70s_ownd Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Cant wait for the next chapter ? love this storie i'm a fan Link to comment
kerry Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Wow! Another super chapter! I loved the way you handled this, showcasing Emily's emotional pain while also keeping us in touch with the reactions and feeling of both other women. Knowing that Emily could safe-word her way out of this, which you were careful to remind us of, makes it easier to see her struggling so much. This story continues to be what it has always been: one of my very favorites! Link to comment
PravidaUser Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Glad to see You here!!,can we expect a new chapter of Illegal Immigrant? I'm not sure If is te right post to say that but Sorry by the inconvenience if I do Link to comment
YourFNF Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 On 6/12/2022 at 11:05 PM, Mee said: In unison, Emily and Joyce looked at her in surprise. “What? Wow Emily's social anxiety is even worse than mine. I kind of want to have a "talk" with whoever is responsible for it being this bad... Also I kinda feel like Joyce honestly should have called that scene the moment Emily started to have serious distress. Link to comment
Mee Posted June 16, 2022 Author Share Posted June 16, 2022 On 6/13/2022 at 1:45 PM, WBDaddy said: Frankly, I think pushing Emily to show these clothes off to Amy is just a vehicle for Joyce to get Emily more comfortable wearing these clothes on a regular basis, possibly even when they go out. Wait, crap. Am I forgetting my own characters? On 6/13/2022 at 2:06 PM, Babytom948 said: Who is Gayle? Right? On 6/13/2022 at 4:02 PM, WBDaddy said: Brain cramp. Meant Joyce. Don't give me brain cramps with your brain cramps. Wouldn't that be the dream! Conditioning Emily to be desensitized to wearing and wearing around other people. Responsibly, of course! On 6/13/2022 at 4:48 PM, 70s_ownd said: Cant wait for the next chapter ? love this storie i'm a fan Thank ya ever so kindly for being a fan! On 6/13/2022 at 5:36 PM, kerry said: Wow! Another super chapter! I loved the way you handled this, showcasing Emily's emotional pain while also keeping us in touch with the reactions and feeling of both other women. Knowing that Emily could safe-word her way out of this, which you were careful to remind us of, makes it easier to see her struggling so much. This story continues to be what it has always been: one of my very favorites! So glad you liked it! Obviously I can always improve, but sometimes I can just get so bogged down in the process that I tend to second-guess myself a lot on my writings, and sometimes I think that it can suffer. Bearing that all in mind, Sheltered has been an absolute journey for my writing skills and continues to be. Because Sheltered is always something in tandem with the rest of my shorter/not as long stories it's the one that can consistently change in writing style as I make less mistakes/pick up different habits. While I also love the characters (and would 1000% want my very own Joyce), I'm extremely close to this story as a testament to how I've improved. There's likely a lot I would rephrase and re-write in the much earlier parts of this story, but I always want to keep some record of the original (which I don't even have copies of anymore, lol) just to see how I was as a writer from the start, and then by the finish. On 6/15/2022 at 1:21 AM, PravidaUser said: Glad to see You here!!,can we expect a new chapter of Illegal Immigrant? I'm not sure If is te right post to say that but Sorry by the inconvenience if I do Hi there! Yes, you can! But...drum roll, If you'd like to read Illegal Immigrant's latest chapter sooner rather than later, you can find that on my Patreon! 19 hours ago, YourFNF said: Wow Emily's social anxiety is even worse than mine. I kind of want to have a "talk" with whoever is responsible for it being this bad... Also I kinda feel like Joyce honestly should have called that scene the moment Emily started to have serious distress. (⇀‸↼‶) I...have no idea what could be causing that... I really wish I could do something about it, but that's just the way Emily is...because...reasons... Joyce definitely has a track record of pushing limits probably farther than they should be bending, but the difference between those times and now is having the experience of those slip-ups prior and much more controlled circumstances (in this case). Another thing that I want to continue slowly turning the dial on is Joyce's own growth as a mommy. As far as we know, this is the first actual time or relationship that she's gotten where she gets to finally indulge in and answer those feelings she has to "mommy" someone else. While it's clear that the one out of their element the most is Emily, there have been points that make mention of Joyce sometimes second-guessing herself or mistakenly crossing a line and learning from it. It's typically Emily that gets the focus during a fall, but Joyce is trying to be the best mommy that she can be, and she's certainly getting there! 4 Link to comment
Mee Posted June 25, 2022 Author Share Posted June 25, 2022 (edited) 39 - Appointments “Emily? Come on, we’re going to be late for your appointment! Let’s get your shoes on!” Joyce called from the slate entrance, dangling a pair of smaller-footed sneakers from her fingers. “Can’t we go another day…?” a voice traveled back from a different room. “I’m not feeling too good…!” “I’m sorry you feel that way, hon,” but Joyce wasn’t sorry that she wasn’t born yesterday, “I can schedule an appointment with Dr. Hall for you while we’re at the dentist?” Silence. The sound of deteriorating negotiations. “...I’m not going!” By this point, maybe Joyce was the fool for thinking she could get away with just a beck and call and expect total compliance. “Fussy, fussy, fussy…” she muttered, debating whether it was something to smile over, or find the strength to be stern. Emily was laying on the bed, half of her face buried in Pip, but her eyes were immediately on Joyce once she stood beside the door frame. In her eyes were the fear of God and the inner child that was digging its heels. Or adult. Whichever it was, it was indignant. “Emily. We are going to the dentist.” “I’m fine! I brush my teeth! I floss!” Emily truly whined, and it wasn’t a gleeful one. “And that doesn’t mean you get to just skip out on regular visits!” Joyce huffed. “What if you have a cavity and you don’t know it? Or you have something else going on that you won’t find out until it’s too late?” Emily’s first answer was to squeeze Pip tighter. Of all places, not the dentist. A person poking around in your mouth with sharp tools? Absolutely not. Maybe once upon a time, ten or so odd years ago she had parents that forced her to go, but now she was a full-grown adult capable of making her own decisions. And yet, as Joyce stood there with a hand on her hip, even Emily felt her agency evaporating. “I…I feel fine. My teeth are okay.” And yet her words were only more rope to hang herself with. Joyce readily countered with, “Great, so then that means we’ll be in and out once we go?” “I’m not going, Joyce! I hate the dentist! I’ll go when I actually need to! I’m an adult!” How did this even happen? All that stupid talk about running out of toothpaste and mentioning Joyce’s earlier appointment… Why did she have to get roped into her girlfriend’s routine? Six months a visit? Sure, that’s on her, but not Emily! “Yes, you are an adult, but I’m only going to respect your decisions if they’re responsible and mature ones. Emily, honey, I get that you don’t like the dentist, but you know that it’s for your own good?” Emily grumbled, pressing her hands down, determined not to move, chained to her tree no matter the bulldozer that came her way. “Is that a yes? So you agree with me?” Joyce taunted. An easy way to tease an answer. “No!” Emily shouted right back. “Emily, if I have to carry you down to the car, do not think I won’t. If you want to eat tasty food and have sweets and dessert, you need to have a good set of teeth, and that means going to the dentist regularly.” “Then I’m done having sweets!” Emily spat, finding the ultimatum that never really existed. Joyce crossed her arms, hardly a believer in the change of attitude. “So you’re done? No sweets ever again? No ice cream, no chocolate, or those milkshakes that you like?” “Nope.” She wasn’t even thinking, simply too focused on avoiding the dentist at all costs. “So then you’re done with the pancakes I make too? Is that it? Same for your milk?” “...Mhm…” Maybe she hadn’t really thought it through, but if this is what it took to call off the visit… “No more banana pancakes, you know that, right?” One too many buttons had been pushed and Emily for a moment was all cylinders, finally coming out with it. “--THE DENTIST SCARES ME!” “I can tell that much…” Joyce sighed with a seat taken on the edge of the bed. Yet somehow this put Emily for total shock. “A-and you’re still making me go?!” “It doesn’t matter if you’re scared, Emily. It’s important for your health. I’m going to be there with you the whole time?” It was wild to think she was getting this much pushback. It felt even tougher than it was to get her in a diaper for the first time. “Please? Can you do it for me?” She gave a pause for an answer, but none came. “Do you know how that makes me feel? How worried I am that you could have something wrong with your teeth and it could’ve been dealt with much sooner?” “That’s not fair…! You can’t guilt trip me like that…!” “I can and I will if it convinces you, because it’s the truth, Emily. Wouldn’t you want peace of mind yourself?” “I haven’t been to your dentist before though…what if they mess up or something?” Granted, Emily’s dentist lived on the other side of the country. What she wasn’t prepared to tell Joyce was that she hadn’t gone once since coming out here from her home state… “They won’t. They’re paid good money not to mess up and they’ve been doing this for years. Try to think about other things, because it’s doing you no good worrying over things that aren’t going to happen. Here, I’ll even put your shoes on for you.” She phrased it like a kind gesture, but the quiet reality was Joyce forcing the notion that this was happening whether Emily liked it or not. “Joyce…please…” “We still have time to get your pacifier if that’s what we need?” Joyce commented as she tugged on the first shoe. “No! That stays here!” Emily had another outburst of worry, yet her legs didn’t kick. “I’m a minute from either making you choose between a diaper or Pip then, Emily. I love you and I’m not mad at you, but I will be stern if that’s what it takes to keep your wellbeing in check.” And if words weren’t enough, she raised off her knee to kiss Emily on the lips. “Not another word about not going, understood?” She sniffled and started sobbing, nodding her head. Damn, why did she have to make Joyce feel so guilty? This was all certainly unexpected to Joyce. Paradoxically, for as much of a little girl she wanted to encourage Emily to be, it was quite surprising to find such a…fitting sort of stereotype embedded in her. Yet as guilty as Joyce felt, she had no qualms playing the villain if it was meant for Emily’s sake. “You know how proud I am of you, right?” “Mhmm…” Tearily, Emily nodded. She was upset, annoyed, and frustrated. She shouldn’t have to go if she didn’t want to. Joyce had no right forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do. So why wasn’t she fighting back? Physically resisting? That…that seemed like it would be going too far, but it also wasn’t fair that Joyce could physically force her! “Hey,” Joyce lifted her chin, “no grumpy faces.” Screw not being able to have any grumpiness. Grumpy was what she’d stay if she got nothing else. If Joyce was getting her way, Emily was at least entitled to malicious compliance. Emily kept her words to herself, and most of her emotions. Like a game, whenever Joyce was watching, it was at best a dejected sort of look, otherwise it was back to frowning and sulking. Needless to say, this was far from how Emily planned their Friday afternoon going. Finally, after walking down the hall, taking the elevator to the underground parking garage, getting in the car, and pulling onto the street, Emily finally said, “I don’t want any babying this weekend.” Was it emotionally charged and the heat of the moment? Certainly, but in a moment of selfish spite, she was letting an absolute buzzkill of an outing affect everything to follow after it. “Alright then.” Joyce, seemingly unfazed, answered back a second later. Her eyes were on the road, both hands on the wheel. Emily tried to not let it show, but obviously that annoyed her a little. It was petty, of course, but she would have hoped that it might sting a little… “We’re lucky that they were able to take you so soon, you know? I called on such short notice, yet they just managed to fit you in.” “I wish they didn’t…” Spoken like a true mope, with a chin on her shoulder no less. “Well I’m glad they did.” The car ride went back to silence, save for the radio, but otherwise just that. The next checkpoint was arriving in the parking lot outside the multipurpose building, housing a hedge fund company, credit union branch, tech repairs, and a dreaded dentist… “Okay, come on, time to get out,” Joyce spoke with basic commands every step of the way, preemptively, nipping in the bud any sort of bratty combativeness that Emily could try. More and more Joyce was sounding less like a girlfriend and more like something else, and unfortunately it just meant that this was one of those days, or situations, given how things had gone this time. Inside the elevator Emily was quiet, but her feet were not. One would twitch, swing, maybe even tap the floor. “Are you nervous?” The answer was obvious, but left unspoken. Joyce knew, but she wanted Emily to make it clear herself. “No…” Emily scowled right back. This sucked. This sucked far too much. She didn’t want to be here, and if it weren’t for her girlfriend holding her hand, she’d have been long gone by now… Her foot stopped fidgeting. The entire floor must have belonged to the tooth care place because the elevator opened right up into a waiting room. Leather seats propped on shiny metal legs lined the sides of the room, and even a grand aquarium from floor to ceiling divided up some of the chairs. Unheard of magazines sat neatly ordered on the glass coffee table and were paired with a decent view of bustling traffic down one of the many long city roads, loomed over by an endless array of skyscrapers. One such woman was sitting by herself, reading one such magazine. She looked like a Joyce-type. Not the kind that tried to guess your diaper size and impose a bedtime, but the kind that did important work and made good money. The whole room was clean and orderly. Emily hated it. It was all the signs to be seen in any sort of medical waiting room. And what was worse? Just in earshot the hum and buzzes of machines and machinations of horror were going off down the hall. What they did was anyone’s guess, but the less rational and easily perturbed ones might suppose they were rusty, oil-powered teeth-pullers and hand-held jackhammers for the mouth. Whatever the equivalent for suicide watch was for a girl about to make a break for it, Joyce was on high-alert. Emily wanted to let go of her hand, but Joyce did not reciprocate. “Hello, we have an appointment for Emily?” Joyce greeted the secretary behind the glass. “Emily? Let’s see…Oh, yep, right here! Emily Sen, correct?” “The one and only,” Joyce chuckled. “Is there anything she needs to fill out?” “Yes, please,” the woman in her swivel chair navigated the tiny base of operations, assembling a paper, pen, and clipboard. “If she plans on staying with us, we’d like to use some of this information to help start a record until we can get what we need from her previous dentist.” “Perfect. Thank you.” Started and ended on Emily’s behalf, Joyce took them over to a pair of seats. “Do you want me to fill this out, or would you rather?” she asked as they sat down. “I want to go home…” Emily halfway sulked in her chair. Joyce was already pushing and popping the pen’s spring-action button against the paper. “And we’ll go home after we finish up here. So am I filling this out, or are you?” The noise was whirring now down the hall. No screams, thankfully, but it could also just mean that the dentist had started by slicing the victim’s vocal cords. Emily kept bouncing her knee, quiet and distressed. Meanwhile, Joyce wasn’t humming any tunes this time as she quietly scribbled what she knew on-hand about Emily. “Any allergies?” That one never came up, come to think. “Pollen.” “Are you seeing an orthodontist for anything right now?” “No…” Joyce usually knew when she left the house, didn’t she? “Any medication right now?” “No…” Emily droned on and on to the questions. As much of a stranger as she was to a place like this, she certainly did remember the plethora of things on these sheets that were ninety-nine percent of the time followed by a resounding ‘no’ that hardly needed any sort of focus. “Favorite animal?” “Cat–” and her mouth slammed shut the moment she responded. An irked glare was what Emily was giving to Joyce who couldn’t help but grin. “Just a little fun, come on…” Joyce muttered through a mumbling laugh. “Yeah, well, you know I don’t want to be here.” Emily slumped further in the seat, grouchily murmuring. “And it’s only something you have to do twice a year that takes half an hour. Tops. Sit up?” Joyce’s hand on Emily’s stomach set her back on the slope of a chair somewhat. “This is only going to be as difficult as you make it…” By the slip of her tongue in a moment of impatience, Emily grouched back, “It wouldn’t be difficult if you just asked me what the stupid paper actually says…” For being a person so in control of their words, it can always be oddly fascinating how by chance, one in a million, that your words can somehow bypass any filter or sense of rational thought you might have. Blindsided by her own words, swept by the heat of the moment. Emily tensed the second her subconscious voice finished speaking for her. Then came the warm breath of air against her ear, but with none of the sweet coos and whispers to go with it. The warnings of consequence were just a handful of decibels from turning into a full-blown scolding that didn’t care whether or not the woman minding her own business just a few chairs down could hear. So as a final mercy, Joyce calmly whispered into Emily’s ear. “I know you don’t want to be here, but that is no excuse for the way you’re talking to me. I’m sorry for making you upset, but you are not going to be a grouch and take it out on me. Do I make myself clear?” There must have been torrential downpour in the waiting room, because Emily’s tiny embers were now just soot washed away by the waves of her girlfriend’s wrath. “...I’m…I’m sorry…” What was far less private was the wet kiss on Emily’s cheek. “I’m sorry too.” Roses and sunshine, Joyce was back with the clipboard. Like her memory from a few seconds prior had vanished. “Okay…when was the last time you went to your other dentist?” And like so, coincidence could be such a cruel mistress. “Uhm…” Lie? Maybe, but truthfully, Emily was too frazzled to know whether or not it was safe to not-truth about that sort of thing. Lying to Joyce? Definitely not safe. But to the dentist? Was it that big of a deal…? “At least six months, right?” Joyce seemed to be giving her the benefit of the doubt, but it was clear she was goading an answer. “Yeah, six…” No eye contact worked wonders at heightening suspicion, come to find out. “Emily? I know it’s been more than six.” Her eyes didn’t leave the paper. “You can tell me; it’s important that they know.” “...ear…” Chin tucked over the other shoulder and seemingly enamored with the white wall to her side. “I didn’t hear that, Emily. Speak up and look at me, please.” Her head came halfway in a rusty, rickety fashion, jittering to the point that their gazes were parallel. “Th…three years…about…” The absentminded twirling of the pen on paper halted immediately, like a calm and relaxing ensemble of smooth jazz music had suddenly just been stopped. Joyce gripped the pen, and Emily knew her answer wasn’t received without silent judgment. But it did stay silent, as Joyce went back to writing without a word on the matter. Was it guilt that she was feeling? Guilt for not going to the dentist? Not quite. Maybe some of that was there, and maybe there was some for not meeting Joyce’s standards, which were quite average in this regard, honestly. But no, it was guilt owed to herself for not keeping this all a secret any better… Joyce didn’t have any more questions as she wrote, no more than asking for a signature, and Emily tried to busy herself with something on her phone. Anything. “Martha?” A woman in scrubs and face mask was standing by the entrance that led deeper into the dungeon. Holding her elbows she scanned the lobby among the three (but really two, and really only one if “willingness” was taken into account) patients. The stranger stood with a bag over her shoulder and off she went. A nostalgic queasy spell was starting up in her stomach as Emily watched from the corner of her eye. Was that woman going to come out the same? Maybe as a toothless abomination, or a battle-scarred victim of a lazy-handed drill-wielding fiend who got off on other’s suffering for fun… Deep breaths. Meditation. Maybe, just maybe, in that quiet waiting room Emily could awaken her otherworldly powers and discover the very secrets to stopping time itself. Would life move on? Hardly not, but a meager price to pay if it meant dodging– “Emily?” Crap. Shit! Shut her eyes tighter! Don’t stop time! Reverse it! Right before she met Joyce, just so she can cover all the tracks from her medical history! And yet the uncultured folk beside her assaulted her deep meditations with a soft poke on the shoulder. “They’re calling you?” Thank you, Joyce. Truly. Emily was blinded by all the brownie points Joyce was burning through like it was some sort of race. Hesitantly, she stood. This must have been what convicts on death row felt like, except so much worse. Emily was guilty of no crime. She took good care of her teeth! What neglect? She was being framed! Miss one or two appearance dates every six months and suddenly she’s a criminal? Call her an attention seeker, because Emily briefly glanced at Joyce beside her, then blinked twice. No Joyce. She turned her head back farther. There Joyce was, still sitting at the chairs, browsing her own phone, like this wasn’t the last time she’d ever see her girlfriend! “Uhm…” the worker garnered Emily’s attention again, “right down here.” Emily stepped forward but just barely hid a noise of discomfort. Why wasn’t Joyce coming? She had a quiet voice telling her to stomp her foot. She was putting Emily through all of this, so she had to be there the entire time! Then Emily had a brief moment of reflection. She’d been stubborn, indignant, combative and bratty the entire way here and even in her chair. She even shut down babying privileges for the whole weekend in a heated moment of anger. Was this punishment? Joyce’s way of biting back? This sucked. This wasn’t fair. Emily may have toed the line, but Joyce was sprinting right past it! She knew Emily didn’t like the dentist, and she knew how much she didn’t want to be here! She has to come! She has to be moral support! But outwardly quiet and wordless, Emily let herself be led along and down the hall. Alone and afraid. “Right in here? Go ahead and sit down in the chair, I’ll be just a second.” the woman quietly excused herself as Emily walked inside. On some level she was reminded of her nursery. A vibrant cartoon sky blue on the walls, puffy happy clouds and a personified smiling sun. Happy go-lucky frogs, talking trees and overjoyed flowers by the prospect of being violated by just as happy bees to boot. Two tall cabinets beyond the dentistry tools of destruction and signature torture chair in the center were prominently housing an audience of onlookers. Stuffed with cotton and lined with fur. An array of stuffed animals looked down at her. “E…excuse me? Is this the right room?” Emily was already leaning her head out the doorway for the returning assistant. Maybe her words held some weight, because the woman glanced at her clipboard and then the black, yellow-font engraved label on the door before answering, “Yes, this is the right room.” “Alright…” Emily awkwardly sat on the edge of the chair, like she was only stopping by for a brief admiration of the decor. “Just seems like a room mainly used for kids…” “Oh!” Like an afterthought had only just clicked, “I see what you mean.” she chuckled behind her facemask. “Our only other room is tied up with another patient at the moment and our other rooms are going under deep cleanings. We try to use the other room for all our adult patients, but this was an appointment on such short notice…” Emily nodded understandingly, even if she didn’t like this any better. Wasn’t this bad for her headspace or something? What if she started associating baby time with dentists? Definitely a bad idea. It’d ruin everything they had. So maybe she could get up and leave with that reasoning. Joyce would understand, right? “Emily? Sorry? Could you please lay down in the chair for me?” the woman kindly asked, already in her swivel chair sitting behind the head of where Emily was commanded to lay. “S-sure…” Emily did say, but did not do. She twiddled her thumbs, taking a moment to breathe. Was her heart supposed to be popping out of her chest? “Is…everything alright?” the dentalcare worker asked. “Yes…” No. No. Definitely not. “Would you…” it was obvious how awkward of a position Emily was putting the woman in, which is why like a knee-jerk reaction she half-collapsed onto the chair. Emily cringed with shivers as the gloved pair of hands gently adjusted her head, tugging her like a motion to slide back a bit more. “Okay, I’m going to raise the chair now, alright?” “Mhm…” The sudden jerk in hydraulic motion had Emily gripping the arms of the chair like her hands were the jaws of life. An involuntary yelp escaped her mouth the moment she started to rise as her feet rocked on their heels, tapping toes together repeatedly. “C-can we slow down? I-I need a second…” Emily begged through the nerves and stress, barely even letting her back rest on the chair just in case she needed to make a quick escape. Then the gloved hand lightly touched her shoulder. “Wait right here for a minute, okay?” Emily couldn’t see, but she heard the woman get up from her chair and briefly leave the room. Like it was an excuse to get out of bed, Emily sat up from the chair, absolutely miserable. She hated this. This is why she didn’t go to the dentist. This is why she took damn good care of her teeth just so she wouldn’t ever need to go! She could only glance behind her before seeing the tray of tools that made her skin crawl. The tubes and nozzles running underneath, or the deceptive tv on the wall playing muted movies from nearly two decades prior. It was fine to leave, right? What if she cried? What if she begged Joyce to leave? She’d understand once she saw her like this, wouldn’t she? A knock on the doorway snapped Emily out of it, even if only temporarily, as the woman came back in. With a friend this time. “J-Joyce?” She wore her same as usual smile, like no bad blood had ever flowed under her bridge. The staff was sitting back down in her chair and Emily nervously took that as a note to lay back down herself. “It’s one thing if it’s me, but you can’t go causing trouble for the people here, you know?” Joyce grinned, pulling up a chair to Emily's vacant side. Speechlessness was all Emily could muster. She was flustered, embarrassed, aggravated, and relieved. Words were poor descriptors of the mess that her face was trying to express. “She wasn’t causing trouble,” the woman chimed in with a small upbeat tone, “I just figured she might want someone with her.” Translation: get this adult her babysitter to make her behave. “And was she right?” Joyce hogged the other end of the conversation, of which Emily saw before the assistant calmly turned Emily’s gaze back up to the ceiling. Cue the blinding light. Emily’s hand found itself hanging off the edge of the chair, and ever so coincidentally, Joyce’s was right there to catch it. “You know, I didn’t even know that there was a room like this here?” Joyce looked around with curiosity and a twinkle in her eye. “I take it this is usually for kids?” And what did that say about Emily? “Typically, but it has all the same equipment our other rooms do. Most of our other rooms are being cleaned right now.” “Uh-huh,” Joyce nodded, and Emily listened, and squinted, just trying to squeeze anything she could out of Joyce’s hand, “I think it’s a lot more fun than the rooms I always get here.” The two women talking over Emily shared a laugh. “I don’t suppose we can make special requests for this?” Emily tried not to throw a fit right then. Joyce knew what she was doing! Why was she bringing up all this stupid sensitive stuff! There was a line! A line! But whether it was caused by oblivious nature or professional attitude, the woman didn’t take the question strangely. “Technically you can. Nothing about making an appointment says you can’t, but it could affect appointment availability.” “Not an issue. We’ll be scheduling six months out from now right before we leave.” Joyce, the dual-edged sword said back. Loving and supporting, but in exchange committing Emily to a life of pain and suffering. A shackle was donned around her neck next, fastened by a heavy iron padlock. “Awh! They make those clip things for the tissue bibs look like little dentures?” Joyce remarked with pleasant amusement. “Anything to keep someone distracted– but they are fun. I kinda like them myself.” The woman chuckled right back, then patted Emily’s trembling shoulder. “Emily?” she was looking down on Emily, who was looking up at her maker, “doing alright? I’m going to need you to open your mouth for me, please.” Pardon the few teeth chatters on opening up, but eventually a view into Emily’s mouth did appear. “A little wider, please?” “Sorry, she can be a bit of a worrywart… She’s not a fan of the dentist.” “I promise I’ll be extra gentle.” Her assurance sounded like that for a parent and their child. “Emily? Wide enough to say ‘ahh’ nice and clearly, okay?” What was this? Torture? Was Joyce being here even helping? If there was supposed to be encouragement or moral support, it didn’t feel like she was getting what she needed. “A-ahh…” “A…a bit more, please?” “A-Ahhh!” “Wider, Emily, not louder.” Joyce added, rising just a little bit higher on Emily’s shit list. Stretching her jaw some more and opening wide against her better judgment, Emily sounded, “A-AAHHH” “I’m not that scary, am I?” The woman suddenly shifted gears with a grin, gently aligning Emily’s head once more. Unfortunately Emily’s face had nowhere to go, not after feeling like a fool for playing into the dentist’s little fun… “Now Emily,” she held two metal tools in her hands, “I’m just going to take a look inside, alright? This is just a normal cleaning, so if I find any plaque in there I’m gonna take it out, okay?” “U-uh-huh…” She wasn’t crying, right? Definitely not. She was teary, but that was because of the light. It was a strong light. Super strong. And so foreign bodies started to peer inside of her mouth. Sometimes the mirror tool would touch her tongue and nearly scare it down her own throat. The worst had yet to come though. The other tool was a hook. It had to be, because Emily cringed and whimpered against her will with each scrape or tug of something that made her whole head move just a tiny bit. All in all, kudos to Joyce for managing to keep a conversation while also having the life squeezed out of her hand. “So far so good…” the preoccupied woman remarked. “Do you brush and floss normally?” Emily through only her eyes delivered a bewildered expression. Did the dentist somehow expect her to speak? Was it a trap? If she moved her mouth, the woman might slip and cut the inside of her mouth with that horrible hook, then it’d be grounds to charge even more of a bill. With frozen lips and a gaping mouth, Emily murmured back, “U-Uh-huh…” By her side, Emily’s better half answered for her. “She does, but she isn’t very frequent with dentist visits, come to find out.” Need it be said that Joyce sounded less than pleased. Emily did her best to frown from the position she was in. “Well…dentist visits are important, even if your teeth are looking like they’re in tip-top shape…” At least Emily had that going for her. It was enough for a silent sigh of relief, the kind that didn’t make a tool inside her mouth spasm and hit something unintended. “Yes, they most certainly are.” Joyce continued to dogpile, suddenly turning the mood into an intervention for a woman laying in a chair against her will. And finally, after a millenia of torture and uncertainty in the seat, the prodding tools came back out, no fresh wounds left behind, and the woman did seem gentle, which was nice… “Alrighty, Emily,” the woman slipped out of view before coming right back in. “It looks like you’ve been doing a good job in there. Next up is fluoride. Mint or bubblegum?” “Can’t…can’t I just have the normal stuff?” The last time she was asked about her preferred flavor of fluoride her age was in single digits. “I can get some from the other room, but it may take a minute. My coworker is seeing another patient there right now. Do you mind waiting?” And having to stay here any longer? Damn it. It all felt orchestrated. Premeditated. And Joyce, sitting behind her, could only shrug with a smile while her body language said, “Well, what can you do?” What Emily could do was a mystery to herself that only grew more and more with her slipping responsibilities, but she did know what she couldn’t do, and that was being here for more than a single second in excess. “Bubblegum…” Maybe it was validation, or maybe it was instinctual, but for whatever reason Emily herself stole a look at Joyce, who held a quiet but observant smile. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here? Whenever I come it’s always Hal that does my cleaning?” Joyce continued the idle chat, or so it seemed. Hearing Joyce converse with strangers always made Emily feel anxious just from trying to figure what her angle was. Joyce didn’t do things just because. She was calculating, conniving, evil! But…mostly the first thing. “I just started here a few months ago, actually,” the smile she had was evident even from behind the mask, “my name is Kelly.” With her free hand she pointed a gloved finger underneath her nametag. “Nice to meet you Kelly, and thank you for grabbing me; I just about had to drag my girlfriend here…” “Hghh-eeeey…” Emily muttered in a half-gargle over at Joyce with a tone that implied dwindling patience. And without a word Emily could feel Joyce’s hand in hers go limp, as if trying to disconnect, which only made Emily squeeze harder with a flash of regret. One of the two brought Joyce back online. Kelly chuckled awkwardly as she coated Emily’s teeth. “W-well…believe me, I’ve had plenty of people before that can be a bit squeamish around dentist stuff. I completely understand… If the parents don’t come in already, I usually check befor– Well, I mean– couples too, of course,” she quickly backpedaled her tongue apologetically, having voiced a thought that wasn’t much of a secret anymore. Emily sighed once more. Not from the stress, fear, or any pain, but from the undeniable fact of what this all looked like to Kelly. What Emily looked like right then. “We all have our weaknesses,” Joyce promptly countered though, sort of unexpectedly? She then made an audible shiver. “Jeez, thankfully it hasn’t happened yet, but I know I’ll be the one crying if I find a spider in our house… Emily’s definitely my knight in shining armor for that.” “No?” She chuckled back. “Not a fan of insects?” “I can handle stuff on the screen, but not those things in real life…” Joyce spoke like she was reliving past trauma before her eyes. Emily could only wonder about the insect comment. Was it true, or was Just just trying to put her back on equal footing in the court of public opinion? Lie or truth…it did make her feel better. A lot less like the humiliation from going to the diner with her parents… “Okay, Emily, I’m gonna wash some of the taste out now, alright?” “U-uh-huh.” This time a much more acceptable tool went into her mouth. Just a plastic rod that sprayed cold, refreshing water in her mouth. “Close…” The woman in her motions instructed. “Swallow…” Emily did so as the water nozzle in her mouth made a weird noise in response. One, two more times they repeated the process. “Any taste left?” She asked her as she took the paper bib around Emily’s neck to wipe the corner of her mouth. “No,” Emily shook her head, tasting a bubble gum residue that’d been mostly washed away. “Perfect. Alright, I’m just going to do one last routine check on your teeth with my hands and then you’ll be all set. Then the dentist is going to come in and just give you a quick look. Sound good?” Another obedient nod from Emily. Hands, she could work with those. No metal hooks or prods, just normal handsy-ness. “Proud of you, you know?” Joyce said for the umpteenth time, but now able to look at Emily when she said it, courtesy of a red light in city bumper to bumper traffic. Emily, the unmovable, rested her chin on her hand as she quietly scowled out the window beside her, opposite Joyce's look. “Mhm.” “Don’t ‘mhm’ me. Are you still upset?” “Yes.” “About what?” “About going to the dentist.” “I’m sorry that you don’t like going, but I’m not going to apologize for that, Emily. It’s something you’re supposed to do and you know it.” “And that doesn’t mean I have to like it!” “No, it doesn’t,” Joyce openly agreed, “but I’ll make sure that it’s Kelly that you see from now on for your next appointment.” Next appointment. It was enough to make Emily physically cringe. Another appointment. Another session of suffering. Like that, the next six months of her life had been ruined just from being cursed with the knowledge of what was to come. By this point Emily wasn’t sure if she was bold enough to declare that Joyce couldn’t “make” her go, especially when use of force had been threatened against her once already. “And don’t worry, I’ll be making sure on Monday that Sheila has my schedule clear for your next appointment.” The duality of being a girlfriend and a mommy. Somehow both the support system Emily needed as well as the collar and chain that kept her in line. “Why did you even tell me when the next one is?” Emily moaned, just short of a legitimate groan. “Stop it, you’re being silly,” Joyce admonished. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do? Act like a kid?” It wasn’t often that Emily could be irked, but the wrong buttons were being pushed right then and she was starting to become quite unapologetic about how they’d show. “No, because you’re my grown-up girlfriend right now that explicitly told me that I would not be getting even the chance to baby this entire weekend,” finally, Joyce herself huffed back. Likewise for her, she could signal if she was upset in her own ways. “Maybe if we didn’t go to the dentist…” “Really?” Joyce scoffed, “you’re holding that over my head? Emily! You need to go to the dentist!” “I was fine though! I had no cavities! I brush my teeth! I floss!” “And that doesn’t change anything!” “Yes it does! You made me go when I didn’t want to, then you stayed in the lobby the entire time after they called me in! You made me go in by myself, then only came in once someone finally called you! You said you were gonna be with me the entire time! A-and you made fun of me while you were talking with that assistant…!” “I…” Joyce pursed her lips with her grip tightening on the wheel. “Emily…please don’t cry…” Emily rubbed her wet eyes, spitefully sobbing back, “Why…? Do I need to be a baby to do that too?” “I was upset, Emily…and I still kind of am. I’m sorry for making you feel like that…” “Why are you upset?” Emily didn’t consider herself selfish and on better days made a point of being quite the opposite, but this was one of those days where she felt entitled to every bit of misery there was to be offered. “Because it felt like you were shutting me off out of spite. I can handle you wanting a break from being my baby girl, Emily, but I don’t appreciate it being used against me because you’re upset.” Emily fell silent. It was one of the few things she had said to Joyce as they were leaving for the dentist. A knee-jerk, offhand remark. Aimed and targeted, specifically out of spite. Lashing out because Joyce became the object of her frustration. It was crude. A low blow. She knew how much being a caregiver meant to Joyce, and it was blatant exploitation of that just to try and get her way, or at least make Joyce hurt in some way similar. Compared to being forced into the dentist though, all Emily’s worries were superficial. She was strangling her partner just because of a minor inconvenience. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I wasn’t thinking. You’re right. I said it because I was angry…!” Retrospect was a terrible thing, with a truckload of unnoticed mistakes and mishaps sneaking up from behind and dropping a whole new load of emotional baggage. Emily tried her best to keep her throat open and clear, though it wavered with the ongoing threat of more tears. “Th-that wasn’t right of me. I know how much it means to you…it means so much to me, too… I…I just didn’t like being forced to go, Joyce.” “I…first, thank you for apologizing,” between bumper-to-bumper traffic, Joyce was able to give her an eye-to-eye smile, “and I understand that you didn’t want to go, Emily. I guess it’s just my first time with this sort of…friction. I should have known better that it was just the aggravation talking.” “But you have feelings too…” Emily sulked, hitting the depression swing of her phases. “All I was thinking of was myself.” “Stop it. It’s all okay now. We talked about it and that’s it. I promise you didn’t hurt my feelings, okay?” “Mhm…” And unfortunately, or somewhat fortunately, a consequence of Emily’s selflessness came the immeasurable guilt she could feel if a tangible debt (that never existed) went unpaid. “...Do you wanna make it up to me?” And in Joyce’s mind, let it not be labeled as exploitation, but simply an opportunity ripe for the taking. “How?” Emily asked right back, with a tone that may have even implied a willingness to commit murder, so resolute. “When we get home, we’ll go straight up to your nursery, get you in a diaper, put you down for a nap in your crib, and I’ll have a nice dinner ready for us by the time you wake up. How does that sound?” Probably okay, as far as Joyce could guess herself, all but one thing, though this time she had the leverage to be making such unpopular demands. Emily, kneaded her fingers in her lap for a moment. “I…okay, but no nap? Please? I take back what I said! We can do babying all weekend! Just no naps, Joyce!” “It’s not a punishment, Emily,” Joyce laughed, “naps are good for you, and I know that you need one.” “No I don’t!” She groaned right back, a little too frazzled to watch the tone of her own voice. “And that is what a cranky little girl sounds like. You’ve been cranky all day, missy. I’m sorry for not putting you down for one any sooner. I think we could have avoided this whole argument otherwise.” “Now you’re teasing me.” Emily frowned. “Farthest thing from it. So I take it we have a deal?” with the raise of a brow and an expectant smile, it was game, set, match. “For someone who can be so against them, you sure do take naps like a champ?” “I sleep, Joyce. What else is there to it?” Emily frowned, holding out her arms, awaiting the ascent from her prison cell. “Well,” Joyce reached in and whooshed Emily out of the adult-sized crib, “I haven’t ever had to check in on you to remind you to go to sleep?” That was an option? Emily was quiet for a moment, feeling a retrospective wave of stupidity hitting her right then. “And don’t think that means you can stay up now,” Joyce interrupted her thought, scaring the stupidity away entirely. “Wasn’t planning to.” She definitely was. And still maybe was… “What’s for dinner?” Emily asked with her head over Joyce’s shoulder, still blushing as she felt the finger slip its way down the back of her exposed diaper. “Sandwiches, cheese, and crackers,” Joyce recited on the walk to the kitchen. Emily hardly ever complained about dinner, and if at all, it was when she was the one cooking, which thankfully had become a thing of the past. With that in mind, Emily wasn’t complaining, however things certainly felt amiss. Sandwiches and a cheese platter was fit for a lunch, maybe, or a small passive meal to munch on during a gettogether. In other words, it felt oddly uncharacteristic. “Really? I coulda cooked if you weren’t feeling it? Maybe you needed a nap…!” “And it sounds like I got you up too early,” Joyce taunted right back. “And when you’re diapered you require absolute supervision around the kitchen at all times, got that?” “Diapers don’t make my motor skills go away, you know…” “So when you’re out of diapers then, too?” Time to retreat. Refocus the subject. “Why’d you not cook?” “I was going to, but then I remembered my special girl still has bubblegum in her mouth.” Code for, ‘you went to the dentist and still have fluoride in your mouth that needs to go away on its own.’ “Oh.” “Yes, ‘oh’. Nothing hot or crunchy for the rest of the night. No need to brush, either,” Joyce reminded. “Had I known this was going to happen though, I would’ve planned at least one dinner that wasn’t going to be hot…” “You know those rules aren’t that big of a deal, right? People still eat what they want all the time…” “And unlike those people, we’re going to do what the dentist told us so that I can keep my pretty girl with pearly whites.” “Ya-huh…” Emily sulked right before perking back up to a new question. “Do I get to sit in a normal chair, at least?” “Why wouldn’t you?” Joyce frowned with confusion. “I mean, I dunno…you’re making me wear a–” “And…in we go,” Joyce softly concluded, smiling cheerily as Emily, as flabbergasted and speechless as ever, was deposited into her high chair. What’s more, the plastic tray was clicked in place before Emily could find the words, though her face was doing enough talking on its own. “What?” Joyce tried not to chuckle, “did you need a longer nap?” “I said normal seat,” Emily frowned. “This is normal, Emily.” Emily swung her legs, feeling the firm, plastic and comfily padded grip of the seat all around her. “...Please? Can I please sit at the table…Mommy?” It certainly never got old to hear and was always just as endearing. “Once I think you can handle it, baby,” Joyce decided then and there, kissing Emily on the cheek. “Head back, please?” Joyce, now behind the chair with an elastic band, was sporting a ponytail next on the girl. “I don’t need a bib…” Emily groaned as the protective neck napkin was done up as well. “And get the kitchen covered in crumbs? You’re being one very combative little girl tonight, you know that?” “Can’t help it. I had tah go to the tooth doctor today,” Emily enunciated in a carefree voice, patting the plastic table and kicking with each syllable. Joyce then put on a look of pure, unadulterated surprise. “Really now? Well? What did the tooth doctor say about your teeth?” She kept the little game of kid conversation going as she poured juice into an adult-sized sippy cup. Then with two fingers, Emily hooked the corners of her mouth to flash her full set of front teeth. “Alllll gooood!” She couldn’t help but giggle the moment Joyce’s facade cracked just enough to give her an almost weird look, yet the endearment never left. “Very, very good!” Joyce cooed as she set Emily’s plate of food and juice in front of her, then took her own seat at the table. “Mmfhmm!” Emily mumbled through her mouthful of sandwich, crumbs and all. “And–” Emily stopped herself just to take a swig of juice, “Mommy said I’d get a present for being soo good!” “Really?” Really? Joyce raised her brow. “And what did Mommy promise her little munchkin?” Without dropping a beat, Emily fired right back, “Ice cream!” All Joyce gave was side mouth to that. “Mmm…I don’t think Mommy would give ice cream right after the dentist. Maybe tomorrow.” Buzz killed. Instantly. Enough to make Emily bear down and give into the pressure she’d been feeling in her bladder. Icky, warm, but not absolutely repulsive anymore. “So how about instead, tonight, after we finish dinner we get you in the bath, then some comfy PJs and snuggle for the rest of the night?” Damn. She really was good at negotiating. “Can I ask-a question?” “You just did?” Joyce set down her own sandwich to come forward and wipe her wet thumb across the corner of a crumby adult baby’s mouth. “Can I ask two more questions?” Joyce giggled at that, “You get one more before I want another bite of that sandwich in you, missy.” “Can I bring one of those puzzle thingies in the bath with me?” “One of your toys?” How Joyce loved to steer the narrative. “Those aren’t tub toys, silly…” then she quietly bit her lip, muttering, “and we still need to get you some…” “I don’t need bath toys! I just wanted to tinker with one of those puzzle things, I dunno.” “I’ll see what I can find during the week,” Joyce smiled gingerly, making it quite clear that a mother’s mind has been made. “You can play with one after your bath. And don’t forget your juice, sweetheart.” “Blah-blah-blah,” Emily bounced her head with each ‘blah.’ “Don’t forget your juice!” She mimicked right back, and Joyce didn’t seem amused. “Do wet diapers make you cranky too, sillypants, is that it?” It wasn’t so much as a direct admission was it a passive drop of the hat by referencing what Emily thought was a secret to herself for at least the remainder of the meal. Unfortunately for her, she was still catching on to the fact that at least for Joyce she had a ‘potty face’, as the mother in charge liked to think of it. She was blushing and quiet. Too quiet for too long to be able to deny it at this point. “...No I didn’t…” But what’s to stop an embarrassed girl from trying? Didja like it? Didja not? Let me know! But on the same (and different) note, on my Patreon you can read the next 2 chapters of Sheltered early! Like Illegal Immigrant? As of tomorrow, go read 2 yet to be released chapters of Illegal Immigrant! Check out 2 commissioned stories (with lots more to come!) Help develop an ABDL dungeon crawler! So much fun and more! Wow~! *Firework Noises* Edited June 26, 2022 by Mee I thought I knew how to spell dentures. Not denchers... Also forgot a line break. 18 1 Link to comment
Baby Toni38 Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Great addition, I have been a loyal fan of this story from the beginning. You do such a great job building a vivid image through your words it is almost like watching a movie scene. Thank you and please keep up the great work. Link to comment
YourFNF Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Wow she full on regressed from that anxiety attack ?? Link to comment
diaperboymi Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 AWESOME chapter!!!! Not many who like the dentist. Joyce's negotiation skills really got used here????? Link to comment
Mee Posted June 25, 2022 Author Share Posted June 25, 2022 17 hours ago, Baby Toni38 said: Great addition, I have been a loyal fan of this story from the beginning. You do such a great job building a vivid image through your words it is almost like watching a movie scene. Thank you and please keep up the great work. So glad you enjoyed it! I'm always stressing over things that probably could have been expressed differently or better, but it's reassuring whenever I get awesome comments like this! Thanks for reading and commenting! 5 hours ago, YourFNF said: Wow she full on regressed from that anxiety attack ?? This was sort of an out of leftfield kind of chapter, but as soon as I thought of it I knew I just had to write it, haha. I also dropped another subtle something in here that I want to use later. I have another scene in mind that I'm excited to write! Thanks so much for the comment! 4 hours ago, diaperboymi said: AWESOME chapter!!!! Not many who like the dentist. Joyce's negotiation skills really got used here????? I do not like the dentist one bit either. It wasn't too difficult tapping into an anxious mind for something like this, lol. It's always fun making moments where Joyce has to give Emily the "talk", or when babying happens out of baby mode. It's a subtle but extremely fun progression getting to blur the lines between their two modes! Thanks for reading! 1 Link to comment
kerry Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 19 hours ago, Mee said: denchers I honestly had no clue what you meant here, but (thinking about it) I suppose it was "dentures"? Link to comment
Mee Posted June 25, 2022 Author Share Posted June 25, 2022 13 minutes ago, kerry said: I honestly had no clue what you meant here, but (thinking about it) I suppose it was "dentures"? No. Obviously that's a canonical term exclusive to this universe. It wasn't just me assuming that I knew how to spell a word and never stopped to consider it. (Docs wasn't fast enough to catch my mistake...) Thank you for calling me out on that! Lol. Not the first time I've been spotted trying to use words on the fly, haha. 1 Link to comment
kerry Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 19 hours ago, Mee said: “Farthest thing from it. So I take it we have a deal?” with the raise of a brow and an expectant smile, it was game, set, match. “For someone who can be so against them, you sure do take naps like a champ?” So, between these two lines, Emily took a nap? Another wonderfully fun chapter, Mee. God I do love this story! A couple of questions, though: this brand new takes place in the US, right? Where water is fluorinated? I do see a dentist every six months, and I don't even recall ever getting a fluoride treatment! What I do get regularly, though, are x-rays. Surely a doc with a brand-new patient, even if she hadn't failed to see a dentist for three years, would want to do routine x-rays. Seems like something that would have happened. Even though they spent much of this chapter upset with each other, you still managed to find the adorable cuteness. I loved Emily pulling up the sides of her mouth. ? Link to comment
Mee Posted June 26, 2022 Author Share Posted June 26, 2022 3 hours ago, kerry said: So, between these two lines, Emily took a nap? Another wonderfully fun chapter, Mee. God I do love this story! A couple of questions, though: this brand new takes place in the US, right? Where water is fluorinated? I do see a dentist every six months, and I don't even recall ever getting a fluoride treatment! What I do get regularly, though, are x-rays. Surely a doc with a brand-new patient, even if she hadn't failed to see a dentist for three years, would want to do routine x-rays. Seems like something that would have happened. Even though they spent much of this chapter upset with each other, you still managed to find the adorable cuteness. I loved Emily pulling up the sides of her mouth. ? Thank you for catching that as well! Unfortunately the last thing I have to perfect with a single copy+paste from an rtf file is somehow getting the horizontal line breaks being automatic. That's something I have to manually cross reference with the original file and manually paste them myself. Accidentally missed that one. However! For once I have an actual rebuttal, lol. I do remember constantly getting a flavored coating over your teeth towards the end of the check-up. Google as my expert witness just so I wouldn't doubt myself, it still is a form of fluoride treatment, if it's anything more than just that. And I do agree that I may have been hasty skipping over the X-rays, but let's just say canonically that they skipped them that day because it was such a rushed checkup and they were busy cleaning most of the exam rooms! Hence why Emily got stuck with the kiddy room. Therefore, there wasn't any way they could do X-rays that day. (The beauty of writing myself into a corner...!) So glad you enjoyed it and thank you for holding my feet to the fire! More will be coming publicly eventually! 1 Link to comment
Ras57 Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 3 hours ago, kerry said: So, between these two lines, Emily took a nap? Another wonderfully fun chapter, Mee. God I do love this story! A couple of questions, though: this brand new takes place in the US, right? Where water is fluorinated? I do see a dentist every six months, and I don't even The city of 300,000 that I live in, does not fluorinated the drinking water here. There is alot of places in the U.S. that don't Link to comment
WBDaddy Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 4 hours ago, kerry said: So, between these two lines, Emily took a nap? Another wonderfully fun chapter, Mee. God I do love this story! A couple of questions, though: this brand new takes place in the US, right? Where water is fluorinated? I do see a dentist every six months, and I don't even recall ever getting a fluoride treatment! What I do get regularly, though, are x-rays. Surely a doc with a brand-new patient, even if she hadn't failed to see a dentist for three years, would want to do routine x-rays. Seems like something that would have happened. Even though they spent much of this chapter upset with each other, you still managed to find the adorable cuteness. I loved Emily pulling up the sides of her mouth. ? They used to do fluoride treatments when I was a kid, for sure. Never happened when I was an adult, but maybe that speaks to how Emily is viewed and treated by the people to which Joyce chooses to expose her. Link to comment
kerry Posted June 27, 2022 Share Posted June 27, 2022 23 hours ago, Ras57 said: The city of 300,000 that I live in, does not fluorinated the drinking water here. There is alot of places in the U.S. that don't Seriously? I thought that was universal these days. Link to comment
Little_Mouse Posted June 27, 2022 Share Posted June 27, 2022 Thanks for another great chapter! The dentist visit was awesome written. ??? Link to comment
Mee Posted June 27, 2022 Author Share Posted June 27, 2022 On 6/25/2022 at 10:47 PM, Ras57 said: The city of 300,000 that I live in, does not fluorinated the drinking water here. There is alot of places in the U.S. that don't On 6/25/2022 at 11:13 PM, WBDaddy said: They used to do fluoride treatments when I was a kid, for sure. Never happened when I was an adult, but maybe that speaks to how Emily is viewed and treated by the people to which Joyce chooses to expose her. 8 hours ago, kerry said: Seriously? I thought that was universal these days. These are the kinds of discussions that I live for, lol. As far as the entire dentist visit went, I trying to come up with a "fair" flow of things that didn't seem totally unbelievable, but assuredly put Emily in a slightly awkward position. Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone! 2 hours ago, Little_Mouse said: Thanks for another great chapter! The dentist visit was awesome written. ??? Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it! Link to comment
dmavn Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Everything is soo descriptive I think I almost had a panic attack from just reading about her anxiety.. Link to comment
Jayme Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 Emily and I share the same fear. Dentists scare the bejebus outta me too. Link to comment
Mee Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 On 6/28/2022 at 3:02 PM, dmavn said: Everything is soo descriptive I think I almost had a panic attack from just reading about her anxiety.. Stop! Don't panic from the story, please! It's fiction! Probably! Lol, thanks for the comment! On 6/29/2022 at 12:27 AM, Jayme said: Emily and I share the same fear. Dentists scare the bejebus outta me too. Yepp, I can't say I'm big on dentists either. Gotta do what we gotta do, but no thank ya to metal tools in my mouth. Especially to the scraping ones... On 6/30/2022 at 3:14 AM, Jennynappy said: Nice story. Thanks Link to comment
Mee Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 40 - Out of Town “What?” “Mmmmfmmm.” Were her ears working properly? “C-come again?” Joyce tried not to smile. “Mmmmfmm!” “Wait, found the problem,” Joyce grinned, hooking the ring and pulling a pacifier out of Emily’s mouth. “Try that again?” “I said, what’re you gonna do without me tomorrow?” Emily rolled from one side of the bed to the other, all with her padded behind peering over a pajama pant waistband that was far too undersized for a girl in oversized protection. “I may not be a scholar, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what you were saying with that pacifier…” “Yes it was. You just need to keep studying,” Emily declared right before smothering her mouth into Pip. Joyce leaned forward on the bed, snatching Emily by the bare waist with her hands, dragging her back to the foot of the bed. “Mommy’s just about ready to give up. It might just be something meant for cute little tots like you?” “So you mean I’d have my own secret language that I can use to keep secrets from you?” “Maybe, but who else is just as fluent as you?” And in the midst of their chit-chat, Joyce tugged down the front of Emily’s pajama pants, feeling the warm front of her diaper before tugging it back up without a comment. A silent signal that a change had yet to be warranted. “And since we agreed on no secrets,” Joyce slightly paused for dramatic effect, and as a teeny tiny legitimate reminder, “I can only imagine you might be scheming about…hmm…playing hide and seek from me? Maybe hiding Mommy’s favorite pair of shoes? Trying to hide a soggy diapie from me? Huh? Huh?” “Stop!” Emily giggled, “No tickles! No secrets! I promise! Promise!” “And don’t forget it~,” Joyce sealed their pact with a kiss on the forehead. Then she sighed, “But yes, that is a very good question,” now she really was sulking, “what am I going to do without you tomorrow…” “I don’t mind going too?” Emily tried a route long-since shutdown once more. “Thank you for offering again,” Joyce smiled affectionately, “but you know that this dinner is going to run past your bedtime?” “I don’t have a bedtime…” Emily groaned. “You certainly do on business dinner nights?” Joyce raised her brow, but eventually softened her expression. “I want to bring you too, but since Carol invited me, it just wouldn’t be polite. Or at least, it’s important that it looks like a business trip and not a vacation...” “So are you gonna invest?” Now the night before the event, Emily admittedly was a bit curious. “Invest?” Joyce’s tone carried uncertainty, but optimism. “No idea. It may be all fetish stuff, but a good idea is a good idea. Though…I can’t exactly say I know a whole lot about fetishes.” The wolf was trying to pretend it was a sheep, but Emily with a grin kept that thought to herself. “What? You don’t?” Okay, maybe not. “And neither do you, missy,” Joyce fired right back with a little bit of competition. “Part of investing is about making educated guesses. Knowing what works from experience and figuring if there’s a market for it. Didn’t Carol mention something about fursuits when we were at their house?” Her face was covered in skepticism. “I wouldn’t even know the first thing…” “Maybe it’ll all be super weird and freaky stuff,” Emily openly marveled, “like…like super hardcore torture stuff? Or people that wear latex and have orgies?” Joyce wasn’t as well-versed as Carol, but she knew when her little girl’s mind was starting to run awry. “Maybe?” She shrugged. “But that’s what I’ll find out. More importantly, my flight is in the morning a little bit after around when you’d be waking up. Want me to give you my goodbye kisses before bed tonight?” Sometimes things just had to be done out of courtesy, regardless of whether you knew what the answer would be or not. Emily, giving the expected response with a dash of frowny-face, said, “No. I want you to wake me up tomorrow before you leave. Promise me?” With a pinky hooked with hers, Joyce leaned in, “Promise,” right before kissing her on the lips. “Maybe while I’m gone I can leave you with a babysitter?” “Excuse me?” “Just to keep you from getting bored?” Joyce shrugged nonchalantly, holding back the teasy part of her voice. “I have Pip,” Emily held the mochi defensively. “I’ll be fine.” “Relax, I’m kidding. Or I don’t have to be? Amy said she wants to double check some measurements, you know? You two could make a day out of it?” Emily narrowed her gaze, finally able to see a speeding bullet just peeking on the horizon. “I’m not wearing diapers for Amy.” “She didn’t say which measurements,” Joyce laughed. “Either way, if that was the case, the only way it’d happen is if she was fine with diapering you herself.” And Emily being okay with it at all, first and foremost. “What? I’d do it myself?” “No?” Joyce innocently, but firmly, put down her freedoms. “We agreed, remember? Little girls don’t get to change their own diapers?” “But strangers do?” Just where was Emily on this totem pole? “Grown-ups do,” Joyce corrected with a boop on the nose. “Grown-ups we both agree on.” “Which is only you,” Emily quickly added, suddenly feeling the slight need to make mention of such an important point. “Only Mommy,” Joyce nodded with a pearly smile. They laid there some more while Joyce absentmindedly traced circles in the comforter. “But…what would you think about including someone else?” “Huh?” There wasn’t any Jazz music or ambient noise that could be stopped to insinuate the jarring surprise, but the diaper crinkling certainly ceased. “I dunno,” Joyce shrugged, “I’m just thinking out loud. Like if there was someone else that could interact with you when you’re my baby girl?” “You mean…sharing me?” Was this actually Joyce she was speaking with? “No. Not sharing.” Joyce didn’t look happy to hear the ‘S’ word, which was something that finally made sense to Emily, given a slew of jealousy this woman was known to harbor. “Someone who…adds to the lifestyle? Does something for you that I can’t?” Emily at best was keeping a sideways look. “I mean…I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t like this now, sort of, but…I think you’re a big reason why I like it, Joyce…” she murmured her lips, avoiding eye contact, “...Mommy…” Joyce giggled, kissing her again. “And you’re one-hundred percent of the reason why I like it, my little Emmy.” She breathed quietly for a few moments before saying, “I guess I mean someone like…like an actual babysitter, or…or a private tutor that’s like your personal daytime daycare teacher?” “Are you being serious right now?” It wasn’t phrased in any sort of ridiculing way, but as a means to try and decipher fact from fiction when there were sparkles in Joyce’s eyes. “No…and yes…a little…” she exhaled. “If I’m being honest, I think I get carried away with my dreams a little bit…” “I think so too,” Emily giggled with her hands on her lover’s waist. “Besides, wouldn’t that risk your reputation or something? If something like that got out?” “Yes, but…” A mind with desires was the worst fiend to be in the company of. A pestering trickster that sat atop her shoulders 24/7 with as much time as it pleased to exercise reason and rationale just to make the impossible seem possible. “There’s…you know…discretion.” “I think you’re mommying a bit too hard, Mommy,” Emily spoke upwards to her star-gazing girlfriend. “I think so too… Maybe it’s Mommy’s bedtime? “Afraid so,” Emily sighed the most ‘oh my hopeless girlfriend’ sigh she could ever muster, then stood on her feet, hanging by the doorway. “Did you forget something?” Joyce asked from her spot on the bed, just as comfy as she was a few seconds ago. Apparently the mood hadn’t been mutually understood. “I…” Emily’s eyes shift down, then back at the door, then on repeat just a couple more times. “Weren’t we gonna…take it off?” “Change your diaper, honey?” Joyce innocently asked with a tone of syrup. “I just checked you, silly; I think you’ll be fine.” “But you’re leaving early tomorrow?” “And I think I’d be a bad mommy if I left my little girl in a wet diaper the entire time I’m on my trip, but just as bad if I let you go to bed without a diaper on?” Then with a cautious hand against her cheek she said in a lowered voice, “What if you have an accident, sweetheart?” “I…” Her cheeks were red, meaning an embarrassing talking-to had been well-executed. “I’ll have you all taken care of, Emmy,” she beckoned her back to the bed. “Or did you want to sleep in your crib tonight? We can do that too?” It didn’t take any more than that to get a padded waddle back over to the bed. “No. I’m fine.” “Good. I was hoping to snuggle all night? Just so I don’t forget what it feels like tomorrow?” Questions then went on to be answered with actions, and actions only beget more actions. Joyce, with such a ripe fruit hanging right before her, played Emily like an instrument. Hearing her embarrassed squirm, Joyce tugged down her pajama bottoms in full, past the ankles and soon onto the floor. “Hey…!” Emily whined, something she was unfortunately building a knack for. “Shush, it’s just in case,” Joyce couldn’t hide her rosy-cheek smile. “If you leak I don’t want you to ruin your pretty PJs?” “I won’t leak!” Emily could find pleasure in the idea of being small, but she wasn’t accustomed to playing make-believe about her bladder. “I know you won’t, because Mommy keeps you in the best-est diapers!” Joyce giggled again, kissing her all over. “And actually,” she paused to ponder a thought, “there was that one time when Mom and Dad were here; you did have an accident on the couch, sweetie? Remember?” “No I didn–!” Emily started to say, then the memory inserted itself and the embarrassment spread through her like a parasyte. “Th-that was different! That was just water! It was a…” And for lack of a better word under a panicked mind, Emily, bless her innocent soul, cried, “It was a different kind of accident!” And Joyce, overjoyed by her use of the a-word, only chuckled fondly. “And I love you no less,” she kissed her again. With such a limited bag of tricks already vetted by her Mommy, Emily played her strongest card, threatening, “Maybe I’ll just go sleep in the other bed tonight if you’re gonna tease me so much…” “Yeah?” Joyce caressed her cheek. “Wanna have some crib time?” “No. The other bed. My old room.” “That’s where the guests stay, silly. It’s either here with me in the big girl bed or in your crib?” Whether it was because Emily suffered from chronic gullibility or Joyce was simply good at forcing an atmosphere, an altered reality was all the diapered girl could see. Knocking her head into Joyce’s side, she laid there with her mind made up. “You’re like politics…” Emily grumbled. It didn’t make sense in such a characteristic way which is why Joyce could only start with a laugh. “Excuse me?” “Lesser of two evils, and stuff…” “Ah-huh… Well, before you push any of Mommy’s buttons, do you want something to drink before bed?” “Coffee Milk.” “Juice it is,” Joyce rose from the bed. “Stay put.” “I didn’t ask for juice!” Emily droned with a groan at the open doorway, which her girlfriend had already passed through. “Emmy? Baby?” Joyce made the first whisper of the morning into a sleeping Emily’s ear. “I gotta start getting ready now…you awake?” The sleepy and tired whine squeezed between her lips as she involuntarily stretched. “Hnnnmmm…!” With her eyes still closed, Emily’s hand probed itself around the bed, searching for the waist beside her and resting on it for as long as she could. Unfortunately it wasn’t long, to no one’s pleasure as only Joyce with her eyes open frowned to end the gesture so quickly. “I’m gonna get this diaper off you and into some big girl undies, ‘kay?” “Wha…what time is it…?” “Too early for you to be up,” she issued the tranquilizer with a tender kiss. “Keep those eyes closed, I gotta turn the light on.” A well-advised suggestion indeed, as even with her eyes shut Emily was rolling her face into the mattress just to escape the irritating light. A pair of hands found her waist as for just a brief moment her padded bum left the bed when Joyce tugged on the tapes of her diaper. It’d been wetter than last time Joyce checked last night, which was always nice to see. Though for Emily she was likely too tired to care, and would never admit how secretly appreciative she was becoming of its sponge-like qualities. And through the pillow Emily sleepily mumbled, “I’ll…in a second...too…” “Mhm?” Joyce whimsically cooed back, finding Emily’s sleep babble somewhat akin to a tyke rambling through a change. Her words didn’t need to have any meaning, and all Joyce needed to do was acknowledge and love right back. One trip to the nursery later and one trip back, Emily was where she was left on the bed, only naked from the waist down now, but not for much longer. It was mind-boggling to think of how much wearing diapers could force a paradigm shift or flip her world view. That’s to say, the shift back to panties was always a weird one when it felt like she wasn’t wearing anything at all, essentially. No more thickness, none of the crinkle to remind her of what she was wearing, and none of the intimate checks from her girlfriend either. Right as Joyce turned to leave, a hand of the living dead rose from its eternal slumber to snatch the wrist of the living. She turned her head to see Emily using her as a foothold for dragging herself out of bed. “No, no, silly,” Joyce laughed as she forced her back on the bed, “I said too early for a reason.” “No…” she started, then continued one yawn later, “diapers…no rules… I wanna be up when you leave…” “I thought we just agreed on goodbye kisses?” Seeing as her girlfriend had no intentions of abetting her efforts to stay awake, Emily slumped herself to the other side of the bed, finally rising from the torso and up. “And I gotta be awake for it…” And then on a whim, though feeling the most desirable, Emily asked, “Can I come to the airport with you?” “What? Emily, you should be in bed right now. No, no airports.” Stumbling onto her feet like a newborn doe, Emily crashed into Joyce’s arms. “Why not? Charles’ driving, isn’t he…?” Being tired made it so easy to act spoiled. “Can’t he just drive me back here?” It most certainly was possible, and more than likely not an issue. But for Emily’s sake, Joyce decided to rewrite reality. “No, because that’s not what I told him to prepare for, sweetheart. Besides, you know what’d happen if you went along for the ride, right?” “What?” “I’d definitely have to stuff a cutie like you in my suitcase then! Mwah! Mwah!” Between her giggles, Emily relented. “Okay…fine…” Joyce tugged her suitcase on wheels to the front entrance while Emily dozed around, half-slumped against the walls to support herself as she watched, barely managing to qualify as an alert spectator. In a blazer and slacks, Joyce couldn’t stop herself from kissing her panty-and-pajama-shirt girlfriend each time she had to pass by, or at least made up a reason to. And trying to be as much help as she possibly could, Emily asked, “And do you have…uhm…the stuff?” “Yes; I double, triple, then quadruple checked,” Joyce assured, even though “the stuff” was as clear as Emily’s current state of mind. One buzz later on Joyce’s phone and they were sharing their final embrace. “I’ll be back tomorrow in the afternoon, okay?” “Mhm…” Emily nodded, though trying not to come off as somber. “Stop it,” Joyce grinned, “this is a thousand times harder for me, you know? Alright, be good; call me if you need anything, because I’m definitely going to be calling you. There’s food in the fridge, no ice cream– don’t give me that look!” she warned, both playfully and not so playfully. “And most importantly, I love-love-love you very much!” “Love you too…” Emily came back with a blush, a hug, and a final kiss. “Promise me one thing?” Joyce asked. “What?” “Once I leave, go back to bed.” “...Fine.” And with that the door was opened and closed, and the penthouse was one less in attendance for more than 24 hours. For at least two of those, however, would immediately be spent going back to bed, per the warden’s order. “Joyce!” “Carol!” Just outside of the baggage pickup of the airport, they shared a hug before putting Joyce’s luggage in the car and driving off. “How was the flight?”Carol asked from the driver’s seat. “I’m sorry we couldn’t fly in together, by the way! I had to take care of some other stuff; I’m so glad you decided to come!” “I appreciate the invite, and yeah, the flight wasn’t too bad. I think I can only say that though because I always try to get a good seat… How’s Michael and Jackie, by the way?” “Good! They’re up to the usual, but Jackie wants to know when you two are coming over again!” she paused to laugh, “I’m so sorry! I think my daughter considers you two as part of her friend group.” After laughing herself, Joyce said, “Well it’s good to hear that everyone’s doing good. We’ll definitely have to get together again, sometime.” “Oh! I forgot! How’s Emily?” She couldn’t help herself when she let out a small phantom pain, “Awh~. I told her the only reason she couldn’t come to the airport with me was because I’d try and stuff her in my bag.” “Homesick already?” “Admittedly, yes…” Joyce awkwardly drew circles on her thigh. “Since we started…dating,” and how wonderful it felt to be able to say that, “this is the first time I’ve left on a trip. Normally I feel fine, but this time is just…” “Like you’re always anxious about how things are at home?” “Yes!” she blurted out immediately, then just as quickly recomposed herself. “I mean– Yes, it feels like that a lot…” It was a bit shameful the way she’d reacted, but it was also entertaining, given Carol’s laugh. “You remind me so much of when I first had Jackie! I didn’t get to have a whole lot of time off with her until I had to go back to work. Just going to the office was like torture; being away from her for so long. I tried to avoid trips like these as much as possible just to be home as much as possible. Only after Michael talked me out of it did I start getting comfortable again. At least for me, I’d call it Mother’s separation anxiety. I’m sure you’re probably going through a similar thing.” “Mm…” Now Joyce was the quiet one in the relationship, mulling over what likely was MSA. Mommy Separation Anxiety. Commonly confused with GSA, the girlfriend variant, though much more severe. “You could give her a call right now, you know?” “I want to, but if I’m right, she should still be asleep right now. She was up to see me out the door, but I made her go right back to bed afterward.” “Michael’s usually the same way, but if I have too many flights in too short of a time, he usually calls it ‘taking a rain-check’ on giving his goodbyes,” Carol snickered, “I don’t blame him. I don’t like getting up early either.” “You should see her,” Joyce was already digging at the thought in her head, “the poor thing barely handles early times just as much as late ones! I brought her to a business dinner a few weeks ago, and after just a few drinks…” Aimless wandering around the apartment unfortunately made for quite the terrible pastime. No Joyce meant no excitement, and all that was left was job hunting, but her boredom and unease from her girlfriend being away put her in a mood that didn’t want to do anything involved. Not only that, but Joyce probably wouldn’t give her the password to the parental lock on the computer. Maybe she should go out? Then her feet came to a halt once the thought had hit her. Go out and do what? By herself? The silence spoke of her awkwardness. “Maybe I should be friend hunting instead of looking for a job…” Was it bad that she was thinking of Amy right then? Was Joyce being serious about her wanting to come over? Was it still too late? Then she remembered the diapers. Without Joyce? Absolutely not. Never. It was bizarre how thoughts alone could make a person feel embarrassed. That one time alone was plenty enough anxiety-inducing. Besides, Emily wasn’t allowed to change her own diapers, so that would mean– Falling into her hands, she groaned aloud, “Urgggh…!” Of course she’d be able to put on her own diaper then! Joyce had wrapped her fingers around her so tightly, it was hard discerning left from right anymore. She loved it, truly, but if it couldn’t cloud her judgment at times… It was more than likely going to be a do-nothing day. A do-nothing day that included ice cream, whether her girlfriend liked it or not. She wasn’t here so Emily didn’t have to listen. That thought felt liberating, and quite empowering, actually. “Just a comfy, do-nothing day…” she whispered her plan, then nodded to herself once the confidence had been found. And on her way to the bedroom to find a nice pair of sweatpants, like a photo on the wall being slightly ajar, something caught the corner of Emily’s vision. A door that was usually closed had the slightest crack in it. It was enough to stop on a dime, enough to watch and stare for a good few seconds, and enough to slightly nudge the uncharacteristically unlocked door open just a smidgen more. And a little more. And just a little more. In an absolutely shocking turn of events, Emily was standing inside the nursery. Alone. Unattended. Unsupervised. It was a bit ridiculous, but an odd sort of giddiness or curiosity infected the woman standing there. Had Joyce forgotten to lock it? She usually doesn’t forget that kind of stuff, so to see a rare mistake like this was quite the oddity as well as treat. She imagined it as almost like witnessing behind the scenes of some grand picture or play. Being at your school in the dead of night; being somewhere at a time you’re not supposed to be. Without Joyce, her mommy, what power, if any, did anything in this room have over her? Lots, certainly, but all without the director to orchestrate it all. Maybe she could tease Joyce about forgetting later on the phone. Striking herself with a newly brilliant idea, Emily wandered over to the closet, stepping inside. There weren’t many, but all her specially designed outfits hung on the racks, freshly cleaned and ready to be worn. Mischief may have been her cause, because half the reason she stayed in this room was simply because she could never imagine getting a chance like this again. Getting to explore the nursery by herself? Without consequence or reprimand? A small smile grew on her face. She was trying to get comfy, wasn’t she? The perks to having been babied already meant acquiring some kind of tolerance for it at this point. She’d still blush, she’d still go quiet and meek, but that at least meant by now she could certainly tolerate herself. She looked back at the mirror as she held up the footie pajamas against herself. It was cute…naturally, considering Amy had made it. And she was by herself. Alone. She could wear it, be comfy, put it back after, lock up the nursery herself, and no one would ever know. No one. Excitement and intrigue were dangerous things, because Emily didn’t even recognize herself anymore as she stripped her shirt, unzipped the back of the pajamas and stepped inside. The inside was lined with a cool, soft material, like a soothing hug all over. It was strange, but the secure feeling she got as she watched herself in the mirror trace the zipper up her back was wonderfully suffocating. Since when did she enjoy stuff like this? Her confused look warbled into a bashful grin. Joyce had been her constant drug and she was probably starting to form an addiction. She bent and stretched, just to feel and watch the pajamas conform and follow her every move. It was silly, but that’s why she couldn’t help but laugh. But most importantly, it was comfy, far more so than what sweat pants would afford her, which is why she kept it on. Leaving everything as it was, she resumed her trip to the bedroom, only to grab Pip and head over to the couch. Turning on the tv and finding a nice spot, she was all set. “So it doesn’t officially ‘start’ until later tonight,” Carol explained with air quotes, “but usually we get together for drinks beforehand.” Joyce listened as she unpacked. “That’s fine by me. Though…I don’t suppose I could have a little coaching on what to maybe expect? I am curious, but I guess I don’t want to look completely like a fish out of water…” Scouting investment opportunities wasn’t a foreign concept to her, but in the way of kinks certainly was. “Don’t worry; everyone at this event is extremely professional. After all, they want our money,” Carol laughed, and so did Joyce. “Sure, I can tell you a little bit about what I’ve seen in the past. Before that though, maybe you want to try giving Emily a call? I know I’m gonna call back home.” She may have just been looking for the go-ahead, because Joyce was already pulling out her phone. “Yes, definitely. Is it okay if I borrow the bathroom?” “All yours.” A few minutes later Joyce was sitting on the edge of the tub with her phone held against her ear, waiting for the quiet buzz. “I was expecting that to take a little longer?” Carol sounded surprised as she finished hanging up her phone. “Me too,” Joyce sounded a bit glum, “I tried twice;” she chuckled, “she’s probably napping right now, if I had to guess.” “Did she have any plans for today?” “Mm…don’t think so. I think it might be just a lazy day for her. She might be feeling bored, though…” “Maybe you should’ve gotten her a babysitter then?” Carol chuckled. With her mind elsewhere, almost a bit too seriously Joyce let her unfiltered thoughts slip when she started to say, “Maybe…” Then caught herself a second later. “--Uhm, but… No, she’s fine, I’m sure. I’ll try calling her later.” “Sure,” Carol nodded with a smile. “Should we get going then?” “Sounds good to me.” Sleep was quite dangerous, and no other opinion could be offered otherwise. Losing blocks of time to just emptiness or dreams that kept the distracted mind entertained. Without alarm clocks or doting girlfriends the passage of time if left unchecked could be robbed entirely by the sleep demon. Emily groggily awoke to the sound of knocking, a half-slumbering mess as she rose from the couch. She yawned with Pip in her arm, near-stumbling over herself as her bare feet through the cuffs of her pajamas padded across the floor. She’d done it. She had slept the entire day away and then some. It was already tomorrow and Joyce was back. Sleeping for so long really could put a spell of guilt on a person. Imagine losing an entire day simply because your lover was gone? It sucked, but Emily couldn’t help but smile, knowing that Joyce was finally back! She wanted to know how the investment event went. Did she see anything weird? Meet anyone new? Was she buddies with Carol now? Emily debated waiting for Joyce to come in herself, just so she could lunge at her on no-heel days like she always did, but once she heard another knock, it became quite clear that Joyce had forgotten her key. Just like she’d forgotten to lock up the nursery. Apparently Emily wasn’t the only frazzled one. With her free hand on the door she unlocked and opened it, saying as she did so, “How did you forget so much stu–” “Oh?” “S-...” It was an intruder. A stranger. It wasn’t Joyce. What the hell was going on? Emily wanted to move for the door, but she was frozen. Not frozen, just scared, shell-shocked and frazzled. Rather, she even took a step back, the fool that she was. And like that it was too late. The person had entered, beyond the barrier that could’ve separated them once again. “E…Emily?” the person asked. And only then did it fully click. A name had come to mind. Did all the associated memories flood her head. “Sh…Sheila?” Emily quietly, in a painfully small voice whispered back. Sheila stood in front of her, bewildered and surprised to see Emily as much as she was to see her. She was in casual, modest attire with a purse over her shoulder. Emily could barely find the words as she looked up at her, then remembered herself what she was wearing. At least Emily was caught at a good time. Thankfully, no diapers to be seen and just her big-girl panties. Though, a silver lining like that didn’t matter when they were underneath her loud and colorful footie pajamas. The cherry on top though was the tightly clutched Pip by her side, only short by a special blankie for the full set. Her eyes couldn’t seem to look away from the girl. From her clothes. “Uhm…” Sheila broke the silence, blinking once or twice before reaffirming herself. She turned her head back to the doorway, stepping over just to close the door, committing them both inside. “Emily, right?” Emily would have liked to believe that she sounded normal, yet in a very objective squeak she said back, “Y-Yeah…” She wanted to bolt. She wanted to run, but her frozen emotions made it impossible to move. Just like for Sheila, she too remembered the last time that they had met. The memories for her however came much more vividly, on account of having far less substance in her bloodstream that night. Everything she’d done for Emily. She remembered that it was her job to watch her while Ms.Summers was working the rest of the dinner. It was her job to get Emily in her pajamas and into bed. It was her job to find her stuffed animal, or toy, or… “that,” was as best as she could describe when she instantly recognized the item being tightly squeezed by the girl. A litany of questions were already flooding the secretary’s head, which only inflated her sense of curiosity; a difficult thing to satisfy with anything other than the truth. “Wh…why…” The sound of a quiet and socially frightened Emily finally made Sheila snap out of it. “Oh! I…I’m sorry about the surprise. I’m here to pick up some of Ms.-- I mean Joyce’s files she brought from the office.” Since that night at the hotel Sheila had kicked the habit as soon as she formed it when it came to addressing her boss. It felt strange to use her last name around Emily. Like expecting a kid to know their parents as nothing but “mom” or “dad.” Why that was the comparison she thought of though was a different question entirely. Emily, while she tried not to implode from sheer embarrassment, paced the thoughts in her mind as to how Sheila could have come unannounced. It seemed very out of place, and so did Joyce forgetting things, but Sheila was trustworthy, or at least she was supposed to be. Joyce told Emily to see her as such, after all. “Do you want to call Joyce to double check?” Sheila asked with a step back into the shoe area. “I don’t mind waiting.” It was clear Emily felt uneasy and now it was mutually known. Emily frowned apologetically, “It’s…it’s not that, it’s just…” “It’s all right,” Sheila smiled, “Do you want me to call her? I could also give–” “No…I have her number…one second.” Emily disappeared a second later. Sheila left alone then put a hand to her mouth, perplexed and staring at the floor. What was she thinking? Why did she say that? Did her boss’ girlfriend really need help calling her? What kind of question was that? And offering to give her a number? Belittling and insulting was all it was, and only guilt was what she felt for it. Maybe it was those…objectively cute footie pajamas that she was wearing, and how they were interacting last time. How Ms. Summers interacted with Emily last time. After all, she worked that night as a babysi–...a caretaker. More importantly, did Emily live here now? Her boss was almost always well-equipped, but if she was perfect, then Sheila would be out of a job. Hence why some of the work like this could come about. Sheila prided herself in her diligence and dedication to her work which was ensuring smooth-sailing for her boss. That included access to her outside of the office, like the spare key she had stowed away now in her purse. She’d only been to Ms. Summers new apartment once before for a similar situation, but there was no girlfriend then, as far as she could tell. Soon a furry pajama-wearing pipsqueak returned with a phone nursed against her ear. “Did Joyce know you were coming?” “I made sure to let her know earlier today, though I know she had some kind of non-work event that she needed to attend.” Non-work was certainly uncharacteristic of her, which is why Sheila could only guess in certain areas, but an unattended Emily certainly seemed out of place, what with how protective her boss had seemed. Emily didn’t answer back as she listened to the constant pulsing buzz from her phone. Why wasn’t Joyce picking up? Was she busy? It was maybe just the shock of not being Joyce, but stress was all she felt from dealing with an unexpected visitor. And then another unsettling thought had hit her. It was Sheila. The Sheila. The middleman Sheila. The one who handled all Joyce’s private affairs. Satisfied her requests. Got things done. Got things made. Got…diapers… “Not picking up?” Sheila asked, who started to pick up on the reservedness Emily was starting to show. Come to think of it, she did look like she was napping before she came to answer the door. Voicemail. Of all people, Joyce had missed a call? Emily frowned, maybe partly out of selfishness, truly believing her own issue to be important and worthy enough of her attention. But whatever the reason, Joyce wasn’t here now and the situation had come to Emily’s discretion. “She didn’t pick up… She’s not supposed to be back til tomorrow,” Emily said, finding a conveniently sewn front pocket on her footie pajamas to stash her phone. The moment she made use of it, the secretary’s eyes followed the entire time. “...But it’s fine. We’ve met before and…you seem…nice, so…” After a long second, Sheila looked up from her pajama pocket. “I-Is it okay if I take my heels off? I don’t want to leave any marks on the floor.” Emily quietly gestured for her to do so. “Did…you need to go to her office?” “Please. I’ve been here once before though, so I should be able to find the way?” “Oh, then uhm, in that case I’m just gonna go change real quick if you need anything…” Emily was fast disappearing. But fast enough. “Wait,” Sheila called, and something dreadful, maybe a switch inside Emily’s brain meant for someone else had just been unexpectedly flipped. “Are you changing for my sake?” It was an extremely forward question. One that came on impulse. “I’d rather you didn’t just because I’m here?” “It’s…it’s not that…” It totally was. And if looks could kill, surely it was Emily’s bashful face wandering about, and it was a lock of hair twirled around her nervous finger that struck the final blow to Sheila’s petrified heart. Sheila brought a hand to her mouth like she was about to cough. “I…really don’t mind?” She didn’t mind, nor was she looking forward to seeing the sight leave. Why did it matter though? She just didn’t want to be the reason such a sweet thing was ruined. And if Emily folded, it would have been an indirect admission to Sheila hitting the nail right on the head. And she had, but Emily was still debating whether to lie and save some visual face. Regardless, her comfort zone must have been lost in transit, feeling bare and exposed right then. “I…I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything…” Sheila watched her leave, admittedly (only to herself) doing something she probably shouldn’t have. It was simple curiosity; nothing she would ever act on or respond to. Something she simply wanted to know just because. And she probably had her answer. No crinkle, no puff. What could have been under those pajamas likely wasn’t. Things had changed somewhat since her last visit, but thankfully the walls and floor plan wasn’t one of those. Take a left in the living room, walk down the hall, and at the end should be… But a new nugget of information had stopped her in her tracks. What she remembered about the apartment were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and an office. A living room, a kitchen; the works. All that and one room for storage. Boxes, furniture in hibernation… And as she had made her walk to the office, from the corner of her eye she couldn’t help but see what was most certainly not a storage room. The walls as she remembered were unpainted and white. Not cream. A simple and unused room had no need for drapes, nor a carpet, or a mirror, or a…large crib, or a cushioned table…with… A doorway with a door only half ajar could show only so much, which wasn’t a lot at all. What it did show was a sliver of something much bigger, and such a small taste enticed Sheila’s curiosity like pure dopamine. The intrigue and suspicions she’d worked so hard to choke, punch down and hide away as a result of everything her boss only ever alluded to were rising from the ashes with vitality and force, demanding to be answered like an itch that was begging to be scratched. What she saw was far more than from just a half-glance through a half-open door. What she saw was from standing dead-center inside the nursery, because that’s where she was. There were certainly lines in her work relationships that should not and could not be crossed, and as the secretary’s heart rate picked up from stimulus intake, she was fairly certain that the line was sitting way back at the doorway. Unless her boss had a second secretary taking similar orders, Sheila could not mistake the two baskets filled to the brim with all-too-familiar looking diapers. Ignorance would have asked if they were for her boss, or maybe a third someone she had yet to meet. And yet, there, in the apartment, sitting in the kitchen, footie pajamas, stuffed animal and all, was the primest suspect who could easily have been carrying the same scent of powder Sheila could smell in this room. This nursery. It was certainly weird, but strangely, very strangely, fascinating. She’d never even seen something like this, much less conceived it. A nursery for a giant baby? An…adult baby? A few seconds later Sheila was by the changing table, pressing her hand curiously on the cushioning. It felt sturdy, well-designed. Another custom piece? BabyMaker. Another synapse fired and another connection had been made. For the first time she finally turned around and jumped in shock, just stifling a full-blown yelp! She’d been spotted. She was seen! But…she wasn’t… but she was. A large, stuffed bear sat in the corner of the room. A large, large bear. Big enough for a smaller-sized person to be enveloped by completely. Then she spotted the closet. And already waist-deep in what was surely a violation of privacy, Sheila’s sensational self took hold and tip-toed forward, quietly turning the handle and peering inside. It was certainly a half-empty kind of closet, but what caught her by surprise the most was an entire other machination waiting for her. A…giant chair? A chair with a table? Once it clicked her eyes grew wider. It was a highchair, but of course for an adult, and yet that seemed to mitigate the shock no less. She quietly closed the door, turning back around to take in the bizarre room all over again. Her eyes fixated on the crib. A bed where someone could sleep. An adult could fit in it. An…Emily, even. The footie pajamas. Cute. Colorful. Just like everything else in this room. The numbers were crunching faster than she could process coherent thoughts and the conclusions were already writing themselves…! This wasn’t just a stranger’s room. This was Emily’s room. She…lived like this? As a…for lack of a better word, a baby? Sheila tried to find the logic to refute, yet she had anything but. It was obvious to say that she’d walked in on something she was absolutely not meant to see, and yet the guilt hardly matched the immense intrigue and satisfaction for having her old wounds of not knowing freshly opened and satisfied beyond belief. And so, somehow finding her way back to reality, Sheila stepped out of the nursery, setting the door back to how it was as best she could. As much as she wanted to observe Narnia for a little bit longer, Sheila tried to remember her reason for coming here in the first place, walking off to the in-home office. “Sheila?” The woman adorning her glasses nearly slipped and fell on her backside, the surprise caught her so badly. Quietly cursing herself for stockings being the work attire of the night, Sheila put on her best smile as she turned around. Still in her footies…! “Y-yes?” “Uhm…I just remembered…” Emily couldn’t have sounded more bashful if she tried. Stretching her hands along her front, she half mumbled, “It’s…well, Joyce got some software stuff on her computer, so I don’t know if you’ll be able to use it…” How was she supposed to explain to her girlfriend’s secretary that her workstation had a parental blocker on it because someone was too irresponsible? “Software?” Sheila asked, but the conundrum solved itself in the span of speaking the very word. “Ah! She has parental controls on them, doesn’t she?” Sheila kept half-glancing Emily’s way, but she slowly gravitated towards the office. She knew?! “Is that what it is?” Emily awkwardly laughed. “I wouldn’t know– I only heard her talk about it…one time…” It wasn’t even intentional. Sheila was a problem-solver by nature. Even as a bystander she couldn’t help but observe. Think. Make her own conclusions. “Joyce gave me the information just in case something like this happened. I should be all set.” “Oh, uhm, okay…” Another thing that Joyce knew that Sheila knew, but Emily didn’t. With Sheila’s back turned to the girl, Emily couldn’t help but frown. Trust Joyce. Trust Sheila… Being that Emily was no tech whiz by any means, hearing someone type at what sounded like a professional level was certainly intimidating. By the time Emily could finish a sentence, Sheila was likely forwarding three different drafted emails. The only digits she had that knew how to type were the short, opposable ones that could only text. “Does Joyce keep a lot of stuff from work on her computer?” “Yes, but she usually sends me everything. She must have been in a rush so she didn’t get the chance.” Even mommies forget stuff, apparently… Had Emily not already forgotten, she’d be thinking that same thought twice over now instead of one. It reached a point when Sheila was sitting in the computer chair, typing away, signing onto the company VPN, opening files, preparing an email– Oops! This executable requires parental permissions to be used at this time. Please enter the password below: Not surprising. Sheila got Joyce the license, after all. Like many things, this password was just a drop in the bucket of how many things Sheila could and did retain on a daily basis. And just as she was about to type, a pair of padded feet evening themselves out on the hardwood floor reminded her of who was watching. Emily obviously noticed she stopped too. For what reason? And maybe it was not the best action, and maybe it wasn’t the best impulse. She could have stayed quiet and simply put in the password; it likely would have been too fast for her to see, anyway. And yet, already being such a slave to her instincs tonight, Sheila couldn’t help herself and asked: “Did Joyce say if you could see the password?” The tiny zipper on Emily’s footie pajamas jingled. It was demeaning. It was rude. Amounting the woman to just a child that needed rules. Supervision. It was bad. Sheila knew it. But a tickled side of herself was begging for the question to be asked. Begging to confirm what had to be absolutely true. Stroke her ego. Stroke her bias. To Sheila’s credit she wasn’t smiling. It sounded like a genuine question because it was one. Emily was no longer there. Instead, the stiffest board of wood you could find in the northern hemisphere had suddenly erected itself in a pair of pajamas. Needless to say, Sheila’s question cut deep. Of course she was going to say she could know! She’d mention that it was for Joyce’s nephew who totally visited all the time, and actually drew a really cute picture for them on the fridge! She was absolutely going to lie just to save her own skin. She was… Surely… Maybe it was the eyes. Maybe it was because she was sitting in Joyce’s chair, so she had the same demeanor? Right? Was it the footie pajamas making her feel like this? “Emily?” Her patient reminder hit Emily like a hammer. Shit! She asked again! Had she been quiet for that long? A second? Multiple seconds?! Emily’s toes tried to burrow themselves, but the shiny wooden floor and her closed-feet clothing was having none of it. But why? Why?! Why couldn’t she just lie? Ashes wasn’t here, so what the hell had her tongue?! And in her most pathetic play yet, Emily stuttered out an awkward laugh. “A-ahm…! I actually…I’m gonna get some water? Do– do you want any?” “No thank you,” Sheila smiled. No, she did something else. Yes, she smiled, but there was something else in that smile. Emily may not have noticed, but Sheila sure did. A smirk? Did I just smirk at her? Too embarrassed to own up to the child lock, Emily was gone. After a few good seconds of no return, Sheila quietly huffed, hanging her head back for just a second, then put in the password. iluvPeaches27 Passwords were supposed to be random. Yet as of late, nothing felt random anymore. Emily was hunkered down in the kitchen again, staring down at the transparent substance in her glass. She didn’t even want water; she just wanted to live her lie so well that it didn’t feel like one. Uncomfortable memories of second grade were bubbling up for some reason. She loved her former teacher, Ms. Lox, but some days in second grade were downright terrifying when work didn’t get done. The days she didn’t do her homework were like public executions the next morning. When the teacher came around to collect everyone’s assignment and was nearing poor elementary-level Emily. And when she was just with Sheila a moment ago, it wasn’t Sheila that was sitting. It was Emily still in her grade school desk with her expectant, discerning teacher right beside her. The embarrassment was burned into her memory to this very day. The fake excuses she would give. “I’m still looking for it!” she would say, falsifying the search for a finished document that didn’t exist. And Ms. Lox would know it, too. She’d keep walking while Emily drowned in shame, slowing down the movement of her hands, the rummaging of her folders and notebooks as soon as Ms. Lox was speaking to another student. She was forever known as the girl who couldn’t admit the truth. Well, at least for the rest of the class for just that afternoon... Second grader’s memories were quite fickle, thankfully. But the point still stood. She’d just been Ms. Lox’ed by Sheila. She just Ms. Lox’ed herself! Her heart still dwelling on memories stumbled with a horrible jolt as soon as she heard a pair of teacher’s heels. Shit! Her homework wasn’t done yet! But she sighed in quiet relief when she remembered that it wasn’t second grade anymore. Peering around the corner, she saw Sheila sitting on the edge of the floor, slipping on her heels. “Did…did you get everything?” “Hm?” Sheila turned her head, stunned all over again by the sight. It was her niece about to be sent off for bed. Was she about to be asked for a goodbye hug, next? Finally remembering to speak and smile, “...Yes, mhm! Everything I needed.” Yes, everything and so much more. With a quiet nod, not knowing any other way than to just stick around as a means of sending her off, Emily patiently waited for Sheila to leave. “Do I need to go turn off the computer, or anything?” Emily’s eyes wandered over to the living room where the route to the office was. “...No,” Sheila shook her head, dragging her mind back from somewhere else. “I…um, I took care of it.” She slowly draped her hand over the handle. “Okay. Well, er, have a good night?” With a hand behind her back, Emily offered a small wave. No. Absolutely not. Never. Impossible. It simply could not happen. It couldn’t end like this. “E…Emily?” Sheila retracted her hand and turned away from the door. “Have…have you had your dinner yet?” 16 Link to comment
dmavn Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Honestly, I kept waiting for her to have to use the bathroom and realize she can’t get the sleeper off herself..? Link to comment
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