CYOA: The Stepdaughter - Chapter 25 (Story) (Patreon)

"Y-Yeah," Janet blushed, nodding bashfully. "M-Maybe you're right... Maybe you should stay with me..."

"Fine, then," Bernice shrugged. "Get out of the chair, in that case."

"O... Kay..." Janet frowned, wondering if Bernice had misunderstood her somehow. After the help the woman had just given her, and hoped would continue to give her in the future, she didn't push her luck, carefully clambering out of her seat, standing by awkwardly.

"But Mommy!" Melba pouted, stomping her foot. "I wanna swim!"

"You can, sweetie," Bernice told her. "Go on... I'll be right here, watching, okay? I just have to watch little Janet, too, so don't go too far."

"Okay!" the little girl beamed, slipping out of her flip-flops and rushing over to the edge of the pool, carefully climbing in and starting to splash around. 

Bernice sat down in the chair Janet had just vacated, explaining why she'd had her move. Janet started to sulk - after everything, she lost her seat anyway?! - but she knew she couldn't complain too much... This was better than her alternatives. She didn't have to face the college kids on her own, and, even if it meant she'd have to stand, or sit on the ground, herself, Bernice was around to help her with Kenzi and Zella.

"Come here," Bernice said, as Janet looked around at the ground around the chair, trying to decide what would be the most comfortable spot. She reached over, grabbed her, and, while the girl squeaked in surprise, pulled her onto her lap. Janet fit there quite easily, Bernice's hand automatically drifting down to her diaper, patting it softly.

Janet squirmed, cheeks red, thinking back to all their little arguments at the office; there was no way either of them could have imagined that, one day, they'd end up like this. "I can't wait to meet your Mommy," Bernice said. "She must be quite the person, to have done this to you."

"I don't have a Mommy!" Janet shook her head. "I-I mean, I have a mom, but..."

"Then a Daddy?" Bernice raised an eyebrow, a wicked smile starting to cross her face. "Is he cute?"

"No!" Janet whined. "I-It was... Umm... Sh-She's my stepdaughter."

Bernice burst out laughing, unable to control herself for a good few minutes. "Some kid did this to you?" she asked, once she could finally speak again, giving the girl's full diaper a squeeze. "I guess if you allowed that to happen, you deserve this!"

"I-It's not as simple as that," Janet blushed, fidgeting. "Sh-She's not a kid... She's only a little younger than me... I-It's complicated, but she thinks I'm this girl she used to babysit, who needed diapers, a-and..."

"Are you sure you aren't?" Bernice mocked. "It definitely seems like you needed this one!"

Janet grumbled, starting to think this hadn't been the best choice after all, that she might not be getting the help she wanted from Bernice. She sat on Bernice lap silently, only letting out a squeal of shock when the woman started jostling her leg, bouncing her up and down a little.

After a few minutes, Bernice reached into her bag, took out her phone. "Keep an eye on Melba," she ordered.

There wasn't a lot Janet could have done to help the girl, if she'd seen her get in over her head, or slip and fall, or anything like that... Any other time, she would have relished the chance to turn the tables on Bernice, to give her a lecture on how irresponsible it was of her to pass off her responsibilities like that... Right now, however, all things considered, she wasn't in the position to reprimand the woman about anything.

And, to be totally fair, Bernice did look up from the screen every couple minutes, confirming that everything was all right. After all of her plans for getting rid of that phone, and the evidence on it, it was a bit infuriating seeing it there, so close, while she was bobbing on the woman's knee. She could reach over and grab it... But, even if Bernice's grip didn't immediately tighten, keep Janet from yanking it out of her hand, she might be fast enough to snatch it back before Janet could toss it into the pool... And Janet wasn't confident she could throw it that far, anyway. Of course, if it landed on the ground instead, it would probably smash, which would do the job just as well... If it didn't, though, Bernice would still be angry at her, and Janet would have accomplished nothing.

Either way, she suspected she'd end up turned over on the woman's lap, given yet another spanking. It likely wouldn't hurt much, through the layers of padding, and the mess, but it would certainly be humiliating... Especially if that was how Kenzi and Hazel found her when they returned.

In the end, she was glad she didn't try it. "Mommy, Mommy!" Melba exclaimed, after what felt like a mind-numbing amount of time for Janet, sitting there on Bernice's lap. The girl ran up, flapping her arms excitedly, sending water flying everywhere. "Did you see? I went underwater, and it wasn't even that scary, and I think I made a friend, and...!"

"That's wonderful, baby," Bernice smiled. "You're so brave!" She kissed her daughter on the forehead, not appearing to worry about how wet the girl had just gotten her phone. "I saw her, and she looked very nice... What's her name?"

Melba cocked her head, thinking for a moment. "I dunno," she answered, finally. 

Bernice chuckled. "Did you ask?" 

Melba shrugged, turning back towards the pool. "Oh, there she is! She's back!" she grinned. "Bye, Mommy!"

"Silly girl," Bernice said to herself, shaking her head affectionately. She looked around for a moment, then grabbed the back of Janet's tankini - totally dry, of course, since she'd not even been that close to the pool herself this whole time - and used it to dry off her phone. "Thank goodness they have waterproof phones now, right?"

"R-Right," Janet agreed, although, really, all she was thinking was how lucky she was not to have tried anything with the phone. There was a difference between surviving a splash or two, and making it out of a dunk in the pool itself. She hadn't even considered the possibility that the phone could have survived, however... How awful would it have been to risk even more of Bernice's ire, only to discover her phone, and the incriminating photos, were still fully intact?

Janet was taking her job of watching the pool seriously, despite knowing any actual rescue would have to come from Bernice, so she had no warning for the sound of her babysitters' voices returning. It started with the pair of them giggling, Janet thinking it was them, but not certain... Until she heard Kenzi speak.

"This is where we left her, isn't it?" she asked. "I don't see any babies sitting on their own..."

"That's because she isn't," Hazel told her, her voice making Janet's skin crawl, her legs kick slightly, trying to decide what she was going to do now, the fateful moment upon her. "See, she made a friend."

They sauntered over, Janet blushing, staring down at the ground, her heart pounding, wondering how this was going to go, if Zella would be mad at her for losing her seat, even if, really, she was simply a few inches higher on it. "Hi, there," Hazel said. "I hope our little Prissy hasn't been too much trouble for you..."

Janet turned, looking at Bernice. She hadn't had the chance to speak up, to make the choice about whether or not she should have Bernice tell them who she really was or not... It was too late now. She'd just been sitting there, bouncing on her knee, for so long, she could have brought it up at any time, so she knew it was her fault for being too embarrassed, but she'd hoped there would be more time.

"Prissy, huh?" she laughed. "That's the perfect name for you, isn't it? And no worries, she was trouble, of course, but it was worth it to see her like this..."

"Oh?" Hazel raised an eyebrow. "You know her?"

This was it! Janet should have known they'd end up at this place eventually, if she worked up the courage to discuss it beforehand with Bernice or not, and here it was... This might be it, the moment this whole thing ended, and she got to go back to her real self, and out of diapers... Though, honestly, that last part felt less likely, after all the accidents she'd been having... She might need them for a little while longer anyway, but she'd rather be able to start getting out of them now, instead of after Harrison's return.

It hadn't been that long... There couldn't have been that much damage done... This day was drawing to a close, but she had all of Sunday to fix this... Thinking of it that way, however, made her shudder, recall that it hadn't even taken a full day for Hazel to do this to her, to reduce her from a fully functioning adult to a helpless, diaper-filling toddler. Even if she got out of these diapers, and stopped having accidents, the knowledge of how close she must be to that already, to have fallen so far, so fast, was going to haunt her for a long time to come.

"Oh, yes," Bernice answered. "I worked with Janet here for quite a while..."

And there it was. Janet had tried to make Hazel listen, to accept that she was Janet, not Prissy, and been denied every time... Now somebody else was calling her that. She'd have to listen now, have to acknowledge that she'd made a mistake... Wouldn't she? 

Zella paused, then started to grin, looking from Bernice to Janet, sitting there, sucking away at her pacifier, squirming nervously in her dirty diaper. Janet noticed it, wasn't sure what it meant, what she was going to say. It did appear to throw her, however, if ever so slightly, her response taking an extra moment or two to start. Or was she drawing it out, making Janet wait longer to hear it? Janet wasn't sure, though, by the time it started, she was on the edge of Bernice's lap, wondering...

What was Hazel going to say?!

"Oh, you must be mistaken, Prissy here is obviously barely mature enough for school, much less work!"

Or, "I'm so sorry! I'm sure she was a handful... But, as you can see, we know just how to deal with little brats like Janet."