Chapter 17

Deke was worried about his Little girl. She'd been asleep for hours. Granted, the poor thing was exhausted. Besides the nightmare, she'd been working long hours and wearing herself out for too many nights in a row.

He checked on her every few minutes throughout the morning, and every time he found her still sound sleep. She looked so peaceful that he couldn't stand to wake her. She was always in the same position, on her back, hugging her two favorite stuffies—one in each arm, suckling the pacifier, with her legs spread open to accommodate the diaper that had to be fully saturated by now.

Deke had called Rose to see if someone else could open that morning. Luckily Rose was able to. She was being very understanding about his new Little girl and her odd rose-sending stalker.

Everyone was being understanding. After talking to Rose, he'd called Mateo, who'd also told Deke he would make things work without Maya for as long as she needed.

It would be best if they both made it into work later that afternoon, but he would judge that over time. So far, she was still dead to the world. If she didn't awaken soon, he would fix her a bottle and coax her into drinking it from bed.

He was glad he'd put diaper cream on her to protect her skin under the diaper, but she was still going to have to be changed soon.

Deke took the time to get some things done around the house. He started a load of laundry, chuckling at the memory of finding her last night wearing only socks, panties, and the old worn T-shirt she'd found in the laundry room. It was so small that it had been tight even on her.

In order to occupy his time, he cleaned both bathrooms but stopped short of running the vacuum cleaner. The noise would for sure wake her up.

When he checked on her again at noon, she was finally squirming, so he joined her on the bed, sat on the edge, and gently set a hand on her tummy. "Hey there, Little one," he whispered.

She blinked at him several times before trying to speak.

He plucked the pacifier from her mouth.

"What time is it?"

"It's noon, Precious Girl. You were in desperate need of sleep."

Her eyes bugged out, and she tried to push to sitting. "Noon? I was supposed to be at work at ten."

He slid his hand up between her breasts, holding her down. "It's okay, Maya. I spoke to Mateo and let him know you would be late."

She blew out a breath and relaxed. "You did? Was he mad?"

"Not at all. He understands. I told him you had a nightmare, too. He's as worried about you as I am."

She squirmed and lifted her head to look down at her body. "I wet myself," she murmured.

"Yep. Daddy will get that icky diaper off you now." He unzipped her jammies and guided her arms out of the sleeves.

She shivered. "Cold, Daddy."

He frowned. "You're still cold, Little one?" He felt her forehead. She didn't feel warm, but it concerned him that she was once again cold.

As soon as he had the lion jammies off her body, he covered her chest with a small blanket to help keep her from shivering while he changed her diaper. He considered offering her panties or even putting her in the bath, but she was so quiet and seemed a bit off—not her normal self. Maybe she was coming down with something.

Maya didn't even argue or say a word as he cleaned her folds and put a fresh diaper under her bottom. If she were fully cognizant, she would have fought him. She'd never spent this many hours in such a young headspace. Although she'd worn a diaper a few times for him, she hadn't used one yet.

As he was about to fasten the sides, he changed his mind. He stood and patted her thigh. "Don't move, Little one."

Deke hurried into the nursery, grabbed the thermometer from the drawer on the changing table, and returned.

Maya hadn't moved a muscle. She was staring at the ceiling, her arms drawn up to her chest under the blanket. Her legs were spread wide around the open diaper. She was basically limp and out of sorts.

Deke grabbed the lube from the night before, dipped the thermometer in it, and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm going to roll you to your side, Precious, and take your temperature."

Maya didn't protest at all as he guided her onto her side, bent her top leg, and pushed it up toward her chest. She didn't seem to care that her bottom was exposed, and she didn't flinch when he eased the thermometer into her tight hole.

His concern was growing by the minute. Keeping a close eye on her, he rubbed her hip as he held the thermometer and waited. "Daddy's got you, Precious. I bet you don't feel so well, do you?"

She shrugged. "Tired, Daddy."

"I know, Baby girl." He finally slid the thermometer out of her bottom and held it up. No fever. In fact, she was a bit below average, which could be her normal temperature, so that didn't bother him.

He rolled her onto her back again, fastened the new diaper on her, and decided to put the lion jammies back on. As soon as she was fully covered, she rolled onto her side and curled into a ball. She was adorable, but something was wrong.

"Paci, Daddy," she murmured, looking around for it as she snagged Tawny and pulled him into her embrace.

"You need fluids first, Little one. Daddy will fix you a bottle." He hated leaving her for even a minute, but opted to pile a few pillows up on either side of her just in case she rolled so she wouldn't fall off the bed.

While he prepared a bottle, he had an idea. He needed to call a doctor, but he also needed that doctor to be kink friendly, specifically age play friendly. And then he remembered that one of the Daddies at Blaze was a physician. Hunter. His Little girl was CC who owned CC's Purrfect Coffee.

Deke would give him a call and see if he had any ideas on what to do next. When Deke returned to the bedroom, he found his Precious Girl fast asleep again, so he backed out and made the call.

Deke prayed he'd get lucky and Hunter would be able to answer. It was a longshot since the man worked in the ER. What were the chances he was off at this hour?

"Hello?"

Deke blew out a relieved breath. "Hi, Hunter. This is Deke."

"Ah, Deke. Hello. How are you? I heard you met your Little girl. I haven't seen you around Blaze since then."

"No, I haven't taken her there yet."

"Well, I know you didn't call me just to chat." He chuckled. "New Daddies don't have spare time on their hands."

"Nope. I'm hoping you might have some advice. Maya is sort of under the weather."

"Sort of?"

"Well, she's not exactly sick. I checked her temperature. It's normal. She's not sneezing or coughing. No signs of a tummy ache. But she's lethargic and checked out."

"How long has this been going on?"

"She was fine last night. I mean tired, but otherwise normal. She woke up in the night from a terrifying nightmare. I calmed her down, helped her into a deeper Little space, and got her back to sleep. She slept until noon, and when she finally woke up, she was too quiet and didn't show any signs she cared while I changed her and took her temperature. I went to fix her a bottle and when I returned, she was asleep again."

"Is there a reason she had the nightmare?"

"Definitely. She has a stalker of some sort. Someone keeps sending her roses every day at work. Plus she's been working long hours. She's Mateo Rodriguez's sister. She works at La Havana with the rest of the family. They've been very busy and short-staffed."

"Ah. Well, those are important factors, especially if she's having nightmares. I suspect she's exhausted and possibly even sleeping to hide from her problems. Primarily her fear."

"Do you think I should be worried?"

"Not necessarily. Depends on how long this goes on. She definitely needs fluids, though. Can you get her to take a bottle?"

"I was preparing her one when she fell back asleep."

"I would try to rouse her enough to get a bottle in her. She needs the calories as well as liquids. I bet if she could have a day to sleep and let her body and mind rest she would feel much better. If she's not herself tomorrow, though, I would get her in to a doctor. I can recommend someone kink friendly if you need."

"Thank you so much. I appreciate the advice. I'll get this bottle in her and let her rest."

"Good luck. Bring her to Blaze soon."

"Will do." Deke ended the call and padded back to the bedroom.

Maya hadn't moved.

Deke set the bottle on the nightstand before scooping his Little girl into his arms.

She whimpered and squirmed. "Tired, Daddy."

He held her close with one hand, grabbed the bottle, and headed for the nursery. "I know you are, Little one, but you need to take a bottle for Daddy." He settled in the rocking chair and adjusted her in his arms.

She frowned as she shook her head. "Too tired."

He knew she was completely out of sorts because she hadn't even considered the fact that she should be getting up soon to go to work. He'd put it off for both of them, but after he fed her, he would call Rose and Mateo and let them know it wasn't going to happen today at all.

Deke tapped her lips with the nipple. "Open up for Daddy."

She twisted her head to the side. "Not thirsty, Daddy."

"Would you be more thirsty if I spanked your bottom? I bet that would wake you up." He didn't want to have to spank her while she was feeling bad, but getting the bottle into her tummy was important. A swat or two wouldn't kill her if it was effective.

She glared at him. "Meanie."

"I would be a very bad Daddy if I let you sleep all day without drinking anything, Maya. That's not going to happen. Now, I need you to drink this entire bottle. When it's empty you can go back to sleep for a few hours."

She sighed but gave up the fight and relaxed in his arms, opening her mouth.

As soon as she started sucking, she came more awake and most likely realized how hungry she was because she suckled voraciously, draining the entire bottle in no time.

"That's my good girl." He set the bottle aside and continued to rock her.

Maya closed her eyes and slid back asleep.

Deke thought it was a great sign that he was able to feed her, and she still had no apparent fever, so he suspected Hunter was right. She was exhausted from stress and work.

Rocking her was the best thing in the world. He could easily do so for hours, but eventually, his arm fell asleep, so he rose and carefully settled her in her crib. After lifting the side, he hurried back to his bed to grab her pacifier and stuffies. He popped the paci into her mouth and tucked the stuffies next to her.

She never stirred. The poor thing was sound asleep again.

Deke repeated the two calls from the morning, letting Rose know how sorry he was but he couldn't leave Maya. Next he gave Mateo the same accounting, letting him know he hoped Maya would be back tomorrow.

Settling into the rocking chair with his computer, Deke decided to work on the inventory spreadsheet for Stuff-It. He could at least do that from home and get an order placed for anything they needed to replenish, especially the new hippo.