The Arctic Waves of Reinforcement - Part One

[naughtylilgirl09]

The Arctic Waves of Reinforcement - Part One
A Nat and Alyssa Story

Nat woke up the next morning, in his bed, though clumsily so, the blankets tangled about, and Alyssa still in his arms. Neither of them had eaten dinner the evening before. Once he’d gotten upstairs, and begun rocking her in that chair, she refused to let go of him. It hadn’t been much longer before the two of them started to drift into sleep.

He had gotten some details out of her, though, and he was thankful it hadn’t involved another trip over his lap. It was simpler than he could have imagined. She wanted his attention, even if it was not in a pleasant way. Alyssa was afraid. For some reason, Nat felt like he should have been able to sense that. He wondered why it hadn’t dawned on him. Her fear of being left, of being kicked out.

He had placed her in a scenario where she was nearly being punished for everything. Though, a good portion of that was to her own credit. But, he kicked himself for not realizing, of course she began to feel vulnerable and afraid. In a situation when she felt she couldn’t do anything correct, and Alyssa feared being kicked to the curb, she would do the next best thing in desperation. She’d seek the negative attention. Purposely act out.

He felt her move and looked down. She was starting to stretch out, and then attempted to roll over. When her bottom hit the mattress, she groaned, and rolled back. Nat couldn’t help himself, he began to laugh. Obviously, she wasn’t in as much pain as some of the previous spankings. But she could still feel some sting.

He heard her say in a rather grumpy voice, “it’s not that funny.”

“You’re right,” he replied, as he attempted to school his face into a serious expression. “Not that funny, at all.” He could see the corners of her mouth beginning to twitch.

“All right,” she said, a giggle escaping, “I guess it’s a little funny.” The both ended up laughing for a good few minutes. It was a strange but great way to start the day. Especially, Nat thought to himself, since it was going to be another day of working through little things, learning those small lessons.

He was in the kitchen, drinking coffee, halfway through breakfast already, when Alyssa arrived. She had taken a shower and looked refreshed and much more awake. “I’m not late, am I?” she asked him from the doorway. He could see the nervousness in her eyes.

“Nope,” he told her, “come on in and have a seat. Do you want eggs or a protein shake?”

“Um…eggs, please,” she said, walking over and carefully lowering herself down onto the chair.

Well, Nat thought, that was one hurdle out of the way, sitting down at the table without an argument. He began making her omelet and was surprised when she began a conversation, that wasn’t about whether or not she could have coffee. “Hey, Nat,” she said tentatively, “I was wondering something.”

“Sure,” he said, glancing over, and giving her a quick smile. “What’s up?”

“This is totally a lame question, I just always wondered. At school, you know how we had to go and meet with you, or whoever the persons’ advisor was, every semester. We’d have to bring a plan of the classes that we wanted to take the next semester, and show how they fit into the grad plan, and all that. Then you went into the computer and gave us permission to register,” Alyssa told him.

He smiled, he was quite familiar with the process. “Yes, I know what you’re talking about, Lyssa.” He flipped over the omelet and went to get a plate. “What about it?”

“I always wondered what the point was,” she told him. “Of having to meet with each student. Because you guys had to clear us to register, so we’d present you with what we were going to take. But then, when we were allowed to actually sign up for classes, half the time, the courses we wanted, or had on the list we showed you, were full. Plus, I mean, the first two weeks of the semester, we all switched in and out of classes, or sections, because of jobs, internships, the professor, ex-boyfriend in the class,” Alyssa paused and looked up at him, when he set the plate down on the table, her voice trailing off.

Nat realized he must have given her a hard stare because she nearly began babbling. “Not that I ever switched a class because of that. I mean, that’s just, I wouldn’t do that, that’s so, I mean, I would, I,” Nat broke into a smile which quickly turned to laughter. Alyssa stopped mid babble and simply stared at him.

“I know you and every other student switched in and out of classes for multiple reasons those first two weeks. Not to worry,” he said, tapping her nose. “Now, what do you want to drink, Alyssa?” This would be another interesting test. To see if she even brought up coffee.

He watched her gulp, and then say, “orange juice, please?”

Nat nodded his approval of her decision, smiled, and squeezed her shoulder as a sign that he wanted her to continue with her question, before turning to go to the refrigerator. She’d picked juice. Hadn’t even considered the caffeine. She truly was trying.

There was a pause, and then Nat heard her continue. “I was just, I always wondered why we were supposed to meet with you first, since, at least for me, the list of classes that I brought you and the ones I ended up taking were rarely the same.” Alyssa looked satisfied with her oration of her question, and popped a piece of the omelet into her mouth.
One second later, her eyes grew large and she began waving her hand in front of her mouth. It took her a moment to swallow. Right about that time, Nat set the glass of juice down in front of her. She grabbed it and took a long sip, “thank you,” she said to him.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, pleased that her manners were vastly improving, at least for the moment. “Might want to give the omelet a moment.”

He saw her smile at that, and was pleased to see her actually smile. “To answer your question, Alyssa…think about the first time we met each other,” he said.

She groaned, and then looked over, eyes wide and he could see the nervousness again. Before she could apologize, though, he continued, “I know you rather wouldn’t, as you weren’t happy with that interaction,” Nat was watching her carefully. She relaxed visibly, the nervousness was starting to dissipate. “But it is a good way for me to help answer your question. So, if you think back to that meeting, you asked me to redo you grad plan, you wanted to switch Core Focuses. Correct?”

She nodded, mouth full of food. Nat decided to forego the verbal answer at that moment.

“You were what Core at the time,” he asked her.

“Socioeconomic and Gender,” she told him.

“And what did you want to change to?”

“Domestic Systems” she replied, a confused expression starting to appear on her face.

“Right,” he said, “because you wanted to know if you could complete your degree faster if you switched.”

Alyssa nodded again, in the middle of eating.

“Why did you come in and ask about Domestic Systems? Why not historical comp for a concentration? Or applied philosophy?” Nat asked, and waited for her to finish digesting the bit of eggs she was eating.

“Well, because I looked at the requirements for each of the concentrations, and I already knew that most of the classes that I had taken were in the Domestic Systems section, and I eyeballed the list, and it looked like I would be able to…” she faded out, studying his face.

“Exactly. You looked up the graduation requirements, you paid attention to what courses you were taking, and what requirements they filled,” Nat said to her. “A good number of students, they don’t do that. They take what sounds interesting. So, once a semester, they need to come in so I can gently remind them of what requirements still need to be filled in order for them to complete their degree.”

Alyssa snorted, and Nat looked over at her. “Sorry,” she said.

“Tell me,” Nat said to her.

“Nothing,” she said, a smile forming on her face. “Just, when did you ever gently remind anyone?”

He smiled back, “point taken. Though, some students required more than others,” he tapped her nose, “like you, little miss, didn’t just need a gentle reminder. You needed a good kick in the pants.”

He saw her turn bright red and chuckled. “But you graduated, with honors. Couldn’t have made me more proud.”

Her head had been tilted down just a bit until then. At his words, Alyssa looked up, her eyes just sparkling with hope, as she asked him, “really?”

“Absolutely,” he told her. He saw that she’d finished everything on her plate. Pushing back his chair just a bit, he held out his arm, “c’mere, give me a hug.”

Alyssa did not have to be told twice for that one. She was out of her chair and in his arms within two seconds flat. He held her for a few seconds, and then lifted her up and sat her down in his lap. “You make me proud all the time, Alyssa. I know, right now, it seems like you’re always in trouble, like you can’t do anything right.” Nat caught her chin before she had a chance to drop her head down. “No, look at me. I need you to hear me.”

He waited until he was sure that he had her attention. “I’m not going to get rid of you, or kick you out, or anything that I know scares you every day, all the time, because you’re getting into scrapes, and earning yourself a good number of spankings. From what I can surmise, all of the people that decided to leave, they weren’t willing to take the time. The quick way, the easy way, Alyssa, is to leave, to tell a person to get lost. And I did that to you a few times when you were my student, and I shouldn’t have. I didn’t understand you then. But you need to understand, your bad behavior is not going to make me get rid of you, all it will do is cause this right here,” Nat slapped her tush a few times, “to hurt for the next day or so.”

She nodded her head, nearly imperceptibly, but he saw it, and let go of her chin. The moment he let go, Alyssa curled her body in a bit and leaned against his chest, wanting the embrace that made her feel safe. “And Alyssa, as I said, you make me proud all the time. The fact that you are going through every single thing on your transcript, accepting the consequences for actions you committed years ago, taking responsibility even know, that makes me very proud of you. That you’re going through the process of learning some of the things you missed out on learning when you were a child. That are much more difficult and painful to learn now, but you’re doing it anyway. Extraordinarily proud.”

The two sat like that for a few minutes, Nat wanted to hold her as she felt safe for as long as he possibly could. “Alyssa,” he said after a while, nudging her a bit to make sure she was awake.

“Yes, sir?” she replied.

“Do we need to continue the lessons from yesterday, or have you learned your lesson this time,” Nat asked.

“I have, sir,” she said quietly.

Pulling her away from his chest for a moment, Nat looked held her so that he could see her face. “I want you to think for a moment before you answer me, Alyssa,” he told her. “While I’m quite aware that yesterday was not pleasant for you, I need to be 110 percent sure that the lesson has sunk into this hard head.” He knocked gently on the side of her head to emphasize the point.

He watched her nod.

“It has?”

She nodded and then replied softly, “yes sir.”

“You’re absolutely sure,” Nat questioned.

“Yes sir,” she replied.

“Because if I find that it did not, and there is a repeat of the behavior, tomorrow, three days from now,” Nat paused to tilt her head back so that she was forced to look him in the eye, “yesterday will feel like I was playing patty cake on your heine, understood?”

He watched as she gulped, nodded, and said quietly, “yes sir.”

“Good.” Nat released her chin. “Now, I’ll ask you this one last time. Are you sure the lesson has sunk into your head?”

“Yes, sir,” Alyssa replied.

Nat found himself doubtful, for some reason. He continued to look her over for another moment, but then thought to himself, the most he could do was hope she was sincere and deal with the fall out if she wasn’t. “All right,” he pulled her forward, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Go upstairs then, and change into the school uniform.”

He placed a kiss on the top of her head. “First, clear and rinse your dishes, though. Once you’re dressed, come find me in living room. Bring a wooden spatula with you.”

Nat lifted her up out of his lap, set her on feet, and gave her a gentle push towards where she had been sitting.

When she began moving, he got up, himself and retreated to the living room. He could hear her clearing plates, and rinsing the dishes. He listened to the sound of her feet banging on the stairs as she ran up the one flight to go and change. It was only a few minutes later when he heard the same sound as she made her way back down stairs again, pausing before entering the kitchen. Nat didn’t call to her, scold her, or even acknowledge that he was listening for her movements. If she needed to take a moment to gather herself, that was fine.

A moment was all that it was, too. It couldn’t have been more than a minute later that he heard her footsteps moving into the kitchen. A few minutes later he could hear her make her way towards the living room, to face him. Her footsteps were slow and timid which was unusual, in fact she was taking so long about it, Nat was nearly ready to turn and scold her for it. “Nat, sir,” Alyssa said very timidly from the doorway.

“What is it Alyssa?” he asked, his voice holding a sharp edge, unintentionally, due to the amount of time it had taken her. He gave himself a mental kick on that one, as he looked up at her, and saw her hands were empty. He was ready to chastise her not only for the slowness, the stalling along with not doing as she was told and bringing the spatula, but his brain told him to wait. To let her speak first. There had been far too many times that he’d jumped and yelled before letting her speak, only to find out that there was an explanation.

“There are three different wooden spatulas, did-did you want me to bring a specific one? Or bring all of them?” The look on her face gave away her nervousness, though the fact that she was nearly stuttering and looked ready to faint, did that for her.

Nat gave her a small smile, trying to give her as much reassurance as one could project through a smile, and replied, “I’ll leave that up to you, which one to bring.”

“O-o-okay,” she stammered, before turning to go back.

“Alyssa,” he called her attention back to him.

“Yes, sir?” she turned to face him, nervousness still present.

“You did a good job, asking,” he told her, giving her a wink, and then nodding with his head towards the kitchen. He saw the faintest of smiles cross her face as she turned and departed. The praise was necessary. He was coming to realize that more and more. Alyssa didn’t just long to hear it, she needed to.

Two minutes later she reentered the room carrying one of the wooden spatulas as he had directed her to. When he held out his hand, she placed it in his palm, looking glad to be rid of it. It was a simple light wooden one, no slots, square shaped. Nat placed it next to him, thinking to himself, that, if she thought it would hurt less than the others, she was wrong about that.

Taking Alyssa’s hand, he pulled her forward, a few steps, until he had her pinned between his knees, making escape impossible. Lifting her chin up, he looked down into her eyes. Already there were tears swimming, pooling at the edges of her eyelids. Holding her chin with one hand, he lightly caressed her cheek with the other, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. “You know why we’re here,” he asked her.

She nodded, and then said quietly, “yes.”

“Why?” he replied, letting go of her chin and taking both of her tiny hands into one of his.

“Why,” Nat asked her as he let go of her chin, at the same time managing to grab both of her hands into one of his own. ‘Why, indeed,’ Alyssa thought to herself. She never thought it would take so long to go through a list of wrongs, to punish someone for all of them. But, she should have known better since she had asked Nat to help her. When it came to this sort of stuff, Nat was meticulous, he was careful, and he was nearly always annoyingly, right.

She’d arrived Friday evening just as the snow began. The real heavy storm type weather and actual freezing weather started Saturday. At this point the storm showed no signs of relenting. In fact it looked like it was going to get worse. Why, she had no idea. It wasn’t as if anyone in this area was prepared for snow. People flipped out over snow. It was like fate and Mother Nature were in cahoots to torture the city and her.

The morning had been fine, more than fine actually. She’d managed to get through an entire meal without earning a spanking. Though if that was where the bar was for her in life, she’d reached a new low. Aside from some small snippets of conversation, breakfast was quiet, it usually was. Though this time, it was quiet for a different reason.

It wasn’t because they were both exhausted, both she and Nat, or she was pretty sure she could include Nat, had gotten actual sleep the night before. Today, both were quiet because of what would happen once they were finished eating. The remaining items of that first semester were going to be addressed. There was no doubt that it would be a difficult day to get through.

After all, there was still a dull sting in her bottom from the past day and a half

Alyssa was surprised when Nat had instructed her to go upstairs and change into the school uniform again. She had thought that she’d have to wear that once, maybe twice. But that was it. Yet here they were, her in the uniform, Nat ready to spank her.

“I know that we’re here because of my behavior,” she told him. Why are we here? That was a really good question. “My behavior during the first semester,” she continued, watching his face for a hint. That only led her to mentally kick herself. Nat’s expression never changed, ever. Alyssa was going through everything that she could possibly think of, but coming up empty. And Nat, he was being less than helpful, like he usually was in these situations.

Finally, she just looked at him and said, “um, I’m not sure.”

“Not sure,” he repeated. I hate it when he does that, Alyssa thought to herself. She nodded the confirmation for him.

“You just told me that you knew, Alyssa,” Nat said, looking down at her. This is a good time to look at the floor, Alyssa decided, and did just that. Not that it lasted for long, the minute she lowered her chin, Nat took hold of it and guided her head back up.

“Alyssa,” he said in that calm, annoying, patient voice that was really the ‘you-obviously-did-not-understand-me-the-first-time-so-I’ll-talk-slower’ voice. “Did you not just tell me that you knew why we were here?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. She saw his eyebrow go up.

“Yes, sir,” she amended. She watched as Nat gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod, acknowledging that she’d done what she’d supposed to.

“So you lied when you answered my question,” Nat clarified.

There were so many things that Alyssa wanted to call him, or throw at him, or…something. But he was right. “Yes, I did,” she admitted, “sir.” She remembered to add.