Part 32, The Deal.

The phone rang at Nina's desk and she picked it up without looking at it.  "Specialized Affairs, Nina West speaking!" she said.

"Nina, it's Ashley," said the voice at the other end of the line.

Nina sat up straight, her attention now fully on the call instead of on her work.  "Ashley," she repeated nervously.

"It's on for this Friday night, Nina," Ashley said quietly.

Nina sighed.  "It's about time, I've been waiting three days for you to call!"

"Couldn't be helped, things had to be set up."

"What things?  What does Katie have planned?" Nina asked, curious to know how Sarah Wickland's downfall would occur.

"I...er...I can't tell you.  What I'm supposed to tell you is that you are to tell Helen to be ready for Friday night, and that Brian Cook will have further details."

"Brian?  What does HE have to do with this?"

"I can't tell you.  But you are supposed to follow his instructions."

This made Nina nervous.  She didn't like being out of the loop, especially where Sarah and Katie were involved.  "Can't you tell me anything?"

"No, sorry," said Ashley rather sadly.  "Just tell Helen, and keep Friday night open."  The girl hung up, and Nina looked at the phone.  She didn't know whether to feel happy or scared, a conflict she was coming across with far too much regularity lately.  She hung up the phone and looked across the office to where Helen's desk was.  It was empty, Helen being in Donny's office for the moment.

Her intercom buzzed.  "Nina, come up here a moment will you?"  It was her boss, Sarah Wickland, the Legallady.

Nina sighed and stood up carefully, looking down at herself and wincing.  She had been told by Katie to act as if nothing was going on, to do whatever Sarah asked, so that Sarah wouldn't know there was a plot against her.  Easier said than done, but Nina had complied.
 
 

---***---
 
 

Monday in the office had started out with a confrontation.  As she had the week before, Nina showed up dressed for work.  But rather than let her have her way, this time Sarah was waiting for her.

"Okay, you had your fun," she had said, standing with her hands on her hips.  "But it's over now.  I want you to strip right now and hand over those clothes.  Things are going back to the way they were!"

Nina didn't want to give up her new found freedom; besides, to give in easily just might arouse suspicion.  "No.  Sorry, Sarah, but I won't."

"Oh yes you will.  I was grateful that you went and got help after the accident, and got me out of the car.  As a reward, I decided to let you have your way last week.  But enough is enough, and we have to get back to work.  We have clients coming in today, and they are expecting my staff to act accordingly.  So strip!"

Nina shook her head.  "Sarah, I've done a little digging, and there is something I think you need to be aware of."

"What?" Sarah said, folding her arms.

"You do know that the fact Helen and I were in handcuffs was recorded on the police record of the accident.  Helen and I could take you to court on the charge of reckless endangerment over something like that.  How would you like that kind of publicity?" Nina said, matching her pose.  "I doubt the Senior Partners would appreciate one of their own with a criminal record, not to mention the Bar Association."

The two women stood staring at each other while the office entrance opened as Helen and Donny arrived together.  The newcomers could see right away that something big was going on.

Sarah smiled.  "Well done, Nina.  Yes, well done.  You know, I've long thought what a powerful litigant you might make one day.  When it comes down to it, you aren't afraid to press the attack.  A handy skill in our profession.  Wouldn't you agree, Donald?"

Donny Bell looked from one woman to the other and stood a little straighter.  He smiled and agreed with the powerful lawyer.

"Then I guess," Nina said, "the argument is settled.  You leave us alone, and we won't press charges."  Inside, Nina felt ecstatic.  She didn't know why she hadn't brought this up before!  Here she had a way of stopping Sarah in her tracks without needing Katie at all!  She looked over at Helen and winked slightly, but Helen simply tried to look small.

The Legallady was still smiling, no sign of defeat on her face.  "I said you had promise, I didn't say you were there yet.  Although a few years under my tutelage would be very good for you.  Still it was a nice try."

Nina frowned.  "What do you mean, nice try?  I WOULD press charges, you know that!"

"Oh I know you would, Nina.  But it doesn't matter."  Sarah turned to Helen and ordered the girl to go up to the law library and bring back a particular edition.  While Helen ran upstairs, the two women just stared at each other, while Donny watched from the sidelines.  Helen returned, and at Sarah's direction, she handed Nina the book.

"Look up 'Valentine vs. Skyler'," Sarah said.

Nina did, and saw it was a case set in their own State, and upon reading, she saw it set a rather unusual precedent.  "You've got to be kidding!" Nina said after reading it.

Sarah just smiled.

"What does it say?" Helen asked, her own guarded hopes now dashed.

"Apparently, two years ago, Sarah had a case like ours which she won, setting a precedent that bondage among consenting adults in a moving vehicle is not considered reckless endangerment in this State, as long as the driver is unimpeded."

"But we weren't consenting!"  Helen said.

"Yes," said Nina sadly, "we were.  We're on record as saying that Sarah wasn't kidnapping us, that the cuffs were nothing important.  We can't go back and change our stories now, not against this case."  She glared at Sarah.  "You knew all along!"

"Of course!" said the smug lawyer.  "One thing you have to learn, Nina, is never to do anything without knowing where it might lead, don't ask a question you don't already know the answer to, and always...ALWAYS...be thorough in your research."  She grinned.

"Bitch," Nina said, wiping the smile off Sarah's face.

"Donald," she said, "I'm appointing you the Office Manager.  Your primary task is to maintain discipline in the office.  You already do a fine job with Helen, but feel free to take care of Nina too."

"Yes, Ma'am," Donny said, looking at Nina.

"Right now, Nina is violating her personal dress code for when she is in the office; take care of it, will you?"

Donny opened his eyes wide and nodded slowly.  Sarah smiled, and turned and walked away.

"Nina?" Donny said, approaching her.  "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for your clothes."

Nina was standing stock still, focused on where Sarah had gone up the stairs.  She was angry at losing, but took comfort that what she lost now would be regained soon.

Wordlessly she began to undress.
 
 

---***---
 
 

Since then, Nina had been back to coming to work naked and going home the same way.  In between, she had been subjected to Sarah's little whims, her stabs at humiliation.

For one set of clients, Sarah made Nina kneel by her desk, her knees spread wide, facing them while lawyer and client talked.

For another set, Nina had to go outside behind the building and watch their dogs, all the while nervously looking around, not wanting to be seen.  At one point, she had to hold one of the Irish Wolfhounds close to her when a car drove down the alley behind the office, and she still remembered the feel of the animal's fur against her bare skin.

Today, she actually had something on.  Black lace stockings with a matching garter belt.  A push up quarter bra, also black, that framed and presented Nina's breasts for all to see.  And a pair of five-inch heels that locked on with little padlocks and made Nina stagger around.  As Nina headed for the elevator to the second floor, she once again felt worse than nude in the sluttish get up.

Walking past Donny's office upstairs, she glanced through the door to see the lawyer dictating a letter.  On her knees beside the desk was Helen, barefoot but otherwise fully dressed, and doing her best to stay that way as she took down what Donny was saying.

Nina entered Sarah's office, staggering slightly on the extra high heels.

"Ah, Nina.  Adjust the blinds for me again, will you?" Sarah said, hardly looking up from her desk.

Nina clenched her jaw, but did as she was asked.  Sarah had had her up for this meaningless task several times today already, and Nina's feet hurt from all the walking.  To make it worse, the controls for the blinds were in the middle of the window, not the edge.  So standing and adjusting them meant showing herself to anyone outside who happened to look her way.  It was just one more of Sarah's little games.

"You'll get yours, Sarah," Nina whispered under her breath as she bent to her task.
 
 

---***---
 
 

It was now Friday night, and at home Nina got ready to go.  She had spent a miserable week catering to Sarah's needs, and was ready for a bit of revenge.  As she sat in her room and touched up her makeup, she wondered what was planned for the evening.

She had tried prying some information out of her boyfriend, Jim.  But he had remained closed mouthed about the subject, telling her instead that he would be picking her and Brian up that night, after getting Helen, who was also invited.

Excited, the nude girl couldn't wait to find out what was in store for her boss.

She went downstairs to find Brian so they could go and get her outfit for the night, and found the old man waiting for her in the lobby.

"You look lovely, tonight!" he said, admiring the nude beauty as she padded down the stairs.

Nina blushed, but was genuinely happy about the comment.  "Oh, you'd say that to any naked woman you'd see," she said, joking.

Brian chuckled.  "Hardly, young lady.  Few could compare."

Nina blushed again and smiled.  "Well, I'd feel more beautiful after I get dressed.  I think I'm putting on a few pounds."

"Dressed?" Brian said.  "You're not getting dressed.  What on earth put that idea into your head?"

Nina stopped.  "What do you mean I'm not dressing?  Tonight is about Sarah, not me.  I have to get dressed!"

Brian shook his head.  "That isn't the plan I'm afraid, Nina."

"Why can't I get dressed?" Nina asked, really concerned.

"Because," said a voice from the front door, "I said you can't!"

"Jim!" Nina exclaimed, and she hurried to meet him, kissing him softly.

"Mmmm...you feel good!" he said, running his hands across her soft skin.  She slapped his hands away and blushed, looking over at Brian before looking back at Jim.

"Fresh!" she said in a dumb blonde accent, making him laugh.  Then she punched him in the shoulder.  "Why can't I get dressed?  It's not because of that thing you have about never seeing me in clothes!"

Jim grinned.  "Well, there is that.  VERY important."  He chuckled after seeing her pout.  "But there is a better reason for your staying nude tonight."

"What is it?" demanded Nina, wondering what the excuse would be this time.

"We need to lull Sarah into state of well being, make her think that she has nothing to worry about.  You being nude will go a long way toward making her more comfortable, so she won't know that SHE'S the target."

"But what's going ON tonight!" Nina wanted to know.

"Oh, not much, we're just going to a party!"
 
 

---***---
 
 

Sarah Wickland was dining alone that night.  In just a T-shirt, she sat at home in her den, a plate full of pizza rolls by her side and a tape with several episodes of 'TJ Hooker' in the VCR.  She never got enough of that show, and as she hiked up her shirt, she began to daydream about William Shatner.

Her reverie was interrupted by the phone.

"Hello?" she said, annoyed.

"Sarah, this is Katie.  I hope I'm not interrupting anything!"

"No, not at all," Sarah said, trying to put an air of boredom in her voice while unconsciously pulling her T-shirt down.

"Good.  I was worried I might have ruined your plans for the night; pizza rolls are SO hard to reheat!"

Sarah flushed and swore silently.  The damn woman knew her too well.  "It just so happens I am about to go out," she lied.

"Well cancel it.  I want you at my house as soon as you can get here.  I'm having a party and I need you to help equalize the sexes.  Way too many men!"

"I told you, I had plans!" Sarah said angrily, not wanting to deal with Katie right then.

"Sure, your date.  Well, you can put your lust for Bill Shatner on hold for one night.  Get over here, and wear something decent, the Mayor's here!" Katie hung up.

Fuming, Sarah put the phone down.  Katie really did know her too well.  Still, an evening in the company of the Mayor and some of his cronies wouldn't be that bad.  There were a few people she wanted to talk to regarding a couple of her current cases.  It might be worth the trip.  Also, Sarah mused, with that kind of crowd, Katie wouldn't try anything.

What really decided it for Sarah though, was the unspoken knowledge that Sarah really didn't have a choice.  Katie called, Sarah would respond.

As she headed for her bedroom, she pulled off her shirt and thought about what to wear.
 
 

---***---
 
 

The number and quality of the cars parked in the neighborhood around Katie's home told Sarah that this was no ordinary party.  The valet who parked her car only confirmed this.  So Sarah somewhat happily entered Katie's home, when usually these trips filled her with dread.

Upon entering, Sarah saw that the cars outside well reflected the people within.  Along with the Mayor, she recognized a State Senator, two Congressmen, three millionaire industrialists, plus a host of other moneyed people.  Of course, finding people with money in this town wasn't at all hard, but still Sarah was impressed.  She even spotted two of her fellow Senior Partners, and talked shop for a moment before a waitress served her a drink.

Sarah almost didn't catch who the waitress was, for she wore a mask that went with her brief but still decent uniform.  It was only when the girl spoke that Sarah recognized the voice.

"Helen?" Sarah said, looking sharply at the girl.

Under her mask, Helen colored.  "Yes, Ma'am," she said.

Sarah grabbed her arm and moved her where they could talk without being overheard.  "Helen, what are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

"Serving drinks, Ma'am!"

"Don't be smart.  What are you doing here?" Sarah asked angrily.

The masked girl sighed.  "Katie told me to come, and you know Katie."

Sarah DID know Katie.  Then she noticed something else.  She had grabbed and pulled Helen's left arm, and now it looked like the sleeve had half separated from the shoulder of her uniform.  Sarah took a closer look.  The uniform was black so it was hard to tell, but Sarah saw that the sleeve hadn't been sewn on.  Instead, tiny pieces of Velcro had been used to hold it together.  Examining the outfit, Sarah could see that the whole thing had been designed to be held together that way.  An outfit like this would take just a second to rip from Helen's body.  Sarah smiled.  "I DO like the outfit."

Helen looked down.  "It's Katie's idea of fun, we all have to wear them."

"All?"  Sarah asked.

Helen inclined her head toward the far end of the room where another girl in an identical outfit stood by a door.  Two more girls served drinks in the middle of the room.  "That's Ashley by the door, I don't know who the other girls are," Helen said.  "Nina is here as well, she gets to serve the private party in the other room."

Sarah looked up at the door Ashley seemed to be guarding.  From experience, Sarah knew that Katie like to set a room aside for her more distinguished guests, sort of a party within a party.  Only those Katie deemed special were allowed to attend.  Given who was out here, whoever was in there was special indeed!

"Who's in there?" Sarah asked.

Helen shook her head.  "I can't tell you."

Sarah leaned forward.  "Listen girl, I can have this outfit off you in less than a second and you know it.  So unless you want to run from the room naked and screaming, you're going to tell me who is in there!"

Helen looked her in the eye, fear and defiance evident.  "Go ahead!  Whatever YOU do, I know Katie would do worse!  I'm not afraid of you any more!"

For a second Sarah was tempted, but she knew that to cause such a fuss right now might stop her from meeting the elite in the other room.  She had been dazzled by the accumulated heavy weights out here, but now she had set her sights on bigger game.  "I'll see you at work," Sarah said, "bright and early...and naked, just like Nina.  You don't defy me!"

Sarah saw Helen shake a little, and she let the young paralegal go.  She had bigger fish to fry.  She started toward the far side of the room, pausing to touch base with a few individuals along the way, people she would have spent hours with given normal circumstances.  When she reached the door to the other room, she saw that it was indeed Ashley standing next to it, even under her mask.  Sarah grinned, for the rear of Ashley's skirt was missing, which was why the girl stood with her back pressed against the wall.

"Hello, Sarah," Ashley said with a grin.  "Recovered from your spanking yet?"

Sarah Wickland glared at her.  "Be careful girl, I can have the rest of that outfit off you in a second."

Ashley's smile faded quickly.

Sarah smiled and reached for the door, but Ashley blocked her.  "I'm sorry, you're not on the list."

"What do you mean, list?" Sarah asked.  "Since when do I need to be on a list?"

"What's in there isn't for you, Sarah," Ashley replied slowly.

"I'll be the judge of that," Sarah said, trying to push past.

"Wait!" said Ashley, as a bit more of her outfit came loose under the strain.  "Look, I'll go in and get Katie, okay?  You can talk to her!"

Sarah paused, then nodded.  She watched as Ashley opened the door and slipped in, catching only a brief glimpse of what was inside.  But it was enough, for while she saw a lot of people, her eyes instantly focused on one of them, Nina.  And from the look of her, she had lost rather more of her outfit than Ashley had.

Sarah grinned.

After a moment, Katie appeared at the door, coming out so Sarah couldn't see past her into the private room.  "Ah, Sarah, it was good of you to make it," she said.  "Are you having a good time?"

"As good as can be expected, Katie dear," Sarah replied, acid dripping from her words.

"That's nice, dear.  So glad.  So why don't you go mingle, and I'll see you later."

"Of course, but I was wondering who you had hidden away in your private room?" Sarah asked casually.

Katie smiled.  "Really?  Well, no one important, you needn't concern yourself.  There are plenty of people out here for you to talk to.  Now, I must go.  Mingle, mingle!"

"But..." said Sarah.  But Katie just smiled and passed through the door.

Annoyed, Sarah tried the door handle but found it locked.  She couldn't believe it.  Now she knew Katie was up to something, and Sarah was determined to find out what!  She stormed through the room to the front entrance, hardly making way for anyone in her fury.  As she passed Helen, who was serving a drink, Sarah grabbed the back of the girl's outfit and pulled down hard, stripping poor Helen to the waist.  The sound of Helen screaming and the puzzled cheers from some of the men in the room warmed Sarah's heart as she left the building.

Sarah wasn't leaving Katie's home, though, she had other plans.  Stepping outside, she looked for the valet and waited until he left his post to go park a car.  With no one watching the front of the large house now, Sarah slipped off her shoes and padded along the side of the house on the lawn.  She couldn't get too close to the house, for rose bushes had been planted next to the walls, but she didn't need to.  In seconds, she was at the corner and out of sight of anyone out front.

"I'll show her," she mumbled.  "No one important indeed.  Who does she think she's trying to fool?"

Sarah carefully worked her way around the house in the dark, to where she knew the windows to that particular room would be.  She wanted a look inside to see just whom Katie was keeping her from.  She got to the windows, but encountered a problem.  The roses.  Katie had planted them to discourage burglars by making access to the windows more difficult.  This stopped Sarah for a moment, and she was thinking about trying something else when she heard laughter from inside the room.  The thought that she was missing out on laughing with the elite only spurred her on, and she began to push her way into the roses in an effort to reach the window.

Now, what Sarah Wickland was wearing at the moment was an evening gown designed to be looked at and fawned over by men; it wasn't designed for urban assault.  Also, roses, being roses, are not the best things to try to push through in an evening gown, because of a handy little self-defense feature that nature gave them a long time ago.  Thorns.

It didn't take long for Sarah to begin getting caught, and she spent as much time reaching around herself to get some point unsnagged as she did pushing toward the window.  At one point, one stocking clad foot began to sink in something very soft, and Sarah wondered if the roses had been watered recently.  She awkwardly tried to keep her balance as she strained to look into the window.

There, she could see in.  Many people were visible, almost all men, although she could see one other woman apart from Katie and Nina.  Sarah grinned.  Nina had indeed lost much of her waitress uniform, for apparently all that was left was a bit about her waist.  It was annoying though, because most of the men had their backs to the window or were sitting behind obstructions, so while Sarah knew they were there, she couldn't see enough of them to recognize them.  She did recognize Brian Cook, that head of hair was hard to miss, and Sarah wondered what he was doing here.

"FREEZE!" a voice yelled behind her, making Sarah jump.

"What?" she said, turning to see who was yelling at her.

"I SAID 'FREEZE, DON'T MOVE A MUSCLE!'"

Sarah didn't listen.  "Who are..." was all she got out when someone tackled her.  Sarah screamed as hands grabbed her and began hauling her out of the rose bushes.  Her screams were accompanied by ripping cloth as her dress was caught in the thorns.

Sarah wriggled and kicked, but her assailants were too strong for her.  They wrestled her to the ground and rolled her over onto her front.  The cold wet ground told Sarah that much of her dress was no longer with her.  She began to swear as her hands were forced behind her and cuffs put on them, calling them names and threatening to sue.  She heard one of them talking into a radio of some kind.  "Base 1, this is Unit 3.  Suspect has been apprehended!"  Rough hands pawed her body, again telling Sarah how little of her dress remained.  She figured she was left in not much more than her underwear.  "Suspect is unarmed, Base 1," continued the voice.

"Make sure the suspect is restrained and bring her in, Unit 3," came the reply.

"Roger!"

Sarah struggled to be heard.  "Now wait a minute!  What the hell is going on?"

"SHUT UP!" yelled the voice in her ear; "We don't take kindly to spies!"

"Spies!" Sarah said.  She was hauled to her feet, and finally saw that the men who had grabbed her were dressed in battle dress uniforms, or BDU's.  They were all armed.

"What...?" Sarah said again as they all took a look at her underdressed body.  "I wasn't spying...I'm not a spy!"

"Ma'am, we got you dead to rights looking in that window," said one of them, apparently the officer in charge.  "If that ain't spying I don't know what is!"

"I wasn't spying!" Sarah tried to yell, feeling more and more confused.

"Yeah, right.  Okay squad, let's get her back to Base 1.  Someone there can strip search her for hidden microphones and all that other James Bond crap."

"Don't look like she has many places to hide much, LT," one of the other men said with a laugh.

"Doesn't take much, Sergeant.  But I know if they dig DEEP enough, they'll find something, they usually do!"

"NOOOOO!" yelled Sarah, now very scared.  "I'm not hiding anything, honest!"

"Well that's for them to find out, Ma'am.  Are you going to walk, or are we going to have to drag you?"

"KATIE!" Sarah yelled.

"Say, LT," yelled another of the men, "I heard that some of these spies hide weapons and shit in their underwear!"

"No kidding?" said the man they called LT.  "Well, I guess we'd better strip her to make sure she carries nothing dangerous on her!"

"KATIE!" Sarah yelled again, struggling to get free, while the lawyer part of her brain figured out how to sue the U.S. Government over this breach of her civil rights.

The men moved in, and in seconds sharp knives had reduced what she had left for clothing to tiny rags scattered on the ground around them.

"Simpson!" yelled the LT, "police this area!  The rest of you, pick her up and let's get going!"

"KATIE!" Sarah yelled once more, now dressed in nothing but a pair of handcuffs.

The men all reached for her.

"WHAT'S ALL THE NOISE OUT HERE!" yelled a voice from the window.

"KATIE!" Sarah yelled, hearing her friend's voice.

"Sarah?" Katie called.

The LT stepped forward.  "Nothing to be afraid of, Ma'am, just dealing with an intruder."

"I know that woman," Sarah heard Katie say.

"You do, Ma'am?" replied the LT, "Then perhaps you can identify her for us for the arrest record.  Save us some time while we prosecute her for spying!"

"Spying?" echoed Katie.

"KATIE, I WASN'T SPYING!" Sarah yelled at the top of her voice.  "FOR GOD'S SAKE TELL THEM THAT!"

"What was she doing?" Katie asked casually.

"We caught her looking in the window, Ma'am.  And given our mission tonight, we had to assume the worst."

"I see, of course," Katie said agreeably.

Sarah was being held with her back to the house, and couldn't see the shit-eating grin on Katie's face, or the smile on the face of the man known as LT.  She also couldn't see the faces pressed against the window, the "Elite" guests she had been so anxious to find out about.  Most of them were smiling too.  Sarah herself was too scared and humiliated to figure out how ludicrous the situation was.

"Katie!  Tell them I'm not a spy, TELL THEM!" she yelled.

"Sarah dear, you've been a very naughty girl," replied Katie.  "Peeking in windows.  Is that how ladies behave?"

"Katie, quit with the jokes, this is serious!" Sarah yelled.

"I asked you a question, Sarah!" Katie said sternly.

Sarah stopped struggling.  "What?"

"I asked you if ladies peek in other people's windows!"

"N...no," Sarah said, only now suspecting that things weren't as they seemed.

"That means you're not a lady, doesn't it, Sarah.  It makes you a naughty little girl.  What are you?"

Sarah swallowed.  Nude, cuffed, afraid because Katie was using THAT tone of voice.  "A...a...naughty...little girl."

"I thought so," Katie said, as if confirming the most obvious thing in the world.  "She's no spy, Lieutenant, just a naughty little girl peeking in windows."

"Are you vouching for her, Ma'am?" asked LT.

"Sure.  Bring her around the side door and I'll take her off your hands.  But don't worry, I'll make sure this naughty little girl is punished."

Everybody but Sarah grinned.

"Sure thing, Ma'am.  But I'd better come along to make sure," said the LT.

"Of course!" replied Katie, and she closed the window.

Sarah was led around the side of the house and to a door she knew fairly well.  Still nude and cuffed, she was hurried down a hallway until she came up against another door which Katie opened from the inside.  Sarah had gotten her wish; she had joined the private party.

Now she could see who was attending and she gasped.  There was Brian Cook sitting in an armchair near the fire.  Standing next to him was Jacob Dah.  In a love seat nearby sat young Jim Barb, and curled up next to him, still nude, was Nina.  The woman turned out to be the Head Mistress from Cronenburg, who happened to have been one of Sarah's teachers when she and Katie attended the school.  Sitting next to her was Franklin, who licked his lips at the sight of his naked boss, and next to him sat Donald Bell.  Several other men from her life, ex-lovers for the most part, were also present, and by the door stood Helen and Ashley.

That left only one.  Sitting alone in another armchair was her father.

"Hello, Dad," Sarah said weakly.

Harry Wickland looked at his daughter.  She was naked, covered in dirt from when she was thrown to the ground, and to his eyes a disgrace.  He shook his head.  "What am I going to do with you, Bunny," he said, using her baby name.

Sarah flushed.  "It's Sarah, Dad, not Bunny."

"When you start acting like an adult, then I'll use your proper name!" Harry said harshly.  "But since you continue to act like a little girl, being mean and spiteful and selfish, then I will continue to call you Bunny!  Understood, girl?"

Sarah bowed her head.  "Yes, Sir."  Sarah didn't know if it was parental programming or what, but she had never been able to stand up to her father when he used that tone of voice.

Harry looked at her sadly.  "I'm glad your mother can't see you now."

Sarah felt a little smaller, and continued to look at the carpet.  She felt hands at her wrists and the cuffs were removed.  She resisted covering up.

Katie moved around her to get a better view of the action.  "BUNNY...here, was a naughty girl tonight," she said with a smirk.

"I'm quite aware of that, Kate," Harry Wickland said, "You don't need to rub it in.  You're worse than my daughter at times, girl.  Don't think I don't rue the day you and she met."

"If you hadn't had sent her to Cronenburg, we never would have, Harry!" Katie snapped back.

"Much good it did her," mumbled Harry, looking at the school's representative.

"Sarah was a hard case," said the Head Mistress, "you know that.  She spent more than half her school term under discipline.  I don't think it shamed her much at all.  I have often thought it a pity that for girls like her we couldn't extend Cronenburg discipline into their adult lives."

A lot of people nodded.

"I'm sure we can think of something," Katie said.

Sarah looked up.  "What's going on here?"

"You've been a naughty girl...BUNNY," giggled Katie, "and now we get to watch you get punished!"

"What?" said Sarah, but then she saw her father patting his knee.  "No!"  Sarah said.

"Come here, girl," said Harry.

"No, not here, not now!" Sarah said, backing up.

"I said, COME HERE!"

"No!"  Sarah knew what was about to happen, her father was going to spank her.  In front of all these people, her FATHER was going to give her a spanking, just like she was a naughty little girl.  She backed up until strong hands grabbed her from behind.

"I got her, Sir," said the man called LT.

"Bring her here, Son," said Harry.

From her seat, Nina watched the man in BDU's manhandle Sarah across the room.  Nina was fascinated by what had happened this evening.  She hadn't been thrilled to play the part of the waitress in front of all these people, and unlike Helen and Ashley, she hadn't been given a full uniform to start with.  But she only had to do it while Sarah was in the house, and she got to watch with everybody else as the fake soldiers outside caught Sarah looking in the window...just as Katie predicted she would.

Now Nina got to snuggle with Jim as the second part of Sarah's humiliation for the night was about to happen.  Katie told Nina that a hidden camera was taping all this so it would be preserved for posterity.  Nina looked forward to getting hold of that tape.

Sarah now stood next to her father, and she actually appeared to be crying.

"Please, Dad, not here," she said.

"Bunny, it's for your own good, you know that," he replied.

"Not here, not in front of them!" Sarah begged.

"You've made fools and tormented most of the people in this room, Bunny.  When Kate called me and asked me to participate in this, I refused at first, but when she said that it was not for her but for THESE folk...well, I couldn't say no.  You need taking down a peg or two, Bunny, and this is the best way to do it."

"Please...please..." Sarah whispered, tears coming down her cheeks.

Harry took her hand and gently, almost tenderly, pulled her over his lap.
 
 

---***---
 
 

Harry Wickland was gone now, as was LT and most of the people in the room.  At Katie's request, a few had stayed for one final act.  Jim and Nina were still in their seat, Donald in his, with Helen by his side.  Brian Cook was still in his chair, and Ashley stood by the door.

On the floor, sitting on a rug by the fire, was Sarah Wickland.  She stared at the flames, emotionally drained from the humiliation of being spanked like a child in front of these people.  Her buttocks still hot enough to fuel her anger.  Her mind was still shell-shocked, but a small part of her was already planning on how to get back at every one of them.

Katie wasn't in the room at the moment; she was seeing to the departure of her other guests, all whom knew nothing about the little drama played out around them.

The door opened and Katie stepped into the room, preceded by a large black dog of indeterminate breed.  The dog seemed friendly enough though, it wagged its tail, and its face expressed a good-natured, if slobbery attitude.  It sniffed its way into the room and most smiled at it.

Sarah looked at the dog in horror.

"Bruno," said Katie, "be nice!"

Bruno shook his head, slobber going everywhere, and gave the room one of those famous doggy grins, before resuming his search.  As he approached Sarah, she cringed.  He began sniffing her bare crotch.

"Ah, he remembers you!"  Katie said with a smirk.

Sarah looked daggers at her and pushed the dog away.

Untroubled, Bruno wandered over to where Nina sat and collapsed in front of her, rolling onto his back to get his tummy scratched.

Smiling, Nina obliged.  She used one shapely bare foot to tickle him.

Katie walked to the center of the room.  She looked at each person in turn; catching their eye and holding it before moving on.  It seemed that she held Jim's eye for just a little bit longer, and it seemed that Jim appeared to nod slightly before Katie moved on.  She walked to where she could address the group as a whole.

"I want to thank you all for coming tonight," she said, "It was quite enjoyable.  But I have some good news, and some bad news."

This got peoples' attention and they all looked at her.

"The good news is that the video of tonight's events came out nice and clear.  There will be no forgetting THIS night!"

"Bitch," Sarah said from the floor.

"Look who's talking!" Katie told her, and Sarah went red.

"What's the bad news?" Donny asked.

"The bad news is for you, I'm afraid.  And for Nina and Helen as well," replied Katie.  "I'm not going to give you what you came for.  You're not going to get any proof of what happened here tonight."

"We had a deal!" Nina said, standing up.  "You were going to help us!"

"Oh I am, I am.  But not the way you expected," Katie said.  "Now sit down.  SIT DOWN!"

Nina stared at her for a moment, before Jim reached up and took her hand, pulling her back down into her seat.  At her feet, Bruno snored.

Katie sighed.  "I'm keeping all the tapes, all the proof, right here.  There's no need for you to have it in your possession.  I'm also keeping this...!"  She plucked from a nearby shelf a large envelope that no one had really noticed.  She pulled from it a familiar looking videotape and some documentation.

"That's the stuff on us!" Donny exclaimed.

"Where did you get that?" demanded Sarah.

"From your safe, of course," Katie said with a smug smile.  "The Lieutenant's team might not be military, but they have their uses."

Sarah glowered at her.

"The reason I'm keeping both," continued Katie, "is so neither of you can use this information against the other arbitrarily.  I won't have any vengeance blackmail going on here.  Instead, you're going to agree to a deal."

"What deal?" asked Nina.

"It's quite simple really, Nina.  YOU finish out your apprenticeship with the firm in Sarah's office, before moving on to law school and bigger and better things.  You follow your CURRENT office rules of course, and otherwise stay out of trouble."

"What?  You mean I have to keep going to work naked?" said Nina angrily.  "That's why I asked for your help in the first place!  To stop doing that!"

"No," said Katie, shaking her head.  "You wanted me to stop Sarah from humiliating you further.  To make her back down and stop being cruel.  Well, that is HER side of the deal.  I hear of anything happening to you beyond simple office discipline, and I'll release the video of tonight's events to people who could wreck her career.  If you DON'T go back to work like I asked you, Nina, I release YOUR information, destroying not just your life, but also Donald Bell's here.  Got that?"

Nina stood stunned.  She thought that after tonight she would be free.  But instead...instead...  She looked at Jim.  "What do I do?"

"Nina, you told me once that you admired Sarah, that she was the kind of lawyer you wanted to be.  Is that still true?" he asked her.

Nina nodded.

"Do you think you can still learn from her?" he asked.

"Yes, I do."

"You also told me that you didn't find the basic nudity at work that bad.  That if it wasn't for Sarah's increasing cruelty, it would actually be somewhat fun working naked.  Right?"

Nina blushed at having such a secret revealed.  But she nodded.

"Well then, Katie is making sure that Sarah will no longer be cruel, while giving you the opportunity to mentor under Sarah Wickland.  Can you live with that?"

Nina looked at him for a moment, then she looked over at Sarah.  "Yeah, I can live with that.  Okay, I'm game."

Katie looked at Sarah too.  "Ball's in your court, Honey, what do you say?"

Sarah didn't look at any of them, but she nodded.  "Fine.  Nina's protected.  Office rules, that's all.  But I expect her complete cooperation when it comes to clients' needs."

"Okay," Nina said, and everybody sighed with relief.  All except Helen, who stood up.  "What about me?  What's to stop her from taking things out on me!" she said, close to tears.

Nina walked over to her and hugged her.  "Helen has to be included too," Nina said to the room.  "She has to be protected as well."

"Sarah?" Katie said.

"Fine, but only if she follows the same rules as Nina does.  If they both want your protection, they both live by my office rules!" said Sarah, straightening up.

Helen bit her lip and looked into her nude friend's eyes.  Then she nodded.

Katie clapped her hands.  "Good.  It's all settled.  Starting Monday, both girls will be working under Nina's rules, and Sarah can't go any further than that with them.  I think that covers everything.  Good job, people!"

"Can we go now?" Nina asked.

"You can go," Katie replied with a grin.

Sarah got up and moved quickly out of the room; she was still nude but didn't care.  She found her car and drove home.

Donny took Helen and Brian home, and Jim gave a ride to Nina.

"You okay?" Jim asked her as they got in the car.

"Yeah, just a little bummed."

"It will be fine, I promise you," he said.

"It worked out good for you, didn't it!" she said.

"For me?"

"Well yeah.  Now I have to be nude almost all the time!  At work, at home, whenever I'm with you.  Are you ever going to let me get dressed around you?"

Jim smiled.  "Tell you what, I'll let you wear a wedding dress when we get married."

Nina narrowed her eyes at him.  "What makes you think we're getting married?"

"Just a hunch," he said with a smile as he leaned over her.

An hour later, the car windows all steamed up, a breathless female voice could be heard to say,  "Yes, yes...I'll marry you!  Now stop licking me there...PLEASE!"

The car began to rock.
 
 

End of Part 32.