The Babysitter

[baby_snow_white]

Kara looks around and finds an elm leaf. She picked it up as showed it to Miranda. "This is an elm leaf. There is a good rhyme to remember what is ok to pick up. It goes leaves of three let it be." She kneels down infront of Miranda. "Are you itching anyplace on your body? If you are. We are going to have to go to the drug store and get some calamine lotion to put on your skin to keep you from itching."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda blushed, looking at the elm leaf, which looked nothing like the one she'd picked up. She squirmed a little as Kara recited the rhyme - she remembered it then, of course, but it hadn't even crossed her mind when it might have done her some good. "No, I'm fine," she pouted, trying to minimize the damage her silliness had caused, but after a moment, recalling how itchy she'd gotten the one time she'd gotten poison ivy, and knowing she wouldn't be able to hide that, she sighed and said, "Yeah, my arms are kinda itchy..."

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Well let's get you to the first aid station and see if they have any calamine lotion. If not. We are going to have to leave the park and go home. Then we are going to have to go to the drug store so I can buy some. If I didn't. The itching is only going to get worse and you are not going to be able to sleep."

[Guest clinediap]

"All right, let's go," Miranda agreed, trying to inconspicuously reach up and scratch her arms, sniffling. She followed Kara to the first aid station, standing there blushing as Kara asked for calamine lotion. Unfortunately, they'd run out - apparently, it was starting to be their busy time for that sort of thing, and they hadn't had the chance to stock up enough of it yet. Miranda hadn't really listened closely enough to know exactly what was going on, too busy trying to keep from obviously scratching, as doing so got her a reprimand from the ranger, telling her she shouldn't do that.

"Hope you feel better, little lady," the ranger smiled down at her condescendingly. Miranda did her best not to stick her tongue out at him as they walked away, heading back home.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara walks outside with Miranda. "I'm sorry they didn't have any lotion. I know how bad you are itching. I got into some during a nature hike on a camping trip when I was in Girl Scouts. As soon as we get home. I'll take you to get some lotion. Would you like me to carry you back to the house. It will be quicker and the quicker we get home. The quicker we can get you some lotion to stop your itching."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda pouted, then swallowed her pride and nodded. Everyone already thought she was a little kid anyway, she might as well take advantage of it. "Uh-huh," she said with a sniffle, raising her arms.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara was a bit surprised by Miranda's answer. She picks Miranda up and puts her on her hip. The two of them walk out of the park and down the sidewalk back towards home. Kara puts Miranda into the carseat. "I'll be back in a moment. I've got to go in and get my purse." She closes the cardoor and goes into the house. Kara came out a few minutes later with her purse. She gets into the car. "Is the itching getting any worse or about the same?"

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda shrugged, squirming in the seat. "I guess it's about the same..." she said. It felt like it was getting worse, but she was pretty sure that was just in her imagination. She kept squirming during the drive, trying to keep from scratching, remembering that was bad, though she couldn't remember why, exactly - maybe she was thinking about chicken pox. She started to get nervous as they got closer to the drugstore, wondering whether they'd run into someone she knew there. "Umm..." she spoke up as Kara started to pull into the parking lot, "Can I stay out here while you get the lotion?"

[baby_snow_white]

Kara shakes her head. "No I can't let you stay out in the car. How do you think it would look if I went into the store and left you in the car. Let's turn it around. Let's say you went by a car and there was a small child inside and no adult around. What would you think of the adult who left the car in the car?" She pulls into the parking lot of the drug store.

[Guest clinediap]

"But I'm not a kid!" Miranda protested, pouting. "If you hurry up, nobody will even see me here without you!" She sulked, crossing her arms, though she knew she probably wouldn't leave someone she was babysitting in the car alone. But that was different!

[baby_snow_white]

Kara looks at Miranda. "You might not be a kid,but to everyone else. You look like a kid. Think about it. The people at the mall thought you was a toddler, the security guard thought you was a toddler. So if I left you in the car alone. People going by is going to think I left a toddler in the car and I could be arrested for child endangerment and you would be put into foster care while I'm in jail."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda sighed, rolling her eyes. "That's not gonna happen!" she protested, feeling a little annoyed at Kara for just assuming the worst was going to happen. But she certainly didn't seem to be making any headway, and it wasn't helping her get her lotion to stop the itching any sooner, so she sighed again, more resigned this time. "Fine, let's just go in and get it over with..."

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Ok." She gets Miranda out of her carseat and carries her inside. Thr two of them go over to where the lotion is at. Kara picks up a bottle and hands it to Miranda. "You can hold this for me while I go and pay for it." Kara goes though the checkout and pays for the lotion. She takes Miranda into the bathroom and puts it on Miranda's arms. "Do you itch anywhere else?"

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda wrinkles her nose at the weird, cool feeling of the lotion on her skin. It wasn't bad, really, but it was odd. She shook her head. "No, not really..." she said, squirming a little. It was starting to feel a little less itchy already, or it might just have been her imagination, but either way, she was grateful, though rather than expressing that, she glanced around nervously, and asked, "Can we get outta here and go back home now?"

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Yes we can go home now. Would you like to stop on the way home and pick up some videos to watch? You can rent what you want. It doesn't have to be children's movies if you don't want to. If you don't want to rent any movies. That is ok with me. I just know you said you was bored earlier today."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda started to agree automatically, glad for just the prospect of something more adult to do than the rest of her activities that day had been, then paused. It hadn't really been that likely that she'd see one of her friends at the drug store, honestly, but at the video store... That was another story. She glanced down at herself, trying to judge how obvious her diaper was under her shorts. It was hard to tell, especially since she knew what to look for, while anyone else wouldn't, really. "Umm... Can I wait in the car -there-?" She didn't honestly expect the answer to be yes, though, so she shrugged - if they did run into any of her friends, she could just say she was the one who was babysitting - like it was supposed to be - and hope they didn't notice she was without her normal 'maturity enhancers'. "Yeah, I guess we could do that..."

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Ok. We will go to the video store." She drives down the road and pulls into Blockbuster Video. Kara pulls into a parking place and get out of the car. She goes around to the back door and opens it. The two of them walk into the store and Kara let Miranda go pick out the movies she wanted. Kara picks up Cinderella and Marley and Me. She waits at the front of the store on Miranda to pick out what she wanted to see.

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda wandered around the store for a little while, looking at the movies. As she passed by the bathroom, she briefly considered getting free from her diaper, but it was stupid to think she could get away with it that time, after her rather disastrous first attempt. Plus, she remembered after trying the door, you had to get the key to the bathroom from one of the employees anyway, and Kara would probably notice that. Eventually, she picked up Slumdog Millionaire and Let the Right One In, heading towards the from of the store, where she saw Kara waiting, only to see one of her worst fears walk through the door - Jillian, one of her friends from school, with her boyfriend.

Despite having her plan for how to handle that, Miranda found herself feeling nervous as she saw that, quickly ducking behind a shelf. She waited a few anxious moments to make sure Jill hadn't spotted her, or at least didn't care to come over and see what she was doing, then slipped back out, spotting the two browsing the opposite wall. She hurried over to Kara, shoving the movies into her hand and whispering, "Could we hurry up, please?"

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Yes I'll hurry. You can go stand by the door and wait for me." She walks over to the checkout and sees a line. "Looks like we are going to wait for a little bit." Kara walked her turn in line. As she neared the checkout with the movies. Jillian and her boyfriend walked up behind Kara. Kara heard her making comments about that the toddler standing by the door and now she should be out of diapers. She turns around and looks at Jillian. "Why don't you just shut your mouth. No one cares what you think or say. If you wasn't easy. No guy would like you. I heard people at school talking about you. They said you are like peanut butter. Easy to spread and you are like the community bike. Everyone gets a turn to ride." Kara paid for the movies and walked out of Blockbuster Video leaving Jillian standing there with a stunned look on her face. She helps Miranda into the backseat. "What could you possibly have in Jillian that would make you want to be her friend? She is rude to everyone, She talks down to other people."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda stared down at her feet, trying to keep Jillian from recognizing her as she stood at the door. She might have gone outside, but she had a feeling Kara would see that as her trying to run away, which she was sure would have unpleasant consequences. She blushed a little at Jillian's comments, telling herself she might think the same thing if she saw someone her size in diapers - though she was definitely glad she hadn't tested out her plan of pretending she was still the babysitter - then felt a strange mix of anger and happiness at Kara's. It felt nice being defended, but at the same time, Jillian was her friend...

She kept her face hidden as Kara took her back to the car, not daring to use her voice until they were inside. "You don't even know her!" she protested. "She can be really nice! She can just come on a little... strong... if you don't know her..." Though even as she said it, she wondered how true it really was. Really, she just hung out with her because she was popular... It had taken her a little while to get used to her. Or maybe she'd just trained herself to ignore how rude she really was, for the sake of being in the in-crowd. "You shouldn't have said all that," she told Kara anyway, but she couldn't really find it in herself to be mad at Kara for it.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "You are right. I don't know her,but I know her type. She only feels good about herself when she puts other people down. It makes her feel superior to everyone else if she treats them like they are below her. I thought you was different,but now I see you are just like her. The in crowd is more important to you than being nice to people. Well that will be the last time I defend you. It is obvious to me. You don't want to be defended." She drives home without saying anything else to Miranda. Kara pulls into the driveway and turns off the car. She helps Miranda out of the car and unlocks the house. Kara takes Miranda into the house. She goes upstairs and comes back down with Miranda's big girl clothes and her underwear. "Here is your big girl clothes. You can wear them if you want to. I'm done treating you like a small child. It became very obvious to me in the parking lot of the video store. There is no good part of you. You are rotten to the core and want to be part of Jillian's in crowd. Well you are going to get your wish." Kara leaves Miranda's clothes on the couch and then goes up to her room. She closes the door and locks it.

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda stood there in the living room, shocked. There were her clothes, her normal underwear, even her padded bra, all there, calling to her. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to put them on; she just stood there, staring at them. It wasn't that she didn't want to be grown-up again... She did want that, definitely. But having it done like this... Well, it felt hollow, wrong even. And, she realized with a sigh, she couldn't do it.

So she left the clothes behind, toddling up to Kara's room, tapping on the door quietly. "Kara," she called. "Kara, I'm sorry... I-I'm not really rotten... I promise..." She knocked again, sniffling, tears starting to fall slowly from her eyes. Kara, she'd realized, was a very nice person... Even if she'd made Miranda wear diapers and all, she'd spoken up for her time and again, and taken care of her. In a way, though she couldn't quite see that yet, she was the kind of person Miranda had always seen herself as, the kind of person she wished she was. And just look at how she'd treated her. It made her feel a little sick inside. "I'm sorry!" she said again, crying.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara wiped her eyes and walked over to the door. She unlocked it and looked at Miranda. "You might not think you are,but you have done nothing,but complained and whined the whole day. No matter how much I have done to make you happy. Nothing is good enough for you,but I've stopped trying to make you happy. If you want to the the rotten adult you seem to be. Then go ahead. I'm not going to try and change me." Kara looks at what Miranda was wearing. "Why are you still dressed like a child? I figured you would have been out of them and back into your adult clothes. It seems to be the only time you are truly happy."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda squirmed as she listened to Kara, knowing everything she was saying was true, feeling bad about all of it. "I'm sorry," she said again, looking down at her feet. "I-I don't mean to be rotten... I don't want to be rotten... I-I guess I didn't realize how bad I was. I didn't mean to make you feel bad, really... You're probably the nicest person I know. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings..." She sniffled again, giving Kara the biggest hug she could, hoping she could see how sincere she was. "Please don't be mad at me..."

[baby_snow_white]

Kara looks at Miranda. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just tired of this being all one sided. Me being nice to you and you not returning the favor. So if you want to be a big girl again. Go ahead. I'm tired of trying to change your behavior into something that is more like a normal person or you can stay a baby for the rest of the time you are here. The choice is your's. I'm not going to make the decision for you."