Chapter XX

I had never in my life slept so peacefully. Warm dreams, warm blankets... no tossing, no turning. Pure, blissful, gentle sleep. And when I woke up, for the first time in a month, I wasn't anxious about something. I should have been worried about work, but it was Cora's decision I come home. I couldn't be in trouble for that.

But there was one irritating part about waking up: the thick, crinkling diaper between my legs. I slid my blanket off and examined the padding. Dry, obviously. I wasn't a bedwetter or anything! Ugh, I felt so stupid. I couldn't believe I let Cora diaper me! I fell back on my bed with embarrassment and covered my face with my arms. I had to get changed...

"So..." It was Sam's voice, and if Natalie didn't damn near jump out of her skin when she heard it. She tossed all of her blankets up and over her body with a look of irritation. "I heard you had problems at work?" Her best friend sat down at the end of her bed. Since her corset punishment had ended, she had been wearing a much less restrictive corset in its place. Sam was already very adept at moving around in it. "Everything okay?"

I must have nodded off. I didn't hear Sam come in at all. Had she seen the diaper? No, I had a nightgown on. I pulled the blankets tight across my body and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "There's this new girl... she's the most annoying person ever. I lashed out at her, and now everyone's mad at me..."

"Oh no." Sam knew what kind of temper her best friend could have, if pushed to it. Natalie could be patient for infinity and then when that limit was reached... well, bad things could happen. "What happened? What did she do to upset you so much?"

"I dunno... she just kept talking down to me, and I was having a rough day, and..." In retrospect, Mabel hadn't even done anything that was so bad. It was a combination of her actions and my fear of losing my job. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "Nevermind. I guess it's nothing."

"Are things going to be okay? Should I be packing my stuff?" Sam knew well enough the fears and insecurities that Natalie had about losing her job and what it would mean for them both, but mentioning it like that probably didn't help.

I shook my head. "No, everything is fine. I apologized, and... and I'm gonna make it up to everybody. Somehow." I told Prin about that outfit I got over the weekend. It was so infantile! Definitely not appropriate for work! But both Mr. Gladstone and Prin encouraged it. Was that my only option? Ugh, Mabel would never let me live it down... "Cora helped me get through it. She's... she's really amazing sometimes."

"Oh yeah?" Sam didn't seem surprised, even though in her role as a lower-tier house-maid she was never really shown much love by the Gladstones. It was so obvious to her, though, that Natalie was treated much, much differently. "What did she do?"

"She came all the way out to my office and picked me up, because I was... I dunno. Upset? Maybe I was having a panic attack?" Before this weekend, I'd never had a panic attack before. "But she took me back here, and she made sure I was okay, and..." I smiled when I talked about Cora; I just couldn't help it! She made me feel so... important.

"Wow." The exclamation was genuine, too, but maybe not for the reasons Natalie would have considered: to Sam, it sounded like Nat was talking about someone she was in love with.

"Yeah. She's just really great." I smiled warmly up at my best friend and then remembered what I was wearing. "Hey, um. Could I have a minute to get dressed?" "I'm supposed to help you," Sam said. There was no point in lying, was there? "Sam, I... am... compromised at the moment. And would really appreciate doing this myself just one time." The blush on my cheeks really sold the request, though Sam's and my definitions of compromised were likely very different.

Compromised? Compromised. What did that even mean in this context? Natalie looked a little bit confused, the puzzlement on her face obvious as she tried to figure it out. "Mr. Gladstone actually asked me to come help you get dressed. I don't know if I want to get on his bad side…”

So much for negotiation. I gave Sam a sharp look and decided that it was time to use my trump card. "You're my maid, so you do what I say. Now give me a few minutes alone." It wasn't friendly, but it had to be done. No way I was letting Sam see me in a diaper!

"...excuse me?" Sam took a moment to process that demand. "Are you fucking kidding me, Natalie?" She was visibly offended, her hands tightening at her sides and her eyebrows pulling together in irritation. "You're going to actually try and talk down to me? I'm your best friend, you brat, did you fucking forget that?"

Sam raised her voice and I felt my stomach flip. All my courage vanished in an instant as she stood up from my bed and glared down at me with piercing green eyes. She... she wasn't supposed to talk to me like that! Right? I stuttered for words. "I... y-you're... um..."

"They might treat you like a princess, Natalie, but you're still my best friend and you don't get to talk to me like that." Then, maybe inadvisably but nonetheless, Sam tugged her blanket away from Natalie in one smooth motion. "Now get up so I can dress you!"

I held the nightgown down, covering my... uh... underwear. I tried to find the courage to argue, but Sam grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of bed like I was nothing more than a doll. Sam wasn't that much bigger than me, but she was particularly strong. Fighting her was impossible. "Sam! I can do it myself!"

"Obviously you can't. In the commotion, Sam might not have noticed at first - the crinkling, the awkward steps, the fact her nightgown barely covered anything, but it wasn't going to take long before she started to undress Natalie. "Now stop arguing and just... just do what you're told for once, okay?"

Sam reached for my nightgown and I fought her off to the best of my ability. My back hit the wall and she tripped over her feet a few times. But no matter what I did, the end of the battle was inevitable. Sam lifting my nightgown high above my waist, tucked under my arms, and the pastel pink diaper in plain view.

The silence was both deafening and seemingly infinite. Sam had seen the training pants, the increasingly padded underwear, and the Gladstone's had made no secret of some of the newer clothes that Natalie owned now. This was both logical and… completely insane. Natalie stood frozen, and Sam did what nobody could have expected - she touched the diaper. "No wonder you waddle now." What else was she supposed to say?

I pulled my nightgown down roughly and covered the diaper once again. My cheeks were brighter than the sun, radiating just as much heat. And that stupid smile on Sam's face made it all the worse! "Shut up! I don't usually wear them! It was just this one time!"

"Well that's not true at all, Natalie - I've seen you waddling. I’ve had to clean your padded panties. And I had to hand-wash a pair when you were sleeping, too. I don't know why you'd think you can keep secrets from me; I'm your maid." That didn't answer any questions, though, did it? "How long have you needed these?"

"I don't!" My eyes were wet with shame, with irritation. I held the hem of my nightgown tight in my fists. I just wanted to punch Sam! I wanted to hit her and show her I wasn't some stupid baby! But instead, steady tears started dripping down my cheeks. "I wear them sometimes to work! That's it! And I don't need them! I don't!"

"You wear diapers, but you don't need them?" That was even more confusing. And more implicating, too, because Sam was not dumb. Two plus two was always going to be four. "Oh." Pause. "Oh you wear diapers because you like them."

All the color drained from my face. That logical leap was nowhere in the bounds of reality, not for me. And for Sam to even insinuate... I was stunned. I... I didn't know what to say! What to do! But my auto-pilot knew exactly what to do. I stormed past Sam, out the door to my bedroom, down the staircase, and toward Cora's room. Cora would explain everything to Sam. Cora would tell her the truth. It was one accident! Two, actually. But that didn't mean I needed to wear diapers!