Derek drove to a nearby park. It had the largest parking lot in the area so he could put the car in a far spot where the lot was desolate. He turned off the engine and was about to give a command to Sonya right then, but remembered her clothes were still inside of her.
He got out of the car and opened the back door. On the way there he had ordered her to shrink back to her original size; she had grown so large he couldn't see out the back window. He unzipped her quickly and pulled her clothes and shoes out. Then he laid the empty, woolly bag in the center of the seat.
He glanced around. Over a hundred feet away, kids played on swings and jungle gyms, groundskeepers trimmed bushes, and couples were strolling hand in hand. Nobody was close enough to notice what was going to happen in the backseat of his car. "Okay, Sonya. Change back to the way you were before. A human." He had the door halfway closed before he thought of one more thing. "And please don't hate me." He shut the door to give her a bit more privacy as she morphed back into an animate creature. He didn't think the collar would actually carry out that last command. It was more of a plea, and he hoped she would accept it.
He leaned against the back door, blocking the window just in case a passing car got too close. He could hear fumbling inside the car. He tried to look as casual as possible. He checked a watch that wasn't on his wrist. He looked up at the clouds. He folded his arms. Then he ran out of things to do.
He didn't have to worry, though. Something knocked repeatedly against the car window. He turned around to see the icy glare from his thankfully human girlfriend. Her clothes were twisted and wrinkled, but they were on. He opened the door.
"Sonya, I--."
"Don't say another word until this collar is off."
Derek quickly unlatched the collar. Sonya snatched it.
"A duffel bag?!"
"It was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't arouse suspicion. How else would I have gotten your clothes out of there?"
"You could have just shrunk me and then used YOUR OWN duffel bag!"
"I didn't want to risk you being discovered. I didn't hurt you when you were a bag, did I?"
Sonya made an earnest effort to calm herself. She knew that there hadn't been much time to think of a plan, and Derek obviously had been as delicate as possible about the whole thing. She was mostly angry because she had been enjoying her tigress form.
"I'm sorry. It's just...when your boyfriend turns you into something that can't move or speak, it makes you feel a little...you know..."
"I don't consider you an object, if that's what you mean. I don't even like inanimate transformations. I promise I'll never do that to you again."
Sonya adjusted her hastily donned top. "Actually...the truth is, it wasn't that bad. Once I got over the whole 'You turned me into a duffel bag' part. I could still hear, and feel, and I could even see, in a sense. But even when you handled me a little rough, it didn't hurt. You know when your foot goes asleep and you poke it? You know you're poking it, but you don't feel it."
"It must have been incredible."
"It was...but it definitely got old fast."
Derek hugged Sonya tightly. "I'm really sorry," he whispered.
"It's okay," she said.
Derek continued to hold her, even after he couldn't feel her arms on his back anymore. A few seconds later, he felt the collar being strung around his neck.
He backed off, but just a little. He wasn't going to fight this. If Sonya wanted payback, he was more than willing to take it. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he wanted it not only out of his sense of justice, but because the prospects were actually turning him on.
"Should we go to your place?" he asked as she finished tightening the buckle.
Sonya looked around, and noticed for the first time exactly where he had taken her. "No...this should do just fine."