Two hours later, Cragen was still on the phone with Olivia. The brunette detective was beyond worried at this point and had begun to cry, and Cragen had now spent over thirty minutes trying to comfort her.
"She'll be okay, baby girl. You told me there were no signs of forced entry in the cabin, that's a good sign." Cragen soothed.
"We've had plenty of cases come in where there was no sign of forced entry." Olivia countered.
"That's true, but we need to stay focused on the positive." Cragen replied.
"The positive is that if she just wandered off without permission, I'm going to take my belt to her after I'm done hugging her." Olivia griped irritably.
"Just make sure you're calm before you do that." Cragen warned.
"I know, I know." Olivia sighed, rubbing her hand over her face, "So, you were telling me about the time that stripper went missing and you had to go undercover at that strip club."
"Oh, right. So, anyway, I had only gone undercover one time before that, and so when I was putting together my persona, my Captain told me that I would be working with a guy from Narcotics to find out…"
Grace bent down to pick up another pebble and skipped it across the lake. Having gotten lost in the beauty of the waterfall, she had lost track of how long she'd been gone, and therefore she jumped in surprise when she heard someone call her name.
"Grace!" the voice called out a second time. It was a woman's voice, but it wasn't Olivia's voice, and Grace became frightened, wondering how Melissa had managed to break out of prison and find her.
Grace's body relaxed a little when a Forest Ranger appeared in front of her.
"Are you Grace Muncy?" the Forest Ranger asked, noticing the collar around Grace's neck.
"Yes, ma'am." Grace replied, still a little wary of the stranger.
"My name is Rebecca, I'm a Forest Ranger at these campgrounds. We received a call that you were missing, I'm very glad you're safe. Your Mistress is very worried about you. Come along, let's get you back to her."
As per their policy, Rebecca attached a leash to Grace's collar and Grace walked behind her, being led by the Forest Ranger through the woods back to her Mistress where she belonged. As they walked, Grace contemplated the situation and suddenly realized that she was most likely in huge trouble. She hadn't meant to cause so much chaos, she just hadn't been able to sleep any longer and wanted to go to the waterfall one more time before they went back home. But now she realized that she should have woken Olivia up or waited until she woke up to ask if she would take her back to the waterfall one more time, and she also realized that her bare bottom was most likely going to pay a very high price. The further they walked, Grace began to get scared. She knew full well that her Mistress loved her, but in the back of her mind she wondered if perhaps she had done the one thing that would tip the scale and make Olivia want to be rid of her.
Olivia was still on the phone when she looked up and saw a Forest Ranger in the distance walking toward the cabin with Grace in tow, and she breathed a sigh of relief. However, that relief quickly gave way to a flash of anger.
"Daddy, I have to go. She's back." Olivia spoke into the phone.
"Oh, good. See, I knew everything would work out. And remember, make sure you're calm before you do anything." Cragen warned again.
"Yes, Daddy, I will. Bye." Olivia hung up the phone.
"We found her down by the waterfall, Madam. She's unharmed, seems like she simply wandered off." Rebecca informed the brunette detective as they walked up to where Olivia was standing, and Rebecca released Grace from the leash attached to her collar.
"Well, thank you very much for responding so quickly, and for bringing her back." Olivia shook Rebecca's hand. Rebecca smiled and walked away.
"Ma'am, I'm-" Grace started to speak, but Olivia held up her hand to silence her.
"No. I am not interested in hearing you speak at all right now. You will come inside and make breakfast. After we eat, you will load the bags in the car, and you will not say one word until we get home unless you need the bathroom. I need to calm down before I speak to you about this. I have always done my best to be calm with you when you get in trouble, and I promised you that I would never put my hands on you while I'm angry, and I have no intention of breaking that promise today. But I am warning you right now, you are going to get the spanking of your life when we get home. Nod if you understand." Olivia spoke sternly.
Grace nodded in silence.
"Now get your backside into the kitchen, you'll make boiled eggs and sausage this morning. Not one word until we get home."
Again, Grace did as she was told in silence and hurried past Olivia, covering her bottom as she did so, but the spank she had been anticipating did not come. The young submissive went straight to the kitchen and began to make breakfast as she had been told. Olivia took a deep breath and followed Grace into the cabin, sitting down at the table with another cup of coffee to read the paper while Grace cooked. After breakfast, Grace cleaned the kitchen and took their bags out to the car; she opened the driver's side door for Olivia and then slid into the passenger seat, all in complete silence. It was going to be a very long four hours. About half an hour into the drive, Olivia turned on the radio to fill the silence. As she drove, Olivia used the time to calm herself down. Fear for Grace's safety had quickly melted into anger toward Grace's behavior, and Olivia knew that she needed to be completely calm before they arrived home. When they finally did arrive, they took the bags into their apartment and unpacked everything, still in silence.
"Go kneel in your corner and stay there until I call for you." Olivia ordered.
Grace did as she was told and went to kneel in her corner. Olivia sat on the bed and continued to calm herself, flipping through an old magazine while Grace knelt in the corner. When Olivia was finally ready, she called Grace out of the corner.
"Come here, little miss mischief."
Grace's belly flipped upon hearing the familiar nickname. She turned from the corner and crawled over to kneel at her Mistress's feet. Not sure if she was allowed to speak yet, Grace assumed the 'apology' position, and Olivia could feel Grace's tears in her feet.
"I know you're sorry. You're going to be even more sorry by the time I'm finished with you. Kneel up now."
Grace obediently knelt up and squeaked when her Mistress took a dominant hold of her hair, forcing her to look up and make eye contact.
"Explain yourself." Olivia ordered.
"I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. I knew we were leaving the cabin today, and I wanted to see the waterfall you took me to one more time before we left. You were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up. I figured I would be back before you knew I was gone, but I lost track of time." Grace offered her explanation with a light blush.
"I see. Are you allowed to wander off without permission?" Olivia inquired.
"No, Ma'am." Grace replied.
"If I had still been sleeping when you got back, would you have told me that you had gone out?"
Grace hesitated. She wanted so badly to say yes, but she knew that would be a lie.
"No, Ma'am, I wouldn't have." Grace admitted.
"So you broke the rule and wandered off without permission and without your cell phone, and you were planning on lying to me if you had to. What if you had been hurt? What if you had fallen in the water or fallen somewhere along the hiking trail? You wouldn't have been able to call for help and I wouldn't have been able to help you because I didn't know where you were. I can't take care of you if I don't know where you are." Olivia scolded, "The drive from here to the city is only a four hour drive. If you had woken me up or waited for me to wake up and asked me if I would take you to the waterfall one more time before we left, I certainly would have."
If Grace didn't feel bad before, she began to feel really bad now. She truly hadn't meant to make Olivia worry so much. It hadn't even occurred to her that Olivia would have said yes if she had just asked to go back to the waterfall.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I really am." Grace whimpered.
"I know you are, and I am going to make sure your bottom is sorry too. I'm afraid I'm going to have to be very strict with you about this, so you are going to get my belt today." Olivia informed her.
"On my back?" Grace began to visibly shake in fear, and Olivia immediately softened.
"Of course not, sweetheart. You know I would never do that to you. Go to the closet and bring me the belt."
Grace obediently went to the closet and retrieved Olivia's belt. She returned to her place kneeling at Olivia's feet and offered up the dreaded implement. Olivia folded the belt in half and held it at the bottom, with the buckle safely tucked away in her hand, making only the leather loop available for spanking.
"I'm going to hold it like this, and the only part of the belt that will ever touch you is this leather part. The buckle won't be anywhere near you, and I am only going to whip your bottom. Not your back or any other part of your body, only your bottom. It's going to hurt a lot, and then it will be over." Olivia explained patiently.
"Yes, Ma'am, I understand." Grace whimpered with tears in her eyes, although she had stopped shaking as Olivia explained what was going to happen. She trusted Olivia not to harm her.
"Stand up now. You're going to go over my knee first." Olivia said.
Grace stood to her feet and suddenly found herself staring down at the familiar patch of carpet as Olivia pulled her panties down to her knees.
It didn't take very long before Grace was crying a steady stream of tears as her Mistress's strong right hand sent a message that her behavior was not going to be tolerated. The young submissive could practically feel her bottom changing color as the fleshy twin orbs flattened under Olivia's palm and then bounced back as if asking for more. When Olivia was satisfied with the color of Grace's naughty bottom, she paused and laid her hand on Grace's unspanked thigh.
"Stand up when you want to, little miss mischief."
Grace caught her breath for a moment or two and then pushed herself up from her Mistress's lap. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to rub her bottom yet, so she was careful not to. She watched as Olivia placed two pillows on the bed.
"Okay, now I want you to bend over these pillows. Put your bottom right here." Olvia tapped the center of the pillow.
Grace maneuvered herself into the proper position, blushing a little bit to have her bottom hanging up in the air. She watched carefully as Olivia did as she had said she was going to do and folded the belt in half, the buckle end tucked safely away in her hand. Grace then laid her head down on the bed as the belt tapped her bottom.
"OWIE!" Grace yelped as the belt landed sharply on her bare bottom.
Once again, it didn't take very long before Grace was crying steadily. She quickly lost all sense of time and was nearly convinced that she was going to be whipped forever. But finally she felt the bed dip and she felt Olivia's gentle hand rubbing her bottom and Olivia's gentle voice cooing in her ear.
"It's all over, my baby. It's all over now. You just rest now and get up when you want to. My good girl is all forgiven."
Grace wasn't sure how long she spent laying on the bed sobbing, but eventually she felt strong enough to push herself up and somehow managed to find her way into her Mistress's strong arms.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Grace babbled nearly incoherent apologies, her speech rather hampered by her sobbing.
"I know, my baby. I know you're sorry. You don't have to be sorry anymore. My good girl is all forgiven. My good girl has a clean slate, just the same as always." Olivia lovingly assured her, every trace of sternness completely gone.