Chapter Text
Hannah took a breath and let it out obediently. She made to get up, but Carli's hand was still on her back.
"Ma'am?" Hannah ventured.
"Are we done, sweetheart?" Carli inquired. "Have you let it all out yet?"
Slowly, Hannah shook her head.
"It's okay, Hannah," Carli said reassuringly. "One last bit then. You know what we have to do."
Slowly, Hannah lifted up again and felt Carli tug away the last bit of negligible protection before settling her back in place, her panties joining her shorts somewhere around her knees. She shivered.
"Cold, little one?" Carli rubbed her bottom. "We can fix that."
Hannah sputtered indignantly. "Carli!"
"I'm teasing, sweetheart," Carli said wryly. "But you will feel a bit warmer when we're done. Remember, nothing like so bad as what Staff did," she added. "You're perfectly safe, I haven't let you down yet have I?"
"No ma'am," Hannah conceded. "I know I'm safe."
"You are. I promise," Carli said reassuringly. The next spank made Hannah whimper - it was definitely sharp enough to sting, and the ones that followed were no different. The light pink color Carli had brought out in her bottom was deepening, and she squirmed, legs scissoring a little as Carli's spanks turned her bottom from cherry blossom pink to deep rose. Her tears flowed more earnestly, and her breath came in little gasps as she squirmed, but she clasped her hands in front of her, not letting them fly back.
Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, two to each sit spot, and then they were done. Carli scooped Hannah up into her arms, rubbing her back.
"There, there, my brave girl," Carli soothed Hannah, rocking her gently. "I've got you, let it go, it's alright."
Hannah pressed close to Carli as her mentor tugged her clothes back into position, whimpering as they slid up over her sore bottom. "I'm sorry I was bad," she said softly.
"You aren't a bad girl, sweetheart. You were a bit naughty while we were out there, but it's hardly high crimes and treason," Carli rubbed Hannah's back comfortingly. "You did so well, Hannah. So well out there, and so well for me just now. I want you to know how proud of you I am. So proud of you, little one."
"Thank you, ma'am," Hannah whispered, snuggling close as Carli cuddled her. "I'll be good for you, I swear."
"You are. I know, honey," Carli said, rubbing Hannah's back. "You're so good, Hannah, sweetheart. It's all done now, no more to worry about, not from me, not from Foudy. All forgiven," she promised.
"I'm still worried," Hannah admitted.
Carli looked at her, meeting the younger girl's eyes. "About what?"
"You and Foudy."
Carli blushed. "Oh. That. No, Hannah, I promise I'll be perfectly fine. I won't be any better off than you are now, but I won't be much worse off, either. Foudy doesn't take lying well, but the worst she's going to do is light a metaphorical fire in my backside. Not a real one, and we've been there."
Hannah nodded, shuddering.
"That was terrifying."
"Yeah. But we got through it, didn't we?" Carli gave Hannah a squeeze. "After that, I can handle Foudy. We can handle anything."
There was a knock at the door.
"It's open," Carli said, after looking at Hannah for permission. Foudy stepped inside, closing the door behind her.
"We need to talk, Carli Anne."
"You can say whatever you want in front of me, ma'am," Hannah interrupted, and a flicker of a smile crossed Foudy's lips.
"Brave little lion cub, aren't you? It's been a while since anyone interrupted me for Carli's sake."
"To be fair, it's been a while since we were in this situation where anyone else could see, ma'am," Carli muttered.
It took Hannah a moment to realize that Carli had just implied she'd been spanked by Foudy before, maybe after Foudy's retirement. Possibly more than once. She looked from her mentor to the older woman in alarm.
"It's alright, little one, I promise you that. Carli is perfectly safe with me," Julie assured her, crossing the room to sit beside Carli and Hannah on the bed. "You worry about her, hm?"
Hannah nodded slowly. "When...when we were being interrogated, the man grabbed Carli and..." She trailed off, seeing a flicker of some unreadable emotion cross Foudy's face.
"Did he hurt you, pet?"
"No ma'am, not really," Carli said quietly, wincing. "He yelled, and he shook me, but I wasn't physically harmed."
"Did any of them hurt you?"
Carli knew what Julie was asking. She shook her head. "The tasks were difficult, and some of them hurt, but Staff and the interrogators didn't ever actually hurt us," she promised. "Maybe embarrass us a bit, and frighten us on purpose, especially the interrogators, but we were as safe as they could make us in that situation."
"Alright." Julie ran her hand over Carli's hair gently, searching her face, as though reassuring herself that Carli was intact.
"Carli said they were worse than you, but they sounded a lot like you and the other captains in some ways," Hannah reported. Foudy looked at her.
"Did she?"
Hannah nodded. "She thought about you and the captains so she could compartmentalize."
"I see," Foudy said thoughtfully, returning her gaze to Carli, who blushed.
"Are you sure you dealt with your girl appropriately, Carli, pet?"
Carli nodded quickly. "Yes ma'am, I'm absolutely sure. Hannah was a very good girl for me," she added.
"It seems she still has a bit of sass left," Foudy mused.
Hannah blushed, staring at her lap. "I'm sorry," she protested meekly.
"I think I'm going to need you to go to the corner and face the wall, while I take care of Carli. Can you do that, Hannah?" Foudy prompted. "Or is being separated from Carli too hard for you?"
"We've been separated worse than that, trust me," Carli muttered. Hannah shuddered, and Carli gave her a reassuring hug.
"It's alright sweetheart, you'll still be in the room," she promised. "It's not going to be isolation like what happened."
Hannah nodded slowly. "I can do it," she offered.
"Good girl," Carli praised, and Hannah slid off Carli's lap, going obediently to the corner and facing the wall. Behind her, she could hear Foudy gently scolding Carli for going off alone without a word to anyone, for lying about her intent to get involved in this thing, and for being in a situation where she could have been seriously injured, worse than anything that ever happened in her whole career. Though Foudy's voice was soft, the sternness in her tone made even Hannah wince, and the scolding wasn't even directed at her.
Hannah resisted the urge to turn from her corner and look, when she heard the spanking start. Judging by the sound, Carli was being spanked bare to start with, and she grimaced at the thought. The crack of Julie's hand on Carli's bare bottom was loud in the hotel room - and it was a hotel room, too, Hannah reminded herself, no matter how nice of a suite Foudy had found for them. She anxiously wondered how thin the walls were.
"Why are you being spanked, Carli Anne?" Foudy asked after a while, and Hannah pressed deeper into her corner, fighting the urge to run to Carli.
"Because...because I lied to you, ma'am, and because I placed myself in a situation where I could be seriously injured, without the support of my family," Carli gasped.
"And?" Julie pressed, addressing a flurry of sharper swats to Carli's sit spots. She bit down on a curse before it could leave her mouth. No reason to provoke Foudy into worse.
"And...because it's inappropriate to leave my family without a word," Carli gasped. "What if the little ones had needed me."
"That's right, Carli Anne. And because you need this release from your experience, as much as Hannah did. Isn't that right?" Foudy prompted. "You never have to be stoic for me. You know that, don't you, pet?"
"Y-yes ma'am," Carli whispered. Foudy had been spanking steadily while talking, all the while bringing her closer to tears. Carli definitely had a higher limit for pain tolerance than Hannah, but then, Julie had been spanking her harder to begin with.
Hannah froze as she heard Foudy go quiet, pausing to pull something out of her bag. Now the only sound in the room was the stinging thud of something against bare flesh, wrenching more than silent tears from Carli at last.
The younger girl turned her head to look when she was sure Foudy was too involved in her task to catch her, and swallowed as she saw Foudy using a soccer cleat to finish Carli's spanking.
The bumpy sole bit deeper into Carli's punished bottom than a plimsoll would, and it didn't take many swats from this to have Carli sobbing freely.
Hannah quickly turned back to her corner as Julie scooped Carli up, hoping Foudy wouldn't notice her. However, as Foudy held Carli in her arms, comforting her, she turned her head toward the corner.
"Come here, little one."
Hannah's stomach plummeted.
When Carli had got herself under control - which didn't take long, all things considered - and Hannah still hadn't moved from the corner, she took matters into her own hands. Standing up, her clothes back in place, she made her way to Hannah's side.
"Sweetheart," she said softly. "Foudy asked you to do something."
Hannah flung herself into Carli's arms. "But it was terrible," she whispered, and Carli hugged her close.
"Bad enough, but I'm alright," Carli promised. "I told you I would be."
Hannah pulled back and looked at Carli worriedly. "Are you sure?"
Carli nodded.
"It's alright honey, Foudy just wants to talk to you."
"Okay," Hannah said reluctantly, allowing Carli to lead her back to Foudy.
Julie looked at the girl carefully. "Are you alright, little one?"
Hannah blinked. "Am I....yes, I think so?" she offered. "Carli didn't hurt me. I mean, taking my licks hurt at the end a bit, but not...not too bad."
"Were you alright when you saw what happened with Carli," Foudy clarified.
Hannah blushed.
"You...used a soccer shoe on her."
"I did," Foudy said. "It wouldn't be the first time, although it's not one of my preferred implements. But for something like this, I find it reasonable."
"It looked awful," Hannah said guardedly.
"Hmm. Well, it's not pleasant, but that's the point, little one," Foudy said. "Carli isn't damaged, I promise you. I take care with my girls." She fixed her gaze on Hannah. "All of them."
"Ma'am?" Hannah ventured.
"I think perhaps we weren't quite done with you, little girl," Foudy said mildly. "When you're told to face the corner, you stay facing the corner until you're called."
When Hannah heard the phrase 'little girl', she froze. Carli noticed, and tugged Hannah back into her embrace. "Sweetheart, it's okay," she whispered. "Foudy's not like them, I promise. Nothing like that bad, not ever."
Foudy softened immediately. "Little one," she amended. "Breathe. Carli can hold you, but look at me," she instructed gently. "Breathe in and out, slowly. When you can talk, tell me what happened just now."
Hannah raised her eyes to Foudy's, and obeyed, trembling a little. "The...the interrogators, when they took us...when they had me and Carli, they said..." Hannah pressed deeper into Carli's embrace. "They called us little girls like that, like we didn't mean anything to them, like they could..."
Foudy stepped forward, pulling Hannah and Carli both gently into her arms. "No, little one," she said softly. "Carli cares about you very much, you're hers now, and that makes you part of our family. When I say 'little girl' I don't mean it the way they said it. Shh, it's alright, if you don't want me to say it I won't any more. You're safe, I promise. Is 'little one' still alright?"
Hannah nodded slowly. "They didn't say that, and it sounds different, ma'am."
"Alright. It's okay, thank you for telling me. Good girl."
Hannah nodded meekly. "Are...are you going to...to..."
"Girl survives being half drowned and lit on fire, and can't even say that word," Carli murmured, mouth twitching. "Come on sweetheart, it's not a dirty word, and you've survived much worse. It's okay to say it."
Hannah blushed deeply. "Is Foudy going to...spank me?" she whispered.
"I considered it," Foudy answered for herself. "But I think on the whole, no. Not now." She patted Hannah's shoulder. "It's alright little one, all's well. Just breathe easy for us now, we've got you."
Hannah stayed in Carli's embrace until she was calmer. Then she looked back at Foudy. "M-maybe you should. Ma'am."
Julie stepped back, regarding Hannah with raised eyebrows. "Maybe I should what, little one?"
"M-maybe you should..."
Hannah found Carli's gaze, half amused, half sympathetic. Carli squeezed her hand in support, as Julie waited.
"Maybe you should spank me, too," Hannah said finally. "If Carli hadn't had to take care of me, she wouldn't have needed to--"
"Hey," Carli interrupted firmly. "I stayed because I needed to finish what I started. Julie knows that about me. I don't quit when I start something. Yes, I stayed for you too, but I had to stay to prove something to myself."
"That's right, Carli," Julie agreed. "I've always admired that about you. Just...next time, think about what you're doing, pet, hmm? Brian and our girls would have been inconsolable if all they had left was that letter to remember you by."
"I promise, ma'am, this put me off trying it for real," Carli said with a rueful smile. "But I had to know I could."
Hannah nodded. "I feel the same way. I'm glad that we got through it together, Carli."
"God help me if you introduce Hannah to Lindsey and Mal," Julie murmured.
Carli laughed, gave Hannah an affectionate grin, and hugged the girl close.
"Maybe I will."
"I'd like that," Hannah said softly.
"Maybe someday, little one," Julie allowed. "Now, you've had a long trip. Try and get a nap in before dinner, hmm?"
"Yes ma'am," the girls chorused, sighing in relief as Foudy left them alone. They changed for bed and climbed in together, finally able to relax after a week and a half of grueling fear and pain.
They had made it through the final trial.
All was, once again, well, and they could rest.