The Babysitter’s Plan

“Don’t worry,” Alycia told her client confidently. “You’re doing the right thing… They all say they’re too old for a babysitter, but you know what I say? Anyone who still wears diapers needs someone to look after them.”

That, as always, seemed to do the trick. “Well, we don’t call them that,” Linda started off. “Marnie gets grumpy if we do. They’re Pull-Ups, which, of course, aren’t for little kids at all.” She shared a bemused look with the babysitter, both silently agreeing about how silly the distinction was, but also the necessity of playing along, keeping Linda’s daughter happy. “I understand what you’re saying, though, and I think you definitely have a point.”

Aly nodded, doing her best to hide her smirk, seeing her plan working again. It was almost shocking how easy it was, how simple it was to convince these parents… Then again, she supposed she could see why. At this age, they were all worried that their kids were drifting away from them, and this was a way for the parents to confirm that they were still their little boys and girls, that they still needed them, and, by extension, Alycia.

She could have taken care of babies and toddlers, children that definitely needed constant caretaking… Eventually, however, they all grew up, and no longer needed her. That, and they were a lot more work… With older kids, they took care of themselves for the most part, and she could mostly just hang out. Sometimes, they would even take care of diapering themselves for bed, and all she’d have to do was check to be certain they’d done it before tucking them in.

The most important part of her job came once she’d done so, and they’d fallen asleep. After all, while it wasn’t uncommon for bedwetting to pop up now and then with older kids, it was usually temporary, something that came and went, and, in order to prove to the parents that they needed to keep their children in diapers, and keep hiring her, she needed to ensure it happened more often. Fortunately for her, she’d discovered that the old sleepover trick of putting their hand in a bowl of water could work, if you did it at just the right stage of sleep, if you got the water just the right temperature… It had been a pain to perfect, but now that she had, it was second nature to guarantee that all of her charges always woke up wet when she looked after them, showing for yet another day that they weren’t quite ready to grow up and be real, proper big kids yet. It kept their parents happy, and Aly employed, and, embarrassing as it might be, it didn’t do any real harm to her charges, other than preventing them from going to any sleepovers.

Or so she had told herself from the start to justify the plan. It had worked out quite well so far, and she wouldn’t have even needed to take on another client if her old one hadn’t moved away. This time began the same as any other, with Marnie sulking about Alycia’s presence when her mother introduced them, pouting and nearly throwing a fit when she was informed that her sitter had the authority to confirm, before she went to bed, that she was in her Pull-Ups, then ignoring her for as much of the evening as she could until that moment came.

“I don’t really need them,” she huffed when Alycia came into her room just before bedtime. “It happened once! It isn’t fair!”

“I know,” Aly nodded sympathetically. “I’ll tell you what… I can help you convince her of that, so long as it doesn’t happen again, okay?”

Marnie blinked up at her, surprised. “O-Okay,” she replied, sounding uncertain of herself. It was all another part of Alycia’s plan… She didn’t mind if her charges disliked her, so long as she got paid, though she couldn’t be too mean, or they might be able to talk their parents into hiring another sitter, and then all of her work would have been for nothing. If she got them thinking she was on their side, they were far more likely to be okay with her, to not fuss about her. It wasn’t always necessary – sometimes, not having another older person find out about their problem was enough incentive to keep them from wanting a different babysitter – but it didn’t hurt to try.

And it wasn’t like her charges would ever figure out how hollow her words were, that the main reason they kept wetting the bed was her in the first place, that she knew she’d never have to follow through because the only way she was going to stop was if she stopped being their sitter. By then, either it would have been long enough that they’d have a genuine bedwetting habit, or their recovery could be written off as them simply outgrowing it, finally, a mere coincidence that it happened just after she stopped sitting for them.

“It’s all right,” Alycia assured Marnie, finding it amusing to lay it on thick her first night, when the poor girl had no idea what to expect. “I know your mom is being unreasonable… I know you aren’t a baby. We’ll make her see that, too, all right? So, just go to sleep… You have nothing to worry about.”

Marnie appeared to buy it hook, line, and sinker, and soon enough, she had drifted off, sleeping peacefully enough for Alycia to slip back into her room and carry out her plan, betraying everything she’d told the girl. It didn’t take long at all before she could see the Pull-Up’s designs fade, and she was still kneeling beside the bed, debating whether she ought to keep going, let her hand remain in the water to see if she’d go again, leak through, so she could talk Linda into downgrading the girl to full-on diapers when the lights turned on.

She gasped, spinning around to see Linda standing in the doorway, arms crossed. “Y-You’re home early,” she squeaked, looking up at the clock on the wall to confirm that. “I-I was just…” she stammered, mind racing to come up with an explanation for the bowl of water.

“Mom?” Marnie yawned, sitting up. “What…? Oh, no!” She whimpered, shifting on her mattress.

“It’s all right,” Linda cooed at her, while continuing to glare daggers at Alycia, squirming on the floor in front of her. “Don’t worry about it… I just need to have a little talk with your babysitter.”

The Exchange Student – Chapter 28

As tempting as it was to ignore her homework for now, she couldn’t quite make herself do it, It was already hard to tell how Sara had handled classes, so, much as she might want to, she knew it was a dangerous proposition to risk not having time to finish her homework on top of that.

She wasn’t prepared to give up her position as a kindergartner yet, however. Her outfit – nerve-wracking as it had been at school, trying to keep her skirt down – was too cute to resist in the safety of her room, her soggy diapers feeling perfect underneath it, crackling and squishing delightfully as she squirmed in her seat.

She expected all of that to come crashing down when she pulled open the heavy backpack, took out the first book, but, for better or worse, it didn’t… With her adorable clothes, her wet diapers, she was firmly lodged in the mindset of a new kindergartner… Which meant the huge textbook that slammed down onto the desk in front of her was well out of her league.

It was a stark contrast from the coloring and games that had made up most of her day, the gentle instructions about the most basic parts of going to school… Opening the front cover, there was barely an introduction before it went straight into tiny, dense text, surely not that much harder than anything she’d done last year, but, today, might as well have been in another language altogether.

“M-Maybe later,” she told herself, pushing that book aside and taking out another, being greeted with a similar experience. Her feet began to swing anxiously beneath her, her teeth nibbling at her bottom lip while she sat there, feeling overwhelmed.

She wasn’t certain how long she was like that, staring at the book, before Karissa came in. Anna flinched slightly, hearing the bedroom door open, though when she turned her head, saw who it was, she immediately calmed back down, at least to where she had been before… Which was still freaking out over the thought of getting through all of this big girl homework.

“How was your day?” Karissa asked.

“I-It was good,” Anna admitted, stopping herself short of gushing about how good it was, how much fun she’d had, up until she’d been picked up, brought home.

Karissa smiled. “I’m glad… I was worried about you.”

Anna blinked. “R-Really?” She wasn’t sure if she should feel flattered that Karissa was thinking about her at all, much less concerned for her in that way, or if she ought to be insulted that Karissa thought she’d have any trouble with kindergarten, of all things.

“I just didn’t want the other kids to make fun of you,” Karissa said. “I know they can be mean sometimes…”

Warmth spread through Anna’s cheeks at how easily, how casually, Karissa referred to them as ‘other’ kids, as if Anna was one of them. And, if there were any doubt that was how Karissa saw her, it was wiped away a moment later.

“Oh, I bought you a little present for your first day!” she exclaimed, opening up her backpack, digging through.

Anna felt a buzz of excitement as she waited, wondering what it could be, what Karissa might have gotten for her. She really had no idea of where to even begin guessing, so all she could do was kick her feet and wiggle, watching with anticipation as the girl found a small, plastic bag, reaching in and taking out…

“I-Is that a pacifier?” It was, luckily, unexpected enough that Anna was able to sound shocked, rather than thrilled. She’d never considered buying herself one of those, somehow, despite how much more accessible they were than good, thick, babyish diapers that would fit her… Or so she’d assumed, before she’d discovered, here, that baby diapers would do the trick.

“You’ve been sucking your thumb so much, and chewing on your poor lips,” Karissa told her, tearing open the package the paci came in, not even bothering to let Anna do that herself, taking charge in a way that only made Anna feel smaller. “I thought this would be better.”

Anyone else her age probably would have protested, complained about it… By now, however, it already seemed like Karissa knew – or at least suspected – that Anna liked this… Anna wasn’t sure if the other girl had deduced that she was faking, but after their talk last night, it was clear she knew that Anna wasn’t putting any effort into making it to the bathroom on time, that she obviously didn’t mind using her diapers. And now she’d bought her a pacifier, too, had opened it up for her, holding it up to her mouth.

Anna barely even hesitated to open up her mouth, let the bulb slide in. It felt so natural in there, so right… She giggled softly, squirming in her seat, the paci feeling like the final piece, the last part of her outfit needed to send her into full toddler mode, her diapers warming further as she dribbled mindlessly into them.

“I take it you like it,” Karissa chuckled.

Anna blushed, realizing she hadn’t actually said anything. “Uh-huh!” she nodded, hoping that Karissa could understand her through the pacifier’s shield. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Karissa bent over, giving her a hug, looking over at the books in front of her. “Wow… Kindergarten is different than I remember.”

“No,” Anna shook her head, although she knew Karissa probably was aware of this, was only teasing her. “It’s ‘my’ homework from high school.”

“Oh, I see,” Karissa giggled, her gently patronizing tone confirming that she had, indeed, known all along. “That looks tough… Do you need any help?”

Anna knew that Karissa surely had homework of her own to do, might have felt guilty making her give her a hand as well, but right now, regressed as she was, it only seemed natural to nod her head, burble, “Yes, please,” behind her paci.

“All right, hold on,” Karissa smiled, picking Anna up, sitting down in her chair and setting the smaller girl down on her lap, wrapping her arms around her so that she could reach the textbook.

Anna knew that this wasn’t the point, that she ought to be focusing on her studies, but it all felt so cozy, so right… She snuggled against Karissa, enjoying her embrace, nursing her paci contentedly. She did make an attempt to listen as Karissa explained what all those big words meant, however, she was so far into her little-space by then that they went in one ear and out the other, and by the time they got to the questions at the end of the chapter, Anna truly had no idea how to even begin answering them.

“Come on, Anna,” Karissa urged, encouraging, though clearly slightly annoyed. “We just went over this.”

“I know,” Anna pouted. “But I don’t remember!”

“You need to pay attention,” Karissa chastised.

“I’m trying!” Anna whined.

Taking a deep breath, Karissa looked Anna over, surveying her, Anna fidgeting at the attention, not sure how to take it, what was going on. After a few moments, a smile began to cross Karissa’s face. “I bet I know what’s wrong,” she declared.

“Y-You do?” Anna blinked, wondering if Karissa had, in fact, seen through her, if she was going to make her get out of her kindergarten clothes, dress more like a grown-up so that she could, hopefully, focus a bit more.

“I think so,” Karissa nodded. “Is your tummy starting to hurt again, sweetie? You don’t have to be afraid… You can go ahead and mess your Pampers if that will help.”

Anna’s face turned bright red, for a multitude of reasons. For one, she hadn’t realized it was true, that Karissa was right, until she’d mentioned it… It certainly wasn’t an emergency yet, by any means, so she could have waited, but there definitely was a fullness growing inside her. For another, there was no mention whatsoever of her going to the bathroom, Karissa, seemingly, taking it for granted that she was going to use her diaper, that she had, indeed, given up on her potty training altogether.

That probably wasn’t actually the case… Karissa had said she’d help her with it, if she asked, if she truly intended to work on it. Was that what Anna wanted, though? She’d just gotten here… She had plenty of time for that later, well before she had to go home. And everyone, at home and at school, believed that she needed her diapers, that she was incontinent. Surely, they’d all be proud of her, more than willing to help, when she tried to earn her way back out of them after she got to enjoy that for a couple months…

Then again, with as quickly as her training was already devolving, she knew that might be a dangerous proposition. She had determined she didn’t want to bother the classroom helpers with taking her to the bathroom while she was at school… If she stopped trying altogether here, too, so soon into her stay… Well, she was pretty confident that, at her age, she ought to be able to re-potty-train without much issue, but she didn’t actually know how well it would go, how easy, or difficult, it would wind up being.

“Come on,” Karissa gave her a bounce on her knee. “We don’t have all night… I want to make sure you get plenty of sleep so you aren’t grumpy tomorrow, and I have homework of my own to do. Just give a little push and get it all out, Anna, so you can concentrate on this instead… I’m not wasting any more time on this until you do.”

It took almost everything Anna had not to simply obey, her mindset, and the thrillingly humiliating reality of being urged to do something so babyish, nearly causing her to give in without thinking. She did manage to put up a bit of resistance, however, at least enough to buy herself an extra moment to consider. Karissa already knew she had to go, had been aware of it before Anna herself; she was definitely going to have to go, but that didn’t mean she had to do it here, on Karissa’s lap, even if she did feel very safe there, all cuddled up…

Should Anna…

…Ask to be let up off of Karissa’s lap?

…Ask to be taken to the bathroom?

…Or just be a good girl and do as she was told?

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 Subscribestar, or just read along early at Ream!