Compromise - Chapter 13 (Patreon)

Heather carefully extracted herself from the sleeping little in her arms, slipping out of bed and down the hall, back to the laundry room. She hadn't expected to be there for so long, had assumed she'd work out the sleeping arrangements with Lizzie, get her settled in, and then be able to go back and check on the clothes, move them over to the dryer if it was time. 

That wasn't quite how it had gone, however. Lizzie was so adorable, toddling around in one of Heather's old shirts, her diaper crinkling away underneath, looking for all the world like a little girl playing dress-up, one who, from how sleepy she'd been looking since the long, stressful journey to the safety of Heather's apartment - and even before, to be honest - was up past her bedtime. It would have been so easy for Heather to pick her up, carry her into the nursery to tuck her in... Except, of course, that there was nothing there to tuck her into.

Heather almost regretted her decision to wait until she had a little to fully furnish the room, so she could adapt it to their tastes; on the other hand, as much as she respected Lizzie boundaries and capabilities, if there had been something in there she could have used, she wasn't sure if she could have controlled herself. She'd been so close to it, and Heather could see a spark of curiosity in her eyes... Most likely just to see it, though Heather could hope it was more... And she was so, so adorable in her diapers, as if that was where she belonged, and had all along...

But they'd wound up in Heather's bed instead, Heather sliding in beside her, knowing she had a few minutes longer before the washer would finish. She wanted to cuddle, to let Lizzie feel her there and know that she was safe, even in this strange - to her - place... Lizzie had other plans, however. 

Heather wasn't opposed to them by any means, although, after taping Lizzie into that diaper, it had become much harder to think of herself as anything other than the girl's caretaker. She knew that wasn't really the case, no matter how much she wanted it to be, and she had been doing her best to view Lizzie as her own, adult, person, not just someone who deserved to be padded and cared for, whether it was what she thought that was what she needed or not... But that was a challenge when she'd finally done the one thing she'd wanted to do to the girl since the first time she'd seen her.

So it was only fair that she allow Lizzie to do the thing she'd wanted to do with her. It didn't feel particularly like a compromise, not when Heather enjoyed it, too, once she'd pushed past the initial weirdness of kissing someone she saw as her baby, if just for the night, at the moment when she looked her most babyish. Every time Lizzie shifted or moved, Heather could hear her diaper crinkling beneath the covers, and it reminded her of how wrong she ought to find this, but with each refutation of that, it got a little easier.

She was, to be honest, slightly worried Lizzie might want to do more. She felt silly, being scared of someone as cute and tiny and helpless as Lizzie looked in that moment, curled up in Heather's bed that made her look smaller than ever. Fear, perhaps, wasn't the right word; Heather just didn't know how she would react. She was doing her best, and their time making out was helping with that, but she simply wasn't sure she was mentally ready to go any further than that with a little... That still seemed too wrong, too taboo. 

Thankfully, Lizzie, already tired out from the rest of the day, didn't go that far, cuddling up next to Heather and dozing off. Heather stayed there a long time, staring down at her, stroking her hair, before, finally she was able to tear herself away, knowing that, by now, the girl's clothes were definitely finished in the washer.

She plucked them out, unable to prevent an, "Aww," as she looked at them. They were so tiny... They practically looked like doll clothes to her, at least in her mind, though, of course, that would have to be a pretty big doll. But Lizzie would make quite the precious doll herself... Thinking of the clothes like that made Heather want to keep Lizzie around to dress her up in all kinds of things, things even cuter than the dress she'd shown up to their date in, finding the perfect diaper to go with each outfit...

She shook her head, tossing them into the dryer, trying to force those thoughts in with the clothes, so they could tumble around in there instead of in Heather's mind. Lizzie wasn't a doll. She was a smart, independent young woman, and Heather had to respect that, no matter how easy it would be to do otherwise.

She started the machine up, stopping by the bathroom before going back to her room. Lizzie was in a different position than she had been when Heather had left, and Heather froze in the doorway, watching, debating with herself whether it looked like the girl was asleep, and had tossed and turned unconsciously, or if she was up. After a moment, Heather walked inside, crawling under the covers as stealthily as she could, not wanting to disturb her...

"Is everything okay?" Lizzie rolled over, blinking and yawning, groggy and half awake, at best.

"I'm sorry," Heather said quietly. "I didn't meant to wake you up." Lizzie shook her head, yawning again. "Do you need anything?"

Lizzie squirmed, Heather's heart fluttering at the sound of her diaper crinkling. She would have thought, by now, she'd be used to it, but, honestly, she wasn't sure she ever would be... It was so sweet, so pure, like music to Heather's ears... And it was definitely happening more right now, as if Lizzie were wiggling her bottom.

The girl blushed. "I-I don't want to bother you," she finally answered, Heather struggle to decipher if her meek tone was from her sleepiness, or an attempt to embrace her baby side. Heather had no doubt what was going on, what the girl was thinking about, what she needed... Could Lizzie, lying there, staring up at her, tell that she knew? Heather tried to hide her expression, not wanting to make Lizzie go through anything else she wasn't ready for yet to make her happy, but she couldn't completely chase away her smile.

"You won't bother me," Heather promised. "I was just up anyway..."

Lizzie wiggled, nibbling on her lip thoughtfully. "I-I'm okay," she answered, after a long pause.

She cuddled back up against Heather, facing away from her, probably trying to hide how red her cheeks were, drifting off once more. Heather gave her a few minutes after her breathing had slowed before she couldn't resist any longer, sliding her hand up the girl's leg, over the broad expanse of her bulky, lavender diaper, to the crotch.

It was, unsurprisingly, squishy. Heather squeezed it, having to fight with her own desires to make herself stop there, pulling her hand away. She didn't want to disturb the sleeping Lizzie, no matter how incredible it was, having a little right there next to her, in a soggy diaper.

Part of her was disappointed the girl hadn't asked her to take her to the bathroom. It would have been so easy for her to say no, so adorable to see her slowly wake up, and realize what Heather had said. She'd probably throw a fit, thumping her hands on the mattress beside her, perhaps kicking her feet... She might get out of bed - or stand up in it - and stomp away, hands curling into fists, demanding Heather take her to the bathroom right that moment, both of them knowing that, for as long as Heather's answer was no, there was absolutely nothing Lizzie could do about it, no way for her to get out of her diaper and use the toilet...

Heather wouldn't have done that, of course; the temptation would have been there, would have been strong. She felt guilty about it now, after meeting Lizzie and spending so much time with her, but she'd always loved seeing littles out and about with their caretakers, being told they couldn't have something, seeing them launch into tantrums, proving exactly why they were in the situation they were in, and how much they deserved it. It would have been so fun to see Lizzie do that, let her tire herself back out - it wouldn't take long, with as little rest as she'd gotten so far tonight - then give her diaper a check to see if, in the midst of her protests, she'd wound up rendering them pointless, doing what she'd been so adamant she didn't want. If not, she'd surely be right on the brink, and if she spent enough time poking and prodding the padding, she might catch the precise moment it started...

After promising Lizzie that she would be safe, however, and that Heather wasn't going to do anything to her that she didn't want, there was no way Heather would have allowed herself to do it... No matter how much she knew she would enjoy the whole display. Heather gave Lizzie's diaper one more pat, smiling into the darkness, then tried to fall asleep, too.

She woke up before Lizzie again, letting her continue to snooze as she got dressed, emptied the dryer, and started on breakfast. She missed out on the moment when Lizzie finally woke up, though, when she came back to check on her, she did get to see the girl blushing and squirming on the bed, poking at her diaper, clearly embarrassed by what she'd done, now that it was the morning, and she knew she was going to have to deal with it... And let Heather know what had happened. 

Did she think she'd kept it a secret until then? It was hard to tell... She had never said anything about it, after all, despite how obvious it was. She may have thought she was being more stealthy, however... Or, quite possibly, she had been so tired, she'd forgotten about waking up at all, and had simply woken up in a wet diaper with no memory of how it had happened.

"Good morning!" Heather stepped back into the hallway quickly, announcing herself to give Lizzie a chance to tug the shirt she was wearing down over her diaper, which she did, her face even redder than it had been in the glimpse Heather had gotten a moment earlier. "How did you sleep?"

"Ummm... G-Good," Lizzie answered, biting her bottom lip. "R-Really good..."

Heather smiled. "That's wonderful! I'm glad! I have your clothes all folded up and sitting on that chair over there," she pointed out where she'd left them. "I set out an extra washcloth and towel in the bathroom, too, if you want to take a shower here. I didn't know if you'd want to do that, or if you'd rather wait until you got home, so I put them there just in case."

"Th-Thanks," Lizzie nodded, looking a little overwhelmed. "I-I..."

"There's breakfast, too," Heather told her. "But if you're in a hurry, we can go right out to get your car."

Lizzie fidgeted, hands clinging tightly to the hem of Heather's shirt. Heather wasn't sure if she should tell her that she knew what had happened underneath it or not... Would it make the girl feel better or worse to know that? As cute as all this was, Heather couldn't help sympathizing with her in this moment... If Heather could have given her privacy to let her deal with the diaper on her own, and make her own choice about when, if ever, to admit to Heather that she'd used it, she would have; unfortunately, they both knew there was no way she could remove the tapes on the diaper by herself.

"O-Okay," Lizzie said, sounding a bit dazed. "I-I am hungry..."

"Well, let's get some food in that belly, then!" Heather exclaimed. She led Lizzie back through the apartment, pausing for a moment at the bathroom door, giving Lizzie an opportunity to ask to use it, which didn't happen.

They ate their eggs in relative silence, Lizzie squirming and blushing the whole time before, at the end, quietly requesting, "C-Could I see the nursery?"

Heather blinked, taken by surprise by the question. She'd thought Lizzie had been spending the meal gathering the courage to ask for Heather's help getting the diaper off, but this was something totally different. "Sure," Heather told her. "If you want... I-It definitely isn't done, though, and..."

"I know, I know," Lizzie said. "That's fine."

Heather took her back to the closed door, the one place the girl hadn't seen on her tour yesterday. It felt momentous, in a way, opening it up for her, watching her waddle inside, even knowing that Lizzie wasn't there to stay, and might never be... Empty as the room was, Lizzie still looked natural in there, like it was where she belonged.

"I-It's pretty," Lizzie blushed. 

"Thank you," Heather replied. She didn't think she'd done enough with it to call it that herself, but the room had a lot of potential... Seeing Lizzie standing in the middle of it, she could imagine exactly what she'd get to complete it, what furniture she needed, what colors she'd pick for the walls and the carpet...

There was, pretty much, only a changing table in there now, Heather's ever-growing diaper collection laid out on the shelves underneath. That was where Lizzie headed, looking over all the different brands and designs. "This is 'a few'?" she teased.

"Comparatively," Heather shrugged. Maybe she'd downplayed the size of the collection last night... It did seem fairly big now, trying to look at it through Lizzie's eyes, though it felt like every week, she'd spot a little in a diaper she didn't recognize, and she either had to ask their caretaker what brand it was, or make a mental note of what it looked like so she could try to track it down. In terms of how many kinds of diapers that existed, she had only the tiniest fraction of them so far.

Heather wasn't sure what Lizzie was doing at first, examining the diapers, one by one, quickly passing by the ones with the most babyish designs, seeming more interested in the more plain ones. "Is this one hard to find?" she asked, pointing at a pink one.

"Not at all," Heather answered. "I see it at my grocery store all the time.

Lizzie nodded. "D-Does it have little-proof tapes?"

Finally, Heather figured it out; Lizzie was looking for what she wanted to be changed into. Without any underwear to put on, and Heather's far too big for her, they were her only option here, unless she wanted to risk going without, and running the risk of someone finding out and punishing her for her it before she could get back home. 

She could have said no, sent Lizzie back home, just to discover, when she got there and wanted to change out of the diaper, that Heather had lied. Heather could leave her like that as long as she wanted, confident that she wasn't going to go try to seek out another Amazon to help her out of the diaper, then, when she arrived - after, no doubt, many pleading texts - she could use the state of the girl's diaper as justification to keep her padded permanently from then on... And, to make it simpler for both of them, she could move the girl into this room, where she belonged.

"They do," Heather admitted. "Here, let me see..." She knelt down in front of the changing table, glancing over the diapers. "This one doesn't," she pulled one off the shelf, setting it on the floor. "This one doesn't..."

It didn't take long for her to find all of them; there were plenty of brands that offered versions of their diapers without that feature, but if she had the choice, she'd usually go for the version that had it. Only a few didn't have the option at all, and she'd only bother to pick those up if she thought the design looked particularly cute.

"Oh," Lizzie wrinkled her nose, staring down at her choices, a lot of baby blocks, or teddy bears in diapers of their own, or frolicking kittens, or other sickeningly cutesy and childish designs staring up at her. "N-None of the... normal ones?"

"Sorry." Heather was shocked how much she meant that. Lizzie would look adorable in any one of these diapers, and Heather would be happy to christen her changing table by putting her into whichever one the girl wanted... It was clear she'd be more comfortable in one that wasn't so infantile, but they weren't an option when she had no way of taking them back off on her own.

Lizzie sighed. "It's fine... Are there any of these that you really like?"

"Don't you worry about that," Heather told her. "I could go get more of any of them."

The girl squirmed, blushed, perhaps realizing that Heather knew why she was asking all these questions, and how this was going to end up. Heather opened her mouth to comfort her, then closed it, not wanting to make any promises she couldn't keep, or get Lizzie's hopes up.

"I-I'll think about it," Lizzie mumbled. "C-Can I... take a shower?"

"Of course!" Heather nodded. "Like I said, there's a towel and washcloth in..."

"I-I have to tell you something," Lizzie blurted out.

Heather shut up immediately. "Okay," she said when Lizzie didn't continue. "Whatever you need to say."

Lizzie stared down at her feet, her hands curling around the hem of her shirt. "I-I... I-I..."

Heather could see where this was going, wanting to step in and help the poor girl out, but not knowing if she should, or if that would make it worse. At last, after a minute or two, and a few more false starts, Lizzie managed to say, "I-I wet the bed last night." So she didn't remember waking up... This could be Heather's chance, her opportunity to encourage Lizzie to start wearing diapers more often, first to bed, and then, from there, who knew? "I-I was so tired, I-I must have... Th-This doesn't happen normally, I swear, I-I guess I..."

"Lizzie," Heather interrupted, kneeling down again, getting on the girl's level. "You didn't."

Lizzie frowned, perplexed. "Huh?"

Heather glanced over at her diaper collection, ignoring how simple it would be to not exactly lie, but fail to mention what she knew. "You didn't wet the bed," she smiled gently. "I woke you up for a minute, and you... Well, it happened then."

Lizzie let out a squeak. "Y-You knew?!"

"I did," Heather admitted. "So it's okay, you don't have to hide it... I can take your diaper off so you can get in the shower whenever you want."

Lizzie blushed, slowly lifting the shirt, exposing her diaper. "O-Okay," she said. "C-Could you please do that?"

"Absolutely," Heather reached for the tapes, opening them up, pulling the soggy diaper away from the girl's crotch. "There you go! Go get cleaned up, sweetie."

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Lizzie sounded embarrassed, but relieved, as she scurried away, Heather waiting for the bathroom door to close before she gave the diaper in her hands another squeeze, confirming what she'd already been certain of as soon as Lizzie had lifted her shirt. It was definitely fuller than it had been last night, and warmer than it ought to be if that was the last time Lizzie had used it... She must have done it again this morning, after she'd woken up.

Maybe, Heather thought, feeling almost giddy, she was making some progress after all...