of arnica, confident that her big girl would have no problem sitting down at her desk the next day.
The next day, Grace walked into the precinct not quite sure how Amanda was going to react to her. Amanda had promised that she wouldn't breathe a word to anyone about Gracie, but so far the only person whose promises Grace trusted was Olivia. Gracie had learned from her time in Duarte's hands that trust was fragile and promises were easily broken. The young detective breathed a relieved sigh and started to relax when all of her colleagues, including Amanda, greeted her normally as if nothing were amiss. Amanda simply winked at Grace before all of the detectives turned to listen to their Captain speak to them about their latest case.