Zeke took Lily by the hand and they made their way up the ramp and onto the main deck. She kept looking around at the size of the ship. It seemed enormous to her and as they made their ways indoors and up a flight of stairs, they stopped at a sign that said: “Brunch in the main dining area - 10:30 am to 1:00 pm.”

“You hungry, Love?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” she said taking his hand again as they walked down the cabins hallway and stopped at room number 123.

“1, 2, 3,” she said playfully. He handed the room key to her, and she unlocked it, bursting through the door, running down the room, and leaping onto the bed just as she had done in the hotel.

“Did you know I’ve never been on a cruise before?” she asked.

“Never?” he asked back.

“Never, and I’ve also never been to the beach, and I’ve also never flown in an airplane before yesterday,” she continued.

“How about the zoo?”

“Once, but I don’t remember much about the trip.”

“How about the mall?” he asked jokingly as she laughed and turned over on her back.

“I live there,” she said before turning on her side to face him.

“Can I ask you something, Zeke?” she inquired with a serious look on her face.

“Absolutely,” he said enthusiastically as he finished unpacking and lounged next to her on the bed.

“When did you know you wanted to be an AB daddy?” she asked while sitting up and crossing her legs.

“Third grade,” he replied. “Although I didn’t actually know I wanted to be a daddy then, but I met a girl in my class who had a bladder problem. She had to wear a diaper at all times, and this gave her a self-esteem problem. She was really sweet, but was always depressed.”

“And you cheered her up?” she asked.

“I was her only friend,” Zeke replied, while pausing to reflect on the memory of her. “Brunch. Let’s go eat. Shall we?”

“Yes,” she said hopping off the bed excitedly. “Can I eat whatever I want?”

“So long as you eat at least one thing that isn’t loaded with sugar,” he said.

“Okay,” she giggled sheepishly.

They left the room and headed to brunch. The main dining area was just as huge as everything else on the ship. There were at least fifty round tables, and the buffet display stretched down the middle of the room. Lily walked up to it and picked up a plate. It had every possible breakfast food on it. She loaded her plate up with eggs, bacon, and French toast, picking up an orange juice at the end of it.

“What did you mean when you said you were her only friend?” she asked as they sat down.

“Who?” he asked.

“The girl in third grade who had to wear a diaper. You said you were her only friend,” she continued.

“I was. Nobody else liked her. They picked on her,” he explained.

“They picked on her?!” she said, amazed.

“Yeah. Mercilessly sometimes,” he replied.

“Why?”

“Because she had to wear a diaper. It was a daily routine for everyone to make fun of her until she broke down in tears.”

“Did you pick on her?”

“No. I was her only friend. I defended her…from everybody...even my own friends sometimes,” he said beginning to reflect.

“Did they pick on you because you defended her?” she asked, intrigued at this story.

“They tried,” he pridefully stated. “But they failed. I felt a need to protect her from them. It almost felt like an obligation to make sure she was protected. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the beginning of the ‘Daddy’ mentality.”

Everyone in the dining room had been slowly finishing their meals and making their way out onto the side deck.

“I think the ship tour is about to start,” Zeke said. “Are you done eating?”

“Yes,” she said as she got up and grabbed her orange juice for the tour.

Zeke stood up and looked at her empty plate.

“You ate all of that?” he asked, surprised.

“And it was good,” she said with a smile as she took his hand.

They walked out onto the deck and into a cluster of people. Moments later, a woman began speaking, their tour guide. As the instructions were given out, Lily glanced to her right, and standing about 10 feet away was the couple from the hotel. The lady looked over at Lily. They exchanged a look at each other much in the same fashion as they did last night at the hotel.

Just then, the group started moving. They walked every inch of the ship and paused at locations for the guide to explain everything that was offered onboard. The pool was large like everything else on the ship. There were side restaurants, gaming areas, theaters, sports bars, arcades, and the activities available went on.

Lily strolled along, spending most of the tour looking out at the ocean. Occasionally, Zeke would give her a playfully nudge and a wink. She smiled at him and continued sipping her orange juice. The tour was much fun and didn’t interest her very much. She kept the couple from the hotel in the corner of her eye.

After pausing in front of yet another sports bar to hear about its menu, she began to feel a pain in her abdomen. A big brunch had caught up to her quickly. It didn’t concern her much. She would use the bathroom in their room after the tour, but the tour kept going on and her need for release began to grow. She looked behind her to find that they were buried in the middle of the group. If the urge grew anymore, she would have to skip the rest of the tour.

Then, they got to the boardwalk malls. Shopping! It was an area that resembled a boardwalk with little shops on the one side. Everyone stepped up to the shop windows and peered in. Every possible trinket, souvenir, and vacation gift was there. This also included a jewelry shop. Lily made her way up to the glass and stared at a little glass elf that reminded her of Mr. Woody. She took a moment to remember all the places where Mr. Woody had taken her in her dreams: The countryside, the oyster she found in the lake, the unicorns she saw in the moonlight’s reflection on the water, the sandcastle on the beach and the jumping dolphins in the ocean. These memories made her happy and she felt good. A little too good…..

She snapped out of the memories when she realized her abdomen was aching as much. Then she realized she had begun pooping herself. At first, it wasn’t so bad, but she soon felt the diaper beginning to puff out around her bottom. Then the tell tale scent began to permeate the air around her. Her face went white, and tears began to form in her eyes. She looked over at, Zeke, just a few feet away, with a look of horror. Zeke walked over to her, recognizing something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” he asked before making the discovery from the scent in the air. “This tour is getting long. How about we cut it short?”

He took her by the hand and began weaving them through the people behind them. She was really uneasy about her situation and began to really feel like a baby. The scent followed her, and she felt helpless to do anything about it. She followed along with waddled steps, cling to Zeke’s arm like a child waiting for her Daddy to make everything better.

Finally, the saw the back of the crowd, and were almost free, but standing in the back of the group was the couple from the hotel. The lady looked at Lily, and Lily lowered her eyes and her head, trying to hide her tears and the flushed look on her face. Her self-consciousness grew, and as they passed by the couple, Lily’s ears were becoming overwhelmed with the deafening crinkle of her diaper.

Her embarrassment continued to grow as they passed back through the dining room where a full staff of servers were cleaning up the brunch. Her face turned red, and she now clung to Zeke’s chest, smashing her body so tightly to him and wishing she were invisible. She felt completely vulnerable now, and though the situation probably was noticeable or obvious to anyone at all, that didn’t stop her from fearing that the world knew everything now.

They made it to the cabins hallway, and her panicked condition began to lessen. She looked up at Zeke and then became upset with herself because this whole time she had been concerned with herself only and not whether Zeke was upset by this.

“Are you mad at me?” she quietly asked him in a tiny voice.

“No. Not at all,” he replied, reassuringly as he opened their cabin door.

“Are you sure?” she asked while entering the cabin and breaking down at the same time. “Because if you are mad, I am so sorry. I knew I had to go and I shouldn’t have waited. It wouldn’t have been an issue at all except I ate that huge meal, and I know I shouldn’t have done that, but it all looked so good.”

“It’s okay, Lily,” Zeke interrupted her with in a calm, relaxing voice as he closed the cabin door, and unfastened the buckles of her overall shorts.

“I’m so lucky you were there to take care of me because I didn’t know what to do,” she said as her eyes teared up again and she stepped out of the overall shorts and raised her arms as he removed her t-shirt. “And I know I should know what to do because I’m an adult, but I was looking at the jewelry in the window and I began daydreaming…”

“Shhhh,” he softly interrupted her with while placing her pacifier in her mouth.

She stood before him in nothing but her dirty diaper. She collapsed into his arms and embraced him as he rocked her back and forth.

“It’s okay. You need to calm yourself down,” Zeke said as he gently removed her pigtail holders, allowing her hair to fall down on her shoulders.

The warmth of his body felt so wonderful, and she listened to his heart beating and the echo his voice in his chest.

“You are allowed to eat as much as your heart desires. You did nothing wrong, and Daddy will always be here to comfort you,” Zeke said as he gently eased her body down onto the bed.

She lied there and began to relax. Her racing heartbeat and racing thoughts began to slow down as she found herself slipping back into that “little” feeling. It was always an inviting feeling that she longed for and even when she got hysterical, Zeke always found a way to help her return to the “little” feeling.

He unfastened her diaper and then raised her legs and bottom in the air. Never once did he ever complain about the task before him. Instead he was sweet, and handled her body with a caressing touch uncommon to most. This was one of those moments where she could feel how much he loved her. It took no words being spoken, but rather actions which conveyed she was safe in his care.

The scent of powder filled the air; a much better alternative, and soon he was fastening her into a new diaper. Next he began the softening effect. The socks on her feet, the nightie he slipped over her shoulders, and the blanket he wrapped her in gave her an endearing sense of being swaddled, the rapture of a tender and an absolutely endearing mood.

She looked up at him with all the love that could beam from her eyes. He eased her head back on the pillows on the bed, and covered her with the bed sheets.

“I think you could use a little nap,” he said in such a thick and inviting Daddy tone that she instantly got “butterflies” in her tummy and adorably nestled herself down for the nap.

She closed her eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly. She slept peacefully and soundly, hardly shifting at all in a greatly needed bit of slumber. Zeke sat next to her on the bed, and in moment when she turned her head to find a cool spot on the pillow he was a “Johnny-on-the-spot” in returning the pacifier to her lips when it fell.

She was a breath-taking and angelic sight. The curtains that Zeke had drawn to darken the room let in a trace of light, just enough to dance on her skin and warm the setting. He crossed to the other side of the bed and knelt down beside her. He was captivated with her, and his love for her was growing. He cherished the innocence she possessed, an innocence she didn’t even know she had.

Looking over at the alarm clock, he began preparing a bottle for her. It wasn’t quite dinner time yet, but he knew she would need a little more “baby” time before they did anything else. Hoping her rest had recharged her emotions, having been left drained from the earlier events of the afternoon, he peeled the bed sheets off her, and lifted her into his arms. Still swaddled in her blanket, she didn’t stir from her sleep.

Carrying her over to the sofa, he cradled her body close to him. He could feel the warmth of her body. He sat down and gently rocked her, making certain not to lose the sense of security she subconsciously treasured at this moment. Kissing her on the forehead, he felt the heat of her skin. It was emitting from her like a flame searching for fuel. He stroked her right cheek, and she took in a chestful of air through her nose. Opening her eyes, she delicately batted her beautiful eyelashes as she awoke. She looked up at him and her face lit up with an adorable smile that would melt any guy’s heart instantly.

“Do you feel better?” he quietly asked with an endearment in his voice.

She nodded her head in adoration and kept her eyes fixed on him. They both ached for this bond between them to never end. She was so content that she would have remained enveloped in his arms forever and a day. Zeke was lost for words. He removed her pacifier, and in that moment, she leaned up to him, put her hand behind his head and kissed him with a passion as mighty as a rose. He returned the gesture, also being caught up in the emotion and the embrace.

He leaned her back into his arms and drew his fingertips down her face as he placed the bottle tip between her lips. She took it into her mouth and cuddle closely to him as she began drinking. Every nerve-ending in her body was alive. Every emotion within her soul was effected. Many people find love with someone. She had found something much deeper; a sense of belonging.

He loosened the blanket around her, allowing a little of the cool air in the room to rush down her body. She closed her eyes and whimpered faintly.

“Shhhh,” he whispered softly into her ear as he drew her closely to him. “It’s okay. Be a good girl for Daddy.”

His right hand traveled inside the blanket and down between her legs for a diaper check. She shifted her hips slightly, and modestly parted her legs to allow him to check. The orange juice which had served as relief for an unsettled tummy during the tour had now made her diaper wet. He reached behind her and patted her diapered bottom, a sentiment which always brought the “baby feeling” back to the front of her mind.

Slowly, he removed the blanket from her body as he stood up and placed her on the couch. She curled up into a ball with her knees to her chin as she watched him spread the blanket out on the carpet. He picked up the AB bag off the bed and placed it on the blanket. Lily knew what he was doing. She finished her bottle and placed it on the couch as she crawled down onto the floor and over to the blanket.

She lied on her back, mixing the view with glances at Zeke who was preparing to change her and glances at the ceiling. She used all five senses when he changed her. She closed her eyes as he placed her pacifier between her lips. The taste and texture of the rubber nipple was always soothing. She listened to the sound of her diaper being unfastened. She felt the cool, yet fresh feeling of the wipes on her skin. Her bottom and legs went in the air, held up by a strong hand that gave new meaning to the word “gentle”. The scent of powder filled her nose as he lowered her bottom and legs back down. The feeling of a new diaper being fastened to her waist completed the journey of all five senses.

She sat up, and lifted her arms in the air as he removed her nightie. She took both of his offered hands and stood up, immediately embracing him in stance. He held her tightly while rocking her gently and patting her freshly diaper bottom. She rested her head on his chest as the “baby feeling” rippled through her one body one more time.

“You need to get ready,” he said as she reached up with her tiny hands and touched his face.

Zeke looked at her fingernails, polish without a flaw.

“Perhaps a night in red?” he suggested.

She smiled, and ran over to the closet where Zeke has hung their formal wear. She pulled out the red dress he was referring to, threw it over her left shoulder, a bra of over right shoulder, and winked while kicking her right leg back as she went into the bathroom.

Zeke took his usual five minutes to get ready, and then got comfortable on the couch. He turned on the TV, knowing he would be waiting for her. Every guy gets used to waiting for a girl to get ready, and most get used to it. They still wish, however, that the girl would just hurry up. In the back of every guy’s mind is the thought that the wait is well worth it. He knows she will be beautiful when she is ready. They may be late, and perhaps that is where the phrase “fashionably late” came from, but she will be beautiful.

After a while, he got up and walked to the bathroom. This wasn’t to pressure her into hurrying up, but rather to watch her get ready. While some chose to wait to look at her until she was ready, Zeke liked to watch her get ready. On this day, he had seen her in many different states of mind experiencing many emotions along the way.

He reached the bathroom door and peaked in. She was leaning over the counter so her face was 3 inches from the mirror as she did “the eyelash thing with the little black wand thingy”. That’s how he described it and all the more he ever wanted to know about the process. She had a charm about her that always caught his attention, but she still had her own style about things that made her unique. Standing before him, in a beautiful red dress and black heels was a girl applying the “eyelash” stuff while still sucking on her pacifier. She was truly unique and she was all his.

She noticed him watching and finished her make-up, picking up the matching purse, and walking over to him. He touched his pointer finger to the pacifier she forgot was still between her lips. Her eyes grew big, and she laughed as she removed the pacifier, and applied lipstick. She put the pacifier in her purse.

“That would have been embarrassing,” she said with a laugh.

“Just a bit, I’m sure,” he said.

Over the course of a few hours, she had transformed herself from a distraught babygirl in a dirty diaper to an elegant lady in a red dress, almost as if she came right from the lyrics of a love song.

“Are you ready, my Dear?” he asked.

“I am now officially ready to go,” she said playfully with a bounce to her body.

“You look beautiful,” he said while taking in the full picture of her. “Absolutely stunning.”

She smiled as she grabbed a black lacey wrap. They exited the room arm-in-arm, headed for dinner. Although her appearance wouldn’t lend you to believe it, she still felt the “little” feeling inside. An emotion tends to stay with a girl a lot longer than a guy.

She adored feeling like a baby when around him. In private, it was a precious elation she could delight in freely. In public, it was a feeling that she enjoyed discreetly. It became their secret, and something they wanted to reveal to no one else. To Lily, it made her feel like she was doing something she shouldn’t, a guilty pleasure, if you will. And in public, shyness and modesty were one in the same for her.

They walked into the main dining room for a more formal meal, served at the tables. Zeke watched her walking over to a table. She was stunning in appearance and in the grace she used to carry herself. A red dress that formed to her body drew attention to her shape. The lace wrap she draped over her shoulders and down her back had just enough length to cover the bulk of her diaper beneath the dress.

They sat, and the meal came out shortly thereafter.

“What was her name, the girl in third grade?” she asked.

“I can’t remember,” he admitted.

“You can’t remember her name?” she asked, surprised.

“Nope, and it has always eaten me alive,” he said. “Her family moved away after our third grade year. I never saw her again.”

“Do you still think about her?” she inquired.

“Honestly, yes,” he confessed. “I think about where she is, and I hope she wound up with someone who takes care of her. Her heart needs that kind of attention.”

Zeke paused for a moment.

“Her heart deserves that kind of attention,” he said. “Maybe I’m wrong. Hopefully she found a way to overcome what she had to deal with growing up, and maybe she’s fine.”

“I would trust your judgment,” Lily said with a smile. “I know how you make me feel, and I can only imagine how much you meant to her.”

After dinner, Zeke and Lily continued the tour where they left it, at the boardwalk shops.

“So what was it that you were looking at that made you daydream?” he asked as they looked in the jewelry store window.

“That one,” she said while pointing to the glass elf. “It looks like Mr. Woody.”

“And he is the elf in your dreams, right?” Zeke asked.

“Yep,” she said, slipping back into littler thoughts.

Zeke looked at her as she stared at the glass elf. The expression on her face read excitement. Zeke smiled as he watched her begin daydream again.

“Come on,” he said as he led her into the jewelry store, and bought her the glass elf.

They walked back out, and made their way up to the observation deck on the top level. Sunset had just begun and they stood there admiring the sight of it.

“I have a very serious question to ask you,” Zeke said.

“Okay,” she said, getting a little nervous.

“Which do you prefer?” he asked. “Chunky or Creamy Peanut Butter?”

Lily closed her eyes and laughed.

“Ummm, creamy,” she answered.

“Coke or Pepsi?” he asked.

“Coke,” she answered, beginning to have fun with these questions.

“Late nights or early mornings?”

“Late nights.”

“Big….or little?”

“Hmmm. I’m big on little, but I like a little Big, too.”

“What the last thing you think about before you go to sleep?”

“I don’t know. I can’t recall, but I’ll get back to you on it.”

The sunset ended, and the stars lit the sky. They beamed down onto the ship and the ocean for as far as they go see with a blue light. The night air became a little chilly, and instinctively, Zeke covered her shoulders with his suit coat.

“What happens if you find that girl you met in third grade someday?” she asked.

“Then I’ll finally know if she’s alright. It will be an end to a long, long time of worry,” Zeke replied.

“What happens if you never find her?” Lily asked.

“Then I’ll go on hoping she’s alright,” Zeke replied before realizing what Lily was really asking. “Lily, that girl opened my heart to something that I never would have discovered otherwise, but fate has a funny way about it. Everything happens for a reason. I do care deeply for that girl and her well-being, but I’m in love with you, not her.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” she said with a tremble in her voice.

“Yes you should have, and I’m glad you did,” Zeke said, reassuringly. “When I hold you, when I bathe you, when I watch you sleep, there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be.”

“The love that I have found always leaves after a while,” she said fighting back tears.

“Every morning you wake up, I will be there. Every time you cry, I will comfort you. Every moment you have doubts, I will set your mind at ease,” he said with all the understanding in the world for her fear. “I’m real and I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thank you,” she said and she hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Daddy.”

They embrace for a long while in the moonlight. He kissed her hair and her forehead, rubbed her back, rocked her back and forth in his arms gently, and patted her diapered bottom, all of which touching her senses and mind in different ways. As the shops and various locations began to close for the evening, they made their way off the top deck and slowly walking as one silhouette in the now darkened ship.

As they walked down the hallway to their cabin, Zeke whispered into her ear: “Did someone wet her diaper?”

His words overwhelmed her composure of modesty. She didn’t resist the treatment she knew she wanted. Sheepishly nodding her head, she took the pacifier out of her purse and inserted it between her lips. She lowered her head and collapsed herself into his chest as he opened the cabin door. She was allowing herself to re-enter the baby mode. They walked in and she melted in his arms. He removed his coat from her shoulders, her lace wrap from her arms, and lifted the red dress off her body with great haste. She crawled up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist completely.

He carried her into the bathroom, and turned on the water in the tub. It began filling up as he carried her to the bed. He gently placed her on it and their lips met with a heated passion as her pacifier fell to the bed. He put one hand behind her head and one hand on the small of her back as she arched the middle of her body up, gliding her way to meet him.

Slowly, they ended the kiss, but maintain eye contact. Her eyes were enamored with him and with his touch. He had carved a place in her soul, and she trusted him completely. Sitting up, he unfastened her diaper, and lifted her naked body into his arms.

He carried her into the bathroom and lowered her into the tub. The warm water consumed every sensation in her body, even the ability to breathe. The guy kneeling beside her, who she was completely in love with, consumed everything else about her.

Many times people will be touched by love. Other times people will be deeply moved by love. At this moment, as Zeke bathed her frail and tiny frame, she was wholly devoured by love. She closed her eyes, and relaxed herself as much as her condition would allow. She felt his hands as they caressed her skin. He really understood how to court someone and how to make them feel love.

He lifted her out of the tub and stood her to her feet. He dried her off in the same caressing fashion, and placed another pacifier he found on the sink between her lips. She parted her lips and took in the pacifier in a subtle, submissive manner. She looked at herself in the mirror, and gazed at the girl she saw staring back at her. On her own face, she could see a flushed appearance that indicated how touched she felt, and how swept away her emotions had become.