Olivia heard Grace finally start to cry, and she paused for a moment and gently rubbed Grace's pink bottom with the hairbrush. After a brief moment, she raised the hairbrush again and brought it down a little bit harder than before.

"Owie!" Grace yelped.

"You are a very good girl, and I am so proud to call you mine. You work hard every day to help me keep the apartment in order and you've done well to learn how I like things to be done, and although we are taking your training a bit more slowly because we had to wait for your body to heal, your training is progressing beautifully and I enjoy our time spent together. You have pleased me greatly, little one. This is your home for as long as you want it to be, I will never send you away from me or let anyone take you from me." Olivia lectured as she spanked.

"But I cause so much trouble. Ow!" Grace whimpered.

"You do not cause a lot of trouble, and I don't want to hear you label yourself like that. It's been over two weeks since I've had to discipline you in any kind of way, and although this spanking you're getting right now isn't a punishment, I do hope that it will encourage you to continue to mind your behavior, so in a way you're getting a maintenance spanking, a reminder spanking, and a stress-relief spanking all rolled into one. Even when I do have to discipline you, I am so proud of you for accepting it so well. I certainly don't expect you to be perfect. Perfection doesn't exist, it isn't possible for anyone to achieve. I don't expect perfection from you, and I don't want you to expect it from yourself either, because then you'll always be unhappy with yourself, and that isn't healthy for you. On your first morning in my home, you set fire to my stove, and now that is one of my favorite memories of our time together because it gave me the opportunity to teach you a new skill you didn't have before and get to know you at the same time."

Grace giggled through her tears despite the pain, thinking back to that day.

"There's that laugh I love to hear. You weren't perfect then, and you aren't perfect now, and that is okay. Sometimes you will get in trouble, and sometimes I will have to discipline you, that's just how this lifestyle works. That doesn't mean that I'm angry with you; I will never, ever punish my baby when I'm angry. It just means that I love you enough to teach you when your behavior is less than acceptable, and I always want you to keep in mind that even when I have to discipline you, I may be momentarily disappointed in your behavior, but I am never disappointed in you. Do you understand the difference?"

"Ow! Yes, Ma'am!" Grace began to cry freely.

"That's my good girl. After this spanking is over, I think you are going to lie down for two hours. You were up late last night and I think you're exhausted, and being exhausted won't help calm your fears, it will just exacerbate them. This is your home for as long as you want it to be, and nothing you do or don't do will ever change that."

Finally, Grace went limp across Olivia's lap, sobbing so hard she was making no sound. As soon as Olivia felt Grace go limp, she immediately tossed the hairbrush aside and very gently rubbed the crimson bottom over her lap to soothe the pain she had just inflicted, letting Grace lie across her lap and rest for as long as she wanted to until Grace made the choice to get up. Grace's sobbing eventually died down to sniffles and whimpers as she lay across her Mistress's lap feeling the pain and committing it to memory as she rested and caught her breath. Grace eventually pushed herself up and crawled into Olivia's arms to be cuddled, and after a sufficient amount of comfort Olivia guided Grace to lie comfortably on her belly in her place at the foot of the bed for her two hour rest period. Olivia stayed and lovingly rubbed Grace's sore bottom until Grace fell asleep, and then the brunette detective quietly left the room to let her sweet little submissive rest properly.

Grace's big blue eyes slowly fluttered open and gazed about the room as she reached back to rub her still blazing bottom, craning her neck to inspect the twin crimson orbs.

"Ma'am?" Grace called out, not knowing how much of her two hour rest period was left and deciding that it would be better not to get up without permission.

"Hey, sleeping beauty. You rang?" Olivia smiled lovingly as she walked in the room.

"I didn't know if I was allowed to get up yet. I don't remember what time it was when I fell asleep." Grace explained, and Olivia glanced at the clock on the bedside table.

"You need to lie there for another fifteen minutes, but you don't have to go back to sleep." Olivia sat beside Grace and lovingly rubbed her spanked bottom, "How are you feeling, my baby?"

"Better, not as scared and stressed out. I'm not looking forward to sitting down, though." Grace quipped.

"Good." Olivia said, but not unkindly.

Grace rolled her eyes and then shrieked when Olivia rolled her over and attacked her belly with tickles.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, naughty girl." Olivia scolded teasingly.

"Mercy! Mercy!" Grace pleaded when she was panting for breath, her face as red as her bottom and her hair disheveled.

Olivia chuckled as she released her hold on Grace and let her roll over on her belly again and resumed gently rubbing her bottom.

"Being tickled is supposed to be wonderful, how do you make it so horrible?" Grace panted.

"It's a talent of mine. You need to lie here for another eight minutes, but I just might have something to help make sitting a little more comfortable." Olivia reached over and picked up the arnica and rubbed a generous portion onto Grace's spanked bottom, and Grace breathed a sigh of relief. When eight minutes elapsed, Grace got up and eagerly crawled back into Olivia's arms to be cuddled.

"Where are we on the Melissa Steele case?" Olivia asked the next day when she walked into the precinct.

"We finally managed to get Chad Roper to write something down on paper. The lab is comparing it to the signature on the transfer order, they'll give us the results when they have them." Kat reported.

"Good. And the ME still can't identify the guy that tried to take Rollins' girls?"

"There's nothing in the system, no DNA and no prints. He's got a tattoo on his neck, but it's not a tattoo that's associated with any of the gangs in the city. Rollins still says he looks familiar, but she doesn't remember from where. As of right now, he's a John Doe." Fin said.

"Let's reach out to local news channels and see if anyone can identify him. I want to know who this guy was." Olivia ordered.

"Copy that." all of the detectives picked up their phones to start making calls.

Several hours later, Grace sighed proudly as she checked off the last of her tasks on the list Olivia had left for her, and she collapsed on the couch and turned on the TV. Suddenly feeling lonely, Grace attempted to rub her own belly to soothe herself while she flipped through the TV channels. She stopped when she came across a news channel and her eyes widened.

"...and in other news, detectives of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit are asking for any identifying information regarding this man, who was shot attempting to kidnap one detective's two children."

Grace started to visibly shake. She knew that someone had attempted to kidnap Amanda Rollins' children, but she had never seen a picture of the man before. Olivia sometimes brought work home with her, but Grace knew full well that snooping through Olivia's files would result in a spanking, so she never did. Grace quickly got dressed and left the apartment, making sure that she had her phone with her. When she arrived at the Special Victims Unit, it was very crowded and she looked around until she spotted someone she recognized.

"Grace, what are you doing here, honey?" Amanda asked, walking up to Grace with a stack of files in her hand.

"I need my Ma'am, please." Grace's lower lip trembled.

"She's in her office. I think she's on the phone right now." Amanda pointed to Olivia's office.

Olivia was indeed on the phone, and her back was turned to the door, so Grace knocked on the open door so as not to startle Olivia. Olivia turned and was surprised to see Grace standing in her doorway, but she held out her free arm toward her. Grace closed the office door and hurried to Olivia's side, feeling safe with Olivia's arm wrapped around her. Olivia continued to speak on the phone, but she gently stroked Grace's hair, communicating that she was well aware of Grace's presence, and she noticed that Grace was visibly trembling. After about ten minutes, Olivia hung up the phone and turned her full attention to her sweet little submissive.

"Well, hello, my baby. What are you doing here?" Olivia asked lovingly, cuddling Grace close to her heart.

"I finished all of my chores and I wanted to watch TV, and I saw the news. I got scared and I wanted you to hold me. I'm sorry, Ma'am, I shouldn't have come here. I know you're busy." Grace replied.

"I am never too busy for you, and I will always hold you, my baby. You did exactly the right thing by coming to find me. What scared you?" Olivia asked.

"I know who that man is that Detective Rollins shot." Grace admitted, "His name is Patrick. I don't know his last name, but Melissa let him hurt me twice to punish me when she was mad at me, and she watched him do it."

"That is very helpful information, my baby. Such a good girl. Come here, let's see if we can get you to stop shaking."

Olivia guided Grace over to the small loveseat in her office where she sat down and gently settled Grace on her lap to cuddle her close. Grace laid her head on Olivia's shoulder and melted into the affection as Olivia rubbed her belly to soothe her.

"That's my good girl. Just breathe and relax, my baby. You are very safe; he's dead and he will never hurt you again, and I'm so sorry that he hurt you, sweetheart. You didn't deserve to have any of it happen to you. You're a good girl." Olivia soothed.

"Ma'am, can I stay here with you? I promise I'll stay out of the way." Grace looked up after several minutes of silent cuddling. Olivia looked at the clock and saw that there were about four and a half hours left before it would be time to clock out for the day.

"Yes, you can stay here, my baby. There are several officers in the crib sleeping and I don't think there's an empty cot for you, but if you think you can stay quiet you can stay here in my office. Stand up." Olivia gently patted Grace's hip, and Grace stood up. Olivia walked over and pulled a few bills out of her purse, "Go to the vending machine and choose something you want to eat, and bring it to me."

"Yes, Ma'am." Grace obediently went to the vending machine and quickly returned with a granola bar.

"Kneel." Olivia instructed, taking the granola bar from Grace's hand.

Grace knelt down at Olivia's feet while Olivia fed her. Olivia then threw the empty wrapper away and guided Grace to crawl under her desk where Grace noticed Olivia had placed a pillow from the loveseat on the floor. Olivia squatted down and made sure that Grace was lying comfortably on the floor under her desk with her head resting on the pillow.

"That's my good girl. You are going to rest here until it's time to go home, and I don't want to hear a peep out of you unless you need something. Do you understand?" Olivia gently rubbed Grace's belly.

"Yes, Ma'am." Grace replied obediently.

"Good girl. If you can't sleep, you just lie here and rest. I love you."

Grace snuggled into her pillow, feeling safe as she laid under the desk out of sight looking at Olivia's shoes while her Mistress worked.