The Babysitter - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Tara looked at herself in the mirror, having to admit that, even if it was one of the things Ms. Caldwell had bought for her, rather than a part of her old wardrobe, that the dress didn't look too bad.

It wasn't as nice as the one she'd worn to the dance, of course... But her experience there had shown her that, in her new life, there was no place for anything like that, anything that made her look that mature. And she certainly didn't need it now, considering what she was getting dressed to do. 

It was a touch more immature than her own clothes typically were, soft lavender and covered in a butterfly print, though it wasn't so far off the mark that it would have been completely out of the question for her to stop and look at it if she saw it in the store, probably take it to the fitting room, and, if it was on a big enough discount, maybe even buy it for herself. It was hard to tell with Ms. Caldwell, sometimes... Was this her being nice, giving her a gift that she actually liked? Or was it a jab, a silent condemnation of Tara's fashion sense, showing her how close it was to something as childish as this?

Either way, she knew what was expected of her, and she didn't particularly mind. She checked her twin ponytails, making sure they were still neat, and snapped a picture of herself, sending it, along with a quick, 'Thank you, Momma!' text to Ms. Caldwell.

She'd assumed she wouldn't get a response for a while, since the Amazon was usually busy, but before she could even slip her phone into her purse, it chirped, and she turned on the screen to see a question. 'Why aren't you on your way to your job, young lady? You're going to be late!'

She supposed she ought to be grateful her Momma wasn't there in person, or else Tara didn't know if she'd have been able to resist a snotty, "No, I won't!" in reply, automatically. As it was, having to type it out instead gave her the time to glance up at the clock on her phone to confirm she was right... And see that she wasn't. Momma, of course, knew best.

"Shoot," she grumbled to herself. She would have said something harsher, but she suspected Ms. Caldwell had hidden cameras set up in her room to watch her, and knew that being caught cursing would not end well for her. She grabbed her purse and dashed for the door, turning halfway through the house when she remembered she hadn't even put her shoes on yet.

She was still used to being an adult, to having her own car, rather than relying on Momma to take her wherever she wanted to go. If that had been the case, she would have been able to make it, no problem... But she had to walk - or, rather, run - across the neighborhood now, and that made it much more difficult. 

She didn't take the time to check her clock when she arrived before knocking on the door; deep down, she knew she didn't have to. Unless there had been some sort of miracle, some extra burst of speed she hadn't noticed, some mystical event where time had stopped, there was no way she'd pulled it off, and now she was panting, sweaty, and exhausted before the job had even begun.

The door opened, revealing an unhappy Amazon couple, glaring down at her as she struggled to catch her breath, waving bashfully at them. "H-Hi," she said. "I-I'm..."

"You're late, is what you are," Mr. Dobson told her. "You're not starting things off on the right foot this way, young lady."

"I-I know, sir," Tara assured her. "I-I'm sorry..."

"We expect better from our babysitters," Mrs. Dobson glowered. "Behavior like this makes me wonder if you might not be better suited having a sitter of your own for a while, to show you the ropes."

"N-No, ma'am," Tara shook her head. "I-I swear, I don't usually do this, I'm very responsible, and..."

As if to contradict her, the woman grabbed the hem of her skirt and lifted it, revealing Tara's Pull-Ups. "How sweet," she smirked. "You matched your butterflies between your trainers and your dress." She reached down and gave them a squeeze, Tara squirming, turning bright red. "Too bad you weren't able to keep them dry."

It was one of the worst parts about this... Just in general, since Momma had decided she needed her protection full-time, thanks to that one tiny, totally understandable, accident she'd had, but especially in times like this.

Momma thought that, deep down, what Tara really wanted was not to be a grown-up, an office worker, but a babysitter, able to look after the littles she found so cute to her heart's content... And that was definitely more fun than her old job, certainly. Tara didn't get any control over it, however, with Ms. Caldwell deciding when she was taking those jobs, who they were for, when they were happening... Tara would have been glad to skip school and work during the day; like any other high schooler, she had to wait until classes were done for the day.

And she had to deal with the fact that, since Momma set all of her jobs up, she told every single one of her clients about her 'problem', and lied about how bad it was. Tara had overheard her on the phone once, knew what it was she said... "She's gotten good reviews as a mother's helper, and she says she's ready to work on her own... She'd pretty responsible, all things considered... But to tell you the truth, she's not quite potty trained fully, so I totally understand if you'd rather not hire her. No, no, not diapers, just training panties... Yes, she can make it to the toilet on her own, when she wants. She can be a bit lazy sometimes, though, and if she's busy looking after your little darling, I imagine that would distract her. I'd appreciate it if you gave her a chance... I'd also appreciate it if you'd give her a check before you go, and when you get back, and remind her to change if she needs to, so she doesn't leak on your nice furniture."

She hated when she proved her 'right', too, like now. The bus ride home from school was long, and if she got unlucky with the teachers in her last class of the day, and they wouldn't give her a hall pass, she often didn't have the chance to get to the bathroom before she had to board, and avoid having her Momma called to come pick her up because she'd missed it. And today, she'd intended to get changed, but when she went in her room, she'd seen the dress waiting for her, and had decided to try it on first instead...

"I-I'm sorry," Tara said again, hanging her head.

"You're lucky you're so late, and we need to get going," Mr. Dobson told her. "I don't have time to give you the spanking you deserve... But your mother will be hearing about it, you can be sure of that."

"Y-Yes, sir," Tara nodded, indeed grateful for the first part. "S-Sorry..." That would not have been a good way to kick off her babysitting job, being dragged to the living room, where their little, Aurora, was sitting and watching TV, playing with her dolls, to be pulled over his knees, the back of her new dress lifted, her Pull-Ups revealed to her charge before they'd even been introduced...

"If I find one wet spot anywhere in this house when we get back, I'm going to assume it's you," Mrs. Dobson warned. "And then your mother will hear about that, too."

It was, of course, not the right time to point out that it would be more likely to come from their adopted daughter, who, from what Tara had been told, had just started wearing trainers herself, so Tara kept silent and nodded once more, resolving to slip into the bathroom to change into the spare Pull-Up in her purse as soon as she could, and to keep an extra close eye on the state of Aurora's.

First, however, she had to step into the living room and say hello. "Hi," she smiled nervously. "You're Aurora, right?"

The girl turned to look at her, reminding Tara of what had started all of this, of how excited she'd get whenever a co-worker would bring in one of their littles... She was just so adorable, so sweet-looking... It was hard to resist her. "Uh-huh," she nodded. "You wanna play?"

She held up one of her dolls, and, while Tara knew she needed to get to the bathroom soon, and though she knew it would make her feel even more like a little girl after the berating she'd gotten at her arrival, she couldn't find it in her to say no.

Thankfully, there was no indication that Aurora had overheard her conversation with her parents. That was one of her biggest fears, with these jobs... Being reduced to the status of a teenaged babysitter was one thing, but if her charges were ever to find out that she was wearing training pants, barely a step above what they were in - or, in some cases, exactly the same as what they wore - she wasn't sure she'd be able to maintain what shred of authority over them she might have otherwise.

Most of the caretakers seemed to understand that, at least, checking her while she was alone with them when she first arrived. Generally, the littles were in bed before she left, so she didn't have to worry about it as much then, but all it would take was one who was not fully asleep, who was allowed to sleep in a big kid bed and not a crib, sneaking out to tell her goodbye at the wrong moment...

It had gotten even more nerve-wracking since the dance. She suspected a lot of her classmates had known about her secret before then, but afterwards, there had really been no containing that bit of gossip. Of course, she wouldn't be babysitting any of them... Some of them, however, did have adopted little siblings... And if they'd told them about the funny thing that had happened to one of their classmates, and the littles put two and two together...

She'd had one close call with that, which was probably why she was so anxious about it now at each new house she sat at. Everything had been going well, and she had been taking out her textbooks to get some homework done, since her charge was napping, when she heard a giggle behind her. She'd turned, expecting to see the little, up early.

Instead, it was Kaitlyn, one of the most popular girls in school, standing there, hands on her hips. "Isn't that sweet?" she'd mocked. "Did your Mommy drop you off here so the babysitter could look after you and Dewey at the same time?"

Tara had squirmed, hugging the notebook she'd had in her hands when she'd turned to her chest, nibbling her bottom lip. "Umm..." Kaitlyn had always intimidated her, even before the incident at the dance... Now, she was terrified of her, and the power Tara knew she wielded at school. "I-I am the babysitter, actually..."

"What?!" Kaitlyn had squealed, so loud she made Tara wince, worrying that the other girl was going to wake her brother. "You can't be a babysitter! There's no way my mom would be dumb enough to hire someone who...!"

"What was that?" The appearance of her adopted, Amazonian mother was enough to shut the 'tweener up instantly. "Please, go on, Kaitlyn... You were talking about how stupid I am?"

"N-No, I wasn't, Momma!" It had been fun, seeing Kaitlyn shake her head, her tough girl persona melting away. "B-But... She wears Pull-Ups! She got spanked in front of the whole school! She's as much of a baby as Dewey, practically!"

Tara had bit down harder on her lip, looking between Kaitlyn and her mother, not sure how this was going to play out. The Amazon had known about the trainers, obviously - she'd already given Tara her first check - but probably not about the spanking...

"Well, you have this birthday party you just had to go to, so I needed somebody," the woman had shrugged. "If you'd rather cancel that and sit for Dewey yourself..."

Kaitlyn had, of course, said no, and left even before her Momma... But it had still been too close for Tara's comfort.

And that wasn't the worst of it. She didn't want her charges to know about her Pull-Ups.... It would have been far worse, however, if they'd known what happened to her every night, after their parents had given her a final check, and drove her back home.

Ms. Caldwell had made it clear, from the start, that it was going to happen. That first day, in the office, she'd told Tara she would do it, holding up one of Sadie's spare diapers mockingly, as the little giggled in the corner, watching Tara sniffle and rub her backside, too scared to protest.

"There's one more thing I've recognized about you," the Amazon had told her. "You, young lady, are a bedwetter... I can tell. So you are going to be wearing these to bed, every single night."

So that was always on her mind as she got her charges ready for bed... Even the ones who got to wear Pull-Ups during the day, like her, had to go into diapers for bedtime... And she hoped, more than anything, that they never somehow found out that, in that way, at least, she was just like them.