Protecting the Mistress (31a/31) (FemDom, Romance)

Part 31: Revelations

Gerry fully returned to the living moments after Mary's
escape, to find Alex beside him, watching over him.  Long
strained muscles vigorously protested his attempts to stand,
but he finally made it to his feet with a little help from
Alex.  Only then did he realize who was missing.  "Where's
Mistress Mary?" he asked.

Alex quickly recounted what he'd seen.  "I don't know what was
said, because the applause blotted over everything else."

Forcing his leaden muscles to respond, Gerry started to move
off the stage.  "I have to find her," he mumbled.  "Have to
find out what went wrong *this* time."

Alex called to him just as he got down off the stage.  Gerry
turned and just barely managed to catch the keys that flew
toward him. "The black key is to Gemma's suite and the red one
is to her office.  If Mary isn't in your rooms, Gemma will
probably have her in one of those two places, trying to help
sort this all out."

"Thanks." Gerry said as he moved off through the ballroom
toward the main salon.

Gemma's office was closest, so Gerry headed there first.  As
he entered the reception area, he could hear the sound of
crying coming from the inner office.  He started to enter, but
something stopped him.

"I don't see why you are so bloody upset, Mary." He heard
Gemma's strident British accent.  "Bloody hell, girlfriend,
our plan worked.  You were correct, and what we did helped him
get past it."

"Why am I upset? WHY am I upset??!?"  Mary was screaming at
her friend.  "Because he heard you say there was a plan. 
Because I *lied* to him, dammit!  And now that he's asked me
to marry him, and after he just gave himself to me that way in
the ballroom, I feel like a real bitch, okay?  When I think of
what I put him through and what that bitch Freda did to him  .
. . "

Gerry heard a muffled sound like a hand going across a mouth. 
"You did what you had to do and Freda will get what's coming
to her.  You did what had to be done.  He could not have given
himself to you as fully and as completely as he did today if
you hadn't gotten him past his fear and his inability to deal
with a bit of humiliation in the scene.  He would have just
continued trying to protect you by staying away from you."

"What the hell does that mean, Gemma?  The end justifies the
means?"

"How about "all's fair in love and war", and you two, my dear,
are definitely in love."

Gerry had heard enough.  He used Alex's key and opened the
door.  The dumbfounded looks on the two women's faces would
have been oddly satisfying if it had not been followed
immediately by Mary crumbling into tears.

Gemma saw him first, and tried to avoid the confrontation she
saw in his eyes. "Leave us, Gerald," Gemma ordered.  "This
conversation is a private discussion between your Mistress and
me.  It does not concern you, slave."

"I think it does, Gemma." Gerry responded, intentionally
denying her the honorific.  "In fact, after hearing the last
few minutes, I know it does.  What plan?  What lies?"

"Oh god, no," sobbed Mary.  "Not this!  Not now! Not after all
we've accomplished."

"You're only going to hurt her if you press this issue,
Gerald." Gemma said very quietly, as she stepped between the
powerfully built man and her weeping friend.  "Is it really
that important that you know?  Weren't you blissfully happy
just a few moments ago?  Proud of what you've overcome?"

Looking at his sobbing fiancee, longing to go and comfort her,
Gerry shook his head.  "That was then, Gemma," he said slowly
and distinctly, "and this is now.  How can I be happy about
anything when the woman I love is in pain?"  He moved past
Gemma and knelt before Mary.  "I heard you say that you lied
to me, Mary. Holding it in is evidently hurting you.  Tell me,
and then let's move past that, just as you helped me move
beyond what happened six months ago."

Uncertain, Mary looked from Gerry to Gemma who shook her head
at Mary.  Gerry cocked an eyebrow at her in query, but
otherwise said nothing more.

Finally, Mary closed her eyes and nodded her head.  "It was
all a trick, Gerry, an act in a play - since the day I arrived
on your doorstep to ask you for your help.  The charges, the
trial, the suspended sentence, everything.  I was never in any
real danger of being thrown out of the Cabal because it takes
real evidence to throw someone out.  Usually, when someone is
really abusive, that evidence is really easy to come by.  In
my case, there wasn't any."

"If I hadn't completed the contract, the Council would not
have kicked you out?"  Gerry asked.

"I was never in danger of losing my place in the Cabal,
Gerry," she repeated steadily, wiping away her tears.

Gerald pulled back and regarded his diminutive fiancee, a
curious expression on his face.  "So there really isn't a
bylaw that preemptively throws out a dominant.  There really
is some type of fair witness process?  Does that mean that
parole file thing is a lie, too?"

Gemma shook her head.  "We are very careful with our pre-
initiation vetting of prospective members, Gerry.  They are
all acutely aware of their own worth and would not tolerate
being treated as Mary was supposedly treated.  Most of them
would sue the leather pants off us if we did something like
that with them.  As to the parole file, I am afraid that is
all too real.  I can show you yours, if you like.  We've been
pulling it together in anticipation of you becoming a full
member after your wedding to Mary."

"If there is going to be a wedding now that you know the
contract was a fraud."  Mary added, trying to pout and failing
miserably.

Gerry chucked at her, then reached out and snatched at her
left hand. He held up the emerald engagement ring for all
three of them to see.  "Let's deal with the important part of
that first, okay, Mary-my-love.  There *is* going to be a
wedding," he growled before kissing the hand and the ring,
"*Count* on it," he said with the same sincerity he would use
in making his vows to her.  "I guess this is why you were
going to move out on me? Because of this "lie" of yours?"

Mary nodded.  "You told me you trusted me when I explained
about what was supposed to happen in the nursery scene."  She
blew her nose loudly into the tissue Gemma provided.  "You
said it was because I had never lied to you," she accused and
then flushed bright red to her hairline.  "I have never been
so ashamed in all my life."

"Gotcha." Gerald grinned down at her and then stole a kiss. 
"And as for that contract, it really wasn't a fraud.  At least
not for me.  I signed it, and I made promises - made 'em and
kept 'em," he added with just a touch of arrogance.

"That's not the point." Mary argued.  "We lied to you about my
being expelled because it was the only way we could think of
to get you to let me back into your life, but it was still a
lie.  There was no need for you to go through all that."  Mary
grimaced.  "Well, maybe there was, if only to get us back
together, but there was no reason as far as the Cabal was
concerned."

Gerry thought about that for a minute and the shook his head. 
"I don't think that's quite true.  There were reasons that
involved the Cabal.  Answer this question for me, love. Do you
really believe you'd have come back up here to the Lodge ever
again without me?"

"I could have . . .  "

"Not what I asked, love." Gerry cut her off.  "Would you have
come up here without me?"

"Probably not," she agreed finally.  "Hell, I didn't even try
to top anyone during the three months we were separated. 
Didn't want to.  I would have left the Cabal, but I would not
have been forced to leave.  What it is that we do up here had
. . . lost its attraction to me."                           

"You seemed to like it bloody damned well with me over the
past months." Gerry snapped back at her.

"That's because it *was* with you.  You damned blockheaded
male!"  Mary shouted and then controlled herself with a
visible effort.  "I don't much care to work with bottoms who
are playing at slavery now that I have tasted dominance and
submission done with love."

"You were really going to leave the Cabal, just because you
couldn't take me there, weren't you?"  It was more a statement
than a question

Mary rose and came over to stand in front of him. She took his
chin in one hand and lifted until his eyes locked with hers. 
"Gerry, I wanted you then and I still want you now.  The Cabal
has been very important in my life, but that pales beside my
need for you.  You are vital to my life.  Hell, I was ready to
try going vanilla for the rest of my life if that is what it
took to have you in that life."

"You'd never have made it," he replied, the smile he'd worn
since entering Gemma's office growing ever wider.  "You are
too much *The* Domme.  Don't think I would have made it,
either."

Gerald pulled the still unsmiling Mary into his lap and then
placed her arms around his neck.  "Well, I would have tried,"
she sulked.

"So, the contract did get you back up here, didn't it?  So it
wasn't a fraud for you either."

"Why are you being so blasted nice about this?!?" Mary
shrieked.  "How can you sit there and be so magnanimously
forgiving after what happened to you in those first two
debacles up here?  Especially now that you know you didn't
have to go through that."
                                                       
"Well, I've sort of had a while to get used to the idea."

"What???!?" both women yelled.  "Since when?" Gemma demanded.

Gerry smiled benignly at Gemma.  "Since Freda.  No matter what
you said about how well she had covered her tracks, the fact
that the Council could damn Mary so easily and yet have Freda
beyond your power just never did pass the stupid test.  Then I
realized how often you were around, and how close you and Mary
were, and that didn't add up either."  He shot Gemma an
appraising look.  "Can I assume that since I know Mary was
"Pet", that you are "Sally"?"

"You *told* him?" 

"Nope," Mary giggled a little hysterically.  "Figured that out
all by his lonesome.  Seems that I wear a very distinctive
perfume and he knew my body by the Braille method."

"Am I to assume, that you two super Dommes decided that it was
my inability to handle public or semi-public humiliation that
set me off that day with Richard and then came up with this
brainstorm of a plan to desensitize me?"

Now Gemma was shocked.  "How . . .  I mean, who . . .  "

"How did I know, and who told me?" he asked.  Dazedly, Gemma
nodded.  "Mary and I talked about that a couple of times,
during the healing times after Freda.  Up until then, I didn't
know for sure, but I suspected that something wasn't quite
Kosher with this whole demo scene thing.  No one spilled the
beans before that, though."

Mary nodded, also remembering those open, cathartic exchanges. 
"I told you that you have never responded positively to
humiliation play, Gerry.  You always erected those damned
walls around yourself and I hated it when you wouldn't let me
in," Mary said softly.  "That's why, after the first few times
I tried those games with you, I put that away for good, or so
I thought. Then I surprised you with Richard during your
ritual deflowering.  That was really stupid, in and of itself,
and you lost it on me. But the humiliation was only part of
the problem.  The other part was that damned control of
yours."

"My control?" he asked confused.

"Yes." Mary said distastefully.  "If you really hate
something, you go into this . . . this control trance.  You
just start that damnable enduring act of yours, playing sponge
again.  You tried that in that first scene with Richard, but
for what I suspect was the first time in your entire life,
that iron control of yours failed. Catastrophically."

"Okay, so?" Gerry asked, still not making the connection.

"Our between-Congregation play was specifically designed to
help you find other ways to deal with play that you dislike
that much.  Like when you safe worded that time.  Like when I
worked to get you to go with the flow in the little girl
stuff.  You had to know that you could let me know when you
had a problem, and then if I still kept going, as is my right,
that you could use the safe word. Then, after the big scenes,
we were supposed to talk about what worked and what didn't. 
You know, reflect on how you felt when it was going good and
why if felt bad when it wasn't going well.  Unfortunately,
things went so badly each time that we never got around to
having those discussions, at least not explicitly."

Gerald nodded, remembering. "But we did end up talking things
out each time.  That is something," he said, getting a
cautious nod from both women.  "And each time it helped, too. 
A lot.  I mean, I couldn't have gotten past that fear of
hurting you again without the talking we did."  He paused, a
frown lining his forehead.  "But, . . . but even so, I always
thought going that extra mile for you, going beyond myself was
a gift to you."

"And so it is, Gerry.  But if you reach the point where you
start using that control-Zen of yours, I want you to safe word
instead.  I don't always recognize it in time, but I don't
ever want to play with you in that condition again.  That is
*my* limit."

He thought about that and nodded.  "All right, Mary.  You have
my word.  So all of this was not just getting us back
together, and to begin dealing with my phobia for public
humiliation play, but also to help us find ways around my
control response?"

"That's the whole of it, love." Mary said softly.  "The truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  I swear it on my
love for you."

She watched Gerry consider that, his face blank, his head
nodding every once in a while, as if agreeing with some
thought or idea.  "And so the contract?"

"Well, yes, but there was also the chance to get to live with
you, Gerry." Mary offered, a surprisingly shy smile on her
face.  "I thought I had lost you, and I will admit I added the
24/7 part to Gemma's original idea of getting you to the Lodge
so that I could be with you every day and every night."

"Okay, I guess I can understand that. And you explained about
the Freda thing.  I didn't like it, but I understand."

"That was at the Council's direction, Gerald."  Gemma cut in. 
"We knew that Mary would continue bringing you here after the
contract period.  We, that is the Council, were concerned
about what would happen if some unsuspecting dominant tried to
work you on those weekends when we play out a communal
submissive scene, where every submissive can be commanded by
any dominant.  It was decided that you had to be worked by
another dominant, specifically one you did not know, where we
could keep an eye on you.  I remembered that scene, having
played the nurse part a couple of times, and told Mary she had
to run it."

"If you've done the nurse thing before, why did you use Freda
with me?"

"You knew me," was Gemma's matter of fact answer.  "We thought
that you might have twigged to how close Mary and I really
are.  We wanted someone you didn't know working you.  Freda
seemed a good choice.  She is skilled, and has a very strict
play style that almost always includes a healthy dose of
humiliation.  She seemed ideal."

"Wait-a-minute!!  You said we were under surveillance!?!? Why
isn't she out of the Cabal on her unfeeling ass?  How come you
don't have miles and miles of video tape of that bitch
violating my Cabal Charter-given rights?"

Gemma's black eyes became dangerously cold. "Because she
evidently damaged the surveillance camera intentionally.  We
thought it was just broken.  We let her continue on the
grounds that you would be continuously restrained in one way
or another throughout the session and that she had a panic
button to call for security in case something went wrong.  I
am personally sorry about that mess, Gerald.  I am the one who
insisted on the scene over your Mistress's objections and I am
the one who ultimately approved Freda."

"Something needs to be done about that cold hearted, lying
bitch." Gerry said in quiet fury.  "She is a living insult to
every other loving Domina in the Cabal."

"Working on it, Gerald.  She isn't getting away with this.  I
am watching her and I will fix her.  How did you just put it?
Oh yes, I will fix her fat arse for you - trust me." Gemma
said positively.

Mary eyes flew to Gerald's, hope now glittering in them.  "You
said we were still getting married, didn't you?" she asked in
a slightly shaky voice.

"Yes.  We are!  If I have to raid your damned dungeon for
chains and cuffs and then carry you off bound and gagged to my
cave to have my wicked way with you until you surrender to my
manly charms."

"Hold that thought," she ordered with a touch of her normal
demeanor again.  "Gemma, call him Gerry.  I told you before. 
It is one of his betrothal gifts to me that my best friends
get to call him by my favorite nickname."

"Yes, Gemma, please do." Gerry added.

"I am honored, Gerry.  Thank you."

"Gerry, I want to clear the air once and for all.  Do you have
any other concerns or questions?  I give you my word of honor,
on my love for you, that I will answer any question
truthfully."

Gerry wanted to ask, and started to twice, before finally
getting up the courage.  "Would you have banished me for good
if I had lost control again during one of those horrendous
scenes?" 

Mary closed her eyes in pain at that question, and took a deep
breath. "Perhaps I deserve that, given how I deceived you with
Gemma.  I wouldn't have wanted to, Gerry, but you were bloody
hard to reach until Gemma and I came up with our scheme.  I
don't know if even my love would have been strong enough to
batter my way through your resolve to protect me from you. But
the answer to your question is not only no but *hell no*!  I
would have kept trying and trying. Until I died or you gave
in."

"Probably would have haunted me." Gerry smiled.

"Damn straight.  I *love* you, dammit!"

Pulling her tight, Gerry rested his head on hers.  "Same goes,
Mary-Mistress.  Same goes."