Sydney pouted, squirming in the walker’s seat, feeling it bounce her slightly. As embarrassing as this was, and as much as she’d prefer to be able to walk around on her own, she had to confess that it did make sense… Monica might suspect something was up if she found Syd loose. She hadn’t said specifically that Syd couldn’t leave the room, so as long as she stayed in her walker, it would seem innocent enough, hopefully.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll stay in here.”
Hannah gave her a smug look, but, to her credit, didn’t say anything to rub it in, besides a vague, “If you think that’s for the best.” It wasn’t quite an, ‘I told you so,’ though Syd couldn’t rule out that the subtext for that might have been there.
“Are you good?” Hannah asked. “Do you need some juice? Or a change?”
Sydney stuck her tongue out. “No, I don’t.”
“Just give us a cry if you change your mind,” Hannah teased, patting Syd on her head. “Or wheel yourself into the kitchen, I’m sure Monica would love to see your face.”
Syd watched Hannah start to leave before another question occurred to her. “Umm…” she blushed, pushing the walker closer to her RA until the girl glanced over her shoulder to see what she wanted. “What should I do if I have to… You know…” She shifted in place, her diaper crinkling loudly, at least to her ears. She wasn’t certain it would be so obvious to Hannah, who wasn’t sitting in it, though apparently the noise – or Syd’s downturned, bashful expression – was obvious enough.
“I have a feeling you’re fully capable of doing that on your own,” Hannah told her. “You know she’ll get suspicious if you ask
for my help with her around. We don’t want that, do we?”
“W-Well… No…” Sydney admitted. She’d known this was a possibility, and a very good one at that, ever since she’d decided to wear diapers here, but she’d hoped, after the way things had gone yesterday, that Hannah was going to help her avoid it as much as she could. That might still be the case; today, however was going to be difficult, with so much to do, and so many people around, once they started arriving…
“Don’t worry,” Hannah smirked. “Those diapers are nice and thick… We don’t have to worry about any leaks.”
That was not Syd’s concern at all, or hadn’t been before Hannah brought it up. If she was stuck in the walker long enough, while the ‘adults’ were cooking… She wrinkled her nose, imagining being stuck in a used diaper for that long, trapped in her walker, unable to do anything to get it off, to help herself…
Hannah left her there, Syd letting out a sigh and staring at the parade on TV for a minute or two before, after seeing two floats in a row advertising competing diaper brands, filled with littles in extra thick padding bulging beneath their shortalls or dresses, and bonnets emblazoned with the logo of their respective brand. She might be diapered for Thanksgiving, but at least she wasn’t them, on national television, she comforted herself.
She looked away, grabbing another handful of cereal, eyes drawn to the buttons in front of her as she turned from the TV, giving one a poke as she munched away, bouncing happily in her seat as the song began to play again. It was better to finish chewing before she started on her adventure, she reasoned.
Finally, after a couple more pieces of cereal, and a couple more rounds of her song, she took off, rolling her walker out of the living room and into the hall. She was almost immediately faced with the staircase she’d been brought down just a few minutes earlier, a blush washing over her face at the realization that she had no way of getting up there on her own. She hadn’t brought anything, but if she had, and it was important, she’d be cut off from it completely in the walker.
It hadn’t seemed like there was anything there worth stealing; if there had been, Hannah could have done it on her own. Monica’s bedroom was on the ground floor, and she hadn’t ventured upstairs after Syd and Hannah had gone to bed the night before, so it would have been simple for the girl to take whatever she wanted. From what Syd had seen, other than the room they were staying in, and the bathroom attached to it, there was only one other room up there, which, from the quick peek she’d gotten inside, was another spare bedroom that had been turned into a sewing room.
There was still a bed in it, and Syd had debated seeing if she could sleep there, but hadn’t bothered, knowing it would look weird if, for whatever reason, Monica had come up to wake them that morning. The rest of the room was taken up with a large sewing table, a shelf stocked with various fabrics, and a few creepy dress forms lurking in the darkness. It felt unlikely that Monica would keep anything too valuable there… And Syd didn’t want to be anywhere near those blank, not quite human shapes anyway.
She rolled past it, to the nearest door, which was, unfortunately, closed. She scowled up at it, wiggling her feet in annoyance as she stretched as high as she could. If she were out of the walker, she might have been able to reach, to get up on her tiptoes and grab the handle… As it was, she didn’t have a chance.
“Hmph!” she kicked out her feet in frustration, though there wasn’t anything in range for her to contact, so that didn’t bring her any satisfaction, either. All it took to stop her was a shut door… She knew she should have had Hannah get her out of this stupid walker! She might as well be an actual infant, for all the good she was doing here! If all the other doors were closed, that was her entire morning, perhaps her best opportunity to case this place – half the reason she was here for Thanksgiving and not just Christmas – without Monica noticing wasted!
Hitting the button on the tray to start her music back up did make her feel a bit calmer, and reminded her there was no point sulking here for too long. She rolled on, glad to see that the next door was, in fact, cracked, enough for her to bump her walker into it to push it the rest of the way open so she could go in.
It was a library, shelves lining the walls, filled with books, a large, comfy looking chair in the middle of the room. It seemed like a cozy little room, one she wouldn’t mind spending time in… She couldn’t help feeling, however, that there was more to it than that. Maybe it was her imagination, after seeing so many movies where there were hidden passages that could be opened by pulling a book off of a shelf… There were certainly plenty of those to choose from, and she wouldn’t know where to start.
Not that it mattered. Scooting up as close as she could get to the shelves, she discovered that, yet again, she was foiled by the size of her walker, the tray extending far enough in front of her that it prevented her from being able to reach any of the books no matter how much she stretched her arms.
The next room was wide open, not even requiring a bump for her to navigate her walker inside. Right away, she could tell it was Monica’s room, from the huge, fancy bed, the ornate vanity, the large dresser… This was, probably, the jackpot. She could see some necklaces hanging up on a stand on the vanity, glittering with jewels that definitely looked real, and there was a large box beside it that no doubt held more jewelry. And who knew what she’d have stashed in her drawers? There were two doors inside, both closed, though Syd assumed they went to the closet and the bathroom respectively. The former, if Syd knew which it was, could have all kinds of valuable treasures in it, designer purses or shoes or dresses…
Of course, it was the most dangerous place to take anything from, the one that Monica would be the most likely to notice, possibly before they even left. If it was as easy as snatching it and leaving, she could do it now, and there would be no need to return at Christmas… Or, rather, she could do that if she wasn’t trapped in the walker, which foiled her again, not even letting her debate the matter before settling it for her.
There was another closed door, and then an entrance into a large dining room where Syd could see a high chair sitting at one end of the table, sending a shudder down her spine, knowing it was for her. She didn’t go in… She saw some cabinets with nice china inside, but, even if it was valuable, she wasn’t sure how they’d get it out in one piece, without Monica finding out. Besides, she suspected the door on the opposite side of the room went to the kitchen, where Monica was, and she didn’t want to attract her attention.
She backed the walker away slowly, wincing as she found herself pushing the button again automatically. The song did make her feel calmer… She was too close to the door, however, when she did it, and it sounded very loud… She scooted away more quickly, wondering for a moment if she should go back to the living room, just in case. When nobody appeared from the dining room door after a second or two, she moved on, past yet another closed door, to what seemed to be the last open one, steering straight for it before stopping right on time, seeing, almost too late, that it led to a staircase going down, into the basement.
The lights weren’t on, so she couldn’t see too far down, but it wasn’t creepy, at least, and looked like it was finished. There might be all kinds of rooms down there… She nibbled her bottom lip, staring downwards, wiggling her feet. Unlike the stairs to the second floor, she could, theoretically, use these… It would be a bumpy ride, and there was no guarantee it would be safe, that she wouldn’t get tipped over on the way down, though if she had to, she could do it. Getting back up would be another story…
It probably wasn’t worth it… But she was still pondering the difference between a ‘probably’ and a ‘definitely’ and weighing her options when she heard a voice behind her. “Whoa!” Monica exclaimed. “What are you doing over here?!”
Sydney felt her walker being yanked backwards, away from the steps, as she swallowed, looking up at the woman towering over her. “Umm… I-I was…” she squirmed.
“Aww, I’m sorry,” Monica changed her tone immediately. “I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetie… It isn’t your fault, it’s mine for leaving this open.” She wheeled the walker out of the way and closed the door. “I’m going to have to be more careful about that, huh? I forgot what it’s like to have a little one around here… You can’t help that you’re so curious, can you?”
“N-No, ma’am,” Syd shook her head, glad for an excuse to be offered to her so freely, with no work needed on her part.
“Well, you have to be careful,” Monica told her. “I’d hate for you to fall and hurt yourself. Were you looking for something?” Syd paused for a moment, not knowing if she should say yes, what she would answer if Monica asked a follow-up. Fortunately, the woman replied to herself again for her. “Do you need a change?”
“N-No!” Syd squeaked, blushing despite herself. Her ‘character’ probably would be used to that by now, so it didn’t make sense, though ‘tweeners and Amazons seemed to find it cute when they got flustered anyway, so she doubted Monica would mind.
What she might mind, however, was discovering that it was true. She didn’t know how long it had been since she’d been left in the living room, but it had surely been long enough that she’d have used her diapers already, if she truly needed them. Was Monica going to check her? Should she go now, just in case? If she didn’t, and Monica found her to be dry, would she get suspicious?!
She didn’t have a chance to decide, the woman scooping her out of the walker and giving her bottom a pat before she could react. To Sydney’s shock, she declared, “Well, I guess you aren’t quite soggy enough to need a new diaper yet.”
“I’m not wet!” Syd heard herself protesting. She should be happy Monica thought she was, that she was buying her cover… It was such an odd thing for her to claim, however, when it was so clearly not true. Although, as she fidgeted in Monica’s arms, she had to admit something did seem different…
Monica unzipped Sydney’s sleeper, reaching in to slide a finger into the waistband of her diaper, as Syd began to realize, to her horror, that she was, in fact, wrong, and that Monica was right, receiving her final confirmation as Monica announced, “That’s definitely soggy.”
What was going on?! She hadn’t peed her diapers! She hadn’t even noticed she needed to go… She had been distracted, though… And she had thought about trying to go right before she’d been picked up… Had her body taken over, done it for her, in the nick of time? She hadn’t consciously told it to, that she remembered, but it had all been so quick. Or… Had she had an accident?!
“But you are right, you don’t need a change right away! No point being wasteful! These diapers can hold plenty more!” She gave the diaper a pat, zipping the sleeper back up and plopped Syd back down in her walker, the wetness in her diaper immediately apparent now, squishing beneath her with every move. “Let’s get you back into the living room, okay?”
Monica pushed the walker back down the hall, then left, Syd squirming at the sound of doors closing, knowing that meant her exploration was over now. She wasn’t sure how much more there was to see, but it didn’t matter when she couldn’t get to any of it. When Monica returned, she asked, “Are you done with your cereal, sweetie?”
Sydney nodded, and regretted it as her pacifier was popped into her mouth and expanded, silencing her and leaving her to watch the parade alone, nursing on the paci and wriggling uncertainly in her damp diapers until Hannah came in to carry her up to their room to get her dressed for the meal.
“Uh-oh!” Hannah teased. “Did somebody use her diapers?”
“It’s not my fault!” Syd blushed. “You know I can’t get out of that walker on my own!”
“Calm down,” Hannah chuckled. “I’m just playing…”
She did give Syd a real diaper change, however, before pulling some thick, ruffle-bottomed tights over the dry diaper, to go underneath a short, green party dress with a ribbon and large bow around the waist, finished off by a pair of pink ribbons in her hair, and black Mary Janes for her feet.
Sydney hoped, now that she was in that, she’d be free to wander the house, rather than being put back into her walker in this outfit. Instead, when she got downstairs, she saw that the house was filled with people, all of whom wanted to coo over her, giving her hugs and kisses on the forehead or cheek, and, of course, pats on her padded backside.
Hannah’s cousins, especially, seemed impressed by her. Sydney couldn’t help noticing they were all older than Hannah, and bigger. “I can’t believe Hannah was the first one to find a little to adopt,” one of them, Aida, complained.
“Well, she hasn’t adopted her yet,” another, Cameron, sniffed. “You know how Hannah gets… I bet she’ll be so nervous at the final interview that she’ll pee her pants and wind up getting adopted herself.”
“No, I won’t!” Hannah glowered at him, giving him a shove that mostly only caused him to laugh. “I haven’t done that in a long time!”
“Whatever you say,” the oldest, Candice, stepped in. “I mean, I babysat for you long enough that…”
“Nobody wants to hear this story again!” Hannah huffed. “I’m an adult now, too! The college has trusted me to be an RA for years, and I’ve been looking after Syd just fine on my own! I am not a little kid any more!”
“Be nice, everyone,” Monica admonished them. “Hannah’s right… She’s been doing a wonderful job with little Syd here, from what I can tell. And she only had one accident while she was helping me cook.”
Hannah’s smile, which had grown as she heard Monica scolding her older cousins, suddenly flipped as they all started to laugh at her. “Aunt Monica!” she whined. “Don’t say it like that! I spilled some flour, that was all! It wasn’t that kind of accident!”
Sydney could see now why she might want to have somebody else there at the holidays, to take the attention off herself. Part of her wondered if that was, in fact, her main motivation, though she supposed it also made sense why she would want some revenge, too, if she’d put up with this for most, if not all, of her life.
She doubted the cousins treated Hannah quite as much like a baby as they did her, however. She, of course, did end up in that high chair at the dinner table, the cousins all jostling for the seat on the other side of her from the Hannah sat at. Hannah dutifully filled a plate for Syd, cutting everything up into bite-sized pieces before setting it on the high chair’s tray with a plastic spoon.
“You aren’t really letting her feed herself, are you?” Candice, who had won the battle, scolded. “What if there’s a bone in the meat?”
“I think I would have found it when…” Hannah pointed out.
“You can never be too careful,” Candice shrugged, taking the spoon from Syd’s hand. “Here, I’ll do it. Come on, Syd, I want you to try these mashed potatoes! I made them, so I’m sure you’re going to like them!”
She filled the spoon up, blowing on its contents before offering it up, Syd dutifully opening her mouth, smiling pleasantly as she chewed.
“You don’t want your food to get cold,” Aida said after a few minutes. “Let me take over… You barely gave her any of the yams anyway, and I made those!”
She scooped some more onto the plate, while Candice protested, “Well, she doesn’t need all that sugar.”
“It’s Thanksgiving! She can have as much as she wants!” Aida stuck her tongue out at her older cousin. “And I can tell she liked them, didn’t you?”
They had been good, but Syd had already had as much of everything as she really wanted… That hardly seemed to matter, however, as the cousins squabbled, all wanting her to have more of the dishes they’d made, shoving more of everything into her mouth until she was sure she’d pop.
She was feeling pretty dazed by the time they stopped, and barely surprised to feel another dampness in her diaper when she was lifted out of her high chair by Aunt Monica, who gave her bottom a loving pat before handing her off to Hannah. “You can go put her down for a nap in her crib while we start clearing away the dishes,” Monica instructed.
“Nooo,” Sydney whined. “I’m not sleepy!”
“Sure, you aren’t,” Candice giggled, giving Syd’s bloated belly a poke. “She really is the perfect baby for you, Hannah! You sound just like your Mommy did after every Thanksgiving until… What, last year, Hannah?”
Hannah scowled at her, but didn’t rise to take her bait. “Do you want to go back in your walker, Syd?”
“No,” Sydney shook her head. She didn’t want to take a nap, though she couldn’t quite deny that she was, indeed, tired after all that food. She had a feeling everyone else would be, too, so it might be a chance to do some more exploring… Unless she was stuck in her crib, or the walker. As nice as listening to her music in the walker sounded, she suspected it would put her to sleep pretty quickly at this point. “Can’t I help, Mommy? I can carry dishes to the sink!”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Monica said. “It’s very kind of you to offer, sweetie, but they’re very heavy, and very fragile.”
“Here, give her to me,” Aida held her arms out. “I’ll watch her. She’ll be out like a light in a few minutes anyway. Cameron can help with the dishes this year.”
“I could watch her, too,” Cameron protested, though he didn’t put up much of a fight. “Oh, you just want to see the game, don’t you? Fine… Your team is in it this year anyway.”
Aida took Syd, bouncing her in her arms and carrying her into the living room, sitting down next to her in front of the coffee table, most of the other seats taken up by other aunts and uncles, many of whom had already dozed off as football played on the television in front of them.
“Do you want to color?” Aida asked. “Or do you have some toys to play with?”
“I’m fine,” Sydney insisted, pretending to be interested in the game, keeping an eye on Aida who stretched out on the floor to stare at the screen, her eyelids soon starting to droop.
Syd smirk smugly. She was pretty certain she’d eaten as much as anyone else, which, considering how much smaller she was than any of the others, meant she’d eaten more, and she was outlasting all of them! Or, at the very least, everyone who wasn’t distracted by the game, or talking among themselves. All she had to do was slip out of the living room without being seen, and she’d have free roam over the house. It wouldn’t last forever… Aida might wake up and find her gone, or the others might finish with the dishes and come to check on her… She could see a little more now, however, and it was probably going to be her best opportunity to do so without being under someone’s constant, watchful eye.
It was embarrassing, crawling through the room on all fours, knowing her skirt was riding up, exposing the ruffles on the back of her tights, and the bulge of the diapers underneath, to anyone who looked her way, but it seemed wiser than standing up and toddling out of the room, less likely to draw attention. And, sure enough, she made it out the hall undisturbed, letting her pull herself to her feet with a grin…
Only to, almost immediately, feel an ominous rumble in her stomach. “Oh, no,” she whimpered, wrapping her arms around her tummy. “Already?” Littles did have to be careful, eating the typically more rich food that the bigger folks had, especially when they had as much as she’d been fed… She wouldn’t need to go so soon from it, though, would she? Surely she could hold it a little longer… Then again, she’d been having accidents today. Not that kind yet, but she didn’t want to risk it…
She knew there was a bathroom upstairs. Would she have time to climb those stairs, get undressed, and use the toilet? Had Hannah even gotten her the kind of diapers she could remove on her own? Hannah had taken the diaper off her this morning so she could use the bathroom, and she hadn’t experimented yet…
There was definitely a bathroom downstairs, too, somewhere, behind one of those closed doors. She didn’t know which one, though, and she’d still have the issue of possibly not being able to get out of her diaper. There were so many people around Hannah, it would be difficult to ask her discretely… She very much doubted Aida would bother to help her out with it, if she could wake her up, but at least it would be easier to try.
Or… She could trust in herself, and her ability to wait. She could keep going with her plan, do some more scouting, and hope she could hold it until Hannah finished with the dishes, and then say she was ready to be put down for a nap after all. She could, perhaps, ask for that now, too, but if one of the other cousins, or Monica, decided to take her upstairs instead, and actually did put her in her crib… Well, that would be that.
She groaned, nibbling her bottom lip. She couldn’t take forever with this… She could feel the clock ticking away inside of her; if only she knew what time it read, how long she had before the alarm sounded, that would make it so much simpler. As it was, she’d just have to make a choice, and hope for the best.
Should Sydney…
Investigate the library further?
Investigate Monica’s bedroom further?
Check out the previously closed doors, and see if one is a bathroom?
Scope out the basement?
Try to get upstairs and use the bathroom there on her own?
Go upstairs to see if there’s anything hidden in the sewing room after all?
Ask Aida for help?
See if she can inconspicuously ask Hannah to take her to the bathroom?
Or tell Hannah she wants to be put down for a nap?
This decision has already been made, but if you’d like to catch up on the story, and help decide where it goes next, you can find it, and other exclusive stories, at my Patreon!
The Princess's Castle 