Sierra blushed a little as she looked down at the diaper, biting her bottom lip. "I don't need it," she said to herself, sounding a bit whiny even though the only person she had to convince was herself. Unfortunately, she wasn't doing a very good job of it even then.

She was going to be going to bed soon, after all, and, to keep from having to wash her sheets a couple times a week, she'd taken to wearing her diapers then. Sure, it would feel nice to slip on a pair of real big girl panties until then, but it wouldn't be for that long. More importantly, she knew, no matter how much she liked to deny it, that if she got distracted, an accident even when she was awake was possible, and her mind was going to be occupied with other things until she went to bed. As embarrassing as it was, wearing the diaper was the smarter, more mature choice.

She sighed, removing the towel from around herself and unfolding the diaper, spreading it out on the toilet seat so she could sit down on it, powdering herself and then pulling the thick padding up between her legs. Her blush intensified as she taped the thing shut, then quickly pulled her nightshirt on. It was red with white polka dots and a festive reindeer on it, and very cute, but as she stood up, she could see that it didn't quite succeed in its job of hiding her diaper from sight. She could still see a sliver of the padding peeking out from underneath to remind her it was there, as if the feeling of the bulk between her legs and the slight crinkling that now followed her every move wasn't enough.

"All right!" she declared, doing her best to ignore all of that. "Let's get this done!"

She shuffled her way to the kitchen to grab a handful of green Christmas tree cookies, and then to the living room, where she had all of her presents and wrapping supplies laid out. She'd gotten them all ready, then felt overwhelmed, nearly giving up and putting it off again. She had another two weeks or so until Christmas, after all. But she was doing her best to be more mature, and she was sure that it was more mature to get it done with now instead of delaying it repeatedly because of how much she disliked it. She had decided to get her shower out of the way first, however, so if it took until late in the night she could just go straight to bed when she was done.

She could use a spell to wrap them all, of course, and it was feeling more and more tempting as she stared out at all the work in front of her, munching on the first of her cookies. If she'd learned one thing in the past couple years, however, it was that using magic for simple, silly things always seemed to backfire in some way. Besides, a mature adult like her could surely handle wrapping a few presents.

She grabbed a roll of wrapping paper and rolled out a bit of it before picking up a present and plopping it down in the center. She grabbed her pair of scissors, then stared at the present for a moment, wondering where to start. Every time she had to wrap something, she had the same trouble. She always wound up cutting the paper too small, or way too big, and despite her father having tried to teach her the right way to measure, it never quite sank in. She looked over at her end table where her wand was sitting, but she was sure if she tried to enchant the paper, she'd wind up getting wrapped up herself, or if she went for the scissors, she'd get chased around the room by them in a few seconds.

So, to try to avoid that, she picked the scissors up herself, cutting through the paper, then rolling the rest back up and setting it aside. Almost immediately she knew she'd made it too small, and pulling the paper up around the present made it obvious. She turned the gift around every way she could think of, but the paper just refused to cover the whole thing. Sighing, she set the present aside, grabbing one that was a little smaller and put it down on the paper instead.

She pulled the paper up around it, smiling as she saw it was going to fit, then got herself a piece of tape to fasten it to the gift, and then to stick the other side on top of the first. She turned it around to get at the sides, which were, as usual, much longer than they could have been. She folded them up as carefully as she could, but they still puffed outwards sloppily, and reached up over the top of the box. She was already mostly done with this one, though, so she just taped it down and hoped it would hold before going on to the next, and last, side, which wound up looking pretty much the same.

She grabbed her pen, writing Laura's name down across the stomach of one of the snowmen on the paper, then set the wrapped present aside. Feeling proud of herself, she started on another cookie, but as she looked out at all the rest of the presents waiting to be wrapped, she knew this was going to take even longer than she'd expected, especially if she took a cookie break between each one. In fact, she might not even have enough cookies, so she'd have to take a longer break to make cookies, or at least go out and buy some. She just had to buckle down and work harder so she wasn't at it all night. She grabbed her remote, turning the TV on to the first Christmas movie she came across for background noise, and settled in to her work.

When she was finally done, she had a pile of presents, none of which really looked any better than her slightly misshapen first one. In fact, if anything, they'd gotten progressively worse as time went on and she started squirming boredly in place, rushing through them so she could finish quicker and go to bed. The paper was crooked on some of them, with the designs not even coming close to facing the right way, and big gaps that she'd done her best to close up with tape, with varying degrees of success.

It wasn't good enough. For some people, it would do, of course. She doubted her dad would care, and Laura might overlook it, but she was sure she'd get teased by some other people, and a wrapping job like this was just begging for somebody like Zoe to try to open her presents early, since nobody would be able to tell if it was re-wrapped when it started out that way. She looked up at the clock, pouting as she saw how late it was already. Did she really want to re-do almost all of them? There probably wasn't time now, but if she had to, she could spend a whole other evening doing this.

She really didn't want to do that, though. She could take the teasing, even if it would make her blush and glare at the person doing it. She was used to it by now. She really didn't want the more immature of her friends, like Zoe, to ruin their Christmas surprises, though. Where was the fun in that? Maybe she could hit those gifts up with some more tape, but that would still be a lot more work.

Finally, she gave in and grabbed her wand off the table. One little spell couldn't hurt, right? It was just a simple little charm, although doing it on all of these presents at once might make it more difficult. She was mostly just borrowing from the power of someone much more powerful than her, so even that shouldn't be too bad, especially compared to just going through and charming each of the presents one by one.

She flicked her wand, waving it around the room as she chanted the spell. A warm light settled over the room, and she saw notes appear on the presents, all reading, "Don't open until Christmas!" She still bent down to the nearest present and tugged at the paper, but it refused to budge or tear. She smiled happily. It wouldn't do either now until Christmas! Perfect!

Even better, as she wiggled her bottom, she could tell that her diaper was still nice and dry. She'd been concentrating on her wrapping for quite a while now, too! If she had needed any more proof that she was a mature adult now, this was surely it! Maybe she didn't even need to wear her diaper to bed tonight!

She smiled to herself as she made her way to the bathroom stretching and yawning as she went. She knew the mature, responsible thing to do would be to wear the diaper anyway, just in case, but she was still debating on whether or not she really wanted to put the diaper back on after she slid it down so she could use the toilet before heading to bed. She didn't want to, but it would definitely ruin her good mood to wake up to wet sheets, on the off chance that might happen.

She closed the bathroom door, walking over to the toilet and pushing up her nightshirt. She grabbed the sides of her diaper and started trying to slide her diaper down. She frowned as the diaper crinkled, but refused to budge. Had she taped it on too tight? She didn't like having to try to retape her diapers, because sometimes she had trouble with getting the tapes to stick a second time, but it was starting to look like she wouldn't have a choice. It didn't help that her bladder, which she'd been ignoring while wrapping her gifts, was starting to make it very known to her that it was quite full.

After a bit more fruitless squirming, she sighed and reached for one of the tapes resignedly. To her surprise, while she was able to grab the end of it, when she tugged at it, it refused to budge. She pulled again, harder, but still nothing. She wasn't sure why that would be, but she tried the tape on the other side instead, thinking that maybe that side was defective somehow.

That one wouldn't budge, either. Starting to get more frantic, she went back to the first tape, then tried to pull the diaper off, not being gentle and worrying about if she could get it back on and not waste the thing completely. "No, get off me!" she pouted, stomping her foot and uselessly pawing at the diaper, searching for a way to get it off of her.

After a few moments of desperate flailing, a bad feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach. She looked down at her diaper again, then over at the reflection of herself in the mirror over the sink. She turned, sliding the nightshirt up so the rear of her diaper was fully exposed, twisting her neck so she could see the reflection of her back the best she could.

Sure enough, right on the seat of the diaper was a note. One she'd seen many copies of just a few minutes ago. "No," she shook her head. "No, I didn't mean that!" She'd cast too wide a net on her spell, and apparently it had found something else that could be opened other than presents. Except, just like those, now her diaper wasn't going anywhere until Christmas.

She ripped at her diaper again half-heartedly, then hurried out to the living room to grab her wand. She held it for a few long moments, pondering what she could use that wouldn't be too dangerous if it backfired on her. Finally, she tried a simple, weak cutting spell, but sure enough it bounced off her diaper, slicing a small chunk out of the corner of her wall.

It really wasn't that big of a surprise, and after seeing that she was pretty sure the same thing would happen with any other spell she cast. It wasn't her own magic that was keeping the presents, and now her diaper, closed, she had just been using a spell to borrow the power. And now, the only way to reverse the spell was to go to the source of that power. Unfortunately, the last time she'd been to see Santa Claus, things hadn't gone so well.

She fidgeted in place, trying to come up with another solution, but there just wasn't one. She couldn't wear the same diaper for another two weeks! Her bladder was already feeling quite full now! She sighed, flicking her wand before she could talk herself out of it, knowing that this was her only choice, whether she liked it or not.

With an unpleasant lurching sensation, she was out of her living room and in the middle of a brightly colored workshop, surrounded by elves at their workbenches. She blushed a little, realizing she was just standing there in the midst of them in her nightshirt and diaper, immediately tugging at the hem of her shirt to try to make it as long as possible.

It got even more embarrassing when she realized she was in the last place she'd been on her last visit. The elves were even tinier than usual, and their tools on closer inspection were just plastic. Among them giant stuffed animals were walking around, supervising and offering the occasional diaper check and change. This wasn't Santa's workshop, it was Santa's daycare!

"Hello, Sierra," a familiar voice said behind her.

Sierra gulped, turning and fighting to keep from trickling into her diaper, knowing she was about to see the giant teddy bear who had spanked her and put her in time out on her last visit here. It was definitely the same bear, but now that she wasn't regressed to a toddler, it was surprising how non-threatening it looked. She was actually taller than it!

"Have you been a good girl?" That quickly did away with Sierra's newfound sense of confidence in the face of the bear, as she worried about whether the bear had access to Santa's list, and if it would punish her if she answered yes and it turned out she was on the naughty list. She was pretty sure she wasn't, but that wasn't how she would want to find out differently!

So she squirmed and fidgeted uncertainly until the bear pushed a candy-cane flavored pacifier into her mouth and grabbed her hand. Despite the size difference, Sierra immediately felt like a child again, starting to follow obediently. "I think it's past somebody's bedtime," the bear cooed, leading Sierra towards the cribs. "We'll make sure you get a good night's sleep, then send you back home in the morning."

Sierra whimpered, wiggling in her still dry diaper and knowing she wouldn't be able to keep it that way for long, especially not overnight! She shook her head, reminding herself of her mission. "No," she said from behind her pacifier.

The bear turned, staring at her sternly. "What was that, young lady?" it asked.

She gulped, immediately feeling the threat of the bear's hairbrush even if she didn't physically see it in the toy's paw. Could she overcome the bear now that she was her full age? Or would fighting back just end with her getting another spanking? And would it be more or less humiliating being spanked here in the daycare now that she was physically an adult?

"I-I need to see Santa," she explained quickly.

"I'm sure you do," the bear sounded much gentler again. "Everyone does this time of year. I'm afraid he's just too busy, though. You can always write him a letter, though!"

"No," Sierra shook her head. "I need to see him! It can't wait for a letter!"

"I'm sure whatever toy you want can wait that long," the bear said patronizingly as it lowered the side of the crib, patting Sierra on the padded bottom. "Hop in."

"I need his help!" Sierra tried to explain. "I cast a spell, and I need him..." The bear gave her a surprisingly strong push, and she tumbled into the crib. By the time she turned around, the bear was already lifting the crib bars back into place and locking them with a secure sounding click. Almost right away, Sierra began to hear a gentle lullaby, and her eyelids began to droop heavily. "N-No, I can't sleep, I need..." She couldn't help but yawn, drowsily dropping to her knees, too tired to even stay standing any longer.

"You need this, I bet," the bear reached between the bars, plucking the pacifier from Sierra's mouth and replacing it with a bottle of apple juice. Sierra sleepily began to suck on it, the lullaby filling her head with thoughts of sleep and making it hard to concentrate on anything else but preparing herself to do just that. She felt a small warmth starting to form between her legs, only to spread throughout her crotch as she slowly started to lie down, still drinking her bottle, her now warm and squishy diaper crinkling between her legs.

Her eyes shot open. She wasn't sure how long they'd been closed, or if she'd fallen asleep, but the consequences of that warm, wet feeling in her diaper had finally hit. "I need Santa!" she gasped, pushing the bottle, which she hardly realized was empty, aside. When she looked to see the bear's reaction, however, it was gone.

The lullaby had stopped, letting Sierra process just how ridiculous this whole thing was. She was in an elf toddler's crib, so she barely had room, even curled up as she was. But despite that, as she awkwardly untangled herself and got to her feet, she still couldn't get out. The crib bars weren't that high at all, but try as she might, she couldn't stick a hand or a foot any further out than them.

"Let me out, Mr. Bear!" she called, blushing as she saw some of the elf kids look over at her instead. "Mr. Bear, please," she said a little quieter. She didn't see the stuffed animal, and if he could hear her, he was ignoring her pleas. "I want Santa! I need Santa!"

"Human children are so annoying," she heard a male voice say.

"Oh, that's not very nice!" a female voice replied. "They're the whole reason we have jobs!"

"Yeah, but I usually don't have to listen to them firsthand," the first voice replied. Sierra's cheeks burned as she saw the pair approach her crib, recognizing them as the elves she'd met on her first trip here.

"Aw, look at how cute!" the female elf smiled at her. "And she's gotten so big! Do you remember us, sweetie? See, I told you, human grow much quicker than we do!"

Sierra didn't have the heart to explain that she'd regressed herself the first time to sneak into Santa's office. "Yeah," she nodded, trying not to look at the male elf, remembering how he had diapered her.

"Now, what are you yelling about? We were just supposed to be taking a look at you while you were sleeping," the female elf said.

"I need to see Santa," Sierra explained.

The male elf snickered, but the girl gave him a dirty look and explained, "You should count yourself lucky that you got to meet him once. Most kids don't even get that! And I'm afraid that meeting doesn't mean you can put in your requests in person from then on. He's a very busy man, you know."

"No, I need him!" Sierra pouted. "I... I kinda..." She blushed, not wanting to even talk about her diaper in front of them, but if she didn't let them know what was going on, she would just get brushed off again like she had by the bear. With a sigh, she raised her nightshirt, turning around so they could see the note.

"Oh, my," the female elf said.

"You're right, this definitely is the same human," the guy chuckled. "She couldn't use her magic properly then either."

"That isn't helpful right now," the girl elf glared at him. "You're right, dear, you do need Santa to fix that. Unfortunately, he actually isn't here right now, and won't be for a few more days. You see, every year, he goes to visit the kids of the world. I'm sure you've seen the people dressed as Santa at malls, haven't you?" Sierra nodded. "Well, every year, Santa goes to one of those malls himself for a week or so to meet some of the kids in person."

"What mall is he at this year?" Sierra asked.

"Well, we aren't supposed to tell," the female elf shrugged. "Sorry!"

"B-But..." Sierra's face fell.

"Oh, just tell her," the guy broke in. "What difference will it make? He only has a couple more days, and next year he'll be somewhere else. And even if she tells, and the other kids believe her, that will just make more of them go out to meet him, which you know he'd love. Besides, from the look of that diaper, she needs to get out of it ASAP before she starts leaking all over the daycare."

Sierra almost started to like the boy elf until that last part. "I only wet it once!" she snapped before thinking that might not be the best defense.

"Obviously she needs a new one as soon as possible," he gestured towards Sierra. "And some thicker diapers."

Sierra blushed as the girl elf had an inner debate. "I guess you're right," she finally conceded. "This is sort of an emergency." She sighed, hesitating for another few seconds before telling Sierra where Santa was.

Sierra just stared at her for a moment, hardly able to believe what she'd heard. She knew exactly where that mall was. In fact, she'd been there before. Unfortunately, so had somebody else, somebody she didn't really want to risk running into again. That was the mall where she'd seen Samara, and she'd humiliated her in front of Robin! But if she was going to get out of this diaper anytime soon, she was going to have to accept that risk.

She thanked the elves, then Apparated back home to sleep the rest of the night, since there was no point heading to the mall until morning. When she got up, her tummy was grumbling from something more than hunger, and she knew it wasn't going to be long before she would have to use her diaper again, unless she got to Santa and convinced him to help her out.

She doubted Santa would stay at a motel or something, but the elves had refused to tell her where he was staying, so she'd have to visit him at work, which meant going to get her picture taken with Santa. That was embarrassing enough at her age, even if she knew it was the real thing and not some cheesy mall Santa. The chance of running into... her... made it even worse.

But at least it was early, she thought. She could get dressed and Apparate over to that mall before the crowd got too big, then be done and back home before anyone but Santa saw her! It wouldn't work that way if she spent too long deciding what to wear, though, so she just settled on a simple purple dress that she knew would fit over and cover the diaper pretty well, without leaving her to worry about a bulge like she might have with pants, even though she'd have preferred to wear those.

She chose a small bathroom in the mall to Apparate to, then hurried out into the mall. Immediately, she was surrounded by throngs of people, enough to make her very self conscious of the crinkle, and by now slight smell, of her diaper. No matter where she turned, there were more people, and she was certain all of them knew what was under her skirt. Why were they all here so early? Had the news of the real Santa already spread here somehow?

She looked around the place in confusion until she found a clock. She hadn't taken time zones into account when she was mentally preparing herself for this mission. At home, it was still fairly early in the morning, but here it was the early afternoon on a Saturday, one of the busiest times she could have possibly chosen. She was tempted to head back into the bathroom so she could go back home and wait for later, but a quick cramp in her tummy reminded her the clock was ticking.

She had no idea where Santa would be set up, so she had to explore the mall a bit, trying to avoid bumping into any of the crowds of people milling around with her. Her eyes darted from person to person, trying to make sure none of them were Samara. It didn't take her long to find Santa, and sure enough, she could tell that it was the real deal, even from the end of the line. Unfortunately, that line was very long and filled with restless children and their parents.

She tried to get Santa's attention, hoping he'd let her skip the line since he had met her personally before, but he was too focused on the kid currently sitting on his lap to pay her any mind, and then the one walking up to him right after. She doubted she'd be able to distract him without making a huge scene, which she doubted he would like.

It looked like her only real option was to wait like everyone else. She eyed the line nervously, wondering briefly if she could just wait it out, but more people were showing up all the time. She was probably going to be waiting a while, and anyone could see her standing there. If the person she was worrying about really was here and out shopping today, it would be easy for her to spot Sierra! She would blend in better if she was younger, but if she went too young, people might question why she was in line by herself. And if she was too old for them to wonder about that, they might think she was too old for Santa!

She bit her bottom lip nervously, trying to come up with a plan when she looked around at the stores closest to Santa's chair. One of them was a toy store, and she could see baby dolls displayed right in the front. She hurried in and bought one, then went back to the bathroom, where she cast a few spells. A few minutes later, a teenager carrying a baby dressed in a cute Christmas outfit stepped into Santa's line.

Sierra was very proud of her plan. She wasn't too young, but she was hopefully young enough that she'd be harder to recognize if Samara happened by. And the few little enchantments she'd done to the doll to make it look more realistic and squirm in her arms every now and then would hopefully be enough for anyone passing by to think she was a babysitter, bringing her charge to see Santa. And hopefully any smell from her very wet diaper from the night before would be attributed to the baby.

The line moved slowly, giving Sierra plenty of time to watch the shoppers outside of it, searching nervously for any sign of the person she was dreading. Every time she saw someone who might be her, she ducked down a little, trying to hide herself behind some of the taller people in line. She felt ridiculous, and she had no idea how well it was working, but it felt easier to blend in.

The line edged forward, and she took a nervous step forward, nearly tripping over herself as she went. Was she really that anxious? She shook her head and blushed, apologizing to the woman in front of her who she'd nearly run into. "That's okay," the woman smiled down at her before wrinkling her nose. "I think your... little charge there might need a change."

Sierra's cheeks reddened, her plan to help make this less embarrassing for herself backfiring a little. Now she just looked like a negligent babysitter! She nodded absentmindedly, glancing behind herself, wondering if it would be worth it to head to the back and get away from this woman, but the line had been growing rapidly.

"I'm sure it won't be too much longer!" the woman told her encouragingly. "Is she excited? I know my little girl is!" The child in front of her looked back at Sierra, blushing a bit herself. She looked about seven or eight, and she was taller than Sierra would have liked. Had she gone too far back herself, or was this kid just tall for her age?

"I guess so," Sierra shrugged, not really wanting to talk too much right now.

"Oh, it's okay," the mother smiled, patting her on the head like she was the kid. "I'm sure you have a lot to think about before you get to Santa."

"She's going, not me!" Sierra insisted, bouncing the doll on her hip. But the mother just smiled.

Did she see through Sierra's disguise? Did everyone? Instead of making herself look like a good babysitter, or big sister, did everyone see a girl, maybe a bit too old to be playing with dolls in public, going to see Santa with her favorite dolly?

She was so nervous she stumbled again once the line lurched forward. It was hard to tell with the line going as slowly as it was, but she was feeling very clumsy, a lot like she had while she was under Samara's spell. She turned, looking back at the line behind her, and again at the people shopping. She didn't see Samara, but that didn't mean she wasn't there!

She hugged the doll a little closer to herself, running a tongue along her teeth to make sure braces hadn't shown up there. She was in the inner part of the line now, in the middle of the railing that wound its way back and forth up to Santa. She was closer, but that also meant she was trapped here now. If Samara was watching, and casting spells on her, she was a sitting duck! In the time it would take her to duck under the rails, or push through the people behind her, Samara could do whatever she wanted to her!

She groaned softly as a cramp hit her. How much longer could she wait?! There was no way she could get out of line, wait for Samara to hopefully give up and leave, then get back in and still hope to make it to Santa without a major accident! She didn't want to squirm too much so the people in line, and Samara, hopefully couldn't tell what she was struggling with, so she moved her doll from her hip to her front, hugging it and biting her bottom lip desperately as she waited for the cramp to fade.

As she stumbled closer and closer to Santa, she worried what was going to happen by the time she got there. Would she still be able to read, or speak properly? Would she even still be the age she'd made herself, or would Samara make her even younger? She certainly felt smaller now, especially as she looked at the girl in front of her. Maybe Samara was slowly regressing her, hoping she wouldn't notice, and by the time she got to Santa she'd be a helpless toddler that one of the elves would have to help up onto Santa's lap, before getting her picture taken and being sent on her way, right into Samara's waiting arms.

"If you were a good girl, you don't have to worry!" the little girl in front of her told her comfortingly.

"I'm always a good girl!" Sierra glared at her. The little girl quickly turned back around and hid in front of her mother again, who gave Sierra an unpleased look.

They edged closer and closer to Santa, Sierra feeling more nervous and uncomfortable with every step. She gasped, pressing her hands to the back of her diaper desperately, not even thinking about the fact that she was still holding her doll at the time, just trying to stop herself as her tummy tried hard to empty itself.

Finally, the little girl in front of her was being led to Santa. Sierra expected to have a little time to prepare her thoughts and figure out exactly what she was going to say, but in a surprisingly short amount of time, the girl was being led away and one of the bored teenagers dressed like an elf came to get Sierra.

Sierra gulped, stumbling her way up to Santa's chair. He looked down at her, and for a moment she thought there was a mistake. The man there looked like what she'd expect Santa to look like, but not exactly what she remembered him looking like last time. Had she waited all this time for nothing?!

"Ho ho ho! Hello there, little girl!" he said pleasantly, holding out his arms. She hesitated, not wanting to climb onto this strange man's lap if it wasn't really Santa.

Then she realized the noise of the crowd was fading away. She looked around and saw that the sight of them was fading away, too. They seemed slightly blurry, and their movement was slowing, then stopping altogether.

"There we go!" the man said, and when Sierra turned back to him, he had changed, just slightly. Now there was no doubt that he was the real Santa. "I wanted to make sure we had as much time to talk as we needed! Now, Sierra, tell me, have you been a good girl this year?" He must do this with all the kids, she thought. It must be how he got to know all the kids, the way the elves had said he wanted to, without making the line take even longer than it already did.

Sierra felt like a little kid again as she stood there, holding her doll, trying not to fill her diaper. Just like at the North Pole, she wondered what the correct answer was. She was pretty sure she'd been all right, but did Santa consider her naughty or nice?

"Yes?" she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice slightly stern. "Were you acting like a good girl in line just now?" Sierra blushed and squirmed, her eyes widening when she saw a paddle sitting next to Santa's chair. She was sure it hadn't been there before.

"No?" she tried.

Santa nodded. "That's a good start," he told her. "I'm afraid just recognizing your bad behavior isn't enough to get you off the naughty list. Is that what you're here to do?"

"Well, no, but..." Sierra hadn't particularly liked Santa's last gift to her, but now that she thought about it, Santa might not even bother to help her if she was on the naughty list. After all, the only thing he owed her now was some coal. She gulped as he bent forward and picked her up, placing her over his lap before reaching down to pick up the paddle.

"I know you try to be a good girl, Sierra," he told her gently. "You just need a reminder every now and then."

Sierra whimpered, feeling him slide her skirt up and reveal her diaper, which he pulled open, revealing her wet bare bottom. "I'm sorry, Santa!" she squeaked, hardly able to believe she was about to get spanked by Santa!

"Are you?" he asked. She nodded, wincing as she saw him lift the paddle from the corner of her eye. She jumped as the paddle smacked down on her backside with a loud whap. There were so many people around, so close! She assumed they couldn't see her when they were frozen, but just the thought of them being there made the whole thing all the worse.

"Yes!" Sierra squealed. "I'm very sorry! I shouldn't have snapped at that little girl like that!"

A second spank made her yelp again, tears filling her eyes. "Good girl," Santa said, setting the paddle back down. Sierra breathed a sigh of relief, reaching up to wipe her eyes, feeling so glad that she was only getting two swats that she didn't think anything about it as Santa taped her diaper back up, forgetting that was the whole reason she was even here.

"Now," Santa said, picking Sierra up and setting her own his leg. Slowly, the people around them began to move again, the noise of their hustle and bustle starting to filter back in. "What do you want for Christmas?"

"I-I, umm... I want..." Her mind went blank, the embarrassment of her short spanking making it hard for her to think straight. Even worse, however, was the rumble in her tummy. She groaned, wriggling on his lap, and then, to her horror, she felt it start. She tried hard to stop it, but she'd been holding it too long. She felt the warm mush begin to push into her diaper, and by then there was no stopping it. She gasped and squirmed as the mess began to fill the seat of her diaper, having no doubt that Santa knew what was going on, and quite possibly anyone else watching.

She was messing her diaper on Santa's lap! And what was worse, this wasn't the first time! Last time she'd at least been in the body of a toddler, but here she was again, older, but still pooping her pants as she sat with him, this time in front of everyone!

"What's that, little girl?" he asked, bouncing her a little. "Would you like another doll to go with your little friend, there?"

Sierra nodded dumbly, just wanting to get down from his lap and away from the attention she felt everyone in line was pouring onto her. He picked her up and set her down, sending her on her way with what seemed like a very deliberate pat on her sagging diaper.

That made her blush, but it also reminded her of her mission, since she knew if she didn't fulfil it, she'd be in that diaper for a very long time. "Santa!" she squealed, turning back towards him. The elf trying to hand her a candy cane and escort her away and the one leading the next child over paused, clearly confused as to what was going on.

"I-I need your help!" Sierra hissed up at the man, who was back to looking just slightly off, probably to make sure nobody recognized him. She wasn't sure how long he'd been doing this, but there were only so many malls, so there was always a chance that somebody who'd been lucky enough to meet him a previous year could happen by another mall he was working at.

"What is it, little girl?" he asked with a smile.

She blushed, biting her bottom lip. She didn't want to say it, especially now that they were in his little privacy bubble, but if she didn't, she'd have a very uncomfortable couple of weeks. "I-It's my... you know." She pointed at the diaper that she knew he was aware she had under her skirt.

"I'm afraid I don't have time to change you," he chuckled, making her blush even harder as she worried about who was listening.

"Y-Yeah, b-but... I had an accident, and..." Her cheeks turned redder and redder as she tried to explain it. "I can't take it off."

"Of course you can," Santa said, and to Sierra's relief, she heard the noises of the outside world fade again. "I already took it off of you, or have you already forgotten? Do you really need a reminder again so soon?"

"No!" Sierra answered quickly. "I-I just..." She hadn't even realized he must have broken the spell himself to be able to spank her bare bottom. "Thank you!"

"You really should be more careful with your magic," he warned her. "I thought we went over that last time."

"I'm sorry," she blushed. "I'll do better next time!"

"We'll see," he said. "Now, run along!"

The other people started moving again and she took his advice, taking her candy cane from the elf and letting herself be led away from Santa. She reached nervously for her wand, sure that she was going to find Samara waiting for her, ready to claim that she was her caretaker, but when the elf let her hand go at the computer where another worker had her pictures with Santa pulled up and ready to sell to her parents, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Had she ever been there? Sierra really wasn't sure, but she definitely wasn't there now. She ducked away from the salesperson and hurried through the mall, wrinkling her nose at the mass in her diaper, but glad that, once she made it back home, she'd be able to get herself cleaned up.

All in all, as embarrassing as this had been, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. That in itself was a little bit of a Christmas miracle, she thought. She still looked around as she made her way back to the bathroom, half expecting Samara to jump out, but she never did. Maybe she really had been just nervous, and that was why she'd been tripping all over herself. And maybe she had regressed herself back further than she'd meant, or she was just shorter at this age than she remembered. Maybe there weren't always other people to blame for things.

She locked herself in a bathroom stall and Apparated back to her living room. The presents she'd wrapped the night before were still there, waiting, their own notes that said, "Don't open until Christmas!" still attached. Santa had even been kind enough not to break the entire spell when he undid the part on her diaper!

Of course, he hadn't been kind enough to clean up all the scraps of paper that hadn't fit any presents, or empty cardboard tubes and stray ribbon that she'd left in her wake the night before. She knew she should really clean that up, since that was the mature thing to do. But for now, she was going to take a nice, hot shower, and then probably watch some Christmas movies. Being mature was nice and all, but after what it had led to this time, she didn't mind taking a bit of a break from it for the rest of today.