Chapter Thirty-Four

Bree sat in the middle, of course, in a long skirt and a flowing top that was far more feminine than anything she had owned in her adult life. The neckline was cut low, the waist tapered in a way that felt strange, and the skirt allowed a breeze she wasn't used to out in the open air.

She sat, squished slightly between Jo and Faith, the two of them dressed similarly. Faith's ability to be punk and feminine was worthy of envy, and Jo was just as powerful. They were both the cool older sisters that she looked up to, that she wished she could be like.

The truth of that thought stabbed at the very heart of her.

She wanted to be feminine like them. She wanted to look good in a skirt and a casual, cool top. Not like the frilly dresses her mother had forced on her to receive compliments from relative strangers at church functions, not like the gross femininity her dad pushed on her while his friends leered at her in a way that made her feel dirty and wrong.

Any chance at her own femininity had been stolen, crushed, ground up, and used just like so much of Bree.

And she began to cry.

"Mama, the baby is crying again." Lila said the words off the cuff, like it happened multiple times each day, like she was the older sister informing her parent.

From the driver's seat, Kinsley called back. "You okay, sugar?"

Gentle hugs came from both sides of her, driving home the fact that she truly was the baby in the family. The rest of them had been together for years, helping each other heal and grow, but Bree had kept wandering alone in that desert, not even knowing she was wounded.

She was the baby and she had a lot she could learn from the Dolls.

Nodding quietly, she laid her head on Jo's shoulder, deciding to try something.

Her thumb found her mouth. She felt embarrassed as she sucked on it, she felt stupid, but Jo squeezed her around the shoulders, calling back to Kinsley. "She's going to be okay."

"I'm still the princess." Lila declared out of nowhere, pulling a small laugh from Faith.

The redhead reached forward and put her hand on Lila's shoulder, reassuring her. "Of course you are, sugar. Everyone knows you're the princess. Long live Princess Lila! May her diapers always be thick!"

Laughter answered before everyone - besides Bree - echoed: "Long live Princess Lila! The Diaper Princess!"

Family. A strange family, but truly a family.

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No one at the theater had batted an eye. Despite her mind screaming at her that everyone was looking, that everyone could see the collar and hear her diapers, no one cared. The girl at the ticket counter hadn't cared. The boy at the concession stand hadn't cared.

Bree herself was the only one that cared.

She could see from the others, Faith, Jo, and Lila, that the skirts - shorter and with tights for Faith and Lila, longer for herself and Jo - worked just fine to hide their secrets, and that no one around them had any clue. That the embarrassment and fear was all in her head.

Yet another learning, a small piece of knowledge, that she hadn't known she needed. She was safe with them, and Kinsley wouldn't put her in a situation the Dolls couldn't handle. They wouldn't let her wander into danger, and they would put her in danger. Not really. Remembering it all, she'd never been in real danger, even when she had been chained to things, even when she had been spanked.

Every bit of pain she had brought upon herself in her stubborn resistance to admit that anything was wrong in her heart, foolishly trying to push forward with a "normal" life, with a dignity she didn't need that hid so many pains she didn't even know about.

"You're going to like it so much," Lila promised them all as she carried the absurdly oversized tub of buttered popcorn toward the theater. Bree couldn't remember the last time she had gone to the movies with a group of friends. Sometime in high school, friends that had long since turned their backs on her. "It's so good. I want to put the soundtrack on in the car on the way home. I want to listen to it until I know all the words to allll the songs."

Lila's childlike glee was infectious. Every last one of them was excited as they walked into the dark.

"You'll have to squeeze my hand when we get to your favorite part." Faith was ever the one to stoke Lila's excitement, and Bree was starting to see just how adorable and special that was. She might never know exactly what was... off with Lila, but she did know that Faith worshiped her in a way that was beyond normal love and admiration.

"Like I can pick one favorite part!" Lila laughed. Bree and Jo followed Faith and Lila up the lighted steps, meaningless commercials playing on the screen behind them. "I'll be squeezing your hand every ten minutes!"

So very similar to the bitter char on the outside of a good burger, Bree sensed something wrong in the theater. Instinctually, she glanced to her right and saw them. Rednecks, good ol' boys, angry and glaring at her. At them, at all of the Dolls. Three of them, sitting alone in the middle of one of the lower rows. The showing was late enough that there weren't many families in the theater, and there were many blessedly empty seats. But those three pairs of eyes, she could feel. It would have been enough to make her turn around and run in times gone by, but that would have been three-on-one, and this time she had a whole family. She wasn't going to be the lone, hated queer - she had loved ones that would stand together with her.

Not that it would come to that.

Faith's continuing excited chatter brought her back to reality. "Is Olaf in it?"

"I'm not gonna tell you, dummy. Don't be an idiot, spoilers are the worst. Trust me, this movie is incredible."

The movie was, in fact, incredible. It had been funny and heart wrenching, and as promised, the music was incredible - Bree had never actually told any of them that she hadn't seen the first one, but that didn't seem to matter. Or at the very least, it didn't spoil her enjoyment of it.

Or her heartbreak.

The movie made her sob several times, her arms wrapping around Jo or Kinsley at various points for emotional support. She was raw, her defenses had been dismantled and she had been honest with herself about the pain she hadn't even realized she carried all day. And one of the songs absolutely broke her heart.

It was what she had always tried to do, because there was no other choice. She tried to do the next right thing, to just keep moving, to just keep surviving. There, in the darkness of the theater, comforted by hugs of people who loved her, and surprisingly comfortable in her diapers, she knew she wouldn't have to face it alone.

She was one of the Dolls, and they'd keep her until they were sure she was ready to go. Just like they had done with Jo, just like they had done with Emmie. Just like they would do with some damaged soul after her. It was simply what they did.

And she felt like an idiot that she hadn't seen it sooner, that she had truly tried to escape them. That she had almost thrown it all away because she hadn't known better.

When the movie ended, Bree stood immediately, as soon as the full credits started rolling but Kinsley's hand shot out and pulled her back into her seat, the force causing her diaper to squish pleasantly between her legs. The thought surprised her, the fact that she was actually enjoying the diapers. She knew, logically, that she should be horrified and furious that Lila had drugged her, that they had all gone along with it... but it opened the doors to a whole new world.

One where she truly belonged.

Idly, her right hand found its way between her legs, squishing her padding in the relative darkness of the theater.

"So?" Lila looked hopefully at all of them.

Faith answered first, to no one's surprise. "Loved it. Absolutely loved it! That. Was. So. Cool."

Chewing her lip slightly, Bree's consciousness faded away from the conversation, knowing they wouldn't ask her opinion - she was the baby. And one with a warm, squishy diaper between her legs. It was hard to even remember the last time she had gone to the toilet on her own. Days? A week?

And it would be several more days yet, thanks to the drugs.

The Dolls chattered for a while, refusing to even stand before the credits were completely done. Kinsley's hand eventually reaching over and taking Bree's, pulling it from where she had been exploring her diaper. Blushing furiously, she realized that Kinsley knew.

"Well come on, Dolls. Let's get headed home. Maybe hit a Taco bell on the way."

That brought a bouncing squee from the Princess. "Lilarito!"

"Of course, sugar." Idly, Bree wondered if the Taco Bell had a secret Lila-centric menu like the ice cream place. It seemed doubtful though. She tried to force her mind anywhere except dwelling on the fact that she had been caught red handed, knowing that Kinsley would bring it up eventually.

Bree had been thinking about the buzzy-wand.

The crisp night air felt good as they stepped out, walking with other stragglers toward the cars. Bree hadn't even noticed the smokers off to one side as they walked.

Until the voice called out in the dark. "Fucking dykes need Jesus. Y'all are gonna burn in hell." More voices, male, joined in the laughter.

Bree stumbled at the harsh words. Kinsley's arm wrapped around her shoulder, guiding her forward.

"Hey ugly! Your hair looks like someone butchered a Barbie!" Bree's stomach fell into her feet at that. She knew that, she knew it needed to be shaved again. A sudden anger at the Dolls for not letting her flared to life inside her.

But Faith surprised her, stopping dead and turning around, marching back.

"Don't." Jo's pained voice begged her, a hand grabbing at Faith's arm. But there was a fire in the woman's eyes that wouldn't be denied.

The redhead called, strong and fierce, back at them. "Y'all tiny dicks are just jealous that she's got a girlfriend and you don't! Mind your own fuckin' business and go back to pickin' on each other instead of insulting women who ain't done nothin' to you! And y'all don't know shit about our Faith."

One of the three laughed, but the others sounded angry. Jo grabbed at Faith again, trying to turn her around, obviously wanting to escape. Devastated, Bree only kept moving forward because Kinsley propped her up, half-carrying her off. Already raw from so much emotion that day, Bree's defenses were completely gone and the cruel words cut to the very core of her instantly.

Sobbing, she was guided again into the back seat of the car, Jo and Faith hugging her immediately, before Kinsley even got in the car.

"Don't you pay them no mind," Faith tried her best to offer comfort, but Bree was in shock from the whole ordeal. Just like that, bigots had taken their joy. Well, Bree's joy. Faith shook her gently. "Hey. Hey. Their minds are as small as their dicks, they don't matter. You're here, with us. You're safe. Nothin's gonna happen to you, okay?"

Nodding quietly, Bree wiped at her tears. Jo was silent, offering support but saying nothing at all.

Kinsley asked no one in particular, "Should we put the soundtrack on? We still want to listen, not gonna let them take that from us. Tonight was good."

In a gravely serious tone, Lila responded.

"Hit them with the car."