In the morning, Keeley’s diaper was absurdly heavy. Somehow, it hadn’t leaked. She could only hope that she hadn’t wet it more when she’d fallen asleep drunk. Her nannies already thought she was a bedwetter, they didn’t need to be right about it.
Everything was uncomfortable. Especially her bladder. That was a good thing, since it meant she wasn’t a bedwetter, even if the fix was to wet herself. Her latest wetting hardly warmed the diaper, it joined the rest of the liquid in the padding and cooled off right away. Lying any way but on her side, squished liquid onto her skin unpleasantly. There was no way to get it off, due to the plastic cover that Dominika had locked on.
Her rear ached from the spanking she’d gotten. On top of that, she had a raging hangover. The gentle rumble of the waves was more like a constant tapping on her skull. Her mouth tasted like stale barf. She looked at the mittens Dominika had locked onto her hands. They were really secure looking plastic. Unfortunate, since they were getting sweaty inside.
It might not be the very best morning Keeley had ever had.
So she couldn’t do anything about the diaper or the mittens. Fixing her headache was out of reach too. Dominika had locked the top panel onto the crib. Keeley had only tested it with her foot, but it seemed solidly fastened.
There was nothing to do, in fact. Except of course, to think about how she’d almost killed her best friend last night. Compared to the pain and guilt in her heart, the physical stuff faded to nothing. Tears would have been welcome, but they didn’t come. She was too dehydrated and cried out from last night.
“Is this rock bottom?” Keeley asked herself.
Not one for introspection at the best of times, she didn’t have an answer. All she knew was that she’d give anything to stop feeling terrible. Even have her friends yell at and lecture her. They could treat her like as much of a baby as they wanted if they would just fix everything.
That gave Keeley an idea. She looked over at the baby monitor. She could ask them to come help her. Except that the monitor was probably in Dominika’s room. The last thing she wanted to do was have a conversation when she couldn’t see her friend’s face.
She could just cry like a baby. She needed to be changed like one, after all. That’d mean no conversation. It was pretty humiliating to even think of, though. Keeley didn’t think she was there yet. Hopefully, she’d never get there either. Maybe there was a compromise between talking and crying.
“Nana?” Keeley called at the baby monitor. “Nana?”
“I’ll be right there, little girl.” It was Vidette’s voice. Keeley let out a huge sigh of relief.
Vidette took a seat on a stool next to the crib when she arrived. She hadn’t made any moves to let Keeley out yet. She looked tired. More tired than she had been last night, somehow. She set a water bottle on the plastic cribside table.
“Are you going to be a good baby today, Keeley?” Vidette asked.
“Yes Nanny Vidette.” Keeley said. “I’m really sorry. I want to tell Nik – uh, Nanny Dominika that I’m sorry. But to her, not over the monitor.”
“You’ll get a chance to apologize, don’t worry.” Vidette said. “How do you feel?”
“Hungover.” Keeley said. “I uh – need a change. Really bad.”
“You’re not still sick to your stomach?” Vidette asked. “No trouble moving your arms and legs? No shakes?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Keeley tried moving a little, wincing when her diaper squished.
“You scared the shit out of me.” Vidette said. “I had no idea you were still drinking like that. I was up checking on you five times last night. I couldn’t sleep.”
“I’m sorry.” Keeley curled up. She’d hurt both of them. “Really sorry.”
“We’re going to get more strict with the baby-game.” Vidette said. “Are you going to fight us on that?”
“What does that mean?” Keeley asked fearfully.
“Treating you like you’re even more little, and not giving you any privacy to get in trouble with.”
“Do I have to… poop in them?” Keeley whimpered. “Is that why you haven’t changed me yet?”
“No, you don’t have to do that.” Vidette sighed. “I haven’t changed you yet because I wanted to talk first. I needed to see where your head was at.”
“I don’t know why I threw the bottle at Nanny Dominika.” Keeley said, truthfully. “I was out of control. As soon as it left my hand – I realized what I did.”
“Doesn’t that scare you?” Vidette asked.
“I guess so?” Keeley said. “I mean, it scares me what could have happened to her. I don’t want to hurt either of you. I got used to throwing bottles I guess.”
Vidette pinched the bridge of her nose. “You got used to – Keeley, baby, what are we going to do with you?”
“Still be my friend, I hope.” Keeley said in a soft voice. “I don’t have a lot of friends left.”
“That wasn’t a red flag either?” Vidette sighed and unlocked the crib side, sliding it down. She leaned in and hugged Keeley tightly, heedless of the various odors Keeley was sure surrounded her.
“A red flag for what?” Keeley asked. She only met people who liked to party these days. Partiers just didn’t stick around for a long time. They were fun to hang out with, but Keeley couldn’t count on them like friends.
“You desperately need someone to take care of you.” Vidette said. “Lucky for you, there are two nannies here.”
Keeley nuzzled her face into Vidette’s neck. A big shuddering sigh wracked her chest. As much as she needed Vidette to help her get cleaned up, she clung more tightly when Vidette tried to pull away.
“I care about you too, but we need to get you up now.” Vidette said. “First things first. Water and medicine.”
“Can’t I clean up first?” Keeley whined.
“No. I want the water and Tylenol working while we do that.” Vidette uncapped the water bottle, revealing a rubber nipple. She scooted closer to the crib and rolled Keeley onto her back. “Here you go, baby girl.”
Her major screw-up was too fresh in memory for Keeley to refuse. She couldn’t stop herself from whimpering though. Vidette ignored the whimper and pressed the nipple to Keeley’s lips. She spent the next several minutes cradled in one of Vidette’s arms, blushing and sucking on the bottle.
“Good girl.” Vidette said when the bottle was empty. “Next.”
Keeley was presented with a hollow plastic spoon filled with pale pink liquid. “What’s that?”
“Children’s Tylenol. Enough to be an appropriate dose for you. Open up, it’s bubblegum flavor.”
Keeley wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out in a classic yuck face. Bubblegum was the worst of the medicine flavors. Once again, Vidette plowed forward. She tipped the medicine onto Keeley’s tongue and pushed her mouth closed. Keeley swallowed the gross stuff as fast as she could.
“Good girl. You’ll start feeling better soon.” Vidette stood up and put a hand under Keeley’s arm. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Vidette didn’t have to ask twice. Keeley was out of the crib in a flash. The mass of soaked padding between her legs pushed them apart and nearly put her on the floor. She caught her balance against Vidette.
“I think it’s better if you crawl.” Vidette said, lowering Keeley to the floor.
“I can walk!” Keeley protested.
“I don’t want to throw my back out catching you if you fall again.” Vidette said. “Come on, it’s a quick trip to the bathroom.”
Without Vidette’s help, Keeley didn’t trust herself walking. She followed her nanny at a fast crawl, grumbling as she went. At least Vidette didn’t chastise her for the grumbles.
While the water was running in the tub, Keeley’s swollen diaper finally came off. She gasped in relief to have cool air on her skin instead of muggy wet. The smell was something else. Keeley could smell a couple of flavors of funk on herself, now that she was up and moving.
Vidette brushing Keeley’s teeth overpowered the smells for a bit with peppermint. It was weird to not be embarrassed to be standing naked in front of her friend, covered in pee and other gross stuff. The feelings of being taken care of and finally getting clean were too good.
Getting into the bath prompted a big happy sigh. Keeley was starting to feel like things might be okay again. She sat back and relaxed as Vidette scrubbed her from head to toe. Even getting her crotch washed felt comforting instead of weird or sexy.
When Vidette lead Keeley to the changing table, freshly dried off, she climbed right up on it. If playing the baby game was going to be a quick way to apologize to her friends, she was going to go for it.
“You’re being a very good baby right now.” Vidette said as she put a diaper under Keeley’s rear. It was one of the big, thick ones. “This isn’t one of those things where you fool us for a while and then act up again, is it?”
“I want to be good.” Keeley said. “To help apologize.”
“That will go a long way if you can keep it up.” Vidette said.
She lifted Keeley’s legs and inspected her rear, lightly pressing her fingers against some of the tender spots.
“Ow!” Keeley said.
“Sorry hon, I’m just checking. It looks like you have some bruises but no real damage.” Vidette took the opportunity to apply cream to Keeley’s butt while she had the little girl’s legs up.
“It still hurts.” Keeley said with a pout. “It aches even when you’re not touching it.”
“It’s working as a reminder then.” Vidette said. “To be a good baby.”
Keeley sighed and nodded.
After Keeley was powdered and diapered, Vidette put her in a white onesie with pink print of bottles, bears, and other baby stuff. Fuzzy knee-high socks that were pink and white striped were apparently all she was getting for her legs.
It wasn’t so bad if nobody but her nannies saw it. At least that’s what Keeley kept telling herself. The clothes were soft and comfortable. They were even cute if you discounted the baby thing. It was all about seeing the bright side. Like when Vidette clipped a pacifier on a ribbon to Keeley’s onesie. At least Vidette didn’t put it in her mouth too.
It was the locking mittens that had no bright side. Keeley whimpered and clasped her hands over her chest when she saw Vidette pick them up.
“You don’t have to put those on. I’ll be good!” Keeley insisted.
“I hope you’d be good either way.” Vidette said. “Give me your hand.”
Keeley managed to hold out for a few moments against Vidette’s stern look. With a sigh, she held out her hands and said goodbye to her ability to use her fingers. They didn’t even have a separate compartment for her thumb. She could curl her hands around something and that was about it.
“Alright, let’s go see Nanny Dominika.” Vidette said. “She should have breakfast ready for us. I think it’s best if you crawl for now, until we tell you that you can be a bigger girl.”
Keeley sighed and climbed down from the changing table. All the way down to the floor. The mittens protected her hands at least, and the socks were thick enough to keep the uncarpeted parts of the floor from hurting her knees.
Sitting on the floor next to her high-chair, diapered and in baby clothes was not how Keeley would have chosen to make up with Nika. Hopefully it would at least make her look more sorrowful. Nika thought she looked cute this way, at least.
“Nanny Dominika.” Keeley said sincerely. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” Dominika asked. She was standing at her full height with a kitchen apron on over her skirt and blouse. It didn’t look like she was going to come down to Keeley’s level at all.
“For throwing the bottle at you.” Keeley said sadly. “I didn’t mean to do it, but I did, and it could have hurt you bad.”
“Is that all you’re sorry for?” Dominika asked.
“No, but that’s the really big one.” Keeley said. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I don’t ever want to hurt you.”
Dominika sighed and relaxed a little. She even crouched down. “I don’t want to hurt you either, baby girl. You know that I care about you, right?”
Keeley nodded. They did care, both of them. They were showing it in a really weird way, but she never doubted that they cared.
“I’m sorry for all the other stuff too. Drinking and waking you up and uh, everything.”
Dominika smiled a little. That was a really good sign. Keeley smiled back encouragingly.
“Did you apologize to Nanny Vidette?” Dominika asked.
“Yes.” Keeley looked up at Vidette, who was nodding.
“And did Nanny Vidette explain that your big girl privileges are gone?” Dominika asked.
“Yes.” Keeley sighed and slumped down. She didn’t know why she’d hoped that Dominika would be the less strict one. If anything she was going to go the other way.
“Just because your butt is sore doesn’t mean I won’t spank you again.” Dominika said. “We’re going to treat you like a baby today. We understand that babies are a little fussy sometimes, but if you can’t be a good baby today you can’t be a little girl tomorrow, understand?”
A whole day of baby treatment, minimum? Keeley sighed. If it would get Dominika to forgive her, maybe it was okay.
“Yes Nanny Dominika.”
“Good baby.” Dominika said. “You can just say nana or nanny if you want. We wouldn’t expect a baby to be able to say the whole name every time.”
“Okay nanny.” Keeley said. It was dumb and infantile, but Nanny Dominika was a big mouthful. Maybe she could get away with giving them a nickname.
“Up a go!” Dominika said, helping Keeley into the high-chair.
Breakfast was a major disappointment. When Vidette said that Dominika was making breakfast for ‘us’, she was apparently only talking about Dominika and herself. Keeley’s breakfast was baby food, fed to her by Vidette directly out of the jar.
It wasn’t horrible tasting, but it was mushy and it did not compare to the eggs, sausage, and French toast she could see and smell her nannies eating. If they meant the baby food as a punishment, they had nailed it.
Still hungry after breakfast, but not wanting to ask for more mush, Keeley found herself lying across Dominika’s lap on the couch. To her great embarrassment, Nika offered her an adult-sized baby bottle filled with some white liquid.
Refusing still seemed like a bad idea if she wanted to make up with her friends. On the other hand, Keeley hoped the whole day wouldn’t be this intense. She wasn’t sure she could keep up the good baby act.
The stuff in the bottle tasted like a protein shake of some kind. Keeley hoped it wasn’t actual baby formula. It was a lot thicker than the water she’d drunk from a bottle before. She kept misjudging how much she had to suck on the rubble nipple and swallowing air instead of the shake. Every time she did, she’d involuntarily move her mouth and get some drips of her face.
It took until Vidette was done with the breakfast dishes for Keeley’s ordeal with the bottle to be over. She was out of ability to take the game in stride. Keeley was embarrassed and feeling uncomfortably bloated. When Dominika sat Keeley up on her lap, she burped a little, which only made the embarrassment worse.
“I thought that might happen. Vi, give me a hand?” Dominika said.
Before Keeley could figure out what they were planning, she was being bounced on Dominika’s legs. Vidette was behind her, helping steady her and gently slapping her back in time with he bounces.
A massive burp came out of Keeley. It relieved the pressure, but left drops of the protein shake on her lips. Her face was hot under the washcloth Dominika used to clean her up.
“That was a good one! Feeling better, honey?” Vidette asked.
Keeley was in no mood to answer anyone. She wanted to crawl into a corner until the embarrassment went away.
“I think she’s feeling a little shy.” Dominika said, popping the pacifier into Keeley’s mouth.
“Let’s put her down for a bit, maybe she’ll nap.” Vidette said.
Without any need for Keeley’s input, her nannies put her on a blanket in front of the fireplace. She lay there, overwhelmed. At least nobody was taking pictures. Her friends had hardly looked at their phones, actually.
“I talked to Alyssa last week, by the way.” Vidette said, handing a glass of lemonade to Dominika and sitting down with one of her own.
“Really? What’d she have to say?” Dominika asked.
Keeley perked up as well. She hadn’t seen Alyssa in a while.
“She finally got engaged!” Vidette said with a grin.
“Wow, I didn’t think they’d ever pull that trigger.” Dominika said.
“That’s awesome!” Keeley said, spitting out her pacifier. “When’s the wedding?”
“Keeley, sweetie, this is quiet time for you, okay?” Dominika said.
“But…” Keeley tried to protest, but Dominika leaned over and popped the pacifier back in her mouth. It was a pretty clear message.
“It’s a good question though.” Dominika said. “When is the wedding?”
“Two years out at least, she says.” Vidette said. “She wants to do it in France, can’t decide where. He wants to do it in Amsterdam.”
“So it’s going to be in Norway or something?” Dominika chuckled.
“I wouldn’t be surprised with those two. I’ll be surprised if we see a save the date in two years.” Vidette grinned.
Squirming with embarrassment, Keeley tried to tune out the conversation. She didn’t want to listen about Alyssa’s dumb engagement, if she couldn’t be part of the conversation. Focusing on the fire crackling helped a little, as did curling up facing the fireplace instead of the couch.
Once she lost the thread of the conversation it was easier to ignore the words and focus on elemental sounds only. Wind, waves, fire. Keeley stared at the flames and let the natural sounds wash over her. With a little work, she was able to get into empty mind mode. Words were just sounds without meaning in that state.
It was peaceful to lie there without thoughts. Restful too. Keeley was still tired but wasn’t sleepy. She had a soft awareness of her nannies as they moved from the couch to the kitchen to the porch, always chatting.
It would have been nice to catch up along with them.
That thought was complete enough to crash Keeley out of her meditation. She stretched and looked around. Her nannies were still on the porch, with the door open so they could monitor her, she guessed. She wasn’t planning to do anything they’d call bad, but she needed to do something. Plus she had to pee again. First order of business was to spit out her pacifier and crawl to where the couch would hide her from the porch.
A quick squat and release took care of the pressure in her bladder. Keeley was getting to be a pro at wetting herself. She hoped this didn’t have any long term effects. Like anybody else, she’d had some close calls getting to a bathroom. Those didn’t need to become accidents.
Putting that worrisome thought out of her mind, Keeley explored the living room to see what was within her crawling reach. To her surprise, the main bookshelf had two entire shelves cleared of books and knickknacks. In their place were toys, from dolls and stuffies, to coloring books and kid’s games, as well as some really baby toys like blocks and colored rings.
The weekend had been so crazy she hadn’t noticed them until now. Everything was brand new, which meant it was something Keeley hadn’t seen before unless it was a ‘classic’ toy. She amused herself by inspecting the dolls and seeing what little girls were playing with nowadays.
“You found the toys.” Dominika said cheerfully behind her.
Keeley jumped a little, craning her head back to look at her nanny. “I guess so. I got bored nana.”
“Aww, I’m sorry hon.” Dominika kneeled down behind Keeley and hugged her from behind. “You want to play with the dolls?”
“I’d rather watch TV.” Keeley said. She’d already be watching it if she thought she could work a remote through her ridiculous mittens.
“Maybe later this afternoon. Let’s do something else for now.” Dominika said. “Which dolly is your favorite?”
“Uh, this one I guess.” Keeley picked a doll with large eyes and rainbow-colored hair off the shelf. “The super realistic ones are kind of creepy.”
“Pick out a few you want to play with and we can all play together.” Dominika said.
“Really?” Keeley asked. She’d been sure that the nannies were going to make her play dolls while they watched.
“Of course baby girl. This weekend is about you.” Dominika said.
Keeley smiled. They kept managing to be sweet despite the weirdness. Said weirdness was pushed back to the forefront when Dominika reached between Keeley’s legs and hooked her fingers under the little girl’s onesie and diaper.
“Nana, hey.” Keeley protested weakly.
“Looks like somebody already wet.” Dominika said, ignoring the protest. “I don’t think you need a change yet though. Get your dollies and let’s play.”
Playing dolls was a lot of fun. Almost as much fun as winning at Hungry Hungry Hippos. Her nannies not only participated, but they let her take the lead on the story. Keeley was a little sad to see the dolls put away as lunchtime rolled around. Especially because she wasn’t looking forward to meals anymore after that breakfast.
“Keeley.” Vidette said, crouching down next to the perpetually floor-bound girl. “I talked with Nanny Nika and I think we can try you on a big girl lunch.”
“Oh yes please!” Keeley said hurriedly.
“You have to be a super good girl though. Can you behave and do whatever your nannies say?”
“Yeah, I can do it!” Keeley said. Visions of grilled beach food danced in her mind. Anything but mush!
“I know you can. You’ll make me super proud I bet.” Vidette said with a grin.
After what she’d done last night, Keeley desperately wanted to make Vidette proud. She didn’t question the intensity of the emotion, she just wanted to be right with her nannies again. Her friends, she corrected herself.
“Great, let’s get you into your car seat.” Vidette said.
The bottom dropped out of Keeley’s stomach. That Vidette helped her to her feet and was letting her walk instead of crawl didn’t even register.
“Wh-where are we going?” Keeley asked.
“Well we can’t go into a restaurant unfortunately.” Vidette said breezily. “I’m sure they don’t have a high-chair that would fit you. No reason we can’t go eat in the car though.”
“A-are you kidding?” Keeley asked in horror.
“I know!” Vidette said with relentless cheer. “We never slum it at fast food. There’s a really good burger place that opened up here though. They have a drive-in section, so it’ll work out.”
“Please! Nanny Vidette!” Keeley whimpered and dug in her heels as they approached the door. Dominika already had her keys in her hand, holding the door open for them.
“Please don’t take me out like this.” Keeley begged. “I don’t mind eating the baby food. I’ll drink baby formula. Just please don’t let people see me like this.”
“We don’t know anyone in this town except the guy that rents boats.” Dominika said. “You’ll be fine unless you make a fuss and attract a bunch of attention.”
“Come on Keeley, you told me that you could be a good baby and listen to your nannies, remember?” Vidette said, giving Keeley’s arm a firm pull.
Wide-eyed and stumbling, Keeley let Vidette pull her to the door. She hardly noticed Dominika kneeling down to put pink baby-styled shoes on her feet. Even Vidette taking the mittens off didn’t help her mood. This was really going to happen.