Littles of Faith

Thanks for the reply   Well Catheter is thankfully until the 22nd of this month I hope then I can have "fun" inside of diaper. Yeah was thinking condoms with toys and disabilty Sex workers more

Hey everyone! As I stated previously, with the shorter number of chapters with this story, the voting time for the following stories will be very limited. In all likelihood, this go around will last (at the longest) until next Thursday when I post the final chapter at some point. Also, I have decided to temporarily ‘retire’ the age regression story that I previous included in this vote. I will likely bring it back in a future poll, but it seemed to be continually passed over and I have several other stories that you all can choose from instead. It’s no hard feelings and it’s not gone forever, but I can take a hint for the time being. For now, and your future reading pleasure, though, here are the other ideas: Bethany Set as a semi-sequel to The Opening, follow former drug runner, Bethany, as she strives to find herself a better life that has been promised in the newly discovered dimension, tentatively called, ‘The Amazon Dimension,’ though some have begun calling it another name due to the ever-increasing rumors of something awaiting all portal Littles on the other side. Join Bethany as she looks to turn her life around there and maybe even find a redemption of sorts and something else in the most unexpected of ways. Watch out though, in this new world, new and even greater dangers than the ones she left lurk around every corner. A Big Change of Perspective Set again in the Diaper Dimension, follow Sophie as she takes on a new Little placed in her care after looking for something new in her life. At first, both are hesitant about each other, but as time continues, Sophie realizes that her new Little, that she begins to care so much about, actually hates her guts. She begins to question everything she has ever been taught in this society, but a chance encounter and a potentially devastating event changes everything for her even more. Given a chance to save her Little from making a potentially terrible and harmful decision, she decides to make a choice that will not only change her life and perspective forever, but the fate of every Little in the dimension as well.    Boys Maturity Reform Set in a not-to-distant future, join John as he navigates through a world where all males must be required to pass a maturity test of sorts. While women are allowed to go to college or pursue their life at will without any such test, all boys over the age of 18 must attend a special school for three years to prove they are indeed ‘mature.’ Tests are laced throughout the time at this special school, but danger lurks around seemingly every corner for John and the friends he makes at the school. Success through these tests and obstacles ensures an eventual graduation and normal life afterward, but any failure is met with practices and punishments to demonstrate to others just how immature they are. Punitive measures, conspiracies, breakdowns, dwindling amounts of potty control, tests, and learning to cope with this unfair world all ensue in this longer story. Finally, and back to this tale, I hope everyone enjoys the next chapter of this story! Chapter 2: Frustrations and Congratulations I looked over the file in front of me and to the young woman sitting on my couch now. She had come up the stairs, practically banging around and then storming into the office just to get to our session today. I could only imagine what the other tenants of this building would think of her if they could see her with her current attitude, but I just calmly opened my door when Carol buzzed me that she had arrived. I knew she had from the ruckus she had stirred up, but I found with Littles like her, believing all this therapy stuff to be pointless in an increasingly frustrating and controlling society for a Little like her, Carol buzzing me seemed more official and clinical. For Littles like Carmen now, clinical equaled scary. For the young woman sitting in front of me though, clinical meant professional… adult. I sighed and briefly and casually looked over at the current Little sitting on my couch. Her dyed blonde hair and sharp, blue-framed glasses stuck out to me as being both smart and fashionable. Her fidgeting on the couch clearly showed her discomfort for being in here and her constantly bouncing knee and tapping fingers marked her as stressed though. I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me today already, but I guess that wasn’t so surprising as I looked over her file now in my hands.   *              *              * Patient Name: Julianne Stepanov   Biological Age: 25 Years old Estimated Mental Age: Minor changes from biological age, though these could just be related to stress Former Occupation: Former librarian Current Occupation: Seeking employment status to maintain independent lifestyle while temporarily stuck here from home dimension Regression Initiated: 40 days ago Notes: Patient exhibits few signs of mental regression so far but has had noticeable accidents and a potential loss of coordination since she believed she was drugged a month ago now. Recent behavior could suggest emotional regression as well, but further study is needed due to her status as a portal Little. Until Patient’s passport is reissued after losing it not long after initial incident, Patient is also looking to seek local employment in the meantime and needs validation from me to obtain a government-funded library job. Patient is clearly annoyed over this requirement and is highly resistant to any help she is given, needed or otherwise. *              *              * Her still-tapping fingers made me look up several times and I could see that Julianne was already on edge before our session had even started today. She was here for a simple competency interview technically, as was standard practice for any government funded job, and we both knew that it should have only lasted two sessions… if that. Instead, she had dragged her feet with several of her answers, and I was beginning to consider her a borderline case for approval or not. A possible drugging incident affecting her further did not help make my decision any easier as well. While her mental state seemed mostly unchanged after that initial incident, she remained prickly over having to be here at all. That and being a portal Little had made me question all my prior experience in treating her. If I simply dismissed her as a regressing Little, stemming from problems with her attitude or otherwise, she could be doomed to a one-way ticket to being a diapered Little in less than a month. If I allowed her to become a librarian as she wished however, any transgressions she would likely exhibit soon after would be a poor reflection on me and could even be dangerous for her if she mouthed off to the wrong person in today’s current increasingly growing pro-Big society. I was in quite a pickle but setting her file down and picking up my pad to take notes on, I knew I just had to start somewhere today. “So, Jullianne… actually, are you sure you don’t want to go by Judy?” I asked, just trying to break the ice while also attempting to give her a little agency back today. Already, she had been remanded to a halfway house of sorts, and from some of the other Littles I had seen before who stayed there as well, I knew that it was only a handful of steps above a daycare or foster home, especially from the viewpoint of a portal Little. “Julianne. Plain and simple. Like I told you already,” she responded bitterly. I wanted to sigh or to remand her from talking to me like that, but hoping to keep the peace, I smiled back at her instead. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure, that’s all. One never knows when a person could change their mind about something like that,” I defended casually. I was trying to come across as easy-going and almost friend-like to her. I was her therapist in a technical sense, but I knew if I came across like that to her already defensive mind, she would either bolt or quickly clam up. I needed her to speak to me instead, so I adjusted my approach accordingly. “So then, tell me about your week. New dimension and all. Must be a little different from Earth, right?” She sighed heavily. “I mean, I guess? You’ve read my file from the library, right?” I nodded. “Yeah, so you know I won a trip over here through Diamond Inc. and got stuck after. Meant for just a simple vacation and seems like instead that I’ve joined an insane asylum.” “That bad huh?” I of course knew what was out there, but I felt this could be a way I could get her top open up a little more. I mean, to be honest, I heard it all every day, but as she seemed to relish complaining, if I got even a sliver of knowledge from her complaints, I was all ears. “Worse. I just…” her eyes then narrowed and she clammed right back up. “It’s whatever.” ‘Darn. So close…’ I knew I had to switch tactics once again and go a little more generic and yet specific about something. “So, meet anyone new or trying anything you haven’t before?” “No,” she replied back bluntly. “What’s it to you anyway?” She shifted around on the couch, almost like she couldn’t find a comfortable spot and held her arms together, almost as if she was attempting to shield herself from me. She was putting up barriers again today and like I had last week, once again, I felt I had to push a bit to get anywhere with her. “I just want to get to know you, Julianne. That’s what I do after all,” I explained. “In your case, I get to know you and I make sure you’re all ship-shape to go working for the public library.” “Even though I’ve done that since before college?” I nodded plainly and she scoffed. She remained quiet for a moment, and I observed her keenly, but unfortunately, I soon saw that her nose began sniffing around. For a moment, I worried that my own nose had gone numb, and that Carmen had a messy accident before she left that I just hadn’t noticed. “Why the heck does it smell like baby powder in here? I thought you were a therapist… not some babysitter, huh? Is this some trap I keep hearing you Bigs set for Littles?” I was at first relieved that my nose hadn’t gone dead to a dirty diaper, but I also realized that baby powder was probably only the third worst smell for Julianne to be smelling right then in her mind. “Oh, never! I would never trap a Little. I’m not that type of Big.” I sighed and looked at her with the sincerest face I could muster right then. “I’m so sorry about that Julianne. I really am, but I do have other patients who come in here as well and I think one of them or whomever might have just spilled a bit of powder.” “As in someone changed their diaper in here?” she asked, clearly disgusted. I knew I had to reverse order quickly or risk losing her entirely with this line of questioning. “Just out in the reception area, and they used a pad I promise, but Little’s baby powder can be pretty overpowering. I promise it has no reflection on you or how I think about you.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but a select few would point out that coming to me in the first place was a sign of something more and potentially babyish, but I just hoped she would buy my apology to her. Julianne seemed upset still, but to my relief, she ultimately just huffed and sat back. For a moment, I thought I even heard her mutter, “Stupid baby doctor…” under her breath, and while I could have pushed the issue, I knew from experience that dropping the matter instead was my best move at this point. Any other move could be seen as condescending or a form of perceived punishment down to a child. Wrong, but I had to keep her likely opinions in the front of my mind. Unfortunately, at that point, I also realized that today was likely going to be the appointment where I hit a nerve with Julianne. We had been dancing around a few topics for the past few weeks and I knew she was likely going to be set off anyways with her current attitude, so, feeling I was limited with my options to reach her today already, I knew I might as well use the time as best I could. “So, moving forward, how’s this week gone for you? Any changes in your behaviors or are you having any other problems since we last met?” I asked directly. I could already see her nostrils begin to flare. “And just what is that supposed to mean? I’m only here because this stupid society says I need to see a therapist, you, to check me off so I can be a librarian again until I get a new passport and get out of this whole stupid place,” she practically hissed at me. “Hmmm…” I mused, knowing that I was going to have to start poking sooner rather than later, “that’s not quite entirely true though… is it?” Her head cocked a little bit, and she was clearly already blocking another reason she was here as well, so I pushed further again. “You came to me because of the requirement to get a job, but you also mentioned that you were having a few accidents as well. Isn’t that right?” She quickly grumbled. “Yes… but that’s just a minor thing!” she protested. “Someone spiked my drink. Nothing more!” “So, you’ve stopped having accidents during the day?” I questioned, again, driving to the heart of her current problems. As predicted though, from her blush and quick retreat, she didn’t have to say anything for me to know that her ‘occasional’ accidents hadn’t in fact stopped. “That’s what I thought. No need to be embarrassed with me but how many times exactly lately?” She wouldn’t budge and even started to take on a stubborn demeanor I thought seemed more reserved for preschoolers than full-fledged adults. Sensing her frailty over the matter, I knew I just needed to push a little more to get my answer. “Julianne… how many times in the past week?” Still, no answer. “Julianne, how many times…?” “It’s getting worse, okay?” she shot back, her eyes just giving off the faintest glint of moisture now. “I thought coming here was supposed to be just for my stupid job and then maybe I thought you could help me, but instead, it’s just getting worse!” I sighed and put my pen down on my pad and leaned over to her. I might have even offered a box of tissues, but I feared that she could just see that as a sign of weakness on her part at this point. ‘Maybe next week…’ Instead, I just gave her my best sympathetic smile. “Julianne… these things take times. Your drink was spiked in your first week here, and you’re bound to have some issues with that, okay?” “But that was over a month ago by now!” she pointed out angrily, clearly seeing the fault in my logic. It was true that most drugs would have already left her system, but I started to suspect after last week that she might have gotten hit by the outbreak that was hitting several of the other Littles in this area following the Juventas incident. I didn’t have the evidence, but spikes like that currently happening here didn’t just happen over night for no reason. Regardless, Julianne needed some reassurances about her current problem today. “Well, these things tend to happen here,” I tried to reassure her. “It’s been known to happen to other Littles here and you’ve been here for a while now to know that firsthand yourself.” “But it’s never happened to me before!” I could tell she was getting into a critical stage of her progress with me. She was definitely in the denial and anger stage, but I could see the cracks forming in her resolve that she was evolving more into the depression stage. It was dangerous at this level and being a Little around here, I made a note to contact Officer Kenny to see if he could check on her where she was staying… just in case. After a few previous mishaps with other Littles, I didn’t want to take any further chances anymore with my patients when they began to hit this stage. I sighed and looked back at Julianne. “I know that, and I really do believe you, but these things are more common here than back on Earth,” I tried to explain. “There are a lot of Littles here from Earth that are going through the exact same thing you are. You’re not alone.” I hoped that knowledge would help her, but Julianne shook her head in despair and annoyance instead. “This whole place is just stupid… I wish I could go back home.” She was definitively on the verge of the depression stage, but I could see the anger still coiled up down inside of her. “It can be stupid, and I wish I could help you go back home where you would be all safe and warm, but until then, I think this goes back to what we’re talking about last week. Do you remember?” I could tell she did, but that she also didn’t want to say it out loud. “Well, again, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to.” I paused and tried to see if I could answer my own question, but the loose dark jeans she was wearing today blended into her clothes well too well for just my own casual observations. Sighing, I knew I had to ask a sticky question. “So, are you wearing the protection I suggested for you?” Her saddened eyes quickly narrowed and scowled directly back at me. “You think I’m some little kid then? You think I actually need some stupid pair of pull-ups? Just say their name! You already think I’m a baby, so might as well use their proper name.” My doubts about her maturity were growing, but she wasn’t ready to hear that yet. So, instead, I opted for the more logical approach. “No, but you said your accidents were increasing already this week. I just think it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared and save you from any potential embarrass…” Without warning though, before I could even finish my sentence, Julianne stood up and glared back at me. “Fine! You don’t trust me, then look here!” Not even a second of hesitation and she unbuttoned her pants and dropped them to the floor revealing her purple pull-up, evidently one of the brands I had suggested with the older skateboard and music note designs on the front… only they weren’t really there anymore. Staring right back at me was a clearly wet pull-up… and Julianne didn’t seem to either notice or care about that fact.   “See? Happy?” she spat back at me, still showing off her pull-up almost like a toddler proving how big they were. The irony wasn’t lost on me of the moment, and I also knew she was purely frustrated, but the fact that she had just dropped her pants so suddenly gave me further pause for a moment as well. I was really trying to help Julianne out in this world and maybe to find solutions to her problems, but in the back of my mind was still the original assessment I was supposed to do for her. She had been approaching the borderline state for what I could approve or not, but today was playing with that line even more. Her unabashed pants drop, her increase of accidents also evidenced by her currently wet pull-up, and her seemingly further unstable emotional state were huge red flags to me. Nothing was definitive yet, but I had tragically seen all this before. Maybe Julianne would be the exception, but there was a part of me that couldn’t help but feel that that her tough days still weren’t over yet.   As she pulled her pants back up and sat down afterward when I told her she could, I could see a flicker in the back of her eye that told me she likely just now realized she was wet. Not wanting to cause her any undo further embarrassment though, I quickly moved to the next topics that I thought were necessary for a variety of reasons. “Very well, Julianne. I’m sorry for pushing.” “Yeah… it’s fine…” she said distractedly, her mind clearly on the realization that she had yet another accident. I wondered if she suspected that I had seen her wet pull-up, but I could see I needed to just move onto the next order of things today. “So, have you been going to the doctor I recommended to check for any signs of issues? All this could just be a bug, or an infection remember.” “His receptionist had to cancel…” she practically whispered. I could see her world was crumbling apart with the likely realization of her wet pull-up, so I knew I had to bring her back a bit eventually but carry the load of the conversation myself for the moment. “I want you try again this week to find a doctor who can help you out with all that. Would that still be okay?” Julianne only listlessly nodded back. “Good. I’ll even make a few other recommendations as well if you want… just to make it easier.” Again, she only slowly nodded her head. “Okay then… but also, remember the other thing I asked you about last week?” She made no movement, and I could see I was going to have to still push a little bit more today. This time was definitely a risk, but I knew it would also reveal a lot to me with either way that it went. “We talk about the negatives here a lot, but have you found any positives here maybe?” Her shocked and saddened face quickly turned angry again and I at least knew she heard me this time. “Positives? Positives about this place?” I only nodded back, wanting to give her the space to vent if she wanted. “How the heck could I ever find positives about this place? You think I’m one of those people who actually likes this stuff, don’t you? Well… I’m not!” I could see the tension building in her face and her body language. I could have intervened, but I knew today was a long time coming. I could tell that she desperately needed to vent to someone and blow up a little bit today, so I let her. She then practically jumped off the couch and slammed her foot on the ground. It took everything I had not to put her a timeout for clearly throwing a tantrum, but I knew it was just her raging regression emotions and that she needed this as well, whether she knew it or not. “Well, screw you, doc! I don’t need this in my life. You’re a real piece of work, you know that? You and all your other friggin’ Bigs in this messed up world! I’m out of here! Don’t try and stop me!” With that she immediately slammed open my door, the reception area door out to the upper hallway and eventually the front door of the building. And just like that, she was gone. I had pushed her just as far as she needed to go without fully popping. If I hadn’t, I would have bet everything that she would have blown up outside with someone else. If it was another Big, there would be no telling what her future would be afterward. I knew she might still have anger issues and lash out inappropriately, but I knew she had let off at least a little steam today. Clearly concerned though, Carol peaked her head inside. From her face, I could tell she was worried about what she was going to find after most likely hearing everything that had just transpired in my office. It wasn’t unusual, per say I hated to admit, but being on the outside and the suddenness of everything had to come as a shock to her as well. “Everything okay, Dr. Mengell?” I smiled and nodded as I just got off my seat and began to tidy the room up once more. “Yes, thank you, Carol. Julianne is just not ready to accept certain realities of her current condition.” “Oh…” Carol looked disappointed, or at least distracted for some reason, but ever my dutiful secretary, she still helped me tidy up as well. “Is she going to be okay you think?” she finally asked as she finished wiping down the head of the couch in my office. I sighed a bit and ran my fingers through my hair. “I think so. If I had to take a bet, I think she’ll be fine just like all the others were before her,” I recalled of my former patients who had done the exact same thing. Regression was a scary business, and I couldn’t blame them for lashing out when they did at this stage. “She just needs a chance to clear her mind and calm down a bit.” Carol only nodded and didn’t ask any further questions. I normally didn’t like to poke, but she seemed far more reserved now than she had been previously. “I hate to pry… but is everything okay with you, Carol? You seem… different now.” “Oh,” she quickly blushed. “I’m so sorry about that, Doctor. I just got some news...” I raised my eyebrows in curiosity as to just what the news was. “I just found out I got my doctoral thesis approved. I’m going to be a psychologist and therapist just like you now.” I smiled warmly and quickly went over to give her a hug. From our conversations, I knew she had been trying for a long time, so I knew this was a big moment for her. “Congratulations, Carol. You’ve more than earned it.” She smiled back at me once we broke our hug. “Thank you, Dr. Mengell. I’ve just seen the work you’ve done with the Littles here and I want to do the same.” She sighed and stared at the immense number of files I had accumulated over the past year of Littles I had in my care at one point or another. “So many need the help we can offer, you know?” I nodded. “I absolutely do, and I’ll tell you what… once you graduate, no pressure or anything, but I would always like to have a partner in this office… if you want that is.” Her eyes quickly bulged, and her head bobbed up and down just about as fast as I think it could have. “Oh yes! Do you really mean it? I mean… I would absolutely love that! It should be any day, but I can even send you over my doctoral work and some of the patients I had already seen during my program.” I smiled back and clasped her hand in sincerity. “I would love to see all that. Just send it over, but I doubt I would have any concerns over accepting you as a partner. I can tell you’re already good with the patients here, and you have the tact needed to broach most of the biggest, troubling subjects you would encounter as a therapist here.” I paused and felt I wanted to give her a real offer. “I’ll tell you what… tomorrow is still free after lunch. Let’s talk about it more in detail then, okay?” Carol nodded and went about her normal secretary duties for now as well, but with a clear newly added pep in her step. I knew I was going to have to hire another secretary, but I also knew that I was never going to find one as talented and perfect as she was. Still, I practically had butterflies in my stomach from the eager anticipation of getting a partner in this office. I was already eyeing the still unoccupied space next door, and with a few renovations, I knew we could expand easily over there as well so she would have an office connected to the reception area still and right next to mine. I also knew that with her help, this office could become even more well known and become the premier destination in the north for Little-based regression coping therapy. It still felt like such a dream though, and for the moment, the ticking clock nearby reminded me I needed to file what I had just heard and evaluated from Julianne and then get ready for my next patient. Going through my notes, I entered several of them into the patient portal for both Julianne and Carmen. I found it curious that both needed to find new doctors as I did so, but my timer on my phone went off and I remembered it was my reminder to call home today. As much as I hated to admit it and as much as I loved Vincent, sometimes my job just got the better of me timewise. Still, curious of how things were going with Vincent and Tammy today and wanted to say hello, I immediately called my home phone. “Hello? Doctor M?” Tammy answered on the other line. “Hey Tammy. It’s me,” I confirmed. “Just wanted to check on you two to see how everything was going over there. I know I left in a hurry this morning and it always gets me a little flustered these days to leave poor Vince like that, you know?” “Oh, totally, but he was totally fine after a good round of Adventure Sam and his usual bottle that I fed him this morning. I honestly think it was just his lower intestinal tract acting up though with all his little fussiness before. Littles do that a lot when they’re on his type of diet. I mean, halfway through the show, he basically put on a whole musical show from all the gas that then popped out of him.” I chuckled. “Oh yeah. I was thinking that could be what was happening, but I just didn’t want to give him anything just in case. His system can be so finicky sometimes with Little medications. I gave him that gas medicine a while back and he had nothing but blowouts for days afterward. I really didn’t want to put you through all that if I didn’t absolutely have to.” Now, it was Tammy’s turn to chuckle. “Oh, Doctor M. You don’t need to worry about things like that with me. Besides, after his symphony ended, he let out some big old poopies as well for me. He even smiled afterward at the relief I could see from his face.” For her though, she then unusually paused, and I knew something was on her mind. “Everything okay, Tammy? Something wrong with Vincent?” I asked, panicking just a tiny bit, quickly thinking that Vincent had revealed his previous identity or that LPS had called and threatened to take him away. I knew I just had to put those thoughts out of my head, and I took a deep breath in. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I’m all ears…” I then heard her sigh heavily. “It’s just that, uh… I don’t want to tell you what to do, but… have you ever considered breastfeeding Vincent maybe?” First off, Tammy and I had gotten very close over the past year, and her being a carer of Littles and me as a Little’s therapist and mommy myself, our conversations ranged all over the place and often got entirely personal, especially when it came to the topic of Littlecare. Secondly though, I actually had thought about it before. “Yes, I have, but I’m just not sure with him.” “Oh?” I could already hear the twinge of excitement mixed with confusion in her voice that I knew was coming. “Not to pry too much, but why the hesitation? You of all people should know the benefits, right?” I did in fact. Nursing usually helped with the bonding between mommy and their Little, assisted with sleeping issues, provided extremely rich nutrients that all Littles couldn’t get enough of, and ensured that constipation or most stomach troubles for the Little were things of the past. I thought this later benefit was likely why Tammy had asked me about it in the first place, given this morning’s events with Vincent’s digestive troubles, but one thing kept holding me back that I hadn’t mentioned to Tammy yet: what if Vincent was still conscious inside his currently regressed body? It was a fear that had plagued my mind constantly in the almost year since I had received custody of him after his trial and subsequent regression punishment. See, they had used experimental drugs on him for some reason, and I still didn’t know why, but it always made me worried that they hadn’t exactly wiped his mind as was usually the case in regression punishments in most of Libertalia. So, if I was to nurse Vincent though, almost every case study that I’ve read showed that Big milk often reacts strongly with the FOY drug and the Little usually is never able to recover afterward if they had any semblance of adulthood left. So, if Vincent wasn’t fully regressed mentally, and just didn’t have the ability to express himself, I felt I was essentially killing the old person he used to be. Criminally liable for the regression of his coworkers and likely the rest of the city since then, but still a person nonetheless… but I knew that I couldn’t tell all that to Tammy. So, I lied. “I’m just not sure about all that stuff. I think I would have to give up a lot and with my time commitments with all my new patients, and I’m just not sure.” I wasn’t sure if she bought it, so I added one last little detail I knew she would most likely enjoy hearing about. “I do know it would be good for him though, so I might consider getting an outside source of milk one of these days. Lots of us Big women can produce excess and that can be painful from what I’ve been told and they sell it off. I have the money, so for Vincent, it might be good for him one day.” I smiled over my ability to obfuscate the real issue and postpone the date interminably. “Oh, that sounds like a wonderful idea,” Tammy finally conceded on the other side of the phone. I could almost hear my stress level lowering for just a moment as a result. “Now, enough chit chat with me. Do you want to say hello to your little man like you usually do? I see the time and know you have to go soon, but I can tell that he likes to hear your voice when you do… if you want or have the time that is.” I did on both accounts. “Yes, thank you Tammy.” I then heard some shuffling around and as soon as I heard some deep breathing and a little babbling on the other end, I knew Vincent was there. “Hey baby. It’s mommy. I just wanted to say how much I love and miss you here at work. I hope you’re being a good boy for Tammy today, but knowing you, I’m sure you’re just the most delightful thing around her. Be good, baby, and I’ll see you tonight. I love you.” I wished he could respond back, but I knew his babbling and the occasional “mamama” was all I was going to get. So, after a few seconds more, Tammy got back on the phone instead and we both wished each other luck with the rest of our subsequent days. I might try to call back later, but as I looked at my schedule, I knew that my time was going to be limited already unfortunately. As it was, as soon as we hung up, I was right back to my notes and little tasks before my new patient showed up. “Carol?” I soon called from my desk as I continued to write more notes. “Yes, Doctor?” she responded back, getting up and entering my office. “Can you do me a favor and ensure that Julianne has an appointment set up for next week at the same time?” I was betting rather than confirming in this case, but from what I saw today, I knew she’d be back again. Seeing her wet pull-up and the fact that she likely didn’t realize it was wet initially told me that she was going to need more help going forward, whether she really wanted to or not.   “Yes, Doctor.” She then went back to her desk, and I could already hear the clacking of her keyboard going full steam. Back at my own computer, I also made sure to write down two possible plans in my notes for Julianne when she came back. The first dealt with accepting her treatment and trying to move forward as best she could, in whatever way that meant for her. I was usually in favor of this plan with my patients, and it was my specialty after all, but I wasn’t sure if Julianne was quite ready to hear or implement that quite yet. So, for treatment plan two, I laid out a strategy to deal with the consequences of her rejection of the new caveats in her life and the subsequent plummet I knew would soon follow. While regression was terrifying to any Little, further rejection of it almost always led to breakdowns or acting out which inevitably led to further regressions in their lives, coming from their own minds or others in this world forcing it on them. It was terrible, but there was a reason I had been so busy in the past year after all. So, to hedge my bets, I sent a quick message to Officer Kenny regarding him checking up on her at least every other day to ensure everything was still going okay on the home front. From what I had seen, I knew that her anger or depression stage would hit with full force this week and I also knew that Officer Kenny could jump in and help with both outcomes if needed while also ensuring she wouldn’t be punished for it either. Laws for Littles were sometimes weird and even up here in the north of Libertalia, those laws could be traps for any unsuspecting Little in crisis… like Julianne was bound to be. Right as I finished messaging him the last of the details about her case, I heard a knock on the reception area’s front door. The timidness of it and the timing informed me it could only be one of my patients who always insisted on knocking before he entered. Though he had accepted several parts of his regression already, I knew it was just a matter of time before he hit another wall with what I knew about with his life lately. Hearing the hesitancy and light knocking again, I highly suspected that today’s session might just be that time.

Taco supreme. 

Me, of course. 

Hashtag impressed. Please continue.