Grace found herself floating in space when the timer buzzed.

She’d lost all sense of time, all sense of herself in the corner. Her eyes shut, her body wrapped into a tight little ball on the stool, she’d successfully shut out every part of the world that could remind her just how deeply she’d fucked up.

When the bzzt bzzt bzzt of the kitchen timer rattled in her ears, the world came rushing back in with it.

Her knees hurt from sitting in such an awkward position, and her butt hurt from the hard stool. She’d gone mostly nose-blind to the odor wafting from her diaper, but Grace could still tell it was there, accompanied by a squelch as she started to sit up.

“Hey,” Pearce said, behind her in a second, taking her arm.

Grace almost jerked away, but her legs had fallen asleep beneath the knees, and she’d have fallen if he didn’t catch her.

“You did it,” he praised. Grace thought he might be preparing more teasing, but his tone sounded authentic. “Let’s go get you clean, okay?”

A scathing retort built in her throat. She let it die and nodded. “Okay.”

She needed his support for the first dozen steps, till they got to the stairs. Even once she could walk on her own, though, she stayed with Pearce, letting him lead her up the stairs, holding onto her arm.

He took her to the bathroom, where not only were the changing supplies all laid out, the tub had been filled with sudsy water as well. “I figured, since it’d be about bath time anyways…” he explained with a shrug.

Grace nodded, getting on her knees before laying down onto the mat. When she’d pictured her first messy diaper in her head, she’d imagined herself taunting Pearce, challenging him to give up rather than get his hands dirty. She didn’t have the energy for verbal sparring, so she only laid back and let him go to work.

He unbuttoned the straps of her shortalls and pulled them down, then did the same with the button snaps of her onesie, pulling it up over her head.

That left her only in her diaper, which clung to her bottom in a lumpy, saggy mess. Taking a deep breath, Pearce untaped her diaper, unfolding it and exposing the muck within.

Grace crossed her arms over her naked chest and braced herself for the cold touch, but when Pearce began to work with the wipes, she felt warmth instead. She sat up, slightly, confused.

“I, uh, heated them up,” Pearce said, simply. “There was a DIY tutorial I found with a candle warmer–it doesn’t matter.”

“Thanks,” Grace mumbled.

She noticed his shallow breaths while he got her roughly clean, but neither of them said anything. Pearce just got her clean, doing a reasonably thorough job to make sure there was no mess left on her skin.

“Into the tub?” he said, offering his hand for support.

Grace accepted his offer and got to her feet, cautiously stepping into the warm-but-not-hot water. She sat in the tub, knees pulled up to her chest, trying not to openly pout.

Pearce let her steep in the water for a moment, taking the time to move the old diaper into the bathroom’s pail, stash the wipes, and wash his hands in the sink. “How’s the water?” he asked, snagging a washcloth as he crossed the two steps back to the tubside.

“I’m a fucking idiot,” Grace replied.

He hesitated halfway through picking up the soap. “I’m not sure what that means for the water, though.”

“The water’s fine,” Grace added, pulling herself into an even tighter ball. “I’m just such an idiot. I didn’t even notice Devon until–And Brains, I was shitty to him for no reason.”

“He texted me to explain what happened.” Pearce sudsed up the washcloth, scrubbing her back gently.

“He couldn’t just tell you?” Grace asked, weighing what that meant.

Pearce pursed his lips. “No. He wasn’t talking much in general.”

Grace shut her eyes and pulled herself even tighter, resting her forehead on her knees. “Fuck. I’m such an asshole.”

“No you’re not.” Pearce set aside the washcloth for a moment. “I mean, you can behave like a real jerk sometimes, but that’s not what you are.”

“Hmm,” Grace mumbled.

“Hey.” Pearce rested a hand on her shoulder. “I need you to open up a bit, okay?”

Grace rolled her eyes. “I’m not really interested in a heart-to-heart.”

“No, I mean. So I can wash you, you’re bundled up tighter than a ball of yarn right now,” Pearce explained.

“Oh.” Grace released her arms and let her body unfold, sinking back into the tub.

He washed her down, in no particular hurry, ensuring Grace got properly clean. When he brought out the shampoo in particular, it felt alarmingly close to a scalp massage, and Grace couldn’t help but sink into it and smile.

Cleaned, washed, and rinsed, Pearce let her soak a little longer before pulling the plug. “Now let’s get you in your PJs for the night, okay? It’s almost past your bedtime, and you still need to have dinner.”

“Is the pizza still warm?” Grace asked.

“I set the oven to super low and have it resting in there,” Pearce confirmed. “It’s still warm.”

“Thanks,” she said, sitting up and reaching to drain the water.

“I think I should be the one to do that, technically speaking,” Pearce chided, but he didn’t stop her. Grace rolled her eyes, pulled the drain, and got out of the tub.

Her PJs were, at least, not too awful. Pearce had found a footed sleeper in her size, with pink-and-white stripes and a zipper in the back. After applying a liberal quantity of baby powder, he taped her up into a nighttime diaper, helped her step into the sleeper, and zipped it up in the back. The material was stretchy and snug enough that the outline of her thick diaper stood out obviously beneath the stripey fabric.

Once zipped up, Pearce paused to fiddle with something at the top, and Grace heard a little pop sound. “What was that?”

“An extra button that goes over the zipper,” Pearce preened. “It’s tamper-proofed, so little babies can’t take off their diapers at night.”

“Wait, what?” Grace turned to glance at him, eyes widening. “That wasn’t–”

“Relax,” Pearce rolled his eyes. “It’s not like, locked or anything. It’s just a pain in the ass to try and get yourself. I tried to make sure. Taking it off requires a lot of stretching and awkwardness, but putting it on without help is impossible.”

“Right, okay,” Grace said. “You know I wouldn’t cheat, right?”

“Then it won’t be a problem,” Pearce said, giving the back of her padded butt a pat. “Now let’s go get you your dinner, okay?”

Grace smirked, leading him down the stairs. The bottom of the footed sleeper had a grippy rubbery material that kept her from slipping, and even with the waddle from her diaper, she had no trouble moving around. The intoxicating smell of DiMaggio’s pizza wafted from downstairs, and she could almost imagine herself floating in the air and hovering towards it on the smell trail alone like an old cartoon.

She passed Devon, who had some blankets and a pillow set up on the couch for the night, though he was still wide awake and talking to Melody. He glanced at her, she shrugged and marched right past, ignoring her anxiety in favor of food and eventual sleep.

Pearce got the pizza out and poured some cream soda into a baby bottle, passing the drink to her so she could suckle it while he cut the pizza into bite-size cubes. It didn’t have quite the same satisfaction as biting into a too-large slice of pizza and filling up her mouth with saucy goodness, but the individual bites were still pizza, and carried with them intense satisfaction.

As she munched her way through two slices, Pearce asked, “Are you feeling better?”

“I wasn’t sick,” Grace replied. “Just–mmph.” Another bite of pizza cut off her next words, and she had to chew, giving Pearce a moment to reply.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He ruffled her hair, then set the fork aside. “Well, let’s see. You’re fed, bathed, and clean. It’s actually a little past bedtime, but we’re calling that a wash because of timing problems, so…”

“Wait,” Grace said, wiping her mouth with her arm. “There’s one other thing I need to do before bed.”

Pearce pursed his lips, using a napkin to wipe her mouth more effectively. “It’s your bedtime, baby butt.”

“Please?” she asked. “I’m not going to beg, but… please?”

He considered. “What do you need to do?”

…

Grace leaned against the door to Brains’ bedroom, texting out her message. “I’m sorry about earlier. I behaved like a jerk and lashed out at you. I know you were helping me.”

After only a second, the ‘message received’ icon changed so she knew he’d read it, but no ‘typing’ icon appeared.

She waited. He needed time.

After two minutes, he finally started typing. ‘I should have known you were upset and approached you differently. It’s my fault.’

Grace had prepared for his defensiveness. ‘No it’s not, dummy. I hurt you. It’s my fault.’

‘I shouldn’t have reacted so badly either. It was just a few words.’

‘If someone blasts a hole in your boat, it’s not your fault if you were over deep water.’

No response, but he saw her message.

A couple more minutes passed. Finally, he sent back, ‘I accept your apology.’

She smiled. The reply might have seemed a bit cold and inauthentic from anyone else, but for Brains, she knew he meant it.

‘Goodnight, Brains. You’re a good friend. I owe you one.’

She pushed to her feet, waddling to her own bedroom, where Pearce waited by her crib.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded. “Ready. Let’s get this day over with.”

He tucked her in. Despite having a little time left before lights out, it was only a minute after he was gone that she fell into a deep, cozy sleep.