As promised, Elise promptly put Rayne's clothes in the wash. She had a combination washer/drier machine, so in a few hours the clothes would simply be ready to wear. As requested, Rayne waited in the bedroom for Elise to return.
When Elise entered the room, she smiled as she saw Rayne again. "Alright, cutie," she said, to which Rayne blushed and looked away. "Let's lay down some ground rules."
"Ground rules?" Rayne asked.
"Oh yes," Elise said. "After all, on the off-chance that you win our little wager, this will be the last time I ever see you! I have to make it count."
Rayne blushed. "It's not an off-chance," she said quietly.
Elise just grinned. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," she said confidently. "After all, you've already wet yourself twice in the last 24 hours."
Unable to make a comeback, Rayne just looked at the ground and swiftly changed the subject. "So, what was that about rules?"
Elise grinned. "I kept the rules nice and simple for you," she said playfully. "You just have to do anything I say until we're done."
Rayne didn't like how Elise said 'anything'. She thought for a moment before answering. "If I agree to that, you would be able to tell me not to use the bathroom," Rayne said carefully.
"True, but you did wet yourself not that long ago," Elise said matter-of-factly. Rayne felt her face flush with embarrassment again. "Even if you do need to pee by the time the laundry's done, it shouldn't be for that long." Elise smirked. "Unless you're worried that even a few minutes would be too much for you?" she teased.
Rayne blushed a little harder. Getting sick of the teasing, she responded forcefully. "Fine. But when my clothes are ready and this... thing is still unused, you will give me my clothes back and we will never see each other again."
"Oh, I know," Elise responded, unconcerned. "Don't worry. If you happen to somehow succeed, I'll keep my word."
Rayne was wary, but also fairly confident that she wouldn't fail. After all, as Elise said, her bladder was probably empty. And while it was true that she'd wet herself before without even knowing it, she was sure that as long as she focused she'd be fine. "Okay, fine." Rayne said warily. "What do you want me to do, then?"
Elise grinned mischievously, and Rayne was immediately filled with a sense of unease. The next few hours were not going to be pleasant for her. "Just go to the living room and sit on the couch. I will join you soon."
Rayne nervously but obediently followed Elise's simple directions. She sat on the couch and anxiously waited for whatever awful thing was about to happen.
Sure enough, in a few moments, Elise entered the room, hands behind her back, grinning ear to ear. "Oh sweety, you look so scared," she said with clearly false concern. "It's okay. I'm here now, so everything will be all fine. I promise."
"What do you want?" Rayne asked tersely.
Grin still planted on her face, Elise slowly brought her hands to the front, revealing that she was holding a baby bottle full of milk. "Thought you might be thirsty," she said cheerfully.
Rayne looked at the bottle with wide eyes. "That's not for me, is it?" she asked. She hoped it wasn't, but given what Elise had done to her so far, that didn't seem particularly likely.
"Don't be silly, of course it is," Elise said.
"I'm not a baby!" Rayne exclaimed, exasperated with the constant belittling, condescension, and literally being treated like a baby.
Elise sighed. "Sweetheart, of course you're a baby. After all, why else would you be wearing diapers?"
"You made me!" Rayne responded with frustration.
"But that's not the whole story, is it?" Elise asked. "There was a reason I had to make sure you were properly protected, wasn't there?" Rayne silently lowered her head and tightly closed her eyes. She didn't have a rebuttal to that. "Well? What was the reason I had to put you in diapers?" Elise asked. Rayne didn't respond, far too humiliated to actually say what happened. "Rayne, tell me what you did."
Rayne desperately wanted to disappear rather than answer the question. But she answered it anyway. She had to, after all; Elise had told her to. "I... I wet my pants," she said, eyes still closed, face burning with humiliation.
"Exactly. So I had to be the responsible adult and put the widdle piddly baby in diapers before she made another puddle in my house," Elise teased. Rayne was almost as surprised as she was embarrassed. She never thought she'd hear Elise be so cruel to her.
Elise continued. "And babies need to be fed, of course," she said. "So how about you stop being a fussy baby and let me feed you."
"D-do we really have to do this?" Rayne asked carefully. She was legitimately starting to feel intimidated by Elise. Elise held far too much power over her.
Elise sighed. "I know babies have short memories but are you really sure you need me to explain exactly why we're doing this again?"
Rayne absolutely did not want to be forced to admit the humiliating incident from earlier today or, if possible, anything else humiliating. And Elise was clearly determined to go through with this. "Fine," Rayne said, defeated. She held her hand out. "Give it to me, and I'll drink it."
"Rayne, you're so silly!" Elise said playfully. "Babies can't feed themselves." She sat on the couch next to Rayne and faced her. Rayne was staring at the floor, filled with nervousness of what was going to happen next and frustration towards Elise and this whole situation.
"Lay down with your head on my lap," Elise said. Still refusing to speak, Rayne did as she was told, resting her head in Elise's lap. "Rayne, you don't have to look so uncomfortable!" Elise said.
"I don't want to do this," Rayne said.
"Oh sweetheart. It'll be fine, I promise," Elise said, seemingly genuine in her assurance. "I'll tell you what. I'll stroke your hair while we do this. And when I'm stroking your hair, everything will be okay. All your worries will fade away, and all that will exist to you is the two of us, in this moment."
The only thing Rayne could feel towards that prospect was doubt, though she refused to vocalise that doubt lest she upset Elise and do more horrible things. She was absolutely certain that Elise stroking her hair would be nothing more than mildly uncomfortable.
However, sure as she was, when she felt Elise's hand on her head, she instantly felt lighter. The humiliation she'd been through, her anxieties regarding her swiftly worsening troubles staying dry, the stress she's carrying around every day of her life, it all melted away. All that was left was herself and Elise.
"Open up," Elise said gently, and Rayne noticed that the bottle was in front of her face. Rayne opened her mouth and felt the nipple of the bottle slip in. "Good girl," Elise soothed, stroking Rayne's hair. "I told you didn't I? There's nothing to worry about when I'm stroking your hair."
The milk started flowing into Rayne's mouth, and she drank without complaint or discomfort. "See? This is what you need, baby girl," Elise said, continuing to gently stroke Rayne's hair. "You never had a real childhood, did you? You could have had a much better life. The choices you've made are... troubling, and they've only made things worse for yourself. Such a cold, hard life. So clearly, someone has to take responsibility, right? To look after you, even if it feels wrong?"
Rayne was having trouble following the train of thought. But in her current, simplistic worldview, she knew that Elise held all the power, and therefore she must be right about whatever it is she's talking about.
She decided to just trust Elise's gentle words as she kept drinking. And after a few minutes of worry-free bliss, the bottle ran dry. "All done!" Elise said. She pulled the bottle out of Rayne's mouth, and lifted her hand from Rayne's head.
It took a few moments for Rayne's head to clear, and as soon as she did she instantly sat straight up. She stared straight ahead of her, eyes wide, trying to make sense of what had just happened. She was still aware of how it felt, what she thought, and even the things that Elise said. And she was completely lost as to how any of it occurred.
"What happened?" Rayne asked, a touch of fear escaping into her voice.
"What do you mean?" Elise asked sweetly.
"Just then, I-" Rayne paused, unsure of how to even describe what she was talking about.
Elise seemed to know, anyway. "I told you, didn't I? All your worries would melt away."
Rayne was extremely dissatisfied with this response. But she didn't even know how to begin articulating what her problem was, let alone getting an answer from Elise that actually explained anything.
"Well we killed a decent amount of time, but your clothes won't be done yet," Elise said. "I suppose we could just watch something for now, what do you think?"
"Really?" Rayne asked. She wasn't expecting a 'normal' activity after all that had happened so far.
"Of course!" Elise said. She turned the TV on, put on a streaming service, and Rayne groaned with exasperation as she went to the kids section.
Elise didn't react to Rayne's response at all. She simply passed the remote. "Watch anything you want in this section."
Rayne took the remote and looked through the shows. None of them interested her, which was to be expected. Too cutesy, too immature. She chose a show at random and just put it on to appease Elise and started watching.
As she started watching, she briefly felt a slight ache in her stomach. Rayne ignored it, as it felt like nothing serious, and certainly nothing that would be any sort of problem before her clothes are done and she gets to leave and never see Elise again.
The pain quickly passed, and she settled in to watch the show, waiting patiently for her all-but-certain freedom.