Holly & Elizabeth - Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Elizabeth's nose twitched, the scent of Holly's dirty diaper suddenly seeming more pungent than ever, thanks to her suggestion, to the thought of Elizabeth taking her place. She shifted in place, staring at the little pink jumper the girl was wearing, her Velcro sneakers, her hair band... Even without knowing what she was wearing beneath all of that, it was hard to believe that she was an adult, much less older than Elizabeth...

And she wanted Elizabeth to take her place? To pretend to be her? Sure, she had done it in the past, when setting other people up to be regressed... And this had all started because she'd wanted to try it out for herself... Not to mention that she had wanted to apologize to Holly... But doing this? That was taking things a little too far, wasn't it?

"I don't know about that," she shook her head. 

"Why not?" Holly crossed her arms, pouting. "You said you were sorry!"

Elizabeth sighed, doing her best not to roll her eyes, to get too impatient. After being treated like a toddler for ten years, it was little wonder that Holly's behavior had grown even more childish... "I can be sorry and not want to turn myself over to some babysitter for you."

"She's not a Nanny," Holly offered hopefully. "So it probably won't be that bad..."

"Then it won't be that bad for you, either," Elizabeth shrugged. "If I'd known your Mommy wouldn't be here, I could have offered to babysit for you, but I don't think she's going to want to change her plans now."

Holly grumbled, clearly unhappy that Elizabeth wasn't going along with her plan... But had she really thought she would? She truly must have regressed to a more childlike state to believe that... "I wanna go to the mall!" she whined.

"Tell your babysitter that," Elizabeth suggested. "Or I can do it for you, if you want..." She was, admittedly, curious to see what kind of person Nanny had hired to look after Holly.

"It's not the same!" Holly huffed. "I don't wanna go as a baby again!"

"I know," Elizabeth replied. "But..."

"You think it's so easy!" Holly glared at her. "You don't get it! I can't just run away!"

Elizabeth chuckled to herself. "Sweetie, you have no idea what I've been up to for the past ten years... I know exactly how simple it is to get away from these sorts of situations, if you really want to."

It wasn't a totally fair comparison... She always knew what she was getting into, which made having a plan to get out easier... But Holly had been with her Mommy for a decade now, so she should know the woman well enough by now to know her weaknesses, know what she had to do to get away from her, if there wasn't a part of her that wanted to stay... And this wasn't the first time she'd been left with a non-professional babysitter, if that was too hard. Elizabeth knew that for a fact, since Mommy had asked her if she could do it in the past.

"I don't think you do," she told Holly flat out. "I think, despite how fussy you're acting, you like this now," she jabbed at the diaper beneath the girl's dress. "That, or you're too scared to try to go back to being a grown-up, because you know you won't cut it."

"I am not!" Holly stomped her foot. "You're the one who's scared!"

"Please," Elizabeth rolled her eyes; was Holly seriously resorting to that tactic? Did she think that was going to work? "What am I scared of?"

"You're scared that you're not going to be able to deal with my life," Holly said. "The life that you got me stuck in!"

"I already told you," Elizabeth sighed, starting to lose her patience. "I've gotten out of that sort of thing before, plenty of times..."

"Then do it again," Holly challenged. "Prove to me how wrong I am. I'm just a dumb little baby, I need you to show me first-hand..."

"Laura..." Elizabeth shook her head, catching herself using the girl's real name without meaning to. "I don't..."

"Come on!" Holly whined. "If you can get away, and get to wherever it is you're staying, without being caught, then I'll go back home with you and explain the whole thing to the babysitter, and I'll take the whole blame myself, and she and Mommy can do whatever they want to me!"

"I don't think your Mommy will see it that way," Elizabeth scoffed. "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be pleased with me for going along with this, whether it was your idea or not..."

"If you're only staying for the show, you wouldn't even be here when she gets back!" Holly told her. "She's not coming back until after it's over... So we'll be switching back first, either way. I'm not that stupid..."

"So, you are planning on switching back?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. That was what she was most skeptical of, if she was being honest... It was easy for Holly to say that now, but that didn't mean it was going to happen when the time actually came.

"Of course!" Holly said. "I just want to go to the mall's anniversary! Believe me, I know you aren't going to fool Mommy, when she gets home, and I know that I don't have what it takes to hide from her for too long, if she wants to find me... She's going to find out about it either way, and I'm willing to accept whatever punishment she chooses for me, if it means I get to go to the mall... I'm sure whatever that ends up being will be a lot less harsh if I'm back home, safe and sound, before she ever hears that I was gone in the first place..."

"That's all you want?" Elizabeth frowned. "Just the mall? What if I'm not able to escape from the babysitter even after that?" She didn't think that was going to happen, obviously... Then again, if Holly really wanted to do it that badly, depending on when it was, she could always wait until afterwards to even try to get away... Surely, it wouldn't be that difficult, and, as Holly had pointed out, she was attempting to make amends... She wasn't seriously considering this, was she?!

"We can switch back after the show," Holly shrugged. "And maybe you can call Mommy, or e-mail her, or stay and talk to her in person if you're brave enough, and tell her how you think she ought to let me grow up a little."

"Do you think she'd actually let you, after you pulled a trick like this on your babysitter?" Elizabeth asked. 

"Maybe not right away, but after she's done disciplining me. Honestly, though, I think she'll be more mad at the babysitter for not knowing..."

Elizabeth wasn't as confident about that; Holly had been living with the woman for quite a while now, however, so if anyone would know how she'd react, it would be her. And if Holly was willing to take that risk...

"You're not going to try to leave me there?" Elizabeth inquired. 

"Even if I did, it wouldn't be a big deal for someone like you, right?" Holly stuck out her tongue. 

Elizabeth gave her a withering glare. "That doesn't mean I want to tempt fate for no reason. Things can always go wrong when you least expect them..."

"That's a handy excuse," Holly rolled her eyes. "But when it's me, I just stuck around because I wanted to be a baby!"

"Ten years," Elizabeth reminded her. "I'd think after that long, you'd know exactly what to expect, and when..."

"Well, I'm not going to make you find out first hand," Holly sighed. "No, I'm not going to leave you there, okay? I know Mommy will find me, and if I genuinely tried to run away... I-I don't know what she'd do, but I don't want to find out that, either."

Elizabeth looked her in the eyes, trying to divine whether she was telling her the truth, or attempting to deceive her... From what she could tell, she seemed sincere, although it was very possible that was desperation she was seeing instead, or the result of someone who had been waiting for a chance to do this with someone, anyone who she could talk into it, who had practiced this over and over...

"Can I think about it?" she asked. "You really sprung this on me..." Holly snickered, making Elizabeth smile slightly. "Yeah, I guess I can't complain too much about that after what I sprung on you last time." 

"No," Holly shook her head, tugging at the hem of her dress, diaper crinkling beneath it, "not really. And no, you can't think about it. This is our only shot... Whoever goes with the babysitter after rehearsal is who she's going to think is the real Holly. I don't know her, but I can't imagine we're going to be able to fool her after that..."

That did make sense... Elizabeth squirmed, a part of her wishing she hadn't brought up how guilty she'd felt, so that Holly couldn't have used that against her. Was she seriously considering this?! She had wanted to find some way to make up for what she'd done to the girl... But was this really the best way? Did she honestly trust Holly to follow through on her promise, after everything she'd done to her?

Of course... She had gotten out of plenty of jams on her own, probably far worse than anything some lowly babysitter was capable of putting her through... There was a good chance she'd be back, knocking on her hotel room door, by the end of the day if she wanted, certainly before Holly's Mommy ever returned... It wouldn't be hard to find a way, in character, to ask the babysitter when that was going to happen, to ensure Holly wasn't lying about it not being until after the show, and there was no way the girl was dumb enough, even after a decade of being treated like a baby, to try this if she was lying about having a babysitter in the first place, if it was her Mommy herself who was going to show up at the end of rehearsal...

She sighed, hardly able to believe what she was about to say. "You're sure this babysitter isn't a Nanny?"

Holly's eyes lit up. "Really?!"

"I didn't say yes yet," Elizabeth pointed out grumpily. "But..."

"But you're going to," Holly bounced in place gleefully. "No, she isn't! Mommy usually tells me if they are, and she hasn't!"

"Is that your only evidence?" Elizabeth frowned. "I'm not..."

"And she was late!" Holly exclaimed. "A Nanny would never be late!"

That did make sense. "This is so stupid," Elizabeth muttered under her breath. "All right... Fine."

"Yes!" Holly squealed, giving Elizabeth a huge hug. "Thank you so much!"

"If you try to pull anything, I am going to make you regret it," Elizabeth promised, planting one hand on the lumpy seat of Holly's diaper, pulling her back in as she tried to break from the embrace. "Even more than..." She paused, thinking back to her experience with Nannies and stopping short, knowing it probably wasn't a threat she could follow through on, "Almost as much as," she corrected, "whatever your Mommy will do to you when she finds out about this." 

"I-I won't," Holly shook her head.

"Good," Elizabeth let her go, the girl toddling a few steps away, blushing. "I don't suppose you have any spare diapers with you?"

It was a pointless question, considering Holly didn't have a bag with her, a purse, anything she could be carrying them in, although she shook her head anyway. "Well, I guess we'd better go get some, huh?" Elizabeth sighed. "I'm certainly not going to put that one on."

"Oh," Holly looked down at herself, wiggling her bottom as if, somehow, she'd forgotten the state of it... Or, rather, as if she was like that so often that it was second nature now, which didn't bode well for Elizabeth's immediate future. "Y-Yeah, that makes sense."

Elizabeth picked up her purse, taking out her keys. "I think we've still got some time before the second act."

"Road trip!" Holly clapped her hands.

"We're going to the store," Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "It's not the same thing."

"Well, it's been a while since I've been anywhere without Mommy, or a sitter," Holly shrugged. "It's still pretty exciting to me."

That was probably true, Elizabeth supposed... It also didn't bode well for Holly being able to make it out in the real world on her own, but that was going to be her problem to deal with. Who knew? The girl might show up back home, begging to be put back into her nursery, long before Elizabeth even made an attempt at escaping! "I'll show you where my hotel is, too," Elizabeth told her. 

"A real bed," Holly giggled.

"Will you be all right?" Elizabeth actually meant it, though she realized it might come off as teasing a moment too late to stop the words. "I just mean... You've been in a crib for so long..."

"I'll be fine!" Holly hissed.

"If you say so," Elizabeth said, leading Holly through the theater. It felt a little naughty, sneaking out while rehearsal was still going on, but she knew it was going to be a while before they were needed... And who was to say that they weren't just going out to her car to work?

Elizabeth slid into the driver's seat without a second thought, just like Holly, seemingly on instinct, went to the back door first, before scrambling up to the first row, opening the door and peering in. "Actually..." she looked over at Holly, "I was thinking... I assumed I was going to take your car, since you won't be driving it, and I don't have any other way to get around..."

Elizabeth hadn't considered that, and it was almost enough to change her mind. "Do you still remember how?"

"I-I thought maybe you could let me drive, and give me a refresher course on the way there?" Holly smiled bashfully.

Elizabeth frowned across the open seat, looking Holly up and down, imagining her driving her nice, fairly new, car... "Maybe you could just... get Ubers or something?" she suggested.

"What? Is that one of those apps?" Holly seemed genuinely confused, which did make sense, Elizabeth realized. Why would she have any idea what Uber was? She didn't get to go anywhere on her own, so Mommy was her only ride. "Why did they call it that?"

"Don't worry about it," Elizabeth sighed. "You can download it on your phone, and..." Holly giggled, digging into her pocket to pull out a basic, plastic phone, the tiny screen on it barely big enough to show a text message in full, much less an app. "Okay, maybe not."

"I bet you have it on your phone, though," Holly said.

"Sure," Elizabeth agreed. "But..."

"But what?" Holly asked.

"I mean, I'm going to have my phone," Elizabeth told her.

"I don't think so," Holly shook her head. "If the babysitter found out you had that, she'd know something was up right away. We're going to have to switch those, too."

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose, glancing at Holly's phone again, that almost seeming worse than the diapers, in a way. "Well, the app is tied to my credit card account, so..."

"I'm going to have to use those, too," Holly said, scoffing at Elizabeth's look of disbelief. "Where else did you think I was going to get money for food or whatever? I haven't exactly been able to go out and get a job."

Elizabeth was going to have to leave everything in Holly's hands, she realized... If she was caught with any of her cards, her IDs, anything, the babysitter would know something was up... She couldn't even keep her nice, designer purse, because of how much it would stand out in comparison to Holly's toddler chic outfit. The babysitter would definitely suspect some foul play was going on if she saw her with that...

It wasn't too late to back out, she reminded herself. But... It would be a pretty rotten thing to do, after getting Holly's hopes up so high. "You're bringing my phone to every rehearsal," she lectured, "and I'm going to be looking at all my credit card accounts to make sure you're not going crazy with them."

"Okay, okay," Holly rolled her eyes. "So, what is it gonna be? Are you gonna let me drive, or do you want me to do Goobers?"

Elizabeth giggled, pointedly not correcting Holly's mistake. "Maybe if the parking lot at the store is empty enough, we can practice some there," she offered. "For now, would you get in?" Her heart pounded as she turned the key, while Holly gingerly lowered herself onto her squishy bottom in the passenger's seat, it hitting her fully only then, as Holly closed her door and trapped them both in there with the smell of her diaper, what she was going to pick up, what she had agreed to. She just hoped this wasn't as big a mistake as it felt like right now...