Cameron To Candy

The next morning, Candy discovered that a tawse flogging and a good night's sleep were not, in fact, completely exclusive concepts. Her well toned arse had mostly recovered, though her dignity remained in critical condition. What she was more concerned about was Marcus’s dramatic swat for attention. Sure, it hadn’t really hurt, but the memory of him pressing her down with one palm, of the certian knowledge that she couldn't move in that moment, stayed with her.

A month earlier he’d also ‘put his foot down’ and forbidden her to cook without supervision until she’d passed the ministry food requirement. It had been a reaction to her smoking up the house so badly that the Fire Brigade had been sent. Marcus had been at a bar with Luke and Greg watching the BustWood Cup final, a tournament hosted yearly in Cleavendale. He’d sprinted home when the Fire Wagons had zoomed by in the direction of their house. The disturbing part was him forbidding her. He hadn’t set rules before like that, not really. She was pretty sure he was bluffing but, well, she didn’t want to call him on it in case… Eh, anyway, the question concerned her. Was he getting more comfortable dominating her, or were these isolated one-offs? Was she overthinking it?

Ugh. She shook her head, which only served to remind her of the pain she’d had since yesterday. The headache sat somewhere behind her eyes like a tiny ministry clerk repeatedly stamping paperwork. She sat at the desk in the guest room upstairs in her nighty, nursing a mug of tea while Marcus worked somewhere downstairs. The house was quiet except for the occasional creak of floorboards and the faint scratching of a quill.

Candy sighed and unfolded the Ministry packet. "Let's see what's left." The parchment crackled as she opened it back up, revealing the familiar checklist waiting at the top of the page.

Curtsey Compliance Standards.

Completed.

She smirked. "Ha. Suck it."

Cook One Edible Meal.

In Progress.

Candy frowned. "I made a stew once." The Ministry had disagreed. So had Marcus, and so had their unfortunate neighbor, who had chosen exactly the wrong moment to stop by. Beneath the requirement sat a notation reading Pending Independent Verification.

"Gludge."

Household Chore Consistency showed Passing. Pin Board earnings listed five pins and remained ongoing. She reflected on the zoo pin she’d won for finding Niblet and smiled. That one meant something to her, unlike the annoying ones like her first Good Girl pin or the chore-based ones she'd gotten recently. The next page contained other familiar entries. Formal Marital Tattoo Consultation was scheduled and the Self-Defense attendance and participation was above expectations. Candy nodded at that one. At least the self-defense course taught useful things.

She scrolled through the list, noting several more requirements, then she stopped. A tiny brown clump sat near the bottom of the page. Probably breakfast from months ago. “Seriously, how long had that been there?” she wondered as she brushed it away absentmindedly, exposing a line hidden beneath it. Huh, what did that say? She rubbed the rest clean(ish) until she could read the words, frowned, and then read them again.

CONSUMMATE MARRIAGE by the end of first year.

Required.

Her tea nearly launched out of her nose

"What the absolute…!?" She leaned closer. Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe the headache had finally gotten to her. Maybe the Ministry employees had completely lost their gods damn minds!

CONSUMMATE MARRIAGE. Required.

Candy stared. The page stared back. Candy read the line, frowned, and then read it again. For several seconds her brain simply refused to process what she was seeing. Then she exploded.

"WHAT THE HELLS?!"

The shout echoed through the house. She jumped to her feet so fast the chair nearly toppled. "No!" She jabbed a finger at the parchment. "No. No, absolutely not."

She reread it. It remained there, unchanged.

"That's just..." Candy made several frustrated hand motions. "No!" She pointed again. "I mean it's not even pos..." More hand motions. "It's not! We can’t…" She searched desperately for words but nothing useful arrived. "GLUDGE!" The tea mug rattled as she shoved away from the table. The parchment remained in her grip. "Marcus!" She stormed toward the stairs, "Marcus!" Her footsteps thundered down the first two steps. "Marcus, get up here!"

There was a pause.

“I’m downstairs,” he yelled back.

“I know you’re downstairs! I’m telling you to, ugh, never mind, I’m coming to you!”

She flew down the rest of the stairs, each step sending a thudding sound echoing throughout the house. A few moments later, a fly on the wall might have heard a muffled Marcus-sounding cry shoot up from somewhere below.

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Spoiler

I'm planning a 'what if' series of chapters. Not an anthology, they'll make sense in canon, but it'll give a chance to explore some things we might not otherwise see, and I'm not guaranteeing anything but it's a good fan service opportunity, so if there's something you're dying to read, let me know!

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