Tales of the Tournaments

In Brisbane, the Three Lionesses' locker room was in crisis.

Not because of the score (though captain Millie Bright would have liked the differential to have been higher.)

1-0 was a decent start to a World Cup run, even when the opponent was Haiti. 

No, the problem was the two yellow cards.

More to the point, it was *who* had earned them. 

Lauren Hemp - well, she wasn't so much of a problem. Millie thought she could manage Lauren easily enough. But Georgia Stanway...

"Stanway?"

"Yeah, Cap?" Georgia called back across the dressing room, yawning lazily. "You need something?"

"You know very well what, Stanway. Come here right now."

"Gonna congratulate me on getting that goal in, Mil? I saved all our arses," Georgia preened. "We needed it too, don't know what the fuck the strikers thought they were doing--"

"That's enough, Georgia." Millie tried to channel her inner Leah Williamson, or maybe Steph Houghton.

It didn't seem to be working. *Fuck*, but what she wouldn't give to have either of them there right now. Stanway was almost worse than Lucy Bronze to handle.

Speaking of which...

"Need some help, Captain?"

Millie turned as Lucy Bronze stepped up next to her. The older defender could be a serious pain in the arse to handle when she'd got in trouble, but she always had Millie's back when Millie needed her.

Like now.

"Stanway's bratting about her yellow card," Millie said matter of factly, and Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, she knows better than that,  Captain." The Barca player fixed a look on Georgia, making the midfielder groan.

"Come on Luce! You would too if you were in my place," Georgia protested. "I scored, didn't I? I won us the game!"

"If there's one thing I've learnt at Barca, it's that when la Reina speaks, you damn well listen," Lucy said dryly. "She says jump, you ask how high."

"Well, Millie's not Alexia," Georgia huffed.

"No, but she is our captain, and that's more important," Lucy countered.

"What do you want me to do?" Georgia folded her arms and gave Lucy an insolent stare. "Get the England paddle and bring it to Mil, and ask her to paddle my bum England red because I fucked up, even though I also scored and won us the damn game?"

Lucy suppressed a smirk. "Georgia, love," she said, eyes bright with amusement. "you're still practically a kid. When you're a real grown-up, you'll have learnt never to say things to the Captain that she can take as a suggestion."

Georgia blinked. "What?"

Millie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, what? You said it yourself, and I happen to think it's an excellent idea."

"It is not." Georgia blushed brightly, taking a step back, away from Millie. 

"Stanway."

Georgia turned to look at Rachel Daly, eyeing the forward warily, and yelped as Rachel grabbed her by the hand. "Hey, Daly, leave off, I didn't do anything to you."

"It seems like you've decided to make yourself mine and Luce's problem so Millie can take care of Lauren."

The younger forward squeaked. "Daly!"

"Would you like to be my problem, Hemp?" Rachel quirked an eyebrow, and the blonde shook her head quickly.

"No ma'am, I'll behave for Millie. Swear it."

"Alright Lauren. Fetch me the paddle and come here."

Squeaking again, Lauren fled. The twenty-two year old wasn't much in the habit of finding trouble. Not yellow card trouble anyway.

She was back inside five minutes, face red, the paddle emblazoned with the Three Lionesses emblem in her hand.

"Millie, I'm sorry, I--"

Millie shook her head, and Lauren cut her protest short, tears stinging her eyes. She stared at the ground, mumbling something that Millie didn't quite catch.

"Want to run that by me again love?"

Lauren raised her head, cheeks flushed. "I said Ellie's gonna kill me when we get home."

"Butler?" Millie prompted, and Lauren nodded. Her girlfriend and fellow footballer hadn't been given a call-up, but she paid attention to what Lauren got up to.

A yellow card definitely fell outside the realm of acceptability.

"I doubt she'll do anything permanent, little one." Millie gave Lauren's shoulder a squeeze. "Come on Lauren, let's get this over with."

Lauren darted a glance at Georgia, who was standing between Lucy and Rachel, both her hands held tightly. "Are...are you going to use this on Georgia...ma'am?"

Millie sighed. "Are you trying to waste time with silly questions? I'd worry about your bum, not hers, little girl."

Lauren stared at the floor. "Oh." 

"Come on, let's get it over with." Millie sounded annoyed at having been made to repeat herself. 

Lauren didn't need telling again. "Sorry, ma'am. Where do you want me?"

Millie propped up her leg on the bench, bracing it firmly. "Shorts and knickers down and over my knee, Lauren."

The young forward blushed, but did as she was told, carefully draping herself over the captain's thigh with her bare bottom on display. She just knew the rest of the team had to be staring at her.

(She would be wrong. Most of the team were focused on their own business, up to and including keeping Georgia under control. Only Ellie Roebuck came over, the keeper holding tight to Lauren's hands with one of her own so she wouldn't put them back.)

Lauren squirmed as the small, round paddle was handed to Ellie, and then Millie swatted down on Lauren's exposed bottom with her hand.

"Ow, fuck..." 

Lauren sucked in a breath. "Sorry," she squeaked out.

"Swear all you like while you're being smacked, kid. As long as it's not directed at any person, including you or me, I don't care," Millie replied. She continued Lauren's smacking, a dozen brisk swats starting to turn the younger girl's bottom pink even before she took the paddle back from Ellie.

"Breathe for me." Millie rubbed gently between Lauren's shoulder blades, and Lauren caught her breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly as ordered. She swallowed hard, knowing what was coming though she hadn't had it from Millie before.

"Ten," Millie said quietly. "As long as you behave for me." 

"I can behave for you, Captain, ma'am," Lauren said shakily, and Ellie squeezed her hands.

"Look at me, not Millie. Don't worry sweetheart, I've got you." 

Lauren clung to both Ellie's hands as to a lifeline as the paddle swatted down.

"Oh, fuck..."

"That the best she can come up with?" Georgia asked loftily, and Rachel flicked her ear. 

"Shut up Stanway. The less creative she gets, the better."

Georgia managed to hold back a retort as she watched Lauren's paddling. The forward took her ten smacks, and then was lifted up off Millie's knee, her clothes tugged back into place. Millie hugged Lauren, patting her back.

"Alright little one. Good girl, you did well for me. It's forgiven now. Let's just not have any more yellow cards, alright?"

Lauren nodded, exhaling. "S-sorry Cap, I promise I'll try to be good from now on."

When Millie turned Lauren loose, she handed the paddle back to Ellie.

Ellie promptly gave it to Georgia. "Alright Stanway. You heard the Captain. You know what you have to say now."

Georgia sputtered, looking incredulously at the keeper. "You can't make me!"

"No, I can't," Ellie agreed readily. "But I really think you should just get it over with instead of sounding like a kid having a tantrum."

Georgia's cheeks flushed with humiliation. "It's not fair...."

"One, Stanway."

Georgia jumped as Rachel's hand clamped on her shoulder, looking warily at her teammate. "Oh fuck no, not counting, Daly, I'm not five years old."

"Then stop acting like it. Two, Stanway," Rachel added, giving Georgia a very pointed look.

Well, fuck.

Georgia knew she had no one to blame but herself for this one.

“...fine.”

With a great show of reluctance, Georgia put herself over Millie’s thigh. She yelped as Rachel tugged her shorts and knickers down.

“Hey!”

“You didn’t do it yourself, Stanway,” Rachel pointed out. 

Georgia forced herself not to comment. She decided to be quietly annoyed with Rachel Daly, not that staying entirely quiet for long was an option. As Millie began smacking Georgia with her hand, Georgia yelped, squirming in an undignified manner.

“Fucking hell, not so hard, Cap…I’m sorry, I’ll do better….”

“You’re sorry you’re being smacked at this point, Georgia.”

“...Yeah,” Georgia grumbled in defeat as Millie finished giving her the dozen swats for a warm-up. “Who’s been giving you lessons, Williamson?”

“Eriksson.”

Georgia grimaced. “That’s worse.”

“It’s about to get worse, Stanway.”

“Ow, damn it, Millie!” Georgia let loose with a stream of profane German after the first smack of the paddle, struggling through the first six but having the fight paddled out of her by the last. A full dozen, full strength paddle swats were just about enough to start bringing out a proper England red on Georgia’s bottom.

She sobbed contritely over Millie’s thigh, shuddering. “S -sorry!”

Millie put the paddle aside, rubbing Georgia’s back comfortingly. “I know you are, Georgia,” she said quietly, helping Georgia up and pulling her clothes back into place for her. She tucked Georgia into her embrace, hugging the younger girl tightly. “I could have made you ask me for it, but I didn’t.”

“T-thank you for not making me ask,” Georgia’s face burned with embarrassment.

“You’re welcome. Think you can keep from getting any more yellows, little one?”

“I’ll try,” Georgia whispered.

“Okay. We’ll call it good then.” Millie squeezed Georgia's shoulder. "Let's have ourselves a little party, shall we, team?" Not an ostentatious one. It was only the first match, after all. But still, they had won. That was worth celebrating.

Smiles abounded in the dressing room, and the mood was much more relaxed, as they finished changing out of uniform and getting ready to go out. The Lionesses chose a pub recommended to Millie by Sam Kerr, and Georgia and Lauren drowned their pain with favourite drinks.

Things could only go up from here.