Chapter XXVI

Cora picked out a nice dress from my closet the next morning, with bows along the hem and frilly sleeves. Unlike the day before, I wore my hair down. But just like the day before, Cora taped me into a fresh diaper. This time, I didn't argue. I didn't protest. Feelings of inadequacy were welling up inside me, and the only way could stave them off was to do what she said. Do what anyone said. Cora helped me to my feet, after buckling them into cute black leather shoes, and kissed me on the forehead. "Are you alright, darling?" she asked me. I nodded my head and faked a smile.

“You can always tell me your feelings, anything inside you. From your cute pretty smile all the way down to your shiny shoes." It wasn't enough that she was so compliant, and Cora wished that it was. But this wasn't going to last if Natalie didn’t see that Cora herself was the bringer of her safety.

"I'm okay," I said, keeping up the fake smile. "I'm just... disappointed in myself. In everything I do. But if I don't make any decisions, I have nothing to be upset about, right?" Cora seemed less certain, though. She pushed her eyebrows together in worry. "I promise, I'm okay." I waved her goodbye and made my way out to the car, which would take me to another long day at work. I remembered, when I first got this job, how much I loved it. Now, it made me so anxious. First the outfits. Then the spankings. Now Mabel? I did everything she told me to do, but I never felt any better. Why was it different with Cora? Why did I always feel happier after I let her make my decisions, but I felt so much worse with Mabel...?

"Good morning, Natalie." Like always, Mr. Gladstone read the newspaper in physical form, and he drank coffee without milk or sugar. This time of morning, he didn't even have his laptop open on his desk. The early sunlight made him look...firm. Fatherly. Appropriate for a man that was about to deliver ritualistic spankings to an adult woman to start her workday. "How are you?"

"Very well, sir..." I couldn't look up at him. After yesterday - after the echoing sound of his hand coming down on the seat of my crinkly, thick diaper - I felt so embarrassed. At dinner last night, I couldn't even say a word! And today would be just as humiliating...

"You've been a very good girl these past few days. You're very prim and proper, and well behaved at home. I'm very proud of you." His words were warm and genuine, actually kind and sincere. As she approached, he help her up onto his lap - not to lay over it, not right away, but instead to sit upon it.

...oh. Uh. I didn't expect… he pulled me down onto his lap, but not in a way I was used to. My padded behind wasn't high in the air. No, it acted as a cushion between my skin and his knee. I felt a new feeling in my stomach, something I couldn't quite name. "I... thank you... I'm trying..."

"And your efforts are showing, Natalie. For the very first time since we met, I'm starting to see you grow." Not grow up mind you, because Natalie was doing the very opposite of that. But grow into the role she'd been selected for? Absolutely.

Grow? What was he talking about? I hadn't done anything special the past few days. Actually, two days ago, I'd told him that my co-worker was bullying me! If anything, I felt like I was falling deeper and deeper into failure... "Is this about Mabel?"

"This is about you, Natalie. About you accepting responsibility, and being willing to change." He ruffled the top of her hair playfully, and then leaned back into his chair. "I suppose we should get down to business, shouldn't we? I'm so glad that this has been helping you as much as it has." And by that, in both counts, he meant spanking.

I wasn't really sure what Mr. Gladstone was getting at, but it felt nice to do something right for a change. Even if I didn't know exactly what it was. He helped me up and sat back in his chair, waiting and ready. I knew this part intimately. I crawled over his thighs, my shoulders hanging off one side and my bottom off the other. Already, I felt tears welling up.

The dress today made it very easy to expose the girl’s behind, to make it very clear as though he could have missed it yesterday, that she was wearing a diaper. Not padded panties, not a trainer, but an actual diaper. He ran his hand up the crinkly plastic exterior once, making sure she knew what he was doing, before raising sharply to deliver the first spank before she could question his motions. One. Two. Three. And so on.

It didn't hurt, not really. But it hurt what little pride I still had left. Tears dripped down my cheeks and I closed my eyes in shame. When the ten spankings were done, he put his palm on my bottom like he always did. This time, as he gently rubbed the diaper, there was a telltale crinkle that filled the room. But this time, there was something else. Something new. "Shh, it's okay..." he said quietly, almost a whisper. His gruff, masculine voice had never sounded so soft. "You're a good girl," he told me. I relaxed into his lap and tried to believe him.

He didn't rush her off of his lap, not immediately. She cried, but her tears dried and her tension eased away to leave only the sounds of her diaper crinkling and the soft words of reassurance. "I'm proud of you, and you're an asset to our family." Which, of course, meant 'work family', right? But it did have that other meaning.

When he stood me up, he smiled at me and wiped a tear off my cheek. I had never seen him smile like that. "I think your punishment is over, Nattie. You learned your lesson." I nodded my head in disbelief. He... he wasn't going to spank me anymore?

"You're still welcome to come see me in the mornings, if you're feeling uncentered and need to be reminded why being good is important. But I am no longer requiring it." So she could voluntarily come and get spanked? That might not have made much sense to her now, but a lot of this didn't make sense initially and so much had become her new norm.

I closed the office door behind me, looking blankly at the hallway. That was... unexpected. The praise. The gentle words. The end of my morning spankings. Prin looked up at me with glee. "Nattie, you look so cute today! Gorgeous dress." I looked at her, then down at my outfit. The one Cora picked out. I smiled - an actual, honest smile! - at the receptionist. "Thank you."

Prin gossiped and talked with Natalie. She leaned over the edge of one of the office half walls and - for the first time in a very long time - it really was like Natalie belonged here. Which was probably a wonderful feeling for as long as it lasted, and it lasted about as long as it took for Natalie to open her office door.