Published: August 24th 2020, 2:01:01 pm
"Dani!" the teenager heard, groaning as she rolled over in her bed to check her phone. "Dani, get up!"
"Tessa," she whined, "it's so early..."
She felt a weight on her mattress, turned over again to see her baby sister perched there, staring at her. "Come on!" she pouted. "It's Christmas!"
Dani sighed, but couldn't help the smile that crossed her face, happy to see Tessa so excited. Honestly, she was pretty excited herself, after weeks of fun, Christmassy activities at daycare, though she knew she had to temper her expectations, since she was, in theory, an adult now. It would be fun to watch Tessa open her presents, however, and she'd get some stuff... Just - fairly enough - not as much as her sister.
"Okay," she nodded, Tessa squealing and hopping back off the bed, allowing Dani to roll off. "Just give me... Oh!"
Before she could finish her request, Tessa had grabbed her by the hand, pulling her out of her room and down the hall. "Tessa!" Dani hissed, blushing, seeing the twinkling lights of the tree shining from the living room's doorway, afraid her parents would overhear now that they were out of her bedroom.
And for good reason, since they were seated on the couch, bleary-eyed, Dani obviously having visited them first. "Here she is!" the little girl announced. "Can we open presents now?"
"Go ahead," their father nodded, sipping his cup of coffee.
Dani swallowed, tugging at her PJ shirt as she looked around for a spot to sit. "Come sit with us," her mother offered, patting the sofa cushion beside her.
"Th-That's all right," Dani chuckled anxiously. "I-I want to make sure you have room for your presents!" Tessa had already started pulling packages out from under the tree, struggling to read the tags so she could pass them out. Dani wanted to help, but her diaper had felt pretty wet on the walk out here, so it was probably a better idea not to move around too much... And to avoid sitting on any of the furniture, just in case. She sat down on the floor, diaper squishing beneath her, glad that Christmas happened in the winter, so she had pajama pants on as well, for an extra layer of camouflage for her poofy bottom... And to protect the floor if her diaper was too wet.
She felt so tiny, sitting there on the ground as Tessa handed out the gifts, staring up at her parents, up on the couch, and her sister, once she'd finished with her task, climbing onto their father's usual armchair, since Dani hadn't claimed it, briefly flashing the big girl panties she was even allowed to wear to bed now, that she hadn't had any accidents in for a long time, as she clambered up. Half of them might not know it, but Dani had, somehow, become the baby of the family.
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Things were a bit rough for Dani over her 'winter break', especially the next week. Her parents weren't working, so Tessa wasn't going to daycare, and, even though she'd come up with some excuses for why she'd be gone - visiting a friend for the day, going shopping - she knew it would seem strange for her to show up at the daycare without her sister.
Miss Katie had started to help her potty train, but with all the holiday celebrations going on at the daycare, it was harder than usual. All the kids were eager, yet on edge that they'd done something over the past year that Santa wouldn't approve of, and there were lots of extra games and crafts... Dani had picked the wrong time to try to get her control back, even before she'd realized she was going to have to take a break from it, and daycare.
She did her best to do it herself, only to quickly get frustrated; she had no idea what she was doing, and there was no way she was going to ask her mom for help. Her hopes of knocking this out before winter semester started grew dimmer and dimmer, until, finally, she caved, and resigned herself to another semester of daycare instead.
It wouldn't be so bad... She loved daycare! Sure, she was going to be a full year behind at college, which was going to be much harder to make up for without her parents knowing than a single semester, but she'd find a way... Besides, she knew of plenty of kids who stuck around college for an extra year, even when - she assumed - they hadn't spent that year in diapers.
Potty training, unfortunately, really wasn't fun. She could see why it was so difficult now... It took near constant vigilance, on both her part, and that of Miss Katie, watching out for any signs that she had to go, then rushing her to the training potty, and hoping she made it on time. It was especially frustrating for Dani, because she knew she could do it, had done it for years and years... Which made her failures all the more humiliating.
The time off for Christmas and New Year's hadn't helped, either. She'd been making a bit of progress before, and, by the time she got back to it, all of that was gone, to the point where Miss Katie kindly told her, "Why don't we just get rid of this and start new?" while getting her a fresh chart, so she wouldn't have to look at the happy faces she'd managed to earn a few weeks before, now staring down at her, mocking her row after row of frowns, with only a few smiles sprinkled here and there to break them up.
"It's not that hard," Tessa had told her once, giving her a hug after her latest accident, surely meaning it to be encouraging, although Dani didn't hear it that way. "I know you can do it!"
"Of course I can," Dani had grumbled grumpily, hating that she was getting 'advice' from her baby sister about this. "I was potty trained way before you." But that was no longer the case...
"Hey, there, Tessa," a new worker, one Dani hadn't seen before, said one day, kneeling in front of them as they played with a dollhouse. "I'm Miss Tori! Some of the older kids are working on their numbers with me... I thought maybe you'd want to join in?"
"I'm older than her!" Dani whined, cutting in.
"You must be Dani," the woman smiled down at her. "I'm sure you'll be ready soon, too, sweetie! For now, though, I think this is more your sister's speed."
Dani's stomach twisted, realizing what was happening. Those 'older kids' were getting prepared for pre-school, getting a head start on learning the basics... But, to join them, you had to be fully potty trained, which meant that she was no longer qualified.
Tessa should do it... It would be what was best for her... If she did, however, Dani would be left all alone here, with the babies, without the main reason she'd started coming to this place to begin with... And now, she couldn't stop if she wanted to, because she already knew she had no hope of training herself to get back out of her diapers.
"Umm..." Tessa looked from her sister, back to Miss Tori. "I-I think I'll stay here."
The worker nodded, continued to smile. "That's okay, sweetie. If you ever change your mind, you can just let me know, all right?"
"Yes, ma'am," Tessa said obediently, earning a pat on the head from Miss Tori.
"It was nice to meet you, too, Dani," the woman told her, pausing. "Sweetie, do you want me to change you real quick before I go?"
"No!" Dani glowered, annoyed at the woman for trying to take her sister away, and at herself for not wanting it to happen. "I'm not...!" But, when she moved her hands to her padded crotch, she felt a squishiness there, and realized Miss Tori was right, and she'd proven why she didn't belong with the older kids, no matter how old she really was.
"Come on," Miss Tori held out her hand. "I'll get that all taken care of."
Dani was feeling agitated about that encounter for the rest of the day, which was, she told herself, why she reacted the way she did when, later on Miss Katie had asked, "Hey, Dani, do you want to try the potty?"
"Nooo!" she shook her head. "I'm coloring!"
"Dani, can you just try for me? I think it would be a good idea..."
"No!" Dani groaned. "I don't hafta go! I'm not a baby, I know when I hafta go, and I don't!"
Miss Katie gave her a patient smile, but didn't stop. "Well, why not give it a shot and see?" she suggested.
"No!" Dani refused, sulking as she watched the woman finally leave her alone. Yes, she might be getting potty trained by her, but that didn't mean Miss Katie knew more about her body and its needs than her...
And yet, a few minutes later, Dani felt a rumbling in her tummy. She ignored it at first out of sheer stubbornness, but it wasn't long before she couldn't do that anymore, and she was frantically looking around the room for Miss Katie, toddling up to her, grabbing at her sleeve... And proving her right. Her body betrayed her, unable to take it anymore, squatting down and pushing a heavy, mushy load into her diaper.
To Miss Katie's credit, she didn't say 'I told you so,' even though she very much could have. She waited for Dani to finish, then took her to get a fresh diaper, putting the appropriate sticker on her chart. She could tell that's what the woman was thinking, however, that it served her right after her little mini-tantrum.
That night, Dani wrote another note. 'I think it might be best,' she said, as her mother, 'if we took a break from the training for a little while.' She wasn't getting anywhere, after all, and she was getting frustrated, which didn't help... A week or two off was exactly what she needed.
It was nice, getting back to the way things used to be, when this had all started. Or close, anyway... Tessa was still in her big girl panties, and Miss Tori was still hanging around, ready to swoop her up and take her away... But not worrying about potty training did make Dani's days less stressful, and more fun, even if it had led to a few more poopy accidents, as she went back to not wanting to take the attention away from the kids who were getting trained.
It wasn't that bad, she told herself once, feeling her diaper swell up as she knelt in front of the blocks. As long as there was someone else to clean her up, she could live with it... In fact, it was better for her to do it here, rather than risk it happening at home, and having to take care of it herself, have to figure out where to hide the dirty diaper... Formerly, she'd done everything she could to ensure she could use the bathroom after daycare; now, she was switching it, making herself go while she was there, whether there was a spare potty for her or not... And, most of the time, there wasn't.
She didn't realize how much time had passed until, as she was getting her ready to leave, Miss Katie mentioned, "I think maybe I should give your Mommy a call, sweetie."
Dani frowned. "What for?" she asked, trying to remember if she'd done something particularly naughty that day.
Miss Katie chuckled. "You're not in trouble," she promised. "She told me we should take a break in your potty training for a couple weeks, but that was a month ago. I'm afraid if we wait much longer, all the progress you made is going to go to waste."
"I-I can tell her!" Dani offered, shocked to hear that it had been a full month. Thinking back, however, Miss Katie was right, both about how long it had been, and that they needed to get back to work.
"I don't know," Miss Katie said skeptically. "This might be something we need to talk about, so we can decide the best way to tackle it..."
"I-I'll do it!" Dani swore, and, that night, she wrote another note, telling Miss Katie the potty training was back on.
Sort of. They were both trying, but the break had just made it harder. The smiley faces on her charts were getting fewer, and further between, and earned only when she used the potty after Miss Katie's prompting... She was trying her best to catch it herself, to ask for the potty in time, and yet it never seemed to work out for her.
Even messy accidents were happening more frequently now, times when she'd feel a little uncomfortable while she was playing and unconsciously push, only to discover, a few minutes later, when she stood up, that her diaper was much heavier, and mushier. At least they were happening here, where someone else could deal with the aftermath... But that also meant her chart reflected them, reminded her of each one every time she had to look at it.
The final straw came when she was in the middle of a change, obliviously lying there, on the table, waiting for it to be over so she could go play some more. "Dani!" Miss Katie exclaimed. "It's happening now! Go on, sweetie, see if you can stop it!"
Dani had no idea what she was talking about until she glanced down at her body, cheeks warming at the sight that awaited her. There she was, on top of a fresh, open diaper, wetting herself. Frantically, she clenched her muscles to end the flow... Or, rather, tried to.
"Come on," Miss Katie encouraged her. "You can do it, Dani!"
Except... She couldn't. She wasn't sure if her bladder was too weak, after all the time she'd spent neglecting it, or if she'd forgotten the right way to do it, but, no matter what she did, the trickling didn't stop.
She was grateful that Miss Katie didn't make fun of her, or comment on it, although she still felt humiliated, and, after daycare was over, took Tessa, and herself, to get some ice cream for a treat to try to take her mind off of it. It wasn't a fair test, she told herself. It was harder to stop it after it got going... It was impossible to deny, though, that by the time they were done with their ice cream, her diaper was already soggy again.
By the time they got home, their mother was already there, and she didn't look happy. "I got a call from the daycare," she announced, folding her arms.
Dani gulped, heart racing. "D-Did something happen, Tessa?" she asked, feeling even more aware of her damp diaper. "Y-You didn't tell me..."
"It wasn't about her," her mother replied. "I even checked, because I was confused when they said that my daughter's potty training only seemed to be getting worse, no matter what they tried. I told them I didn't think Tessa had been having any troubles at all... And they told me it was Dani who was having issues."
Dani swallowed again, her mouth dry as the desert as she stood there, feeling another dribble in her diaper as her mother glared at her. "So, Dani," the woman continued, stepping closer to her daughter, who was supposedly a college student. "Do you have anything you'd like to tell me?"