Hide and No Seek

Chapter 1
The only

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Chapter Description: After a long night of partying, a young girl flees from the cops, stumbling through a door and into... A nursery of some sort? Just roll with it. A commission for my good friend FoxingtonIII

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Hide and No Seek

©2012 by The Padded Quill

Shutting her eyes tightly against the flashing lights coming in from the crack under the door of the closet in which she hid, Rochelle tried desperately to get her emotions and breathing under control. The red and blue flickering was disorienting with the alcohol still in her system and it was really making her dizzy to the point of wanting to wretch a little. Thankfully, with her eyes closed, Rochelle managed to avoid doing just that and instead gulped in great deep breaths of air. There was a pain in her left shoulder where she’d bumped into something in her mad dash to find a place to hide, but that could wait until the cops moved on.

In any other circumstances, she’d probably not have gotten drunk at all. There was far too much of a risk involved with getting caught as a freshman all boozed up and stumbling through the streets of this college town to make anything like that worthwhile, but Casey had reassured her that they’d be able to crash on the floor at the sorority house where they were attending the party. With that in mind Rochelle had ‘cut loose’, finding her little red beer cup refilled time and again by the people partying around her, and up until now, having a great time.

She wasn’t really even all that clear on when she’d passed out, everything was a hazy blur near the end there. She did, however, remember waking up on the front porch of a strange house at some ungodly hour of night, still severely buzzed and lost. With no response from knocking on the door where she’d woken up, Rochelle had taken to the streets awkwardly, trying to clear her head and figure out where she was and how to get back home. None of the houses or landmarks seemed familiar nor did any of the street names stand out in her mind as being recognizable.

Rochelle didn’t even hear the police car pulling up behind her as she stared at yet another street sign, her blurred vision trying to puzzle out if this intersection was one she’d been at before. Wobbling heavily, she turned and put an arm up to shield her eyes as the spotlight came on, effectively blinding her.

“Hey, you there,” an authoritative voice called out from behind the source of the light, “Come over here, little lady.”

Suddenly terrified of being found out drunk, Rochelle bolted from the light, tearing off around the corner and down the street as fast as her inebriated state would allow for. Behind her, she heard a shout and the sound of footsteps, but she wasn’t about to stop and turn around to be taken in for under-age drinking. She made a sharp, stumbling turn into a little alleyway, suddenly aware of the sound of the cop car’s engine revving and the flashing of its red and blues. Her heart was beating fast now, nearly jumping up and out of her chest as she heard another slamming door put a stop to the shouts as the cop who had been following her on foot jumped back into the squad car.

The area around Rochelle suddenly lit up again as the police cruiser rounded the corner to follow her down the back street, illuminating the girl’s path as she awkwardly ran. The crunching of tires on gravel not far behind caused her to throw her pumping legs into high gear as she slid around another corner down a narrower gap between a pair of hedge rows, sprinting for the street. As she broke through onto the sidewalk she could hear the cop car skidding to a stop, and since they’d over shot her turn, the light wasn’t on her at the moment.

Hazily, across from her was a larger house with some sort of sign out front, probably a home converted to a business, and Rochelle made for it. Stumbling up the steps and ignoring the ‘Sorry, CLOSED’ sign on the wide double doors, she gripped the handle and pulled, surprised that it opened so suddenly, lacking any sort of locks. Stepping inside and closing the door behind her just as the red and blues of the police lights rounded the far corner, she took a moment to breathe. Still panicked, though, she only waited a few breaths before pushing further into the large house.

The front hallway had two large open double doors leading off of either side and Rochelle stumbled to the left, barely missing the door frame as she fumbled around in the dark. Large shapes loomed up out of the darkness to one side, a sudden image of prison bars springing into the girl’s head. Breath caught in her throat, she turned and ran from those imposing shadows, tripping over something that rattled loudly and she fell in a tangle to the hard floor, catching herself on her palms and scrambling away from whatever had caught her up. More shapes were scattered around, but in the pale moonlight and street lamps shining through the window she spotted a large closet at the far end of the room.

Now Rochelle huddled inside, eyes closed against the patterns of lights playing through the crack near the floor. The odd smells around her didn’t even register over the smell of her own sweat and fear, nor did she register the clammy wetness clinging to her jeans and inner thighs, a product of her mad stumble through the other room. Biting her lip as tears rolled down her cheeks, Rochelle resolved to get out of here as soon as those lights stopped flashing, but once again she didn’t even remembering passing out.

A sharp pain in her shoulder and the sudden introduction of very bright light brought Rochelle around quickly. She let out a little startled scream as her eyes refused at first to open, and she pumped her legs, trying to get traction away from whatever it was that had slammed into her, probably the cop car. She felt hands on her then, pulling at her, dragging her, and something wrapped tightly around her that couldn’t manage to throw off. She was breathing faster now, and though her head felt a lot clearer than earlier, things were still highly disorienting.

“Calm down, hold up, we’ve got you, h.. hey!” came a voice, a woman’s voice, from somewhere above Rochelle’s head, “Beth, go get Miss Anders, quick!”

The sound of feet across a hard floor faded away, but the hands still held onto Rochelle tightly. With her arms wrapped up in whatever it was that was holding her in place, she couldn’t get enough traction to try and push away or stand up. The disembodied voice kept urging her to calm down, saying soothing nothings to her as the hands kept her pinned to the floor. Slowly, running out of breath and too tired to fight anymore, Rochelle relented.

“… was just getting some supplies to restock things from the closet when this girl just fell out,” another voice approached, and slowly Rochelle opened her eyes, the realization coming slowly at these were not the police.

Squinting against the bright light of the morning sun pouring in through the large bay windows, the disoriented freshman found herself staring up into the worried faces of two women probably ten or so years older than herself, and behind them a woman much older than all three, likely well into her forties or early fifties. It was with this woman that Rochelle’s eyes locked, the two staring at each other for a long, silent moment, before the woman’s mouth quirked up in a smile.

“There you are!” she exclaimed, suddenly, kneeling down next to Rochelle, “I knew I’d find you eventually. Come on, sleepy girl, let’s get you cleaned up and dressed for the day.”

Three similarly stunned and questioning expressions turned to the older woman in unison as she reached over and started untangling Rochelle from the blanket she’d been wrapped up in. The freshman could swear the woman winked at her during it, but as soon as she was free from the warm tangle of the soft wrapping, she scrambled to her feet. A cold dampness along the back of her legs and crotch bristled at the back of her senses as the older woman stood again and placed a comforting, guiding arm around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, my memory has been horrible lately, and I forgot to mention that my niece was going to be visiting for a while,” The woman ‘explained’, moving with Rochelle towards the large open doorway at the far side of the room, “We were playing hide and seek last night, and she fell asleep in her hiding spot.”

Hoping she wasn’t looking as confused as she felt, Rochelle allowed herself to be led along by this woman. As her vision cleared the faces of the two younger women, her breath caught in her throat at the scope of the room she found herself in. The large objects that had last night so terrified her with visions of jail bars along the one side of the room were, in fact, large cribs, a variety of colorful bedding inside them, as well as a pair of low tables with padded tops, much like massage tables, but with shelves beneath holding supplies befitting the cribs. The floor on this side of the room, however, was scattered with an assortment of large children’s toys, from soft story books to things that looked like they’d likely make noise or lights or some sort.

In the middle of all of that clutter, though, was the most shocking bit, a boy of roughly her own age. He sat alone, smiling rather distantly as he played with a set of plastic rings, trying to stack them in the correct order on a small colorful spindle. He looked mostly normal, save for wearing only a t-shirt and a diaper that would be better suited on the rear of a toddler. Rochelle glanced back at the low-sitting tables, a few things clicking in her head now as she looked between them and the boy.

A sharp tap to her thigh from the older woman brought her back to her senses.

“And let’s get you cleaned up,” she was saying, chidingly, “This will teach me to let you play dress up that close to bed time. Now I’ve got laundry to do. Can’t be helped I suppose.”

The woman was leading her from the room still, and Rochelle could see one of the two getting ready to say something, the pudgy red-head, when she was interrupted by the loud chiming of a door bell. All eyes turned towards the hallway, except for the boy who continued to play with his toy unperturbed, and the woman with her arms around Rochelle’s shoulders let out a long sigh.

“Beth, can you get that? I need to take care of this, then we’ll make introductions all around, yes?” The woman’s voice was pleasant enough, but there was a tone of undeniable command in it, “Stephanie, could you clean up in the closet? I’m sure there’s probably a puddle, and I don’t want it to stain the floor boards.”

“Yes, ma’am!” came their responses in unison, and with a pair of uncertain but unquestioning glances, they split, one heading for Rochelle’s ex-hiding spot and the other for the front door that she’d stumbled through the night before.

With a firm grip, the older woman, presumably the Miss Anders mentioned earlier, turned Rochelle down the hallway and towards the back of the house. Behind her, Rochelle could hear a conversation between the blonde haired girl and someone older, but soon she found herself steered into a large bathroom, the door shutting behind her with a very secure ‘clack’. Miss Anders circled back around in front of the girl and sat on the edge of the large bath tub, starting to run the water.

“So, we finally meet when you’re awake, hmm?” the older woman asked while turning back to Rochelle, one hand dangling under the running water to check the temperature, “And can you tell me your name, honey?”

Things were moving too fast, and Rochelle tried to shake the hazy cobwebs from her head before speaking. She felt sober, and she didn’t think she had a hangover, but this was all too much too fast. Swallowing to try and ease the lump in her throat, she summoned as much composure as she could before speaking.

“R.. Rochelle,” she started, and having that vocalization out made things start to flow a bit easier, “And I’m very sorry about breaking into your… uh… house? If you’ll just let me go, I won’t ever come back, there’s no need to call the cops or anything.”

Now, however, it was Miss Ander’s turn to be surprised, staring at the girl for a long moment as if Rochelle had just sprouted a spare set of arms. The two looked at each other for a long, silent moment, and then Miss Anders quickly jerked her hand away from the water with a muttered curse. Swiftly she adjusted the knobs and re-tested the water, and seemingly satisfied turned back to Rochelle, still looking a bit bewildered.

“Alright, well, I didn’t expect you to be so talkative,” the woman admitted, reaching for Rochelle gently, “Let’s get you into the bath and then we’ll have ourselves a little conversation, hmm? I promise you I will not call the police unless you give me reason, but I will not have you smelling of pee and sweat either.”

Taking a step back, the freshman shook her head, “I can bathe myself, and then if you want, we can talk. I’m really sorry about breaking in here, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, I promise.”

With a shake of her head and a raising of her hands, Miss Anders’s turned back to that gentle commanding, “I’m afraid I’m not leaving this room until you’re clean and we’ve gotten a few things understood. You’re not a normal child, that much I could see in your eyes in the playroom. Please, I’d not like to cause a scene, but I will bathe you myself if you don’t cooperate.”

Something about the way Miss Anders was talking to her made Rochelle feel a bit uneasy, as if the woman was surprised that she was even able to talk.

“That, well, I can handle this on my own, thanks,” she muttered, the weight of a night’s partying, panicked flight from police and, much to her dismay at finding out, pissing herself while passed out, making her shudder at the sheer filth of it all.

Again, Miss Anders shook her head, “As I said, I’m not letting you out of my sight. Trust me, it isn’t anything I haven’t seen already,” then with a sigh she stood and faced away from the girl, “But if it will hurry you up getting into the tub…”

Rochelle stared at the woman’s back, her options running through her head. Unfortunately, the only choice that didn’t end with the police being phoned involved stripping naked and taking a bath in this woman’s presence. As uncomfortable as it may be, a bath wouldn’t likely go on her permanent record, and so the freshman quickly found herself undressed and easing herself down into the warm water. A little hot at first, she soon found the heat penetrating deep into her, relaxing away the panic of the night’s flight.

“Good girl,” Miss Anders said, turning and peering down at Rochelle, who did her best to cover up, “Now, why don’t you start by telling me exactly who you are and where you come from, and why exactly I found you huddled in my closet at three in the morning with the sheriff circling the block?”

“Well, you see…” Rochelle started in on her tale, telling it from when she’d been at the party to waking up on the porch of that unfamiliar house, her running from the cops, and eventually ending up sobbing her eyes out in the closet of the other room. She said her full name, who her parents were, where they lived, and even what subjects she’d been studying in school. As she told her tale, Miss Anders began to gently lather the girl up with a rag, nodding along and listening intently.

Getting it all out in the open like this made the college student feel a lot better, added to the smell of the sweetly scented soap, applied soothingly by the older woman, and she soon found herself at the end of her tale. The older woman wrung out the wash rag over the bath water, and then started to rinse Rochelle off as she silently thought about what she’d just heard. It wasn’t until the woman was lifting the younger girl’s breasts to clean the skin beneath that Rochelle remembered her modesty and tried to cover up again, though it seemed a fruitless gesture.

Slathering a generous portion of shampoo on her hands and beginning to work it into Rochelle’s hair, Miss Anders picked up the conversation again.

“Well, if I weren’t hearing straight from your mouth, I would have called the person telling that story a liar,” she commented, not at all bothered by the younger girl’s nudity, “But seeing as how most little girls your age haven’t even learned to speak, let alone attend college, I think we have a bit of a mystery here. I’m not sure what’s going on, but you’re not the average tot, that is for sure.”

“T… tot?” Rochelle asked worriedly, forgetting about herself again and letting her hands drop limply into the water as she tried to turn her head to look at the woman, “Can’t speak? I… don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Miss Anders gently turned the girls head back forward so she could continue to lather it, “Well, dear, I’m not sure about where you come from, but girls your age here are still just little babies, though, I suppose not so little. You saw Chadwick in the playroom? That’s a typical child of your age, you see.”

Rochelle tried to process that as she stared down into the water of the tub, “You mean… that everyone my age…?”

“Correct. Now, here’s what’s going to happen,” Miss Anders picked up a small cup on the side of the tub, scooping up some water to rinse out the shampoo, “I’m going to tell Beth and Stephanie that you’re my niece, visiting from out of town for a little while, and while they handle running the daycare and looking after the little ones,” she pulled Rochelle’s head back gently to look her in the eyes, “You included, I’m going to look into what you told me, and see if I can track down your family.”

With a bit of a grimace, and wiping at her eyes to get the soap out of them, Rochelle almost couldn’t ask the question, “Me included… how?”

Miss Anders dumped more water over Rochelle’s hair for good measure, then stood to get a towel, pulling the drain stopper as she did so.

“Meaning that if I’m going to play the part of your aunt, you’re going to do what you can to not cause a panic in my daycare by playing the part of by baby niece. If the girls get wind that you’re more than what you appear to be, there will be no end of trouble, let me assure you.”

Rochelle swallowed hard at that, “And… so you want me to…”

The woman turned back from the cabinet with the towels, a fluffy white drying cloth in one hand, and a thick pink disposable diaper folded neatly in the other, “I want you to act like any other girl your age, dear. Trust me, it will go a lot better this way, and we’ll get you sorted out in no time without anyone being the wiser.”

“Woah, wait,” Rochelle started to protest, scrunching up in the tub, “can’t I just hide, or wear regular clothes or something?”

Miss Anders slowly shook her head and sat the diaper down on the lowered toilet seat, motioning for Rochelle to stand, “No, the others have already seen you, so hiding is right out. As for normal clothes,” she nods at the diaper, “for a girl your age, that is normal.”

Slowly rising from the bath, one hand draped over her chest almost as an afterthought, Rochelle’s face did more to indicate her displeasure than any words could. Quickly, Miss Anders wrapped the towel around the girl and began to pat her down, using her years of experience to try and calm the girl as much as possible.

“Now, it isn’t just wearing the clothes, you have to understand,” the older woman explained as she carefully unfolded the diaper, letting Rochelle stand draped in the towel, “You have to act the part. If word gets out that there’s a nineteen year old with your mental faculties around here, we’ll have reporters and scientists and all crawling all over, and you will never get back home, is this clear?”

With a shudder, Rochelle nodded and eased herself down on the diaper as Miss Anders indicated with a waved hand, drawing her hands up to her chin and looking away to avoid the embarrassment of being so exposed. The older woman sprinkled a bit of powder between the younger’s thighs, then eased the front of the thick garment between them and in quick succession had the tapes securely fastened at the hips.

“Alright, arms up,” Anders coaxes, rolling up a plain white t-shirt and holding it over the blushing girl’s head. “Just relax, watch how the others your age act, and try to follow suit.”

Once her head was through the neck of the shirt and her arms being drawn through, Rochelle broached the subject that she’d been sitting on for a minute or so now, “What about using the toilet?”

Miss Anders couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at the question, adjusting the shirt down over the girl’s midsection, “Well, that’s a first. A nineteen year old even thinking about the potty, that’s a new one.”

A quick look at the distressed look on the younger girl’s face, Miss Anders sighed and held out her hands to pull the girl to her feet, “Look, if you can get my attention somehow when I’m around, I will take you to the potty. If I’m not nearby, though…” she gave the girl’s diaper a pat instead of finishing off the sentence.

“Really, don’t worry, Stephanie and Beth are sweet hearts, and so long as they don’t know you’re not just a normal child, they’ll treat you just as nicely as anyone else.”

“But—“ Rochelle began, but found a finger pressed to her lips.

“Start getting in character now. No more talking, babbling only, trust me on this,” Miss Anders said, taking the girl by the hand and leading her out of the bathroom and down the hall to the large playroom again. While they’d been in the bathroom, a few more ‘children’ had arrived and things were a bit more hectic.

Face flushed red and sticking close to the older woman, Rochelle could see two more boys and a girl already playing, bringing the grand total of kids at the daycare here up to four. Five, if she counted herself, which she supposed she should at this point. Gently, knowing how embarrassing this must be for the odd girl, Miss Anders eased her closer to the middle of the room. Clearing her throat to get attention, she moved Rochelle in front of her.

“Everyone, I want you to say Hello to my niece, Shelly,” she said, slowly, though to Rochelle it didn’t seem as if any of the others besides the two workers cared, “She’ll be with us today, at least, so I want everyone to be nice to her.”

The slightly overweight red headed girl from earlier smiled and leaned forward towards Rochelle, giving the impression that she was much taller than she actually was. With a big grin on her face, she gently poked what she thought to be nothing more than a normal ‘child’ in the stomach, her tone taking on that sickeningly sweet timbre that people get when speaking to those they don’t think can understand them.

“Well, aren’t you just a cute little thing, hmm? I’m Beth, and I’m sure we’re going to be best friends!” Oddly, despite this reassurance, Rochelle severely doubted it.

“And I’m Stephanie!” the other girl chimed in perkily, the taller and thinner of the pair, though her hair was a bright blonde, “Come over here, Shelly, and I’ll introduce you around to the other kids.”

It was more than a little awkward to be paraded around to each of the other ‘children’ at the daycare and ‘introduced’, enough so that Rochelle really didn’t care about the names of these others. Each one was dressed in some manner of juvenile clothing ranging from the girl in the fleece onesie sporting an attached skirt, to the boy she’d seen earlier in just a shirt and diaper like herself, to the boy wearing the jean overalls. Once the little ‘introductions’ were over, Rochelle was told nicely to go and play, and that Beth and Stephanie would be around if they were needed.

“Thanks girls,” Miss Anders was saying to the two attendants as Rochelle sat cross-legged on the hard wood floor of the daycare, “I’ve got a few things to take care of in the office and will likely be out of your hair most of the day. Just come and get me if you need me.”

“Sure thing, Miss A!” Beth piped, a wide grin on her face, “Is there anything we should know about Shelly? Does she get fussy or have any favorite toys or…?”

Stephanie was a little more practical about things, and Rochelle felt her face flush as the trio spoke about her as if she couldn’t understand them, “Does she have a lot of hair down there, or do her parents keep her clean? And for that matter, is she allergic to anything, or not get along with others or…?”

With a little chuckle, Anders waved a hand, “She’s clean, yes, and no allergies that I’m aware of. If she acts up, just put her in time out like anyone else. She’s my niece, but she’s still under our care like any of the other children.”

The three of them moved off closer to the hallway door, leaving Rochelle sitting ‘alone’ in a room full of ‘adult’ babies. Letting out a little huff of air in frustration at the entire situation, the girl shifted awkwardly on her seat. The diaper under her bottom helped to cushion against the hard, easy to clean, floors but not nearly enough for her tastes. Spying a brightly colored rug on the other side of the room, Rochelle stood up and made her way towards it.

Moving through the scattered daycare charges and the various toys that they were engaged in was a feast for the senses. Rochelle’s nostrils flared, catching the scents of skin lotion, baby oil, probably some pee, and all of that coated over with the heavy odor of a generous amount of baby powder. There were other smells as well, a faint hint of dirty diapers from the far side of the room near the changing tables, that distinct odor of milk, and if the drafts in the house caught her just right, the smell of coffee coming from somewhere outside of the playroom.

As she plopped down onto the rug, which was much more comfortable than the floor, she decided; Rochelle tried to make out what the older women were discussing. She could catch little random words and snippets, but most of the conversation was being drowned out by the sounds of the playing in the middle of the room. Toys rattled, colorful plastic things banged on the floor lightly, the soft and cheerful plinking of some sort of musical electronic toy, and over all of that the babbling and giggling of babies playing. If it weren’t for the size and physical maturity of the ‘babies’, it would have almost been cute to the college girl.

It was this playing that Rochelle tried to pay attention to, watching the ‘babies’ doing what they did and how they treated their toys and such. She wondered idly why Miss Anders hadn’t simply let her call her parents on the phone to come get her, but if things were like the older woman had said, someone walking in on a nineteen year old toddler having a full phone conversation would have raised a few eyebrows. With a deep sigh, she pushed that thought out of her mind and tried to find something to do to keep her occupied amidst the myriad of colorful contraptions and soft play things.

After a bit of contemplation, the girl finally decided on what was probably the most mature toy in the room, a little faux laptop computer for teaching colors and shapes and numbers. It was simplistic, but it was also ‘child proof’ which meant that she at first couldn’t figure out how to turn the gizmo on. Once it was powered up, though, it let out a loud cheerful stab of music to welcome the user to a game of matching similar objects. It didn’t take long at all for Rochelle to get bored with the simplicity of the ‘games’ offered up by the machine, but she was impressed with the wide range of responses and congratulatory messaging for getting things right.

On a whim, having exhausted her study on how to get things right, Rochelle decided to explore if the negative responses to the proposed questions were just as robust as the positive responses, so she began to get questions wrong. Much to her surprise and amusement, the negative responses were as cute, if not cuter, than the positive responses. A little more poking about revealed that the toy would also remember what she’d gotten right and wrong, and chide her for missing out on previously correct answers, or giving extra praise for getting a color right that she’d gotten wrong earlier.

Soon lost in her play, it was only when one of the other ‘kids’ nearly tripped over her that she was shaken back into the room. Startled, she looked up to see Beth helping one of the other girls, the one with the little cute jumper on, keep her balance. From their relative positions Rochelle could see up the girl’s skirts straight at the discolored and slightly sagging diaper between the other girl’s thighs.

“Oh, sorry about that, Shelly!” Beth’s perky voice came, peeling Rochelle’s eyes away from the wet garment in front of her face, “We just need to go get some clean panties, and weren’t looking where we were going, were we? Were we?” she asked the other girl patronizingly as they moved off towards the changing tables.

As the other late teen’s giggles retreated to the far side of the room, the sudden reminder of her own diapered condition gave Rochelle pause, and the light waft of the other girl’s urine as she had stepped over was now reminding her that she’d not ‘gone’ since, well, since she’d pissed herself after passing out in the closet. Grumbling, she looked around for Miss Anders, remembering that the woman had told her she’d let her use the bathroom if she were around, but as fate would have it, the old lady was nowhere to be seen. Also a little distressing was the position of the hands on the face of the clock above the doors to the hallway.

Rochelle looked back down at the toy in her lap, surprised that she’d lost about two hours playing with the thing. Setting it aside, her new awareness of the state of her bladder becoming ever more insistent to be paid attention to, she looked around the room for something else to distract her until she saw Anders come back into the room. Spotting one of those little wooden shape-to-hole puzzles, she leaned over, going up on her knees with her butt in the air to make a grab at it.

Just before she got her hand on the puzzle, she spotted the boy from earlier this morning; Chadwick was his name, she remembered; looking at her with a rather dumb smile on his face. The two of them stared at each other for a long moment, and Rochelle could feel her cheeks flushing as brightly as the boy’s was. With just the tight-fitting lap-shoulder t-shirt and diaper combo, Rochelle had to admire the slim physique and soft face of this boy, plus his adorably tousled hair and lack of facial blemishes. Quickly, she grabbed the toy and twisted, sitting so that she couldn’t see Chadwick’s face and letting out a little breath.

Great, she thought, emptying the wooden blocks out of the inside of the puzzle, I’ve finally got a cute guy looking at me, but probably because he wants to drool in my hair.

As soon as her bottom hit the rug, though, her more immediate problem resurfaced with gusto. Rochelle swallowed hard, sifting through the little shaped blocks and trying to ignore the feeling, but with no Miss Anders around to help her out of it, she knew she was going to have to give in eventually. Resigned, she sat down the puzzle pieces and shifted her weight about to find a comfortable way to go, eventually settling for leaning back slightly with her legs spread, knees up. Desperately, Rochelle tried to think of anything except for the soft hiss and splash of her pee hitting the padding of the diaper in her crotch, but the spreading warmth around her thighs and backside made that nearly impossible.

When she’d finally finished, she’d no sooner decided to ignore the feeling by picking up the puzzle again than a shadow fell over Rochelle from behind, a slim arm reaching down past her shoulder to her crotch and gently patting the soggy, warm padding.

“I thought I saw someone getting a little antsy over here,” a sweet cajoling voice said near her ear, and Rochelle clenched her teeth as she looked over to see Stephanie’s face smiling down at her.

“Come on, rugrat, let’s get you all nice and dry, okay?” the attendant asked, but the wet girl with the puzzle had no chance to answer, finding herself pulled to her feet by a set of hands under her armpits, and propelled towards the back of the room.

Rochelle thought briefly of resisting, but the fear of being discovered and hauled off to jail or worse put a quick kibosh on that line of thinking. Instead, she allowed herself to be lead gently towards the changing tables back near the rows of oversized cribs. Stephanie was easy enough with getting her onto the table and laid back, shaking her head as she examined the diaper, scrunching up her nose at the smell of it.

“Whew, well, someone here is a little dehydrated, I think,” the caretaker commented, rubbing Rochelle’s belly gently, then she turned her head back towards the main room, “Hey, Beth? Can you grab a bottle of juice for Shelly? She needs some liquids, I’m pretty sure.”

“Gotcha, one apple juice coming up!” was the quick reply, and a moment later Rochelle caught sight of a baby bottle filled with the amber drink come sailing through the air to be caught deftly by Stephanie.

“Thanks!” the skinny girl called, then returned her attention to the younger girl on the changing table, waggling the bottle in front of Rochelle’s face, “Who wants a baba? Open up, honey, I know you’ve got to be thirsty.”

It only took a bit of teasing at her lips to get her to take the bottle quickly, holding onto it with both hands and sticking the teat deep between her lips. The alternative was to have nothing to distract her from what was going on below her waist, and though the bottle was see-through, the distortion and dark colored juice inside was a mostly effective barrier against having to see the act itself being performed. As she suckled, she turned her head away, looking back out over the playroom, and again noticed that Chadwick was again staring at her. Somehow, she felt very embarrassed with him seeing her laid out like this, though even from this distance she could tell his own diaper was somewhat soggy.

She may have blocked the sight of Stephanie going for her diaper with the bottle, but the old saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ didn’t really apply to situations where you could still feel what was happening, Rochelle found out. The cool playroom air against her suddenly exposed skin wasn’t exactly a bad feeling, though the fact that she was completely exposed to this girl whom she’d met only hours previously tainted the feeling of relief at having the warm wet padding off of her.

The application of the cool baby wipes against her lower regions caused Rochelle to bite into the nipple of the bottle, squirting some apple juice deep into the back of her throat, but she managed not to gag or cough as the older girl went to work cleaning her up. It was a rather, well, thorough cleaning, leaving Rochelle bright red all over by the time her bottom was lowered down onto the clean diaper. Having the powder rubbed in only exacerbated the situation, and the blushing girl was infinitely grateful when the fresh diaper was finally pulled and taped into place, though she could have done without the gentle patting of the other woman.

“See? There we go! All nice and clean,” Stephanie was saying as she pulled the suckling, blushy girl back to a seated position, then off the table. “Now come on, let’s go get you back to your playing. I think someone wants to help you with your puzzle, hmm?”

Following Stephanie’s gaze back to Chadwick’s rather vacant smile, Rochelle started to roll her eyes, but stopped just in case Stephanie would notice. Tugging up on the diaper in annoyance, she allowed the caretaker to lead her back over to her little wooden puzzle, then retrieved the oogling boy and sat him down next to it as well. Squatting across from the pair, probably thinking she was a great match maker for the little ones, Stephanie picked up one of the wooden shapes.

“Alright, can either of you tell me which hole this one goes in?” she asked, pleasantly, apparently ignoring the fact that the boy was a little damp in the diaper department.

Taking her cues from Chadwick, Rochelle played along with the little game of ‘guess the shape’, taking a fair amount of pleasure in trying to fool the boy into picking the wrong hole while not trying to be caught out for the charade. By the third time through the puzzle, though, her bottle of juice was empty and she was getting bored with it all, already starting to look around for something else to play with, or at least take her mind off of what was going on around her.

“Hey, Steph, can you come give me a hand with getting lunch together?” Beth waved at her co-worker from the doorway.

“Sure thing,” Stephanie answered, then turned and patted the two ‘kids’ on their heads, “You two love birds play nicely for me, alright? Lunchies in a few!” and with that she was gone, leaving Rochelle and Chadwick with only the shape puzzle between them.

With a stupid grin, Chadwick held out one of the blocks to his playmate, squirming around a little bit on his crinkly seat. Rochelle carefully took the block, noting it was a little damp from having been in the boy’s mouth at some point and forced a grin at him. This seemed to make him happy, so Rochelle put the piece in the correct slot of the puzzle, then turned to look for something else to play with.

A sharp tug at her hair brought her back around with a little yelp of annoyed pain, coming back face to face with her tormentor. Chadwick let go of Rochelle’s trusses and held out another block, a look of worry on his face. Puzzled, and a little upset, Rochelle took the block, noting that it cheered the ‘young man’ up considerably, and placed it in the correct hole. Immediately another block was thrust at her, but she pushed it back at him with a shake of her head, trying to turn away again.

And again, there was the pulling on her hair as Chadwick tried to keep her there and playing.

“No!” She said, firmly, and probably a little louder than she’d intended, pushing the other daycare attendee’s hands away from her hair.

“Nnn! She’wy!” Chadwick insisted, pushing the block at her again, his bottom lip quivering as she backed away from this.

“Nuh uh!” Rochelle reiterated, only to find Chadwick leaning forward to come after her, half throwing the block at the girl with another loud, half-whined, grunt.

Before this could go any further, Rochelle felt firm hands taking her under her arms again and dragging her away from the boy, while at the same time Stephanie stepped between them, her back to Rochelle and staring down at Chadwick. The boy backed off under a rather stern gaze, a finger darting to his mouth as he fell back hard on his backside.

“Enough of this,” came Beth’s voice as she helped Rochelle stand, “Shelly doesn’t want to play with the puzzle anymore, Chad.”

“And pulling hair and throwing things is a definite no-no,” Stephanie warned, wagging a finger at the boy, sounding a little exasperated, “And to think you two were playing so well just a few minutes ago.”

Rochelle was thankful for the intervention, and she stepped behind the plump red-headed worker quickly, catching her breath. She wasn’t sure how strong Chadwick was, but she could still feel the pain in her scalp where he’d pulled. She gingerly touched the area, finding her hair still in place and no sign of anything more than a lingering discomfort. Gently, she felt herself being tugged towards the hallway by Beth, and a look behind showed Stephanie following with Chadwick in tow.

For a moment, the girl panicked, suspecting that they were somehow in trouble, that lingering fear of being caught; either by the police or the daycare workers, it didn’t matter; flared up, and she tugged at the hand that held hers. Eyes wide, she looked towards the front door and then the back of the hallway, looking for signs that something was wrong, or the flashing lights of a police cruiser, or something. She couldn’t fathom why she was being led away from the playroom for just a little scuffle like that, barely even an altercation, and she felt a whine escape her lips unbidden.

“Shelly? Shelly are you okay?” a worried voice asked from somewhere close by, and Rochelle dimly recognized it as Beth, “Come on, calm down, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

The voice sounded concerned, but with a sudden fear gripping her heart, Rochelle didn’t care. Quickly she pulled her hand free of the woman’s grasp, backing down the hall with her eyes darting this way and that. Stephanie was staring at her, but Beth said something and the taller, more slender woman just continued through the doors opposite the play room with her charge in hand. Rochelle couldn’t hear anything over the beating of her own heart in her ears, and though she could see Beth’s mouth moving as she closed the gap between them, she heard not the words.

Seeing no other recourse, Rochelle turned and took a few steps down the corridor, trying to build up some momentum, but the diaper between her thighs was too thick and unfamiliar to get her coordination around, and she ended up stumbling. Crying out, she raised her arms to stop a rather nasty fall she could feel coming, but when the impact came it was into something soft and yielding and she soon felt herself being wrapped in a pair of strong, gentle arms. Rochelle squirmed against them for a moment, but with her flight interrupted, she found couldn’t find the will to keep fighting, and she collapsed into those arms, crying a little bit as the fear and frustration from the events starting with the midnight run from the police welled up and overflowed her emotional barriers.

Eventually, words and sound started to filter through, coming in the form of a soft, mature voice, half whispering to her.

“There, come on, it’s okay, really. I promise everything will be fine, sweetie, shush,” it was Miss Anders, and once she got her breathing under control she pulled back a bit, aware of tears streaming down her face.

They were standing in the middle of the hallway, Anders’ arms gently holding Rochelle up and swaying back and forth just enough to be a gentle rocking. With one hand, Miss Anders used her thumbs to brush the tears off of the younger girl’s cheeks, then pulled her into another hug. Rochelle could feel some wetness on the older woman’s shirt, and she realized that she’d been standing there, held like a child, for longer than she’d realized in her state of mind. With a swallow, Rochelle nodded, trying to regain her composure.

Gently, Miss Anders eased the girl back and lowered her head to look into Rochelle’s eyes, speaking softly, “Feeling better after a little cry? It’s okay, Beth and Stephanie are dealing with lunch, they can’t hear you.”

“I’m… I’m sorry… Chad was pulling my hair, and then no one told me where we were going, and I thought maybe they’d seen something so I panicked and—“

The older woman pushed a finger against the girl’s lips, “Shush, I know dear. It’s been a hard morning, but you need to keep it up. I’m making some inquiries about you, discreetly, but until I come up with something I need you to be a brave little girl and relax, alright?”

Nodding at that, Rochelle tried to force a smile onto her quivering lips, “Thanks for helping me, Miss. I’ll… I’ll try to relax.”

With a little pat on the girl’s padded tush, the crinkling of the diaper louder than their conversation had been, Anders turned and led Rochelle down the hallway towards the opening she’d previously fled from. Upon entering, Shelly nearly kicked herself for being so stupid. The other doorway had lead only to what looked to have been, at one time, a rather nice dining room, but had been converted into a place for the ‘kids’ of the daycare to eat.

Around the edges of the room stood a number of large high chairs, lower to the ground than one would think for babies, but then, they weren’t meant to hold babies like Shelly knew them. In the center of the room was a bright plastic table with matching chairs, at which sat a solitary member of the daycare’s residents, one of the boys whose name Rochelle couldn’t remember off hand. Everyone else were securely strapped into the high chairs, the trays covered with sandwich bits, crumbs and various drink containers.

Beth spoke up first, looking a bit sheepish as she wiped at one of the other girl’s faces, “How is she? I hope it wasn’t anything I did, and if it is I’m really sorry.”

Shelly noticed the look in the girl’s face, and realized she was actually quite upset. As much as she could, she offered a little smile to the plump worker, hoping it looked sincere. It hadn’t been her fault, and seeing her upset over what had gone down pulled at the fake niece’s heart.

“Oh, no, it wasn’t you at all, I’m sure,” Miss Anders reassured Beth, leading Rochelle over to one of the empty high chairs, “It’s just all a bit new, I figure. New people, new house, not really sure what was happening, it was just a little overwhelming is all. She had a good cry and I think after nap time she’ll be much better.”

The other two girls nodded at each other, agreeing with the assessment, however wrong it was. Shelly allowed herself to be harnessed into the plush chair. The tray slid into place with a very secure sounding ‘click’ and the young girl marveled at how sturdy the whole thing felt, holding her weight without even a groan of stress, but at the same time seemed to cradle her comfortingly.

Stephanie tapped Beth on the shoulder, “Hey, you want me to feed her?”

“No, I think it’s good if I made sure she understood I’m not upset at her,” Beth waved off the offer of help.

Rochelle wriggled a little bit in the high chair, once again finding herself annoyed that the pair of them would talk about her as if she wasn’t even there, or couldn’t understand. A sharp look from Miss Anders settled her down though, and she took to just swinging her legs as much as she could against the padded high chair. Resigned to lunch in the strange seat, Shelly just relaxed back into it and tried again to smile at Beth to show there weren’t any hard feelings.

“Alright, well, I’m still working on a few things, but from the sounds of it you two are doing great. If you have any trouble getting them down for naps, come get me,” Miss Anders said, leaning over to give a convincing kiss to her “niece’s” forehead before heading back out.

Being fed lunch was an odd affair for Shelly, but not unpleasant. Despite how bad she’d felt for freaking out on Beth, it was even more fun to mess with the girl as she tried to push pieces of a peanut butter sandwich into Rochelle’s mouth. She squirmed, turned her head at every little sound, spit some bits back out, and basically just made a little nuisance of herself, giggling gleefully the whole time and even clapping at the few playfully exasperated sighs of the recipient of her torment. Soon enough, though, she allowed Beth to get some food in her mouth and kept it there. Admittedly, her spirits were much improved after the little episode, and now Shelly felt she could enjoy herself a tad.

“And you thought she’d be upset at you,” Stephanie said, returning to the snack room from taking a couple of the others off to start their nap.

“I’m still debating it, really,” Beth quipped, turning to Shelly and pinching one of her cheeks playfully, “What with all the trouble you’re giving me eating. Aren’t you giving me trouble? Who’s a troublemaker?”

Stephanie smirked heavily at the tone, and tapped Beth on the shoulder with a familiar looking bottle, “Ah, she’s just playing with you. Here, I found this over by the toys and filled it up for her. You want to take her for a nap, or should I?”

“I got this one,” Beth said, relaying the bottle to Shelly as she slid the tray away, giving the girl’s diaper a quick check, “Yeah, I got this one,” she repeated more confidently on finding it dry. Shelly tried not to show any annoyance at this, but found it harder than she thought.

“Alright, then, you show. I’ll be in with Chadwick in a bit, and I know he and Jess both need changes.”

Hopping out of the high chair, Shelly walked along with Beth to the playroom once more, this time crossing the hallway without incident, though she could feel Beth’s grip tighten a little as they went. There were already a few of the ‘kids’ in their cribs, a couple sitting up, but the others laying down, barely visible over the plush bumper pads, and in short order, Shelly found herself standing next to an almost painfully pink sheeted crib as Beth lowered the side rail.

“Ups we go!” Beth chirped as she helped Rochelle roll into the crib, then she gave the girl a pat on the head before arranging the blankets and hoisting the side back up into place. Almost as an afterthought, she fiddled with something at the headboard of the crib, and a colorful mobile, more pink with stars and moons, came into view, spinning gently.

“There we go. You get some rest little Shelly, and when you wake up, things will look a lot brighter.”

Laying on the soft mattress of the crib, Shelly stared up at the mobile for a moment before sighing and rolling over, curling up under one of the plush quilts, trying not to reflect on how she’d gotten here. Her arm bumped into something cool and hard, and she realized that Beth had left the bottle of juice in with her as she left, and Shelly began to suckle at it, reluctantly. The soft sounds of breathing, a little bit of quiet mewling, and some giggling came from the other cribs, but after a little while, the worker’s voices floated above it all despite trying to keep their speech muffled.

“Ugh,” it was Stephanie, “This is why I hate changing boys. Girls are easy, they just get a little squirmy.”

A little chuckle followed, Beth this time, “Oh relax. I had to put up with it when I changed him earlier today, too. He’s been like that all morning.”

“Huh…” Stephanie again, “I wonder why. Usually it’s not that bad.”

The sound of rustling diapers and then a little whine from what could only be Chadwick, and Shelly could feel her entire body blushing again at the memory of her own change earlier. She pulled a blanket up over her head and sucked harder on the bottle to try and block out the memory of the feeling, but there was no escaping it. Thankfully, the women kept talking, pulling her mind out of her ‘secret’ shame.

“Think it could be that new girl? Shelly?”

“Hmm… he has been rather infatuated with her today.”

“Don’t even want to think about that,” Stephanie said, a bit of a light strain to her voice, and then a sudden giggle from Chadwick. Rochelle blushed harder, suddenly very glad for being born female.

“There, he should be good for a nap at least. I think we might want to keep them away from each other, though. I don’t think she’s returning the love.”

“Nah, they’re fine,” Beth rebuked, “Just let them get used to each other, you saw how skittish she was before lunch.”

“Eh, that’s just nerves. Besides, she’s just a baby. You should have seen her playing with the shapes puzzle. I don’t think she got even a single one right.”

Beth laughed a bit, “Oh, come on, she’s probably just barely walking. She didn’t get very far earlier on her own.”

“True enough. Ah well, she’s sweet enough, and quiet, so that’s a relief. Let’s get these two down, then. That mess in the kitchen isn’t going to clean itself, and sooner we can get it done, the longer we have to relax before they wake up.”

“Roger that,” Beth said, sarcastically.

Once the sounds of the last two ‘babies’ getting put down for the afternoon had faded, Shelly could hear a light lullaby playing through the room. Sitting up slightly, she noticed no one else was awake, and try as she might, she could not pinpoint the source of the sound. With a sigh, and feeling the morning’s stresses catching up to her body this time, Shelly lay back down in the crib, curled up under the quilt, and for the first time that day, fell asleep because she wanted to with the nipple of the bottle comfortably in her lips.

Later, she wasn’t sure how much later, Shelly awoke to a dim, quiet playroom, something nagging at her. Even the light tinkling of the music that had helped her drift off to sleep had stopped. Wondering what it was that had awakened her, she sat up, the rustling of her sheets and diaper the room’s only sound above the gentle breathing from the other occupied cribs. Looking around through the bars of the crib and rubbing at her eyes she again tried to discern what had pulled her from her slumber.

She was just about to lay back down and write it off as her imagination when the source of Rochelle’s annoyance, that which had so rudely woken her up, made itself known. Scrunching her face up and squeezing her butt cheeks together, Shelly began to realize she had a problem. Desperately she looked for a way to unlatch the side of the crib, but none seemed to present itself, and she kicked herself for not paying attention when Beth had put her down earlier.

As the need to ‘go’ grew, so did Shelly’s desperation, and she immediately thought of calling out for help, but Beth’s conversation earlier rang in her ears. If they thought she wasn’t even old enough to walk on her own properly, they’d likely be quite upset to find out she’d fooled them all morning, not to mention probably need a clean change of pants themselves. For that matter, Miss Anders was out of the picture as well, being out of the room. A small part of her hoped beyond hope that she’d be able to just simply hold it in, but as a little squeak of gas escaped her clutches, Shelly knew even that was a no-go.

Trembling with mostly disgust and helplessness, Shelly shifted around so that she was on her knees in the crib, leaning forward to grip the bars, closing her eyes against what she knew to be coming. As the next wave of the urge passed over, she commanded her muscles to simply not respond, to just relax and let nature take its course. She couldn’t hold it back, but Shelly told herself she’d be damned if she was going to do it on her own, either. Slowly, she could feel it start, biting her lip to keep her reflex of clinching it back in from triggering, letting things fall where they may.

She made it about ten seconds like this before her other instinct took over, the muscles reversing their previous held back commands to hold back, things having gone much too far for that, and Rochelle was surprised to find herself pushing the remaining mess out into the seat of the diaper, bladder releasing in the process. She shuddered heavily at the feeling of simultaneous revulsion and relief, feeling the heavy mass against her rear settling, and the warm dampness spread through the absorbent padding.

Five minutes later she was still crouched like that in the crib, one leg already asleep, when Shelly finally admitted to herself that she’d have to move. With great care, she tried to swing one leg around to get the blood flow going to the other. Then she brought her other around, and eased herself slowly onto her back, wincing at the feeling, but knowing it could have been so much worse.

Twenty minutes later, when Beth and Stephanie came to check on the kids, that is how they found her, stinking to high heaven, laying on her back, legs in the air, looking desperate for a change.

“Okay, fine,” Beth said, reaching for the latch on the crib, remembering having gotten away with it before nap time, “I’ve got this one. You want to go start with the others, Steph?”

Within short order, Shelly found herself back on the changing table, cool wipes dabbing all around her most sensitive areas as Beth cleaned up her messy bottom. By necessity, her second change of the day was a bit longer and more involved than the last, and by the time her loins were once again encased in a soft, plastic-backed absorbent undergarment, Rochelle was sure she’d probably owe Beth a tip. As soon as it was done and Beth was satisfied with the cleanliness of Shelly’s nethers, the younger girl scrambled away, not even caring at her stumbling gait as she tried to maneuver around the scattered toys, much to Beth’s amusement.

“Woah, slow down!” Beth chided, stepping after her to place a pair of hands around Rochelle’s waist, “Come on now, take it easy, one step at a time.”

She got as far as the play room’s rug before sinking to her bottom quickly and reaching for a toy, any toy, and hoping that Beth would get the hint and go away. With a laugh, the daycare worker did, leaving Shelly wishing for a cold shower and a rock to hide under. Behind her, back at the cribs, she could hear the other babies being woken up, checked, changed, and deposited in the play area.

Remembering the toy she’d hastily grabbed, Shelly started inspecting it a little more closely now, mostly to avoid watching the shortall-clad boy being changed. It was one of those teddy bears she’d seen on a commercial once, the kind that lit up when you hugged it, though it was a pretty gaudy shade of blue. She gave it an experimental squeeze, seeing that it did indeed light up, and then she placed the bear in her lap, still a bit warm from the attention of the change, and hugged it for all she was worth until the feelings went away.

Chadwick, thankfully, stayed mostly clear of her for the rest of the afternoon, though Shelly did find herself sitting next to him when Miss Anders came and read a story to the entire nursery. It was a cute little tale about a duck and frog, and Rochelle found herself oddly enjoying this. The old woman’s voice was calm, smooth, and gentle, and as she sat on the floor with the rest of the boys and girls, her light up bear clutched tightly again, Shelly found herself relaxing into a sort of blissful, mindless trance, giggling at the funny pictures in the book and clapping with everyone else when the story was over.

“Alright, let’s get you somewhere that we can keep an eye on you, giggly,” Beth said as the story ended, easing Shelly to her feet from behind once more, “Everyone’s mommy and daddy will be here soon, and Miss Anders doesn’t want you running out.”

Running out? Shelly thought, confused at the idea of leaving on her own, but Miss Anders caught her look and nodded very slightly, urging her to go along with it.

Going along with it meant allowing herself to be secured into an oversized infant’s swing, however, and Shelly could not help but show her displeasure at the situation with a little grunt of disapproval. The device reminded her of a baby’s carrier seat, keeping her laid back with her legs slightly spread apart at the knees, several straps running over her chest and through her groin, all the while suspended about a foot above the floor. With a little ‘whrrr’ing noise, a motor kicked in, and the device began to rock back and forth gently.

“Awww, don’t give me that pouty face, honey,” Beth said, reaching over to pat gently at Shelly’s cheek as she swung, “You’ll be out of there once ever thing calms down, alright?”

“Hmph!” Shelly responded, turning her head away from the pats. She’d been enjoying just playing in the afternoon, but this was just pedantic and annoying.

Sure enough, though, there was soon a knock at the front door, and once one child had been picked up, things got a little chaotic. All of the ‘kids’ were now well rested and boisterous, running around the room, crying… smelling, getting changed, and after a little while, Shelly found herself glad that she wasn’t out there in the middle of all of that. Feeling herself getting a bit disoriented from having to watch the room swaying two and fro as she swung there, she leaned her head back into the soft padding and closed her eyes, just listening to the sounds. Every so often she’d try to sit up or shift positions, only to be reminded that the straps that held her in place were really quite sturdy. At least they’d let her keep her light up bear.

Eventually, however, the little motor gave out, the room quieted down, and Shelly was left watching as Stephanie and Beth cleaned up the room. The front door closed and Miss Anders reappeared from the hallway, clapping her hands to get the two girl’s attention.

“Alright, well, what a day, hmm?” she asked, looking around the strewn room.

“You said it…” Beth groaned, standing up from where she was wiping at a little leak puddle the girl in the cute jumper had left on the floor before being picked up.

Stephanie dumped an armload of toys into the trunk by the windows, and let out a long sigh, “Tell me about it. At least it wasn’t all bad. Your niece is quite the little cutie, when she’s not stinking to high heaven. What do they feed her, anyway?”

“This and that, basic stuff,” Miss Anders waved this away, looking over with a smile at Rochelle, “Why don’t you girls pack it in early today. Tomorrow we’ve got the twins coming around, and you know how they can be. I’ll need you both rested.”

Both girls followed the older woman’s gaze, and smiled half to themselves and half at Shelly, “Right, we’ll leave you some time to be with your niece,” Stephanie said what Miss Anders was hinting at.

Beth approached Shelly where she lay in the swing and gave her tummy a quick tickle, “You be good for your auntie, okay? Then we’ll see you tomorrow, and maybe then you’ll want to eat a little instead of just play with it.”

Rochelle giggled at that, and kicked her legs a bit, playing into this girl’s expectations, but it died on her lips as soon as they were out the door. Kicking her legs more urgently this time, tired of being cooped up in the little swing, Shelly grunted a bit and looked to Miss Anders hopefully when she returned.

“Well? Did you get in touch with my parents? Were they looking for me?” she asked quickly, letting her ‘baby’ act slip away.

With a sigh, the older woman pulled the large wooden rocker over beside the swing, smiling in a way that Shelly could only assume meant bad news. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she tried to stay hopeful, even as the woman reached out and brushed some hair from her cheek.

“What’s wrong,” Shelly asked, suddenly feeling very small and afraid.

“I’m afraid I wasn’t able to come up with anything, sweetheart,” the woman started, pushing the swing gently with one hand, hoping this will help soften the blow, “I couldn’t find anyone who knew your parents, and the address you gave me doesn’t exist. That road doesn’t even exist. No missing persons reports, the number you told me was disconnected,” she could see Shelly getting upset at that, and she sighed again, “I’m very sorry.”

Tears stained Rochelle’s cheeks, and her mouth flopped a bit open and closed, not believing any of it. Eventually she got her wits about her enough to talk again, “But… it’s all true, I swear I wouldn’t lie to you!”

Her voice came out sounding quite a bit more panicked than she’d thought, and she choked it back, chewing on her bottom lip.

“I believe you, dear, trust me. You’re an anomaly, that much is for sure. From the mouths of babes, in a most literal sense here, I suppose.”

On the verge of a full break down, Shelly looked into the woman’s eyes, looking lost and suddenly feeling very small.

“So… what… what now?” she squeaked, scared of her own voice suddenly.

“Now, we keep looking. If your folks are out there, they’ll be looking as well, and I’m sure we’ll hear about something. No one wants to lose their baby.”

Trying to take that in stride, Shelly sniffled loudly and nodded, smiling up at this woman for taking her in, despite the way she’d come, and helping her through all of this. She hugged the stuffed bear tightly to her again, its light making her feel a little bit better overall.

“Until then,” Miss Anders continued, reaching into the pocket on her dress’s apron front, “We keep this up. You’ll be my adorable little niece, and I get to be the doting aunt who spoils her rotten, hmm?”

Shelly giggled, in spite of everything, and nodded, “Yeah, I can do that. Just try to be around more often. I really don’t want to have to go through any more messy diapers.”

With a chuckle, Miss Anders gently pushed the nipple of a pacifier into the girl’s mouth and started to unbuckle the harness on the swing. She’d seen the girl’s reaction to the story time, and had been peeking in on her playing in and out during the day. She’d seen that look of genuine fun a couple of times, and suddenly she sort of hoped that they’d not find this strange little girl’s family. Carefully, she reached under Shelly’s arms and lifted.

“Of course, dear,” she cooed, “Now let’s get you out of this wet one and then get some din dins into you, okay?”

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