The White Out Day Two - Part Two

[naughtylilgirl09]

The White Out Day Two – Part Two
A Nat and Alyssa Story

Nat sighed to himself. He had known something was going to happen, and here it was, sitting right in his lap. Shaking his head he got up and walked over to the sink. With the help of some paper towels he got as much of the cereal off his pants as possible. Walking down to the basement to get a clean pair from the laundry he racked his brain for an idea of how to handle this situation. He knew he had to temper it now, the storm was only going to get worse and if the power went out, the two of them had to be able to live together.

Settling down onto the worn out couch in the basement he leaned back and prayed for an idea. Nothing came. As soon as his fingers began tapping like Alyssa’s had earlier he reached for the remote control and flipped on the television. There was absolutely nothing interesting to watch. On his third round of flipping through channels he caught a glimpse of a 90’s show that provided the inspiration needed.

He spent a good part of the afternoon working until he had a finished product that he was happy with. While it might be a little harsh, and he was quite aware that Alyssa was not going to be at all happy, it was most likely necessary for the two of them to live in peace for the next few days.

Glancing up at the clock he saw that it was already close to four. Time to get her out of that room. If he was going to have her eating three meals a day he couldn’t keep her in that room all the time. Clicking off the television, Nat ascended the two flights of stairs to place him outside of the guest bedroom. He knocked and then attempted to open the door. It didn’t move.

Had she barricaded herself in there? It wasn’t possible, there wasn’t anything to use as a barricade. He pushed harder and felt the object move a tad bit. “Alyssa!,” he called out, letting her know he was not happy with whatever she had done to prevent the door from opening.

“What,” he heard her groan. Even though he was not in the room he looked around. Where had that come from? “Alyssa,” he repeated.

“Oh,” he heard from the floor, “Ohmigod, crap!” Was she the one blocking the door? There was a lot of scuffling, a few knocks and bangs, and then the door flew open to present one very disheveled Alyssa. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep and I wasn’t trying to block the door and I’m sorry like so sorry, you will never know how sorry.” Only Alyssa could make that all happen in one breath Nat mused to himself.

“Okay,” he said, “get dressed and come down stairs.” Not providing her time to respond he turned and walked back to the stairway.

Alyssa was shocked. He was cold to her. She had never seen Nat be cold to her. He must be really mad, she told herself. There were two choices, stall or hurry. While stall seemed more favorable she chose to hurry. Jumping into her clothes from yesterday she practically flew down the stairs into the living room.

Nat was seated on the sofa, no longer pretending to read a magazine as he had been earlier. He was seated, just waiting for her. Good thing you didn’t stall she told herself. “You need to clean up the kitchen” he said as she walked over to him.

“Okay,” she said, unsure of where this was going. If that was what it took for him to not be angry that was a small price to pay. Heck she would clean the whole house.

“Now,” he said to her.

“Now? Oh, okay,” she responded and then turned and walked into the kitchen. The cereal was still on the chair and floor. Alyssa cringed when she saw it. How she had thought that one was a good idea was beyond her. She saw the cleaning supplies on the counter and the paper towels next to them. Shaking her head and raising her eyebrows she stood in place for a few seconds telling herself this is what happens when you are dumb, before she got to work.

It didn’t actually take that long. If she had thrown the bowl at him, which had been her original idea, now that would have taken a lot longer to clean up. After washing the last dish, placing it in the drying rack, Alyssa wiped her hands on her pants and walked back into the living room. Even though she was practically standing in front of him, Nat didn’t acknowledge her.

This time he was reading some document that he had with him. Was it smart to interrupt him? She really wasn’t sure. She stood about five feet to the left of him, putting herself just out of range of his immediate grasp. After a few minutes he still hadn’t said anything or even looked up. “Um,” she started, kind of pathetic but it was all she could think of. It did the trick because he put down the paper and looked over at her. “I cleaned the kitchen.”

“Good,” he said, “now, you and I need to talk.”

Here it comes, the lecture. Honestly, she could save him the time, she already had a good idea of what he would say. He handed her the piece of paper or rather held it out for her to take it. The distance she had placed between them didn’t allow him to totally place it into her hands. She reached out and grabbed it, quite confused. Did he write down his lecture to ensure that she never forgot it?

Before she even had a chance to look at it he explained to her, “these are the rules for this house,” she looked over at him to see if he was serious.

That would be the second time that she wanted to slap herself on the head that day. Why did she ever question if he was serious, the man never told a joke. Looking back down at the page she began to read.
Three meals a day, no hitting, no throwing things, no biting, contributing to chores, no cursing, be respectful, follow a schedule, blah, blah, blah, was he serious? Argh! Why did she keep asking herself that? Nat was always serious! She got about half way through the list when he spoke again, “you are going to sign a contract that you will follow these rules while you are in my house.”

Even though she knew he wasn’t the first thought that came into her head was ‘he has to be joking!’
Alyssa looked at him, “no.”

“I’m sorry?” Nat replied from the couch, “can you repeat that, I want to be sure I heard you correctly.”

“No,” Alyssa said louder, “I am not signing a stupid contract.” She was willing to try and adjust to his rigid stepfordy way of life but no way in hell was she putting her name on it.

She watched as he nodded his head a few times before saying, “all right.” She breathed a sigh of relief. At least it hadn’t been a big deal. She watched as he stood up and within seconds she felt herself being lifted off the ground and tossed over his shoulder. “What the fuck are you doing?!” she screeched at the top of her lungs. She waited for the smack on her bottom, or a comment about her language or something. There was nothing. He just continued walking.

She began to pound her fists into his back as hard as possible. “Let me go right now!” As usual she was ignored. Where is he taking me? It’s quite hard to figure out where a person is walking when all wooden floors look the same.

The silence frustrated her more. What was he going to do, lock her in a cellar? Did these houses even have cellars? What was a cellar anyway? Alyssa continued to pound away at his back demanding answers and not receiving any. All of a sudden she felt a blast of cold wind and snow hit her, seconds before Nat dropped her on his front steps. She looked up at him in shock. He dropped her jacket, scarf and gloves in a heap on top of her saying, “if you can’t agree to follow my rules, you will not stay in my house.” Alyssa was too shocked to respond as the door closed in her face and she heard the locks slide into place.

Nat watched her from inside. The blinds and curtains on all windows were drawn shut to keep out the cold. Earlier that afternoon he had opened one just about an inch to make sure he could see the porch, but not so anyone could see in. Her shock had been quite evident. It took her nearly two minutes to get up and put on her jacket and winter gear. It was close to five degrees outside, Nat knew she had to be in a state of extreme shock to last even that long without a jacket. His estimate was five minutes maximum that she would last before agreeing to the rules and coming inside. Was this harsh? Yes. It was below freezing, and a person couldn’t see more than an inch or so in front of themselves. Was it necessary? Yes, he reasoned with himself. The two of them needed to not kill each other while in the same house. And he truly meant two of them. He wasn’t about to let her die in a white out. The second she tried to move more than a foot off his front stoup he was bringing her inside. He was betting on the fact that she’d move towards his house and not hers.

Five minutes later she hadn’t really moved at all. Nat watched as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself but still made no movement to go in either direction. “Come on Alyssa,” he said quietly, “just do it.” He knew she could be out there much longer without becoming ill. Even from the window he could see her shaking. Then he saw movement.

It was not, however, what he expected. Still not moving in the direction of either house, Alyssa sat down on the snow covered pavement. “What is she doing?” Nat asked himself. He continued to stare at her trying to figure her out. He could see her knees drawn tightly into her chest, tears running down her face. Tears? Crying? All she had to do was agree to the rules and she could come back in, why was she crying?

As quickly as possible he went through everything he knew about her, which was a surprisingly large amount. “Ohmigod” he exclaimed the moment it hit him, as he jumped up and ran over to the door as quickly as he could. Fumbling with the locks he yanked open the front door and found Alyssa, still sitting there, tears frozen on her face, lips blue, shaking uncontrollably. Reaching down, he quickly scooped her up and brought her inside, mentally kicking himself the whole time. “I’m sorry,” she kept trying to say through frozen lips. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Grabbing a blanket Nat moved as quickly as possible into the living room where there was still a fire going. Sitting down close to the blazing fire, he held her frozen body close to his, wrapped the blanket around her and said “I know you are.”

As she began to thaw out Nat realized that she needed to take off the sopping wet clothes that she now had on. She was clinging to him so tightly he almost hated to disturb her, especially after what he had just put her through. But he didn’t want her to become ill either. “Alyssa, you need to go upstairs and change into some dry clothes,” he said to her. She looked up at him, an alarmed look on her face.

He gently lifted her out of his lap and stood her back on her feet. “I’ll be right here, promise.” The look she gave him was wary at best, disbelief at worst, however she finally did turn and go up the stairs.
Nat held his head in his hands for a few moments simply letting everything sink in. What was wrong with him? How had he let this happen? She poured cereal in his lap so he caused her emotional trauma? How was that in anyway right?

Alyssa hadn’t not come back in because she was being stubborn and refusing to agree to the rules. She had not come back in because in her mind he had kicked her out. He had known this about her too. She had been given up by her biological parents, adopted and then given back by a set of parents, adopted and then sent to live with relatives who sent her to a gymnastics academy, became close to a coach who deserted her, her biggest fear was being kicked out, becoming close to someone who would leave. He had literally thrown her out. Not metaphorically, literally. In the middle of a snow storm no less.

He looked up when he heard her coming down the stairs, she had changed into the pajamas he had given her the other day. The only thing he could do was smile, she looked adorable, the clothes were about twice her size.

At the base of the stairs Alyssa looked around not sure of what to do. When her gaze settled on him she said, “I really am sorry Nat.” He was still sitting in the rocking chair that he had been holding her in. Would he hold her again? She felt safe when he did. But it seemed like that only happened when she was crying…or apparently frozen.

He held out his arm to her as if attempting to hug someone, “come here,” he said. She walked towards him not sure if he was going to hug her, spank her, or strangle her. Apparently none of the above. As she reached his side Alyssa was surprised and delighted when he half helped half lifted her back into her back into his lap and simply held her again.

She felt like she was in heaven. Then she heard him sigh. A sigh was never a good thing. Looking up at him she tried to cut off any thing bad at the pass, “I said I was sorry.”

He sighed again. He must be really angry, she thought to herself. “Alyssa,” he said, “I’m not angry with you.” He obviously saw the questioning look combined with shock in her eyes because he added, “I’m not happy that I had cereal land in my lap this morning, and I expect you to never do that again.” He looked at her and she nodded quickly, “never again,” she added.

“And you and I will be discussing that bratty behavior later this evening,” he told her. “For the moment though, you cleaned up the mess, apologized, and I do forgive you. I always will, but that doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook.”

Her heart soared at this. He forgave her. Wait, he sighed. There was something else. Should she ask? Should she leave it alone? Leaving it alone would probably be best, that whole thing abut sleeping dogs and what not.

“You sighed,” she blurted out.

“What” Nat asked looking down at her? Dang it, dang it, dang it, why couldn’t she keep her mouth shut? All it ever did was get her into trouble anyway. This time she sighed, “you sighed, and whenever you sigh it usually means that you are mad at me.”

Nat chuckled, “is that so? You’re quite perceptive. I’m not mad at you, I am mad at myself at the moment.”

“Oh,” she replied, pursing her lips in thought. So maybe the sighing thing just meant he was mad. That could actually be good. It made her sound like less of a narcissist. Not a bad theory. Wait, why was he mad at himself. This was Nat, he is like the most perfect person in the world. “Why?” she asked before she even had a chance to contemplate whether asking was a smart thing to do.

He looked down at her once again, gave a small smile and said, “Alyssa, I am mad at myself because I acted without fully thinking something through.” That confused look must have found its way into her eyes because he sighed again and kept going. “My daughter would have the same reaction you did if I asked her to sign that list of rules.”

Oh god, we’re going to have to talk about that again, she remembered. They weren’t actually that bad, you were just being a brat, her brain chimed in. Wait a second I should probably be listening to him.
“And I would have done the same thing to her that I did to you.” She was sure that the confused look didn’t move from her eyes because she wasn’t quite understanding where he was going with this one.

“It wouldn’t have taken more than a minute or two for my daughter, Tina is her name, for Tina to be knocking at that door agreeing to follow the rules of this house.”

Am I supposed to still be confused Alyssa wondered to herself?

“Because I didn’t think things through,” Nat continued looking directly into her eyes, “I thought you would do the same thing.” Okay, now this is starting to make sense. Wait a minute, is he mad at me because I didn’t do the same thing? He said he was mad at himself, could he be mad at me too?

“I forgot, at that moment, about all the people that had kicked you out of their lives, and,” he looked away. This was hard for him. There was actually something in the world that was hard for him to do. Haha, he brain triumphed, score. He has trouble admitting he did something wrong. I can’t wait to hold this over his head later.

When he looked back down at her a few seconds later he had tears in his eyes. “Alyssa I never meant to hurt you,” he said, “and I am so sorry for putting you out there and making you think I was kicking you out.” Non-score her brain said.

She didn’t know what to say. What does one say in this situation? I’m sorry I poured cereal in your lap and bit you and kicked you? Don’t worry, it’s okay that I almost froze to death. It’s my fault, all you did was bring up my trauma issues leaving me so anxiety stricken that I couldn’t knock on the door to get back in? She chose to go with, “I’ll sign the list of rules.” She watched him nod and the tension remained written all over his face. As an afterthought she said, “thank you for coming to get me,” he looked back down at her when he heard her speak again. Despite the fact that she could have died in the cold she had to tell him the truth and that was, “there is no way that you could have known that was going to happen to me. I don’t even always known when my anxiety is going to go all wonky, so there is know way on earth that you would know. But thank you for coming to get me. For caring enough to even remember that part of my life.”

His response was to wrap his arms around her in a tight hug and continue to hold her as he rocked back and forth in the chair. “Of course I remember,” he said into her hair.

Nat had to admit he was a bit shocked that she was willing to forgive him, but he knew it was sincere. This time there was no waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was also quite saddened, not by the fact that she didn’t expect him to remember, but that it seemed she didn’t expect anyone to remember. He held, much like he had his daughter until she had reached the age of eight and become far too cool to be seen with him. It was nearing six o’clock by the time he had regained enough energy to begin to think about dinner. Looking down at the small child in his lap, person in his lap, Alyssa in his lap he saw that she was awake. “Dinner?” he asked her.

“Sure,” she responded.

“That means that you have to move,” he informed her.

“Okay,” she said still not making any sign of movement. After another five minutes Nat gently said, “Alyssa, we both need to eat dinner, time to move.” Before she could say anything he had lifted her off his lap, stood up, and placed her onto the couch. As he strode toward the kitchen she got up to follow him, “no, no, no, no,” he said. “Just rest, I’ll come get you when the foods ready.” She needed to rest and Nat was quite aware that she wasn’t going to unless he insisted. It wasn’t in her nature. The frown on her face told him so. “Okay,” she said laying back down. The fact that she agreed so easily was proof of the fact that she needed to rest.
It didn’t take long to make the meal, it was soup and toast, same as the night before. Re-entering the living room he found Alyssa reading the list of rules he had created earlier that day. That day? It seriously felt as if it were last week. “I thought I told you to rest,” he said. Instantly the paper flew down onto her stomach and an extraordinarily guilty look spread across her face.

“I got bored,” she replied. He motioned for her to come to the kitchen. He didn’t notice that she brought the list with her until she was seated at the table.

“You were bored so that is what you decided to read?” he asked as he blew on a spoonful of steaming hot soup.
She stirred her soup and responded, “yeah,” and then looked up at him, “I was uh wondering if we could talk about a few of these, or, I don’t know, are they like set in stone or can we discuss them before I sign that contract?” She was obviously nervous because the moment she got the question out she stuck a spoon of hot soup in her mouth and then choked given the temperature.

Nat pushed a glass of ice water over to her, “drink,” he instructed, trying not to laugh at the tears flowing down her face. She went through the whole glass, set it down, took her napkin and wiped the tears away and then looked at him trying to gauge a reaction. By that point he wasn’t showing one. He waited for her to go back to stirring or blowing on the soup before responding. She did neither. She simply stared at the soup for a moment and then looked up at him and asked, “can I get some ice cubes to put in the soup? I promise they’ll only go into the soup, and the soup will stay in the bowl,” she appeared to think a moment before adding, “and the bowl will stay on the table.”

Again, he had to force himself not to laugh, she had such a serious look on her face. “Yes, you may,” he responded. True to her word, she placed a few ice cubes into her soup, put the tray back into the freezer and nothing so far landed in his lap. As she began stirring the soup now with the ice, to cool it down, Nat replied to her original question, “as long as it is calm and respectful I am open to a discussion.”
He saw her smile as she again tried the soup, this time able to swallow it with out incident. “Thank you,” she said to him, “can we talk about it after this?”

“Of course,” Nat told her, thinking to himself that it wasn’t as if either one of them had any other pressing engagements to get to.

It didn’t take long for them to finish dinner. It was just soup after all, and since Alyssa had dumped ice cubes into hers, well it was much easier to get down. When the dishes were washed and cleared away she and Nat resumed their places at the kitchen table to have the discussion. It almost sounded ominous now. Whenever Alyssa had a discussion with her boss it was never a good thing.

She saw that the list had been placed in between the two of them, so they each would be able to read what it currently said. She knew this had been her idea, and she had been tremendously glad that he had agreed, but now she was nervous. What if this turned into nothing but an Alyssa babble fest?
It wouldn’t she told herself. You just have to be sure of yourself.

It was obviously that he was waiting for her to begin. “Um, hi,” she said with a bright smile.

“Hi,” he said to her.

“How are you?” she asked, stalling for time.

There was a smile playing at the corners of his lips, “doing well, how are you?”

“I’m good, fine, yeah,” she trailed off.

“Good,” he said.

Stop sounding like an idiot! She commanded herself. The two of you obviously know how each other is doing, you’ve been together for the last 48 hours. Just get to it and get it over with!

“Right,” she began again, licking her lips, “so um I was wondering if we could discuss the third rule on the list?”

He glanced over at the list and then back at her a slight look of annoyance in his eyes, “Alyssa, I think I’ve been quite clear about the fact that when in my house you are going to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and you are going to limit the caffeine that you drink. I am not going to change that.”

She felt herself beginning to back down when her brain or ego or attitude or ultra-ego or whatever it was that made her argue with everyone kicked in. Do it, don’t let this go, it screamed at her.
“Ah, well, um, see I-I-I don’t want to change that per say, just modify a little?”
It wasn’t supposed to come out as a question she could hear herself screaming at ….well, herself.

The look on his face was dubious but he gestured for her to continue. “Um, well, see the reason I don’t eat breakfast is because if I eat with the medication that I take in morning, which I am so glad that I stopped at the pharmacy the day that snowstorm hit, or you’d have so many bigger problems, oh right, uh, I can’t eat right away or I get sick and then my meds don’t stay down. I usually grab a latte with protein powder in it or something in the morning, that’s why you think I live on coffee. And, uh, I can’t drink milk, so I can’t eat cereal for breakfast either. But I saw protein shakes in your fridge so I thought maybe I could just drink one of those in the morning so I don’t get sick?” She knew the look on her face was probably pathetically hopeful.

Nat nodded his head and replied, “all right, protein shake, you can have one coffee a day, I’m assuming you want it with breakfast?” She nodded quickly.
Taking a pen from a jar in the center of the table he amended the rule and then moved the sheet back to the center.

She looked so nervous he was actually afraid that she might faint. “The no cursing rule,” she said hesitantly. He was about to tell her that he wouldn’t make any changes to that either, but decided to hear her out. He nodded giving her the ‘go’ to tell him her thoughts.

“Well, I am willing to follow a you know no cursing thing, but if I drop a brick or something on my foot, this is a bad example, but say that happens, uh the automatic response is a curse regarding the pain. There are psychological studies saying that by doing so it is how we deal with the pain and stress of the situation, I read it in Psychology Today.” Nat had to smile, she was giving references to why he should change the rules.

“I will agree,” he began, then paused thinking of how to word this. “What if I add on to the end, except in warranted situations?” Alyssa nodded, and once again Nat penned in the changes.

Placing the page in the center once again he looked at her. “That’s it,” she told him, “those were the only two that I wanted to make.”

Surprised but happy Nat pushed the paper further towards her and held out the pen. He watched as she put the pen to the paper, about to sign and then stopped and looked over at him. “I just have one question first,” she said.

“All right,” he said. Alyssa’s ‘one question’ typically turned into twenty but he didn’t mind at this moment.
“If I break one of these rules, are you like, gonna hate me?”

That certainly had not been the question he had been expecting. “No, Alyssa, I’m not going to hate you,” he responded. “I’m not going to hate you, I’m not going to kick you out, or never to speak to you again, or any of those things.”

“Well then, uh, what would happen?” Nat was truly beginning to realize how truthful she had been when she had told him she had never had rules, consequences or structure in her life.

“Well, Alyssa,” he began, leaning forward and taking both her small hands into his large one, “if you break a rule, you are doing something that you know you aren’t supposed to be doing. So, let’s think about this, if you are driving on 3rd Street, and the speed limit is”

“40” she immediately chimed in.

“And the speed limit is 40,” Nat continued. “You’re driving 55, are you over the speed limit?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Are you doing something that you are not supposed to be doing?”

“Everyone else does it,” she informed him.

“That’s not what I asked you,” he said with a slightly harder tone.

“Well if everyone else is going 55 and I am going 40 then technically I could be cited for going to slow and disrupting the flow of traffic,” she responded.

“Alyssa,” he said a warning tone evident.

She sighed, “yes I would be doing something that I should not be doing.”

“If you happen to go through speed zone, you get a ticket, why did you get it?”

He could see confusion written all over her face, “because I was speeding?”

“Speeding means you are,” he prompted her.

“Um, over the limit?” she replied most definitely guessing.

“And if you are driving over the limit you are..”

She got the look of sort of knowing but not quite sure that Nat was used to seeing when he explained the rules of the school, “doing something that I’m not supposed to be doing?”

“Right. How do you know you’re not supposed to be doing it?” It was literally like talking to an eight year old Nat couldn’t help but think to himself. This girl was so brilliant in so many other ways, but the conversations that he had with her, it made his daughter seem more intelligent.

“Well because the speed limit sign said 40,” she replied as if that were the dumbest question in the world.

“So basically a speed limit on the road is like a rule in this house. When you break the speed limit, you get a ticket. They make you pay sixty, seventy, one hundred dollars. It’s a consequence, a punishment, something that you remember not liking so that the next time you think about breaking that same rule, you remember what happened.”

He could still see the somewhat confused look on her face but it wasn’t as confused as it had been. So he continued, “you get caught speeding the first time, you pay fifty bucks, that’s what, ten lattes?” she nodded. The hope is that you’ll remember the ten lattes that you didn’t get and not speed again. If you do, then you pay seventy five. Same thing here, if you break a rule, you pay the consequence with the hope that you learn the lesson and never break the same rule again.”

He could tell that she mostly understood but that furrowed brow told him there was still a little confusion and he knew what it was. “If you get a speeding ticket, which I know you have, so you’ll know the answer to this,” he watched her turn bright red. “If you get a ticket do the police and law enforcement and entire county government decide that they hate you? You broke their rule, you broke the speed limit, so they hate you now?”

Alyssa looked to the side for a moment as if deciding how to answer and then looked back at him and said, “no.”

“No, they don’t,” he affirmed. “Just like if you break a rule here, there is a punishment, just like there is a speeding ticket, but it doesn’t mean that I hate you.”

Amazingly, she seemed satisfied with that explanation, and the one question really was one. “Okay,” she said before removing her hand from his grasp, picking up the pen and signing the bottom of the page. Nat smiled, then reached over and pulled the pen and paper back in front of him.

Giving it one more quick glance over he ran his finger down the list of rules just to make sure that he had covered all the bases.

“Uh, Nat,” he heard Alyssa say, “I have another question.”

“Hmm?” Nat responded as he signed and dated his name at the bottom of the page.

“What exactly are uh the consequences?”

Placing the pen down he looked over at her to gauge her mood and seriousness when asking the question. One look at her face told him that she wasn’t at all joking around when asking. “Well, obviously they’ll vary depending on the situation,” he began. Alyssa continued to just look at him, clearly expecting him to have all the answers.

He hadn’t honestly gotten that far in his thinking. He knew he intended to give her one long hard spanking this evening for the cereal that she poured into his lap that morning, but could he ask her to sign a contract allowing him to spank her?

Alyssa saw his hesitation in answering her. “They’re going to be spankings, aren’t they,” she asked him. While it was one of the more unusual times that the look on his face actually changed, she still couldn’t figure out what it was. It did look a bit like shock. He appeared to be studying her for a few moments and then he said, “yes, that is exactly right.”

Though she would never admit it to his face Alyssa was relieved. She wasn’t even sure why she felt that way, but she had this overwhelming feeling of relief was over her. Part of her had feared it was going to be copying the student handbook or some etiquette book again. That never helped her to feel forgiven, it simply made her feel horrible about herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Nat said, “speaking of which, there are a few events from today that we need to discuss.”

Alyssa could feel her eyes open wide as she looked over to him and asked, “a few?”

“Yes a few,” Nat responded. That ‘don’t-question-me’ look had appeared, causing Alyssa to gulp. She had expected one for the cereal incident, but what else had happened? Was she supposed to ask? How did this whole consequence thing work?

“Ummm, don’t you mean one?” Alyssa asked tentatively.

“No,” Nat responded, using the ‘I’m going to say it slower so that maybe you’ll understand’ tactic, “a few incidents, not just the cereal.” Alyssa just continued to stare at him questioningly. “the swearing,” Nat informed her, “kicking, remembering now?”

“Right,” Alyssa responded her gaze suddenly finding the floor. This whole following-the-rules thing wasn’t going to be as easy as she had first thought given those had just been natural reactions for her. She heard Nat sigh, he was probably already disappointed in how stupid she was for not figuring out that there was more than one punishment.

“Go on upstairs, I’ll be up in a few minutes,” she heard him say. Still not looking up Alyssa jumped off the chair and scurried out of the room as quickly as possible.

As he watched her nearly fly out of the room Nat couldn’t help but wonder if this was a good idea. In essence, he had adopted another child. Even when the snow stopped falling, the roads cleared and she went back to her own house it was blatantly obvious that whatever this relationship was, it wasn’t going to end when she walked out the door.

He cleaned up the kitchen, washed and dried the dishes from the evenings meal. He already knew the task at hand, but he wanted Alyssa to take some time to truly reflect on what was about to happen. About thirty minutes later he went upstairs and knocked on her bedroom door before pushing it open.

Alyssa was seated on the bed, back against the wall, with her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them. Nervousness was written all over her face. Walking over to the bed, he sat down and looked over at her trying to think of the best way to begin. Finally he took a deep breath and asked, “what do you think is going to happen tonight, Alyssa?”

She looked up at him, her head not moving from its half buried position in her arms, and responded, “you’re going to spank me.”

“That’s correct, but I want you to tell me each issue that I am going to punish you for,” he replied.
He could see her eyes already begin to water at this request. She didn’t respond right away and he didn’t push her. Even when they were having a regular conversation back in his office it had sometimes taken her a long time to come up with an answer, he was aware it was just part of her personality. After about five minutes he heard her say, “for dumping cereal in your lap?”

“Yes,” he responded, “that is correct. You’ll be receiving a belt spanking later tonight for that little incident. What else?”

“Um,” she began, her voice and hands shaking, “for kicking you?”

“Also correct, you’ll receive two spankings for that,” he saw her about to protest and continued quickly to explain. “One tonight for the action, and one tomorrow morning for lying to me.”

“I did not lie to you!” Alyssa shot back indignantly.

“Really?” Nat replied as gently as he could, “wasn’t it you who told me last night that you wouldn’t be kicking or biting anyone again?” He watched her eyes open wide as she realized his logic. “I didn’t mean, um, well, I’m new at this, how about a hail mary pass?”

“You’re new at keeping your word?” Nat questioned her.

“No! Not that!” Alyssa was now sitting up right, trying to reason her way out of this one, “the whole following the rules thing.”

“I know you are,” he said taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze, “and the only way that you’ll get used to it is if you are held accountable for following each and every rule, and punished each and every time you break one.” Her shoulders slumped down in the sign of defeat. “What else?”

Looking up at him with frowning eyes she responded, “swearing at you.”

“Correct, and you will not be spanked for that,” he watched her face brighten. “Don’t get so excited little one, you’re going to have your mouth washed out with soap, and you’re going to write some lines for me.” He watched her role her eyes and chuckled to himself. He was certain that wouldn’t be her attitude later this evening.

“All right, in here, or the master bedroom kiddo? Your call.”

She chewed her lip out of nervousness as she decided, “I guess the other room,” she finally said.

Giving her a small nod, Nat got up and walked out the door, listening to make sure that she was following. It took her a few seconds but she too got off the bed and followed him to the other room.

Just as he had the previous evening Nat seated himself on the small loveseat and waited for Alyssa to meander her way over towards him. He could tell by her stride that she wasn’t stalling, more psyching herself up for what was about to take place. Because of this he let her be, choosing not to chide her for the snails pace. When she did manage to stand in front of him, Nat noted she was not staring at the floor as she had the other night. She had obviously come to terms mentally with what was about to take place. Her dark brown eyes stared directly into his, unlike previous occasions there was not a single spark of defiance or stubbornness or arrogance. Her gaze simply indicated that she was ready for what was to come.

“Take off the pajama pants, fold them and place them on that chair,” Nat quietly said, gesturing with his head to the chair a few feet away from them. The moment he gave the direction her eyes dropped to the floor. However she complied with the instruction and began to untie the drawstring on the large pants, her hands shaking a bit from nervousness. It took her a few seconds of fumbling with the string but eventually she untied it, this time knowing to hold them up instead of letting the large heap of cloth fall to the floor. Not taking her eyes from the floor she carefully stepped out of the pajamas and delicately folded them, treating the faded cloth as if it were porcelain. Walking a few steps she carefully placed them on the chair and shuffled back to her place in front of Nat.

Alyssa was confused, somewhat mortified, but mostly confused. She was shuffling again. What was that? She didn’t shuffle. She was Alyssa Carruthers, she was kick ass, she did not shuffle….except apparently, she did. Not once did she even attempt to look at anything but the worn wood floor. She knew she wouldn’t be able to. Shuffling, what the hell? She had never shuffled a day in her life and all of a sudden it snows and she starts shuffling???

Standing in front of Nat she waited for him to give some instruction, some direction, but there was only silence. Five minutes must have gone by before she heard him say, “Alyssa, look at me.” Not even attempting to she shook her head. There were already tears forming in her eyes, she couldn’t bear to face him at the moment. He kept forgiving her, he kept giving her another chance. She didn’t understand it. After all the grief she had caused him at school why on earth had he even bothered pulling her in from the storm in the first place? He knew her well enough to know that she would drive him up a wall.

“Alyssa,” he said again, this time his voice was a bit harder, and she automatically flinched a bit, “I don’t care if we stay here all night, all day tomorrow, we will not begin this punishment until you can look me in the eyes and ask for this punishment.”
It was like a damn broke within her and tears began to fall down her cheeks and onto the floor. Look up, she commanded herself, you can do this, you want this, you need this. After about thirty more seconds of commanding herself she finally raised her head allowing her to look directly into Nat’s kind eyes. “N-N-Nat, will you please punish me for everything that I did today?” Silently she added ‘and everything that I did while I was in school, and while you’re at it maybe my entire life?’

Nat could see her shaking and decided against making her repeat her request with proper phrasing. His nieces, nephews, daughter, they knew that they had to specifically ask for a spanking and tell him exactly what they had done to deserve one. But given the amount of punishments he was already doling out he didn’t think the formalities were necessarily going to matter. Not in these beginning stages. “All right then,” he said, reaching for her arm and pulling her over his knees. He felt a second of resistance from her but it was gone in a flash. Unlike his daughter, nieces, nephews, and anyone other unfortunate soul that happened to be on the receiving end of one of his spankings, she apparently wasn’t going to fight being spanked. Taking the safety pin from the top of the couch cushion where he had r placed it while she was walking over, he pulled her shirt up, revealing her panty covered bottom, and pinned the end of the shirt to the collar. “Lift your hips up Alyssa,” he instructed her.

She didn’t move and he was ready to remind her that disobedience would not help her at the moment. He heard her quietly ask, “don’t you start with my panties on?” There was definitely a sound of panic in her voice. Gently patting her bottom he responded, “not in this case, kiddo. Now do as I tell you and lift your hips up.” He could hear her suck in her breath and then walk her feet up a few inches on the floor so that she could push her body up.

Swiftly, he took hold of the waistband of the blue panties and yanked them down to her knees. The minute they were off she lifted her feet and unceremoniously landed back on his lap. “Give me your feet,” he instructed. There was a seconds hesitation but she bent her knees and lifted her feet up towards him. He was proud of her at the moment, following instructions blindly without questioning was something that she was not good at. He pulled the panties all of the way off her legs and placed them on the mantle behind the couch. With a light tap to her upper shins, he quietly said, “good girl,” and Alyssa slowly lowered her legs to the floor. “You won’t be wearing those for a good portion of tonight,” he informed her as he reached over to the side table and picked up the hair brush. She had been quiet thus far. Once he placed the cool wood of the brush on her bottom he heard her gasp.

This he chose to ignore instead saying, “keep those hands in front of you Lyssa,” before raising the brush up and bringing it down onto her cheeks. SMACK She cried out most likely shocked at the difference from her last spanking.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK Nat didn’t say much for a while, he simply continuously spanked over and over with the hairbrush.
When he could tell she wasn’t going to fight as much, she wasn’t quite at the point of letting that lesson sink in, but at a place where she could actually hear him, he began. “Alyssa, was it not just last night that you were spanked for kicking and biting?”

“Yes,” she managed to say through her tears.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

“And did you not tell me that you learned you lesson and that you were never going to kick anyone again?”

There was no answer. SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK Nat stuck her thighs as he said, “Alyssa I asked you a question!”

She screamed as the newest area of her body felt the four swats from the hairbrush. “Yes, yes, yes, I did,” she responded crying but not nearly repentant.

Nat went back to spanking the middle of her bottom cheeks.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

“So then what happened today? Did you lie to me last night? Did that spanking last night not make enough of an impression on you?”

Again he received no answer from her. Pausing for a moment, he shifted her forward just a bit over his lap giving him better access to the very tender area just under her bottom cheeks. SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

She was screaming and sobbing at the same time. “I’ll ask you again Alyssa, what happened today? Did you lie to me yesterday? Did the spanking yesterday make no impression on you whatsoever?”

“No,” she choked out, “I didn’t mean to, it’ just happened, like a reflex”

“Well, then, young lady, you need to learn some self control,” He stopped spanking for a moment as a thought occurred to him.

“Clasp your hands together and hold them out,” he said and waited for her to do so. He watched as she put her hands out in front of her and stretched them out in front of her head, about an inch from the floor. “Raise them higher,” she moved them up about half an inch, “higher, Alyssa.” She moved them up about another half inch. “Alyssa,” he said, his voice now relaying his annoyance, “to be at least six inches from the floor.” Slowly, she complied.

Looking over towards her legs, he instructed, “ankles together.” She complied, her body language making her confusion evident.”

“Very good,” he said quietly, placing the brush on her bottom again. He could see her bottom tense up, anticipating the onslaught of spanks that was about to come. “You’re telling me that you can’t help the fact that you’re kicking people, so this is going to be a lesson in self-control. You’re going to maintain this position for two minutes, young lady.”

“You have complete control of when this will end, all you have to do, is control yourself enough to hold that position for two minutes while being receiving a well deserved spanking.”

Alyssa began to loudly sob at this announcement. Two minutes? Was he crazy? Maybe he was? Maybe he had never been spanked? Maybe he didn’t know what this felt like? It was possible….but very doubtful. Nat had stopped talking, the lecture part of this was obviously over. Oh, she wished he would just continue talking so she could pretend to be listening again. Instead he was paddling her with that damn hairbrush. She had never ever felt pain like this before.

And she had been a gymnast! She had broken her freakin back on the balance beam and then finished her routine! Somehow this was worse. Every time she tried to move out of the way of that damn hairbrush he just pulled his arm tighter around her waist.

It had to stop, Alyssa was sure she was going to die…either that or throw up. Doing her best she attempted to force herself to control her flailing arms and legs. It seemed like eternity but she heard Nat say “Good job, about a minute left.”

She was doing it! She could bring an end to this.

Nat couldn’t tear his eyes off the clock. That last sixty seconds was torture for both of them, it felt as if there was something clutching his heart as he brought the brush down for that last minute. He watched the second hand go round, it seemed to be moving slower than usual. When it finally had made the complete circle he put the brush down, “Good job, Alyssa, it’s over now.” He wasn’t even sure if he heard him her sobbing was close to hysterical. However she dropped her arms and let her legs fall to the side, letting him know she was aware of what he said.

He continued to rub her back until she quieted.
He was not looking forward to the rest of the evening. Helping her up onto her feet he pulled her into his arms for a quick hug. He could feel her trying to bury herself into his chest and it took all of his strength to pull her out and move her away.

“Go to the corner Alyssa, keep your hands on your head,” he said quietly. The shocked look on her face cut deep. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he could finish all of the punishments he’d assigned for the evening. As she nearly limped towards the corned Nat sat down onto the love seat again, half exhausted and ready to cry.
This was one hell of a situation. If he didn’t fulfill every punishment he had said he would deliver he’d be teaching nothing and giving her permission to walk all over him. If he did, well, he honestly wasn’t sure he could stomach it. Never had he punished his daughter or relatives so harshly. However, they were raised in such different environments that they would never dare behave in such a fashion.