It had been only a few hours into the car ride and already boredom was setting in in both of the vehicles. Sarah and Fara had both exhausted the entertainment their phones could provide. Conveniently the car seats had charging cables threaded through them with an outlet on the arm rest. Truly Rachel spared no expense. The car seats, while exceptionally comfortable, didn’t allow the occupant to lean forward much, and it was tilted in such a way that Fara’s feet couldn’t reach the floor.

“Oh would you like some water Fara,” Sarah said in a start.

“Yeah sure,” Fara was more looking for something to cure boredom than thirst.

“Here you go,” Rachel reached into the seat next to her that had a small cooler in it and passed a sippy cup back to Fara. This one was blue and decorated with cartoon pegasi and unicorns. She handed a plain bottle of water to Sarah. Fara sighed a little annoyed, she didn’t even know why she had to use a sippy cup, the cup holder would keep it from toppling over. Fara pouted as she sucked the spout on her sippy cup.

The reality was that Rachel and Sarah needed a way to differentiate the water spiked with diuretics and the clean water, after all it wouldn’t do any good if the whole car was wetting themselves, it had to be just Fara. This was a clever work around.

“Thanks mistress,” Sarah was thankful.

“Yeah thanks,” Fara had a noticeably less positive tone.

“You’re welcome,” Rachel was perky, Fara’s cute pouting was helping. No doubt she would be whining for a stop soon enough.

“So how much longer we got,” Annabelle moaned from the backseat.

“GPS says we aren’t even a quarter there,” Tara sighed.

“See this is the part they don’t tell you about road trips,” Riley began. “It’s hyped up in movies, but what they don’t show is the 20 cramped hours you spend in a car.”

“Heard,” came Patty’s response.

“Yep,” from Annabelle and.

“No kidding,” from Tara. As the four had finished complaining the walkie talke that was nestled on the top of Echoes’ dashboard crackled to life.

“Hocus to Echoes. Fara is requesting a stop for a potty break,” came the scrambled voice of Rachel from the other end. They could also hear some complaints from Fara in the background.

“We’ve got an exit in three miles Hocus,” Tara the designated communications official replied. “We’ll break off there.”

“Roger echoes,” Rachel said into the radio. “Can you hold it that long dear?” Rachel asked Fara in the back.

“Oh yeah I guess,” Fara replied as calmly as she could. In truth she was a little desperate. The urge had come on suddenly and strong, and what Sarah had said the night before had some truth to it. The way the car seat was making her sit made it difficult to hold it, as did the strap running over her crotch. Fara kept her focus though. She had a point to prove. The pull-up she was wearing was going to remain dry if she had anything to say about it.

The next three miles were mostly silent, but Fara was preemptively trying to unbuckle herself from the seat almost as soon as Hocus exited off the interstate. Of course she had no hope of figuring out the secret locking mechanism of the buckle so her struggles were in vain.

“Well don’t take it off now,” Rachel lightly scolded. “We’re still moving.”

“I can’t get it off though,” Fara was in a mild panic.

“I’ll help you when we come to a complete stop.” Rachel emphasized the complete stop part of her sentence. Fara sighed in childish annoyance, but it was only a few more moments before both Echoes and Hocus pulled into a small gas station stopping in two adjacent parking spaces. Rachel rolled down her window and Patty did the same.

“Everyone still good on gas?” Rachel asked. Fara was struggling in the back to get her buckle undone, every second Rachel wasted was a second closer to Fara losing the battle with her bladder.

“Calm down Fara if you are frantic like that it’s not gonna come undone,” Sarah had unbuckled herself and had scooted over to “help” Fara. Of course Sarah’s advice was wrong, but it served to add to Fara’s childish feelings if there was just some obvious trick that she wasn’t getting, so that’s the lie they would go with.

“Still got three quarters,” Patty replied to Rachel.

“Ok,” Rachel continued conversing. She was milking the conversation purposefully. She needed Fara to act desperate, because when she acted desperate she acted out and poor behavior now would be leverage to use later. “I think I may go in and refill our water supply do you guys need anything. Any snacks, or drinks.”

“I wouldn’t mind some chips,” Patty shrugged.

“See if they got that good beef jerky,” Annabelle poked her head forward from the back seat. “You know the kind in the black bag.”

“Rachel!” Fara shouted loud enough for the other car to hear. Rachel looked back at Fara with feigned shock. “Let me out please,” Fara couldn’t hide that she was trying to hold it. “I can’t figure this thing out. It’s an emergency.”

“All right all right,” Rachel got out in a huff and opened Fara’s door. “It’s probably just stuck because you’re trying too hard.” Rachel bent down and with her knowledge of how to undo the lock was effortlessly able to free Fara. “See there easy peasy.” Fara didn’t have time to talk as she made a healthy jog into the gas station. “You’re welcome!” Rachel shouted after her. The other car couldn’t hear the details of that conversation, nor could they see the smirk Rachel and Sarah shared all they could hear was Fara’s poor attitude. “Ok chips and beef jerky,” Rachel confirmed as she made her way into the store.

Fara left the bathroom relieved. She had managed to avoid any noticeable wetness in her pull-ups, but only barely. She had left just in time to see Rachel checking out with a few snacks.

“Here sweetie,” Rachel said handing Fara some childish animal cookies. “You seem a bit grumpy, maybe eating will make you feel better,” Rachel was cold and short. Fara blushed and took the childish snack.

“I’m sorry Rae,” Fara apologized. “I couldn’t hold it anymore, and you just kept on talking. I didn’t mean to yell like that but it was an emergency.”

“I’m sure you didn’t Fara. You know I’m trying very hard to accommodate your issue,” Rachel paid for the snacks and left the store with Fara following.

“We still don’t even know that it is an issue though.”

“You couldn’t hold it for three miles Fara, it sounds like an issue to me,” Rachel kept an annoyed short tone.

“This was just a fluke, it won’t happen again,” at this point the two had made it out of the store and back to Hocus. Sarah was standing by her door stretching her legs but got back in when she saw the two come out of the store.

“Even if it does you really shouldn’t be trying to unbuckle yourself while we’re still moving. Even if it’s only a few minutes until we stop. That’s when we’re most likely to have an accident.”

“I’m sorry ok I panicked and I’m not used to this thing yet,” Fara whined defensively.

“Well now you know,” Rachel opened Fara’s door and gestured for her to climb into the seat. Fara blushed and hopped in. Fara couldn’t stop Rachel from buckling her into the seat herself. “It’s a safety risk,” Rachel continued with a serious tone. “These things come with a child safety lock you know. If you keep trying to get out while we’re moving I will turn in on. Then you’ll have to wait for me to let you out understand?” There was a lot of things Fara could say. She could say Rachel was being a little overbearing and ridiculous, but clearly Fara yelling at Rachel had annoyed her, and Fara was concerned about being a further bother to her.

“I getcha,” Fara replied meekly. It was all she could do in her situation. Of course the child lock that Rachel was talking about was already engaged, in fact there wasn’t a way to turn it off. The intended effect was accomplished though. Fara was intimidated by the buckle, both because Rachel had warned her about taking it off too early, and because she didn’t know how to get it off herself anyway. It meant that she was more than likely just going to let Rachel do it. Both to avoid trouble and embarrassment.

“Are you dry Sarah?” Rachel asked as she started the car.

“Yes ma’am,” was Sarah’s quick reply. This drove it home further. Not even Sarah the one in diapers regularly was having issues with her bladder.

“Hocus moving out,” Rachel spoke into the radio. “We’ll take the lead for a bit.”

“Roger Echoes coming in behind you,” was Tara’s garbled reply.

“You know holding it like that isn’t good for you,” Sarah whispered to Fara as Rachel was pulling back onto the interstate. “That pull-up can hold at least one. If it gets that bad again you should just go. I’ll show you how to change in the bathroom. Quick and easy. No one will know and you won’t get the scary voice from mistress.”

“I’ll keep it in mind Sarah,” Fara was quiet. She felt like she had caused enough grief with Rachel today to raise a stink about this with Sarah like she wanted to. Sarah only brought up the idea because insistence was the key. They were trying to get the idea of wetting herself as a solution to Fara’s problem. The more they brought it up, and the more times Fara had these close calls, the more likely she would be to take the advice. Of course some fake anger from Rachel providing some negative stimuli to Fara’s current hold it strategy was also helpful. Before they got to the cabin, Rachel and Sarah were confident they would get Fara to wet herself.

“What do you think that was about,” Riley asked with concern after a little time had passed from the last stop.

“She’s probably just antsy like we are,” Tara answered quickly.

“Yeah I’m already feelin cramped.” Annabelle agreed. “Feels like we haven’t made any progress.”

“We’re trucking along,” Patty shrugged. “Just got a lot of ground to cover.” The members of Echoes all groaned in agreement, and in Hocus Fara had just started on another sippy cup of water to go with the slightly salty snack Rachel had gotten her.

Little more than an hour had passed before a call came over the radio in Echoes.

“Need to make another stop,” Rachel’s voice garbled over the radio. “Fara has to go again.” There was a mild groan in Echoes.

“Didn’t we just stop,” Tara responded. Fara blushed and buried her head as she heard Tara’s response.

“It seems we may have to stop again. Fara says she’s sorry.” Fara groaned in her car seat. Rachel paused for a key moment so she could pass the closest exit and force Fara to wait until the next one. “Next exit is in seven miles, we’ll take that one.”

“Roger.”

The seven mile wait was even more precarious than the three mile wait earlier for Fara. She was visibly holding it when Rachel pulled off of the interstate finally, but she was careful to keep quiet and not try to unbuckle herself until they stopped. As soon as Rachel put Hocus into park Fara was frantically at her buckle as Rachel was making conversation with the other car.

“Rachel please I need your help again,” Fara said meekly through a wince.

“Yes dear be with you in a moment,” Rachel responded cordially. Fara continued to struggle as Rachel deliberately milked the ending of her conversation. When she could carry the conversation on no longer she got out and tended to Fara. “My dear you really have trouble with this don’t you?” Rachel remarked as she effortlessly freed Fara from her car seat.

“Yeah I just don’t get it,” Fara was polite as possible but it was clear she wanted to exit the conversation quickly. And she did, sprinting into the gas station as Rachel made her way to the other side of her car where Sarah was. Everyone in Echoes had chosen to remain in the car except for Tara who had approached Rachel.

“So I gotta question for ya,” Tara said leaning against Hocus. Sarah had unbuckled herself from her car seat and sat up. She could tell by Tara’s tone that this might be a bomb of a question. “Why are you lying about this car seat law?” Tara said bluntly. Rachel and Sarah looked at each other briefly but Tara continued before they could respond. “I looked it up there’s no law in the books, 4’9” is still the magic number. I’m wondering why you need to lie about that. If Fara really was opening up about herself, then she would volunteer to ride in the car seat new law or not no? And wouldn’t she already be in diapers and not running to the bathroom at every stop?” Sarah and Rachel shared a concerned glance. They were concerned about Tara, more than anyone else seeing through their ruse, and it seems their concern was warranted. For Tara’s part most of her realization came from Riley. Of course hearing it out of Riley’s mouth made it sound like conspiratorial ravings since it was tinted with anger and mistrust. Tara picked out the facts out of Riley’s ravings however, and found her explanation of recent events more compelling than Sarah and Rachel’s. The stunned faces of the two were all Tara needed to know she was right.

“Well uh you see,” Rachel began but she was cut off by Tara.

“I’m gonna stop you there because I know you’re about to spew some bull. Fara’s coming back any minute now, so you may wanna spill it now while she can’t hear it.”

“Does Riley know?” Rachel donned a serious tone.

“She suspects, as I’m sure you’re aware, but she doesn’t know. And the others are buying your lie. Not for much longer though.”

“Please don’t. You’ll ruin everything,” Rachel started but again she was cut off this time by Sarah.

“Slow down mistress I don’t think that’s what Tara wants,” Sarah said coolly. “If it was she would have spilled the beans already. She knows and she’s covered up to everyone in her car. She doesn’t want the truth to get out.” Tara was quiet, but she kept a stern glance on Sarah and Rachel.

“What are you suggesting?” Rachel said quickly.

“If I were to guess, I think we may have piqued Tara’s curiosity with our little scheme. I think she’s interested to see if we can pull it off, if we can actually turn Fara into our baby girl. Am I right?” Tara’s expression turned tense, it was all the response Sarah needed. “What Tara needs is a little something to ease her conscience. Fara’s her friend, so she should tell everyone for her sake, to save her from a life of humiliation at our hands. But if you were to give her an offer so good she couldn’t refuse. Well it makes her going along with our scheme a little more palatable.” Rachel turned her head up and glared down at Tara.

“You’re not wrong,” Tara stammered at Rachel’s gaze. “Seeing the changes you’ve wrought already is fascinating, I’m curious if you can actually pull it off,” Tara was shaking slightly. She had never seen Rachel this way, there was a dark fire in her eye, and the way she looked at Tara was as if a giant had taken notice of an ant that had accidentally bitten them. “Fara is my friend though I can’t let you continue. What are you going to do about that?”

“But you can let us continue though,” Rachel said pointing her finger at Tara. “You can because I’ve given you a once in a lifetime opportunity. A six figure job as a head researcher at Wollingtech right out of college. Contingent of course on successful completion of a certain experiment.” Rachel walked toward Tara so the she was beside her, looking in the opposite direction. “I can have the proper papers drafted up of course, back dated to before we even mentioned this trip. On paper as far as you know Fara was a willing participant, though she may not know the exact nature of what she agreed to. She is, legally speaking, a willing and compensated participant in an experiment. One that shouldn’t see the light of the public anyway. Are you understanding me?” Rachel turned around and stared at the back of Tara’s head. Tara didn’t need to turn around to know Rachel was looking at her, she could feel her gaze.

“Yes I think I understand.”

“Just to be clear, this deal is contingent upon successful completion of our experiment.”

“I understand, what I need to do?”

“Nothing,” Sarah answered. “Just make sure the others buy our story, and stay out of our way.”

“We’ve calculated this to the letter I assure you,” Rachel interjected. “Even this moment was part of our plans, and I think you may agree that this is a very preferable outcome for you.” This was partly a bluff, Rachel knew Tara could pose a problem. She was the one of their friends most likely to see through the lies, but she had no contingency plan. The current set of circumstances was a happy accident.

“I get it, I’ll stay out of your way,” Tara had stepped back, a little off put by Rachel’s energy. “And I’ll try to make the other not suspicious. But if this does work, and you don’t hold up your end.”

“I’ll hold up my end,” Rachel retorted quickly. “This is not a game to me Tara. I have put a lot of work into this and I will see it completed.” Rachel offered her hand to Tara. Tara gulped and gave Rachel’s hand a firm shake. “Good,” Rachel lingered on the word uncharacteristically. She would be lying if she said the current situation didn’t trigger her dominant side, and she could tell Tara was picking up on that. The thrill of controlling someone. This wasn’t quite as much control as she got with Sarah of course, but still. Tara had become a pawn, her pawn, and that made her blood boil in a very particular, very pleasing way.

“Sorry guys,” Fara said as she bounded back to Hocus. Immediately Rachel’s mood shifted.

“Don’t worry dear Fara, but we must get going soon we are behind schedule.” Rachel went to the other side of the car to help Fara into her car seat.

“Remember it all goes away if Fara catches on,” Sarah warned before closing her car door. Tara gulped. She wasn’t quite sure what she had gotten herself into. She’d never seen that side of Rachel, she thought Rachel would just crumble under a little pressure. She gotten what she wanted at the end of it, just not the way she had expected it. The whole thing was very intriguing, and now that she had enough of an offer to put her moral quandary aside she could admit some excitement in the result.

Fara blushed as Rachel buckled her back in. Still no accident, but the pull-up did not escape completely dry this time. She was sure that a small puddle had escaped, thought the pull-up absorbed so the evidence didn’t remain like it did with panties.

“Are you still dry Sarah?” Rachel asked. Sarah gave a thumbs up and buckled herself up.

“Good good,” Rachel made her way into the driver seat and started the car. “And we’re off everyone,” She said into the radio, and the group was set to be on the road again.