Finally, after what seemed like hours, Olivia was satisfied with the color of the naughty bottom draped across her lap and she could tell by the sound of Grace's crying that Grace's attitude was gone. The dominant brunette paused long enough to pick up the wooden spoon and tapped it on Grace's bottom to let her know it was coming. Grace gasped and tried to prepare herself for the powerful sting, yelping when the implement landed sharply. Olivia stopped scolding and let the wooden spoon do the talking for her. Again, to Grace it seemed to go on for hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes before Olivia felt Grace go limp across her lap. At that point, Olivia set the wooden spoon down on the table and began to gently rub Grace's red bottom to soothe the pain she had just inflicted.
"Stand up when you want to, little miss mischief." Olivia spoke kindly.
Grace was still crying but was significantly calmer when she pushed herself up from Olivia's lap, and she whimpered as Olivia gently restored her modesty. Olivia stood from her chair and gently guided Grace into the bathroom with a gentle hand on her back. As they walked, Grace tried to use her hair to shield her face from the people still watching them. Several dominants whispered in their submissive partner's ears, reminding them to behave to avoid a similar fate. In the bathroom, Olivia locked the door to give them privacy. She guided Grace over to the sink and proceeded to gently wash Grace's face with a cool cloth. With that accomplished, Olivia led Grace into the bathroom's adjoining lounge area and sat down on a comfortable overstuffed chair.
"Come here, my baby." Olivia guided Grace to cuddle on her lap, gently stroking Grace's long dark hair and kissing her forehead as Grace laid her head on Olivia's shoulder to finish her crying, "There we go, all better now."
"Please don't spank me again, Ma'am. I'm sorry, I'll be a good girl." Grace wept on Olivia's shoulder.
"I know you're a good girl, baby. You will always be my good girl no matter how you behave. If you apologize to the waitress properly and don't make any fuss later about going to bed early, I'll just use my hand."
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace accepted the consequences of her actions.
"That's my good girl. Before we go back and enjoy our food, is there anything you need to talk to me about?" Olivia recognized that it wasn't like Grace to randomly have an attitude problem out of nowhere.
"I had a nightmare while I was taking my nap after therapy, and when I woke up I heard Melissa screaming at me in my head. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to think about the nightmare. It was scary." Grace whimpered.
"I won't make you tell me about it if you don't want to, but the next time you have a nightmare I want you to at least tell me that you had one so that I can hold you and comfort you. You aren't alone, baby, I am here to help you. Keeping your fears and emotions bottled up inside of you isn't healthy for you. It will only make you act out, and when you act out I have to reign you back in. Let's go eat before the food gets cold."
When they arrived home, it was five thirty. Grace was due to be put to bed at eight thirty, much to her disgust, so at seven forty five Olivia sent Grace to get ready for bed. Grace took a quick shower and changed into the pajamas Olivia had given her to wear since it was going to be a cold night. When Grace emerged from the bathroom, Olivia still hadn't come in yet. Not quite sure what to do with herself, she decided to go kneel in her corner to wait for Olivia's arrival. When Olivia walked into the bedroom, she smiled sympathetically at the sight of her sweet little submissive kneeling in the corner.
"Come here, little one." Olivia instructed kindly, sitting down on the bed.
Grace turned from the corner and crawled to her Mistress. Olivia pulled Grace's pajama bottoms down to her knees, revealing her bare bottom since Grace never wore panties underneath pajamas, and Grace draped herself across Olivia's lap without being told.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am." Grace whimpered with a trembling lower lip, feeling Olivia's hand resting on her still sore bottom.
"I know, my baby. You are all forgiven, and I'm very proud of you for apologizing to the waitress properly, even if it took a red bottom to get you there. Just a little spanking with my hand, and then it will be bedtime." Olivia assured her.
It didn't take very long for Grace to start crying again since her bottom was already so sore, even though she could tell that Olivia was holding back a lot and not spanking her as hard as she normally would. The young submissive immediately decided that getting spanked twice in one day sucked, and she was going to do everything in her power to avoid it in the future. Olivia spent about five minutes reigniting the fire on Grace's bottom, and when Grace was weeping quietly she decided to call it good enough.
"Okay, baby, all done. Get up when you want to." Olivia gently rubbed Grace's bottom.
Grace spent a few minutes catching her breath and then pushed herself up from Olivia's lap and was welcomed into her Mistress's arms where she shed the last of her tears on Olivia's shoulder while Olivia cuddled her close and showered her with gentle words of love and praise and forgiveness.
"Into bed with you now, little one." Olivia instructed kindly when Grace's big blue eyes were dry, glancing at the clock and noticing that it was time for Grace to be in bed.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace settled down comfortably in her spot at the foot of the bed and Olivia bent down to kiss her forehead.
"If you can't sleep, just lie here quietly and rest. I don't want to hear a peep out of you until tomorrow morning unless there's an emergency. When I come to bed later I expect to find you sleeping."
"I'm sorry, Ma'am." Grace's eyelids drooped despite the early hour.
"Go to sleep, my good girl. You don't need to be sorry anymore. My baby is all forgiven." Olivia smiled.
The next morning, Olivia was sitting at the table reading the paper and drinking her coffee while Grace made breakfast and both women were startled by Olivia's cell phone ringing.
"Benson." Olivia pressed her phone to her ear.
"Hey, it's me." Carisi's voice came over the line, "I know I'll see you at the precinct later today, but I figured I'd give you a call now so Grace can hear the news. Put me on speaker."
"Come here, angel. Carisi wants to talk to us." Olivia called Grace over to her.
Grace's belly flipped nervously as she sat on Olivia's lap and Olivia put Carisi on speaker.
"This was a complicated trial, that's why it took so long. The jury had a lot of testimony and evidence to go through and they did a lot of arguing amongst themselves, mostly debating whether or not Kelli Ming's unborn child counts as a fourth victim. Ultimately, they couldn't agree on the baby, but they agreed that Melissa Steele is guilty on all counts and Melissa has been sentenced to death by lethal injection." Carisi said.
Upon hearing Carisi's words, Grace immediately felt safer than she had felt in a very long time and she snuggled into Olivia's arms as tears filled her big blue eyes. Olivia too breathed a sigh of relief as she cuddled Grace close to her heart.
"Thanks for letting us know, Carisi, we appreciate it." Olivia said.
"Can Grace hear me?" Carisi inquired.
"Yes, sir, I can hear you." Grace replied, picking her head up from Olivia's shoulder.
"You have been amazing through this whole thing, Grace. While Melissa is on death row, she will have multiple chances to appeal her case to try to get a lesser sentence. It could be months or years from now, but no matter how long it takes, I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure that she never gets off of death row and pays the price for everything she has done. Whenever an appeal comes up, you will be given the opportunity to speak, but that's completely up to you. If you don't want to speak at her appeals, you don't have to."
"I can't speak to years in the future, but right now I don't want to." Grace replied.
"Understood. I'll let you ladies get on with the rest of your morning. Liv, I'll see you in a few hours. I have to come by the precinct this afternoon to get your signature on some forms for the Toby case."
"All right, I'll see you then. Bye." Olivia hung up the phone.
Grace suddenly burst into sobs and snuggled down into Olivia's arms, hiding her eyes between Olivia's breasts. Olivia immediately pulled Grace closer to her in order to provide more comfort to her submissive.
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. There, there. I'm right here, little one, just cry it out." Olivia soothed.
Grace cried until she felt all cried out and came out from her hiding place.
"Ma'am?" Grace whimpered softly.
"Hmm?" Olivia gently brushed Grace's hair out of her face.
"Does it make me a bad person that I'm happy about the verdict?" Grace asked quietly.
"Absolutely not. Your feelings aren't good or bad, they are just how you feel, and you are allowed to feel however you need to feel in this moment. You are allowed to feel happy or confused or angry or relieved or sad or anything else you need to feel." Olivia said firmly but kindly.
"I know you have to work today, but can you hold me for a while after breakfast?" Grace asked hopefully.
"Of course I will. It's only a little after seven thirty, and I don't have to work until noon today." Olivia assured her.
When Grace's big blue eyes were dry, she stood from Olivia's lap and walked back to the stove to finish making breakfast and then she obediently ate her breakfast kneeling at Olivia's feet. After breakfast, Olivia took Grace out to the living room where she sat on the couch and settled Grace to cuddle on her lap. Grace took a deep breath and let it out slowly, melting into Olivia's arms as Olivia's gentle hand rubbed her panty-clad bottom, still blushing a light shade of pink but no longer sore from yesterday's punishment. Grace fiddled with a button on Olivia's shirt, her mind a million miles away, and Olivia could tell that Grace was stuck in a memory, until out of the corner of her eye Grace saw Olivia's hand move and she flinched violently as if expecting to be hit.
"Shhhhhhhhhhh. It's just me, baby. I promise you are very safe. You're safe right here in your house with me. Can you feel my hand?" Olivia lovingly stroked Grace's face.
"This one time…" Grace's voice trembled.
"You are not allowed on my bed! You sleep when I say you're allowed to sleep, and when you're allowed to sleep you sleep on the goddamn floor!" Melissa screamed, violently striking Grace's bare, bruised backside with the cane and drawing another seam of blood. On top of the violent paddling she had just received, Grace felt as if Melissa was killing her.
From her place bent over the spanking bench in the dungeon, Grace did her best to scream around the ball gag that had been forced into her mouth, her hands trembling with fresh cigarette burns. She didn't quite understand what was happening; it had been two days since she was allowed to sleep properly and she was exhausted. Melissa walked around and crouched in front of Grace to look her in the eye. Grace shivered as Melissa suddenly spoke to her in a sickeningly sweet tone.
"Poor, stupid baby. Do you see what you are making me do to you? Why can't you just be good for once in your pathetic life? Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you are more of an 'it' than anything else. Just a pretty piece of flesh for me to play with, and not really that pretty anymore. I'm going to punish every part of your body that touched my bed. I took care of your butt and your hands, now let's take care of your feet."
Grace screamed through the gag in her mouth again, knowing what was coming and trying to beg Melissa not to hurt her anymore. When Melissa finally got bored, she took Grace to a closet and chained her with her arms above her head, forcing Grace to balance on her toes. Grace was already gagged, so Melissa blindfolded her and placed a pair of noise-canceling headphones over her ears. Melissa then turned off the light and closed the closet door.
"She didn't let me out of the closet until the next day. I had wet and messed myself at some point in the night, so she filled the tub with ice and made me get in the tub. I thought I was going to die before she finally let me out." Grace choked out through sobs as she finished telling her story.
"None of that will ever happen to you again, angel. You are not an 'it'. You are my beautiful Grace Elizabeth and you are a good girl. I will never take bathroom privileges away from you, the bathroom is there for you to use at any time you need it, day or night. I will never abuse you the way she did. And the only time you ever should be in a closet is if you are hiding from me when I need to take you with me to Lowe's." Olivia smiled.
Grace wrinkled her nose, thinking back to an entire long, boring, torturous Saturday afternoon spent at Lowe's, and giggled as Olivia tickled her belly.
"Oh, I think I heard a giggle. Tickle, tickle, tickle." Olivia teased in Grace's ear.
"Ma'am?" Grace spoke after several minutes of peaceful silence.
"Hmm?"
"What if Melissa escapes from prison again?"
"She won't. The rules on death row are different from the rules in general population; visitors are severely limited, she will be locked in her cell for twenty three hours a day, and for the hour she is let out of her cell for exercise, she will be heavily guarded and kept isolated from other inmates." Olivia explained.
Olivia cuddled Grace on her lap until it was time for her to go to work. She kissed Grace's forehead, reminded her to be a good girl, and left to once again defend the streets of New York. Grace cleaned the kitchen and then turned to the list of tasks Olivia had left for her to complete.