Attorney

[The Cle-venger]

82
 “And that's why you attempted to frame my client, isn't it?”  Andrea Phillips thundered.  “You were hoping that planting evidence on an innocent passerby would absolve you of guilt, but it didn't work.”

 With that she retired to her chair smoothing out her prim business suit in the process.  The prosecutor had dropped the ball on this case and she was sure to win, making herself 7 for 8 on media grabbing cases since she finished law school not but two years ago.  Sitting at the defense table she rubbed the back of her neck and reviewed the documents laid out before her in preparation for the forthcoming closing argument.  Making a note of what others might call 'trivial' inconsistencies in the prosecutions case she patiently waited for the District Attorney to finish cross-examining her witness.  It was moments like this that made young Miss Phillips feel alive, like she was a real-life Matlock, or better yet, Perry Mason. 

 Her summation was as fiery as her red hair and looking across the faces of the jurors she knew that victory was at hand.  Soon the case was turned over to the group of 12 men and women who retreated into the back of the courthouse.  After a scant 15 minutes they reemerged and the foreman handed a slip of paper to the judge who moments later decreed that her client was innocent.  Turning to the wealthy middle aged man who had been her client she shook his hand and nodded to her boss who was watching from the back of the room.

 As she was packing her briefcase a firm hand gripped the young litigator's shoulder.  “Another fine win.  A few more of these and we'll have to think seriously of making you a partner.”

 “Thank you sir.”  Andrea replied.  “It's my goal to always do the best I can.”

 “Well keep up the good work.”  He strode out of the courthouse.

 Another shot of pain radiated from her neck and back and Andrea decided it was time to visit the doctor.  Surely there was a way to eliminate the burdens she felt every time she tried a case.  For now though it was time to celebrate and have a few cocktails with the girls. 

 It was a short walk to Falsetto's, an upscale bar catering to the business world and courtroom community.  Once there Andrea ordered a margarita and awaited her friends whose workday would conclude in a matter of minutes.  Upon their arrival the group moved to a table to order dinner and discuss the days events, of course everyone was excited on the young attorneys recent victory. 

 “We should do shots!” someone called out.

 Andrea rubbed her neck, “It's Wednesday, we all have work in the morning.”

 “Psssh!  I say every time the news mentions your case we do the shot they named after you.”  another voice laughed flagging down a waitress.  “Can we get 4 redheaded sluts please and channel 7 on the TV here?”

 Pretty soon the six o'clock news was on and the first round of shots were polished off.  The waitress brought more and those were also taken care of in short order.  A grand total of 16 shots, 4 a piece, were consumed by the end of the report and all of the girls were more than a little tipsy to the point they merely poked at their food before having it wrapped and grabbing taxis to their respective apartments.

 The abundance of alcohol had relaxed the pain in her neck and back to a dull roar but wasn't able to eliminate it completely which made for another fitful night of sleep.  Tossing and turning she finally gave up at 5:00am, swallowed a couple Tylenol along with a glass of water and headed to the office to start research for her next case.  While interns were available to be sent into the library, Andrea preferred to find precedents and statutes on her own so she better understood how to best use them in the courtroom.

 “Hey Miss Phillips, what you doing here so early?” 
 
 Looking up from the book she was reading on evidence exclusion she smiled.  “Hi Garrett.  Just a little work on the Wright case.”

 “That's not for another two weeks.  Anything I can do to help?” the intern asked.

 “No, I've got everything I need right here.”  Andrea rubbed her neck and winced remembering her promise to herself to see the doctor.  “Wait, can you see if you can get me into the doctor's office.”

 “No problem, what do I tell her is the problem?”

 “I want to see if I can get a prescription for pain management.”

 11:15am found the intrepid lawyer meeting with Dr. Ruth Jennings at the latter's office.  A series of basic medical questions, followed by more questions about how long the symptoms have been occurring was topped off by the good doctor probing around to determine the source of the pain. 

 “Well the good news is, I know what the issue is and there are two ways we can go about fixing it.”  Dr. Jennings smiled and rubbed Andrea's shoulder.  “Though knowing you I doubt the first will hold much interest.”

 “Lay it on me.”

 “You are over working yourself and it's given you hypertension and high blood pressure,  174/132.  For someone who has just to crest the middle of her 20's that's bad.  You can either cut back on your caseload or I can prescribe you something.”

 The amused attorney chuckled.  “I see what you mean about the first option.”

 “The prescription is for Cardura to lower your blood pressure and Ativan as a sleep aid.  You'll take the Cardura twice a day, once in the morning when you wake up and once at night.  The Ativan, of course, will be right before bed.”

 Andrea filled the prescriptions after a quick lunch and was back in the law library at a quarter past noon.  She spent the time until 7pm looking up a couple more statutes and writing a first draft of the opening argument.  Take out from the Hun Don Chinese Restaurant served as dinner before a shower, taking her new medication and passing out for the evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 For the first time in ages Andrea slept until her alarm rang at 730am.  Despite the slight chill in the air as she headed to the office she thought it was going to be a beautiful Friday.  The morning was spent in the library once again, polishing off what she thought to be a moving opening statement.  After a quick lunch she called in a pair of interns, Garrett and Nicole, to help her go over the prosecutions witness list.  No doubt more than a handful of the people listed wouldn't testify or if they did it would be to circumstancial connections.  What they were hoping to do was find the key witnesses and figure out exactly what they wanted to talk about.  It was nearing the end of the day by the time they made any headway at all so Andrea called it a night, returned to her bachelorette pad to swallow her new best friends Cardura and Ativan before drifting off to sleep.

 Saturday morning found her well rested and into the office to finish what had been started the afternoon previous, dividing the District Attorney's list of 43 witnesses in half for Garrett and Nicole to do preliminary interviews with and after they make a recommendation on as to whether or not they're likely to be important.  She cut out just before 11:00am and slid herself into an open timeslot for a masage at a nearby salon.

 Feeling lighter than a leaf on the wind she walked out the door of the salon and responded to the trilling sound coming from her purse.  "Hello?"

 "Not working yourself to death are you?"  Her friend Marjorie laughed.  "It's the weekend, time to relax, live a little.  Maybe get yourself laid."

 "Actually, I'm taking the afternoon off.  Want to get the girls together and celebrate my win properly?"  Andrea responded.

 There was a brief silence before her friend replied.  "Ah, ok."

 "You don't sound enthused."

 "I'm just a bit surprised that you came up with the suggestion is all."  Marjorie countered.  "I'll get on the horn with them and we'll meet up at Falsetto's."

 A couple hours later the group was seated around a table at the downtown bar laughing and having a good time.  Andrea told them all about her trip to the doctor and how the new medication was a life-saver.  Marjorie, Janet and Kim then took turns discussing their work, boyfriends and what shoes they'd love to own.  All-in-all it was a wonderful evening, by the end of which the young attorney was quite inebriated.  So much so that one of her friends, she wasn't sure who, had to assist her in taking her medication and putting her to bed.

 The combination of alcohol and Ativan had Andrea knocked out until noon on Sunday.  Still not feeling well after the over-indulgence from the night before she spent the afternoon laying on the couch with a jug of water and watching chick flicks on her streaming movie account.  She would have liked to have been able to review her notes from yesterday morning but the throbbing inside her head wouldn't allow her the elementary task of reading.

 Beep!  Beep!  Beep! screetched the alarm announcing it was 7:30am and time to get up for work Monday morning.  Groggily she rolled over, muted it and trudged to the bathroom to start the morning routine.  After a shower she put on a navy pant suit, scarfed down a pair of pop tarts and a cup of java.  Arriving at work a little before 9:00 she assembled the interns and gave them their lists of people to interview and while they were out doing that she would be meeting with her witnesses for their initial prep before trial. 

 Andrea Phillips was pacing the room and peppering her rebuttle expert with questions.  "So you would say that in your opinion there was too much degradation of the print to have been fresh and could have been left by my client weeks, if not months, before the events of March 22?"

 "That is correct."  Joseph Mauer responded cooly.  He had been through many trials and this was common place for him now.  "Over time the oils that create a fingerprint begin to break down and based on the decomposition of the print recovered by police on March 22 I woud estimate the print was left approximately 6 weeks prior."

 Pleased with how things were going the attorney sat down and immediately turned pale, emitting an audible 'eek'.  For some reason when she sat the crotch of her panties felt a bit cold and moist.  Discreetly she slid her left hand down to check the outside of her pants only to confirm the impossible sensation.  She needed to get rid of her witness so she could do some further investigation.  "Thank you Mr. Mauer, that will be all for today."

 After he had left the room she scurried into her private bathroom, lowered her pants and was surprised to see a yellow stain on her previously white panties.  What the hell had happened?  She hadn't felt the need to use the restroom.  Perhaps she was so engrossed in the interview she had dribbled a bit without noticing, but still she should have noticed that right away, not so long after that it had time to cool.  Hoping that it was a one time thing she stripped of her damp underwear, dried them with the hot air dryer and stuffed them into her purse electing to go commando for the rest of the afternoon instead of wearing the soiled garment.

 Eating an early lunch she tried her best to put the morning's unfortuante event out of her head and instead think ahead to the results of Garrett and Nicole's initial meetings with the prosecution's witnesses.  Soon enough the pair of interns had returned to her office and were explaining their findings.  "Four of the 22 people on my list had never heard of the District Attorney let along Wright so I crossed them off straight away.  Of the remaining 18, an additional 7 knew of Wright form what they heard on TV and were surprised to have been contacted leaving 11 to do follow up on."

 Garrett picked up where Nicole had left off.  "I wasn't so fortunate, of the 21 on my list I have to visit 19 who may potentially be testifying once the trial starts, if possible I'd like to pass a couple off to Nikki to even things out again."

 Andrea waved her hand non-chalantly.  "That's fine, should be 15-15.  Try to have those face-to-face interviews done by end of the week so I can prioritize."  Feeling a trickle running down the inside of her thigh she tried to remain stone faced.  "I think that'll be all for now."

 Rushing to the bathroom as soon as the interns were gone she quickly lowered her pants and relieved herself in the toilet in the nick of time.  She sat there for a minute afterwards trying to comprehend what was going on, that was nearly her second accident today after not having a single accident in the last 23 years.  To be safe she took a wad of toilet paper, retrieved her panties from her purse and combined the two as a form of protection until she could figure out what exactly was wrong with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Upon returning home at the conclusion of the work day Andrea was reminded just how much wet toilet paper enjoys ripping apart and sticking to skin.  Thoroughly disappointed that not only did the makeshift protection fail to be simple to clean up, it also did nothing to protect her underwear which was once again quite damp.  A frustrated sigh she gave up on trying wipe herself clean and jumped in the shower to remove the reminents of the day.  Feeling better the attorney found a fresh pair of panties and placed a pad she would normally reserve for use with her period inside before taking her night medication and laying down for the night.

 The following morning it wasn't the chirping of the alarm that bothered her the most, it was the beach ball sized wet patch surrounding her crotch.  While the pad had done it's best to absorb as much liquid as it could, she had simply leaked far too much in the overnight and overwhelmed the poor thing.  Stripping the sheets off the bed and tossing them in the laundry basket to deal with later Andrea contemplated the recent turn of events.  The only change in her life prior to her new found inability to hold her bladder was the addition of the medication, she had to talk to Dr. Jennings again and find out what exactly to do about it.

 For the time being she employed the same measure of protection that had failed while she slept reasoning that she was awake now and could change pads out more frequently until able to meet with the doctor.  Arriving to work the first thing on her agenda was to schedule an appointment, the sooner the better, only to find the next opening wasn't until Thursday afternoon leaving her two days to deal with the issue on her own. 

 With the interns out of the office doing interviews it allowed her the chance to visit her private bathroom more frequently and determine that she was going through a pad an hour.  At this rate she'd be out before the end of the day having only packed 3 in her purse and the constant changing was having an impact on her effectiveness at work.  In the time it would have normally taken to prep two witnesses she had yet to have anyone into her office due to a fear of a pants wetting embarrassment.

 Since she wasn't accomplishing any work anyway the litigator decided an early lunch was in order and journeyed to Walgreens.  There she spent several minutes pacing back and forth in front of a wall of feminine hygeine products in an effort to determine which pad offered the best chance of keeping her problem discreet.  So lost in thought was Andrea that she didn't notice she had walked a bit far towards the rear of the store and when she spun around a package caught her eye.  Goodnights for girls.  And according to the size chart she should fit into the XL. 

 Internal debate raged inside her head as she stood there, Goodnights in hand, reading over the box.  Here she was a 26 year old distinguished attorney who was contemplating the purchase of underwear that couldn't be distinguished from a toddlers.  But it was practical, a means to an end, and most importantly temporary.  In 50 hours she'd have seen the doctor and this would all be a bad memory. 

 Goodnights in hand she kept her head down and approached the register when a familiar voice called out.  "Miss Phillips, what do you have there?"

 "Nicole..."  Andrea stutterred.  "My, uh, sister and niece just informed me they would be visiting this weekend and I wanted to get some supplies for little Kayla while I was thinking about it.  Yeah."

 "Sounds like fun."  The intern smiled and continued into the store.

 Once back in the safety of her office bathroom the leaky litigator opened her purchase taking one of the garments out and inspecting it closely.  It isn't a diaper, it isn't a diaper she kept telling herself as she slid off her panties and the padded garment up her legs.  Dressed with her business suit over top again she stared at her rump in the mirror from every angle.  Satisfied nobody would be able to tell she finally began her work day 4 hours late.

 Her first witness was a banker who had seen a man that didn't match Wright's description leaving the building where the alleged attack had occurred.  The goal was to keep him calm and make sure he could accurately paint a picture of the man he saw exiting in a hurry.  It was straight forward but necessary to ensure that what he testified to on the stand match what he had told the cops who chose to ignore it right after the incident.

 Thanking him for his time after a solid dry run she bee-lined to her restroom to check her underwear.  It was wet but nowhere near filled to capacity, and while she wasn't too eager to keep her urine strapped to her crotch she also wanted to see how long she could go before needing to change.  With that in mind she zipped her pants, washed her hands and called in the next witness who would be testifying to Wright's character as an upstanding citizen.

 "Any other community activities Mr. Wright participates in?"  She wrapped up the series of questions.

 "Volunteer at the neighborhood clean up once a month, donates to the children's house for orphaned kids, organized a blanket drive for the homeless, and that's about all I can think of right now."

 "That's more than enough Mr. Sylvan."  Andrea sat down with a squish and grimaced involuntarily.  "Thank you for your time, I'll be in touch with you again before the trial."

 He stood to shake her hand.  "Everything ok Miss Phillips?"

 "Perfectly alright, I was just thinking about what I had to do tomorrow."  She took his hand, shook it and led him from the office.  "You were wonderful today."

 Alone once more the young attorney dipped into the bathroom, removed the sodden Goodnight and checked the clock.  530pm.  That meant she would have about 5 hours between changes if everything were to remain consistant.  With a sigh she realized that she should have bought, not baby wipes but cleansing wipes to wash between pairs of underwear.  Figuring she'd be ok this once she pulled on a fresh Goodnight, her pants and headed home for the night with the box of protective underwear in tow. 

 Barely through the door her cell phone rang.  "Hi Janet, what's up?"

 "The girls are meeting at Falsetto's, Marjorie has an announcement.  You in?"

 "See you there."  Andrea hung up and emptied the box she carried into her purse and tossed the evidence of her issue away.  The purse didn't quite zip the entire way but she wasn't worried about her friends being nosy and going through it.  Seven minutes later she was at the bar with margarita in hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 What became obvious to her after the train had left the station was that with alcohol consumption comes an increased need to pee.  Three hours at the bar resulted in needing to change her special underwear 3 times.  It didn't help that every time she got up to use the restroom one of her friends would invariably tag along making it that much more difficult to swap Goodnights without being noticed.  If Marjorie, Janet or Kim had seen they were kind enough not to say anything, though Marjorie did share the reason for the gathering, she was engaged.

 By the time Andrea got home she was wishing that she had purchased a larger package of disposable underwear, in less than half a day she had used up almost half the pack.  Putting on the fifth Goodnight of the day the inebriated attorney attempted to flop into bed only to realize she hadn't remade it yet after stripping the wet sheets off that morning.  Too lazy to do anything about it now she passed out on the living room couch. 

 Thump.  The young litigator stirred on the couch.  Thump. Thump.  The noise grew louder and in a daze she looked around to determine its source.  Thump.  Thump.  Shit!  Someone was knocking on the door, she had to stall.  "Just a minute!"

 "You ok in there Miss Phillips?"  The voice belonged to Nicole. "Everyone's worried cause you're late for work."

 Andrea found her cell phone on the table and saw that it was 9:47am.  "I over slept is all, thanks for checking, I'll be in."

 "Can I come in?"  The intern asked turning the doorknob and finding it unlocked. 

 In a panic the tenent's eyes darted around the room, she was wearing just a T-shirt and soaked Goodnight which had leaked all ove the sofa.  The spares were scattered across the floor from where she evidently had spilled her purse open in her intoxicated state the night before and there were no blankets to hide either her or the underwear.  "Wait!  I, uh-  I, uh"

 But by then it was too late, the door was swinging open and she had to sprint down the hall to her bedroom making it a split second before Nicole stuck her head in.  "Are your sister and niece here already?  I thought they weren't coming til this weekend."

 "Yeah."  Andrea lied.  "They went out for breakfast a few minutes ago."

 "Cool.  I got my car out front so whenever you're dressed I can give you a ride in."

 "Thanks.  I'll be out in a second."  She could either confess the Goodnights were hers and be protected from an accident or wear her normal panties with a pad and hope it didn't overflow.  Neither were very attractive options but she chose the latter and followed her intern to the car. 

 Thirteen minutes later the duo were at the law office where the client himself, Mr. Wright, was waiting.  "I apoligize for the delay, family from out of town arrived early."

 "Keep me out of prison and we'll call it even."  The portly man joked.  "What say we get started."

 "Right this way."  The lawyer led him to her office.  She started slowly, covering his relationship with the victim, there was no denying he knew her, and how they may have argued from time to time but that he loved her and wouldn't ever want to see her harmed.  From there they discussed what Wright had been doing on the fateful date and how he was nowhere near the townhouse where his girlfriend had been killed. 

 As the interview dragged on Andrea glanced at the clock occassionally worried about how well the pad was holding up.  Finally they came to a break point at quarter past noon and she suggested they resume after a half hour lunch.  Wright countered with going together and continuing while they ate, his robust palate liked to have time to sample more than one dish while dining.  Having no reason to decline the young attorney agreed but excused herself to use the bathroom before they headed out. 

 Inside she inspected the damage to her pants and panties, what she found was a greek tragedy.  The panties were drenched as was the crotch of her pant suit.  Fortunately due to their black color the stain wasn't noticeable but she had to find a way to dry them and a way to keep them in that condition until she could make it either home or to the store.  Stripping naked from the waist down she tried to make the best out of the hot air hand dryer but there was only so long she could do that before her guest became suspicious of what the hold up was.  As an attorney she hated to make snap decisions but that was precisely what she was forced to make now.

~~~~~~~~~~

 Taking the liner out of the trash can and ripping holes for her legs she pulled it into place around her waist.  Next a generous amount of toilet paper was stuffed inside and her damp panties secured over top to keep everything in place.  It was far from a perfect solution, in fact it was a terrible one but it was the best she could do with the resources at hand and was in her mind a better alternative to slowly soaking her pants in front of a busy restaurant.  She was nearly in tears when she pulled her somewhat dry pants up and exited the bathroom.

 A short cab ride found lawyer and client ensconsed in the posh atmosphere of Le Riviera, which was appropriately a seafood establishment.  Andrea ordered the poached salmon while Wright started with crab legs as an appetizer, Halibut his first main course and fried calamari the second.  In between bites the pair managed to accomplish quite a bit in regards to the case and despite the extreme discomfort of a hot sweaty plastic bag, wet toilet paper and a pool of liquid being strapped to her nethers the lawyer was glad to be caught up after her late start that morning.  She expensed the lunch to her firm, it was business related, parted ways with her companion and walked the three blocks to a convienence store.

 "Do you have any Goodnights?"  She asked the cashier.

 The most likely high school dropout shrugged.  "I'm off on Saturday's so that's usually a good night.  You asking me out?"

 "No.  Goodnights are training pants for girls.  Do you have any?"

 "Oh."  His shoulders dropped and voice sounded disappointed.  "All our diapers are on aisle 3."

 Andrea turned and walked away muttering to herself.  "They aren't diapers."

 Scanning the shelves of the appointed aisle she located both Huggies and Pampers baby diapers, along with Depend adult diapers but not Goodnights or pullups of any kind for that matter.  To proud to admit to the pervert at the counter she would be the one using them the Depend weren't an option and since the Huggies didn't have anything she might be able to squeeze into the Pampers were what she ended up purchasing.  Desperate to get out of the horrible mess she had strapped herself into earlier she walked to the book store next door and directly to the handicap restroom for privacy. 

 The young attorney set her purse on the sink, stripped off her pants placing them atop the purse and inspected ilconcieved remedy.  Between the sweat and urnine the toilet paper was completely soaked and a small puddle of yellow had formed in the base of the trash bag.  Realizing cleanup was going to be difficult she took off her socks, heels and set them aside as well before going into the single stall.  There she slowly peeled down the panties and trash bag allowing the mush and liquid contanied within to fall into the toilet and flushed.  Once the bowl had refilled she dipped some bathroom tissue off the roll in the stall into the water, wiped herself as best she could and stretched the tapes on the Pamper until she was sealed safely inside. 

 Relieved into be in proper protection once more she exited the stall and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, at 26 year old woman wearing nothing but a simple white button up blouse and a baby diaper.  The contrast was astounding and cosidering she hadn't put on makeup this morning due to the rush she looked more like a young kid playing dress up in mommy's shirt.  Andrea chuckled at the thought and went to the sink to retrieve her possessions but she didn't see them.  Checking the floor around the area, the entire restroom for that matter, with no luck she feared the worst, they had been stolen.  When she saw that the bathroom door was unlocked it served to confirm her suspicion.

 Freaked out beyond belief the distraught attorney had no choice but to bite the proverbial bullet and get help.  Sticking her head out the door but keeping the rest of herself hidden she tried to flag down anyone nearby.  "Psst.  Ma'am, can I borrow your cell phone?"

 "What's the matter sweetie?"  A 40-something year old woman responded walking over.  "Did you lose your mommy?"

 God, I know I look young but seriously, she think's I need my mommy?  I'd argue but I doubt she'll give me her phone if I do that, best just to play along for now.  "Yeah.  I want to use your phone to call her."

 "Why don't you come out from there, I'll help you look."

 "I really just need to use your phone real quick.  I wouldn't want to waste any more of your time than necessary."

 "It's no trouble, I promise..."  The woman looked at her expectantly.

 The litigator blushed.  "Andrea."

 "How old are you Andi?  11?  12?"

 What do I say here?  I've already committed to pretending to be a kid but I don't want to appear too young.  "12."

 "Well you shouldn't be wandering around by yourself at that age."  The concerned lady held out her hand for Andrea to take.  "Come on, let's go look for your mom."

 "Look lady, I just need your phone.  Can I use it or not?"  Andrea's temper flaired.

 Not to be deterred the woman marched over, grabbed the attorney by the ear and pulled her from the bathroom exposing her to the bookstore.  "Well, well, well.  Looks like someone isn't as grown up as she pretends to be.  Now are you going to come with me willingly or do I have to drag you around and ask everyone if they're your mommy?"

 In a flash the diapered woman shoved aside less than helpful woman, swiped the iPhone off her hip and started to dial the only person she could think of.  Still running she burst outside and down the street as the phone started to ring.  "Hello Nicole, it's Miss Phillips, I need your help."

~~~~~~~~~~~

 Andrea flew down the sidewalk as fast as her bare feet could take her.  Three blocks from the book store she ducked down an alley, hid behind a dumpster and told her intern where to pick her up.  What seemed like ages, but was closer to a handful of minutes, later she saw Nicole's car stop at the end of the alleyway.  The young attorney dumped the stolen cell in the dumpster, hopped in the passenger seat of the car and pleaded to be taken home.  For her part Nikki did as requested without question allowing her boss to tell the story when she was ready.

 "Thank you Nicole.  And thank you for not making fun."  Andrea's head sagged and a lone drop journeyed down her cheek.  "I suppose I owe you an explanation.  First, I don't have a sister or a niece.  The Goodnights are mine and when you showed up this morning I was too embarrassed to admit it and went to work unprotected."

 The intern broke in.  "How come you need protected?"

 "As you know I had Garrett set up a doctors appointment last week and she gave me a prescription for medication to lower my blood pressure and help me sleep.  Well they apparently had a side effect that left me unable to stop from dribbling."  The litigator wiped another tear from the corner of her eye.  "So I had to improvise for the meeting with Wright and the solution was less than useful.  After lunch I went to the store and all they had were baby diapers, with little choice I bought them and went to put one on at the book store.  While I was cleaning up I guess I left the bathroom door unlocked and someone came in and stole my purse.  I tried asking a lady to borrow her phone but she insisted I let her find my 'mommy', since that wasn't possible I had to grab her phone and run for it."

 "That's fucked up."  Nicole leaned over and hugged her passenger.  "You wait here, I'll go up to your apartment and find you something to change into and get the rest of the Goodnights.  Then I suppose we can deal with your stolen purse.  Sound good?"

 "Yes.  Thank you."  The young attorney handed over her keys and sat patiently in the car.  Five minutes turned into ten, ten minutes became twenty and the bathroom function she still had control over made it known she was going to have to go soon.  She was rocking back and forth in the seat holding her stomach when Nikki returned.  "What took you so long?"

 "I was trying to find your wipes and powder but it looks like you don't have any."  The intern handed over a bag with the Goodnights and a white pleated skirt in it before starting the car.

 "Sorry if I was bitchy just then.  It's been a rough day and I have to use the bathroom cause I don't want to do, you know, that, in this diaper."  Andrea grabbed the skirt out of the bag and slid it on oblivious to the fact the car was on the move.

 "It's alright.  If that happened to me I'd be grouchy too."  Nicole pulled her car into the Walgreens parking lot.  "They should have a restroom here and we can get ya more supplies."

 "I don't have any money, I'll have to owe you for the supplies if you want to grab them while I'm taking care of other business."  They parted ways upon entering and headed to their respective destinations.  For her part the attorney did what she came to do, replaced the Pamper with a Goodnight and stared at her reflection in the mirror in much the same way she did before a trial to talk up her self confidence.  Feeling moderately better she went to find Nikki who by that time had already checked out and was waiting by the door.

 Back in the car the intern opened the bag to display the purchases.  "I got wipes, powder, more Goodnights and since I saw the wet sheets and stain on the sofa something a little thicker for at night."

 "Attends?  These are straight up diapers.  I can't wear these."

 "Would you rather continue to ruin whatever you sleep on?"

 Putting everything back in the sack.  "I guess you're right.  Let's just get back to the office, we have work to do."

 Back at law central Nicole broke off to resume her interviews and Andrea gave Garrett a call to find out how his were going.  The male half of the intern duo was on number 8 of his 15 and so far none had panned out as being key to the prosecutions case.  Up to date on the goings on the young attorney ventured back downstairs to the law library to brush up on indirect observation in hopes she might be able to use a man who saw Wright a half hour before the incident but couldn't say for sure he wasn't at the scene of the crime.  As it shaped up the afternoon was a hell of a lot better than her adventuresome start to the day. 

 She met the girls for a couple drinks at Falsetto's, confided in them her secret and asked for advice.  They were, for the most part, understanding and offered encouragement but had little of use to say on the subject though all gave her a few dollars from their wallets to hold her over until new credit and debit cards could be issued.  The talk with the police had been interesting to say the least but she had gotten a report, been forgiven for the theft of the cell phone and turned 50 shades of red during the conversation.  Whether it was the alcohol or the passing of a little time, by the end of the night Andrea was able to look back on the horrors of the morning and laugh. 

 Back at home she opened the package of Attends and reluctantly strapped one to her hips.  Throwing the wet sheets from two nights ago in the washer she put clean linen from the closet on the bed, took her medication and laid down for the night.  The following morning the Attends was yellow, sagging and cold but the bed was still dry forever how much of a victory that could be considered.  Since the appointment with the doctor wasn't til afternoon she showered, put on a Goodnight and headed into work bumping into Nicole on the way in.

 The two shared the elevator to the fourth floor with the intern more than a little curious.  "So how did the diapers work?"

 "Bed was dry."  Andrea blushed and stared at her feet.

 "Good for you."  Nicole rubbed her bosses shoulder.  "If you need anything be sure to ask."

 Thankfully the elevator door opened and the litigator was able to step out and away from the uncomfortable situation.  As the saying goes though, out of the frying pan, into the fire.  The senior partner of the firm was waiting to speak with her.  "Ah, Andrea, I know you're busy with the Wright case but I was hoping that you could do me a favor."

 "Sure, what did you need Mr. Thomas?"

 "I need you to go out of town and talk to one of our oldest clients.  I'll assign co-counsel for the Wright case just in case but you've pretty well got that wrapped up.  You can take Garrett with you, plane leaves in an hour."

 "Will do sir."  She turned around, bit her finger and silently freaked out.  While normally this sort of thing was no big deal, now she had to find a way to pack diapers on a plane and share an adjoining room with someone she decidedly didn't want to find out about her underwear.  Not to mention she'd have to reschedule with Dr. Jennings.  Catching the elevator back to the ground floor she hailed a cab home to pack a bag for the trip.  All she could do was hope this trip would go off without a hitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Security at the airport was as thorough as ever but she and Garrett managed to filter through without an incident.  From there they hurried to their plane, snuck through the door just before it closed and took their seats.  The ride from Washington D.C. to Boston was realitively short so Andrea pulled a case file out of her carry on being careful not to flash the sole Goodnight she had packed in case of emergency and reviewed the interviews Garrett had thus far conducted. 

 With the New York City skyline in view out the window the intern interrupted his boss.  "Do you know the phrase 'all work and no play'?"

 "Of course I do."  She huffed.  "But we have to get this done."

 "That's all well and good, but once we talk to this guy we're suppose to meet, I'm going out and finding a bar.  No offense but I don't want to have a stroke before I'm 30."

 The young attorney opened her mouth but no words came out.  Instead she sat back in her seat, rubbed her eyes and thought about what he said.  It was working too much that got her on the medicine that caused her other issues.  Perhaps some time to herself at night was a better prescription that Cardura and Ativan.  "Ok.  I conceed the point.  After the interview it's free time, just so long as you're ready to work in the morning."

 Garrett agreed and the two resumed the prep work on the Wright case until the 747 glided down the tarmac and they were able to deboard.  Andrea immediately darted to the restroom to change her now soaked underwear then met up with her intern beside the luggage carosel, he looked less than thrilled.

 "Your luggage hasn't come through yet."

 Not panicked yet she eyed the bags circling.  "What about yours?"

 Garrett grinned.  "I'm a guy, I can fit everything I own into carry on."

 Ten minutes later the litigators Sampsonite was nowhere to be seen.  She reported the loss to the airline who in turn informed her that due to her late arrival the bag had missed the flight but would be on the first plane in the morning.  Andrea climbed into the cab next to Garrett pissed off because her hotel bed would more than likely end up pissed on because her overnight protection and the remainder of her Goodnights were still in D.C. 

 Arriving at the hotel the duo recieved their respective room keys, dropped off the carry on bags and were right back down to the lobby.  Surprisingly Andrea had beaten the intern and took advantage of the alone time to check out the hotel gift shop hoping they carried specialty underwear but to no avail.  She had a couple hours remaining on the Goodnight and that would be more than enough to cover the interview, once she and Garrett split up she'd have to find a convience store.

 The man they were meeting, Joseph Bishop, was a personal friend of the senior partner and he needed help with a delicate matter.  Bishop's son was a perenial screw up, a 30 year old man-child who had been in and out of trouble with the law his entire life, and who was now the suspect in a rape investigation.  The elder Bishop wanted the best the firm had to offer to once again bail his son out of trouble and make the charges disappear; because as terrible as he was not a rapist.

 After two and a half hours of hard questions Andrea was convinced that his son Ben was in fact a fuck up but not an inconsentual fucker.  Ending the meeting they all shook hands and agreed to resume the following morning with Ben present to better explain the events surrounding the alleged attack.  Set free Garrett took off leaving the intrepid attorney to fend for herself which allowed her to ask the front desk clerk where the nearest Walgreens was located.  It happened to be a scant 4 blocks away from the excusite Boston Harbor Hotel where the firm had put her and Garrett up for the duration. 

 A seven minute cab ride found her at her destination and she marched inside to pick up the essentials.  Hairbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste were the first things in her basket.  From there it was to the aisle she dreaded.  How had Nicole managed to buy these things without the slightest embarrassment, here she was in a city she knew absolutely no one and she still was having trouble.  Taking several deep breaths she managed to put a package of Goodnights in the basket followed by the Attends.  A bee-line to the counter she paid in cash, scurried outside without looking the clerk in the face and flagged down the first yellow checkered car that came by.  Back in the safety of her suite Andrea dumped the items on the bed, collapse beside them and fell asleep.

 Twenty minutes later she awoke feeling damp, grabbed her crotch and realized her worst fear that the Goodnight had leaked on the hotel sheets.  The first thing she did was change her underwear, then she stripped the wet linen to toss in the laundry shoot and was relieved to find out her accident hadn't penetrated the enormous comforter.  That's were the good news ended.  The white skirt Nicole had given her earlier to wear was now yellowed and she didn't have any clean clothes to put on because her luggage missed the plane. 

 It was then, at her most vulnerable that there was a knock on the door.  "Hey Miss Phillips, I just stopped by to change and thought I'd offer one last time if you wanted to hit the bar with me."

 "I would but I haven't anything to wear."  She yelled through the door. 

 "They have clothes down in the gift shop, I'm sure you could find something there."

 The boy was a genius!  "You go ahead, I'll catch up in a bit then.  You know how girls are about looking good."

 "Will do.  I was going to hit Nix's Mate first."

 When she was sure he had departed she called down to the gift shop, gave them her size and asked them to deliver some blue jeans to her room.  Six minutes later there was another knock on the door and she cracked it without checking the peep hole assuming it would be her pants.  It was, so far so good.  She took the latch off the door and opened it futher so the clerk could hand the desired item through but he refused until after she had signed for the charges.  With no alternative Andrea released her grip on the door to take the pen and paper, she had barely put the two together when the clerk bumped the door and it swung open leaving her Goodnight exposed to the hallway.

 In stunned silence both Andrea and the college kid stared down at her absorbant underwear.  He was the first to speak.  "I'm so sorry ma'am.  Here's the jeans you requested."

 The young attorney finished signing, handed the paper back and slammed the door shut.  That was mortifying, she really did need a drink now so she pulled the new purchase into place, buttoned them one and went to find Garrett and drown the sorrows of the day away.

~~~~~~~~~

 The Nix's Mate was bustling when Andrea strolled through the door.  A cursory glance around she was able to find Garrett at the bar and took an empty stool next to him.  "Hey stranger.  What say I buy you a drink on the firm for always being so helpful?"

 "Sounds good.  Bud light if you please."

 Being young and attractive it was easy to get the bartenders attention ordering her interns drink along with a Sauvingnon Blanc for herself.  For a little while they both sipped their respective drinks not wanting to discuss work but not really having anything else to talk about.  Eventually Garrett asked, "I take it you made it to the bank to get some cash after your purse was stolen then?"

 "Acutally no."  Her first glass had gone down awfully fast and she signalled for another.  "The firm gave me what they are calling a bonus to cover any intangeable expense for the trip.  I guess that means tonight is on the firm, so drink up!"

 From there they were able to relax and talk like normal people not boss and intern.  It turned out that Garrett was dating Nicole, which she should have known if her nose wasn't buried so deep in a book, and that he played guitar in a band with his brother on Saturday nights.  Andrea admitted to not having much of a social life other than the occassional get together with her old college friends and being an only child.  After an hour she had polished off 3 glasses of wine, was close to finishing a 4th and changed her Goodnight.

 "What say we try another bar?"  Garrett queried upon his bosses return.

 Being a Wednesday night the crowd was rather light.  "Alright, lead on good sir."

 Hailing a cab they made the short trip to North 26 Restaurant and Bar in practically no time.  Andrea stuck with her Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and her intern with his Bud Light.  A couple more drinks were followed by another change of underwear and the young attorney was feeling quite good.  No longer did the hotel porter seeing her in her juvenile panties, the wet comforter or the errant luggage bother her.  Right now she didn't give a damn about anything other than the euphoria at the bottom of the wine glass.  Before she knew it midnight had rolled around, the bar was closing and Garrett was helping her walk outside.

 The next thing the young attorney knew she was waking up to the trill of the bedside alarm.  Groggily she rolled over first noticing the bulk around her waist and then the crinkling of the sheets.  Closer inspection revealed the hotel had put a plastic sheet to protect their mattress on her bed while she was out, no doubt the porter from the night before had tipped them off as to the need.  She would have been more upset but in realizing what the hotel had done she saw that she was wearing an Attends that she had no recollection of taping on.  What else had happened after Garrett had helped her into the cab outside of North 26?

 The Attends was pretty snug, something she didn't believe she would have been capable of in her intoxicated state, and combine that to the fact her sopping wet Goodnight was still on underneath and it added up to nothing good.  A long hot shower later Andrea was still wrestling with whether or not she or someone else had put on her dia-, er, night time protection, how embarrassed she should be and around whom should she be humiliated.

 No time to obsess she threw her hair in a pony tail, pulled the blue jeans from the gift shop up her legs and left to meet the Bishop's for the morning meeting.  Garrett was already there munching on a bagel, the elder Bishop sipped a coffee and the reason for the gathering looked like he could use a little hair of the dog.  She strode over in her normal confident manner.  "Hello all.  Sorry for being tardy, almost slept through my alarm."

 Ben waved his hand dismissively.  "Yeah, me too.  So you're going to get the charges dropped?"

 For the next hour and a half they discussed precisely that.  Andrea spent her time both learning as much as possible from the client and trying to deduce if Garrett was acting any differently this morning.  Both turned out to be more or less an exercise in futility, Ben didn't have much to say that his father hadn't covered the previous evening and her intern scribbled notes as furiously as he always did. 

 When the meeting broke she called the airline to check on the status of her luggage.  After finding out they had accidentally shipped it to Miami she checked in with Nicole who told her that the Wright case was coming along nicely and that Tom White had stepped up in her absence.  The good news helped to ease the bad, she did have replacement supplies purchased already anyway.  Thinking about her supplies she adjurned to her room to swap out Goodnights and pulled out her laptop to get directions to the District Attorney's office.  Would be a good idea to stop by and have a chat while she was in town.

 Exiting the room she saw Garrett had changed into a jogging outfit and was just getting onto the elevator.  "Hold the door!"

 "Sure thing."  His hand moved to prevent it from closing.  Once Andrea was aboard he pushed the lobby button asked.  "Miss Phillips?  Can we talk about last night?"

~~~~~~~~~~

 "I am so sorry for that."  Andrea stared at the tip of her shoes and turned tomato in color.  "Thank you for leaving me some shred of dignity and putting the Attends on over the Goodnight, and not, well, you know, baring all."

 The more she said the further Garrett's jaw fell towards the floor.  "Um, I was just going to ask who the woman you were talking with in the lobby was after we got back from the bar.  Apparently you don't remember much of last night."

 "Oh my god!"  The young attorney wanted to be anywhere but trapped inside the slowly descending metal box.  "I'm such an idiot!"

 The intern bent down to put an arm around his boss who was now crying in the corner.  "Look, I won't tell anyone that you need diapers.  I swear.  Not even Nikki."

 Andrea sobbed into her hands.  "She already knows, she bought them for me the other day."

 "Well you don't need to feel embarrassed around us, we're professionals after all and not in the business of making light of a persons condition."  With that the bell dinged, the elevator door opened and he helped the crying litigator to her feet, guiding her to a remote area of the lobby.  "Did you want to talk about it?  Are you going to be ok?"

 "I'll be fine."  She wiped her cheek.  "Go.  Run.  I'll be in my room trying to recompose myself.  Thank you for not laughing."

 Garrett exited the hotel out the front door and Andrea returned to her room.  Once there she plopped down on the bed, looked around and saw the only thing she had that was clean to wear were her protective underpants.  Packing a few spare Goodnights in her carry on bag that she was using as a temporary purse, she though that maybe a bit of shopping would take her mind off the horrors of the last few days.  Setting out once more she flagged down a metered mode of transportation and was off to the store.

 There were several pant-suits, a nice skirt and blouse set, and an elegant evening dress that caught her eye.  Unfortunely those weren't the only things that drew the attention of her emerald greens, a women who looked strangely famaliar had breezed through the entrance a little bit ago and seemed to being keeping a close watch on the young attorney.  Trying on the skirt and blouse set Andrea made use of the mirrors to get a better look at her suspected stalker.  Sure enough, she did recognize the face, it was the woman from the bookstore who had tried wanted to help find her mommy. 

 Not wanting to tip off the lady Andrea put her jeans back on, nonchalanatly picked up her bag and strolled towards the exit as if nothing was wrong.  As soon as she hit the street she bolted down the street, flagged down a passing police car and out of breath explained the situation.  "There's a woman following me.  I don't know who she is but it's creeping me out."

 The officer flipped on the overhead lights to his cruiser to signal cars to go around and stepped out.  "What's she look like?"

 Andrea gave Boston's finest a general description of her stalker, that she was in the store up the block right now and if he hurried he might be able to catch her.  Officer Hodges had the distraught litigator sit in the back of his car while he went to investigate.  Minutes dragged by before the handsome officer returned shrugging his shoulders.  "No sign of her ma'am.  Sorry."

 Disappointed the young attorney ventured back to the department store, picked up the skirt and blouse she had tried on earlier along with a navy pant-suit, paid for them and was about to make the journey back to the hotel to change when the policeman she had spoken with earlier approached.  "Did you find her?"

 "As a matter of fact she came to me.  Said her daughter had stolen her money and ran away."  His demeanor looked far more rigid than earlier.  "Don't suppose that's you, is it?"

 Taken aback Andrea stuttered.  "Of course not.  I'm a grown woman with a job, an apartment and everything."

 He didn't seem too impressed.  "Then I suppose you have ID?"

 "Well no.  It was stolen a couple days ago, probably by the woman who's stalking me."

 "Or perhaps this is it?"  He held out a lamenated photo ID, the litigator recognized the picture from her driver's license but the 'Hobson Elementry School Grade 5' portion was new.  While she was still stunned he grabbed her arm and started pulling her down the sidewalk.  "Enough stories little girl, I'm taking you back to your mother."

 Being that he was much larger and stronger Andrea had no choice but to be dragged along and back to his cruiser.  Once there she was placed in the back seat next to the woman who claimed to be her mother.  "Andi dear, why ever did you run away?"

 "Leave me alone you crazy bitch, you aren't my mother."

 "Of course I am sweet heart.  Who else but a mother would be so kind as to change your diapers before bed?"  She had a wide grin plastered to her lips as she slipped her hand to squeeze Andrea's crotch.  "Uh oh.  Looks like someone needs a new diapy!"

 The psycho must have been the woman Garrett saw me talking with in the lobby last night!  But who was she and why was she so hell bent on making herself out to be my mother?  Do I play along and see where she's taking me in hopes that I can recover my purse, identity and sanity once I get there?  Or do I try to put as much distance between myself and this weirdness and hope it goes away?  Better hurry up and decide, it looks like she's pulling a Goodnight out of her purse.

~~~~~~~~~

 Certain that the cop wouldn't let 'mother' change her in public Andrea elected to wait until the crazed woman took her inside and then she would bolt for it.  Sure enough Officer Hodges insisted on a bit more privacy.  Once out of reach of the long arm of the law the young attorney bided her time, sprinting away when 'mommy' turned her head to admire an outfit in the window.  Not looking back she managed to elude pursuit by ducking into the subway.  Another twenty minutes of hiding out and she at last felt safe to reemerge above ground to make her way back to the hotel.

 "Miss Phillips!  A message for you!"  The desk clerk exclaimed as she walked through the lobby. 

 Taking the offered piece of paper she read it on the elevator.  Apparently Garrett had been summoned back to D.C. and she would be on her own for the duration in Boston.  No bother, she had rid herself of psycho stalker lady and there wasn't much she could do case wise other than speak with the D.A. which was scheduled for the morning.  With not much else going on for the evening and needing to relax a bit after the close call she ordered up a bottle of wine to go along with an early dinner in.  She figured that the hotel knew her true identity, so long as she stayed put she was safe from her stalker.

 One bottle down, another half gone Andrea was quickly becoming a lush.  Deciding to quit before she became intoxicated to the point of blacking out once again she stripped off her wet Goodnight and into a hot shower.  Stepping out she laid on the bed, did her best to tape an Attends to her hips and passed out for the night.  The next morning the Attends was close to bursting but had held all of her night time dribbles making the young attorney confident that she was due for a good day. 

 Needing another shower despite having taken one the night before she soaped up, toweled off and slid her disposable underwear into place.  With the new skirt and blouse set over top the litigator embarked on the day, heading to the courthouse to track down the district attorney.  He was an opposing figure standing a little over 6' 6" and weighing over 300lbs.  Despite the impressive physical stature he was able to put her at ease with a joke.  "It's a good thing justice is blind Miss Phillips.  Otherwise she'd have never given me a second date."

 "Pleasure to meet you sir."  Andrea shook his hand.  "Shall we get right down to business?"

 The D.A. agreed and the two moved from the hallway to his office.  Twenty minutes of banal banter revealed that he was aware of Bishop being a suspect, but at this point there was no reason to charge him with a crime.  He turned over what little information his office had that pertained to the police department's investigation of her client and the two parted ways shortly after 1000am.  From there the young attorney walked up the block to a outdoor cafe, ordered blueberry muffin and an orange juice.  She was on the second bite of breakfast when the news broke in for a special report, an 'Amber Alert' had been issued for a missing 11-year old girl.

 "Police are looking for your help in locating a runaway girl who was last seen in the Boston Harbour District."  The screen showed the fake school ID the crazy woman had made of Andrea.  "11 year old Andrea 'Andi' Dixon was visiting the city with her mother yesterday afternoon when she disappeared from the 'Marshalls' at 350 Washington St.  Anyone spotting her is asked to contact Boston P.D."

 The young attorney didn't stick around for the rest of the report, bolting from her open air table straight into a taxi and back to her hotel.  Whoever this woman was that was after her was extremely determined and a little bit smart.  Changing her last name would keep people from making the connection to her true identity, but leaving her first name the same assured that if someone called out to her she'd turn around.  The only was to be rid of this nightmare was to get to D.C., visit the Department of Motor Vehicles and get a new ID issued.  Then she could prove she was an adult and have the crazed woman locked away in the looney bin.

 For now she had to find transportation home.  No rental car company would give a car to someone with no identification, she couldn't use her plane ticket as airport security would surely be on the lookout for a runaway kid, same with the train station.  She was going to have to call someone and beg for a ride, but nobody would be available on a Friday morning.  At best she had one more night in Boston and was going to have to spend it trapped in her room like a prisoner.  Taking stock of her possessions she saw that she had 4 Goodnights remaining and 10 more Attends to go with the outfit she had on and gift shop purchases from the other night. 

 Phone calls to her friends were a bust.  Marjorie was going away for the weekend with her new fiance, Janet's parents were visiting and Kim was working overtime.  The interns were busy with the Wright case, but Nicole said that she would find a way to make it up Sunday afternoon when Andrea promised her $500 for effort.  Things were starting to look up, all the litigator had to do now was kill two days without leaving her room and her life would be hers once again.  Calling down to the gift shop she bought a deck of cards, a cheap romance novel and a 2-in-1 bottle of shampoo/conditioner.

 After the items arrived Andrea changed her yellowed underwear and laid out on the bed in just her bra and Goodnight to read Susanna Ives 'Wicked Little Secrets'.  Ten pages in she was enthralled, having been a decent amount of time since she'd been with a man she decided to take matters into her own fingers and imagined herself the story's heroine.  Within a matter of a couple minutes she reached the bliss she was hoping for, blushing at the realization of what a mature act had just taken place in such juvenile underwear.  Feeling a bit tired she changed into an Attends to take a nap waking up a half hour later to the maid entering to clean her room. 

 In a rush she threw on the skirt and blouse from earlier and darted to the hall.  She didn't want to see the servants reaction to emptying the protective undergarments from the rooms trashcans.  Figuring she had about 15-20 minutes to kill she dared venture to the hotel restaurant for lunch.  Much to her chagrin, Boston's finest looking, Officer Hodges, was there talking to a guest.  Andrea did her best to casually turn around and walk away hoping he hadn't spied her as well.

~~~~~~~~~~

 She had barely scurried to the elevator when a weight descended on her shoulder.  Reluctantly she turned with eyes cast down.  "I'm not-"

 "We need you to sign for your charges from the gift shop Miss Phillips."  The same porter who had seen her embarrassment the other night said handing over a slip of paper.

 Andrea signed it, handed it back and exhaled for what seemed to be the first time in minutes.  Free and clear she ducked into the exercise room to watch Officer Hodges who was still in the restaurant with his back to her direction.  A short while later he exited the hotel and she got a table for a quick bite.  Cheeseburger, fries and a diet coke were just what the doctor ordered, by the time they disappeared from her plate she was feeling a thousand times better.  Leaving money on the table she headed back to the sanctuary of her room.

 The maid was long gone when the young lawyer walked through the door, dropped her skirt and examined the Attends.  It was slightly damp but could hold a lot more, she would have left it one if it were not for the need to take care of some other business.  Perhaps it was a waste of the little remaining protective underwear she had but she wasn't about to do that in her pants.  When she was done she contemplated putting the garment back on but it had cooled and felt disgusting to the touch.  How did she wear these things for so long and not notice? 

 Goodnight in place, leaving two remaining, the young lawyer settled in for some afternoon television, most of the programming was garbage but it killed time and that was the primary goal.  Not wanting a repeat of the midday near miss dinner was ordered from room service at 6:00pm with the local news droning on in the background.  The 'Amber Alert' for her was not the top story but was still a featured segment.  Thus far police had no leads on her whereabouts which she supposed was a good thing. 

 Normally an active person who liked to take care of things on her own she was going nuts trapped the way she was and dependant on others to rescue her.  It all made her need something to take the edge away, and that something was invariably alcohol.  Tonight Andrea decided she would break the seal on the rooms mini-bar; a lot of little bottles make for a big bottle.  First to go was the vodka, then the rum.  In a matter of an hour she had downed six single serve drinks and wet her way through two Goodnights.  Last one in place she knew that tomorrow she would have to spend the whole day in Attends or risk buying more, but that was a problem for later.

 Ten little bottles were scattered around her when she woke up in a puddle at 719am the next morning.  The Attends she had on clearly had been overwhelmed and the plastic sheet had kept her urine from soaking into the mattress.  Hungover she didn't want to deal with it right now she showered and curled up on the rooms lounge chair wearing nothing but a fresh pair of plastic underwear. 

 "I don't get paid enough for this."  The maid muttered stripping the wet sheets off Andrea's bed.  She then stuffed them in the soiled linens cart, spotted the bedwetter dozing in the chair and decided to give her a piece of her mind.  "What's the matter with you little girl?  Pissing all over the hotel furniture, it's gross."

 "Huh?"  The young lawyer half woke up.  "Just a few more minutes of sleep mom, then I'll do whatever you want."

 Seeing the litigator's face the maid grinned with thoughts of reward dancing in her head.  Slipping into the bathroom she placed a phone call and kept an eye on her prize until the a police officer arrived several minutes later.  "That's the girl, isn't it?"

 "It certainly is."  Officer Hodges grabbed a hotel robe and walked over to the sleeping young lawyer.  "Time to get up.  Now!"

 Head pounding Andrea could only squint up at the thunderous voice.  "Shh.  Keep it down.  Wait.  Who are you?"  She forced her eyes open and immediately tried to cover herself up.

 Boston's finest looking assisted in that wrapping the robe around the frightened girl, tying the front closed and then cuffing her hands behind her back.  She struggled mightily trying to get away, protesting futilly that she was an adult and that he was making a mistake.  He was stronger, ignoring her pleas and busy dragging her and her bag of Attends towards the elevator.  She knew that the more she yelled the more attention she drew to herself but she couldn't let herself be taken without a fight.  Andrea kicked her legs and in doing so displayed her yellowed, sagging underwear to anyone who happened to be in the hotel lobby and on the street before she was tossed in Officer Hodges back seat.

 "Where are you taking me?"  The young lawyer demanded red faced and wet cheeked.  "You can't do this!  I really am an adult!  You'll be sorry!"

 His fist banged on the plexiglass partition between the front and back seats.  "You're going to the juvenile detention center until you mom picks you up.  Now shut up!"

 In a matter of minutes she was being processed in as an 11 year old delinquent.  Her fingerprints and photo taken, she was given an orange shirt and had her Attends changed by a butch woman who clearly wished she had been born a man.  From there she was tossed into the day room of general population.  If she had thought the treatment from the staff was terrible, the girls she was stuck with were far worse.  "Hey everyone, look at the little baby in her diapers!"

 "I'm not a baby, I'm an adult."  Andrea stomped her foot.  "Leave me alone!"

 A girl who looked no older than 13 seemed to be the leader.  "Get her girls.  Show her how we initiate fresh meat."

 Five girls quickly pounced on the young lawyer pinning her to the ground, one each on her arms and legs; the leader standing over poor Andrea with her foot on the trapped girls abdomen applying pressure so that she couldn't squirm away.  Everything was happening too fast for the young lawyer to keep up and the increased weight on her stomach was playing havoc on her bowels.  The last thing she wanted to do was crap her pants, especially in front of these kids.

 "Here's the rules, while you're here you do what I say when I say it.  Any back talk or refusing my orders and you'll be punished."  The girl stomped down to emphasize her point. 

 If her gasp hadn't given away what was happening the smell certainly did.  For over a minute Andrea laid there slowly filling the back of her pants.  This brought a chorus of giggles from not just the girls who had attacked her but everyone in the day room.  When she had finished her embarrassing act she curled up in a ball sobbing her eyes out.

 "Quiet!"  The leader eyed the room.  "Little baby shit her diapers, carry her to an open bunk."

 The four girls who had been holding her down now lifted her up and complied with the order.  Once there Andrea was tied face down to the bedposts with sheets and the 13 year old in charge swatted the young lawyers exposed backside.  When a yelp escaped the litigators lips a gag was placed in her open mouth and tied behind her head to be covered by her hair.  A sheet was draped over her prone body so that to any guard passing by it would appear she was sleeping.  Andrea was effectively trapped in her messy diaper at the mercy of a bunch of kids.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 For three very long hours Andrea stayed like that, each minute passing torturingly slow as the foul mess in her pants grew increasingly itchy.  Finally the woman who was the root of all this evil came to 'rescue' her, cleaned her backside and taped a fresh Attends to her hips.  Thankful to be free of the detention center didn't mean she was entirely glad to be leaving.  True she had a better chance of escaping from the psychotic woman than from juvy, but how she would do that and where she'd end up remained a mystery.

 Guards escorted her and 'mommy' to a Green Ford that she could only assume belonged to her tormenter.  Sure enough she was soon buckled in the back seat.  For close to an hour and a half she peppered the woman with questions about who she was, why she was doing this but the crazy bitch would simply give the same reply each time.  I'm your new mom and this is what is best for my little girl.  Unsure what to make of that the young lawyer eventually gave up and began to plot her liberation.

 To her surprise the woman pulled into the garage of a colonial style home in a bustling suburb of Hartford, Connecticut.  Paying attention to road signs the entire journey had paid off.  Once the garage door had close behind them Andrea was herded into the house, sat in a chair and given a lecture.  "This is your new home.  Nobody you know is aware that you are here, and nobody here knows who you really are.  Which means if you runaway and the police find you that you'll end up right back here.  You did me the favor of having your fingerprints put in the system as an 11 year old after all, so it'll be a long time before you're 'old enough' to be on your own."

 "You can't do this.  I'm a respected and powerful attorney and this is-"  A hand was clamped over her mouth.

 "It's already done sweetheart.  Now mommy is going to make you a nice dinner and you're going to bed early.  You have a big day tomorrow."  The woman patted Andrea on the head.  "Why don't you go play in your room?"

 Wanting far away from this psycho as she could get the litigator wandered off to explore the house.  Not surprisingly the windows were all bolted shut, a key was needed to unlock the doors to get outside and no landline telephone could be found.  Andrea was about to try the upstairs when her new mother announced it was time to eat.  A plate of meatloaf and asparagus greeted the young lawyer upon entering the dining room, two of her least favorite foods.  Hungry as she was though she choked them down without complaint. 

 "Let me check your diaper honey."  Mommy called as Andrea attempted to leave the room.

 "I can change myself thank you very much."

 "Not while you're living in this house you won't.  Now get over here."

 The young lawyer debated whether or not to argue that she didn't want to live in this house and came to the conclusion that if she went along with the woman's delusional world for a little while thing might be a little easier.  The woman may not pay as close attention or lock her up at night if she thought Andrea was compliant.  Walking over she suffered the indignity of having two fingers slid inside her wet underwear, a change pad laid on the living room floor and her Attends changed.

 "I know it's a little early but I think you should be hitting the hay.  As I said before you have a big day tomorrow."

 "A little early?  It's barely seven o'clock."  A sharp slap was delievered to the young lawyers padded backside causing her to yelp.  "Fine, bed, I'm going.  What's so special about tomorrow anyway?"

 "You have your placement test for school silly."  Said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

 Wheels began turning in Andrea's head.  Go to the school, take the test, be excused to use the restroom and call everyone I know and tell them what's happening.  Plans or not someone will come save me, I'll have another day of this at most then back to the real world.  Wait, isn't tomorrow Sunday?  "How can the test be tomorrow?"

 "The school is making accommodations so that you can be ready when classes start on Monday."

 Whatever.  It isn't as though I'm going to have to actually go to class.  I'll stick with the plan and by tomorrow night this will all be a bad memory.  The litigator trudged up the stairs to her new bedroom, collapsed on the bed and improbably fell into a deep sleep.  She was awoken the following morning to a wet wipe being rubbed on her crotch and mommy taping a dry Attends in place. 

 "Breakfast is ready, come on down and eat up.  Then it'll be off to your new school!"

 Think what you want you lunatic, that school is my ticket out of here.  Eggs, sausage and a buscuit later Andrea and mommy were on the road.  Arriving at their destination brief introductions were done, the young lawyer not paying attention to what was being said and focusing on when would be the best time to ask for a bathroom break.  The test was being conducted in a conference room connected to the main office, in which were several phones ripe for the picking to choose from.  This was going to be a snap.

 A tall man who she had already forgotten his title sat down at the table across from her with a pencil and stapled papers in hand.  "Your test today is 50 fill in the blank questions on a wide range of subject for things you should know to enter the 6th grade.  Depending on how you score your grade level may be adjusted to whichever level best suits where you're homeschooling has you at.  You have 45 minutes and you may begin."

 He slid the papers over and Andrea dove right in.  Find the quotient of 144 and 12?  Like I remember what a quotient is.  Identify the object of the prepostion in the following sentence:  Making a desperate effort, the guard frantically dribbled the ball down the court.  I don't know, I haven't used this stuff since elementary school.  Which Eastern university was the first to be founded in the United States?  Well I know it wasn't Georgetown cause that's where I went.  Probably some Ivy League school like Yale.  What's the smallest prime number?  Isn't that 1?  Who needs this garbage in real life?  Which continent is smallest in population density?  Ugh.  Nobody needs this crap, why do they bother teaching it in schools?  Who invented the steam engine?  For the love of God I'm going to fail a test designed for 6th graders cause I don't know. 

 Maybe now is a good time to use the bathroom.  "Sir.  May I be excused to use the restroom please?"

 A sympathetic frown.  "Sorry, you aren't permitted to leave during testing." 

 I guess it doesn't matter how I score on the test anyway since I'm not actually going to be going to school here.  I'll just write whatever pops into my head and get this over with so I can get the hell out of here and to the phone.  Pencil down she had answered all 50 questions in just 11 minutes.  The proctor asked if she wanted to double check anything before he scored it, she of course did not and he allowed her to use the facilities while he calculated her grade level. 

 Pretending to go into the door marked 'girls' Andrea snuck back to the office, picked up the reciever on the first phone she came to and dialed.  Nothing happened.  She moved to the next phone with the same result.  Thinking she possibly had to dial '9' to get an outside line she attempted that and still nothing.  Panicking she tried calling the operator but for some reason she couldn't get the blasted phone to work.  Hitting buttons like mad she prayed that someone, anyone would answer and as if her prayers were answered she heard ringing.  Two rings, then three.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 "Who is this?"  Nicole's voice was music to Andrea's ears. 

 "Miss Phillips.  Listen, I don't have much time, but I'm not in Boston anymore.  The bitch is keeping me at 28 Putnam St in Hartford, Connecticut.  Save me!"

 The proctor clasped the young lawyers shoulder.  "Something I can help you with?" 

 Andrea hastily hung up the phone.  "Nope.  I'm doing great."

 "I should think not considering you got a 42% on your placement test.  Apparently your home schooling wasn't as tough as it should have been." 

 "Can I tell you something?"  Andrea did a cursory glance around to make sure they were alone.  "The woman who brought me here kidnapped me and is trying to make me her daughter.  I don't belong here."

 As if the woman was telepathically monitoring her every move mommy stepped into the office.  "Quite the imagination on her.  Guess we need to work more on education though.  What grade level will she be in?"

 "I've placed her in Mrs. Nash's second grade class."  The proctor said.  "She's strict but fair, I think it'll do Andrea some good."

 "Hang on a min-  ouch!"  The young lawyer was cut off by her new mother grabbing her ear and dragging her from the office.  Before she knew it she was outside, loaded into the green Ford and on the way back to her temporary prison.

 Trapped inside once again Andrea sulked all the way to her room and shut the door.  Thinking back, the demotion from big time lawyer to second grader was humiliating, but it could have been worse if the plan hadn't worked.  She had after all gotten ahold of her intern who would no doubt be rounding up the calvary and rushing in to save her in a matter of hours.  In the mean time all I have to do is play along with crazy lady and everything should go smoothly.

 A knock on the door snapped her back to reality.  Mommy came in, changed her diaper and informed her that they needed to get her some new outfits and supplies for school tomorrow.  A purple Dora the Explorer t-shirt and white skirt, befitting her new station in life, in place it was back to the car for a trek to the store.  The sign on the front said, Rainbow Kids, but Andrea could read between the lines, they sell nothing remotely resembling adult clothes. 

 Forced to parade around in pre-pubescent girly fashions was not the litigators idea of a good time, but she took solace in the fact that they all thankfully covered her disposable underwear rather well.  Not that she'd be wearing any of them after today, Nicole was on the way.  Mommy paid for six of the eight outfits, announced it was time  for lunch and chauffered the way to the fine dining establishment on every street in America, McDonald's.

 A children's chicken tender meal washed down by fruit punch did little to sate Andrea's appetite but that was all the food that was forthcoming.  "Why can't I have something real to eat?"

 "You were being such a good girl mommy wanted to get you a special treat."  A patronizing pat to the young lawyers head.  "Run along and enjoy the playscape for a little while and then you can have it."

 Andrea resisted the urge to tell the woman off with all the self-restraint she could muster and sulked to the ball pit.  There were two boys close to her new age already there whipping the little plastic spheres at each other as hard as they could.  Not wanting to get in the middle she climbed the tube up in order to go down the slide, mind numbing entertainment at its best.  Before she could complete the circuit one of the boys decided to traverse up the slide and the other up the ladder trapping her between them.  Not one to be bullied she shoved the kid between her and the slide and made her escape. 

 Unfortunately her new mother had witnessed the incident.  "Young lady, that is no way to behave!  Now get over here right now!"

 Head hung to the floor the 26 year old 2nd grader slowly walked to what she expected to be a lecture on manners.  What she got was a treat for the boys she had assaulted, mommy scooped her up, flipped her over her lap and lifted the back of Andrea's skirt to deliver blow after blow to stunned lawyers diapered backside.  While it didn't hurt physically it took an emotional toll and tears cascaded to the floor.  When it was over mommy shoved her nose in the corner with skirt tucked up leaving her soggy underwear on display and told her to wait there for five minutes.

 At a glacially slow pace the second hand orbited the requiste five times and the young lawyer was freed from punishment.  "I'm so disappointed in you.  No hitting other children.  To the car."

 "Can I use the bathroom first?"  Andrea asked sheepishly.

 Mommy simply pointed towards the exit.  "March!"

 The young lawyer did as requested and buckled into the back seat.  Instead of heading home, the looney lady who had abducted her drove aimlessly around the streets of town.  Squirming in her seatbelt Andrea knew that she wasn't done being penalized for the earlier transgression and home was out of the question until after she'd filled her diaper.  A few minutes later she gave in, or rather tried to since pushing it out while buckled in was difficult, and mommy watched in the rearview mirror.  Eventually the disgusting mess coated the entire inside of her underwear.

 "Smells like someone needs a change."  An unnecessary comment from the front.

 Wanting the horrible experience to be over Andrea bit her lip.  "Yes mommy."

 Meandering her way the crazed abductor made it's way to the house that was the young lawyers residental prison.  Inside Andrea was given permission to take a bath, did so and was taped into a fresh Attends afterward.  The remainder of the afternoon was spent staring out her bedroom window hoping to see Nicole's car pull in the driveway.  Would she be saved, or would tomorrow be her second first day of second grade?

~~~~~~~~~

 Dinner came in the form of chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Andrea, having not filled up at lunch at greedily garnering a rebuke from mommy about proper table etiquette.  Afterwards they moved to the living room to watch the news, something both were interested in for different reasons.  The crazy lady wanted to know the weather forcast for school in the morning and the young lawyer was curious if Nicole had reported her abduction to the authorities. 

 7:30pm found Andrea being securely fastened into an enormous amount of padding that vaguely reminded her of the corporate picnic last spring.  She had taken part in the relay race where participants were required to waddle a balloon around a short course then pass it off to a teammate without it striking the ground.  When she complained about the bulk she was told to get used to it as she would be wearing these special diapers every night from now on and during the day if she caused any trouble.

 Alone in her room the litigator gazed out the window desperately hoping to see her intern.  Minutes dragged by into an hour, then two and she was about to give up hope when a familiar car pulled into the driveway.  Parking her well padded caboose halfway down the stairs she listened to Nicole let her captor have it.  "She's a 26 year old attorney, you have no right to hold her like this."

 "I'm afraid you must be mistaken.  My Andi is only 11 and starts second grade tomorrow."  Mommy moved to close the door but the intern had her foots wedged in the way.

 "Give it up psycho unless you want the police to descend like locust from the plague on your doorstep."  She pushed her way inside.  "Miss Phillips!  I'm here!"

 Andrea raced to Nicole wrapping her up in bear hug.  "Am I glad to see you!"

 By this time mommy had regained her composure and ripped the young lawyer away and focused on the intern shoving her towards the door.  The two began to tussle in a mudless wrestling match many a man would have paid to see.  Fingernails clawed into flesh, hair was ripped at and bodies rammed into each other.  One of these belonged to the diapered litigator and when it was bumped it fell hard against the side of the couch effectively knocking her out. 

 Andrea awoke in the backseat of a car that based on the rate trees sped by the window was travelling extremely fast.  Sitting up she was relieved to see Nicole behind the wheel.  "Oh my God, thank you for rescuing me."

 "It's not over yet."  The intern glanced back at her boss.  "I managed to tie her hands to the stair rail so I could get you out but she escaped in time to run down the road yelling after us.  No doubt by now she's called the cops and carried out her threat to report you as being kidnapped by me."

 "Maybe you should slow down then so we don't draw too much attention to ourselves then."  The young lawyer's mind raced through scenarios of where she needed to go and what she needed to aquire to prove her adulthood.  Her birth certificate and social security card were locked in the bedroom safe at her apartment and once she had those she'd just have to lay low until the Department of Motor Vehicles opened tomorrow.  "How long was I out and where are we?"

 "Close to an hour and the last sign we passed said Milford was 10 miles ahead."  Nicole kept her foot glued to the floor.  A few minutes passed in silence as Andrea wasn't quite prepared to discuss what all had happened to her and the driver focusing on the road more than asking questions.  Suddenly Siri's voice announced a turn in half a mile.  Not expecting to get off the expressway for quite some time the intern looked down to make sure her iPhone wasn't sending her on the scenic route.  When she had the device on the same page she looked up to the blue and red in her rearview mirror.

 Pulling over Nicole rolled down the window and Andrea did her best to cover her exposed yellow underwear.  The officer leaned down.  "Can I see your license and registration please?"

 The intern hastily handed over the requested documents.  "What seems to be the problem sir?"

 He examined her license to drive.  "I clocked you at 92 miles an hour and you were swearving a little bit back there.  No doubt because you were busy playing on your phone.  Hang tight I'll be right back."

 The two girls in the car watch in nervous anticipation as the lawman shuffled back to his cruiser and got in.  Rustling from the young lawyers plastic padded bottom was the only noise in the car as they waited for his return.  Before long a second police car pulled in behind the first.  A cop of each gender exited and met the lawman who had pulled them over in between the police cars.  The group talked for several more minutes.

 Nicole lost control of her tongue.  "What do you think they're talking about?"

 "I'm betting it has to do with chick wearing a comically large diaper in the back seat."  Andrea huffed.  "Hopefully they didn't talk with that crazy lady already."

 "Why would they be taking so long if they hadn't?  They must believe you're that woman's daughter or there wouldn't be a backup car.  Should we run for it or wait and try to explain things?"

 "Thus far trying to explain things hasn't worked out very well.  Then again running puts us further in the hole."

 "I'm going to talk to them."  Nicole exited the car, closed the door and put her hands up.  She was saying something to the group of police but Andrea couldn't make it out.  For their part the cops continued to have a calm demeanor which the young lawyer assumed was good news, up until the female officer approached Nicole's car and asked her to step out. 

~~~~~~~~~

 Seeing Nicole sit down in the back seat of the front cruiser Andrea knew in her heart that nothing good would come from this traffic stop.  With a shove of the female officer she dashed around to the driver's side, hopped in and left a pair of black stains on the asphalt.  Of course the cops chased her, it was to be expected, but she wasn't going to go back and be that woman's daughter no matter what, she had to find a way to ditch the pursuit.

 Veering off the expressway in Milford she took a right at the first street.  With the late hour no cars were around so flying through intersections was realitively easy.  The road was mostly tree lined with houses every once in a while and didn't offer an opportunity to twist and turn to shake the flashing lights.  About three miles later Andrea found herself dumped into a subdivision and she began in earnest to evade capture.  Two rights and a left later she no longer saw signs of police presence, put the car in neutral, turned off the engine and doused the lights.

 Nicole's car rolled to a stop a quarter mile later in front of a red brick house, it's occupant ducking low in her seat.  Nervous minutes passed before the young lawyer dared look up and when she did she was alone.  Turning the key in the ignition the engine purred to life and she put foot to pedal.  It was difficult to remember which way she had come in, the adrenalin had taken over her brain, but she eventually navigated to the subdivisions entrance.

 Then the penny dropped.  When she stopped at the sign a police cruisers squeeled in to block her in both front and back.  She was humped.  Penned in Andrea knew there would be no escape, the car was stuck and she certainly wouldn't beat anyone in a foot race with the amount of padding between her legs.  All she could do was cry as the driver's door was ripped open and an angry man in blue uniform pulled her to the ground to handcuff her.

 Once he had shoved her roughly into his back seat he asked.  "What's your name hotrod?"

 The young lawyer's head spun into action.  If he was asking her name that meant he didn't know who she was.  That probably the cops who had stopped her and Nicole hadn't known.  In that case they weren't going to ship her back to 'mommy' and the mad dash to freedom had been for nothing.  Except now she had run from the police and didn't have an excuse as to why, not something the court would look too kindly upon.  So what do I do?  If I say who I really am I get arrested, disbarred and lose my career. 

 "Hey, name!"  The cop was snapping his fingers to get her attention.

 Oh god what am I doing?  "Andrea Dixon."

 "How old are you?"

 "11."  This is so not right but I can't afford to throw my life away, I'll have to find a way to escape again, though I doubt Nicole will want to help next time.

 "You're 11?"  His face contorted in disbelief.  "We'll see about that, put your thumb here."

 The litigator recognized the device as a portable fingerprint reader.  She complied and her juvenile delinquent report from Boston appeared on the in-car computer.  Her status as having been abducted aslo popped up.  "I wasn't kidnapped, I ran away.  My mom can overreact sometimes."

 "Now that you're in custody I'll take that out of the system and you back home.  If I were your parent I would not go easy on you when it comes time to dole out punishment."  He made a few keystrokes and the alert to find her was cancelled.  Hopefully that would keep Nicole out of trouble and she wouldn't be too mad.

 The trip back to Harford took almost 20 minutes longer than Nicole's foot to the floor version.  Mommy had apparently been notified in advance to expect her and was waiting in the yard to drag poor Andrea into the house by the ear.  "Straight to your room young lady!"

 The cop smiled at the alleged mother.  "Considering her age the owner of the car doesn't want to press charges so the matter is out of our hands.  If it were up to me I would instill the fear of the lord in that girl so she'll never want to do anything like that again."

 "Don't worry officer."  The psychotic woman said sternly.  "I guarentee she remembers this night for a long time to come."

 Upstairs Andrea knew whatever mommy had planned was not going to be pretty.  It was after 2am, she was tired and more than likely had to be awake for her first day in second grade in a few short hours.  Was coming back to this mad house really the best idea?  Why hadn't I at least tried to explain things to the police and maybe they would have considered mitigating circumstances and let me go.  Fuck here she comes.  "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

 "You aren't sorry yet."  Fire blazed in mommy's eyes.  In short order 25 hard slaps were administered squished into the young lawyers backside.  While it hadn't been particularly painful, the fact that the compression of the diaper squeezed a few droplets of urine out to drip down her leg remided Andrea just how helpless she was.  When it was over the lights went out and she was left alone in her room to ponder how deep the rabbit hole went.

 Six o'clock in the morning, diaper sagging low, the attorney waddled her way downstairs for breakfast.  Alphabets cereal, not doubt because she was supposed to start learning to read childish books, the crazed woman had a sense of humor.  She ate in silence with her eyes blankly staring into the bowl in an effort to avoid mommy's gaze. 

 "Let's get you dressed for school."  It was more of an order than a suggestion. 

 A pink dress was pulled over the young lawyers head and white tights over her sopping diaper from the night before.  "Um, aren't you going to change me?"

 Out the door, into the green Ford and off to school they went.  Andrea was curious what the woman's play was going to be and hoping it didn't involve another huge diaper.  Much to her surprise she got her wish.  Mommy pulled into the child drop off lot, parked the car and came around to the back seat.  Sliding off the tights she then untaped the sodden diaper and wiped Andrea clean.  Securing a pair of 'My Little Pony' panties and the tights in place on the young lawyers hips she grinned.  "You wanted to be so grown up and try to get away.  Now you get to prove to everyone just how grown up you are."

~~~~

 Despite knowing it was an ineffective method Andrea rushed to the restroom and stuffed her pink pony panties full of toilet paper hoping to stave off the inevitable for as long as possible.  Mrs. Nash's class was next door to the bathroom which made it easy to find and the young attorney settled into her desk with a grumble.  This is insulting to think that a college educated woman is somehow on the same level as this group of snot nosed brats. 

 The bell rang, Mrs. Nash called roll and introduced the new student.  Andrea nervously stood to wave, sat back down and could feel the toilet paper was starting to get wet already.  Great, give it a few minutes and asked to be excused to the restroom, there has to be some way to stem the flow.  Twenty minutes later the litigator raised her hand, the lecture on subtraction was riviting but old news and she had to take care of her problem.

 "Mrs. Nash?"  Sweet innocent sideways smile.  "May I please go to the bathroom?"

 "Of course.  Recess is in an hour and a half, you can go then."

 Andrea wiggled in her seat a bit for show.  "But I need to go really bad."

 "You should have gone before class then."  Turning her back to the class she wrote a series of equasions on the board.  Seven minus five, eleven minus six and four minus one.  "Alright everyone, go ahead and see if you can figure them out on your own, we'll review in a couple minutes."

 The young attorney quickly wrote the answers down on her paper and while everyone else was still lost in thought walked up to the teachers desk.  "See, I know how to do this already.  Can I go to the bathroom now?"

 "Yes, you did get these three right but no, you cannot go to the bathroom.  In this class hall passes are only given to students who have earned a positive mark."

 "This is my first day, I haven't had the chance to earn one yet."  Andrea pouted.  "You're being unfair."

 "Every student started their first day with zero and they all managed to make it a couple short hours without wetting their pants.  Do you think you deserve special treatment?"

 "I don't need special treatment, I need the bathroom."  The attorney's anger started to rise.  "Don't be such a grouch."

 "I've had enough of your attitude young lady, in the corner until you can learn to be respectful." 

 A bit miffed the litigator decided to go with the flow, no sense in pissing the teacher off more or she'd never get a hall pass and get a chance to run away midday when mommy wasn't around.  Nose pressed into the intersection of chalboard and cabinet for ten minutes and Andrea could feel pee running down the inside of her legs.  Looking down there were twin yellow streaks on the whtie tights, a small puddle between her shoes and no way she wanted to face the class now that Mrs. Nash said she could return to her seat.
 
 "Andrea peed her pants!"  Some smart boy in the front row called out. 

 "What have you done child?"  Mrs. Nash spun the young lawyer around to inspect the damage causing the class to snicker.  "To the office.  I'm sure the nurse has something for you to wear."

 Stopping to discard the toilet paper from her pants on the way Andrea soon found herself face-to-face with a stern looking woman in her forties.  She had a little mermaid shirt, pair of jean shorts and a diaper laid out on the exam table.  Bowing her head in shame the litigator hopped onto up and allowed herself to be changed.  The shirt was a tad tight but not horribly so and the diaper was similar to the baby diapers she had used before.  It was the shorts that were tragic.  According to the nurse they were as large as she could find yet they were still far too small for comfort.  The line of smiling bears from the diaper were sticking over the top and the padding at the bottom squeezed out the leg holes.

 Back in the classroom there were more giggles and whispers between her classmates until Mrs. Nash threatened to take away positive marks.  Humiliated beyond belief by a group of kids less than a third of her age Andrea couldn't bring herself to follow them outside when recess came up instead sitting by herself on the sidewalk and trying not to cry.

 A little girl came over to her.  "Don't be sad.  My brother has to wear diapers too, it's not a big deal."

 Don't even want to know how old her brother is.  "I'll be ok.  Thank you though."

 The girl scampered off and a couple minutes later the bell rang signalling everyone back inside.  What Andrea had learned from the experience was that there were three chaperones outside and they covered all the exits from the playground.  Recess was not the best time to escape.  Lunch would be in two more hours, perhaps she'd find an opportunity then. 

 Sitting down at her desk Andrea wished that time would speed by and she would be free to resume her life as a lawyer.  There's work to do still on the Wright case and I need to be available should the situation in Boston change.  I wonder what Nicole told them about my absence.  She's smart, she'll come up with something but the cover story won't last forever I need to get out of here.

 "Ms. Dixon?"  The teacher was standing beside her desk hands on her hips.  "Earth to Ms. Dixon.  Am I boring you?"

 "No."  The young lawyer said sheepishly.  "This is very interesting stuff."

 "Then perhaps you can tell me the answer."

 For not the first time all eyes were on her.  "Could you repeat the question please?"

 "Had you been paying attention you'd have known I didn't ask one."  Mrs. Nash walked back to her desk.  "Once you've finished lunch you are to report to back here to write sentences on the chalkboard instead of going to recess."

 "Yes ma'am."  Andrea remembered second grade teachers being nicer the first time through.  She focused on the mundane lecture the reminder of time until the noon bell.  It rang, she stood up and laughter ensued.  Twisting around to inspect herself she saw twin half moons had appeared on her shorts.  Could this day get any worse?

~~~
 
 The nurse was not pleased when Andrea returned to her office.  Changing the lawyer from the leaking baby diaper into a thicker more adult sized one she scolded her.  "Honestly child, two accidents in one day?"

 "Don't I get shorts or something to put on over this?"  The 26 year old second grader pleaded.

 "Those shorts were the largest I had and they barely did anything to cover you before."  The nurse began escorting her to the door.  "There's nothing more here.  You'll just have to deal with it."

 Trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible Andrea gulped and returned to Mrs. Nash's room without eating.  She was on rendition number 107 of 'I will pay attention in class' when her fellow students began to filter into the room.  She could hear them snicker but kept at her task not wanting to find out what the teacher would have her do if she quit writing before the bell rang. 

 Lecture resumed with social studies, a series of events in American history that unless you were going to be an anthropologist had no impact on your life as an adult.  Hearing Mrs. Nash talking about them brought back vague memories of having heard it all before.  If someone had reviewed this garbage with her before the placement test maybe she wouldn't have ended up in second grade.  Regardless, here she was, face growing more crimson as her pants become more and more yellow.

 By the end of the day she was sopping wet and almost willing to go home with mommy just to get away from the humiliation.  "Please don't make me go back there."

 "Did my little girl have a bad day?"  Mommy patronized.  "I'm sure tomorrow will be better."

 Andrea crossed her arms in front of her chest.  "Not likely."

 They arrived at the home prison, mommy clicked the television on to Seasame Street and disappeared upstairs.  The young lawyer attempted to change stations but a parental lock prevented any show above a 'G' rating.  With nothing else to do she allowed the red satanic puppet named Elmo to blabber away on screen and she calculated the chances of overpowering the psychotic woman one on one.  The odds were not in her favor. 

 By the time mommy returned it was an hour later, delinquent if she were a real mother, Andrea was in dire need of both a change and a trip to the restroom.  When the soaked garment was removed the young lawyer spoke up.  "I need to, you know, go."

 A wet wipe cleaned off the excess urine and powder rubbed in before the woman responded.  "You've demonstrated your willingness to go in your diaper before, I don't see why now should be different."

 The tapes were secured around the litigators hips and her anger started to boil over.  "You can't keep doing this to me ya fucking bitch, I'm an adult." 

 Slapping mommy's hand away she tore off the fresh Attends and jetted towards the toilet.  Naked as the day she was born Andrea was tackled onto the linoleum floor of the bathroom.  Wrestling mommy off she got to her feet only to have the woman wrap her in a bear hug.  Afraid that she was going to be squeezed empty like a tube of toothpaste the young lawyer dropped her hands to cover her backside in an effort prevent an accident.  That gave mommy the opportunity to bind her arms behind her back with a towel and drag her back to the living room. 

 The diaper Andrea had ripped off was put back on, a slit cut in it and a second Attends taped over top.  When mommy disappeared into the kitchen the young lawyer struggled futily to loose herself from the towels.  Before she was free her captor returned with rope which she used to replace the makeshift restraint.  "For your disobedience you can stay like that until bedtime when I'll consider changing you if you manage an acceptable apology."

 "But-"  Andrea was cut off by a gag being shoved in her mouth and tied behind her head.  It only took a few minutes for her battle with her bowels to come to an unwanted conclusion.  Add that to the fact she had missed lunch and now dinner and she was miserable.  She had to find a way to escape, but how? 

 When bedtime rolled around mommy had calmed enough to allow a bath and late dinner before the nighttime diaper was fastened on.  It was only 7:45pm but for some reason the litigator was tired and drifted off to sleep with relative ease.  She woke, ate a large breakfast and was dressed for second grade once more.  At least she would have something that covered her padded state.  Mommy pinned a note addressed to Mrs. Nash to Andrea's shirt, dropped her off and the young attorney watched the green Ford drive away. 

 There weren't too many people about and none seemed to be paying attention to her.  This could be her chance.  Darting down the step and towards the street she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet waiting for traffic to clear.  A break came, the young lawyer crossed and was immediately corralled by the school crossing guard.  His bored expression showed it wasn't the first time he'd caught a truant student.  "Alright kid, c'mon I'll take you back to class."

 "Please sir, no."  Might as well ham it up, who can resist a crying girl?  "The other kids will tease me, I can't go."

 Silently he took her hand, herded her into the school and deposited her at Mrs. Nash's desk.  The teacher thanked the man for his help and proceeded to read the note.  'Dear Mrs. Nash.  I am sorry for my daughter Andrea's behavior yesterday.  She knows she is to be diapered at all times, I think because she was starting school she thought she was a big girl and no longer needed them.  To prevent accidents in the future would you, or any faculty member be sure to check that she is diapered and if a change is necessary take care of that for her?  Thank you so much.  Ms. Dixon.'

~~~~~~~~

 The teacher put the authority granted in the note to use and ensured the young attorney was properly attired by lifting the hem of her skirt to see the slightly damp padding beneath.  Pronounced good for now Andrea was sent to her seat much to her chagrin and the lessons started for the day.  Not a half an hour in the boring simplicity of subraction had her teetering on the brink of falling asleep at her desk.  Gotta stay awake, Mrs. Nash catches me napping and I'll be writing sentences for weeks and won't get out for recess, my one hope for escape.  I suppose I could go over what I remember of the Wright case and make notes on what questions I have.

 "We do not write notes in class young lady."  The teacher admonished snatching up a girl in the front rows paper.  "You know better Cassie, 10 minutes in the corner."

 The girl plodded over head hung low to start her punishment and Andrea scrapped her plan.  Guess the wonderful world of take away it is.  Ha, take away, like had been to her adulthood, career and bladder control.  Her eyes drifted towards the window and the freedom the outside world offered.  So close, yet so far away.  Today at recess I'll wander around and try to find a gap in the fence or see how easy it would be to dig a hole under. 

 A presence hovered over her desk.  "Ms. Dixon, do you find me boring?"

 "No Mrs. Nash."  The litigator stammered unused to having to be submissive to others. 

 "Perhaps then you'd like to go to the board and answer the questions."  She handed the 26 year old second grader a piece of chalk.  For her part Andrea made quick work of the five brain busters and turned to go back to her seat.  As she passed the teacher she felt a tug on the back of her skirt and a squeeze of her diaper.  "See me before you head out for recess."

 Cheeks fire engine red Andrea replied.  "Yes ma'am."

 Forty long minutes later the bell rang, the kids, with the exception of Cassie who was writing lines on the chalkboard and Andrea, ran excitedly out to the playground.  The young lawyer was laid on a blanket behind the teacher's desk, her soaked undergarment removed and her privates wiped clean.  A knock on the door interrupted the process and Mrs. Nash went to the hall to talk with whoever it was.  That gave Cassie a chance to make comments to the baby getting her diaper changed.

 The instigation went unnoticed but the retaliation was witnessed when the teacher walked back in the room to see Andrea giving the girl a very adult one-finger salute.  Snugly wrapping the young lawyer in a fresh new Attends and standing her up she said.  "We are going straight to the office to let the principal know what you just did."

 Needless to say the head of the elementary school was not pleased about the obscene gesture.  Within a matter of minutes mommy was on the phone promising that Andrea would learn to behave properly in public and the litigator had a bad feeling in her gut.  The school also felt it necessary to dole out punishment in the form of washing chalkboards in leiu of recess for the next week.  So much for eloping anytime soon.

 For the rest of the school day Andrea did her best to focus on Mrs. Nash's rambling.  Random facts about early United State settlers, spelling single syllable words and playing with magnets took the class through the end of the day.  Andrea could feel her diaper sagging on her hips when she walked out the door to be ushered into mommy's car.  Surprisingly the woman almost looked pleased to see the young lawyer.  "Hi sweetie.  Mommy has a special treat for you!"

 The young lawyer sank down in her seat and watched scenery whiz by the window.  A few twists and turns found the car turning into a parking lot with a sign reading 'Premier Dance School' out front.  Sitting up she saw several girls ranging in age from 3 to 7 in tutus walking inside.  "Uh, what are we doing here?"

 "I signed you up silly."  Mommy hopped out, walked around the car and pulled the litigator out.  "You're school says you're immature, so you'll be learning a little refinement."

 Her hand in mommy's vice like grip Andrea had no choice but to be dragged inside.  A kind woman at the reception desk pointed them to a locker room where the young lawyers sopping wet undergarment was untaped in full view of the girls she had seen walking in.  Mommy wiped away the glistening on her crotch, applied a bit of powder and as she lowered Andrea back onto the waiting diaper slid something up her bottom.  A peach tutu was pulled over the fresh Attends, whose bulk was evident beneath, and the 26 year old joined the other girls on the way to studio.

~~~~~~~~~~

While the other little girls jumped and twirled around the studio Andrea was forced to take as small a step as possible.  Who knows how long she could have held out by doing that, perhaps even til after class had concluded, but it was not to be.  The instructor seeing her hesitation to participate swooped up behind her, grabbed her waist and hoisted her into the air.  Swung around with amazing strength for someone her size the teacher guided the young lawyer into a piroette before moving on to help another student.  White faced Andrea grabbed the bar in front of her and stared the seat of her reflections pants grow slightly larger. 

Ready to run back to the locker room to hide she glimpsed mommy's stern face and didn't want to risk futher punishment.  For the better part of a half an hour she continued with the lesson pretending nothing was wrong but the entire time trying not to gag as the contents of her diaper squished and shifted with her every move.  Finally ballet was over, but not the humiliation.  Mommy joined her in the locker room to clean her messy backside and make a show for all the younger kids who were all better potty trained. 

Back at home Andrea was plopped in front of the television to watch programming for someone 20 years younger than her and mommy started dinner.  Sticking her head out to check on the young lawyer she said.  "If you're a good girl and behave you won't have to go back to ballet."

"What's this all for?  Why have you done this to me?"  Not recieving a response Andrea stood up and joined the woman in the kitchen.  Seeing that she was too absorbed in food preperation to notice the litigator took the opportunity to look around for a weapon.  What she found was a cupboard full of prescription medication, Cardura and Ativan to be precise.  The bitch must have been grinding it up and putting it in her food, no wonder she hadn't regained any control.

Swiping a half dozen Ativan she snuck back to the living room unseen and soon enough dinner was served.  Dutifully eating what she knew to be doped food Andrea bided her time and asked for more juice.  When the woman went to fetch it she crushed the pills as best she could and mixed them into mommy's water.  All that was left was to wait for her to pass out, ransack the house to find the keys and be free.

7:30pm found the young lawyer being changed into her thick night time diaper and trying to avoid smiling when mommy kept yawning and rubbing her eyes.  Patiently waiting for another half hour Andrea crept from her bedroom, downstairs and had her heart skip a beat to see her captor snoring on the sofa.  As carefully as possible she dug her hands through the woman's pockets to no avail, the key must be somewhere else.  Room by room the search continued late into the night, but it was not in vain, sometime close to 1:00am victory was in her hands.

Out the door, behind the wheel of the green Ford and on the road the young lawyer breathed a sigh of relief.  Each mile that ticked by made the escape seem more real and the need for sleep to grow.  She was careful to follow the rules of the road, the last thing she needed was to get pulled over again.  After crossing the border into New York state Andrea found a non-descript place to pull over, crawled into the back seat and allowed sleep to overtake her. 

It was still dark when a rapping on the window roused the diaper clad woman.  "Ma'am, you can't park here."

"What?"  Realizing the situation she fumbled around trying to cover her sodden state.  "Oh, sorry.  I was tired, I'll move along."

Whether the cop was lazy, felt bad because of her situation or had better things to do didn't matter, only that he let her go without questioning who she was.  The dashboard clock showed 5:25am which meant she had been asleep for only three hours and would need to find somewhere else to lay low in addition to finding a change of pants.  Having left without pants, money of any kind or spare diapers limited the choices for both but out of every challenge there is opportunity. 

An hour and a half down the road she was passing a day care center when as luck would have it a mother was dropping off two small children.  Past experience had taught her that she could blend in as a little girl when the situation called for it and this was one of those times for better or worse.  Pulling into the lot she fell in line behind the woman who thankfully didn't notice and signed in her kids and turning them over to the staff.  Andrea penned her name in below the other kids names while everyone was distracted, snuck into the playroom and curled up on a blanket.  Before drifting off to sleep she could hear the staff mumbling about who the big kid in diapers was and the shuffling of paper when they presumably checked the sign-in.

At some point in the morning the young lawyer half woke to the cool dampness of a wipe being rubbed between her legs but was back asleep before a new diaper could be affixed.  She didn't stir again until a staff member gently shook her shoulder and announced it was time for lunch.  Having failed to eat since dinner the night before Andrea was famished and gobbled down the chicken fingers and fries that were on her plate, washing it down with apple juice from a sippy cup. 

Looking around she saw other kids from infant to perhaps seven years old all happily going about their lives without a care in the world.  It made her think back to her days growing up and how great it felt to be taken care of and despite being far too old to be where she was, the litigator felt strangely comfortable.  The reminisce was cut short when the woman she followed in came to pick up her tykes and informed the staff she had never seen Andrea before in her life.
 
"What do we do with her?"  One of the staff members queried.

"We could ask who her mommy is I suppose."  Another pointed out and walked over to the young attorney.  "Little girl, do you know who dropped you off?  What it your mommy?"

Not sure what to say the litigator remained silent.  The two staff member moved away to huddle up and talk quietly.  After several minutes the one returned and informed Andrea that a child protective services worker would be out to take custody of her.  For her part the young lawyer remained unfazed by the news, she did after all have only an unlocked door to contend with before she could get in her stolen car and zip away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feeling full from a deliciously toddleresque lunch Andrea felt her diaper and determined she would need a change before leaving the daycare in her wake.  The staff didn't appear to be ready to give her the desired new underwear so a plan was concocted to make it happen sooner rather than later, she didn't want to be around when the social worker arrive.  Selecting a coloring book and some crayolas she laid on her stomach and began to fill the page with beauty.  When she had a good start the young lawyer began to push and in a matter of a couple minutes the desired result rested in the seat of her pants.  The smell was sure to be noticed, she was confident of that, and soon it was.

The staff walked slowly around the room checking what were no doubt the usual suspects and stopping when they reached a boy around four years old.  A burly male staff was summoned from the back, collected the child and disappeared once more.  In short order the boy was returned to the playroom and resumed his endeavors with toy cars.  The staff, apparently believing the problem had been solved went back to chatting at the reception desk and occassionally glancing around the room. 

Five precious minutes of waiting and trying to build the courage to approach passed before Andrea took matters into her own hands and waddled towards them.  "Poopy."

Without standing up one of the women twirled her around and pulled out the back of her diaper.  The litigator wasn't sure which was more embarrassing, having this lady peaking into the back of her pants or knowing what she'd find down there.  "Oh yeah, she needs changed."

"Greg!"  The other staff member called out.  "Got another one for you!"

Once more from the back emerged the burly man picking Andrea up in his muscular arms as if she were light as helium balloon and carried her to the back.  Freaked out by the turn of events the young lawyer attempted to squirm away when he set her on the table.  Ever cautious the man pulled a strap across her tummy effectively pinning her and her arms underneath.  She couldn't help but think as he untaped her diaper that he was the first guy in nearly three months to undress her and the only reason he was doing it was to clean her messy backside.

After pulling down the front panel of the garment his head dropped under the table a few seconds and then popping up once more with a puzzle look.  Lightly drawing the diaper back to its original position and refastening the tabs he exited the room.  Andrea wiggled around trying to free a hand to no avail wondering what was going on and what the man was looking for.  Seemingly an eternity later he came back laden with a large box.  Removing several containers of latex gloves, a handful tubs of wipes and a couple bottle of baby powder he restocked the shelf below. 

He was just completing the process when a woman with thick rimmed glasses and hair was pulled tightly into a bun entered.  "This is the girl with the unaccounted for parents?"

"Yes ma'am."  Greg began to methodically wipe Andrea's mess away.  "Give me a few and I'll bring her out to you."

The young lawyer's brain kicked into overdrive.  She couldn't exactly speak up now and tell everyone she was a 26 year old attorney from Washington D.C. who had just stopped by the day care because she was tired and out of diapers.  Then again she didn't want to let the child protective services worker take her out to god knows where and not have a way to get back to mommy's green Ford.  With no other option she was going to have to make a dash for it at the first opportunity, but first she had to wait until the blasted restraint was removed.

An enormous amount of wipes later a clean diaper encased her loins, she was carried out to the playroom and set on the floor near the day care staff and social worker who were talking.  Had it not worked in her favor that what they were discussing was the possiblity she was mentally slow based on her lack of talking all day she might have been angry.  For now it meant they weren't paying as close attention as they should and when two kids started arguing over an action figure.  When they rushed to deal with the problem she slipped out the front door.

The car radio appropriately played the Willie Nelson's old country song 'On The Road Again' as the litigator jetted down the highway.  She knew that by now mommy would have found a way to report her and the Ford missing so an alternate mode of transportation would be needed.  Half an hour later she was in the big apple, ditched the stolen ride and was parading down the sidewalk in just a Minnie Mouse t-shirt and padded plastic underpants to beg for change.  Pride was a thing of the past, besides it was New York City, strangeness abounded.   The landscape was money to buy more adult looking clothing and a train ticket home.

Passerbys would offer snide comments, the occasional coin and a fair amount of indifference.  All told it took the better part of two hours to scrape enough together to buy a presentable business suit and matching heels from a thrift shop.  Feeling more grown up than she had in a week the young lawyer soon found herself at the public library for the free online access and booking a trip via Amtrack home.  Thank goodness she had memorized her credit card numbers in case of emergency as this definitely counted.  Printed confirmation in hand she walked the handful of blocks to Penn Station, traded it for a ticket and settled in to await her departure in 45 minutes.

"Train to Baltimore, Washington D.C. now boarding on track seven.  Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga."  Boomed over the loudspeaker making Andrea chuckle and remember her younger days when her dad listened to old Jack Benny albums.  She boarded the appropriate train, took a seat by the window and breathed a sigh of relief.  Her terrible ordeal was finally coming to a close.

"Business or pleasure?"  A well dressed gentleman in his early 30's took the seat next to hers.

The young lawyer shook her head.  "It's a long story."

"I've got a few hours, why don't you tell me."  And so she did.  At least an edited version of recent events.  By the time the story ended so had they had arrived at Union Station and he was thoroughly impressed.  "That is a remarkable tale.  It's hard to believe something like that could happen in modern society."

"Trust me, it did."  Andrea figited with a strand of hair by her ear.  "How long are you in town for?"

"Couple days."  He handed over a business card.  "Perhaps we can grab a cup of coffee sometime."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to the evening arrival of the train, the bank was closed for the day and Andrea was about to head to her apartment before thinking better of it.  The woman would surely have her address from her license and was certainly crazed enough for a stake out.  No cell phone, no such thing as a pay phone anymore and not enough money for a cab the young lawyer was contemplating what to do when there was a tap on her shoulder.  "Ma'am, you realize your standing in a puddle and your pants are wet?"

Spinning around the young lawyer found herself face to face with an older woman.  "I, uh-"

"It's alright dearie.  Come with me I have something I think you could use."  She took Andrea's hand, led her to a nearby restroom and took an absorbant undergarment from her purse.  "Sorry I don't have anything to hide the spots on your pants."

"Don't worry about it.  You've been extremely helpful and I thank you."  Entering the stall to untape the sodden diaper she continued.  "You wouldn't by chance be heading towards Rock Creek Park?"

"Sorry, no."  The creaking of the door could be heard.  "Good luck."

Alone Andrea discarded the used diaper in the trash and held her pants under the hot air hand dryer.  Reasonably satisfied that the wetness was gone she pulled them back up her legs and headed out onto the street to hail a cab, she'd just have to borrow money from Janet when she got to her house to pay the tab.  A thirty minute ride later she arrived at her destination, thankfully her friend was home to bail her out.

"Oh, Janet, thank you so much."  The litigator gushed.  "I didn't know where else to go."

Ushering her friend into the house.  "Slow down.  What are you babbling about?"

Andrea conveyed her recent tale of woe, finishing it off with, "So can I stay here tonight?"

"Absolutely.  I'll make up the bed in the spare room."  Janet stood and began to walk towards the hallway.

Grabbing her arm.  "Actually, before any of that, I need a few supplies.  Would you be willing to go with me to pick them up so I don't ruin your mattress?"

Realizing her friends need Janet drove the pair and tenatively they entered the apartment.  It was just as the young lawyer had left it the week before.  Picking out a package of Attends, money from the counter and her safety deposit key from the bedroom they were on their way.  After a good nights sleep Andrea hopped a cab to her bank.

"May I help you?"  A smiling face greeted her.

"I'd like into my safety deposit box please."  In short order she was able to verify her identity with the manager and was able to retrieve her passport.  "Thank you God.  Now I can get my life back."

The woman who had helped her gave a strange look at the comment.  "Good luck with that Miss Phillips."

The young lawyer's first stop was the police station.  There she met with one of the gold shields who was more than helpful in transferring her complaint to the Connecticut State Police.  They took her statement via telephone and promised to check out the house she had been held at in Hartford.  Relieved things were starting to go her way she made her first appearance at work in more than a week at just passed lunch.

"Miss Phillip, so good to see you!"  Her administrative assistant glowered.  "Feeling better I see."

Figuring Nicole had used a sickness as her excuse for missing work she responded.  "Thanks Charles.  It's good to be back."

The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on lost time and reaquinting herself with the cases she was working on.  Suitably situated she called her interns in for a meeting, both were more than a little interested in her ordeal.  The litigator filled them in on the details then had them return the favor on what she had missed during her escapade.  As the meeting was coming to a close the phone rang. 

"Connecticut State Police, is an Andrea Phillips available?"

"This is she."  Andrea put it on speaker so Garrett and Nicole could listen in.

"We've been to the house.  The woman you described as your kidnapper was found deceased on the couch of an apparent self inflicted gun shot wound."  A pause.  "I was hoping you could make your way back up here to positively identify her sometime in the next few days."

The young lawyer agreed.  The terrible nightmare was over, she would no longer have to worry that anyone would take away her adulthood again.  Sure she was stuck in diapers for the time being, but compared to what she had been through, having to change her underwear a few times a day was no big deal.