165.)

The car warmed up a little faster than the first time, and Blossom and I were both too full for energetic conversation. I remember looking out at the freeway, at the reflective signs that slipped past, and then...

The sudden quiet of the car engine woke me up. I looked around blearily. The sight of the beach house was broken and cut apart by the headlights and the sleep in my eyes. I moved my glasses out of the way and rubbed them, but I didn't feel any more awake.

"Mmm..."

"Most babies fall asleep super easy once the car starts driving, cupcake,”

Blossom teased, leaning over to kiss Amy on the cheek. "Want me to carry you inside?"

"Like you could," I grumbled. But challenging Blossom like that was a surefire way to get her to try. So before she could get out of the car and walk around to my side, I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out into the cold. Horrible.

The inside of the beach house was so warm and cozy. I unzipped my coat and rubbed my eyes again. Everything was a little fuzzy.

"I think maybe my little baby girl might need a nap; you're looking very dozy. And Miss Blossom here has just the recipe for sleepy tired girls - diaper, binkie, and cuddles in bed. That's just the ticket, isn't it?"

"Mm..." I grumbled, because that was my usual response to teasing. But after a long day of writing and a night of poor sleep, a diaper and a binkie sounded like a great idea.

"I'm too tired to be stubborn," I said dismissively, giving her the win.

"Just the thing I like to hear," Blossom laughed.

She took my hand and led me up the stairs. I wasn't sure if she was walking fast on purpose or if my body was more sluggish than usual, but I had to struggle to keep up. I almost slipped on the stairs, but she held on tight to my hand. It was actually kind of Littling.

"Alright sweet girl, up on the bed you get; you let Miss Blossom take care of everything."

In this case, Miss Blossom - which she decided she quite liked as a title - was going to be putting Amy in a nice, thick, crinkly diaper; lots of baby powder, a nightie, and her binkie. Bedtime attire that any Little could be envious of, and the bare minimum of what Amy deserved. Blossom made her way over to the trunk in the closet to start fetching her things.

Miss Blossom... that brought a bit of color to my cheeks. I sat down on the edge of the bed and blinked my eyes hard. I thought I could get over the sleepiness, but the ritzy mattress under my butt was soft and inviting.

It would be softer and more inviting in a diaper, I reminded myself.

"I don't need help getting ready for bed," I said, the barest of arguments.

"The fact that you think you don't is all the more evidence for the fact that you do."

Diaper. Powder. Where was that nightie…

That was circular logic, and the circle was too big for me to follow. I was too tired to figure out why what she said wasn't a good argument. So I sat there and waited until she came back to the bed with a diaper and a lavender shirt I had never seen before. I tilted my head curiously, but Blossom put them both down on the bed before pushing me gently onto my back.

"You don't gotta do this," I tried again. I didn't have the energy to reciprocate, and I was feeling just a little bit guilty. But that guilt was hard to obsess over, lost in the fog of sleepiness.

"Sweetheart, what grownups do is none of the business of little girls your age. Your business is to look cute, play make believe, and give lots and lots of love. And you have an A+ in all of those things."

She began to unbutton Amy's jeans as she talked.

"Grade...?" I misheard her, I think. It felt like her words were coming in and out of focus, and her comforting tone was all the more lulling.

"Of course."

Blossom cooed, slipping my jeans down and off my feet. I shut my legs and tried to pull down my shirt over my panties. I hated this part. As Blossom unfolded the diaper, she continued to talk.

"You have an A+ in looking cute. And an A+ in make believe. But only a B in diaper training."

"You mean potty training," I mumbled.

"Oh no no, in potty training you have a D-. And I'm sure if we work hard, together, we can get you down to an F for Fully Unpotty Trained - won't that be the best thing ever?"

Despite her efforts to keep her legs together, Amy was no match for Blossom Brixley. She parted Amy’s legs and pulled down her panties.

I couldn't argue with Blossom when I was naked like that. I couldn't play into her game, and I could barely listen. As she tapped my thigh and I raised my hips, as she set the diaper under me. Then, she pulled it up between my legs and I held it against my stomach. My anxiety started to settle down and the comfort of the diaper warmed my soul. What was she saying?

"F is a bad grade," I said, not fully remembering why I was getting graded in the first place.

"Well that's a matter of perspective, right? If someone wanted to give you a grade on Being Mean To People, you'd want an F in that class, right?"

Blossom was fastidious with powder, and she had gotten very good with tape placement and symmetry too. Those were grades worth getting A's in.

"I guess so? But why would anyone have a class on that..."

"That's a good point," Blossom said. "We should just take you out of potty training class altogether. Your diaper training class is going so well."

"Wait, uh... I didn't say that..." Did I? Gosh, I was tired. And the smell of baby powder was lulling me further and further into Littleness. I just wanted Blossom to pull me into her chest and play with my hair. I just wanted to be a good little girl for her.

"I'll make some calls tomorrow and get that mix-up figured out right away."

Blossom taped the bottom tapes, and then she taped the top tapes. Blossom patted the front of Amy's diaper with satisfaction before she prompted the girl to sit up so she could put her binkie in her mouth and finish getting her dressed.

I didn't care enough to argue anymore. The diaper fit so snugly, and everything felt so soft. My whole body was aching to relax, and my eyes were heavy. But when Blossom unfolded the lavender shirt, I saw that it wasn't a shirt at all. It was a cotton nightgown, with colorful trim along the hem. And embroidered on the front was a cupcake.

"What... where did you..."

"It's your nightie, cupcake. Little girls your age are best served with nighties so Miss Blossom can check and change your diaper during the night, or in the morning. You should know that, but it's okay that you don't. That's why you have me~"

Blossom was radiant and proud of herself.

"That's not what I..."

"Arms up," Blossom interrupted.

Blossom grabbed my shirt by the hem and pulled it over my head. I had to catch my glasses to keep them from falling off my face. Then she maneuvered around me to unhook my bra with the expertise that I could only attribute to Blossom Brixley.

"I mean, where did you get that? When did you get it? I didn't get you anything..."

"We talked about you needing a nightie," Blossom said, bunching up the lavender gown and pulling it down over my head. She threaded my arms into the sleeves and tugged it down.

"I know we talked about it," I said. "That's not the same as getting one."

"'Talking about it' is the part the little girl gets to be a part of. 'Getting it' is the part that the adult handles, and you don't need to worry yourself about that."

"Yeah, but..." But I didn't get her anything. Was I supposed to get her something? But before I could argue any further, she put my pacifier between my lips. I didn't even see her get it out of my backpack. I looked up at Blossom with a blush on my cheeks.

"That's right, I can see your butt nice and easy in your nightie!" Blossom had become pretty good with wordplay.

Blossom ushered me further up the bed and laid me down on the pillow. She put the blanket over me and took my glasses off my nose. Everything went blurry.

Blossom's face came into focus and her lips pressed against my forehead. Then she walked away into the mess of foggy colors. I watched her shape move around. I watched the color of her shirt lift up, and then fall to the floor. Her bra was black; I could see that much. Then that fell to the floor as well.

The next thing I knew, the mattress shifted and Blossom was crawling into bed next to me. She was wearing pajamas. Then the light clicked off. I felt Blossom's hand on my arm, and then a tug. I rolled onto my side, so that my head was against her chest, and the front of my diaper was pressed against her thigh. I reached over her and wrapped my bare arm around her stomach. Her pajamas were satin.

"Sweet dreams, cupcake."

"Thwwwttt..." I slid the bulb of the pacifier to the corner of my mouth so I could talk. "Sweet dreams..."

Blossom stayed awake for a little while after Amy drifted off to sleep, but her thoughts weren't erratic, and her mind wasn't racing. There was nothing keeping her from falling asleep. She simply wanted to watch Amy, to watch her drift away into her dreams, to focus on the way she breathed and the way her heart beat. A few months ago, falling asleep with someone like this was inconceivable. But now that it had happened, Blossom couldn’t have wished for a better way to fall asleep.