When Mike wakes up, he’s no longer in Stacy’s cubicle. Instead, he’s by the receptionist’s desk. He sits up, rubbing his eyes blearily. Lisa looks down at him and smiles.
“Hey, Mikey. That must’ve been a good nap,” she says. Mike merely nods in response. Then, without warning, Lisa shoves two fingers into Mike’s diaper. Mike let out a soft yelp. “You’re a little wet. But not enough to need a change.”
“Where Stacy?” Mike asks, trying to talk as much like a toddler as possible.
“She had a meeting she had to go to. But don’t worry, I have all of your things right here.” Lisa pats the diaper bag, placed on the floor next to her chair. “Stacy mentioned you’ll probably want a bit of a snack, so I grabbed you some milk.” Lisa hands Mike a baby bottle filled with warm milk.
“Thanks,” Mike mumbles. He begins to drink the milk. It tastes different than regular milk; he assumes that it’s made with baby formula. Lisa pats him on the head.
After Mike finishes the milk, he takes the tablet out of the diaper bag and plays on it until Stacy comes back.
“Mikey, time to go home,” Stacy says. Mike quickly puts the tablet back in the bag and gets to his feet unsteadily. As he stands, he feels pressure in his bladder. Without really thinking about it, he pees.
“I peepee,” he says once he finishes. Lisa checks his diaper.
“You sure did, Mikey! That milk must’ve gone right through you!”
“Milk?” Stacy asks, frowning.
“Yes. Carly saw him sleeping and mentioned that she’s been producing way more than she needs. Since she offered to share after she pumped, and you said he’d need a snack when he woke up, I gave him a bottle.” Mike’s stomach churns. He drank breastmilk?
“…Oh,” Stacy says after a moment. She smiles. “Well, thank you. It’s definitely good for him.”
“I know! Carly actually told me that you can take her whole work stockpile home. I’ll go grab it while you change Mikey.” Lisa gets up and leaves. Mike expects to be taken to the bathroom for his third change of the day, but is surprised when Stacy lays him on his back and removes his pants.
“What are you doing?” he hisses.
“No one’s here to see, and I don’t want to go all the way to the bathroom to change you again. Just sit tight and this’ll be over fast.” Stacy removes his wet diaper and wipes him down. As she cleans him, Mike asks her a burning question.
“Are you really going to make me drink breastmilk?”
“It is better for you than formula. And kids your age still need formula or milk in addition to solid food,” Stacy says, taping on a fresh diaper. She pulls his pants back up. “I’m at least going to take what Carly was generous enough to give us. We might have you drink it, we might not. We’ll see.” Lisa returns with a tote bag.
“Here. Carly said you can even keep the bag,” Lisa says brightly. Stacy takes it from her.
“Thanks, Lisa. And tell Carly thanks, too.” She takes a hold of Mike’s hand. “Mikey, say thanks to Lisa for taking care of you.”
“Thanks,” Mike mumbles. Lisa beams and ruffles his hair.
“No problem!” she chirps. Mike and Stacy leave the office.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Stacy asks as she buckles Mike into the car seat.
“Other than using up the rest of my strikes and getting stuck in diapers, oh, and being fed breastmilk, no, it was all right,” Mike snaps. Stacy sighs. She sets the diaper bag and bag of breastmilk on the floor.
“Well, at least you got to be treated like an adult most of the time. Tomorrow, you’re getting a babysitter.”
“But-”
“No buts. You can’t come to work with me again.” Stacy gets into the driver’s seat and starts the car. They pull away from her workplace. “It’s either a babysitter or daycare. And you clearly don’t want to go to daycare.”
“Yeah…” Mike mumbles. Stacy looks at him the rearview mirror.
“It’ll be okay, Mike. Tomorrow might be rough, but right now, we’re…”