Chapter Twenty-Nine:

By morning, the diaper was soaked through. It fell with a wet plop onto the bathroom floor. I sunk into the warm bath water and blew bubbles under the surface. I'd had sex with Jackie. Or, well, sort of. That wasn't really sex, was it? My cheeks were warmer than the water. Gosh, I really liked her...

"You could make ordering Chinese food look cute."

I think I maybe caught her off guard - I didn't mean to sneak in, she was just distracted. And when she saw me, I was naked, and after that, I was squeezing into the tub with her. Neither of us were all that big - we fit fine, even into the hotel tub.

I struggled to make eye contact with Jackie. I looked around the bathroom, from the toilet I had used only once or twice, to the soaking wet diaper sitting in the trash can. My short blonde hair was only wet at the ends, where it flittered into the water. Jackie's breasts were barely hidden in the bubbles. I tried not to stare.

"So... last day..."

"Last day." She said it sadly, I said it... contemplatively. This project had brought us together, I knew she was worried, and I'd thought about it too. What would we be when this was over? I was her photographer before, was I now her girlfriend? Her Mommy? It made me feel tingly.

"Are you excited?"

"Yeah. I mean. I'm excited to be out of diapers." It was a joke, but Jackie didn't laugh. I sulked a little in the water and played with my fingers in front of me.

"I mean. It wasn't as bad as I thought... and you made it a whole lot more bearable. But I'm excited for underwear again. Maybe then we can do something a little more sexy." The implication there was that I wanted to keep seeing Jackie after the documentary was over.

"Well, we can do sexy things with and without your diapers, Leona." I splashed her with the water and then, in a moment of thought, grinned playfully. "Come sit here between my legs, Mommy's gonna wash your hair." There. Bam. Done. Casually appointing myself her Mommy. No scene, no pretense. Just me and her.

I should have said no. That after today I wasn't a baby. But this was Jackie's thing. She liked it. And... well, in my own way, I liked it too. I liked that she took care of me. So I shuffled over to her and lowered myself between her legs, resting the back of my head on her breasts. I smiled quietly, contentedly, as she played with my hair. Maybe this wasn't so bad. As long as I had Jackie, it wasn't that weird.

This may have been her thing, a thing she couldn't admit to without me, but she had me now and that made it our thing. Ours. I washed her hair. I rinsed it clean. I made her tilt her head to one side and I chided her and told her to stay still for Mommy. She was so freaking cute. And when we got out of the bath, I wrapped her up in a towel. Some of my best memories ever were in this damn hotel room...

"You know there's no diapers here, right?" I went through the closet just to be sure, but I'd checked the dresser last night. What the hell was the point of taking all the furniture out of the room? Why leave me without any diapers? I still had one stupid day of this documentary.

"What was that package from yesterday, anyway?" But Jackie hadn't opened it. She had been distracted. I picked up the note beside it and read through it. "Make sure Luvs is dressed..." I guess this parcel was clothes?

"I guess this is what you're going to be wearing." It made me wonder what was in store for her. Where was all the furniture? What was Abe up to? Or rather, what was Betsy up to? She was the real villain here; I didn't even think Abe had a clue what she was doing. She was out of control, and I couldn't wait for her to be out of the picture.

"We'd better open it up and get you dressed, then?" I took the parcel from her like a doting parent and unfurled the chiffon paper, revealing a pile of pink and white. "Looks like a dress... and a bonnet, and a diaper? A cloth diaper? Oh no, two of them... and... more things?" I started to lay the outfit down on the bed.

The way Jackie said it made it seem like no big deal. But it was a big deal. This wasn't like the clothes Betsy had made me wear this week; it was like something I would wear in the studio. A fluffy bright pink dress with a white apron and frilly sleeves. A heart was stenciled to the front and the bonnet matched down to the pink stitching. It was indisputably infantile in every way. And cloth diapers? I'd never worn a cloth diaper before...

"There's no way I'm leaving this room wearing that."

"Hey, I don't blame you baby girl, but this is the last day of this, right?" I held up one of the petticoats and shrugged coyly, looking her up and down with a little smirk on my face.

"But cha know... it might be cute, right? I mean, you'd look cute in a potato sack, so I'm not gonna lie when I say I wanna see you in this." Her cheeks were pink, her face was rosy, and my eyes were... predatory, as she squeezed the hem of the towel protectively.

...damn, what was I supposed to say to that?

"Fine," I muttered, looking down at the clothes sprawled over the bed. It was the last day, after all. I was ready for a very long vacation.

"I don't know how to put these things on," I admitted to Jackie, holding up one of the squares of cotton. If it wasn't for the thickly padded center, I would never have known it was a diaper.

"I don't know either, but how hard can it be?"

Hard, it turned out. Youtube helped. Being good with my hands helped, too. Being able to shut down Leona with a raspberry blown on her tummy helped the most. I got her positioned, I got her diapered - in two cloth diapers, and two pairs of undies that covered them; one in clear plastic and one with lots and lots of frills. And once I had the foundation set in place, I went about getting her dressed up cute in her petticoats and her weird pink dress. And the entire time all I could think was three simple words:

"You're SO cute!"

It didn't feel anything like a diaper. It felt like having a pillow between my legs. I tried to push my knees together, but they didn't come anywhere near one another. I fussed with the dress and tried to stand up, but immediately lost my balance and went toppling back to the sheets. Jackie looked down at me in awe and I looked up at her in embarrassment.

"Shut up! Don't say a damn word!"

"That's no way to speak to your Mom, Leona, didn't I raise you better than that?" Mom, not Mommy. A practical every day title separate from bedroom games, and a precious implication of rearing to match too. Quick as I could, I snatched up my camera and took a series of clicked out photos with a smile.

"Don't worry, these are for our personal relationship album, not for Abe. You're just too cute and I can't help myself." I was grinning so happily.

I stuck out my tongue and she took another picture. I loved that she photographed me. I thought I would get enough of that crap at work, but Jackie brought a certain... intimacy to it. She photographed me not for work, but because she truly thought I was beautiful. And I loved that. I stood up again with my legs further apart and managed to stay balanced.

"I think I'm only supposed to wear one at a time," I said about the cloth diapers. "I can't walk like this."

"It's cute that you think that, but Abe doesn't seem the type to send more than he intended. So you're probably supposed to wear both. And you look so cute." I had to get some touches done for the outfit - to get her into her hat bonnet thing, to pull her feet into frilly pink ankle socks - but she looked every bit the waddling toddler girl that was intended. Obviously today was supposed to be a pretty different day.

Walking took a lot of effort. I had to focus on every step, just to make it from the bed to the table on the other side of the room. I wanted to look in the mirror, but the moment I did, I started to regret it. The petticoats under my dress had fluffed the skirt out so far that even the slightest bend in my waist would flash the seat of my ruffly diaper cover. The bonnet and apron combo made me look like a doll more than a child. I felt like... like... like a character in a storybook. My cheeks were on fire.

"I hate Betsy so much..."

"Me too, presh, me too. But after today you're never going to see her again. And if you ever look this cute it'll be because you broke something and you're trying to butter me up." I fussed over the bow on the back of her dress and grasped her tush through her skirts and pettis with a smile.

"What've you got to lose? You're gonna be rich, pumpkin." It was so easy to talk to her since we'd... well, since we'd done it. You know. The sex thing.

"Yeah. We could go on a vacation. Take some time away from this stupid job..." But Jackie had just started working for Abe. Honestly, I didn't even know her financial situation. Whatever. Problems for tomorrow. Today had enough problems. I turned around and leaned up on my tip-toes, wrapped in pretty ruffle socks, to kiss my girlfriend.

I liked that she kissed me. I liked that she liked me. I didn't know how today would go. I didn't know what the next time Leona laid in my bed would bring. I didn't know much for certain except that we were saying goodbye to this hotel room and that I really liked her.

What would Abe think? Betsy would hate it. What would my Mom think? Psh. Who cares? Who cares about what anybody thinks? And to emphasize that, when we were in the hall, when another couple stared at us - at my girlfriend in her dolly dress - I pushed her to the wall and kissed her, lifting her dress to flash the crest of her diaper. I was damn proud of my girl.