Compromise - Chapter 34 (Patreon)

Lizzie squirmed, staring at herself in the mirror, giving her teddy bear an extra squeeze at what she saw there, which, in turn, only amplified the effect. Had she gone too far? She wanted to look like a docile, innocent little, the kind that everyone had assumed she was anyway, but this... She shivered, squeezing her thighs together, sucking a bit harder on her pacifier. Had she done too good a job? It already felt like it wasn't an act, and she hadn't even left Heather's apartment yet!

Heather peeked into the nursery, slinging her purse over her shoulder. Lizzie barely noticed, though when she finally did turn her head slightly to see her there, fully dressed, with her jewelry and heels - making Lizzie feel that much smaller and more childish in comparison with her paci pinned to the front of her onesie, and her pink Velcro sneakers - she was sure she could see her heart melting at the sight of Lizzie, fully embracing the aesthetic Heather had always wanted for her at last.

"You still have time to change your mind," Heather told her gently, Lizzie apparently failing at keeping the emotions she was feeling from showing on her face. "You could...."

"No," Lizzie shook her head. It wasn't that she doubted Heather would have a good idea, or her expertise at manipulating what other Amazons would think of Lizzie at a glance with the minimum of embarrassment to her... She just didn't want to do that. Doing the minimum, sparing her pride as much as possible, wouldn't work when she was up against somebody like Luther, somebody who was more than willing to test her, to treat her like his own baby. If anything, it made that experience more difficult to deal with in the moment. They couldn't take it easy on her this time... She had to go full toddler mode from the start, and hope that would be enough.

Heather nodded, thankfully not offended at being interrupted. Or, if she was, her pride was soothed by how adorable she found Lizzie. "All right. I have some spare clothes in the diaper bag, but there's only so much room if you're starting out in diapers...."

An Amazon letting a little go back to Pull-Ups in less than a day after seemingly sentencing them to diapers would be suspicious, and everyone was going to see that was probably what had happened to Lizzie. It would be especially unusual for it to happen right in the middle of an outing, like a trip to Mommy's work. So Heather couldn't exactly pack a bunch of trainers... Perhaps one, as an enticement, an incentive for Lizzie to be extra good all day so she could maybe get to wear it home... 

Other than that, however, it made so much more sense for the diaper bag to be full of, as the name suggested, diapers, and booster pads to keep them nice and thick, along with her equipment, and changing supplies... And, given the size of her current diaper, she'd need something fairly big to effectively disguise the bulge, which there wasn't space for. Once they left, unless they stopped at the store, everybody who saw her was going to know what she was wearing until they got back.

"I know, Mommy," she mumbled behind her pacifier. 

"I know you do," Heather smiled, stroking her hair. "You're Mommy's clever little girl..."

Lizzie bobbed her head in agreement with that, earning a pat on the crinkly bottom. Lizzie yearned for another kiss, like the ones they'd shared in bed last night, instead, but she could understand why she wasn't getting one now, when they were about to embark on their mission, even if it did leave her pouting and fidgeting like a frustrated child... Which, possibly, was exactly what Heather wanted.

"Okay, then," Heather told her, hesitating almost as much as Lizzie, or at least more obviously, more openly. "I guess we'd better get going."

"Y-Yeah," Lizzie peered back at the mirror. It wasn't technically the most babyish she'd ever looked in public, she supposed, not after the incident at the movie theater... That had been over relatively quickly, however, had taken place in a mostly empty lobby and parking lot... She hadn't been heading out with the intention of spending most, if not all, of her morning this way, toddling through the entirety of Heather's apartment building, and then office...

The former was, honestly, the more worrisome. With any luck, as soon as she was done with the job, she wouldn't have to go back to the office. It would be cool to be able to go visit her girlfriend at work now and then, but that would have been difficult anyway, even before yesterday... At this point, she'd pretty much burned that bridge. She came to Heather's apartment all the time, though, and if too many people saw her now, recognized her when she came back later, dressed more normally, they might, at best, assume she needed to be padded up and taken back to her Mommy... At worst, they might turn her over to an adoption agency instead, since her Mommy clearly couldn't handle her, and had let her escape both her diapers and the safe nursery she obviously belonged in.

So her request was perfectly reasonable, she thought, as embarrassing as it was to bring up, after Heather had attached her wristband, gave her leash a tug to send Lizzie waddling after her out of the nursery, to the front door of the apartment. Every step strengthened her resolve, the extra boost of bulk from the soaker pad far more dramatic than she'd anticipated while she was moving. "Mommy?" Lizzie blinked up at her.

"What, kitten?" Heather asked. "Do we need to...?"

Lizzie shook her head, certain Heather expected her to back out, now that the reality of her choice was looming, just a turn of the doorknob away. "Can you carry me to the car, Mommy? Your legs are longer than mine." 

Heather chuckled. "Of course, sweetie." She bent down, scooping Lizzie up, resting her on her hip. "Let's go."

Lizzie snuggled up against her side, burying her face in the fur of her teddy bear, feeling safe and warm and protected, doing her best to cling to those sensations as she heard the door opening, and Heather began to walk, her legs carrying both of them down the hall. Lizzie knew they weren't alone, heard Heather give a polite, "Hello," to somebody, but she stayed still and quiet. Hoping they wouldn't see her was silly, though maybe if she kept her face hidden, they wouldn't make the connection if they saw her again, no matter how easy it would be considering there probably weren't many littles visiting Heather on a regular basis.

Somehow, she felt much safer once they were at Heather's car, and she was being buckled into the car seat. The harness was almost definitely little-proof, and Lizzie hadn't taken the time to research that model, to see if there were any tips on the Internet about ways to escape it, if need be. There were a few semi-common tricks that worked on older restraints, although Lizzie suspected the companies that made them had found the forum where they'd been discovered and learned to fix those weaknesses, since, the last time she'd read up on it, the methods for getting away if you were captured were more complicated, and depended heavily on luck, on your captor just happening to have bought the wrong model of car seat, or stroller, or whatever else...

Car seats, especially, seemed pointless to try to keep up with. It was possible that, if you were kidnapped, you might be kept in it, taken inside their house still strapped in... The majority of the time, however, you would be in the car, and even if you got out of the seat, anyone who had one of those would surely have child locks on their doors as well, and those were far harder to overcome. 

But none of that really mattered now. She was with Heather... Heather would let her out of the car seat when it was time to go into the office, or whenever Lizzie asked her to. She didn't have to be constantly on guard... She couldn't be, not right now, not when she had so much else to worry about. If she thought about the harness as an extension of Heather, as a gentle hug as she held Lizzie on her lap, cradling her there on the car ride, while Lizzie, herself, did the same to her teddy bear, it wasn't so bad... In fact, it was kind of nice.

"Do you want me to carry you again?" Heather asked when they arrived at the office building's parking garage, as she pulled into her space. 

Lizzie did. Being carted around in Mommy's arms was pretty babyish, no doubt, but in some ways, it was better than having to walk herself in her current diaper, the edges of it peeking out from the legholes of her onesie to eliminate any questions about what was making her toddle so much, as if anyone wouldn't have already known instantly anyway.

Unfortunately, she knew that was something else she needed to get used to. She would have to do some walking in Luther's office, after all, and, though she'd have a chance to practice in Heather's office, if she was going to expose herself to the humiliation of being seen in this outfit early to prepare, she ought to do the same for her diaper waddle.

"No, thank you, Mommy," Lizzie told her.

"Whatever you say, kitten," Heather smiled in the rearview mirror before turning off the car, letting Lizzie out, keeping a tight grip on her leash. "If you lose your balance, you can just grab Mommy's skirt, okay?"

Lizzie blushed and nodded, taking a handful of it preemptively with her free hand, clinging to Heather as they slowly made their way through the garage, into the office building, and, of course, right past the reception desk.

"What happened here?" the receptionist from the day before smirked down at Lizzie, who immediately sidled even closer to Heather's legs. "Aww, don't be shy, sweetie! You look so much better like that! Little girls like you belong in diapers!"

"It's only temporary," Heather stood up for Lizzie. "Isn't that right?"

"Y-Yeah," Lizzie swallowed and responded.

"Right," the receptionist gave Heather an exaggerated wink. "Just until she can prove she's a big girl, huh?" Lizzie squirmed, familiar with that scheme, with the way Amazons tended to keep moving the goalposts on that, setting more and more difficult targets to ensure that their victims could never actually achieve them.

"I am a big girl!" Lizzie whined, stomping her foot.

"Well, then come on up here and give me a big girl hug!" the receptionist ordered. Lizzie hesitated for a moment when Heather turned to her to see if she wanted to do it. Giving this woman a hug after she had given her the candy that had most likely made her mess her diaper yesterday was not exactly high on her list of priorities, but she didn't know for certain that was the case, and it hadn't been the receptionist who had made her eat it...

She gave Heather a tiny nod, let herself be lifted up onto the reception desk. Unsurprisingly, her hug was accompanied by another diaper pat, something she suspected she was going to have to get used to today. "Isn't that so much better?" the receptionist asked. "Now you don't have to worry about that silly old potty, huh?"

"I-I can still make it to the potty," Lizzie mumbled around her paci.

"I'm sure you can," the receptionist humored her, ruffling her hair. "But can you get there and get your diapy off in time? That's a lot of work, isn't it?"

"M-Maybe," Lizzie shrugged.

The receptionist chuckled, clearly thinking she was starting to get through to Lizzie, to confuse her, make her wonder about whether it was worth it to earn her way back out of diapers or not. "Well, if you're going to try to do all that, you deserve a treat." She pulled out another piece of candy, like the one from the day before.

Lizzie bit down into her pacifier, feeling her diaper grow warm beneath her. That was the one thing she couldn't have happen again today, that she didn't think she was prepared to face again, no matter how strong her resolve was.

"Uh-oh," the receptionist giggled. "Did you already decide that was too much work for you?"

Lizzie blushed bright red, realizing that the women knew exactly what was going on, even before she reached up, sliding a pair of fingers beneath the fabric of Lizzie's onesie, running them along the crotch of her diaper to confirm it. "Being a big girl is too hard, huh? Better to just be Mommy's little baby."

"We'll see how she does," Heather said diplomatically, lifting Lizzie off the desk. "We'd better get going. Say bye-bye, Lizzie!"

Lizzie waved, gratefully toddling beside Heather as the receptionist held out a piece of candy for Lizzie, who shrugged, going back to clinging to Heather's skirt and her teddy bear, having no hands left to take it, and, today, no pockets for it to be slipped into. Despite the humiliation of wetting herself, it felt like she'd still managed some small victory.

They were not fortunate enough to get the elevator to themselves, however. Heather did her best, halting when she saw how crowded the first one was. "We'll catch the next one," she told the passengers, one of whom had kindly blocked the door for them when they'd seen them approaching. "Trust me, you don't want to be stuck in there with her right now."

"Mommy!" Lizzie squealed, not having to use any of her acting muscles to seem embarrassed, even knowing it was a lie, earning a few sage chuckles from the occupants as Heather led her to the next elevator in line. It was on another floor, heading up, so they moved on to the final one in the bank, reaching it right as the doors opened and an Amazon man stepped out, nodding politely to them.

Heather led Lizzie inside, looking relieved... Until a 'tweener stepped in right before the doors slid shut. "Morning!" the girl chirped at them, giving Lizzie a pleasant smile. 

"Good morning," Heather replied, shooting Lizzie an apologetic smile before kneeling down and giving her diaper a squeeze. "Oh, that isn't so bad, is it? I bet you can last for a while longer!"

The 'tweener snickered, then fell silent when Heather shot her a dirty look, excusing herself and scurrying off as quickly as she could once the elevator door opened up. Lizzie followed Heather out more slowly, nursing her paci, sure she could feel everyone's eyes on her, and her well-padded posterior, wondering how many of them could tell that she was soggy.

She was grateful to see Cassie wasn't waiting at her desk in front of Heather's office, although she did worry that meant Heather might have lied to her about taking revenge on her behalf. She didn't like to think that they would keep that sort of thing from one another, and she was debating whether she should bring it up once they were in Heather's office when she heard the sound of the secretary's voice.

"I told you she'd be here!" she was whining, coming down the hall where the bathroom was with another 'tweener young woman trailing behind her, who waved her off. Cassie rushed towards them, Lizzie taking note of the way she kept her hands clinging tightly to the hem of the white dress she was wearing. It had a much more juvenile style that the outfit she'd had on the day before, the neck and hem lines high, especially when paired with the shiny, black Mary Janes she had on her feet as opposed to the heels she'd worn yesterday.

"I'm so sorry!" she blurted out. "I-I had to run to the restroom for a second! I-I wasn't late, I swear!"

"It's all right," Heather assured her, while Lizzie watched the other 'tweener strutting to her own desk, slipping something that certainly looked, from a distance, like a pair of panties into one of the drawers. "H-Hi, Lizzie... I-I'm really sorry about yesterday... I hope we can still be friends..."

"We'll see," Heather answered curtly on Lizzie's behalf. "I won't be trusting you to look after her on your own anytime soon, though."

Cassie hung her head. "I-I understand, ma'am."

Lizzie watched as the secretary squirmed, Heather's eyes moving up and down her body. The smaller woman's hands clung tighter and tighter to her dress, the fear in her eyes growing second by second. "You just might," Heather spoke up finally, breaking the awkward silence. "But that doesn't change my decision."

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Cassie nodded, sitting down as they stepped into Heather's office and closed the door.

"Do you want the blinds closed?" Heather offered once they were alone.

Lizzie shook her head. "Not yet."

"I'm sorry about the elevator," Heather told her. "I wanted to see how wet you were before we got in here, so we could go to the bathroom first if we needed, and..."

"It's okay." Better in there, in front of one person, than on the way to Heather's office, where so many more could have seen. 

"Do you want a change now?" Heather inquired. "We can..."

"No, I'm all right." It was squishy when she sat down on the sofa, but Heather's assessment had been correct... It was nowhere near capacity, and wouldn't have been even without the booster. It was still a bigger accident than she was used to having, and far less intentional than the vast majority of those... She tried not to be too worried about it, however, to tell herself it was purely her nerves, seeing the receptionist again, fearing a repeat of yesterday...

Heather had packed her a coloring book again, to pass the time before the play-date, and Lizzie did start idly scribbling in it, but she was more distracted by stealing glances through the windows, to Cassie's desk outside, watching as the other 'tweener walked up to her, dropping a huge pile of papers in front of her, seeing how nervous the secretary seemed, how much trouble she had sitting still in her chair.

It was barely a surprise to see her inadvertently knock half of the papers onto the floor... Or to catch a glimpse of pink on her upper thighs when she bent over to scoop them up, along with the briefest flash of something she might not have recognized, had she not had some of her own. As it was, there was no mistaking the sight of Princess Angelica, or the design of the Pull-Ups she was adorning.