On Monday night of the following week, Olivia emerged from the bathroom wearing her pajama pants and top and found Grace kneeling by the side of the bed waiting for her, having already turned down the bed sheets. Olivia sat down on the bed while Grace smoothed lotion onto her legs after her shower. With that accomplished, Olivia settled in comfortably for the night while Grace crawled up onto the bed and knelt on her spot at the foot of the bed.
"Ma'am?" Grace spoke hesitantly.
"Yes, my baby?" Olivia looked at Grace, wondering why she was kneeling there instead of settling down to make herself comfortable the way she always did.
"I know I'm supposed to sleep down here, but can you hold me, just for a little while?" Grace asked fearfully.
"Come here, my baby." Olivia sat up again with her back against the headboard and opened her arms, letting Grace snuggle into them, "I know you're scared, little one. You are going to be allowed to stay by my side all day tomorrow. I don't know if Carisi is going to call you to the stand tomorrow or Wednesday, but if it is tomorrow, the only thing you have to do is go up to the stand and tell the truth. Carisi will ask you questions, and then Melissa's lawyer will ask you questions, and then you will be allowed to come straight back to me." Olivia explained kindly.
"I don't want to talk to her." Grace whimpered.
"Melissa won't be allowed to talk to you, my baby, and if she tries to get your attention I want you to ignore her. There will be plenty of police in the courtroom to keep her under control, she isn't going to hurt you. Do you need my help to settle down to sleep tonight?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
Olivia gently pulled Grace over her lap and pulled down Grace's panties while Grace laid her head down on the bed. Grace settled in comfortably and prepared for her Mistress to spank her to sleep. Olivia gently rubbed Grace's bare bottom for a brief moment, then she raised up her strong right hand and brought it down sharply, followed quickly by another, and another, and another, and another. Grace closed her eyes and drank in the loving spanking her Mistress was giving her.
"That's it, you just relax now, my baby. Tomorrow morning I will wake you up early to give you a bath, and then we will have breakfast, and we will go to the courthouse and face the day together, and afterwards we will come home together. This is not a placement trial, this is a murder trial. No matter what the outcome of this trial is, Melissa's rights to you have already been severed and the court has no interest in forcing you to do anything you don't want to do. You belong to me, and only to me, and this is your home for as long as you want it to be." Olivia lectured as she spanked.
Grace got up from Olivia's lap with a sore, red bottom and tears streaming down her pretty face, but she felt calm and relaxed as Olivia guided her to lie down comfortably in her spot at the foot of the bed. Olivia gently rubbed Grace's sore bottom until she was certain that Grace had fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep. Olivia then went back and made herself comfortable in bed and quickly fell asleep, knowing that they had a long day ahead of them tomorrow and Grace needed her to be at the top of her game.
"Grace. Wake up now, little one. Come on, sweetheart, let me see those pretty eyes."
Grace was vaguely aware of a gentle hand rubbing her belly as she began to stir, hearing a gentle voice in her ear. Grace's big blue eyes slowly fluttered open and she was greeted by the loving face of her Mistress, already showered and dressed for the day.
"Feels good." Grace mumbled as she stretched while Olivia's gentle hand continued to rub her belly to keep her calm while she had a chance to fully wake up.
"Come here, my baby, I already have your bath ready for you."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Olivia guided Grace into a lavender scented bath and carefully bathed her body and washed her hair. Grace was dressed for court in a simple blue dress and heels and then taken to the kitchen for breakfast, where the brunette submissive decided to make a fuss about eating breakfast.
"Grace Elizabeth, you are not leaving this apartment with an empty belly, and we don't have time to debate about it. You don't have to eat this whole thing, but you are going to eat at least half of it, or when we come home today the paddle will be waiting for you." Olivia scolded sternly.
Tears filled Grace's big blue eyes and she obediently opened her mouth to receive a morsel of food. She was scared to death and she didn't like that she had just been middle named for seemingly no reason. Olivia sighed as she put the food down on the table and gently wiped Grace's tears away.
"I know you're scared, little one, but you need to eat breakfast and you know better than to argue with me when I tell you to do something. Let's just take it one bite at a time, and I promise when you get full you don't have to eat anymore until lunch. Do you want a bite of omelet or a drink of coffee first?" Olivia asked, wanting to give Grace some small sense of control.
"Coffee, please." Grace whimpered.
"Okay, here's your coffee." Olivia offered Grace a drink of coffee, "That's my good girl. Now let's start with one bite of your omelet, and you are going to chew it seven times before you swallow it, and then I will give you the next bite."
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace obediently opened her mouth to receive a morsel of food and obediently chewed it seven times before she swallowed it and then opened her mouth to receive another morsel. When Grace had obediently eaten as much as her nervous stomach could handle, she laid her head on Olivia's lap to signal that she was full. Olivia looked down at Grace's plate and was pleased to see that a little over half of the food was gone and she remembered her promise not to make Grace eat anymore until lunch.
"Such a good girl. I'm so proud of you, my baby. I will help you clean the kitchen today, and then it will be time for us to go."
Olivia held Grace's hand on the drive to the courthouse, and when they arrived she continued to hold Grace's hand as they walked into the building and through a series of hallways until they reached their destination. Inside the courtroom, Olivia located a bench for them to sit on in the gallery close to the front of the room. Grace resisted the urge to crawl into her Mistress's lap and settled for sitting as close to her as humanly possible without fusing their bodies together. Olivia put her arm around Grace and kissed her forehead. Grace went tense in Olivia's arms when a door opened and Melissa was led into the courtroom wearing her orange scrub-like prison clothes and handcuffs. She was led over to a table and seated next to a tall man who Grace assumed was her lawyer.
"I promise you are very safe, my baby. She isn't going to hurt you, and when it's your turn to speak, I want you to just pretend she isn't even there." Olivia whispered in Grace's ear.
Melissa turned in her chair to look into the gallery, and when she spotted Grace, Melissa gave her a look that made Grace scoot even closer to Olivia for protection as she tried not to remember what that glare meant.
"All rise! The honorable judge Elizabeth Donnelly presiding!"
Opening statements were given, and then Carisi stood up and called his first witness. Grace tried to pay attention to what was going on instead of staring at Melissa and being haunted by the past. Carisi made it a point to call a lot of witnesses, including several people that Grace didn't even know, and including Maureen Stabler, who at this point was out of the hospital and stable enough to come to court, leaning on a cane to support herself as she carefully walked up to the witness stand. Olivia looked over and could see Elliot sitting in his chair struggling to control himself as his daughter was cross-examined and Melissa's lawyer, Trevor Langan, attempted to poke holes in her story wherever he thought he could find one, even calling Maureen's mental health into question, citing the Stabler family history of bipolar disorder in Maureen's sister and grandmother. The judge did not dismiss Maureen's testimony entirely as Langan had hoped, but she did concede to ordering Maureen to have a psychological evaluation, to be completed that day. Since Maureen was over eighteen, she consented to go straight from the courtroom to a hospital to be evaluated.
After Maureen's testimony, a woman with a collar around her neck was called to the stand that Grace didn't recognize. Olivia's detectives had managed to track down a few of the submissives that were under Melissa's care before Grace, but only one was willing to testify in open court.
"My name is Abigail Roster." the woman said when she was asked to state her name.
"And what is your purpose here today?" Carisi asked.
"I am a submissive and I have been asked to testify about my time under Melissa Steele's control." Abigail replied.
"And how long was that?"
"A little over three years."
Grace became nervous when it became obvious that the first day of the trial was starting to wind down and Carisi still hadn't called her to the stand. She had sat there quietly like a good girl all day long and heard so many horrifying things and seen so many horrifying pictures, and she just wanted to be able to tell her side of things and not have to come back to the courtroom again. She wanted to be home in her Mistress's arms where she knew she was safe.
"Prosecution calls Grace Muncy to the stand."
When Grace finally heard Carisi call her name, she suddenly wasn't sure whether she was relieved or if she wanted to throw up her breakfast.
"You can do it." Olivia whispered in her ear, and Grace nodded as she slowly stood up and made her way to the front of the room to be sworn in. Grace took her place on the stand and forced herself not to look at Melissa. Carisi helped her out by strategically placing himself between the two women so that Grace's view of Melissa was blocked. Grace was in the middle of her testimony when suddenly there was a loud thud, and everyone turned to see that Melissa had knocked one of Trevor Langan's books to the floor. Grace jumped, recognizing the loud sound as a warning to shut up.
"Langan, control your client." Judge Donnelly scolded.
Grace continued to speak and answer questions, but she was visibly shaking as she did so, and she blushed in embarrassment as pictures of her battered body were shown. A copy of Grace's contract with Melissa, which was nothing more than a handwritten list on a piece of notebook paper, was given into evidence, and Carisi was quick to point out that even though Grace's signature was on it, it had never been filed with an attorney, and therefore was invalid, and also that it proved that Grace's hard limits had been violated. Finally, Trevor Langan stood up, and Grace looked at him with wide, fearful eyes as he approached her.
"Ms. Muncy, isn't it true that before you were my client's submissive, you were in college?"
"Yes, sir." Grace replied.
"College these days is expensive, I have two children in college, I know. Who helped you pay for college?"
"I paid for it myself." Grace replied, and she suddenly felt sick knowing exactly where his line of questioning was going.
"How did you pay for it?"
"I… I… I…" Grace stammered.
"The witness will answer the question please."
Grace began to cry as she sat there shaking, and it took every ounce of Olivia's willpower not to jump up and run to comfort her frightened baby. She instinctively knew what Grace's answer was going to be, and why Grace was so upset about it, and she knew that when they went home that day she was going to have to spend the rest of the day showering Grace with love.