Published: December 22nd 2022, 1:00:03 pm
A continuation of the Wonder Woman Christmas stories that can be found here, as commissioned by Mashugana.
"I'm so sorry, Polly! Are you okay?"
Polly blinked, shook her head, feeling very disoriented. "I-I don't..." she glanced around the room.
"Oh, you poor thing," Ms. Caufield cooed, taking her by the hand, helping her to her feet and leading her into the living room. "Come on, sit down, dear."
Polly peered behind herself, at the door she'd just walked through... After it had been opened right in her face. Right? Wasn't that what had happened? She was having a hard time even remembering now, but there was a pain radiating out from her forehead... Either way, there was a part of her that didn't want to come in, that felt like all this was... wrong, somehow.
"Polly," Ms. Caufield said again, holding out her hand. "We need to take a look at you."
Polly followed obediently, sitting down on the couch at Ms. Caufield's beckoning, letting the woman cluck over her. "That's a very nice Christmas tree, ma'am," she told her politely.
"Thank you," Ms. Caufield smiled. "We worked hard on it." She gave Polly a conspiratorial wink. "Well, I did... DiDi did what she could, of course, but she can only reach so high. It was cute to see her try, though!"
DiDi... Did she mean... "Diana?" Polly tilted her head, looking up at Ms. Caufield.
"That's right!" Ms. Caufield nodded. "You must be all right after all! And I don't see any bump or anything yet. I really am sorry about that."
"No, no, it's fine," Polly assured her. "It's just... Diana. I'm here for Diana."
A frown began to cross Ms. Caufield's face. "Yes, sweetie... I know. Maybe we should call you a doctor... We had this conversation two minutes ago."
"At the... door?" No, that didn't sound correct. How could they have had a conversation at the door? Ms. Caufield had opened it, right as Polly arrived, and slammed it into her, and she'd fallen over...
"Besides," Ms. Caufield continued, deciding, intentionally or not, to ignore the question, "I called you."
Polly knew, without a doubt, that definitely wasn't true. She'd gone out searching for Diana, and why would she have done that, if this woman had called her and told her that she was right here? It didn't make any sense! "I need to... take care of her."
"Right," Ms. Caufield confirmed, not trying to argue in the slightest, the way Polly had felt almost certain she would. "Because you're her babysitter, aren't you? I called you, and you came up from your apartment downstairs."
Babysitter? No, that wasn't it at all! But... If that wasn't, then what was? She could have sworn it was a long journey here, an arduous one....
"I appreciate it," Ms. Caufield said. "With the elevator broken, it's quite a pain, isn't it? They said it might not get fixed until after the holidays, and that would have been awful. And then I saw someone working on it right after that, so I'm hoping they're wrong about that, and only told us that to prepare us for the worst!"
That's right... She'd had to take the stairs. That was why it had felt so difficult, getting up here. And she never did that, so she'd gotten all turned around, looking for Ms. Caufield's apartment coming from the stairwell, rather than the elevator. It had seemed like so much grander and adventure than that, somehow... She couldn't tell Ms. Caufield about it, though. That would just make her look like a silly little girl, and she was trying to be a professional babysitter right now.
"So, Diana is... here?" Polly asked, to be sure.
"Of course," Ms. Caufield chuckled. "Where else would she be? I know that dollhouse and those blocks over there aren't for me."
Polly didn't know why, couldn't put her finger on it, but a churning started up in her stomach as she turned her head, glanced in the direction Ms. Caufield was pointing. Over in the corner of the living room, opposite of the Christmas tree, was a whole collection of children's toys... Although, even calling them that was generous. Those were things that only a toddler would be entertained by.
"Are you feeling jealous?" Ms. Caufield teased.
"N-No!" Heat rose in Polly's cheeks, her defensiveness, she knew, just making it sound like more of a lie. "I-I was... I-I... D-Diana's a baby?"
"Well, she wouldn't say so, but yes," Ms. Caufield replied. "I'm sorry, didn't I make that clear? I assumed, with... everything... you'd know how to change diapers. You... do, don't you?"
"Y-Yeah," Polly nodded. "I-I don't mind it, either! I just didn't think...."
Why hadn't she? It was called 'baby'-sitting, after all; it might not always involve diapers, however, it was safer to consider it a possibility at any point.
"As long as you can," Ms. Caufield smiled pleasantly. "I'll take your word for it... I'd have been happy to show you on DiDi, since I'm sure she needs a fresh diaper by now, but I don't want to interrupt her nap and make her grumpy right before I leave her with you. If you want to play with her dollhouse a little while she's asleep, though..." she winked.
"I-I don't play with dolls!" Polly huffed. "I'm too old for that!"
"You don't have to be defensive about it with me," Ms. Caufield said. "I know, kids can be mean, huh? I bet you get teased about it... I think it's cute. It's why you wanted to be a babysitter in the first place, isn't it? It was for me... I imagined it would be like getting to play with the best doll ever made, and make some money at the same time! I thought it would be a dream job! Not to scare you away, but it isn't quite as simple as that.... Although, with DiDi, it shouldn't be too far off. I promise, she's an angel! And even if you don't play with dolls anymore on your own, she'd love it if you played them with her."
"I-I don't play with dolls," Polly repeated, a little quieter this time, less certain. She didn't... Except...
"That's fine, too," Ms. Caufield told her. "She can play on her own."
Polly fidgeted, blushing. "I-I mean... I-If she wants me to play with her..."
She saw Ms. Caufield's knowing smile, indicating that she hadn't succeeded in fooling her, in trying to pretend that, if she did decide to play with the dollhouse, it would be entirely for Diana's benefit. Had she really believed she would? She probably should have known better.
"Whatever you want to do," Ms. Caufield said. "You will be the one in charge."
The one in charge... That felt right, more-so than anything else she'd heard since her arrival here. She did recall gathering up her troops, giving them an inspirational speech before leading them into battle... But that couldn't be real. It was all her imagination... She'd been standing there, in front of her dolls, wrapped in one of her old bedsheets, plastic tiara on her head...
"So," Ms. Caufield changed the subject, perhaps sensing Polly's discomfort, "are you doing all right with your braces? I heard you just got them."
"Braces?" Polly frowned. "I-I don't..." She wasn't even sure what those were, what Ms. Caufield was talking about, but she didn't want to sound stupid.
Biting her bottom lip anxiously, Polly was taken by surprise, feeling a row of something poking at her from inside her mouth. She paused, running the tip of her tongue along her teeth, rolling her eyes as she realized that it was, of course, only her braces. In her defense, they were new, and she was still getting used to them, though that didn't make her feel any less silly for temporarily forgetting what they were called. She shuddered, squirming as the memory of sitting in the orthodontist's chair, letting him put those molds in her mouth, her teeth sinking into the thick goo...
"I know it's difficult to think this way now," Ms. Caufield told her sagely, "but you should be glad you're getting them over with when you're young. It would be even worse to wait, and have to deal with them when you're an adult."
That was definitely wrong... There was no disputing that! "I am an adult!" she insisted, sitting up straight, her feet starting to swing beneath her, not quite able to reach the floor, though, obviously, that was only because she had scooted too far back into the couch. Normally, it wouldn't be any problem at all!
Ms. Caufield's chuckle just made her more upset. She recognized that laugh, had used it herself countless times, when someone smaller than her, younger than her, had said something similar, when it was so clearly not true... In her case, however, it was the exact opposite! How could anyone believe she was anything other than a grown-up?!
It should have been blindingly obvious to everyone who got so much as a glimpse of her, but, if it wasn't, there was one way she could make it so, grabbing at her shirt, faintly confused to feel buttons there, to have to fumble with them as she bared her chest. "See?!" she demanded.
"Oh, sweetie," Ms. Caufield shook her head, gently brushing Polly's hands away and beginning to button her shirt back up. "Your training bra is very cute... You probably shouldn't go around showing it off to people you barely know, though, okay?"
"No!" Polly kicked her feet a bit harder, thumping them against the back of the sofa in frustration. "I don't...!"
Staring down at her body, she was baffled to see how flat her chest was, beneath her pink, heart-dotted and ribbon-lined bra, especially in comparison with Ms. Caufield's, made all the more obvious with the woman bending over right in front of her. Her breasts should be so much bigger than Ms. Caufield's, not the other way around! Or... Had that been her imagination, too? Had she seen other, grown-up women, fantasized about being as sexy and well-developed as they were, instead of the gawky, scrawny little twig she was?
"Stop that right now, Polly," Ms. Caufield ordered, glaring at Polly's feet. "You're acting like a naughty little brat, and if you keep this up, I'm going to march you right down to your Mommy and tell her that you aren't ready to start babysitting after all!"
"No, I am, I am!" Polly promised. "I-I'm sorry, Ms. Caufield!"
"If you say so," Ms. Caufield replied skeptically. "I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, sweetie, I really do, but if I'm going to trust you to look after my little girl, I have to know you're mature enough to handle it."
"I am!" Polly nodded, scooting forward, bobbing her head and nibbling her lip, struggling to make her feet stay still, despite how badly they wanted to go back to swinging. "I am so, so mature!"
Ms. Caufield was amused at that, but accepted it. "Okay. We'll see how you do this time, anyway... Let me show you where my number is, and all the emergency numbers, and I don't want you to hesitate to call if there's anything at all you have trouble with, all right? I'd rather have to come home early over nothing than have you or DiDi get hurt because you tried to take on too much." Ms. Caulfield took Polly by her hand, and there wasn't much Polly could do after that... Ms. Caufield was an adult, and so much taller than her, so much stronger...
But... That wasn't right, was it? Hadn't Polly just been staring down at her, when she'd first arrived. She could almost taste the sensation of rage, of disbelief when she'd opened the door, and discovered who, or what, was on the other side...
Except, she hadn't opened the door. She couldn't have, not when it had swung out and hit her. And when Ms. Caufield was so clearly towering over her, there was no way Polly had, mere minutes before, been the bigger of the two... That didn't make any sense...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cathryn felt a pang of guilt as she closed the apartment door. Was she doing the right thing? Polly was a sweet little girl, but that really was what she seemed like... A little girl. Was she up to taking care of herself, much less DiDi?
It was only for a couple hours, she reminded herself. And, as much as she loved her baby girl, she couldn't bring her everywhere forever... She had to trust other people to help out eventually.
She was just being jumpy... She couldn't say that Polly had made the best first impression, after all, storming in, demanding to know where Diana was, sending Cathryn reeling backwards, lashing out in defense... Or, that was how it felt, at least, as silly as that sounded, knowing she'd been standing there, hands up in surprise, not moving towards the woman physically at all...
Even that wasn't right, though. She must have imagined that, some deep, dark recesses in her mind conjuring up her worst fears about someone coming to take away her precious little girl. No, she'd faintly heard her little neighbor coming up and knocking on the door, and, despite not spotting anyone on the other side of the peephole, she'd opened it up, smacked it right into the poor thing, too short for Cathryn to see standing there.
She really did feel sorry for Polly... It must be tough for her, at her age, seeing the other kids in her class hit their growth spurts, and start developing, not quite there herself yet, still stuck in childhood, in so many ways... And then to get braces on top of it, to give them another thing to mock her for... Cathryn knew what that was like, had gone through it herself, so it was a strange coincidence that Polly was the same, though not an unwelcome one. She hoped this would be okay, that she'd be able to use her again, to help her build up some confidence. She was certain that was exactly what the girl needed right now.
However, she couldn't entirely shake the feeling that she'd heard another voice, like Polly's, only deeper, stronger, more forceful, announcing, "I am Hippolyta! I know you have Diana, so hand her over, or I will take her from you! She's mine!" before her door burst open, revealing a warrior queen, robes flowing, practically glowing with power...
But no, it had been timid little Polly, still in her school uniform, staring down at her Mary Janes as she meekly mumbled, "I-It's Polly, here to take care of Diana," so quiet that Cathryn hadn't been sure she'd heard anything at all, so she'd had to open the door to check. She'd be more careful in the future... And pay Polly extra to make up for it, even though it didn't seem like she'd gotten hurt, so long as DiDi was safe, and the apartment not on fire, when she got home.
Now, if she could just figure out where she'd gotten the idea that the name of the sitter she'd hired was Emily, and not Polly... That would take some more pondering as she walked down the hall, pleased to see a maintenance worker taking the out of order sign down off the elevator right as she approached, well ahead of the projected schedule. Everything was, once again, working out, exactly the way she'd hoped, which helped convince her that, despite all outward appearances, little Polly would, too.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Polly flinched a bit when she heard the door open, turning quickly, heart beginning to pound before she saw that it was, indeed, only Ms. Caufield after all, prompting a sigh of relief.
"Hi, there," Ms. Caufield said quietly, waving. "How did everything go?"
"I-It was good," Polly replied uncertainly.
"Was it?" Ms. Caufield raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to lie to me, Polly. You can tell me the truth."
Polly blushed. "Mostly," she hedged her bets. "DiDi is so cute, and sweet, just like you said, and I had so much fun with her, but..."
"Did you have to change a poopy diaper?" Ms. Caufield chuckled, seeing Polly's nose wrinkle. "It was your first time, right?"
"Y-Yeah," Polly admitted. "It wasn't that bad, though..."
"Then what's wrong?" Ms. Caufield frowned. "Did you have trouble putting her to bed?"
"No," Polly shook her head. "I-It was..." She squirmed, feeling ridiculous for how scared it had made her. "R-Right after you left, there was this banging on the door, and they said they were the babysitter, and... A-And I thought maybe you'd seen me, and you were disappointed in me, and hired another babysitter to look after me and DiDi, and they just kept knocking, but you told me not to let anyone in, and I didn't know what to do, and..."
"Oh, Polly," Ms. Caufield opened up her arms, and Polly ran into them, sniffling. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I-I dunno," Polly rubbed her nose. "I-I guess I was scared you would say I was right, a-and she was my babysitter..."
"Well, I would never do that to you," Ms. Caufield gave her another squeeze. "I know you're a big girl, and you don't need a sitter anymore."
"I-I don't!" Polly confirmed, silently praying the woman didn't ask how long that had been the case, sure she wouldn't be impressed by the answer.
"I know," Ms. Caufield told her again. "It looks like you kept the living room nice and neat, too! Let me look in on DiDi, all right?" Polly nodded, fidgeting nervously as she waited for the verdict. "Fast asleep," Ms. Caufield declared. "And nice and dry, still. Good work, sweetie."
Polly beamed proudly at the praise, and even brighter as she was given her pay. She was just getting ready to head out when Ms. Caufield stopped her. "Where are you going?" she smiled. "Your Mommy is working tonight, so she asked me to help you with... Well, you know."
Polly glanced up at her. "Wh-What?"
"You don't have to be embarrassed," Ms. Caufield said softly, pulling a diaper out of the stack beside the changing pad on the floor of the living room, where Polly had changed her first messy diaper, using those very same diapers. "Lots of girls your age still wet the bed."
"N-No!" Polly wailed. "I-I don't!"
"Shh," Ms. Caufield warned. "Don't wake up DiDi. Your Mommy told me I did when I hired you, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to trust her. Now, off with your skirt."
Polly chewed on her lip, memories of waking up in a soggy diaper starting to bubble to the surface, proving that she was wrong, no matter how much she'd been certain she wasn't just a moment before. She really didn't want Ms. Caufield to see her panties, however, grasping the hem of her skirt with all her might, only to have it gently tugged free of her grip, raised up...
"What happened, Polly?" Ms. Caufield asked quietly.
Polly sniffed, feeling the tears begin to well up in her eyes again. "I-I got scared with the knocking!" she blurted out. "I-I'm sorry."
"Aww, poor thing," Ms. Caufield gave her another hug. "That's all right... I understand..."
Polly was so glad Ms. Caufield wasn't mad at her, despite the humiliation of having her soggy panties taken off of her, and of being laid down onto the waiting diaper. She tried not to think about how she'd been on the other end of this not that long ago, how she'd been the one diapering up Diana, sprinkling on the baby powder, pulling the tapes snug...
"If it happens again, though," Ms. Caufield told her when she was finished, giving the secured diaper a loving pat, "I will have to talk to your Mommy about it, okay? I promise, neither of us will be disappointed in you if you have to go back to Pull-Ups for a while."
Polly was old enough, she shouldn't have had to worry about that... Unfortunately, as she'd failed to tell Ms. Caufield, part of the accident had happened not when she'd heard the knocking at the door, but when she'd been playing dolls with Diana, and gotten distracted. The former might not happen again next time; the latter, on the other hand...
"Perfect!" Ms. Caufield helped her to her feet, diaper crinkling between her thighs as the woman helped her adjust her skirt over it. "Now, can you walk back to your apartment on your own, or do you want me to take you? Oh, the elevator is fixed, by the way."
"I-I'll be okay, ma'am," Polly said. "Thank you."
It was such an odd mix of emotions, stepping out of Ms. Caufield's front door, full of pride at having finished her first babysitting job, and shame at toddling through the halls in a diaper, knowing there was a pair of wet panties in a spare plastic bag waiting in her backpack for her to have to explain to her Mommy in the morning. If she could just keep her diaper dry overnight, that might help soften the blow...
But there was no way that was going to happen, not when she already felt herself dribbling into her pants, after following her feet instinctively to one of the apartments downstairs, reaching into her backpack to find a key she hadn't consciously remembered she'd had there, and found Emily waiting for her on the other side.
"Why didn't you answer the door?" her sister demanded. "We both know she wanted me as her babysitter, not you!"
"We're the same age!" Polly reminded her, crossing her arms grumpily, drawing herself up to her full height, which still didn't come close to measuring up. It was weird that they were the same age, she supposed, when they weren't twins, yet that was, indeed how it was. She could recognize now, of course, that it had been Emily's voice on the other side of the door, although, in the moment, that somehow hadn't occurred to her as a possibility. "And I did a very good job, thank you very much! She wants to have me come back!"
Emily smirked, looking down at her sister, watching her squirm. She probably didn't even realize how obvious her diaper was, how clear it was, to Emily especially, that she was wearing it, that she'd started wetting the bed again. That must have been why their mom had asked Ms. Caufield to put her in it, rather than trusting Emily to do it... That, and Polly always fussed when that happened, throwing a tantrum about how they were the same age, so it wasn't fair that Emily be allowed to do that.
It was fun to tease her about it, and she'd certainly go back to it tomorrow... She did feel a bit proud of her tonight, though, despite her annoyance at getting her job stolen out from under her. It was strange... She could swear she remembered wishing, over and over, every Christmas, that she'd get a little sister, and yet... That was what Polly was, wasn't it? Same age or not, there was no doubt who the more mature of them was, the more responsible, the one who wasn't a shy, bedwetting little dork...
"Well, I guess my Christmas present to you will be not going to tell her what you did," Emily shrugged. "I have enough other clients as it is. Now, why don't you go brush your teeth? It's getting late."
"I know how to get ready for bed!" Polly glowered at her... But that didn't stop her from doing as she was told, just as obedient a little sister as ever, waddling down the hall in a way that made it obvious to a babysitter like Emily that she was already soggy, before she even fell asleep, confirming exactly how silly it had been to bother wishing for a younger sibling when she already had Polly... And, of course, as far as either of them, or their parents, knew, always had.