The Padded Palace Act IV: Chapter 2
“Ninis, Baby Connor,” cooed Stacy, planting a kiss on Connor’s forehead as she pulled the blankets up to his chin. She then lifted the bars to his crib as carefully as she could, hoping to avoid waking him. A sense of relief washed over her as she latched the bars into place.
SNOOOOOORE!
Almost as if responding in gratitude to Stacy’s diligent silence, Connor’s snores filled the nursery, sounding akin to a jackhammer. It was no surprise that he passed out as quickly as he did following his feeding with Stacy considering the eventful evening he’d had, which Stacy took as a badge of pride.
Tragically, not all were as elated as Stacy was about the volume of Connor’s nasal rumblings. “I’m sleeping upstairs in Connor’s bed if he’s like this all night,” said Ellie, who already wasn’t the best at handling environmental noises when trying to fall asleep.
THWAP!
“You’ll do no such thing. Babies like you need proper sleep protection…” said Stacy, landing a swat on the back of Ellie’s diaper, “...in more ways than one. You know the rules: diaper babies sleep in cribs. In fact, why don’t both of you go brush your teeth and get tucked into bed as well? I don’t want to deal with any cranky Littles in the morning.”
Placing her hands on her hips, Riri wanted to throw Stacy’s words back at her. After all, there were four crinkle butts present in this nursery, not three. However, her confidence was shot as her hands made contact with her diaper, reminding her of her position on the Big-to-Little scale. Moreover, she wasn’t looking to provoke Stacy into another verbal sparring match, especially so late at night. “Whatever. I was gonna brush my teeth anyway,” she said, exiting the nursery whilst failing to mask her pouty frustration.
“Y-Yeah, what she said,” added Ellie before scurrying off in the same direction as Riri. In truth, her arousal had yet to completely flatline since playtime with Connor, and Stacy’s Big attitude was threatening to set her fire ablaze once more. Part of her wanted to lean into her bratty Little role and see how far she was willing to go after seeing what she did to Connor. Unfortunately, for as much as Stacy was turning her on, her style of Big was as frightening as it was alluring, sending her chasing after Riri for fear of being the only conscious person remaining on Stacy’s warpath.
This left Stacy alone in the nursery with Connor for the first time all evening. Other than his rhythmic snoring, the room was at peace. Elevated by the sense of power she had over her domain, she let out a deep, contented sigh. “Bet you thought you had us fooled, huh?” she asked Connor’s sleeping body rhetorically, “Well, you’re in luck. Unlike the last creep, you’re much too cute to allow you to crawl away like it was nothing…”
Stacy reached over the bars of Connor’s crib and grazed Connor’s cheek softly with her forefinger, producing the smallest of smiles on both of their faces. She could see why natural-born Bigs got off on this so much. Leaning over the bars, she landed a kiss on his forehead, whispering, “...I think I’d like to keep you.”
Backing away from the crib, Stacy needed to take her mind off the exhilaration of being in charge before her gratuitous fawning broke Connor from his slumber. To her surprise, it was the state of the nursery that captured her attention. Sure, they had done some minor tidying by picking up the pizza boxes and other trash items. However, that still left a lot to be desired cleanliness-wise. Ellie’s former spot on the carpet alone was shrouded in a mess of pizza crumbs and small toys with greasy fingerprints.
Departing from the nursery, Stacy walked across the house to the laundry room, where she knew the Padded Palace’s cleaning supplies and, specifically, the vacuum were kept. Tucking a tube of cleaning wipes under her armpit, she promptly rolled the standing vacuum back to the nursery, groaning at the busted right wheel that steered her into a wall multiple times. “Ugh, fix your damn vacuum, Latasha,” she muttered under her breath. For the amount of money she spends per month at this place, she would have figured Latasha could afford a decent vacuum. Putting those disgruntled thoughts to the back of her mind, she plugged in the vacuum, flipped the on-switch, and got to work much like she had seen Latasha do several times.
VRRRRRRRR!
The loud whirr of the vacuum starting up caused Stacy to jump slightly. She immediately looked over her shoulder, relieved to find that Connor’s sleep was undisturbed and, more importantly, that no one had seen her get spooked by something so silly. Though, it was hard to expect anything else from her being this was the first time she’d ever used one in her life; a fact that made her face flush in a mix of shame and embarrassment. She wondered if Riri or Ellie were in the same boat as her in that regard.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” said Riri, standing with Ellie in the doorway of the nursery and spotting Stacy hard at work. She had a floss stick in her mouth and was going tooth by tooth as she spoke, “You know…*PLUCK!*...being a Big…*PLUCK!*…is more than just…*PLUCK!*…tidying up right?”
Rolling her eyes at Riri’s mockery, Stacy knew the only reason Riri was taking shots at her was because she was intimidated. Jealous too, for that matter. She clicked off the vacuum, wanting to ensure Riri absorbed every syllable. “Oh, I’m well aware. I know it can be a hard concept for someone whose brain is permanently frozen at age five but some people genuinely like to clean up after themselves. Something you wouldn’t know a thing about since your Daddy does all that stuff for you,” she said, smirking at the rage she could visibly see building behind Riri’s eyes. It was almost too easy.
“Oh, like you’re one to talk. You've been waited on hand and foot since what? Birth?” responded Riri, bated into yet another squabble over Stacy’s egregious double standard. Squaring up with her blonde-haired adversary, she no longer cared for pleasantries. She was going to give Stacy a piece of her mind, “Maybe if you wouldn’t be so unbearable if you didn't act like such a spoiled bi…”
Suddenly, in the middle of her sentence, a frog formed in Riri’s throat. Growing up a shy kid, cussing someone out was far outside her comfort zone. She couldn’t even remember the last time she used a curse word in passing. To use one now so aggressively and so pointedly was not something she could pull off without several helpings of liquid courage beforehand, forcing her to pivot, “…brat.”
Sadly, Riri’s pivot would not go unnoticed by Stacy, who was delighted to pounce on Riri’s obvious weakness. “Ha! What’s wrong, Riri? Having trouble with the buh-buh-buh-B-word,” she said, taking advantage of both the redness filling Riri’s cheeks and the additional two inches of height she possessed as she moved in close enough to stand over her shrinking rival. Landing a smack on Riri’s rear that put the one she gave Ellie to shame, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Latasha act this dominant. Perhaps she had found her hidden calling, “My eyes may be tired but my hand certainly isn’t. Best hurry to bed, Riri.”
Needing no invitation, Riri speed-walked from the center of the nursery to her crib in record time. She didn’t want to admit it but there was no getting around it: Stacy was a terrifying Big. Not terrifying in a fun way either. Her brand of vicious teasing and rule by force was too much for the seasoned Little. Having dealt with more than a few overzealous caregivers in the past, she knew the path of least resistance was the best option for now so long as Stacy didn’t do anything dangerous.
Ellie, meanwhile, was forced to chew on her lip with minty-fresh teeth to quell her unrelenting libido, which only intensified once Stacy’s rapacious gaze fell upon her. She would definitely be telling Carol to try kicking the cruelty up a notch when she got home. “Hey, so long as I get to be a baby, I don’t care who’s in charge,” she said, holding up her hands in innocence.
“Good girl,” said Stacy, patting Ellie’s head twice before nodding her head in the direction of Ellie’s crib, “Now, I better not hear you three rummaging about down here. I have alarms set in intervals to remind me to check on you. Red butts for anyone caught outside their cribs.” She paced the nursery as she spoke, taking it upon herself to lock both Ellie and Riri’s crib bars into place for them.
“I don’t need to lift my crib bars,” scoffed Riri, too annoyed and too disgruntled to acknowledge the irony of such an immature sentence. Her apparent anger promptly shifted to confusion as she watched Stacy move toward the nursery door, “Aren’t you getting in your crib too, Stacy? I thought you said no grumpy Littles tomorrow. Don’t forget the house rules,” She chuckled, recalling what a notoriously awful morning person Stacy was.
Brushing off Riri’s attempt at getting even, Stacy wasn’t going to be goated into another argument with one foot out the door. She knew Riri would have plenty of time tomorrow for the Palace’s new dynamic to sink in. “Not tonight. I’ll be sleeping without a diaper tonight. And as we both know, adults sleep in beds without railings attached to them,’ she said, flicking off the light switch and shrouding the nursery in darkness, “Sleep tight, children.”
“Hey, I’m telling Latasha if you wet the bed!” shouted Riri as Stacy ascended the staircase without so much a glance backward. She never would’ve thought Stacy of all people would be able to make her feel so small. It was like high school all over again. If she hadn’t been so exhausted, she would’ve been able to put Stacy in her place…at least that’s what she told herself. Lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling, she listened to Stacy’s footsteps as she traipsed across the upstairs acting like Queen of the Palace. She was going to have some serious words with Latasha about Stacy’s overall behavior once she returned. Until then, she would just have to suck it up.
“C-Con…Con…nie…”
Turning her head to the side, Riri narrowed her focus on Connor. With all of Stacy’s shenanigans, she’d almost forgotten about Connor’s answer from earlier. “Connie,” she whispered under her breath, her mind racing with curiosity. She needed to pick Connor’s ear as soon as possible before Stacy had the opportunity to do any further damage.
TO BE CONTINUED…