As she took stock of the room she noticed two things. First The strap had been removed from the motor and secondly her log book was missing. The former did not worry her es she could assume Jason had removed it when he disabled the device. But the missing book scared her, not only did it have a record of all her infraction for the last several months she had used it to record many of her thoughts on her punishment and failings. It was literally an unvarnished window into her soul. Thoughts of the promised cushion brought her back to herself and she quickly hurried across the storeroom and down the hall.
When she reached the elevator she pressed the button and awaited her ride back to the upper floor and the office where Jason awaited her. As she waited she thought about Jason's words, he had not talked about firing her, He seemed to actually be slightly amused at her efforts and genuinely curious about her and her means of controlling herself. Could she trust him? Well it was too late for that thought wasn't it now, he had seen what she was doing so how much more shameful could it get?
Where was that elevator? She tried pressing the button again to no result; she could not hear the sound of the elevator let alone see any change in the numbers above the door. It was still sitting at the top floor.
She jumped as she heard a tapping noise come from the intercom speakers, "Sarah, I am waiting very patiently for you and the elevator seems to be offline right now so you may want to rethink your route up here if you are still interested in that cushion." With a loud click his voice cut off.
Rethink my route? But the only other way up to the office level was...
With a sinking feeling she gazed at the stairwell door, the stairwell that had such a scenic view all the way from the ground floor up to the office level. A scenic view that worked both ways.
With a furious blush she opened the door and began the long climb up the 5 floors to her office. As she came of to the ground floor her eyes scanned the parking lot. The only car she could see was her own beat up Escort sitting near the center of the first row. She briefly considered making a run for it but then she realized that not only would it accomplish nothing other than to forfeit her the position she had worked so hard to secure but she would have to make the run not only from here to her car with her most private portions bare but she would have to repeat the performance when she arrived at her apartment and climbing 4 floors in an occupied building seemed more threatening than 3 more floors here where she knew there was only one other person who could see her and he had already seen that hadn't he?
As she climbed the stairs she was very aware of the fact that she was visible to the highway travelers but she hope the quarter mile distance and the fact they were busy going to and fro would minimize the number of spectators to her shame. As she reached the final landing she remembered that the access door on this level required an ID card that she knew was in her skirt, otherwise a person had to push the intercom and ask to be buzzed through.
"Son of a...," she began then cut it off remembering that the same intercom could very well be open and anything she said would be heard. She pressed the paging button and said, "please sir may I be allowed into the office level?" She could feel tears coming to her eyes as she waited for a reply. She was standing facing the door so if anyone was looking the bright red welts across her ass would very very visible. After what seemed an eternity and she could feel sobs welling up from deep inside her the door buzzed and she hurried through.
The only office lit was on the far end of the floor, an office she was very familiar with since it resided directly behind her own. With a deep breath she drew herself up and strode forward to face the music.
As she entered he was sitting in his desk her skirt and panties neatly folded on the couch and her tally book in his hand as he read. She shyly advanced to his desk as he continued reading and stood with her hands covering her bare mound. She stood there for an eternity then with a nod and a sigh Jason shut the book and placed it on his desk as he gave her a long lingering look. With a a slow motion he glanced down at his watch and gave her a look. "Seven minutes and twenty seven minutes to travel 5 floors and 150 feet." He continued to look at her sternly causing her to worry that the promised cushion was a forgone conclusion and she began to pray that he would keep her on her feet as he pronounced judgement rather than making her sit on the hard chair with her brutalized bottom. She began to shift her weight from one foot to the other as she stood under his gaze. After another timeless interval he gave her a slight smile and rose producing a small throw cushion and placing it on the chair gesturing her to sit. "All in all not too bad for someone with no pants to cross such a distance when see had to know that the night watchmen were due any moment." He watched as the realization of the truth of his words made her blush in shame.
As she sat gingerly he settled down on the edge of his desk and watched her. Once she had become as comfortable as she was able he resumed talking.
"I have never been any less than pleased with your efforts as my assistant. I have found your transcription to be accurate, your correspondence to be precise and professional, and your appearance to be nothing less than a perfect reflection of this company's best face." He added with a wry grin, "present appearance being an exception."
He tapped the book behind him on his desk, "Then I find this. Is this the standard you set for yourself and the extremes you are willing to go to maintain them?"
With a silent nod she acknowledged the fact. He pursed his lips and pondered that with a deep sigh. "I honestly am not sure what to do about this as yet. I haven't ever had anyone in your position who has impressed me to the extent you have these past few months and wanted you to know that. Your dedication and discipline are something I want to recognize and reward yet I do not want to see you injure yourself in the process. You are much too talented and intelligent to allow you to endanger yourself like this."
After a moment he reached for a page sitting on his desk and handed it toe her. "Do you know what this is?" She looked down at it and saw the blueprint she had given the engineers to build her addition to the device she had made. She saw that the name of William Shaw in the designer's entry had a question mark written next to it. She looked up slowly dreading his next question.
"I had a talk with Bill a little earlier today and he has no recollection of submitting this prototype to be built. In fact after looking at it he wish he had thought up the breakaway locking mechanism and could take credit for it as it solves a problem we have had on and off for the last year or so. So I had to ask myself who did design this?" he then picked up her strap mechanism. "And lo, where do I find this new design? It is part of a system my favorite assistant is using to discipline herself." He turned the unit over in his hand examining it from various angles. He nodded and placed it on his desk turning his full attention to her. "Do you have anything to say my dear?"
She looked at her hands for several minutes as she fought back tears, how had she managed to work so hard keeping herself in check and still manage to throw it all away? She slowly looked up and stammered, "I am very sorry sir and if you permit I can have my things together and be gone tonight. Thank you for everything and I am sorry I have let you down." It was all she could do to not break down and cry in front of him. Then through her misery she heard an odd sound. It sounded like chuckling. Slowly she looked up and saw Jason laughing and looking at her like she had said something extremely funny. All she could do was sit there in confusion.
"Why in all that is good and proper would I desire you to leave? You obviously have not listened to anything I have said the last few minutes or haven't understood their meaning." He picked the sheet from her hands and showed it to her, "this is some of the best design work I have seen in a while and it will, as I have said, solve a major problem my engineers have been struggling with for months. Add to that the fact that, as I have said as well, you are one of the finest assistants I have ever worked with. I not only do not want you to leave I wish you to take on further duties and to work even closer with me.
"My only major concern is that you are way too strict with yourself and may be setting yourself up for serious injury if you continue as you are doing." He picked up the journal and scanned the pages thoughtfully. "It is obvious that you feel the need of a firm hand to keep you on track and watch over you. But looking through your entries ... Sarah, the punishment you have assessed yourself is often out of proportion to the mistakes you are trying to correct." He set the book down and walked to her lifting her chin so he could look her in the eyes.
"I am guessing that you love your father a great deal, "he said to her. She shyly nodded not sure where this was leading.
