“Miss Molly?” Vivien finally worked up the courage to ask for her caregiver’s attention as she finished letting the other girl dress her.

“Just a sec, sweetie.” Molly smiled, rolling a pair of knee high green socks up both of Vivien’s feet to match the dress she’d been forced into for the day, a simple outfit for the first day of school.

After a few days of this, Vivien was nothing if not used to being embarrassed, but the aching pain in her belly was beginning to give her chills. There was no reason for her to be given so much dairy, especially given her intolerance to lactose, but that hadn’t stopped Molly from doing it anyways.

Vivien’s caregiver put her hair pack up in a cute little ponytail for good measure, making sure to use the cutest rainbow hair tie she could find. “And done! Did you need something, doll?”

“Y-yeah.” She mumbled back, her latin cheeks flushed a shade of pink. “I think I have a tummy ache.”

“You think you have a tummy ache?” Molly giggled at her. “Or you have a tummy ache?”

“I have a tummy ache.”

“I see.” The younger girl said as she lifted Vivien’s dress to check her diaper. “Doesn’t seem like you’re having that much trouble down here though.”

Molly was right. Vivien was fine for now, but she knew that soon enough she was going to explode. These sorts of tummy aches only meant one of two things, gas or the runs, and she could only pray it would end up being the former.

“It hurts, Miss Molly.” The little one said, knowing better than to complain about any potential mess she was worried about making.

“Your tummy hurts?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“How bad?” Molly said as she held the back of her palm to Vivi’s forehead.

“Pretty bad.” She frowned, rubbing her belly with one hand.

Her caregiver looked her over for about half a minute before nodding. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Where else would I be going?” Molly grinned innocently. “To get the nurse!”

Vivien could feel a lump forming in her throat as she sat there waiting for her caregiver to get back, only for Molly to return within a few minutes with a familiar red cladden panda sister at her side.

“Your tummy hurts?” Alex said in an almost mocking tone as she stepped through the door. “Did somebody eat something that doesn’t agree with her?”

“Yes, Miss.” Vivi responded, almost matter of factly. “I’m lactose intolerant.”

“Go ahead and tell Miss Alex where it hurts, sweetie. She’s a nurse, she can help.”

“It’s my stomach.” She instinctively snapped in response to her caregiver’s teasing. “I’ve been in pain all morning.”

“And you said you’re lactose intolerant?” Alex nodded, gently feeling Vivien’s belly. “You did have grilled cheese and milk for lunch yesterday, didn’t you?”

“I mean yeah.”

“Don’t you think that might be causing your tummy pain?”

Vivien blushed. “Y-yes.”

“Problem solved then.” Alex rolled her eyes, turning back towards Vivi’s caregiver. “She’s just being fussy.”

“Thank you, Alex.” Molly blew the other caregiver a kiss as she walked out the door. “Now that wasn’t too hard, was it?”

Vivi crossed her arms in frustration. “Why’d you drag the nurse all the way over here?”

“To make a fool out of you.” Molly added with a similar attitude. “I know you’re all jittery about the first day of school, but a gassy gut isn’t something you should be getting all huffy about, baby doll. If you know it’s just milk sickness, don’t whine. It will pass through you whether you like it or not.”

“Then why’d you feed me grilled cheese and milk in the first place?”

“Vivi.” Molly just stared at her. “Do you really need to ask that question?”

The little one just got huffier. “You knew it was going to give me a tummy ache.”

“I did. But it was what the other girls were having for lunch, so that’s what I fed you.”

“But why would you feed me like that if you knew it was going to make a mess?”

“Because I know that I’m the one who’s going to clean the mess up. Part of why I don’t let the other girls change your diapers is because I know you’re going to be a bit more difficult to keep clean than the other littles, and that’s just not fair to my sisters.”

“You mean you’re really just fine with cleaning up after me?”

“Of course I am, sweetie.” Molly gave her a loving grin, extending her hand towards the little one. “Now let’s get you your pacifier and your little friend, and let’s take you to breakfast with the other little ones.”

Molly collected Vivi and her things before escorting her down to her first ever breakfast with the other little ones. The small cafeteria was more of a repurposed lounge than anything, retrofitted with an attached kitchenette just across the door.

This place’s breakfast setup was clearly designed for a much bigger group of people, because there were several small tables and plenty of empty space. Only a small cluster of tables towards the front were even remotely prepared by the time they walked in, and that was just where some of the other girls were sitting with their caregivers.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Teased Alex. It almost felt like they’d only just seen her a few minutes ago.

“Vivi here’s just fussy about her tummy ache, but she’s not getting out of her first day of school.” Molly piled on, directing her little one to the table where the other girls sat.

Vivien found herself being locked into a high chair as quickly as she sat down, while Molly got to sit in an ordinary looking cafeteria chair like Shannon and Alex. In order to help the babies out, the caregivers sat next to their assigned students, but it wasn’t strictly enforced.

Molly slid the high chair to the right before seating Vivi, putting the girl next to Charlie to the right, while Molly got to sit right next to Alex. The curly headed little one, all dressed in yellow, smiled and waved at Vivi as she arrived. It took seeing Charlie well rested this morning to realize how sleep deprived she’d been the last couple of days, but she looked much better for wear.

None of the other girls were putting up a fuss or protesting this morning, which surprised Vivien. Even Maisie, sitting alone on the other side of the table as her babysitter took care of breakfast, didn’t seem to take much issue with breakfast. That might have just been because her caregiver was away, though.

As Vivi settled into place, she saw Alex lean in to listen to Luna whisper something into her ear. “Lulu is shy, but she wanted me to tell you that your dress is pretty.”

Luna quickly blushed, trying to hide her face from her large stuffed elephant. It was hardly a compliment, Vivien’s dress was nothing more than a simple green thing with a few white polka dots, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

“I didn’t want to overdress her for the first day.” In contrast to Vivien, the other girls were just a bit more dressed up for the first day of school, but Molly made sure to straighten out her little one’s outfit nonetheless. “But it looks like you two went all out.”

Charlie, oddly enough, looked like she was wearing something you’d see on a third grade boy. She had a pair of denim shorts which did nothing to hide the bulge of her diaper beneath, and a short sleeve yellow button up that wasn’t designed to account for the curve of her chest.

Maisie was once again wearing a tutu, this one sparkly and white. Atop it she wore a blue t-shirt, printed with a brilliant white unicorn on the front to complement her skirt and the diaper she wore beneath it. White socks were just a bit basic, but the light up shoes were a cute touch.

Lulu on the other hand was wearing a borderline sexualized schoolgirl uniform. Short sleeved white top with a crimson plaid skirt hanging from her hips, showing off both a whole lot of navel, and a whole lot of diaper.

Clearly the only rule they had been given was to make sure the girls dressed in their color, but apparently not everyone had gotten the memo. Yeah sure, her tank top was orange, but the prevailing color she sported was black. And it was everywhere.

“Bang!” A quite energetic Zoey exclaimed as she kicked open the cafeteria door, jumping to the adjacent table and standing on top of it. “No way am I sitting in a high chair!”

There was the huffing and puffing Vivien had expected to see from some of the more rebellious girls, and she was fitting that bill perfectly. Unfortunately for Zoey, her caregiver was the toughest one of the bunch.

“You are not a dinosaur, Zoey.” Jenna scolded her, two hands on her hips. “Save your running around for recess and get down here this instant, or you won’t be getting a recess.”

“No.” The girl responded, her arms crossed at her chest. “This is stupid, humiliating, degrading, and-”

Zoey’s words were quickly replaced with squeaks as Jenna grabbed her by the skirt and lifted it to let everyone else see what she was wearing, a pink diaper covered in unicorns.

“There.” Jenna said, holding her other hand out for Zoey to take. “Now come down and play nice with the other kids.”

Zoey just blushed as she took her caregiver’s hand. “Yes, Ma’am.”

And with that Jenna kept one hand on the girl’s ass as she walked her to the table and helped her into a high chair like the other littles.

“C-cute diaper.” The shy Luna managed to say out loud this time, watching Zoey slowly approach. That sure earned a round of giggles from the rest of the caregivers at least.

“I’m starting to think she wants the other girls to see her diapers at this point.” Jenna said with a yawn. “But morning Zoey is not a job for morning Jenna.”

Breakfast proceeded as normal at that point. Jenna got up briefly to get herself a coffee, while Chelsea returned with food for the girls, setting bowls down one by one onto each high chair tray.

“Oatmeal, really?” Maisie mumbled to her caregiver as she sat down.

“If you don’t like it, I’m sure I can pour it up the other end, sugar.” Chelsea smirked, giving the girl a wink. “Now do you want me to feed ya, or do you wanna do it yourself?”

Maisie blushed, nervously staring at the bowl. “I can do it myself.”

“Okay, sweets.” Her caregiver responded before giving Maisie a kiss on the cheeks. “Just don’t burn yourself.”

“Wow, Michelle.” Jenna commented as she returned with coffee. “Gonna make the other kids jealous by letting her feed herself already?”

“After cooking breakfast for six kids, yeah. I need a break myself.”

Vivien just turned to Molly and blushed, quickly losing interest in the conversation at hand. Oatmeal. It just had to be oatmeal. Her stomach already ached, and now she was being force fed oatmeal.

What a nightmare.

“Open up, Vivi.” Molly said as she held up a spoonful of oatmeal towards the girl. “Don’t make me pry those lips apart myself.”

You’d like that. Vivi thought to herself, wishing she had confidence to say something like that, even if she wasn’t sitting here dressed like a toddler. But as per Molly’s instructions, she slowly opened her clenched teeth and allowed herself to be fed.

It wasn’t even the milk that bothered her at this point, she just didn’t like oatmeal. She pressed forward anyway, however, knowing that she just simply had no choice.

“That’s it.” Molly praised her, blowing on the next spoonful to help cool it down. “Say ah .”

“Ahhh.” Vivi mumbled out of obligation, reluctantly accepting another spoonful of the sludge before feeling her stomach bubble just a bit.

Despite her best attempts to keep it in, Vivien farted, and it wasn’t the kind that she could really hope would be ignored. It didn’t have much of an odor to it, thankfully, but it was loud enough to get the whole table to pause for just a moment.

“Vivien.” Molly was the first to acknowledge Vivi and her gas. “What do you say when you fart at the breakfast table?”

“Nnnnghh.” She murmured, hearing some of the others begin to giggle at her. “Excuse me?”

Even the most prude women at the table couldn’t help but crack a smile at her humiliation, but as they thought about it, the other littles certainly weren’t the ones to have the last laugh.

“Five out of six isn’t bad.” A new voice said as she stepped into the room, holding a clipboard. “But have any of you girls seen Robin and Aubree?”

The woman in question, like Miss Panda, was Mexican. Unlike her boss however, she was small with a short head of messy brown hair. She had at her side yet another girl that none of the littles recognized, this one a much less composed American woman. She was dressed casually, if at all assuming that she’d gotten out of pajamas for this, in what was clearly midwestern farm fashion. It was almost like she was ripped straight out of Kansas for this.

Her standout feature had to be that thing she wore around her neck, though. A thick metal band encircled her otherwise naked throat, free of markings save for a single blinking white light at the very front. She remained quiet as the other woman, her handler, spoke.

“I realize that group breakfast isn’t mandatory for you girls, but I had been hoping that you’d all at least be here for day one.”

Most of the table nervously exchanged looks with each other until Jenna, the designated leader of the group, finally responded. “None of us have seen them this morning, no.”

“Yeah, and we kind of all know why.” Alex added once she was finished, shrugging her shoulders.

“And that would be?” The frankly kind of frightening woman didn’t even look up from her clipboard.

“Ummm.” Alex glanced around the table before swallowing her nerves. “Because the baby you assigned her is kind of a delinquent?”

“Oh?” She continued to focus on anything but the girls in front of her. “Are you questioning my decision to put them together?”

“Not at all, Ma’am. It’s just that Aubree wouldn’t be a very good choice for anyone. I’m only saying this now because I don’t want my Luna getting hurt by one of Aubree’s temper tantrums.” Alex said, squeezing her little one’s hand. “And I know Robin doesn’t really like us and all, but even if she’s just Ruth’s replacement, I don’t want her getting hurt either.”

The woman finally looked up from her clipboard. “What was that?”

A few of the other caregivers tried to shush Alex before she could say much more, which she didn’t really listen to, and it took her a moment to figure out what she said wrong. “Oh shit. It just slipped out. I’m sorry.”

“Regardless.” The woman shoved the clipboard into the hands of the girl at her side, slowly beginning to roll up the sleeve of her left arm. “We don’t say that name here anymore.”

Split seconds later, Alex violently tore her hand away from Luna’s, running her fingers through her own greasy head of teal hair. “I know, Miss Eva. It won’t happen again.”

“I’m sure it won’t.” Eva gave her a reassuring smile. “But this will be a good demonstration.”

Upon rolling up her sleeve, the woman had what looked to be upwards of ten smaller devices, each color coded in black, white, pink, or one of six colors of the rainbow, save for a single unmarked band towards her elbow. There wasn’t much time to wonder what those did, because in the blink of an eye she had her finger pressed against one of the buttons on the red bracelet at her wrist.

For about five seconds, Miss Alex looked to be in some indescribable amount of pain. It quickly faded away to leave the poor caregiver gasping for breath, but not before a few of the girls could notice the bright red light glowing from beneath the collar of Alex’s uniform, something that all of the caregivers had.

“And that, dear little things, is just one of the punishments we are capable of here.” Eva remarked, rolling her sleeve back down to conceal the array of colorful bracelets on her forearm. “I am surprised to see that only a small subset of you have put collars on your new toys, however. I must have incorrectly assumed that it would be a day one thing.”

“Miss Moreno.” Jenna finally cut in, giving her a gesture begging the other woman to stop. “Please read the room.”

Eva just blinked in confusion as she scanned across the faces of everyone at the table, before looking like she’d just had an epiphany. “Oh. I see. Collars. Yes. Right. I can see now where the hesitation would come from.”

Collars? Vivien swallowed nervously, glancing over at the pained caregiver on the other side of Molly. Looking closer for a moment was enough for her to see what exactly had caused the sudden flash of light and jolt of pain. Alex had a collar clasped around her throat, just like Eva’s companion had.

Why is she wearing a shock collar? Her eyes slowly drifted towards her own caregiver. Is Molly wearing one too?

“Nevertheless. I compliment you girls and the selection of collars for your girls.” Eva quickly wrapped up. “Enjoy breakfast. Don’t let your little ones be late for school. Good luck.”

She and the girl at her tail quickly made their way back out, leaving the rest of the room to return to breakfast. Harder said than done when several of the new students were suddenly terrified of what exactly was going on around here.

“Was that a shock collar?!” Alex’s little one said with terrified tears in her eyes. “I don’t want a shock collar!”

Alex just whined under her breath as she took Luna’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m not giving you a shock collar, sweetie. Don’t worry.”

“What the fuck was that?” Charlie exclaimed from beside Vivien, her anxiety and skepticism at an all time high. “Why are you wearing a shock collar?”

“Are you all wearing shock collars?” Zoey said with a raised eyebrow, looking up at her own babysitter as she grabbed at the punk rock black band around her neck. “Is this a shock collar?”

The room was about to break out into utter chaos when Jenna finally found her strength for the day fully awoken, climbing up onto the table and standing over everyone.

“If I hear another word out of any of your little mouths for the rest of the morning, I will personally clean your tongue out with soap.” She said without a hint of a smile on her lips. “If the grown ups aren’t capable of having grown up conversations around the infants, I will see to it that you’re all silenced with a ring gag and fed mush to keep you quiet. So unless you don’t want to have pleasant breakfast sessions before school anymore, behave for your babysitters. That’s an order.”

The fussiest of the new students cowered in fear as she scolded them, desperately trying to avert their eyes from Jenna as she climbed back down to the floor.

“Breakfast is over.” She snarled as she curled her fingers into Zoey’s scarlet red hair, shoving her little one’s face into the bowl of oatmeal before just as violently yanking her back upright. “Get your stuffies. Get your pacis. It’s time for school.”

This is going to be a lot harder than I thought it would. Vivien curled in on herself as the bowls were collected and each of the caregivers began retrieving their girls for morning classes.

“Miss Molly?” She murmured as she was brought right back to her room. “What’s going on?”

“Quiet baby. Mommy is working.” Molly shoved Vivien back into the wall, reaching down and lifting the front of her dress.

Vivi knew by now not to interrupt or question what Molly did when it came to her own diapers. She was being checked for messes, just like Molly had said she would, and Vivien almost wasn’t embarrassed this time.

“Impressive! You’re still all clean!” Molly cooed at her as she took the rest of the skirt and began lifting the dress over Vivien’s head entirely. “I brought you all the way back here because I was sure you were going to need a change, but nope!”

“Wait, what?” Vivi blushed, instinctively covering her naked chest rather than the diaper at her waist. “Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been complaining about your tummy hurting for one, and I heard the sounds your butt was making back there.” Molly snickered. “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t stink yourself back there.”

The little one scoffed, definitely embarrassed. “I never said anything about having an accident, Miss.”

“That doesn’t matter, sweetie. You’re not supposed to. If you had, I wouldn’t need to check. But you didn’t say anything, so I had to check. That’s my job, remember?” Molly smiled warmly, repeating the rules for Vivi’s benefit. “Mommy is here to take care of you. You’ve been doing a good job of not fussing. I was going to be sweet and make sure you were cleaned up and changed before school.”

“I’m sorry, Miss. My tummy still hurts, I’ve just been holding it in.”

“Tsk tsk.” Her caregiver rolled her eyes. “Look where that’s gotten you.”

Vivien was suddenly kicking herself for not having the guts to just get it over with. If she’d let go and messed herself at breakfast, she’d be getting a diaper change before school, but instead she had no choice but to go to her first day with an aching tummy. “Yes, Miss Molly.”

“I brought you all the way back to your room anyway, I’m going to change you into some cuter clothes and do your makeup since we have some extra time. And since you’re gassy, you might not want a skirt.”

“Please.” Vivien nodded, swaying nervously in place. “I’m scared.”

“I know you’re scared. I was scared too.” Molly reassured her. “But at the end of the day, we’re all people here. Me and my sisters included.”

“Miss Molly? Do you wear a collar like Alex does?”

“I do.” Molly confirmed, pulling down the fancy little neck frill of her uniform that usually hid it from view. “We all do, Jenna included.”

“Why do you wear a collar?”

“For the same reason you do, love. I’m owned.”

“You’re owned?”

“I’ve never told you anything about me, have I?”

“No, Ma’am.” Vivien shook her head, holding her arms up as Molly helped her into a dark green tee to replace her dress. “Would you?”

“If it’ll help ease your fears, sure.” She smiled, helping Vivi into a pair of brown shortalls. “But not right now.”

Vivien sat down at Molly’s behest, sitting still so that her caregiver could do her makeup. Concealer, foundation, mascara, eyeliner, blush, lipstick- the whole nine yards, and it looked perfect. The little one was dressed in knee high green socks, a t-shirt, brown overalls, and some cute shoes to boot, topped off with a small green little backpack to take with her to school.

“Perfect.” Molly smiled at the cute little doll. “My little girl is ready for her first day of reeducation.”

“Miss Molly?” Vivien stuttered through her painted lips. “Do I have to do this?”

“Yes.” She said without question. “You have to learn to become a proper slave.”

“But why?” She asked. “Don’t you like me as I am?”

“I do. But it’s not about what I want.”

“Why not?”

“I’m owned too, sweetie. I do as I’m told.”

“You said I was going to be yours, though. How can I be yours if you’re owned too?”

“You’re mine right now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Molly?”

“Yes, baby?”

“You were telling the truth when you said you were going to keep me, right?” Vivien said with an ache in her voice. “You weren’t lying, were you?”

Molly hesitated. Her lips parted to speak before gently falling back closed, searching for something to say. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“Molly, please-”

“I said we’ll talk about this later.” Molly repeated. “Say- yes, Mommy.”

With a heavy heart, Vivi gave in and nodded. “Yes, Mommy.”

“Good girl.” Molly took Vivien by the hand. “Now come on. It’s time for school.”