Fic : Two Slaves 8/?
Title: Two Slaves 8/?
Words: Approx 4500
Rating : R
Characters : House/Wilson, Foreman/Cuddy
Contains : Slavery AU, corporal punishment of various kinds, some Master/slave non-con (not explicit). Dark! versions of all characters except House & Wilson.
Summary : Greg has been owned by Doctor Cuddy for a long time, he's settled into a routine but his world is disrupted by the arrival of Doctor Foreman, and his new slave - Jimmy. With their masters working closely together on redesigning the hospital the two slaves find themselves thrown together as well.
Previous part
There was a small courtyard just off one wing of the hospital, enclosed on three sides by high brick walls and on the other by the door from the hospital that led into it. It was here that any of the slaves who worked in the hospital, or who accompanied owners who worked in the hospital, were permitted to come to eat their lunch - if they were fortunate enough to be granted a break, or indeed lunch. This was also the courtyard where whippings were conducted, in case the slaves should ever forget that there was no safe haven anywhere for them. Still, there was fresh air there, and a glimpse of the sky and the slaves went there any chance they could get.
Cuddy was usually fairly good about letting Greg break for lunch most days. She told him to keep a some slave ration packs in a supply room near her office and would dismiss him to go and fetch some and take twenty minutes away from his work to eat them. When Foreman had discovered this arrangement he had set the same thing up with James so the two usually ended up having lunch together, if their masters weren't too busy to spare them.
There was a tap in one corner of the yard, and James took both of their chipped and stained cups over to it to get them some water and returned to the bench they were sitting on. Greg's leg was giving him trouble today and he sat hunched over, massaging it. He took the water James offered and took a large gulp.
"Cuddy was being a bitch about the Vicodin today - only gave me a half dose this morning."
And he'd get nothing until evening, James knew. It was given to him, or not, after he'd cooked the evening meal and cleared everything away. He'd been to Cuddy's enough now to know the routine. Cuddy kept Greg dangling on the string of Vicodin. Greg had told James how she gave him so much in the early days after his infarction that he became hopelessly addicted to it. Now she used it as a weapon against him, to keep him in line. Greg didn't elaborate on just why he was only given half a dose this morning, and James didn't ask - the reason really didn't matter all that much to either of them.
They ate their lunch quickly, breaks weren't long. The rations were the standard wafer type, which looked, and tasted, rather like cardboard but both slaves had become used to eating them and they were better than an empty stomach for the rest of the day.
A couple of the other slaves were in the courtyard but they kept their distance from Greg and James. Slaves generally weren't supposed to gather in groups. Even two slaves sitting together was frowned upon but Greg got away with a certain amount due to his status as being the slave of the Dean. The staff of the hospital generally left his discipline up to his owner, their boss, and the fact that she didn't play favourites was written in the scars on his back.
"How is your patient?" James asked, having finished his 'meal' and cleaned up after himself - leaving any food or wrapper debris in the courtyard was a punishable offence.
Greg scowled. "That idiot Aussie came up with a couple of decent ideas, but the patient isn't co-operating. Apparently he prefers to die rather than tell his doctor the truth. I told Chase to lean on him a bit harder but he doesn't have it in him."
"I wish I could help," James said wistfully and Greg shot him a sharp look.
"A few hours a week studying a medical textbook isn't going to make you a doctor you know. This isn't something you can just 'pick up'."
"I know!" James snapped. "I know I'll never know what you do, not if I study those books all day long. I'd just like to know a few more things than the best way to iron clothes, and how to clean a toilet." He looked down at the ground and then stood up. "Come on, we need to get back." He held out his hand and for a moment Greg just stared at it, he hated accepting help for his disability, although he gladly accepted Cuddy's concessions to his 'cripple' status. Then he grudgingly put out his hand and let James help him to his feet, holding him steady until he got his cane under him.
"Thanks," he muttered and then set off, not missing James' slight smile.
The courtyard was just off of the slave ward of the hospital, and down the corridor from the morgue so nobody lingered on the way to and from. As they were nearing the elevators James saw a large free man approaching from the other side, a slave walked a step behind him, on a chain.
"Crap!" he heard Greg mutter and then the man turned towards them.
James saw Greg kneel out of the corner of his eye, an act which was so unusual that for a moment James forgot that he should kneel as well. The man stared straight at him and James quickly dropped to his knees, bowing his head and placing his hands behind his back.
"You're Doctor Cuddy's slave aren't you?" He heard the man say, and was confused for a moment before he realised that the man was talking to Greg.
"Yes, sir. Greg." Greg answered, in an unusually docile tone of voice. Whoever this man was Greg was wary of him.
James felt a heavy hand on his head, and fingers running through his hair before tightening and lifting his head up so that he was staring straight at the man, his neck bent at an uncomfortable angle.
"And who is this pretty thing?"
"That is Jimmy sir, he's Doctor Foreman's slave." Greg answered before James could.
"And what are you two doing running around the hospital by yourself?" The man let go of his grip but continued to pet his hair and James tried to stay absolutely still. He noticed that the slave on the man's chain was also kneeling, her head down. As he looked at the chain he could see that it wasn't attached to the slave's collar, as was the norm, but to another chain running through rings placed in the slave's nipples. The slightest pressure on the chain would tug at the sensitive skin.
"Sir, we just finished our lunch, and we are returning to Doctor Cuddy's office."
The man chuckled. "Lunch for slaves, the world sure is changing. The next thing you know you'll be demanding minimum wage and penalty rates." He laughed and pressed the button for the elevator with his free hand. With his other he cupped James' chin. "Very pretty indeed. I'll have to see what I can do." When the elevator car arrived he entered, his slave at his heels. James and Greg stayed where they were, they wouldn't enter an elevator with a free person unless invited to do so.
After the doors had closed and the man was gone James relaxed enough to look at Greg. He was staring at the elevator shaft with anger. James wasn't sure what he was angry about.
Greg pushed himself to his feet, wincing as he took his weight on his cane. James got up more quickly.
"Who was that?"
"That was Vogler. Chairman of the Board, and bringer of one hundred million dollars, and Foreman, to the hospital. Otherwise known as a complete and utter bastard. He wants you."
"Doctor Foreman doesn't like to share me."
Greg gave a short bark of a laugh. "What Vogler wants, Vogler gets. Just hope he forgets about you as soon as the next pretty thing with a collar around its neck takes his attention. Unless you want him leading you around by a chain through your dick."
Greg's tone was as harsh as his words. It sounded like he was angry with him. James wasn't sure what he had done wrong. Greg stabbed the button for the elevator and they got in when it came.
Once the door had shut behind them Greg pressed the button to halt the elevator. He thumped his cane on the ground a couple of times and then sighed, rubbing his eyebrow with one the back of his thumb.
"Look, just try and stay out of his way okay? You think Foreman is bad? He's nothing compared to Vogler."
"I wasn't intending to ask him out on a date." James replied, still confused by Greg's apparent anger towards him.
Greg looked surprised and then a little amused. "Well, don't forget to pack the shark repellent if you do..." he trailed off and looked into the distance. Then suddenly his gaze sharpened and he smiled triumphantly. "Of course, that's it!" He pressed the button for the fourth floor, where Chase had his office.
"We're supposed to report back to Doctor Cuddy," James pointed out.
"You go, tell her I'm busy. I've got a patient to cure, I'll iron her panties for her later," Greg said as he took off without a backwards look.
James thought about following him - what Greg was doing seemed a lot more interesting than going back to the office to fetch coffee - but after a brief hesitation he dutifully pressed the button for the ground floor; Cuddy might let Greg get away with a lot of things but Foreman didn't grant the same latitude to him, and he didn't want another session with the cane.
He translated what Greg had told him to tell Cuddy into more diplomatic terms and she nodded her acceptance and told him to go and fetch their coffee.
As he wrapped his hands around two coffee mugs he whispered the names of the bones of his hand under his breath - something he had learned yesterday from Greg - and smiled. He might only be a slave, and he might have to fetch coffee and clean for the rest of his life, but he knew the bones of the human hand and he could learn more. He would learn more.
Greg returned about an hour later, to report that he had successfully diagnosed the patient, who was now undergoing treatment. As he explained the process to Cuddy James listened intently - he could still only understand one word in three but at least he could catch a little of what Greg was explaining, although how 'shark repellent' fed into the diagnosis baffled him. Maybe Greg would explain the next time they had a chance to be alone.
The hospital annual fundraiser was the biggest event they staged every year. Cuddy both resented the amount of time planning it took up, and welcomed it for the revenue it would bring to the hospital. Every year she networked her ass off to find new donors, and keep the ones they already had. The fundraiser brought all that effort together. As one of Princeton's major social events all eyes would be on it, and they wouldn't hesitate to judge her for any mishap.
She would rather be spending her time on the hospital remodelling, or even, god forbid, on doing some actual medical work, rather than discussing with the caterers just how many bottles of wine they should allocate per table, but this was part of her job, and something she was damn good at.
She was in two minds whether to take Eric as her formal date for the event. Although they had been sleeping together since very shortly after his arrival at the hospital they had not yet made their relationship public. They hadn't especially taken steps to hide it, and she knew the hospital's gossip mill was rife with speculation, but neither had they formalised it in any way. Turning up to the fund raiser with her second in command on her arm would be a very public way of announcing that they were now a couple.
A couple. She turned it over in her mind, is that what they were? At first it had been about some casual sex, on both their parts she was sure, but over recent weeks it had grown to be something more. Eric was at her place more often than he was at his own home, although he still preferred to leave at night to return with Jimmy to his own apartment. He said that it was important for a new slave like Jimmy to have a solid routine and rigid discipline. Cuddy suspected that he thought Greg was a bad influence on his slave although he was too polite to say anything. Cuddy thought that he was probably right. But she enjoyed working, and sleeping, with Eric, and Jimmy was still a damned good slave despite, by necessity, spending a lot of his time with her Greg, who could by no stretch of the imagination be called a 'good' slave.
Cuddy smiled again as she glanced at Greg, who was currently filing away some papers for her, at a slow pace that indicated just what he thought of this chore. She'd find him something more unpleasant to do if he didn't get a move on with it. She knew Eric thought she was soft with her older slave, and that she let him get away with too much. Eric still seemed to doubt Greg's medical abilities, although he'd now seen him find a diagnosis for several patients, all of whom had seen many other doctors before coming here.
Greg hadn't been needed for a patient consult for a few days, after solving the last case successfully, and she could tell that he was getting restless, however hard she worked him he seemed to need that little bit of medical detective work to keep him...well, not happy, but functioning at a satisfactory level. She would have to see if she could find a patient for him if nothing turned up soon. She had assigned him to write up the last two patients for journals in any spare time he had but he needed more than that.
A soft knock on the outer door of the office distracted her attention away from the loitering Greg and she looked up to see Jimmy standing there, his head bowed.
"Come in, Jimmy." She summoned and he came and knelt before her desk. "What is it?"
"Ma'am, Doctor Foreman would be honoured if you would join him for lunch. He is currently in a meeting with Mr Manning from Accounting but will be free in thirty minutes. He also said to use this slave in whatever way you would like until then."
Cuddy raised her eyebrow at the phrasing and glanced up to see that Greg had stopped even pretending to file and was staring at Jimmy. She tapped her hand on her desk, dragging Greg's eyes to her.
"Greg, as you have so much time on your hands give the rest of those files to Jimmy and then go to the laundry, I'm sure they'll find you something productive to do and Jimmy will have those filed in half the time it would take you - won't you Jimmy?"
Jimmy stared at her and then his eyes flicked to Greg. He was obviously uncertain what to say. Eventually he settled for a quiet 'yes, Ma'am' before lowering his gaze to the floor.
Greg turned a bleak gaze on her and then complied, passing the files over to Jimmy before limping out of the room. She noticed that Jimmy watched Greg leave before settling back into his 'perfect slave pose'. Amused, she pointed her finger at the filing cabinet.
"File those, Jimmy and be quick about it."
The slave gulped and quickly rose to his feet and went over to the cabinets with the files and got to work.
Cuddy put the fundraising plans aside, the event was still weeks away, and picked up a budget report. There was just enough time to review that before her lunch with Eric. She would leave Greg down in the laundry for a few hours; Jimmy could serve her needs until then.
"Coming over for dinner tonight?" Greg asked James as they worked in the kitchens, peeling a stack of potatoes. Cuddy and Foreman were in a meeting with some lawyers and their slaves had been sent down to the kitchens to 'make themselves useful'.
Greg wished someone would get sick of some mysterious disease or other so he could have a break for a while; at least having James with him helped make the drudgery more bearable. The younger slave was still a mystery to him. He'd proven to be a very quick study of the medical texts they were working through when their 'masters' were together in the evening. Greg suspected that he'd been fairly well educated and intelligent before being mind-wiped. As he was beginning to relax a little bit James was also showing a lively sense of humour and a willingness to play along with Greg's various machinations.
"Oh I might, what are you offering?" James asked, his boyish face breaking into a smile as his sure hands deftly wielded the knife and produced another perfectly peeled potato.
"Thought we'd have a quiet night in, pizza and a movie," Greg said, glad that James was playing along.
"Sounds good, we can go bowling next week." James gave him another smile.
"Less talk, more work." The kitchen supervisor appeared out of nowhere and scowled at them. "Doctor Cuddy doesn't send you slaves here to lounge around and gossip. Shut up and get to work."
The supervisor watched them for a while and then her attention was caught by one of her minions yelling from the other end of the vast kitchen. Greg waited until she was out of earshot and then resumed his conversation with James.
"About time you invited me around your place; you're always coming over and eating my food."
Instead of answering him James looked down, his face reddening slightly in a blush; and he bent over his pile of potatoes.
"What, don't you want me coming around?"
To Greg's amusement James' blush deepened.
"I don't have a 'place'; all I have is a blanket on the ground to sleep on, next to Doctor Foreman's washing machine. I don't have what you have."
Oh, so that was what he was going all coy over, like he had any control over his own living arrangements. Greg was well aware that what he had was unusual for a slave, especially the books and music player, but to not even have a room to sleep in... Well, when Cuddy had been at college he'd slept in a slave dorm in the basement along with the slaves of the other rich kids and he'd had not much more than a blanket himself, but that had been a long time ago.
"Well, maybe you'll have something more when you've been a slave for thirty years," he answered, more harshly than he had intended, the memory of those college years sharp in his mind.
James gulped and looked back at his potatoes and Greg felt like someone who'd just kicked a puppy. Thirty years, and more, of being a slave would feel like a lifetime for James who'd barely been 'alive' a year. It had already felt like several lifetimes for Greg.
"Maybe Foreman will move in," he blurted out and kicked himself at the hopeful look in James' face.
"Do you think he might? That would be great."
Greg thought of his small room with the permanent addition of James and decided it wouldn't be too bad - as long as Greg got the bed.
"It hasn't happened yet with any of the men she drags home. She's more the 'catch and release' type."
"Oh."
James looked so disappointed that Greg tossed him a bone of hope. "But no-one has lasted as long as this for a while. Who knows? Maybe her taste runs to bald black guys with cute slaves."
"You think I'm cute?" James asked with a somewhat endearing shy smile.
He was spared having to admit, or deny, James' cuteness by the arrival on the scene of the supervisor who quickly grabbed both of the slaves and clipped a penalty chip on the d-rings of their collars. She scrawled a few words on the chips and stood back.
"I warned you once. Now, I don't want to hear another word out of you slaves or you'll be getting another chip on there and I'll call a guard to have you both gagged."
Random members of the hospital staff weren't allowed to discipline any of the slaves, either privately owned or hospital property, but the chips on their collars would advise their owners that their slave had been caught doing something they shouldn't, and punishment would be meted out. Greg had had enough chips placed on his collar during his life at PPTH to start his own poker lounge but James looked distressed. Probably rightfully as Foreman wasn't likely to be very forgiving.
Greg turned back to his work without looking at James and the two industriously peeled a few more potatoes under the steady gaze of the supervisor. Even when she was called away they kept working without talking, conscious of the chips dangling from their collars and her threat of another one. There were some things worth getting a whipping for, but having a chat wasn't one of them, there would be plenty of time for that tonight.
When they returned to Cuddy's office, where she was working with Foreman, both doctors immediately noticed the chips on their slave's collars. Cuddy groaned and pointed her finger at her feet where Greg knelt while she examined his collar.
"Talking instead of working," she noted.
Foreman was similarly examining Jimmy's collar.
"Same here."
"Talking to each other I imagine," Cuddy said. "What were you talking about, Greg?"
"Hospital procedures, Ma'am. Jimmy wasn't sure whether form 27-A should be filed with a copy of form 33-B or by itself and he didn't want to do it wrong."
Cuddy rolled her eyes at the sincere tone of her slave. Whatever the slaves had been discussing she was fairly sure it wasn't filing protocol, and she was equally sure that Greg knew that she knew that.
"So, that's a punishment for talking and another one for lying to me, Greg. Doctor Foreman, would you like to give Jimmy the same punishments?"
"I think that would be fitting, Doctor Cuddy."
"It's almost time to go anyway. Pack this stuff up, Greg. We'll deal with your and Jimmy's misbehaviour at home."
Cuddy watched as Greg started work. She really was not bothered by his apparent 'infractions' but discipline had to be seen to be maintained, she couldn't allow anyone to think that her slave could do as he pleased. She'd punish Greg and Jimmy tonight and then send an email to the kitchen supervisor tomorrow advising her that action had been taken.
She dismissed the thought from her mind and resumed the conversation with Eric that the slaves' return had interrupted.
Cuddy had picked a punishment fit for the 'crime'. As soon as they had walked in the door she had ordered Greg to go and fetch two gags and, once both slaves were kneeling in front of her, she had them gag each other. Both had seemed reluctant to do it to the other and she made a mental note that this strategy would be worth considering in the future. If she ordered James to administer a whipping to Greg it seemed it would punish both of them.
"The gags will ensure that there will be no talking tonight when you're working. Now go and make dinner, both of you."
They worked together in enforced silence. Luckily they had made dinner together so many times now that they still managed to work smoothly, silently sharing the task out with hand gestures and facial expressions. Although the gags were of a reasonable size they were still uncomfortable to wear. Greg hated having his jaws forced apart like this and he was sure from the miserable look on James' face that he did too. Greg toyed with the idea of freeing them both from the gags, they weren't locked on, but he knew that if he did so and they were discovered they would both be in a lot of trouble, Cuddy wouldn't hesitate to whip him for that.
The threat of a whipping wasn't normally enough to stop him do something he wanted to do, but now there was also James to consider. He felt strangely responsible for the other slave - James was so naive and vulnerable, almost a child in a man's body, reborn only a year or so ago, his mind blank. They'd trained him to be the perfect mindless slave, and Greg was undoing that. He was aware of how fragile his friendship with James was; neither of them had any control over their own lives. If Foreman left to work somewhere else James would go with him and Greg would most likely never see him again. If Greg pushed things too far their 'masters' might decide that it would be better if the slaves spent less time in each other's company. While Greg was confined to his room James could be left strapped into Foreman's car. Gone would be the pleasant hour or two most nights that they spent bent over Greg's medical books, sometimes studying, sometimes just talking.
No, it was best to endure this and get through the night, maybe Cuddy would take the gags off after dinner. He doubted it though; Cuddy was not usually half hearted about punishments.
He assembled the dinners on a tray and watched while James got the drinks ready. Together they took them out to the dining alcove at the front of the house and sat them on the table - Cuddy having indicated earlier that they would be eating at the dining table there instead of informally on the couch as they sometimes did.
He sat the plates down on the table and James carefully put down the glasses and poured out the wine. Cuddy sipped from hers and nodded her approval before dismissing them to go and clean up the kitchen.
Normally this was the time when they would quickly eat their own meals - as usual they'd made enough for themselves as well. With the gags still in place eating was out of the question. Again Greg was tempted to remove the gags but again he resisted the temptation. He did notice that James was staring wistfully at the food - he knew by now that Foreman usually fed James slave rations for his meals, and James appreciated the change of diet here.
James looked away from their uneaten meals and started cleaning the kitchen. Greg hesitated on whether to throw the meals out but then placed them in the refrigerator. Maybe Cuddy would let them have them later, when their gags had been removed.
Half an hour later they were both kneeling in front of Cuddy where she sat, relaxed, on the couch, Foreman sitting beside her with his arm around her. She checked both their gags and seemed satisfied.
"Jimmy, you will go now and kneel by the front door, facing it, and wait for Doctor Foreman to collect you later. Greg, you may return to your room, but you will remain gagged, you will work on the lecture notes for Doctor Chase that we discussed. I want to see substantial notes by the time I call for you again. If I'm not pleased with your work there will be a punishment."
James stared at her for a second and Greg realised that he felt similarly dismayed. Every night that Foreman had been here they'd been sent to stay in Greg's room for at least a portion of the night. Now, they wouldn't even have that time tonight. Greg hadn't realised just how much he'd looked forward to his tutoring sessions with James. Between the studying there had been conversation, or sometimes just a comfortable silence as they listened to Greg's little music player. Greg hoped that tonight wouldn't be the end of that pattern.
"Now, Jimmy!" Cuddy snapped, her voice hard and her eyes narrowed as James hesitated and James quickly stood up and hurried out the door. Greg also retreated quickly. When he got to his room he pulled out the papers he'd been working on but with his jaw aching and his mind troubled it was several minutes before he started work, his thoughts on James kneeling out of sight at the front door.
Words: Approx 4500
Rating : R
Characters : House/Wilson, Foreman/Cuddy
Contains : Slavery AU, corporal punishment of various kinds, some Master/slave non-con (not explicit). Dark! versions of all characters except House & Wilson.
Summary : Greg has been owned by Doctor Cuddy for a long time, he's settled into a routine but his world is disrupted by the arrival of Doctor Foreman, and his new slave - Jimmy. With their masters working closely together on redesigning the hospital the two slaves find themselves thrown together as well.
Previous part
There was a small courtyard just off one wing of the hospital, enclosed on three sides by high brick walls and on the other by the door from the hospital that led into it. It was here that any of the slaves who worked in the hospital, or who accompanied owners who worked in the hospital, were permitted to come to eat their lunch - if they were fortunate enough to be granted a break, or indeed lunch. This was also the courtyard where whippings were conducted, in case the slaves should ever forget that there was no safe haven anywhere for them. Still, there was fresh air there, and a glimpse of the sky and the slaves went there any chance they could get.
Cuddy was usually fairly good about letting Greg break for lunch most days. She told him to keep a some slave ration packs in a supply room near her office and would dismiss him to go and fetch some and take twenty minutes away from his work to eat them. When Foreman had discovered this arrangement he had set the same thing up with James so the two usually ended up having lunch together, if their masters weren't too busy to spare them.
There was a tap in one corner of the yard, and James took both of their chipped and stained cups over to it to get them some water and returned to the bench they were sitting on. Greg's leg was giving him trouble today and he sat hunched over, massaging it. He took the water James offered and took a large gulp.
"Cuddy was being a bitch about the Vicodin today - only gave me a half dose this morning."
And he'd get nothing until evening, James knew. It was given to him, or not, after he'd cooked the evening meal and cleared everything away. He'd been to Cuddy's enough now to know the routine. Cuddy kept Greg dangling on the string of Vicodin. Greg had told James how she gave him so much in the early days after his infarction that he became hopelessly addicted to it. Now she used it as a weapon against him, to keep him in line. Greg didn't elaborate on just why he was only given half a dose this morning, and James didn't ask - the reason really didn't matter all that much to either of them.
They ate their lunch quickly, breaks weren't long. The rations were the standard wafer type, which looked, and tasted, rather like cardboard but both slaves had become used to eating them and they were better than an empty stomach for the rest of the day.
A couple of the other slaves were in the courtyard but they kept their distance from Greg and James. Slaves generally weren't supposed to gather in groups. Even two slaves sitting together was frowned upon but Greg got away with a certain amount due to his status as being the slave of the Dean. The staff of the hospital generally left his discipline up to his owner, their boss, and the fact that she didn't play favourites was written in the scars on his back.
"How is your patient?" James asked, having finished his 'meal' and cleaned up after himself - leaving any food or wrapper debris in the courtyard was a punishable offence.
Greg scowled. "That idiot Aussie came up with a couple of decent ideas, but the patient isn't co-operating. Apparently he prefers to die rather than tell his doctor the truth. I told Chase to lean on him a bit harder but he doesn't have it in him."
"I wish I could help," James said wistfully and Greg shot him a sharp look.
"A few hours a week studying a medical textbook isn't going to make you a doctor you know. This isn't something you can just 'pick up'."
"I know!" James snapped. "I know I'll never know what you do, not if I study those books all day long. I'd just like to know a few more things than the best way to iron clothes, and how to clean a toilet." He looked down at the ground and then stood up. "Come on, we need to get back." He held out his hand and for a moment Greg just stared at it, he hated accepting help for his disability, although he gladly accepted Cuddy's concessions to his 'cripple' status. Then he grudgingly put out his hand and let James help him to his feet, holding him steady until he got his cane under him.
"Thanks," he muttered and then set off, not missing James' slight smile.
The courtyard was just off of the slave ward of the hospital, and down the corridor from the morgue so nobody lingered on the way to and from. As they were nearing the elevators James saw a large free man approaching from the other side, a slave walked a step behind him, on a chain.
"Crap!" he heard Greg mutter and then the man turned towards them.
James saw Greg kneel out of the corner of his eye, an act which was so unusual that for a moment James forgot that he should kneel as well. The man stared straight at him and James quickly dropped to his knees, bowing his head and placing his hands behind his back.
"You're Doctor Cuddy's slave aren't you?" He heard the man say, and was confused for a moment before he realised that the man was talking to Greg.
"Yes, sir. Greg." Greg answered, in an unusually docile tone of voice. Whoever this man was Greg was wary of him.
James felt a heavy hand on his head, and fingers running through his hair before tightening and lifting his head up so that he was staring straight at the man, his neck bent at an uncomfortable angle.
"And who is this pretty thing?"
"That is Jimmy sir, he's Doctor Foreman's slave." Greg answered before James could.
"And what are you two doing running around the hospital by yourself?" The man let go of his grip but continued to pet his hair and James tried to stay absolutely still. He noticed that the slave on the man's chain was also kneeling, her head down. As he looked at the chain he could see that it wasn't attached to the slave's collar, as was the norm, but to another chain running through rings placed in the slave's nipples. The slightest pressure on the chain would tug at the sensitive skin.
"Sir, we just finished our lunch, and we are returning to Doctor Cuddy's office."
The man chuckled. "Lunch for slaves, the world sure is changing. The next thing you know you'll be demanding minimum wage and penalty rates." He laughed and pressed the button for the elevator with his free hand. With his other he cupped James' chin. "Very pretty indeed. I'll have to see what I can do." When the elevator car arrived he entered, his slave at his heels. James and Greg stayed where they were, they wouldn't enter an elevator with a free person unless invited to do so.
After the doors had closed and the man was gone James relaxed enough to look at Greg. He was staring at the elevator shaft with anger. James wasn't sure what he was angry about.
Greg pushed himself to his feet, wincing as he took his weight on his cane. James got up more quickly.
"Who was that?"
"That was Vogler. Chairman of the Board, and bringer of one hundred million dollars, and Foreman, to the hospital. Otherwise known as a complete and utter bastard. He wants you."
"Doctor Foreman doesn't like to share me."
Greg gave a short bark of a laugh. "What Vogler wants, Vogler gets. Just hope he forgets about you as soon as the next pretty thing with a collar around its neck takes his attention. Unless you want him leading you around by a chain through your dick."
Greg's tone was as harsh as his words. It sounded like he was angry with him. James wasn't sure what he had done wrong. Greg stabbed the button for the elevator and they got in when it came.
Once the door had shut behind them Greg pressed the button to halt the elevator. He thumped his cane on the ground a couple of times and then sighed, rubbing his eyebrow with one the back of his thumb.
"Look, just try and stay out of his way okay? You think Foreman is bad? He's nothing compared to Vogler."
"I wasn't intending to ask him out on a date." James replied, still confused by Greg's apparent anger towards him.
Greg looked surprised and then a little amused. "Well, don't forget to pack the shark repellent if you do..." he trailed off and looked into the distance. Then suddenly his gaze sharpened and he smiled triumphantly. "Of course, that's it!" He pressed the button for the fourth floor, where Chase had his office.
"We're supposed to report back to Doctor Cuddy," James pointed out.
"You go, tell her I'm busy. I've got a patient to cure, I'll iron her panties for her later," Greg said as he took off without a backwards look.
James thought about following him - what Greg was doing seemed a lot more interesting than going back to the office to fetch coffee - but after a brief hesitation he dutifully pressed the button for the ground floor; Cuddy might let Greg get away with a lot of things but Foreman didn't grant the same latitude to him, and he didn't want another session with the cane.
He translated what Greg had told him to tell Cuddy into more diplomatic terms and she nodded her acceptance and told him to go and fetch their coffee.
As he wrapped his hands around two coffee mugs he whispered the names of the bones of his hand under his breath - something he had learned yesterday from Greg - and smiled. He might only be a slave, and he might have to fetch coffee and clean for the rest of his life, but he knew the bones of the human hand and he could learn more. He would learn more.
Greg returned about an hour later, to report that he had successfully diagnosed the patient, who was now undergoing treatment. As he explained the process to Cuddy James listened intently - he could still only understand one word in three but at least he could catch a little of what Greg was explaining, although how 'shark repellent' fed into the diagnosis baffled him. Maybe Greg would explain the next time they had a chance to be alone.
The hospital annual fundraiser was the biggest event they staged every year. Cuddy both resented the amount of time planning it took up, and welcomed it for the revenue it would bring to the hospital. Every year she networked her ass off to find new donors, and keep the ones they already had. The fundraiser brought all that effort together. As one of Princeton's major social events all eyes would be on it, and they wouldn't hesitate to judge her for any mishap.
She would rather be spending her time on the hospital remodelling, or even, god forbid, on doing some actual medical work, rather than discussing with the caterers just how many bottles of wine they should allocate per table, but this was part of her job, and something she was damn good at.
She was in two minds whether to take Eric as her formal date for the event. Although they had been sleeping together since very shortly after his arrival at the hospital they had not yet made their relationship public. They hadn't especially taken steps to hide it, and she knew the hospital's gossip mill was rife with speculation, but neither had they formalised it in any way. Turning up to the fund raiser with her second in command on her arm would be a very public way of announcing that they were now a couple.
A couple. She turned it over in her mind, is that what they were? At first it had been about some casual sex, on both their parts she was sure, but over recent weeks it had grown to be something more. Eric was at her place more often than he was at his own home, although he still preferred to leave at night to return with Jimmy to his own apartment. He said that it was important for a new slave like Jimmy to have a solid routine and rigid discipline. Cuddy suspected that he thought Greg was a bad influence on his slave although he was too polite to say anything. Cuddy thought that he was probably right. But she enjoyed working, and sleeping, with Eric, and Jimmy was still a damned good slave despite, by necessity, spending a lot of his time with her Greg, who could by no stretch of the imagination be called a 'good' slave.
Cuddy smiled again as she glanced at Greg, who was currently filing away some papers for her, at a slow pace that indicated just what he thought of this chore. She'd find him something more unpleasant to do if he didn't get a move on with it. She knew Eric thought she was soft with her older slave, and that she let him get away with too much. Eric still seemed to doubt Greg's medical abilities, although he'd now seen him find a diagnosis for several patients, all of whom had seen many other doctors before coming here.
Greg hadn't been needed for a patient consult for a few days, after solving the last case successfully, and she could tell that he was getting restless, however hard she worked him he seemed to need that little bit of medical detective work to keep him...well, not happy, but functioning at a satisfactory level. She would have to see if she could find a patient for him if nothing turned up soon. She had assigned him to write up the last two patients for journals in any spare time he had but he needed more than that.
A soft knock on the outer door of the office distracted her attention away from the loitering Greg and she looked up to see Jimmy standing there, his head bowed.
"Come in, Jimmy." She summoned and he came and knelt before her desk. "What is it?"
"Ma'am, Doctor Foreman would be honoured if you would join him for lunch. He is currently in a meeting with Mr Manning from Accounting but will be free in thirty minutes. He also said to use this slave in whatever way you would like until then."
Cuddy raised her eyebrow at the phrasing and glanced up to see that Greg had stopped even pretending to file and was staring at Jimmy. She tapped her hand on her desk, dragging Greg's eyes to her.
"Greg, as you have so much time on your hands give the rest of those files to Jimmy and then go to the laundry, I'm sure they'll find you something productive to do and Jimmy will have those filed in half the time it would take you - won't you Jimmy?"
Jimmy stared at her and then his eyes flicked to Greg. He was obviously uncertain what to say. Eventually he settled for a quiet 'yes, Ma'am' before lowering his gaze to the floor.
Greg turned a bleak gaze on her and then complied, passing the files over to Jimmy before limping out of the room. She noticed that Jimmy watched Greg leave before settling back into his 'perfect slave pose'. Amused, she pointed her finger at the filing cabinet.
"File those, Jimmy and be quick about it."
The slave gulped and quickly rose to his feet and went over to the cabinets with the files and got to work.
Cuddy put the fundraising plans aside, the event was still weeks away, and picked up a budget report. There was just enough time to review that before her lunch with Eric. She would leave Greg down in the laundry for a few hours; Jimmy could serve her needs until then.
"Coming over for dinner tonight?" Greg asked James as they worked in the kitchens, peeling a stack of potatoes. Cuddy and Foreman were in a meeting with some lawyers and their slaves had been sent down to the kitchens to 'make themselves useful'.
Greg wished someone would get sick of some mysterious disease or other so he could have a break for a while; at least having James with him helped make the drudgery more bearable. The younger slave was still a mystery to him. He'd proven to be a very quick study of the medical texts they were working through when their 'masters' were together in the evening. Greg suspected that he'd been fairly well educated and intelligent before being mind-wiped. As he was beginning to relax a little bit James was also showing a lively sense of humour and a willingness to play along with Greg's various machinations.
"Oh I might, what are you offering?" James asked, his boyish face breaking into a smile as his sure hands deftly wielded the knife and produced another perfectly peeled potato.
"Thought we'd have a quiet night in, pizza and a movie," Greg said, glad that James was playing along.
"Sounds good, we can go bowling next week." James gave him another smile.
"Less talk, more work." The kitchen supervisor appeared out of nowhere and scowled at them. "Doctor Cuddy doesn't send you slaves here to lounge around and gossip. Shut up and get to work."
The supervisor watched them for a while and then her attention was caught by one of her minions yelling from the other end of the vast kitchen. Greg waited until she was out of earshot and then resumed his conversation with James.
"About time you invited me around your place; you're always coming over and eating my food."
Instead of answering him James looked down, his face reddening slightly in a blush; and he bent over his pile of potatoes.
"What, don't you want me coming around?"
To Greg's amusement James' blush deepened.
"I don't have a 'place'; all I have is a blanket on the ground to sleep on, next to Doctor Foreman's washing machine. I don't have what you have."
Oh, so that was what he was going all coy over, like he had any control over his own living arrangements. Greg was well aware that what he had was unusual for a slave, especially the books and music player, but to not even have a room to sleep in... Well, when Cuddy had been at college he'd slept in a slave dorm in the basement along with the slaves of the other rich kids and he'd had not much more than a blanket himself, but that had been a long time ago.
"Well, maybe you'll have something more when you've been a slave for thirty years," he answered, more harshly than he had intended, the memory of those college years sharp in his mind.
James gulped and looked back at his potatoes and Greg felt like someone who'd just kicked a puppy. Thirty years, and more, of being a slave would feel like a lifetime for James who'd barely been 'alive' a year. It had already felt like several lifetimes for Greg.
"Maybe Foreman will move in," he blurted out and kicked himself at the hopeful look in James' face.
"Do you think he might? That would be great."
Greg thought of his small room with the permanent addition of James and decided it wouldn't be too bad - as long as Greg got the bed.
"It hasn't happened yet with any of the men she drags home. She's more the 'catch and release' type."
"Oh."
James looked so disappointed that Greg tossed him a bone of hope. "But no-one has lasted as long as this for a while. Who knows? Maybe her taste runs to bald black guys with cute slaves."
"You think I'm cute?" James asked with a somewhat endearing shy smile.
He was spared having to admit, or deny, James' cuteness by the arrival on the scene of the supervisor who quickly grabbed both of the slaves and clipped a penalty chip on the d-rings of their collars. She scrawled a few words on the chips and stood back.
"I warned you once. Now, I don't want to hear another word out of you slaves or you'll be getting another chip on there and I'll call a guard to have you both gagged."
Random members of the hospital staff weren't allowed to discipline any of the slaves, either privately owned or hospital property, but the chips on their collars would advise their owners that their slave had been caught doing something they shouldn't, and punishment would be meted out. Greg had had enough chips placed on his collar during his life at PPTH to start his own poker lounge but James looked distressed. Probably rightfully as Foreman wasn't likely to be very forgiving.
Greg turned back to his work without looking at James and the two industriously peeled a few more potatoes under the steady gaze of the supervisor. Even when she was called away they kept working without talking, conscious of the chips dangling from their collars and her threat of another one. There were some things worth getting a whipping for, but having a chat wasn't one of them, there would be plenty of time for that tonight.
When they returned to Cuddy's office, where she was working with Foreman, both doctors immediately noticed the chips on their slave's collars. Cuddy groaned and pointed her finger at her feet where Greg knelt while she examined his collar.
"Talking instead of working," she noted.
Foreman was similarly examining Jimmy's collar.
"Same here."
"Talking to each other I imagine," Cuddy said. "What were you talking about, Greg?"
"Hospital procedures, Ma'am. Jimmy wasn't sure whether form 27-A should be filed with a copy of form 33-B or by itself and he didn't want to do it wrong."
Cuddy rolled her eyes at the sincere tone of her slave. Whatever the slaves had been discussing she was fairly sure it wasn't filing protocol, and she was equally sure that Greg knew that she knew that.
"So, that's a punishment for talking and another one for lying to me, Greg. Doctor Foreman, would you like to give Jimmy the same punishments?"
"I think that would be fitting, Doctor Cuddy."
"It's almost time to go anyway. Pack this stuff up, Greg. We'll deal with your and Jimmy's misbehaviour at home."
Cuddy watched as Greg started work. She really was not bothered by his apparent 'infractions' but discipline had to be seen to be maintained, she couldn't allow anyone to think that her slave could do as he pleased. She'd punish Greg and Jimmy tonight and then send an email to the kitchen supervisor tomorrow advising her that action had been taken.
She dismissed the thought from her mind and resumed the conversation with Eric that the slaves' return had interrupted.
Cuddy had picked a punishment fit for the 'crime'. As soon as they had walked in the door she had ordered Greg to go and fetch two gags and, once both slaves were kneeling in front of her, she had them gag each other. Both had seemed reluctant to do it to the other and she made a mental note that this strategy would be worth considering in the future. If she ordered James to administer a whipping to Greg it seemed it would punish both of them.
"The gags will ensure that there will be no talking tonight when you're working. Now go and make dinner, both of you."
They worked together in enforced silence. Luckily they had made dinner together so many times now that they still managed to work smoothly, silently sharing the task out with hand gestures and facial expressions. Although the gags were of a reasonable size they were still uncomfortable to wear. Greg hated having his jaws forced apart like this and he was sure from the miserable look on James' face that he did too. Greg toyed with the idea of freeing them both from the gags, they weren't locked on, but he knew that if he did so and they were discovered they would both be in a lot of trouble, Cuddy wouldn't hesitate to whip him for that.
The threat of a whipping wasn't normally enough to stop him do something he wanted to do, but now there was also James to consider. He felt strangely responsible for the other slave - James was so naive and vulnerable, almost a child in a man's body, reborn only a year or so ago, his mind blank. They'd trained him to be the perfect mindless slave, and Greg was undoing that. He was aware of how fragile his friendship with James was; neither of them had any control over their own lives. If Foreman left to work somewhere else James would go with him and Greg would most likely never see him again. If Greg pushed things too far their 'masters' might decide that it would be better if the slaves spent less time in each other's company. While Greg was confined to his room James could be left strapped into Foreman's car. Gone would be the pleasant hour or two most nights that they spent bent over Greg's medical books, sometimes studying, sometimes just talking.
No, it was best to endure this and get through the night, maybe Cuddy would take the gags off after dinner. He doubted it though; Cuddy was not usually half hearted about punishments.
He assembled the dinners on a tray and watched while James got the drinks ready. Together they took them out to the dining alcove at the front of the house and sat them on the table - Cuddy having indicated earlier that they would be eating at the dining table there instead of informally on the couch as they sometimes did.
He sat the plates down on the table and James carefully put down the glasses and poured out the wine. Cuddy sipped from hers and nodded her approval before dismissing them to go and clean up the kitchen.
Normally this was the time when they would quickly eat their own meals - as usual they'd made enough for themselves as well. With the gags still in place eating was out of the question. Again Greg was tempted to remove the gags but again he resisted the temptation. He did notice that James was staring wistfully at the food - he knew by now that Foreman usually fed James slave rations for his meals, and James appreciated the change of diet here.
James looked away from their uneaten meals and started cleaning the kitchen. Greg hesitated on whether to throw the meals out but then placed them in the refrigerator. Maybe Cuddy would let them have them later, when their gags had been removed.
Half an hour later they were both kneeling in front of Cuddy where she sat, relaxed, on the couch, Foreman sitting beside her with his arm around her. She checked both their gags and seemed satisfied.
"Jimmy, you will go now and kneel by the front door, facing it, and wait for Doctor Foreman to collect you later. Greg, you may return to your room, but you will remain gagged, you will work on the lecture notes for Doctor Chase that we discussed. I want to see substantial notes by the time I call for you again. If I'm not pleased with your work there will be a punishment."
James stared at her for a second and Greg realised that he felt similarly dismayed. Every night that Foreman had been here they'd been sent to stay in Greg's room for at least a portion of the night. Now, they wouldn't even have that time tonight. Greg hadn't realised just how much he'd looked forward to his tutoring sessions with James. Between the studying there had been conversation, or sometimes just a comfortable silence as they listened to Greg's little music player. Greg hoped that tonight wouldn't be the end of that pattern.
"Now, Jimmy!" Cuddy snapped, her voice hard and her eyes narrowed as James hesitated and James quickly stood up and hurried out the door. Greg also retreated quickly. When he got to his room he pulled out the papers he'd been working on but with his jaw aching and his mind troubled it was several minutes before he started work, his thoughts on James kneeling out of sight at the front door.