The Babysitter - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

The start of a new short story, commissioned by an anonymous Patron.

"Oh, my God," Staci giggled, poking at the mass of supposed 'food' on her tray with her fork. "So, have you found a dress for the dance yet?"

Tara blushed - not that that was anything new. It felt like that was her constant state lately, though this conversation did seem to warm her cheeks extra hot at her realization that this was what her lunchtime conversations had devolved to. 

"I-I don't think I'm going to the dance," Tara shrugged, concentrating on her own meal, finding it no more appetizing than her companion appeared to.

"Aww," Staci pouted. "Why not? Are you babysitting again?"

Tara ought to know that, but, honestly, it was hard to keep track. "I don't think so."

"Did your Momma ground you?"

Those words stung even more than the last, bringing a tear to Tara's eyes that she quickly wiped away, hoping she was fast enough to keep Staci from noticing. "N-No," she shook her head, but the unevenness of her voice ensured it wasn't convincing, and from the knowing look on the other girl's face, she could tell it wasn't being bought.

In a way, it really was a lie... She may not have been grounded from the dance, yet that wasn't a totally inaccurate description of what had landed her here in the first place... And, funnily enough, it had all started with another lunchtime conversation...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Could we just not talk about work for five minutes?" Tara groaned. "I already see those spreadsheets when I close my eyes... I'd love to not have to think about them when I'm on my break."

"All right," Nadia said. "Fair enough. What do you want to talk about, then?"

They could have sat in silence, but that wasn't much better, honestly... That was what Tara got most of the day, along with the sound of the clacking of dozens of other keyboards wafting through the air into her cubicle... Her lunch break was the only time she had to escape that, though even then she felt like she could hear them from the other side of building, or having burrowed their way into her mind...

"Isn't Sadie just the cutest?" Tara giggled. "I wish she was here now..."

Sadie... Tara wasn't even sure the girl belonged to. Every now and then, their co-workers would bring in their littles for the day, if their babysitter fell through or whatever. Those were the best days, by far... Listening to them babbling, watching them toddle around... Tara had a stash of candy in her drawer for the occasion, to lure them over to her desk so she could coo over them, tell them how adorable they were...

Sadie was a fairly big baby, not much shorter than Tara, a 'tweener, though in a way, that had just made her cuter. Tara had no doubt she was quite the handful, but that could be fun, too. And, with the amount of padding between her legs, bulging against the crotch of her onesie, her size had hardly mattered, since she was reduced to crawling most of the time, likely only able to walk right after a change, before she'd started to use her diapers, and they'd begun to swell...

"Who?" Nadia asked, eyes drawn to the window of the break room.

"Oh, come on," Tara rolled her eyes. "There's no way you don't remember her... Cute little thing, hair up in ponytails, babbles a lot..."

"Right," Nadia nodded. "The baby. Yeah, she's fine, I guess..."

"What are you talking about?!" Tara scoffed. "She's so sweet!"

Nadia shrugged. "I think she pooped herself when she was near me."

Tara chuckled, surprised her friend wasn't joining in. "But wasn't it cute? I love the way they squat down, and their little faces scrunch up, and..."

"Hello, Ms. Caldwell," Nadia interrupted, smiling past Tara. "How are you?"

Tara turned, swallowing at what - or who, rather - she saw behind her. "I'm fine," the Amazon said, arms crossed, eyes fixing on Tara. "I'd like to see you in my office, young lady."

Tara had never had to interact with Ms. Caldwell directly, and she'd hoped that wouldn't change... And yet, here she was, picking her way through the rest of her salad reluctantly, as if that would make the clock move any slower, delay the end of her lunch break, and her trip to the woman's office.

Fortunately, Ms. Caldwell wasn't the manager of her department, so she was able to avoid her most of the time. She'd heard plenty of rumors about her, however, and how strict she was. It was always hard to tell with office gossip what was true and what wasn't, but, supposedly, Ms. Caldwell had actually spanked another department manager during a meeting for being rude and backtalking when she'd disagreed with whatever it was that Ms. Caldwell had been saying.

And all of the managers were Amazons! When it came to 'tweeners, it was said that Ms. Caldwell didn't think that even the best of them truly deserved to be treated like adults, and, supposedly, she'd never met a little that she considered fit to be anything more than a toddler. Everyone in the woman's department was terrified of her, knowing they were constantly at risk of a spanking if they messed up... And, assuming the rumors were true, they were right to be.

Against that, what chance did Tara have? She didn't even know what she'd done! Maybe she was being called in for a promotion... But why would Ms. Caldwell be the one to tell her that? Unless she was being transferred to her department... Tara shivered, imagining having to do this job under that constant threat, spending every day poring over spreadsheets, like she did now, and also knowing that if she made a single mistake, she'd wind up over her boss's knee like some naughty little...

"You'd better eat up," Nadia told her. "You'll need your strength."

"Maybe not!" Tara squeaked back. "I-It might be a good thing..."

Nadia gave her a skeptical look, and Tara couldn't fault her for it. "I-It could be," she shrugged, trying to follow Nadia's advice, but, by the end of her break, her salad was still only half eaten. She trudged to Ms. Caldwell's office, expecting the worst, especially when she saw the smirk the woman's secretary gave her, buzzing her in immediately, before Tara even introduced herself.

And, as the door opened, Tara saw... Sadie. "Hi, there!" she couldn't help exclaiming, hurrying over to the girl, sitting there on the floor, playing with her blocks, the smell that greeted Tara telling her that Nadia's assessment had been correct, and that Sadie hadn't yet been changed. "Stinky girl," Tara teased, tickling Sadie's tummy through her onesie.

She heard Ms. Caldwell clear her throat, reminding her why she was here. "S-Sorry!" she straightened up, turning to face the Amazon. "I-Is she yours, ma'am?"

"Her?" Ms. Caldwell sniffed. "No, she's my secretary's baby... She's in here to calm her down a little so that hopefully she'll nap after her lunch."

Tara felt a silly smile cross her face, imagining Sadie cuddled up on her Mommy's lap, being given a bottle, then curling up on the floor with her blanket, fast asleep... It was hard to think of anything much cuter than that.

"Look at you," Ms. Caldwell shook her head. "I could tell right away, and this only proves it..."

"Wh-What do you mean, ma'am?" Tara frowned. "Proves what?"

"That you, young lady, are not an adult after all..."

The statement was ridiculous, of course, though Tara wasn't sure how she could best vocalize that without being accused of whining, proving Ms. Caldwell's point. "Wh-Why?" she asked finally. "Because I was nice to the baby?"

"Because you're obsessed with her," Ms. Caldwell told her. "That's all you want to talk about, isn't it? How adorable littles are?"

"I-I wouldn't say ALL," Tara shrugged, wondering how much of her conversation with Nadia the woman had overheard now.

"I recognized it right away," Ms. Caldwell continued, as if she hadn't heard Tara at all. "You sound just like someone barely in high school, who wants so badly to be a babysitter, but is right on the cusp of being too young for it..."

"Wh-What?!" Tara blushed, shaking her head. "N-No, I don't!" It was the wrong thing to say, and she knew it, but she couldn't help herself. 

"Are you telling me I'm wrong, young lady?" Ms. Caldwell snapped. "Because I've been dealing with children like you for years, and..."

"I'm not a child!" Tara insisted, pointing at Sadie, sitting there in her messy diaper, glancing up at Tara blankly. "She is, not me!"

Ms. Caldwell sighed, standing up from her desk, stepping forward, towards Tara, the girl only then noticing the heavy, wooden hairbrush in her hand. "N-No!" Tara squealed, stumbling towards the door, just to find it locked tight, sealing her in here with Ms. Caldwell, and Sadie, watching this all with growing interest. "I'm not a little girl!" she whined as she was dragged over the Amazon's lap, right in front of the baby. "I'm not!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It had taken an almost embarrassingly short amount of time before she changed her tune, before she was willing to agree with Ms. Caldwell's assessment of her, if it put an end to her spanking. She still remembered being dragged through the office, rubbing her backside, taken out to Ms. Caldwell's car and buckled into the passenger's seat - like she was most mornings now - and driven straight to high school, having to sit on a hard, plastic chair while her new Momma filled out her paperwork, getting no say in the matter.

"We can get her right into classes," the principal had said. "But I'm afraid she's out of dress code."

"That's fine," Ms. Caldwell had smirked. "She's a student here now, so feel free to punish her however you feel is necessary."

And so, for the second time that day, the office worker had been subjected to a spanking, before being forced into a scratchy spare sweater and skirt that did fit dress code... Along with a pair of Pull-Ups, thanks to the little accident she'd had when the principal had taken out a ruler to finish up her punishment. It wasn't fair, but nobody was interested in listening to her complaints about that - or anything - so it didn't matter.

Her Momma did, at least, let her keep a good amount of her wardrobe, though that was, perhaps, an indictment of how immature she'd already dressed, having the woman deem it appropriate for the high school freshman she now was. The school had a strict dress code, of course, but she was grateful there wasn't a uniform, anyway, so she had some choice in what she wore.

And for the dance, she was going to take advantage of that. Getting moved into Momma's house, reduced to a high schooler... It had been humiliating. This was her chance to show everyone that she was more mature than it seemed, that she was still an adult... After she found the dress in the back of her closet, she was determined to go after all.

"You're wearing that?" Momma asked when she saw it, eyebrow raised.

"Y-You let me keep it," Tara pointed out. The hem was high, much higher than dress code would allow normally, with a plunging neckline that was particularly scandalous. She'd felt so good, looking at herself in it in the mirror, even as she wiggled her bottom, felt the training panties beneath it... Now, facing Momma, she was less certain of herself. "I-It's a dance, Momma... We're s'posed to dress up..."

Momma stared at her, and Tara blushed, feeling a warm dribble in her trainers from fear, but, after a long moment, the Amazon nodded. "All right, then," she said. "If that's what you want to wear."

Somehow, that didn't seem strange to Tara. She didn't question it at all as she was driven to the school, as she strutted her way down the hallway to the gym, seeing the other students, all adopted 'tweeners as well, dressed far more conservatively. That only proved how much she didn't belong here, she thought. They were so docile, they didn't dare dress up more than that, but she was still a grown-up, despite it all!

At least, until she got to the gym, and the principal found her. "What do you think you're wearing, young lady?!"

"A-A dress?" Tara gestured at it.

"I sent a note to all the parents, telling them that we'd still be enforcing dress code," the principal informed her, Tara's stomach churning, realizing why Momma had given her that look, even though the woman hadn't bothered to tell her about that rule. She could have said something at any point... But, somehow, Tara had a feeling she didn't mind the thought of her adopted daughter being pulled over the principal's knees in the middle of the dance, her soggy Pull-Up exposed in front of all her classmates, for yet another spanking. If anything, perhaps she'd hope that this was the one that would finally prove to Tara what a child she really was.