Chapter 1

Once upon a time in a city far, far away there lived a woman named Pauline.

She was tall and very beautiful, with long blonde hair that she kept neatly pinned and a statuesque body that her expensive business suits did little but accentuate. Pauline took great pride in her appearance and by the time she'd reached her twenty-ninth birthday, the woman had little doubt that her intimidating beauty was one of her greatest weapons and she very much viewed the world around her in precisely that fashion. Whether as a senior executive at a Fortune 500 company or in her personal life, as an aggressive and independent female with expensive tastes, Pauline had little regard for others. She took no prisoners, as she liked to say and even boast of in the company of lesser mortals.

By pure chance, Robert happened to be one of those lesser mortals and he was a man who might have done anything he set his mind to, if he'd been so inclined. He'd come to the city to attend the university and had stayed long after he'd gotten his degree. Robert stood upright and proud and confident in his abilities. He'd been hired as a paralegal at first and soon found himself promoted to legal assistant. Not so many years later his diligent competence earned him a position as an executive assistant. The work was largely secretarial, but Robert didn't mind. He enjoyed his career and he was good at it, and if he lacked ambition it hadn't hurt either his reputation within the company or his family life. He had a lovely wife and two wonderful children living in a warm home and he was content in all ways but one.

Robert had worked for the former executive whom Pauline had replaced a few months previously. The woman had inherited the coveted corner office with its 57th floor view of the Hudson River. She'd gained access to the 'executive suite' as it was called, consisting of a luxurious study, a well endowed library, private dining room and staff, and personal rest rooms. Pauline had also inherited Robert, who was widely regarded as the best assistant in the company.

The only reason Robert hadn't moved up himself was that his former boss had retired and the senior executives couldn't justify the replacement of their own long-tenured assistants (although several of them tried, including the V.P of Human Resources) and so Pauline was far luckier than she may have deserved. Unfortunately, for all her ability and success, Pauline was surprisingly myopic when it came to the abilities of others.

"You people are the rungs on my ladder of success..." Pauline addressed her staff, which was something she did every Monday morning. "You fuck this project up and I guarantee you'll be eating out of a garbage can by the end of the week."

She glared around the conference room with her hands on her hips, standing well over six feet tall in her three inch heels. Pauline loved looking down on people, both literally and figuratively, and she did so now, daring someone to challenge her authority. Someone would do it sooner or later, the people in that room weren't sheep, she knew ... Except for Robert maybe, and she'd already begun to doubt the admiration her peers in management held for the man. He'd be the last one to say anything, but someone would, maybe that weasel Tyler...

"Do you have something to say, Mr. Tyler?" Pauline stood even straighter if that were possible and the man, a young expert on international banking laws, paled noticeably.

"N-No ma'am!" The emphatic shaking of his head actually filled Pauline with a twinge of disappointment. She was so looking forward to making an example out of someone, a bloody and rather humiliating example to establish her authority once and for all.

"All right then," she clapped her hands briskly. "Hop to it! Go! Make some money!"

Robert had sighed inwardly at seeing Pauline single out the Tyler boy again. She didn't seem to like anyone, but for some reason she rode that young man particularly hard. He was a good lad, smart and hard working, scrupulously honest in Robert's not inexpert opinion. He'd seen a lot of shady characters and Tyler was one of the good guys, if only Pauline would give him a chance to prove it.

The woman was just too uppity, Robert thought, a phrase that came to him from his humble origins in rural Kansas. That Pauline was good at her job, Robert had little doubt. She had brains and all the ambition in the world, she just lacked ... Self-confidence, Robert decided. That she was so beautiful was part of her problem. She'd gotten so used to using her physical attributes, and her appearance overwhelmed everyone at first, that Pauline wasn't quite so certain about the rest of her. And so she abused people with her intimidating beauty as much as her position to get what would have come so much easier, and possibly quicker, Robert thought, by simply being nice. Being respectful of others and mindful of their feelings.

That decided, Robert next considered what to do about it. He knew the woman thought very little of him, but she had very little insight into anyone really. When Pauline looked at Robert, he thought, she only saw him as a middle-aged man, stuck in a go-nowhere job serving his betters. She saw a glorified secretary, good for making coffee and taking dictation. She'd never asked his opinion on anything, although certainly her predecessors had involved Robert in a great many important decisions. He didn't mind that so much, it wasn't his job to make decisions, nor even advise. His ego wasn't so large as to think he was smarter or wiser than anyone else, but that didn't change Pauline's low estimation of him either.

Nope, Robert thought to himself, having a little talk wouldn't do her any good at all. He'd have to be proactive, to use one of Pauline's favorite words. He'd have to take action and give the woman a little lesson in humility, or if not that, Robert might at least give her a different perspective on things. That thought actually made him smile, which was something of a luxury around the office these days.

"What's so funny?" Pauline demanded, staring at Robert with obvious distaste.

"Funny?" Robert stopped smiling. "I was just thinking about what my daughter, my youngest, wants for her birthday next month."

"Hmmph..." Pauline sniffed and chided herself for becoming involved in her secretary's personal life. She couldn't care less if the man had a hundred kids, so long as they didn't keep him from doing his job.

"A Tinkerbell," Robert chuckled. "I don't know where she gets her imagination..."

"Save it for your lunch break," Pauline cut him off impatiently. "We have work to do. I have some emails to write, so grab your little notepad and a pen."

"Of course," Robert nodded dutifully, unconsciously confirming Pauline's low opinion of him as a spineless sheep. "I'm right behind you," he said, rising from the conference table to follow his boss into her spacious office.

Pauline sat at her desk and gestured for Robert to take his customary seat. It should have been a comfortable chair, and had been for many years, but now it was adjusted so low as to be almost painfully uncomfortable. When sitting in it, Robert had to crane his neck to look up at his boss. He didn't sit down today however, and Pauline looked at her assistant with some surprise in her brilliant blue eyes. The two of them regarded each other silently for a long count of ten.

"Take a seat, Robert," Pauline said, hardly believing that she'd need to say the words at all.

"In a moment," Robert nodded. "First I'd like to say something, if you wouldn't mind."

Pauline had no idea what Robert might have to say. Could he be the one to challenge her finally? It seemed doubtful as the man was a career stooge, that was obvious. She had more ambition in her pinky finger than Robert had in his entire body. No, he must have something else on his mind. Maybe he needed a day off for one of his precious rug rats, Pauline thought. Or perhaps he wanted to brown nose a little, offer Pauline some sweet office talk in hopes of getting a raise maybe. That was the sort of thing she understood and expected from her subordinates.

Pauline certainly didn't expect what Robert was about to do.

"He calleth forth the mixture of things, coupling and engendering. The seeds are mingled as milk, and runneth past the lips..." Robert began speaking, the rhythm and cadence being much more important than the words; they only served to guide the patterns of his thoughts.

"Robert..." Pauline stared at the man, standing in front of her and waving his pen around like a conductor with a baton. " ... What are you..."

"Conception, changes the blood, mingled as milk, the pale waxing black and the red diffuse things shine..." Robert's voice rose and fell, the words accented with every small gesture of his hand.

By the time Robert had finished speaking several minutes later, his hair was standing on end and the very air itself seemed to crackle with static energy. That was always a good sign and although Robert had been burdened with very little doubt, he hadn't done such a thing in quite a long time. It was nice, he thought, to see and feel the familiar sensations of his all too distant youth. He licked his lips, pressed his pen back into his breast pocket, and smoothed his hair.

Robert walked carefully to Pauline's chair, looking at the pile of clothing that now sat there and of course some had fallen onto the floor as well. Her navy suit and white silk blouse, her black silk stockings, Robert gathered it all, slowly and carefully. He gently retrieved the woman's lacy underthings, a beautiful and expensive Victoria's Secret bra and panty set in teal, of all colors. Robert may have blushed at that, but only a little, he was far more intent on finding his boss.

"There you are," Robert smiled as he lifted Pauline's delicate thong between his thumb and forefinger.

"What the hell?" Pauline was sitting in her left shoe, naked as the day she was born, with her legs spread around the closed toe of the patent leather sling. She was rubbing her temples and looking around, plainly confused and possibly even in a state of shock.

"You're lucky you were wearing clip-on earrings," Robert noted seriously. He picked up the shoe carefully, not wanting his boss to fall out of it, and set it on Pauline's desk. "How do you feel?" he asked gently, keeping his voice intentionally soft.

Robert wasn't afraid of anyone entering the office. Pauline had explained her closed door policy on her very first day in the office and no one dared violate it. Robert was quite reasonably cautious because his normal voice might be a little too loud for Pauline in her new condition.

"My head hurts," Pauline said and then she blinked rapidly as she realized where she was. "What is this? What happened? Jesus Christ! What the fuck?"

Robert clucked his tongue at the woman's language, but he supposed she did have some small excuse, no pun intended.

"What did you do to me?" Pauline demanded, struggling awkwardly to get her butt out of the shoe and stand on her own two feet. "Hey ... I'm naked!" Things were coming slowly to the woman, but they were coming, and Robert nodded in agreement.

"I cast a little spell on you," Robert said. "No pun intended."

"What?" Pauline stared at the man and then down at herself. "You son of a bitch! I don't know what you did, or how, but you're going to pay! I swear, you'll be eating out of a fucking garbage can! You're kids will be orphans, you fuck! I'm going to bury you! I'm going to cut off your balls! I'm going to ... Hey! Stop it! Put me down, you bastard!"

"Shhh..." Robert had a lot of patience, far more than most men, but Pauline was being wholly unreasonable with her remarks and she needed some discipline. "I'm going to spank you," Robert told her. "When you're bad you'll get a spanking and swearing at someone is bad."

"Oh, you sheep piece of shit..." Pauline breathed as Robert held her struggling form gingerly between his fingers. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Yes," Robert said sadly, "I would." It was the same tone of voice he used with his children on those rare occasions when they needed a little pat on the petunia, as Robert liked to say.

He sat down in his chair, the low one because the other was Pauline's and he'd never sit in the boss' chair. He put the woman over his right thigh, face down, and pinned her there with a finger to the small of her back. Robert was careful not to hurt her. She was only six inches tall now. Still perfectly formed as she'd been a few moments before, but just ... smaller. One twelfth her original size to be exact and Pauline would stay like that until she'd learned her lesson. Getting a little spanking, Robert thought, would only be the first step on that long and arduous path.

"You can't do this!" Pauline was practically crying by then.

Pauline pounded her tiny fists against her assistant's leg. She kicked and screamed, her voice now high pitched like one of those chipmunks in the cartoons that she'd hated as a child. It was embarrassing and beyond her worst nightmare, being helpless and defenseless and at the mercy of a man far, far below her own imperious station. Pauline didn't understand the how, and so far Robert's explanations as to the why made very little sense, but when she was back to normal, Pauline vowed that she'd see him, his family, and even his friends suffering for this ridiculous outrage.

"Here we go." Robert used his pen, the same one he'd used to weave his little spell, to give Pauline's bare backside a good spanking. He had to be careful because it was rather difficult to judge how hard to do it, but so long as she was squirming Robert thought she was okay.

"Owwww ... Ouch! Ouch!" Pauline hadn't been spanked since she was five years old, and never like this. It hurt quite a lot and more than it should have, the woman thought. It's only a pen for crying out loud! But it was a pen as tall as she was and wielded by a giant. Her flesh began to burn as the heavy instrument slapped her ass repeatedly. It seemed like her butt was on fire and her defiance soon gave way to submission as Pauline discovered she had a low tolerance for such things as spankings.

"Please ... P-Please..." Pauline was crying now, her rear end practically glowing from the spanking Robert was giving her. "I ... I'll be good ... I promise ... Ow!! Please ... Stop ... Owww!!..."

Robert did stop, but not because Pauline had been promising to be good. All wayward children will do that, as every father knows. No, he'd stopped because he'd reached fifteen good strokes, which had been the number Robert had decided upon before he'd even started. It was always best to have a goal and to stop once you got there, whether it was too much or too little, only time would tell.

"Oh ... Jeez..." Pauline sniffed, standing up as Robert lifted his finger away. She wobbled slightly, balanced on the man's leg like she was, and rubbed her butt lightly, twisting her head as if she might see the damage, which was largely imagined at that point.

"Now, don't forget your promise," Robert said patiently, putting his pen away. "You need to understand that I didn't spank you because I wanted to, I did it because you needed it."

"Needed it?" Pauline stared up at him, the look on her beautiful face telling Robert everything he needed to know about the woman. "What I need is a witch doctor! You'd better fix this, Robert, and I mean right fucking now! Because if you don't ... Hey! Put me down!"

Pauline screamed obscenities as Robert picked her up, cupping the tiny woman carefully in his hands and placing her on the desk. He didn't say a word as he looked through the drawers, finally finding a plastic roll of Scotch Tape. He peeled off a long strip of it and looked around for Pauline.

"Get back, you asshole!" Pauline had taken her momentary freedom, such as it was, to run for the telephone and jump on the speakerphone button. She'd slipped off it the first time without getting it pushed far enough to get a dial tone, and she was stomping her foot on it as Robert reached for her.

"Dammit!" Pauline swore, ducking under Robert's hand, and half-tumbling off the phone to the desk. Something bright and shiny caught her eye. A pin as long as her arm was laying there under the edge of the phone and she reached for it, pulling it free and striking what she thought was a reasonable en garde position.

Robert lifted his hand slightly as the woman stabbed at his palm.

"You want some of me?" Pauline shouted in her high-pitched voice. "Well come on! Come get some, Bobby!" She danced around, waving the pin like it was a sword, and used the time it afforded her to begin a plan.

Pauline wasn't a stupid woman by any stretch and all she needed was to contact someone, anyone. She was small, but quick, and Robert was clumsy by comparison. If she could get to the floor she had a chance of running and hiding, of making her way to one of the other offices. She'd find someone to help her, someone to call security, the police; hell, she'd call the Marines on Robert's sorry ass for what he'd done to her!

Unfortunately for her, Robert wasn't very dull either and he understood the need for Pauline to be isolated from other people, especially her staff and co-workers. Not so much because Robert would be in trouble, he had some concern there, but not a lot. No, his chief worry was what his colleagues might do to the woman if they found her in her present condition. He had a duty to protect her while she was so vulnerable, Robert told himself, after all this wasn't a punishment, it was a lesson.

"Okay, that's quite enough of that," Robert finally said, moving quickly to take Pauline in his hand. Although he received a rather painful jab in the thumb, it wasn't life threatening and he disarmed the woman fairly quickly after that. "I'm sorry to do this, but..."

"What? No ... You can't ... Robert!" Pauline protested loudly as Robert wrapped her in cellophane tape, pinning her arms to her sides and immobilizing her completely. "Oh ... That's the last straw, mister!" Pauline was seething with anger now, wrapped up like a ... Like a mummy, she supposed, in hot, sticky tape. "You're fired! Do you hear me? Fired!"

Robert nodded, but didn't say anything. She wasn't being rational, he told himself, that was just anger talking and he wasn't really fired. Besides, the way this was going, Pauline was going to be small for a long time, so she'd need a good assistant.

And Robert was the best.

"Daddy!" both girls shouted at once, running to embrace their father as soon as the front door opened.

Robert bent over, letting his briefcase go and hugging them both, one in each arm as they kissed his cheeks. They were beautiful children, taking after their mother, and Robert was very proud of them. Heather was the older, a very precocious six year old, and Stacy was the younger and she'd be four in another month or so.

"Is my birthday coming, Daddy?" Stacy asked, as she did nearly every day just to make sure it wouldn't get lost somehow.

"It sure is, Punkin," Robert smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "Pretty soon. Where's Mommy?"

"In the kitchen," Heather answered quickly. "Come on, Daddy!"

The little blonde girls took their father by the hand, happily leading him to the kitchen and Robert reminded himself of just how lucky he really was.

"Hey, honey," Brenda was just putting a cookie sheet into the oven and she gave her cheek to Robert for a kiss. "Dinner's going to be a little late..."

"We were making cookies, Daddy! See?" Heather pointed at the mixing bowl and broken egg shells and flour that littered the kitchen counter.

"I do see," Robert said seriously.

"Peanut butter!" Stacy said with a smile.

"Mmmm, my favorite," Robert chuckled. "You girls get washed up now, okay? Daddy wants to talk to Mommy for a minute."

Brenda glanced at her husband. It wasn't often either of them had something to say that the children couldn't hear. "Heather, take your sister upstairs and help her wash her hands."

"Okay Mommy," Heather nodded and she was always such a good girl the way she watched over Stacy, it made her parents proud. Brenda washed her hands at the sink while Robert watched his girls leave the room.

"Brenda, I have something I have to tell you." Robert had been wondering how to explain what he'd done and why, but he knew his wife loved him and that helped.

"Okay," Brenda replied easily.

She was a lovely woman. Not striking, but very attractive with a fine figure despite having two children. Brenda's blonde hair was cut to her shoulders and she had soft blue eyes above a cute, pert little nose that Robert found very appealing for some reason. She had a pink, freshly scrubbed complexion that suited her pretty face. Brenda had that girl-next-door quality, a mixture of innocence and promise that so many men found completely disarming.

Brenda was also rather more pragmatic than Robert, or perhaps cynical, although she didn't think of herself that way. It was just that she understood the real nature of the world and the people in it better than her husband did, or so she believed. Robert saw only the good around him, anything bad was merely confusing, and while that was one of the many qualities that she loved about him, it could also be a little frustrating at times.

Robert paused for a second, wondering if he shouldn't try to explain first, but finally the man decided just to show his wife what he'd done. He reached into his suit coat, into the breast pocket, and carefully removed Pauline, who was still wrapped in cellophane tape around her tummy and hips, trapping her arms to her sides. Another strip held the woman's legs together. She'd been safe and warm enough in Robert's pocket, he'd made certain of that, but she didn't look too happy and her small, high-pitched voice immediately went to work explaining that.

"Put me down! Get this fucking tape off of me! I was suffocating in there, you sadist!" Pauline had struggled against her bonds, but it was no use. The Scotch tape was strong, certainly strong enough to hold her in its tight embrace, and the sticky plastic was chafing her skin. But worse than that, it was chafing her mood.

Robert set his boss down on the small breakfast table in the center of their kitchen, and Brenda looked on with her blue eyes wide as saucers.

"Brenda, this is Pauline, my boss. Pauline, please meet my wife, Brenda." Robert thought introductions would be best.

"You're wife?" Pauline made an angry face. "Look Brandy, if you know what's good for you and your family, you'll get me out of this..."

"How ... What..." Brenda shook her head and finally turned to look at Robert. "Spells?"

Robert nodded. He'd told his wife a few times that his family was a little different, but she hadn't really believed him of course. She'd thought he was teasing her in some strange way. According to her husband, Robert's family had a long history of what people called witchcraft and while Robert wasn't particularly adept, since he didn't practice the art very often, his mother and especially his one and only twin sister were quite good at it.

"I didn't believe you," was all Brenda could think of to say and Robert nodded again, knowing that all along.

"Hey, bimbo! Down here!" Pauline didn't care what the woman believed, so long as she believed her husband was in big trouble.

"Bimbo?" That startled Brenda and the other thing about Robert's wife was that she did have a bit of a temper, as most women do for some reason. She looked around for her spatula and even picked it up before Robert could stop her, placing a gentle hand on Brenda's shoulder.

"That's just stress talking," he explained patiently. "I'm sure she didn't mean it."

"Well, for being so small, she certainly has a big attitude," Brenda frowned, waving the spatula menacingly, but it was just an act now. "So, um ... What are you going to do with her? Doesn't she have to work or anything?"

Robert spent the next ten minutes explaining to his wife, and Pauline, how he'd cover for Pauline at the office. He'd bring her in with him of course, but Robert could handle meetings and such. He'd filled in for his previous boss many times and always with excellent results. Perhaps Pauline could take some time off for personal reasons, but maybe not. Robert was of the opinion that no one would really miss her for a week, possibly even two.

"Won't miss me?" Pauline had never felt so insulted in her entire life. "Are you insane?"

Robert had lost his mind, she thought. Of course people would miss her, how could anyone not miss a beautiful, six foot tall blonde? How could they possibly not miss her business skills? The company needed her! Pauline hadn't been hired just because she looked like Aphrodite in a business suit; she'd been hired because she was good at what she did. Not miss me? The woman thought that was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard in her life.

"Well, I suppose the first thing you should do his find her some clothes," Brenda said, retrieving her cookies from the oven. "She can't stay like that."

And that was as close as Brenda would come to admitting that despite being a mere six inches tall, Pauline still possessed a rare beauty that intimidated her. If she hadn't known Robert so well, Brenda might have worried about her husband's motives in that regard. But of course Robert, being Robert, had probably blushed and apologized several times already for Pauline's immodesty.

"Hmmm..." Robert nodded because he'd been thinking about that too. "Do you think Barbie's clothes would fit her?"

"Barbie?" Pauline squirmed in her Scotch tape, "Who the fuck is Barbie? You've done this before, haven't you? You sick bastard!"

"Such language!" Brenda stared at the tiny woman. "I won't have anyone talking like that in this house!"

"Oh yeah?" Pauline glared up at the housewife. "Well fuck youuuummmppph... !"

Robert had picked Pauline up quickly, covering her mouth, and most of her face, with his thumb. He made a silent apology to his wife, who was looking none to happy right then, and decided he'd better find something for Pauline to wear.

"You really need to work on your people skills, Pauline," Robert said, carrying his boss carefully in his hands. "Brenda is very nice. I think you'd like her if you just..."

"Yeah, yeah ... whatever," Pauline cut him off. "Look, I have to use the bathroom, so..."

"The bathroom?" Robert paused at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, you know, pee? Maybe later I'll have to do something else too? You didn't think of that, did you?"

Pauline would have crossed her arms right then if she could have. Tiny or not she'd just proven that Robert hadn't really thought this whole thing through, and if she could make him start doubting what he'd done, Pauline thought, the man might just let her go. He seemed to be that sort of guy, in her opinion, and she'd had plenty of experience wrapping insecure men around her fingers ... And squishing them.

"Well, no," Robert admitted. "I guess I didn't, but I'm sure we can figure out something."

Before Pauline could reply, Robert had tucked the woman back into his suit, shushing her as his two daughters came out of the bathroom. They'd been in there quite awhile, Robert thought, but children were slow at that age anyway.

"Who were you talking to, Daddy?" Heather asked.

"I brushed my teeth, Daddy!" Stacy said, smiling brightly for her father.

"No one, dear. That's nice, Punkin, but you should brush your teeth after dinner, not before," Robert smiled at his daughters.

"Why?" Stacy asked, but just then Brenda called her girls to come downstairs and help set the table for dinner. She thought they'd been in the bathroom a long time too and it was best to keep kids occupied and supervised, in her expert, motherly opinion.

"Sweet kids," Pauline said, but Robert missed her sarcasm.

"Yeah, they are. Thanks," Robert smiled. He had put Pauline down on the bathroom counter, next to the sink.

"Well, are you going to take off this tape, or what?" Pauline asked, thoroughly tired of being virtually immobile as she'd been for the past several hours.

"Yes, I will. But you have to be good. Otherwise..." Robert put on his frowny face.

"Sure, right," Pauline nodded. "Whatever you say."

Of course the woman had no intention of being good. This was a war and so she had every right to lie, cheat, and steal. If the guy was dumb enough to believe her, that was his problem. All Pauline had to do, she told herself, was control her temper long enough to get what she needed ... Freedom. To that end she smiled up at Robert's face and agreed with every word he said, even though it made her want to throw-up.

"Okay then," Robert smiled, wishing he could believe her, but no one changes that quickly. Still, he supposed, it was better that she should fight at first, try things her way for awhile, and then later, once she'd begun to learn her lesson, Pauline would be more sincere in her promises. It was just a matter of time and Robert thought they had plenty of that.