✅1️⃣ Trusting the Babysitter

Chapter 11 - Your Choice

Claudia was in the laundry room, packing towels and clothes into the machine. She was less hesitant than Adam had been, and as he walked in she straightened up and pushed the door closed with a loud click. This time, Adam noticed that her legs were still bare; he'd dragged her downstairs to help clean with only a diaper on, and he had been so focused on doing what Lorelei demanded that he hadn't even noticed.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled when he realised how rude he must have seemed. He knew that the whole day would be anything but normal, but that didn't excuse all of his behaviour. He couldn't help doing what he was told, but he should still have been more attentive to things that might have been making her uncomfortable.

"Don't worry about it. We'll just get this stuff on, and then... what did she want? Hope she's not planning more torture?"

"No. She wanted to watch some movie on pay per view. I had to pay for it because I don't know if you have a family plan or whatever."

"Typical. You really can't resist that stuff, can you? If you're spending your own money on her. But I think if it keeps her occupied we're saving ourselves more misery. Thanks."

"Yeah. But I think I should have done better. There should be some way to control the kid, like I could have done more to make sure she eats her cupcake. I just didn't realise..."

"Stop. Blaming yourself doesn't get us anywhere, and I thought you were going to be more interesting than that. Now, we probably missed first incursion but if she's watching whatever there might be time for a couple of strife raids. Easiest way to get league points in the early game, good ranking before the matched leagues start."

Adam nodded. He knew what she was talking about, but it was all beyond his understanding. He knew how to play the game, but not the esoteric strategies you could use to maximise your score in a league game, or the complex dynamics that went into organising who played against whom in a tournament of thousands of worldwide players. He was happy to follow whatever Claudia wanted to do now; he felt like she'd deserved it after the way the day started, and he would have been happy to follow her lead.

"Did you clean up?" Lorelei's interruption surprised both of them. She was standing on the landing as Claudia led Adam up the back staircase.

"I thought you were–"

"I'm watching a thing. But I'm the big sis. I gotta check on you."

"It's okay, I'll keep an eye on the baby," Adam answered right away. As the words came out of his mouth, he wondered if they were an attempt to convince Lorelei to leave them alone, or the result of the order he was still following from earlier. Either way, he wished he could have said it in a less disparaging way.

"You're not doing good," Lorelei said with a pout, and the words were enough to make Adam nervous, wondering what he might have done wrong. "What's that?"

"Uhh, it's a diaper?" he said, following the pointing finger.

"No it's not. Bed pants not diapers. That's not what I said!"

"I'm sorry. That's all there was. I don't think regular diapers would fit, she's a big baby."

"I'll find diapers." Lorelei smirked, like she was planning something. It was an expression that Adam didn't like at all, and he couldn't imagine how Claudia would be feeling right now. She'd already been through enough. "Now you get to choose. Let the little baby decide. I said diapers before. You can have a proper diaper or keep that."

"I think I'm okay with this," Claudia mumbled. "I don't need diapers now, I'm not going to... I won't need one again."

"Okay. Adam, you gotta keep checking and see if she's wet. You gotta check baby's diaper. And be mean. And talk to her like a baby. And when she's wet you gonna tell her she's a baby and spank her and diaper her proply! You gotta, you're the babysitter."

Adam just nodded. She seemed so sure of herself, laying down the law. He knew that she shouldn't be treating Claudia like a baby, but it was what he was being told to do. There was no way around that just because he wanted to be nice to her.

"And baby sis! You gotta be good. No talking back. Do what he says. Don't ask for things. Gotta guess what baby needs. And you can't get things for yourself. You're a big baby. You gotta do what the babysitter picks. You can't say he's wrong."

Claudia clenched her teeth, but held back from saying anything. It was clear now that Lorelei had thought about this a lot more than either of them had imagined. She knew exactly what to say to spoil her big sister's day.

"Adam, be good. Find some toys. You gotta make her play. Give her toys and make her play. And don't stop me watching Thunder Present Rebus."

"Okay," Adam couldn't do anything but nod as he saw all their possibilities fading away. There might be a few little loopholes in the orders she'd given, but nothing that would make it easy for them to escape. It looked like he would be treating the big sister like a little kid, and the baby like she was a responsible adult, for the rest of the day. He could only hope that his sanity would be able to withstand the confusion.