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Two years later  Ally stepped off the plane, her mother close behind.

Sue’s long service leave entitlements had come due, and she had made sure they overlapped with the school holidays.

This had given her a chance to take Ally with her on a month long European tour, which had been a resounding success, with Ally celebrating her 13th birthday in France of all places.

Sue had fretted about the cost of the tour, but she had never had a chance to do anything like it before, and she knew that by the next time long service leave came around Ally would be all grown up.

“Hold up, I need to use the bathroom” Ally told her mother.

Sue waited patiently outside as Ally found a stall in the women’s.

Ally took off her heavy coat, feeling the cold weather intensely.

She pulled down her jeans and slid off the very wet goodnite she had been wearing, silently cursing that her bedwetting still hadn’t resolved itself.

She was thirteen now, after all, it seemed unfathomable that she still couldn’t stay dry.

She was grateful, at least, that she had thought to wear it, knowing that she would probably sleep on the plane.

Ally examined her jeans more closely, looking for signs of a leak.

“Damn” she thought to herself, noticing a wet rim around the seat.

A proper diaper would have prevented this, but she had dreaded having to change one in an airplane toilet, never having done so standing up before.

“It would have been a better idea, though” she thought, as she hadn’t had to change on the plane anyway.

By the time she had woken up they were already preparing for descent, and it had seemed easier to wait until they were on the ground.

She held her jeans up from a distance, hoping the leak wasn’t noticeable.

It wasn’t like she had anything else to wear even if it was, as she certainly hadn’t kept a spare pair of pants in her hand luggage.

Ally took a spare goodnight out of her bag and pulled it on.

She was annoyed she hadn’t included any regular underwear, but hadn’t expected to be changing on the ground.

She pulled her jeans back on gingerly, and threw the old goodnite into the trash before re-joining her mother.

“All done” she said. If her mother had noticed the wet spot on her jeans she was polite enough not to point it out.

The late flight and long queue meant it was well after 10PM before Ally and Sue managed to pass through customs, but fortunately the process was relatively pain-free.

They found their way to the luggage carousel and waited patiently for their baggage to arrive.

“That looks like mine” Sue said, edging her way forward to grab the bag.

The crowd around the carousel grew smaller and smaller as people moved up to take their bags, but Ally’s was yet to arrive.

“This is taking a while” she commented.

“Would the passengers from seats 69A and 69B please come to the collections desk” came an announcement from the loudspeaker.

“That’s us” Ally informed her mother, a little worried.

Had she done something wrong? Ally followed the clearly labelled path toward the collections desk, her mother in tow.

“I’m terribly sorry, but it seems that your luggage was never loaded onto the plane” the lady at the desk informed us.

“We’re still trying to work out what happened to it.”

“Oh no”, Ally replied, concerned.

All her holiday mementos, and even her camera, were in that bag.

“The almost always turn up safely” the lady reassured her.

“We have your contact details, we’ll let you know as soon as it arrives.

If we haven’t located it in a few days you can put in a claim to the airline for compensation.”

“There’s nothing we can do, Ally” Sue told her, sensibly.

“We’d better go home and wait to see.

Hopefully they’ll have good news in the morning.”

Ally followed her mother out, thinking of nothing but the lost luggage the whole way home.

What a way to upset a perfect holiday! She hopped out of the car, eager to shower and get to bed.

Although she had managed to get some sleep on the flight, it had been shallow and interrupted and she really was exhausted.

It was at this point that a more immediate problem reared its head.

“Uh, all my pyjamas were in the luggage!” Ally announced, checking her closet draw.

“All of them?” Sue asked, incredulously.

“Well, all except the light, Summer ones” she said, feeling them with her hand. Like her mother, she never really packed light, and taking all four of her pyjama sets had seemed sensible.

After all, her diapers did sometimes leak, particularly when she was having to use some foreign brands they were buying on the trip, and not everywhere that they’d been staying had laundry facilities.

“They’re no good, it’s freezing tonight” Sue commented.

“Do you have anything else”.

Ally looked through her closet, looking for some regular clothes that could double as pyjamas.

Unfortunately, since the trip had involved a lot of sightseeing and outdoor adventures, she had packed everything remotely comfortable as well.

“Nothing I think I could sleep in” Ally replied.

“I don’t suppose any of yours would fit me”.

That was a long shot.

“No chance, but I might have one alternative” Sue told her.

“I’ll be back in a sec”

Ally wondered what her mum would come up with.

Sue rummaged through her closet, certain the item she was looking for was in there somewhere.

“Aha” she said, pulling out a bag.

Ally opened it, revealing the back-zip pyjamas she had briefly worn two years earlier.

“You don’t expect me to wear that!” Ally exclaimed, loudly.

“Why not?” Sue asked, surprised at her daughter’s reaction.

“It’s warm, comfortable, and it’s only for one night.

We can buy you something else tomorrow”

“It’s made for toddlers!

You got it to keep my stuck in my diapers!” Ally shouted back.

“Oh, Ally, you’re past all that now.” Sue dismissed her objection, surprised that Ally would kick up such a fuss.

She had thought her daughter had grown up enough now to look back on that incident and laugh.

“Anyway, it wasn’t like I was ever going to use it like that, I only ever took it from Aunt Jenny to make a point”.

“And kept it all this time?” Ally queried.

Had her mother still thought her so immature that she could be fastened into it if she misbehaved?

“You know how often I clean out that closet.

I’d probably find your old baby clothes in there if I went back far enough” Sue laughed.

“But of course, it’s completely up to you.

You choose whatever you want to wear”.

Sue returned to the living room, leaving Ally to take a shower.

Ally stepped into the shower, relishing the water running against her skin and immensely glad to be clean again after a long, sweaty flight. She dried off quickly, anxious to warm up.

Leaving the unused goodnite on the floor she quickly taped on a regular diaper, knowing she would be going straight to bed.

She wrapped herself in a blanket and considered her options.

Although she was still annoyed that her mum had kept the back-zip pyjamas all this time, she did realise they were the most practical option.

She still wasn’t sure if she could bring herself to wear them again, and decided to take one more look in her closet.

Finding nothing new, she picked up the pyjamas her mother had left on the bed.

Maybe if she could get in and out of them herself it wouldn’t be so bad, she reasoned.

Ally stepped into the pyjamas and put her arms through the sleeves.

She hadn’t actually paused to ask whether they would still fit, but that didn’t seem to be a problem.

With her extra two years of growth, the pyjamas fit snugly, just as they were intended to.

She found the zip behind her and worked it up her back, managing to get it about half way up but struggling to make any further progress.

“Oh good” Sue said, walking back into the room.

“Just thought I’d check on you, I was wondering what was taking so long.

Do you want me to zip you up?”

“Why not?” Ally replied.

Exhausted as she was, she had given up on getting them on herself.

It wasn’t all that different to when her mum helped her into a party dress, after all.

Sue stepped behind Ally and pulled the zipper up to its highest point.

“There” she said, “all done”. Ally collapsed into bed, falling to sleep mere minutes later.

Ally woke late the following morning, feeling groggy and jetlagged.

She felt her diaper squish as she climbed out of bed.

Given how heavily and how long she had slept for, she wasn’t surprised it was soaked, but was keen to get it off nonetheless.

She tried to pull her top off, momentarily forgetting what she was wearing.

“Darn” she thought to herself.

“That complicates things”.

Ally was a proud girl, and keen to demonstrate her independence by handling the pyjamas herself.

She tried to find the zipper behind her back, but ended up running her hand along the tab instead.

She must have been too tired to even notice her mum securing it last night, but was still somewhat irritated that she had done so.

“Might have more luck in the mirror” Ally thought to herself.

She moved quietly to the bathroom and did her best to undo the tab from there.

She turned her head awkwardly to try to see the tab in the mirror, but from that convoluted position it was even harder to reach.

To make matters worse, every time she reached around to try to get to it she ended up obstructing her vision.

Sue heard the commotion and came to the bathroom in time to see Ally struggling.

She struggled to suppress a smile at her daughter’s efforts.

She knew Ally would bite her head off if she were to ever say it, but her daughter did look so cute like this”.

“Here, let me help” Sue made herself known.

Realising her situation, Ally didn’t object.

Sue easily undid the tab and pulled the zipper down to its base, noticing Ally’s soaked diaper as she did so.

“Good heavens”, Sue said, “you’d better get out of that straight away”.

“Mum!” Ally cried indignantly. She didn’t need her mother to tell her that.

“Okay, okay, no need to bite my head off” Sue backed away.

“Oh, and when you’re done, Laura called when you were still asleep, she wanted you to come over and bring her up to speed on your trip”.

Laura was Ally’s best friend from school.

Ally had tried to keep in touch with Laura as best as possible when she had been away, but the Internet and even phone access had been spotty.

Ally had a ton to tell her.

She dressed quickly, and raced over to Laura’s as she lived only a few doors down.

She described in detail her trip, and explained that she would show her everything if the luggage ever turned up.

In turn, Laura brought Ally up to speed on what had been happening back home, which wasn’t a great deal.

“Ally, are you going stay for dinner?” Laura’s mum asked.

“Dinner? What time is it?” Ally queried.

“Almost 5.30” she replied.

“Oh, wow, I had no idea it was so late.” Ally told her. The jetlag had played havoc with her sense of time.

“I’d better get back, I imagine mum’s going to be cooking something.”

“We’ll have to catch up again soon” Laura prodded. “You’ve still got to show me all the photos!

Provided you get your camera back, that is”

“Count on it” Ally replied.

“Not tomorrow, I’ll be out with mum all day.

How about the day after?” Laura asked.

“Sounds great” Ally agreed.

Ally raced home, hoping she hadn’t missed dinner.

“Oh there you are” Sue commented as she raced in, “I was about to send out a search party!”

“You’re not mad?” Ally asked.

Sue normally wouldn’t be pleased if she were gone for that long without asking permission.

“Of course not” Sue replied. “I knew where you were, and I knew you hadn’t seen Laura in ages.

Now sit down, dinner will be ready soon.”

“Has there been any news on the luggage” Ally asked.

“Not yet” Sue replied. “The airline did call, but only to say they were still searching.

They think it might have been sent out on the wrong flight, but they’re still confident it’ll turn up”

“Then we’ll have to go out after dinner and buy some new pyjamas” Ally declared.

“I’m afraid not, honey, all the shops’ll be shut by now” Sue replied.

“What? Why didn’t you say something” Ally demanded.

She was annoyed more at herself than her mother, as she had only intended to stay with Laura for a couple of hours.

“I assumed you knew the closing time.

And I thought you’d rather spend the day catching up with Laura than shopping with me” Sue replied, sensibly.

“But you knew I needed pyjamas.

You could have gotten them” Ally smarted, directed her frustration at her mother.

“Ally, you’re not a little kid anymore.

If you want to buy something, you have to go and get it.

Or at least ask me to.” Sue responded, reminding herself that it was probably the jetlag causing Ally’s rudeness.

Ally finished up her dinner, and settled down to watch some TV.

After a couple of hours she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open.

“I think perhaps you should have an early night” Sue commented, noticing Ally’s condition.

Ally couldn’t argue with that. She took a quick shower before using the toilet then taping on her diaper.

She realised she would have no choice but to wear the back zip pyjamas again, but assured herself that she would go shopping for replacements first thing tomorrow.

She pulled on the pyjamas and went to find her mother.

“Could you zip me up?” she asked, with less resistance than she had done the previous day.

“Sure” Sue replied. She pulled up the zipper and, much to Ally’s annoyance, fastened the tab over it.

“What did you do the tab up for?” Ally asked, a little annoyed.

“It just doesn’t seem on properly without it” Sue shrugged.

“Anyway, it’ll be uncomfortable if the tab’s floating around behind you when you’re trying to sleep.”

Ally wasn’t really sold on that justification.

“But it makes it harder for me to get out of” Ally complained.

“Honey, if you can’t get the zipper up, you won’t be able to get it down, even without the tab” Sue replied, reasonably.

“Now go and get some sleep”.

Sue might have had a point there, Ally decided, but having the tab secured still made her feel far more like a misbehaving child than the pyjamas otherwise would have.

She would have much preferred it be left open, even if just to acknowledge the fact that they weren’t being used to prevent her from getting them off. Still, she decided, it wasn’t worth making a fuss over as this would be the last night she would be wearing them.