Mommies and Daddies

Back today with Chapters 15 and 16! Happy *checks notes* All Saints Day!    “I’m very….VERY upset with you…”     The aura around Strawberry suddenly intensified, covering more of the playroom. Toys flew through the air and furniture started rattling around, including the table they’d just been using for the tea part. Pink’s hat flew off entirely and her hair whipped around wildly from the force, including her bangs, revealing a large pair of pink eyes that were focused right on Charlie and Alma. “You hit me…nobody hits me. And NOBODY. TAKES AWAY. MY FAVORITE DOLLY.”   “Ah, geez.” Alma brought her fists up. Right about now, she really wished she had her bat. “We got a boss fight to do before we can go, huh?” Charlie swallowed.   “Looks that way,” she said, holding up her stun baton. “Whaddaya think? I draw aggro, you go for the hit?” Alma looked at her. She let out a breath.   “Your call, partner,” she said.   “Heheheh.” Charlie grinned big. “Heck yeah. Alright!” And both girls slid into a ready stance. “Let’s go!”   “I’m not gonna forgive you…” Strawberry said. “I’m going to use. My strongest. My worst power. I’m going to use my ultimate move right away…!” She said, raising a finger up and pointing at them.             And then her lower lib wibbled.   And then she blinked her eyes a few times.   And then her voice cracked as she let out a noise.   And then the dark pink aura was completely gone, and the room was back to normal, as Strawberry grabbed Zoe around the waist.   “ZOOOOEEEE, DON’T GOOOOOOOO!” Strawberry cried, kicking her legs out as she hung off of the girl, arms wrapped around her. Both Charlie and Alma turned their heads to look. Then they looked at each other. They they looked at the two of them again.   “I…” Zoe looked down at the kicking, bawling, sobbing Strawberry for a for a seconds. Then, she raised her hands up and wrapped them back around Strawberry, and before she knew it, she was crying too.   Both Charlie and Alma leaned backwards, eyebrows way up, yet still creased in an unmistakable expression of distaste.   “I - I think I have to, Strawberrry - hic - I don’t think I have a choice!” Zoe managed to get out.   “No, please, you can just stay here!” Strawberry insisted. “You don’t have to be a dolly anymore, you can just be a girl, we’ll just be friends! Regular friends! I won’t make you do anything you don’t want, I promise! Unless you want me to make you do stuff you don’t want to do, then I can do it…!”   “L-listen, Strawberry,” Zoe said. “I think. I think I was using this place as an excuse to not grow up. ‘Cause I was scared I wouldn’t be any good at it, but.” She looked over at Charlie. Charlie briefly stopped looking utterly befuddled to give Zoe a supportive smile and a nod (Alma still looked befuddled and kinda pissed). “I don’t think I can do that anymore?”   “I’ll…I’ll be lonely if you leave, though,” Strawberry said in a pathetic little whimper. All of her armor was fully gone and her emotions were just spilling out for everyone to see.   “Well, what is there saying you can’t visit me?” Zoe asked. “My apartment’s only a mile and a half away!” She rubbed her cheek and grimaced. “If. I still even have that — y’know what, there’s other buildings close by too, it’ll be fine!”   “But I.” Strawberry blinked a couple times. “I’d have to leave the daycare for that.” She said, anxiety and fear seeping into her voice. “That’s too scary!”   “Yeah. Yeah, it kinda is. It kinda…really is.,” Zoe said, letting out a breath. “But I think maybe. The things that are scary are the ones that are probably the most worth doing.” Strawberry didn’t look like she had a good answer for that.   “So.” She sniffed. “You’re really leaving, then,” she said, the shock starting to give way to the reality of the situation and moreover, the fact that she couldn’t control it. Zoe sniffed too.   “Yeah.” She nodded. “Yeah. I have to.” Strawberry stared into Zoe’s eyes for a minute and, unsurprisingly, started crying again. She wrapped her arms around Zoe tighter. Zoe returned the hug, her own tears starting to fall again, too. Charlie and Alma watched the scene unfold, neither one sure what to do next until they hard a noise coming from above. It sounded like. Clapping.   “That was very impressive. From all of you.”   Ida floated down into the playroom from the ceiling, slowly clapping her hands together. She had a pleased expression on her face. One that was quickly replaced with surprise as Strawberry flew into her chest like a missile.   “Idaaaaaaaaaaaa!” The pink ghost whined as she wrapped her arms around her nanny.   “Oh, oh, there, there, my little Sweetie-berry. Shhh.” Ida immediately went to comforting her, wrapping an arm around the ghost girl. “I know. I know. It’s okay, let it out. Just let it all out, baby, nana’s here.” She spent a few minutes doing that and to, her credit, Strawberry was still crying, but she did start calming down. Once Ida felt that was at least momentarily handled, she floated over in Zoe’s direction   “Zoe. Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” She asked, a slightly wistful smile on her face. Zoe looked like she could use a hug too, but for the moment, she stood her ground.   “Ida,” she said. “Um. Thank you. For watching over me and taking care of me the last year, but. I think it’s time for me to go. So if you have any more tests for me. I think I’m ready to take them.” Zoe honestly wasn’t entirely sure how she’d do at a potty training test at this point, she’d been in diapers for a while, but. She knew that she couldn’t let that kind of fear hold her back anymore, either.   Ida looked her in the eye for a moment, raised her free hand up…   “You pass.”   And booped her on the nose.   “You’ve graduated from Nana’s daycare. Congratulations, Zoe.” It was now Zoe’s turn for her lips to wibble and for her eyes to get all big and wet. Ida nodded to her and opened up her other arm. Zoe dove right into it, taking that hug. “I’m very proud of you, Zoe,” Ida whispered down to her. “And I agree with everything you said. I’ll set up some playdates for the two of you later on, if you want.” At that, Strawberry stopped crying and looked up.   “Can Zoe come visit us here?” The ghost girl asked. Zoe blinked, her brows knitting slightly.   “Um. If I do visit here, will you promise to not try and enroll me or turn me into a doll again?” She asked. Ida looked at Strawberry. Strawberry looked around for a few seconds, looking for a way out of answering that question. When one didn’t come, she went back to crying and burying her head in Ida’s shoulder. Ida just chuckled and hugged both girls a little closer.   “Charlie. I gotta admit. I’m havin’ trouble keepin’ up with this,” Alma said.   “Uh, well. I thhiiiiiink? I’ve got it all pretty straight,” Charlie said with a bit of a questioning lilt. “Hit me.”   “Okay. So. When she betrayed us and got us both caught, I thought Zoe was just like, in league with the ghosts. She was on their team, she wanted the same thing they wanted. But then when I woke up and you told me we had to get the doll away from the pink one, I thought okay, I guess Zoe is trapped here against her will, but, she’s deciding to fight back, so, we’re gonna help her.” Alma scratched her head. “But now they’re like. Cryin’ and huggin’? Like. I dunno how to feel about this. Was Zoe stuck here against her will by ghosts that wanted to make her and us baby dolls forever or wasn’t she?!”   “Aaahhhhehhhhh???” Charlie waggled her hand a couple times. “I think there’s a bit more texture to it than that.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t think Ida, at least, was ever really playing for keeps. I think she was just. Trying to help give the people she’s responsible for something to do. Something that’ll make ‘em happy. Y’know?”   Alma let out a long breath through her nose. She stared at Ida for a long moment. There was something she wanted to do. She bit down on her lip and stopped herself from doing it.   Maybe some other time.   “I guess it’s tough to make the days go by when you’re a ghost stuck in an abandoned daycare,” she admitted. “But they could’ve just gotten iPads and gotten into Minecraft or Fortnite or Pokemon cards or something instead of brainwashing me.” Charlie laughed.   “Yeah. That’s definitely a good point. But hey, it made for some good witching experience, right?” She asked.   “I’m not ready to commit to that,” Alma said, her arms crossed. Charlie giggled some more.   While they spoke, the crying and hugging appeared to have finished up for the moment, so with her arms empty now, Ida approached the two of them.   “Congratulations, you two. You won the game after all. I’m very impressed.” The cutesy patronizing nanny wasn’t present in Ida’s demeanor. She was just speaking to them like adults.   “Heh! You counted us out!” Charlie grinned and pointed at Ida. “But we had it in the bag the whole time!”   “Mmn. Around the time you were in the high chair, I figured Zoe was your only way out.” Ida rubbed her chin a couple times. “But I admit. I didn’t think you would figure that out in time. I thought you had given up on her.”   “Hehehehe!” It would’ve been hard for Charlie’s smile to get bigger. “A Sweets Hunter always finds the unseen angle to get the gold! And they always see the best and sweetest part of a person, too!” Ida chuckled into her hand. Alma rolled her eyes, but smirked a little too.   “You two are very impressive,” Ida said. “In particular, Alma, you are already becoming quite the fearsome witch.” Alma crossed her arms and looked away, a faint trace of red appearing on her cheeks at the compliment. “I’d be very worried about going up against you when you weren’t still 70 or 80% hypnotized.”   “Hrmph,” Alma grumbled. She was pretty sure Alma was overshooting that number a bit and she was pretty sure that even if she was 0% hypnotized, in a straight-up fight, she’d lose to Ida. But the nanny saying it to her made her wonder, just a bit. “Yeah, well. You better just be glad it never came to that.” Alma expected another dignified giggle. Instead, Ida leaned right in through all her bluster and got close to her face.   “It’s just a shame we didn’t get to have more bouncy time, isn’t it?”   Charlie tilted her head, not even hearing what Ida had said. Alma’s face turned bright red and she aggressively shooed Ida away.   “Licorice…?” “Yeah, Mint…?” “How did this happen?”   Licorice and Mint were laying on their backs, staring up at the ceiling. Choco had at this point joined Lemon in putting in a pacifier and not saying anything. They were curled up like cats on the ground a short distance away, leaving the red and green ghost girls to ruminate on their failure.   “We were right there. We were at the finish line,” Licorice muttered. “Then we messed it up.”   “Was it when we started arguing with ‘Berry and took her doll?” Mint asked. “She was trying to keep the doll a secret from Charlie, then later Charlie knew about the doll and how to get it. So maybe we shoulda just listened to her?”   “No, that’s not it,” Licorice said. “’Berry was just doing that so that if we did lose, she would get to keep Zoe. They were already escaped and Alma was unhypnotized before they got the doll, so we had already lost. That’s just why ‘Berry lost too, not us.”   “Yeah, good point…” Mint muttered. Licorice blinked a couple times.   “It was the ginger,” she said. “Charlie had the ginger that unhypnotized Alma on her. Zoe grabbed it off of her and put it on one of Alma’s sweets. Charlie was just stuck in the high chair before that, she didn’t have any way of escaping on her own. If we’d just sent Charlie straight to the bedroom, she would’ve been wrapped up in a crib when the tea party was happening and Zoe would’ve never had a chance to free Alma. It all would’ve gone off without a hitch.”   “…dude.” Mint looked at Licorice. “It goes way further than that. We didn’t even need to do a tea party. We could’ve fed Alma a single bottle, put both her and Charlie in cribs, then done the tea party after they were both enrolled. It just wasted a buncha time.”   Licorice looked at Mint. Then they both went back to looking at the ceiling.   “Oh, man. We threw.” “Yeah, we suck.”   They both sighed. Licorice took out a red pacifier, Mint took out a green. They shared one more look, put their pacifiers in each other’s mouths and stared back up at the ceiling, sucking quietly.   A short time later, Zoe had said all of her goodbyes, including to the four at this point non-verbal ghost girls (who also got their share of comfort and kisses from Ida) and it seemed like there wasn’t much else to do, when something occurred to Zoe.   “Hey, Charlie,” she said. “Is it okay that you never got to make that sweet you were looking for?” Charlie sighed and put her hands behind her head, a disappointed grimace tugging at her lips.   “I had to use the ectoplasm I found to make the Forget-Me-Knot spice, I don’t have any more.” She waved a hand. “Besides, I think we’ve stuck around long enough as is. I’ll just have to find another source for the Treat Truffle. That’s the life of a Sweets Hunter!”   Ida chuckled and held up something that Charlie hadn’t expected to see again - her notebook, flipped open to the page on the Treat Truffle.   “I found this in the dresser,” she said. “You know, I think you three have earned a prize. You did win the game, after all. If you’d be willing to stay a bit longer, I’ll make the sweet for you, myself.” Charlie’s face was immediately lit up, while Alma glowered at Ida in suspicion.   “How much of a bit longer, Ida?” The witch asked. Ida chuckled somewhat nervously and made a ‘calm down’ gesture with her hands.   “It’s okay, Alma. You won the game, I promise.” She looked around. “Girls, can you all promise Alma that you won’t try anything else if our guests stay a bit to enjoy a bit of dessert?”   The only response was a gaggle of murmuring.   “Words, girls. Use your words. Then you can go back to paci-time.”   Several popping noises followed.   “We promiiiiiiiiiiiiise,” came the very unenthusiastic unified answer, followed immediately by another series of popping noises.   “They’re a little bit tuckered out,” Ida said in a hushed tone to the three human girls. “But I think they’ll be good for the rest of the night.”   “If they weren’t ghosts, I’d be thinking we should check to make sure they’re still alive,” Alma muttered, poking a currently-sprawled-out-on-the-floor Choco with her foot to see if she moved. In response she got no movement and a single displeased nose. “Whatever, fine, my stomach is already way too full of tea and sweets, but fine. We can have the truffles, in our regular clothes, with no diapers,” she said, waving a finger in Ida’s face.   “Of course,” Ida said coolly. She reached into her apron and pulled out everything Charlie and Ida had lost over the course of the night, neatly folded and arranged for them. Alma immediately snatched all of her stuff (starting with her bat).   “Yeah, alright, fine, we’ll stay,” she grumbled. “I’m gonna go change.” Alma walked off into a room, not particularly caring what it was, just that it had a door. Before she could close the door, Ida leaned into her space again.   “Alma, if that’s the last diaper you’re going to ever wear, is there anything you’d like to do with it first?” She asked. Alma’s eyes got big, her face turned bright red and she slammed the door in Ida’s face, much to her amusement. “Ohohohoho!”   “Uhhhh. Whas’ that about?” Charlie asked. She looked confused. Zoe just pursed her lips and nodded.   “I get it, Alma. Bouncy-time is tough to resist.”   ---     “Here they are!”   Some time later, Ida presented a full tray of completed chocolate truffles. Charlie stared at the tray with an overjoyed expression - she just wanted to admire them for a few seconds. A few seconds was all she got before a flurry of frills and different colored blurs swept over the tray, leaving it completely empty.   “Guess they found their second wind,” Alma said. Charlie stared at the empty tray, briefly looking inconsolable. From the various dark corners of the rooms, they heard a series of giggles.   “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I thought to make decoys,” Ida sighed, discarding that tray and pulling out a second one from behind her back. This one had only three truffles on it, one for each girl, each personally decorated with frosting that looked like a small drawing of each girl’s face. This time, she watched the room like a hawk. None of the ghosts tried her a second time.   “Eeeee, it’s a Treat Truffle with my face on it!” Charlie was back to overjoyed and was now bouncing up and down on her feet. “You used buttercream for my ponytail!”   “Hm. S’cute, I guess,” Alma said. “Alright. Here we go, here’s to our 7 millionth carb of the night,” she said and bit into the truffle. She looked at the inside and tilted her head. “Hey, I thought chocolate truffles were supposed to have chocolate in them,” she said and showed hers - the filling was a gold cream.   “That’s the magic of the truffle,” Ida explained. “Whoever eats it gets a blessing. That’s the treat!” She waved her hands a little. “I randomized the flavors when I was making them, so even I don’t know who’s going to get what! But!” She held up a piece of paper with various colors on it. “I made you all a little chart for which flavor does what! Here!” She handed Alma the chart.   “Ohhhh, this is the best part!” Charlie said, hopping up and down. “Come on, Alma, take a look!”   “Uh huh…okay. Golden cream filling,” Alma muttered, drawing her finger over the chart. “Here we go. Golden cream. Financial windfall - immediately receive three months rent.” Alma looked at Charlie, then at Ida. She let out skeptical snort and took her phone out of her pocket. She quickly navigated to her banking app and.   She blinked a few times.   Charlie didn’t look (as her employer, it would be inappropriate to look at Alma’s private financial information), but she stared at Alma in anticipation. Alma just kept blinking.   “Uh. Three months of rent worth of money just got added to my bank account,” she said. Charlie leaped over to her and gave her partner a hug.   “Hehehehe! How’s that for a bonus, eh, Alma?” Alma just kept staring.   “I’m genuinely not sure how to react to this,” she said. The mixture of Charlie actually being right the whole time about how impressive the truffle was, plus this unambiguously great thing happening to her had completely disarmed Alma and left her zero room to be grumpy about it at all. She looked like she needed to be rebooted. Charlie let her have the moment to herself and zipped over to Zoe.   “C’mon, Zoe! Do yours next!” She encouraged.   “I - I guess I should, but uh.” Zoe looked at the truffle. “I’m still kinda nervous about all this. After I eat this, it’s gonna do what it’s gonna do, then I gotta leave and go out and. Go back to school and start thinkin’ about a job and stuff and I don’t even really know what I wanna do and.” She gulped. “I spent so much time with my world just being as big as this daycare, now I still got all of these unanswered questions and I dunno how to — mmph!”   Somewhere during all of that, Ida lightly tilted Zoe’s hand up to make it push her truffle into her mouth. Zoe took the hint and took a bite.   “Oh!” She said and took another bite. “It’s peanut butter!” She said, turning the truffle around to show everybody else. “Uh, what’s the chart say for that?” She asked.   “Let’s see!” Charlie took the chart from Alma and looked it over. “Here! Peanut butter!” She squinted. “Is that right?” She looked at Ida. Ida nodded.   “What is it?” Zoe looked at the chart. She tilted her head. “’Instantly gain 25% of a full education on building furniture and upholstery’.” Zoe stared at that for a few seconds. Then she stared off into the middle distance. “…I’m gonna take a woodworking class,” she said. “And - maybe an engineering class. So I can learn. How to make one of those chairs that massages your back for you,” she said, running her hands down Charlie’s back a couple times to demonstrate.   “Wow,” Charlie said. “You figured that out fast.”   “Or. Maybe. Custom embroidered pillows and cushions.” Zoe touched her fingers to her chin. “I’m not sure yet.”   “You should try both!” Charlie said. “You’ve got all the time in the world!”   “Yeah, I…” Zoe came out of her own thoughts for a second. “I guess I do, huh.” And for the first time that night, she let out a breath and her body seemed to release a whole lot of tension. “Well, uh. I guess that just leaves you, Charlie,” Zoe pointed out.   “Yeah.” Alma glanced at Charlie’s truffle. “After all the trouble you went through to get these, yours better be good, huh?” She asked.   “Heeeee! Alright! I wanted to see you guys get yours first, but! Here I go!” Charlie said. She paused to take a big sniff of the truffle first. Then, finally, she bit down into it. Her lips immediately drew tight. “Guhh, heheheheh!” She laughed. Alma looked confused.   “What’s that reaction?” She asked.   “Mmn!” Charlie took another bite. “Haha, yup, that’s definitely it!”   “What? What’s the flavor, Charlie!” Zoe asked.   “That’s definitely it,” Charlie said as she dabbed at her lips, wiping bits of chocolate off. She turned her truffle around to reveal the inside was black. “It’s black licorice!”   “Guhhh.” Alma blanched.   “Ooooh.” Zoe winced. Charlie just kept giggling. “Sorry, Charlie.”   “This is part of the fun!” Charlie exclaimed as she ate the rest of the truffle. “Getting a flavor you didn’t expect!” She licked her fingers. “Y’know, the tastes actually melded a bit. By the end, there, it started to make sense.”   “I couldn’t agree more,” Ida said.   “Hey, uh.” Alma drew her fingers along the chart. “Uh, somethin’s wrong.”   “Yeah…” Zoe was doing the same. “I don’t see black licorice on here.”   “Huh? You don’t?” Charlie asked. Alma and Zoe shook their heads. Then all three of them looked at Ida. Ida looked right into Charlie’s eyes, a small, placid smile on her face.   “Check the back.”   “The back?” Alma repeated and flipped the chart over. “There’s a. Whole other chart here.” She said, seeing a list of another dozen or so possible flavors of the truffle. “Uhm. Charlie?” She showed Charlie the chart and tapped the top.   It said ‘TRICKS’.   Charlie took the chart and looked it over.   “I didn’t know the Treat Truffle came in any of these flavors…” She said, looking it over.   “You know, I wasn’t sure why you kept describing it the way you did, referring to it with that name,” Ida said. “Then I realized, you were working off of an incomplete understanding of the Sweet and its nature.” Her head tilted slightly. “The real thing is called the ‘Trick or Treat Truffle’, Charlie.”   “Trick or Treat Truffle…?” Charlie repeated. She stared at Ida for a moment. “Uhm. Ida, what’s black licorice do?” She asked. Ida’s hand came up and pointed to a space on the chart without looking. Charlie looked down at where her finger was pointing.   ‘Black Licorice: The next ten questions you hear, you must answer yes.’   The two made eye contact again.   Charlie turned and immediately sprinted in the opposite direction, towards the nearest window. Ida flicked one wrist. A number of slamming, shutting, closing and locking noises echoed through the daycare.   “Hey, what the fu—” Alma started, immediately going to move in between Charlie and Ida. A pacifier flew into her mouth, silencing her.   “Shhhh. That’s enough, sweetie,” Ida said coolly. She moved right through Alma and approached Charlie, who had picked up a toy phone and was currently trying to break a window with it. She turned back and looked at Ida.   “Ida, Ida, come on now, let’s be reasonable about this, let’s talk about this, okay, let’s just think this through before we do anythi—”   “Would you like to sit on Nana’s lap, Charlie?”   “Yes, I would!” Charlie spat out, before she could stop it. “Ooooogh, it works! That’s so cool! And SO bad for me!” She sputtered. Ida’s arms swept her up off of the ground, holding her on her hip.   “Let’s go somewhere more private,” Ida cooed. She and Charlie vanished. An enchanted baseball bat swung right through where her head had been 1.5 seconds later.   “Ahhhhoooohhhh! Shit!!!” Alma squeaked out.   “I did not see that coming at all,” Zoe muttered.   —   “There, that’s better.”   Ida sat down in a rocking chair. Charlie thought the chair was too small for Ida’s large body, but it immediately sized up to fit her. The same effect as the cribs, she guessed. Bigger on the inside. She didn’t think she was gonna get used to that.   They were in a smaller room. The curtains were drawn over the only window. There wasn’t much here except a rocking chair, a changing table and a bouncer. Ida flicked her hand and a little orange light appeared from her hand, softly illuminating and warming the room. She shifted Charlie off of her hip and set her in her lap. Or, the closest equivalent of her lap since Ida still didn’t have any legs.   Charlie suddenly felt very small.   “Ida, hey, seriously, can we talk about this?” She asked.   “Would you like a bottle while you rock with nana, Charlie?” Ida asked.   “Y-yeah!” Charlie said and immediately covered her mouth. Ida help up a bottle of white milk and Charlie groaned into her hands. She’d really had quite enough bottles of milk to tide her over for a while.   “Do you want Strawberry Milk?” She asked.   “Mmmhmmm!” Charlie murmured into her hands, nodding. The contents of the bottle turned pink. It wasn’t much of a relief for Charlie that it would at least taste better. When Ida offered the nipple to her, she opened her mouth and when the bottle was settled between her lips, she started drinking from it. So she actually had to do the things she answered yes to. She didn’t know why she hoped that might be a way out of this.   Ida started rocking back and forth, rubbing Charlie’s back with one hand while she bottlefed her with the other. Charlie just quietly drank from the bottle, not knowing what she could possibly do.   “Mmmn, almost finished with your bottle,” Ida cooed after a few moments had passed. Indeed, it was just about empty. Ida pulled the bottle from her mouth. The two shared eye contact. Charlie’s mouth hung open as she wondered what was going to happen next. Was Ida really going to do this to her, right at the end…?   “Do you want nana to pick out your clothes for you tonight, dear?”   Charlie winced. She bit her lips.   “Yesssssss,” she hissed out. Ida rocked for another moment or two, then rose from the chair, shifting Charlie so her head was over Ida’s shoulder. She left the room and carried Charlie to a room she was, unfortunately, quite familiar with. The bedroom. Charlie grimaced, looking around at all of the stuff that had attacked her before, the cribs, the mirror, the dresser. The dresser was the one Ida approached. Thankfully she didn’t shove Charlie inside, she just opened the doors up and took out several articles of clothing. Another babyish nightgown, this one shorter and colored a soft pink-and-white. She set the clothes aside, then began taking off the clothes Charlie was currently wearing.   “Arms up, dear,” she said softly. Charlie’s arms complied, despite her really, really not wanting them to. Her cap and jacket were all taken off. Her ponytail even got undone, for the second time tonight! Then came her shoes and her socks, all tossed into a pile in the corner of the room. Charlie was set on the ground.   “Ida, please, I…” Charlie started to say. She didn’t know what she could possibly say at this point. Ida didn’t give her a chance to think of it.   “Are you wearing big girl underwear, Charlie?”   “Nnn. Yes,” Charlie answered. Ida undid her zipper and slid the jeans down around her ankles. Charlie stepped out of them.   “Did you have an accident in your big girl underwear?”   Charlie winced.   “You promised…” She said weakly and she saw a small smirk on Ida’s face.   “The girls promised not to play with you anymore,” she said. “All nana did was promise to make you your little sweet treat. You remember that,” she said, making sure she didn’t phrase it as a question. “Now, Charlie. Did you have a messy accident in your big girl underwear?”   “Ahhhh….!” Charlie felt her knees bend as she squatted down, standing there hunched in front of Ida in just her shirt and her panties. Her panties which were now slowly being filled with a wave of mess. It was familiar and different. It really felt a lot different than doing it in a diaper. Not to mention more humiliating. These were the panties she’d walked in the door with and now they were just as mushy as the last few diapers she’d worn. That wasn’t the most humiliating part. The most humiliating part was looking up at Ida and seeing the expectant look on her face. Charlie couldn’t stop her lips from forming the words.   “Y-yes. I had a messy accident in my big girl underwear….” She repeated.   “Do you need nana to put you in a diaper?” She asked. Charlie nodded again.   “P-please, Ida, c-can I have a diaper?” She asked. Ida let out a little chuckle into her hand.   “Of course you can,” she said, lifting Charlie up again.

Yes, I like to do that sometimes. And then see how long I can wear the full nappy without it leaking. I like that too

Sorry, I already pooped

Chapter 38.   The agreement.     James and I were playing with whatever we could find in the baby’s room that amused us. I drew the line at the pull-a-long telephone though.   We both ended up on the floor rolling a ball between us, on our bums facing each other legs spread wide as it was the most comfortable position to be in with all the buildup of shit we had in our nappies.   “Why did you come back here James?”   “I think I’m ok telling you this because it’s about me and not Happy Summers.   All the concerts and travelling and pressure I’m under to perform have taken its toll this year. I’ve tried taking a holiday, my family and I went to Disney, but I just couldn’t relax, I was spotted loads of times and pestered. I even got asked to do a turn at the hard rock café when we went to dinner one night because my picture with Elton was on the wall.   We came home after a few days because I couldn’t take it anymore.   We tried a beach holiday to the south of France soon after, but that was as bad. I can’t abide sitting on a beach doing nothing all day. But my mother loved it and my dad spent all his time in the casino spending my money”   “Couldn’t you find anyone to play with, like on the beach?”   “I can’t make friends, that’s always been one of my problems. Sure, there were kids my age running around on the beach playing but I could never get up the courage to go up and ask if they wanted to play.   Anyway, I plucked up some courage one day and went up to one French kid who was playing on his own digging a large hole in the sand. I asked him in my best French if I could play with him and he said fuck off you English poof. I went back to my room and stayed there for the rest of the holiday.   I decided that the only place I had found that I could make friends and relax was here. I can find friends here, I did last year and still keep in touch with them but on the outside world I find it hard”   “I like being your friend you English poof” I smiled my widest grin at him.   He got up off the floor and leapt on top of me pushing me over and sat on my chest and started tickling me.   “Who’s an English poof?”   I couldn’t stop laughing, I laughed so much I pooed again and added to the mess already contained inside my nappy.   “Enough, enough, I submit” I shouted.   “Never” and he continued the tickling and more poo came out.   He eventually stopped and I was crying with laughter. He was laughing as well so much so that he let out his own big wet fart. I felt it on my chest where he was still sitting.   “That’s disgusting, get off”   “Not yet I feel another one coming”   With that I felt another larger wet fart on my chest, and he laughed so much he cried as well.   I pushed him off and we were both lying on our backs next to each other crying with laughter.   The door opened and one of the dinner ladies came in holding two bottles filled with what looked like chocolate milk and asked if we wanted a bottle. We both said yes please and she came over to us.   “Don’t get up” she said. “You look so comfortable and cute laying there dressed in all your finery I’ll come to you”   She came in and sat on the floor between us.   “Come on boys, one of you on one side of my lap and one on the other and I’ll feed you both at the same time”   I shuffled by body around and nestled my head in her lap as did James and we both found ourselves being bottle fed by this nice older lady with huge breasts.   My eyes actually started to close, and I felt myself drifting off to sleep as I sucked. I started dreaming about being breast fed buy the dinner lady like a real baby.   I’m not sure how long we were both there sucking away but every now and then I would feel the nipple in my mouth being moved around and I would start sucking again.   Eventually I felt the nipple being removed and it was replaced with a dummy and I felt the hair my head being stroked from front to back. I felt myself smile and drifted off again.   “Sorry boys, I need to get back to cooking dinner”   I opened my eyes to see the lady smiling down at me.   “Please just a little longer Mrs Flagstaff” said James.   “Ok just a couple more minutes then”   She continued stroking my hair and I saw she was doing the same to James. But eventually she had to get up and go.   “Thank you” said James “That was the best experience I’ve ever had.   It was for me to, but I couldn’t say it out loud as I was too embarrassed.   We both rolled over and she got up off the floor.   “Now behave yourselves and don’t get into trouble ever again, ok!?   We both nodded said we wouldn’t and said thank you again and she left.   We rolled onto our backs again beside each other.   “I don’t know how to describe that, how it felt you know”   “Yes all fuzzy inside, like being in a dream” James said.   “Yea fuzzy, that’s it. I felt like that once a long time ago.   When mum had my sister Penny and she was feeding her a bottle, I asked her if I could have one and she said no at first but eventually because Penny didn’t finish it because she went to sleep mum patted her lap and called me over. I think I must have been about five. She cradled me in her arms and fed me the remainder of the bottle while stroking my hair like the dinner lady just did. She hummed a baby tune as well. It was the one and only time she ever did it although I kept on asking she would always say no”   “You can get fed a bottle at night here if you play your cards right” said James.   “How?”   James came closer and very quietly whispered into my ear.   “Well, there’s always a member of staff on night duty when we go to our cots just to keep an eye on everyone at night. They come in every now and then to check everyone’s asleep. If anyone’s upset or crying they ask you if you’d like a cuddle and a bottle. They take you into the night room and onto this big rocking chair where they give you a rock and a cuddle and a bottle. I love it, but you can’t do it all the time they’ll get suspicious, and you won’t get asked again”   “Really?”   He pulled back so we faced each other and he smiled and nodded.   “Bloody hell, I’m trying that tonight”   “Go for it” he smiled again.   We talked about a load of stuff, home, family, what we got up to, good and bad things.   I found out that he could be really violent and aggressive, but he was slowly bringing it under control with the help of the happy summers staff.   I told him about dealing drugs, nicking stuff and beating kids up and all the shit I used to get up to, His eyes widened as I told him some stuff.   “Will you be my best friend Simon” James asked.   “What friends with an English poof” I smiled at him”   “Wanker”   “Poof”   He stretched out his hand and we shook”   “Forever?”   “Forever” I replied. “But for god’s sake don’t get me into trouble again” he said.   “Only if you promise to do the same”   “Done”   We shook again.   We continued playing with the baby toys and eventually started building brick towers while sitting on the floor again with legs stretched wide open and the blocks in between us. We would take in turns putting the bricks on the stack and try to get the last one in place before knocking over. That was a bit of a laugh to be honest.   The door clicked open and Daniel came in.   We both jumped up off the floor, both trying to conceal the fact that we were playing with baby bricks.   “You two naughty boys ready for dinner?”   James and I nodded a yes.   “Have you both got really poopie nappies?”   We both again nodded a sad embarrassed yes.   “Are they a bit uncomfortable?”   We nodded again.   “I hope this teaches you both a lesson. Play by the rules”   We looked at each other, then nodded again.   We started to make our way towards Daniel when he held up what looked like a picture.   “Oh! By the way I have something to show you both”   As we got closer I could see that it was a picture of me and James’s hugging.   “Oh, I love that” said James. “Can I have it please?”   “Please just rip it up” I said.   Noooo said James, I want it. I think it looks brilliant”   “I look like a real poof dressed like that hugging another boy”   “I disagree Simon, to me that looks like two friends embracing their love and respect for each other because they are sharing a mutual experience” said Daniel.   “I agree said James”   “Look I’ll put a copy in your leaving pack for the end of school”   “Thank you” said James. “I’ll treasure it forever”   “I won’t. I’ll just rip it up when I get whatever this leaving pack thing is”   “Right let’s get to dinner”   We were the last two kids into the room. Our highchairs were already in place and waiting for us.   James walked over to Tony’s end of the table, and I walked to the opposite end. No one seemed to be taking a blind bit of notice of us. Even the kids on our table just looked up and continued with their conversations.   Daniel removed the highchair’s tray, and I climbed up onto it, James did likewise. There was no point in showing off or acting up because no one was paying any attention, so I just plonked my bum down on the seat quite gingerly to avoid disturbing the mess too much on my backside.   My tray was clicked on, and Daniel tied a bib around my neck, he then picked up a little toddler sized spoon and fork and placed them on the tray.   I was looking at James, and he was looking at me we were both smiling at each other. All I could think of was getting another cuddle and a bottle later tonight.   The dinner ladies came out with the trollies piled up with the dinner plates and handed them out.   Mine was a toddler’s plate in the same pattern as my spoon and fork. It contained Cottage pie on one side and mixed vegetables on the other.   I was also handed a bottle of orange juice to suck on. Everyone else had the now customary Sippy cups.   The plates were cleared when everyone had finished and the ladies brought out chocolate cake with custard on top.   The whole meal progressed without anything worth mentioning with the exception of Sam and Elizabeth, they were both looking at me and talking to each other and laughing. I ignored the giggles and just smiled at them with my biggest smile.   “Right everyone, time for bed”   James and I were let down from the chairs and the bibs were removed. We walked together to the back of the Pembrooke line and waited. I thought about putting on a show at one point by grabbing James’s hand and swinging it back and forth like junior school kids when in a playground, waiting to go back into school but I bottled it at the last minute.   Daniel led us up upstairs behind the Arundel kids. I spotted him smiling as we climbed the stairs, he was looking at Janes bum. He said something to her, she blushed and smiled back   She did actually have a nice bum though.   Daniel clicked open the games room door and we all piled into the room, James and I made a dash for the buckaroo game and grabbed it off the shelves.   “I’ll call the first group in, in a few minutes, but I’ll let you all have some extra time tonight because some of you have deserved it.   Simon, James, your both up now though!”   I looked at James and he at me. “Bloody hell” I said under my breath. I’d been playing with baby toys all afternoon, I wanted to thrash James playing with some proper games.   “To be honest I want to get this shitty nappy off don’t you” James said.   “Suppose so” I replied.   We trudged into the changing room heads down slightly, miffed at being sectioned out from the others.   I walked over to my changing table and James walked to his. Ann was already waiting for me.   “Hop up young man” she said. I climbed up and slowly and gingerly laid back.   “A bit of a full nappy I take it” she said.   I nodded.   “Sore?”   “A bit yes”   “Will you misbehave again young man?”   “No Ann, not anymore, promise”   “Good! glad to hear it. Let’s get you ready for your cot shall we”   They removed my dress and knickers then my socks and shoes and hung them up.   Daniel pulled my plastic pants down my legs and over my feet and threw them in a bin next to the changing table. Between them they unpinned my nappy and it plopped forward to reveal its contents. I didn’t want to look at what I had produced so I just gazed around the room, something I hadn’t really done before in all the times I had been in here.   I spotted the Disney stuff on the walls, the fact that all the wardrobes were either pink or blue and that they had everyone’s names on them. I spotted that they were all filled with the same identical boys’ and girls’ clothes.   I looked over in James’s direction and he looked in mine. He had his usual grin, but he seemed to be rolling his eyes upward.   I saw the mess he’d produced in his nappy and pulled a face, I also spotted that he had a huge stiffy and was loving the fact that it was being rubbed and cleaned with a baby wipe.   Daniel and Ann quickly cleaned me of all the poo and had me off the table and through to the bath.   Between them they washed me top to toe and I was stood up and dried. Ann wrapped me in a warm fluffy white towel, and I got out of the bath.   Next was the dressing room.   Daniel tightly pinned on three terry nappies and then pulled on two pairs of plastic pants. I noticed that one pair was slightly larger so they could accommodate the larger nappies.   My sleeper came next, over my head and pulled down over the bulky nappies. It felt that it only just made it over the extra layers, but it went on. Daniel did up the buttons and got me to swing round and onto the floor.   My legs were so bowed out that I could only just stand up let alone walk so he carried me through to my cot and laid me on my back.   There was no way I could lay on my side so on my back was the most comfortable position I suppose. He pulled up my sheet and blanket and tucked me in, then raised the bars to the cot He offered me a bottle and a dummy and I said yes to both.   He and Tony left the nursery.   “I saw you enjoying that” I said to James.   “Too bloody right I did, how often do you get a girl to rub your stiffy even if she never finishes you off, so sweet” He had a smiley smirk.   “Dirty bugger, your weird”   “I know, good isn’t it. I’m really ready for a little rub now”   And with that he started to furiously rub the front of his sleeper until I noticed his ryes roll and he let out a huge satisfying sigh. It didn’t take him long to finish, and he started a slow suck on his bottle while his breathing was still fast.   One by one the rest of the kids came through to bed. Eventually Sam came through. When the door was closed for the last time everyone started talking. Asking what we had done to get punishment.   James told them what had happened and there were gasps around the room.   “You’re kidding, you got punishment for telling a secret”   “It was a bit more complicated than that” said James. “It was a breach of confidentiality, going back on a promise to keep a secret”   There was a lot of chatter in the nursery. People saying things like. “I ain’t telling you nuffin ever again and that sort of stuff.   I looked over towards Sam, she was looking at me.   “What did you and Elizabeth find so funny at dinner?”   “Oh nothing, I just said that I thought you were soooooo cute in your dress that I really wanted to play mummies and babies with you and she agreed with me.   I smiled back though the bars. “Anytime, anytime you feel like it”   She laughed.   The nursery quietened as people started to drift off to sleep. Some sucking a dummy and some with bottle nipples half in and half out of their mouths.   A longtime passed and I was fighting my bodies desire to go to sleep, waiting for whoever was on night duty to do their rounds in the nursery.   My eyes were slowly getting heavier and heavier, and I was just about to drop off when the nursery door opened, and Jenny stepped through the door.   The night light on the ceiling gave off just enough light for someone to manage to walk around and not bump into things.   I put my plan into action and started to gently cry, which was more of a whimper really. Jenny noticed my crying as she walked past my cot and went down on her haunches next to my cot bars.   “What’s the matter Simon” She whispered softly.   “I can’t get to sleep, this nappy is too tight, and I have to lay on my back”   “Have you tried counting sheep”   “Who counts sheep. Only babies count sheep and I’m not a baby am I”   “Well, I’d beg to differ at the moment” she said.   Have you used your nappy?”   “No”   “Try having a pee, that normally loosens the terry cloth and helps it form between your legs slightly better”   “I don’t need a pee at the moment”   So far this wasn’t going the way I was expecting.   “Can’t you loosen my nappy a bit please?”   “You know that once you’re in your night ware you don’t get a change”   “I know Miss but it’s really uncomfortable” I started some more waterworks to see if that helped.   I heard a snigger from behind Jenny. She turned and I looked, and we both saw James staring at us through his cot bars giggling like a little schoolgirl.   “You could take him for a bottle and a cuddle Miss. It’s worked for me in the past”   “And I suppose you’d like a bottle and a cuddle as well James?”   “Who me Miss, no thanks, I’ve peed so I’m all comfortable thank you”   Jenny let the side of my cot down and pulled back my bedding. I tried to sit up but found it difficult. Jenny slid her hand behind my shoulders and lifted me to a sitting position.   I swung my legs around and dropped to the floor onto my feet. My legs were still spread widely and the only thing that stopped me from falling over was the grippy feet of my sleeper.   “Can you walk?”   I tried and couldn’t. I couldn’t even waddle. I gave her a helpless grin.   Jenny scooped me off the floor, she wasn’t a big woman, but she had some real strength. She picked up my dummy off the bed and held it to my lips, I opened up and put my head forward and it popped into my mouth.   She placed me on her hip like a mother would a baby and she carried me out of the nursery closing the door behind us as we passed through it.   She walked up the corridor a little way and we entered a small room that had two beds and two chairs. I spotted a bottle warmer on the side with four bottles already warming.    She plonked me on the floor and sat down in the chair, she then picked me up and cradled me in her arms. She reached over and picked up a bottle from the warmer, took out my dummy and offered me the bottle teat. I took the rubber nipple and started to immediately suck. Jenny laid back and started to gently rock backwards and forward in the rocker.   Lawrence came in with one of the little kids I’d seen from the Arundel nursery. He was sobbing uncontrollably, saying he wanted his mummy.   Lawrence sat straight down in the rocker and Jenny handed him one of the other bottles from the warmer.   The little kid took the nipple and started to rhythmically suck away. I was facing him and he was facing me. He smiled and winked as he looked at me. The little bugger was faking it the same way I was.   I winked back and we both laid there being rocked and bottle fed. All you could here was the air bubbles escaping into the bottle as the pair of us fed. Without much warning I let out a long steady gush of pee into my tight bulky terry.   “Have you just peed Simon?”   I nodded, not wishing to disturb my steady sucking.   “That’s good” she said. “Maybe you’ll be able to get to sleep now.   All too soon my bottle was finished. Jenny continued to rock me for a while more. My eyelids had already started to close and she noticed.   “Right let’s get you back to your cot shall we”   She carried me back to the nursery and laid me back down. She tucked me back in and popped by dummy back where it rightfully now belonged, and I immediately started the usual slow sucking rhythm. She picked up the chart from the end of the bed and wrote something down and then replaced it. She raised the bars, left the room and closed the door.   “How was that?” James asked.   I was facing him, I opened one eye and smiled through my dummy half asleep.   “Night little one” he said.   “Night mum” I replied and slipped into a deep calm and happy sleep.   Next time were back with Pete & Jenny in   Chapter 39   The Big move Chapter 38.docx

I agree. It’s quick fix but not nearly as satisfying as the feeling when your body relaxes and you fill your diaper. It’s a different kind of warmth as well🤣