The semi-public nature of her punishment was soon the furthest thing from Grace's mind as she lay over Olivia's lap weeping. Her bottom was on fire, her panties seemed to be providing no protection at all. Just as she was contemplating whether or not begging would do her any good, Olivia picked up the paddle and Grace felt the wooden implement tapping her bottom before it came crashing down. She nearly lost control of her hands, but instead of reaching back to cover herself she reached down to cling to the hem of Olivia's pants. Olivia felt Grace clinging to her hem and she was very proud of her sweet little submissive even as she continued to spank. Grace soon began crying heavily; she was used to the six-holed paddle that Olivia spanked her with at home, but this paddle was different. This paddle had no holes in it, and as such it wasn't quite as painful as the paddle at home, though the pain was still excruciating. This paddle was also a little bit bigger than the one at home; whereas the paddle at home was small enough to spank one round orb at a time, this paddle was just big enough to spank both of her cheeks at once, and Grace couldn't decide which style of spanking was worse. Eventually, Olivia paused and listened to Grace sobbing, and Grace gasped when she felt Olivia gently moving her panties aside.
"I'm not pulling them down, sweetheart, I'm just looking to see where we're at." Olivia assured her, "It looks very sore back here. I think we're almost done, just a few more minutes. When your spanking is over, I'm going to take you to apologize to Elliot, and then we'll come back in here and I will hold you before I have to go back to work." Olivia returned Grace's panties to their proper place.
"Yes, Ma'am. Please… please can't it be over? Please, no more!" Grace pleaded through her sobbing.
"No, baby, it's not over yet. It's almost over, I promise. Thank you for keeping those hands out of the way, you're being a very good girl." Olivia raised up the paddle.
True to her word, Olivia tossed the paddle aside a few short minutes later when she felt Grace go limp across her lap, but Grace was too distraught to even realize that it was over. Olivia lovingly rubbed Grace's bottom to soothe the pain while Grace cried herself out over Olivia's lap. Olivia carefully guided Grace to her feet and very, very gently pulled Grace's jeans up over her punished bottom, causing Grace to choke on a sob. Olivia guided Grace out of her office and the young submissive blushed as she quietly apologized to Elliot for her behavior. With that accomplished, Olivia guided Grace back into her office and closed the door behind them. She resumed sitting on the small loveseat and cuddled Grace on her lap. Grateful to finally be getting comfort, Grace snuggled down into Olivia's arms and cried fresh tears on Olivia's shoulder as Olivia comforted and cuddled her for a long while. She knew that Olivia needed to go back to work, and she wanted to get all the loving up she could get.
"That's my good girl. You were so good for me, angel, I'm so proud of you. It's all over. All done and forgiven. My good girl has a clean slate now." Olivia soothed lovingly.
When Grace's big blue eyes were dry, Olivia gently guided Grace to curl up underneath her desk for a nap, having mercy on Grace's punished bottom and not making her sit immediately. Grace fell asleep staring at Olivia's shoes feeling safe, loved, and protected. When Grace woke up about an hour later, Olivia sent her back to her original task, and the submissive brunette whimpered as she carefully sat down in her chair, winced, and forced herself to ignore the pain and focus on her task. Several hours later, Olivia was relieved to be able to clock out a little bit earlier than she had originally planned, and she went to collect Grace from the back room.
"Hey, my baby. You ready to stand up?" Olivia smiled.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace smiled and eagerly stood up off of her sore bottom.
When they arrived home, Grace once again found herself draped over Olivia's lap, this time with her panties pulled down to her knees while Olivia gently rubbed her red bottom with a generous portion of arnica and showered her with praise. When Olivia heard Grace crying softly, she set the arnica aside and picked Grace up to cuddle her close.
"I know it hurts, baby angel. You just relax now and cry it out as much as you want. I'm right here." Olivia gently rubbed Grace's bottom to soothe her.
"Does this mean I have to go back on obedience training?" Grace whimpered sadly, her lower lip trembling.
"No, my baby, not at all. I know you know how to obey me, you just made a mistake today. You've been punished and forgiven, and I trust that we won't have to have another discussion about my files again." Olivia assured her lovingly, still rubbing Grace's bottom.
"No, Ma'am. I'll be a good girl." Grace whimpered, laying her head on Olivia's shoulder.
"You are a good girl, sweetheart. Just because I had to punish you today doesn't mean you aren't a good girl. You are always a good girl, no matter how you behave." Olivia cuddled and comforted Grace for a long while until Grace was completely calm, "Let's go decide what's for dinner tonight, little one. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
The days passed peacefully enough, and then it was the beginning of December. On her day off, Olivia pulled the Christmas tree out of storage and the two women spent time together assembling and decorating it.
"Oh my God, this is gorgeous!" Grace marveled, holding up a glass ball.
"Daddy gave me that about ten or eleven years ago. It's part of a set, I don't know what it's doing out of its box." Olivia turned and started looking through the decorations to locate the rest of the set.
A few hours later, Grace found herself in her favorite place in the world, cuddled safely in Olivia's arms while they sat on the couch in the peaceful silence enjoying the Christmas tree.
"Ma'am?" Grace spoke from her place in Olivia's arms.
"Yes, my baby?" Olivia kissed Grace's head.
"Thank you." Grace blushed lightly.
"For what, sweetie?" Olivia asked, slightly confused as she gently stroked Grace's hair. She received a shrug in response, "Why don't you tell me what's going on in that pretty little head of yours, angel? I can't help you if you don't talk to me."
"I just… my last six Thanksgivings and Christmases were horrible, and on Thanksgiving this year I was on obedience training and I was so scared I was going to be left out again, but you didn't leave me out even though I was in trouble and I just… just, thank you." Grace's lower lip trembled as tears filled her big blue eyes.
"Oh, sweetheart, I wish you had told me how you were feeling on Thanksgiving. First of all, you weren't in trouble on Thanksgiving, you were in training. You did get in trouble before Thanksgiving, but you were not in trouble on the day itself. And second, even if you were in trouble, being in trouble doesn't exclude you from family celebrations. For example, Christmas is coming up. In our family, most of Christmas Day is spent opening gifts and then lounging on the couch watching Christmas movies all day. If for whatever reason you were in trouble, let's say I said you were restricted from television for a week, you would still be allowed to watch movies with us on Christmas Day. I might add a day to your restriction to make up for it, but you would not be left out. Even if I had to give you a spanking, you still wouldn't be left out of a family celebration." Olivia explained.
"Sar- uh, Melissa would always lock me in the bathroom before she left to go celebrate with whoever she was spending the day with, and I would be in there for hours with nothing to eat. Sometimes she would be gone all day and all night and wouldn't let me out until the next morning and I would have to sleep in the tub." Grace admitted, and Olivia's heart broke.
"That will never happen to you again, my baby, I promise." Olivia said kindly, making a mental note to never use sending Grace to bed without dinner as a punishment. Such a punishment had never even crossed her mind before, but it was now officially a hard limit. A few minutes of silence passed, and then Grace giggled softly as Olivia's nails slowly and lightly grazed her belly, recognizing the loving touch as a reward. Sometimes it was just nice to be reminded that she was a good girl.
"Oh, my baby likes that." Olivia teased gently, dancing her nails on the sensitive skin just below Grace's belly button as Grace's giggles increased. After a few moments she stopped and kissed Grace's forehead, "Now that we've managed to put a smile on that pretty face, do you think you can handle having another conversation with me?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace replied honestly, wriggling into a more comfortable position on Olivia's lap and snuggling down into her arms.
"That's my good girl. I just wanted to tell you that I've been making some phone calls and I found a therapist I would like you to talk to. You are more than welcome to always talk to me about whatever you want to talk about, but I think having someone to talk to who isn't me will be good for you. Your first appointment is on Monday at two. I would like you to do five sessions with him, and if you decide you don't like him then you don't have to go back and we will find somebody else you're more comfortable with. Okay?"
"Yes, Ma'am, I will try." Grace agreed with a reluctant pout.
"Hey, no pouting. Don't make me give you something to pout about." Olivia scolded playfully, lightly dancing her nails on Grace's side and turning Grace's pout into a smile.
"That's better." Olivia smiled.
On Monday, Grace struggled to concentrate on the tasks Olivia expected her to complete before her first therapy session, but she managed to get all of them completed with one hour to spare and received high praise for her effort. Olivia gave Grace a bath to calm her nerves and helped her get dressed, and when it was time she loaded Grace in the car.
"What's this guy's name, again?" Grace asked.
"Dr. Lindstrom. Remember our deal; you'll do five sessions with him, and after that if you decide you don't like him you don't have to go back and we'll find someone else, I have the names of two more therapists just in case. Since this is your first session, he wants to talk to me for the first half hour, but after today if you want to go in by yourself I can sit in the waiting room, or I can keep going in with you, it's your choice."
"What if I say something you don't like?" Grace asked quietly.
"You won't get in trouble for anything you say in therapy. You can yell and scream if you need to, all I ask is that you don't curse him or me out, and if you do there will be soap waiting for you at home. Therapy is your safe space to get your feelings out in the open so they don't eat away at you. I was in therapy for a little while a few years back after I got hurt working undercover, and it helped me a lot." Olivia explained.
"Did you see Dr. Lindstrom?"
"No, I saw a woman named Dr. Olivet. She's one of the two therapists on my list to call if you don't like Dr. Lindstrom, but I thought we'd try him first."
They pulled up in front of a large building and Grace held tightly to Olivia's hand as Olivia guided her up to the building and in through the double doors. Inside the elevator, Grace laid her head on Olivia's shoulder. She was starting to get nervous and needed the comfort. She smiled softly when she felt Olivia kiss her head.
"I'm right here with you, my baby, I promise."
Grace sat beside Olivia in the waiting room and once again laid her head on Olivia's shoulder while they waited for her name to be called.
"Grace Muncy. It's your turn." Dr. Lindstrom smiled.