Chapter XXIV

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. My hair was tied up in pigtails, and the onesie was more infantile than anything I'd worn to work before. I'd taken off the skirt and turned it inside out - the stitching was clearly on the outside, but it hid the stenciled words "Mommy's Girl" and "Daddy's Girl" on the bottom hem. How had I not seen those before?! I turned around in front of the mirror, bending over just a little, and catching a glimpse of the snap-crotch between my legs. Beneath the fabric, my bottom puffed out from the diaper. Why would Cora send me to work like this? I'd never make it through the day…

I looked down at my phone and checked the time. 9:02. I had to get to work. Maybe Mabel was in a different department today. Maybe Mr. Gladstone would be away in meetings. Maybe the whole building would burn down. But then I'd have to find a new job.

I took a slow, wobbly step out of the bathroom and listened to the light rustling beneath my skirt. No one else could hear that, right? It was just my imagination...

"Hey Nattie," That overly chipper voice at this time of morning? That could only have been Prin. And for her to be so chipper when talking to Natalie also meant one thing: "I love your new outfit. Is that a dress? Oh, it's a two piece," She corrected herself, and leaned in to whisper. "Hunny, your skirt is on inside-out though."

"Y-yeah... I... got a stain on it, so..." I pulled down on the skirt a little, careful to cover my bottom. Walking was... interesting. I'd only walked around in a diaper once before, and I had been so upset I hardly noticed. Now, I could feel it with every movement. The plastic rustling. The padding pushing my thighs apart. Every moment brought new redness to my cheeks. "I... um. S-sorry about yesterday. About... the swearing, and..." I looked away from Prin at my office. Door closed. No Mabel. Good.

"You know, there's a lot of gossip about yesterday. What you said. But when you come to work looks so stinking cute like this? It's easy to think about that instead of what happened, you know?" As Natalie shifted her weight, Prin was sure she heard something and looked over her shoulder, then back at the cutiepie before her. "Huh. Must have been my imagination. Anyways, Mr. Gladstone said he'd be an hour late today but he'll call you to his office when he gets in for your performance review.”

"Right..." I looked forlornly at Mr. Gladstone's office, down the hall, and puffed out my cheeks. Then again, with a diaper on, I probably wouldn't feel a spanking at all. Huh. That was an uplifting thought! "I'll be in my office if you need anything," I said with a smile and walked as stiffly as I could - to avoid crinkling - until I'd closed my office door behind me. With a sigh, I turned on the lights and sat down at my desk. Even my chair felt softer with the extra padding.

"Hey girl." Mabel didn't even knock, and when she entered the office she looked around with confusion on her face. "You didn't get me a chair? What the heck, Natalie, did you forget I'd be here?"

I looked up at Mabel with surprise. No one walked into my office like that, not even Mr. Gladstone. Even he knocked first. I gave her a sharp look and crossed my arms over my chest, clad in pink and blue stars. "Check the cubicles - there should be an extra on the far left."

She narrowed her eyes and stifled a giggle. "Jesus, what're you wearing? You know what, I don't even want to know. I'll go get a chair and then you can rub my feet while I do my training. You know, unless you want me to talk to Mr. Gladstone about... you know. What you did."

I looked at her with wide eyes, then pulled my eyebrows together in irritation. "Go ahead," I said flatly, and returned to my computer. I already told him last night at dinner. If I hadn't, then she could still hold it over my head. And I wouldn't have gone to dinner if it wasn't for Cora... maybe she really did know what she was doing.

"I mean, you did sexually assault me and all, I wouldn't be so sure you can be so flippant." And she left the room to find a chair. Now, Mabel and Natalie both knew there was nothing of the kind that happened, but whose word was it going to be? The volatile strumpet who slept with her last boss? Or the keen and eager new employee?

I stared blankly at the door, just... bewildered. She... she was going to say I assaulted her? Seriously?! I felt an anger well up in my chest and I got to my feet. But the moment I stood up, I was reminded of the thickness between my legs. The situation I was in. And suddenly, I didn't feel capable of doing anything. A minute later, when Mabel came back into the room, I quickly sat back down and looked away. What was I supposed to do now...?

"Log me in here, then get under the desk." Mabel held all the cards, and it seemed like her willingness to play them was shockingly loose. "Unless you want to stress me out even more?"

I looked up at Mabel with frustration, but the fear in my head, the anxiety in my heart... it forced me to look away from her. "You can't just... treat me like this. I'm your boss... and..." But no matter how serious I was, I couldn't raise my voice above that of a mumbling child.

"You're responsible for training me." She paused, then smirked at the realization. "It's only fair I train you in something, too, right? Who knows, maybe you'll be useful as a little footslut by the time we're done working together. Now get going Nattie, or else I'll make you go get me coffee first."

Footslut? Coffee? I shook my head and tried to muster up some courage. But what if I swore at her again? What if everyone in the office hated me? What if she told Mr. Gladstone I did something bad, even if I didn't, and he believed her? It felt hard to breathe, tears filling my eyes. "I... um..."

Mabel crossed her arms, and waited. She tapped her foot on the carpet, and then did something that no adult ever does to another adult: she began to count. "One.... two..."

I don't know why, but it was all too much. It felt like Saturday, at the store. I had something to say, and Cora wouldn't let me say it. I wanted to fix everything, but she wouldn't let me! So I yelled at her. And I yelled yesterday. And today, I was too scared to yell. So I cried. Tears spilled down my cheeks. I wiped them away as fast as I could, but they just kept coming. I tried to fill my lungs with air, but my body would shake and spill all the oxygen out of me. I felt so pathetic, sobbing in front of Mabel. But I just couldn't stop... "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Mabel didn't expect the crying, that was for sure. But she also didn't seem to be too put off by it, either. She was a clever girl, she was smart, and she was good at taking care of the most important person in her life: herself. So she put her hands on the girls shoulders and spoke to her clear as day. "You just need to do everything I say, and you won't get in any trouble. Understand? Everything, no more questions, no more arguing. Understand? Nod your head." This wasn't Cora. This wasn't 'let me make your decisions that are best for you’. This was an apex predator, this was 'obey' and nothing more. But to Natalie, was there really as difference?

I felt my head nod. I couldn't stop crying. This felt so familiar... that time in the car, on the way home from the store. And the time in my office, after I'd had an accident. Even yesterday, when I ran away from work. I couldn't make my own decisions... I was such a failure...

"Now be a good girl and log me in, then get down under the desk and offer to take care of my feet, understand? You've made me really mad and I'm super stressed now, so you might have to use more than just your hands.”

I slid down from my chair onto the floor. No matter how many times I told myself to stop, tears kept filling my eyes. I felt so scared. I felt so helpless. I couldn't stop her. She'd get me fired. But as I crawled under the desk, Mabel got a clear look under my skirt.

Was that? Mabel narrowed her eyes and smirked, because she didn't need to lie anymore; if Natalie pushed back against her more, she actually had something on her, something real. Seriously, who came to work dressed like this? And in what was obviously a diaper? Was this for real? Was this a fetish for her? What a degenerate. If Mabel had any doubts before, they were gone now - any guilt disappeared.

I sat under the desk and took one of Mabel's feet in my lap. Almost automatically, I started to rub her feet, like after only one morning I had grown so accustomed to the act. But my thoughts spun around my head, whirling themselves into a tornado. I felt sick to my stomach. My heart was racing. Every breath felt like a shallow and tight. Fresh tears dripped onto Mabel's feet.

"You're going to get really good at this, Natalie. You're already a natural, really - you're so skilled with my feet, aren't they pretty?" With Natalie crying, with her will broken, the compliment... it was strategic. Telling her what she was good at, telling her she had a purpose.

There was a knock on the door and I heard it open from the other side of the room. Prin's voice echoed through my small, empty office. "Hey, um... oh. Where is Natalie?" I wanted to run into her arms. I wanted to tell her everything Mabel was doing! But I'd screw it up. I'd screw everything up... I felt another wave of shallow breathing and I sniffled under the desk. Mabel's foot hit me hard in the chest to shut me up.

"She said something about needing to get something from the supply room?" Mabel answered, with a smile. Prin considered this for a moment and then nodded her head., apparently comfortable with the answer. "Okay, well, when you see her can you tell her that she has some mail?" "Of course, Prin!"

I heard the door close. Mabel slid the chair away from the desk so she could look down at me, curled up in the corner with my skirt riding up. I looked at her with wet, fearful eyes. "S-sorry.. I'm sorry..."

"I told you that you were good at something, Natalie, I praised you and you didn't even act appreciative? You're useless at most things, but I gave you something to be proud of and you act so ungrateful?" Mabel seethed, getting a much better look between her legs. Little plastic gathers peered out from the sides of the snap crotch onesie, and they had some cute design printed on them. Definitely a fetish. And absolutely a trump card.

I curled my knees to my chest and pushed my face down into them. I couldn't breathe right. I couldn't think clearly. And I couldn't stop crying. I wanted it to stop. I wanted to stop her. But I couldn't do anything right...

"Stop crying like a baby, Natalie, and be useful." Mabel pushed her foot at the girl, aiming for her hands and slipping until her foot almost touched her face. "Or I'll make sure you lose your job, and you'll go back to being nothing but the town slut. At least here, under the desk, you can serve a purpose."

Everything she said fueled the tornado in my mind. Winds picked up. Thought after thought, spinning faster and faster. My hands were trembling and I rocked back and forth in place, sobbing loudly into my lap. But for all the effects Mabel’s words had on me, she couldn't get me to listen.

"You're such a fucking baby, Natalie." Mabel sighed, rubbing her temples. She could play her cards, yeah, that was one possible outcome. Or she could spin this situation to her advantage. Mabel, of course, chose the latter. She sighed and got down to her knees, crawling into the tight space under the desk and wedging herself behind Natalie. "Shh. Quiet, you dumb baby.”

Mabel pulled me into her arms and I pushed my face into neck. Tears dripped onto her shoulder, onto her blouse, but she played with my hair all the same. “You can’t do anything right, can you? Stop crying.” Stop crying. I was trying! But for some reason, when she said it, it felt easier. I sniffled and closed my eyes tight. I never thought I'd be here, hugging Mabel of all people...

"I don't want much, Natalie, I'm really really nice to you." Yes, nice. Nice was blackmailing her, nice was making her rub her feet, nice was making her cry. But Mabel knew how vulnerable Natalie was right now, and how willing she might be to just agree and play along. "You're a handful, you're a real pain, and I'm still nice to you. Aren't I?"

My head was spinning. The tornado had settled, but everything was a mess. No more tears in my eyes, but my thoughts were all over the place. I felt dizzy. Uncomfortable. My heart ached... "Uh huh..."

"And if I'm nice to you, the least you can do is be nice to me and do as I say, right?" Mabel ran her fingers through Natalie's hair, held her back against her own chest and kept her close with her free hand.

I nodded my head again. "Uh huh..." I should just listen. None of this would happen if I just listened to people. Was anything worth fighting for? Did fighting ever get me anything?

“So you’ll take care of my feet today. Because it’s the only thing you do right anymore.”