It was if Dani had short-circuited, standing there stock-still, her fingers glued to the hem of her sundress, hiding the evidence. Shiloh put her hands on her hips, tried to play it off.



"Hey bud!" she chirped, sweeping Logan up into her arms. "Did you pick out those cars?" she asked, sneaking a diaper check, praying he was the slightest bit wet and she'd have a good reason to whisk him back out of the room. No such luck. He kept on laughing right through the check. Shiloh only felt dry padding. Mustering up a little extra fake excitement, she announced, "All dry! But I bet if someone keeps laughing so hard they're going to pee their pants!"



"But Dani weaws diapews!" he cackled. Neither girl had been sure if Logan really caught a glimpse of Dani's diapering, but it was pretty clear now.



Dani sighed out loud. It was the kind of sigh drenched with resignation, despair. She slumped into the recliner, didn't bother crossing her legs. The soft pink of her bunched-up diaper peeked through her sheer white panties. "Like father, like son, I guess," she muttered.



"Now, there's nothing wrong with wearing diapers," Shiloh replied. She locked eyes with the ashen Dani. "That goes for the both of you."



"But she's a grown-up!" Logan said.



Shiloh took a deep breath and walked Logan over the couch, sitting him down on one of the cushions. "And that's perfectly normal. Lots of grown-ups wear diapers."



"Like you do!"



Shiloh hesitated, unsure precisely what to say to that. It was very technically true. She had... maybe.. accidentally on purpose fallen into a diaper machine knowing full well that it would put her in a diaper. And she did wear that diaper, followed by other diapers... and used them. But also very technically that was just a fluke and she did not wear diapers!



Shiloh realized she had been silent entirely too long. "R-right," she finally stammered, "I did wear diapers. But that's okay!" She paused, thinking, then added, "But I was the same me when I was in diapers, right? I was still your babysitter. Nothing changed!" ...Except my diapers, Shiloh wryly added in her head.



The question left Logan a little perplexed, but maybe it wasn't for him. Shiloh shot another glance to Dani.



"Oh baloney!" Dani grumbled. "Dr. Strait is my employer. We're supposed to be colleagues. Intellectual equals. Mutually respected! He's already seen me in diapers once, but that could at least be blamed on the machine!" She motioned to Logan. "The minute he blabs about this and it's all over!"



"I wouldn't blab!" Logan said.



Dani looked away, "Of course you will. You're a little kid."



"I would not blab!" Logan shouted, spitting out his Bs with extra saliva.



"Would too," Dani sneered, crossing her arms.



Shiloh raised her voice. "Calm down. A couple of three-year-olds bickering isn't productive." Both Dani and Logan looked a little offended, but Shiloh shook off their hurt expressions, taking charge of the situation.



She pointed to Dani, right between her eyes. "You are a grown-up who knows better, and you need to be nice." The woman frowned in response.



She turned to Logan, squatting down to his eye level, "And you need to be nice to your old babysitter, no matter what she's wearing." Logan picked at his fingernails, averting everyone's gaze.



She stood up. "Now, both of you, say you're sorry to the other."



"...Sowwy," Logan said, looking up, before lowering his gaze to the carpet.



Dani rolled her eyes, "I'm not apologizing to a three-year-old who I used to babysit."



Shiloh closed the distance between them. "Yes you are. He already apologized."



"You may be in charge of him," Dani growled, "but you've dirtied way too many diapers the past few days to be acting like you're in charge of me."



A flash of heat rose in Shiloh's face. Her arm shot out instinctively, snatching Dani's ear in a heartbeat before using it to lift the older woman out of her seat. Dani squealed half in surprise, half pain. Shiloh tugged her close by the flesh of her ear. "Despite everything you put me through I'm trying to be on your side here," she whispered, "but both of you are in diapers and he's the only one acting mature!"



"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!" Dani stammered, arching her body, trying to twist out of Shiloh's grip.



"Don't apologize to me."



"This is ridiculous! I'm not apologizing to a toddler!" Dani whined.



Shiloh swatted her on the back of her thigh, missing her padded behind very much on purpose. "Are you kidding me right now?"



"I have some pride left!" Dani hissed.



Shiloh renewed her grip on Dani's ear. "So are you going to rude him into silence?"



"If he respects me he'll clam up, and he's not going to respect me if I'm groveling."



"You need to calm down," Shiloh said, shaking her head. "This is not a good look on you."



Dani slapped Shiloh's hand from her ear, "You need to get off your high horse. I told you, you're not in charge of--"



In an instant Dani's white panties were around her ankles. She looked down just as Shiloh began tucking her sundress into the waistband of her pink princess diaper. It crinkled loudly every time another few inches of dress were tucked inside. "What are you--" Dani sputtered out as she was spun around and pushed face first into the corner.



Shiloh quietly hissed, "Let's see how much he respects you now, diaper girl," before turning on her cheery disposition back on and spinning back around to face Logan with the biggest smile she could muster.



"I'm sorry that Dani is having a temper tantrum right now, Logan." Shiloh had latched an iron grip onto Dani's shoulders that was belied by her sunny tone. "And I'm sorry she's being bratty."



Logan, still seated on the couch, was trying to stifle further laughter. Shiloh released her grip on one of Dani's shoulders and pressed it firmly into the seat of her diaper. The room was silent, save for the crinkling plastic as her hand sank into the padding, and then, a very quiet sniffle emanated from Dani's corner.



"Dani is just sensitive about her diapers," Shiloh continued, emphasizing particular words in her sentence with diaper rubs and diaper pats, "and she would prefer that your dad didn't find out she still needs them." Shiloh felt Dani tense up as she finished that sentence. "That's why she's being so cranky."



Logan nodded.



"So what do you say? Can you keep this a secret for her? I'm sure she'd start feeling better if you said yes."



"Ummmmmmmm," Logan thought aloud, almost humming. "You guys pway better in diapews."



Shiloh offered a half smile. "Maybe they help us feel the right age?"



"I wike it when you weaw them."



Shiloh cocked her head to the side, unsure how to respond. She felt Dani's shoulders bounce up and down her grasp. Dani was... chuckling?



"Logan," Dani called out from the corner, her voice a little muffled. "Would you keep my secret if Shiloh put her diaper back on and we all played together?"



The black maw of the machine flashed in Shiloh's mind, the cushy-comfy conveyor belt, the all too real sights and sounds. She shook her head, hard. Logan jumped up to his feet and shouted, "Yeah!"



"No no no no," Shiloh repeated. "I just got out of diapers and I am staying out."



"Come on," Dani crooned from her corner. "There's nothing wrong with wearing diapers, you said it yourself!"



"Yeah!" Logan shouted, bouncing on the couch cushion.



"You both are enjoying this way too much!" Shiloh protested.



"Pweeeeassssse," Logan begged.



"Pweeeease, miss people-pweaser!" Dani joined in, her noise still buried in the corner.



Shiloh cracked a smile, playfully elbowing Dani. "Stop using my words against me. You're still in trouble."



"LoganI'msorryyou'reablabbermouth!" Dani yelled, raising her voice higher over Logan's repeated pweases, tugging her panties back up over her diaper.



"Nuh-uh," Shiloh cut in, "that's--"



"ItokayDaniIloveyou!" Logan shouted back.



The room was chaos. Shiloh was suddenly at the mercy of two hollering kiddos who very organized in their singular cause to put her back in diapers. It was mutiny, and Dr. Strait still wasn't back. And somewhere in the back of her head, Shiloh felt there were mysteries left unsolved in there, in the machine. Curiosities left smoldering in her memory. It wouldn't be so bad... you know... being in diapers again. Everyone else was doing it?



"...........Fine," she said, defeated. Or maybe she was just acting defeated. She hadn't decided.



Dani and Logan cheered, each grabbing one of her hands.



Shiloh felt herself being tugged down the hall, toward the basement, crinkles echoing on either side of her.