Mikaela savored every moment of triumph and every ounce of the horror and humiliation that wafted off of her little cricket.

She had planned this out, waiting for just the right moment to unveil the new rules. Patience had been key, not only did she have to wait until her little cricket had grown used to the new status quo, she also had to wait until Beth ran through her remaining stash of diapers.

It hadn’t taken long. Since Mikaela insisted Beth keep her diapers fresh and changed regularly, she’d gone through what she had left in less than a week. And, just like Mikaela had expected, she was so used to her automated shipment of new diapers that she didn’t even notice. It didn’t help that Mikaela insisted on staying tidy, which meant that–instead of piling up in the corner–her diapers were hidden from view most of the time, in a dresser drawer. From Beth’s perspective, she had diapers left, and the exact count didn’t matter…

Until just a few minutes before her new mandatory bedtime, Mikaela watched through a crack in the bedroom door as Beth crouched down and began to push.

(Excellent,) Mikaela thought to herself, smirking as she watched her little cricket fill up her last diaper. This had been a ploy of hers–use her diaper just before bedtime, then drag out the change, winning a few minutes of extra freedom before she was inevitably put to bed.

Mikaela couldn’t have set it up better if she’d tried.

Waddling out of her bedroom, legs splayed slightly to accommodate the extra bulk and weight, Beth glowered at Mikaela. Wearing only a baggy T-shirt and a saggy diaper, she looked as adorably helpless as Mikaela could ever have hoped. “I need to change before bed.”

Mikaela raised an eyebrow. “Ahem.”

Rolling her eyes, Beth repeated, “I need to change before bed, Nanny.”

“Alright,” Mikaela replied, nodding, pretending not to know what Beth would soon discover.

She toddled to the dresser in the living room, pulled open the drawer, and reached inside to–

“Erm…” Beth mumbled, frowning. She crouched, and Mikaela got a whiff of her latest ‘accident’–smelly, noticeable, but not overpowering.

(Wonderful.)

She watched Beth try every drawer, before spinning to face Mikaela. “Where are they?”

“Where are what?” Mikaela asked.

“My diapers,” she insisted. “Where are my diapers?”

Mikaela drew her lips into a line, waiting to be asked properly.

“Where are my diapers, Nanny?”

(Better.) As though she’d only just heard the question, Mikaela tilted her head. “Oh, did you use them all? Well, I suppose you should have ordered more.”

“You aren’t letting me buy stuff.” Petulance radiated off Beth so strongly that it could’ve been used to calibrate a mood ring. “And, whatever, I need to change.”

Mikaela knew Beth would have stayed in a dirty diaper for hours if she’d been left alone, but she didn’t bring up the point. “You didn’t ask to buy new diapers. Did you even notice they were missing?”

“Yes,” Beth lied. “Whatever. I’ll order some, pay for overnight shipping–it’s fine, I’ll just wear panties tonight.”

“And ruin your sheets? I don’t think so.” Standing, Mikaela said, “If you could be trusted without a diaper, you wouldn’t have to wear them all the time, but if you want to start potty training, well–be my guest.”

Beth threw up her hands, acutely ignoring the threat of potty training. “So, what. You’re going to make me stay in this diaper until new ones show up?” Despite her exasperation, Mikaela caught a hint of excitement–as though Beth wanted to be trapped in her diaper.

Mikaela genuinely considered it, but only for a heartbeat. “No. I’ve got something for you, little Beth, it will take care of this problem.”

Turning, Mikaela knelt, retrieving her purse, making a show out of the small movement, so that Beth would be tempted to try and see.

“You got diapers for me?” Beth asked.

Mikaela shook her head, instead taking out a small paper booklet. She held it in her palm, half concealed, building the anticipation a little longer.

“What is it?” Beth began, annoyance fighting with curiosity. “Nanny?”

With that last word, unprompted, Mikaela decided the girl had been teased long enough and turned, holding it out. About five inches long and a couple tall, there was no mistaking what she’d given Beth.

“What’s this?” she asked, as though she couldn’t read the text clearly, as though she held a foreign object in her hand.

“This,” Mikaela announced, looking down at the paper booklet, “is your checkbook.”

Beth looked up at her, baffled. “Why do I need a checkbook?”

“So that I can keep track of your spending, of course,” Mikaela replied. “I’ve decided to let you have control of your money again–so long as all purchases are made with this. I set your name on the account as ‘Beth Brown’. I know it’s not as generic as your other names, but I thought the acronym suited you.”

Beth looked down, then back up, fuming. “I can’t buy things with this.”

“I think you’ll find that you can,” Mikaela replied. “Most stores still accept checks. And–wouldn’t you know–we’re not too far from a twenty four hour pharmacy. Let’s go break that in, shall we?”

Beth’s eyes widened. “Hold on…”

Mikaela grinned, savoring her fear. “I’m not asking, I’m telling. If you try to argue any more, I’ll free your piggies, one by one.”

That finally pushed her into obedience, of a sort. “Fine, okay. I’ll write the check, who am I making it out to?”

Shaking her head, Mikaela instead walked past her, into Beth’s bedroom. Taking a pair of sweatpants from her dresser, she turned, holding them up critically. “I think these will cover up your diaper well enough.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “I’m not–you’re not sending me to go get them myself, are you?”

“Of course not,” Mikaela replied, giving her a moment of relief before bursting it. “We’re going together.”

“I–I’m messy,” Beth stammered.

“No, ‘Messy’ is the state of your bedroom before you clean it,” Mikaela corrected. “Your diaper is poopy, and that’s why you need fresh ones.”

“You’re not going to expose people to that, are you?” Beth asked. “That’s–it’s–”

Snickering, Mikaela walked over to her, crouching to hold open the legs of the sweatpants. “You can’t even say it, you know your excuse isn’t going to cut it.”

Brow furrowing, Beth stepped into the pants. Mikaela pulled the drawstring tight over her mushy diaper, running a finger through the waistband so that it didn’t catch or fold anywhere. The girl just whispered under her breath, looking for all the world like a moody teenager.

“What was that?” Mikaela asked, standing to look at her. “Use your words, Beth.”

Beth fought to avoid eye contact, keeping her gaze down. It was adorable. “I hate you so much.”

“One more try,” Mikaela insisted. “Remember the rules.”

Fuming, hands balling into fists, Beth finally got it right, looking up so she could glare her anger right into Mikaela’s eyes. “I hate you so much, Nanny.”

Mikaela beamed, her face full of sunshine and warmth. “There’s a good girl.”

…

Elizabeth calculated her revenge upon Nanny as the two of them walked–hand in hand–across the street to the pharmacy.

The intruder, her competitor, had been a thorn in Elizabeth’s side since her arrival. She simply had no leverage–Nanny had no online accounts to exploit, no dirt trail to follow, nothing. In a physical contest, Nanny won, and in a digital battle, Elizabeth had no ammunition.

She’d tried everything. Recovering her accounts was impossible–Nanny had control of all her electronics, and insisted on supervising all her ‘screen time’. She slept in the living room, and had put locks on Elizabeth’s door and windows, with the asserted logic that Elizabeth had nowhere she needed to go–it’s not like she needed to use the bathroom late at night, did she?

She couldn’t ask her peers for help, she couldn’t reclaim her finances, all she could do was play along with Nanny’s game and watch for an opportunity. And now…this.

Elizabeth didn’t shop. She had things delivered to her–under false names, of course–or packages delivered by courier. But now, as the pharmacy’s door chimed and they stepped in, she was expected to–

“Go on, sweetie,” Nanny coaxed. “Go pick out the kind that you like.”

(Oh god,) Elizabeth fumed. (Just say it so the whole store can hear, why don’t you?)

In truth, the whole store probably had heard–only one person was working, a guy in his forties who smirked as they walked in. Elizabeth didn’t know if he detected the obvious bulge beneath her sweatpants, or if he could smell the accident she’d had just a little while earlier, but he saw her pout and that was enough for him to snicker.

Elizabeth looked his way, memorizing his face, putting him on her revenge list. Once she was free of her Nanny, she’d also take out her anger on anyone who’d enjoyed her suffering. She could just imagine the cashier, dressed up like a cow… no, a calf, stuck on all fours, forced to drink bottles of milk while he filled up a diaper, begging for her mercy–

“Come on, now,” Nanny proclaimed. “We need to get you changed, don’t dilly dally.”

Knocked out of her fantasy, Elizabeth straightened. She fully believed that if she waited any longer, Nanny would just shout the truth in detail; she'd already practically announced that Beth was in a diaper.

Waddling, trying to keep from squelching her diaper too much lest it blow out or leak, Beth beelined towards the incontinence aisle.

Of course they didn’t have her favorite brands. No Behindz, nothing remotely cutesy, nothing with adorable designs for adults–most of the options were various flavors of medical diapers, ranging from ‘tasteless sack of elastic’ to ‘would leak within ten feet of a water molecule’. She’d only have a remotely cute option if she tried squeezing into the largest size of pull-ups available.

She weighed that option for a moment, debating which would be better. She had to deal with the constant awareness that, whatever she picked, she’d have to waddle up to the register and buy it. (I wonder if I can act like these are for someone else?)

“Do you like the princesses?” Nanny asked, pointing at one of the Pull-up packages that she’d been eyeing.

Brow furrowing, Elizabeth snatched a basic-but-effective package of SouthCoast Superiors. “No.”

“Alright, well,” Nanny said, reaching for the princess pull-ups. “Let’s get both, just in case you change your mind.” Stacking the new package on top of the SouthCoast diapers in Elizabeth’s arms, she smiled with so much condescension that Elizabeth could see it rolling off her in waves.

She hesitated a second longer. Maybe she could shop longer, to put off the inevitable checkout? But, if she did that, Nanny might keep adding things to the purchase. At least for now it was just diapers, if she wandered into the baby aisle she might throw in a pacifier, just to grind it in a little harder how helpless Elizabeth had become.

“He’s going to notice,” Elizabeth muttered, half in protest, half in pleading.

“Be quick, and maybe he won’t,” Nanny replied, without a shred of mercy.

Already blushing, Elizabeth forced herself to march to the corner, telling herself that the crinkle beneath her sweatpants wasn’t too obvious. Seeing an opportunity, she pivoted, moving instead to the self checkout–maybe this wouldn’t be too bad.

Since Nanny didn’t stop her, she set the packages down, scanning both over the little barcode reader. She wouldn’t have to interact with the cashier at all, she just had to check out and…

Pay.

‘Please insert card, or select method of payment’. The digital display mocked her, showing only three options, cash, credit, or debit. She couldn’t pay by check.

She hesitated, staring despondently at the words on the screen. Maybe–

“Can I help you ladies?” the cashier asked, stepping up to them.

Nanny offered no help–she stood back, letting Elizabeth take all his focus. “I…” she started, blurting out an excuse. “Do you think these will be good for my grandma?”

As if her excuse wasn’t pathetic enough, Nanny tittered softly behind Elizabeth, holding up her hand to her mouth.

The cashier just smiled in a knowing way and nodded. “I’m sure.”

Finally cutting in, Nanny said, “She has to pay with a check.”

“Oh, well that’s no problem–come right on over, I’ll get you rung up at my register,” he replied.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Elizabeth inhaled, fully aware that a vague aura of stink followed her. He knew the diapers were for her–he didn’t have to know she’d used them.

“Come on, sweetie,” Nanny coaxed, taking Elizabeth’s hand and pulling her gently towards the register, holding one pack of diapers.

Elizabeth grabbed the pull-ups, waddling behind, fumbling at the hem of her sweats so that they wouldn’t sag.

The cashier rang up both packages quickly and professionally, making conversation as he did. “Are you two ladies having a good night?”

“Good enough, other than our little emergency,” Nanny said, smiling innocently.

“Well, that’s why we’re open late.” Looking at the display on his register, the cashier read out, “That’ll be forty two sixty nine.”

“Alright,” Elizabeth said, shuffling from foot to foot, aware she had to move quickly if she wanted to get out before the smell could build. Reaching in her pocket, she took out the– the–

The checkbook.

“Erm…” she started. “I don’t–”

“Write the amount here,” Nanny stepped in, pointing. “And here, but with letters instead of numbers. Then you write the name of the store here, the date up here, and at the bottom you’ll sign your name.”

Flushing, Elizabeth began, aware of every pen stroke, fingers shaking with humiliation and rage. She was a wizard of the economy, able to infiltrate accounts with ease, she had more money than several countries stashed away in her crypto wallets and sockpuppet accounts, and here she was, writing a fucking check to pay for–

“Oh, and be sure to fill out the subject line,” Nanny added. “You can just put ‘Diapers’, we’ll remember the other details.”

(I am going to kill you,) Elizabeth thought, signing ‘Beth Brown’. (Or, no, better–I’m going to tie you up, and put you in a little box, and I’m going to ship that box to myself, and when it arrives, I’m going to smash it with a–)

“Hoo boy,” the cashier said, nose wrinkling. “You weren’t kidding about it being an emergency, were you?”

Elizabeth’s rage shattered, and she melted, hand barely gripping the pen as she finished writing ‘diapers’ in the subject line.

“Sorry about that,” Nanny told him, tearing the check free, leaving a watermark version on the contact paper beneath. “She didn’t realize she was down to her last one, and I don’t know what she likes.”

He shrugged, accepting the check. “It’s fine, that’s why we’re here.”

Barely able to form a coherent angry thought, Elizabeth just stood there, fingers numb, as she was handed a receipt and two shopping bags. The plastic bags were so thin that she could easily read the labels, and so would everyone they passed on the sidewalk when they walked home.

“You two have a nice night now, okay?” the cashier replied.

Nanny nudged her. “Say thank you, Beth.”

“Thank you,” Beth mumbled weakly. Nanny took one of the bags so that she could grip her hand, leading her to the exit.

Before they could leave, she paused, saying in a breathy tone, “Oh, Beth.”

“What, Nanny?” Beth started, only realizing what she’d said aloud after she’d already said it.

Stepping behind her, Nanny reached down, pulling at the waistband of the sweats, adjusting them…so that they properly covered her diaper. “You tucked your shirt into your diaper, sweetie, everyone could see.”

“I…”

(But…)

(That means…)

She’d never stood a chance of hiding it. The cashier had noticed the moment she turned her back to him.

Once they were on the street, Nanny changed her tone–she didn’t need to act cutesie in front of the cashier. “You did very well, Beth. I’m proud of you–maybe if you prove you can be trusted shopping like this more often, I’ll let you go out on your own occasionally.”

Despite herself, Beth smiled at the praise, unable to keep her face in control. It was only after a couple seconds she managed to fight a scowl back into place, her true emotions regaining control. “Can we just go home and I’ll change now?”

Nanny frowned to the side, tapping a finger to her lips as she pretended to think it over. “No.”

“What?” Beth demanded, stamping a foot on the sidewalk–she didn’t care, she’d done all this, she deserved to get what she wanted, right?

Nanny shook her head disapprovingly. “It’s past your bedtime, so I’m going to make you wait until morning for a change. Next time, maybe you’ll learn to change sooner.”

Beth’s eyes widened.

Nanny had given her what she wanted.

“I hate you, Nanny,” she said again.

“I know, Beth,” Nanny replied, smiling sweetly. “Now, let’s get home and get your tush into bed.”