College or Cribs

Chapter 17
Partner's in Crime

Chapter Description: Chris wakes up from a restful sleep to see if Wubby has set things right.

PART 2

Chapter 17 Partner’s in Crime.

Chris woke up the next morning before he opened his eyes. Instantly his senses were on high alert; a good night’s sleep had somehow stripped him of this altered reality before; and he began to take stock with his other senses, for fear that his eyes might deliver to him unspeakable bad news of the mundane. First, he took stock of his bladder. It was empty. Good. When he was potty trained, he tended to wake up with a full bladder, diaper or not. Granted, bed wetting didn’t necessarily mean anything, but it was a good start. He squeezed his legs together gingerly, they were greeted by the familiar bulk of a diaper. Then again, he was in a diaper the morning of the incident with Sherry. The feeling of a diaper in-of-itself meant nothing.

He moved his hands to his chest and glided them down to his diaper. A light cotton, like the breeziest of T-shirts caressed his finger-tips. The material kept going and going and going. Where a T-shirt would have ended near the top of the waist, this material kept going down below. Not completely unexpectedly, Chris’s finger tips brushed over a line of hard, smooth circles. Buttons! They were right along his pelvic area. Crotch snaps? Adult garments didn’t tend to have crotch snaps, not counting clothing for the infirm and bedridden. Chris experimentally wiggled his toes and lightly kicked his feet. He felt fresh air pass over his legs. Meaning his legs were bare. Onesie. Good. Definitely babyish.

He gave his padded crotch a squeeze. It was much like squeezing a well-used sponge. Wet. Chris smiled to himself. The onesie and the wet diaper had eased his fears greatly, but he still wasn’t ready to open his eyes quite yet. He shifted his weight slightly on his bed and was rewarded with the rustling sound of the plastic sheet on the mattress beneath him. He slowly fanned his arms out and felt them touch wood bars to either side. He was in a crib. He was in his crib. Success! Chris reached out and groped around for something. His hands snatched around a pile of fluff with beady eyes and a button nose; Wubby. He clutched Wubby and cuddled the bear close.

Chris took a deep breath through his nose and was treated to the smell of stale urine barely covered up with baby powder. He was definitely in his nursery still; in a word; still home.

With his free hand, he grabbed a wooden bar and pulled himself up to a sitting position. He let out a contented sigh as his eyes began to open.

“That was a great night’s sleep, wouldn’t you agree Wubby?” Chris asked his magical stuffed animal. Chris groaned and grunted as he stretched his arms out. “Goooood morning….Sammy?!”

In the far corner of the nursery, right next to the changing table, Samantha was crouched low to the ground. She was holding a backpack open and was ever so carefully slipping the over-sized diapers into it. She waved over to Chris and put her fingers to her lips. “Shhhhhhh”.

“Sammy!” Chris practically shrieked. “What are you doing?! Get out of here!” he turned to Wubby, shaking the bear as he talked. “What is she doing? You were supposed to fix this, Wubby! You were supposed to fix this!” Wubby, for his part, did nothing.

“Sammy, you can’t do that!” Chris hissed through his teeth. “Diapers get expensive over the long haul. Don’t you think mom keeps at least some kind of track of how many diapers there are? If you steal that many, she’s going to notice and will get suspicious.”

“Morning Chrissy,” Sammy whispered, completely uncomprehending of the sage advice her brother was giving her. “Don’t mind me, little guy, just go back to sleep.” She slipped one final diaper into her book bag and zipped it shut. Sammy had stuffed her back with no small number of adult-sized Pampers. The bag was obviously full, and it wouldn’t take much of a detective upon handling the bag that it wasn’t filled with books.

Chris’s eyes darted around, looking for some way to stop this. He had to save his little sister from herself. In a panic he saw the baby monitor and yelled, “Mom,” he yelled, “I mean Roxanne,” he corrected himself, “I mean…WHATEVER! Come quick Sammy is stealing diapers!”

Sammy’s eyes lit up, but not with delight. Even if no one in this reality could understand Chris, they could still hear him, and screaming babies were best attended to straight away. Her breathing hastened and her eyes darted around the room. She clutched her backpack tightly as her head moved on a swivel, to the crib where Chris was screaming from, to the changing table where she might be yet be able to return the diapers without getting caught and finally to the baby monitor itself.

Sammy paced to the baby monitor and snatched it up. In a clear and calm voice that contradicted the obviously terrified expression she wore, she said “Sorry mom, I wanted to help out some more and decided to wake Chris up. I think he’s confused because you usually do it. I’m sorry. I’ll handle it.”

“Okay” came Roxanne’s distant voice from several rooms and likely a floor away. With that, Samantha Cole turned off the baby monitor. Her expression relaxed visibly. Chris was incredulous, and for that matter a little jealous. Was it really that easy? Why hadn’t Chris ever thought of that? Was his sister really just that much cleverer than him in the ways of deception? Sammy walked over to the crib and lifted Chris out of it.

“Ungh,” Sammy grunted as she shifted her brother onto her hip, “you’re gettin’ heavy. Now why were you making all that fuss when you saw me with those diapers?” she cooed. Chris grimaced as he felt two fingers probing the leggings of his diaper. “Oh, I know,” Sammy concluded, “you thought you were going to get changed. Well, fair is fair,” she remarked as she crossed to the other side of the room in a few strides. “Down you go.”

Chris now found himself lying on the changing table, looking up at his little sister’s face. Before he had time to properly react, she was pinning him down gently with one hand while a tummy strap was being buckled over him with the other. Within seconds he felt the snaps on his onesie being undone, and was greeted by the sight of a sodden diaper as Sammy pushed the onesie up to his belly. Fair was fair, and at least Chris wasn’t losing anything in this exchange. Either Sammy would get caught, or she wouldn’t; he still got what he had wanted, which right now was a clean diaper followed by a spoon-fed breakfast and maybe some breast milk for desert.

Wait….problem. There was no WAY he was letting Sammy actually change his diaper. He felt like a total pervert and a creep when she had witnessed Sherry change his dirty diaper the other day, and even now his cheeks were flushing from remembering the close call he had suffered yesterday when she had just been pretending to change him. Immersion in fantasy be damned! THIS! WILL! NOT! PASS!

“Nooooooooo!” Chris screamed as he shot his hands down to his crotch just Sammy was going to undo the first tape. “No! Nononononononononono!”

“Chris,” Sammy admonished. “Get your hands out of the way. I can’t change you like that.” She attempted to slap Chris’s hands away.

“THAT’S THE IDEA!” Chris shouted back, trying to make as much fuss as possible. He began to wriggle and turn as much as the tummy strap would let him. He shook his hips and squirmed. He used the palms of his hands to cover up the diaper tapes, so Sammy couldn’t get to them. Whenever she pried one hand away from a tape, Chris would slam his opposite hand over her targeted area.

In his current state, he wasn’t strong enough to overpower Samantha, but he could struggle enough and move his hands fast enough to foil her advances. Diaper rash was nothing compared to the shame he faced. Fortunately enough, while reality itself seemed to mask him as a baby, changing his relative weight, strength and size of his infantile garb, surface area and volume remained intact. He might not be stronger than Samantha, but he was still bigger than her, and his arms and hands were longer and bigger than hers.

Then disaster struck. With deliberate concentration, Sammy grabbed Chris’s left thumb and yanked it off of his diaper. Chris pulled and tugged, but it wouldn’t come loose and Sammy wouldn’t let go. Then, with Chris’s thumb still clenched between her pinky and ring finger, she pried his other hand loose, and now held his thumbs bound together in her one hand, with the other free. Chris might as well have had his thumb fused together for as much as he could separate them. Now he was vulnerable.

Sammy let out an audible breath, having bested her “baby” brother, and with her free hand reached forward and-

Scritch.

The right tape of his diaper was undone. Chris felt cool air blow onto his hip. He was losing. One more tape, and it would be over, he would be exposed all over again; this time without even Sherry’s presence to comfort him.

Chris felt his face growing red hot from frustration and embarrassment. He squirmed, his hands trapped in Sammy’s vise grip. The world was slowing down as Sammy reached for the tape on the other side of his diaper.

“It’s okay,” a tiny voice whispered in his head. “Just let it happen. You’re a baby now.”

“Noooooooooo!” Chris blubbered. “Pleeeeease! Nooooooooo! No! Nooooo!” Hot tears streamed from his eyes. Sammy was about to continue, but then withdrew her hand upon seeing her brother’s face.

“You don’t want me to change your diaper?” she asked him. Chris shook his head. “No?” she cooed. “You don’t?” Chris continued shaking his head, acutely aware of how ridiculous he looked laying on the changing table, diaper exposed and half-open, and bawling. Sammy let go of his hands.

“Well…….okay.” she said, as if she were having doubts, herself. She then reached for Chris’s diaper again. Immediately Chris shot his hands down to cover himself. He was not going to fall for this.

“Really?” Samantha said as she rolled her eyes. “Just because I’m not going to change your diaper doesn’t mean I’m going to put you in your high chair naked. Now lie still.” she commanded. She reached forward with two hands a pulled the thick and sodden night-time diaper taut as she taped it back in place. “There,” she confirmed more to herself than to anyone as she undid the strap across Chris’s stomach. She took his hands in his and looked him in the eye. “Now sit up for me, big boy.” Chris nodded and used Sammy as an anchor to pull himself up. Chris could feel himself calming down. He was out of the danger zone of personal boundaries. For now at least.

Sammy cast an appraising eye on Chris. “I’m going to at least say I helped a little,” she told him. “Now arms up.” Chris did as he was told and raised his hands above his head. Clumsily Sammy worked to slide the onesie off of Chris. It took about ten seconds longer than it should have between it bunching up in certain spots and getting stuck as she tugged it off, but all in all it was a good effort. Finally, still wearing a wet diaper, but keeping what remained of his modesty intact, Chris found himself back on what passed for his little sister’s hip and heading toward the door out of his room.

“Almost forgot,” Sammy whispered to herself as she got to the door. Sammy doubled back with Chris in tow to get the backpack she had left on the floor next to the shelf with the baby monitor. “That could have been bad,” she said mostly to herself.

“You have no idea,” Chris whispered.

Sammy ventured out into the kitchen with her AB brother on one hip, and a backpack filled with pilfered Pampers on her opposite shoulder. Obviously, her mother would have questions to ask about the backpack. The fact that Summer Break had barely begun would have thrown too much suspicion on her.

“Remember the game we played yesterday?” Sammy cooed to Chris in a voice barely above a whisper. “Sneak-sneak?”

Chris couldn’t help but feel pity for his little sister. He remembered the tension, the near paralyzing fear of getting caught. So many worse things could happen if you got caught than just being grounded. A suspicion that never left their eyes….or worse…talking! He let out a breath. He felt he owed Sammy given her present predicament. Chris nodded his understanding and made a deliberate showing of pressing his pointer finger to his lips.

Very nonchalantly, Samantha walked into the kitchen and gently placed Chris into his high chair. She buckled him in and quickly slid the tray in place. “So far so good,” Chris mumbled to himself.

“PLAYER ONE, GET READY!” A man’s voice blared into the kitchen. Both sibling’s heads snapped around toward the living room. Not 20 feet away, remote in hand, Briana was on the couch starting a game with the television turned to max volume. Both Chris and Samantha instinctively winced and covered their ears. Then, as if also by instinct, Sammy made her first slip up.

“BRIIIIIII!” Sammy screamed. “TOOOOOOO LOOOOUUUD!”

BEE-BOOP!

Bri hit the pause button and whirled around. “Mehneh!” She growled childishly. “Kakadoodiepoopoohead!”

“Bri,” Sammy scolded her younger sister, “that was WAY too loud, and you know it! You don’t want to scare the baby, do you?!”

“He don’t look scared to me,” Bri pouted, her arms crossed in defiance. Then she saw the backpack still hanging from Sammy’s shoulder. A question was forming on her pudgy face. She pointed at Sammy’s book bag.

“Uh oh,” Chris yelped. Sammy nervously followed Bri’s stare and connected the dots. Already the gears in her head were turning, but she didn’t have time to make up a lie.

“Hey,” Brianna asked, “why are you-?”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Chris wailed. He scrunched up his face and screamed incomprehensibly as he slammed his hands over his ears. “SCARY! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” It was the only opening that Samantha needed.

“SEE WHAT YOU DID?!” Sammy yelled over Chris’s screaming, leaning into her sister’s face, taking full advantage of the height difference. “I’M TELLING MOM!” She spun around and bolted for the stairs.

“No, wait! Don’t!” Bri called after her. Her weight shifted like she was about to dash after Sammy; and so Chris redoubled his crying efforts.

“Stop crying!” Bri said somewhere between commanding and begging. “Please!” she added. Chris kept screaming. “Funny face?”, Bri asked, before squishing her face in her hands. Chris’s eyes followed Samantha till she reached the top of the stairs. She tossed her book bag in her room before taking a sharp left turn towards their parents’ room. Then, and only then, did he allow himself a smile.

“FUNNY FACE!” Bri cheered, clearly believing herself to be the cause of Chris’s mirth. Chris had no reason, or the ability, to disabuse her of this belief. Instead, he put on a dopey grin as Bri continued to mug for him. His sister really was quite creative, Chris mused to himself, as Bri pulled her lips back revealing her teeth, as she stuck out her tongue. Granted she was a bit of a brat, but she meant well for the most part.

Chris had long assumed her outlandish behavior was the result of being the baby of the family. He thought she was acting out because she was allowed to. Now that she was the middle child, not much had changed really. Same obsession with video games, same tendency to speak in nonsense words, that was Bri in a nutshell. Maybe Bri acted the way she was because that’s who she was; a silly brat.

“What’s going on here?” Roxanne’s voice interrupted Chris’s reverie and Bri’s breakfast funny face show.

“Bri was playing her video games super loud and Chris started crying.” Samantha tattled.

“It never bothered him before,” Bri said getting defensive.

“Well, he’s not crying right now,” Roxanne concluded looking Chris over, “so that’s the most important part. No harm done. Bri, you can go back to playing your games.” Bri took her cue and practically sprinted back into the living room, not even breaking her stride to vault over the couch.

“PLAYER 2, BUZZ IN!” The television blared.

“TURN IT DOWN,” Roxanne shouted into the living room, and Bri quickly replied. Roxanne turned her attention back to Chris, while Sammy just stood there, eyeing Chris nervously, as if he would give away her secret or otherwise tell on her. Sammy started to back away slowly toward the direction of her room.

“Samantha,” Roxanne called to her daughter, “why is Chris just in his diaper?” Sammy froze, a deer caught in her mother’s headlights.

“I-I-I,” Samantha stammered. “I didn’t know what to put him in, so I figured just let him chill in his high chair for a little bit.”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” Roxanne hummed. “And why, may I ask,” she pressed, “is he still in his wet diaper?”

“I changed him,” Samantha lied. “He must have wet that one just a little while ago.” Chris had no time to react as he saw Roxanne’s hand disappear under the high-chair’s tray. His face flushed as she squeezed his crotch.

“Now I know you’re lying.” Roxanne accused her eldest daughter.

“What?” Sammy croaked.

“First off,” Roxanne began ticking off her fingers, “He’s wearing an overnight diaper. It’s thicker and the decorations are different. Secondly,” she kept going, “the diaper is way soaked from multiple wettings. Thirdly,” she continued, “he’s wet, but his diaper isn’t warm from it, meaning any accidents aren’t fresh ones. And finally,” she let out a long sigh while she stared Sammy down, “I’m your mother. I know what you look like when you’re lying to me. Now let me see what you look like when you’re telling the truth.”

Sammy was shaking. She was cornered and looking like she was out of ideas. Her mom had caught her in a lie. Her knees quivered and she licked her lips as she thought of what to say. Then the truth came out…..sort of.

“I-I-I…I panicked,” Sammy admitted, her voice beginning to crack. “He kept fighting me and kicking and moving like he didn’t want me to change him.” Her breathing was becoming ragged. “So I just gave up and put him in the high chair. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t want to call you because I knew you’d be disappointed in me. I’m a terrible sister!” she bawled. Shoulders heaving, face read, and tears running down her face, Sammy stood their crying while her gangly frame swayed like a marionette caught in the wind.

Motherly instinct overtook Roxanne and she moved to comfort her child. She held Sammy close. “Shhhhhh, it’s nothing to get so worked up about,” she shushed. “Sometimes babies get a little squirmy, and maybe he was a little….freaked out because you’ve never changed him before. It’s usually me or the babysitters that take care of that, so he was just confused because you broke his routine, that’s all. Your father doesn’t even change his diapers.” Samantha started to dry her tears and she looked up at her mother.

“Really?” Samantha asked.

“Really,” Roxanne confirmed. “He never changed your or Brianna’s diapers when you were babies either. I think by this point, he’s actually a little proud of it.”

Samantha smirked a little, her tears gone. “You should make him do it, every once and a while.”

“Yeah,” Roxanne smiled, as she let Sammy out of her embrace, “I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Every time I’ve brought something like that up, he brings up the whole ‘Doctor’ and ‘makes most of the money’ thing, so he doesn’t think he should have to help with all the baby stuff.”

“That sucks,” Sammy commiserated as she sniffled a bit and looked her mother in the eyes. “I still wanna help. It’s just harder than I thought it’d be.”

“It always is,” Roxanne agreed with a sad smile. “ Seriously though, Sweety if you want to help, that’s great and all, but you’re going to actually have to…you know…help.”

“Do I have to change him?” Sammy asked, her lip curled back a little bit. “He’s a boy. Sherry told me some things, and I’m kind of scared that he’ll…you know…pee on me or get an erection, or something.”

Roxanne for her part threw her head back and laughed. “Ha! No, not yet. We’ll take it in baby steps. Pun intended. I’ll change him right after breakfast and get him dressed.”

“Well, what can I do?” Sammy wanted to know.

“You can…” Roxanne paused to think for a moment, “…you can pack me his diaper bag.”

“Okay!” Sammy beamed, undoubtedly Chris knew, because it would give her the chance to steal spare baby supplies. “I’ll get right on that!” She practically skipped out of the kitchen towards the nursery.

“Wait,” Sammy said as she poked her head back in. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”

“We,” Roxanne clarified, “are not going anywhere. At least you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. Chris on the other hand, has a little play date today.”

“Play date?!” Chris exclaimed. “What play date?!”