The Nanny's Challenge - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

The start of a new story commission from Mashugana. This one probably won't be super-long, but at least a couple more chapters, I'd say.

"Come on," Lyra urged. "It's time to go."

"All right, Mommy," Hallie pouted. It was a natural reaction, Lyra supposed, although it still was not what she expected from the girl.

"Honestly," Lyra shook her head. "I told you, we have other things to get done, we can't just play in the park all day."

"I know," Hallie nodded, but she still didn't look pleased about it.

Lyra bit her tongue, not wanting to inundate the girl yet again with a lecture about how, at her age, Lyra had to be more mature, and responsible, and she'd never complained. The last part might not have been totally true, though, of course, she didn't remember doing so. It wouldn't hurt Hallie to grow up a touch, even if she wasn't quite able to match that. 

"Hurry up," Lyra said, holding out her hand. "We need to get to the store before it gets too busy, or we'll be there forever."

Hallie hesitated, nibbling on her bottom lip, with an expression that Lyra was all too familiar with. She'd thought she'd been done with it long ago, yet, over and over, it kept happening. "Hallie," she sighed. "I hope you aren't..."

But she could see the wet spot forming on the girl's crotch, glistening in the beautiful, outdoor sunlight as it expanded, then began to trickle down her legs, forming dark trails along the inside of her pants. Lyra saw a wetness in Hallie's eyes as well, a redness growing across her face, and it pulled at her heartstrings slightly... Not enough to excuse what was happening, however.

"Hallie!" Lyra exclaimed. "Again?! Why didn't you say something!"

"I-I didn't know!" Hallie insisted. Perhaps it was true, though now Lyra called the girl's previous attitude into question, wondering if she was uncomfortable with a full bladder, rather than upset at the idea of going home, and if that was why she'd been so pouty. 

"You should have," Lyra told her. "At your age..."

"I'm sorry!" Hallie sniffled. "I didn't do it on purpose..."

"That's almost worse," Lyra let out a long-suffering sigh. "I shouldn't have to be buying diapers for you, still, and carrying them around 'just in case'... You're old enough that I should be able to trust you not to wet your pants like a baby."

"I'm not a baby!" Lyra saw tears snaking their way down the girl's face now, but she was too deep; she couldn't stop herself. 

"I know! You're a big girl now, which is why I'd like you to act like one!" Lyra huffed. "I never had anywhere near this much trouble with toilet training, and I cannot understand why..."

"Excuse me," another voice broke in. It wasn't a huge surprise, really, since they were still in the middle of the park, probably not the best place to be having this conversation... A lot of the other parents liked to tell her she was being too harsh on the girl, to the point where she made a point to sit as far away from them as she could, while still being close enough to keep an eye on Hallie while she played, so they wouldn't think she was looking to strike up a conversation with them, or anyone.

This voice was different, however. She had never heard it before, either here at the park, or anywhere else that she could remember. It was a woman, one with a definite British accent, something that, around here, was not commonly heard. Lyra glanced up, surprised, but ready to inform this stranger she could mind her own business, only to immediately fall silent.

There was something about her that was... overwhelming, in a way. She didn't look particularly old, not much more than Lyra herself, yet she exuded maturity, and authority, and... power didn't sound like the right word, but it was the closest Lyra could come to naming it. She looked out of place, standing there in an old-fashioned looking outfit - a long, blue skirt, matching jacket over top of a white dress shirt with a red bow tie, wearing a black hat adorned with flowers, carrying a large carpet bag and an umbrella, despite the clear, if not suddenly rather windy, skies - though, simultaneously, as if she'd always been there, waiting.

"Yes, you," the woman said. "I couldn't help but overhear, and I must say, there are surely far more conducive ways to..."

Lyra found her voice again to ask, "And what do you know?", glaring at the stranger who dared butt in.

"I know quite a bit, as it turns out," the woman gave her a wry smile. "You see, I'm a professional Nanny. One of the best, I'm told."

That made sense immediately, although Lyra had to admit she hadn't thought nannies like this still existed... When she thought of them now, she imagined college students who looked after some kids full-time on their summer break, or someone perhaps slightly older that a father hired because he thought they were hot, and liked to imagine sleeping with. This woman was neither of those; not that she wasn't beautiful, but Lyra couldn't picture her having sex with anyone, especially not a client, and she'd only known her for a moment.

"That's great," Lyra told her. "I don't need a nanny."

"That's strange," the woman frowned. "This girl certainly looks young enough to benefit from having someone to look after her... And you did just say she was having a spot of trouble with her toilet training, although I suppose that much is obvious."

Hallie blushed deeper, staring down at her feet. "She'll get it," Lyra promised. "And she is more than mature enough, normally, not to need a nanny..."

"A pity," the woman shook her head. "In my experience, behavior like this usually stems from being forced to grow up too quickly. It can be a rather serious condition..."

"She had an accident, that's all," Lyra rolled her eyes. 

"Well, that, too," she shrugged. 

Lyra scowled, not sure what the woman was trying to say, and, after a moment, deciding it didn't matter. They'd wasted more than enough time already. "I'm going to go clean her up, and then we're going shopping, and we'll be fine, thank you very much!"

"Very good," the woman nodded. "Then you have everything you need?"

"Yes, of course I do! I am her mother, I know what I'm...!" Lyra insisted, not liking to be questioned like that, especially by a stranger. She'd gotten along perfectly fine on her own this far, she shouldn't have to prove anything to someone who had appeared out of nowhere mere minutes earlier. When she opened her purse to grab out the spare diaper and extra pants she would have sworn she recalled putting in there before they left, to be safe, so she could wave them in the woman's face triumphantly, she came up empty. "I-I must have left them in the car..."

"Well, that simply won't do," the woman said, tucking her umbrella under her arm and holding out a hand to Hallie. "We can't have her walking all the way to the parking lot and back like this, can we?"

Hallie appeared to be just as enamored with the woman as Lyra, taking her hand automatically, without even looking to her mother to see if it was all right. Lyra managed a, "Hallie!", slightly hurt that the girl would go to this stranger instead of her, but, honestly, she knew she couldn't blame her... She wasn't sure she wouldn't have done the same if the nanny had held out her hand to her.

As Lyra hurried after them, she tried to conjure up a memory of removing the diaper from her bag, and what her justification for doing so could have been. She couldn't recall doing that in the car ever... Even if Hallie had an accident in the car, she always waited until they were somewhere with a bathroom... Was she mistaken about putting it in there in the first place? Had she gotten mixed up, and thought about when she'd done it last time they'd come to the park?

The park bathrooms were far from luxurious; while she wasn't sold on the idea of allowing this stranger to change her child's clothes, even with her there, it would be nice not to have to either try to fit the girl onto the changing table that folded out from the wall, which she was, really, too big for now, or struggling to make room for both of them to maneuver comfortably in the sorry excuse for a handicapped stall. Neither of them could be considered large, or, really, even average-sized, and it was difficult enough for them... Lyra felt sorry for anyone who tried to cram a wheelchair into there.

"Well," the woman took one look around the bathroom, "this won't do."

"That's what's here," Lyra pointed out, almost taking a weird sort of joy at seeing the nanny's plan fall through, even though the other woman didn't appear phased by it in the slightest.

"We'll just have to use the family restroom," she announced, leading them back out of the women's room.

"What?" Lyra scoffed. "There's no..."

There, in the middle of the little building that held the bathrooms, halfway to the door to the men's side, was a third door, one Lyra had never seen before, would have sworn didn't exist. She'd come here many times, couldn't imagine how she could have missed it... Or where it might lead. They'd been in the women's room moments earlier, after all, and it was the same as she remembered it. It hadn't been remodeled to give space to a third section, and it seemed unlikely the park had decided to shrink the men's side exclusively for this, since it was surely the same size as the paltry women's one...

But that didn't change the fact that there was another door, clearly marked, 'Family', which the nanny set her bag down to tap on politely with her umbrella before pushing open, ushering Hallie and her mother inside, and into a place that, on first sight, Lyra became even more convinced didn't exist.

"Much better," the nanny declared, leading Hallie to a changing table, leaving Lyra behind to gawk, confused. The changing table was a stand-alone piece, wooden, sturdy, and more than big enough for the girl, not a cheap, plastic piece attached to the wall, and there was more than one. There were a few stalls as well, each one seemingly larger than the entire women's bathroom on its own.

"What is..?" Lyra shook her head. This room looked bigger than the building they'd walked into, yet it couldn't take up any more than half of it, since they'd just come from the women's room, and it was definitely still there. "How..?"

"I don't need a diaper," Hallie was complaining as she squirmed on the table unhappily, the rather soft, cushy-looking pad beneath her crinkling softly.

"Why don't we give it a try?" the nanny suggested. "Just for now."

"But..." Hallie pouted.

"How long has this been here?" Lyra demanded, stepping closer to the woman. 

"It's always been here," she answered simply.

"No," Lyra shook her head. "I-I would have noticed, I..."

"Perhaps you aren't as observant as you thought," the woman cut her off. "Now, wait your turn."

What did she mean by that?! Lyra blushed, stepping back and watching as the woman quickly, expertly, stripped off her daughters wet pants and underwear, pulling, from her bag, in turn, a plastic bag to tuck those into, a diaper, wipes, powder, and, finally, a pair of pants almost identical to the ones she'd taken off her, only a little looser to accommodate for the new padding.

"Wait..." Lyra felt an anxious knot forming in her stomach. "Wh-Why do you have..?"

"A good Nanny is always prepared for anything," the woman informed her.

Lyra almost found herself nodding, agreeing, but, of course, that didn't really explain anything. Had this person been following them?! Hallie's accidents had been getting worse and worse lately, so it wasn't a huge surprise she'd have one again... The fact that she had a pair of pants that similar to the ones Hallie had picked out right before they left the house, however, which she'd gotten for her birthday a few weeks earlier, and had never actually worn before.... That was weird, to say the least.

"All right, Hallie, show me how you can wash your hands," the woman said, helping the girl off the table, sending her to a row of sinks with a pat on her bottom, producing a much louder, more pronounced crinkle than the table had made. Lyra hadn't even noticed the sinks... Or, rather, she'd seen them, all looking cleaner and more ornate than the ones in the women's room probably ever had, even when they were brand new, all their mirrors intact and completely smudge-free, but, with everything else going on in the room, she hadn't spotted that some of them were lower, so kids could use them on their own if they wanted, and could be trusted to.

"Your turn," the nanny turned to Lyra, giving the now empty changing table a pat.

"Very funny," Lyra rolled her eyes, that knot inside her growing, tightening as she heard the crinkle of the pad on the table again.

"This is not a joke," the woman said. "I want you up on this table right now, young lady."

Lyra took a step away from the woman, eyes darting over to her daughter, still at the sink. Was she crazy? Had she exposed Hallie to some madwoman, wandering through the park? "Why would I do that?!" she hissed, not wanting to draw Hallie's attention.

"I think it's only fair," the nanny told her. "You want Hallie's potty training to improve, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Lyra replied. "But..."

"And you said yourself, you never had this sort of trouble when you were being trained," the woman pointed out.

"I didn't! That doesn't..."

"Then who better to show her how it's done?" the nanny asked. "You can set a perfect example for her."

"I already do that!" Lyra said, before realizing how conceited that sounded. "I-I mean, I try... I can show her without..." Her words trailed off as she watched the woman pull another diaper from her bag, this one much larger, and seemingly thicker, than the first, though otherwise identical. That didn't make sense, either, any more than this room... There was another size up of the diapers Lyra bought for Hallie, yet she knew each size had a different design on it... She hadn't seen the bigger size in person, since Lyra didn't need them - yet, at least, hopefully ever - but it seemed the jump from the one she'd just watched her daughter being put into, and this, was more than it should have been for a single size change. 

Were they making an even larger size now? Had the company run out of ideas and recycled the design from a smaller size on it? It was possible, although Lyra had never seen them at any store, or spotted any commercials or ads mentioning them... Surely they'd want people to know, so lazy parents could take even longer to potty train their children, now that there were bigger diapers... 

"The best way to teach," the nanny lectured, "is by example."

"I've been doing that!" Lyra insisted. "I've been doing that for years... I couldn't tell you the last time I peed myself, so..."

"That is hardly a fair comparison," the woman replied. "You're already trained, and have been for years."

"Of course I am," Lyra rolled her eyes. "I'm an adult! What do you expect me to do about that?!"

"Ah," the woman's eyes lit up, a hint of mischief dancing behind them. "I don't expect you to do anything, Lyra, other than prove how marvelous you were at learning to use the toilet."

"But I don't have to learn!" Lyra stomped her foot, frustrated at the circles the woman was talking her around in. "I already know!"

"Not anymore," the nanny smirked. "I've matched your toilet training to that of your daughter's."

"Yeah, right," Lyra scoffed. "Do you actually think I'm going to buy that?"

"You can believe what you want," the woman shrugged. "That won't change the truth. I'm going to give you three months, Lyra, which, for someone who is as much of a natural as you, ought to be plenty of time for you to get back out of diapers, and show your daughter first-hand how it's done. If, at the end of that time, you're back out of diapers, and Hallie still isn't, I will stay and work for you, for free, for as long as it takes to get her toilet training up to snuff. If neither of you is out of diapers, I'll stay and train you both, at a reasonable rate, I assure you. And, if she is, and you aren't.... Well, I'm sure that won't happen, will it? You've always been a natural at this, haven't you?"

As much as Lyra had insisted she didn't need a nanny, having one around for free was a nice proposition... She wouldn't have to pay for sitters, at least, and could maybe go out with her friends a little more often... Of course, the whole idea of this was ludicrous. Her potty training was the same as it had always been, because there was no way some random person could change that, no matter how strange it was for that person to have things in her bag that perfectly matched what Hallie was wearing... Or, now that Lyra thought about it, that the woman seemed to know her name, even though she couldn't recall having introduced herself.

"This is stupid," Lyra told her. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but..." She squirmed, interrupting herself as she noticed an odd, unfamiliar sensation. It wasn't bad, necessarily, just... weird, and warm, and... wet?

"Lyra!" the nanny scolded. "This is why I asked you to get on the table, young lady."

"Oh, please, I didn't..!" Lyra stomped, finished with this whole charade, whirling around to see Hallie standing there, eyes wide.

"What are you doing, Mommy?" she asked.

"WE are leaving," Lyra informed her, holding out her hand. "Come on!" Hallie didn't move. "Hallie..." Lyra warned, only to hear the unmistakable sound of liquid splashing against tile. "D-Did you forget to turn off the sink?" she asked, fidgeting, hoping that was the case, that she was imagining the feeling of her pants sticking to her legs, of what was now undeniably wetness, stretching from her underwear all the way down her pant legs, to the puddle she saw forming beneath her when, at last, she glanced down.

"All right, enough of this nonsense," the nanny clapped her hands. "Spit-spot, young lady, up on the table before you make any more of a mess."