Leaderboard

Chapter 4: THE STORE WAS about a ten-minute drive, and I was locked in the car seat again. It gave me time to ponder not only my safety but also my students’ safety. I considered trying to leave early, but we only had that one-day window to return to our dimension. Something about their rotation through other dimensions and power needs had seemed like a lot of mumbo-jumbo to me. Still, I wished I had paid a little closer attention now! When the car eventually stopped, she came around to the side of the car I was in but didn’t unbuckle me right away. “Is something wrong?” I asked her, seeing an odd look on her face. She looked torn but said, “I want to ensure we have a game plan before we go inside?” “A game plan? It’s just a store?” “Katie, it is just a store… but it’s a store in our dimension. I don’t want you to run into any issues with… causing a scene?” I was offended, “I wouldn’t cause a scene?” “I hope not, but I want to make sure you understand what everyone will see when we go inside?” “And that is?” “A mommy taking her daughter shopping?” “A… what?!?” I said. I didn’t shout, but it was an intense hiss in my sound. “That’s what I mean,” she said. “So… what? Why would they think that?” “So, right now, I see a little girl wearing a pair of toddler pants, a clear diaper bulge, and she’s the size of my sixteen-month-old nephew.” I blushed, looking down at my body, still held in by the harness. “So what does that mean?” “In our dimension, as long as you don’t do anything to fight that impression we’ll have an easy shopping trip?” “Easy?” I asked nervously. “And if I don’t?” “Then probably everyone in the store will tell me how to be a better mommy, suggest spanking you, and who knows what else? They may even insist on demonstrating their parenting skills?” I felt sick at that, knowing without a doubt that there was no chance to fight back at my size. “So what do you want me to do?” “Smile at people who smile at you, say ‘hi’ back to anyone who says ‘hi’ to you, wave back, but don’t really talk?” I looked at her for a long second and nodded, “Okay, I can do that. Now, can you get me out of this?” I pointed to the harness. “One second, I almost forgot my purse.” A moment later, she had her ‘purse’ in hand, and I had a feeling it wasn’t an ordinary purse. Even with the size differences, I could tell that it was an oversized bag, and based on everything so far, I feared it was probably serving a purpose as a diaper bag! As she unbuckled the seat, she shocked me by placing me on her hip like a toddler. She then walked to the store entryway and selected a cart while holding onto me. I was utterly unprepared for her to push the baby seat down, set her ‘purse’ behind it, and be set down in the cart seat! I opened my mouth to object, but she just pressed a finger to her lips to remind me of our agreement. “We need some cups first,” she said, looking at a list projected from her watch. It distracted me briefly, but she turned it off before I could read the list. It was disconcerting to be pushed backward down aisles as she began in the store housewares. She found a few plastic cups, but nothing small enough to handle easily. “We’ll have to look in the other part of the store,” she said as much to herself as anyone. While she pushed me down the next few aisles to the clothes area, I noted that others in the store gave me lots of approving looks. Mommies pushing their own babies, grandmothers, and others all looked at me as if I were the cutest creature. It was creepy! What was even creepier was realizing the rumors and stories weren’t just tabloid fiction. All around me were adults dressed as babies who were being pushed in carts like me! They were clearly shorter, so I knew they were ‘Littles’ too. As I looked around the store, I was bothered most by the reality that I didn’t see anyone my size walking alone. Most of them were clearly diapered, sucking on bottles, pacifiers, or thumbs. One ‘mother’ seemed to have her ‘baby’ nursing from her as she held him. I would have thought it was a baby, but the big muscles on the man were definitely not things that belonged to a baby! ‘I know this was rumored, but I never dreamed it would be this common!’ When we pulled into the clothing section, my nerves fried more every second. ‘Houston, we have a problem!’ I heard in my head. “The baby clothes section?” I asked quietly. “Sweetie, except for a few rare stores that we’ll try and find this weekend, you’re not going to find much in your size that doesn’t come from the baby section.” She hesitated, “Well, this is actually the Little section.” “What’s the difference?” I asked. “Characters,” she said, pointing across the racks, and I realized there was a dividing line in the section. Both sides were equally babyish, but some unique characters were on the Little side. “Also, Little’s clothes tend to be a bit better made,” she added. “We’ll look through the whole section, though.” I feared she would start with the odd characters wearing diapers and jumping up and down with ‘Naomi and Oliver’ underneath them, but she kept moving. Another character reminded me of the old Doc McStuffin cartoon, wearing a white doctor’s coat and examining a doll as a patient. I saw ‘Doc McSweetie’ below the picture. Some sweaters she found were a bit too colorful for my tastes but relatively tame compared to the crazy frilly dresses nearby! Leggings and blouses were added to the cart before she pushed me to the changing room. An attendant looked at us, “New wardrobe time?” She asked. “Something like that,” Erica agreed. “Number five is empty,” she said. “Thanks!” I felt another cramp as she opened the curtain and placed me on the floor in the changing room, where she hung up a pile of clothes. “I may need the potty here soon,” I told her quietly. “Okay,” she said casually. “Let’s try these on. I think you’re an eighteen-month for sizes, but I have a twenty-four-month set here and a twelve-month set if we need them.” I blushed profusely but took the offered pale pink blouse and black leggings. As I put the blouse on, I saw it hung low and long. “This one’s too big?” I said. She laughed, “Here,” she said, quickly showing me it was a onesie and buttoning it up under the leggings. My face burned, but I didn’t usually wear many body suits! ‘And definitely not baby onesies!’ I thought. “It’s not that bad,” she told me, “look!” I turned in the mirror and felt my blood turn to ice. It wasn’t me in that mirror. It was a toddler!!! The girl in the mirror still had more in common with the infant phase of life than she did with her upcoming preschool years. Worse yet, right as I looked, I felt another cramp in my stomach. “Noooo…” I whined! “What’s wrong, Katie?” She said, even as she saw the same sight I did in the mirror of that toddler’s body, forcing them to squat and push out a big mess into their diaper. Watching my reflection poop my pants was even worse than doing it in the high chair earlier! “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry,” she said a moment later, giving me a hug and rubbing my back. “I haven’t pooped myself since I was a kid!” I told her with tears in my eyes. “I told you something you encountered today is causing this, Katie. At least this time, you were wearing something meant to contain the mess.” I wanted to crawl under a rock and die right then, but she wasn’t going to let me do that. “We’ll get you all cleaned up; just give me a moment here,” she told me. I stood still like a statue as she dug through the ‘purse’ she’d brought, and it confirmed to me that it was definitely more of a diaper bag! A large changing pad was laid on the bench above me, and a packet of baby wipes, a new diaper, and a sack appeared before she gently picked me up. “I’m going to do my best not to spread this around,” she told me. I nodded, “Just please get this off of me; it’s disgusting!” She placed me on the mat, and I noticed it was padded and not horrible to lay on. I sat absolutely still as she pulled the leggings down my legs and stared at the inside of them for a second, “We got lucky here, kiddo; I’m planning to buy them anyway, but no mess on them!” I didn’t respond. She sighed, unbuttoned the onesie she had only snapped up moments before, and slid it up so that my arms ended up trapped inside it. “You’re being very brave, Katie,” she said with a smile. As she pulled open the diaper tapes, the stench made its way to my nose and made me want to puke! It took all of my medical experience to not, and I was impressed she didn’t show any signs of being bothered! Over the next few moments, she used the front of that diaper that was cleaner to wipe some of the poop off me before using a large number of wipes to finish the job. When she was done, a new diaper was on me, and she pulled the leggings and blouse off me. “Thanks,” I said, mortified. “No worries,” she said, giving me a sideways hug after she finished tying off the diaper sack with the disgusting mess inside. I watched her use a wipe on her hand before a squirt of something I assumed was hand sanitizer. “Let’s try on the rest of this. Now that we know your size, we’ll look for more, too,” she told me. “Great,” I said without much enthusiasm. She ran a hand through my hair like my mom used to as a kid and led me to the clothing racks. In the Littles section, a literal horror show of outfits was available for women my size. Still, we eventually made off with a week’s worth of black leggings that could come off professionally with a nicer blouse and my doctor’s coat. Unfortunately, most of the blouses were onesies, and then a couple of sweaters. She also helped me pick out a few pairs of jeans and insisted I needed some pajamas. One set was pink with Naomi and Oliver show characters on them, and the other was a purple-footed pajama set featuring another cartoon that looked close to a princess character back home. I was grateful she didn’t grab anything with the doctor character on it. ‘Having a children’s cartoon character who is a doctor on my clothes might be worse than wearing a diaper,’ I worried. We also found a few sets of shoes that would work for work, running, and being around the house. Really, the basket would have been great if I was the age they were meant for! “What about panties?” I asked her quietly. “And bras?” She bent down and whispered, “They have diaper covers in your size but no panties. Bras aren’t a thing for babies your size, so you can’t usually find them easily for Littles. We’ll check out a mall store on Saturday–I think they usually have some. For now, we’ll find something else…” I felt a black hole of dread in my stomach as I saw that the ‘something else’ was a box of pink Pull-Ups in my size. Erica walked over to some diapers and added a box of them, too. “I don’t need diapers,” I hissed at her. “Did you just have two poopy accidents in the last few hours?” She asked me. I blushed and turned my eyes to the ground. “Did you?” After the accident, I felt like a dog with its nose rubbed into the carpet, and I nodded. “Yes,” I said quietly. “Until I’m sure your system is cleared of whatever is affecting you, you must wear something to hold the accidents. I don’t want to clean up more furniture,” Erica added to my embarrassment. At that point, I shut down and didn’t say anything when the ‘cups’ she bought were more sippy cups. I was grateful at least to see the baby bottles, pacifiers, bibs, and everything else were left alone on the shelves. Watching Erica’s gaze made me worry she wanted to buy some of those things, though! She did buy a few step stools to help me get onto my bed and to the height I needed for the closet and my dresser. ‘I owe her quite a bit of money right now,’ I thought. ‘And most of it I would never want to use!’ I was exhausted and stressed when we finally made it through the checkout lanes. Back at the car, Erica unbuckled me from the cart seat and placed me down in the car seat. “You did great in there, Katie. I know that wasn’t easy.” I nodded, “Thanks,” was all I could say though. I sat quietly strapped into the seat as she loaded the bags into the back and drove back to her house. Everything I had seen so far made me sure that I had probably made the biggest mistake in my life! Back at her house, she insisted she’d wash everything and instead sent me to my room so I could finish settling in. I placed my cosmetics on the dresser and my bathroom stuff went to the bathroom. After Erica brought the stools up, I climbed onto the bed with Honey and just sat. “She’s cute, what’s her name?” Erica asked me, surprising me. “Honey,” I told her. “She looks well loved?” I shrugged, “I’ve had her since I was a baby…” At that, my emotions kicked in the rest of the way, and I started bawling for no reason. ‘What’s wrong with me?!?’ I complained. Massive arms encircled me, and I felt the bed lower with Erica’s giant frame sitting beside me. She pulled me into her, saying, “It’s okay, Katie. I know this world is a bit much, but I’ll help you get through this.” I was nearly falling asleep by the time I felt my emotions cool. “Why don’t you let me take that diaper off, use the potty, and then I’ll put you in another diaper for the night?” “Do I have to wear a diaper?” I asked, “You bought the Pull-Ups too?” She shook her head. “Until your system returns to normal, I want us to be safe. Pull-ups are not nearly as trustworthy. Those diapers will get a ba... someone through a sixteen-hour night of sleep with no problems!” I didn’t love her reasoning, but I nodded. She followed me to the bathroom. Once I pulled off the pants I was wearing, she pulled the diaper off for me, examined it to find it was still clean and dry, and then balled it up while I climbed the steps onto the potty seat. It was designed for toddlers’ potty training so they would not feel like they would fall in, but I was small enough that I still didn’t feel that confident I wouldn’t! She had left the room momentarily before returning as I washed my hands. “Here,” she said, lifting me onto the counter. I didn’t realize how long the counter was or how short I was because she could use it as an impromptu changing table to put a new diaper on me. She handed me one of the few shirts we decided would work for sleeping in. I pulled it over my head and brushed my teeth. “Ready for bed?” She asked me as I left the room and headed to my borrowed room. “Yes…” I said. I turned to her once I was in bed, and she was at the light switch by the door. “Umm… Erica?” “Yes?” “Thanks,” I told her. “Today was one of the worst days of my life, but I really appreciated your help.” “You’re very welcome, Katie. I’m looking forward to getting to know you!” “Good night,” I told her. “Good night,” she said and turned the light off, closing the door behind her. I burrowed into the sheets and blankets, noticing how weird the diaper felt. It took me a moment to get comfortable with my grip around Honey, but I was soon deep in slumber. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the 'Like' button and comment! I will be traveling for the holidays this weekend, so I will likely not be around for a week or so starting Sunday. I'm considering a Christmas gift of two chapters this week, Wednesday and Friday, but I confess I'm greedy. 25 likes on this chapter...? Otherwise, I'll post on Friday! 😈 Thanks again everyone who comments, it makes my day to see them! 💜

Chapter 23: THE NEXT MORNING came, and after I recognized I had returned to Erica’s home, I sighed, hugged Honey, and began evaluating my surroundings. It was clearly daylight from the light around the window curtains. I looked down and saw I was dressed in a light purple footed pajama set with a series of pink and white hearts. That made me realize Erica must have just about emptied out the Valentine’s Day outfits from the stores this week! I didn’t mind cutesy Valentine’s Day outfits as a little girl. Still, I had avoided them as an adult… especially as the holiday just became another singles appreciation day each year! I noticed my diaper was soaked, but I wasn’t surprised, given that I had nursed from Erica as I went to sleep. I let the pacifier in my mouth fall to hang from a clip she had attached to my clothes and stood up to stretch. Right then, on cue, Erica entered the room. “Morning, Sweetie!” she said with a smile. “How do you know I’m up?” I asked curiously. “Baby monitor,” she told me frankly, nodding towards a cabinet where I looked for a camera but only saw a teddy bear. I didn’t respond as I looked closely at it, even as she picked me up and laid me on the changing table. “Let’s just leave your PJs on until after breakfast,” she told me as she pulled them back on after the necessary diaper change. I sleepily complied and leaned against her shoulder as she carried me downstairs. I was settled in my highchair with a bib before she spoon-fed me an alternating meal of oatmeal and scrambled eggs. I was slowly waking up, and I couldn’t help but feel jealous of her coffee on the table. “Could I please have some coffee?” I asked her. She looked a bit surprised at the request. “I don’t think you’ll like it,” she replied. “Why not?” I asked. “Describe coffee back home for you?” she asked. I shrugged, “Bitter? I always add cream and sugar to it to make it better. I miss the caffeine?” She smiled, “Tell you what, I’ll give you a chance to try it; it’s only fair… but I want to warn you you’ll probably hate it?” She shook her head, “I’m surprised you hadn’t asked before, though.” She poured a small amount into her tiniest teacup a few minutes later. It reminded me of a gigantic soup bowl I had back home at one point, but I could manage it, I hoped! I added some cream and sugar she had, making it look the right color, then took a sip. “Yuck!” I said aloud, even as I spit the sip back in the cup and began coughing! “That’s horrible!!!!” She giggled, “Sorry, Katie, I did warn you?” “I even added extra sugar! That’s like… I don’t even know…? You drink that?” “I warned you early on that our taste palates are different?” I shrugged, “I wonder if there’s any way to get some from home…?” She giggled again and kissed my head, “I know our icky coffee doesn’t taste good, but let’s get you some nummies that do taste extra good to your tummy!” I blushed but complied as she gathered me out of the high chair and carried me to the recliner in the living room. She must have decided skin-to-skin was too much trouble right then, as she didn’t pull me out of my sleeper. Her top was a cute purple tunic draped nicely over her body. As she sat me down on her lap, I watched her separate the top into two separate layers, pulling up the top layer to reveal her breast exposed below. ‘That’s a clever design,’ I thought as I watched her move a little flap of fabric out of the way, put my face to her breast, and then let the fabric drape over me. It was a bit claustrophobic at first, but after I got into my suckling rhythm, the world mostly tuned out anyway! I was full from breakfast, but the taste was so addictive I kept sucking regardless of how full I felt! After a while, she switched me to the other breast, and then I heard her phone ring. She shifted just slightly and said, “Hello?” I couldn’t hear the other person because her phone connected directly to her through the contacts she wore. She’d explained the neural transducer implanted to transmit the audio to her brain. Still, nothing of it seemed like something I wanted! “Oh, hi, Ivy, how are you doing?” “Oh?” She patted me on my back, “Well, you saw the rules we agreed to with each other?” “Yeah, so far, so good, I think?” I kept sucking milk and swallowing, even as I tried to focus on her words. “Shopping trip?” I heard her say. “Sure, that sounds like fun!” she patted my diaper lightly as I continued to nurse. We’ll see you there in three hours—hopefully, we can get some other cute outfits for my Katie here! We’ve got another stop before then, and we’ll meet you in front of Littletude.” I was not getting much milk anymore, but my body was on autopilot with nursing. I continued that for several minutes before Erica broke the latch, burped me, and said, “Are you good with a shopping trip with Ivy and Holly?” I nodded, “Sure.” She sighed heavily, “They don’t trust me, so I’m sure they want to check on you. That said, I don’t blame them and appreciate them looking out for you.” I sat quietly in her lap for a moment while she used some baby wipes to clean her breasts of drips of milk and my slobber before she carried me upstairs. “Are you okay for real with a haircut?” she asked me. I froze. “Depending?” “Well, Katie, you have hair down almost halfway down your back… it’s a lot to take care of?” I shrugged, “It’s never bothered me?” She nodded, “I’m sure it hasn’t, but it kind of worries me?” “How?” “Well… hair that long is easy to get things stuck into if you’re around any other regressed Littles.” “Like…?” “Gum, paint, who knows?” “Huh?” “Just trust me, I’ve seen it all, I think!” I felt queasy, “How short do you want me to go?” “Just to a bob above your shoulders?” She smiled, “It’ll be easier to take care of, and I can still put your hair up in pigtails?” I shuddered at losing my hair but nodded, “I guess that’s fine.” “I’d like to do one other thing?” she asked. I steeled myself for something worse, “Yes?” “Can I have them dye your hair just a little lighter to match mine better?” I’d never considered that we both had brown hair, but mine was darker than hers by a couple of shades from the dye used back home. “It’s bottle-colored anyway,” I told Erica with a shrug. “Huh?” she asked. “Dyed from a bottle? I have some gray hairs that I don’t like seeing?” I noted she looked closer at my hair, “I can see the roots actually… I’ve heard about using dyes.” “Wait, don’t you mean a dye?” “Sort of… it’s using nanites, though?” “Just do it,” I told her, closing my eyes. The milk was beginning to make me sleepy. A short while later, I discovered I’d slept through a wet diaper change and had been dressed in leggings and a dress that didn’t feature a onesie built-in for once. I woke up as she was checking me in at a stylist. “Hi, I’ve got an appointment for Katie here?” Erica was telling the woman. “Oh, what a cutie!” the woman cooed. “Let me get Tawny; she’ll be your stylist today.” I looked around, and Erica patted me on the diaper a bit. “Woke up finally?” “Sorry, your milk makes me sleepy most of the time,” I told her, realizing I had a pacifier in my mouth. “An extra nap isn’t a bad thing,” she told me with a squeeze and a kiss on my forehead. I debated spitting the pacifier out, but it was comforting, so I just kept nursing it occasionally. “Katie?” A friendly-looking woman in her late forties asked. “Right here,” Erica said, carrying me after her. I was placed in a chair resembling a princess’s throne. Soon, I looked passively at my reflection in the mirror, my pacifier bobbing up and down in my mouth nervously. “So, Mommy, what are we doing today?” I wanted to argue that Erica wasn’t my mommy, but that seemed pointless, so I just kept nursing on the pacifier. “I want you to cut her hair shorter up to here?” Erica held her hand at the level we’d agreed to. Also, can you give her a treatment to match my hair?” “Of course, that’s simple. Do you want me to curl the hair under for the bob?” “Just a light curl, don’t go crazy. I’m not a big fan of over-the-top curls on babies.” She laughed, “Neither am I.” The woman finally addressed me, “Now, I know this is going to make you have some big feelings to have this much hair come off, so feel free to keep your eyes closed, Sweetie. I promise you’ll be even more beautiful when we’re done because that hairstyle doesn’t really suit your face as it is.” I blushed but followed her advice to shut my eyes tightly as I saw the scissors come into view. She began to snip at my hair and chop it shorter than I’d had since I was seven or eight! I felt tears in my eyes and sucked on the pacifier for all I could throughout the experience. Just when I thought Tawny was finally done, she sprayed my hair with something again and said, “Just sit still, baby, almost done! You’ve done sooo good you’ve earned a treat afterward!” The woman said to me. Five minutes later, I was told to open my eyes. If the image in the mirrors had been that of an older toddler before, I had slipped below two now with my hair so short. The color now perfectly matched Erica’s, which made her smile as she talked about it on the way out to the car with a sucker in my mouth that the stylist had given me. As she buckled me into my seat, I pulled the sucker out by the white stick and asked, “How long does the dye last?” She smiled, “It’s an amazing product; unless we want to change hair colors, it doesn’t ever fade?” “Never?” I asked. “Never,” she told me. “Unless we change our mind on hair colors. That might be fun to be blondes or redheads at some point,” she said as she squeezed my diaper. “We’ll change you when we get to the mall. I think you’ll be fine until then,” she added. I only then noticed my diaper was squishy and soaked. With a sigh, I sat patiently as we were driven by the car to the local mall I’d been to with her. I was strapped into my stroller again, with the safety harness entirely preventing me from doing anything more than moving just a tiny amount in the seat. Fortunately, it was soft, but my diaper was cooling and clammy when she made it to the restroom and changed me. “Feel better?” She asked me. I nodded, even as I felt like my stomach was kind of gassy and overfull. ‘I haven’t had a bowel movement today,’ I thought to myself and groaned at the high likelihood that it would happen in this public space! “Let’s go find Ivy and Holly!” she said with a smile, buckling me back into the cushy stroller. As she pushed me through the mall, I felt like a bystander, and I looked at other people coming and going. The large teenagers hitting the sales, hanging out with their friends, shopping, and having a good time seemed normal. Frequent mothers with children or Littles would be moving about. I noted some of the Littles did seem happy, while many others scowled or struggled in their strollers or carriers. One Little was being pulled by a backpack leash as they sat on the floor in protest. Their ‘mother’ just kept walking as they slid on their diaper backward, wailing the whole time… Those scenes were horrible! Eventually, we made our way to a bench in front of Littletude, which I could see from my low position was essentially a version of tweeny children’s store with bright pink and purple outfits, glittery embellishments, and seemingly a bit ‘cool’ of designs that kids might want to wear into their early teens. I noted, though, that they were definitely designed for Littles, with the mannequins displaying diaper bulges visible even from where I sat dozens of feet away. As I sat there, I noted that you didn’t see many Little families out shopping. It was conspicuous to me, as I knew they had to be out there living freely still. The only free Littles I saw were maybe some college kids darting around, but even then, most of them seemed to have found a Big to be their bodyguard. ‘Babysitter more likely,’ I thought. Erica sat on the bench and began annoyingly pushing the stroller back and forth as if she needed to calm a fussy baby. I was just about to say to stop when I heard, “Hi, Ivy,” from her. The stroller suddenly turned, and I was face to face with another stroller containing Holly inside. I felt my face flush but realized she was dressed as juvenilely as I was. ‘I wonder how that works if patients see her outside the hospital?’ I wondered. “Hi, ladies,” Ivy said to us. “How are you doing today?” She asked, bending down in front of my stroller. The sudden invasion of her face was a bit off-putting, but I just shrugged and said, “We’re doing okay.” “She’s holding to her end of the bargain?” she asked me. I nodded, “Yes, as am I?” She smiled, “Good!” “Any particular place you wanted to shop?” Erica asked Ivy when she stood up. “Let’s look in Littletude first. I sometimes find some really cute and adorable sparkly outfits for the princess here. She doesn’t wear them much since she has to be a big adult at work, but I get to have fun on weekends!” Holly blushed, “Too much fun,” she said to me. The ‘mothers’ pushed us into the store and surprised me by releasing both of us to walk on our own. Holly and I talked quietly about how things were going down on our level, even as the ‘moms’ talked and ran hands through clothing racks. Most of the clothing was apparently ‘too mature’ for their liking, so I only had a couple of outfits to try on. Erica bought one romper for me that she said might work for at work. It was black, with tiny embroidered sparkly hearts and stars that did not seem appropriate, but I just shrugged it off. Holly gained a few dresses that weren’t horrible except for the bright pink and purple colors that said ‘still just a little girl’ in most people’s eyes. Erica seemed to lose all shopping self-control in a store I’d heard mentioned with my dress the previous night, Kelly and Killian’s. It reminded me of an upscale children’s boutique chain back home specializing in luxury children’s clothes. I ended up with a dozen dresses from there by the time we left, all quite fussy with organza overlays, tulle skirts, or more frills and bows than had any business being on one outfit! Holly looked sympathetic there, fortunately only ending up with one dress that Ivy just couldn’t put down. “I’ve always dreamed of having a little girl to shop for in that store,” Erica told Ivy. Ivy laughed, “I understand; I only picked up that one dress today, but Holly probably has a hundred like them back home. Since she never outgrows her baby clothes, keeping track of her outfits is challenging!” I saw Holly sigh beside me, our strollers again clacking along the floor together. We made a little bit of chat here and there before hearing, “Doctor Nickerson?” I noted the voice sounded vaguely familiar and sat still as the stroller turned to reveal a mom holding the hands of a girl Holly had cared for a few days prior. The fact that she could have a heart condition treated and be walking about the mall so quickly in a couple of days was incredible to me! I noted the tall woman had a double stroller she was pushing that only had one occupant in the front right then, a Little girl dressed in only a onesie, sucking on a pacifier, and watching a screen. She seemed oblivious to the world. “How are you doing?” Holly asked from her stroller. “Great!!!” the girl’s mom said. “Jemma could never have walked this much of the mall last week!!!” The girl smiled and hid behind her mom, clearly still shy. “That’s fantastic,” Holly said. “Hopefully, we don’t need to see her for anything else in the hospital again.” “I hope not. Oh, is this your friend that was with you too?” She said, moving the stroller closer to me as she closed the gap. “Yes,” I heard, “this is Doctor Benson, she’s an exchange doctor…” I heard, even as the tablet the Little was watching came into my view. I giggled, “Doc!!!!!” I smiled, “It’s Doc, Mommy!” I said, pointing to the colorful screen displaying my favorite show! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and Leave a Comment!!! Next week, my work will take me out of town, so I won't be able to post on Friday. I'm intending to post Tuesday and then Sunday. I might be coerced into giving you a bonus chapter this Sunday to make up for the extra time between Tuesday and Sunday, but it'll take 35 likes this time to bribe me! 😎 PS Rings told me I have been far too stingy on providing cliffhangers for a while! 😈

This is being posted several hours earlier than normal due to limited privacy where I'm staying with family. Chapter 120: Tuck I WATCHED AS the woman began standing up and fighting with the police officer. “Down on the ground now!” He commanded, even as she somehow managed to grapple with his taser-like weapon and pulled it out of his holster. “Shit!” I heard Nikki say, and she stood up suddenly. The weapon was forced downward toward the ground by the officer trying to prevent it from pointing at someone, but she somehow discharged it. I watched a crazy blue pulse fire into the ground! I was looking at my seat to see if there was an easy way out, even as Nikki exploded towards the crazy woman and wrapped her arms around her from the back. I watched her sweep the woman’s legs and land on the ground on top of the woman while grappling her arms back behind her. Grandma had stood too and was sitting on her legs a second later to hold her down. “Let me up!!!” The woman screamed, “I have rights!!!!!” “Thanks,” the officer said to the bystanders who helped him. You do indeed have rights, Ma’am. You have the right to remain silent…” He had whoever he was with go to his car, and soon, the woman was cuffed with plastic-looking cuffs. “Where’s my baby?!?” The woman was crying out a few minutes later when they realized the abused Little was nowhere in sight. Ava smirked as she delivered the check to Megan, who somehow used the distraction to pick up the check, to Grandma’s clear annoyance. “I would have gotten that Megan!” “Face it, sis; I can get it every now and then, too!” She’d stuck her tongue out at Grandma, and I just shook my head at their antics even as I wondered at the look Ava gave me. ‘Would she have helped the poor boy?’ I wondered. After that, it took us an extra half-hour to leave the restaurant as officers needed to take statements from Nikki and Grandma. “Carly, do you need a change?” Aunt Megan asked. “I’m sure Meggy and Bella do?” “Umm… yeah?” “Grab your bag and come with me; I’ll change you while they finish?” “Actually, I need to go before we leave,” Beth said. “I might as well come too?” Shelby said. “Not staying here,” Leelah said. It was, fortunately, a relatively large bathroom, but oddly, for this dimension, it only contained one changing table. Aunt Megan started with Meggy, who was a bit poopy too, before going to Bella, and then finally saying, “Come here, Carly.” I squirmed a bit inside but walked towards my Aunt, who had no qualms with picking me up, placing me down on the changing table, and quickly exposing my soaked diaper. “You probably should have had a change before this; you almost leaked here, kiddo,” she told me. “I think we caught it in time, but ask to get changed before that happens next time!” She shook her head, “Meggy always does the same thing. Where do you keep your diapees?” I blushed but pointed to the compartment with diapers. Aunt Megan used some of her wipes to clean my reddening body before taping me in a fresh diaper. “There you go, all dry! Let’s wash your hands now,” she said, picking me up and leaning me over the sink. As we returned to the main area of the restaurant as a group, I saw two officers dragging the horrible woman away, even as the original officer was speaking with Nikki. “It was nice meeting you,” the officer said. “Call me if you have time and want to do something.” “Will do, Sergeant,” Nikki said with a smile that made me think some personal information had been traded! “If anyone sees anything of that missing Little, please get in touch with our office. We need to make sure the Little guy is safe!” he said towards Ava and a woman I assumed was the manager. “We will, sir,” the manager said. “Ready to get out of here?” Grandma asked us. “Please!” I said. As Nikki was placing me in the car seat, I caught sight of an oddly dressed figure moving down the fire escape of a nearby building. ‘Well played,’ I thought to myself. ‘Hope you make it somewhere safe!’ BETH LOOKED BESIDE her at Carly and noticed she was looking off into the distance at something as Nikki climbed into the driver’s seat. When they were on their way, Carly asked, “So what happens to that guy if he manages to get clear?” Nikki answered, “If he can somehow get out of Ames and go to New Haven, he might be able to stay free. It will be tough for him to stay off the radar here, though. LPS will probably drag their heels with things initially, but they get pretty efficient at looking into a Little’s former life and old contacts. If they find him, for instance, back home, they’ll be ‘obligated’ to take the unaccompanied minor back into custody.” “Seriously?” Carly asked. “What do you do when a child runs away?” She asked. “I’m not saying it’s right, but remember that the second you are adopted, you’re no longer an adult. About fifty percent of adoptive parents even have you declared dead essentially, so that you can’t even use your old Tax ID numbers.” “I didn’t know that,” Beth found herself saying. “With as many reforms as people like your father have helped bring about, it’s better, but adoption is still adoption in the eyes of most of the states. I mean, that stupid Fugitive Little Act is even still on the books!” “What’s that?” Carly asked. “Basically, it’s a law that enables ‘parents’ to go and recover their runaway ‘children’ from other states.” Beth said, “My dad has tried to gut the law as much as possible, but we need a constitutional amendment to remove it. That takes two-thirds of Congress voting in favor of it, then another three-quarters of the states. Ten years ago, they successfully voted it through in Congress, but fifteen states still refuse to sign off on it.” “Sounds like what we had to deal with to get slavery taken out of our constitution back home,” Carly said. “Yeah, it’s unfortunately just about impossible.” “We had to have a civil war for it to happen back home,” Carly said. “That’s terrifying?” Beth replied. “Thankfully, that was a long time ago for us.” “I guess the moral of the story is don’t get adopted, Carly!” Nikki said from the front. Carly was quiet for the rest of the drive to the mall. “So what are we looking for?” Leelah asked as they grouped up at the entrance. “Anything we see,” Megan said to her daughter. “Especially anything that might be a bit of a treat for Carly here!” “We should get her ears pierced, Grandma,” Shelby said. Beth couldn’t help but think that was way overdue, but for some reason, they never made it there the last week. ‘Never mind, there was a reason… I’m not sure I want to be here right now,’ she thought. ‘If we run into that stupid gang again, I will never go shopping here again. “We should do that,” Beth agreed. “We also need to find some summery clothes for her.” “Why?” Carly asked. “Spring Break!” “What is this mysterious trip you and Grandma are keeping from me?” Carly bugged her. “It’s a surprise!” Beth said. “Beth…” Carly whined. Beth smiled, debating about how long to torture her. The sad puppy-dog-like eyes she was suddenly confronted with finally overpowered her willpower to maintain the secret. “Oh, alright… You’re coming with my family on a trip to a tropical island.” She looked at her, “Assuming you want to do that?” “It’s safe?” I asked. “As safe as anywhere. Shelby, you’re invited too? I’m also planning on Livy and Reila coming?” “I get to go?” Shelby asked in shock. “Happy graduation,” Beth told her. “Really?” “Really, Shelby, it’s my graduation present to you,” Beth said. “I can go, Mom?” Shelby asked. “As long as you promise to listen to them, yes. I’ve been assured you’ll be safe.” “So I guess it’s time to find some bikinis?” Shelby said with a smile. “Somehow, I doubt they make them in your size,” Leelah kidded her slightly. “I’m jealous, it sounds like fun.” “It will be for them, Leelah, but remember you’re only thirteen. I am not about to let you go on a trip like that quite yet!” Megan told her. She sighed, “I know, Mom.” “Well, shall we just go store to store then?” Meggy suggested. “Might as well! Make sure you all let us know when you need diaper changes! Carly was about to leak through at the restaurant.” Beth saw Carly blush and felt terrible for her. ‘Nothing worse than having your potty habits announced, I’m guessing!’ So they began their troll through the shops, stopping at almost every store unless it was a men’s store. Beth and Leelah found some cute tops in a store for ‘Tweens and Tweeners.’ She had admitted to Leelah that a good chunk of her casual wardrobe came from the chain! For the shorter members of their group, they looked in baby stores and the kids’ sections. The mall had six dedicated Little stores besides the Free Spirit store they had found the previous week and Littlecise. Littletude was a super pink but not too babyish of a store. The apparel was something you probably wouldn’t want to be seen in past second grade, but it really didn’t seem all that bad for a Little clothes store. Carly found several pairs of shorts, cute t-shirts, and tank tops that would work well on their trip. ‘I haven’t told her why it’ll be so safe… I’m going to try and save that for when we get there, though!’ she thought to herself. They were coming to one of the stores for ‘those’ kinds of mothers when she spotted a jewelry shop. “Let’s see if we can find some earrings here for Carly?” She suggested. Carly seemed less sure than the rest of the crew, but their numbers meant no issues with dragging her inside. For such a tough Little, in most ways, Carly was really squeamish as they discussed the piercing. “She should get these!” Leelah said, pointing to a pair of pink sapphire studs while the rest of the party was a little further down the way. “Those are probably a little…” “Perfect,” is what Beth said, seeing them. “We’ll take them. Can you pierce her ears for us?” The saleswoman gave her a look of ‘should I even take you seriously?’ “Run my payment,” she told her. “These are real…” “I would hope so for the price?” Beth said. “I’m good for it.” The lady ran her payment and seemed a little surprised. “Is there anything else I can get for you?” “Just her ears,” Beth said, going and grabbing Carly. “I’ve got the perfect ones for you!” She told her. “I’m not…” “Yes, you are,” Beth said with a smile. “We do need an adult to consent here?” the woman said. “I can do that,” Carly said with a sigh. “No offense, but you look younger than my toddler.” “I’m not, though,” Carly said. Only Amanda’s look seemed to confirm that to her, and soon Beth was holding Carly’s hands out the door. She was now displaying two very pretty pink sapphire studs in her ears! “Why pink?” Carly asked. “It looks good with your hair and eyes,” she told her. “Thanks for the earrings,” she said. “You’re very welcome!” she said, hugging her. The group continued on their shopping quest. IT SEEMED THAT I was having an exceptionally crazy day, which had almost become my new normal since arriving in the dimension! The news that Shelby and I were tagging along to visit a tropical island for Spring Break was exciting to me! We had taken trips like that back home, and I loved being able to swim in the warm water. ‘What would sea life be like there?’ I got excited as I realized, ‘They might have dolphins?’ I assumed it was probably like Grand Cayman, Jamaica, or the Bahamas, where we’d have an all-inclusive resort setup. I’d have to ask Beth more about it before we left! In the meantime, I did everything I could not to touch my earrings. Back home, it would take weeks to heal enough to switch earrings, but I’d been assured by the jewelry store piercer that I could switch earrings by Monday if I wanted to! That opened up a whole line of shopping as we visited a store dedicated to selling tween and teen girls, especially different earrings, bracelets, hair accessories, and more! Grandma was carrying several bags, and so was I as we neared lunchtime. “How about we take a break and eat lunch in the food court?” Aunt Megan suggested. “Sounds good; my feet are killing me, Mom,” Leelah said. “Are you telling me your old aunt can outshop you?” Grandma kidded her. I noticed Leelah blushed then, but, “No… I’m just ready to sit for a few minutes?” “Sure, you are,” Grandma continued kidding her. Our group moved towards the food court, and Beth and I settled on sharing a plate of sweet and sour chicken. I sat on a booster seat beside her, letting me reach the food between us reasonably successfully. The food was good, and we continued to talk through most of the meal with everyone. I really enjoyed getting to know Leelah a bit more while we were at it! She reminded me a lot of Lilah and Hannah, and I wish all of the cousins could somehow get together without risking adoption! We’d been sitting there for a while. Beth and I had been done for a good ten minutes when Aunt Megan gathered Meggy in her arms and pulled out a blanket from her diaper bag. ‘What’s going on…?’ I thought momentarily before realizing with a blush that she was nursing Meggy right here in the food court! I was just wondering how long it would take when I noticed Aunt Bella tug on Grandma’s sleeve. “Please, Mommy?” I heard her ask quietly. A moment later, another set of breasts was being nursed, and I had to wonder about how Shelby felt about it. She was still nonchalantly talking to Leelah and Beth, so I guessed it was just ‘life’ to her. I was getting ready to ask Nikki about something during her training with my mom when I saw her almost jump from the seat. “Damnit!” she hissed quietly. A look at her top showed me two wet spots on her chest. ‘Oh,’ I thought. “Beth, I need to change my top and bra; at least I have a spare in my bag.” “Okay, do you want to leave us here?” Beth asked. “You can come with me if you want?” Nikki told her. “I actually need to use the restroom myself, and if I had to guess, this one probably needs to be changed?” Beth said, pulling me into her lap. I blushed but nodded. “I could use the restroom, too,” Leelah said, “Can I come with you guys?” “I might as well, too?” Shelby added. “It’s a party,” Nikki said. “Are you ladies good here?” “Yeah, we’ll finish up with our little ones, then catch up if you haven’t returned here,” Grandma said. “Okay,” Nikki said, “Come on girls…” We followed her to the restroom and discovered it was a pretty clean restroom but only had three stalls. “You all go ahead first,” Beth said, “I’ll change Carly and then swap out?” “Make sure you all stay in here,” Nikki said. Beth picked me up and situated me on one of the four changing tables. It was a bit more of a height to get to, so I said, “I have my step stool in my bag if you need it?” Since I hadn’t been using it to get to the potty, I didn’t have much need for it recently! “I think I’ll take you up on that,” she sighed. She’d seen me use it before, so Beth knew how to unfold it, “It’ll take my weight?” “It held four hundred pounds back home when we tested it?” She nodded, standing on it, and found herself the extra height she needed to reach me. “Can’t even pull down your jeans, huh?” she kidded me. I blushed as she pulled them down for me and exposed my diaper. She gently pushed my sweater further away as I heard the door open. I hated being exposed and openly naked in the room, but at least it looked like it was just a couple of shorter Tweener girls that had come in. I ignored them and lifted my butt off the wet diaper, even as Beth slid a fresh one in. Moments later, Beth pulled my pants back up, and I noticed something seemed wrong in the room. The Tweeners were standing by the stall doors, and it looked like some cable was blocking the handles from opening. I carefully let Beth help me down from the table and regarded them as warily as if they were a pair of rattlesnakes. Just then, the outside door opened again, and we watched a boy about our age who would just about qualify as a short Amazon and another boy walk in and shut the door. “They’re locked in?” The boy said. “Yes, Tuck,” she told him. “Good! Well, who would have thought we’d get lucky enough to have you two return to our turf so soon!” “You are?” I asked, moving in front of Beth. “Pissed off! My girl, Harley, got busted by the cops and sent to an etiquette center. All thanks to you, Bitch! When I tried to see her yesterday from the outside, she was in a diaper and sucking on some nanny’s titties like a fucking mind-fucked Little! “I don’t know who you’re talking about?” I tried to stall. I could hear Nikki trying to push the door open gently, but they’d been pretty effective with their cable through the door handles trick from what I could see. “Yes, you do, Bitch! She had that cool dragon tat? You broke her fucking ankles before they finished her off!” “In my defense, she robbed a friend and tried doing the same to us first?” He laughed. “Well, all we have to worry about right now is what I will do and more to you and your friend. Grab them!” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you for reading! Please leave me a 'Like' and leave a comment! This is a big part of this arc of storyline, and I do feel guilty about having to leave you hanging next Friday. I'm going to be in a remote area and not a lot of privacy. I might have a chance to post the next chapter earlier than normal next week. If I see 40 likes (Excessive, I know, but you gotta make it extra worth my while! 😈), I'll try and make that happen late Tuesday or Wednesday morning when I plan to go back to civilization for a couple hours. Otherwise you'll probably have to wait until the next Monday! Your fate is in your hands? Thanks for continuing to read! Remember my completed works are available on Amazon Kindle! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

Chapter 62: Decisions “FEDERAL AGENTS!!! HOLD up your hands!!!!!!” I heard a voice order even as Aubry maniacally laughed and pushed down on the plunger of the needle. The resulting cold, pain, and fear made me scream!!!! “Back away from that man!!!!” A man in black shouted at her and ripped her away. As she was pulled away the needle moved and I screamed at the unbelievable pain increasing! “Oh shit!!! Get the medics in here!” Another man shouted. “Pull the goddamn thing out!!!!” I screamed! One of the men did just that while looking down at me sadly. I could feel the nanites trying to do something, but after seeing the shocked look on his face, I succumbed to the pain and passed out. “WE’RE INBOUND WITH a trauma patient!” I heard a voice say. “Significant mutilation and damage to the genital area. Mid, estimated 140 pounds, twenty-eight years old…” I blacked out again. “GET HER… HIM?” I heard confusion while addressing me. ‘I’m a girl now?’ I wondered at their reaction. I passed out again. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, was the next thing I identified. I struggled to open my eyes but was relieved that the pain was gone. I saw a white hospital room around me. “He’s awake!!!” Kendra said. I found her in the room, “What…?” “Cameron, let David get your doctor…” I tried sitting up but found a strap across my chest holding me down. “Just tell me, Kendra, I’m completely destroyed down there, aren’t I?” She had this habit of moving her jaw back and forth in poker games we had played before. I always took it as a sign she was bluffing and to bet big on the pot. It had never served me wrong as a ‘tell’ with her, and I knew I was screwed. “Don’t try and move yet, they want to keep you still for now,” she told me, not answering. “Water?” I asked. “Wait for the doctor…” she told me I rested my head back on the pillow and probably would have just closed my eyes but a higher voice said, “Sorry, I was in my office.” I looked over and saw Doctor Nickerson… the Little Doctor Nickerson. “Hi Doc,” I said to her. “Hi yourself,” she said. “I wanted to see you get your freedom back, but this wasn’t exactly the excitement I wanted you to have to go through, so…” “Trust me, this excitement isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Kendra isn’t telling me anything, give it to me straight Doc!” I told her. “Fair enough,” she said, finding a step stool to climb to a more even height with me on the bed. “You currently have a contest running to see if you have more nanites in you, or living blood cells… We’re not quite sure what to do about that part yet.” “I’m a cyborg now?” She looked at me and laughed, “I guess you sort of are…” “Doctor Westerfield… have you called her in by chance?” “Mrs. Stein called her in, she should be here soon.” She told me. “Okay, so you opened with that… I assume that’s the good news…?” She shook her head, “No, the real good news is you didn’t lose any height from this botched procedure. You have lost a lot of bone and body mass though, and your face and arms have a definite feminine look to them now. It seems like you’ve also lost about thirty-four pounds since you were in here a few weeks ago.” “As if I didn’t have problems before…” I groaned. “If it makes you feel any better, I understand where you’re coming from?” “How?” “I was a male doctor in the other dimension. I woke up changed on this side.” “Shit, that sucks,” I said. “I still can’t believe your mommy lets you practice medicine…” “It wasn’t an easy sell,” she told me. “Okay, so quit dancing around. What did the bitch do damage-wise last?” “Cameron, careful on the language…” Kendra warned. “Am I still adopted?” She shook her head, “No, actually we were coming to spring you with an order from Judge O’Connor ordering your release, when we saw three SUVs taking off out of the driveway from Miss Harris’ house. Luckily we thought we caught just a glimpse of someone passed out in the back of one of the SUVs, or we might not have figured out what was going on.” “So close…” I sighed. “Okay, I’ll make sure that I avoid ending up back in babyhood. What’s the damage, Doc?” She sighed, “I’m still not entirely sure, Cameron. The nanite dose there seems to have been enough to change eight-hundred or more patients! It definitely began the process of changing your penis into a vagina. Your body though was somehow fighting them and the other nanites off, so it didn’t complete it. The biggest damage seems to have been caused by the needle being shifted when they pulled Aubry Harris off of you… It appears it destroyed both of your testicles.” I felt my face blanch at that statement, “So… Umm... do I still have a penis?” “At the moment in my old dimension, I would consider you intersexed… You still have part of the shaft sticking out, but your urethra shifted, and there was an attempt by the nanites to form ovaries, but they were stopped somehow…” “Kendra, is this room clear?” I asked. “As much as we can make it,” she told me. “Doc, I guess I need to fill you in… maybe you can figure this out then…” I had just finished explaining what I knew of Stacy’s tweaks to keep me safe with the nanites to her, when Amanda walked in. “Oh my God, Cameron, are you okay?!?!” She asked me. I shook my head, “I’m alive, but I’m pretty messed up. Doc, please tell her what you know… I have a feeling I’m going to need your help Amanda…” FOUR HOURS PASSED of scanning, prodding, and seeing for myself the mess that was my genitals – which caused me to vomit and cry for a half-hour. Right then I also learned I was at least bladder incontinent at that moment... Those hours disappeared quickly though, and the shock of the trauma fully hit me. Finally, they stopped the testing as Amanda and Doc disappeared to go discuss my case with several other specialists, leaving me with Kendra, and now David, in my room. “So, what happened?” I asked. “Cameron, maybe you just need to wait and worry about your health right now…” Kendra tried to say. “Tell me, I need to know!” She sighed, “Judge O’Connor was planning on holding onto his decision another couple of days, but the news that there was a verified connection from Aubry Harris to Judge Taney’s shrinking – not sure if you knew about that – caused him to issue the order for your release. Unfortunately, another judge had just released Aubry Harris two hours before that on a twenty-five-million-dollar bail bond…” “I got the idea she was out…” I said sarcastically. “Yeah… Well, we managed to follow the vehicles most of the way to where they took you before one of their security cars noticed us and pushed us off their trail. That’s why it took so long to find you and get a warrant to get you out of there…” “What about Addy? Is she okay?” “Addy and Danica were both rescued…” “WHAT?!?!?!” I screamed, “HAVE THE POLICE ARREST DANI TOO!!!!!” “What?” David asked. “Shhh!!!” Kendra said. Right then a nurse came in, “Do we need a pacifier for this Little girl?” “Out,” Kendra told her. “Sorry about the noise.” “What about Danica?” David asked. “She’s complicit!” “Shit!” David said as he grabbed his phone and dialed. I listened to him explain to an Agent who he had been working with. We all sat still for a half-hour before getting a phone call back that they had found Addy tied up at home, and were bringing her back to the hospital again to get checked out…” Unfortunately, Danica was nowhere to be found! I didn’t have any time to worry about that though since Doc and Amanda were back, along with the Big Doctor Ivy Nickerson. “All three of you are here… that’s not a good sign…” I said worriedly. “Well, it’s not a bad sign either,” Doc told me. “It just means we needed more brain power here. The good thing is you do have all three of us.” “What’s the verdict?” “Well, it’s a toss-up,” Amanda told me. “First you didn’t end up shrunken to a newborn size like the nanites were programmed to do. The nanites that were already inside of you acted as an immune system, pillaging and hacking those nanites each time after they’d only had a small window of time to do damage.” I nodded, “I could kind of feel that…” “The problem is that it wreaked havoc with your genetic code. From the tests we ran, it appears about half of your cells have changed from XY to XX.” “What does that mean?” I asked. “Probably trouble long-term,” Doc said. “I’d be concerned about cancers,” her mommy added. “So, am I just out of luck?” “Maybe not… I think we do have to put you back into one camp or the other. It’s always been harder for the nanites to change girls into boys though, so if you want to go back it’s going to be riskier.” Amanda replied. “Is that even possible?” I asked. Doc nodded, “It might be… The problem is finding an uncompromised source of your old DNA. Doctor Westerfield said that your parents are both deceased?” I nodded, “Yes…” “Any idea where we could get a DNA sample from? I don’t think hair will have enough to be sure the code isn’t compromised…” I sat there thinking for a moment, before remembering and saying, “I gave a semen sample the day I came in here the first time, would that work?” “Where is it stored?” Doctor Ivy Nickerson asked. I filled her in, “It’s cross-listed under Cameron Sylvester and Camille Harris,” I told her. “Let me go call…” “Okay, assuming we can get this DNA sample, it opens up trying to put you back to normal,” Doc told me, “But it’s got risks…” “Like?” “Well, you could end up shrinking?” Amanda said. “Would I be a man again?” She shrugged, “Theoretically?” “Any chance we can ask Stacy about it?” “I did… she didn’t have much more of an idea than what we do.” “What would you choose?” I asked Doc. “Honestly, I’ve been happy as a girl these past ten years. I don’t think it’s as big of a deal to switch teams, but if you’d asked me right away, I would have wanted it fixed…” I grimaced, “If you just made me into a woman?” “We could make you into a pretty normal-looking woman your height, with breasts, functional organs, etc,” Doc said to me. “We also have the advantage of having a solid genetic profile if we use the common Xs on both of the types of cells in your blood. You would probably just end up being a lot closer to your mother's genotype.” “What about these extra nanites?” I asked, trying not to focus on my gender, “Are they a problem?” “I think they’re potentially a big problem, but I don’t want to tackle them until we do this procedure one way or another,” Amanda answered. “Can this be done without shrinking me?” I asked nervously. “What’s so bad about shrinking?” Doc asked me. I sighed, “My mom was a Big, my dad was a foot taller than me, and I just made it past the line of being a Little by inches… I don’t want to go backward…” She sighed, “Yeah, being short in this world sucks…” “Stacy had one suggestion there,” Amanda mentioned. “I don’t know if it’ll work though…” Right then Doctor Ivy Nickerson came in, “Okay, they’re sending over part of the sample by courier… hopefully we can sequence it and reprogram things?” “It’ll take me a couple more hours once you get me the DNA sequence,” Amanda said. “I’d like to help?” Doc told her. “Sure,” she smiled at her. “So, what do I do?” I asked. “Make up your mind, which way do you want to go?” Doc told me. “I just want to be me…” I said with tears forming in my eyes. I received hugs from Amanda and Kendra then, and they all left me for some space when a nurse came to change the wet diaper I was wearing. She was kind, but the cooing definitely indicated that she thought I was a Little, not just an adult with a problem. ‘What the hell should I do…?’ I was trying to figure out. “Knock, knock?” I heard at the door. I looked up and felt my jaw drop in disbelief, “Aunt Ruth?!?!” She came over and gave me a hug, and a kiss on the top of my head, “I couldn’t get out here until today, though I was hoping to be here congratulating you on the good news, not find you in the hospital! What happened to you now?” I watched as she pulled a chair nearer my bed and took the hand that didn’t have an IV going into it into hers. She lightly stroked the back of my hand, “Well… Addy had taken me to the zoo with a couple of college friends of mine – one’s adopted to the other – and we had a pretty good time together. We got back to her house and discovered her mom had sent some of her goons to kidnap us…” I did my best to tell her what had happened but completely lost it when I told her about what Aubry had done to me at the end. “That woman!!!” she seethed. She had that angry Judge Jones look on her face, and I figured it was a good thing that Aubry Harris was sitting safely in a jail cell somewhere. “What about this Addy? She’s the one who had adopted you? Who is she?” She and I talked for a long while as I grew more tired, but it was like having a mother show up to care for you. I had missed her so much! “I just don’t even know what to do!” I told her. “The nanites may be able to fix me… but they may shrink me even if they work.” “Could you have kids then still?” She asked me. I shrugged, “They were going to look at the DNA samples from that specimen and figure out an answer.” “So, if you can’t have kids as a man, I know most of the nanite procedures can let you do so as a woman?” I squirmed, “A baby inside of me…?” She laughed, “There are many downsides, but it’s also one of the most amazing things of all time too.” “I’ve never wanted to be a girl though!” “Then why the long hair?” “It started because Addy liked it that way?” “When she broke up with you, why didn’t you just shave it off…?” I shook my head, “I couldn’t really tell you then… but Beth liked it long too…” “Once she was gone?” I sighed, “At that point, I kept it in the hopes she would come back someday…” She nodded, “So if you choose that way though, what are the downsides?” “I wouldn’t have my legal credentials anymore?” “Simple name and gender change form that can be signed off by any judge.” I smirked, “Including one on the Supreme Court?” She smiled, “Including that one.” “I wouldn’t ever be taken as seriously? I’d be short and just adoptable?” “And you weren’t before?” she asked seriously. I squirmed, “I’m not…” “You certainly are Cameron. I won’t lie and say that part of my instincts didn’t ever want to cuddle you some myself.” “You never showed that?” She shook her head, “Jenny taught me long ago to control that… I needed to for her sake since if she hadn’t had that last growth spurt, she might have ended up adopted too.” I nodded. “What do you think you should do?” I sighed, “I don’t…” Another knock came, “Oh, hi, I didn’t realize Cameron had other visitors,” Megan said as she suddenly appeared carrying Meg. “I guess everyone’s coming…” I thought aloud, a little embarrassed. “Well duh! We’ve been worried, you doofus!” Meg told me as Megan sat her on the bed next to me so she could give me a hug. “Megan, Meg, this is Judge Ruth Jones, or as she insists I call her, my Aunt Ruth.” “The… Supreme Court…?!?” Megan looked shocked. She laughed, “I’m just an ordinary woman just like you.” Megan and Meg provided a needed distraction for a while to avoid my problems. Kendra and David showed up again at one point too, and then suddenly the talk grew serious again about what I should do. I was shaking as I tried to figure out how to salvage things with my life that was in tatters after not only this nanite situation, but also the forced adoption, losing my fiancée, and everything else! Amanda and Doc showed back up and I was left with them to discuss my decision. It wasn’t an easy one… ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and leave me a comment! Cameron is finally free again! Unfortunately not without damage here... You're slowly getting some answers here, if you want more manage to get this above 40 likes tomorrow and I'll post an extra Saturday chapter. Thank you all for your comments and interaction on this story. It makes it more fun, interesting, and worthwhile for me to post because you all reply with your theories. Speaking of which, what do you think is going to happen? ?

Chapter 20: THE EVENING THAT followed after we picked up Holly from the hospital was… jarring. Ivy was perfectly kind and respectful and treated Holly like the adult doctor she was in the hospital. As soon as she was in the car, though? Holly was her baby girl! That night, I fed myself mac and cheese with a miniature fork in one of Holly’s highchairs while Ivy fed Holly every bite in a newer highchair. Ivy had offered me a regular glass to drink the sweet tea she served me, but I’d suggested a sippy cup, which was still a good plan. In the meantime I watched as Holly was served her drink in a baby bottle, like I’d been using. There was no self-consciousness in the actions of the two. I knew they’d been doing the same roles for decades, but it seemed so… loving. As Ivy changed my diaper before bed that night, I smelled milk. I noticed her shirt showed a spot where her nipple was, and I blushed, even as I felt a painful craving. She followed my gaze, “Sorry Katherine, I know that can’t be helping your craving. I’ll put you to bed, and hopefully, you can get past this in a couple of days.” I nodded and felt better after she turned the lights out and left me in bed. I tossed and turned for a long time that night – already having been conditioned so quickly that milk was the best way to sleep! Thursday found me following Holly around on her rounds, and I had to admit I was impressed by how she dealt with handsy Bigs and those who would suddenly try to baby her or me! Her nurses clearly loved her, as they were usually the ones to quickly talk sense into the errant mommies. Throughout our rounds, I was amazed at her ability to understand patients’ issues. They weren’t easy patients either, and throughout the day, I learned that most were referrals to her when the lower-level doctors couldn’t solve the problem. “You’re a real-life Doc McSweetie!” a mother said to her, hugging her after she solved Jemma, her five-year-old daughter’s heart issue, which she had experienced after a viral infection. Thank you!!!” When my once-favorite hypnotic TV show was mentioned, I felt a pulse in my heart that made me cringe, even though I agreed with the mother’s sentiments. When I ate dinner at their house that night, I was exhausted and nearly shaking from my cravings for Erica’s milk. I was almost ready to sneak into the supply I saw Ivy had in the fridge for Holly, but I resisted and went to bed early instead. That night, I just wished I could have what those two had! ‘The babying wouldn’t be so bad if Erica was like Ivy…’ I thought. BY FRIDAY MORNING, as I sat in on two surgeries that Holly completed, I couldn’t help but feel more and more lonely. For lunch, I managed to get my colleague Matthew to come to the hospital dining room to eat with me. He was already in line when Holly led me inside. “Hi, Katherine!” he said with a smile. “How are you doing?” I shrugged, “It’s been a long couple of weeks…?” He nodded, “I bet. Our students have had a bunch of issues, but you haven’t been able to help?” I blushed, “It’s been a long couple of weeks… we definitely need to talk!” “Who’s this?” he asked, noting Holly behind me. “Oh, Doctor Matthew Owens, this is Doctor Holly Nickerson. She’s the head of pediatrics here and overseeing my internship right now.” “Nice to meet you,” Matthew said to her. “I’m a little surprised you’re in that job?” “My size?” She asked. He nodded, “I’m double your height and have trouble being taken seriously?” “It’s not easy,” she told him. “Really long story! Katherine, you good here?” She asked me. I nodded, “I think so?” “Come by my office when you’re done with Doctor Owens,” she paused, “I have some things to take care of real quick.” “You don’t need any help?” I asked. She shook her head and said, “You need this; spend time with someone from back home.” Then she turned and left. After we grabbed lunch, we found a booth, which he helped me climb into, and then we started talking. Matthew told me about the research he had completed so far and how fascinating the divergence of the three races of humans found in this dimension. Littles, in particular, had some weird emergence in the world, and the codependency on Bigs was implausible to him. After listening to him, he asked, “So… how’s it going with you? You’re still staying with Erica?” I blushed but shook my head, “It’s been complicated…” “Complicated?” I debated how much to tell him, but something about the connection to home meant I trusted him. I ended up unloading everything on him. “I don’t know what to do?” I told him, doing everything I could not to suddenly put my thumb in my mouth! He shrugged, “I wish I had answers for you, Katherine. You and I both knew that this trip might be a one-way?” I shook my head, “I never accepted that though…” “Do you think you can stay with Ivy until the end of the semester?” He asked me. I shrugged, “They’d probably be willing, but I don’t know what Emerson will say?” He nodded, “They do seem to be going back on the previous deals…” “What do you mean?” I asked. “You know we closed our portal for many years, right?” he whispered. I nodded. “Our government only reopened relations after they agreed to some reforms. To be frank, they shouldn’t have already adopted out as many of our students as they have…” “What?” “Those were the problems I needed your help with,” he sighed. “Nothing we could do, though; their cases were open and shut in two seconds.” He shook his head, “If it wasn’t for what she did to you, Erica might be one of the safest Bigs you could have from what I’ve seen.” “I know,” I found myself saying. He looked thoughtful for a moment, “Look, Erica, something has changed here, and I’m afraid we were sold a fake bill of goods. Of the fourteen of us who came, I’ll be surprised if six go home… Maybe it’s time to make the best out of a bad situation?” “You figure you’ll be one of the ones to go home,” I breathed, trying to avoid tears leaking from my eyes, “and I won’t?” He nodded, “You’re too short… and cute. You should have seen how some of their professors spoke of you when you weren’t there that day. Especially since you’re essentially homeless right now, you’re very… ‘adoptable’ to them.” I fish-mouthed for a moment, “Thanks, Matthew, for the honest conversation,” I told him. We were done with our lunches, so I asked him, “Would you be willing to walk me to Doctor Nickerson’s office?” “Sure,” he told me. It was a silent walk, and I couldn’t help but note the hungry looks from many hospital staff and patients as we passed. We said our goodbyes as I opened her office door and saw Holly sitting in her modified office chair that had been pulled to a little lounge in her office. What surprised me, though, was Erica seated in another chair, Ivy across from her, and Mindy. I felt like I should have run into Erica’s arms, as a part of me missed her more than I realized! Especially when I realized she was hugging Honey in her lap. ‘I should run after Matthew and see what he can do!’ part of my brain screamed as the fight or flight responses took effect. “Umm… Holly?” I said instead, turning to her. “Sorry for the ambush here, Katherine, but we five need to chat. Would you please have a seat? You can sit next to my mommy if you feel safer?” she suggested. Ivy patted an open seat on the couch beside her, and after a moment’s hesitation, I walked over to her. She gently lifted me beside her and put an arm protectively around me. I noticed that Erica’s face seemed hurt when she did it, and a very selfish and vindictive part of me was thrilled to see that, even as I wanted to go over and yank Honey from her hands! Holly started, “Before we begin, Erica, you asked if you could say something?” Erica took a deep breath and sighed, “Katherine… Again, I want to say how sorry I am for losing my mind like I did. I know now some of the reasons behind it… but I really am sorry.” Her body language seemed like that was the genuine truth, “Thanks for the apology.” “Now, we need to discuss moving forward,” Holly said. “Forward?” I asked, finding Erica’s voice mixed in. Holly sighed, “As much as I doubt Katherine is going to trust you again – and for good reason easily – I received some information from Emerson about the possibility of rehoming Doctor Benson to a new apartment or maybe even coming home with us full-time until she leaves.” “And…?” I asked. “They said no,” she told me with a sad look. “Not only did they say, ‘no,’ but if they inspect Erica’s house and you’re not there, work, or with another temporary caregiver, they’ll have to place you into their demerit system.” “What?” I heard my voice and several others exclaim. “Don’t shoot the messenger?” Holly said sadly. “So… I have no option?” I asked her. She shook her head, “No.” With that, she turned to Erica, “We all know you went full psycho-mommy on Katherine. Will you do it again?” Erica looked at her hands, then did the thing with her hair again, “Not intentionally…” “Not intentionally? That’s the best you can give me?” I asked. “Hold on one second, Katherine,” Mindy said. “I think you need to know that there’s something else we didn’t know about at work.” “What?” I asked her, turning to her then. “That movie you went to see… It turns out there was a part of the movie designed for Bigs…” “Meaning?” “Meaning Erica had her own conditioning from that movie.” “Wait, you said the other day the hypnosis would only have affected me because she was wearing the glasses?!?” “Normally, yes,” she agreed. “This week, a friend of mine pointed out that there have been some cases, just like the one with Erica here, so I dug around. Apparently, the film is causing mommies to imprint even stronger on their Littles than normal.” “What does that mean?” I asked. “You understand the concept?” “Baby birds do it with their moms when they hatch?” I said. “Other creatures do, too?” She nodded, “It happens naturally for most in this dimension, but this was more extreme. Two Littles were admitted to this hospital for injuries, and five mothers were arrested.” I felt my jaw drop as I looked at Erica, tears streaming down her face. “I am so sorry, Katherine.” “So… what now? Can you treat Erica like you did me?” I asked. “Get rid of the conditioning?” “We already did,” Mindy told me. “But, I have to be honest, it’s not foolproof, given her natural instincts. Hopefully, it’s likely to prevent the desire to push you as hard and not get physically abusive.” “So what… I just go home with her? Then?” “Then you come back on Monday and work,” Holly told me. “You and Erica will have counseling sessions twice a week with Mindy to help keep her on track.” “And me?” “You?” “I just get to be normal? No babying?” “Is that what you want?” Ivy asked beside me. I looked up at the woman as she gently squeezed my shoulder. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Erica told me. “I promise not to force anything else on you.” “No more hypnosis?” I asked her. She shook her head. “I’ve already had someone come and completely lock all of my devices out of being able to show you Doc, Naomi and Oliver, or any other show known to have it.” I sighed, knowing I was between a rock and a hard place. “Fine, I’m obviously trapped by Emerson and this dimension either way.” “Maybe some ground rules would help?” Ivy suggested. “Like?” I asked. “Like Holly and I set long ago,” she said. “She can baby me at home like you do, Holly, but I get to be me at work?” I asked, looking up at her. She nodded, “It’s worked for us?” “And what would that entail?” Erica asked. “Well, obviously, my little girl has to have her wet and messy pants changed; she eats in a highchair, and I often feed her – but it’s always real food, not Little food or baby food?” I blushed, “That’s okay,” I agreed. “Katherine, I’ve seen you showing withdrawal symptoms. Do you want Erica to promise not to feed you any more of her milk?” Holly asked then. I squirmed. “Will she dry up?” I asked nervously. Erica shook her head. “Not likely. I’ve been lactating most of my life whenever I’ve been around a Little. There’s rarely been a time since I was fifteen when I didn’t have milk.” I felt stunned by that. “That’s horrible,” I said. “Yeah, the first time was only a few weeks after my first period…” she said. “My mom had to deal with the bitchiest teenage girl ever that week.” “Can you resist the urge?” Mindy asked me. I shrugged, “I don’t know. It was hard just even smelling Ivy’s.” I sighed, “I’m probably already incontinent. I haven’t had any improvement today?” I said. I noted that my diaper was definitely soaked right then. “We don’t have to,” Erica said. “Maybe establish some limits?” Holly suggested. “Limits?” I asked. “Maybe you’re willing to have it at bedtime and after you’ve had a chance to eat a solid breakfast?” “Not the rest of the time?” I asked. She shrugged, “Up to you. Personally, I used to limit things more. Still, after decades of nursing, it doesn’t matter if I skip time or not to help my bowels not move at embarrassing times.” I blushed. “You don’t have to,” Erica said again. “I…” I sighed, “I’m not completely opposed to it, but you can’t ever spank me again. If I say no, you have to take it as a final no until I change my mind?” The look on her face was one of surprise, tinged with a thin smile, “Deal.” “Erica, you must do your absolute best to prevent Katherine from seeing or hearing any other hypnotic content! As long as she doesn’t, she should be able to continue working like Holly,” Mindy told her. “I won’t show her anything,” she promised again. “But… what happens if she comes across something? There’s so much out there?” Mindy sighed, “I know, and it will be tough. Do your best.” “If she does?” “She’ll probably revert to all the conditioning she had before the treatment.” I felt sick at that. “All of it?” “All of it,” she repeated. “You were exposed to some of the most potent legal conditioning. I could easily see all of it being illegal, but getting a court to agree with that will be nearly impossible.” We spoke for a few more minutes before Mindy asked, “Katherine, do you have anything else to add?” I looked up at Erica, and something inside me broke, “Can I have a hug?” Erica was up in a flash; she picked me up and gave me the biggest, warmest, most comforting hug I could have imagined, even as she handed me Honey. “Thank you for giving me another chance,” she told me. We stayed with her, embracing me and rubbing her hand up and down my back for a moment before she noted, “Someone needs a change?” I blushed, feeling that the leggings I was wearing were soaked. “Yeah, I do.” “Am I good to take her?” Erica asked the group. “I have her bag in my car.” I looked down at Holly, “Up to you, Katherine.” At that moment, I knew a few things. Erica’s arms were comfy and warm… and I had really missed her embrace. With a sigh, “We’ll try it.” Erica squeezed me, “Then let’s get you in a clean diapee, and we’ll go home to talk some more.” “Okay,” I said simply. Back at her car, I thought we’d grab the diaper bag and head inside for a bathroom, but she opened the other door from the side my car seat sat in and laid out a changing pad. “Do we have to do this here?” I asked as she placed me down on the changing mat. “We can go inside if you want…?” She told me, “But no one will see or care? I can’t put you in your car seat in this diapee; it’s leaking already!” Turning redder, I said, “Fine, please be quick.” Quick, she was. In what was probably record time for her, she removed my leggings, removed the diaper, wiped me clean, and fastened a new diaper. “I don’t have any pants here; when we get home, we’ll get you in something else,” she told me. I was moderately mortified to be carried outside the car and around to the seat in only a diaper and my shirt. Still, I knew nothing I said would change that by the time it registered. As she drove off, I nervously squeezed Honey with my left hand, even as I involuntarily found my right thumb poking at the edge of my lips, having to really focus not to stick it into my mouth and suck on it as I worried if I had made the right choice… +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the 'Like' Button and leave a comment! For those eagle eyed readers this is now the Friday before the Tuesday of the student meeting in LCW. There are eight more chapters and an epilogue to go in this story. I'm currently one chapter of LCW in the can, I need to get five more done before I feel ready to begin posting. Please keep the comments up, as they're a great motivation to get my brain in gear! It's been a long week in the real world, but hoping tomorrow night to begin a weekend with at least a little bit of time to write! Edit: You all got this on the front page of results sorted by replies with this chapter, if you get it up to 30 likes or more by tomorrow night I might just decide to throw a bonus in this weekend...

Trans-women are real women Trans-men are real men Transgender is a real thing. Trans-people are welcome here Anyone who disagrees with that is required to keep it to themselves while on this board. I can't police your thoughts, but I can control abuse of trans members on these forums.

Chapter 23: WHEN I HAD worked with the medical kits earlier, I had carefully concealed a scalpel inside the padding of my diaper through a small slit I made. I hoped I wouldn’t need it, but when I saw him going for the toddler I couldn’t help but draw the sharp blade free and leapt at him. The guns went off at the same time as our world exploded, but I continued wrestling with him even though he was a foot taller than I was. When he tried turning his gun back towards me, I decided it was time to end this and drew the blade across his carotid artery. He continued struggling as he gasped and blood sprayed everywhere, but I hung on for dear life. “Freeze!!!” a voice yelled at me, “Drop the weapon!” I carefully disentangled myself from the dead weight of the man, and then showed my hands. I had tunnel vision until then, and expected to look up at a large Amazonian SWAT team member like Jonah... But instead found myself looking at a little about six inches taller than me in full black tactical combat gear. He had his face hidden behind a mask. “Identify yourself!” He called out to me. “Doctor Holly Nickerson,” I told him. “Clear!” He called out, “You’re Doc?” He asked with his weapon still pointing at me. He motioned with his head around the room, “Nice work,” he said. Just then I heard a cry, “MEDIC!!!!!!” from one of the men. Over on the ground I saw two of the members of the rescue team were suffering gunshot wounds. “I’m a doctor, let me help one of them!” I told him. He nodded and I grabbed the supplies that were left. I didn’t know that it mattered by then, but I gloved up anyway and got to work on one of the patients while the corpsman worked on the slightly worse case. “You know what you’re doing?” He asked me. “I sure as hell hope so,” I told him and began working to slice away his clothing and the vest that hadn’t stopped the slightly off-center wounds. I counted three bullet wounds on my quick examination. Two were through and throughs in his side and right arm. More concerning though was another hole that was quickly filling with blood on his abdomen. I knew that was the bigger problem and focused on it. The trauma kits they gave me had some packing that I shoved into the wounds and ran a line with the universal blood they’d given me. I tossed a bag to the other medic too. “Thanks,” he said and we were both working on stabilizing the patients. Several other Amazon doctors, including Ivy, suddenly appeared to help out. Ivy began programming a nanite cluster and told me, “Get this to that first hole.” I took care to maneuver it to the side of the spleen and said, “It should be there.” “Get your hands clear,” she told me, “Activating!” Over the next half-hour we did a procedure to save the little’s life that would have taken six or seven hours in my dimension. I couldn’t help but also think without the nanites that we would have lost him just as easily as the two-year-old the day before my eviction back home. With both of the patient's vitals stabilized they were moved to an ICU unit for recovery. “You can’t go with them…” I heard a doctor try and tell one of the uninjured team members. “I’m a Hellcat, I go wherever the Hell I want! Don’t stop me!” One of the nurses, who I remembered Ivy pointing out as a real bitch the first time I’d been at the hospital, tried to block him. In no time flat I watched her laying on the ground crying with an arm bent unnaturally in an open fracture. “You idiot!” one of the nearby officers said as she tried to get an assault charge filed, “They’re Hellcats! You can’t do that kind of shit! They are protected by International Law!” I watched another young nurse follow the men, and thought that I may have heard her giggle. It was right then that I finally felt myself losing the rush of adrenaline that had carried me through the crisis. I looked up at Ivy, “Sorry, I probably did more stupid things today than in the history of littles.” She smiled and hugged me tightly, “I’m quite sure of that. We’ll also need to talk about your potty mouth!” She looked stern before smiling with tears streaming from her face, “but I’m also quite certain you are the bravest person I’ve ever known!” She nearly squeezed me to death before pushing me away, “That being said, if you ever do anything that stupid again…” “Just don’t send me to daycare again…?” I suggested hopefully. She laughed and cried simultaneously while hugging me. I looked up then and realized that her brother Jonah was standing there. He knelt down to where I stood and held out his hand. I let him envelop mine as he said, “You are the reason we only lost a few people today. You saved a lot of lives today… Thank you!” I felt a tear go down my eyes, “I just did what I had to.” He patted me on the head and hugged his sister tightly. “Ivy I love you to death, take good care of your little girl, she’s more special than I think you know.” She hugged him back, “Thanks for all you did Jonah,” she told him. “I really didn’t do anything. It was Little Miss Action Hero here and that insane little anti-terror squad. I didn’t understand why we were waiting, but now I know. The Hellcats are a legend in the Special Forces at this point. There’s not another unit that has the accuracy, speed, and tenacity to do something like that with no civilian losses. I know we couldn’t have made it in as cleanly just due to our needing bigger entry holes. Plus none of the terrorists expected to aim at their own height!” “Well, thank you anyway,” I told him. “You’re welcome Holly,” he said simply. “Ivy you had better bring her to Sunday dinner this weekend or Mom is going to kill all of us.” Ivy sighed, “Yeah… we’ll be there.” She gave him another hug and then held her hand out, “Well Doc, shall we go borrow a staff shower here and get you cleaned up before we go home?” I nodded and wondered at her not picking me up until I looked more at my body. I looked like I had been the one killed… ‘Good thing they have infectious diseases like STDs well under control here…’ I thought to myself. I walked beside her down the hallway and up a few levels. ‘Restricted Access Staff Only,’ was on the door that she swiped us through. A few nurses gasped as we passed them, and one rushed over and asked, “Doctor Nickerson, what happened to her? Why isn’t she down in the ER getting checked out?” She stepped in front of me, “Hi Kat… She’s fine, it’s not her blood. Doctor Nickerson here just saved a bunch of lives today, we’re just coming in here to get her cleaned up… you don’t happen to have a spare diaper and maybe some scrubs she can change into?” I looked around her at the face of the nurse who was confused, “I can see if pediatrics has any scrubs her size… I can grab a gown or a onesie for certain?” “We’d prefer scrubs, but otherwise what you can find works, we’re going to use the showers to get her cleaned up.” “I’ll be there shortly,” she said. IVY LOOKED DOWN at Holly who was aggressively ripping off her blood-soaked onesie. She used a pair of gloves to take it from her and put it in a hazardous disposal bin. Her shoes and socks soon followed, then finally the very well used diaper was removed and she wiped her bottom clean. “You’re getting a bit of a rash here Holly,” she told her. Holly shrugged and told her, “Not surprised… my butt’s been covered in pee and poop all day long…” ‘I might have some cream in the office… may have to raid a nurse’s station,’ she thought before saying, “We’ll get some rash cream on it as soon as we can,” and turned on the faucet of the shower head far above Holly’s head. Holly stepped into the shower and blood began peeling and making a gruesome pool on the tiled floor. She had been scrubbing herself for several minutes when Kat made it back out of breath. She whispered to Ivy, “Did she seriously perform two surgeries today? And, really take on the lead terrorist on her own?” “Yes…” she told her, “How…?” “She’s a good surgeon,” she told her back. “I took an important part of her life away when I adopted her,” she told her quietly. “What did you bring?” “Oh, here is a diaper. They only had some toddler and newborn in her size. Since she’s walking, I brought the toddler… Here’s some soap, a couple surgical sponges, wipes, rash cream, and the smallest set of scrubs I’ve ever seen in my life… I didn’t know we even had that size!” “I’m surprised we did,” Ivy told her as she looked at the purple scrubs that looked like they would only be half a size too big on Holly. “Apparently, we keep them on hand for when a little comes in with their wife for labor…?” she shook her head, “Let me know if you need anything else. Everywhere I just went had everyone proclaiming her the most amazing hero they know of…” Ivy gave a small smile at that, “That she is!” “Is it… Is it true about Bob?” Kat asked her. “Unfortunately, yes… they killed all of the daycare workers, Bob, and then his little girl.” Kat gasped, “What about the terrorists?” “All died in the rescue,” she told her. “Make sure you get her some counseling,” she told her in a whisper again. Ivy nodded, “Definitely.” She nodded towards the shower, “I need to give her this.” “I’ll see you soon,” Kat told her and left. She opened the curtain and said, “Holly, here is some soap and a surgical sponge set… are you able to get yourself clean of everything?” she asked her. A nod was her only answer as Holly took the items and turned to scrub every inch of her body she could reach. I COULDN’T FOCUS from the moment the water turned on. It startled me when Ivy handed me the soap and the sponge. I found myself on autopilot as I scrubbed all of the blood off of me. I was glad as I did so that I didn’t find any open wounds for myself to have been infected easily through. ‘I’ll have to request a blood screening to make sure I don’t have anything…’ My eyes wouldn’t focus as I was on autopilot scrubbing myself. The fact that I had saved multiple lives was offset by my memory of killing a man... ‘I don’t even know his name…’ I thought as I kept scrubbing… and scrubbing… “Here, I think you got everything but your back,” Ivy suddenly broke through my mind. “Huh?” I asked as she grabbed the sponge from me and gently turned me around. She scrubbed at my back for a moment and turned off the water. She wrapped me in a towel and picked me up in time for me to break down in tears. “I didn’t want to…” IVY FELT HER heart break as it was clear that the events had fully hit Holly. She would have gladly killed that man herself if she had the chance, but she knew she too would have been impacted. Here was her poor little girl… No little woman, she admitted - who had to kill when all she wanted in life was to save people. She hugged her tightly and kept her wrapped in the towel until she cried herself to sleep. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to her as she laid her down and dressed her in the diaper and the scrubs. Carrying her out of the room dead asleep, nurses and doctors alike gave the pair a nod. She had no idea what was going to come in the future, but she knew that Holly would forever be respected at this hospital. Everyone seemed to respect that she was sleeping and didn’t approach the pair, but she could tell that things had changed for Holly with the looks in everyone’s eyes. She wasn’t sure what was going to be the hardest thing to deal with to move on. ‘First thing once I get home is to take this soaked bra off and pump out the milk that I should have removed hours ago…’ she thought to herself as she carefully strapped Holly into her car seat. As she drove home, the magnitude of the day began hitting her as hard as it hit Holly. Seeing her mom’s car in the driveway didn’t completely surprise her as she drove up. ‘Mom is probably going to give me an earful for not calling…’ she sighed. ‘When the hell would I have done that?’ She backed into the garage around her Mom’s car, and then walked around to Holly’s side of the car. The poor girl was still out cold, but that didn’t really surprise her much. Her own body was threatening to shut down due to the adrenaline she’d used, and Holly had a much smaller body in way more intense situation! As she opened the door to the house her mom looked at her expectantly. “Mom, let me put her down in her crib first and then we can talk,” she told her. The hug was impossible to dodge just then as she held onto her, “I love you so much sweetie… I’m so glad that you and Holly are alright!” “I love you too Mom,” she told her. “Holly’s out cold though, let me get her to her crib. I’ll be back in a moment,” she told her. “Of course,” she told her. Ivy sighed as she opened up the nursery and took in the innocent sight of a room fit for a baby princess. It suddenly seemed wrong to her as she truly realized for the first time that Holly wasn’t just a misguided little that needed to be cared for like a baby. ‘I don’t think I can do anything else though…’ she thought morosely as she checked her diaper. It was dry as a bone, ‘I doubt she’s had anything to drink all day…’ She debated about trying to see if she could get her to nurse in her sleep for a moment when Holly stirred. I LOOKED AROUND the room and saw I was being held by Ivy in the nursery at home. I hoped for a moment that the day had been some massive nightmare, but looking down at my body clothed in scrubs I knew it wasn’t. I felt tears come out of my eyes then and looked up at Ivy who likewise had her own tears showing right then too. “You awake now?” she asked me. I shrugged, “I guess… I’m still pretty sleepy. Adrenaline crash,” I told her. “I’m not surprised, I’m dealing with my own right now. You want something to eat?” she asked me. There was a… catch in her voice right then and I wondered what that was about. I wasn’t really hungry, but I was thirsty. I saw that her bra was soaked and decided that I could help her and drunkenly land myself back to sleep where I could maybe forget about the last few hours. “Just your milk?” I said quietly. She looked surprised and I saw even more tears coming from her eyes, “Okay, we can do that.” She sat me down on the ground for a second and pulled her scrub top off to reveal the bra that had massive areas around both nipples discolored from dried milk. She pulled it free and flung it on the ground before using a baby wipe to clean herself off of crusty milk residue. Once that was done, she bent down and picked me up, before sitting down in the rocking chair. I was so thirsty - and so desperate to be asleep again that I practically leaped to her nipple and began sucking. Feeling the warmth of her breast, her teat on my tongue, and her heartbeat lulled me into a sense of comfort that I had not even dreamed possible a few hours before. Thoughts of everything faded away as the milk did its job and knocked me out. IVY SAT THERE holding Holly for several minutes after she passed out from the milk just staring at her nursing in her sleep. It lacked the urgency of the first moments Holly had latched onto her, and she had wondered what had brought that on. ‘She’s never been that… enthusiastic before?’ she thought to herself. She managed to get her to latch onto her second breast before she went to sleep. She’d slowed to not really sucking anymore though, and there was still some milk she needed to get out. She sighed knowing that Holly definitely wouldn’t be waking up to finish the job anytime soon. She felt Holly’s diaper, and found it was just a little bit damp. Normally she wouldn’t change her yet and risk waking her up, but with the bad diaper rash she had, she knew she couldn’t leave her in a wet diaper any longer than necessary. She laid her gently on the changing table and pulled her top and bottoms off as gently as she could. The top got caught slightly on her tangled hair for a moment, but miraculously Holly stayed asleep as she exposed her diaper. Gently she opened it, wiped her, placed a new diaper on her, and then dressed her in a light footless sleeper before laying her in the crib. Holly never showed any signs of waking up the whole time. Ivy skipped putting her soaked bra back on and pulled her scrub top on without it. She walked to the living room where her mom had sat down. “Dad’s not here, right?” “No, he stayed home to do some work around the house,” she told her with a smile. “Okay… I need to pump some milk and then I really need a shower before we talk.” “That’s fine sweetie, but I thought maybe Holly would have nursed you dry?” “She only made it through part of my second breast…” she sighed. Walking to the kitchen she gathered her pump and hooked herself up. The pump was soon working and she couldn’t help but think, ‘It’s so much better when Holly nurses…’ Her mom walked over to the table and sat down next to her, “Penny for your thoughts?” “Oh… I was just thinking…” “Thinking what?” She sighed, “It feels so much better when Holly does this.” Her mom nodded, “I always preferred you all over the pump too… Well, at least until you started biting when your teeth came in... You were the worst one on that.” Ivy blushed, “Sorry, glad Holly has never done that.” “It would be karma though, huh?” her mom said with a smile. They sat there quietly for a bit until she could tell it was okay to call it good and cleaned up without saying anything else. “I’m going to take that shower Mom,” she told her as she walked to her bedroom. “Okay dear, I’ll work on making some dinner for you two.” “I don’t know…” “At some point Holly is going to wake-up and she’ll be genuinely starving. You just worry about yourself right now, I’ll worry about you and my grand-baby,” she told her. “But…” “This is the part where you say ‘Yes, Mommy,’” she told her. Ivy sighed, “Yes, Mommy.” She did appreciate that her mother cared about how they were doing. The shower wasn’t long, as she couldn’t help but want to frequently check in on Holly. By the time she was out, had put on a comfortable stretchy top and yoga pants, she was convinced that Holly might have already woken up or something. However, when she checked in on the monitor in the nursery, she could tell that she was still soundly asleep in exactly the place she left her. She sighed with relief as she walked out to the kitchen. Her mom had just put a casserole dish in the oven as she sat down. “What did you make?” “Just a simple chicken pasta bake, it’ll be ready in about thirty-minutes,” she told her. “Thank you… you didn’t have to do that.” “Yes, I did, you’ve both just had a completely traumatic experience today from what little your brother told me.” Ivy nodded slowly, “Mom… I…” And with that she devolved into tears and her own Mommy wrapped her in a tight hug as all of the emotional insanity of the day came out at once. I SLEPT FOR a long while before I stirred. My room had blackout curtains so I couldn’t tell if it was still day or not outside, since the butterflies glowed either way. As I sat up, I could tell that I had been changed at some point into a sleeper… and I assumed a dry diaper. The one I had on didn’t seem to be wet, so I wondered ‘how recently?’ I stood up in my crib and stretched. I looked at the LittleProtect watch on my wrist and saw that it was about three hours after I last remembered looking at the time. I looked around the room and the dichotomy of the odd day hit me like a ton of bricks. ‘I just performed two emergency surgeries, killed the leader of a terrorist group… and yet I’m still sleeping in a damn baby crib!’ I was feeling annoyed as the door swung open. It wasn’t Ivy like I expected, instead it was her mom who came over and quietly said. “Mommy is sleeping right now; I came to help you two out tonight. You hungry?” My stomach chose that moment to grumble so I nodded, “I could eat…” I said nervously knowing how she always seemed one step from the crazy babying amazon type. She picked me up and felt my diaper, “Doesn’t feel very wet at all. Your mommy said you had a bit of a rash though, so let’s go ahead and change you to be safe?” I just nodded and went limp as she pulled open some crotch snaps that this particular sleeper had. The diaper was nearly dry, but I could see a bit of brown on the wipe as she did my butt. ‘Damn amazon breast milk…’ I griped. ‘Yet you went straight for the boob juice when you had the chance earlier!’ I shook my head. She had me dressed in a new diaper and back in the sleeper before carrying me to the high chair in the kitchen and placing a bib around my neck. “Give me a few minutes, I’ll have to heat yours with the microwave. You slept way past dinner,” she told me. I nodded, “It was a long day,” I told her. She nodded, “That’s what your Uncle Jonah said… He called and told me I needed to get over here. He only told me a little bit, but not everything. The news claims a bunch of pretty crazy things happened?” She placed one of my plates of food down on the trail filled with more pasta than I could ever eat. “Here, your mommy said you’d be able to feed yourself with a fork.” I stared at her in surprise and took the opportunity. I used the small fork I’d been given to stab the largest rigatoni noodle that could possibly exist and put it into my mouth. The pasta had an Alfredo sauce on it, and it was really good! “I guess that’s one way of putting it… what did the news say?” “Well they said that a group of littles had found some guns and decided to bring them to daycare to play with, thinking they were just toys?” I groaned, “So nothing about them being a terrorist cell?” “What?!?” She asked. “Surely you’re kidding. They were just littles who got some things they shouldn’t?” “Before I correct that idiocy, what else did they say?” “Well… one thing… they mentioned a little girl that everyone was calling ‘Doc’ managed to save the life of one of the babies in there?” I nodded, “Well that part is true… what else did they say?” “Well… they claimed that a mythical special forces unit, made up entirely of littles, was the group to make the rescue?” “The Hellcats I think they called them,” I nodded. “That part’s true.” “They mentioned that same little helped patch up one of those who was injured…” “Also, true,” I told her. “So, did they mention the body count?” “Body count? They didn’t say that anyone died?” I sighed, “You want to hear the true account?” “You’re not just going to make up some big fairytale?” I snorted and shook my head, “Believe me, if I were making up stuff, I would never come close to the reality of today.” I took another bite of the large pasta and chewed it before taking a drink from the baby bottle of juice she had sat on the tray. “Go ahead then?” She asked. “Ivy… I mean your mommy couldn’t talk about it…” “Things were going mostly okay this morning until all of the sudden two of the littles in the nursery pulled out some automatic weapons. They shot the three nannies that ran the room in the head, and then ten more of them came inside the room from somewhere. They had apparently run through and shot up the other nannies in the daycare on their way in.” “You’re…” “Not kidding, it happened. Ask Jonah if you don’t believe me after this…” I shook my head, “I checked on all three of them really quick to make sure there wasn’t anything I could do for them before joining the hostages in a corner. After a while the masked leader had me examine this little that they had broken in for.” “Was she shot or something?” I shook my head and took another quick bite of food, “No, she wasn’t responding to any of them, and had been in the newborn room... He wanted to know what had been done to her.” “And…?” I looked at her curiously and decided to hell with it, I’d be honest about what I felt. “Someone had butchered the poor girl and sliced up her Achilles tendon, along with another set on her biceps to keep her from being able to walk or crawl. They pulled all of her teeth out and performed what I guessed was a hysterectomy. They’d also performed a mastectomy badly as well.” “Badly?” “Most of the time surgery like that shouldn’t leave scars in this dimension… They had to have intended to leave scars…” I shook my head, “That’s really the only explanation for the massive scars I saw. I examined her and couldn’t get any signs of mental awareness out of her. I told them that if I had the girl as a patient back home, I’d diagnose it as a Persistent Vegetative State… He became beyond upset and I was worried he’d attack me for a second, before the police tried a first run at getting inside. The twelve of them pushed back and held them from coming in, but in the process a little two-year-old amazon girl was shot.” “They shot a baby?” She said in horror. “I’m not sure which side shot her, but yeah… I immediately began trying to stabilize her with what little I had in the nursery. Jonah and Ivy helped me out on the outside by getting me a few trauma kits and a stretcher for her. It was touch and go, but I was able to dig the bullet out and use the nanite kit they’d given me to get her back together.” “By yourself?!?” “I know you all have this blind spot to our height, but I really was a very good surgeon back home! Ivy was kind enough to let me study everything here to where I feel like I know more than when I left home even.” “Sorry… continue?” She asked. I took a few more bites of food to make her wait and fill my stomach some more. “After that they were negotiating and I pushed for them to let the baby go so they could care for her better outside. I pointed out that she wasn’t much use as a hostage anyway then… So, they made a trade for the CEO of the hospital who was the person responsible for the damaged little in the end…” “That must be the guy they say was accidentally shot?” I shook my head, “Nothing accidental there - and he definitely wasn’t shot. Once they learned of just how far the guy had gone with the poor girl, he was stabbed in the heart… Well, that’s after he had his same ligaments cut, and some of his skin peeled off,” I shuddered at the thought of it. Ivy’s mom looked at me in horror then, “Please tell me…” she shook her head. “Never mind, you warned me in advance this would be too big of a tale to make up… So, how’d you make it out?” “Well after that he shot the girl that they’d come for. He told me he did it to put her out of her misery. Then he really started pushing it with the negotiator again… I figured out that it was Jonah actually.” Talk about family connections! “He threatened to start killing genuine babies in twenty minutes. I distracted him a little bit by asking about the girl, and who was she? Turned out she used to be the leader of their faction until she was captured. Apparently, they had a pact that if this kind of thing ever happened to them, they would make sure they were never stuck living like that. He actually offered to include me in the pact…” Her face blanched at that, “What did you say?” “I politely declined…” I shook my head, “I like living! When we were done talking, I watched him moving to kill his first toddler hostage not far from me. That was when I did the dumbest thing of the day and leaped on him to try and stop him.” “He had a gun?!?” “Yep - like I said… dumb. I had hidden a scalpel in my diaper though and ended… end…” I hiccoughed from nerves and emotions coming back. “Ended up having to use it on him. I severed his carotid artery and held on until he was dead, while all hell broke loose around me with the rescue team of littles breaching.” “You… killed him…?” I nodded, “I had to… I couldn’t let an innocent baby die!” I felt tears going down my face then. “I’ve lost patients on the operating table before… but nothing prepared me to feel his life leaving him from a wound I made intentionally…” I choked back a full sob. I shook my tears back though then… “I was ordered to drop the knife and they held their guns on me until I identified myself. A few moments later I was working on one of the two members of their team who had beeb shot, while their corpsman worked on the other.” “You saved another life?” “Well for that one I had help. There were a number of doctors including Ivy that showed up to pitch in…” I told her. “Don’t let her fool you Mom,” I heard Ivy and jolted in surprise. “This little girl is one of the best surgeons I’ve ever seen, and she is the reason two people are alive medically today. And, probably a lot more by her fearless actions. She’s an amazing real heroine…” she told me as she came and kissed my head and hugged me. “You’re supposed to be asleep?” I suggested. “So are you?” I shrugged at that and took a few more bites of my food that was getting colder. “Is there a chance you could heat this up again?” “Sure,” Ivy said and took the plate from me. It was steaming when she returned it a few minutes later. I munched on the rest of it while the two of them talked a little until I was full. As much as I hadn’t eaten much real food that day, I still left a lot on the plate. I burped and said, “Excuse me…” “She is so much more polite than Katies kids…” Ivy’s mom told her. I blushed but said, “Thanks…” At that point she stood up and came for my plate, “I’ll do the dishes here if you want to get Holly cleaned up?” I looked at my hands and face, wondering what there was to clean up, but just sat patiently while Ivy unstrapped me and wiped my hands with a wipe anyway and removed the bib I was wearing. She returned to her seat at the table with me in her lap. The warmth of her body was surprisingly reassuring and I leaned back into her shoulder and watched her mom do the dishes. The bottle of juice I hadn’t quite finished was presented to me, “I’m guessing you’re still pretty dehydrated, drink this.” Ivy told me. I nodded, “Probably…” I nursed it dry and commented, “I’m going to feel like I have a hangover when I wake up tomorrow at this rate…” Her mom looked scandalized by my comment, “How do you even know what a hangover is?” “Umm… Because I’m really an adult? And in my dimension from the age of twenty-one I could legally drink?” I giggled thinking back, “And I definitely had one the day I came here!” “Oh…?” Ivy asked, ignoring her mom’s face. “You did?” “Well… In case this was really how things went… I figured I might as well go out with a bang?” Ivy nodded, “I don’t drink, but I could see it…” “I didn’t really normally either, but in that case, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” “Well… I got those dishes done for you Ivy… You should have enough leftovers for at least lunch tomorrow. I’m going to go ahead and get home and make sure your dad hasn’t destroyed the house.” Ivy stood up then and placed me on her hip. She walked over to her mom where she was gathering her purse, “Thanks Mom for coming and looking after us.” “You’re my baby, it’s just what you do,” she said with a smile. Ivy gave her a hug with the arm that wasn’t supporting me. “I love you Mom.” “Love you too,” she told her and then gave a peck on my forehead. “And I love this little grandbaby too! Be a good girl for your Mommy!” We watched as she gathered her purse and walked out the front door with Ivy locking it behind her. She carried me to the large couch in the living room and sat me down next to her, “Can we talk?” she asked. “About?” “About you? About whatever it is I’m going to do with you?” “I thought you’d decided that before I even came to your world,” I told her tepidly. “I had…” “Had…?” “I could have picked another little you know?” She wiped a tear from her eye, “I told my adoption agent on this side I wanted a little girl. The one from your side was insistent though that I would love you to death. The idea of a little doctor was astonishing to me and she managed to convince me you were the one.” I nodded, keeping my face passive. ‘Where is she going with this?’ “From the time I first saw the video of you performing surgery I fell in love with you. You were doing things in really outdated techniques there, but you were clearly incredibly skilled! Your calm and collective manner in the theater was amazing to me… and I almost decided you needed to stay there then…” “So, what changed…?” “I couldn’t help wanting you still… and you were willing to come.” I nodded, “Not one of my brightest moments looking back.” She looked hurt at that. “Look… I forgive you for that part, I honestly have gotten some good out of it. No worries about finding a job or a new place to live… I just hate that I can’t do what I love here.” She nodded, “I hate that too.” She leaned over and squeezed me in a hug, “I’m so proud of you for today. The way you saved that baby’s life! And then saving that other man too!” “Well I wasn’t alone on the man…” “He would have died if treatment had been delayed even one more minute - you know that!” “Maybe…” I said. “All I could think of earlier was that I was glad I didn’t lose that little girl…” I looked up at her, “The day I lost my apartment back home was the day after I had lost a girl on the table…” “Bad?” I nodded, “Car accident… We worked on her for like fourteen hours… I thought we had her stabilized multiple times only for another problem to come up. She had multiple places she was bleeding internally and we just couldn’t find them all.” “I know the feeling,” she told me. “I’ve lost patients too…” “It sucks…” I told her. “Days like today are always nice though.” “They are,” she told me. “Except the whole terrorist part…” I shuddered at that, “That…” I wiped tears from my face, “That part sucked…” “Are you going to be okay?” She asked me. I shook my head, “Not overnight, no.” I told her honestly. “I assume I’ll have nightmares for a long time about the whole thing… especially from when I… when I… when I killed him.” She picked me up then and cuddled me as I quietly cried. “Even in your world it would have been okay to cry about this,” she told me and hugged me. I nodded. After a long while she asked, “So are you feeling tired right now?” I shrugged, “I… I don’t know… not really?” “Me neither,” she said. “Want to watch a movie or something?” I shrugged, “I guess…?” “Go watch one of yours?” she suggested. I thought for a second, “You know… there’s one you might appreciate…” I hesitated, “And… we can watch it until we fall asleep because it’s a long trilogy…” “Oh…?” “You bring the popcorn?” I suggested. “After a change?” she countered. I made a face and realized that once again the damn diaper was wet. “That first I guess…” She carried me to the nursery and changed me. “You want something else to wear?” I shook my head, “This is pretty comfy actually,” I admitted about the sleeper. She sat me down on the floor while she worked on popcorn and filled some drinks up. I watched her leave the room for a moment before coming back with a gigantic fuzzy blanket that was covered in the picture of a children’s show cartoon character from this dimension. I noted it looked older and asked, “Is that your special blankie?” She blushed, “Maybe?” I giggled at her, “Maybe, huh?” “I’ve had it since I was in college…” “And they didn’t give you a hard time…?” “My roommate was just as bad…” she tried to excuse herself as she gathered everything and walked to the back door. She opened it up and led me out back to the playhouse. The night sky was dark and I could just see some stars peeking out even through the city lights. It was a quick trip to the playhouse where she opened up the Amazon sized door and motioned me inside. I went to the TV and worked to find the cases I was looking for, and cued up the first Lord of the Rings movie. “I thought you told me you don’t have littles in your dimension?” She asked confused. I smiled at her, “This is fantasy… and they’re Hobbits…” Somehow the surreal fantasy was truly a great way to deal with the day as the night wore on. The violence made my stomach cringe in light of the day, but there was something comforting in Tolkien’s tale. My favorite quote of it especially gave me hope. Frodo said, “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” Gandalf replied, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” That night I stayed awake until the White Ship set sail for the West. IVY LOOKED DOWN at Holly and couldn’t help but think, ‘That was actually really good…’ She was surprised that both were still awake after the nearly twelve hours of the trilogy… She’d had to go to the bathroom and changed Holly out of one poopie diaper. She was definitely wet now, having been given a never-ending amount of Plapple juice in bottles to try and rehydrate her. Actually, she noticed that she was leaking quite a bit. ‘Oops…’ she thought, realizing she was wet too. “Come on you, let’s get you changed…” she told her. “Yeah… I leaked…” Holly told her. “Yep, but it’ll wash,” she told her while squeezing her reassuringly. She stood Holly up on her feet and was surprised that she was still standing without much fatigue showing. Gathering the blanket, she put the empty baby bottle and her own cup inside the popcorn tub, before opening up the door to leave her playhouse. They wordlessly walked to the kitchen where she deposited the items in the sink to deal with in the morning. Then she led Holly to her nursery. “Let’s get you changed and then see if we can’t both get some sleep…” she told her as she picked her up. She unzipped her from the sleeper and pulled her free of the garment that had a noticeable set of wet crescents around the legs. The tabs of the diaper made an audible ‘scrich’ sound as she pulled them open. Ivy grabbed Holly’s ankles with one hand and pulled her butt from the soaked diaper. She took the moment to grab a baby wipe and wiped her clean of all of the pee and a little bit of poo from her bum. Opening a new diaper up she sat Holly's butt on top of it and wrapped the old one in a ball to put in the diaper disposal. ‘Definitely need some more rash cream on her… oops…’ she thought. Her bottom wasn’t redder, but she shouldn’t have left her in a wet diaper that long again. ‘I wonder if I can get her to wander around naked for a while tomorrow…’ She shook her head, ‘I wouldn’t want to… I need to…’ she sighed and finished up the job of putting more rash cream on and then rubbed it gently all over her bottom and a little on the other red spots on her front. She closed the diaper and then dressed her in another sleeper. “Would you like to nurse for a bit?” Holly looked up at her and sighed, “You know I really don’t mind that part of it. I don’t like that I lost my potty training because of it…” she wriggled for a moment upright in her arms, “It’s comforting though, and whatever hormones your body produces in it makes me feel good. The dopamine or whatever it causes to release… I like that part…” Ivy squeezed her, “If we stopped you might regain your control…” Holly shook her head, “As long as I’m living with you though you’ll continue to produce your milk. It’s not worth you being miserable… or breaking my addiction with it at this point. Besides from what I can tell from the research it’s about a fifty-fifty shot at regaining control after eight weeks.” Ivy felt even guiltier, “If you change your mind, I’ll do everything I can to potty train you.” Holly sighed, “Just pull your boob out already?” She smirked at that, “So all I am to you is a set of walking boobs?” “Well… if the bra fits,” Holly stuck her tongue out at her afterwards. She couldn’t resist tickling her for a second and sat down in the rocking chair. Ivy pulled the top of her pajama set she was wearing down and helped Holly latch onto her. It was a pleasant sensation for Ivy as Holly sucked the milk out of her breast. Too pleasant… she was just as addicted to the sensation as Holly was from the milk. ‘I can’t keep her as a baby though,’ she thought to herself. ‘Sending her back to that daycare is definitely not an option now… I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do…’ She burped Holly gently before switching her to her other breast. Ivy noted that while Holly was a little more flexible and relaxed from earlier, she was still really tense as she nursed the other breast. There was no sign of her going to sleep as she drained her right breast. She burped her and wiped her breasts with a wipe, noting the wide-open eyes still. Thinking for a second, “How about you sleep with Mommy tonight?” Holly looked at her and said, “That…” she could see her think for a second, the wheels turning behind her eyes, “That sounds good actually…” Ivy carried her to her bedroom and left her on the bed while she went to the bathroom and pulled her hair back. Holly stared at her the whole time, really only moving to by one of her pillows and leaning on it. Done brushing her teeth she pulled the covers back and cuddled Holly to her. “I love you,” Holly suddenly told her. She was shocked and felt tears stream down her face as she squeezed her small body even closer to hers. “I love you too Holly Bear,” she replied. Eventually both fell asleep wondering what the new day would bring. No matter what both knew their worlds had changed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ That was a long chapter, but I just couldn't bring myself to split it up. Thank you to everyone who has read, liked, and commented on this story!! There is one more chapter and an epilogue remaining. If I get enough likes (25 seems good) I'll post Chapter 24 tomorrow and the Epilogue on Saturday. (Otherwise I'll make you wait until Saturday and Tuesday like a mean authoress)

Chapter 7: “NOT AS MATURE…?” I found myself echoing her. The inside of the mystery room was revealed, and it was most definitely not the kind of room I wanted to find myself in after seeing the horrors of KiKi earlier! To my right was a crib. Not just any crib! One that would easily fit me and keep me inside until someone bigger let me out! Beside it was a changing table that matched the light maple wood and was stocked with a package of the same diapers I’d worn before at night. To my left, a bit less disturbing, stood a cheaper pink toddler bed that looked to be for the princess fans out there. I noted a rail that extended about halfway down the side to prevent a toddler from falling out of bed. It was also much lower to the ground than the bed I’d been sleeping in. I turned and looked at her, “Not the crib?” I said quietly. She had the decency to laugh, “Definitely not the crib, silly! That’s just for babies you can’t trust to not stay in bed! The big kid bed over there, though, will keep you from rolling out, and even if you somehow do, it’s a much shorter fall!” I felt my entire life crumbling before my eyes, but at least she wasn’t sending me for those procedures. “Come on, let’s go ahead and get your stuff and move it into this room. There’s another bathroom attached to this room, too, so you can use it now. I’ll just have to move the stools and the potty seat over.” I grimaced, but there was little I could do to argue. Erica obviously wasn’t wrong about the safety concern, but I was horrified to sleep in that room! I couldn’t help but notice the other nursery touches as we moved my clothes to that closet. A rocking chair sat in the corner with a bottle warmer beside it. A blue blanket, which looked fuzzy and comfy, was draped across the back. There was a shelving unit containing dolls, stuffed animals, and other baby toys, which made me wonder how much time she spent looking after her nieces and nephews? We had a quiet dinner from the AmeniTea that night, and I discovered the pizza it made was up there with the better ones back home. There was something about the sauce that just tasted really good! Erica and I hadn’t been able to agree on a set of toppings, so I’d had a smaller separate one that was still a bit big for me. We both sighed afterward, “Do you work this weekend?” I asked her. “No, I’ve made it sufficiently far up the food chain that unless a weird emergency happens, I only work Monday through Friday.” “That’s nice,” I said. “You have anything else that needs to be done?” I shrugged, “I was talking with Matt yesterday, and we’re both going to try and check in with the group once a week. I picked Sunday for dinner with them at the dining hall there?” She nodded, “That’ll be a good way to check in with them!” “Yeah, I hope they’re safe…” She gave me a look doubtful of that, and I couldn’t help but be afraid for myself, too. “So, two single ladies with nothing else to do tonight?” I smirked. “Clubbing’s probably not a good idea,” she laughed. “I was thinking more of movie night. One of our students came specifically to be able to study that here?” “That sounds like fun! Why don’t you hit the restroom while I clean up here, and then we’ll go pick something out?” I was a bit annoyed at being picked up out of the highchair and sent to go potty like a good girl, but given some close calls that day, I didn’t complain. Truthfully, I was dying to pee by the time I made it up the stairs! Fortunately, I made it! Back downstairs, Erica taught me how to use the navigation system. “I don’t know any of your movies here. Do you have any suggestions?” “Umm… how about this one? It’s a romantic comedy I haven’t seen yet?” I shrugged, “Sure!” She started the movie, and I was amazed by how the living room practically became the scene, with the Holo screen taking over the entire space. It felt more like being in a theater for a play but mere feet from the stage! The film, though, was… Odd! The plot involved a pair of Bigs whose littles meet in a waiting room and recognize each other as their long-lost sibling! They initially get them together to have a play date, then work on getting the ‘parents’ to like each other so they can be a family again. It was unbelievable to me just how many scenes involved showing the Littles acting like babies, having their poopy diapers changed, mommies nursing their Littles, and all of that while dressing them to be as cute as they could be. The Littles pretended to hate it for much of the movie but professed their love for being Mommy and Daddy’s babies at the end. “That was really good!” Erica said at the end. I just stared at her. “Don’t you think…?” I sighed, “Honestly, it didn’t do much for me?” “Hmm… we don’t have anywhere to go tomorrow; how about something else?” “Sure, maybe an adventure or action film instead?” I hoped those would be less... doting... on Littles, perhaps? “Sounds good! I’m going to hit the potty first. Do you need to?” I nodded. “Here, I’ll give you a lift!” she said, surprising me by picking me up. As she did so, I felt some pee spurt out. Her hand settled on my butt to hold me on her side, and her face let me know she felt it. “Did you have an accident?” “Just now, a little got out… I wasn’t expecting you to pick me up?” Upstairs, she took me to the bathroom and pulled down my leggings without warning, pulling up the snaps of the onesie since I hadn’t changed from work. “Yes, just a little oopsie; sit down and finish, then we’ll get you cleaned up,” she told me as she surprised me by ripping the sides of the Pull-Up off, too. ‘A little oopsie?’ I thought to myself as I sat down on the toddler potty seat. Just as I held that internal conversation in my head, my bladder, and bowels both released into the bowl with a vengeance! “I haven’t had an accident in over twenty years!!! Why am I suddenly having problems?” I said aloud. Erica heard me but waited until I’d wiped before answering. “Look, there’s nothing wrong with an occasional accident, Katie. From what I understand, this is a common side effect for those arriving from your dimension. It’s a cultural shock to see you all use the potty so well when you arrive.” “When we arrive?” I asked, stomach dropping. She shrugged, “I don’t know if it’s the food, water, air, radiation, or something else, but most Littles tend to need to wear protection for a reason. As long as they’re just small blips like you had, a Pull-Up will do fine for you, though!” She patted my back, “But, that being said, I figure you’re also probably going to fall asleep during the next movie. Just in case you do, how about you put your jammies on after you wash your hands?” I turned red but said, “You could always wake me up?” “I’m not so sure of that. You were dead to the world this morning and didn’t wake up last night?” You could probably cook an egg on my face then, but I just shrugged, “Okay.” She watched me wash my hands. I’d pulled the leggings up to give myself some modesty but left the onesie unsnapped. The view in the mirror as I stared at my face made me sick. I wasn’t KiKi by any stretch, but the distance was not as far as I believed it should have been! After I dried my hands, I followed Erica to the changing table, which she lifted me onto. She rubbed a bit of rash cream into my skin, and she quickly had me diapered and zipped up into another set of footie pajamas I didn’t remember buying. “Where’d these come from?” I asked. She blushed, “I bought them yesterday on my way home. We can switch to something else if you want to?” I shook my head, “They’re fine.” Once she sat me down, I gathered my hair into a ponytail with a scrunchie, and we were soon downstairs deciding on another movie. “What do you want to watch now?” She asked. I shrugged, “Maybe an action movie? Maybe something science-fiction?” She looked thoughtful, “Okay, I know a good one!” As she started the movie, she turned the lights out. “Would you want hot chocolate?” “Sure, but we’ll have to take the diaper off before I go to bed so I can pee?” “That’s fine. We have plenty of diapers, and you’re hopefully only using them at night for a couple more nights anyway?” With a shrug, I nodded and watched the movie begin with a futuristic space battle. It was something like the classic old movies of Star Wars or maybe Battlestar Galactica that my dad had loved repeatedly showing my siblings and me as kids. It seemed more realistic, though, and with the technology, it felt like I was actually flying through space at times! The effects were so amazing I almost missed Erica handing me the small mug. It was a little cooler than I preferred but still warm, and it had a couple of marshmallows on top! I took a sip and said, “Oh my god, you all have the best hot chocolate!” “The key is to use real milk,” she told me. “The packet stuff or the stuff from AmeniTea just doesn’t cut it for me.” We clinked our glasses as a cheer, even as I found myself rapidly downing the cup. “More?” She asked me. She looked excited about something, and I assumed it was the compliments. I felt a little bloated but had no self-control. “I shouldn’t… but I will if you do?” She smiled, “Sure. I’ll get another round!” I had just as little self-control as I drank the second cup but was bloated enough then that there was no way I would do a third. Instead, I focused on the movie and the soundtrack and, at some point, found myself leaning on Erica, who made a comfy pillow. It was so comfy that I must have passed out asleep before the movie reached its’ final act! THE NEXT MORNING, I discovered I had been carried and put to bed again, and I had no idea that had happened! Light came through a couple of windows above the shelves of toys and was just hitting me in the eye. I looked over and realized I was squeezing Honey like usual, even though the bed was not normal! The small rail did come up a fair way on my torso as I stood up, but I could crawl through the opening by where my feet had been. I stretched out and felt some pops and cracks in my joints. The toddler bed clearly had an inferior mattress, and I felt that right then! I was walking to the bathroom and realized something felt… strange. Same pajamas. My hair was in a sleep braid… I thought I remembered Erica getting bored after the hot chocolate and doing that. My feet were warm. Diaper… My diaper was… wet?!? I jumped when the bedroom door opened, and Erica came in. “I heard you getting up; how’d you sleep?” I blushed. “Umm… well, the bed’s definitely not as comfortable?” I told her. “Sorry about that; that toddler bed was a cheap buy, so I’d have somewhere for Amber and later Everly to nap or sleep at night if they stayed over.” I nodded, “No one plans to have an adult houseguest use the children’s furniture,” I laughed nervously. “I don’t know that it would interest you at all, but the crib actually has a better mattress in it. Amber prefers to take a nap in there sometimes with Arthur instead of sharing the toddler bed with Everly.” I blushed, “How old is Amber?” “Oh, she’s six. She’s just not a gigantic six-year-old yet. Her mom is pretty short for a Big, and she was always a little shorter growing up until she hit puberty.” “How tall is she?” I asked nervously. “Oh, she’s only six-foot-three?” “Only…?” I sputtered, “She’s SIX?” “You saw kids like that yesterday?” “I guess it’s too early to think about things like that.” I gazed at the crib and shuddered that a six-foot kid could still comfortably fit. Looking at the mattress, I actually thought the truth was that I could probably almost stack two of me head to foot and not be too long. “I can imagine. I guess I never thought about it, but how tall would a six-year-old be in your dimension?” I did some mental math in my head, “About forty-five inches? A bit shorter than four feet?” “Yeah, we have six-month-old babies that are taller than that!” I shook my head. “So… I guess I should ask again… How did you sleep?” “What do you mean?” She sighed, “Sorry to ask bluntly, is your diaper dry or wet?” I hung my head lower, “Wet.” She didn’t say anything to me then; she just came over and knelt down to hug me. “I’m sorry, Katie. I hate to see that happen to you.” I shrugged, “You said last night that it’s normal. We have adults back home who sometimes lose control; they get on with life; I’ll have to do so, too. It shouldn’t be the end of the world?” “That’s the spirit!” she told me. “Why don’t I help you get that wet diapee off, and we’ll get you a bath?” “A bath?” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know how I’d possibly reach your bathtub sides?” She smiled, “But think of having your own private pool? You can swim, right? I know most of you all from your world, can?” I nodded, “Yes, my parents had a pool while we grew up.” “Great! Tell you what, let’s get you set up with a bubble bath; it’ll help you feel all better. I’ll come help you out when you’re done!” I felt that I should hate this idea, but for some reason, her extra ‘support’ didn’t feel wrong. Instead, it gave me a positive, warm tingly feeling. Ten minutes later, she placed me in the too-tall tub, where I could stand up and still have water to my shoulders as high as she had drawn the bath. It was pretty much the antithesis of how you should do a bath for someone the age of my size, so I appreciated the treatment as an ‘adult’ who wouldn’t drown. That said, I watched her come and check on me a few times as I floated on my back. “About ready to get out?” She asked me. “Umm… I still haven’t really washed,” I said. “I can help?” She suggested. “Umm…” “Least I can do since you’re having so many challenges? I know I love to have my hair washed by someone else?” I nodded. Mom, my sister, or my hairdresser—it didn’t matter which it was; it felt nice. “Okay,” I said. “Here, let’s drain some of this,” She said. The water had drained to just above my breasts, and she got to work with shampoo that was definitely not my usual product. It smelled like berries. “That’s not my normal shampoo?” “You have to try this; it’s a brand infused with nanites. It helps tame your hair better and even strengthens the hair follicles. I lose much less hair during the day to shedding with this stuff!” With a shrug, I let her go to work, closing my eyes and enjoying what had become a bit of a massage. Luckily, there were still some bubbles in the water a moment later, though, because my eyes shot open as I peed uncontrollably in the tub! ‘Gross!’ I thought, even as I was not about to tell on myself. Fortunately, she was done rinsing my hair out. She handed me a loofa that I scrubbed my body off quickly and then let her pull me out. As she did so, I was sure I could not get in and out of the tub on my own. I also noted there was no stand-alone shower in this bathroom. “I can still use the other bathroom for showers, right?” “Sure you can. This was just convenient for letting you relax,” Erica told me as she stood me on the ground, wrapped in a towel. I took it in stride as she handed me a Pull-Up, one of the sweaters, and a pair of jeans before offering to do my hair. Fortunately for me, she didn’t take advantage of the hair to make it look like I was a little girl; instead, she braided a pretty cool fish along the back and left me looking like the miniature adult I was. “So what’s the plan?” I asked her at breakfast. “We’re going to my mom’s house so they can meet you. My sister and brother will be there with their families, too.” “Oh, that’s nice. My family always likes to get together like that one weekend, too.” “Yeah, it’s great for the cousins to get a chance to play together!” As she strapped me in the car seat, placing an obvious diaper bag beside me, I just hoped I wouldn’t be seen as ‘one of the cousins!’ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks everyone for reading! Please press the Like button and leave a comment! I haven't decided for sure when I will post this week, but I may give you a second chapter this next week... or maybe a second and third? It depends on my happiness from likes and how my muse behaves here! Theoretically, I've written through Chapter 15. There were a few holes here and there that I was chasing. We'll see where it all goes from here! I've sketched 20 chapters, plus an epilogue to this part of Katie's story. Being done this week is my goal! Anyway, I hope you all had a great set of Holidays! 🙂

Chapter 97: Faulty I FELT LIKE that electric zap feeling I’d felt before was even more intense, and I felt my bladder send out a wave of urine into the diaper I wore. “Son of a…” I almost cursed but caught myself, “That hurt!!!” “Are you okay?” Gary asked me with concern. I shook my head and wrung my hands a little since they tingled. “I think so? Did they revert everything?” I realized my voice definitely did not sound like my Connor voice. “We’ll have to check visually,” Gary said, “But while my tablet said they were sent the code to revert and deactivate, I think you’re still Carly?” “I’m going to call his grandmother,” Beth said. Nikki reappeared right then and said, “Already called her, Beth. She should be here any…” “Connor?” Grandma came through right then. “I was already on my way up here. What’s going on?” “I think something went wrong?” I said to her. “You activated the revert state already?” Grandma asked Gary. “This says it activated?” Grandma looked at the screen for a few minutes before saying, “Okay, I’m going to need to take her and get this sorted out. Are you guys done for the day?” “Yes,” Charlotte said. “We’re done filming?” “Beth, why don’t you get changed and show me where you have Carly’s clothes? We’ll get this figured out…” She looked at Gary, “Would you ask Professor Ponce to call me? She oversaw the treatment?” “She did,” Gary said. “Good, tell her to call me.” Grandma carried me into the changing room, and I noted she was acting differently than usual. There was a ‘business’ face she wore, and I guessed that meant there was a serious problem. ‘Shit,’ I thought to myself. “This is a cute dress,” Grandma said. “Thanks,” I said, “I can’t say I picked it out?” “No, but it looks cute on you,” she said. “Do you think they’d mind if you wore it out? It would save us some time here?” Gary popped in right then, “Ponce said she’s going to call you.” “Thanks. Do you mind if Connor just wears this out?” He shook his head, “That’s fine. We have a backup, and I think we’re done filming anyway.” “We’ll return it,” she told him. “That’s fine, either way,” he replied. Grandma dug in my bag for one of the spare diapers she’d stashed that morning, changing what was a pretty soaked diaper then. Along with Nikki and Beth following us, Grandma carried me rapidly to the Kilby Center, where she wasted no time taking us to a lab as her phone rang. She activated the HoloProjector feature and said, “Good afternoon, Professor.” “Hi Amanda, what’s going on?” “The nanites you used... Were they actually the ones I sent you last week? Your student tried the revert function on them, but they failed to change him back? I need all the information on how they were programmed and what generation they were otherwise?” “Amanda, those were the exact ones you sent me! Did anything happen at all when the revert was activated? That should have been foolproof?” “My grandson got a pretty big electric shock, according to him and the witnesses.” “I have no idea why that would have happened? We use them all the time?” “I have a few ideas,” Grandma told him, “but I need more information.” “I’ll log into my account and send you the data I have in a couple minutes? It should be the same, but you can take a look.” “Thank you,” she said and hung up. “Connor, just sit down on this for a few minutes,” she told me while placing me on something that looked sort of like a scale but was easily wide enough to sit cross-legged. I watched her do some things with a tablet for a moment before saying, “Tessa?” Right then, the hologram I thought now only lived at her house appeared in the room. “What’s going on Amanda?” “We have a problem with the nanites changing Carly back to Connor. Can you please run a scan and let me know what nanites are active inside of her right now?” “Certainly, just a minute,” the hologram said. “What do you think is going on?” I asked her, even as I saw Beth and Nikki sit on some stools near the table she’d sat me down on. “I don’t want to say until I know something more; give me just a few minutes here,” she told me. “No matter what, you’re not going to die,” she assured me. “Well, until you said that, I wasn’t thinking in those terms,” I said nervously. She stroked my hair, then said, “I’m sure you’ll be fine.” We waited for a long minute before Tessa rematerialized and started a display up in front of us. “There are currently three types of nanites inside of Carly. The first kind is completely inert and inactive. I believe they are type TH4111A and are typically used by the theater department to adjust actors and actresses to better fit roles. Next is a type designated LG141B, which is attributed to being a part of LittleGo Plus serum?” “Excuse me?” Grandma said, “Those are still inside her and active?” “That is correct, Amanda.” “And the last type?” I asked. “They’re a weird hybrid of an outdated type A42 that I believe was used when Stacy was here? They’re not quite the same, though, as they’ve had some modifications?” “Well, now we know,” Grandma sighed. “Tessa, can you run an analysis of Carly for the concentration of the Casein Protein I have tagged for incontinence?” Tessa was over thirty years old, and it took her a second, but she said, “The concentration is quite high, Amanda; there’s a significant build-up in the Pontine Micturition Centers. From my analysis, I believe those centers are completely coated and blocked from signal transmission.” “Guess I’m going to be in diapers for a while,” I groaned. “Looks that way, sweetheart,” she said, squeezing me in a tight hug. “Okay, we may be able to solve this, but it won’t be solved any time soon…” “You sent Ponce other nanites for me?” I asked her. She looked sheepish, “Your mom and I wanted to ensure it was safe since we knew you were planning on using them… We never dreamed they wouldn’t work? Or that those others would go active?” “So what do we do about school?” I asked. “That is an excellent question,” Grandma said. “Let’s go to my office so I can send a few emails, and then we’ll go home. I need to call your aunt too…” “Why?” “You’re going to need some new clothes, and I don’t think we have time to go to the mall today.” I tried not to smile at that; her following statement helped. “Especially since we’ll also need to stop by the grocery store and pick up some more packs of diapers. You won’t be wearing training pants while that protein has everything blocked off…” And with that, my mood instantly plummeted! BETH HAD WATCHED quietly from the side, even as Nikki had slipped out to use the restroom. She knew something terrible had to have happened the moment Carly had screamed earlier. She’d suspected something was wrong, though, ever since her accidents began. As she watched Amanda work, she thought she was putting the pieces together pretty well from what was said. Clearly, Carly could tell things were not good on the potty front, as her cute face fell so hard at the knowledge she wouldn’t be wearing training pants anymore. At that, Beth decided to do what she could and crossed the room to pick up her… girlfriend from the scanner and cuddled her in her arms. She wiped a tear from her pudgy face then and realized that if the nanites weren’t changing, Carly would be stuck with a baby face. It was hard to get the full view as she held her, but Beth grimaced internally for the poor girl who was now every Big’s dream adoptee. Carly’s hair was blonde and definitely ‘cute’ even without the color being as light as possible. ‘She’s probably the kind of person who could just be out in the sun for a summer, though, and it would bleach,’ she thought while running a hand through the back of her hair and following Amanda to her office. When they set up the nanites to work on her, there had been a very accurate decision that she wouldn’t have breasts, and just child hips still, so no signs she was an adult. If anything, most people would assume she was a Tweener or a Big’s child about six months to one year of age at most. ‘Crawling to toddling if they were lucky’ for that milestone. They closed Amanda’s door behind them. Beth noted that Nikki had seen them but had chosen to stay outside the office. “Do you have anything you need to get done right now? Homework?” Amanda suddenly asked her as she sat on the office couch and held Carly on her lap, leaning against her chest. She shook her head, “I knew the project would take the weekend, so I got ahead on everything for tomorrow and most of the week.” “Okay,” she sighed, “just checking since this will take a bit. Carly, how is that diaper doing?” Carly jolted upright in her arms and blushed, “I think it’s wet?” “Beth, decision time; I know you two are a thing… Are you comfortable helping her out with these?” “Comfortable?” She found herself saying along with Carly. “Checking her at least right now?” Both were bright red, but at an embarrassed nod from Carly, she squeezed the padding of her diaper. “It’s probably getting close to needing a change? Still okay, though?” “Carly, you have a choice. Can you wait a while yet, or can Beth change you?” “Uhh…” Carly looked up into Beth’s eyes, and it looked like the looks of a deer freezing on the road and staring at its impending doom by car. Beth squeezed her and whispered, “It’s up to you; I’ll do it if you want me to. It doesn’t change anything between us. You’ll be going through a lot of those each day, and the university won’t let you change yourself?” “Beth,” Carly said while leaning into her. Amanda pulled out a diaper from her purse and a packet of wipes. “Just change her on the couch, Beth; you can use a changing pad in that basket.” Beth felt her internals icing up and her face burning like the sun. She stood and placed Carly back on the couch before walking to the waiting diaper and wipes. ‘I’m really about to change my boy… girlfriend’s diaper?!?’ It was taking her a bit of a leap to change the gender in her mind, even though nothing changed about how she felt about her. There was a connection with her that she’d never had with someone before. ‘About to be a whole new kind of connection,’ a voice in her head practically giggled at her. With a fresh diaper and wipes in hand, she crossed over and grabbed the purple changing pad covered in butterflies, even as Amanda was rapidly working on her emails and contacts. She could see it was an older pad, but it still did the trick as she unfolded it onto the couch. Gently, she lifted Carly under the shoulders and laid her out on top of the mat. Carly was just long enough to nearly fill the entire pad length. Beth ran a hand gently through her hair, which had shifted into her face. She placed her on her back, squeezed her shoulder, and then forced herself to pretend her girlfriend was just a baby who needed her diaper changed. That thought made her grimace, but she smiled as she looked down at the tiny girl. “Lift up,” she said as she pushed her legs up and moved the dress skirt out of the way first. She could see the diaper was swelling a little out of the cover. The matching diaper cover was pulled down to her ankles then, and she checked to ensure it was still dry before moving onto the diaper. This brand of diapers had a line moving down the center to help you tell when to change it. The area was discolored along about seventy percent of it, and from Beth’s time in Livy’s mom’s daycare hanging out, she knew it was time for a change. ‘She’s just one of her kids,’ she tried to tell herself. She thought back to the visits she’d made with Livy back there. Apparently, when you’re avoiding adoption yourself, finding a daycare that’s safe for your own babies is tough. It was a bit risky constantly working around the diapers Bigs thought you belonged in. Still, Livy’s mom felt it was a mission to help other Littles with their kids. Having not spent much time around Little’s babies, even Beth had been astounded by how tiny they were compared to their Big counterparts. She ripped the tapes loose on the diaper, and opened it up. Having seen what happened to Charlotte in the one scene, she quickly placed the new diaper and wiped her up. Whether by choice or chance, she was fortunate Carly didn’t pee on her. ‘Some people think of that as fun,’ she shook her head. ‘That is definitely not something I’m getting into!’ Beth was gentle as she changed the small girl, but sure, she had done a good job. She covered the new diaper with the diaper cover and wrapped the wipes in the old one, balling them up. “I’m going to go down the hall and throw this away?” Beth told Amanda. “Just leave it over there,” she said, pointing to a trashcan by the door with a lid. “The HoloCustodian will be by tonight to pick it up. There’s a bathroom in that door you can use to wash your hands,” she added, pointing to a door Beth assumed was a closet. “Be back in a sec,” she told Carly. I HAD FELT absolutely mortified when Grandma suggested that Beth change me! At one point, I had been bored and looked at some growth charts; with Beth’s height, it was like a big fifth-grade sister changing her eighteen-month-old baby sibling… And she was able to physically manage me just fine. It had been scary as she pulled the diaper open, but it was also the most caring touch I’d felt during a change in this dimension. She was gentle, loving, and quick with it… ‘Like Grandma said, it is inevitable she’ll help me again. I just hope I can maintain a peer role and not that of her being my babysitter.’ I heard the water run as she washed her hands before returning to the couch, pulling me onto her lap, and squeezing me. “I’ll never think less of you, Carly. I love you,” she said in my ear. I turned my face to her and quietly replied, “I love you too.” We’d known each other for such a short time, but I really did feel like I’d met my soulmate. Grandma’s phone rang right then, and I watched her answer it, projecting the hologram on top of her desk after motioning for us to be quiet. “Thank you for giving me a call, Ryan.” “Hi Professor, this has been an unusual week; we don’t usually talk this often,” President Barnes said. “Sorry about that; we’ll hopefully return to our normal once-a-year chat after this! You got my email?” Grandma asked. “I did, and I’m more than a little concerned about the effects you’re seeing. I’ve sent an email to the theater department to halt the use of those nanites until we’ve done a full review of the situation,” the university president said. “You might as well rescind that,” Grandma said, “Or, just modify it to say not to use it on Portal Littles for now? I’m certain Connor was a one-in-a-million fluke case.” “I still want a review done just to be safe; we’ll make it quick, though. What do you need from me? Obviously, if you can’t figure out a nanite problem, there’s not anyone else better?” “Well, there’s one Doctor we’ll take her to, but I agree with you. It’s more the university side of things. I want assurances that just because of her gender change and necessary identity change, we won’t have any problems with her registration?” “Oh,” President Barnes said, “I see where your concerns are. I’ll personally guarantee your granddaughter’s status here at Emerson. She’ll need to change nests then, won’t she?” “Yes, she will. I would ask that you please move her to Lilly Desmonde’s nest? She’s got a bit of a relationship already with Carly?” “Carly is her new name?” “Yes,” Grandma answered simply. “As long as she has room, which I’m sure she probably does, we’ll make that happen. I’ll call Grace Melburne, she’s the new acting Head Nest Mother, and let her know. I doubt it’ll be possible to move her in today?” “That’s fine, I’ll keep her at my house tonight anyway so I can monitor for any unexpected changes.” “We’ll let everyone know. Looking at her schedule, why don’t you plan to move Carly into her new nest after her HoloField Theory class? I think everyone can get away for the time she has lunch and get her to her math class without a problem?” “That’ll be great. Is it okay if Fred helps us move her in?” “That’ll be fine,” he told her. “Thanks, Ryan, see you tomorrow.” Grandma looked up at me, “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do today, Carly, Beth. Are you both ready to get out of here?” I nodded as Grandma gathered her purse and came around to the couch. She picked me up and sat me on her hip, “I guess let’s go get your diapers and anything else you need…” The idea of going diaper shopping made me want to just move into my new nest instead! ‘I’m glad Grandma suggested Lilly’s nest. At least I’ll have Mia and Amy in there too?’ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading!!!! Please press that Like Button for this chapter! If I see 25 I'll post another chapter on Monday. I have a bit of time off this week, so I'm hoping to get to writing at least 7-10 more chapters this week. Please help keep me motivated with the likes and comments! A lot of your questions have been answered in this chapter, please let me know what you think! Thanks for everyone who liked the last chapter! 💜 As always, if you enjoy this, please consider purchasing one of my completed works on Amazon Kindle! http://amazon.com/author/babysofia I might have almost dedicated this chapter title to you, your wording here was very timely! 🤣 Thanks! 💜

Epilogue: I FELT THE heaviness of new robes again upon my shoulders, as I looked at Aunt Ruth staring me in the eyes with a wide smile. A tall platform with steps had been provided for me to stand on to reach her level as I was sworn in. Earlier that day I had taken my constitutional oath on live television at The President’s House. It was important, and a big part of the oaths of office, but this one here in the highest courtroom of the land was a much bigger moment for me because of her. She was nearing her eighty-first birthday, having had a huge bash for her eightieth, and said she planned on serving on the court for at least another two terms. “Please repeat after me,” she said. “I, state your name.” “I, Cameron Frank Sylvester.” “Do solemnly swear that I will administer justice…” She led me through each phrase until I uttered, “under the Constitution and laws of the United States.” “Congratulations,” she told me with a smile. She gave me a big hug before I hopped down to hug my kids. Beth was taller than me but shorter than the rest of them. She was the first to reach me though and hugged me, “Congratulations Daddy,” she told me with a smile. She was fourteen and had passed me in height a year ago during her growth spurt, and I had been so relieved that she was no longer just inches away from freedom! With our help, she was at the top of her class in grades, and did pretty well in competitive dance and cheer as well! Jason stood two inches taller than her and hugged me too, “Awesome Dad!” He told me. At ten-and-a-half years old he was the youngest, and it wasn’t fair that he towered over me so far! His brother Lance was right next to him and was a little more circumspect with the handshake he gave me. I forced his giant frame that was only eighteen inches shorter than his mom into a hug though. At thirteen I knew he still had plenty of room to grow! I had a feeling he was going to be close to Addy’s height when all was said and done. My beautiful little girl Laura was next, at eleven-and-a-half years old, she was taller than Beth already, but not quite her brother’s height. The doctors figured that she’d top about nine feet at most when she was done growing, something that made her frown until she put her arm on her big sisters’ shoulder and reminded herself, at least she wasn’t the shortest! Addy was there next, and our embrace was one that passionately shared our love as we shared a chaste kiss and broke apart. A photographer was on hand to memorialize the moment, and we stood for numerous pictures as a family before going out to eat. “I’m so proud of you Cameron,” Aunt Ruth said as we walked together. “Thank you, Aunt Ruth, this would never have happened without you!” I told her. She laughed, “I’m sure it would have. You’ve always been tenacious and if I hadn’t stepped forward surely your David and Kendra would have found a way.” I shrugged, “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one that stopped things.” We had told Beth her history when she turned twelve. She had been really upset about us ‘lying’ to her at first, until I showed her the plaque that she had made me. She’d fingered it as if it triggered a long-lost memory. “I really loved you, didn’t I?” She asked. I nodded, “And I, you.” “And I was completely lost?” “Completely… Well, you’ve seen those Littles on the news lately…?” She shuddered, “Yeah…” It had taken a few weeks of processing, but she had come to me one night and hugged me tightly, “Thank you Daddy for giving me a second chance.” Not wanting to lie to our kids, eventually, we had told all of them. Fortunately, we had great kids, and not a single one made fun of Beth for it. She was always their loving ‘big’ sister, and would always be that to them no matter her past. It was why in some ways I couldn’t help but admit my disappointment that she wanted to return to Emerson to go to school when she graduated high school. “Why there?” I asked her, “It’s in Ames?” “Ames is better now, you’ve said it yourself Dad,” she told me. “It’s still Ames…” “I promise I won’t end up in diapers like you,” she smiled. “And you…?” I reminded her. “I was shorter then, right?” I sighed, but nodded, “Yes you were…” With that, I gave her my blessing and before I knew it, we were soon helping to move her into the same dorm Addy had lived in when we met. As we hugged a final time after saying our goodbyes, she pushed a small wrapped present into my hands. “Open it, but not until after you leave,” she told me. We soon left her to partake in orientation, and I found myself staring at the wrapped box. Lance, Laura, and Jason were sitting in the back glued to their devices, so I felt like it was okay to open it without them taking too much notice. I felt my heart stop as I viewed a similar piece of slate to that which she had given me as an adult decades ago. More Than Inches As a Little girl, I knew that Daddy was the one I could always depend on. No girl knows how dependent on Daddy she is until she grows to an adult. Growing up we find ourselves to be like, the miniature versions of our parents. Until we learn, while we may look alike, paths must be different in appearance. Once upon a time, it was inches that sent our paths askew. Inches, just inches, were something that seemed to just be a fact. But dreams are made of much more than inches! Daddy taught me that dreams are beautiful, hopeful, and the way to a better life. Dreams in inches are really very beautiful, because Daddy loved enough to give life! Growing up with a dream to be better. Inches, just inches, no longer askew. May this be a token and a tether, For a daughter’s love, of hope, and a dream. “You okay Daddy?” Laura asked me. “Sure am, Laura, couldn’t be better,” I said with a smile, even as I wiped the tears from my eyes as discreetly as possible. Finis ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And that’s the end folks! Please press the Like Button and comment! Before I get to the rest of my thoughts, I need to give a big shout-out to @DiaperedPrince for his help in editing the back half of this book! Thank you for your help! I look forward to reading something from you down the road on here! ? I understand that this ending was controversial for many of you, and have quickly scanned through the comments here really quick. I don’t know if my Epilogue will have changed anything for you or not? When I wrote this I honestly didn’t want to just wave a magic wand on Beth. She needed to come back in a way that ‘made sense,’ even if it was quite a bit out there. Those of you saying she didn’t get her spot to shine know that moment may come down the road as I could see myself coming back to her story some day (not right away!). With respect to Addy, I’m not completely sure where she became such a polarizing character, but she wasn’t meant to be anything evil in the end at all. She and Cameron have a very loving relationship and marriage here in my mind! Yes there is some bedroom play, but that happens with many married couples! Nothing of it is forced in any way later on in life. The kids definitely put a damper on much of it though as they grew older. Anyway, thank you for joining me on this journey. I hope you have enjoyed the story! Thank you for making this the most commented story on this board, and well up there for reads! At some point in the next week or so I may go ahead and post a more ‘final’ version in the completed story side and link to it from the front post so that the discussion is preserved, but it’s easier to read through it! Thanks again everyone!

Chapter 64: Nominations I WALKED DOWN the hallway back to my office from the conference room where we had met with a new client. They claimed a new streaming company was creating hypnosis videos and placing them deliberately on sites that Little college students regularly visited. On the face of it, the evidence we had been given looked pretty strong to me, but it would take our investigators verifying the information before we would confirm that we would take the case. The Little paying to lead the suit was the father of a nineteen-year-old college student who had fortunately been safely at home for the summer when she began randomly peeing her pants and crying about wanting num-nums from her mommy. I had just sat down in the chair to jot down some more notes when my phone rang with our secretary’s extension showing, “Mr. Sylvester?” I heard. “Yes, Nikki?” “I have a gentleman on the phone who says he is calling on behalf of the President?” I laughed, “That’s a good one, what’s the ID say?” “It shows The President’s House,” she said nervously. “I’m guessing this is an elaborate hoax… would you get Kendra to come down here to stand by in case there’s some hypnotic component?” “She’s already on her way down sir.” A knock on my door and I waved her in, “Put it through,” I said and left it on speakerphone. “Hello?” “Is this Mr. Cameron Sylvester?” “Yes? May I ask who this is?” “I’m Lindsey Walters, the assistant to the President, please stand by…” Kendra looked at me perplexed as David joined the room too, “Mr. Sylvester?” I heard a familiar presidential voice a moment later. “Umm… Yes, sir?” I paused, “This is a real call?” The voice laughed, “You have no idea how many times I hear that! Yes, it’s a real call. Look, first of all, I want to offer my condolences for all that you’ve been through this past year with your former fiancé, SafeFoods, Aubry Harris, and everyone else over there that put you through Hell and back.” I was in shock, and all I could say was, “Thank you, Mr. President.” “Now, as to why I’m calling… We have a problem in this country in the judiciary with too many cases like yours happening. I have an open seat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals that Judge Bancroft just retired from. I wanted to know if you might be interested in being nominated to fill that seat.” I felt my jaw drop, “Umm… I’m really honored, Mr. President, but surely you have more experienced jurors that could fill that spot?” “Horse shit,” he said, “You have more real-world experience than any of the other candidates on the list that was given to me. How many others out of those do you think have experienced the injustices you have?” “Hopefully none, Sir,” I said with a sigh. “Exactly, none. That’s why I want you there! Now I know you’re young, but I also know there’s a certain Supreme Court Justice who would probably be willing to take a phone call from you every now and then for advice?” I laughed, “If I didn’t, I guarantee she’d let me know about it!” I paused, “If I’m made a justice on the Appellate Court, that’s a lifetime appointment, correct?” “Yes, it is, at least until hopefully someday you can follow your mentor’s footsteps.” “Would I even have a chance of being confirmed by the senate?” He laughed, “Trust me, I wouldn’t be contacting you if I didn’t know we could get you through. My party’s votes alone would carry you through, but I suspect there’ll be bi-partisan support for your nomination. The first Mid ever nominated to a Court of Appeals?” He laughed, “It has a certain political ring to it. So, what do you say?” I looked at Kendra and David who were both nodding strongly at me, “I don’t have much choice, I’ll say ‘yes!’” “Great! My Chief of Staff will be in touch later for all of the actual details on your confirmation hearing and everything. I’d like to get you down here for dinner one night during your hearing if we can swing it. I would love to meet and speak with you.” “Thank you, sir,” I said. The phone call ended after a couple of pleasantries and Kendra was there hugging me. “Oh my God! Cameron, this is amazing!!!” “Congrats, Cameron!” David said to me. “Did that really just happen?” I wondered aloud. An impromptu dinner party was planned for the next day to celebrate my nomination, which was announced on the news segments an hour later. On my way home, I wondered just how I had ended up at this point! Just eight months ago I’d been asked to make THE decision of my life, and I’d chosen to take the very risky gamble on trusting the short Doctor Nickerson and Amanda, who claimed that they had managed to recover enough of my X and Y chromosomes from my semen sample to make a solid attempt at fixing the damage. They had assessed a ten percent risk of possible shrinking, but other than that, the worst-case seemed to be that I’d be in the same situation and need to just go the girl route instead. They’d put me under, and apparently, the reprogramming went really well! The damage to my genitals and skeletal system was mostly corrected within a few hours of beginning the treatment. The next two days had been touch and go while they siphoned out almost all of the nanites in my blood. My understanding was that Amanda destroyed them when she was done, in the hopes that it would prevent them from being misused in the future. I had been nervous about shrinking and other ill effects from the procedure, but fortunately for me, the side effects never came! I still stood at my old height just fine! My potty-training was a little bit sketchy afterwards, but improved rapidly as my body rediscovered nerves that had been rerouted. After a month of Pull-Ups just in case, and only a handful of accidents, I’d been going around in regular underwear now for seven. I had even almost put back on almost all of the weight I’d had before the attack! The only lasting physical effect was a thinner bone structure, and a face that definitely leaned slightly more feminine than it had before with a smaller nose and jaw than I had been born with. It wasn’t a perfect recovery, but given everything that had happened to me in Ames I had been ecstatic to escape relatively unscathed. I wish I could say the same treatment could be done for Beth, but Amanda and Holly were certain that the damage to her brain was irreversible at this point. A month ago, I’d received a call that Ashley, Beth’s mom, had died of a heart attack in her sleep. I’d gone up to attend the funeral and consoled the distraught Mr. Fehler. Beth had been too clueless to really understand, but I noticed that she did seem to sense an absence as I hugged her and cuddled her some. I stuck around for a weekend and came back even more distraught over the disasters that seemed to always be happening in my life. Today though… I couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope for my future. ‘Me, a judge?’ I thought, ‘Before I’m even thirty?!?’ Honestly, that was the biggest concern I had… I really was too young in my own opinion! But who the hell turns down the President of the United States?!? I had the radio tuned to a news station as I drove down the road. In other news, President Barnum announced today that he is nominating Cameron Sylvester for the vacant spot on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Sylvester would be the first-ever person under thirty to be confirmed, but more unusually he would be the first-ever Mid-sized judge to sit on an appellate court bench. Another voice came on, Isn’t Mr. Sylvester way too young for this position? Normally I would agree, but he has life experience beyond any thirty- or forty-year-old we could nominate. Most recently, he has dealt firsthand with the injustices of corrupt businesses, courts, and been unjustly given a Maturosis ruling that was overturned. I believe he has a good head on his shoulders and will rule according to the law… ‘No pressure,’ I thought, hearing the President’s voice defending me himself. I was so focused on the radio that I almost missed the expensive red sports car sitting at the gated entrance to my home. A window rolled down on the passenger’s side as I drove up, and I looked shocked as I realized it was Addy. “Addy?” “Hi, Cam… I was hoping we might be able to talk?” “You could have called?” “Let’s just say I was in the neighborhood and wanted to see you?” I was a little nervous about her being there – after all, we’d proven she had more than enough strength and height to easily control me like a toddler! Sighing, “Follow me through,” I told her, hitting the gate opener. The large gate in front of my car swung open and I watched in the rearview mirror as the red sports car followed me inside the gated walls. I noted that it was definitely a nice new model of a barely street-legal car – much more her style than the mommy type SUV had been. I parked my car inside the attached garage as usual, while she pulled up to the front. I walked out the open garage door and shut it, meeting her on the porch by the front door. After fiddling with the electronic keypad and fingerprint scanner for a moment, a beep announced the door opening, “Come in,” I told her. “Be warned, the house is big-sized, but I have mid-sized furniture.” “That’s fine,” she said. The large size of the house had always made the furniture seem smaller than normal, but having a Big in the house made it feel even more like a child’s playhouse. I led her to the living room, where at least the large couch should hold her size fairly well. I sat in my favorite recliner adjacent to that. “How have you been?” I asked her. “I guess I should ask if you want something to drink?” “I’m good, thanks… As far as how I’ve been?” She shook her head, “Not good…” “Sorry to hear that,” I told her honestly. “I needed to come and drop something off to you that I should have already given back to you…” She pulled a jewelry box out of her pocket and leaned over to hand it to me. Inside was the necklace she had given me and Beth’s ring. I felt some tears on my face, “Thanks.” “How is she?” Addy asked gently. I shrugged, “No different… You said it yourself, the damage is permanent. Amanda has an idea that they’re trialing at Emerson - to use nanites to remove the plaque that formed after the chemicals - but the underlying problem is that none of the previous synapsis are there anymore. Doctor Nickerson, the Little one, thinks that they can regrow the tissue to the brain, but it’ll be like a newborn brain. She’ll have to learn everything all over again, walking, talking, school… Beth’s dad isn’t even sure she’d want to go through all of that.” I felt a tear go down my face, “Honestly Addy, he’s talking more about putting her in a facility or hospice care. Her mom died of a heart attack, and Beth will most likely face something like that just because she’s unable to move much and maintain her health. A cure may be around the corner, but approval for a trial of the cure that Amanda has been working on will take months, if not years, longer to come through.” “I’m sorry Cameron, I would never have been okay with doing that…” I nodded, “Addy, I’ve always known you were one of the better ones… I was more shocked by Dani…” She nodded, “I was too… They finally caught her two days ago, did you know that?” I felt some relief flow through me at that, “Where?” “Javari, down in South Acirema. They’re extraditing her to Ames to stand trial.” “Good, I guess,” I told her. “I still can’t believe her…” “Neither could I, Cam,” she told me. “I… She always seemed to believe the right things… I don’t know what changed…” I couldn’t help but note that she seemed as sad as I was in life at this point. “So, what have you been doing? You disappeared after somehow bringing me Rings?” I forced myself not to blush about the fact that she still sat beside my pillows on my bed upstairs. “I did my depositions on Mom’s case, and made some statements about Dani…” She looked pained at those. “And I spent a few days in the hospital too… After you passed out from that beating Dani gave you they went after my butt with a hairbrush for a while as well. While you were still out they forced me to drink four bottles of breast milk laced with Little Go before diapering me. By the time the agents untied me I had blown out the diaper they put me in…” She breathed in, “Then I was pretty much a mess as they took me to the hospital to get checked out. An agent drove me home once they found I was okay as I could be besides being told I would at least need to temporarily wear diapers thanks to the Little Go. I hadn’t been home fifteen minutes when Dani showed up…” “What happened then?” I asked, “They said you were tied up?” “She knocked me out with a taser again, tied me up, and then must have gone through my stuff to find some cash I had. The next thing I knew the police were there…” “I’m sorry,” I told her. “How did she even get free?” She shrugged, “Since we were both unconscious, she convinced the agents she was also a victim… so they let her go to come check on her sister.” “I guessed it was something like that too… So, are you okay now?” She blushed, “It took me about a month to recover afterwards… I couldn’t face anyone, so I left town after voting in Ivy Nickerson to be CEO. After that I sold all of my shares and disappeared to a cabin in the mountains to recover. Honestly, I have enough money from selling my shares to live comfortably for the rest of my life… but I have no desire to be in Ames anymore. I’ve been traveling from place to place since then, just trying to figure out what I want in life… I know you can relate – I have no one in my life anymore.” I could feel her pain and fully understood it. It was my own daily way of existing too. “Tell you what?” I said looking at my watch and seeing it was already an hour past when I normally had dinner. “You wanna go get dinner with me somewhere?” “Why…” She started to say. “Well since you’re asking that question, I assume you haven’t been listening to or watching the news?” She shook her head, “I’ve avoided news ever since everything happened… I wouldn’t have known about Dani if they hadn’t called me.” “Well let’s just say that in the midst of feeling every bit as depressed as you can imagine, something big happened today and I wouldn’t mind going out and celebrating with someone?” “What happened?” she asked. “I’m being nominated for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals’ open seat.” “But…” “But I’m too short?” I was a little annoyed. She shook her head, “I was thinking too young? Isn’t that something that normally goes to someone in their forties?” “It is, so we’ll see if I’m even confirmed, but even if I’m not it’s an honor to be nominated!” She looked torn, “Okay, sure. Do you mind if I drive though? I don’t think I could fit in your clown car?” “Clown car?!?” I glared at her. “It’s a perfectly sized car if you’re a normal height…” She laughed, and I realized something. ‘I really missed her laugh.’ For a second there was a twitch of a smile on both of our faces. ‘I missed that smile too!’ I sat down in the front seat of her sports car since there were no backseats. She did have a backless booster sitting there that I grumbled about, but the truth was that it was a BIG car! As soon as she started the engine, the Addy of our college days driving like a crazy person definitely came out to play! We reached the small remote restaurant in half the time it normally took me to get there. I did have enough time though to call Aunt Ruth and talk to her about my offer. She seemed to think I would be more than ready for things – my understanding of the law was clear, and I knew how to be deliberate about decisions. We hung up after she also chastised me for trusting Addy, and telling me she expected a phone call tomorrow saying I was okay! The restaurant was a unique high-end restaurant twenty minutes outside of the city. I’d managed to use my status as a regular to get a reservation at the restaurant when we left my house. Addy’s expensive sports car looked better than most of the cars in the lot, but it had plenty of high-end companions that she parked next to, which kept it from being a complete shock to see at the place. The old farmhouse the restaurant had been converted from had a beautiful wrap-around porch that we walked up a staircase to, and then I opened a door to reveal the maître’d’s stand just inside the doorway. “Good evening Mr. Sylvester,” he said to me. “I see you have a lovely guest with you tonight. Please follow me to your table.” “Thanks,” I told him. “Come here often?” Addy asked. I shrugged, “It’s one of the closest good restaurants to my house, and the food is as good here as anywhere I’ve eaten. The Chef immigrated ten years ago…” Over an amazing dinner, Addy and I genuinely talked. We spoke about her feelings, my feelings, and even about the elephant in the room - her babying me. “I’m sorry about all of it Cameron…” “Tell me the truth Addy, what was with the hair all these years? You really wanted me as a girlfriend, or what?” She blushed, “I…” I watched her squirm, “Look Cameron, I always enjoyed when we had sex… but a part of me always fantasized about the idea of having you dressed as my little baby girl too…” “You like girls?” I asked her. She shrugged, “I tried a relationship with a woman after I broke up with you in college. Honestly, it didn’t do anything for me. It was more just the idea of dressing you up and putting you to my breast?” I nodded, “I wondered.” “Okay, your turn to tell me the truth… Was being my little girl that bad?” It was definitely my turn to squirm, but I shook my head, “Anyone else and it would have been utter torture, but with you, it wasn’t completely terrible. The massages you gave me, the attention… and honestly, the nursing was kind of nice.” “So…?” “So, Addy, I don’t have any desire to be adopted and be your baby girl? Look at the future I have in front of me now. As a judge on the Court of Appeals, I can make so much of a difference in the lives of people – Bigs, Mids, and Littles alike! I couldn’t do that if I was adopted.” “What if it was just pretend play?” “Play?” “Oh, come on, we tried some different types of play in bed…?” “You mean…?” She smirked, “And then we enjoy the fact that my mom failed?” I opened my mouth to respond, but couldn’t. Fortunately, dessert was delivered right then and I was able to hold off my response. “How can I trust that you wouldn’t just drag me outside, dressed as a baby?” I asked her when I had one bite left in the cake. “Well… I easily could, we both know that. But you can trust me, Cam.” I mulled over that as I paid the check before she could, and then climbed back in her car. Back at my house, I said, “Honestly I’m not even sure everything still fits correctly with you.” She looked at me surprised, “What, you think we need to test drive it?” “Without the babying for a while?” She looked thoughtful, “Okay, but you have to agree to sometimes go along with it?” “Let’s talk later…” My bed was a full-sized Big bed, so we easily fit on it together that night as we did verify that things fit - multiple times. When we were both finally tired out, she carried me to the huge oversized bathtub the contractors had installed before I bought the house. It was easily big enough for both of us, and I sat still as she gently washed me and then herself while I sleepily looked on at her. Milk came from her breast in a few droplets. “How do you feel about this…?” She asked me, while holding her breast. I shrugged, “Amanda said she left me enough nanites to take care of it…” “Then come here, baby girl?” I felt my insides turn to goo at that statement. I felt a certain revulsion, but also a feeling of absolute pleasure as I let her place me at her breast sitting a couple of inches above the water. I didn’t immediately suckle though, instead, I pressed my tongue to her nipple and licked around her breast. I felt her shudder and smirked that I knew how much pleasure she was getting. A drop of the milk on my tongue meant my mind said it was time to drink the tasty drink though. I nursed from both breasts, and sleepily dressed myself in pajamas and a Pull-Up, just to be safe. I soon lay cuddled up in her arms, staring at her beautiful face as we both went to sleep. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and Leave a Comment! I believe most of your questions have been answered by this chapter, with a few loose threads that will be tied up in the next chapter and the Epilogue. How did I do? I appreciate all of your comments throughout posting this novel! I never would have believed we'd make it to 100 pages of comments on this!!!! Not to mention we're in the range of views that are mostly accompanied by MUCH older posts! Thank you for supporting me in that way! Seeing your Likes and Comments is what makes it fun to keep posting works! I plan to post the final Chapter Tuesday evening when I get home from work, then I'll post the Epilogue most likely on Wednesday to finish up this tale. Thanks again so much for reading!

Chapter 41: Rings WE STAYED IN the falls, our designated ‘time-out’ spot for just a few minutes before going back out to the other part of the pool. The two of us just lazily floated around for a while before she decided it was time to go inside for dinner. “Let’s get you into a dry outfit, and then we’ll get some din-din in your wittle tummy!” She tickled my side again while we walked inside. The walk upstairs didn’t take long, and I was soon dressed in a simple t-shirt dress and a new diaper. “Why don’t you stay here, while Mommy goes and gets dressed really quick?” She suggested. I sighed but nodded. I found myself exploring the room some more, looking at the toys spread about the shelves and the floor. There were a few Littles based learning toys that might offer a small amount of challenge to play. Most of the ones I recognized tended to be designed to educate or entertain someone who had struggled badly through their high school course work. A lot of Littles knew the fate that was coming, and just didn’t care about school from middle school onward since math wasn’t exactly complicated when you were just pooping diapers and crawling around on a floor. For these toys Math problems might be at the Pre-Calc or Algebra level for the math learning toys on the advanced levels. Spelling toys might ask you to spell words that would be easy college test words… Others might involve some games that might give you a little bit of a team challenge as a video game. Over the years I’d heard some weren’t too bad, but there was far too much danger in ever holding one – even at my slightly tall height, it would have been like inviting a mommy to come and claim me! Some building blocks were placed in some tubs, but they were the big ones meant to be too big to fit inside a baby’s mouth, not the small ones you could actually do really cool things building designs and sculptures with. I found a shelf of coloring books and some paper that I guessed I could draw with when I ended up truly bored. And then there was the dollhouse, and probably a dozen baby dolls spread about of different sizes that ranged from the dollhouse size, on up to a real newborn Amazon size. I picked one of them up and looked at it for a moment, really not even understanding what a kid did with them. Truthfully like most Littles, I had avoided holding onto any toys too long growing up, in a vain attempt to be seen as bigger than I was. I turned to one last portion of the room and a giant net that I hadn’t really looked at the contents at so far. It was filled with a ton of stuffed plush animals. One in particular kind of stood out to me as I got closer to it. It had four black legs, then a lighter brownish red fur above it on the torso. The muzzle of the creature was white with a cute little black nose, and it had a splotchy face of brown and white around its eyes. The ears were white in front, and black on the back, and it had a ringed tail alternating with brownish red fur, then a darker brown, and then black on the final ring at the end of the tail. I tried to think of what the creature was called? I couldn’t help but pick it up and stroke its very soft fur out of curiosity while I did so. It was so very soft! I was just thinking I should put it down again, when I heard the click of a digital shutter and realized I had an audience. I sat the creature down hurriedly and looked up to glare at my assailant. “No pictures…” I whined. “Yes pictures!” she said as she came and knelt next to where I stood. She grabbed the stuffed animal and said, “Did you make a new friend?” I shook my head, “Just looking,” I said. She wasn’t convinced, “What’s its name?” “Name?” “You have to name your stuffies, and your dolls, it’s in the little girl rulebook.” “I’m not… I don’t…” She brought it closer to me and handed it into my arms. I instinctively took it and hugged it, “What’s its name?” “I don’t even remember what it’s supposed to be? I was looking at it because of that.” She laughed, “It’s a red panda, isn’t it adorable?” I nodded, “She’s soft too…” “So, it’s a she?” I shrugged, “She looks like a ‘she’…” “Hmm… we’ll have to both think of a name tonight, let’s take her down to dinner so you can cuddle with her…” “We don’t…” I started to say, but she already had me on her hip as I awkwardly hoped she wasn’t dropping me as off balance as I felt. I squeezed the animal tight though, and there was something comforting in that juvenile act. She squeezed me tightly, “Let’s go get some din-din!” I sighed, and endured the walk downstairs to the table. As she buckled me in, she took the animal from me and I said, “Rings?” “Rings?” “Name!” I said, “Does it work?” She laughed, “She’s your stuffie sweetie. I think Rings works very well though, like her little tail, huh?” I blushed, but nodded. “Rings it is.” She handed her back to me, “You can snuggle with her while Mommy gets your din-din on a plate.” I blushed some more, but took her and found myself squeezing her while Addison went about the kitchen. I rested my chin on her body, as her legs fell below my left arm, and her head rested above my elbow. There was something truly comforting about holding her. Even though it wasn’t a live, it felt like I was holding some kind of large cat or something. A childish plastic plate was brought out again, and I watched her mutilate a piece of tasty looking lasagna with a knife. She placed a larger whole piece on a glass plate, and put both on the table in front of her. The high chair I was in suddenly was pulled closer to her on the wheels it was on, and she took and placed Rings on the table out of reach. I sat still as a bib was placed around my neck, and expected she would place the plate on the tray. Instead, it stayed next to her. I looked inquisitively at her, but didn’t say anything, knowing something was up. The reason became clear as she started scooping up a bite with her fork from my plate and brought it to my mouth, “Open up the hangar Princess!” I stared at the fork for a second, before sighing and opening up. The meal was one of the most embarrassing I could imagine short of being spoon fed baby food! ‘It’s almost pureed with as much as she cut it…’ I griped. She made it into my mouth most of the time, but I swore she missed intentionally a half-dozen times, smearing it onto my cheeks and chin. She’d then reach down and pick the bib up occasionally and wipe my face with it, complaining about the ‘messy baby.’ I honestly couldn’t decide if it was more or less mortifying that Addison was the one pretending to be my mommy here! When the plates were cleared, she attacked me with a baby wipe, and handed me the stuffie, “Here’s your cute Rings back!” I blushed, but squeezed her as she let me down from the high chair. She reached up to the table and said, “Here’s your baba too - why don’t you finish the juice in there while Mommy finishes cleaning up?” She didn’t do anything but put the dishes in the sink, knowing that Mindy would take care of washing the dishes the next day. I was just watching her rinse things though when I felt the urge to pee come as I finished the bottle. With a sigh I let go into the padding, knowing full well that it would be my only option here for now. Addison noticed I had finished the bottle, and was right there replacing it with a pacifier. “It’s a lot later than I thought it was. We need to get you a bath, and then get you in bed. You have a long day at daycare tomorrow!” I shook my head, “It’s not that late?” She smirked, “For a baby it is! And that’s all you are now, isn’t it?” She picked me up and tickled my side lightly. “Stop tickling me…” I complained. “Or what?” “Or I’ll…” “You’ll what…?” “I’ll pee…?”. “Oh no, another diapee to change? Oh, the humanity?” She exclaimed as she walked into my bedroom, dropped me on my bed, and proceeded to attack me with her fingers longer than I ever remembered being tickled. I felt like my senses were completely overloaded as I did pee out what little was left in my bladder and giggled completely uncontrollably. “Stop…” I cried out, dropping the pacifier from my mouth. “Oh, all right,” She said to me, letting me catch my breath. “You’re mean,” I told her. “I know,” she smiled. Right on the bed she pulled the dress off of my head and tossed it into the hamper. I blushed wearing only the diaper then, as she carried me inside the bathroom that I guessed I would probably only be visiting for baths. She closed the door and sat me down on top of the closed toilet. I watched her start the water flowing into the tub, “Shower?” I asked hopefully. “Nope, you take baths now sweetie. You’re much too little now for showers.” “Not that little…” I complained. “Oh? And how big are you?” She asked with a smile. “You’re much shorter than mommy?” I groaned, “You’re just really tall!” “And you have a diaper on, huh?” “You put it on me…” “And it’s wet, huh?” “You tickled me…” “It was dry before that?” I sighed and shook my head, “No…” “And who wet their diapee?” “Me,” I said softly. “Who else wets diapees?” I shrugged. “Babies maybe?” She smiled as she added some bubbles, “But that’s okay, because little Cammie is my cute little baby who is far too little for showers now, but just the perfect size for her mommy to give a bubble bath!” Without warning she reached and pulled the tabs open on my diaper and stood me up. She manhandled me gently, but held me in front of her to look at my butt before picking me up and setting me into the tub. The water was probably higher than a real mother would ever use with their baby, but I appreciated the chest high water and pile of bubbles, as at least it hid the reaction I’d had to her humiliating treatment of me. I had no idea why I was having that reaction, but I jolted as I couldn’t deny that a part of me did like this side of Addison. I sat still as she loosened the braid in my hair. A moment later I jumped as a plastic container of water was dumped on my head, “Eek!” I complained. “Oh, stop being a drama queen Princess, just need to wash this hair out since we haven’t done that since you got here!” “Warn me next time,” I grumbled. “Here it comes!” She said as she was dumping it again. I just sighed and spit out a hair that fell into my mouth. She began massaging in some baby shampoo then and I had to admit the touch felt good. I’d been so isolated from people since Beth’s disappearance kicked off the worst years of my life. ‘This really probably is the worst of it though, losing my freedom,’ I thought. ‘Could be worse,’ I reminded myself as she dumped more water to rinse out the shampoo. I squirmed as she began using a washcloth all over my body to scrub me. She finished my legs and held my foot up over the water. I giggled as it tickled. “Oh, how is it I never realized how ticklish you were before?” She said as she held my foot. I looked at her worriedly. She laughed, “I don’t want splashed, you’re probably safest in the tub!” I gulped. ‘Can I stay in the tub forever…?’ “Sit up sweetie,” she told me a moment later, “put your back towards me,” she added as she turned me. That was when the washcloth got way more up close and personal than I realized it would. My butt was the target and I squirmed as she embarrassingly clawed at whatever bits might be there. “All clean!” She exclaimed though a moment later and began draining the tub. She carried me to the changing table after drying me off and placed a diaper down underneath me. I was surprised though when she turned me over face down, and began rubbing me down with some sort of lavender oil. I began completely mortified by my nakedness. After a few moments though I decided that it was the most heavenly massage she had ever given me! She must have massaged my back, my legs, and my neck for thirty minutes before doing the same with my front, my hands, and my feet. I was feeling pretty sleepy as she wiped her hands clean with a baby wipe and taped a new diaper on my butt. She wrapped me in a light blanket before she lifted me up and walked to the rocking chair. “One last set of nummies before bed!” she said softly to me. I looked up at her sleepily and realized I was truly going down the rabbit hole of being a breastfed Little. She just pulled her shirt off of her head this time, and removed her bra, leaving herself completely naked from the top up. Years ago, this was when the foreplay would begin and lead to something downstairs… and I could feel my reaction to that possibility still going on. She shifted me in her arms and moved the blanket so our skin was touching. The nipple was within reach and I thought honestly about refusing for a moment... After all I’d managed the willpower to not nurse from her for years after that first hit! My memory of years ago, and of early that day though, got to me, and I couldn’t resist latching on and beginning to nurse the amazing liquid from within her breasts. She moaned with some pleasure even as I couldn’t help but feel amazingly relaxed, comfortable, and connected with her then. I used my tongue to help depress her nipple more and she shuddered underneath me. I was too far gone to even think about her in a sexual way though right then. Between the massage, the swimming, the stress, and the milk, I was out like a light. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you for reading! Please press the 'Like' Button for this chapter and consider leaving me a comment! I will definitely post on Friday, but if there were an exceptional number of likes before then I might think about another bonus tomorrow? We'll see! You'll probably get at least one bonus chapter this weekend I'm guessing! Thank you to everyone who has taken the small moment to press that button, and a huge thank you to those who leave comments! As I've said before I don't charge for my works, so it's kind of a little tip in the jar each time I see one of those! I finished Chapter 62 last night, which ended up being an extension of 61... So you may have eeked out another chapter. Unfortunately this is the ending I'm working on, and I've been torn all the way through about it... I have a feeling I'll be flipping coins frequently tonight and tomorrow! I'm at 184k words now - about 24k already more than I expected to go with this. Hoping that you all continue to enjoy it though! Anyway, enough of my blathering, thanks for reading!

Chapter 39: Warnings THE PARK MUST have been fairly close to her house, because we were back inside her garage pretty quickly. A glance at the dash of the car told me that it was just about two hours past noon, so I was feeling quite hungry, even after the formula she had me drink leaving the courthouse. At the time I had been actually kind of surprised by how filling the drink was. She pulled me from the car seat and carried me inside the house. Due to the early afternoon hour, I wasn’t surprised to see Mindy waiting for us inside. “Miss Harris, you were gone longer than I expected?” Addison shrugged as she sat me down on my feet, “We decided to stop by the park and play a bit after her nap.” “Aww… I bet that was a cute sight!” “It was! You want to see pictures?” ‘Pictures?!?!?’ I looked up at her and she smirked. She pulled out her phone that she must have returned to the car for at some point, and showed them to Mindy. “Cute, huh?” “Absolutely adorable Miss Harris!” “You want to see your pretty pictures Cammie?” she asked me in that baby voice that women used towards babies, and I wanted to scream as she knelt down to show me her phone. I nodded though, morbidly curious. I was a little disturbed that I never noticed her taking pictures as I went down the slide or played in the sand a bit. I knew that it was me in the photos, but there was a disconnect in my mind about how the cute girl playing on the playground could possibly be me. I could still recognize my face, but with the way she had done my hair and the dress… Well, it was obvious I looked the part. “Princess Cammie is cute, huh?” She asked me and began tickling me a little. “Stop,” I giggled. “Did you get lunch yet?” Mindy asked. “No, we didn’t. What do you think Princess Cammie; do we need a late lunch?” I nodded. “What do you want?” She asked me. I thought for a moment, I wasn’t used to getting food made for me. I shrugged, “What is there?” Mindy smiled, “Probably almost anything you want! But what do you think about a grilled cheese sandwich?” I nodded, “That sounds good… Thank you Miss Mindy,” I said politely. You could see her absolutely melt with my politeness, “She is such a perfect little girl ma’am!” “Sort of, she’s kind of dirty from the park. We’re going to go change her clothes while you work on that?” “Sounds good ma’am, you want one too?” “Please, I love your grilled cheeses,” she told her. “Nothing special ma’am,” she told her. “Yes, they are, you always brown them perfectly!” “Well… That’s just how you make them! Go get that baby girl into something less formal – you should have done that before she played, but we’ll get that dress clean still - just leave it in the hamper. I’ll have your lunch ready when you get back downstairs.” “Thanks Mindy,” she told her. Addison held out her hand to me, “Come on baby girl…” I sighed, but let her larger hand envelope mine, and walked upstairs beside her. The diaper was still dry, but the crinkle was letting me know it was still there with every step. It felt like it was hugging me as my legs moved up the steps, and I couldn’t help but remember back to commercials on TV that bragged about diapers hugging every move of a baby or Little over the years. It made me blush to think about being in the same shitty situation as those poor Littles! I walked to my room with Addison pulling me along and stood still where she let me go by the closet. “Hmm… what shall we wear for the afternoon?” She asked herself. “Ooh… Is it really your size?!?” She was way too excited about whatever she found. “Look!!!! These are sooooooo cute!!!” She exclaimed happily in a voice that meant I knew I would hate whatever it was. As she turned around, I saw that I was right! In her hands was one of the outfits that I always felt the sorriest for a Little being dressed in. Normally you would only see a baby under two dressed in such a thing, or probably a shorter Little under about four-and-a-half feet tall. I had to guess this was some special-order item, as I couldn’t imagine it being available so easily for someone my size! I’d once asked Addison why anyone would dress someone in such an outfit, to which she’d shrugged and said ‘They’re kind of cute.’ I’d ended up asking out of morbid curiosity what it was even called, and she told me ‘It’s a bubble romper! On real infants I think they’re one of the cutest things ever!’ This horrid outfit in question was a pale yellow with white stripes every inch or so running horizontally. It featured a short exaggerated ruffled sleeve, and a high stretch waist band that would probably fall just above my belly button. The worst part wasn’t how puffy the bottom portion that snapped close was! No, the worst part was the back was covered in four rows of matching ruffled fabric that made yesterday’s leggings look tame. I knew they would bring extra attention to my diapered bottom, and groaned out loud. “Do I have to…?” “Why yes you do! You’re going to look so precious! And no silly pants to get in the way of you moving around while you play!” She squealed with delight. ‘She actually squealed?’ I thought worriedly, ‘She usually has better control over those urges!’ I thought in the half-second before she was right there picking me up. She was giddy as she sat me down on the changing table. The dress was off before I even had a chance to consider another argument. My shoes were placed on a shelf, and my socks followed the dress into a nearby hamper. Naked, except the still clean diaper, I felt nervous as she looked at me and suddenly pounced with her fingers tickling my feet. “No!” I cried. “Yes!” She laughed and continued her attack up my legs and onto my belly. I was really seriously about to pee without any control when she finally let up, “Oh, I guess I’ll stop attacking my baby girl at least long enough to get her dressed.” It was almost like a slow motion horror movie as she opened the snaps in the crotch of the monstrosity and gathered it up in her hands. “Arms up like a pretty ballerina!” she cooed. “Shoot me…” “Why would we do that?” She said as she pulled it down over my hands and blocked my vision for a moment before pushing me down on the table. “There we go, all snapped in!” She was truly enjoying this; I could tell that. I looked down at the babyish outfit, and it was probably worse than I feared. The puff of the bubble in the bottom part was ridiculous, and I wondered if it wasn’t exaggerated because they knew only a babied Mid would fit into this… I sat there for a few minutes while she undid the more mature fishtail braid that she had made in my hair for the court hearing, and quickly brushed my hair instead into a high ponytail, and used a matching yellow ribbon to tie a bow on it. “Let’s go show Miss Mindy!” She smiled at me as she picked me back up and carried me downstairs. “Oh, my word!” Mindy said when she saw me, “I had no idea you could dress a big girl like you so pretty! That outfit is absolutely precious Miss Harris!” “I know, right?” Addison squeezed me tighter, “I’ve always found these to be super adorable! I’m so glad they found a couple of them in her size! They’ll be perfect for her to play at home!” “Yes, they will!” She agreed. As Addison placed me into what I now knew as my highchair, I could sort of feel the rows of ruffles behind me; even through the diaper! I let her maneuver my arms through the five-point harness to buckle me in, and then watched as she placed the white tray into place. I was a little annoyed with the way my bare legs were touching the bottom of the chair where the fabric ended and plastic began, but at least other than that, I guessed it was as comfortable as a highchair could be. ‘At least she’s not using those other straps…’ I thought with a shudder. Addison finished preparing me for lunch by velcroing a large yellow bib behind me, before Mindy placed the plate of smaller cut up sandwich pieces on the tray. Addison had walked to a cupboard and filled a sippy cup up with more Plapple juice. “Eat up baby,” she told me. I stared at the pieces in front of me, and was annoyed I didn’t have the sandwich like she had. For hers, Mindy had just sliced it in half diagonally. For mine she had cut it what looked like a total of four times. It meant I had eight smaller triangles to eat that would cool off quicker. I picked the first one up and saw that it looked like it had a quality cheddar cheese inside at least, and was nicely lined like it was cooked on a sandwich grill. I moaned at the first bite a second later, “Wow!” I said with a smile looking up at Mindy, “How did you make it taste so good?” She just smiled at me, “Just a little extra love, Sweetie.” I began eating more pieces quickly and saw that Addison and Mindy were mostly watching me, even though Addison would occasionally take a bite. “She really is adorable! What happened in court today?” “The injunction against Mom having contact with Cameron or me is still standing. If there is a need for communication it is supposed to happen with supervision.” “What about your custody of little Cammie here?” “Well Cammie is still my baby girl for now. The judge is planning on a separate hearing to decide if I get to keep her or not.” “Oh, I’m sure you will! Your mom’s attorneys are the very best!” Addison rubbed my shoulder, “I’m sure they are.” “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” Mindy asked Addison. “Well, I think we’ll probably go swimming for a little bit before dinner after I cuddle this little girl for a bit. Maybe we’ll get a little bit of playtime in her playroom before bed too.” “That sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon together. You’re on maternity leave now, right?” Addison shrugged, “I’m supposed to be, but apparently I’m supposed to go into work tomorrow.” “Oh my, your mom is making you come in still?” “She was back at work the next day after she adopted Matty, I guarantee she doesn’t think anything of it,” she told her. “I need to make sure that I have a daycare appointment set up actually…” “Why don’t you go do that? I’ll watch while wittle Miss Cammie finishes eating her num-nums?” “That would be great actually,” she told her, scarfing down a last bite and stepping out down the hallway. I was about three-quarters through my sandwich, and just silently kept eating while Mindy watched. I had just taken the last bite when she said, “You know there’s no way you’ll win against Mrs. Harris, right? You should just volunteer for the procedures and get it over with?” I looked up at her with new eyes, “Everyone has a weakness. I have mine; you have yours, and Mrs. Harris has her own. I would hope you aren’t trying to send a message for her?” She narrowed her eyes, “And if I was?” “Well, that would probably make Judge O’Connor unhappy when he hears that.” “Only matters if you can tell him?” I shrugged, “If I can’t that’ll mean the real bombs will start going off. You might as well tell Mrs. Harris that backing off would be her best move. She’s messed with the wrong person. Even if she destroys me, something I know is probably coming, I have allies and assets that aren’t going to take that lightly.” I think she was about to say something else, but Addison came back in. “All taken care of! The daycare my mom suggested luckily still had a space free for you! It’s the best one in town, so I know you’ll love it there!” She cooed at me. “Great…” I deadpanned. “Someone is kind of cranky?” Mindy suggested. “Probably, well… I know what can help! Might as well deal with the other problem I’m having right now. Would you mind cleaning up?” she asked Mindy as she moved the tray aside and pulled the bib off of me. “Of course!” she said, “I can bring you a glass of water when I’m done?” “That would be great, we’re going to go sit in the living room for some quiet,” she told her. “Sounds good Miss Harris.” I looked at her as she tried to talk to Mindy in some sort of code; a little nervous that I knew precisely what she was talking about. As she sat down with me in a rocking recliner, I looked at a clock and saw it was mid-afternoon. “We’ve put this off for long enough,” she told me. “You should have been doing this from the first night we spent together!” “No…” I squeaked out. “Yes, it’s past time, my milk has been in for two days now, and I don’t want to keep pumping all day.” “I don’t…” I said to her as she placed me on her right leg for a second and began messing with the dress. Apparently, it was designed for nursing mothers, because she was able to pull her left breast free a moment later without taking the top down, and undid the latch of a nursing bra to expose her nipple. I looked at the erect nipple sticking out, thinking about the first, and last time, I had had a taste of her milk. I’d thought about it for months afterwards! Even as I saw a droplet forming on the tip as she gently expressed it, I could feel a craving coming. “Come on baby girl, Mommy knows you liked it before. This time you don’t have to worry about losing your potty ability though, because you’re already in a diaper!” “You told me I could wear big girl pants!” I complained, eyes still focused on the white droplet that was still hanging there. “That was if we had you altered yesterday. You’re still an icky boy where it counts, so we’re going to keep you in diapers until we get everything figured out. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones that can still use the potty when nursing?” “Nnnn…” I started to say, but she guided my head to her nipple, and used the opening to push my mouth on. The single droplet hit my tongue. It was the tastiest thing ever!!!! The single droplet reminded me of everything I had wanted to have again after that first accidental time! At that point my willpower failed, and I began earnestly sucking at the nipple, being rewarded with each suckle by a mouth full of the tasty milk. My tongue began licking the nipple to try and get more of the taste, and I found my hands gently squeezing the warm flesh of her exposed breast too. I felt like time was passing without me then, as all I knew was suckling. I felt a need to pee, but was at least relieved that it was a normal urge. I held it for a couple sucks before just admitting it did no good to hold it and let it out into the diaper. Addison must have felt it because she cooed at me as I kept sucking. “Mrs. Harris will be happy to see you finally started,” I heard just before I must have gone off to dreamland from the milk. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you all so much for reading and commenting!!! Please press the Like button for this chapter and consider letting me know what you think still! I am blown away by how many replies this story has ended up with. It's something I never dreamed would happen on anything I wrote! On WattPad the story just crossed 1k likes early today, and because of that and this becoming the most replies here I'm planning on an extra posting on Tuesday of this week. I may give another bonus chapter sometime between Wednesday and Sunday of this week depending on how my writing goes. (Currently in the middle of 60 having shaken a block on 59. I'm hoping the next few chapters should pretty much write themselves...) Thanks so much for reading!

Epilogue IT WAS FRIDAY afternoon after my adoption, and Mindy was carrying me on her hip. I was dressed in a comfy onesie and leggings combo that I had decided was about as good as it got for baby clothes. I liked that it supported my diaper while also allowing as much movement as possible. I was nursing on a pacifier, which had been my constant friend for the past couple of days. It hadn’t been easy; my cravings for milk were painful, but the latest formula, which only tasted slightly nasty, had helped a little as long as I drank five or more bottles daily. Mindy opened the conference room door, and the lights turned on, “Surprise!!!!!” I blushed and turned my head into her, even as I saw she was just as red. Her husband Keanan was somehow already in the room. I could see several dozen hospital staff members and a pile of presents on the table. “You shouldn’t have!” Mindy exclaimed, even as we all had to think, ‘We just went through this at the police station a couple hours before this!’ “Doctor Fairbanks, you’ve been like the most awesome therapist ever here. We love you and are happy you finally have your very own baby girl to love!” a scrubbed nurse said. “Here, here!” A doctor beside her said. “Come sit down over here! I’ll take the baby!” Ivy said, motioning to a chair at the head of a conference table that reminded me of the one I’d been at before traveling to this dimension at my send-off party. “No’ a baby,” I complained to her mildly. She smirked, and then quietly whispered, “Today you are. Be happy for Mindy! This is the kind of thing we dream of from our childhoods!” I sighed, “Kay.” She bounced me in her arms, leaned over to Mindy, and said, “Amanda Westerfield had Tessa scan everything already; it’s safe to take home.” “Thanks,” she looked up at her. ‘Definitely a good thing after what that bitch did to Honey!’ My beloved stuffed bear had been dropped off after surgery performed by Amanda to remove some malicious hardware. ‘Apparently, hypnotic electronics in stuffed animals was a thing here!’ She had her adopted daughter help fix the damage afterward. Fortunately, I could only identify the repair marks using the slightly different colored thread. I’d held onto her tightly the day before when she’d finally been returned! As much as I hated it, I was now in the middle of a ‘pass the cute baby’ game as the special guest in the conference room for the next hour. During which Mindy opened a crazy baby shower worth of presents that probably covered two or three showers back home! We were given enough boxes of diapers to last for over a year! Long beyond when I was supposed to be there, wipes and lotions were the most practical gifts to me besides them. They would join the vast pile already accumulated from Keanan’s people at the station. The number of varieties of baby bottles, pacifiers, bibs, clothes, and more would sadly get used, too. When they got to the toys, I was placed on the table and told to unwrap the presents since they were for me. I stayed a shade of tomato for that part, as I got more wooden play blocks, a standing activity seat, plush toys, teething toys - do they think my teeth need that?!? - baby dolls, and finally, some coloring books formed another large pile, even as my diaper grew soggier. Eventually, the party was fading, and a few people helped gather an enormous load of gifts into the back of Mindy’s car. One of the women was talking to her as Keanan sat me in my car seat after a quick diaper change she’d performed in the conference room. “So, how is it really going?” Mindy sighed, “That woman did a load of things to her. Not the least of which is that she addicted Katie to her milk. It’s been four days now, and she’s still craving it despite me trying eighteen different brands of formulas.” “Why not nurse her yourself?” “My milk doesn’t just drop like everyone else’s?” I heard her say. “And, even if it did, I’m trying to get her weaned so she can go home.” “If she’s uncomfortable, will she progress with her therapy as much as she could?” the woman responded. “Probably not… but I don’t think my body will produce it without giving birth. I’ve never been like the other girls with that?” She blushed, “I’ve never actually had my milk come in?” “Put her there and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, you know that you do know a lactation specialist who can probably help you?” ‘I’m guessing that’s a hint that she could help?’ I wondered as I sat and absently adjusted my feet. “Okay, I get it… I’ll think about it.” “Enjoy your leave! Seriously, call me if you need help. I’d try it; it’ll save you both some headaches and a fortune on formula!” Keanan shut the door right then, even as he held open the passenger side for her as she sat down, and he drove off. When Mindy picked me up from the car seat, I held onto her when she tried putting me down. “Why won’ you fee me?” She made a face… “Don’t you want to go home?” “That won ma’er?” “If you go home addicted, what are you going to do?” I shrugged, “I don’ know I’ll be able ‘o.” She hugged me, “We’ll do our best.” “Pwease?” I found myself asking. She slightly pushed me away from her chest before sighing, “If we do try this, I’m not even sure something will happen.” “I’ll twy ‘o grow up, if you twy?” She laughed, “Fine, we’ll try. I’m just pretty sure it won’t work…” I was carried to her favorite recliner and sat still as she unbuttoned her blouse and then shrugged her bra completely off since it wasn’t a nursing bra. She tried to protect her modesty with a blanket over one shoulder even as she exposed one breast to me. There was no need to tell me what to do! My drooling mouth knew how to get milky!!! I began nursing and found it was only as good as my paci for a long while, feeling my stomach begging for actual sustenance! She seemed to fidget a little as I did so, but let me continue to try to nurse. I had just about given up hope when a small spurt of milk finally landed in my mouth! She gasped, feeling the difference, “That actually worked?” She asked. I nodded. “More?” “You can try, Katie,” she said. Sadly, I didn’t get more than a taste from both of her breasts, but it was much better than formula, “Thank you, Mommy!” I told her. “You don’t have to call me that,” she said. I just snuggled into her embrace then and snuggled. Erica had tried to force me to be her baby, but I’d never felt one hundred percent like I had a choice in much of anything. Mindy was stubborn in trying not to force me, and it was making me feel comfortable with her in a way I’d never felt with Erica! OVER THE WEEKS that followed, I began to enjoy the most loving adoptive ‘parents’ I could have dreamed of! Mommy and Daddy became genuinely that to me, and both helped me progress through milestone after milestone in my recovery. I found I felt loved even when Mommy was a big meanie and wouldn’t let me nurse until after therapy! Time ran together, and before I knew it, I was meeting with Judge Price again in his courtroom with just the court staff, Mr. Freeman, and my adoptive parents present. “Well, Doctor Benson, you look a lot better than the last time I saw you!” Judge Price said to me. Mommy had dressed me in a pantsuit that matched what she wore. My type of underwear remained the same taped-on padding, but at least I wasn’t dressed in that hideous dress! We’d held a burning ceremony of that in their backyard the weekend after I was adopted!!! “Thank you, Your Honor,” I said deliberately. Although my speech had improved, it still wasn’t perfect. “I set milestones you had to meet, and according to these reports, you have met all of them. According to everything I read, you’ve exceeded the language, cognitive, and physical benchmarks I laid out. Therefore, I happily grant you permission to return…” “Excuse me, Your Honor?” I interrupted. He gave me a look, “Yes?” I looked at Mindy and Keanan… or Mommy and Daddy, as I thought of them now. They were the two most important people who had cared for me, brought me from the depths of my despair, and never given up on me. During that time we’d spoken with my family once a week over a HoloLink, and I’d had time to think about why I had been crazy enough to come to this dimension - about the lack of real connections back home. With one last smile at Mommy and Daddy, I turned to Judge Price and made known the most important decision of my life! The End +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you so much for reading through this tale! Please consider giving this Epilogue one last like!!!!! I also appreciate any comments you have! This was supposed to be a 20k, two to four-day-and-done tale. Instead, it continued to be a project that reached over 90k words into a proper novel! I'm curious: What do you think about the ending? I could have written another 100k to describe everything, but we've seen what being a babied Little in the dimension is, and the time skip was appropriate? She would have been pretty insulated from everything with Erica to avoid relapses, so we don't see her result. Plus, given justice can move slowly, I'm not sure that by this time of the story, she would have been brought to trial yet. I've had a rough couple of months here with only one weekend without illness or another chronic health issue of pain, so I'm only a few chapters now into LCW past what you've read. I'll hopefully be able to start posting new chapters in a few weeks, though, for that too. Thanks as always for your kind words, comments, feeding me of nummy Likes, and everything!

Chapter 25: I WOKE UP to a hand gently rubbing my back. I opened my eyes to see Erica holding me on her lap in Mindy’s office. “You awake now, Katie?” Erica asked me. I nodded, “Sowwy, tha’ was har.” She hugged me, “I know, Sweetie.” Mindy, Holly, Ivy, and Kyle were all in the office, sitting beside and across from us. “Okay, so I want to preface our findings, Katherine, by stating that this is a baseline assessment. You will likely improve your skills with time and some therapy. I don’t want you to despair because it could have been so much worse if the procedure hadn’t worked as well as it did.” “How ba’ was I?” I groaned, “I ha’ tha’ t..t… tees, and d… d… dees are so haw!” She smiled, “Keep struggling; you’ll get there. To answer your question, Katherine, you were basically at the newborn level after the hypnosis reset. Watching your skills drop so rapidly and beyond what they had been before was terrifying.” I felt my stomach turn at that, “An’ now?” She breathed, “I’m going to break it down by a few categories as everything is different. With your motor skills, you are at the level of an average eighteen-month-old, if I had to guess. Running is definitely a weak area, but you can at least walk. It seemed that dressing yourself is about impossible, but you could feed yourself with just a little help! The rest of your gross motor skills coordination is definitely low; you can throw a ball but have no control over the direction. I think we can say without a doubt that even if the breastmilk hadn’t caused problems, I don’t see any signs of you being able to potty train again.” I nodded, accepting the assessment as the same as mine as we did it. Kyle took over, discussed my fine motor skill issues, and tag-teamed through my problems with reading and writing. With the cognitive and academic skills that were read to me, I was successful at what Kyle considered a middle school level. That was the only bright spot of the assessment, though, as when we began discussing my social and emotional skillset, I was at best at the preschool level. My general life skills like cleaning up, brushing my teeth, washing my hands, or situational awareness were down at the eighteen-month level, too. “Will I… im… improve?” I asked. “I think so,” Kyle said. “We’ll have to wait and see, though. I think Mindy and I have a rough sketch of a plan we can implement to try to get you as much as possible. It’ll be hard work, though?” “I can d… do… har wor…k,” I told them. “Wha’ now?” I looked at Holly and glanced back at Erica. “We didn’t want to have her do it until you had whatever improvements we could hope for,” Holly told me, “But, I think for your own safety, you need to have Erica adopt you.” Adopt. Adopt me. From everything I’d learned, it was a clear sign I would never return home, and it left me feeling numb and cold right then. Erica and I faced each other. She wasn’t responsible for this latest fall, but she had been responsible for allowing the initial hypnosis for sure. I still hated that she’d done so many things to trick me, and I wasn’t sure I could ever completely trust her again. That said, I’d seen others of her kind in the past few weeks and knew I could end up with way worse. Even Holly had some level of babying despite her professional adult role. I could say, outside of losing her mind with the spanking, Erica had never been anything but kind and gentle with me. I looked Erica in the eyes, “Mommy?” “You don’t have to call me that if you don’t want to?” she told me. I sighed and repeated, “Mommy.” She was crying then, even as she squeezed me into a hug. “Erica, you’re going to officially adopt Katherine tomorrow. When you do so, you’ll be on sixteen weeks of maternity leave.” “But…” She started to argue. “There is no room for discussion here. You will spend those sixteen weeks seeing if there is any way to get Katherine back to a higher skill set. I don’t see any way she’ll be able to return home, but if you could get her back to only having accidents as her main problem, there might be a way to get her working again.” Holly told her. “We will be checking in on you periodically, beyond the therapy sessions.” “Fair enough,” Erica said. “You’ll handle getting my caseload covered?” “Consider it done already,” Holly told her. I have an experienced doctor who can fill in for a few weeks until I get someone else on board. “She nodded at Ivy. “Wait… how am I having to work again?” Ivy asked with a laugh. “You’re welcome, Mommy; you told me you were bored last week!” “I…” she shook her head and looked at Erica. “Congratulations on getting your own baby girl, but be warned, they tend to wrap you around their finger sometimes!” There was some lighthearted laughter and a few hugs, and then I was carried back to the room to be discharged from the hospital. It was late when we reached home, but Erica made a quick meal of chicken nuggets and fries with the AmeniTea. After a badly needed bath, she settled me into a pair of fleecy pajama bottoms and a t-shirt top over a fresh diaper. In the rocking chair, she just held me for several minutes. “Katie, I am so sorry about all of this,” she said after rocking silently for a moment. I looked at her, “I bewiev you.” I hated my speech issues then but took my time, “Jus…t pwomise to be kind, pwease?” She hugged me tightly, “I promise!” “Other thin,” I said, “nee t…to mee with Ma...thoo tomowow. Wan t… tell him.” “I actually checked your emails, and there’s supposed to be a meeting with your students tomorrow because of a problem at Emerson today.” “Ki..d..ds okay?” I asked. “Sounded like it?” She replied. “I’ll call him after you go to sleep and set up a meeting with you two before they come in.” I nodded, “Tha’ll be hawd.” She hugged me and sat with me, cuddled into her arms for a bit before I felt more than ready for sleep. “Nummies?” I asked. “Sure, Katie girl,” she told me. Nursing from her was becoming common, but that night felt slightly different. It was no longer something I was forced to do or even coerced to do… it was something I wanted. ‘If I’m stuck like this, at the very least she can do is feed me,’ I thought as I nursed from her. Simultaneously, she rubbed my back, ran her hands through my hair, and sang a lullaby. All those things, plus the warmth from her skin against my face, left me feeling more content than I’d felt in years. At this point, there was nothing to be nervous about; I would be adopted the next day. While waiting for my hospital discharge, Erica made an appointment at a local adoption center that Ivy and Mindy had recommended as the most humane. It would be in the afternoon as soon as I saw the students and Matthew. We even discussed telling my family I wouldn’t be returning home. That had been difficult due to the issues with my speech, but we’d devised a plan. Erica would try to get a video call with them in a few weeks after I had hopefully recovered some skills. My mind drifted for a while before I was switched to the other breast and found my eyes staring at Erica’s… at my Mommy’s eyes. Like most every time I nursed, I was out, changed, and placed into bed without stirring until the morning. “GOOD MORNING, KATIE,” Mommy said as she entered my nursery and found me sleepily wiping my eyes. “Mornin’ Mommy,” I managed to say. She smiled at that, and it was beginning to dawn on me just how powerful that word could be to get her to be happy to do things! She reached down into the crib and pulled down my pants a little. “I think we can make it through breakfast before we change you. Are you okay with that?” I looked at her and shrugged, “Kay.” Truth be told, I didn’t feel gross or even wet, most of the time, unless I had a poopy diaper. Even then, I wasn’t noticing that all the time right away the previous week, so I figured I’d live with a bit of extended time in the diaper. She carried me downstairs, and I smiled when I realized there were pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon! “It’s a special day!” she told me, hugging me as she sat me in the highchair and buckled me up. Erica put a big bib on me that extended over my shoulders, then set the tray in place with the eggies, bacon, and pancakes all cut into bite-sized pieces. “Syrup?” She asked me. I looked at her and nodded. A moment later, she said, “Dig in!” “No for?” I asked her. “No fork,” she said, emphasizing the ‘k.’ “We want you to use your little handsies as much as we can on everything so they can get better.” “Is sicky?” I replied. “It’ll clean off,” she smiled. I reached in with my right hand, took a big fistful of eggies, and brought them to my face. I opened my mouth and stuffed them inside, enjoying the taste and texture. I ate some bacon next, and then more eggies. “Are you not going to eat your pancakes?” Erica asked. I nodded, “Am! Save for en!” She smiled, and I started shoving syrup-covered pancake pieces inside my mouth. At first, I tried not to make a mess, but eventually, I just accepted my lack of coordination; it was inevitable, and I tried to have fun with it! “Wow, what a messy little girl!” Mommy cooed at me with a big smile. I was nearly coated from nose to arms, all of my bib, and the tray with syrup! “Sowwy,” I said. She laughed, “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Katie. It looked like you were having fun! At this point, I want you to find joy anywhere you can.” I nodded and sat still while she tried to start cleaning me off with baby wipes. “Let’s get some nummies now?” She said. I nodded and leaned into her as she carried me to the living room and sat in her recliner. As soon as my mouth went around her nipple, I heard, “Eeeww…” The taste had not stopped being amazing, so it was with a lot of effort that I stopped and looked up, concerned, “Is okay?” She laughed, “Mommy just didn’t think about your lips still being completely coated in syrup! It’s a little sticky on her skin. It’s okay, baby. Maybe we’ll take a quick bath together to clean us both up!” I was really full from the breakfast, so I only made it through one of her breasts and had to say, “Full, Mommy.” “Shouldn’t have fed you such a big breakfast!” She told me. I watched her drag out a pump that I’d never seen her use, even though I was sure she had to have been doing it to get me milk before. It popped on her breast and stayed there on its own. After starting the pump, she said, “Okay, bath time for this messy girl!” True to her word, Erica hopped into the bathtub with me. Midway through the bath, she pulled off the pump and set it aside, along with the milk it contained. I was a little shocked to see just how much she had pumped! She gently washed me from head to toe, maintaining contact with me throughout the bath. I watched as she especially scrubbed her breast free from my sticky lip residue and laughed. “I’d like to see how you’d like that,” she smiled at me. Eventually, she dressed me in a diaper and one of my ‘work’ outfits. I gave her a perplexed look, saying, “No cu... t... cute close?” “I thought you would like one last time being the professor?” She said with a smile. I shrugged, “Kay.” Erica had donned a pair of scrubs for the meeting. A WHILE LATER, we met Matthew in a conference room he’d reserved for the students’ meeting. It honestly didn’t affect me at this point, but he explained some shenanigans and protests that had led to the ouster of several of the administrators in charge of our students. Additionally, there was some hypnotic device they’d been exposed to. Matthew wanted to check in on everyone with the many changes and unrest. “What about you?” He asked, noting that I hadn’t said much. I’d pretty much let Erica speak for me. I sighed, “No good. Sa..Sa..t…” I looked at Erica, “Help?” “Saturday, we were at the mall with the Nickersons shopping. Things were going well, but then Katherine caught a glimpse of a Little’s screen watching her ‘favorite’ hypnotic TV show.” “Shit…” he said, “You said if that happened again?” Erica nodded, “It was immediately apparent she’d regressed to somewhere between a newborn and a year-old baby then. We treated her with a protocol for the next two evenings, and fortunately, she has mostly come out of it.” “Mostly?” He asked me. I nodded, “I can’ speak well…” I tried to calm my frustration, “moving is har, and I’m pretty helless sill. Only goo thin is I have min’?” He looked shocked. “I’m sorry about this, Katherine. So what now?” I noted that he looked at Erica for that. “Her Living Will is being invoked here after your meeting. I’ll adopt her; it’s the only way to keep her safe and prevent her from being sent to an orphanage or worse.” “Damn,” he said, looking scared and agitated. After a moment of pause, he asked, “What do we do about telling the group?” I looked at Erica, “I dunno?” “You want more students to make it back, right?” She asked after a second. “Uh-huh?” “Then I have an idea. If you both can play along, we can get them to be more careful than our princess here was. After a few more minutes, he looked at the clock and said, “I’ll be back with the students. They probably think they have a Little’s Seminar, but they won’t. Oliver and Asher may get here earlier. Tell them to have a seat if they do.” The two taller boys who weren’t a part of the Littles group due to whatever quirk was in play came in, and I could tell they were a little scared of Erica. “Everyone, you needed, Professor Owens?” Erica asked. “Yes, Doctor Daniels, we can take it from here?” He said a little nervously, it seemed. “I’ll be back in a half-hour. Please take good care of Katie while I’m gone?” “Umm… certainly,” he told her, unclear of the role now. When the door closed, Oliver swore, “What the fuck?!?” “Couldn’t have said it better,” Avery added. Willow looked over and said, “Not without getting another mouthful of soap and another spanking!” Avery blushed brightly. “Are you okay, Doctor Benson?” Connor asked me. “Of couse! I just ha’ nummies, and Mommy made me all dwy now!” I had to force my words out, but it was clear I was semi-understood, at least. “Okay, we don’t have much time, but I wanted to check on you,” Professor Owens started speaking. “Umm… I think we all knew of the rumors and likely issues here. Still, I think some of the potential consequences were understated. A level of protection was promised that obviously you haven’t been given.” Oliver raised his hand, “Professor, this isn’t everyone that came. Where are Tatum, Noah, and Luca?” Connor responded to him, “Probably adopted or in an orphanage.” Knowing Erica’s suggestion, I forced out, “Ooh, Mommy was ‘awking abou’ adop’ing me la’er! Dey so lu-cky!” I giggled, then put my thumb back into my mouth where it had been sitting. “So… umm… What do you want to do?” Ava asked. “I definitely didn’t sign up to be in diapers or have to have ‘mummies’ from a mommy.” “There’s not much we can do. We can’t go home until our date at the end of the semester. I have contacted our embassy, though, and they’re lodging a complaint with the government about the poisonings and hypnosis that have been administered to you all.” Doctor Owens said it in a matter-of-fact tone. Right then, I could feel something in my tummy; I wasn’t sure if it was hunger or any other feeling anymore. It wasn’t comfy, I knew that! “Wait! What?” Oliver showed his cluelessness. “Oliver, have you like paid no attention to anything else around you these past few weeks?” Mia prodded him. “Not really? I’ve been going to class, then to the library, studying until I can’t stay awake anymore, then repeating? These guys have weird terminology, and catching up has been hard!” “Well, you idiot, things aren’t going well for most of our group,” Asher told him. “I’m just glad I didn’t end up at Little Height. Sorry guys, but that seems horrible!” “That’s putting it lightly,” Liam said, shaking his head. “So what do we do now?” Avery asked. “Well, first of all, if you have any more poisonings or run-ins with the illegal hypnosis, you need to contact me ASAP. I’ll act as a liaison with the university as we planned.” Professor Owens said with a severe expression. “What good will that do?” Willow asked. He shrugged, “It’s something at least.” Connor asked, “And what about Katie here?” He turned white, “I don’t think we’re able to do much there,” he said quietly. Right then, after a fart, I found myself squatting and pooping my diapee! Knowing I couldn’t have planned this better for our desired effect, I sat down and smushed it, forcing a big smile as I said, “Poopies!!!” “No, I don’t think there is…” Connor replied. I sat there, forcing a smile, even as my diaper felt yucky. Matthew gave suggestions and warnings not to get in trouble before Erica returned. She made a pretty big deal as she sniffed the air and picked me up, placing her nose on the pungent diaper under my skirt. ‘Eeew… why would she do that?’ I wondered in my head. “Well, seems like I have a stinky whittle girl now, huh? None of that big girl doctor stuff now, huh?” Erica giggled. She pulled my slobbery thumb out of my mouth and replaced it with a pacifier that she clipped to my outfit. “I hope you don’t mind if I change her here?” Erica wasted no time laying out the supplies as the room grew more awkward for a public diaper change in front of my former students… ‘Please don’t…?’ I thought, but I knew we were trying to help scare the others into being more careful. “Anything else?” Connor asked. “No, I think that’s all; good luck,” Matthew replied as Erica pulled the first tape open. It was almost humorous how quickly the room cleared then! “Did that warn them adequately?” Erica asked him after finishing my change. “It sure did me…” he said. “Are you okay, Katherine?” I nodded, “As goo as poss… ible.” “Well, we’ll still see you around, Matthew, but Katherine will officially be removed from the exchange faculty today.” He gave me a look of pity, “Please take good care of her at least!” “I promise,” Erica said, carrying me out of the room and the building toward my final fate. “Bye,” I said in my final moment. I could see him sitting there, his face white with a frozen look of terror. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and leave a comment! So it's crazy to me that in such a short time that this is the 500th reply to the thread! Thank you all so much for your kind words and Likes! I had at least one person who wondered if there would be a difference on the other side of the final encounter Doctor Benson has had with her students - good guess to that person! Some may note that the language she spoke with was different than initially in LCW; I have edited that to line things up better. (I honestly don't consider LCW to be a fully final version as I post it - there will be edits before I eventually publish the entire work in 3 or 4 separate books.) I have a work trip I'm leaving tomorrow with no privacy and some late nights. I'll post the next chapter on Sunday - Saturday evening if I get home early enough. (I have proofed all the chapters but always go through them again).

Chapter 6: I OPENED MY eyes slowly and realized I was back at Erica’s house. ‘Was that whole thing a dream?’ I wondered as I looked at my wrist and couldn’t see anything wrong. I rolled upright in bed and realized an addition had been made to the bed of a bunch of towels to encircle the edge of the bed. “Not a dream,” I decided. “What happened after that shot?” I was just climbing out of the covers when Erica came in. “Good morning, Katie, how’s the arm?” “It doesn’t hurt at all now… what did that shot do?” “Well, the nanites are cool little machines. I got them to set the bone back in place. Then, they create this calcium titanium composite that weaves the bone pieces back together even stronger than they were before. Nerve damage that’s sensed also gets fixed.” “Why did I conk out?” “Stress, fatigue, and shock, I think?” I nodded, “I guess that would do it.” “Do you still feel like going into the hospital with me today? You could stay home today if you want?” I flexed my hand in shock that it had been broken only hours before. Not a bit of pain or sense that it had been either! “Actually, I think I’m probably good to go still?” “If you’re sure,” Erica said. “I’m sure,” I told her. “Okay, well, let’s get you to the shower. I’ll help you out of that wet diapee, and you can get going.” My brain went to a screeching halt. “Wet…?” I looked down at the footed pajamas I’d worn the night before. You couldn’t physically see the diaper, but you could easily tell there was a diaper hanging very low within it. “When…?” “It’s a side effect sometimes,” Erica said reassuringly. “I changed you from another one when we got home too.” “I wet… and slept through you changing me?” I said, suddenly alarmed. “You’ll be fine. Just let me know if you have an issue in your Pull-Ups today. I’ll take some spares just in case.” I couldn’t help but note she had a... worried look? On her face as she stared at me. Before I could ask her about that, she unexpectedly picked me up and carried me to the bathroom. Before I could reach for the zipper, she was already pulling it down and the sleeper from my shoulders. “Step out,” she told me kindly. In shock, I complied, even as my brain went, ‘What’s happening?!?’ I watched her turn the shower on, and then she returned. After two ‘scritch’ sounds, the diaper was in her hand, being balled up. I could tell the padding was nearly completely soaked, too! I hopped into the shower and scrubbed the lower part of my body several times, hoping to remove all of the pee. As I was scrubbing my legs, I noticed something odd. “Should I have to shave my legs again today…?” I usually shaved my legs every few days because I hated stubble. Even in the winter, I would keep them clean so that my tights and leggings would look and feel right. I ran my hands up and down my legs and couldn’t find a bit of stubble. Shocked, I checked my armpits next… ‘nothing there either…’ I thought. I usually kept my lady parts waxed, so it wasn’t a surprise there was no hair there, but I was genuinely curious about what was going on! My arms still had a bit of the blonde hair they always had. I rarely bothered to shave them, so I at least knew it wasn’t all of my hair suddenly falling out or something. Right? With a shake of my head, I got moving and soon was dressed in a set of Pull-Ups, a pair of black leggings, and an embarrassing onesie blouse that did at least look professional tucked into my leggings. Well, except for the padding, that was evident. I put my white coat on over it and noted that it disguised the padding well enough that I didn’t feel completely mortified then. “Look at you!” Erica said as I ran into her at the top of the stairs. Without warning, she picked me up and said, “Let me give you a ride down to breakfast. You don’t want any more falls, right?” “Umm… thanks,” I told her, even as her overprotectiveness seemed a lot different than before. We were soon sitting, me in the high chair and her in her preferred chair, eating a plate of eggs and bacon apiece. Her portions were, of course, much larger than mine! I noted she kept looking at me to check on me, almost as if she worried I would fall out of the chair. I tuned it out, though, and continued enjoying the enormous pieces of bacon she had cooked! TWO HOURS LATER, I was standing to the side watching Erica give an exam to an eight-year-old girl complaining of stomach cramps. “When did this start?” Erica asked the little girl and her mother. “Four days ago?” Her mom said. “Honestly, I thought she might just be getting her period early?” “No menses, though?” “No,” her mom said. “What’s that?” the girl asked. “It’s just a more polite name for the discharge when you get your period, honey,” her mom told her. “Oh… You thought I was doing that?!?” She asked, even as she groaned. “Let’s give her a scan,” Erica said, and I watched her activate the scanner. It was like having a hologram of each part of her body to look through, and I was absolutely captivated by it. I noted, “Her gallbladder?” “It looks like that might be it,” Erica agreed. “Bring your daughter to work day?” the mother asked, smiling at me with the look usually reserved for an adorable toddler playing pretend. “Oh, no, this is Doctor Benson. She’s here on an exchange program with the hospital from one of the other dimensions.” “Really? A Portal Little?” the mom asked excitedly. “Yes, and she’s quite bright. I think she’s right, though I’m also wondering if that large mass in her bowels is not helping, either. When was the last time you went poopy?” Erica asked the girl. I noticed the girl was slightly defensive about the babyish name for her bowel movements. “I don’t know? I’m not a Little, though. Why does it matter?” “It can sometimes.” Erica told her before turning to her mom, “Okay, I will suggest we treat both issues right now. I’ll give her a nanite treatment that should alleviate the gallbladder issue we’re seeing. I’m also going to institute a bit of a flush for her, too. I’ll put that on a delay so you can get home before it starts.” “Any suggestions with that?” “I’ll prescribe some underpants to get her through it.” “Under…?!?” Suddenly the girl was furious! Even as she winced, she shouted, “I’m NOT wearing a DIAPER like some LITTLE!” Her mom suddenly grabbed the daughter by the chin, “If the doctor says you are, you are. IF you give us any more grief about a good idea like this to deal with what’s coming to your body, we’ll make it more than until it clears! Your friend Haley is still wearing them, right?” I simultaneously watched the girl turn red and white and wondered if what I saw justified a call to child services! “Yes, ma’am,” the child said. I watched everyone deflate as Erica prepped a syringe-like she had the night before and injected the girl in the fatty tissue on her rear. “She should feel relief on the gallbladder in a few minutes. If she’s still in pain after she passes the mass from her colon after a day, please come back and see us, and we’ll explore a couple other issues.” “Thanks,” the mom said. “Would you please ensure the prescription is for diapers, not Pull-Ups? She’s not behaving like that’s the better option, not to mention diapers work better for poopies.” The girl looked like she wanted to sink into the floor, even as she gave her mom a look of wanting to kill her. “Sure!” Erica said, seemingly unphased by the attitudes of either the girl or the mom. “They do definitely work better to control things. These are special ones, so please register the code on the package. They will tell us how much she expels by volume and sample some possible signs of other issues. She should wear them for at least twenty-four hours to get a good reading.” “Thanks! Nice to meet you, Sweetie,” the woman said as she pulled her daughter from the room. I pondered that an elementary school child was multiple times my size! “What was that about those readings?” I asked her as we walked down to another room. “Oh, it’s an easier version of doing stool sampling. Personally, I prefer to prescribe those diapers to anyone under twelve so they and their parents don’t have to deal with collecting stool samples. It’ll test for a wider range of bacteria, infections, sugars, sodium levels, etc.” “Huh,” I said, knowing that while mortifying, that was kind of clever! We saw her entire patient load of the morning together, and it was impressive to see every case resolved within a fifteen-minute appointment without sending them off to another floor for scans, specialists, etc. The nanite treatments were just as amazing as I had heard! At lunchtime, we ate in the cafeteria, and as I was getting my food, I heard, “Hello?” I turned and saw another woman, dressed like a doctor, even shorter than me! Her coat read, ‘Dr. Holly Nickerson, Chief of Pediatrics.’ “Hi,” I said back to her. “You must be the exchange doc I heard we were getting?” She smiled, “I’m Holly, the head of pediatrics here.” “Head?” I asked. “Yep, long story to get here…” “I bet,” I said, noting her youthful appearance in spite of her title. “Sorry, I’m Katherine Benson,” I told her. A much taller woman came over then, dressed like a CEO. “Did you make a new friend, Holly?” The woman gave a very youthful giggle, “Maybe?” Erica said, “Oh, Doctor Nickerson, I see you’ve met our new exchange doctor!” “Hi, Doctor Daniels,” Holly said formally. “Oh, Katherine, this is Doctor Ivy Nickerson.” “Any relation?” I asked, curious. “Oh, she’s my mommy,” she said nonchalantly. “What?” “Why don’t you join us for lunch?” the taller woman said. “Sure,” Erica answered for us. A short while later, I learned how Holly had come to this dimension. I felt my stomach twist and turn at some of the blunt information she shared about her mommy wanting a baby but, in the end, deciding she was too talented to stay at home in a crib or a daycare all day. “I’ve been a doctor here ever since,” she told me. “And she became the head of the department when I became the CEO,” her mom added. “You’re still here then too?” I asked. She shook her head, “I took a private sector job for a bit in a similar role before retiring a few years ago. Now I can just pop in and check on Holly for lunch each day!” Fortunately for my nerves, the conversation switched to the differences in nanite treatment in this dimension. We were starting to get some ideas back home with it, but our implementations were slow. The reproduction of the nanites within systems was our big logjam, and I was absolutely enthralled by my conversation about the building that theirs did to expand. Eventually, though, we all had to leave, Holly to surgery and Erica to her afternoon caseload. Just after lunch, I had a really close call getting to the restroom on time. I wasn’t sure why my bladder gave me such a late warning, but fortunately, I’d still made it! Immediately after that, though, we saw a patient who made me believe I had most definitely made a mistake! “Hi, I’m Doctor Daniels,” Erica introduced herself to the parent already waiting in the room. Their child was covered in a blanket and cuddled up to them in a chair. “This is Doctor Benson; she’s shadowing me today.” “Hi,” the woman said to her and gave me a skeptical look. She just shook her head, though. “What seems to be going on with Miss KiKi today?” Erica asked. ‘Kiki?’ I thought. ‘I sure hope that’s a nickname!’ “She just refuses to eat right now! I adopted her a couple weeks ago and had the normal procedures done on her to make sure she would be a happy baby. Still, it doesn’t matter how much I try, KiKi won’t eat her baby food, drink her babas, or nurse her nummies from me!” My brain came screeching to a halt as I evaluated each piece of information. Horrible name – what’s wrong with mom? Adopted? That’s kind of her? Or...? Wait, ‘normal procedures?’ Baby food? She looks almost as big as me, so she probably shouldn’t still be eating that. Nurse her nummies? Breastfeed? Didn’t she just say she adopted her? I knew you could lactate as a woman even without childbirth, but it seemed odd to start for a child as old as she had. “Just so I can confirm, what procedures did the clinic do on her?” “Oh, well, first was obviously the body hair treatment. Nothing is worse on a Little than having hair on their body to spoil the image! I had her teeth covered. You can’t remove them anymore because of that stupid law. Still, those new over-the-top implants don’t technically remove them?” ‘What the fuck?!?’ I thought to myself. “I also had her hair color changed to match mommy’s, and then treatments to help encourage proper crawling behavior.” I looked up at Erica in horror, expecting her to say all this was wrong! Instead, she merely said, “So, how long has it been since she ate?” “Seven days!” “You’re sure you’re lactating?” “Yes, since she’s not drinking, I have to pump - it’s gotten painful otherwise.” “Let’s rule out medical things, but I think you may need to have a session with a psychiatrist. Sometimes, new mommies need some help guiding their Littles to accept their new homes. Can you put KiKi on the bed so I can scan her?” A moment later, I could see from the countertop I’d climbed on that ‘KiKi was emaciated, with her ribs sticking out. The scanner couldn’t find anything preventing her from processing her food. “Have you considered removing the teeth covers and see if she’ll eat solid food?” Erica suggested. “But I want her to be healthy! Breast is best, they say!” Erica shrugged, “Maybe make a deal with Miss Kiki that you do that and let her have a solid meal a day?” I noticed she was looking at KiKi and not her mom, “In exchange, she’ll make sure she never bites mommy and always nurses her nummies like a good baby?” “I don’t know about that…” Her mom said. “Well, just a thought, I’m writing you a referral to a behavioral counselor. I’ll message her and see if she can see you before you’re discharged. If she doesn’t eat today, though, she will need to be admitted and given a feeding tube.” Erica seemed to be looking at the girl again. “Please, Mommy, I promise?” I heard the girl whimper. We left before another doctor came to remove whatever that implant was. ‘The girl was on a total hunger strike,’ I thought. ‘Probably her only thing she could control.’ ‘Why the hell did I come here?!?’ As we drove home, I couldn’t help but be horrified and slightly hopeful because of Holly Nickerson’s tale. While it was nice to see someone could make it, it was more than a little disheartening that she wasn’t on her own but instead had been adopted and lived as a baby all of the time away from work! ‘That at least might be okay,’ a little voice said in my head, ‘no stresses…’ I had no idea where that idea came from, but I felt like vomiting after seeing KiKi’s fate!!! When we reached Erica’s house, she carried me up the stairs and sat on the floor so we were closer to eye level. “Umm… Katie?” “Yes?” “Look, I’ve been trying to think about how to say this all day without it coming across with a creepy mommy vibe…?” My neck hairs raised as I wondered if a predator was about to eat me or if lightning was about to strike! “What?” She gave a big sigh, “Okay, so you living with me is great, and I don’t want to jeopardize it. Truth be told, I’m rather lonely in this big house by myself, so it’s nice to have you!” I smiled, “It’s kind of nice to have company,” I agreed. “Okay… but what happened last night is an issue neither of us can afford to happen again.” “Last night?” “You falling out of bed and breaking your wrist?” “It was a fluke? I don’t normally have nightmares like that?” She nodded, “I believe you, but if it were to happen again, we’d have an issue.” “So…” She looked nervous, “So, I think we’re going to have to change your room?” “How?” “To the room I have for my nieces and nephew when they visit?” I pictured the house, considered its layout, and then realized there was one room I hadn’t seen. The door was directly behind me, and Erica was blocking the stairwell with her body. “Why…?” “I’m just going to rip the bandaid off here,” she told me, “it’s not as mature.” She opened the door, and I saw exactly what she meant by that! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and leave a comment! I can't post next week due to holiday travel, but I should be able to post again next Saturday or Sunday, the 28th or 29th, depending on when I get home. I appreciate all of you who push the like button and leave comments! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, etc.!

Chapter 117: Consultant BETH AND I had dinner with my extended family again, but this time without Nikki. She’d run back to town with Grandpa for something and met Beth in the morning when we were dropped off. We all felt more than safe enough at my grandparents’ house, even without her! After some more vegging out in front of the TV, Beth checked her messages before we called it a night and told me that Charlotte and Sebastian wanted to watch the draft version of the film during our lunch break. With Grandma’s help, I had made plans to order some pizzas as a thank-you for all of the other times that Charlotte had been feeding the crew. I was in a great mood as we walked in with the pizzas since I’d been given back my HoloField Theory test results and scored a hundred and ten! The test had been curved due to the next best score being a ninety, and the professor not wanting one student to ‘blow the curve’ like I had. I was grateful I’d been able to anonymously enjoy my accomplishment! I smiled as Nikki checked all the boxes before we started eating, even as I loaded the draft film into the system of the small theater we’d reserved. “So you’re already done with the rough draft?” Will asked as I did so. “Yep!” I said with a smile. “How in the world did you get that put together already?” He asked. I shrugged, “Beth worked alongside me. That helped? Keep in mind this is a rough draft. I have a few scenes I know we’ll want to edit to the depth-of-field effects, for instance. I also want to give the music crew a bit more of a free hand, so if they need us to add a little to a transition, we can.” “The whole script is here, though?” Sebastian asked. “Yes,” I said simply. “Well, everyone, get yourself some pizza and settle in!” Charlotte said. “Thanks for the pizza, Carly!” I smiled and sat down with the crew to watch the film with horror and a little bit of pride. The script was horrible, but I felt like the cast and film rose above that to become something pretty solid. The crew laughed at various times that were meant to be humorous. There were also more than a few snickers at the memories of the real tea party Beth and I had while we were filming. “I wish the improv parts were there,” I heard Will whisper. “Carly would probably have thirty demerits and be on her way out the door?” Charlotte laughed. “She never said anything strictly bad?” “Shh!” someone else said. When we reached the end, and things faded out to where the credits would go, another part of the group was finalizing those; there was a round of applause. “The film content sucks, but you all knocked it out of the park for making the best of it!” Will said. “Charlotte, Carly, and Beth, you all have great screen chemistry together,” Isabella said. “Hopefully, we can use that on a better project this semester,” someone said. “Okay, what’s left to do here?” Charlotte asked. “I hope you were all taking notes?” The not-fun part was the criticisms of issues everyone had spotted as we progressed through the film. Fortunately, nothing needed to be reshot, but several portions required a slightly different sound mix, a touch-up on the lighting, one abrupt transition, and things like that. “Okay, Carly. Could you please contact Angie Bergman so we can get her set up on our group’s drive?” “You have her contact info?” I had asked. “Here you go,” Charlotte had sent it to me in a message, and we were off to the races with the next part of the production. I spent the week mainly working on some projects for my AI class, finishing my third script for my script writing class, and responding to Angie for little tweaks she was looking for. On Thursday, in our Narratives class, we were given some time at the end to work, and we were still trying to figure out what to do next. “Titles are done?” Sebastian asked. “Finished yesterday,” Will said. “Any idea how the music is coming?” Sebastian asked me. “Angie’s making quick work of it. It’s a very poppy-sounding track; it seems to fit?” “Any idea when she’ll be done?” Charlotte asked. “She hasn’t said, but I think she’s about fifty percent finished from the files I’m seeing?” I shrugged, “Let’s give her at least to the end of next week before we badger her? That’s a lot of music to come up with in a week?” They nodded. “Well, what’s the next project?” Isabella asked. “Supposed to be a short ten to twenty-minute film,” I said. “Scripts are due in our class next week.” “Those will be quicker, at least?” I heard someone say. Professor Wyler came to our table right then, “Doesn’t seem like the all-go group that we had last week?” “We’re just in a waiting pattern right now,” Charlotte told him. “Waiting for what?” “Music to be wrapped up?” Charlotte said. “You’ve filmed everything?” “It was in the can over a week ago,” Sebastian responded. “And it was all filmed… well?” He asked. “We think so? We watched Carly’s first draft of the whole thing put together on Monday; it seems to be solid?” “Well, make sure you all review the fine details. I’ll probably move on to more material next week if you all are finished. Can’t have you just sitting here twiddling your thumbs. Hopefully, the rest of the groups will get their heads out of their asses and into gear,” the professor very crassly said. I smirked at that, as did the rest of the group. Before breaking up, we discussed some last details with the branding, posters, etc. As we were doing so, I saw Michael, a guy who was in both the script class and narratives, come up to me. From my perspective, he was a tall guy, but he was probably just average for a Big at about ten feet. He knelt down in front of me. “Hey Carly, I heard you all are done filming.” “Pretty much,” I told him. “Just editing now, more or less?” “That’s really cool,” he said. “How’s it going with my script?” I asked. He sighed, “Not great, to be honest.” He looked a little embarrassed, “Look, I brought up an idea with our studio and also with Professor Wyler. Since you’re done with your film… would you be willing to come and consult on our project? We’ll be paying your studio a fee for your help?” I looked up at the big guy and figured this was a tough ask for him and the rest of their group. I remembered they had one Tweener on the crew, and most of the rest were all Bigs. They’d been arrogant after winning the first contest but had nosedived on the last one. I looked over at Charlotte and Beth, who were hanging off to the side to watch what was happening. I raised my eyebrows, and Charlotte shrugged. “Look, I can’t guarantee much time; what was the deal?” “Twenty-five thousand budget dollars an hour for your group?” “Would you be okay if I have someone stay and hang out with me?” “Why?” “I don’t know you all, not to be rude, but it’s a bit risky as a girl? Not to mention being a Little?” He looked bashful at that, “Okay, that’s fine?” “When?” “Now?” I looked at the time, “Let me see if that works with Beth or someone else?” I walked over to Beth and said, “They’re pretty desperate for help. Would you be able to stay if I tried to help them?” She looked at me and shrugged, “I can do my homework in a corner?” “Thanks,” I told her. “Make sure it works for Nikki too?” I asked. “It will,” she told me. “Great thing about a dedicated bodyguard!” I giggled nervously and went back to tell Michael we could. “Okay, you’ve got me for an hour and a half today. I can’t spend more time than that. I could probably find another hour for you next week.” “Great!” he said, “We’ve got one of the soundstages reserved…” BETH WAS A bit shocked that they asked Carly for help, but wasn’t surprised Carly said ‘yes’ to it. ‘I’m just glad she was smart enough to not do it on her own, though!’ she thought as she watched the activity in the SoundStage that Studio Two had reserved. ‘This seems like total chaos compared to our Studio?’ Beth watched as Carly looked around at the HoloSet and asked, “Who’s in charge of scenery?” “Me?” a tall girl who made Beth’s arm hair stand up straight. The voice sounded like fingernails on the chalkboard with the nasally tone. “Why did you program it with solid walls all the way around?” “Huh?” the girl asked. “It’s a space station; if you have open holes to space, you’ll die? I thought even a Little would know that?” Beth was about to give the girl a piece of her mind, but Carly was far more gifted with that skill than she gave her credit for sometimes! “Yeah, but if you’re filming a movie, you want access to give your cameras a better chance of getting a good angle? So you leave open walls to bring your cameras and lights around. I thought any Big would know that?” “Meow!” one of the nearby camera operators, who was about eleven feet in height, said. Carly looked at the director and said, “Look, if you want to just screw around and not finish the project, this is how you do that. If you want to finish the project, you might want to get someone who understands how to film in charge of this stuff. It doesn’t matter how pretty it is if you can’t get your gear in here!” The girl was about to argue when Michael said, “Look, you dimwit, their studio already has their film getting music added to it. From everything I’ve heard, Charlotte, Sebastian, Will, Carly, and Beth are like the dream time. If they say something, we make a change. They got rid of a member, so we can do it too. Get with the program!” Beth found a place to sit off to the side and watch since it seemed like everyone had it in hand. Pulling out her tablet, she read some notes on her fields and waves material. The professor had told her to review them before the next day’s test. So far, she had maintained her ‘A’ average but always worried about it slipping. ‘If it wasn’t for Carly, I don’t think I’d be having this much success in this class,’ she admitted. She looked up right then to check on her. She smirked when she saw Carly somehow managed to hop on a table. She was still at least two feet shorter than the leading actress but had her practically cowering from her blunt criticism. “Look, you have to sell this! Right now, you act like it’s an everyday thing that these holograms want to baby you? Is that how you think we Littles act about it?” “Don’t you?” the first girl who had gotten under Carly’s skin earlier asked. Carly looked up at her, “You again?” “Well, you’re just telling our best actress that she’s doing a crappy job of acting, even as your diaper is literally filled with crap?” Beth flinched and started putting her stuff away, figuring she needed to rescue Carly. She stood up as Carly said, “Why can’t both things be correct? You’re right; thanks to this wonderful dimension, my diaper is filled with poop. But I also stand by her acting being terrible!” She watched Carly turn to Michael, “Michael, I’ve given you as much help and tips as I think you’re willing to take. I hate that my script is not turning out how I envisioned it… Maybe I’ll redo it for myself at some point. As it is, I would fire both of these two, recast, and reshoot. You’ll have better results and not nearly as much drama.” Beth neared her as Carly continued, “And with that, I need to change my diaper. Unfortunately, this girl can’t just change a diaper to get her acting on par.” ‘Harsh…’ Beth thought. Apparently, the girl thought so too, as she said, “You Little bitch!” Beth watched everything happen in slow motion. Even as she debated how to step in to save Carly, she watched an open-palmed slap suddenly launch toward her face! I WASN’T IGNORANT to the fact I was pissing the wannabe filmmaker off by telling her how it was. The fact my diaper was filled, and I hadn’t noticed, was enough to kind of piss me off enough to push her the rest of the way over the edge. Fortunately, the girl was as bad of a fighter as an actress in the film, and I had no problems doing a backflip out of the way of her hand. I should have jumped a little further, though, as I just felt the bitches fingernails graze my nose. I was annoyed when I realized she got some of my skin! “Get over here!” The girl said when she realized she missed me. I was debating fight or flight when Michael took the need out of my hands and grabbed her hands. “What kind of idiot are you?!?” “Let me go! That bitch needs a spanking!” “Carly, I apologize for the rest of my crew. I’ll talk with Professor Wyler about this; why don’t you get out of here before she…” The crazy girl was a bit more physical than I think any of us realized, managing to get loose from Michael’s grip and coming back after me! I was eyeing the distance to the ground from the table I was standing on when Nikki suddenly was between us. “Out of my way bitch!” she screamed. It was hard to see precisely what move Nikki used against her since I was blocked by her large body. Still, the end of the move showed her grappling the idiotic girl to the ground and placing her in a restraining hold. “I think it’s time to press charges, Carly?” she said. “Again…?” I whined. “Again?” The girl breathed. “Yeah, she’s already had one girl kicked out of the university. I guess you’ll be the next one.” “I…” With that, the girl devolved into sobs. Still, Nikki was smart enough to continue restraining her until two security officers took her into custody. “Carly, you have to stop having that effect on people,” Beth told me as she used a baby wipe to gently clean my nose of the blood her scratch had left. I nodded, “I don’t disagree!” “Did you learn something from this?” Nikki asked with a sigh. “Should have flipped further?” She looked incredulous but said, “Yes, you should have. Maybe don’t piss off the Bigs was another lesson?” I shrugged, “Maybe they’ll have a chance to finish the film now?” Beth shook her head, “Unless they have a whole new crew, I doubt it. I’m not sure how they beat us so badly the first time?” “I think they worked together better?” I said with a shrug as we left the building after stopping in a room to change my diaper. “Anyway, let’s hit the cafeteria, get you food, and go back to the nest; then, I need to get back to studying!” “Yeah, I have a test tomorrow too. Only good thing about Thursdays is those classes are all project based, except the final!” “Wish I could say that. Signals has one coming up for me.” Beth and I sat at a mixed-size table and were soon joined by Reila, Livy, Amy, and Willow. The table was helpful in that one side had space for Big-sized chairs, one had something that could be used by Tweeners, one was a little more for short Tweeners or Littles, and the last had a raised bench with steps meant for Littles. Beth and I sat across the corners on the third, with Reila beside her, and Willow and Amy easily fit on the Little-sized bench with me. Nikki was sitting at a table nearby, keeping an eye on us. ‘You could fit eight of our rears on this,’ I thought. “What happened to your nose, Carly?” Willow asked. “Oh, I forgot to put something on top of that,” I groaned. “Yeah, how did you gouge your nose like that?” Livy asked. I sighed as Beth said, “She has this habit of pushing Bigs just a word too far?” “Oh my God, what happened?” Reila asked. I shrugged and filled them in on the story. “Carly, you’re really lucky Nikki was there!” Livy said. “You’ve got to stop getting into situations like that,” Amy said with a sigh. “If you want to get home, that is?” I sighed, “I know, but… you’re right.” “So what happens now to the psycho witch?” Reila asked. I shrugged, “It wasn’t the same situation as with Kelly, so I would be surprised if she gets kicked out.” “Umm… Carly?” Beth asked. “Yes?” “Did you tell your grandma about this?” “…No?” “You might want to before she hears about it from someone else?” Beth told me. With a sigh, I messaged her; she didn’t get back to me initially, so I thought I was in the clear as we walked to Sanders. Unfortunately, that was only the case until I entered the lobby and found her waiting to look at my nose, “You have to stop doing these things…?” Grandma told me. “Sorry…?” “You are way too much like your mother!” “Not the first time I’ve been told that!” I spent the rest of the night settling into a bean bag chair in the nest, studying, and playing games in my glasses. When Lilly gave me my final diaper change of the night, I also received another lecture. I was very over the day as I rolled over in my pod and closed my eyes to sleep! ‘Try to do one nice thing…?’ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sorry for the delay on the chapter, I had a great trip and am home now! Thanks for reading! Please press that Like Button and leave me a comment too! I'll post again on Friday, slightly later than I have been recently.

Well you all did it! Here's your reward! ? Chapter 6: Preschool Chic ACROSS FROM THE doorway we entered, I saw three walls with three, four, and three setups of lofted beds above desks. The beds looked weird, though! There was an almost organic curve to the ends by the head and footboard areas, with a ladder coming up one end to an open swinging door. Through the middle of it was a curved half-circle made of transparent Plexi-like material running the length of about eighty percent of the bed, which I guessed let you quickly check on the occupants. The odd thing was that the sides all went up at least five, maybe five-and-a-half feet, above the mattresses. ‘It’s a lofted crib with an exit ladder!’ I thought to myself incredulously. Below the bed was a desk set up that looked short enough for my new smaller frame. Some bookshelves, electrical outlets, and a chair that looked like an ordinary desk chair back home completed the furnishings. The desk and bed were made out of a wood that reminded me of a light maple. I noticed that our names were already printed in a cutesy font in a frame at the end of our beds. Each featured a hand-painted picture of a fox kit. I noted that mine was in a corner on the wall to the right of our entry door. I turned and saw that Liam and Noah were speechless. “Umm… That’s a weird bed…?” Noah finally said. I turned and ignored him, noting the changing table that took a place of ‘honor’ along the wall, adjacent to the door through which we had entered. Another door went to our left and was marked with a sign that said ‘Potty Time is the Best Time!’ “I know you’re all itching to explore, but why don’t you go ahead and get your bags over by your study pod? That’s what we call your bed and desk. When you’re done with that, get a uniform on from in your box. We’ll hang the rest of your stuff up later after lunch.” Makenzie suggested. “Sure,” I told her and made my way to my ‘pod.’ The box had been made to open with a string pull, so I didn’t need a knife or scissors. Opening it up, I found two dressy sweater vests embroidered on the chest with the Emerson crest, six pairs of what almost looked like dress slacks, five white dress shirts, and five… white dress shirts with onesie tails on them?!? I blushed at the sight of those! I looked through the box to see a couple of ties and two glossy pairs of black dress shoes. I took a closer look at the pants and saw that they only loosely resembled dress pants. The waistbands were elastic to make them easy to pull up and down. I also noted that snaps were going along the inseams up the crotch to enable easy changing access. ‘I think Mom told me her dress slacks had those too… part of why she never wore them!’ Surprised not to see any protection, I walked over to where Mackenzie was watching over us . She had a rocking chair that she was sitting in, alternating looking between us and her phone. “Umm… Miss Brown?” “Yes, Connor?” “After our presentation with Dean Northrup, I think I would like to play things safe here?” “How do you mean…?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye. “Umm… protection?” “You think you should wear Pull-Ups to be safe?” She cooed, loud enough that Liam and Noah heard it. “You’ve to be kidding, Connor!?! You’re really going to go along with that gay shit?” Noah spat. Makenzie quickly but gently pushed me to the side as she stood up and went to chase after Noah. He stood his ground. “What? You going to report me to the Dean?” I watched her shake her head, “Nope, I can take care of this myself.” I was impressed by how quickly she picked him up, ripped his pants down, and sat back down in the rocking chair. Equally impressive was the speed and strength of her hand as it landed on his butt! “We,” she spanked. “Do!” Spank! “Not!” Smack! “Ever!” Smack! “Make!” Smack! “Fun!” Smack! “Of!” Smack! “Others!” Smack! I grimaced, even as I felt like he had it coming to him. Things only got worse for him, though. “Oh my God! Aren’t you supposed to be a potty-trained adult?!?!” She smacked him six more times, punctuating every word with another smack, “You do not pee on me!” By then, the fight had long left Noah, and he was a blubbering mess of tears as I could see his butt was fiery red in color! She stood up with him and walked straight to the changing table. “I definitely don’t trust you out of protection. You’ve earned yourself three days of diapers since you can’t hold your pee like a big boy. If you’re good, maybe, I’ll let you wear Pull-Ups next week on your first day of classes!” I watched as he struggled a bit more once she laid him on the table, but two additional smacks stopped that. A chest strap and another on his arms and shoulders were added as well, holding him down. “Which one…?” she mused, looking at what I now realized was a veritable store of diaper choices. “I think this one will do,” she said with a giggle. I couldn’t see what she held, but I noticed a lot of pink on the shelf that I thought I saw her pull it from. A moment later, he was standing on his own two feet in a weird wobbly position, wearing just the diaper she’d put him in. Noah looked like he was still in pain from the spanking he had gotten, but I was sure the redness of his face had far more to do with the pink diaper he wore. It looked like it had lots of hearts, stars, and the words ‘love’ and ‘cutie’ splayed over it. He made a threatening gaze at me, but quickly looked away when I raised my eyebrows. “Now that you have your proper protection on Noers, why don’t you go see if your uniform pants will fit over them…? If not, we’ll have to have you go in just your diapee since we won’t have time to get you some new pants for that diaper butt yet. He looked visibly struck then, and I watched him hobble back over to his desk. She left for a minute, and I found myself basically frozen in shock at what happened to Noah. It didn’t take her long to swiftly return in a new pair of slacks. As soon as she walked back she turned her attention back to me, and I felt my stomach tumble. “Come here, little guy, let’s see if we have any Pull-Ups small enough for you. I’m a little worried about your size.” I grimaced but walked over to her. She started pawing through packages in some cupboards and came away with one a moment later. “This is the smallest Pull-Up they stock for us…?” She handed it to me, and I blushed at the blue-colored garment. It had cartoon pictures on it as I unfolded it, but I could see that it probably wouldn’t fit. “Umm…” “Let’s try it on really quick… if it doesn’t work, we’ll have to go with diapees if you want to be safe.” She whispered, “And you’re a smart little boy for doing this without me suggesting it!” I started to walk for the bathroom but instead found myself flying through the air in her arms until she put me down on the same changing table Noah had just occupied. Before I could possibly complain, she had my shoes untied, pants down, and underwear discarded next to me. The underwear I’d worn to the dimension was pulled down, and I had just enough wherewithal to go “Wait…” but the deed was done, and my lower body was exposed for the world to see. Liam was just coming back in from the bathroom with a poorly aligned tie when he took in the scene of first me on the changing table, and then Noah trying in vain to pull a pair of pants over the massive diaper. As Mackenzie said, “Step in,” to me, my attention was brought back to myself. I saw the leg holes of the Pull-Up opened, and I followed directions as she pulled it up my body. But, unfortunately, it just kept going above my groin and instead to nearly my armpits! “Hmm… Definitely too big,” Mackenzie told me. I looked at her in the face, and she seemed disappointed in that. “Do they make any smaller ones…? I can’t be the smallest Little out there…?” She shrugged, “You’re not… I’ve heard stories of one crazy Little from years back that was barely over three feet tall. The problem is that most of those who are that small here don’t use training pants.” “Oh,” I said. She spoke softly to me, “You seem to be understanding things here faster than your friends?” I sighed, “My mom went to school here?” She gave me a puzzled look, “She moved over to your dimension afterward?” I shook my head, “No, she came over here for school. She… depending on what stories you’ve heard about that tiny Little, it might have actually been about her?” Right then, her watch dinged, and she looked at it. Then, with a sigh, she said, “You and I are having a private conversation later. I want to know more?” I nodded. “In the meantime, you’re being smart and asking about protection. It’ll keep you out of trouble. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Pull-Ups in your size, but I do have some diapers?” “Please tell me they’re not pink?” I nodded towards Noah, who somehow had now shoehorned himself into a pair of pants. She giggled, “No, it’ll be a regular baby diaper. They were left over from a student last semester – he was about your size.” I just shrugged, “I can get myself out of them?” “Should be able to?” “Go ahead…” I told her. She gently pushed me down onto my back and, without any warning, pulled the poor-fitting Pull-Up off of my legs. Mackenzie left me naked there for a moment while she dug into a cubby and brought back a diaper that looked identical to any modern baby diaper in our dimension. It even featured some cartoon characters that looked familiar to me. While she hurried through the process, I couldn’t help but feel mortified as she lifted my legs into the air to set the diaper underneath me. Then, she squirted some lotion on her hands and proceeded to rub it into my intimate areas. I did my best to not react in any way, but I was ticklish, and it was really difficult to sit still! While I knew diaper changes might not go quickly in the future, I guessed I was taped into the infantile garment in less than a minute. She sat me down on the floor and said, “Go get your uniform on now; I’ll put a few extras of these in your backpack.” I gathered my uniform pieces without further prompting, started pulling on the pants and the dress shirt, and tucked everything in. You could see the slight bulge of a diaper, but not like Noah, who was having trouble even toddling around right then. “Liam, can you come here for a moment?” I heard Mackenzie ask. I was about to disappear to the bathroom to go tie the tie but quickly figured out it was a clip-on. ‘Well… if you think someone is a baby, I guess a real tie would be too much,’ I admitted. I pulled the vest on and took a brush to the bathroom to brush my hair nicely again. In the mirror, I saw that the clip-on tie definitely looked like it wasn’t real, but with the vest on, I knew I at least was better off than the girls’ summer dress option! Looking at myself in the mirror, I knew at least my diaper could be mostly hidden out of sight in this outfit, even if the snaps going up the crotch of the pants gave away that it was likely that I needed them! I took just a couple of moments to brush my shoulder-length hair down and pull it into the low ponytail Mama insisted I keep. She’d never been a fan of me having long hair, but Mom had always told her to drop it since she had her own long hair in high school. “You about done, Connor?” I heard from the main room, “We need to go get your ID pictures taken!” I sighed and said, “Coming,” as I walked out and dropped the brush in my backpack. I took just a quick moment to place three spare diapers inside and hook the straps on my shoulders. The other guys looked every bit as upscale preschool chic as I felt, but neither grabbed a bag. “Okay, let’s get going, my little kits!” she told us. I noticed a rope with little plastic rings, for us to hang onto, hanging by the door, and was surprised she didn’t make us use that! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks everyone for the Likes yesterday! I really appreciate those and the comments as I do post these up for Free! (It's kind of like putting something in the tip jar for your authoress here!) Please keep both the comments and the Likes up to let me know what you think! I'm traveling a lot the next few weeks, and at times may have limited privacy/internet. I'll be able to check this site in the evenings most likely this week. Friday I'll post the next chapter, and then I'll be gone again for a couple weeks. Those weeks my internet will probably be hit or miss, I may or may not be able to stick with the Friday posting. You might get an early or late posting that next couple weeks while I'm gone.

Chapter 5: Eyrie I SAT THROUGH the discussion of uniforms without saying a word. I noted that the Littles’ uniforms were unchanged from when Mom was in school! There were some complaints from my fellow students for several moments before Dean Northrup finished her presentation, still clearly in control. “Now, while I’ve been meeting with you, our residence life staff has been working hard to place you in Nests for your semester. The rest of the student body won’t be here until at least this weekend, so you’ll have a couple nights to acclimate to your new living spaces before they get here. That means I was able to get your Nest Mothers to come help you find the way to your dorm.” As if waiting for her signal, the enormous door opened at the end of the room. and four giant women in their twenties walked through. “Good afternoon, ladies. Before I tell our new students which Nests they’re in, how about you introduce yourselves?” “Sure!” One of the tall girls said, “Hi guys, I’m Madelyn Lewis! I’m working on my doctorate in Early Childhood studies when I’m not helping out around the dorm!” The girl reminded me of a camp counselor I remembered. Always peppy, happy, and more than a little bit irritating! She was exceptionally tall, even for an Amazon, and based on the door frame she walked through, I guessed that she was over twelve feet tall! Her blonde hair hung loosely about her face, which seemed to somehow emphasize how she was exceptionally skinny for her height, with a much smaller chest than the girls around her. She did a weird pointing show with her arms to the next slightly shorter giant next to her, cementing my first impression of her. “Hi, I’m Mackenzie Brown, and I’m working on my master’s degree in Early Childhood studies. I can’t wait to meet all of you too!” I guessed she was probably near perfect for Amazonian body dimensions, if not a little skinny still. She had a more developed chest than Madelyn, and dark brown hair that matched her last name. I also noticed that she had very distinct amber-colored eyes. The next girl was a little taller than Mackenzie but still shorter than Madelyn. “Hi, I’m Kaylee Miller. I’m in my last year of working on my doctorate in Psychology!” Kaylee was definitely overweight, but she didn’t seem overly so. Her brown hair was a few shades lighter than Mackenzie’s. Kaylee motioned to the short bleach-blonde-haired girl to finish off the round of intros. I noted that if Kaylee was overweight, this girl looked nearly dangerously obese. “And I’m Lucy Anderson; I’m also in my last year of study, but in Child Psychology.” “Thank you, ladies,” Dean Northrup said. “Please go stand with your Nest Mother when I call your name. They’ll take you to where you can pick up your other luggage, get your uniforms, settle in and change, get your IDs, and finally, to a special welcome luncheon!” I felt my stomach growl at the extra time before my next meal. “If these girls will please go with Miss Madelyn: Amelia, Mia, and Willow.” I noted the term ‘Miss’ being used and was sure we would be getting told in the dorms that their first names were well out of bounds for us. “Miss Kaylee will be taking Ava and Avery.” I watched as the five members of our groups went to stand next to their tall caretakers. The closer they stood to them, the more I could see just how much they towered over them! Amy, in particular, looked like she was probably a newborn compared to how tall Madelyn was! ‘And she’s the same height as me!’ I thought worriedly. “Miss Mackenzie will be taking Noah, Liam, and Connor,” I heard. I looked up at the tall giant as I approached. She was not quite three times my height, I guessed, and it was way more intimidating than standing next to my mom! “Hi, Guys!” She said quietly. “I can’t wait to get to know you all!” Noah rolled his eyes then. “Nice to meet you; I’m Connor,” I said quietly. I barely registered that Luca and Tatum ended up with ‘Miss Lucy.’ “That’s it for here. I’ll see you at the luncheon.” “Come along then,” my new Nest Mother insisted. She led us ahead of the other groups that were moving slower and talking to each other. I had to take four steps for every step she took, but the pace meant we reached a room where our luggage had been stored before everyone else. I noted that the security seal covering the TSA-standard lock I had on the suitcase had been broken open, but wasn’t surprised. ‘Hopefully, Mom’s hidden compartment held up like she thought it would?’ We followed her down the hallway to another room with a series of stacked boxes. She looked around and said, “Here, Connor, these should all work for you,” handing me a box with my name on it that I couldn’t easily juggle with my suitcase at that moment. I set everything down while she found the others and found a bungee cord I’d placed in my backpack. I discovered that my suitcase hadn’t shrunk quite as much as I had, so there was plenty of room at the top for me to secure the box. “Well, aren’t you the resourceful little guy?” Mackenzie said, just as the other groups caught up. I blushed, “I try,” I told her. Liam and Noah seemed to be struggling more, even though Noah was half a foot taller than me, and Liam seemed to have a few more inches above that. We were walking down the hallway when I saw a bathroom sign. “Umm… Miss Brown?” “Yes, Connor?” “Do you mind if I stop here real quick?” “That’s a great idea to do a potty break right now!” she said in a babyish tone that took me back to preschool. “I’ll watch your stuff! Does anyone else need to go?” To my surprise, the other two shook their heads, but I didn’t want to risk the next stop being a bridge too far! She kindly pushed the gigantic door open for me. I left my suitcase and the box there but kept my backpack. The room presented me with my first problem here – gigantic toilets! ‘Shit!’ I thought inside my head as I looked at the toilet seats through the open doors. With my new shorter size, my armpits just barely cleared the height of their huge toilets! Climbing onto one was going to be like scaling a boulder! I looked around to see if there were any smaller toilets, but the shortest thing was a ‘short’ urinal – also really too tall for me. I hadn’t intended on needing it, but I dug in my backpack for a collapsible step stashed inside that I sat on the floor in front of the urinal. ‘Have to remember to sanitize this later!’ I thought to myself as I was pleased that it got me to just have a long aim, rather than an impossible one! Not wanting to get accused of wetting my pants, I made sure that I used some toilet paper to wipe to be safe before pulling my pants on as the door opened. “Need any help?” I heard Mackenzie ask, poking her head through the door. “No thanks, I’ve got it, I just need to wash my hands!” “Really?” She asked, surprised. “Is there anyone else in there with you?” “No?” I told her. I moved my step over to the sink while I waited. There was a shorter sink present that I could just reach with the step stool. Soap was out of reach, but Mom had suggested a small bottle of it that I pulled from my bag. Squirting some on my hands, I quickly washed them with hit-or-miss water from the automated jets. I was just collapsing my step stool and placing it into my bag when I noticed she had fully opened the door and was staring at me with a shocked look. “You brought a step stool with you?” I zipped my bag shut and shouldered it. I shrugged, “I thought it might be a useful item?” She stared at me as I walked back out the door, where the other two looked bored. “Done going potty?” Noah taunted me. I nodded, “You sure you guys don’t want to go while we’re here?” Liam shook his head, “I’m good for a while yet. Let’s just get to the dorm.” “Not all of us are on the road to being a diaper baby here…” Noah said softly enough to avoid Makenzie hearing. I shrugged, “Good luck with that thinking,” I told him. “I guess we’re ready, Miss Brown?” She smiled, “Great, Connor! Let’s get going!” Makenzie led us outside, and I saw the other groups were now well ahead of us. I didn’t care, though, knowing that the two of them may have made a huge mistake just now! The building we came out of was labeled Bremer Hall, and I wracked my brain trying to remember if Mom had mentioned it. ‘Must be new?’ I wondered to myself. Mom had drawn maps for me of the campus as it was when she was in school. I soon recognized Zentner Hall and noted another new building called Westerfield Hall. ‘Named after Grandma…?’ I wondered. I remembered from Mom’s map that we were pretty close to Wenig Hall, but we walked past it to a much newer-looking building labeled Sanders Eyrie for Littles. A large fountain sculpture of a Griffin with a nest of newborn chicks and one coming out of its shell stood in front of the building wearing a stylized cloth diaper. ‘Not too subtle, or realistic, that,’ I thought to myself. “Come on, almost there,” Makenzie told us as we approached the building. I watched her wave her wrist over the scanner and realized her watch must have a chip to open the door. It automatically swung an outer door and an airlock door open for us. “We’re on the eighth floor,” she told us with a smile, “Best view of the campus!” As she happily led us inside the building, I couldn’t help but note the decorations were already leaning towards those of an elementary school or daycare. The initial wall featured a giant sea mural with fish and other anthropomorphized creatures smiling at us when we walked in. On the other side, a mural depicted diapered baby griffins, and seemed to try and tell a story about smart Littles wearing their diapers. Both walls reminded me of the classic boy wizard tales where paintings moved, because they were very smoothly animated. Their smiles in that context were especially creepy! Inside, the elevator was easily large enough to triple our group size and still have room. The elevator continued the primary-colored theme with wall colors, ceiling and floor colors, and artwork. I noted a double panel set of controls, one at her height and one at our height. The one at ours had square buttons styled like baby blocks. Meanwhile, hers were the standard circles I had grown up with. ‘I’m surprised they still have physical buttons,’ I thought. When I looked back down, I noticed that there were ten numbered circles marked out with stickers on the floor with the implication they were telling us where to stand. She didn’t mention them, but I had a feeling that command would be coming on future trips. The ride up to the eighth floor was swift, and we were soon led into a hallway filled with colorful paintings of baby griffins who reminded you to do your homework while listing the ABCs around it in big baby blocks. We soon came to a door surrounded by baby fox kits with their artwork showing their diapers. Above the door, it said The Kits and Miss Mackenzie’s Nest. I knew without a doubt that meant we were at our new home! I watched as she opened the door and showed us the room we would be sleeping in for the semester. The fox kit theme carried all the way through the room design. A playful mural of a forest allowed them to have room to move around in the design. ‘If this was in a daycare, it would be cute,’ I admitted. ‘I think I might need to vomit waking up to this every day, though!’ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying this! My editor and I have been trying to keep my chapters down to more reasonable size chunks on this. Because of that we split this section into a shorter chapter to keep more consistent. That being said, I have another chapter then basically ready to go! If I get say 25 likes on this site in the next 24 hours I'll post the next chapter tomorrow as well. Please let me know what you think both by pressing that 'Like' button and leaving me a comment!

Epilogue: I LOOKED DOWN at the screen and continued manipulating the controls until I reached the planned zone. “Clear! Activating,” I said as I pressed a button on the controls and then began backing out the endoscope like device. Another screen showed the progress of the nanites repairing the intestines where a tumor had lodged on the intestines of the young five-year-old girl. The nanites went to town destroying the bad cells, and then rebuilt her intestinal wall to the way it should be. The excess material of cancerous cells was broken down into a fluid that her immune system would clear. In a matter of minutes, the large tumor gone, I used a small pink princess Band-Aid to cover the remnants of the incision. I smiled knowing even that incision would disappear in half an hour. Even though it was unnecessary, I’d found that leaving a little cute souvenir bandaid for a patient helped reassure the that I had fixed their problem! I watched her vitals for a moment longer to make sure we were done before telling the nurses, “Okay, looks like we’re good. Go ahead and get her down to recovery please. I’m going to go talk to her parents and let her know she’s okay.” “Not yet you’re not…” said a young nurse that I’d always remember from her giggling gleefully at the idiot nurse the day of the terrorist strike. I’d long ago learned her name was Haley Simmerson “Why not?” I looked up at her. “You need a change first,” she told me. “Ugh… come on, let’s get it done quickly please…” I told her. “Sure thing, Doc,” she told me. I followed her to a small room that was near the operating theaters that had been converted into a changing room for me. She lifted me onto the table and said, “You know, you’re one stinky doctor!” She pulled my scrub pants down and lifted me off of the messy diaper. “One of these days your mommy needs to potty train you!” “I tried…” I told her as she wiped between my cheeks, “but even when we had me making it most of the time, I needed to move too fast to make it… I couldn’t chance that in surgery.” “So, you just decided your pants make the best potty?” I sighed, “Don’t they?” She laughed. Haley finished changing me, “For you, maybe… It’s a good thing you have a mommy already, I would totally have adopted you myself by now.” I blushed, “I can think of worse mommies actually.” I told her, “But my mommy and I are happy together,” I added. “Then I’m happy being your favorite nurse and part-time babysitter!” she laughed and tickled me for a second before pulling my pants back up. The diaper was placed in a disposal and I was on my feet. I stopped via a quick hand wash station that had been modified for my short height. “Mrs. Abernathy?” I said as I walked out to the waiting room where the young mother waited. “Yes, Doc? Is she okay?” “Everything went great! You’ll be able to go back with her in recovery in just a few minutes once they get her settled in there.” “Oh, thank you Doc!” She said and wrapped her arms around me. “You’re very welcome,” I told her as I managed to step away from her a moment later. “I was concerned at first about a little being a surgeon… but then I found out you are the best there is for kids.” “I just do the best I can,” I told her with a smile. “I’ve got to get going. I’ll check in on you two later this afternoon.” I looked at my watch and saw that I had an hour for a break before my next appointment. I walked down to a familiar elevator. A nurse was in the elevator asked, “Hi Doc, what floor?” “Thirty-five please,” I told her. “Going up to see the boss?” “Figure I’ll try and pull her away for lunch,” I told her. “She is a bit of a workaholic at times, isn’t she?” “Sometimes,” I agreed with a smile. She stepped out at a lower floor and the elevator continued to the top floor where Ivy’s office was. Several business office personnel gave me friendly greetings as I drew nearer her office. Her secretary, Trisha, greeted me, “Hey Doc, here to see Ivy?” I nodded, “She free?” “For you she always is,” she reminded me for probably the thousandth time, “but she just had her last meeting end. Here for lunch I’m guessing?” “Yep,” I told her and went through the door she opened for me. “Hi Princess,” she told me with a smile. “Lunch?” I asked. “Sure, let me just grab my bag…” she told me. ‘My bag?’ I thought with a shake of my head… Sure she had her wallet and keys in there, but the majority of it was still made up of diapers and baby gear for me. I sighed and followed her down the hallway at practically a jog to keep up. We had decided early on that it was a better idea for her not to carry one of her surgeons around… ‘Lead by example,’ she told me. So, during working hours she was Ivy, and I was Holly. The only concession to her babying me was the obligatory diaper changes around lunch time. Down in the dining area we picked up food from differing areas. She got her salad, while I went for the stir-fry station. I’d built up a good relationship with the cook there. Once he had seen that I loved spicy food, he never had any problems getting enough spice to satisfy me. I giggled as I walked to our usual table thinking about the time Macey had tried to say, ’it can’t be that spicy if a little can eat it…’ It brought a smile to my face every time I thought of her teary face and her rush for something to help take the edge off! ‘She’s a tough one to deal with sometimes,’ I thought to myself. She was one of those amazon nurses that strongly felt I should be at the daycare - even after a year and a half of building my solid reputation. Luckily, I had Haley, Kat, and several other nurses that I had impressed who flew cover for me with her and the two other problem nurses. Having my ‘mommy’ be the CEO of the hospital didn’t hurt either! I let Ivy help me into the booster seat that I sat in for lunch and began carefully eating. “How’d that little girl’s procedure go?” “Which one? I had four this morning?” “The tumor?” “She’s going to be just fine!” I said with a smile, “Even after all this time I’m still amazed every time that those nanites can take care of getting rid of those so easily!” “I still can’t believe what you do in your dimension, still trying to do it by… cooking organs with radiation is just so…” “Barbaric?” I asked with a laugh. “Well I did come here to learn for a reason.” She smiled back at me then. “What do you have planned for the rest of the afternoon?” “Six pre-consults… rounds with this morning’s patients… should be done by about three?” “Good, remember come straight to my office - we’re taking off early today.” “Why?” I asked. “If you have to ask, I’m certainly not telling you,” she told me with a smile. I glared at her but it did no good. ‘What is so special about today?’ I thought, racking my brain. ‘I’ve never been good about calendar dates…’ I shook my head, “I’ll be there.” A few hours later I was in the last of my pre-surgery consults. The patient was a thirty-year-old adult little woman who was dealing with some rather large ovarian cysts. I’d reviewed the case before coming in that morning like I always did, and couldn’t help but wonder what this set of parents was going to want. I grabbed onto the special door handle that had been attached on the four consultation rooms that I used in the hospital. I paused for just a moment to gird myself for the parent encounter I had a bad gut feeling about. “Hello, I’m Doctor Nickerson,” I said as I walked in. The large amazon woman that looked shocked at my presence. “Everyone here calls me Doc,” I said to the little girl who was sitting on the short table that I had added to my rooms. “You’re a little?!?” She said, “Littles can’t be doctors?!? Go get your mommy in here little girl! It’s cute to play dress up, but you need to be with your mommy!” I sighed, “Miss…” I looked at the chart again, “Beale, I am a doctor. I am in fact the best surgeon in this hospital for pediatric and little patients. You specifically requested the best, right?” “Wha…” she tried to backpedal. “You’re lying, right?” I pressed a little panic button I carried and Haley was there a moment later. “Need something Doc?” She asked me when she came in. “Keep an eye on the mother? Maybe get her to believe I’m as good as I say I am?” I laughed and turned to the little who was a few inches shorter than me. “Hi, I’m Holly,” I told her and held my hand out. “Je… Jenny,” she said. I could see she still had her teeth, and it looked like she could walk, so her mom at least wasn’t one of the extreme cases. “It’s nice to meet you Jenny! I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances.” I pulled up my tablet and a copy of her scan, “Okay, so it looks like you have two cysts on your ovaries that are showing large amounts of fluid retention inside…” “They hurt,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry Jenny, I know that they do,” I told her. “You’re not my first patient with them,” I told her reassuringly. “Now it says here that you’ve been dealing with them for the past three months?” “Uh-huh,” she told me. “We’ve tried everything medication wise,” her ‘mother’ said. “I see that… and it looks like your primary pediatric physician referred her to me to remove them.” “I asked for the best…” the mom confirmed. She looked at Haley, “You’re really sure she’s the best?” “By far she is… I always hate when parents decide to throw a fit to keep her from working on their children. Too often they regret it later.” “Have you ever lost a patient?” The little woman asked me. I looked at her, “I believe in honesty, so I’ll tell you yes I have. That was in my old dimension and we didn’t have the technology we have here though!” She smiled, “So I’ll be fine?” “You’ll go to sleep and we’ll get in there and remove the cysts with nanites,” I showed her a video of them working on another cyst as a stock run of the procedure. “You won’t feel a thing. It’s really a very simple procedure!” “You’re just removing the cysts?” the mother asked. “I wanted the ovaries removed too…” “Then you’ll need to find another doctor,” I told her. “What?!?” She asked, “It’s no different of a procedure?” “It’s an entirely different procedure. One is necessary and therapeutic in nature, the other would forever keep her from being able to have kids.” “She’s my baby, there’s no way I’ll let her do that…” I sighed, “I have a slot open for her surgery next Tuesday. If you want her full ovaries removed, you’ll need to find another hospital. I’ll lodge my report and we’ll note that you’ve refused care.” “You can’t…” “We don’t do those procedures at this hospital anymore,” I told her. “But…” “Also, I will have to lodge a report with Little Protective Services just to make sure you do get her care. If you leave her in this pain they will have to act on negligence.” “Fine!” She huffed, “We’ll go to another hospital!” “Mommy?” The little woman said. “What?” “Please let her do it?” “But if we do the other way, you’ll never have to worry about yucky periods again…” “Please Mommy?” The little girl begged with tears down her face. She had the cute baby girl face down perfectly! She sighed, “Fine, what time do we need to be here Tuesday?” “This packet has the full information,” I said, handing her a stack of forms. You need to complete the top stack that’s clipped together today and turn it in at the registration desk along with your payment.” I looked at my tablet again, “There will also be a prescription for some pain and anti-inflammation meds downstairs when you’re finished to get her through. She has to be completely off of them for 24 hours beforehand though,” I looked apologetically at the little girl. “That’s fine…” “No fluids other than water sixteen hours before too.” “No breastmilk?” she asked concerned. I shook my head, “We need her to be only on clear fluids. Breast milk leaves too much in the body still,” I told her. “It’s actually better if it's longer than that, but we can make that length work.” “Anything else we need to know?” She asked. “Just make sure you bring a comfortable set of pajamas to take her home in. Extra diapers of her brand are always a good idea since the hospital selection isn’t great. Pacifier, bottle, blankie, and her favorite stuffie are nice touches for most of my patients. All of that is on the packing list in there. We won’t need her overnight though, so she’ll be able to go home about two hours or so after the procedure.” “Thanks Doc…” the mom said and I followed her out the door and left down the hallway. Haley caught up with me a moment later, “Should have known she’d be one of those…” “They’re all one of those!” I told her with a giggle. “Not all of them…” she told me. “Some of them pick you up before I get in there!” I groaned thinking of a couple of them. The worst had been the one that had insisted she needed to look for my mommy after she forced me to nurse me from her breasts. I’d been really annoyed at that one and through the legal department forced her to get checked for infectious diseases… I was soon in front of Ivy’s office again and made my way in as she was packing up. “All done for the day?” She asked. “Yeah… sorry I’m running a bit slow. I had one of those mommies and had to finish up my rounds.” She laughed, “At least you’re still in one piece. Is she letting you do the procedure?” “Thankfully for the poor girl. Her ‘mommy’ wanted me to do a hysterectomy while I was removing an ovarian cyst…” She sighed, “Well, at least you have backup from the CEO on those procedures not happening here.” I smiled, “Yes I do! Thank you for that!” I followed her down the hallway thinking about how much she had actually impacted this hospital in particular. At first things had continued along on status quo, but due to some reports that came to light she was able to move forward to more humane treatments of our little patients. Apparently that past fall one of the other pediatric surgeons had been maintaining something… best described as a little mill… that had resulted in a massive scandal at the University Hospital. About the time that Ivy took over the reports were just really finalizing and coming out from the police. Here at General I had been worried Ivy would lose her job just as collateral damage from the report, but she hadn’t really been there that long on top – and it had taken place long before she took over. It also helped that it had been at the other hospital campus! The fallout let her have an excuse to implement some ‘anti-disfiguring’ policies. They forbid elective procedures on littles to remove teeth, the ability to walk, remove reproductive organs, etc. Little Rights Activist groups had cheered her decisions. Combining that with a great surgical team, the hospital was getting renowned as one of the best out there for pediatric care - and particularly little care. When we reached Ivy’s car Doc left, and Holly surfaced. “Let’s get that soggy bottom changed,” she told me in a sing song voice. She laid me down on the floor of the back of the SUV and quickly pulled down the scrub bottoms and changed me into a dry diaper. My top was off next and she produced a purple romper that she quickly dressed me in. Placing me into my car seat, a pacifier was pushed between my lips and I suckled on it contentedly. I looked at the electronic screen that soon showed the streets as she drove home. A couple hours later I was dressed in a surprisingly mature dress, that wouldn’t have seemed out of place on a teenager if I had boobs. Several times I had debated about doing a nanite procedure on myself to induce puberty and grow my breasts. Having seen so many littles that had them though… I decided it didn’t make any difference in how bigs saw us. They almost all ended up in diapers anyway, and it wasn’t like I had met anyone who I wanted to have kids with yet. I still had enough of my male brain left that being with a man sounded weird… and women weren’t really on the menu either. I theorized my non-existent sexual urges had to do with the lack of hormones, but I was too chicken to experiment on myself. Really, I was content to just be with Ivy at this point. I followed behind her into a very fancy restaurant still wondering what was going on. Her parents, Jonah and Janice, along with their baby boy sat along one side of a big table. On the other side Haley and her boyfriend were all sitting next to an empty chair and one with a booster seat on it. “What’s going on?” I asked again. “It’s your birthday,” she said with a smile. “No, it’s no… Oh… it’s my arrival day?” “Now she gets it!” Haley said as I was placed in the booster seat next to her. Ivy sat next to me on the other side. The dinner was a good one and I enjoyed being treated like a young woman rather than a baby. That had become more common after the terrorist incident, but we still went on like ‘normal’ much of the time outside of office hours too. I looked at Janice who smiled at me from where she was breastfeeding their one-year old son. I was so happy that after Katie’s spanking, Jonah had woken up and re-potty-trained Janice. Six weeks of therapy later she became his wife again with only occasional daytime accidents that she handled with her Pull-Ups. She’d confided in me that every night Jonah still had to diaper her since she was never dry at night, and the Pull-Ups leaked. Apparently, it had become an excuse for some extra attention though, so she didn’t mind much! I was grateful that Katie wasn’t there right then… she hadn’t gotten any better! I had learned later she was heavily involved with that school ‘Tippy Toes’ that had caused the former terrorist leader to break. A year after that nightmare, some disturbing reports had come to light and Tippy Toes had been raided by the police and LPS. Jonah’s SWAT team had led the raid, and he still couldn’t bring himself to talk about it to anyone! Luckily for Katie there was no direct evidence of her involvement, but many littles I had as patients didn’t have anything good to say about her! After we finished eating, a cake with a large number two candle on top of it was brought out and placed in front of me. The cake was decorated in the theme of a children's show about a girl doctor that was geared towards toddlers. I groaned but said, “Thanks…” They sang a weird version of happy birthday to me that was common in that dimension, and I blew out the candle. It was a fun night with gifts for both adult me… and baby me. The dichotomy had been weird for a long time, but I admitted to Ivy after a few months that I really did love the attention that she gave me. The biggest concession to my ‘adulthood’ was that I only nursed at night now on weekdays. On weekends I nursed three times a day - but to try and avoid having too many poopy diapers while I was doing procedures, or meeting with patients, we tried to avoid it too much on weekdays. Usually by Friday I even felt like I had some control over my bowels again… just in time to lose it on Saturdays! “Here,” Ivy said handing me one last gift, a simple card. I opened it and read the message from her. Holly/Nick, I made a deal with you two years ago, that you’d have a choice to go back home or stay here. I honor that choice tonight! If you wish it, tomorrow I will drive you to the portal station. There I have arranged for permits and a ticket to transport you back home, along with legal assurances that they will get you there. Portal Relocations on your side will have your car and money for you as per the agreement. They will also provide you documentation for your female identity. If, however you would choose to stay, I would forever love you as both my little ‘Doc’ and ‘Princess.’ I hope we can continue to be happy. Love, Ivy My eyes were filled with tears as I looked at the tickets behind the letter in the card. I shook my head, “No, I’m staying Mommy,” I told her. “But…” I turned towards her, “But nothing… Nothing, that’s what I have back there. Here I have you, friends like Haley, and so many more things. Put it in your will if you want that if something happens to you that is to be my option… but I don’t want to leave you… ever…” I said and held my hands out to her. She picked me up and held me, hugging me, “I don’t want you to leave either. You can be my sweet baby girl forever!” “I love you Mommy,” I told her. “I love you too,” she told me. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And that's the end... Bittersweet given I started writing this about a year ago now! Thank you to everyone who has left a comment or a like along the way. If you've enjoyed it please put a like on this post and leave a comment letting me know what you thought! Many of you are asking what the next project is... I have some ideas but no firm ones yet. I also have a project ahead of this one I'm working on elsewhere... but I'm more likely to get back here sooner with a new work if I can look and see some comments to encourage me! I also just started a Wattpad account that I've linked down below in my signature. If you liked this and can go like it on there it'll help that start showing up on searches a bit more too! Thank you all for reading!!! It means a lot to me that you all interact with me as I post!

Chapter 132: Sliders I WOKE THE following day to the sounds of a giggling grandmother and babied aunt. I opened my eyes to realize I was being cuddled tightly by Beth. It was nothing new, but a giant Charlotte had wrapped an arm protectively around both of us! “Do you want to go swimming before we wake this crew up?” Grandma asked me softly. “Please,” I said. “If I can wriggle out!” I whispered back. Between my sleeping bag, Beth, and Charlotte, getting myself loose without waking them up was a bit of a squirm. Everyone else seemed dead to the world, but I knew I wanted to swim before everyone got up! I was a little surprised at how quickly I was waking up compared to normal, especially with the late night! When I eventually wriggled free of the two girls, I tiptoed around the puppy piles of my friends and was gathered in Grandma’s arms. Once upstairs in my room, she commented, “That was quite the little cuddle you three have going on there?” I blushed. “Not sure why Charlotte joined in,” I sighed. “At least you two stayed in your own sleeping bags this week?” Grandma told me. I turned even redder as she laid me on the changing table and unzipped my sleeper. “Well… would be a little awkward with our friends there?” She laughed and quickly changed me into a swim diaper and one-piece suit, “Don’t plan on staying out there all morning. I’m guessing you all will end up there together at some point later.” I nodded, “Probably, it was one of the things I suggested to the girls.” Grandma touched my hair, “This is really cute! I hope the swim cap keeps it?” I laughed as she gently did her best to get it all under the tight swim cap, “It is cute; I think Livy and Reila got a couple of pictures of Charlotte and Beth sitting together since we matched.” “Seemed like everyone has had a pretty good time?” She said, quieter as she carried me down the stairs. I nodded, “Yes, thanks for having everyone over.” She smiled, “I was just glad to see Shelby join in with you all. She really has missed out on these kinds of things.” “Hopefully, she’ll get some more when she goes off to college next year,” I told her. Grandma nodded, gave me a squeeze, and tossed me into the pool to start my morning laps. I tuned out any thoughts of the rest of the world as I swam from end to end repeatedly, enjoying the ability to just swim! Eventually, I realized that Grandpa had taken over to watch me from Grandma and was joined by Charlotte. “Oh, time to get out?” asked. Charlotte just stared at me as Grandpa nodded, “Yes, the dead have mostly awakened, so your Grandma is going to make breakfast. It’ll be ready in about thirty minutes.” “Thanks,” I said as I swam to the side and climbed out. Grandpa walked away when I was out, leaving Charlotte there staring. “You can swim?” she asked in shock. “Yeah?” I smirked, “I think so, at least?” “I’ve never seen a Little swim like that?!?” I laughed, “I’ve been swimming since before I could walk back home. It’s the most relaxing thing I can do.” “You’re probably the fastest swimming Little in existence she said,” even as I dried myself off and wrapped my body in my towel. “I don’t know about anything with that? I just like swimming?” She shook her head, “You’re a very unusual Little, Carly.” I laughed, “That I’ll agree with you on!” Surprisingly, Charlotte controlled whatever maternal urges must have flared in her sleep last night and let me mountain climb the stairs! I took a quick shower and pulled the swim cap off, smiling when I saw it had mostly survived. Beth and the girls were all downstairs in the kitchen. I again found myself in ‘my’ highchair and was joined by Amy, Everly, and Mia in them. We were the smallest girls, so I knew it made sense, but I still blushed as Willow gave us looks that were clearly grateful it was us! Before long, we made a pact to start working on homework together, spreading it out with our tablets and other study supplies in the living room. I found myself sitting between Livy and Beth, with Charlotte not far away. “Ugh!!!! I hate math!!!!” Livy complained. “Same,” Reila sighed. “You won’t catch any argument from me,” Beth agreed before patting me on the head, “this one, though, she likes math!” “Really?” Reila asked. I shrugged, “It’s just kind of fun?” “What math are you taking?” Charlotte asked, and upon my response, gave me the alien look again. “You are so weird…” “So weird, but so helping me!” Livy said! “I can finally steal Beth’s tutor!” I laughed, “Let me know what you’re having problems with, I’ll try to help.” Before long, I was the unofficial math TA in the room. I discovered my friends in the nest hadn’t realized I could help with math before that. I snuck in some time on HoloFields and started brainstorming on the final screenwriting assignment we’d been given. Just before lunch, Charlotte nudged me, “What’s your schedule like this week?” “Huh?” “I’m texting with Sebastian. Trying to set up a shooting schedule?” I’d almost forgotten with the sleepover that we needed to finish our short film. “I don’t have anything major?” “How late can you be out?” “Ten O’clock? We’re supposed to be in our dorm rooms by then?” “So you could probably work until nine safely?” I nodded, “Yeah, under the new rules, that should be fine.” “So Tuesday after Narratives, Thursday, and maybe Saturday to finish?” she asked. I shrugged, “I don’t know anything else I know of going on. They don’t exactly let us Littles have much of a social life?” She made a face at that, “That’s unfortunate…” “This is by far the most I’ve gotten out in two years,” Everly commented from her prone position on her stomach nearby. “Thanks again, Carly, for making this happen!” “You’re welcome,” I told her, even as I watched Charlotte start jotting some notes down in a scheduling app that wasn’t from Emerson’s class. “What’s that?” I asked her. “This?” She looked up, “Oh, that’s right, Wyler hasn’t used something like this with us for some reason. This is a shooting scheduling app I’ve used with most studios. It’s handy for coordinating schedules. No one else has it, but I can at least create the schedule and send it to Sebastian to send it out.” I saw it allowed for some pretty cool features with who was available, spaces, and scenery, and it just seemed genuinely handy. “Can you buy it?” She shook her head, “No, it’s proprietary to the studios.” “Hmm… I wonder if I could code something similar….” Beth tickled me, “Less distractions…” “But you are my biggest distraction.” With that, she really began tickling me non-stop until I noticed my diaper was nearly about to burst as she stopped. “I need a change…” “Oh, and that’s something you need a distraction from?” She kidded me even as she stood up. “Fine, I probably am a little at fault, let’s go change the wet diapee, and then maybe it’s about time for lunch?” I nodded at that, feeling my stomach growling. “That sounds like a plan, I wonder what Grandma has planned?” “I think she mentioned pasta…” she told me as she carried me up the stairs. After a diaper change, I was grateful Grandma had lunch ready because studying definitely made me hungry! BETH WATCHED THE group gather around the table again and thought it was kind of Amanda to feed this small army of locusts! Fred, Bella, and Ryan made an appearance at the meal of a pasta bake with chicken and alfredo sauce topped with a heavy amount of melted mozzarella cheese! Afterward, the group resumed studying for a bit, and Charlotte convinced Beth and Carly to go through their lines together for the short film. Shelby was hanging around during that time, working on her own homework, and made a face when she discovered what the film was about. Carly had told Beth about the idea coming from her situation, and she’d been a little unsure if they should have found another place to work on it. In the end, they made pretty good progress in building on their chemistry from the previous project. Beth even thought she had most of her lines down well enough to go from scene to scene with a review and get them right. As they finished the run-through, she watched Shelby go up to Carly and hug her, tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” was all Beth could hear. Charlotte leaned over to her, “What’s that about?” “Carly got the idea of the script from what happened to one of her best friends a couple weeks ago.” “Oh,” Charlotte said. “Maybe we should have gone somewhere else?” “I think Shelby saw it for the advocacy Carly meant it to be.” “It is different than a script from Kelly that way,” Charlotte agreed. When the group had enough studying, the decision was made to go hang out in the pool for the rest of the afternoon! In addition to having most of the littles in life jackets, Reila also found herself blushing in a pair of water wings since she didn’t swim either! Amanda had a nice pool, with a great area set aside for Littles and babies, and that was where most of the group ended up hanging out, even as Carly, Charlotte, and Livy started racing each other in laps after Charlotte mentioned Carly’s speed! Beth found herself at the water’s edge with her feet in the pool, watching them, even as a feature she’d never seen on the wall was timing their laps. Charlotte was no slouch of a swimmer, but Carly was somehow ahead of her by more than a lap after the thirty laps they had agreed to – the equivalent of the three thousand meter race she’d watched that past summer in the Olympics. Livy was only five laps behind, which was still pretty good, as Beth knew she wanted to look up school and Olympic times later – she wondered how close Carly was. It should have been impossible, but she had been told about the nanites and knew there had to be some play there. Charlotte saw Carly resting as she looked up at the wall in disbelief, “How the hell can you swim like that, Carly?” Carly, for her part, just giggled, not even winded by the effort. At the same time, Livy finally swam up, and Charlotte and she clearly grasped at the effort. She just shrugged and told her, “Like I said, I’ve been swimming since before I could walk?” “A piece of advice,” Charlotte told me, “don’t ever let others know you can swim.” “Little late in the nest,” she told her. “How?” “I go swimming every morning with my nest mother.” “Carly, you’re living a charmed life, I hope you know it?” Livy told her. She nodded, “All you can do sometimes?” “What now?” Livy asked. “I’m going to keep swimming unless that makes me a bad host?” Carly suggested. “You’re not tired?” Livy asked. “Nope!” Beth watched the little girl turn and start racing across the pool some more, even as the clock on the wall restarted. “Is she for real?” Charlotte asked. Beth giggled, “Yes, she is. And she’s the sweetest girl I’ve ever met,” she added. “You love her, don’t you?” Charlotte asked her. Beth shrugged and nodded, “Yeah, I do. Not quite sure how we will make a transdimensional relationship work after the semester, but we’ll enjoy each other’s company until then.” “Wait, are you two…?” Livy asked. “Beth?!?” “No, we are both still virgins, thank you very much,” she glared at her friend. “Sorry…” she apologized. “I mean… you have to admit it’s kind of weird to think about?” “My parents make it work?” Beth told her. “They have nearly the same proportions to each other.” “That’s weird,” Livy said, “Come on, let’s go join the others in the jacuzzi so I can stop feeling like my arms and legs are jelly.” Beth laughed and followed her and Charlotte to the jacuzzi, where they relaxed. Eventually, when the other girls had enough of the water, Beth sat in front of the wall Carly was aiming for, even as the lap counter showed she’d gone more than triple what she’d raced with Charlotte and Livy. Her pace was even higher for the distance! She pulled the girl from the pool, and everyone showered and dressed for dinner. Fred was the cook that night – something she hadn’t seen before from him. That being said, he’d made some sliders that were absolutely phenomenal! He’d even found some sort of crazy Xenoim Pepper hybrids somewhere for Carly to put on hers. “Maybe a little bit of a jalapeno flavor?” one of the other girls got out of her when asked how hot they were. “Don’t trust her!” Beth told them. “Why?” “She’s kind of not normal… if she was a normal Little, she’d be on the ground in pain,” Beth warned them. “I don’t think I could eat them,” she added. As a typical Amazon, Charlotte felt the need to try her luck. “Holy crap, this is spicy!” she complained, looking at Carly. The brat just shrugged, grabbed another whole pepper, bit the meat off the stem, and smiled as she chewed it up. “Grandpa, you’ll have to do better than this?” He laughed, “We’ll see what we can find; the store I bought these at couldn’t believe I was buying so many. He couldn’t imagine anyone using more than one or two in a batch of salsa.” “People need to get out more,” Carly responded. “Is she the only one like this?” Charlotte asked curiously. “Here, hand me a little,” Willow said, putting it on her slider. For Beth, the sliders were like junior cheeseburgers; for Amanda, Charlotte, and Fred, they were like little mini appetizers they could swallow in two or three bites. In the Little’s case, they might have been regular-sized hamburgers. She watched Willow chew, “You’re right, Carly, not too bad. I think it’s hotter than a jalapeno, though, to me.” Amy went onto the crazy train too to see what the fuss was about but regretted it, “It’s not going to make me cry, but I think you guys are nuts to think they’re mild!” she said. Beth noted she still finished what she’d taken; she just had a bit more water with her meal. “Portal Littles are weird,” Everly said, “you won’t catch me doing that!” “A single voice of reason,” Charlotte said with a smile. After dinner, everyone made an unspoken decision to change into their jammies. The Littles got their diapers changed, and they started looking through some board games that the Westerfields had. The night began with a few different games being played. Beth, of course, was drawn beside Carly, where they played a fairly complex game involving resources, building towns and roads up while finding new ways to mess with your opponents. Ryan had invited himself to this part of the night and was having a good time playing with Carly, Charlotte, Livy, Willow, Reila, and herself. When they finished the game, and the others wanted to watch another movie, Ryan told Carly, “I still haven’t had a chance to spar against you?” “Next weekend,” Carly promised him. “This isn’t the time…” Beth noted that Charlotte looked at them weirdly but never asked about it. It was good that Charlotte had earned their trust because she was certainly getting an inside look at many things about Carly and her extended family that probably shouldn’t be known. As if knowing it was a good idea to make sure it was a good idea for Amanda to seem like a capable mother, she nursed Bella in front of everyone while they watched a movie together later that night. She and the larger members of their group helped get everyone into fresh diapers before bed, too. In the end, they didn’t stay up nearly as late the second night; everyone was worn out from the fun of the day, but Beth did make sure she got to cuddle Carly close to her as they fell asleep that night. “I love you,” she heard Carly say as she was falling asleep. “Love you too,” she told her. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading!!! Please press the Like Button, and leave me a comment! Not saying I will for sure do so, but if there were enough Likes on this (28 or more?), I might be incentivized to consider an extra chapter this weekend. Especially if it helps me feel more motivated to write this weekend!

You all made it! 💜 Chapter 24: THE GROWNUPS WERE suddenly shouting and hissing a whole bunch of naughty words around me. I didn’t know what was happening, so I put my thumb in my mouth as my stroller seemed to race out of the mall. As we came to a stop by Mommy’s car, I burst into tears, unable to deal with the shock of whatever upset her! Just as suddenly, Mommy filled my view as she unbuckled me, and I grabbed onto her and cried. She was comforting me enough that I made out some voices saying words I didn’t understand. “Just seeing the screen did that to her?” a small voice asked. “She should have been a little more resistant than that!” “I told you it’s a powerful one,” a big voice, not mommy’s but like hers said. “We need to see if something can be done to get warning labels on that show. I bet Littles aren’t the only ones harmed since Erica got hit.” “What do we do now?” Mommy asked, hugging me, even as my tears wouldn’t stop. “Meet us at the hospital - we’ll get Mindy to meet us there. I’ll see if I can pull in a favor with someone else, too,” Holly said. “I didn’t mean to!” I heard Mommy say. “We know… probably good that two of her four people on her Living Will were here, or we wouldn’t have believed it,” Ivy said with a sigh. “Get her in the car. It’s imperative she gets there quickly if we’re going to do anything!” I was crying my eyes out still as Mommy pushed me into the car seat, “No, wan you!” I cried. She stuffed a pacifier in my mouth, but I spit it out as she connected the harness in the car seat, trapping me. “Mommy!!!” I cried. ‘I can’t believe she’s just leaving me like this!’ The car started moving, and at some point, I must have cried myself to sleep. THE NEXT TIME I became aware, I was comforted by Mommy’s heartbeat as she held me. My diaper felt squishy, but I trusted her to take care of it. She saw my eyes open, “There’s our little Doc!” I smiled, “Mommy!” I said, squirming to get closer to her. “Should we try the headset again?” I heard Miss Mindy ask Holly. “I don’t think it’ll work a second time,” Holly said. “What do you think, Amanda?” “I doubt it, but it wouldn’t do any harm? Before you do that, let’s have Tessa scan her. That room has one of the stations, right?” “Yes,” Holly said. A moment later, I heard a new female voice and looked up to see a tall woman standing there—but I hadn’t heard the door open! “Who’s dat?” I asked after seeing her. “I’m Tessa, Katherine,” the tall woman said. “I’m here to look at you to see if you have a boo-boo we can fix.” “Boo-boo?” I asked, “Those hurt.” She nodded, “Yep, they do! But I’m pretty good at helping others fix them.” She turned her gaze from my face higher, “Would you please place her down on the table?” “No, Mommy! No, put down!” I cried as Mommy placed me on the table. “It’s okay, baby, it’s just for a moment,” she said soothingly. I looked at her in betrayal, even as a bright blue light blinded my eyes! I closed them quickly and could tell it was over because I had seen it even with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes and said, “Mommy, bight!” Then, I devolved into another meltdown. “Why don’t you try nursing her to calm her for now,” Miss Mindy said. As soon as Mommy sat down and started pulling at her top to open the flap to her nummies, my mouth watered. I cried until I felt her nipple enter my mouth, and I started to suck on it, swallow milk, on repeat over and over again. “Definitely got a set of lungs on her,” I heard a voice say. “Yeah,” Mommy agreed. “So, anything, Tessa?” “I’m comparing my scan just now with Doctor Fairbanks, the one she entered the dimension with, and another Doctor Daniels completed last week… give me just a minute.” I continued to nurse from Mommy; she was more important than whatever else was going on. Her hug and diaper pats felt good and made me calm down. “Okay, I’ve finished my analysis, Doctors. Unfortunately, it’s not great?” I felt Mommy sigh, and she shifted, almost pulling her nipple from my mouth. I whined and leaped back on! “Sorry, Katie,” she told me. “So?” Mommy asked. “This is the scan from when Doctor Benson arrived. Her brain shows the typical adult readings we expect from a Portal Little. Full control over nervous systems, bladder, bowels, etc. When you did your scan, Doctor Daniels, it was clear that she had plaque on the Micturition center, most likely from breast milk since you are nursing her. I believe her current level of build-up will prevent her from ever being potty trained again.” Mommy squeezed me then, and I heard her cry. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. I whined because she moved the nipple back out of my mouth for a second. I rooted for it again and noted it produced fewer milkies, so I started kneading her skin again. “What about her neural scan?” I heard the smaller voice say. “Well, you can see the clear effects of the hypnosis and conditioning rewiring and bypassing parts of her…” I tuned it out and kept nursing, eventually feeling Mommy pull me away. I whined! “Just a minute, baby, let’s get that gassy out of your tummy, and you can have Mommy’s other nipple.” I felt her hand give me a rub on my back and then a couple of light pats before burping a big belch! “Bet that feels better now, huh?” She said to me, pulling her top back out of the way and putting me at her other breast. I wasted no time latching and continuing to nurse! “She seems more regressed than she was Monday,” Mindy said. “No doubt there,” Holly said. “Tessa, do you think the treatment can help?” “Help? Yes,” she paused, “Cure? No.” I felt Mommy’s chest heave some more and had to really hang on to her breast to keep it in my mouth. “I didn’t want to go this far,” she sobbed. “That’s what most women who do what you’ve done ultimately decide,” Ivy said with a heavy sigh. “Tessa, I think we’re all in agreement. Do what you can for her. How would you need to initiate the treatment?” “She still has her nanites from her treatment after the broken wrist; I can just access them and initiate their actions?” “How long will it take?” Holly asked. “It would be best to take a few days to avoid severe, permanent damage. I don’t recommend going rapidly with the process due to the way the brain has been damaged.” Tessa replied. “That’s one of the only times I’ve ever heard that,” Mindy said, “I thought when you all used nanites to treat, it was about as instantaneous as anything?” “Normally, that’s true, Doctor Fairbanks, but this is a very delicate job. I recommend sedating the patient until it’s completed. Then, we can fully assess where she’s at?” Amanda said. Holly said, “Erica, I’m not thrilled that you caused most of this intentionally or not, but we have that Living Will from Katherine that states you should be allowed to adopt her if you didn’t cause further damage. I don’t think you should enact that yet, but I do think you have the right to choose her treatment at this time with her incapacitated?” Mommy kept moving and annoying me as I kept sucking milk, swallowing, sucking milk… She moved again! I moved my hand to grab her tighter and put my mouth back on her nipple to suck more milk. “Let’s do it,” she said. “Let’s wait until she’s finished nursing? She’s usually pretty milk-drunk and is a heavy sleeper after that. She won’t feel the sedative…” I didn’t understand what they were saying, but I was sleepy and safe in Mommy’s warm arms, so I just let everything go and went to sleep. “KATHERINE, TIME TO wake up,” I heard next. “You need to wake up for us, Sweetie.” “Erica?” I rolled over—or at least tried to; my body wasn’t moving for some reason. “You’re okay, Sweetie. We just strapped you down to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself when you woke up. We’ll remove them if you can be good for us for a few minutes.” I recognized Holly’s voice then. I nodded, able to move my head, “Kay, I’m sweepy though s’ill?” “That’s to be expected, Katherine,” I heard. “Why do you keep calling me that, Mommy?” I said. “My name is Kadie?” “Sorry, Katie, Mommy was feeling silly,” she replied. “She’s talking, at least?” I heard a voice say. “It’s an improvement,” another voice replied. I vaguely placed it as Holly’s Mommy’s. “Vitals are stable, and it looks like her neural readings are closer to where they were last week.” “Not all of the way back?” Mommy asked. “No, but we figured that going into this,” a voice said. “We’ll just have to determine where her deficits are and do our best to get her back from this.” My tummy ached then, and I instinctually said, “Hungwy, Mommy,” I said. “She called me Erica just once?” “We’ll have to see what she does later. For now, I would just be her mommy,” Holly said. “Tessa, go ahead and remove the straps so she can see if nursing is what she wants?” “Nummies…” I said sleepily as the straps that were holding me down suddenly disappeared. “Sounds like it,” Mommy said. I opened my eyes and saw her coming over to me. She looked tired and like she didn’t feel very good. I held my arms out to her and felt better when she picked me up off the bed and settled in a chair. “Here we go, Sweetie,” she said lovingly to me as she messed with her shirt and got her breast free for me. I sleepily latched on and began nursing the sweet milk, feeling my hunger pains fade. “It didn’t take as long as you thought it would,” Mommy told them. With a sigh, I heard Holly’s mommy say, “Unfortunately, that’s probably a bad sign. It means it couldn’t heal as much damage as we hoped. It’s only been forty-two hours, which is longer than normal, but we’ll just have to see.” “Let’s let her nurse herself back to sleep, then we’ll get her up in a couple of hours and run her through some assessments,” Miss Mindy said. I tuned out the rest of the talking, happy to fill my tummy with Mommy’s milkies. It felt like I hadn’t done that in a long time for some reason! Eventually, I must have passed out from my full belly of milk. I WOKE UP sometime later in a hospital crib, hugging Honey and sucking on a pacifier. I vaguely remembered the last time I was awake, but everything was hazy and light on the details. I sat up and noted that my muscles felt like that took more effort. After nursing me to sleep, Erica must have dressed me in footed pajamas, so I was at least warm in the freezing hospital room. With my right hand, I moved to take my pacifier out of my mouth. And I missed! ‘Huh?’ I thought to myself. I made two more attempts before successfully grabbing it and placing it on the sheets since it wasn’t clipped to my pajamas. Erica looked to be napping in a chair beside my crib, and I hated to disturb her, but after pushing on my diaper, I could tell it was soaked. “Ewica?” I said. “Why soun like tha’?” I thought aloud. “Katie?” I heard. I was distracted by Erica standing up and coming over to the crib. She wordlessly picked me up and sat down in the chair with me on her lap, facing her. “What happ?” I asked. “Why tawk fuuuny?” She squeezed me tightly for a moment. “Do you remember when Mindy and Holly told you that you shouldn’t have any screen time or anything for a couple of weeks?” I nodded. “Do you remember being at the mall on Saturday?” I nodded, “Yeth.” “Well, when we were shopping with Ivy and Holly, everything was fine until we ran into a patient you had both seen?” I foggily remembered, “I member?” I grimaced at the words not coming out right. “The patient’s Little sister was watching a tablet, but none of us noticed it since she had earbuds in. When she turned the stroller, you saw what she was watching…” “I hyno mythelf ‘gain?” She nodded, “It shouldn’t have happened as severely as it did, but you were more susceptible to it than average for some reason. Mindy thinks it’s because it was relatable to you as a career and a similar cartoon back home.” “Wha’ now?” I asked fearfully. She sighed, “We don’t know yet? Mindy wants to run you through a series of assessments this afternoon to see where you are?” “Is no goo,” I sighed. She hugged me tightly, and I started to feel hungry. I instinctually tried to get to her breasts to nurse, but she held me still, “We can do that later, Katie; for now, we’re going to need you hungry to start the assessments.” I frowned at that. “It won’t be long! Let me just let Mindy know you’re awake; she was supposed to have everything about setup.” I frowned but just snuggled into her arms while I waited. Her not long seemed forever to me! “How long has she been awake?” Mindy asked when she arrived. “Five minutes?” Erica told her. ‘Only five minutes passed?!?’ I thought in alarm. Mindy led us down to her playroom therapy area, where a highchair was set up. “Erica said you were hungry in the message, so we’re going to start with feeding yourself, Katherine.” “Eathy,” I said while noting something was seriously wrong with my speech center! I was sat in the highchair with the straps on, bibbed up, and she placed a couple of plates and bowls in front of me. All of it was cut small enough to ensure I wouldn’t choke, and there was a variety, at least. Apple cubes, nuggets, mac and cheese, carrots, a cup without a lid, a sippy cup, and a baby bottle were also visible. “I ea’?” I asked. “Start with the apple cubes,” she told me. “Do you know which one is apple?” I should have been offended, but I understood they were trying to assess where my skills were. I pointed at the bowl and meant to grab one but ended up with an awkward handful of three. I looked at my hand and frowned; it was not doing what it was supposed to! I moved the handful to my mouth and managed to get two into my mouth, dropping the third onto the bib catcher! I took a deep breath and chewed the ones I had managed to get inside my mouth. They were tasty and made me feel a little bit better. I reached down into the bib pocket and managed to snag the errant cube. I noted I couldn’t get my fingers to grasp correctly! I looked up at Mindy, who seemed to assess the same thing. “Be patient, Katherine. We have a long way to go—and we are just starting to help you recover. I’m happy to keep helping you with things until you get as far as possible. I will tell you it’s not a muscle issue right now; it’s just a matter of getting your brain and hand to connect correctly.” I nodded and went for a few more apple cubes before she asked, “Do you think you can do this cup?” She showed me that the regular cup only held a sip of water. I shook my head, “No?” “Why don’t you try? There’s not much in there if you spill.” I sighed and reached for it with both hands. I managed to pick it up, which made me happy, but the second I tried to tilt it, it dropped out of my hands and spilled onto the floor beside me. I had tears in my eyes, “Can’!” I managed the sippy cup and the bottle okay, at least, and I got some fluids into my parched throat then. The chicken nuggets were a bit larger, which required me to bite off a piece and chew under Mindy’s careful supervision. Fortunately, I could do that and eat the carrot pieces just fine, which made me smile with at least some hope! “Before I let you finish what you want to eat, I want you to try using this spoon with the mac and cheese,” she told me. I grimaced,” ‘Kay.” The next several minutes were incredibly messy and degrading, but when she helped me find a better grip on the spoon, I was able to get most of it to my mouth. The rest landed around my face and bib. I frowned. “Don’t get down here,” Erica said, reappearing before me. For some reason, they had her go away while I started, and it kind of sucked. It was so nice to have her in front of me again! “You’re doing great, Sweetie!” I shook my head but filled my stomach with more before stopping before I was sick. “Good job!!!” Mindy and Erica both praised me. “Wha nex’?” I asked. What followed was probably the most arduous afternoon of my life—ever. Mindy had me walk across the room a couple of times. I could mostly still do so, but I found my balance was off, and I definitely toddled more than I walked. I was a bit apprehensive when she asked me to run, which was for a good reason. I face-planted numerous times as I just couldn’t maintain my balance for the change in stride! She had a series of objects to try climbing, and I struggled with that if I had no help supporting me. She had me try jumping, which was an interesting challenge. I tried it unsuccessfully and nearly cried when I realized I couldn’t bend my legs and push up off the ground correctly! I assumed it was related to my issues with running as well. By then, I needed a diaper change because I was poopy. Erica took care of my diaper, but then Mindy had her see if I could dress myself in several different types of outfits. Sadly, I was worthless there, and about all I could manage was to put my socks on badly, and I did manage to put a hat on my head. Rolling and attempting to throw and catch a ball was not going well! Mindy brought in another colleague, Kyle, who spent two hours seeing if I still had any of my academic skills accessible. That was indeed the most depressing thing to realize that, for some reason, letters on the page were scrambled like some form of severe dyslexia. They tried a couple of tricks with me, but at least initially, reading was now impossible. I could just about scribble with a large crayon… I could press individual letters on a keyboard. Still, my reading ability was blocked, which meant I found it useless to communicate. On the positive side, I could still mostly talk, with some signs, my diction might be fixable with therapy. I could understand what was said to me, even when they didn’t speak to me as a toddler. I could still do some problem-solving if it didn’t involve reading; I could still count and do math, too! My time awareness was off somehow, though, so the afternoon dragged on endlessly and was over before I knew it. “Let’s meet in an hour to discuss things in my office,” Mindy told us. In the meantime, Erica took me back to my room for another diaper change and a cuddle. I dozed off then, as the afternoon had been very taxing! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press that Like button and, even better, leave a comment! You all met my demands for an extra chapter... pushed it a little timing-wise, but procrastination is nothing I can speak ill of! 🤣 I will post the next chapter on Tuesday, and then, unfortunately, you'll have to wait until the weekend while I'm out of town for work. Please leave some comments; it helps when I'm trying to motivate myself to continue on LCW to have chapters ready to go when this finishes! Let me know your thoughts on this latest twist in Katie's story! There are four more chapters plus an epilogue remaining!

Chapter 15: MONDAY MORNING, I was dressed by Erica in another diaper. Instead of my options resembling more professional clothing, she convinced me to wear another of my Doc McSweetie bodysuits with purple leggings. I wore my white coat on top as we saw the first patients that morning. We briefly ran into Holly Nickerson in one of the offices, too. “Hi, Katherine,” she said, giving me an odd look. “Hi, Holly!” I said with a smile. “You like my blouse today?” She looked at me appraisingly. “It looks like a very nice outfit, Doctor Benson. Have you been watching a lot of episodes of Doc McSweetie this week?” I nodded, “Uh-huh!!! Erica even took me to see the movie on Saturday!” I was practically bouncing on my feet then. “Do you like Doc McSweetie too?” She rubbed her temples and said, “Sure, I think it’s a great show for Littles.” She looked up at Erica and said, “Doctor Daniels, a word?” I looked at Erica, who seemed annoyed. “Katie, why don’t you have a seat there? I’ll be right back for you!” Erica told me, leaving me in the room momentarily while the two went outside to have what I guessed must have been a grownup discussion! That felt weird again, but I didn’t pay much attention then. I was more concerned with my rumbly tummy right then. It felt kind of strange, and I was sure I was supposed to do something to help it. They were gone for several minutes, and then, as the door reopened, I heard, “Doctor, what you are doing is not okay! There’s still time to fix it!” Erica came inside, “I’ll keep that in mind, Doctor Nickerson.” “Look, I’m not happy about this at all. That being said, I have to watch out for everyone here. If she’s going to be watching Doc McSweetie, you’ll need to plan for another place for her to be.” “I can’t believe you, of all people, are saying that? And, by the way, she found the show on her own!” “My job is the safety of my patients! Acting as a physician is unsafe for anyone if a doctor isn’t completely in command of their faculties.” “I can’t just keep her with me?” “No.” “We’ll figure it out,” she told her. “The better option would be to undo that damage. She’s a bright woman!” I heard Holly say and then left. “What were you two talking about?” I asked Erica. “Well, Doctor Nickerson…” she started to say, even as I felt my body take care of my weird feeling. “I guess that pretty much decides it,” she told me with a sigh. She looked a bit sad for some reason. “What does?” I asked around my thumb. “I guess you don’t know you’re going poopy?” She asked me. “I…?” I sucked my thumb as I realized she was right. I squatted and pushed again. “Well, guess I have a stinky diapee to change, and then we need to take you somewhere else for the day.” “Somewhere else?” I asked. “Oh, they’ll have lots of fun things for you to do! It’ll be much more fun than boring work!” “Will they have Doc McSweetie?” “They just might,” she told me. “You done going poopy?” I shrugged. “I dunno?” She picked me up and carried me back to where she had left all of our things. She opened the diaper bag, and I was quickly changed into a fresh diaper. While she was doing that, she gave me a pacifier and clipped it onto my outfit. “Okay, let’s go get you checked in!” “Checked in?” I asked. “Am I getting a doctor’s appointment?” She laughed, “No, you’re going to a place to relax for the rest of the day.” “Really?” “Really,” she said, bouncing me for a second before grabbing the bag, carrying me to an elevator, and then walking down some hallways. For some reason, I noted there was a pretty heavy security presence. She walked into a couple of sliding doors labeled… “Daycare?” I asked. “Why are you taking me to the daycare?” She pushed my pacifier back into my mouth and held it with her finger. “Now, I know this isn’t what you want to do, but Doctor Nickerson is the boss, and she doesn’t think it’s safe to have you with patients right now.” “Why not?” I asked, offended. She sighed, “Katie, you’re a bit different than you were when you came or even last week.” “Different?” “We’ll talk more later,” she told me. “Can I help you?” a tall blonde woman in cute scrubs appropriate for a pediatric wing asked. “Yes, I’m Doctor Daniels; I’ve just come into… guardianship of Katie here. Before today, she could do rounds with me, but she’s taken a couple steps back, and Doctor Nickerson said I couldn’t keep her with me.” “Aww, that’s okay, princess,” she told me. “That’s a cute outfit and doctor’s coat. You must really like Doc McSweetie?” I nodded my head, “She’s da best!” I said around the pacifier. Talking about her made me not feel as bad that I was being taken to a daycare. ‘You’re an adult! You shouldn’t be going to daycare!!!’ A voice inside my head screamed. “Well, I just have two questions for you first, then we’ll finish the questionnaire. I think I can guess, but is Katie potty trained?” I nodded, even as Erica said, “No, she’s taken some steps back with that. I’ve just kept her in diapers the past couple of days.” “Very good! Any mobility issues we need to know about?” “Huh?” I said. “No, she’s a rambunctious Little; she can walk and run just fine.” “Okay, that’s enough to get her checked into the doors; I have a full questionnaire we’ll need you to complete before you leave her, though?” “Oh, no problem!” Erica said, squeezing me into a hug. I’ll be back after my last appointment, which should only be about twenty O’clock today.” “Kay,” I told her. “Are you sure I have to stay here?” “Be good,” she told me, handing me off to another woman I hadn’t seen. She was taller than Erica and quickly situated me in her arms to walk away. “Okay, let’s get the rest of the information; it’s usually best to not have…” I heard the receptionist’s voice fade as I was carried down a hallway. “Don’t worry about your mommy, baby; she’ll be back for you soon!” “Mommy?” I asked, confused. “That’s Erica, my mommy is back home in my dimension!” The woman squeezed me, “Oh, I guess we haven’t made it that far yet. Don’t worry about that, then. Erica will be back for you! In the meantime, we’ll have plenty of fun today!” “We will?” “Yep! Our whole job is to make sure you have the most fun and the bestest day!” “Wow,” I said. “What are we going to do?” I asked, even as she carried me past a room with about ten cribs against the walls and an area of soft mats where I saw a bunch of babies getting tummy time. ‘Wait!’ I thought momentarily, mentally rewinding the view, ‘Those were mostly adults?!?’ I didn’t have much time to register everything as we then passed a room that was just a moderate upgrade over the first and was labeled ‘Crawlers’ beside a cute puppy painting. I saw a bunch of similarly attired adults crawling around on the floor, and only then did part of my consciousness really come to an awareness of what was happening. “I’m not a baby,” I started to say, but the woman just pushed the pacifier back into my mouth. “Of course, you’re not a little baby like them! You’re in the big kid room down here!” She told me, bouncing me lightly and tickling my side. I couldn’t help but giggle as she pushed through to another large room that would have been a perfect daycare for real kids! Inside, I saw twenty ‘kids’ running around, sitting with dolls and cars, and one was on a table getting a diaper change. Only maybe a quarter were actual kids, I guessed, and I felt my stomach tighten. She carried me over to where two Little girls were sitting with dolls playing and said, “Miley, Desi, meet Katie!” I was placed down on my rear, then beside them, and the woman handed me a well-worn baby doll that was far more traditional than the one Erica had in the toybox at her house. “You girls be good now!” The woman said and left us. I stared at the two girls and noted they were staring back at me, seeming to analyze me. “She’s wearing a Doc shirt,” the girl I took to be Desi whispered to Miley. “Already toast,” Miley said back to her. “I’m not toast?” I said. “What do you even mean by that?” “Have you watched a bunch of Doc?” Miley asked me, sweetly like she was talking to a baby. I nodded, “She’s great!” “Toast,” Desi agreed. “What do you mean?” I asked, feeling my emotions rising to the surface in a way I was usually able to manage. “Desi!” Miley hissed, “We don’t want to get in trouble!” “Well, I guess we can explain it to her if she’s got anything left?” “Explain what?” I asked, nearly feeling tears in my eyes. “Explain what’s wrong with me?” “Might not be all the way gone yet,” Miley said. “Go ahead, Desi.” “Katie, first, is that your real name?” I felt stumped momentarily but shook my head, “No, it’s Katherine!” “Remember that then. We’ll have to call you Katie in front of the daycare workers, but if you remember your real name, it will help. What brought you here? Student at Emerson?” I shook my head. “I’m a Doctor! I’m here on an exchange with some students from my university. “For some reason, it was hard to remember the word “university!” That meant I said it far more proudly than I should have. “That explains how she fell for Doc,” Miley said to Desi. “How much have you watched of her shows?” I shrugged, “I dunno? A couple nights and then this really awesome movie!!!” “She’s not far away from going,” Desi said sadly. “Katherine,” she said to me, overemphasizing my name. “You’re not a baby. You’re an adult. You’ve been tricked into watching a show that uses hypnotic triggers to regress Littles like us.” “Re…gress?” I managed to get through the fog. “Is that why I can’t make it to the potty anymore?” “Probably partially,” Desi agreed. “What did it do to me?” “Well, do you suddenly feel attached to the Big you must be staying with?” I thought for a second, “Uh-huh, Erica is so nice and helpful, though!” “She hasn’t called her mommy yet,” Miley said, shaking her head. “She’s not being helpful, Katherine; she’s turning you into her perfect baby girl. You’ll eventually be stuck like us and adopted.” “Well, at this rate not like us,” Desi said. “Why not?” “If you’re watching Doc, you probably will be back to only crawling soon.” “But I walk just fine?” They sighed, “Something happens to you, and you can’t do it anymore. You’ll be in the crawler room then… At least that’s what you can hope for?” I thought back then to the two rooms I’d seen and felt sick. “That happen to me?” “If you keep watching Doc, yes, it will.” “But it’s so good! She’s so much better of a doctor than I am!” “Katherine, if you haven’t been adopted yet, do your best to get away from this woman. If you can’t… well, at least try to stop watching Doc. You’ll probably have to start nursing from her eventually, too, but at least you might have some of your mind left…” “But…” I started to say when I was suddenly picked up into the air. “Someone here is a stinker butt!” A different, large woman’s voice said. I looked down at my diaper even as she lifted me up and pulled down my leggings to expose my onesie. She did the poppers and pulled back the diaper. “Not you, sweetie,” she said to me. “Let’s pull these leggings off, though. You’ll be much comfier, and it’s easier to keep track of your diapee without them!” I blushed as I was returned to the floor. Only the onesie covered the diaper—or at least most of it. You could see the frilly leg guards sticking out. “If it’s not you,” she said to me, turning to Desi and pulling up what I noted was a very short dress - I would have barely even considered it a babydoll top back home. “Winner, winner!” She said, picking her up and placing her on her hip. “Here, play with your dolly,” Miley told me a moment later. “How?” Miley sighed, “Do this,” she told me. Before long, I was fully sucked into play, while I thought she was probably just acting like she was having fun. Desi rejoined us as they helped me become the best mommy to my dolly I could be! ‘It’s almost like being a doctor,’ I told myself. Eventually, the first woman, who I learned was Miss C, came back for us and carried me into a small, miniature cafeteria. Inside were a bunch of tables that were like group highchairs, with six seats surrounding an opening where a worker could oversee feeding multiple babies… “Why are you putting me here?” I asked, realizing I was being put in the seat, but my new friends were allowed to sit at a short set of tables and chairs. “Miley, Desi?” Miss C laughed, “I’m glad you’ve made friends, Katie, but according to your mommy, you have different needs.” “My mommy’s here in this dimension?” I asked. She laughed again, “Sorry, I forgot you haven’t made it that far yet. You’ll understand when you’re… a little older.” She did a strap around my stomach, and I realized I didn’t recognize most of the kids at the table. All the ones I’d noted in my room were at the short tables. A bib was tied around my neck, and I quickly learned our lunches were different. There was a bowl of… mush…? It took me a moment to identify as baby food, even as it was placed in front of me. My new friends looked to have nuggies and fries, but I just had baby food like some sort of baby! “What’s this?” I asked. “I’m a big girl! My friends get food?” Miss C stroked my hair, “Yes, you are! And can you show us how big of a girl you are? If you eat up your nummy lunch like a big girl, maybe we’ll try the other table tomorrow?” “Tomorrow?” I scrunched my nose. “I’ll be back here tomorrow…?” “Yep, right here at daycare, I’m guessing.” She smiled, grabbed a soft-coated spoon, and dipped it in the orange mush. Now open up!” “Bu…” I complained but instead found my mouth filled with a substance that oddly coated my mouth, with just a couple of pea-sized pieces whole. I bit down and decided it was some sort of pasta. It didn’t taste good, but it wasn’t horrible either. “This isn’t…” I tried to complain again, but another spoon came into my mouth, even as I realized she was alternating now with me and the others at the table. I noticed Miley gave me a pitying look before nervously looking down at her plate. I was also given a ‘cup’ of Plapple juice to wash down the flavors with. “Miss C,” I saw another woman come by, and the tall woman placed the last spoonful from the bowl into my mouth. “Why is Katie eating baby food today?” “Didn’t her mommy request it?” “No, she’s still supposed to be able to eat like a big girl? Just with a bib?” “Well, I saw the Doc shirt and figured that’s where she wants her?” “She’s okay for now,” the woman said, “but tomorrow, put her with the others from the toddler room. She’s not that little yet.” “Didn’t she have a bottle of milk given to us a little bit ago?” “Yes, that’s for before naptime. Doctor Daniels gave us another in case she’s upset or hungry after naptime.” “Okay,” Miss C said, looking down at me, “Sorry, Katie, I thought you were supposed to get this nummy food already. You were such a big girl eating it that we’ll try the big kid food tomorrow!” I smiled at that, even as I mentally tried to make heads or tails of the fact she said, ‘yet’ in multiple cases! She used baby wipes on each of us at the table as she removed bibs, and I noted I was the only one who wasn’t a complete mess. I was lifted from the table and placed on the ground, where I promptly realized my diaper was soaked! “When did that happen?” I asked myself aloud. “Come along, boys and girls, time for diapee changes and naptime!” I hurried to catch up with my friends, but neither acknowledged me. I felt insulted, but I noticed their posture seemed frightened. I was the last in our line. Before I made it to the front to have my diaper changed, I felt something happen in my stomach. I crouched down for a second, and I felt better afterward! “Wow, what a poopy baby we have!” “Huh?” I said as I was picked up, placed on the table, and only then realized I had indeed been pooping again when I felt that. ‘How do I get out of this?’ I nervously wondered, even as I was incredibly grateful to be wiped up and cleaned before my onesie was snapped shut again. “Come on, Sweetie, everyone else is already lying down; why don’t you come to sit with me for your baba, and we’ll get you to your own nap?” “Baba?” I asked. She looked like she was thinking quickly, “I mean your special cup!” “Oh…” I said. “Baba… that’s a good name for it!” “I’m sure your mommy will agree!” “My mommy?” “Shit,” the woman said. “Keep forgetting. Doctor Daniels, your host.” “Oh, yeah, she’s great!” The woman grabbed a bottle from a long row of otherwise empty warmers, and I noted it said the wrong name on it. “My name isn’t Katie Daniels?” “Just a mistake, Katie,” she said. “I’ll make sure it’s the correct one tomorrow.” She sat in a rocking chair and wrapped me in a blanket before tilting me back like Erica. “Here you go,” she told me, “You were so good; why don’t I hold it for you?” I nodded, seeing the milky color in the baba and quickly letting the spout enter my mouth. I started sucking on it gently, then more fervently, as I tasted the incredible liquid. Miss C was rocking back and forth while humming, and I closed my eyes. “She’s such a sweet Little,” I heard a voice say. “Yeah, but she’s not technically hers yet. I also got a call from Doctor Nickerson, who asked me to ensure nothing abusive happens toward her. I’m not sure what the whole story is, so be careful what you do with her until she’s adopted.” ‘Adopted…? I can’t be adopted… I’m an adult?’ I sleepily wondered, even as I thought about all the other adopted Littles I’d seen as I fell asleep. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and Leave a comment! I'm home from work sick right now; it's the second time in a few weeks I've caught something! I might be up for a bonus chapter on Sunday if you all make me happy with enough likes and comments to help me feel better!

Chapter 10: THE NEXT THING I knew was sunlight peeking in through the windows again. I rolled to a sitting position and had to admit the crib mattress was considerably more comfortable to sleep on than the toddler bed. The downside was apparent as I turned to look out the side, seeing the rails that would prevent my escape as easily as they would a baby. I stood, felt a squelch then, and grimaced. ‘I went again…?!?’ It was obvious that the diaper had been well used - I just prayed it was only wet this time! I waddled my way to the bars and noted that I could barely rest my chin on the rail. ‘I probably could climb out in a pinch,’ I thought. I looked down and noted it was a long way down to the ground. Something about the drop seemed scary right then! A mirror on the closet door showed my reflection, which made me queasy. ‘I shouldn’t look that much like a baby...?!?’ “Well, look, who decided to wake up?” Erica came in right then and tore my gaze from the reflection. “Umm… hi,” I said. “You feeling better this morning?” I shrugged, “I didn’t even know that I was feeling bad last night; it just happened…” She came to rail, and I held my arms up. A glance at the mirror again made me feel sick! My reflection definitely looked like a little baby being picked up from her crib in the morning! It made me cringe, but looking at the still bare toddler bed, I knew it was the only way to go last night. “Was it more comfortable?” She asked me, sitting down in the rocking chair suddenly for some reason to talk. I found myself playing with some of my loose hair. “I don’t like the bars,” I told Erica, “but the mattress is much better. Could we just swap them? In my world, at least, the mattresses are usually the same sizes?” She nodded, “Most of the time, that’s the case, but that crib was a special deal I found. Its mattress is about six inches too long and won’t fit on the toddler bed. I think part of the comfort is it has a firmer base?” She nodded towards the toddler bed, “In all honesty, Sweetie, I never intended for anyone other than Everly or Amber to sleep in that bed… and it was only supposed to be for naps. It’s pretty flimsy…” “The crib?” I thought my words through carefully, “You spent more on it for some reason?” Erica smiled, “I hope to have my own baby in it someday!” A part of me was greatly relieved that she hadn’t just placed me in that category! “So, how did your underwear do last night?” I blushed, sure she already knew the answer, “Wet again… I just don’t understand it. How can decades of potty training just disappear overnight?!?” She squeezed me in a soft hug. “Sorry, Katie. We’ll figure this out. Tomorrow, while we’re at the hospital, we can run a scan on you.” “I’d appreciate that,” I told her. “In the meantime, let’s get you out of that soggy diaper, give you a chance to take another shower, and then we’ll figure out a plan for the day.” “Don’t forget I’m planning to go to the cafeteria to eat with our students this afternoon?” “I already made a note of that!” she told me. She followed me into the restroom down the hallway and took the diaper off of me. I was a little disturbed that being naked in front of her was slowly becoming less of an ordeal. It was no less of an ordeal to see a chunk smushed of brown still in that diaper, though! I spent some time doing more research that morning after breakfast and was doing so in the afternoon before Erica noted it was time to leave. “If we’re going to make sure you’re there for their dinner.” “It’s really early, isn’t it?” I noted. I was dressed as professionally as I could be given my loss of clothes. I wore a skirt and one of the blouse onesies, and I planned to wear the suit coat later to campus that I’d worn to the dimension. “I got their schedule on Friday. It’s pretty common in the nests to try to ensure the Littles get at least thirteen to fourteen hours of sleep every night.” “Every night?!?” I asked in surprise. “I know the days are longer… How much am I sleeping?” She shrugged, “I’d say ten to twelve at this point. After last night, it might not have been a bad idea to try and get some more.” “And you?” “I usually get six to eight each night?” “Huh,” I said, “Why is it so different?” “It’s all about body mass, from what I’ve read. You’re smaller and use more energy to get by in the larger world.” I nodded, “I guess that kind of makes sense.” Unfortunately, after having two more accidents that afternoon, we had a bit of a debate about whether I should wear a diaper to dinner. “It’s easier for me to change a Pull-Up on myself?” I suggested. She eventually agreed, and my backpack was now filled with three extra Pull-Ups, baby wipes, and a spare pair of clothes just in case. I saw a mostly empty cafeteria with various seat sizes when I walked in. I noted some gigantic seats for the Bigs, some slightly smaller seats that reminded me of the kids’ table at Erica’s parents, and then what probably seemed like daycare furniture to the Bigs, specifically made for Littles. My faculty ID plus a swipe of my payment chip on my phone paid for the meal, and I was soon relieved to quickly find two of our students I recognized, Ava and Amy. “Doctor Benson, what are you doing here?” Ava asked. “Well, Doctor Owens and I are going to take turns catching up with you all and making sure you’re doing okay!” “That’s nice of you,” Amy said. Right then, I watched a group of boys get led into the cafeteria, holding onto one of those plastic ring rope-line things I’d seen preschools use before. Instead of preschoolers, though, it was Littles – adults! I noticed the group included a couple of ours. “Oh my god, that must be so embarrassing,” Ava said. “I wonder what they did?” Amy asked. “Did?” “They didn’t do that with our nest,” Amy said. “I’m guessing they got in trouble?” I had a plate of food I wasn’t eating much of as I listened to stories of the girl’s experiences. To be fair, the little I heard didn’t sound great, and I could tell they were being selective about what they said. I did find out that they definitely hadn’t seen Noah reappear. ‘I’ll have to ask Matt about how he got home?’ “May I join you?” I heard, seeing Connor Slane standing there. I noted he was wearing the uniform, and what was probably a dry Pull-Up based on how little padding was evident. It was almost cute, just like the girls’ outfit with its childlike parody of a suit. “Certainly!” I found myself responding. “How are you doing, Connor?” I asked as he sat down in the seat opposite me. “As good as I can be? Been a bit of a weird afternoon.” Amy snorted, “Afternoon?” Ava nodded, “Yeah… I think we’re the only two in our nest that are wearing ‘big girl’ panties.” I squirmed in my Pull-Up, glad it was dry, “The undergarments are a bit weird here.” “Where are you staying while we’re here?” Connor asked me. “Well, they had a staff apartment set aside for me, but everything is so far out of reach that they’ve insisted that I stay as a guest with one of the university doctors I’m working with.” “Oh?” he asked, “Umm… that sounds… nice?” “It kind of is… I mean, it’s a little bit demeaning that I’m sleeping in what’s essentially a toddler cr… er… bed,” she said, “But it’s kind of nice not to have to cook. Doctor Daniels insists on doing the chores since I can’t reach… so I guess it’s kind of like a vacation so far?” “That sounds…” Amy caught her voice, “…nice.” Connor asked me, “So, what do they have you working on so far?” “Well, I’ve only been to the hospital on Friday so far. They’re pretty strict with their standards, so I essentially have to be in residency again with them. Given how cool their advancements have been with medical treatments, I guess I don’t mind learning more! So far, the only doctor who’s really been willing to talk to me, though, is another Little.” We all spoke for a while before a couple of other boys came to join us. Connor introduced them, “This is Grayson and Wyatt.” He motioned to us, “Guys, this is Ava, Amy, and Doctor Benson, who came over from our dimension, too.” “So, you met these cousins?” Amy asked Connor. “That’s where you were this weekend?” Ava followed up. “I think my grandmother is trying to get me to be able to stay with her most weekends?” Connor told them. “They’ll allow that?” Grayson asked. “They did this weekend?” Connor told him. “Remember, he’s Doctor Westerfield’s grandson. Anyone else would probably be told no, but the student union is named to honor her!” Wyatt said. “Wait, really?” Amy asked. “You guys were introduced to her that first afternoon?” Connor reminded her. I couldn’t help but remember from the documentary how important she was to the advancements! “I don’t really remember that day much,” Amy said. “I was too embarrassed after…?” “Someone pulled the old poison the Littles trick that day?” Grayson asked. “Something in the dessert, I think,” Connor said. “Jerks,” Wyatt said, “I get tired of having to watch out for poisoned food.” I felt the ground drop out from underneath me as what Erica had told me was confirmed, “Poisoned food? Is that why…?” “Did you have an accident after lunch that day?” Connor gently asked me. “They told me it was probably just travel stress…” I said while my entire skin turned bright red. “And some others after that?” Grayson asked. “Not the first day, but yesterday I had several?” Connor followed up with, “This Doctor you’re staying with, she hasn’t been offering you any milk, has she?” “Yes, she has, actually?” Suddenly, everyone was silent, and I felt the presence of a Big, who was as intimidating as any I’d met so far! The younger woman had a presence that just said she had power, and with how fast everyone shut up, I didn’t think she was a good one. “Did you boys make some new friends? Who is this?” she asked. “Oh, this is Doctor Benson; she came over to help oversee our exchange program,” Ava said matter-of-factly. “Well, aren’t you a good little professor checking up on your students!” Mackenzie said. I blushed and squirmed a little, “Thanks. I know their days are about to get a lot busier, so I just wanted to make sure they’re all doing okay.” “Well, if you ever want to spend the night, I know we’ve got a couple of open pods in the girl’s nests you could visit overnight? Maybe over the weekend?” “I’ll talk to my… host about that.” Somehow, that felt like a trap I didn’t want to fall into. “Well, boys, we need you to stop chatting so much and get eating. We need to make sure you get your rest before your big day of classes tomorrow!” “Yes, Miss Mackenzie,” Wyatt and Grayson said. I listened with intrigue as the students discussed their majors and lives. It was a nice insight into how they were doing and hopefully showed they could be successful there. After a while, the boy’s nest mother reappeared. “Our group is just about done eating, so eat those last few bites, and we need to get going!” “Can’t Connor come back with us instead?” Ava asked. “Silly, he’s not a little Kitty in your nest!” Amy blushed then, and I wondered what the story was. “It’s okay,” Connor said, quickly scarfing a few last bites. He’d made a tiny bit of a mess on his face, and I watched him jump when Mackenzie pulled a baby wipe from somewhere and wiped his face up. “Going to have to watch you for making a mess on your clothes!” She giggled, “Ready then?” “I’ll see you tomorrow sometime?” he told the girls before surprising me by leaning over and hugging me. I almost shoved him away; it was definitely inappropriate! “Hopefully, see you soon too, Doctor Benson?” He suddenly whispered beside my ear, “Watch out for the milk; it’s probably your host’s breast milk.” I felt my heart stop, felt sick, and hoped it wasn’t true even as I watched him and his friends get drug over to the rope line again and be forced to be led by it. All around us in the cafeteria, I heard people making fun of them. One Big loudly said, “I can’t wait to see that short one adopted!” The girl’s nest mother came over for them shortly, and I told them, “Stay safe, good luck.” “Same to you, Doctor Benson,” Ava told me. As they left, I decided it was time to get out. As more Bigs came in, I sent a quick message to Erica to let her know I was ready to be picked up. Erica must have been walking nearby because as soon as I exited the cafeteria, we connected and returned to her car. She buckled me into the seat and asked, “So, how are your students doing?” “Overall, pretty well, I think?” I told her. “Good!” she told me. “Anything else you need while we’re out?” I shook my head, “No, I think an early evening before going into the hospital is just what the doctor ordered?” We returned to her house, and I thought about what I had learned. First, Noah had disappeared… I had an excellent memory and thought back to the incident and the initial meeting. ‘He would have gone past the demerit count, but… what happened then?’ I had a feeling that, as much as I wanted it to be him going home, based on what we were told with the portal scheduling, that was not what happened. ‘So what?’ Right then, we passed a daycare center with a sign that read ‘Little Friendly!’ Suddenly, I had a bad feeling I knew where he had likely gone. My mind, though, went to the last thing Connor had whispered in my ear about milk and the poisoning of the lunch. Erica had never pointed that out, but she mentioned some food caused those issues. Based on her honesty, I believed then that I should trust her. After that, I had my first hot chocolate made with milk… I remembered that Erica said that. And it was soooo good! I thought! My mouth watered even then, thinking about it. The milk she had given me also tasted a bit different. She’d given it to me initially after I hurt my arm, right? I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of it, but the milk might be the answer. Her milk? I couldn’t help but wonder. She’d never had biological kids. That didn’t prevent inducing it, but why would you go through the trouble of pills and pumping to start if you didn’t have a baby? When we returned to her house, she offered to watch a movie again, but I politely declined, choosing to read instead. While I solved this mystery, I needed something to destress, so I pulled out my tablet from home and read a novel I’d downloaded before leaving. I was curled up on the couch when she came over with a mug. “Hot chocolate?” She offered. My mouth watered, but I forced myself to shake my head, “I want to see if I don’t drink fluids right before bed if I can prevent this sudden bedwetting I’m doing.” She looked disappointed, “You know the studies show that withholding fluids can be counterproductive?” “True, but it’s a strategy to try at least?” I managed to stay firm, even as I couldn’t help but crave that taste and flavor more than was healthy. ‘Something is definitely wrong with that milk!’ I thought with certainty. When I was ready to give up for the night, I told Erica, “I’m going to call it a night.” “Okay, Sweetie, why don’t you go upstairs, go potty, wash your face, and brush your teeth? I’ll come up and get you in your jammies. Which bed did you want to sleep in tonight?” I clinched up then, sure it was the wrong answer, but said, “The crib mattress is so much better… that one, I guess?” She smiled at me brightly. “Great!” I climbed the mountain of stairs, feeling it was getting easier with reps, and then went to the bathroom. I pulled my skirt off and set it down to get cleaned in a hamper, pulled the snaps on the onesie, and pulled down the Pull-Up. This was, unfortunately, becoming far too routine! As I was peeing, I was disappointed to see a discolored spot in the Pull-Up. “Damnit,” I hissed quietly. As much as I didn’t want to pull it back up, I did so since it would be a diaper in a moment anyway. I didn’t bother pulling the skirt back up or button the onesie. It wasn’t like Erica wasn’t going to see that anyway. She sat in the rocking chair when I was done, stood up, picked me up, and carried me to the changing table. “You wet this one too?” She asked. I sighed, “I guess I did; I never noticed it when I went after we got home, so it’s probably been in the last hour?” “We’ll definitely scan you tomorrow,” she told me while taking the Pull-Up off with the Velcro, balling it up, and putting it in the diaper disposal that was filling up far too fast! I blushed as she took a couple of baby wipes and wiped me down, added some cream to a couple spots, and then sat my bottom down on a diaper. “This one feels different?” I said, even before she taped it up. “After last night, I figured upgrading your night diapers was probably a good idea.” “Upgrade…?” I asked. She sat me up before helping me put on a two-piece pajama set. I looked at myself in the reflective mirror and noted that the diaper stuck out above the pants’ waistband—it was like having a pillow between my legs! “Is this really necessary?” I asked her. “I think last night would have been better?” I blushed, “Hopefully that won’t happen again?” “It was while you were sleeping, Katie; we can’t exactly do much to fix that, then?” I sighed, “If I don’t have any major repeats, can we go back to lighter protection after a few nights?” “Sure, sweetie, we can definitely do that!” She hugged me and then carried me to the crib, setting me down on the mattress. “Oh, I almost forgot something - I’ll be right back!” She returned with Honey in her hands and said, “I got her all cleaned up; there are no signs of her little adventure!” I took her gently and hugged her. “Thank you, Erica.” “No problem! Anyway, I’ll let you get some sleep! Night night!” she said as she left through the door, and the nightlight turned on again. I sighed and rolled over closer to the wall side of the crib. In the process, I bumped the rail again. The mobile activated, and I couldn’t help but look up at it tonight. Little teddy bears followed each other in the sky, and with the music, I had to admit it was kind of soothing. I quickly drifted off to sleep, with it softly tinkling. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press that Like Button and Leave a comment! So, the first draft of this is complete at this point. There are 28 chapters, and an epilogue is the final total, about 90k words. I'm a bit surprised for a work that was only supposed to be 20k words! I was able to write it in a time of year I traditionally haven't been successful at writing, too! I'll post a couple of chapters a week of this, probably on Tuesdays and Fridays most weeks. (A couple may change on that) Some bonus chapters, of course, are always possible! I started the arduous process of getting my head back into LCW yesterday, so hopefully, you'll see new chapters about when I finish posting this. There may be some crossover; we'll see! The real world hits hard this week, but then I have my lightest six or seven weeks of the year ahead of me after that. Anyway, thanks for indulging me in my writing. Please keep the Likes and the comments coming! 🙂

Since you all so kindly clicked 30 likes on the last chapter, here's another! Chapter 8: I WAS STRAPPED in the car seat for about an hour before we pulled in front of a much larger home than Erica’s. As she set me on the ground, I noted that it was still well-kept, but it did seem like it was in a much older neighborhood. “So…?” “So, let’s go meet everyone,” she told me with a smile. I nervously shrugged and followed her as she opened the front door. “Mom! We’re here!” A tall woman with graying hair appeared from a nearby room and hugged her daughter. “Hi, Honey,” she told her. “Mom, this is Katie, the doctor staying with me right now.” The tall giant leaned down and waved at me, “Nice to meet you, Katie; I’m Wendy!” “Nice to meet you, too,” I said. “Where’s Dad?” “He’s out back with Tyler arguing about how to cook steaks, right?” “Sounds about right!” Erica laughed, “Harper here already?” Her mom shook her head, “I think you know it’s easier to get ready with one extra body than their three kids. I swear, last time I watched them try to get Amber ready, you would think she was a teenager trying to get her hair ‘just right!’” “Everly tends to slow things down, too,” Erica said. “Well, I can introduce Katie to Dad, Daniel, Zara, and Hudson before the real chaos begins!” “Sounds like a plan. Zara is helping me in the kitchen on some sides, if you want to come back to us?” “Sure,” she said. “Come on, let’s meet half the Daniels clan!” Erica smiled at me. “Okay,” I said nervously. I couldn’t believe the size of the house compared to even hers! The large furnishings somehow seemed even more intimidating. As we passed the living room, I noted a large playpen set up there, and I had no doubts I would be trapped inside if placed there! I followed Erica through a hallway to a dining room connected to a kitchen. “Hey Zara, I want to introduce her to Dad and Daniel, but this is Katie,” she said as I saw a much younger woman seeming to chop something on the counter. The woman turned with a smile and an odd gleam in her eye. “Well, look at you! You look absolutely precious!” she said as she knelt before me and hugged me. “Nice to meet you!” she said, pushing me out. “Katie is a doctor on an exchange visit from the other dimension who’s staying with me.” “Oh? A doctor, too?” The woman laughed, “Figures, you always like to hang out with the smart ones.” I noted she gave Erica a weird wink, and I couldn’t help but feel my stomach churn. “Go introduce her to your dad and Tyler; when you get done, we’ll figure out where Hudson is, and she can meet him. I think he’s probably hiding behind a couch somewhere getting his poopies done.” I just about barfed at that, but I was grateful Erica led me back to the back, opening a massive glass sliding door to the backyard. While it was cold outside, they still had a grill going! A tall man with graying hair conversed with a much younger man who, given their similarity, could have been a younger clone. I could see much of Erica in her dad’s face, so I had no doubt these were all family members. “Hey, Ery!” the younger man said. She hugged him and her dad, “Hi, guys.” “And who’s this?” The older man knelt down. “This is a friend of mine, Katie. She’s on an exchange program with our hospital from her dimension right now. They had a total screwup with her housing, so I offered her my guest bedroom.” “That was kind of you,” her dad said as he held out a hand. “I’m Jack, it’s nice to meet you!” “Nice to meet you too,” I told him. “And this is my baby brother, Tyler,” Erica said as the other man did similar to his dad. “I’m obviously the best one of the family,” he said with a smirk. I gave a nervous laugh at that. We spoke with them briefly before Erica complained about the cold, and I followed her inside. During the time that we’d been outside, Zara had found the missing boy and was carrying him in her arms. “Let’s say hi to your Aunty and her guest!” My stomach turned to ice as I realized this ‘nephew’ was the Little she had mentioned. He was probably about twenty-one and the right age to have been friends with the students we brought from home. He was a leaner build than most of them. You could almost have guessed from his clothes that he was that baby since he wore only a onesie with the edges of his diaper peeking out. Still, the facial shape and muscles visible under his t-shirt onesie were enough to ruin that illusion. Zara knelt down with the Little and sat crisscross with him on her lap. “Katie, this is Hudson, our baby boy.” He looked annoyed at the description but just said, “Hi.” “Hi,” I said back awkwardly. As I wondered what in the world to say to him, the front door came crashing open with the sound of “Grandma!!!” from two young girls. At the same time, an older version of Erica carried in a boy who looked like a genuine toddler and bigger than me. I was quickly introduced to Amber, who, at six years old, was over a foot taller than me. Everly was two and a half and probably eight inches taller than me, and Arthur, the baby who was carried inside and when he stood up, was a little bit bigger than me, too! As everyone was soon standing around and talking, Everly went to hug Hudson, and I realized they were about the same height, making me the shortest person there! Erica approached me just before lunch was ready, “This is kind of an awkward question, and I’ll accept whichever answer you prefer?” I felt a new low coming in my stomach, “…Okay?” “I didn’t think to bring a booster seat with me. My mom and dad have a couple extra high chairs so you could sit beside me at the Big table?” “Or?” She motioned her head to a short ‘kids’ table. “You could sit at the kid’s table with Amber, Everly, and Hudson?” I looked up at Harper, making a cooing face at Arthur, who seemed to be checking his diaper before tickling him. Jack looked incredibly intimidating with his massive size, and Tyler and Zara were similarly nerve-wracking. I looked over at Hudson, who seemed to smile and look hopeful toward me. “I guess I’ll try the kid’s table. It looks more comfortable?” She smiled at me, “Okay!” Not long after that, I found myself sitting at a toddler-sized table where my feet still dangled from the chair, but I could still reasonably reach the table. Everly and Hudson seemed to be the perfect size for the table, while Amber was just barely small enough to still use the table. Arthur was strapped into a high chair beside his mom. Erica kindly brought my plate to me with a steak, mashed potatoes, and something I guessed was asparagus? It looked like a piece of cucumber, though, almost without how big the spears were! Erica had started to leave me with a steak knife, but I noted her look at the others, “I’m going to cut your steak so we don’t leave this knife near the kids,” she told me quietly. I blushed but watched her quickly mutilate the piece of steak that otherwise had looked perfect! I was left with a fork small enough that I could grip, but noted the tines were dull and meant for toddlers! Hudson and Everly were given similar utensils, while Amber seemed to have a regular fork and a butter knife. A sippy cup was set beside Everly and me, while Amber had a short open glass. Hudson seemed to blush at the baby bottle beside his plate but took a swig from it anyway. “So, what’s your story?” Hudson asked me quietly. “What do you mean?” “How’d she adopt you?” “Adopt?” I looked shocked, “No, you misunderstand? I’m just staying at her place because the apartment the university rented didn’t allow Littles. I’m an adult back home? I came from another dimension as a university sponsor for an exchange group of students. I’m working with her at the hospital in the meantime?” He looked doubtful, “I hope that’s true.” “Umm…” I felt bad for asking, “What’s your story? He shrugged, “I was working as a stocker at the nearby grocery store. One day, we had a company luncheon that I was dumb enough to eat at. Mommy happened to be shopping in the store and next to me when the spiked food caught up with me.” “So what…? You had an accident, and that was it…?” I asked nervously. “That’s how it works here, Princess,” he told me. “Katie, do you like princesses?” Amber suddenly asked me. I shrugged, “When I was your age, I did? Not so much now?” She looked offended, “Pwincesses are the best!” Everly said before she could say something. I smiled, “I guess they are. I’ve always liked being a doctor more?” “Ooh! We play hospital!” Amber suggested. “Not until you finish your food,” Harper said beside us suddenly. “Yes, Mommy,” Everly said, beginning to scarf down her food. I made eye contact with Hudson, who rolled his eyes but looked defeated. I ate the steak and decided it was pretty tasty, but the larger blood vessels of the creature it came from made things stringier than I was used to. It was not like a piece of celery or anything, but it was different. It was well-cooked, though! The mashed potatoes and the asparagus were both good, too. “Oh look, Everly, you see what a good girl Katie is eating her veggies?” her father, Jack, said, appearing to check on all of us. I blushed. “Can you be big like her?” He asked. “She small!” she answered. “Means you shouldn’t have any problem, right?” I worried I was about to see a tantrum, but the little girl used the example and finished eating her asparagus pieces. “Mommy, we all done. We play now?” Amber asked. “Let me see,” she said, looking at all four plates on the table. I suddenly wished I hadn’t eaten so fast! “Looks like there are four good eaters here! Zara, do you mind if they go play now? Or were you going to put Hudson down for a nap first?” “It’s Sunday. They can play for a bit, and then we’ll go home for his nap.” Beside me, Hudson sighed, and as Harper stood up and walked back to the table, whispered, “Who would have thought I’d wish for nap time…?” “Huh?” A moment later, I learned what he meant as Amber and Everly dragged us downstairs to a large basement play area. It was impressive, with a large selection of toys, games, and even what was probably a tiny toddler-sized swing set and slide. It looked like a standard swing set I had as a kid back home, and my stomach did not feel well at the sight of it! “Play hospital?” Amber suggested to her sister. “No, house! I be da mommy, you be daddy, and dey da babies!” Everly said so assertively, it was unnerving. I was terrified. For the next twenty minutes, Everly insisted on feeding me a fake baby bottle, checking my Pull-Up like a mom would with a baby, and insisted on changing me into a play princess dress over my clothes. It was so big that I could only assume it must have been hers until she had outgrown it. My face was red, but Hudson wasn’t immune, getting his very own princess dress, too. “She swing now!” Everly told Amber after they removed the dress a while later. “Put her to sleep like Arthy.” I looked at her and saw no way she could put me in the swing seat with a crossbar to keep the occupant from falling out. “We do that!” Amber surprised me suddenly by picking me up like I weighed nothing and easily holding me high enough above the swing. As she started to push me down, I instinctually put my feet in the slots so I wouldn’t be shoved against it and hurt myself. “Dere! Baby, now swing!” Everly said, beginning to push me in the swing for a good while before saying, “Baby, sleep now! Right then, she must have gotten bored with the game because she walked over to where Amber had moved to play with some large dolls and stuffed animals. Hudson seemed to hide in a corner of the room, and I could see him hiding beside a play kitchen. ‘This has got to be the most toys I’ve ever seen grandparents have for their grandkids,’ I thought. I was relieved that I was finally left alone and even lightly moved my legs to swing. Just then, though, something moved in my stomach. There was a gurgle. A cramp! I tried to push myself out of the swing but couldn’t get the leverage to lift myself up as it swung backward on me! “Erica?” I cried out. The girls both looked at me curiously while Hudson gave me a look of pity. Another cramp occurred before I could even hope one of them might consider helping me. Thinking nothing had happened, I was relieved before I realized my body was involuntarily pushing a semi-solid goop out into the back of my Pull-Up! Erica came down the staircase and stared at me just as the cramps finished. Zara had followed her down with a towel on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” Erica asked me. I sobbed, “Please get me out of this?” She walked over, and I saw her nose twitch. She lifted me up, and we both realized the Pull-Up had not been up for that job. The pants and swing seat were a mess. “Don’t worry about the swing; I’ll get it cleaned up; you just worry about Katie,” Zara said with a kind smile. “It’s okay, Katie, you’re just a Little; accidents happen!” I was inconsolable then as Erica gingerly carried me up the stairs while holding me away from her. “Dad? I have a bag in my car beside her car seat. Would you mind going and grabbing it for me? I’m going to take her straight to the upstairs bathroom?” “Sure, sweetie,” he said while giving me a pitying look. “I’m sure your mo… Erica will get you all cleaned up shortly! Don’t worry about this!” At that point, I was in hysterics as she sat me down on my feet in the tub. She gently grabbed my feet, pulled the shoes I was wearing off, and set them beside the tub. “Arms up,” she told me. I managed to follow that direction, and she pulled the sweater off. “Oh, we’ll have to throw this in the wash,” she told me. I saw the stain even as she said it and cringed. “Okay, let’s get your pants off next.” As she pulled the elastic jeans down, I could see the seat of them was brown! “I don’t think this Pull-Up caught hardly any of this,” she said, clearly unimpressed. She and I both stared at the ruined disposable garment next. It was brown, and oozing brown moved down the leg gatherers all the way to my knees. It was liquid enough to have been brown paint. I turned my face up to the tiles in front of me as she ripped both sides open and did her best to contain it and ball it up. “Oh, Mom, thanks!” she said as the older giant handed her a sack to put the garment in. “What did you feed her earlier?” she asked Erica. “Nothing odd; her stomach definitely seems to have issues with some of our food or something, though…” I was completely nude at that point, with no bra on and no panties, and another woman was just staring at my filth-covered body. Just as I thought nothing could get worse, her dad brought her the diaper bag I’d seen her stash in her car. “There you go, get poor Katie cleaned up,” he told his daughter. “Don’t worry about this, Katie, I’ve had similar issues when I’ve traveled to other countries before!” He left, followed by his wife, who thoughtfully closed the door. Erica sighed, “Let’s use the shower head first…” After the water finally cleared, she borrowed baby soap, sat by the tub, and washed me down again. Wrapping me in a towel, she gathered the bag her dad had brought and carried me down the hall. Inside, I discovered a nursery with a crib and a changing table. ‘These guys just keep these for family members…?’ I couldn’t help but think. I could see Arthur sleeping in the crib, his breaths apparent even as he sucked on a pacifier. Erica set me on the changing table and pulled a strap from the sides over me. “What?” “We’re at my parent’s house; my mom will probably come here in a few minutes and tell me how to do this properly. Trust me…” With that, she asked, “Do you know if you got all that out?” I shrugged, “I didn’t know that was coming until just before it happened.” “Why didn’t you get out of the swing? You got into it, alright?” “I couldn’t; Amber had put me in it?” “Oh… She does like mothering Littles.” I noted her thoughtful look for a minute, making me nervous. “Look, when we get home, I’ll switch you to another Pull-Up, but until then, it’s better to put you in a diaper.” I groaned, “But…” “My mom will probably insist; you made a pretty bad mess downstairs…” she said. I blushed. “Get it over with, please?” I was soon in a diaper and then a spare one-piece sleeper that one of the girls had outgrown. “Well, looks like someone is doing better now?” Rachel asked. “I think so,” Erica said as she held me on her hip with her bag on the other shoulder, “But I think we’ve probably pushed things enough for her today. This is a strange world for her, and I’d be pretty mortified if I were in her shoes. We’re going to head home?” “I completely understand,” she said. “Katie, it was nice to meet you!” She pushed her way in and gave us a combined hug. I endured a similar goodbye from her dad, brother, and sister before it was insisted I wave bye-bye back at Everly, who waved at me. I was soon strapped into the car seat to return home to her house and noted that with a diaper, the blanket sleeper, and what I was sitting in, I did not appear to be much of an adult anymore! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the 'Like' Button and leave comments! I'm willing to post again on Wednesday and Saturday this week if you all earn it! 😈 I'm currently 2/3rds through with writing Chapter 21 right now, so I have a lead on you that I should be able to maintain. Trying to finish writing this tomorrow or Wednesday so I can get back to some other projects. I took some vacation time at the end of the year, which is much-needed and helpful for writing time!

Chapter 99: Sparkles WHEN GRANDMA WOKE me up the next day, I swore I’d only slept for an hour at most! I was exhausted, but adrenaline carried me through a very aggressive morning swim. A shower followed, and Grandma had just gotten me dressed when Beth came in. “Want a hand with your hair?” she smiled at me. “If you don’t mind,” Beth added to Grandma. Grandma smiled, “Go ahead, she’s your girlfriend.” I blushed, “Sure?” “Don’t worry, I have the perfect idea for you for today!” She smiled as Grandma left. “Now I am worried,” I said as she got to work with me, sitting in my desk chair. “Normally, I might go ahead and use the nanite spray they used for the shoot with this, but I think you need to take a break from nanite anything for a bit!” I grimaced, but even then, I felt like the diaper was already a little squishy. She used a brush for several minutes, a miniature handheld battery-powered hairdryer, and then, finally, some sort of rod that I eventually decided was a portable curling iron. “Stay there,” she told me as she dug through Mom’s old hair stuff. “Good thing your mom left all of this stuff!” I tried to look at what she had, but she held my head forward, “Nope, not until I’m done, princess.” I blushed at being called ‘princess’ by my girlfriend! She peeked around, smiled at my red face, kissed me, and then went back to work. I felt her fiddle with the top layer of my hair on the backside for a few minutes before she tied something off and used a clip on top of it. “I’m not going to look bad, am I?” I asked nervously. “Of course not, silly! You’re going to look cute!” She said with a smile. “That’s what I’m afraid of?” I said, sticking my tongue out at her. She tickled my side without warning, then said, “Carly, I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to look ‘cute’ no matter what you do. You look like you genuinely should be in daycare or maybe, at most, a preschool. I think the only thing you can do until you go home is embrace the look and play up to the fact that no one wants to pick on a cute little girl who is nothing but sweet to everyone.” I looked at her skeptically, but she said, “See, you look adorable.” She took a picture, and I got to see myself in three dimensions. She’d put my hair up into a half-ponytail, curled my bangs that we hadn’t gotten rid of amid everything yesterday, and then clipped what seemed like a giant bow made with Emerson colors onto the tie holding the half-pony. “My sisters would love the bow,” I sighed. “They’re cheerleaders, right?” Beth smirked. “Yes,” I stared at myself for a long moment, “You’re right, I’m adorable. I hope they let me walk around…?” “If they will, I won’t,” she smiled. Beth picked me up without warning and carried me downstairs. My tights maintained a little bit of modesty, but I knew the skirt of my jumper was creeping up higher as she carried me downstairs, and it revealed my diaper area. Grandma said when she sat me in my highchair, “Carly doesn’t normally have issues making a mess, but grab a bib for her just in case. It wouldn’t do for her to be messy on her first day?” ‘No, the only mess will just be inside my diapers?’ I thought worriedly. Far too quickly for my tastes, breakfast was over, and we soon pulled into the parking lot. Grandma approached my side of the car and let me out while Nikki reappeared from a vehicle she’d somehow gotten out to Grandma’s house the day before. “Good luck, Carly, I’ll come by your Holo Theory class to pick you up,” she told me. I blushed but accepted the hug and kiss before placing my offered backpack on my back. “There’s four diapers in there,” Grandma told me. The HoloChangers have their own supply, too, but if Beth, or someone else you trust, wants to change you, there’s some in there.” “Thanks,” I said, blushing brighter. “Actually, let me check you before you go,” Grandma said. I yelped as she reached under my uniform and then clucked, “I’m going to have to remember you’re not potty trained anymore…” She opened the hatchback of her car and hoisted me up, “Let’s get you in a dry diaper before you go to class!” Beth stood by awkwardly, waiting after flashing me a smile. Grandma was definitely experienced with changing diapers, though. She changed me faster than anyone could have since it was only wet. After a hug and a kiss, we were finally free to walk away, with Nikki following about ten feet behind us. “So, how do you want to do this?” Beth asked as we walked down the sidewalk to Kilby, where our classes were. “What?” “Do you want me to ignore the elephant in the room? Pretend you’re not diapered?” I blushed, “Or?” “Or… I help? I can check on you and change you if needed between classes?” I shrugged, “It’s up to you? I totally don’t blame you if you want nothing to do with my diapers?” I sighed, “I’m sure they’re not all going to be wet.” She laughed, “No, they won’t be.” Without warning, she picked me up, “Well, if I’m changing you, that means I can carry you to places now, too!” “What? Beth?!?” She blew a raspberry at me and squeezed me tight. “I can make certain you’re safe this way!” I groaned, “Are you turning into a Big on me?” She giggled, “Not in that way, but you are undeniably cute.” We did make better time, at least with her carrying me. My feet didn’t complain nearly as much in the new shoes then, either. They were certainly not as comfortable as tennis shoes, and even the fake dress shoes the boys had to wear seemed more comfortable to walk in. “So?” Beth asked. “So?” “What is your decision?” “You can change me… and if you’re changing me, you can carry me,” I said quietly. With a smile, she hugged me, and then we split into separate classes. ‘What the hell has gotten into her?’ I had to ask myself then! ‘Hopefully, she snaps out of it. Otherwise, I’ll have to tell her to tone it down,’ I told myself. Walking into Doctor Turing’s class, I discovered I was a little later than I usually arrived. That meant more seats were already filled, and the occupants stared at me. Doctor Turing herself turned and saw me, “Can I help you? Are you lost, sweetie?” I sighed, “Good morning, Doctor Turing; you may not recognize me, but I’m Carly… Slane?” Her eyes lit up in recognition, “Oh, well… I guess there were some changes?” “Malfunctioning nanites for a film project my group is working on,” I told her. “Sounds like a… problem?” I shrugged, “No solution right now.” “Everything else okay?” “More or less,” I said. Skylar came up then and said, “Here, let me give you a hand.” I was in the air and inside the attached highchair before I could say no. Her actions caused my jumper skirt to flare up, and I had no doubt the onesie underneath that held my diaper in place flashed everyone—no doubt with the edges of the padding visible around it, too… “You look sooooo cute!” She practically squealed, “I love your hair!” I sighed, “Thanks, Skylar.” “Let me know if you need a change after class,” she said, “I could tell you’ve had to upgrade your protection.” I wanted to bash my head against the desk then, but fortunately, Doctor Turing began lecturing instead. She went over the projects we’d submitted to her and was ripping through each one quite pointedly. “Con…Carly,” she said, “Sorry about that, Carly. Your solution works amazingly well for what I asked.” “Thanks!” I said. “There are far more efficient ways to do this, though,” she went on about how I could have saved a ton of code and resources to get the same result. With a sigh, I just took notes and tried to learn as much as possible. By the time we finished the class, my brain hurt as Professor Turing took some really crazy leaps to make the process more efficient. It all made sense, but I suspected I would need to visit her during office hours or get Grandma to help me with a couple of the pieces of information she had shared! At the end of the class, Skylar helped me down from the chair, and I found myself impressed that she didn’t just check my diaper. “Do you need help with anything?” She asked nervously. I smiled at her, “I’m good, thanks, Skylar.” BETH HAD SAT through her class, disbelieving at how she had acted that morning. ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ she thought. She knew that Bigs could have cossetting problems; she’d seen it firsthand with her mom and friends growing up, but never had she felt like that. She blushed and reminded herself she wanted a girlfriend, not a baby! ‘Mom made both work?’ she thought before mentally smacking herself. She’d paid attention in logic design but knew she was unfocused enough that studying with Carly would help her get back on track. ‘Carly,’ she thought. As soon as her class finished, she rushed out to find Carly and found herself kneeling beside her, “Carly, I am so sorry about earlier, I don’t know what came over me?!?” Carly looked surprised by her apology but said, “It’s okay… it was a little weird though?” “I think it’s hormones, maybe?” Right then, it registered with her that her cycle was getting ready to happen. “Definitely hormones,” she said immediately after. Carly looked at her and shrugged, “You can make up for it by being my ride to class?” She whispered then, “And maybe a change?” Beth noticed Nikki then and nodded that they were moving towards a bathroom, “Let’s get the change done over at Marconi so we’re closer to class.” “How was your class?” Carly asked her as she pushed open the bathroom door. “I was really distracted…” she told her, “You caused it, so you’ll have to tutor me tonight or tomorrow,” she teased. Carly just rolled her eyes at that. Beth wasn’t as experienced as others with changing diapers. Still, she’d done it enough on her dolls growing up, as well as a few actual babies at Livy’s mom’s daycare, that she was pretty quick with getting her girlfriend out of the not-too-soaked diaper and into the new one. “You probably could have waited a while?” “Last thing I want to do is leak on the first day?” “True,” she agreed. The two split off in Marconi, and Beth knew she wouldn’t see her again until after Calculus since she and her grandparents would get her dorm switched. “She’ll get to see how it is for the girls then,” Beth groaned. She’d heard that while the boys’ nests were terrible, the girls were worse and fully infantilizing doll-making machines. ‘Maybe it’s a better place with the new rules?’ Beth shook her head, ‘Carly is in for a long day no matter what!’ Her Fields and Waves professor started lecturing right then, and she decided that one class behind was more than enough. She got her head into the lecture and made sure to pay attention. I HAD SAT through another awkward re-introduction to my professor. Still, helpfully, Carter was in my earlier class and already knew the score. He helped me into my seat and fended off a couple of would-be mommies. ‘I guess if I’m going to have one, Beth is better than the others?’ I shook my head. As soon as she said her cycle, I had no doubt what that was code for! Growing up with five women in the house taught me to avoid and comfort my sisters and moms when they got a little crazy. It helped, and didn’t help, that it was the same days on the calendar that I knew to walk on eggshells! Based on the code Beth spoke, I knew hormones were definitely doing a number on her. The changes I’d undergone placed my body in a stasis as a pre-pubescent. That meant my body shape looked far more like a child than an adult, even if I suddenly regained height on a trip back home. The only positive was that I wouldn’t have to deal with my own monthly issues. The downside is that I couldn’t have kids if I wanted to when I returned. ‘Mom figured that out,’ I reminded myself with a sigh. Truthfully, that was a significant negative in my head, even though I had no desire to have any little ones at this point! The day’s lecture focused on the emitters themselves and how they needed to be tuned to work together. Our professor didn’t just give a how-to, though. It involved mathematically precise calculations and determining the proper angles to get the particles to collide correctly and align. In short, it was precisely why I had come to the dimension! When class ended, I gathered my things and left while hearing one girl ask, “Who let their baby sister come to class today?” and another say, “Someone brought the kid they were babysitting to HoloFields? That’s cruel and unusual punishment!” I just shook my head and kept moving to the exit, where Grandma and Grandpa awaited me. “How was class?” Grandma asked. “Good!” “Ready to get this move done?” Grandpa asked, already carrying the suitcases I’d brought with me. I shook my head, “Not really, but let’s get it over with?” He gave a short laugh and agreed. Grandma didn’t ask; she just scooped me up and placed me on her side as they walked faster than I would have been able to Sanders Hall. A few friends waved at me or gave me curious looks, but most knew I had large and important grandparents by then! She carried me all the way to the elevator before setting me down. I stood patiently waiting for the elevator to take us to my floor. I followed my familiar path from the past few weeks. I discovered the two nest mothers I expected to see already in the room. Mackenzie sat in the rocking chair while Lilly sat on the bean bag. “There she is!” Lilly said, standing up and walking over to me. Without warning, she hugged me, “Oh my god! You are so pretty!!!!!!” After releasing the hug, she added, “I’m so sorry this happened to you!” I was a bit surprised by the contact, but I gave her a quick smile, “Thanks… it’s a little strange?” “I bet!” Lilly said. “Sorry, Miss Mackenzie, I guess you both already know I can’t be in your nest anymore?” I swore it looked like Mackenzie was about to cry, and she suddenly knelt down and hugged me. “I can’t believe I’m letting my best friend steal my favorite Gryphon chick!” I laughed at that but noticed she wiped a tear away. “She’s right, you’re very pretty now! Miss Lilly has promised to take good care of you, and I’ve been promised visiting rights,” she said with a smile. “She also promised me we’ll still get to swim together in the mornings so I can keep in shape!” I looked up at Lilly, who nodded, “Yes, I have no problems letting you swim still. I need my swim partner!” “Thanks,” I said. “Well, you have a class to get to, and you should probably eat lunch? Let’s get you moved out and into Miss Lilly’s nest!” A half-hour later, I had my backpack on my shoulder. Grandma had my lockbox and a couple of small shopping bags they’d filled with things. Grandpa carried a stack of two boxes of diapers and wipes. Mackenzie was holding the case of water Grandma had brought that day, and Lilly forced me to let her take my two suitcases! Compared to me, they looked like they weren’t carrying anything! Lilly’s nest was on the same floor, apparently, but in the opposite direction at the elevator. We walked down an unfamiliar hallway to a door labeled ‘The Sparkles’ with a picture of a baby unicorn in glittery multi-colored splendor. “Welcome to the Sparkle Nest!” Lilly said as we walked through the door and into what I could only describe as the most over-the-top girly room on the planet! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading!!! Please press the Like Button and leave a comment! (I'd hate to withhold Friday's chapter...???) 😈 So it's official: Carly is about to have a new home and new nest mommy there! And we're about to hit Chapter 100! I'm currently working on Chapter 118 and am still ahead of you all, thankfully! As I enter the next couple of months, my writing time will decrease... I am trying my best to continue to make these chapters weekly, at least until the work is finished. I'm currently just under 350k words into the storyline, and I'm guessing there's another 100k to go. (Could be more, we'll see) Hoping to pass the Exchanged trilogy before this weekend is over! Speaking of Exchanged, don't forget all of my completed works are available on Amazon Kindle! http://amazon.com/author/babysofia

Chapter 94: Story Time BETH WATCHED CARLY look up at his grandmother in anticipation. “So, who is she?” he asked impatiently. “Did she tell you about the trip we adopted Bella?” Carly nodded, “I think most of the story?” “The dolphins?” Carly nodded, “I saw the picture you have in the hallway too.” She smiled, “That’s probably one of my favorite pictures with Stacy. She told you about the man we ran into?” She nodded. “And the girl he threw in the water when he was trying to escape?” “Mom said she saved her?” “Turns out that was Lilly’s mother.” “No way!” Carly said, clearly thinking back through all that she knew about her. “Didn’t Mom say she was only a toddler, though?” Amanda nodded, “We actually thought she was about five, but it turns out she was just a really short ten-year-old at the time. Her family didn’t care to correct any of the public records and be known as the victim, so we never found out she was older. Anyway, she seemed like she must have been younger?” “Was she a Big then?” Beth asked, “Lilly’s not short?” “Her mom, Kylie, just barely reached eight-foot-six,” Amanda said, “So really a Tweener, but since her parents were Bigs, she kind of slides into that classification still.” Amanda shrugged, “Lilly’s dad is about twelve feet tall, so she outgrew her mom by quite a bit. Kylie apparently had her when she was only fifteen. With her parents’ help, she had still managed to graduate high school and college early in spite of the teenage pregnancy. Lilly was an early graduate from high school at seventeen. I never dreamed of that connection because they're so close in age. I know it’s why I didn’t think of her at first.” “So… Umm…? What happened?” Beth asked. “I don’t think I’ve heard this story?” “Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Connor said. “Grandma, why don’t you tell it since you were there?” She smiled at us, “I’ll tell it, but let’s get you ready for bed first?” “Huh?” Connor asked. “I seem to remember both of you saying you needed a shower when you got in the car?” “Right!” Beth said. As she said that, Beth couldn’t help but think back to the stickiness of those stupid PooPloders! She winced. “So, Beth, why don’t you take a shower? Carly and I will take care of her in her room, and then we’ll meet for storytime in her room in about thirty minutes?” Carly’s face turned bright red, and Beth suddenly realized she had never told her she was okay with her revelation. “Okay,” Beth said to Amanda. She turned to Carly and hugged her. “Carly, I’m okay with what you told me.” She wanted to say so much more, but the relief in her eyes was genuine, and she guessed she’d made the right call. “See you in about a half hour?” Amanda suggested. “Yeah, that should work,” she agreed. Without a word, Amanda stood up, gathered her grandchild in her arms, and the two walked out. Beth wanted to say so much more, but at the moment, she could do nothing but remember the feeling of stickiness that she’d somehow been distracted from. Gathering her stuff, she hurried into the attached bathroom and soon stood in the shower’s warm jets. I HAD BEEN uncertain if Beth would hate me when I told her the truth, but the fact that she said she was okay with me helped me feel better. ‘Will she still want to go out with me? That’s a whole other relationship?’ I acknowledged. Of course, growing up with two moms, that certainly wasn’t something I would have a problem with. The idea of being with a boy had always made me feel gross and was part of why, while I knew I was trans, relationships had always been complicated in my head. Grandma set me down on the floor of the bathroom. She pulled the hair ties that I’d forgotten all about from my hair and ran her fingers through it. “Those do look cute on you,” she told me. “And the matching hairstyle and color you two have is definitely cute! If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed you were sisters.” I blushed but quickly pulled my shirt off, even as she surprised me by unbuttoning the pants. “Uh-oh,” she said. “Connor, did you know you had another accident?” “Huh?” I said, looking down. “I…” My stomach churned a bit. “So I take that as a no?” I shook my head, “No… I guess it’s not much, but… why?” Grandma sighed, “I’m not sure, but we’ll need to figure it out. Let’s get you in the bath; after you change back tomorrow from filming, we’ll see if it’s still an issue. It might just be a problem with the nanites moving your organs to different spots. Maybe your brain just hasn’t mapped everything yet?” I nodded. Grandma pulled the Pull-Up off my body by ripping open the sides and had a baby wipe in her hand a second later to wipe me clean. “Gotta be careful with those parts,” she told me, gently wiping my opening. After she tossed the wipe into the Pull-Up I nodded. She helped me into the shower and left me to it as I quickly washed my body, hair, and then my body again. I scrubbed the area the PooPloders had leaked off the underlayer multiple times, feeling like it was probably worse than the one time I’d had poop on me a couple weeks ago! I washed my hair and felt it instantly freeze back up into its shape before remembering the nanites on it. ‘Ugh,’ I thought, even as pigtails reformed on my head without something tying them up. “What?” I wondered. Before turning the water off, I used one last set of body soap on my diaper area. Grandma heard the water turn off and had a towel in hand to dry me. “What happened with your hair?” She asked. “Good question!” I shook my head, “I think the nanites in my hair must have reactivated in the water?” “They used nanites on your hair?” She asked, seeming a little concerned. “They wanted to ensure Beth and I had matching hair colors?” Her frown made me nervous, but she didn’t say anything else as she wrapped me in the giant towel and set me down on the counter. “Here,” she said, handing me a U-shaped toothbrush that did its thing in my mouth for me. A couple minutes later, a beep said it was done, so I pulled it out and rinsed the toothpaste. “What phone did they use to connect to your nanites for your hair?” Grandma asked as she carried me to the changing table.” “Mine?” “Let’s get you dressed, and then we’ll have them go to a loose style unless you want to sleep like this?” “I’d rather have it down,” I agreed, “Just in a ponytail like normal. Though it feels a bit weird since it’s shorter!” “I’m surprised they left it that long. I think I would have gone to a shorter bob,” she said, placing me on the table and digging around for a diaper. When she held one in her hand, I realized she thought I needed an actual diaper again, and I blushed. “They talked about it,” I said, trying to distract myself as I counted the accidents. ‘One after the four bottles, one in the restaurant, one just now… and there was a little bit inside the diaper after the last scene. I had four accidents today?!?’ My blood turned cold, but I said nothing else as Grandma finished taping the diaper shut. “I told your Aunt Bella you’d be her little niece tonight, so she made something for you.” Grandma held out a purple-footed sleeper with pink hearts and unicorns printed on it. I blushed but let her help me into the garment. A knock came on the door, and Beth came in. “You decent?” she asked, even as she must have realized Grandma had just finished zipping up the footed sleeper, which I now realized she matched. I laughed, “Really, Grandma?” “I figured your moms deserved a photo to preserve the memory here. Let’s get your hair reset, though, first,” she pointed me towards my bag where my phone was waiting. I accessed the app and managed to get it to go to a ‘no-style’ setting that caused it to flatten into a loose pile of hair at the back of my neck. A few quick brushes through my hair, and I could quickly throw it into a ponytail with a hairband. “Let’s put that higher,” Beth smiled at me and motioned for the brush. A few moments later, she was satisfied as the hair was tied up like my sisters did for cheerleading. I watched her make her hair match mine. “Okay, my two beauty princesses all ready?” Grandma teased. I stuck my tongue out but went along with it as she directed Beth to sit beside me on the bed and pulled me into her side. The picture was snapped a couple times on her phone before she showed me the picture that was clearly two sisters, not the boyfriend and girlfriend from last week. “Shoot me,” Beth whispered beside me, even as she pulled me into her lap. I giggled and leaned back into her larger body. I was very comfortable like that, and maybe even more so than with Grandma because she wasn’t quite as big. “You promised me story time?” Beth asked. “And you said you knew more?” I pressed. “Well, let’s get caught up on what happened with your mom first?” She said as she sat in the giant rocking chair, which she pulled closer to my bed. Beth squeezed me and began rubbing her hands lightly down the fabric on my arms. “So this was in the first couple of weeks Stacy was here,” Grandma started. “She’d made it through the placement tests with flying colors, and really, she’d adjusted to our world quite well! Fred and I decided it would be fun to take a surprise trip to Selegnasol before her classes began!” “I love that park!” Beth said. “You’ve been?” I asked. She nodded, “It’s safe to go visit. I wouldn’t hang out in any other part of that state for long as a Little, mind you, but since my mom and dad were with us, we were safe. Dad, of course, had his protective detail too… But, anyway, we’ve gone a few times?” “It sounds so cool,” I admitted, having looked up some updates from even when my mom had been there over thirty years ago. “I don’t think we’ll be able to make a trip happen, unfortunately,” Grandma consolingly told me. I shrugged, “I didn’t come here for that. Anyway, keep telling the story?” I encouraged. “Anyway, we were boarding the plane, and this tiny woman came and sat beside me. I held Stacy in my lap, and we pretended she was just a regular infant then. Fred was in the window seat, but the three of us ended up talking after we realized one of the flight attendants was up to no good. They poisoned her, and it was only Stacy’s quick thinking that saved her from pooping her panties right then so they could claim her.” “How’d she do that?” Beth asked. “Same way I dealt with the LittleGo,” I told her. “Mine’s on a necklace, though,” I added. She nodded, “So you saved her from pooping her panties, but then what?” “When we figured out what was happening, I offered to help her by making the stewardess think we were adopting her first. I had diapered her first, meaning I had the better claim over her.” “This is Bella?” Beth asked. She nodded, “Yes, so you can guess the fake adoption ended up being more permanent. When we got off the plane, we were threatened about her as someone else had lured her to Selegnasol. We hadn’t realized that it was part of a group called Venture…” Beth gasped, “They’re really evil!” Grandma nodded, “Yeah, and they really wanted Bella… so badly they chased us around. I know you have seen Carly here swim, but her mommy was just as much of a fish in the water.” “Dolphin, Grandma, dolphin,” I said with a smile. She smirked, “Anyway, Looney World had an attraction you could pay to swim with the dolphins, so we decided to surprise Stacy with it. She had an absolute blast with it after we proved to the workers she could swim well enough. We both had the time of our lives, and the four of us ended up showing up to watch their show a while later. One of their Venture operatives tried to convince us to hand over Bella, but Stacy was up to her usual tricks then. She somehow opened up her baby bottle and accurately threw all of the liquid onto the man’s crotch. He ran for it as Stacy started some appropriate loud shouting of, ‘If he has accidents, why isn’t he in diapers?’” I nodded along, remembering Mom telling the story. “What happened then?” “Well, the asshole decided to get a distraction and shoved a little girl over the rail into the tank! I could tell she wasn’t going to be able to swim, and I debated jumping in myself as Stacy pushed her way over the edge and dove in first!” “That must have been terrifying?” Beth asked. Grandma nodded, “Yes, and no… Emotionally, it was, but on a higher mental level, I knew she would probably be okay? Anyway, Stacy was about halfway across the tank, and Suzy, one of the dolphins, leant a fin to the rescue.” “And that girl was Lilly’s mom?” I asked. “Apparently,” she said. “I never got her name in all of the chaos as she was whisked away by her parents pretty quickly, and I was so worried about Stacy and Bella. I knew her parents’ names since I’d gotten a business card, but I guess I didn’t put it together with Lilly until I saw her records.” “So she’s probably an ally for Carly?” Beth asked. “At least for Connor,” Grandma smiled. “Lilly’s grandma never had a chance to fulfill that promise to help her with anything, so I’m guessing when she put two and two together with Connor, Lilly felt like she owed her.” “You think her mom told her about that story?” Beth asked. I nodded, “I bet she did; that’s probably why she learned to swim so well.” “Huh…” Beth said at that. “You two should probably both get some sleep? It’s going to be a long day tomorrow?” “Can you just give us a half-hour to talk?” I asked her. She sighed, “Thirty minutes, no more!” “Thanks,” I said to her. A moment later, she left, and I turned around to face my taller love. “So…?” She asked. “So, you’re okay with what I said earlier? Really?” I asked. She nodded, “Don’t get me wrong, part of me likes the idea of a boy, but with our size differences, things would have to be a bit different mechanically, no matter what we did.” I blushed, “So you don’t think I’m a freak? You still like me?” She shook her head, “Nope, I don’t like you anymore.” I felt my heart stop, “But…” Even then, she began tickling my sides, “I love you, silly!” I giggled then and was happy to know we were okay. When Beth eventually let up on the tickling, I accepted a kiss from her on the lips that went on for several minutes. “As much as I would love to keep making out tonight, Carly, I think bed is a good idea. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow still.” I nodded, “Okay.” She stood up and hugged me before pulling open the bed sheets and depositing me under them. She pulled the covers up to my chin and kissed me good night, “I love you, Carly, don’t forget that. No matter what you look like.” I watched her leave the room, swiping the lights off as she closed the door. ‘Did I really just come out to her, and she still made out with me?’ I wondered. I pinched my arm, grimaced, and decided I really was awake. ‘What a day!’ BETH MADE HER way across to her room and grimaced at how she looked in the pajamas. There was no question she looked like at least a Pull-Up should be underneath her pajamas! After a quick bathroom trip, she was climbing into bed when Amanda knocked, “May I come in?” “Sure,” she said and let her in. “How is Connor doing?” “Good?” She said hesitantly. “Is she?” Beth looked at her, “What do you mean?” “Her mom already knew and told me, Beth, I’m not surprised. Sorry, but there’s a baby monitor still in the room that activates. I didn’t mean to listen in…” “Don’t let her know you did, please?” Beth begged. “I won’t… You really are okay if Carly wants to be a girl, though?” Beth shrugged, “I like her for her, I don’t really care. It’s not like we’d have an amazing sex life with her as a male?” Beth smirked as she realized Amanda blushed at that. “How did your parents make that work?” She wondered. “I try not to think about it,” Beth laughed. “Laura actually asked Mom once, even as I tried to put my hand over her mouth! She said it all worked because Dad isn’t really a Little, so his parts were larger than normal?” She shook her head, “And that is the only thing I heard, and I still want to bleach my brain from that information. I hate having ever heard about my parent’s sex life!” They both laughed at that. “If it ever gets serious, I will tell you they kept some samples back home for him.” Beth nodded, “She’s leaving in just a few months, though?” Amanda shrugged, “That’s the plan, but who knows what actually happens. With Stacy and your dad, both things seemed to just ‘happen,’ and the same seems to be true for the two of you.” Beth grimaced, “Yeah, they do…” She looked at the bed, “Anyway, I think I’m going to call it a night.” “Can I tuck in my honorary granddaughter for the night?” she smiled. “Isn’t she in the other room?” Beth asked. “She’s the actual one,” she laughed. Amanda did the exact same thing for Beth as she’d done for Carly a few minutes earlier, even kissing her forehead. “Good night, Beth,” she said with a smile as she turned the lights off. ‘What a weird day?’ Beth thought as she turned and looked at the wall to set herself up to sleep. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please Press the 'Like' Button and Leave a comment! (Especially if you want your bonus chapter this weekend! 25+ or no chapter 😈 ) So many of you guessed who Lilly's mom was back in the beginning, and I really have to say to you, "stop breaking into my hard drives!" Looking at my writing notes is forbidden! 👿 Really though I actually take it as a sign that I'm bringing you along on a journey that makes sense and doesn't go off on random unexpected tangents every time! This is a long weekend in the story length, so four more chapters to get some of the other answers you all keep seeking! As always, please remember that if you enjoy my works, you can purchase my completed ones on Amazon Kindle! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

Chapter 84: Handprints “KELLY, WHAT ARE you doing here?” I found myself asking even as I tried to nudge Beth to head back down the hallway for some help. Unfortunately, Beth wasn’t taking the hint! “I came to see how my film is going?” She said with a smile. “How fortunate I get to see my two wittle actresses without everyone else?” “I wish I could say I felt the same pleasure at seeing you?” I told her. She laughed, “Well, maybe you’ll feel that pleasure after a while. Maybe it’s time you get a chance to see what being Brianna would be like for real?” “Sorry, I don’t have any desire for the diapers,” I told her. I noticed an ‘access denied’ prompt on the screen of the computer then for a second, before looking back at the vindictive giant in front of me. “Well, unfortunately for you, I think they’ll be required here soon. In fact, I have a couple in my bag that should fit both of you?” “No, thank you,” I told her. “What’s your beef with me anyway?” Beth asked, unfortunately not moving to get help like I wanted her to go. With our circling each other, Kelly had managed to now shut the door to the hallway. Trapped inside the room, we were all doing a little dance to keep away from her as she now stood between us and the door. “Like you don’t know?!?” Kelly hissed at her. “…No?” Beth said. “Figures! How typical for a rich, spoiled brat! My mom and dad worked for your family for twenty years, and you don’t even know who they are?!?” “Assuming you’re talking about my mom’s mom, that would be about right. My mom cut off all ties and barely mentions her. She hates her?” “Well, thanks to your daddy, my mom was taken from me when I was less than a year old!” “Huh?” “Not only that, then my dad was taken away, and I got to grow up in a damn orphanage like a Little. With Littles!” She pulled at her hair and looked somehow more unhinged. “They would constantly trick me into accidents just so I had to wear the same diapers as them!!! All my classmates in elementary school thought I was a reject, a defective Big!” “How is this Beth’s fault?” I asked, looking around for any other way out of the room. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any solution besides the video editing computer system and mini-HoloScreen. “It just is! It’s her family’s fault, which means hers!” Kelly had a look in her eyes that I’d seen only a couple times in my life, and usually on a mat when I had been competing. I knew we were in a perilous corner right then, even as she said, “You know what, if you’re this ignorant, that’s fine. We won’t change anything except your pants; let’s get this done!” After watching Kelly for a second, she suddenly strode closer and tried to strike Beth with her hand. I pushed Beth back behind me and quickly moved toward the unhinged girl. Mom had taught me everything her grandfather had taught her about attacking Bigs as a Little. This might be seen as going too far, but I wouldn’t let her harm Beth or myself. My attack started with her left ankle, landing my most vigorous kick into it, even as she tried to reach for me. I dived between her legs even as I kicked her right knee too from the side in the hopes of dislocating it! Something felt weaker with my strength than usual, but her pained cry was proof I had still accomplished my goal – her pain. Beth was just staring at the scene, not moving, so I said, “Beth, GO GET HELP!!!” It was like a frozen scene came to life as she registered what I said and took another look at me. “Go!” I told her, and she bolted out the door. Unfortunately for me, Kelly hadn’t suffered any broken bones yet. She had staggered back to her feet as I’d been telling Beth to go and quickly pulled something out from the bag. ‘What’s that?’ I thought, even as a glistening needle now showed. ‘Shit!’ “You little piece of shit! How dare you do that to your new mommy?!?” She motioned threateningly with the needle, “Fine, I’ll just go ahead and get your brain back to baby mode a little sooner than I planned!” BETH LOOKED BACK for a second in distress at the room she’d left her boyfriend and a psycho Big, but knew she had to get help! Knowing elevators could be too slow, she shoved open the staircase and began running down, even as she was calling the emergency number for security on her phone! Running into the SoundStage, she could see they were in the middle of a take with Charlotte and Sophia right when she came in. Beth was completely out of breath as Charlotte asked, “What’s wrong, Beth?” “Kelly…” she breathed deep, “Kelly is in the editing room…” “This is university police; how may I direct your call?” “My friend is being attacked!” she managed to say to the phone. At that, Charlotte and Sebastian looked to have figured out enough of the pieces. “Which editing room?” “Two!” Beth panted. The two sprinted off then, followed by several other crew members. Sophia came over to Beth then and knelt beside her. “Where is your friend being attacked?” The woman on the other side asked calmly. “Matisse Center, Video Editing Room Two,” Beth said. “We are dispatching officers. Do you recognize the assailant…?” “Kelly Danvers…” Beth forced herself up and began racing back to the room again, hoping help wasn’t too late! KELLY’S NEXT MOVE looked practically telegraphed to me as she attempted to stab me with the menacing needle. I waited until the last second, dove out of the way, and managed to kick the extended hand’s thumb as hard as I could. A sickening pop made me think I might have broken the thumb, but most importantly, the syringe dropped! I wasted no time kicking it away under the console and dove around her! “You little bastard!!!” She screamed. “You can still walk away,” I tried to tell her, even as she raised a hand and tried to grab me. I dodged again and found a chair to stand on the other side of it. “Come here, you brat!!!” Kelly knocked the chair out from between us and squared up to me. She raised her right hand again and moved to swat at me even as I attempted to dodge again. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t make it out of the way this time, and her massive hand made solid contact with my side! It felt like a foot had come at me full force and hurt like hell! I didn’t stop moving, though. To do so would mean defeat, and the last thing I wanted was the giant to get me over her lap or something after feeling the pain of a glancing blow! I dove under her legs again and dodged her by going underneath a counter and around another rolling chair. She was trying to bend down to grab me still under the counter as I tumbled around and leaped. I used every bit of force I could on the kick at her right knee from the side again! This time, I was rewarded with not only a cry of pain but a very unsettling crack as her leg gave way! “Fuck!!!” she cried, “You broke my leg!” She didn’t get a chance to say much more, though, as I took advantage of her face, now closer to my level, and landed a spinning kick into her jaw. My foot and ankle felt like it had made contact with a solid brick wall rather than human flesh! Even as I recovered, I winced at how much more that had hurt than doing it in training back home. That said, I was rewarded with seeing a toppling giant right then. She fell backward onto the floor, and her head made a sickening but gratifying thud as she landed on it! I was just preparing to limp to the door when it opened, and Sebastian and Charlotte charged in, followed by the rest of the cast. “Are you okay, Connor?” Charlotte asked, kneeling in front of me. “I think so?” I told her. “Kelly? What happened to her?” Sebastian asked in shock. “I think she tripped…?” I suggested. “Huh, that was some trip…” Will said behind him. “What do we do now?” Sebastian asked. “Wait for security,” Charlotte said. “And we get Connor looked at, did she get you?” “Once,” I said with a wince. “Where?” Charlotte and Beth showed up right then and asked. I pulled up my shirt and showed them my side, even as I blushed at the top of my Pull-Up, obviously showing to my classmates. “Shit, that looks like it’s going to bruise,” Sebastian said. I looked down but couldn’t see it much, “Won’t be the first bruise I’ve had?” Right then, four university police officers came into the room. “What’s going on here?” a tall woman with brown hair braided into a tight bun on her head. “The unconscious girl attempted to assault these two,” Charlotte said, motioning to us. “Fortunately, she tripped herself and knocked herself out before anything worse happened, but you can see here what she did to Connor.” She pulled my shirt up again. “Damn, that looks like that must hurt, little guy?” I shrugged, “It doesn’t feel great.” Right then, paramedics arrived and began looking at Kelly first since she was unconscious. As she came to, I watched her sit up with their help. “Damnit, that hurts! I think my knee’s broken!” Kelly complained, “What…?” As soon as she made eye contact with me, it was like she suddenly remembered what her mission was. Despite her pain and disabling injury, she decided to lunge towards me! As she did so, she shoved the officer checking on her to the ground! There was no delay as the officer cleared herself from Kelly, and another shot her with a taser-like device! Kelly froze and spasmed momentarily before going to the ground again and hitting her head with another satisfying thud! I tried not to smile as she was cuffed by the officers and loaded onto a gurney for treatment. BETH HAD RUN back down the hallway to the studio as quickly as she could, given how out of breath she’d been from her first sprint. While she’d been doing so, she called Amanda, so it was no surprise that Connor’s grandmother showed up as the cops and EMS were hauling off her nemesis. “Connor, are you okay?” Amanda asked her grandchild as EMS was now looking over him. “He seems to be fine, ma’am, but we want him to go to the hospital to get x-rays of his ribs to be sure. He’s limping a bit too?” “Okay, I’ll get him there,” Amanda said. “Unfortunately, since he’s a student, it’ll have to be our crew that transports him, ma’am? University personnel have to be the ones who transport.” “It just has to be someone considered an employee of the university?” she asked him. Beth grimaced for the sake of the poor guy. “I guess, technically, yes?” “So, as a professor, I could do so?” “One moment, ma’am, we’ll need to see an ID, and we’ll let you do so?” the head security officer said. “Are you sure…?” The EMT asked. Beth noted the gestures of ‘stop being stupid’ directed towards the EMT that he finally grasped. Before too long, Amanda was allowed to leave with Connor, and the security officers would handle the notification of Miss Mackenzie and the interim house mother. They raised their eyes at the bag they’d been shown, and the syringe Connor pointed out to them. “Okay, now that we have that sorted out, I need to take your statement, Miss…?” “Miss Sylvester,” Beth told him. “Didn’t I just see in our system that you had a complaint against the assailant once already this year?” Beth nodded, “Yes, but we never proved the problem was her fault?” The woman nodded, “I see that, but that, combined with today, makes your earlier issues seem related. What exactly happened?” “Instead of telling you, do you want me to show you?” Beth asked. “You have video?” “Yes, give me a second here,” Beth said as she dug through her bag and grabbed her tablet. A few moments later, a video was playing right from the beginning of their confrontation before Connor told her to run. Everything after that was missing due to her leaving for help. “What did you record this with?” she asked. Beth pushed her right contact with her right finger, “I have some of the new AR contacts?” “Handy…” she mused. “Well, you clearly weren’t here for the next part of the confrontation, and I see no issues with your conduct. Go ahead and take off; we’ll let you know if we have further questions, Miss Sylvester.” “What’s going to happen with Kelly? I don’t know if what happened to me is enough to press charges, but I want to?” “Miss Danvers is going to have her day in court, I assure you, Miss Sylvester. We clearly have an act of violence from the video verifying your story. So, we’ll see, but I would expect some consequences.” “Thanks,” Beth said and took the chance to grab her bag and leave. On her way out, she called her dad, “Daddy?” she said, nearly in tears as she walked down the sidewalk. “Beth, what’s wrong?” Her dad asked, even as a large hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her from the pathway… GRANDMA WASTED NO time in carrying me from the building, and we were picked up by Grandpa, who drove us to the hospital. “Grandma, why are we at the Children’s Hospital?” I asked nervously. “Because a good doctor and friend owe us both some favors. She’ll be trustworthy to take care of you, Connor. Don’t worry; we won’t leave your side for the rest of the day.” “And Mackenzie knows I’ll be late?” “Yes.” “Do we have to do this?” I asked nervously. Mom had told me more than a few horror stories about doctor visits for her and Aunt Bella when she was here. “Yes, we must ensure we can especially nail that idiot girl for attacking you two!” Grandma said, her voice displaying her anger. I kept silent then and found myself carried by Grandma into the hospital, where a HoloReceptionist greeted us. “Hello, what brings you here today with your little one?” “We have an appointment to see Doctor Nickerson,” Grandma said. “I’m sorry, she’s not scheduled to be in today…” “Right here, Angie,” a higher-pitched voice said from below Grandma’s waist. “Oh, hi, Doctor Nickerson,” Grandma said. “Good to see you both again,” she said with a smile. I watched the short Little woman turn back to the HoloReceptionist, “I’ll take care of the paperwork in my office; thanks, Angie.” She led us to an elevator, another floor, and an examination room. She seemed to wait for something momentarily as Grandma sat me on a much shorter examination table than I would expect Bigs to have. We both watched her fiddle with a device momentarily before saying, “Clear, Holly.” “So what’s going on, Amanda, Fred? Not that it’s not good to see you, but last I knew, you weren’t adopting?” “This is Connor, my grandson,” she told the short doctor. I looked closer at the woman then and realized she must have only been just a few inches taller than me. Her face was youthful, even as a name badge she wore, said Dr. Holly Nickerson, Chief of Pediatric Surgery. “Who’s?” “Stacy,” Grandma told her. “So, another person from back home, huh?” She asked as she looked at me. “Umm… How are you…?” She laughed, “Long story, probably much like your mother has Connor. We need to get you out of here as quickly as possible, though, so it’ll have to wait for another time. What exactly happened?” I sighed, “I got the silly slapped out of my side,” I said as I lifted my shirt. Sure enough, a bruise was already forming there. “That’s quite the bruise,” she said while donning a pair of gloves and pressing lightly on it. “Does this hurt?” she asked. I winced, “Kind of?” “Let’s go ahead and run a scan there. Anything else?” “My foot and ankle are sore from making contact with the witch’s chin?” Dr. Nickerson grinned at me, “So, I do want to hear this story…?” She helped me pull off my shoe and sock and examined the light bruising forming there. Grandma and Grandpa watched, with Grandpa handing the shorter doctor something every now and then, reading the projection from the results of a handheld scanner she rubbed against my side and my foot. “Good news,” the doctor said. “Nothing is broken in your foot or ankle. No cracked ribs either, but there is that nasty bruise there, and it looks like some damaged tissue below. You should heal on your own in a couple weeks?” “Foot is okay?” Grandma asked. “I have a BruiseEase gel to put on both spots, which should alleviate any pain.” “No nanite treatment needed, though?” Grandma asked. “Not right now; if he’d had broken bones, I would have suggested it?” “Doc is right, Mandy, he just needs time to heal. I’m guessing he’ll be almost healed tomorrow with the gel she’s talking about. We need to take some pictures of the injuries, though, for the authorities?” He told Dr. Nickerson. “One second,” the short doctor said, pulling out a camera from somewhere that was larger than what I would expect tech here to be. A few moments later, a blinding flash occurred as she photographed the bruise and showed us the pictures. “You can see her handprint!” I said in surprise. “She got you really good,” Grandpa said. “From what I saw, he got her back, though?” Grandma said with a smile. Satisfied with the photos, I was slathered in some of the gel, and then she covered that with a sizeable special bandage she placed over it that covered the area. She did the same with my foot, and I was soon discharged. “She seemed nice,” I told Grandpa, who was carrying me after grabbing a quick sandwich from the dining hall for dinner. “She’s a good one. It took a lot of nerve to become a doctor here and stay one over the years. Especially as her mommy took over Beth’s mom’s company.” “What?” I asked in shock. “She actually made it about SafeFoods instead of Little torture,” Grandma said beside us. “But I guess she retired a few years ago after becoming more than wealthy. I would guess that Holly has to have had a rejuvenation treatment or two, but she still seems to enjoy working. I’m a little surprised she’s not just staying home with her mommy now.” “Huh,” I said, suddenly wondering what would happen to the tiny doctor someday when her ‘mommy’ passed away. Eventually, we approached the residence hall about two hours after curfew, and Grandma swiped us in with her faculty card. A nest mother was on duty at a desk and said, “Curfew violator? I’ll have to call about this?” “No, they know about this. Connor was assaulted earlier; he’s been at the hospital getting looked at. President Barnes is aware of it and gave permission. We’re just going to take him back up to his nest,” Grandma said authoritatively. “And you are…?” “Professor Westerfield?” The girl’s face changed then, “Go on up!” Inside the elevator, Grandpa said, “You would think you have a bit of a reputation at this point, Mandy.” Grandma giggled, and soon I was left in the care of Mackenzie, who insisted on helping me to the bathroom, diapering me, and placing me down in my pod. “Get some sleep, Connor, I’ll get your story tomorrow.” “Thanks,” I told her, genuinely exhausted and falling asleep rapidly. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment and press the 'Like' Button! I like this chapter, so I want you to like it too! Bar for a bonus chapter this week will be 30 likes! 🙂 So I know this has been a looooong build-up to our encounter with Kelly. I know most of you guessed that's who would be in the room, and I have no problems with you all making that good guess! We'll see what comes down the road with everyone involved in the story! I just finished Chapter 101 tonight, and there's a LOT more story to tell! Thanks for joining me on it! Just a reminder if you enjoy my writing, please consider going to Amazon and purchasing any or all of my completed works there! Thanks to all of you who support me with that purchase! 💜

Chapter 4: Rules AS MY CLASSMATES gasped, I read the text hovering in front of us and compared it to what Mom had told me. A few of them looked to have changed from what she had told me. Possible Demerits Consuming Alcohol Using Illegal Drugs Academic Dishonesty (Not limited to Plagiarism/Cheating) Not Turning in Assignments Disrespecting Professors Violent Behavior Endangering Self or Others Swearing Insubordination/Talking Back to Staff Disobeying Nest Mother Violating Curfew Having Accidents Outside of Protective Undergarments Removing Mandated Protective Undergarments Causing Other Hazards to Health/Safety of University Members Uniform Infractions “Nest Mother?” I heard someone beside me mutter. “Protective undergarments… They mean diapers…?” Someone else muttered. ‘How dumb can you be not to know that was likely…?’ I thought to myself. “If you’ll please hold your questions, I will go through each of these points one by one?” Dean Northrup said. A new slide flashed, zooming into a very realistic pile of alcohol at a college party. The realism of the projection made it look like you could grab a bottle of beer and open it up to take a drink. I heard a bit of squirming from next to me, and an uncomfortable silence began. “Now, I know that many of you are above the legal age in your dimension, but for your own safety, we forbid alcohol and drug consumption for our Little students. Particularly as Portal Littles, as you’ll be referred to, often find our alcohol effects are significantly stronger than in your dimension. We’ve had some students who have chosen to ignore this rule in the past. I will warn you that it tends to have consequences that build up beyond the alcohol. Very few students manage to stay around after that!” I looked up at her and noticed she seemed to be staring particularly at the boy, Noah, next to me. She moved on though, “Drugs are likewise forbidden, and for your own sake, I would remind you that it would be like a toddler in your home dimension using drugs. Your likelihood of overdose cannot be overstated!” That was accompanied by her panning about the room with her glare. Other than pot, I couldn’t see most of the students in the room having done drugs regularly from my first impressions. I guessed that most of us, including myself, probably hadn’t even smoked weed! ‘It makes a lot of sense that things could go wrong there.’ “Academic Dishonesty is a policy that, I’ve been assured by your traveling faculty, looks identical to your own university policies. Should you be accused of plagiarism, cheating on a test, or other academic dishonesty violation, a hearing will be held. If the accusation is verified, you will be automatically expelled from our university, and I’ve been assured you would likely be expelled from your own university. If you’re struggling with coursework, we have plenty of student services to help you succeed – please do not jump off this bridge.” The slide moved on; Turning in Assignments was now shown. “We at Emerson feel we are bound to do everything we can to support our students’ successes. Due to this, we have included turning in assignments as a requirement in our Code of Conduct. While in your home dimension, there is only the consequence of failing your class, here, this is considered a Code of Conduct violation, and you will receive demerits and other consequences. We want you to be successful! Do your homework, and this will never become a problem.” With another gesture, she advanced the slide to Disrespecting Professors, and discussed behavior that would be considered in violation of this. Then, she went into the violent behavior issues on another slide and said that fighting would never be tolerated. Swearing showed brightly in the text box next to a Little who angrily yelled at another Little. “This one has been an issue more so for our visiting students. While you are present at our university as a student, it is considered against the Code of Conduct for you to use any of the following swear words...” A list of just about every imaginable vulgar word I had ever read or thought of accompanied others like ‘crap,’ ‘sucks,’ and ‘dangit.’ ‘Crap!’ I thought to myself. I don’t use the other words, but that one was one my moms’ had always used and been okay with. “This list is by no means every word that can cause problems for you, but it is the majority. Not all of these infractions get brought to my office and end up with demerits. Being perfectly transparent here, your Nest Mothers have some leeway in determining appropriate punishments for this violation. They may offer you an alternate punitive measure instead of coming to my office. Keep in mind that the violation is one demerit for use for minor words. More serious words that are in red on the screen are considered worth three demerits per use.” I noted that the ones I used usually were in a lighter color, while the major words were all listed in red. ‘Shit could get many people in trouble,’ I noted, with it being that deep red. ‘Alternative punishments… spanked and mouth washed out?’ I wondered. ‘Could have one of those locking pacifiers stuffed in your mouth, too…?’ I shuddered at that one. She didn’t give anyone a chance to ask any questions before moving on to Nest Mothers for her next slide. “First, I know you most likely have no idea about a Nest Mother beyond what I’ve told you so far. They operate much as your own RAs do at your university. They live in an apartment adjoining the Nest Room, and it’s their job to help make sure that you follow the rules with curfew, uniform requirements, do your homework, go to class, and things like that.” She smiled, “We call them ‘mothers’ because they act as surrogate mothers while you’re here at Emerson. Many of our students develop close relationships with their Nest Mothers, often staying in very close contact even after graduation!” On the face of that, it didn’t sound horrible other than being overbearing. I knew better, though! ‘Close contact while they nurse?’ “Your Nest Mothers will be introduced to you as soon as we finish this presentation. Then, they will get you settled in and over to Westerfield Hall and the ballroom where we’re meeting all of this semester’s exchange students for lunch.” “Excuse me, professor?” I heard Oliver ask. “Yes, Mister Sanders?” “What time is it…?” He paused and held up his wrist and the smartwatch it held, “I only ask because it would be lunch back home already?” She laughed, “It’s fourteen o'clock right now. Two hours before noon, when we’re having lunch!” “Huh?” I heard from somewhere. “I need to keep going with our presentation, but just to answer that burning question, our days in this dimension are longer than yours. We have a thirty-two-hour long day here… so I guess that’s an extra eight hours compared to yours?” I could feel everyone in the room nod. “Very well, back to your Nest Mothers… I think I covered most of this, but they are ultimately in charge of your Nest Room. They have full say on bedtimes, meal breaks, etc., within the room. Should there be an issue with you not following their directives, it will be a cause for anywhere between eight demerits and expulsion.” The number of shrugs and apathy at this statement made me squirm. ‘Mom never had to stay in the dorms… She was able to stay with Grandma and Grandpa as her ‘foster parents.’ All she ever told me about the dorms was the number of friends who checked in but never checked out. These guys should be worried about this rule!’ Violating Curfew popped up on the next slide. A little video of a Little sneaking out of a room and physically running into a Big and falling down ran on a loop as Dean Northrup spoke, “Especially due to concerns of keeping you all safe, there is a curfew strictly enforced for Littles. We will put all of you in with some second-year students, so that curfew will be twenty-four hundred hours each night for you.” I did the math in my head and converted that to eight in the evening, but no one else said anything. “We’ve found that time is the optimal time to let you get a full night’s sleep and be awake at seven in the morning for showers and breakfast.” I saw more than a few people grumble about the waking up part. ‘Fifteen hours in bed every night…?’ That’s got to be part of why bedwetting is a thing for Littles? “If you earn special permission, you might be able to join an exercise group in the morning before that if that interests you. Most of your classes will start between nine and ten in the morning.” She fielded a couple of inane questions before Accidents showed on the screen. I felt embarrassed for the boy shown clearly with wet pants. Others in the room shuffled around in their seats, and I knew that while they may have known of some of the Amazonian tendencies to baby Littles, they probably didn’t really believe everything. “Okay, this next part will be an uncomfortable conversation for you all since you are from a dimension where you are supposedly fully potty trained. We are not quite sure why this is a problem when you come here, but it is very common to find that you will begin to have issues with making it to the Potty. Some of this may be an issue due to our toilets being too tall and difficult to reach, maybe the distances are longer for your shorter body to reach a bathroom, the length of our days, something environmental…? We really aren’t completely sure. Our own Littles regularly have issues with controlling their bladders and bowels reliably, so we have a set of rules in the Code of Conduct that address this.” “First, if you have an accident in any public space on campus like this boy with no protection, it is an automatic two demerits. Should you be determined to have an accident of the other nature, a case of messy pants, then in every place other than a dining space, classroom, or lab, that is worth six demerits.” “That won’t happen, right…?” I heard someone breathe quietly. Dean Northrup had to have heard it but ignored the comment. “Inside a classroom or lecture hall, this constitutes a more serious breach. For that reason, those spaces cause the infraction to double to twelve demerits if you defecate yourself. Also, due to significant contamination concerns, anyone who has an unprotected accident in a lab has the initial amount tripled for a messy accident, meaning it’ll be eighteen demerits.” She paused, “As I said before, we have concerns that this may be an issue, especially since you all only have sixteen demerits possible. That means you cannot afford a single one of these!” I took a quick look around at all of the stunned faces in the room. ‘They haven’t even had their first accidents yet!’ I thought to myself. ‘Wonder who’ll be first?’ BETH LOOKED AROUND her dorm room as her mom, Laura, and dad helped her put things up and reclaimed empty suitcases to take home. “Mom, those don’t go there,” she said as she was about to hang up shirts in the wrong order. “Really, Mom?!? You’re the one who always insisted our colors be together in our closets?” Laura laughed. “ROY-G-BIV!” Beth giggled at that while her Mom glared at both of them. “I raised a pair of monsters!” She groaned but got back to fixing her mistake. Laura was helping with her underwear drawer while her dad was helping put together a new lamp for her desk that she’d gotten for Christmas. Jason, of course, had his headset over his head and was sitting in the common room. Laura finished her job and placed Beth’s stuffed red panda, ‘Rings,’ on her bed. Beth could remember Laura giving her a hard time about the stuffed red panda as she packed to start her first year in college. “I can’t believe you still have her?” Laura had said. “Why? What’s wrong with having a stuffie?” she replied defensively. “I don’t know… it’s just weird! You’ve had her since you were a baby?” Beth laughed, “She was dad’s first, you know?” “Huh?” “Dad gave her to me after… well… you know… after I was reborn. I guess Mom gave Rings to him when he was her adopted baby?” Laura shook her head, “I can’t believe Daddy didn’t just burn her!” “I think he felt like it was a special gift for some reason…? I don’t know? I do know that anytime I feel like I need a hug from Mom or Daddy, Rings is always right there for me.” Dad had just finished turning the lamp on when she heard his phone ring. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, glancing at it for a second, “Hi, Amanda,” he said. Beth looked up to see what might be changing in their plans. “Oh,” her dad said, looking at Beth, “I guess she would be up for it. Is that a good idea, though…? She’s not a Little, but she’s still not…?” Her dad laughed, “Yes, I know she’s taller than me! She never lets me forget it!” He listened for a second, “You’re right, it would be fine, and this way they meet each other… Let me just ask her real quick.” Her dad looked at her, “Apparently, they’re having a welcome luncheon for all of the exchange students that arrived today. Amanda wants to know if you would like to go with her as her plus one? You can meet Connor that way? We’ll all go shopping this afternoon together for anything he needs then, and after dinner, drop you both off on our way to the airport?” “Do we know how tall he is now?” Her dad asked Amanda over the phone and shook his head, “Not yet…?” “Might want to hold off on the dinner idea then? If he’s a Little now, they won’t let him be out that late,” she reminded her dad. “Right… Well, we’ll play it by ear. Maybe we should just go earlier for dinner.” Before agreeing, Beth thought for a second, “Sure, I’ll join Amanda. Where is it at?” Her dad got the details for a few minutes before hanging up. “You like the light…?” He asked her. I COULD FEEL the temperature in the room drop as the word Protection now showed on the screen. Four students were shown modeling their ‘big-kid’ Pull-Ups, and a couple more sported full on diapers that had Emerson graphics on them. I couldn’t help but note that all but one of the Pull-Ups, and one of the diapers, were yellowed with urine. It looked like one of each also had a bit of brown color at the back! ‘At least I knew this would come up,’ I thought to myself, thinking back to a conversation with Mom. “Connor, are you really sure you want to do this?” Mom asked me. “Mom, you went to learn about more advanced programming; I want to learn how they do their holographic films!” She sighed, “If you’re going, you need to know some facts.” “Mom, I’m a Betweener in size. I’ll be fine! Who knows? Maybe I’ll grow with the trip and be a full Amazonian in size? Be taller than you for once?” Mom laughed at that, “That would be a sight!” She seemed to fight with something but said, “Look, I know you think both of those are more likely, but I also thought I would be taller on my second trip. They may have some sort of control on the portal that shrinks us. Really, I think a couple people grow or stay the same just so they don’t give anything away. If they do, in fact, have control over it, I’m worried they’ll shrink you to get back at me…?” I looked at her, “You don’t believe they still hold a grudge?” “Venture never was fully taken down. I know for a fact that Amanda has dealt with them a couple times since then. Cameron and Addy had some dealings since they were in cahoots with Addy’s mom, but it’s definitely not dead as an organization. You won’t have much protection over there if they decide to target you.” I nodded, “You really think I shouldn’t go?” She shook her head but shrugged, “Your great-grandfather once told me that every Slane had an adventurous spirit. Even hundreds of years ago, we can trace our family as explorers who were some of the first people to come to the New World. I don’t think I could talk you out of this, and I won’t. I do want to arm you with knowledge, though.” “Like what?” “I’ve told you about being baby-sized and being babied, right?” I blushed, “Yes…? I’m going to be housed at the university, though, since they won’t let me stay with Grandma and Grandpa. So I shouldn’t have to worry about that?” “The thing is, Connor, if you’re a Mid or a Big, it’ll be just like your university. If you shrink, though, and it doesn’t even take much to get you below six feet, you’ll be in a Littles dorm, I guarantee it!” “What are they like…?” I had asked. Mom had told me about the games that had been played at her friends’ expense. Mom told me that as embarrassing as the baby treatment with Grandma and Grandpa had been, at least she’d been safe. However, she ensured that I understood that protection wasn’t really optional if I wanted to avoid demerits. Around me, I heard, “We don’t have to wear those, do we?” from one female voice. A male voice said, “No way!” A quieter girl’s voice said, “He’s kind of hot!” “Please, I know this may be a bit disturbing for you, but you’ll remember I said non-protected accidents are worth demerits. If you wear training pants or diapers, you don’t have to worry about demerits for accidents. In the past eight years, we’ve even exempted poopy accidents in classes and labs from them as long as you’re wearing protection.” “You expect us to wear diapers?!?” Luca exclaimed. “You’re kidding, right? This is some sort of ‘prank the new kids’ stunt, right?” Noah added. “Some initiation…?” “I haven’t worn diapers or had an accident since before I was two!” I heard one girl say. Dean Northrup gave a piercing glare to Noah and Luca, followed by a steady gaze around the room. Every person took in Dean Northrup’s gigantic size and consequently shut up! “Now, like I was saying, I know this may be a bit… disturbing for you. But, it is by no means required to begin with during the day for you all.” There was silence there, which surprised me because I expected more arguing. ‘Maybe it hasn’t registered that Northrup didn’t exclude night…?’ “I highly recommend you consider wearing at least a pull-up garment. I will have no mercy on potty infractions if you are not wearing protection.” “The Pull-Ups are enough…?” I heard a girl, possibly Avery, ask. “Pull-Up garments do meet the requirements for protection. However, your Nest Mothers will be keeping an eye on if they are used enough that it makes more sense for a tape-on garment instead. Similarly, if your professors note a pattern of behavior and see too many leaks happening, they may also insist on a more absorbent undergarment for sanitary reasons.” Some back-and-forth questions came flying toward her about where to get Pull-Ups that can fit them, who pays for them, etc. I don’t really think it made everyone feel better that the university provided all we would need! I sat there quietly, listening and keeping silent about my knowledge of what was coming to us. As I looked at the used diaper of one of the models, I thought to myself, ‘It would really have been easier if I’d been a Mid…’ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the 'Like' button for each of these chapters if you're enjoying this! Also please let me know what you think with a comment! I truly am astounded by how many have already done so! I love reading your guesses - especially soooooo early in the tale!!! I think some of the answers you've been seeking were given here. You'll get more in the next chapter next Friday. Thanks for joining me on this new journey!

Chapter 55: Relevance “I… I GIVE my permission, Your Honor,” Addy said with a shaky voice. She was really nervous, and I was quite frankly scared this was going to be the final straw for her mom to use her nanite trigger. “Very well, let’s see this video,” he said, unaware of the full situation there. A glance at her mom revealed an angry flushed face that made her look as mad as I’d ever seen her. She seemed to try and kill Addison with just her look, but everyone’s faces were soon distracted as the video began playing of me having headphones placed over my ears, and a screen began to show a pattern just on the edge. The footage was paused, “Your Honor, due to the danger of this footage, we do not wish to show the full film?” “You’re certain it’s hypnotic in nature?” “Yes, Your Honor, I have a lab report here to verify it from an independent lab.” A document was sent up, “Very well, do you wish to play any more of this?” “Just the end of it.” I watched as the screen showed her pick me up from the chair. “How are you feeling, baby?” She asked me while wrinkling her nose, “I guess the time was well spent, it smells like you left a nice little egg in your diapee for me like a good birdie!” I watched as she carried me to the changing table in her office. She laid me down and went across my chest with the safety strap before unsnapping the crotch of my outfit’s pants, undoing the onesie beneath it, and then reached the diaper. “What a good little baby birdie!” she cooed at me. “I’m looking forward to years of playing with you!” I was pretty impassive in sitting there right as she tickled me a little. “Hmm… Have to adjust your program after your case. Need you to be a bit happier!” I winced at my naked poopy butt displayed to the court, as she wiped my butt with a few baby wipes. “Always dreamed of getting you into one of these like your friends!” I had been completely aware during the session, but it made me more nervous to watch her behavior from a third person view. When it was over David asked Mrs. Lexington, still on the stand, “How did you obtain this?” “Through an electronic exchange between Doctor Dannigan and Aubry Harris.” “What else was said?” “The problem was taken care of…” “You take that as meaning?” “Clearly all of the evidence points to the likely conclusion that Aubry Harris solicited the services of Doctor Dannigan to hypnotize Cameron.” “Did it work?” “Good question, according to the report we received, normally that was a strong enough hypnosis session to have easily implanted the trigger phrase. From the electronic exchange it seemed that anytime someone mentioned ‘I heard a little birdie,’ or any other ‘birdie’s fly’ phrase he should have been pooping his pants. I do not know what’s prevented it from working, but I do know that it’s an effective technique nearly all of the time.” “When is it not?” She shrugged, “You’d have to ask an expert on that. I’m just relaying the report.” “Fair enough…” David continued to ask questions for the remaining amount of time and Mrs. Lexington provided documentation of the communication with Kristin as well as threatening letters to Doctor Chester once that had failed. I felt that the testimony was all compelling and damning. It was weird that the opposition asked only a couple of questions then and moved on. ‘Is there a fix in the works here too?’ I wondered nervously. “We would like to call Addison Harris,” Kendra said after he left the stand. I was surprised by that move, given they hadn’t even mentioned that as an option earlier that day. Apparently Henry was too, as he objected, but was overruled. Once she was sworn in, Kendra began, “Miss Harris, how long have you known our client?” “Since the first week of classes at Emerson University. He was my lab partner in our Freshman Chemistry lab.” “Was that all he was?” She shook her head, “No, I had no intention to do so at first, but Cameron was an incredibly special guy that I fell in love with. We began dating shortly after he began helping me with tutoring.” “Just to clarify, you two had a romantic relationship?” “Yes, a very close one,” Addy answered nervously. “For how long?” “A little over three years,” she answered. “Why did you stop seeing each other…?” She looked at her mom then, then looked at me, before sighing, “My mother didn’t approve of my relationship with him.” “Don’t most mothers have issues with daughters’ boyfriends?” Kendra asked rhetorically. “What about Cameron did your mother not like? Clearly he was smart and capable?” “She believed he was too short, and he wasn’t in the same league as us financially.” “In essence she didn’t like Mr. Sylvester because he was just a Mid, and too poor?” “He wasn’t poor… just not rich enough. Though I guess to my mother that might be the same thing.” I turned and looked at her mom who was now visibly steaming. ‘Shit… Addy is sacrificing herself…’ I thought worriedly. “What did your mother do to you to try and enforce her will?” “Umm…” She looked even more nervous. I turned to her mother whose face seemed to grow into a malicious grin on her face just then. “Did she threaten you?” “Umm…” “Are you scared of your mother Miss Harris?” I felt bad for Addy, as she literally squirmed in her seat, “Isn’t everyone scared of their mothers?” There were a few chuckles in the courtroom, including from Judge O’Connor about that. His serious façade had cracked for just a second and then went back up to a proper neutral expression. “I guess to some degree, but I mean are you as an adult still scared that she can punish or harm you?” “Umm…” “I understand if you’re too nervous to answer with your mother over there.” Kendra said. “Knowing what we’ve discovered in our investigations I would be scared too.” Addy shrugged nervously, “She’s my mom…” “Yes, she is. Tell me Miss Harris, how long have you worked for your mother’s company, SafeFoods?” “I’ve done part-time work since I was fourteen?” “And full-time?” “It’s been about a year-and-a-half I guess?” “You’re twenty-eight, correct?” “Yes, that’s correct.” “Why so long before you started working?” “Well, I did my four years of undergrad at Emerson, then I went to Mann for my Masters for two years, followed by two years at Beecher for my PhD in Biochemistry.” She paused, “Then I did a year of Post-Doc studies back here at Emerson.” “And now you bring that knowledge back to your mothers’ company?” She nodded, “Yes, I’m the head of the lab that checks products for impurities and possible harmful chemicals.” “Solely in the lab? No human testing?” She shook her head, “The closest I may occasionally get to a human test is if a blood sample is sent to the lab for testing.” “Interesting, is that the role your mom ultimately wants for you?” Addy shrugged, “I don’t know. Growing up she always said that Danica and I would take over the company when she retired.” “Danica is?” “My baby sister – she’s three years younger than me.” “She also works for the company, correct?” “Yes, she works on the public relations and advertising side of the company. She didn’t feel the need for grad work, so she actually beat me to working full time.” “Do you see each other often?” Addy shook her head, “We work on opposite sides of the complex, and rarely get together for meetings. I’d say once a week most of the time is the maximum.” I wondered where her questions were going right then. “Would you say you two are close though?” “Yes,” Addy said without skipping a beat. “Close enough that you would do anything for each other?” Addy nervously nodded, “Pretty much?” “Objection, Your Honor, is this questioning leading anywhere?” Henry Johnson said then. “Mrs. Stein?” “It’ll be apparent soon? I just ask for a little bit of leeway here?” “Very little, we didn’t schedule a six-week trial here…” “Yes, Your Honor.” Kendra said to the judge and turned back to Addy. “For the past few weeks while Mr. Sylvester has been under your guardianship and you have been his ‘mommy,’ you haven’t dressed him as he is today, have you?” “No, Judge Taney specified that if I was to take him as my baby, I could only either have him be a baby boy unable to walk, have his teeth removed, and have his stomach altered to only be able to process breastmilk or baby food, or I could have him be a little girl and changed into a girl that would be allowed to wear training panties and sleep in a big girl bed.” “You were supposed to choose for him?” She squirmed, “Yes, I was supposed to choose. I let Cam tell me her… his preference though.” “Which was?” “Obviously she’d rather be a girl than a helpless fake baby.” “So up until today, what had Cameron been wearing?” “The cutest little girl outfits I could find… and diapers because of the injunction since I wasn’t able to complete the procedure there.” “So, he’s been dressed in traditional girls’ clothing - dresses, rompers, onesies, etc.?” “Of course, she’s been dressing as my little baby girl.” “Including at his last court appearance, correct?” “That’s correct, we had a cute matching mother-daughter set of dresses that day.” “So why the change today?” Addy squirmed a bit. “My mom sent me a note through our attorneys that she felt like it would be a good idea to dress him as a man one last time.” “She said one last time in the note?” She shrugged, “I’m pretty sure that everyone assumes this will go like most Maturosis appeals. I researched it, only two of these have overruled a Maturosis ruling and guardianship placement in the last twenty-five years.” “It is rare, but does it maybe imply that she knew there would be a certain reason for his failure?” “I don’t know?” “Have you been breastfeeding him?” I squirmed as much as Addy at that question, ‘That’s embarrassing…’ “Of course, all good mommy’s make sure they bond with their new Littles by doing so.” “So, he’s worn diapers for several weeks straight now – you’ve been breastfeeding him, odds are that in the span of a day hearing he would surely have at least one accident. Why would you dress him in regular underwear?” She shrugged, “I thought I was being kind honestly. He looks like his regular self except his hair at this point.” “And if he had, or has an accident?” “I have a spare outfit in her diaper bag,” she told her. “But the main reason you dressed him like this today, was because of your mother?” She looked nervously at her mother, but nodded, “Yes.” “I want to move back to the day Cameron was declared in contempt of court, and sentenced to your care. Your vehicle already held a brand-new car seat, and a booster seat, that day correct?” I noticed Addy looked nervous for real then. “Yes…” “Why?” “What do you mean?” “Why did you already have car seats?” “I’ve… I’ve honestly been thinking of adopting for a while… I decided to be fully prepared in the last few months.” “Who have you been looking at?” She looked guilty, “Actually I’ve been thinking about going through Emerson and adopting one of their Littles through their Student Services. I started on a playroom when I moved into the house as kind of a fun project, and then it just kind of spiraled out of control.” “So, what work had to be done on your house the day Cameron was placed into your care?” “Oh… well, I had never intended on a boy… so I had to have the nursery changed to a boy’s… some more toys were placed into the playroom for a boy… and then I had outfits dropped off in Cammie… I mean Cameron’s sizes.” “So, you didn’t come into the courtroom planning on adopting my client that day?” “Honestly my mom wanted me to adopt Cameron a long time ago instead of dating him, but I didn’t want to. The only reason I changed my mind in court that day was I didn’t want him going to an orphanage…” My head was getting twisted with her bent truth, and it was borderline a case of perjury on her plans… but I guess she hadn’t planned on it. ‘She’d really been planning on adopting though?’ I wondered, a bit confused. ‘That doesn’t sound like Addy…?’ I thought. Thinking back though I could tell that she had genuinely enjoyed babying me… ‘She’s not the worst mommy out there either,’ I had to admit. “While you’ve had Mr. Sylvester in your custody, has he shown many bouts of immaturity? Acted with aggression? Fought you?” “No, she’s been the perfect sweet little baby girl…” “If this appeal is denied, what are your plans for him?” “Well, that would mean Judge Taney’s order goes back into effect? We would go back to the hospital and have the procedure performed to make him into a little girl.” “And what would she do for the rest of her life?” Addy shrugged, “I guess we would probably see about potty training once she adjusted to her new parts. If she can make it to the potty regularly, we’d probably move her up to a preschool class somewhere while I work.” “She’d never be able to work again?” “I believe one of the other people already mentioned if this is upheld, she’ll no longer be able to be on the bar association… I can’t see how she would work as an attorney without that even if I wanted her to.” Kendra came back to the lectern for something, “Just a few more questions Miss Harris, do you recognize this young woman?” I saw the picture briefly as she showed it to her, but her reaction was the bigger indication it was shocking. “Umm… Yes… that looks like a friend of mine from high school, Gina Miller.” “Are you aware that Gina’s parents declared her a missing person ten years ago?” Addy squirmed slightly then, but I suspected only I noticed, “I wasn’t aware they had filed that, no?” “Are you aware that the last time she was seen by her parents was when she left to go to work at your family’s company on a day in December ten years ago?” “No, I haven’t spoken to her parents since high school?” “Did you know she had a job at SafeFoods?” Addy nodded, “I suggested to a department chair he should think about hiring her.” “So, you got her the job?” Addy shrugged, “She still had to interview, but I suspect my suggestion carried a lot of weight.” “I bet it did!” Kendra said. “Objection, Your Honor, relevance?” Henry suddenly said. “Your Honor if you’ll please just give me just a few more moments of leeway? Miss Miller’s disappearance will become quite relevant?” “This is the last leeway you’re getting!” He said, “I don’t want this case to last indefinitely!” “Thank You, Your Honor. We would like to introduce into evidence Exhibit Seventy-One. This footage was obtained with the attached search warrant by federal investigators.” “Your Honor?” Henry Johnson asked. “Let me see the documentation Mrs. Stein.” I watched in curiosity at this exhibit. She had told me that we’d gone over every bit of evidence, but this seemed way outside of that! I looked up at her as she went to have a sidebar with Henry and the judge. David gave me a shake of a head saying not to ask, and a moment later the judge said. “This appears lawfully acquired and admissible. It is entered into evidence per request.” David pressed some buttons and a still of a scene showed on the screen. I recognized Addy’s childhood home, and felt my blood chill as I realized what they had somehow miraculously gotten their hands on! “Miss Harris, do you recognize the location of this video?” “Umm… it’s my parents’ house… my childhood home?” “Do you recognize the young woman here?” She pointed at a figure I could tell was probably Gina. “Your Honor?” She said just as I heard Henry Johnson shouting, “Objection!” and another voice crying, “How the Hell?!?” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and consider leaving a comment! Well diaper contents are certainly hitting the fan now! I'll post the next chapter on Thursday this week. Thanks again for your support!

Chapter 46: Big Blowouts “I’M ADDISON HARRIS,” she said. I noted the recognition there and figured we were on the right track for whatever she was doing. “And, I’m not sure yet, but I want to please go to your office and figure this out there?” “Umm…” “Please?” “Sure…” she said. “First of all, would you please pull up Cammie’s record for entry, and all of the notes? There’s a big one in specific that’s supposed to be flagged?” “No physical modifications of any kind?” “Yes, and there’s another one I also made sure was made apparent?” “No enemas or laxatives without mother’s explicit authorization?” “That’s the other one. Now, let me hear what happened?” She turned to me. “Why are you dressed in that? You haven’t eaten anything funny and have had all solid stools so far?” I sighed, “I think Miss Kristin spiked my bottle with something.” “Why would she do that?” Doctor Chester asked. “We went to high school together, and shortly after she graduated, I saw her at a mall with one of my best friends - he was a Little. She had claimed him after graduation and turned him into a girl, and then regressed him to at best a one-year-old. I told her what I thought of that at the time.” “Did you say anything aggressive or rude to her today?” I shook my head, “I know better than that…” “Who is this Kristin?” “She’s the assistant teacher in the room?” “Hmm… You’re sure something was in your bottle?” “Just before naptime she checked my very soaked diaper and claimed it was dry when Miss Crystal asked her to check it and change me. She leaned over and told me she knew who I was… It was obvious to me she was still holding a grudge. She had set up the bottles to warm, and the bottle itself tasted wrong. I was about to point it out, but when she smirked as I drank it, I figured I was stuck already. I was knocked out much quicker by it than normal too. When I woke up, I had the most disgusting diaper on the planet stuck to my butt, and my outfit was completely ruined. Mommy, she lied too and said you hadn’t sent anymore clothes as she looked through my diaper bag.” “You’re telling me the truth?” “Have I ever lied to you?” I asked her as I gave her more of an adult glare. “No, you haven’t…” “Ma’am, you can’t honestly expect to believe a Little doesn’t lie?” “You have nanny cameras in the classrooms to monitor them, correct?” The woman gulped, “Yes?” “Let’s review the footage… And when we confirm everything my baby girl just told me, we’re going to call in this little witch and deal with her.” “How about this… before we go through all of that, may I call Miss Crystal to come to the front?” “For?” “To confirm Cammie’s story?” She nodded, “I guess.” “Give me just a moment…” she said as she walked out. “What did you say to Kristin all those years ago?” Addison asked me with a smirk. “Almost the same name as you just used, but with a different consonant?” She squeezed me tight, “I’m not able to protect you from everything, but damned if I’m going to leave you somewhere and have you abused!” We sat in her office for about ten minutes before Miss Crystal walked inside. “Oh, hi Miss Harris, what can I do for you?” “Help me deal with your teaching assistant poisoning my baby.” “What…?” “First of all, Miss Crystal,” Doctor Chester interrupted, “was Cammie any sort of discipline problem today?” She shook her head, “No, she was the sweetest new baby girl I’ve seen in a while. Her mommy should be very proud of how good of a girl she was!” “Well, that answers that part…” Doctor Chester seemed annoyed. “Did you know that Kristin knew Cammie before?” She shook her head, “She didn’t mention it?” “Did you see anything go on between the two of them?” “I stay pretty busy… there’s a reason two of us are in there.” “Can you think of any other questions?” She asked Addison. “Miss Crystal, before nap time did you notice I had a wet diaper?” She shrugged, “Honestly I don’t remember looking too closely. I do remember telling Miss Kristin to change you though?” She looked thoughtful, “She said you were dry…?” “Were you?” Doctor Chester asked. I shook my head, “No, I was worried it was going to leak. Who prepared the bottles before naptime?” “Kristin always does that round…” “Thank you, Miss Crystal, if you would please let Miss Kristin know she needs to come down here now?” “Umm… sure Doctor Chester…” “I believe you,” Doctor Chester said to me. “What do you want?” she asked Addison. “To punish her.” “How?” “Let’s see if she comes clean first? By the way I think termination is a good start, but depending on what she says that may not be enough.” “I shouldn’t have you involved in personnel matters…” Addison shook her head, “I’m one of the owners, and I’m on the Board of Directors, I can be here.” “What? Since when?” “Since I bought out forty percent of this daycare this morning, and was placed on the board via a vote an hour ago.” “I don’t know who you think…?” “I’m Addison Harris.” She reminded her. Right before a verbal match could start, the secretary knocked, “Miss Kristin is here?” “Send her in,” she told her with a sigh. “Yes, Doctor Chester? Crystal said you wanted to see me?” she said as she came in the room, only then noticing Addison and me. “Why am I here?” she asked. “Please have a seat Miss Kristin.” I noticed she moved the chair a little further from Addison and me and sat down. “I’m Addison Harris,” she introduced herself to Kristin, “And I have concerns about the care of my baby…” “Umm… I don’t know what she told you, but you know Littles can’t be trusted, right?” Doctor Chester sighed, “Starting out like this certainly isn’t helping your case Kristin. You are being accused of both violating the requests of this mother to not do any physical harm to her baby, and also not to use any laxatives or suppositories without parental authorization. She’s also quite sure that there is theft involved here too. Now I’m fully prepared to sift through an entire day worth of video from your classroom to corroborate the accusation, or you can save us the time and tell us what you did?” She shook her head, “This is the third complaint I’ve had about you this month.” ‘That was a dumb move to make from a legal standpoint…’ I thought, mentally jotting down the obvious amount they were willing to push things under the rug. “Ma’am?” she said nervously. “What did you put in my baby’s bottle?” Addison asked again. “I warn you, do not lie to me!” Kristin visibly squirmed, and I got the feeling she realized she was now in some hot water. “It was just a dose of Little Go,” she told her. “If she’s on breastmilk it won’t be long before it’s the same anyway…” “Doctor Chester, that is in fact a laxative, and a strong one! It also has significant side effects that could leave lingering issues for my baby!” “I’m aware of that Miss Harris. Kristin, did you read her information sheet?” “No ma’am, I didn’t have a chance?” “Doctor Chester,” I said in my lawyer voice, “I object to that statement. It’s a lie – it’s how she figured out who I grew up as.” “Shut the hell up you sniveling little freak!” she said. I watched her put her hand over her mouth suddenly. “Well then, I think that settles that?” Addison said. “We can watch the video, but I think that’s more than enough to see she’s the problem here? I’m certain she stole the clothes too.” “Yes Miss Harris, I do agree. You mentioned termination wasn’t enough?” Addison looked thoughtful, “Can we have her wait outside for a moment?” “What the hell do you think you’re in charge of here?” Kristin was going off-tilt some more. “Well, I’m a part owner of the daycare for one,” she told her coolly. Her eyes widened then as she looked from Addison back to the director, “Ma’am?” “Go wait outside, we’ll call you back in when we’ve reached an agreement on a suitable penalty for you on behalf of Miss Harris and her daughter.” “But…” “Last chance little girl,” Addison said with more venom. I watched Kristin bolt up as Addison gave a wide smile, “I know exactly the punishment I want to dish out. I don’t want you to fire her, but I do want her moved to the Pre-K rooms… Let’s go talk here in the corner Doctor Chester.” I was left sitting in the chair as they engaged in a whispered conversation. It was clear that Doctor Chester was not pleased with the option, but decided it was fair. She called someone and a bottle of milk appeared, along with another vial of something she added to the milk. I noticed my name was on the bottle… “Come back in Kristin,” she told her. “Miss Harris has agreed to a condition that would let me not fire you. IF you want to keep your job, you’ll be moving to the Pre-K rooms as a roving aid.” “But… My degree…?” “Will be worthless anywhere else when she’s through with you,” she told her matter-of-factly. “Is that it?” “No, you need to drink this bottle too.” “But that’s…” “Breastmilk dear,” Addison smiled, “Breastmilk just as healthy as what you fed my baby this afternoon…” She gulped, “Really Doctor Chester?” “You can choose to walk out too…” I watched as she awkwardly reached for the bottle and began nursing from it. She was awkwardly fighting with getting the flow out for a while as the bottle looked much smaller in her hands than mine. The blush on her cheeks was quite gratifying to watch, even as you could see her eyes watering and tracks forming from her mascara. Finally, she emptied the bottle to their satisfaction and looked even more embarrassed as she burped suddenly. “Excuse you little girl,” Doctor Chester said shaking her head, “Go back and bring us the spare clothes that were left in Cammie’s diaper bag by her mommy.” “But…” “I can still fire you…” “Yes ma’am…” she said nervously. Even as she left, I heard a fart… “I trust this will put the matter behind us?” she asked Addison. “As long as she didn’t do anything else that’s long lasting, I consider it closed now. Or, I will when we have her clothes that she stole.” “Fair enough,” she said and stood up. She walked to a side door of her office and gathered some things in some cloth, but I couldn’t exactly see what it was as Addison squeezed me tight and felt my diaper. “Still dry for the moment, huh?” I nodded, “I haven’t had that much to drink today…?” She looked in the bag and pulled out a sealed bottle of Plapple juice and poured it in a clean bottle. “Here sweetie, drink this while we wait for your clothes…” I had about half of the contents down when I heard sobbing. Addison stood with me, holding the bottle to my lips, when I just about dropped it at the sight in front of me. “Whoa…” I said involuntarily around the nipple while smirking. In front of me was the most glorious sight of justice I had ever thought to see in my life! The bitch who had abused Tyler, other Littles, and now me, definitely had her moment of shame coming. She was carrying my missing clothes, which she awkwardly handed to Addison as she shifted from foot to foot making faces. “My, my, my,” Addison said as she took them, “Doctor Chester, I believe this young lady isn’t quite ready for her big girl panties yet…” “I’m thinking you’re probably right Miss Harris. Miss Kristin, what happens if a child at Changing Tikes pees their big girl panties?” “Ma’am?” “Answer the question Kristin.” “They… they get put back into Pull-Ups ma’am for at least three days.” “If they wet one of those that day?” “A week of Pull-Ups…” “And if they make pee-pee in their big-girl pants a third time?” “They go back to diapees until their mommy says it’s okay to try again? At least three weeks though?” “Uh-huh, very good. Now back up to what happens if a wittle girl poopies her big girl panties…?” She sniffled, “Ma’am?” “I won’t ask again!” “They go back to diapers right away for at least the next three days… and get to try again with the potty and training panties after that if their mommy lets them?” “That’s correct, and right now you’re that little girl, huh?” She said in a cooing voice. She shook her head, “Ma’am, it’s only because there was…” “There were plenty of bathrooms around, you could have sat in one for a bit…?” “But…” “Tell me who uses their panties as a potty like that?” “Uh…” “Who? I won’t ask again,” she asked with some venom. “Ba…bies…” “Babies, huh? And that’s all you are probably?” “No ma’am…” “Well, as far as the potty I think you are for at least a few days. Now lay down on this changing mat so I can get you into your diapee. If I even let you try to grow up again to big girl panties it’ll be based on your behavior from here on out.” I thought she was going to refuse with the look on her face, but instead a trickle of urine escaped her and ran down her legs. Doctor Chester tutted at her, and pushed her down to the changing mat, “Only babies leave messes like that on my floor. I think that’s settled that it’ll be at least three weeks before we try again…” I watched as she pushed her dress up off of her head, revealing sizable breasts that were covered with a nursing bra. I watched the train wreck as she cut off the panties with some scissors and began cleaning up the mess. Addison seemed just as inclined to be an audience, “My, my, my, she even cleaned up down there. I’m thinking this isn’t the only time she’s been in diapers Doctor Chester.” “Wha…? My boyfr…” She started to say before the largest pacifier I’ve ever seen was shoved into her mouth and twisted. ‘There’s a version for Bigs?!?!’ I thought in shock. “That’s much better, baby girls are better seen and not heard after all!” Doctor Chester said. I watched her gently hum a lullaby and clean up the mess, before telling her, “Lift back up baby girl!” and placing a thick diaper that looked identical to one of the types I had at home underneath her. “Where did you find that?” Addison asked. “Oh, there are some teenagers and adults who for some reason like Naomi and Oliver and some of the other regression shows. They like to wear them so much that they came out with these in bigger sizes for big babies like Baby Kristin here. One last thing, let’s cover up your bra,” she told her and directed her to stand up. I was all smiles as I saw a familiar volcano and ‘Blowout’ on the front of her shirt. “Well, Doctor Chester I want to thank you for helping us out today,” Addison told her as she stuffed my backup clothes inside the diaper bag. She gathered me and the bag up. “Let’s go do what I planned on for the rest of the afternoon… It looks like you probably have your hands as full as her diaper will no doubt be again soon...” Back at the car I was smiling the biggest smile in years as Addison dressed me in a knee length purple knit dress with big white polka dots on it. It actually would cover my diaper, and I appreciated that she took the time to change me from the god-awful onesie. “You’re going to burn that… right?” I asked. She smirked and shook her head, “Nope! It’s definitely going to be kept in the diaper bag for if we really don’t have a spare outfit and you need one.” “I…” A pacifier pushed past my lips and inside of my mouth. “Take a little nap again, it’ll take a while for us to drive where we’re going…” I sighed, and waited for her to get the car going. ‘Did she say we were going somewhere else today…?’ I tried to remember. Even as insane as she drove, I still found myself nodding off to sleep before long. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the 'Like' Button and leave a comment!!! Personally I think is one of my favorite chapters of the book. I hope you all enjoyed it as well! Please let me know what you think! I'll post the next chapter on Friday!

Chapter 45: Volcanoes THE LONGER I had nursed on the bottle, the sleepier I became. The next thing I knew was a voice next to me crying, “Eeew! Miss Crystal! She’s stinky poopy!!!” I shook my head and looked for the source of a god-awful stench I could smell. Then I sat up, and realized I now knew what had been in that bottle! “Oh wow,” Miss Crystal said as she picked me up awkwardly, “This is a full-on blowout Sweetie…” I woke up some more and realized a blowout meant I had shit running down my legs as she carried me, still holding onto Rings, who seemed to have ended up a casualty too. As she sat me down on the table, I realized it had somehow squeezed its way up the back of my diaper and up my back too… It was disgusting, and I just wanted to scream! She carefully took Rings from me, “I’ll try and clean her up for you so you can take her home later…” Kristin looked over at me and smirked before changing her expression to a concerned one, “Miss Crystal, do you need me to grab her backup outfits out of her bag for you?” “Would you please dear?” She shook her head, “This is the worst blowout I’ve seen in years… you didn’t tell me you gave her a suppository?” “I didn’t…” “Hmm…” she said. “That’s kind of odd then, I swear this had to be caused by laxatives. I’ll have to talk to her mom later. If this is a normal thing for her, she’s going to need some crawler diapers to contain this kind of mess…” I wanted to open my mouth to speak up, but I was still in shock. I sat very still as she gloved up and laid me down on the changing table that she had laid some extra paper down first. “We’re going to have to take this off in reverse, Sweetie,” she told me. “Huh?” “We’ll pull it down your bottom,” she told me. I tried to help her maneuver my shoulder out of the top of the outfit on one side, then the other, as she pulled it down my legs. The onesie was probably forever stained from all of the liquid poop that ran down onto it. She placed it in a bag, before sighing and undoing the diaper. The next eternity was made up of her wiping me off with baby wipes on every surface of my back, all the way down to my toes, to get the disgusting yellowish brown stains off of my skin. I still felt disgusting as she taped the new diaper shut, but at least I was better. “Did you find her outfits Miss Kristin?” she asked. “I couldn’t find anything in her bag… It’s just diapers and some bottles? A few toys?” “Hmm… I swear I saw extra outfits in her bag earlier. Are you sure?” “I am, do you want one of the spare outfits?” Miss Crystal sighed and shrugged, “It’s that or only she runs around only in her diapee for the rest of the day.” As Kristin brought over the new outfit, I realized I wasn’t sure which was worse! It was a light pink color with a black design of a volcano on it coming out of a diaper. ‘Explosive Pooper!’ it said on top, and then had ‘Blowout’ in an obnoxious font at the bottom like some sort of action movie poster. The ‘Changing Tikes’ logo was off to the left side of the design just to ensure you knew where I’d exploded a diaper… I was quickly dressed in the obnoxious onesie, and told, “All clean now! Why don’t you go play with your friends now?” I sighed, but went to find a friendly face. On my way to where Gracie sat next to the regressed Alexis, I saw Miss Erin scrubbing the nap mat I had used while gagging. ‘Kristin should be the one cleaning that up…’ I couldn’t help but think. Gracie gave me a sympathetic look, “First blowout?” “Since middle school…” “Your mommy didn’t send you extra outfits?” “She did… two or three of them actually. I’m guessing Kristin intentionally lost them after she spiked my bottle.” She nodded, “Be careful with her, that could be dangerous if you have those many times.” “Yeah, they already threatened me with crawler diapers…” She wrinkled her nose, “You do not want to wear those.” For the next half-hour I joined her and Alexis in coloring. Gracie quickly did one sheet that she just absolutely scribbled on – it looked exactly like Alexis’ that she concentrated on while sticking her tongue out of her mouth. Then I noted Gracie turned the page in her coloring book and began an incredibly detailed page. She seemed to pay attention to shading, added details not included in the blank lines, and genuinely made art with the crappy crayons. I was so enthralled in watching her work, and Alexis with her regressed motions and behavior, that I did a pretty terrible job on my own page of a teddy bear. “Super pooper - that looks just like a three-year-old colored it, good job!” Kristin came over to me and said while Gracie flipped back to her scribbled page. “I didn’t think you’d be able to do that well! Someday maybe you can even be an artist when you grow up!” I looked at her, “Thank you Miss Kristin. I’m just a little baby, I wouldn’t expect to do better than this, huh?” “Nope! But not as wrong as Miss Gracie.” She grabbed the book from her and flipped to the beautifully done page that I couldn’t believe was done in crayon. “This is all wrong Gracie!” She told her and grabbed an ugly brown crayon and scribbled all over the page. “There you go, that’s how it’s supposed to look.” “Thank you, Miss Kristin,” Gracie said, even as I could see her murderous expression. She smirked at her, before turning back to me. “Well, now I came over here because I’m supposed to take you to your special therapy appointment!” ‘Special therapy appointment?’ I wondered nervously. “Therapy?” “Yes, we do that for our special Little Ones who may have some extra special big feelings to deal with!” She grabbed the coloring book from me and tore the page out, “Let’s put this with your bag so your mommy can hang it on the refrigerator tonight!” I didn’t say anything more as she grabbed my hand and began leading me out of the room. We walked past the cafeteria, and towards the opposite hallway I’d been told was for the big kids earlier by Miss Crystal. I was even more self-conscious of the embarrassing onesie as we passed a class of Pre-K kids taller than me heading the opposite direction from our playground. “All of the big boys and girls have their own special playground over there!” Kristin cooed at me. I didn’t respond, but heard a snicker from one of the taller kids as I passed. “That baby must have pooped his diaper so much it exploded and made him wear girly clothes!” I kept my eyes moving forward and ignored the kid, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit stung by that comment! A quick look at the boy, showed me that he was nearly a foot taller than me – and it didn’t make me feel better in the slightest that he was so young! I didn’t know how to feel about the recognition of me being a male for the first time by a kid either. She walked me past rooms of the Pre-K classes, then the Preschool classes, then as we got towards the front of the building by the offices we came to a ‘Therapy Wing.’ Pictures on the walls were a mix of babyish and slightly more kindergarten themes I guessed to make all of the ‘kids’ feel welcome. “Well, let’s get you to your special appointment!” Kristin smiled, “I’m sure it’ll help you change your whole life!” I saw a nameplate above the door but didn’t get a chance to read it before I was ushered inside a large room with a set of soft mats, couches, childhood sized furniture, and a convenient changing table. I noticed off to the side there was also a TV and a Little’s highchair facing it. “Well, hi there! You must be Cammie!” the woman said as she came towards me. I looked at her and something about her seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She looked to be a bit older than me, enough so I wouldn’t have been in undergrad with her or high school. Her brown hair was cut to a bit above shoulder length, and she looked to be another of these overweight mommy types. ‘Mommy…’ triggered the thought. She was Megs freshman nest mother! “Hi,” I said as I thought through all of that. “I’m Doctor Dannigan,” she told me, “You can just call me Doc though!” She smiled at me and it almost felt genuine. Turning her gaze above me, “You may go Kristin; I’ve got the princess from here.” “Behave!” Kristin said towards me before leaving and closing the door. “Have you been misbehaving for her?” I shook my head, “She has a grudge against me from ten years ago…” I said, suddenly wondering if I should talk freely around her. ‘Probably not. “That sounds interesting, do you want to talk about it?” I looked at her, “So you can go tell her or someone else…?” I shook my head, “Why am I here?” “Well, first of all, I can see that Addy finally decided to become your mommy – I figured that was a matter of time. Which means that you are now an adopted Little?” I shrugged, “I guess… That’s still up in the air right now?” “We’ll talk about that in a second sweetie, but I serve as Changing Tikes Little counselor. Here they understood that even though you might be a Little, you might still have Big feelings that you need to talk about. My job is to let you do so in a safe way.” “And then what? Go tell my teachers? My mommy? The LPS people wanting to support their Maturosis case?” She shook her head, “In a lot of places that would be the case, but here I promise you what we talk about will stay between us for the most part. I may tell your mommy that you’re concerned about something, but I won’t tell her what you said about it. Same thing with your teachers…” “So why talk? It might just get me into trouble…?” “If something isn’t harmful, I’m not out there to get you. If you were planning to try and kill yourself or harm someone, that would be a different thing.” I sighed, “Okay, what do you want to talk about?” “Well first, why don’t we have a seat over there,” she said pointing to some couches. She let me climb up on my own and took an adjacent chair. “So… you graduated from Emerson, then what?” I looked at her with an eye raised and debated about saying much… “Well, I went to Harlan Law School…” I told her about Law School, Beth’s disappearance – without information on our indiscretions, my family’s many quick deaths, and then finally the last few days since getting railroaded by the judge. “So yeah…” She looked at me with a genuine surprised expression on her face. “So, the only reason you’re here…” “Because of a bad judge. Things are on appeal, hopefully in two weeks I’ll be freed.” “What then?” “Then I go back to practicing law I hope, and standing up for the rights of Littles that have been trampled on.” “And if it doesn’t go your way?” “You mean, I’m stuck this way?” She nodded. “Well… I guess I’d better get used to peeing sitting down.” “You can do that standing up in your diapees even as a girl you know.” I shrugged, “I’m hoping Addison goes back to our original deal then, which would mean training pants.” “Here?” “Maybe?” “You already have someone messing with you today,” she said motioning to the embarrassing onesie I was wearing. “That’ll be worse if you’re wearing Pull-Ups.” “Probably,” I agreed. “Well Cameron, I mean Cammie, I know you’ve been stuck with a really tough hand here. I know it’s going to be rough for you getting used to your new life, but…” she extended a bit here, “I think this might be an opportunity for you too.” I snorted, “What opportunity?” “To heal? You’ve been through more in the past few years than most people go through in decades. You probably should be seeing someone like me even if you manage to overturn that ruling. Being taken care of by Addy and others could help you heal if you’ll let it.” I looked at her like she was nuts, but shrugged, “Maybe…” “Well, this is all the time we have today. I’m going to make sure I see you again in a couple days if you’re here daily. If you’re not back right away I’ll leave a note for them to make a place in my schedule to see you whenever that is.” I felt strangely okay with the talk we had, so I said, “Okay… Thanks.” “You’re welcome! Now let me see, there should be a helper outside…” She was correct, a teenager with ‘volunteer’ on her badge was waiting outside. “Hi Mia, this is Cammie, can you make sure you get her back to her room? She’s a little bunny in Miss Crystals room.” I looked up at the not quite as tall, and very young looking Big. She was wearing short shorts and a cheerleading shirt from one of the local high schools. “Hi Cammie, let’s get you back to class with the other cute bunnies, okay?” Holding out her hand. She was a chatterbox as we walked, and she said, “How about we skip back the rest of the way? Wouldn’t that be fun?!?” ‘Should she be the one in the diapers…?’ I couldn’t help but think as I was coerced into skipping back to the room. She opened the door and said, “Miss Crystal, I have a special someone back here for you!” “Oh, thank you Mia! Would you mind checking her diaper really quick before you go? We’re all knee deep in paint right now…” I looked and the other ‘kids’ were all fingerpainting right then. During my moment of distraction, she wasted no time in feeling the front of my diaper. “She’s all dry still Miss Crystal.” “Okay, thanks Mia!” “Cammie would you like…?” she was about to say, but another knock came on the door as soon as it closed. “Miss Crystal, they’re here to pick up Cammie Harris?” “Right there,” she said pointing towards me and walking over. “That’s her diaper bag there, her stuffie – I managed to get Rings clean for you Cammie – and please let her mommy know there is a Ziploc in there that she wants to open and clean as soon as she gets home.” “Will do!” The new girl was another volunteer – a bit taller, but also just as happy and smiling. She held her hand out to me, “Ready to go see your mommy?” I nodded. “Bye Miss Crystal, Miss Kristin.” I said, and happily left the damn room! When I arrived back at the front desk Addison was standing there. Her face started with a smirk; the onesie was funny I guess if you weren’t the one wearing it, but then it turned to a frown. “Why are you wearing that?” She asked me as I and my bag were passed over to her. “Oh, we give those onesies out when a baby has a diaper blowout and no other clothes. You may keep it as a souvenir.” The secretary answered before I could think of how to approach it. “But I did leave clothes…” she said. She dug through the diaper bag that was there and saw there were none. “What happened?” she asked me. “Not here…?” I tried to say with the secretary hovering there I was too nervous to be honest. “Of course, you’re right. I’d like to see Doctor Chester please?” she told her. “Umm… the Director is available by appointment only…” “Tell her my name is Addison Harris. That will suffice for an appointment.” There was a forceful venom in her voice that I had only heard a couple times over the years. ‘She’s smart enough to figure it out… what’s she going to do?’ “Umm… I’m sorry… but…” “Call her now!” “Yes ma’am,” she said. A few hushed minutes of muttering later a brown-haired woman just a few inches shorter than Addison came in. “Hi, I’m Doctor Wendy Chester, the Director of Changing Tikes, how may I help you?” she started. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you for reading! Please Like this Chapter and leave me a comment!!! I'll be posting again Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday this week unless something changes. The next two weeks are quite packed for me in real life, so I don't think I'll be able to commit to more than that. If I do three a week then it's about 6-7 weeks to post the rest of the book up here. I really appreciate each of you taking that quick second to press the button, and leaving a comment is so appreciated! Thank you again for reading!

Chapter 18: Poetry THE LAST SEMESTER of my undergrad years both flew, and dragged by, after I returned from break. Without Addy to hang out with, I tended to spend more time at Stacy’s or Megan’s that spring. ‘Meggy’ had managed to adjust to the new normal with Megan, but really was treated as maturely as could be allowed by a Big who adopted you. The one exception was that she had finally convinced Megan to stop throwing away the milk that she was constantly pumping, and allowed her to remove it for herself. It quickly finished off what limited control of her potty training Meg had remaining, but she didn’t mind because it made it less stressful to not have to force herself to go poop in her diapers. She believed it was easier to just have a genuine accident and go ‘oh, my diaper’s poopy?’ It was a bit awkward, but I’d been over at Stacy’s several times and watched as both of them were nursed by their ‘mommies.’ Stacy in particular seemed to behave more needy than in the past as we got closer and closer to graduation. I suspected it was since she knew that her return to her dimension was imminent, and she would have to say goodbye to Amanda - whom she had grown very close to! A week before graduation she invited me over to her house, and led me upstairs to her room. She shut the door, pressed some buttons on a tablet, and said, “Cameron, I need to talk to you about some things…” “Like what?” I asked curiously. This was the most secretive she’d ever behaved – which was saying something! “I’m going home Saturday after Commencement, and I feel like I need to at least let one person in this dimension know about some things.” I was really curious, “Like what?” “Well first, I need to apologize to you... I did something to you a few years ago and didn’t tell you about it.” My eyes narrowed, “What did you do to me?” “Remember freshman year when you told me that Addy,” my gut clenched at her name. She clearly grimaced herself then, “You told me that you had been making out, and accidentally got a mouthful of her milk?” I nodded, “I never went near there again… I was too nervous of becoming another incontinent Little.” She smiled, “You could have multiple times a day, and it never would have been a problem.” “What?” “I doubt you remember, but the next week you helped me with getting my bag down from a table. While you handed it to me, you were shocked by something that felt like a static charge?” I thought for a second, “I kind of remember that…” “Well, you’d mentioned wishing you didn’t have to worry about it… and I didn’t want to have to worry about seeing another friend joining the permanent diaper train. So… I transferred some nanites to you.” “What…?” I gasped. “Is that why I don’t have any body hair still?” She shook her head, “No, that’s still down to that awful prank. The main thing I programmed them to do was clear the protein that’s in Amazon's milk from your nervous system. That protein binds to receptors and it’s what would have rendered you incontinent.” I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was still a bit annoyed, “You could have asked…?” “I couldn’t let anyone know I had that ability Cam.” I nodded my head a little at that, “Did it do anything else?” “Not yet, but I would like to add something for you.” “What?” “You’re still susceptible to some of the hypnotic suggestions that are out there, right?” I blushed! She knew that just a few months ago I had fought for a month to avoid a sudden night time thumbsucking issue after watching a movie at Megan’s. “I guess I am…” “I’d like to add a routine to the nanites that are inside of you to filter that out.” “You can do that?” “That’s how I escaped those Venture people freshman year,” she told me. “Any risks?” “I don’t think so with this.” “With other things?” “Well, when I did the more significant things with Bella, she unfortunately shrunk.” I felt my eyes open, “That won’t happen, right?” “It shouldn’t.” I thought for a moment. Stacy was one of the smartest people I had ever met… and she was pretty sure of herself, so I decided, “Yeah, go ahead.” She pressed some buttons on her tablet, and I suddenly felt a jolt over my body, but it was over in an instant. I looked at my clothes and was grateful to see no change in my height! “You said there were other things?” I asked her. “I have a prototype of something I want to release in the wild. I want to leave information with someone just in case the information is needed though…” “What’s it do?” “Hopefully helps get rid of some of the cruelty towards Littles?” She stopped, “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve used it on my aunts and uncles. It should activate in two weeks once I’m gone. Another with my cousins will activate in a month. If all of those work… then maybe it could be released elsewhere…?” “Tell me more…” THE WEEK OF Commencement both sets of my grandparents came into town to see me graduate. That night after I walked the stage, we had a big party at my house to celebrate my degree, and my acceptance into the Harlan School of Law. It was easily the most prestigious law school in the country, and I was going to end up being paid to go! Grandpa Jack and Grandma Wendy came to see us very few times when I was growing up. Most of the time we saw them involved us driving the ten-hour drive to their home once a year in the summers. They hadn’t seen me in person since my high school graduating year, so I definitely matured a lot since then! Fortunately for Dad and I, they got along with my Mom’s parents quite well. “What happened with that girlfriend of yours?” Grandpa Frank asked. “Girlfriend?” Grandma Wendy asked. I sighed, “It didn’t work out unfortunately,” I tried to leave it at that. “No wonder, she was like the total opposite of you dear,” Grandma Suzy said. “That wasn’t the problem,” I tried to reign in my temper and emotions. Even five months later the wound was an open sore for me. “What was the problem then?” Grandma Wendy asked. “Her parents didn’t approve of her going out with a Mid. Marrying me was completely out of the question… they told her she had to break it off with me or they would cut her out of her inheritance.” “Was it a big one?” “You could say that,” I said sadly. “I really don’t want to talk about her though.” “Fair enough,” Grandpa Frank said, trying to put the genie back into the bottle. “You excited to move to your new school?” I nodded, “I’m looking forward to seeing another part of the country. And I’m looking forward to being at the best of the best,” I told him. “I’m jealous that you’re getting this experience,” he told me. I smiled at that, “I just hope it all works out!” “I’m sure it will! Just don’t forget about us when you’re the big shot lawyer!” Grandpa Jack said. I smiled at that. After we enjoyed a great dinner, I opened a stack of presents everyone had given me. The first one was a bit larger than the others when I opened it. I was excited to see a really nice leather satchel briefcase from Grandpa Frank and Grandma Suzy that looked really classy. It was sized to look perfect for my height! “Thanks!” I said as I gave them a hug, “I’ll use this all of the time I’m sure!” I also received a leather portfolio notebook from them that matched the brown leather too. My other grandparents gave me a really nice pen set with my initials on it. Dad had bought a new computer for me to use - something that surprised me since my current one worked just fine! I thanked him though, and soon enough the party was over. They had all left the next day to return home, leaving Dad and I alone, when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” I said to him since he was working on a load of laundry. I opened the door and was surprised to see Mr. Fehler holding Beth on his hip. She sucked on a pacifier, wearing a very short dress that displayed an attached onesie snapped together to cover most of her diaper. “Hi Cameron, we heard you had graduated, may we come in?” “Sure…” I said as I motioned for them to come inside. I shut the door and made sure the blinds were shut. As if he was waiting for that he set Beth down and she ran over to me and bearhugged me! “I’m so happy for you Cameron!” “Beth… you’re running, and talking normally?!?” I looked over at Mr. Fehler, “You’re letting her grow up?” He shook his head, “No, I’m certain if anyone found out about her recovering her locomotion or the teeth I had implanted, and fixing her tongue, we’d have a problem. As it is, we’re hiding the teeth under a prosthetic,” he said as Beth opened her mouth and pulled out a piece of silicone that reminded me of a mouthguard from sports, just a lot thinner and flesh colored. “I still have to wear and use diapers everywhere but home… and go to daycare,” she squirmed a bit at that, “Anywhere we’re out I pretend nothing has changed… But at least when I’m at home Daddy is letting me be more of a big girl!” “I’d ask you not to tell anyone…” He said to me and my father who had come in. “You won’t hear it from us!” Dad said. “I’m glad to see Beth happier!” “Me too!” I said with a smile and put my arms around Beth for another hug. “Here, open it!” She told me and handed me a wrapped package. “It’s all her,” her dad told me as we all sat down on the living room furniture, with Beth sitting right beside me. I looked at the package and opened it up, finding a piece of black slate mounted vertically to a wooden base. It had a poem inscribed on it. Inches Growing up we found ourselves to be like, two peas in a pod. Together we grew to find that life was not to be alike. Inches, mere inches kept us from a view. A dream to grow, a dream to be together. Inches, just inches, sent our paths askew. May this be a token and a tether, For our memories of love, in inches. I felt the tears in my eyes just then and hugged her, “I’m sorry I never realized…” She laughed, “I never pushed… It never seemed like there could be a future for us… well for me once you finally grew.” “Why don’t you two go up to your room Cam?” her dad suggested. I gave him a questioning look, and he gave me a nod. I grabbed her hand and led her upstairs to my room; grateful I had just made my bed that morning since my grandparents were still around. “Nothing has changed here?” She said as she sat down on the bed. I shook my head, “No, it’s like a time capsule every time I come home… well, I brought everything home this time I guess.” “So other than graduating, how have things been? You and Addy…?” I sighed, “She broke up with me just before Christmas when I proposed to her.” “That’s awful Cam!” she told me. “Yeah… I’ve had a hard time getting over her this semester. It gave me a lot of time to think though,” I said to her. “About?” “About the one who got away, because she was mere inches from me,” I told her. I stared into her eyes and wondered if it would be okay to kiss her now that she was mostly back to normal. I didn’t have any time to decide that for myself, as she launched herself at me and kissed me with more passion than Addy had ever done. I kissed her back, and found myself being practically attacked with her passion. “What will your father say…?” I asked taking a quick break. “I told him what I wanted to do with you.” “Oh, what is that?” “Make up for lost time…” Her diaper and my underwear were the only things that stayed on over the next hour. I didn’t have a condom or I might have considered letting her convince me to go ahead the rest of the way. “Please?” she had asked me. “I can’t risk getting you pregnant… I’m already risking my possible legal career right now…” I told her. “Why?” I sighed, “Because even though you are an adult, the court considers you to be a minor…” “You don’t really love me,” she started to say, but I kissed her firmly on the lips. “That’s not the case at all! I just need us to be cautious here Beth. I have three years of Law School to go. I’ll come back at breaks, and if your dad is a willing accomplice to bring you over here… well, we can see what will happen. But maybe, just maybe, by the end of those three years we can get you an emancipation hearing?” “That’s not possible… is it?” “Not in this state… but maybe if your dad moves you over to another state with better laws you all can work on that while I go to school.” “But if I came back here?” “Who says you have to come back here?” I smiled, “It’s not like there’s much keeping either of us in this crappy town?” She smiled, “Okay, I work on getting certified as a grown-up again, and you work on becoming a big-shot lawyer. I can live with that.” “Great,” I told her and gave her another kiss. “You get that certificate and I’ll show you what we can do as adults…” I helped her put back on the dress and snapped the crotch shut for her. Her diaper was getting pretty soggy, so she needed to go home and get a change. Over the next three months I was at home Mr. Fehler brought her over at least once a week. We would videochat every day for hours at a time otherwise. Each time he came I gave him information about some places they could move and overturn the maturosis diagnosis. They had already managed to get past the hardest part of things, the re-potty-training, by the end of the summer. She had an occasional setback since she was only able to use the potty at my house and her own… It bothered her that at daycare she had to make sure she continued to act like a drooling infant. There she still had to crawl around, eat meals of only baby food and formula, and still pretend that pooping and peeing her diapers was normal for her. The night before I left for law school, Mr. Fehler brought her over and handed me a package inside of a bag. I blushed when I realized what was in it. “Is that a good…? You are okay…?” “You both need it,” he told me. “Just make sure you use that. You might want to have her use the potty first…” It was probably the stupidest and riskiest idea of all time! But, I took him up on the offer when she made all of the moves towards me. Taking her diaper off was among the weirdest things I’d ever done, but when it was off I discovered that things definitely fit together much better than they had with Addy! I was still smiling from the experiences the next day as my plane touched down on the ground in the city that held my law school. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This chapter concludes the second part of the book. What did you think? Please press the Like Button for this chapter and I'd love to hear from you in a comment! I very much appreciate everyone who has done so, and led to me passing the 2,000 likes on my works this week! ? I'll post the next chapter on Friday, and then on Sunday again is my plan as of right now. Unfortunately my mid-week schedule (this week especially) doesn't allow me to have enough time to edit more chapters. I'm currently midway through Chapter 51, and hoping to finish up the book in less than seven to nine more chapters after that. My goal is to have the first draft completed in two weeks! <crossed fingers> Thanks for reading!

Foreword I know everyone is hoping for more 'Lights, Camera, ...What?!?' right now since we went on our season break, but I just haven't gotten to that yet. I had a week off last week, and most of it was unproductive, but I decided to take a stab at what I thought would be a short story or novella-length work but has turned into a novel. It's almost 2/3rds done, and I decided it was time to share something new with you all! Playing Doctor is set at the same time as LCW, and has some intersections in the story. I've been planning this character's story since I wrote about her in LCW. Special thanks to PrincessPottyPants for letting many of us write stories in the sandbox she created with the DiaperDimension! Also, thank you to @DiaperedPrince for editing help and for letting me bounce ideas off him! There are references to my other works; it’s not required that you read them beforehand to understand the story, but you will get more out of it! If you do wish to read in order, I recommend this order: 1) Diamond Tours (Also available only through Amazon – ‘Tour Guides’ is the title) 2) Undercover Tour (Also available only through Amazon – ‘Tour Guides’ is the title) 3) Exchanged (Also available only through Amazon) 4) Little Hope - Exchanged Book 2 (Also available only through Amazon) 5) Alterations - Exchanged Book 3 (Also available only through Amazon) 6) Seems Too Good (Also available only through Amazon) 7) In-Between (Also available only through Amazon) 8 ) Lights, Camera, ...What?!? - In Progress Please note that this book is intended for mature adults, ages 18 and above only. I hope you all will enjoy this new work! Thank you so much for joining me on this new journey! This work is Copyright ©2024 Sofia Hammerstein, All Rights Reserved. This work may not be reposted or published without permission. Chapter 1: “DOCTOR BENSON, PLEASE report to conference room 302,” I heard as I walked out the door from my final patient at my current hospital for the next few months. The twelve-year-old girl was unfortunately going to have to stop tumbling for a while with the broken arm I’d just diagnosed and set. With a sigh I twiddled with my stethoscope nervously as I made my way up to the third floor, down a few hallways, and opened a door to the conference room. The light was off, making me wonder who I would have to wait to meet before beginning my abroad assignment with the other dimension at Emerson University’s Hospital. “Surprise!!!!” I heard and looked to see a dozen nurses I’d worked with for several years, that many doctors and other staff had laid out a large cake and balloons. I blushed, looked up at them, and said, “You shouldn’t have!” Doctor Carrie Olson, with whom I had gone to med school, approached me and said, “Yes, we did, Katherine. I know I, for one, am going to miss you!” “I’m only going to be gone for a few months.” The woman who I’d been friends with through thick and thin shrugged, “Maybe? Often people like it there and stay?” She shook her head, “I doubt that’ll be me! I just want to get a chance to work with their nanites I keep hearing about. There’s been some start here, but if the stories are true, they can just about cure anything there now.” A nurse nearby who I’d worked with nodded, “I’ve heard that too.” “I just worry about the other stories,” one of the other nurses said. “We had a psychiatric patient in last year that came back from that dimension. They were diagnosed with some serious mental illnesses, but when they were lucid, they had some pretty crazy stories?” “I’ve read about more,” another friend of mine said. “I’m sure they’re just stories,” I nervously said. “Sure,” Carrie said, even as the look she gave me made showed me she doubted that. We all hung out for a thirty-minute break before everyone else had to go back to rounds or get to their days off. Doctor Paulson, the head of pediatrics, approached me and said, “Katheryne, I’m going to miss having you around. I sent a glowing recommendation to the other hospital. Hopefully, they will use your considerable skillset!” “I just hope to learn something,” I told him with a smile. The kind and older man patted my back, “No matter what I’m sure you’ll do that! See you in a few months kiddo!” With that I gathered the last of my things from my locker and headed home to finish packing and preparing my house for the short term renters I was leasing it to while I was gone for the semester. I LOOKED OUT in the yard just before dinner at where my toddler niece Aria, and nephew Asher were running around their daddy, my brother Henry. ‘Even with him having five kids it’s still hard to think of my baby brother as a daddy!’ As Henry fake fell though to play dead, it was easy to still see the kid he’d been. “He’s a good daddy,” Mom said to me. I nodded, “Who would have thought it!” Mom sighed, “Are you really sure you want to go through with this program?” I looked at her, seeing the worry lines on her face. “Yes, I’ll be fine!” “And if the stories are true?” Mom asked me. I sighed. “Then I guess I’ll have to hope I have someone who plays with me as much as my little brother plays with his kids.” “That’s not funny,” Mom replied to me. “I know…” I shrugged, “Mom, I’ve been so career driven here that I’m just looking for a bit of an adventure? I have no kids. I thought maybe I’d meet someone in med school, or since I came here to work, but everyone I get even remotely interested in wears a ring on their finger.” “If it’s a man you want, you can find one here? I’ll help you? There are dating services?” I shrugged, “No, Mom… honestly I don’t even know that I want a husband. I treat kids every day, but I don’t want my own?” “You don’t?” Mom asked me in surprise. “I… I just see too much sometimes,” I told her. “I don’t think I’m strong enough sometimes to do what the parents of my patients do every day.” Mom gave me a strained look, but thanks to my sister-in-law coming over we soon had the topic changed. By the time I got them out the door after dinner I was just exhausted. Thankfully I only had one thing left to pack after bed that night, just Honey, a stuffed bear I’d slept with since I was a toddler. Her fur was still clean, but she’d been patched up a few times by Mom when my jerk brother had ripped her open, and once by me after a med school roommates puppy had savaged her arm off. I squeezed her tightly as I climbed into the sheets of my bed one last time and closed my eyes. ‘What if the worst happens?’ I thought to myself. ‘That’s why you’re taking me!’ Honey’s play voice answered in my head as I opened my eyes to look at her. ‘Sorry we have to leave your sisters here,’ I found myself telling her. A tighter squeeze, a snuggle, and I was out for my final night in my home dimension. THE MORNING OF my departure for this new adventure arrived in a flurry of packing, last cleaning, and handing off a key to my renters for the semester. They were a young couple of doctors, too, and I believed my house would be in good hands while I was gone. Mom or Henry would also come by every couple of weeks to check on things or deal with any emergencies. That just left me to park my car in my mom’s garage and catch a ride to the university with them. After a tearful goodbye to Mom, I was finally able to make my way to the conference room where we were meeting with the exchange students. I’d examined all of them in preparation for the trip to this other dimension over the past couple of months. A few decades ago when I was just a young kid, we’d had our whole universe turned over as a society when we discovered inter-dimensional travel was possible. The dimension on the other side of the Bremmer Portals was highly advanced in their technology. The nanites alone for medicine was an incredible advancement to me! Supposedly their computers, cars, and even food preparation all had evolved around this technology. My co-sponsor of the group, Doctor Matthew Owens, yammered on for longer than I thought was necessary. I was a bit annoyed internally when he nominated me to be the first to introduce myself to the group since I never loved being in the spotlight. I stood though, and said, “I’m Doctor Katherine Benson. I believe I met all of you for your initial physicals last fall. I’m a professor of medicine specializing in nanite replication. I’ll be spending time with my counterparts at Emerson University’s hospital studying their nanite advancements while also checking up on your health and advising you like Doctor Owens.” I nodded at the student beside me and watched the other students continue their introductions. When Connor Slane stood, I couldn’t help but wonder how someone so wealthy was attending our university and not somewhere more prestigious further east. All of his records stated that he was genuinely brilliant, like his mother. ‘His family is responsible for more of our current technology than anyone else,’ I thought in awe. His interview and psych screening were among my most interesting. I suspected there was more than he said for his reasons to go to the other dimension. While he claimed it was for the holo technology, some aspects of his screening raised some flags in my mind. Needless to say though, due to who his mom was, I wasn’t about to tell him he couldn’t go! Eventually, Matt started yammering again. “Once you make it through, there will be a medical examination to ensure nothing has gone awry with your health. There isn’t anything expected, so this is more of a routine checkup for visitors. One of Emerson’s hospital staff doctors will administer this, overseen by Doctor Benson for your protection.” Matt paused momentarily before continuing, “You’ll be reunited and assigned a dorm at that time.” “Why haven’t we already been assigned?” Asher, one of the exchange students, asked. “Due to the randomness of height changes, it was suggested we wait. If, for instance, you are below six feet in height here, you might find yourself taller than that there. On the other hand, you could also likely be above six feet here and be shorter there. In either case, they find it’s best to have people separated by height in dorms due to the dimension’s extremes in height. If you were shorter and trying to use a sink or shower in the Big dorms, you may not be able to reach, for instance.” I was grateful that our arrangements were set with a couple of faculty apartments next to each other. There had been talk of sharing a two-bedroom apartment, but apparently, the university had some decency clause that wouldn’t allow it. ‘Strange,’ we’d both said at hearing that. Our university in this dimension was fitting the bill along with Emerson, so in the end, I didn’t care. Matt finally got to the end of his long-winded start to the trip, “A few other reminders before we get to our last checks here. Please remember we are guests at their university and must follow their rules and procedures. Failure to do so may mean you are removed from the program. You have been granted a special student visa for your semester that gives you some rights that are near diplomatic immunity but not fully considered that. I highly recommend that you don’t depend on that to get you out of trouble, though! They’ll go over the university rules and procedures with us themselves when we get there. Please know that you have one date home through their portal at the end of the semester; you must come home on that date. You can’t come home before or after that day.” I was nervous about the fact that we had work visas instead of student visas. I understood that we were less protected, even though our university had tried to ensure a diplomatic passport for us instead. I nearly bailed on that information but decided to take a gamble. Finally, Matt said, “Let’s get moving to the portal!” I was spared the same checks as the students since my colleague had taken care of mine a week before. I stood by as the students were all measured, checked over, and soon gathered before the portal. When my turn came, I hiked a backpack I’d brought at an online guide’s suggestion. They seemed to think that if you shrank or grew, you were more likely to have a set of clothes in the bag that would still fit. With a last look at my world, I turned and walked through the portal off on a new adventure paid for by the university! Moments passed by as I walked through with my eyes closed as directed, my stomach feeling some combination of free fall, my skin static electricity, and just general weirdness, I stumbled a bit on the other side. Sure that I was on the other side, by the change in how the air felt, I opened my eyes and felt my jaw drop as a tall woman came into view. “Name?” She asked. “Doctor Katherine Benson,” I told her. “Oh, one of the group leaders,” she smiled at me. “You’re going to follow that green line on the floor. It’ll take you to the exam rooms.” “Thanks,” I told her, even as I turned around. “How come there’s no one behind me?” “Oh, there’s a delay between your time and ours. It’s convenient because it spaces your arrivals out more.” “Huh,” I said. “Go ahead, and please head to your exam.” I followed the lines down the hallway before I realized she had said, ‘Your exam.’ I’m supposed to be in with everyone else doing their exams?’ I shook my head and continued following the line, even as I looked up at a ceiling that had to have been twenty feet above me. I couldn’t imagine this was a standard hallway, but that woman was more than halfway up inside of it then. I arrived into an area with more activity and saw a woman in scrubs looking down at me. “Name?” “Doctor Katherine Benson,” I said. “Welcome, Doctor Benson,” the woman said with a smile. She looked me up and down, “I’m going to have Mandy here take you down to an exam room to be checked over.” “I was supposed to be in the rooms with the other group members?” “You need to be checked over, too, and I don’t think anyone wants to delay until you’re done?” She gave me a friendly look but made me think it wasn’t a request. “Plus, we have five different exam rooms that go simultaneously with doctors. It’ll be quicker if you get your exam done. We’ll share the results with you before you leave?” I looked up at the exceptionally tall and intimidating figure and nodded, “That seems fair enough. Where do I go?” “Follow me,” the other woman said. As I did so, I felt like a toddler taking multiple steps for each of her stride! The next fifteen minutes were surreal for me. The nurse showed me an exam room, gave me a gown, and removed all of my clothing, including my underwear, before putting it on. Moments later, I found myself ‘helped’ up to the top of the exam bed, where I stood and was scanned. A projection suddenly appeared before me, looking like something out of a science fiction movie. Dr. Katherine Benson Age: 37 Pre-Arrival Height: 5’10” Pre-Arrival Weight: 132lbs Arrival Height: 60” Arrival Weight: 97lbs Eye Color: Hazel Hair Color: Brown Blood Pressure: 132/88 Pulse: 90 “Wait, I shrank?” I asked the woman. “Looks like it, sweetie,” the tall woman said. “Pretty typical – that’s what happens to most dimensional travelers. A lot lose more height than you did. Your blood pressure and pulse are slightly elevated, but I am guessing being a bit stressed is probably why?” “Probably, I’m normally lower with both,” I said, even as I wondered how all that was scanned without physical contact. “You’ll have another checkup in a couple of weeks; if it’s still elevated, the attending physician may recommend treatment. For now, why don’t you go ahead and get dressed, and we’ll get you back to your group?” “Sure,” I told her. I’d heard stories and seen some studies that people commonly changed heights going through the portal, but I felt my hands shake a bit as I pulled my bra back on and panties and then made myself presentable again. My hair was slightly off as I used my phone as a mirror. A couple of quick adjustments, and I was back to Doctor Benson mode. I looked around the room, taking inventory of everyone, and felt shocked at seeing Connor Slane. ‘Wow, he really shrank!’ I said to myself. A nearby Big looked down at me and said, “I think we just about have everyone here?” I nodded in agreement, “Where’s my colleague Doctor Owens?” “Oh, we’re having two separate meetings depending on which group the students will end up with. Since he was here first, I sent him with the other group that’ll be in the standard dorms. This group will be in the Little dorms, and as soon as they get set with their Nest Mothers, we’ll get you back with Doctor Owens and to your places where you’ll be staying.” “Thanks, sorry I didn’t get your name?” “Oh, I’m Dean Northrup, one of the Deans here at Emerson.” “Nice to meet you; I’m Katherine Benson.” “It's a pleasure,” she said as she looked down at me. I stared up at her. I noticed she was getting some sort of notification from the watch around her wrist, so I decided to begin by clearing her throat. “First of all, welcome to Emerson University, and what I hope will be an incredible learning experience for you these few months you’ll be joining us. I am Dean Northrup, the Dean of Little’s here at Emerson. The woman just walking in is Doctor Emma Greene. She’s the director of the dorm where your rooms will be. If you’re wondering, your other friends are meeting with a separate Residential Director to get them situated.” I stood there feeling like a spare part as she gave directions to the Littles, including a series of rules that made my stomach flop. ‘They’ll really make them wear diapers?’ I couldn’t help but think. The demerit system made me grateful that I wasn’t one of them. By the end of the meeting, as I saw the students led away, I couldn’t help but feel we should all turn around and go home instead! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading!!! Please press the 'Like' Button and leave a comment! For right now I'm planning to post twice a week. It's most likely going to shift the days a little until December finishes for real life reasons. As of right now I am almost done with Chapter 12, and there should be about 18 chapters in total. If all goes well, this should bridge the gap until I can get a new season of LCW going!

Chapter 26: ERICA CARRIED ME to the car, “We’re going to run home and change first before we complete the adoption.” “Change?” “This is a special day!” she said with a smile. “You’re officially going to be Mommy’s baby girl! So we should make sure we’re both dressed for the occasion!” “Oh,” I replied. ‘I guess I shouldn’t be surprised she would want me to be dolled up for whatever procedure is involved in getting adopted…?’ As we traveled back to her… our house, I regretted my stupid decision to come along to this dimension! The problem was that I was officially out of any options. I had foolishly gone down the path to arriving in this dimension and, like a crab in a crab pot, hadn’t noticed the water was too hot until it was too late! I felt like I was a passenger to my body as she carried me upstairs to my nursery and stripped me of my ‘big girl’ outfit and damp diaper to dress me in one of the ultra-fussy dresses she’d bought on Saturday before the hypnosis hit. It was the kind of dress I could see a baby girl wearing in only the most carefully planned situations, and I assumed parents would know it would never stay clean anyway! It was such a pale pink, almost white, that for a moment, as she pulled the dress over me, I had a flash to a dream as a little girl of being married in a wedding dress. Fortunately, it wasn’t white, so I could put that picture away as she settled the puffy-sleeved top on my arms. The top of the dress that hugged my skin was soft satin and had an ornate organza and lace overlay that would have itched without it. A for-show ribbon was ‘tied’ just below my breasts to one side and featured three little fabric rosettes there, too. The skirt was the same satin underneath but featured three-tiered organza overlays. It was, in a word, fussy! After buttoning the back of the dress up, Erica pushed me down on my back and pulled the matching bloomers that had come with it over the top of my diaper. I noted from my reflection as she sat me up that no matter how I stood or sat, you would see them! I sat still as she then tied a huge bow onto the top of my head! ‘It’s like she’s wrapping her own Christmas present,’ I thought darkly. ‘It’ll be okay…’ I reassured myself. As a little girl, I liked dresses but hated ones like this. Anytime my mom moved towards something with this much lace and frills, I would move over to something simpler. “I’m going to set you down in your crib for just a moment, baby girl, while I get ready!” Erica said. “But…” I was going to complain about being stuck in the crib, but she’d already dropped me and left. I stood at the rails and looked at my reflection in the mirror. This was not the reflection I’d seen a couple of weeks before… and I felt tears in my eyes, knowing that Dr. Katherine Benson was gone and would never again go home to see her family. Right when I was about to go into complete hysterics, though, Erica returned to the room, dressed in a dress meant for a formal business meeting or court. Court… I really hadn’t considered what adoption actually meant. ‘What’s going to happen?’ I worried. “What’s wrong, Katie,” she asked, sweeping in to pick me up. “Scawe,” I told her. She squeezed me tight. “Don’t worry; you have nothing to fear. I promise I will always love you and take care of you. I’ll do my best to help you get better, too!” She said, putting a kiss on my nose. “We took a bit longer to get ready than we should have, so let’s get going.” I just leaned against her and gratefully accepted Honey when she was pressed into my arms. After doing her best not to crush my dress in the car seat, she pressed a pacifier into my mouth to replace the thumb I’d started sucking on. I blushed. The car started, and we began navigating through the city streets. We stopped after a decent length of time, and Erica came to pull me out of the car seat. I felt her finger check my diaper, “You should be okay until we’re done,” she said to me, “Let’s leave Honey here to keep her safe,” she added. It was cold, with most of my lower body exposed, making me shiver. I was grateful when she pulled out a baby blanket and wrapped it around me as she carried me inside what was recognizably a courthouse. I could see a sign detailing the name and probably more, but thanks to the scrambling of my brain, I couldn’t read it. She had just reached the entryway when we heard, “Erica! Wait up!” from behind us. Erica turned, and we saw her parents had come. “Hi Mom, Hi Dad,” she said, hugging them with me in the middle. “You didn’t have to come today?” “And miss seeing our newest grandbaby become part of our family?” Her mom scoffed, “No chance!” “Thanks,” Erica said. “We’ve got to get to the courtroom,” she told them. “You have an attorney?” her dad asked. “Yes, with Katie being a Portal Little, I don’t want to chance missing something.” “Good girl,” he told her. Erica held me closer as we made it through a security checkpoint and met up with a woman she recognized. “Hi, Elizabeth. Thanks for coming!” “Of course, Erica, happy to be a part of making new families!” The woman replied, “And this must be Little Katie!” Erica bounced me a couple of times as if I were a fussy baby. It annoyed me, but I just kept my mouth busy with my pacifier. “Yes, it is,” Erica responded. “Well, we should be all set. We just need to get through a few motions and enter our documentation into evidence. As I said, Emerson has a lawyer present for questions about Katie’s legal status there. The whole hearing shouldn’t take more than five to ten minutes, and then we can walk down the hallway to file everything and chip her.” “Chi?” I asked around the pacifier. Erica rubbed a hand up and down my back, “Don’t worry about that, Sweetie; I’ve got everything taken care of for today.” ‘Chip? Like they use with dogs and cats back home?’ I felt a growing sense of doom in my stomach, but I knew I could not change anything. My nerves resulted in a warming diaper as I was carried inside a courtroom, and ‘our’ attorney led us to the front. I smiled when I saw a friendly set of faces, though. “Hi,” I waved at Holly, Ivy, Mindy, and a woman I vaguely recognized. They had a man sitting with them who looked like he might have been a lawyer, too. They waved back but said nothing as Erica wordlessly sat down with me in her lap. She rubbed my back and bounced me some before she had to stand up with me. As the judge entered the room, a bailiff cried, “All-Rise! Judge Jim Price presiding!” He took his seat at the bench, and everyone else followed suit. “Case number 4820492 in the Matter of the Adoption of Doctor Katherine Benson is in order,” the bailiff called. The tall, thin-haired judge looked at a tablet for a moment. “I see we have several representatives out here this morning on this case for the adoption of Katherine Benson, a Little?” he asked. “Yes, Your Honor,” Elizabeth, our attorney, said. “I’m Elizabeth Hill, attorney for the adoptive mother, Doctor Erica Daniels.” Across the aisle, a woman stood. “I’m Savannah Thompson, an attorney acting on behalf of the interests of Emerson University.” “Oh, is Doctor Benson a student or faculty member?” “She’s a visiting faculty member, Your Honor,” she responded. “I’m here just to ensure protocols are followed for the release of Emerson’s interests.” “Fair enough.” He said, then looked around and made his eyes midway through the courtroom at my friend’s party. “Mr. Freeman, are you here for some reason, too?” “Yes, Your Honor,” Erica turned, and with me in her lap, I could now see the tall, big man with gray hair. “I’m here to present a Motion to Intervene in this Matter in the interests of Doctor Benson.” “So this morning is not going to be a rubberstamp day, huh?” he said with a bit of a chuckle. “May I hear the initial adoption information first, and then we’ll proceed to your motion so I can see if it has merits?” “Yes, Your Honor,” the man said. ‘What does that mean?’ I wondered. “In that case, Mrs. Hill, I presume you have documentation on a case for Maturosis for the young woman in question?” She hesitated momentarily, clearly surprised by something, but said, “Yes, Your Honor. I have submitted a full packet to you for evidence?” She told him. “I see that,” he said, and I watched him seemingly flip through an electronic copy, “an overview for brevity?” “Yes, Your Honor. Katherine Benson arrived here not quite three weeks ago as an academic advisor on an exchange student trip to our dimension with Emerson University. Due to a facility issue at the apartment complex where she was scheduled to be housed, Doctor Daniels was kind enough to allow Doctor Benson to stay with her.” “Facility issue?” Judge Price asked. “Miss. Thompson?” “The apartment she was assigned was designed for a Big, and no Little accommodation was available?” “That seems shortsighted on behalf of Emerson?” he noted. “You should pretty much assume anyone traveling here would be a Little?” “It was an oversight, Your Honor; we were just grateful that the doctor we had assigned to help her at the hospital was so generous in taking her in.” “Uh-huh,” he said. “Okay, Mrs. Hill, continue?” “That evening, the first cause of concern for a diagnosis of Maturosis came in the form of Katherine defecating in her pants. Doctor Daniels was kind enough to help and continued to do so the next week and a half as more of her Maturosis presented itself. She fell out of her bed and broke her wrist the next night, had multiple accidents in Pull-Ups, and finally, about a week ago, Doctor Daniels moved her to diapers full time.” ‘What is going on here? I thought I wasn’t at fault for all of this? They’re making it sound like I have that Maturosis condition? I think Holly mentioned it, but what the hell is it?’ “Last week, on Monday, the head of pediatrics told Doctor Daniels that Doctor Benson was no longer cognizant enough to see patients, and she began spending a couple of days in the daycare at the hospital. After a bit of a chance for a breather and some counseling, Doctor Benson agreed to the conditions of care if members of a group she trusted no longer believed she was in the right mind to make decisions for herself. In that case, she submitted to adoption by Doctor Daniels to become her new mommy.” “I see,” Judge Price said. I watched him make notes, even as I debated sticking up for myself. None of that was my fault! He turned to the Emerson lawyer, “Miss Thompson, do you have anything to add here?” “Not much, Your Honor. We placed guardianship of Doctor Benson with Doctor Daniels after her falling out of bed, which meant someone needed to be able to assert care instructions. As of Monday, she is no longer employed by her university as a member of their exchange team, so Emerson defers the right to adoption to Doctor Daniels.” “Seems clearcut, Mr. Freeman, you want to explain your Motion for Intervention? I assume you’re about to upset my applecart?” “Not maliciously, Your Honor,” the tall man said as he approached the bench. “I represent the following parties, Doctor Ivy Nickerson, Doctor Holly Nickerson, Doctor Mindy Fairbanks, Doctor Amanda Westerfield, and via a cross-dimensional agreement, Doctor Benson’s family.” “Want to throw in your buddy Supreme Court Justice for good measure?” The judge asked lightly. “No, Your Honor, Justice Slane is not involved in this suit.” He shook his head, “That was a joke. What is your party’s concern?” “We believe that it would be unjust for Doctor Daniels to become Doctor Benson’s adoptive mother given she was responsible for this so-called Maturosis condition?” I looked up at Erica, knowing the claim was true until a couple of days ago. Didn’t they sign off on my adoption? “Wha’s goin’ on?” I couldn’t help but say. Erica said, “Shhh,” and rocked me in her arms, “It’ll be okay.” Even as she said that, I felt her body language tense up like it had been the day she spanked me, and it scared me! “Do you have proof of this?” Judge Price asked. “Yes, Your Honor, both incriminating statements from her regarding the hypnosis she used on her, as well as information that Emerson University had faculty members who helped facilitate the circumstances that led to Doctor Benson remaining with Doctor Daniels.” I looked up at Erica, “Is srue?” I tried asking. She held the pacifier firmer in my mouth then. “Okay, I don’t like this much going on in a case I was expecting to be a rubber stamp day. Bailiff, would you please collect Doctor Benson from Doctor Daniels?” “My baby!” Erica said jarringly. “Maybe,” Judge Price said. “I won’t sign off on an interdimensional adoption like this until I have the facts. Bailiff, please take Doctor Benson down to our care center. When you do so, please ensure they are given the message that she is not to be shown any electronic screen, nor is she to be forcibly restrained or mistreated. Should this case not conclude before the evening, I will determine a safe place for her to spend the night.” Erica tried holding onto me for a second before her lawyer got her to let go. The bailiff was a friendly older gentleman who could tell I was scared. He bounced me in his arms for a moment, “It’ll be okay, baby,” he said to me as he fairly lovingly held me. I barely heard Judge Price say, “We’re going to be in recess for one hour while I meet with all the counsels in my chambers.” The tall man carefully carried me through a labyrinth of hallways, an elevator, and then finally to an area that was clearly a childcare area. “Well, hello, Jameson,” I saw a friendly-looking older woman say. “Hi, Libni,” he said with a smile. “Who’s this?” “Judge Price’s unexpected headache today,” he said with a smile while cuddling me. There was a comfort and feeling of safety from being held in his arms, which was better than Erica’s. “Oh?” “Yeah, I need to get back up there. His orders are that she not be shown anything electronic, be forcibly restrained, or mistreated. You and I both know you don’t need those last two orders?” She laughed, “Nope, but I appreciate the old goat caring enough to ensure that comes through. What’s her name?” “Doctor Katherine Benson,” he said. “Maybe soon, Daniels, it’s an adoption hearing?” “Oh, sounds like things did have a bit of a kerfuffle?” “Perhaps,” he agreed. “Go with Miss Libni here; she’ll take good care of you!” She carefully gathered me in her arms, “Say bye-bye to Officer Branch!” “Bye,” I said. The new woman was also very warm in her personality, but I wasn’t as comfortable in her arms. “Let’s see, first thing’s first, let’s change that diapee of yours. No telling how long you’ve been wet, and I’m not going to get on the bad side of Judge Price today!” She bounced me in her arms and carried me inside a room that was clearly an in-house daycare facility. Several other workers moved around, and Littles and genuine kids alike seemed to be having a good time playing with each other in different corners of the room. The woman sat me on the changing table and said, “I’m going to change you out of this dress until you go back to Judge Price’s room. There’s no sense in getting this messy! Not to mention, I can’t imagine it’s very comfy?” I shook my head, “Is no’.” “It is pretty, though!” she said with a smile. “Someone who loves you very much probably dressed you in it, huh!” I shrugged. Soon, I was completely naked except for my diaper in a room of others who could see me. I felt embarrassed and wanted the whole thing over quickly! “Let’s see, you’re probably this size?” She asked while lifting my bottom and looking at the back of my diaper. “Yep! Still got it!” She smiled, tickling my belly for a moment, “Don’t look so worried! We’ll take good care of you!” I giggled a little, outside of my control, as she swapped my soaked diaper for a new one and picked me up off the changing table, still naked except for my diaper. “Let’s go look in the closet for something else for you to wear.” She held the over-the-top dress in one hand and gently held me with the other as she carried me to a room that looked like a thrift store. “I think a onesie and leggings should be comfy while you’re here, huh?” I nodded, “Sure.” I was soon dressed in a butterfly-covered onesie with some plain pink leggings over the top. “Okay, now it sounds like you’ve had a long day so far, and with Judge Price’s orders, I want to ensure we don’t have you see something you’re not supposed to. Do you mind if I just put you in a private room with a crib for a nap?” I shrugged, “Tha’s fine,” I said around the pacifier. She squeezed me in a hug before placing me in a small room that seemed like it could serve as a temporary jail cell almost, with the door locking from the outside. She gently laid me in the crib, covered me with a blankie, and handed me a stuffed teddy bear from a shelf. “Here, this teddy can be a friend for you. I’m going to leave you here for a nap. If you need anything, just cry out; someone will be here soon. Hopefully, once you wake up, the grownups upstairs will have figured out what’s going on with a cutie like you.” I blushed but took the traditional brown teddy bear in my arms and took her advice. A nap sounded like the best plan right then! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like button and leave a comment! Just a few more chapters to go here! Probably post again on Tuesday providing enough likes and comments come to make me feel better. Caught some stupid cough bug while I was on my trip. Snuggled in blankies right now, trying to let my body rest. Hopefully this last twist doesn't seem too left field. Curious to see how you all take these next few remaining parts!

Chapter 13: ERICA LAUGHED THEN, “Oh, no, these glasses would ruin the movie for you!” “Why?” “Look how much taller I am than you?” I shrugged, “Yeah? What of it?” “Here in the theater for a show like this, they know it’s geared towards a shorter audience?” I looked around. We were secluded, but I could make out some other Littles and maybe other kids. “So?” “So they calibrate these high-tech screens to about your height. You need these glasses to compensate if you’re over a few feet taller than the average Little. It lets us see a second version sized just right for us!” “That’s weird,” I told her. “Seems like a lot of extra steps?” She smiled, “It’s pretty standard here.” Erica giggled, “Plus, they’d look really silly falling off your face!” I giggled about that picture then. Before I could ask any other questions, our food arrived. The waitress put my little table right into my lap and then put what could almost have been a to-go box tray from a restaurant back home on it. There was a compartment with nuggets, another with sauce, and another that held French fries. “That looks good!” Erica told me. I grabbed a nugget, which was giant compared to my hand, and dipped it tentatively in the sauce. I licked the sauce. “Wow!!!” I said. It was like my world exploded in taste and color! The flavor was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before!!! I quickly dipped the whole nugget in the sauce and put as much of a bit in my mouth as possible! Chewing, I savored the flavors! “How can simple chicken nuggets taste this good?!?” I asked Erica. “See, I told you!” “You’re always right,” I agreed. I dunked the rest of the nugget into the sauce and put it into my mouth with a few bites, deciding the sauce on my hand would wipe off onto the next nugget! I had five nuggets. Each was so good that I couldn’t help but devour them in record time! As I finished the last one, I was full, but seeing more of the sauce, I knew I had to do what I did at McDonald’s back home - dip the fries in the sauce! I was finishing the last fry like that when I knew my stomach could take no more! “I see you enjoyed that!” Erica said with a smile. “I wonder, though, if you got any of that sauce in you?” “Huh?” I said. Only then did I look down and realize my bib was splattered with the sauce and some crumbs! Erica reached over with a baby wipe and wiped my face first, and I realized I had sauce all over my chin and cheeks! “This is embarrassing,” I said. “I don’t ever eat this messy!” “Oh, it’s okay, Sweetie,” Erica said, “I’ll get you cleaned right up. Oh, and look, the movie’s starting!” Sure enough, as she wiped my hands, I was distracted by the air suddenly filling with the most amazing colors as Doc Mc Sweetie’s world came alive!!! “Wow!” I said. I was surprised there were no previews, but I was excited to see we would spend an entire day of Doc’s shift! We started with her first patient, a Little whose mommy was worried about how she kept wetting her Pull-Ups and leaking through them. “I don’t know what to do?!?” the mom told Doc. “Oh, don’t worry! Little Izzy here isn’t ready for the potty! That’s okay too! Did you know that GiggleTots makes special Princess Diapers just for Littles like her?” “Those are for babies,” Izzy complained, “I’m a big girl! …I just seem to be having problems all of a sudden! I think it’s something the big kids did to me at school!” Doc laughed, “Izzy, even if that’s true, you’re the one having accidents! But look at it this way: if your mommy puts you in those ultra-comfy GiggleTots, you’ll never have to worry about accidents! Your special diapers will take care of everything!” “You really think this is the answer?” her mommy asked. “I guarantee no more leaks!” “But she used to be able to potty?” “It happens sometimes, but meeting your Little where she is is okay!” Doc told her. “Thanks, Doc; we’ll pick up a pack on the way home!” “Oh, I have a pack right here!” Doc said, “You probably don’t want her to wait that long in that poopy Pull-Up anyway!” “You’re right, Doc! Thanks for helping!” The Little girl looked shocked and blushed, even as the camera showed the mommy lifting her Little girl onto the table. “See, like Doc said, these will work perfectly!” Her mommy said after a cut that she left the room and showed off her cute new Princess Pampers. “And they even have princesses on them, just like you!” ‘Those look comfier than my Pull-Ups were,’ I thought. I was thirsty then and found myself grabbing my cup. It was halfway drained, and I worked to drain it more as I watched the next patient that Doc saw. “Hi, what’s going on today with Jasper?” “Oh, we’re having a problem…” Doc solved that Little’s problem by getting them to accept an adorable stuffed teddy bear to help them sleep! Another solved case, and she moved on to a much tougher patient! The Little girl wouldn’t stop complaining about how her loving mommy was abusing her. Doc showed the mommy an instant way to soothe her little girl with a special pacifier! As soon as she was sucking on it, she started being happy again! “See, pacifiers are special magic!” Doc had said to her mommy. Throughout the movie, I finished my cup and was glad it was refilled with more juice at some point. I felt like I needed to use the potty at one point, but the feeling went away even as my diapee got more warm and comfy! Popcorn arrived about then, too, and I enjoyed munching on the oversized kernels—each popped kernel was the size of my fist! I was eating one slowly, nibble by nibble, when the first realistic case seemed like something I had dealt with. “Doc, my baby is choking!!!!” the mommy said. I watched as Doc performed the Heimlich on the Little. Instead of doing it the way we did it with adults, she performed the infant version. While she did that, someone brought one of the airway-clearing devices that had worked wonders in some situations I’d been in with patients. Sure enough, the piece of chicken nugget came out from the Little’s mouth, and she began recovering. “Doc, what do we do? If you hadn’t been here, my Rey-Rey would have died!” “First, I was here, and she’ll be just fine! You might want to schedule a chance to get first-aid training, though! You never know when something will happen to a loved one!” “I’ll do that next week!” the mommy promised. “Is there anything else?” “Well, maybe Rey-Rey shouldn’t be eating food that’s that big? Littles are much smaller than Bigs, and it’s a good idea to feed them food meant for them!” “No want baby food!” the little girl whined. “It’s not baby food!” Doc laughed, “It’s just special food made smaller for your size! Not all of it is even purees, even though I think those might be best!” “Do you think we should try formula?” “That can be an extra source of nutrition, too! OR, mommy’s special milkies are even better!” Doc told her. Doc solved a few other patients’ problems, and I was excited when she used nanites to solve the last case! It helped solve some mouth pain the Little was experiencing with her teeth. It showed how the nanites could make a special gum above them to help protect them! ‘I don’t think Mo… Erica liked that one?’ I thought back to one of the days at the hospital. I actually appreciated that; it seemed bad to me! Somehow, I was on a third bottle of Plapple juice when the final Little was nursing from her mommy, and I couldn’t help but realize how happy she was when she was done! I nursed from my bottle and wondered if milkies would be even better in it than the Plapple juice! I was surprised it was over when the lights came up, even as Erica took off her glasses and looked at me. “Did you enjoy that?” She asked me. “Uh-huh!!! Doc is so cool!!!” “You really enjoyed your new cup, too, it looks like!” she said as she reached down, moved the table out of the way, and removed the bib from me. Looking at Doc’s picture before she folded it, I felt a little guilty about how dirty she’d gotten! “I made a mess,” I said. Erica giggled, “That’s okay. I cleaned it up! You’re all good!” She reached down and picked me up. “Looks like those cups went right through you! You sure seemed to enjoy drinking your juicy from it!” I blushed, “It’s good!” She squeezed me tighter before putting her hand and patting my diaper. “Better go change you before you leaky!” I blushed but leaned into her. She carried me into the hallway, and I noticed lots of tired Littles being carried now. I smelled a few poopy diapers, too, as we passed some of them with Erica’s faster stride. She brought me into the women’s restroom and waited in line behind a few other mommies. “Looks like someone just came from Doc McSweetie?” The woman in front of us said. It seemed she was holding a genuine baby. “Yep! I’m holding a genuine Doc Sweetie, and she loves her!” The woman giggled, “So does my baby girl here. I like how it lets me keep her little a while longer each night.” ‘Huh?’ I thought. I accidentally found myself staring at a boy getting his diaper changed in front of us. Instead, I turned my head onto Erica’s shoulder. “Looks like someone’s getting sleepy!” The woman said. Erica patted my back and said, “Probably, but she’s got a few more hours before bedtime.” I found myself tuning out her discussion and felt my thumb poking at my lips then. I moved my lips up and down on the end of it for a few minutes. As Erica finally got an open table, I was embarrassed at the line of people behind me able to see my change! I put the rest of my thumb into my mouth then and began sucking on it. It wasn’t as good as a bottle, but it was comforting. “Let’s get that nasty thumby out of your mouth?” Erica said with a smile. “Huh?” I asked as she pulled it out and held something else out. I had just enough attention to see that she was holding a pacifier. She wiggled the nipple into my lips. I almost refused it, but I remembered how Doc said they were great! ‘Doc’s never wrong!’ I told myself. As soon as it cleared my lips and I began sucking on it, I discovered she was right! I smiled up at Erica, who playfully touched my nose before pulling my jeans down to expose the soaked diaper. “You would have swam away if we didn’t change this soon!” She said to me with a smile. I blushed and crossed my arms nervously. As she opened my diaper, I made eye contact with a mother holding her Little boy. She smiled at me and gave me a little finger wave. I smiled back and then turned back to Erica. She was just pushing my legs back to wipe my bottom. Soon, I was in a nice dry diaper, and she had washed her hands. “I need to hit the potty now,” she said with a smile. I was sat down on the floor beside the toilet she used. I watched her pull her panties down and sit down, thinking, ‘I used to do that…’ ‘Why would you want to?’ another voice responded. When we eventually cleared the restroom, she said, “We have one more stop!” “Oh?” I asked. “Yep! Honey told me this morning that she’s lonely!” “Yeah, she had to leave all of her friends and family back home. She was sad,” I told Erica. “Well, how about we try to find her a new friend?” I smiled, “That would be great! She can make a new one just like I did!” The pacifier was still in my mouth, but she understood me. Erica carried me a short distance to a massive toy store and placed me on my feet in an aisle in the stuffed animal section. I was astounded by how many stuffies there were! “There’s a lot here!” I said. “Yes, there is! But I bet we can find her friend!” “Uh-huh,” I agreed. “Do you think she wants a bear friend?” She asked me. I thought for a second, “No, she probably wants a different kind of friend…” We walked the aisles for a long while before finding a stuffed tiger! “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!” I sang. “What’s that?” she asked me. I giggled, “It’s from a musical back home!” “So you have two of them but not the third?” She said. I nodded. “Well, sounds like we need a lion too!” “You said one friend?” I asked in surprise. “I think we can do an extra one for such a special occasion!” “Really?!?” I asked. “Really,” she smiled at me. We found a friendly-looking lion with a cute smile, a bit bigger than the new tiger. “Looks like someone must have been a very good girl?” The worker at the register said. “Yep!” Erica squeezed me, “The best!” “Wow, sounds like you should get a sticker!” “A sticker?” “Yep, Sweetie, here! Since you have a bear, let’s get you a ‘Beary Good Girl’ one!” I smiled and leaned into Erica. When we reached the car, I noticed I was feeling sleepy and kind of thirsty. “Erica?” I asked her as she buckled me in. “Yes, Sweetie?” “Do you have anything else to drink?” She smiled, “Of course! Always prepared!” I watched her dig in the bag, and she pulled out another baby bottle. “Milky?!?” I said excitedly “Yep! I kept it in a special pouch that kept it cold! But give me a second; it’ll be nice and warm and taste even better!” “Wow!” I said with a smile. I watched her check something on the side of the bottle before she handed it to me. “That should get you through the trip home!” I nodded, “Thank you!” “Silly, you’ll have to take your paci out, though!” She smiled at me as she pulled it out, and I put the bottle’s nipple into my mouth to replace it. A suck was all it took to have the delicious taste all through my mouth! “So good!” I said around it. “Glad you like it, Sweetie!” Erica closed the door and began the trip home to her house. I was about half into the bottle when my eyes stopped wanting to stay open. I kept nursing, though, since I didn’t want to waste a single drop of my special, tasty milkies! Eventually, I must have fallen asleep because I didn’t realize we were even home until Erica was changing my diaper and putting me into my new pajamas for bed. “How long have we been home?” I asked. “Just a little bit, Sweetie. I figure, though, once I get you in your jammies, it’s time to go night night?” My stomach rumbled then. “Are you hungry again, already?” She asked me. I thought briefly and nodded, “I don’t know how, though!” “Hollow leg!” She said with a smile as she pulled up the zipper on the footed sleeper. I shrugged, “Don’t know.” “Well, I think it’s too late for me to feed you a full meal. How would you feel about another bottle of milk?” “Can it be from my Doc cup?” She smiled at me, “Sure, I already washed it! Why don’t you stay up here, and I’ll be right back?” “Okay,” I said. She put me down in the crib. I saw Honey already had her new friends in the crib and crawled over to them. “Hi, Honey! You met our new friends! This is Eleanor,” I introduced her to the Tiger, “And this is Simba!” with the Lion. “Oh, yes, I know you’ll all love each other!” I said as I pulled them all into a group hug. We talked to each other about the day and how I was in a diaper for most of the day today. “I don’t know what happened. One day, I was potty trained, and now I’m not?” Eventually, Erica showed up with the new Doc McSweetie cup and picked me up from the crib, still hugging Honey. “Come over here,” she said to me. “I can hold it,” I told her as she held it. “I know you can, but it’s much nicer to let people do things for us sometimes?” I nodded at that, “I guess that’s true…” She slipped the nipple into my mouth, and I began nursing. With only a quarter left, I felt my stomach churn some, and suddenly, my insides emptied into my diaper!!! I could feel the icky mess sticking to my skin, and it sloshed around some in the diaper for a moment before the liquid was absorbed. I started to cry, but she just put the nipple back into my mouth. “Finish up, baby; I’ll change you after you do.” I was changed into a fresh diaper even as my eyes closed, and I felt my pacifier go into my mouth again. I hugged my new friends as I fell fast asleep. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and leave a comment! I should post again Tuesday/Friday for real this week! Thanks for the humor and keeping me honest last week! 🙂

Chapter 96: In the Can WE TOOK A short break before returning to the scene we planned to start with at ‘Grandma’s house.’ Fortunately, that was a pretty short scene that didn’t involve a lot of cast or resources. Beth was involved in the scene for the first time that morning, but her parts were minimal. Meanwhile, I’d had another wet diaper changed to maintain the continuity that my character hadn’t had one… ‘I’ll probably be visiting those changing stations this week,’ I admitted. There had been no reason to meet the HoloCaretakers I’d heard about from the other Littles in murmurs occasionally the past couple of weeks. They were better about changes than the Bigs. Still, some of them had actual nanny programming, and I’d heard pacifiers and forced bottles happened to a few Littles. I sighed and shook my head, clear of those worries, as we moved to film what was probably the worst scene of the whole project for me. I knew it was also the one that would probably make non-Littles wish they were me! At the action call, I followed behind Charlotte as she cradled a sleeping Beth. Beth’s performance as a sleeping child was quite believable, even as she was nursing a pacifier. We stopped filming at the base of the stairs, started again for the stairs twice, and finally reached the nursery our characters now shared. Charlotte placed Beth on the changing table and changed the artificially wet diaper she wore before dressing her in a purple nightgown. She was tucked into bed, still sleeping, even as I stood by and watched. That particular scene had to be filmed a couple more times so they could get Charlotte’s goodnight kiss just right. It was kind of a cool shot because they filmed her from one side, placing her down on the bed, before virtually removing the wall to let a prepositioned camera get the view from the other side with the wall gone. “Action!” was finally called in the last part of the scene. Charlotte turned from the bed and whispered, “Come here, Brianna.” My not-so-dry diaper was exchanged for a dry one before I was dressed in a miniature version of Beth’s nightgown. As soon as she was done changing me, she carried me from the room and downstairs to the living room. A comfy rocking recliner was against one end of the living room, with a baby blanket waiting on the top of the headrest. Charlotte wrapped me inside of it before I heard, “Cut!” “We good with all of that?” Sebastian asked Will. “It should? I think that worked well. The lighting was good, and we had good coverage as Charlotte carried her down.” “The footage from the camera on the dolly looked good and smooth, too,” Sophia noted. “Okay, Charlotte, go put on the MamaSkin, everyone else, take five!” “MamaSkin?” I asked Sophia as Charlotte sat me on the recliner and walked away. “It’s kind of like the bodysuit Beth has been wearing, but meant to be for an actress playing a nursing mother.” “Meaning?” I asked. “Meaning it’ll prevent you from getting a dose of breastmilk if Charlotte is lactating,” Isabella said from beside me. I blanched, “So I really am supposed to…” “Nurse?” Isabella asked before nodding, “Yeah, and unless you really do want to nurse Charlotte’s boobies, this is the only way to film it and have it look right.” “Not that most boys probably don’t dream of that,” Sophia joked. I rolled my eyes, but as I saw Beth descending the staircase, I asked the important follow-up question: “So what am I drinking?” Gary showed up right then, “Just some plain cow’s milk,” he said. “Promise?” Beth asked, coming up right then. “I even brought the sealed container to show you before we load her with it,” he said reassuringly. When Charlotte returned, I watched as they placed a couple of ‘bladders’ on either side of her that fed into hoses that least to nipples on skin that I would have been convinced was real if I couldn’t see the seams at close inspection. My limited time of seeing nipples in photos led me to believe it was as realistic as something could get. “Comfy enough?” Gary asked Charlotte. She shrugged, “Honestly, this is pretty weird.” “Better than giving the audience a look at your real chest?” he asked. She rolled her eyes, “Trust me, this will look real enough! I’m not sure which would be worse between the fake CGI images and this. I admit I always thought I’d make a lot more money for my first nude scene!” Everyone on set laughed at that. “Someone hand me my little girl, and let’s get this show on the road!” Charlotte said after getting her top back and settled into looking modest and normal. I was placed on her lap, and she gave me a reassuring squeeze as we waited for the crew to finish getting to their places. “Quiet on the set!” A moment later, I heard, “Scene twenty-six, take one!” “Action!” Charlotte made eye contact with me, and it felt like we had an exceptional connection at the moment as she soothingly said, “You’ve probably saved our company, Brianna.” I squirmed as if I was embarrassed and replied, “Hopefully?” “If nothing else, now I know who is responsible and to go after. I’ll call my lawyer first thing in the morning and get them to figure out how we get the police involved.” I shook my head, “It’ll have to be the Feds in this case. Rob and the others are looking at all sorts of Federal charges.” She nodded, staring at me for a moment before giving me a quizzical look. “You know, you could have just told me you couldn’t fix this, right?” I shrugged, “You’ve always been good to me, even before this.” “Even by me forcing you to be my adopted little girl?” “I could have run the other night...? I didn’t have to say yes?” Charlotte pulled me in tighter, “Why did you?” I chewed on the side of my cheek for a moment, looked down, and quietly said, “I knew you were a great mommy?” I looked up at Charlotte and saw several tears streaming down her face. I reached up and wiped one from her face as she gave me a small smile and choked back a sob. “I hope I can be...” she wiped the rest from her face. She suddenly looked down at her shirt, and as I followed her gaze, I realized there must have been another squib-like device, as a couple of moist spots appeared on either side of her chest. She looked down for a second before looking me back in the eyes. “I said I would give you a treat later?” “You already did? I thought that was the restaurant? I’ve never gotten to eat at any place like that before?” I paused, “The food was amazing!” Charlotte laughed, “For good reason, the only Littles there are adopted!” She smiled at me and tickled my stomach teasingly. “No... I had something else in mind that could help you adjust for these last couple weeks before we try potty training Callie again.” “What’s that?” Charlotte smiled at me as she said, “It’s a special mommy gift to you!” I forced my face to move to a panicked expression as if I had just figured out what was happening, even as Charlotte unbuttoned the shirt. I stared for a long moment before she physically adjusted me and placed my face at her nipple. I didn’t latch on right away, having been told to wait until she forced a latch on my mouth. As soon as I did latch, I began sucking away at the now-warm milk. “Cut!” I moved my head away from her chest and reassured myself based on the fact I could stop that it wasn’t breastmilk. “How was the take?” I asked as Charlotte straightened her top. “I think it worked,” Sebastian said. “I don’t think it would go any better if we did it again,” Will agreed. “Charlotte?” Sebastian asked. She looked thoughtful for a moment, “No, I think it worked fine. Let’s get me unhooked from this. Gary, can you get Beth and Carly into their last costumes, and we’ll film the final scene?” She looked at a clock high on the wall, “I think we might be able to get it all finished and in the can in an hour if everyone can hold off on lunch?” “Sounds good!” Will said. “Then take ten, and let’s finish this final scene!” Sebastian said. Charlotte gently leaned forward and let me down onto the ground. I walked with Beth and Gary back to the wardrobe room. My diaper was dry, so I managed to get onto the toilet and successfully went for the first time that day before being changed into a new diaper by Sophia and dressed in a grey sweater dress that was covered with a tessellating embossed series of hearts in the same color. The columns looked like lines from a distance, but it was cute. A diaper cover was pulled up my legs over my diaper, and I was turned over to Isabella. She had just finished putting Beth’s hair in a cute style with two little braids coming to the back of her head and a large bow to hold it in the middle. “There is no way that would last through a day of daycare,” I laughed. “With the nanites, it would,” Isabella said as she lifted me onto the chair we had been doing hair in for the past few days. “I forgot about that stuff,” I admitted. “It’s such an odd thing to use something so advanced on,” I told her. She shrugged, “We’ve had nanites commonly used for over thirty years; I don’t think any of us think it’s that advanced anymore?” “Huh,” I said. I felt Isabella working and knew she had to be making my hair match Beth’s. When Beth appeared in a matching grey dress herself, I knew we were indeed pulling the sisters’ look one last time in the film. BETH FOLLOWED CARLY out to the set as soon as Isabella finished with her hair. As much as she hated the look on herself, she couldn’t help but believe Carly looked absolutely adorable like this! The grey worked amazingly well with their hair and eyes, especially since everything in the playhouse and the daycare was so bright and colorful! As they came out to the soundstage, they discovered both the indoor classroom of the daycare setup and a play yard with the play house were set up and ready to go. Cameras were set up inside the playhouse, and it looked like one was set to do the same trick of making the wall go away that they’d used with the bedroom scene. She saw Charlotte just coming out of what Beth was pretty sure she had arrived in for the day. “Ready to wrap this up, you two?” “Definitely!” Beth said, “I never want to wear another of these outfits again!” Charlotte giggled at that, “I don’t blame you!” Ten minutes later, they began shooting with her, Carly, and a HoloCharacter inside the large playhouse. The HoloCharacter was about a foot taller than Carly but still shorter than she was. The character was playing with a toy pan on the stove, as Beth had Carly sitting in a ‘play’ high chair that was probably just one of those short convertible ones. She tried to spoon a fake spoonful of a jar of baby-pureed peas into Carly’s closed mouth. “You’re the baby; you have to eat it!” she whined at Carly. “But why am I the baby?” Carly whined back. “I’m older than both of you?” The HoloCharacter walked over and wore the sternest expression ever worn by a two-year-old girl, “You littlest, you baby!” Carly looked back at Beth, pleading with my eyes, but Callie said, “She’s right, you’re the shortest. Now sit in your high chair and let Mommy feed you.” Carly was about to fight more when she added, “I’ll tell Mommy on you if you don’t!” With a sigh, Carly pretended to eat the play food and did her best not to let the fake spoon hit her mouth. She managed to actually land it inside twice, though, and Beth smirked as Carly made a face as if she had sand or something in her mouth. When enough time passed that she would have seemed to get bored of it, she said, “All done! What a good baby!” Beth grimaced internally but forced herself to smile as she suddenly squatted and activated her PooPloder. A moment later, Isabella came in to play Miss Terry. “Oh, did you finish feeding your baby, Callie?” Beth smiled and bounced a bit, “Uh-huh! She’s a good baby!” Isabella knelt down, smiled at her, and then turned her around to check her diaper. “I bet she is. Since you’re done feeding her, we’d better change Mommy into a fresh diaper, huh?” Beth looked at her with a confused look, “Huh?” “You’re poopy, dear!” “Nuh-uh,” she started to argue but made a face that sold her suddenly realizing she was. “Bree, come?” “Sure,” Isabella said as she grabbed both girls’ hands and led them inside the daycare. “Cut!” Sebastian called. “Will?” he asked. “All good, I think?” “Charlotte?” He asked. “I agree, I can’t see anything worth refilming. Beth and Carly did a great job with that scene. I thought I was going to lose it when the spoon went into your mouth, Carly,” Charlotte said. Carly stuck her tongue out at Charlotte, “I’m just glad it wasn’t a real play area… can you imagine how gross and how many germs would be on those things?!?” Charlotte laughed, “Babies don’t care though, huh?” “Almost done, everyone; let’s get this final scene in!” Sebastian said. There was a flurry of activity on the set as they reset cameras and relocated a few dolly tracks to smooth out some camera movements. Finally, they stood on the other side of the door to come in, and the call to action was made. Beth awkwardly waddled and followed Isabella to the changing table with her fully loaded diaper. Beth held her arms up even as Isabella leaned over to pick her up and placed her on the changing table. As she placed the safety strap on Beth, she looked down at Carly beside her. “Seems like you’ve got your work cut out for you here, Bree? But I guess you get to start potty training again next week!” Beth heard Carly’s sigh, “Mommy did say that.” Beth frowned deeply, “No wanna use potty!!!!” She then kicked her feet up and down at the end of the table in defiance! “No kicking, Callie!” Isabella warned. “Why not Callie? Being a big girl is fun! And using the potty isn’t a big deal?” Carly asked as if trying to defuse the misbehaving sister. “It’s boring! You have to stop playing!” “But…” Carly was about to argue when she went silent. Isabella was pulling the diaper cover down and the dress out of the way as she looked down at Carly. “Well, maybe you’ll both just have to find out how much fun you can have when you don’t have to stop playing to have your diapers changed!” “Bree, you still there?” Beth asked. Isabella patted her on the head, “She’s fine, she’s just having her own poopy moment.” “Bree poopy too!” Beth giggled. They filmed Beth being let down and Carly being placed on the table in her place. She winced as the contents of the PooPloder-filled diaper were pressed against her. Isabella quietly muttered, “You may never get out of diapers if she keeps that attitude up.” Beth watched from the side as Carly said the final line, “Don’t I know it!” They filmed the completion of the diaper change for good measure before Beth heard, “Cut!!!” Several minutes later, after reviewing the footage, Charlotte said, “That’s a wrap, everyone!” Cheers filled the room, as the crew felt they had done a lot of work to get there the past few weeks! “Okay, Connor, let’s go get you back to being Connor,” Gary said suddenly from beside them. “Cast photo first!” Charlotte insisted. “I guess,” he agreed. All of the crew crowded into the nursery part of the daycare and staged themselves, holding toys and rattles. A few even put pacifiers in their giant mouths. It was a cute photo they showed Beth and the others before they went to get changed. ‘I just hope we can get Carly figured out…’ she thought. Back in the wardrobe room, they helped Carly sit in the hair styling chair, and Beth watched Isabella first deactivate the hair nanites. A bow was still holding the hair in the back of her head. Still, the color seemingly instantly reverted to her usual dirty blonde, and her hair was a little more lifeless. Gary then came over with the tablet that controlled the gender nanites. “Okay, hopefully, this fixes everything here, Connor; you ready?” “Go for it,” Beth heard Carly say. As soon as Gary activated the system, Carly shouted in pain even as she briefly convulsed! When she stopped moving, everyone froze. It looked like nothing had changed!!! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button! I have some time off this week, so hopefully, I'll be able to get a bigger lead on chapters than I have right now. At a certain point, I may have to cut back to one a week to keep the flow going when my life gets nuts again in the fall. (It's always nuts, but sometimes it's worse than others!) Anyway, if this gets 25 likes by Sunday, I'll give you a bonus. If that one gets that, I'll probably be in the mood to give a third next week. This chapter answered many of your questions, but of course, some remain unanswered. Answers come in those next chapters! (Some of them, at least!) As always, if you enjoy my works, please consider purchasing the completed ones on Amazon Kindle! http://amazon.com/author/babysofia

Chapter 24: Guests THE NEXT WEEK was an intense time around the courthouse. Protestors gathered on the steps and the large grassy area in front of it to protest and counterprotest all week! I watched several reports on the news where the ELNAP protestors tried to adopt some of the Littles protesting with CAMOL. Fortunately for the Littles, they were in Hartford, which kept them from being just adopted right there. Most of them managed to get released over the course of a day or two when their ‘parent’ tried to take them to the adoption clinics. The ones that didn’t, unfortunately were dragged over state lines to a nearby state to our west that was more like Ames. I soon discovered most of Judge Jones’ days were not as momentous as my first! Most of them dealt strictly with evaluating if a technicality of a law was broken, and what that effect might have on the verdicts in the lower courts. That being said, I felt like I learned more from Judge Jones, and sitting in her office and car talking to her, than I had my entire time in law school so far! I had waited a few weeks for the protests to die down before asking Mr. Fehler and Beth about her idea, “Hi Mr. Fehler!” “Hi Cameron, it’s good to hear from you! I know Beth was wondering if you would call today!” “I wanted to call her all week, but it’s been crazy around here. Speaking of that… Judge Jones, the woman who I’m staying with and interning, suggested since you’re not far from here you could come and stay the weekend sometime before I leave to go back to New Haven in August?” He looked thoughtful, “Where would we stay?” “She has a huge house! She has several guest bedrooms…” “I’m guessing we’d only need one, I know where Beth would want to stay.” “Until…” He nodded, “Beth mentioned your concerns. How about next weekend?” “Let me check with Judge Jones really quick, I’ll call you back in ten minutes?” “Sounds good!” After confirming with her, I’d confirmed with him, and that led to an excited conversation with Beth! We hadn’t seen each other in person now for nearly two full years! The next week was the slowest moving week of all time! Each day the minutes seemed to take forever to pass, and the days themselves were just serving as obstacles to the weekend! I had spoken to Dad, and he had reminded me as long as Beth was still adopted, I had to be careful around Judge Jones since she was legally bound to deal with indiscretions. Having already been forever paranoid that anyone would ever find out about our last time together, I had agreed. The day finally arrived and Mr. Fehler pulled in driving a midsize sedan. It was just before dinner time, after we had come home a little early to meet them. Judge Jones and her husband joined me outside to greet them. I watched as Mr. Fehler opened the door, waved at me friendlily, and turned around to open the back where he pulled Beth out of a car seat. The first thing I noticed though was her clothes. They looked like a normal woman in her twenties should be dressed! My eyes stared at her wide smile as I took in slow motion her being sat down on the ground and bounding towards me. She wore a conservative short sleeved striped top, that emphasized the small curves she had. Her shorts looked like they were an appropriate length, but there was something missing underneath them! She reached me and pounced on me, “Cameron!!!!” I hugged her back as she clung to me and I felt tears come out of my eyes at being reunited finally. “Here Cameron,” she said to me a moment later as she handed me a piece of paper she’d been carrying. I began shaking and crying as I hugged her again. “I’m so glad you’re free!!!!” I felt a little embarrassed as I realized everyone had all watched that display, but didn’t care as I finally regained my composure and remembered my manners. “Sorry about my manners here Judge Jones, I’d like to introduce you to Beth Fehler, and her father Jerome Fehler.” Just then I realized there was someone else there, “And Mrs. Fehler?” I said in surprise as I saw her standing there. “Hi Cameron. Surprise!” She said with a smile. Her mom was a hair under eight feet tall, so while she was taller than me, she was still pretty short. “I thought…” I stammered. “We’ll explain in a moment,” her dad said, “This is my wife Ashley. Why don’t we get everything unloaded first and then maybe we can all sit down and discuss things?” He looked at Judge Jones, “I hope you don’t mind that we brought one more person than Cameron expected?” She laughed, “Not at all, Cameron told me about everything that happened with Beth at Emerson and afterwards… so I’m curious to hear this story too!” Beth squeezed my hand and said, “Where am I staying?” “In his room,” Judge Jones said. At Beth’s open eyes she said, “You’re emancipated, and as an emancipated adult now, I don’t care. You can sleep there or I do have another room with a bed for you too.” She blushed, “With Cameron, would be fine.” I helped Mr. Fehler and Mr. Jones grab luggage for the family and carried Mr. and Mrs. Fehler’s upstairs to the second floor, before continuing up with Beth’s stuff to my room. She smirked when she got there, “I bet you were worried she was matching your hair to the room when you moved in here?” I blushed, not thinking about the color much anymore, “It did occur to me. I don’t know why you, and Addy before you, all love me having long hair…” She leaned up on her tippy toes and kissed me before running her hands through my hair. “For me at least I love having your long hair to run my hands through…” She pulled my head down to her level and then really kissed me, with absolute unbridled passion! Our tongues played in each other’s mouths for a moment before I pushed her back and said, “We should probably get downstairs so everyone can hear this story.” She smiled, “I think you’ll be proud of me!” I hugged her again, “I already am!” She ducked into the bathroom for a moment, and then I held her hand to walk downstairs together. We came down the main stairwell and saw that her parents and the Jones were already sitting down at the dining room table. All of them were staring up at us. “Now that is an adorable sight!” her mom said. We both groaned, but joined them at the table. I smiled as I saw Beth sitting on a simple portable booster cushion on her chair beside me. We sat with her mom on her right, her dad across from her, Mr. Jones at the head, and Judge Jones beside him opposite me. Before us we each had a beautiful steak dinner that I knew he had cooked. “Thanks,” I told him after tasting it, “it’s exceptional as always!” He smiled, “I’m going to miss you when you go back to school! Compliments every time I cook?” Judge Jones punched him on the arm, “I give you compliments too you dolt!” Once we had mostly all finished our food, we sat with empty plates and I asked Mrs. Fehler, “So what happened?” She smiled, “Well… We knew that if Beth was to have a chance we would have to separate. Together we were pretty sure the court would rule that I was too immature of an influence and might corrupt Beth further. In the past some of the courts in Ames have ruled that the Betweener mother suddenly needed to be considered a Little too…” She wiped some tears from her eyes, “I didn’t want to leave Beth and her father, but it was her best chance. Long term we figured that New Albany would be the safest place to try and get her to and grow her back up so to speak… So, I moved there and found a house out in the country with our divorce settlement money. I worked remotely anyway, so nothing had to change with my job.” “When we decided it was finally time to leave at the same time you did,” her dad said, “I left without calling her from Ames. We just showed up a couple days after I called you to let you know we made it to safety.” “I was so excited to see Mom! Dad had never even told me where we were going!” Beth said, grabbing her hand. “So at least I know where you’ve been… What have you been doing? You’ve always been kind of cagey about it,” I told her. “Well… for safety sake when we moved in for the first year, we had her continue to act like a baby outside the house. We had a nursery for her to be safe in case any inspectors happened to come by. When we were pretty sure that no one was following us to check up on her we started really focusing on the potty training even more. We were able to enroll her in a community college to earn an associate’s degree - she just finished in May, and prepared her for the testing center.” “Testing center?” I asked curiously. “It’s easier in New Albany to earn your freedom,” she told me, “But the test is pretty intense.” “What do they do?” Judge Jones asked, just as curious and making herself still known. “Well, it’s a three-hour test. Part of the requirements of passing it is to show you won’t wet or mess your panties during that time. They give you a test that is something like a high school exam, and then also you have an interview with someone who asks you really personal and embarrassing questions.” She squirmed a bit, “At the end of it they check your panties in front of the room of test takers… Then you have to use the potty in front of them to do both things…” “That’s got to be horribly embarrassing,” I said. “You have no idea Cam!” She smiled though. “But when I was done pooping in the potty, wiped myself, and had one last panty check, they gave me the certificate that let us go to the court. Dad had to testify, I had to testify, and then it became official!” “I’m so proud of you for getting through all of that,” I told her with a smile. “Me too! I didn’t think I would ever be an adult again…” She said morosely. “Now what’s new here…?” The next hour we had dessert, I did the dishes with Beth’s help, and her parents and the Joneses ended up having a very cordial conversation. I had been watching Beth for any sign that the early bedtimes were still a thing, but she was wide awake as it approached the time that I normally called it a night. Everyone excused themselves about that same time and went upstairs to their rooms. When Beth and I reached my room I said, “You don’t have to sleep with me if you don’t…” She launched herself at me and kissed me. Really kissed me! I could feel my insides curling with passion right then as she broke it off and pushed me gently away. “Shut up Cam… Let me get dressed for bed, and then I’ll make sure you know exactly what I do want out of you!” I felt my arousal at that statement making my pants uncomfortable, and decided to get dressed in the pair of soft pajamas I had bought in the hopes of such a reaction from her. They were just a pair of plaid pajama pants and shirt, but they were the softest fabric I’d ever felt. I thought she might enjoy feeling me through them. When she exited the bathroom, I wondered why I had bothered getting dressed! She wore a sheer nightgown that showed through to her lacy bra and panties underneath. ‘Real panties,’ I noted! “I hope you have some condoms?” I nervously nodded, “Yes…?” “Well then, let me show you what I want after being locked in diapers for most of the last seven years…” That night we definitely did what she wanted! We made up for the lost years multiple times that night before finally falling asleep. We spent Saturday hanging out, went for a walk around their property together, and eventually had a great meal outside with everyone. I spent some time talking with her parents too, and things seemed pretty much perfect. After dinner I nervously looked at Beth, and got down on one knee with her parents and the Joneses watching. “Beth Fehler, years ago I never knew what I had with you… I was too caught up in trying to get to college and avoid being seen as a Little. The day you gave yourself up was one of the worst days of both of our lives. After everything that’s happened, I know for a fact there’s only one thing I want in this world. I don’t want mere inches to come between us ever again. Beth, would you make me the happiest person in the world and be my wife?” The world stopped then, as I waited to see if things would end the same way as with Addy. The ring wasn’t the same as Addy’s, I had taken that back with Amanda’s help all those years ago, but it was just as valuable. It was a solid platinum band, with a separate wedding band that would eventually intertwine with the beautiful blue sapphire in the center, with two high grade diamonds set beside it. The band itself had more diamonds and sapphires alternating inset around it. I looked into her eyes, afraid of what she would say. Instead, she looked at the ring in my hands, placed her hand out, and let me slide it onto her perfect finger. “Yes!” she said to me before wrapping me in the tightest hug I’d ever felt! We kissed tenderly then and I heard clapping from the onlookers, before we were both mobbed with hugs. That moment as I looked at her beautiful face, and held the hand with a ring on it, I was the happiest I had ever been in my life! I called Dad and shared the news with him right away. He had been as ecstatic as her parents had been too, and insisted on talking with his future daughter-in-law himself to welcome her to our family. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I decided today was a good day to give you all a bonus chapter. Thank you for pressing the Like Button on each chapter! I appreciate so much hearing comments from many of you regularly! I intend to post again tomorrow, and you'll probably see a couple extra postings this week since I have a lighter work schedule. I'm hoping to finish writing the rest of the book before next weekend if all goes according to plan! Thank you for the extra boosts of energy I get from each of those 'Likes' and comments!

And now the season premiere of Lights, Camera, ...What?!? Chapter 126: Back to the Grind BETH WAS FEELING overwhelmed still, even as they started preparing for bed that evening. Carly wanted to hang out with her in her room for a bit, but Amanda insisted they both get some sleep before the school week began. Unfortunately, that meant she would have to wait at least until the weekend for another of the amazing massages Carly had given her! ‘Who would have dreamt little hands like hers could have that much strength?’ As she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help but want the week ahead to fly by so she could be back at Amanda’s with Carly! It seemed like she blinked, and Nikki was walking her to her dorm even as Amanda took Carly back to hers. She’d finally felt like she was following along with the logic professor, even maybe feeling ahead thanks to Carly. She exited and found Carly waiting outside the door doing her cute ‘I need a diaper change’ dance. ‘Stop that,’ she told herself. ‘No giving into those instincts.’ “How was class?” she asked Carly, even as she scooped her up into her arms and walked to the nearest women’s restroom. Fortunately, her muscles and joints mostly felt back to normal that day! She sighed, “It was good, not much new today. I think Professor Turing is pulling back a bit on the material since so many people bombed our first exam.” “Oh,” she smiled at her as she sat her atop the changing table, “But not you?” she smirked and couldn’t help but tickle her exposed belly a second later. “Beth…” Carly whined. “Sorry,” she shook her head to clear it, “I don’t know why I’m like this today?” Carly made a face but didn’t reply. “What?” She asked as she pulled her skirt back down and smoothed her outfit. “I’ve lived around my sisters and moms long enough, I don’t want to say?” “Huh?” “It’s been about a month since you were last like this,” Carly told her with a sigh. “I’m guessing you’re about to start your period?” Beth looked at her watch and saw the date, “Damn… Sorry, Carly!” “It’s okay,” she told her as she leaned in and squeezed her in a hug. “We’ll have to get used to it?” Beth found her squeezing her tighter and not letting her down as they walked to Marconi for their next class. “Have fun with holograms,” she told Carly, leaving her to go to her own class. “Enjoy the waves; hope your test comes back good!” It was only at that moment she remembered her test from Friday. Professors at Emerson were a mixed bunch. Some would just auto-grade tests and post them to their online grade books. Still, others had this weird desire to be present when displaying their student’s successes… or failures and wouldn’t release the tests to them until they were in class. Her fields and waves professor was one of the antiquated professors, and thirty seconds into class, she was staring at her ninety-eight percent score with a smile. “This test was a mixed bag from you all,” her professor said to one of the larger classes she knew she’d have left in her degree. The fifty-student class all seemed to be grimacing or smiling, not much in between! “From what I can tell, about fifteen of you are truly spending the time studying and doing well. If you scored a ninety or better on the exam, that includes you.” He looked around, “For those who scored seventy or less, you need to come to see me during office hours or seek out a tutor. You have another test and final exam to correct your grades…” Beth gulped, hating this professor for following the three grades determining your future tradition! Still, she was grateful she wasn’t one of the students he was talking to. ‘Thanks, Carly,’ she whispered as the professor moved on to a new part of the material. I SAT IN my HoloFields class, taking in some new information that again sounded like a foreign language. Fortunately, my classmates seemed lost, too, so they kept asking the same questions I was thinking. That meant by the end of class, I felt like I understood the new material! I left class and noted I had a message on my phone from Charlotte, ‘Studio Three, we have a new draft of the project with music added and sound effects. I spoke with Wyler, and he’s going to let us have the last half of class to work on projects; we’ll watch it then. Please bring your notes tomorrow to help track the last changes we can have Carly and Beth make!’ I looked up and realized Beth and Nikki were there, “Did you see Charlotte’s message?” I asked her as she picked me up and hugged me before setting me on her hip. “Yeah, I’m glad we’re almost done with this horrific project!” “Met too!” I told her, “Once we turn it in, we just have to watch it at the film festival, and we can forget about it!” She squeezed me before a hand moved and checked my diaper. “You could ask,” I sighed. “Sorry,” she blushed. “You don’t need a change yet, but I think I need to go to the ladies’ room before we head to lunch?” “Okay,” I told her, leaning my head on her shoulder. It wasn’t far to a restroom, and she handed me off to Nikki inside, “Here,” she told her. Nikki shook her head and whispered to me, “Do I need to hold you?” I laughed, “Feel free to put me down…” I whispered then, “Her hormones are in overdrive…” She smiled, “In that case, I better not anger her by neglecting you.” When Beth exited the stall, she said, “Thank God I refilled my supplies last week; I’d forgotten it was that time already.” A part of me was still dealing with being a part of the sisterhood with this open dialogue, and I just kept quiet as she washed her hands and then took me back from Nikki. “Ready for some lunch?” “Where to?” “Student Union today?” I nodded, and we soon sat down to eat at a table when I heard, “Can I join you guys?” from below the tall chair I sat in. “Hi, Mia,” I said to her. “Sure!” She looked a little doubtfully at the tall chair that was free. “Here,” Beth said, grabbing her tray of food from her and placing it on the table. “Thanks,” she said just before Beth picked her up and sat her on the chair. She blushed, “Umm… thanks for the lift.” “Beth…” I warned her with a roll of my eyes. “I…” She said, with understanding in her eyes, “Sorry about that, Mia… Apparently, my brain is a bit wacky today.” Mia shrugged, “No more so than anyone else I have classes with.” “What are those like?” I found myself nervously asking. “Well, I’m taking two psychology classes right now. One is a psychology class for education majors, and the other is for adolescent psychology.” She took a fry from the box in front of her and ate one. “The adolescent psychology one is interesting because they completely diverge in how they discuss Littles from Betweeners and Bigs in their development?” “How?” I asked. “Like talking about how Littles aren’t really growing up or something?” She nodded, “Sort of? We had this long discussion today about Bigs and some Tweeners apparently suddenly lactating in middle school?” I heard a sigh beside me where Nikki sat, “Yep, totally happens!” I looked at her and then back at Mia, “So?” “So they discussed this whole concept of mothering instincts for the entirety of the class for Bigs. Apparently, my professor is currently studying an increase in some catalysts, which means that Bigs in Ames are also highly protective of Littles versus some other regions?” I held my tongue but knew where she would need to look for that. “I’ve heard about this theory,” Nikki said. “Whatever it is, I’m glad some better laws have been getting passed here,” Beth said. “What about Littles?” I asked curiously. “Well… it’s almost like discussing normal teens back home, except they seem to emphasize the opportunities that ‘regressive behavior’ appears. I’m the only Little in the class, and I feel like every time she says that, she looks at me.” I nodded, “Scary. Your other classes?” “Well, the only one I really hate right now is the practicum-based class going into the university daycare?” “You go inside there?” I heard Beth say, even as my own voice joined in. “Yeah…” She said, “It’s been a little scary.” “Umm… Like, so have you seen our classmates?” I asked nervously. She took a breath and nodded, “Yeah, it hasn’t been pretty. The only good thing is they’ve kept me mostly in actual babies’ classrooms, not the Littles. I can’t tell you how many times, though, I’ve had to keep them from pushing me to go join their classroom as one of the ‘babies.’” “If you could drop that class still, I’d tell you to do so,” Nikki said with a sigh, “Unfortunately, you’d probably forfeit your status as being in good standing.” She nodded, “That’s what I was told when I asked.” She shrugged, “For now, I’m just following a couple of local’s advice and keeping my head down.” I nodded. “Oh,” she said suddenly, “I forgot to ask you while we’re free of any listening nest moms…?” I felt a bit nervous at that, “Yes?” “Remember Lilly’s birthday is Thursday? We have those onesies for it?” I turned tomato red, thinking of them, “Yes?” “We need your help with a couple things?” “Okay?” I said. “I’ll try?” “We know Mackenzie is her best friend. Do you think you could recruit her to keep her away until we’re ready for her party?” With a shrug, I said, “Probably? What else do you need?” “Any chance you can help us get a cake and ice cream? Someone mentioned that the delivery services might mess with anything if we order it to the dorm?” “I could see that,” I agreed, “I’ll get my grandmother to help me with that. Anything you want for the cake?” “If it’s possible to get like a unicorn printed on it?” She then added, “Pink, sparkly? Anything like that?” “So, over the top like all the decorations in the nest?” “Exactly!” “Why are we adding to her maternal fantasy here?” I asked her. “You and I both know she’s the sweetest of them, and she deserves a bit of a reward for not completely degrading us every two seconds?” She grimaced, “Let’s just say the last one I wouldn’t have done this for?” I sighed, “I’ll talk to Grandma; I’m sure we can make that happen.” “Thanks!” she smiled. “The other girls have some jobs, too, but you have the biggest.” We all talked about other, safer topics for the rest of lunch before Beth picked me up out of my seat, sat me on the ground, and then helped Mia down, too. “I know Carly needs a change. Do you need one too, Mia?” She asked. Mia turned red, “I’m good; I’m going to head back to the dorm for a bit. I don’t have a class again for a couple hours.” “Okay, see you later then!” Beth told her while picking me up, “Let’s go get your soggy pants changed.” “Beth…” I whined. “Oops…” she said, “Sorry Carly, hopefully by the weekend I’ll calm down…” “I can only hope,” I shook my head, “every month is going to get old, you know?” “Sorry,” she said, “I’ll try and resist. I guess now I can understand how my mom gets.” Twenty minutes later, I was in my analysis class and grateful to be distracted by number theories to forget the embarrassing walk from lunch to the building. Beth had been unable to keep from tickling me and teasing me on the walk and diaper change, leaving me red and wondering what treatments could be out there to tame her hormones! BETH BLUSHED A bit as Nikki told her, “Carly would probably appreciate you being a bit more… reserved?” as she walked her to her classroom. She sighed, “I’ll apologize later, I don’t understand why this is happening to me?” Nikki shrugged, “They do make some supplements that can repress some of it?” “Huh?” “It’s how I deal with it?” Nikki told her. Before she could ask her more, they were sitting down in her Calculus class. She was soon dealing with equations that made her head spin, even while she knew Carly would probably just smile and show her how easy it was for her. ‘She’s definitely not normal!’ By the time the class finished, she was prepared with her apology, which, thankfully for her sake, was readily accepted by Carly, “Don’t worry about it,” she sighed. Through dinner, she did everything she could to not pick up Carly, want to wipe off the pasta sauce on her face that she accidentally placed on her cheek, or anything else. As they walked her back to her nest afterward, Carly said, “Thanks for trying to hold back, Beth; I appreciate it.” “Sorry for earlier,” she said sheepishly. “I can’t believe you figured out my period was starting before me,” she whispered to her, kneeling in front of her beside the dorm. “Like I said earlier, I grew up in a house of five women!” She smirked, “I guess when I get back, it’ll be six…” “Could be dangerous,” Beth found herself smirking. She hugged Carly, “I might try to talk to you virtually later?” “Sounds good,” she told her with a smile. With that, she watched her pint-sized girlfriend walk inside her dorm and began walking to her own. “You’re not going anywhere else tonight, are you?” Nikki asked her as she walked her inside her dorm. “Not planning on it?” “I’m going to go ahead and take care of some stuff at home then; if, for some reason, that changes, call me?” “Of course,” Beth said. “After this weekend, it’s not like I feel safe elsewhere…” Nikki gave her a concerned expression, “Make sure you talk about that with your counselor tomorrow. Beth made a face but nodded, “I will.” As she closed the door behind Nikki and locked it, she couldn’t help but feel her mood fall a bit at the reminder of the weekend. After changing into a pair of comfy pajamas, she forced herself to look at her Signals book to make sure she was ready for class the next day on her bed while cuddling Rings. AS I WALKED into Sanders Hall, I saw Mackenzie standing to the side, looking up occasionally from a tablet. “Hi, Miss Mackenzie,” I said to her, remembering my assignment from Mia. “Well, hi, Carly!” She said with a smile, kneeling down and giving me a hug. “How was your weekend?” “Umm… honestly, not so good?” “Oh?” “Long story… Umm… do you have a minute we could talk somewhere?” “Oh?” “My nest needs your help with something,” I whispered. She smirked, “Sure! Let’s go into the study room, I don’t think anyone is in there!” I’d nearly forgotten the ‘study room’ on the first floor that most people avoided. It was decorated like a kindergarten classroom, complete with wall charts of ‘ABCs,’ animals, and more. She hadn’t even bothered showing it to us on our initial tour; one of the other Littles had told me about it. She walked over to a corner, sat on a rug fit for a daycare, and motioned for me to join her. “What’s up?” She asked with a smile, “Something for Miss Lilly?” I nodded, “Our nest wants to surprise her with a little party Thursday night. Could you keep her away from six in the afternoon until eight?” “I guess it depends?” she asked. “On?” “Am I invited to this party?” I sighed in relief, “We figured you would be there since you’re her best friend?” “Aww,” she said with a smile, “I’m in.” Without warning, she gathered me in her arms and hugged me. “I miss having you in our nest!” She ran a hand through my hair, which we had left loose that day with just a bow pinned on top. “No one has hair like yours anymore?” I laughed, “Sorry.” A hand surreptitiously squeezed my diaper, “Well, if that’s all you needed, let’s change this diapee and get you to your nest. I’m sure you have studying to do?” I blushed but nodded. After a change in the downstairs changing room, Mackenzie carried me upstairs and deposited me in my nest. Lilly and she disappeared into her room for a bit, and Mia came over, “Did she agree?” “She’s onboard,” I told her. “Thanks, Carly. The cake?” She asked quietly. “I’ll work on that next.” She hugged me quickly, “Thanks, Carly, you’re the best!” I shook my head and opened my computer to work on a few tweaks to my next assignment for my screenwriting class. ‘Betrayal,’ I thought, ‘Not my kind of topic.’ Someone suggested the other day that I do another episode of Diaper Diaries. I snorted and quickly passed that suggestion. I’d scrapped a few ideas in the last week, and with the project being due on Thursday, I needed to get something down that stuck. I started thinking and found myself drawn to the story Shelby had told me the other day about her friend. ‘I couldn’t, could I…?’ I was wondering if there was any way I could actually turn in the script, but once the idea was in my head, I couldn’t help myself. I began writing about the friendship of a trio of friends made up of a Big, a Tweener, and a Little. The Little one day has a bad run of luck and gets adopted by the Big. I scratched through that idea; I just didn’t like that one. Instead, I added another character who was another friend of the trio and typically made them a quartet. That second Big poisoned both the Little and the Tweener, and Crumbled Friendship took shape as a script… I was only vaguely aware of my nestmates gradually drifting off to their open pods as the lights dimmed in the room, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. “What you working on?” Lilly asked me. “Huh?” I said, looking up at her, “Oh, sorry, an assignment for my screenwriting class. I’ve done three scripts, and this is the first one I think has made me feel like it’s good.” “You about done?” I shrugged, “I think I have two more pages here?” “Why don’t you finish them and then come to my room, and I’ll get you in your night diapee and jammies?” A hand invaded my skirt, “I think that will just about last until then…” I blushed, “Okay.” I was quickly back into a rhythm with my writing. I saved a backup after I wrote my final scene directions, as their Big friend had to adopt them to save them from the backstabbing friend. ‘Kind of like how Aunt Megan adopted my cousin Meggy,’ I thought as I finished. I then walked to Lilly’s room and found her on the couch, reading a tablet. “All done?” “Except proofreading,” I told her. “I’ll do that tomorrow.” “When’s it due?” “Thursday, this was pushing it a little late for me.” “You’re still two days early?” She asked as she stood up, picked me up, and sat me on her hip. “I try to be a little earlier with these assignments,” I added, “last thing I want is demerits?” She squeezed me in a hug and placed me on the changing table. I was soon dressed in a dry diaper and a set of pajamas Aunt Bella had made for me with unicorns on them that she assured me would be the nest mother’s very favorites to dress me in! “These are adorable,” she commented. “I’ll tell my aunt she was right,” I shook my head. “She’s the one who made the girl’s swimsuits?” I nodded, “she’s good at that stuff.” “Well, why don’t you head off to bed?” “I’m going to do one other thing real quick, and then I’ll head there,” I told her. “Well, I’ll do one last check on you all in about an hour,” she told me, setting me on the floor with a gentle pat to my diapered rear. “Okay,” I told her. I grabbed my EdgeSphere glasses next and logged on. I sent a message to Grandma then that I needed to talk to her while also letting Beth know I was on. Grandma’s giant avatar came on first, “You need something, Carly?” I sighed, “I’ve been put in charge of finding a safe cake for a party for our nest mother. Any chance you could pick one up?” “Sure! I bet I can come up with something. When do you need it?” “Can you drop it off for us Thursday after dinner? Mackenzie is supposed to keep Lilly occupied so we can set up the surprise party.” “Got it!” Grandma said, “You’re all going to wear those adorable onesies?” I nodded, glad my digital face didn’t turn red! “Cute! Well, I’ll take care of this project for you. You have a couple of appointments tomorrow after your first class that your grandpa set up for you. Make sure you wait outside for me or your grandpa if you don’t see one of us right away.” “Okay, goodnight,” I told her, “I love you.” “Love you too!” she said and hugged my avatar before disappearing. As she left, Beth came on, and we chatted for about fifteen minutes before she said, “Carly, we’d both better head to bed. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” “Yeah,” I sighed, “See you tomorrow.” “Good night, I love you, Carly.” “Love you too,” I told her. I sat my glasses on my desk then and climbed into the pod, noting that my diaper was already a little squishy, but knowing the nighttime diapers would hold even with that, I just grabbed Kylie. I hugged her like she was Beth and drifted off to sleep. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and leave me a comment!!! I appreciate everyone's patience as I had no time/energy to write on this for a good 8 months this past year. I'm finally finding myself back in the groove this week and have eight more chapters 'in the can' already beyond this. I'm going to be posting once a week unless I build a serious pile of chapters, just because I don't want there to be pauses again until this monster is done! Last night LCW passed 400k words in length, and I'll pass 1,000 pages in my word document soon. This will obviously be published as multiple volumes when I publish! As of right now, I expect to write another 200-300k words to finish Carly and Beth's tale here. Please do your part to cheer on the parts. I truly love seeing your comments and likes, and they help me make it worth it! Once I publish I don't get rich off of it since I keep sharing for free. If you haven't purchased any of my published versions, that's a great way to support my writing (and keeping from a second job)! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia If you have, please make sure you pressed a 5 star review rating, those help the algorithms bring up stories when people search. Above all, thank you all for your community. I genuinely enjoy that we can all share stories together on this site!

I appreciate the comments and likes so far this week! Here's another chapter as a thank you! I'll post again on Sunday before getting to a twice-per-week schedule until the complete work is posted. Chapter 9: MY BODY AND emotions collided, and I fell asleep on the journey home. I didn’t wake up until I felt Erica carrying me up the steps. “Oh, you’re awake!” She said to me, giving me a squeeze meant to comfort me. “I didn’t even realize I’d gone to sleep…” “I think you’re rightfully upset about your body,” she reassured me. “I can’t imagine how that would feel to happen to me.” I just nodded, “I don’t know what is going on?” I complained. “It’s like all of a sudden, my brain and my nervous system aren’t communicating right with my bowels?” “Like I said, it does happen here…” “I know you said that,” I sighed and appreciated when she sat me down upstairs. “We’re home now. Do you want to go ahead and switch to a Pull-Up?” I felt my mood fall back to the floor, remembering what I wore. “I want to… I just don’t know if it’s a good idea?” “I’ll help you out of it if you want to use the potty?” “I should be able to take it off myself, right?” “Probably, but to be safe, get my attention?” I felt even more helpless then but nodded, “Okay.” “Do you want to take some time for yourself right now? Take a nap, maybe?” “I just took one of those, apparently,” I said, laughing nervously. “It’s okay to take another one?” I shrugged, “I’m good, I think. I might just get on the tablet Emerson gave me and do some research?” “Fair enough,” she told me. “Let me know if you need anything. Maybe we’ll have dinner and watch something later?” “Sounds good,” I told her. To my relief, I was able to catch her attention a while later when I felt the need to go to the bathroom. It was a combination of urine and loose stool, but at least it had gone into the toilet and not my panties. “Diaper...?” I was so confused about what was happening to me, but we both agreed to give a Pull-Up another try then. My research was frustrating because it mainly verified what she told me! The only actual research on fixing the issue was over twenty years old and involved some obscure treatments from a company called SafeFoods. The results weren’t overly optimistic either! Erica brought me a sippy cup of juice she called Plapple juice midway through the afternoon. It tasted really good and was a weird cross of apple and pineapple that I could taste. Apparently, it was an actual fruit here, though! I made another stop on the potty before dinner and discussed some ideas with her about the causes of the issue. She mentioned that exchange groups got screened before they left to come here and after they returned to their dimensions to try and identify the cause. It sounded like most of them tended to recover back home, so I had hope that, at worst, I’d be wearing protection for a few months and retraining back home. As she placed my dinner on the table, she gave me an odd look before digging through the fridge. I made a face as she gave me a cup of milk. “No water?” I asked her. “Katie, you’ve expelled quite a bit of water and not hydrated that much this afternoon. Milk is better for hydration?” “Maybe an electrolyte drink instead?” I suggested as I ate a piece of the grilled cheese sandwich she’d prepared with the AmeniTea. “I don’t have any right now; I guess I should pick some up at the store at some point, though. Without that, though, the milk is probably our best bet?” I sighed, taking a sip. ‘It really is tasty,’ I admitted. “I guess this works for now.” As I ate the sandwich, I kept coming back to the milk. “So what do you think so far?” she asked me. “About?” “This world?” I sighed, “It’s amazing on one level, but it's terrifying to see my body have so many sudden problems! Back home, we’d probably be admitting me into the hospital to determine if I was dealing with organ failure or something, but you all think it’s just normal?” She nodded, “Sorry, it pretty much is…? Didn’t you know some of the stories before you came?” I blushed, “Some of them.” “And you still came?” I shrugged, “It seemed like an adventure…?” “Was that it?” I shook my head, “I guess not, honestly, I don’t feel like my life is going much anywhere forward right now, back home. My brother has five kids and the perfect family; I’ve yet to find anyone to settle down with.” “You’ve looked?” I gave her another shrug, “Yeah, some? I don’t know… Maybe part of me still doesn’t want to be that much of an adult?” I snorted at that, “Not that I feel like much of one at all right now!” She smiled at me, “I get that. Mom has been on my case for years to settle down!” I held my cup of milk to her, “Cheers to still being the kids!” She laughed as we clinked my cup to her glass, and I drained the rest of the milk. By the end of the meal I’d also managed a cup of water into my system. I gave an uncontrolled burp afterward, “Excuse me,” I said, embarrassed. She laughed, “Don’t worry about it!” She helped me down from the chair, and I climbed the mountain of stairs to go to the bathroom. When I returned downstairs, she was done and patted the couch beside her, “How about another movie?” When I was settled, she showed me how to navigate the choices. I didn’t want to watch another rom-com; nothing else sounded good before I stumbled on a documentary category. One of the first ones up was about nanites! “Ooh, that looks interesting?” “You are such a nerd?” She kidded me. I shrugged, “It’s always served me well,” I told her. “It works for me. I think this is the one that Professor Westerfield was involved in…” she added. “That name sounds familiar,” I said. “She’s pretty much the genius that helped advance AI and nanite programming here. Her husband Fred is mostly retired now but is a great surgeon too.” “Oh, I met her briefly at the welcome luncheon. She’s somehow connected to one of the kids in our group we brought.” “That’s interesting,” she said. “Why don’t you start it, and I’ll get some hot chocolate made?” My mouth watered at that, so I nodded and eagerly awaited her return. By the time I finished the hot chocolate, I felt drowsy. Still, the nanite information was so intriguing that I didn’t fall asleep. I learned a lot about the history of their development, and even though the film didn’t dwell on too technical descriptions, I learned some ideas to improve my developments back home! When the film ended, I decided it was time to call it a night. “I’ll help you get into your night protection,” Erica said. “Want a lift?” She asked me as I sat on the couch, trying to gird myself for the hop off it. I shrugged, “Sure? It’s not like it’s the most embarrassing thing today!” She laughed, “Sorry, I know it’s been a hard day. Has to beat climbing these stairs, though? Looks like you’re practically scaling a mountain every time you do it.” “Kind of feels like it, too,” I admitted. Something about being close to her had previously felt unnerving, but her hold comforted me tonight. The hand that briefly rubbed my back was soothing. She took the dry Pull-Up from me as I sat on the potty seat. I was grateful to have made it to the bathroom every time since we’d returned! ‘Just a fluke,’ I told myself. I washed my face off, brushed my teeth, headed to my… room, and found Erica in the rocking chair. “Done?” She asked. I shrugged, “I guess?” “Let’s get you ready then,” she told me. She lifted me off the floor and placed me on the changing table. “I know this has got to be embarrassing, but I’m kind of glad to do this on this table now instead of your old bed.” I blushed, “Sorry, I wish you weren’t doing it at all.” She poked my nose lightly, “Don’t worry about it! I don’t mind!” I sat still as she diapered me and then pulled out a different sleeper for me to wear for the night. “You were complaining about that bed this morning?” She asked. I sighed, “It’s definitely not great.” “Do you want to try the crib instead?” “I hate the idea of being trapped inside of it?” “I guess I understand that. Let me know if you change your mind at some point?” “Will do,” I told her. She gently sat me on the floor, and I waddled my way over to the toddler bed. Lying down in it, I knew my back would be sore again in the morning. She pulled the covers up over me. “I hope you feel better tomorrow. Get some rest,” she told me. “Thanks, Erica. I really appreciate your kindness in helping me as a total stranger.” “You’re welcome, Katie, but remember, you’re no longer a stranger!” She handed me Honey from a corner of the bed, “Night!” I’d been out by the time she sat me in bed the night before, so I hadn’t been awake to note the nightlight gently shining a stream of stars on the ceiling. It was comforting not to have the room completely dark, but also more than a little bit threatening to see the cage of a crib just feet away from me… ready to easily contain my body! I DOSED OFF and slept peacefully for a long while before noticing something was wrong. Very wrong. I sat up, winced, and swore, “Shit, not again!!!” The nightlight was no longer shining stars in the room, but I could see it was still illuminating a little of the area around where it was plugged in. I sat up and wanted to cry! Not only had I apparently wet the bed in my sleep, but I’d also pooped my pants, and it was apparently too much for the diaper because my pajamas and bed were soaked too! I scooted to the end of the bed where the rail was open and felt my back crack from the horrible mattress. I felt a muscle pull in agony then, too, and cried out, “Oww!” I heard a sleepy voice, “Katie, are you okay?” the door opened. She saw me sitting up and pressed a button that brought the lights up halfway. “Oh no, sweetie, what happened?” “I’m losing my mind!” I told her. “What’s happening to me?!?” “I don’t know, but we’ll try and figure it out together. Let’s see what we’re looking at here,” Erica said, coming closer. She stood still briefly before saying, “Okay, let’s start with the important thing, you.” I watched her eyes scan things momentarily before she walked to the bathroom, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me, and carried me to the tub. “Your poor tummy,” she said as she helped me strip things off one at a time. Once I was down to just the diaper, it was apparent to me, at least, what must have happened. The diaper seemed to have come loose a bit on one side, and then the poop… it wasn’t really poop so much as liquid! “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you had taken a laxative or had an enema,” she said quietly as she pulled the diaper away from my skin, trying to keep the filth inside. “I’ve gone so many times, I don’t even know how there was still something in my colon!” I complained. “I don’t either, Katie. Let me turn this on. We’ll spray you off, and then, hopefully, we’ll be able to get you back to bed.” It was a mortifying experience, but fifteen minutes later, the lights were entirely on, and she examined the bed I’d been sleeping in. “The mattress is waterproof, but this bedding will have to get washed.” “Oh no, Honey,” I said sadly. My poor childhood friend was a victim, too! “Don’t worry,” Erica told me, “We’ll get her cleaned up for you…” “Please,” I said sadly. “I’ll be right back, sweetie,” she told me. I found myself collapsing to the floor beside the now-stripped mattress. As uncomfortable as it had been, it seemed even less so now. I found myself wrapping my arms around myself, hugging myself, as I waited to see what Erica had in mind for a plan. ‘Why do I feel dependent on her for that?’ I wondered, ‘I’m a big girl! An adult! I shouldn’t need her help!’ Regardless of that voice, I just sat there and was there when Erica came back inside. “Okay, sweetie, I treated Honey, your jammies, and the bedding; I think they’ll all come clean since we’re washing them immediately.” I nodded, “Umm… thanks, you shouldn’t have to clean up after me like this. I am sooo embarrassed!” She reached down and picked me up, “It’s okay, Katie. I don’t think you’re in any condition right now to do much about it. You ate something weird for your body, or maybe you’ve already picked up a stomach bug. Either way, you can’t help it!” I nodded. “Look, I don’t have another set of clean bedding right now for that bed. I could cover the mattress with a blanket, but I think you’d be more comfortable in the crib?” I looked down inside the cage she held me next to. “But how do I get out?” “I’ll come get you when you wake up!” “How will you know?” “I have a monitor I can use?” “A baby monitor?” I asked, turning red. She shrugged, “Yes?” I was so tired; I just wanted to go to bed. “Okay, I’ll try it for a night.” She said nothing then, just gently depositing me on the mattress. Right away, I had to acknowledge that it was way more comfortable as I rolled to my stomach and moved to my preferred sleeping position. She pulled the blanket on the rail and covered me gently. I felt her hand rub my back as I turned over onto my stomach. “Get some sleep, Katie; I’ll see you in the morning.” A moment later, the lights were off again; the nightlight shone some stars, and I became more awake. I brushed against one of the rails on the side, turned over to my side, and jumped when the sound of a music box started above my head. I opened my eyes and saw that the mobile above the crib had been activated somehow. I tried to see how my bumping into the rail had done anything. It was kind of soothing; playing a melody of Rock-a-bye Baby first didn’t make me feel better, though! Twinkle Twinkle Little Star followed. Then Brahm’s Lullaby was a thing here, too, as it started. My eyes grew heavier then, and I soon drifted back to sleep. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press that Like Button and leave a comment! This has been an interesting project... it was supposed to be a short novella! I'm finally on the last chapter and epilogue, and I doubled the word count to be considered a novel. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Unless something changes, the total will be 26 Chapters and the epilogue. So, I'll be posting the rest of this for a bit. Hopefully, after next weekend (real life), I'll have time to get back to LCW. Anyway, thanks for the kind words, likes and such! They make it easier to keep writing! 💜

Chapter 98: History Repeats Itself DIAPER SHOPPING WAS an experience I would have gladly skipped if asked about it. As bad as the first training pant search had been, this had seemed worse. Every female Big in the store, age thirteen and older, looked at me and cooed if I made the mistake of making eye contact! I noticed some jealous looks, but Grandma was intimidating enough to scare people away alone. Between Grandma and Beth, as soon as I was placed in the cart seat, they had been off to the races. Two packages of a brand called Monkeez and then a nighttime version of what looked like Pampers from back home were tossed in the cart. Several packs of wipes that would fit in my backpack, along with rash cream, powder, and disposal bags, all found their way into the cart before we made our way up to the front as my stomach was growling. “We skipped lunch,” Beth said, waiting beside the cart. “Yeah,” I said quietly. As we came to the checker, I expected some taunting. Still, the projected attendant just rapidly scanned everything, and we were soon on our way back home. “We’ll eat an early dinner when we get home,” Grandma said when my stomach growled as she placed me in my seat. “Thanks, I’m starving,” I told her. Beth sat beside me in the middle seat, playing with my hands occasionally as we drove. Nikki had sat in the front and decided this weekend that she wanted to remain with us despite the safety of Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Aunt Bella, Ryan, and Shelby all joined us for an early dinner. When they arrived, Beth and I were sitting on the couch. “Cute dress, Carly!” Shelby said. I smiled at her, “I’d rather not wear the toddler chic designs?” She laughed, “So why are you?” I sighed, “Because everything went wrong with the nanites again?” Beth and I explained what had gone on that week, and at the end, she said, “Well, I guess that explains the diaper.” Shelby came over and hugged me, then said, “Sorry, but you make a really cute girl?” “Dinner is ready!” Grandma called right then, and we walked into the kitchen together. I shook my head as I ate the tasty breakfast for dinner meal. ‘Now I know where Mom got that!’ Gigantic and thick waffles, bacon, sausage, and toppings for the waffles were quite plentiful. I had to give my order since I couldn’t reach anything from the high chair I was sitting in. An observer from our dimension would probably think there were four babies, a slightly older elementary girl, and a pair of grandparents if they looked at us since Bella, Ryan, Shelby, and I were all sitting in our high chairs. “Besides this minor disaster, how’s school going?” Shelby asked me. “Minor disaster?” Beth raised her eyebrows. “This seems like more than a ‘minor’ disaster?” Beth sounded annoyed. “Well, at least Carly wasn’t adopted and turned into a tummy-time infant?” Shelby shrugged, “At least by Little standards, this was definitely only a minor disaster.” My stomach turned at that, and Beth looked like she was about to blow. I winced when I realized she probably took it personally, and Shelby probably didn’t know. “Beth,” I said softly, “Shelby doesn’t mean anything by that?” “Huh?” Shelby asked. “Shelby, we’ll talk later… definitely not the right thing to say,” Aunt Bella told her in a strained, sympathetic voice. Beth, I’m sorry. Not many people know…” I could just barely reach and gently touch her shoulder since she was sitting close and did so. She sighed and said, “Sorry, I know you didn’t mean anything, Shelby.” Shelby looked at me with confusion, then at Beth, then at her mom. “Umm… Beside that… I guess school’s going well,” I said. “We’re done filming, so we just have to edit this horror down. Since we technically still have another three weeks after this until we were required to be ‘in the can,’ we’re ahead of the game?” “Are you going to have some sort of release party? I want to see this and throw popcorn at the screen or something?” Ryan said. That at least got Beth to giggle lightly. ‘She’ll be okay,’ I told myself. We went around and talked about things, and I even learned about some of Grandpa’s latest projects to occupy himself. As we finished, I was glad to see my front was clean. Shelby’s was, too, but Ryan definitely should have had a bib on. Several dropped strawberry spots were visible! Aunt Bella, though—it was a very good thing she had a bib on! ‘Grandma must have been intentionally missing her mouth!’ I thought with a shake of my head. “Mommy, once you get Carly changed, let’s have her go through the outfits I brought over?” “I’m sure we can do that, Bella, but someone else is going to need a clean change of pants, too!” she tickled the woman who was older than my mom but seemed younger than me then! Thirty minutes later, and two changed diapers later, Grandma, Aunt Bella, Beth, Shelby, and I were in my room, where fourteen boxes were stacked in front of me. They looked like high-end gift boxes, and knowing that Aunt Bella essentially catered to that clientele, I knew there was probably some nice custom clothing inside. She’d take the time to even number boxes to go through in an order. “Go ahead, open the first one!” Aunt Bella encouraged me. “You didn’t have to,” I started to say. “Nope!” She smiled at me, “None of that! I missed nineteen birthdays with my niece!” I sighed, “Okay,” and pulled open the first box. I pulled out what seemed like a massive pile of fabric. It unfolded and revealed itself to be a green Emerson University jumper dress. She had embroidered the Emerson logo on the left chest, and I saw five dresses in the stack. “Umm… thanks,” I said. “The next two boxes go with those,” Aunt Bella said. I blushed. I was excited to finally be given gifts of my very own girls’ clothes! Still, I would have preferred my first ones not to be a university uniform! I found six collared white polo onesies and six pairs of tights inside the following two boxes. “You can wear knee-high socks,” Shelby told me, “but I wouldn’t until it gets warmer. Those will work until you reach the temperatures to be allowed the slacks.” I just numbly nodded as I then opened up a box with three pairs of the girl’s slacks, which weren’t all that different than the boy’s with the elastic on the waist to easily pull them up and down, and then the additional snappies up the crotch to also allow for easy diaper changes. ‘I think the dress is actually less humiliating!’ Uniforms covered, the other boxes included a nice winter coat, mittens, a knit cap, pajamas, some coordinated casual leggings and tops, and three one-piece girls’ swimsuits. A couple of outfits looked like something Beth or a Big might wear, which I figured would probably look like I was pretending to be a big girl… But, in short, it was a good chunk of the beginnings of a wardrobe for my new status. Especially since the underwear was bought in the store on the way home… “Thank you, Aunt Bella,” I told her and leaned down to give the only adult I knew shorter than me a hug. “You’re very welcome, Carly!” She smiled. “One more box, though!” Grandma handed me one that had been hidden somewhere. I opened it and pulled out the most infantile dress I’d seen in my size outside of Meggy’s birthday party! It was yellow, with ruffles on the sleeves and skirt. On the bodice, an endless bit of embroidery detail showed it was well made - and certainly not cheap! As I held it up in the air, I realized it was also short enough that if I wore it, I would flash my diaper in any position other than standing still. “What is this?” I asked incredulously. “Oh, we’ll call it an heirloom piece,” Grandma said. “We still have to tell your mommy that you’re her little girl now.” “And this?” “It’s identical to the dress her parents got to see her in first,” she smirked. Beth looked at me with concern. I was silent for a long moment, then I began to laugh until I couldn’t breathe. “Perfect!” I coughed as I calmed down. Beth looked at me like I was crazy, but Bella told her, “Stacy is nuts. This is probably the best way to explain things to her.” Beth shook her head, “I think you are all a little nuts sometimes,” she muttered. Everyone laughed at that! Aunt Bella said, “I’ll make you some other things in the next couple of days, and I’m sure Mommy will want to take you shopping again.” I shifted a bit, wondering what was in my size that wasn’t meant for a baby! It was late enough then that Aunt Bella took Shelby home to get some sleep before she had school the following day. Grandma took me to the living room with Beth to make the call home. “Stand on my lap,” she told me with a smirk. I sighed, “She’s going to kill me?” “You have to get home first for that,” Grandma reminded me, “and by then, she’s just going to want to hug you.” I shook my head and waited for the connection to be made, and then I saw Mom, Mama, and my sisters on the other side. “Hi,” I said sheepishly. I watched the participants on the other side of the link stay absolutely still. There was a blink from Riley. Lila and Hannah both looked at each other with mouths open simultaneously. Mama just looked like she was hit in the gut with something. Mom was the first to speak. “Mom, where have you been keeping that dress?!? I told you to get rid of that!” she blushed. “And please tell me Connor isn’t wearing it for the same purpose?!?” BETH LOOKED ON as the family that let their son leave the dimension, just like their mother, was dealing with the same thing. “Sorry, sweetie, but I did have her wear it because history has repeated itself here…” “What happened?” Gabby asked, much less calm than Stacy. Carly sighed, “I told you about our film project?” The five most important people she had back home nodded, “Well, I was playing a character that has a gender change in the middle of the film and gets adopted. Our crew used a set of nanites that the theater department uses all the time for this kind of thing.” Amanda said, “They are used all the time for changes, and according to the stats I looked up, only have an issue point-oh-oh-oh-oh-one percent of the time. Even with the professor asking me to review the code, this happened.” “Of course, it would be Connor,” Riley shook her head. “Guess we have a new big sister instead?” Hannah said, sighing. “I have rather enjoyed having one boy in the house to keep us sane, though?” “I wasn’t doing a very good job of that,” Carly told them. With that, some of the tension was broken, and Amanda explained the situation. “So you have a whole mass of that protein now?” Stacy asked, concern evident in her voice. “It’s about the thickness right now that you’d expect if he... she’d been nursing for three weeks,” Amanda said. “And growing thicker by the moment.” “So diapers for the foreseeable future, huh?” Stacy asked. “Well, it’s not the worst thing, Connor. I assume you’ve already come up with a replacement name?” Amanda had pulled Carly into her lap a long while ago, “Carly,” Carly told her. “I like it!” Riley said. “Yeah,” Lila and Hannah agreed together. “It’s just like when we played together as little girls,” Riley added. “That’s what we called you then, too, right?” Beth turned to see Carly squirm but nodded, “Yes?” “Perfect then!” “So, are you normally keeping Carly dressed like this now?” Stacy asked. “No, sweetie. I just thought it might help break the ice. Unless, of course, Carly wants to wear it to school. It’ll be a dress code violation, but she’s adorable enough they might let it slide.” Beth wished she had taken a photo of Carly’s face at that moment; it was priceless! AFTER WE FINISHED with the phone call with Mom, Beth and I had decided to sit on the floor in my room and get some homework done. Occasionally, we’d talk about something, she’d ask a question, or I’d just talk. She yawned a few times, and I realized it was getting later. Without warning, she pulled me into her lap, facing her, and felt the wet diaper I was wearing. “Not staying dry very long?” I blushed, “No, and not feeling it either?” “Well, that’s not surprising; according to your grandma, you basically ended up with at least three weeks’ worth of those breastmilk proteins?” “I wonder if their milk would do anything to me now?” I said, instantly wanting to push the words back into my mouth. She giggled, “Please don’t try and find out! While I’m sure there will be no end of nest mommies wanting to pop their booby out for you, you really don’t want to get addicted to that stuff!” “Not planning on it,” I told her. “Just thinking aloud of what else could go wrong.” She squeezed me in a hug then and gave me a kiss on the lips. “As long as I have you, nothing can go wrong enough to matter.” I hugged her then, too, as some tears streamed down my face. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” she asked me. I shrugged, “I’m kind of nervous about tomorrow, actually?” “Well, it will be a big day for you,” she agreed. “What’s got you most scared?” I shrugged, “Moving in with a new nest? Having classmates see me as a girl now? I can only imagine how the fellow exchange students will feel about that one…?” She hugged me again, “We’ll get you through all of that, I guarantee you!” I shook my head, “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll be joining me in the nest?” At her look of horror, I said, “At least I hope not.” She nodded. “I'm sorry about what Shelby said earlier,” I said after she ran her hand down my hair for a few more moments. “She didn’t know…” she said. “At least, I don’t think she does?” I shrugged, “As far as I know, she doesn’t? You’ve all kept that pretty secret from everyone? Have you ever really told anyone?” “I’ve only ever told Livy,” she told me. “Not Reila?” “I probably should at this point, but it’s not exactly the topic you just bring up?” I nodded at that. “I kind of wish you didn’t know?” I turned to look at her, “Why?” “Because it’s got to be awkward dating a woman as old as your moms?” I laughed, “The fact that you’re still willing to date me after all of this means I’ll never care about that at all!” “You know, at some point, we need to go out on an actual date…?” I looked up at her, “You’re right!” I smiled, “So what do you want to do?” “Let me think about that?” She shrugged, “I wouldn’t have risked it before. Now that I have Nikki, I might as well take advantage of the overbearing safety she offers?” I nodded. “What do you think you might want to do?” I shrugged, “I don’t know the town that well… Dinner and a movie? Some sort of show? A picnic at a park?” I hugged her, “As long as I’m with you, it’ll be perfect!” She leaned down, kissed me again, and hugged me right before Amanda came in. “Hey, kids, I think it’s time to call it a night. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow?” We nodded, and I watched Beth go after one last hug and kiss goodnight. After Grandma changed me out of the embarrassing dress I was still wearing, along with the wet diaper, into my pajamas, she commented, “I hope it works out for you two.” “Me too,” I said. She tucked me in, “I’ll wake you up to swim in the morning, then you’ll go to your first couple of classes. We’ll go to your dorm and move you at lunch. Grandpa is going to come to help.” “ID?” I asked. “After your last class, we’re going to get your ID bracelet switched to Carly. It’s still valid right now, though.” “I’m still safe from adoption?” She shrugged, “As safe as you’ve ever been?” Sighing, she added, “Unless you are adopted, that’s always a risk, Carly.” I nodded, “That makes sense.” After a pause, I asked, “Will Lilly be okay with me coming into her nest?” “I got a message from her earlier that she’s expecting you and will have your pod all ready to go!” “Great, my crib will be ready,” I groaned. “At least they’re leaving them open now?” “True,” I agreed. “And I guess it’s not like I’ll need to get up to go potty again at night.” “No, those diapees will easily hold all you can throw at them,” Grandma said with a sad smile. She kissed my forehead, “Well, my little granddaughter, it's time for the princess to get some sleep! Good night, I love you!” “Love you too,” I replied as she left, turned off the lights, and closed the door. I tossed and turned for a long time that night before finally succumbing to sleep! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press that Like Button and leave me a comment! I appreciate all of you who have done so on the past couple of chapters! This won't happen again for a long time, but because I have some time off and have so far managed a chapter a day for the past few days, I'll offer another bonus chapter on Wednesday if you leave me 25 Likes by then! Don't forget all of my completed works are available on Amazon Kindle! http://amazon.com/author/babysofia

Chapter 65: Squeezed “THANK YOU, MR. Sylvester,” the judiciary chair said. “The chair now recognizes the Distinguished Senator from Ames, Senator Darling.” “Thank you,” she said. The tall woman had a severe look with her tightly controlled bun on her head. Her clothing was clearly as high end as it got for a skirt-suit set, and a necklace with five pendants, each holding the name of one of her Littles, hung from her neck. “I have a significant issue with this idea of a Court of Appeals judge having no experience as a previous District Judge or prosecuting attorney, nor am I a fan of you only being barely thirty years old yesterday, as we look at approving you to be one of the most powerful judiciary members in the country. The fact that within the last year or so you have found yourself being taken care of in a daycare, where you were accused of fighting with another Little, makes me even more sure you have no business being in charge of such adult matters…” “Point of Order! Does the senator have a question?” One of the president’s biggest allies on the committee challenged her speech. “Please do get on with it, Mrs. Darling,” the chair said, before looking at his colleague, “Remember she has the right to use or waste time as she sees fit.” She looked affronted, but continued, “Do you think you have the capabilities to understand case law?” “Thank you, Madame for your question. I do believe I have the capabilities. I have studied law continuously since beginning my journey in law school, even before then really, and I know how the law is supposed to function. I believe strongly that the constitution gives us the guidance to do so, and that it would be my job as a member of the judiciary to uphold that law.” “Do you now?” I nodded. “Mr. Sylvester, are you aware of the case Dane vs. Tully?” “Yes, Ma’am,” I said. Aunt Ruth and I were sure this case, and my close proximity to it, would come up. “What do you think about it?” “I think it was executed faithfully within the purview of the statutes,” I told her. “That case still stands as precedent under the 3rd Circuit due to never being heard in the Supreme Court.” “You would be very familiar with it, wouldn’t you?” “I was clerking for Judge Ruth Jones when it was written,” I agreed. “Not only were you clerking, but I have a sworn affidavit from a Mrs. Kathy Stanford Everett, who was also clerking at the time, stating that the legal basis and reasoning of the decision were yours alone?” I wasn’t entirely surprised to see this come up, but the shock on committee members’ faces made me nervous. ‘You’re sworn in under oath,’ Judge Jones had advised me, ‘Just tell the truth.’ “I wouldn’t say that they were mine alone, but I will say I suggested that there was no timing listed in the statute.” “For anyone who is not aware of this case. Mrs. Dane had her Little girl kidnapped four years prior to the case, and was seeking to regain custody of her now that she’d been found. There was interference against the legally allowed bounty hunter, and Judge Jones, instead of handing her over, gave her time by saying that she wouldn’t need to go back until her kids were old enough to live on their own. That’s correct?” I nodded, “She had two little babies at home that needed her care as a mother. Judge Jones recognized that she had met all of the requirements for emancipation really except one - her adopted mother signing off on it, and decided that meant she could cope until her Little ones were old enough to live on their own.” “Except that hasn’t happened, correct?” “Well, last I knew, she still had two new twin baby girls that are about a year old that would have reset that, but also the Supreme Court chose not to hear the appeal due to her being granted full emancipation in the state of New Haven shortly after they were in court for the initial case.” “You feel this is just? You feel like this follows the law?” She pushed. I stared her in the eyes. “Is it just that she would have to abandon her babies? That they would have had to grow up without a mother...?” “Mister…” “Is it just that the medical examiners demonstrated without a doubt that she had been abused and neglected by Mrs. Dane?” I paused, “Is it just that you would send a poor woman who made her way in this world to freedom back to the most unsafe and miserable environment they could have?” “It’s the law!” “Should it be?” I suggested. “Do you believe all Littles should be freed from their adoptions?” I knew this one was coming, so I came up prepared, “I believe that the most precious thing in life is the ability to choose our destiny. You mentioned this case, and my own time of being unjustly declared a case of Maturosis by a judge who was being blackmailed? What you didn’t mention is that the love of my life, my fiancée, disappeared one day, as her father took her and her similarly afflicted mother to run from a corporation who had made it their goal to find a way to force more Mids into the same surrogate baby relationship as Littles. You failed to mention that she was mentally completely destroyed by the illegal and unethical experimentation.” “Mister…” “You failed to mention that, while there are many Littles out there who do benefit from the additional care, there are Millions, Millions, that are forcibly taken, beaten, neglected, and emotionally and sexually abused for so-called mothering instincts. That Maturosis has become a crutch of a way to send more that direction?” “Mister Sylvester, stop…” “Madame, you asked if I feel that every little should be free? The answer is the same as every Mid and every Big. Yes, I feel that they should be free. And here’s the deal, I’m also okay if a Little genuinely wants that caring relationship of a good adopted mother or father!” Her mouth stopped moving. “What?” “In the State of New Haven, we have roughly three abuse cases brought up per ten thousand Littles each year. Do you have an idea of that number for your own State of Ames?” “No… But I’m sure you do?” “Yes, I do. It’s one-hundred and thirty per one thousand there. Or thirteen in a hundred! It’s four-hundred times the rate of New Haven! Why do you think that is?” She looked at me angrily, “You’re so smart, you tell me!” “Because the majority of adoptions in New Haven are done consensually, excepting court orders as an alternative to jail or prison. If there’s a choice involved, studies show that their adoptive parents tend to treat them with more love and care.” “So, you do feel like all Littles should be free?” “Free to make a choice, yes! Same as Mids and Bigs. Many of them might surprise you and still choose to be surrogate babies if given the chance. I have a friend of mine from college who genuinely loves being her mommy’s baby. I’ve also seen people ripped from my life for no good reason – and that should never happen.” “Senator Darling your time is up, the committee will now recess for thirty minutes, hear closing statements, and then return for a vote.” The chair said as they banged his gavel. Addy came up to me and bent down to give me a hug out in the lobby where she had been waiting. “So how do you think it went?” She asked me. I shrugged, “I pissed off Senator Darling.” “Easy to do… Did I ever tell you what we did at one of her parties once as a teenager…?” She started to say, and then we saw her approaching us. “Miss Harris?” She seemed surprised. “Why are you here?” “Here to support my fiancée,” she told her. “Where is he?” “Right here,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “But…” “But you thought my mom had solved that problem years ago, I’d guess? Don’t worry, the wedding is a small guest list, you won’t have to feel awkward at responding to an invitation,” she said. ‘Meow! The cat claws are out…’ I thought to myself. “Why…” She started to say then turned and walked away. “That was worth the price of admission,” Senator Venire, the chair, said as he came up. “Glad we could entertain you,” I told the tall man. “You did well out there. You should advance through here just fine.” “Really?” “Really! Your appointment solves a problem that most everyone in there knows we have.” I shrugged, “I’m just going through the process.” He laughed, “Good luck with your marriage,” he told us as he walked away. FORTY-EIGHT HOURS later Aunt Ruth was meeting me in the courtroom I had first watched her run, swearing me in as a judge. It had been a momentous day, and my new robes hung heavily about me as I realized that I truly had been given power to make a difference in people’s lives. We had just hugged goodbye, and pulled away to drive back to what had become our home, when my phone rang. Since Addy was driving, I was free to answer it. “Hello?” “Is this Judge Sylvester?” I laughed, recognizing the voice, “You’re the first person to call me that on the phone.” “That’s a great honor, Your Honor,” the voice said jovially. “I just wanted to let you know that the deal with Aubry Harris and Danica Harris was approved by Judge Flanders.” “Final terms?” I asked. Addy had glanced over at me with a sour expression on her face. “Aubry Harris was sentenced to six consecutive terms of six months to twelve years in the Cribbing Penitentiary, followed by mind wipe and three-month status to be readopted.” I didn’t feel even a little bit guilty at that sentence. I knew that meant she would be kept in diapers – even as a twelve-year-old, for a total of seventy-two years, re-regressing every time before she turned thirteen again, before being readopted out as a true newborn with no memories of her old life at all. Additionally, that wasn’t a twelve-year-old in ‘Big’ sizes, that would be a twelve-year-old as a Little. She would most likely never get past the size of being a two-year-old in Big sizes during that entire time. In the meantime, she would remember everything she had done, just as she was given every bit of the babying treatment that she had sentenced others to. “And Danica?” “Two of the same consecutive terms, and readopted at a six-month status with mind wipe.” I shuddered a bit at that one. Dani had always felt like the unwitting accomplice to me up until the very end. “Thanks for letting me know,” I told him. “You’re welcome, I hope it lets you sleep a little bit easier. They’ll both be regressed for the first time tomorrow morning.” “Thanks, and good luck,” I told Mike Doster, a man who I had talked to frequently over the phone. “I appreciate you sticking with the case even after all of the hate mail you’ve received.” “You know that feeling yourself too. Good luck, and congrats Judge Sylvester!” OVER THE NEXT month we finished planning our wedding while also dealing with additional therapy appointments. Neither of us were lying to ourselves and saying we were ‘okay’ after everything we’d been through, so we were seeing a counselor both separately, and together, to help us deal with the emotional trauma we had both been through since the week after Addy reappeared. Thinking about everything that had happened to us, we decided not to hold back on our wedding in any way for timing. We were both now without family really, even though I did have some extended cousins and aunts and uncles that flew in for the occasion. Judge Jones was officiating the ceremony. In the end we had a pretty, but beautiful, small ceremony with Judge Jones' husband being brought in to ‘give away’ Addy to me. It was a beautiful ceremony, and of course Addy was the highlight! She was spectacularly beautiful in her traditional dress! Having Amanda, Fred, Megan, and Meg all there made it feel even more special to me! We’d flown immediately after the reception to a private island down in the Havana Sea. It turned out she had purchased the entire island after everything had been settled out in court with her family’s estate, and we enjoyed a two-week honeymoon on the beaches. While I spent much of the time those weeks dressed as her husband, I also indulged her on some of the evenings as her ‘baby girl.’ Her mothering instincts were hard for her to stop completely, and I admitted to her that I enjoyed it as just a game. As a consequence, over the next few months when we returned back to Crescent City, I often found myself ‘indisposed’ on the weekends, being taken care of in a nursery she had put together. Fortunately, the nanites seemed to still keep the incontinence effects at bay, but I did get noticeably moody if I went a few days without getting a hit from her breasts. We’d been married for four months when Addy surprised me with an ‘adult’ candlelight dinner on our back patio on one of the nights we normally would have been playing. “What’s the occasion?” I asked her once we had started eating the amazing dish she had made. “So… Look, you know I’ve felt terrible about what my family did to Beth?” I nodded, “You were in grad school, you weren’t to blame…” “No, I may not have been there pulling the trigger, but my family was… Anyway, I’ve had some ideas that I spoke with Amanda, Fred, and Holly Nickerson about…” I looked up at the candle burning just above the level of my face and into her eyes, “Do you have something…?” “Well… you know that ‘Premature Birth’ fad that’s going on back in Selegnasol?” I made a face, “Yeah, it’s bullshit making poor Littles live inside of their ‘mommies’ for nine-months and then be reborn!” I was not a fan of the process, and the few survivors who could still talk afterwards all seemed to be seriously hampered by the psychological effects of being isolated in a womb for that time! “Well, the way they’re using it is awful, but I got to thinking that maybe it could be used in a positive way…” I looked up at her face incredulously, “How could that horror be made positive?” “Beth.” “Why would I want to submit her to that?!?” “Hear me out?” She asked soothingly. “It’s not sounding good,” I angrily thought, but took a breath and said, “What’s the idea?” “I think we can use the procedure Doctor Nickerson and Amanda came up with to remove the plaque and other damage from her brain. If she’s implanted into a womb, we can use that time to heal all of the rest of her synapses, body damage, and even alter her DNA.” “Alter it to what?” “A mix of her new parents so she doesn’t have to be short forever?” “That can be done?” “The process would result in her coming out a little larger than a newborn Big, but she would be able to grow up. I mean it would be completely regrowing up. From nursing, to solid foods, to potty training, the terrible twos, elementary school, awkward teenage years, and all, but she could at least have a future…” I bit my tongue for a second, “And who would carry her?” “Me?” She suggested. “You?” “Why not me?” “I don’t know…” I said uncomfortably. “That might be really awkward,” I told her. “She wouldn’t remember anything of her previous life…” she reminded me. I thought for a long while without saying anything. “What about her dad?” “I’ve talked to him… He’s okay with it if you’re onboard. He knows he can’t take care of her forever, and he’s sure that she’s got a matter of a couple years before her body crumbles like his wife’s.” “So, what… She’s our daughter then?” “She’d be our daughter.” We debated back and forth for a few weeks. I consulted with Amanda, Holly, and some other medical professionals I knew before I too agreed it was her only chance to not die a meaningless death. A month later I watched in abject horror as a machine was hooked up to Addy and the sleeping Beth. Earlier that day I had spent some time just holding her and brushing her hair. Over the time since her mother had died, she had become skinnier and frailer, to the point where I could tell that she was just literally wasting away – clearly having given up any hope of life. I watched as a tube somehow squeezed her anesthetized form through the machine into the womb of Addy, and apparently shrank her quite a bit too, as there wasn’t that much of a visible baby bump at first. We watched over the months as that changed, and soon we had a bouncing baby girl as they say! Beth behaved like any other infant, and began hitting all of the milestones that a newborn baby should right on time! A few months after that birth, another miracle happened… Addy got pregnant the natural way! Something about the artificial pregnancy had given her body a kickstart and we were happy and shocked to learn of the upcoming new member of our family! For the next couple of years, it was certainly tough for us as new parents! Lance was born about five days after Beth’s first birthday, and he wasn’t even eighteen months old when Laura was born, followed by just a bit over a year until Jason was born. Until Beth was nearly two, I still joined her and Lance in the diapered group every now and then. As Beth once again began talking though, we decided it wouldn’t be a good idea for word to get out to the country that the mid-sized Appellate Court Justice liked to spend time as a baby alongside his babies! Since Addy had genuine babies to take care of, her own mothering needs were more than fulfilled by the rambunctious brood we now had. She became a full-time stay-at-home mom, clearly loving every minute of the lives of our children. As my now much shorter hair grayed though, it was amazing to watch our children grow up. I did my best from the bench to make sure that the world they grew up in was as just a world as it could be for them, and all sizes of our people! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you all for reading! Please press the ‘Like’ Button and Leave a comment! This is the final full chapter of Cameron’s tale. All along the route I know people have been rooting for Beth to make a comeback, but with the damage I couldn’t see a way forward at first. Slowly though I came to the idea that perhaps she could be saved in a different way. I know some may consider this a bit controversial still, but I would encourage you to withhold final judgement for the Epilogue. I will post that short Epilogue tomorrow night! I want to give a nod to Ausdpr who came up with the Premature Births concept. (Most of those stories are not on free sites - I recommend checking out his Patreon where he has the tales ‘The Big Opening’ and ‘Safe and Sound’)

Chapter 38: Reasons “SO, WHAT DOES she have on her?” Kendra pressed again. I grimaced, “Of course I don’t know that we can verify this, but this kind of makes sense to me. This is what she said…” “She’ll shrink and regress us remotely,” Addison said. “How is that even possible?” I asked. “Remember when the lady in the waiting room said there was a password and things could be changed elsewhere?” I thought for a moment, but nodded. “Yeah, but to be honest I was more concerned with what was about to happen to me.” “Sorry,” she said sadly encircling her knees with her arms, and placing her chin on top of them as she stared at me. “The weekend before I broke up with you, Mom told me I had to come home and bring Danica too. We had just walked through the door when two of her researchers ambushed us and injected something into us. I managed to deck one of them, and shouted, ‘What the Hell is going on?’” Addison sighed, “My mom just laughed, ‘What’s going on is that if you and your sister don’t start shaping up, you’ll be shaping down.’” “I asked her, ‘What do you mean?’” “‘Let me show you,’ she said with this smirk I’ve always hated. Right then a girl who was a former friend of mine from high school was dragged into view. She was about ten feet tall, screaming behind a gag they had in her mouth, and had a red face filled with tears.” “‘What are you doing to Gina?!?’ I shouted at her.” “Mom said and pressed a button on a tablet she was holding, and said, ‘This…’” “I couldn’t believe it… she was screaming and shrinking before my eyes! Before I knew it, she was shorter than your friend Stacy! I could only tell her true height for a second though, because she fell over and couldn’t even get up after that. She began wailing in a cry that didn’t sound like an adult…” Addison wiped a tear from her eyes, “I yelled at her, ‘Change her back!’” “‘No,’ my mom said, ‘She was trying to turn us in on some things she found working for us in the office. She’s going to get adopted by a nice couple tonight. She’ll make a nice baby… just like the two of you will…’” “‘Mom you can’t do this to us!’ My sister Danica had screamed back at her.” “‘Oh, I can… I don’t want to, but I certainly will! If either of you don’t behave, and do what I want you to, I’ll have the code sent remotely to both of you so I can have a beautiful set of baby twin sisters for their big brother Matty. Now, first thing you’re going to do, Addy if you don’t want to be Baby Addy, is break up with that sniveling Little boy you’ve been dating!’” “Holy shit!” David said. “She injected her own daughters with that shit?!?” I nodded, “That’s what she said.” “Is that even possible to do?” Kendra asked. I shrugged, “She got the idea indirectly from Addison who deciphered some hints from a friend of mine. She figured out that the nanites she’d been injected with to alter her after her adoption were still in her body and active. By linking up to them, she was able to make some further alterations to herself.” “Seriously?!?” He asked. “Yes,” I nodded. “You’ve kept that a secret?” David asked me. “Where is that friend now?” “Yes… not something most people should know. Let’s just say she was a good friend, and she’s outside of any control here now. She made it back home to her dimension at the end of undergrad.” “What now? What if she does that to her?” “I don’t know. First thing I do know is that I need you to contact Dr. Amanda Westerfield at Emerson, she’s the expert in the field, and may have some ideas to help here.” “Okay?” David said, “You sure you can trust her?” “With my life… Which I guess I am. With Addison I think we need to be careful how much you involve her so her mom doesn’t take retribution. You need to find a way to take her and SafeFoods down permanently, and get rid of this nanite bomb waiting to happen.” “Well, they’ve definitely given us a lot of leverage since they played their games. Judge Jones is pissed! She made it clear to us that if the case fails, we are to file an immediate appeal to her and she’ll respond by putting another injunction herself. She tried to avoid being the one to do the injunction for questions.” “Won’t she have to recuse herself?” “If you were a blood relative yes, but the court has gotten very lax on recusals in the past fifty years. There’s enough precedent in play that she can stay on any case – and that it might actually be her duty to do so since her vote and voice are needed to avoid a tie.” “I won’t turn down her help at this point…” I squirmed a bit, as I felt the need to pee badly coming right then. “Any chance you could sneak me to a bathroom?” Kendra sighed, “No, and the maturosis ruling is still effectively in place, so I’m sorry… you are still in the care of your mommy, and she wants you in those cute diapers.” “This sucks!” I complained. “Yes, it does, but make sure you keep behaving – it definitely was a point in your favor with Judge O’Connor. If you don’t rock the boat, I think at the next hearing we can get you free of this.” “I sure hope you’re right… and that nothing else happens before then.” I decided to stop being miserable and took a second to let out the pee into my diaper. I blushed red as I figured from Kendra and David’s expression, that they knew exactly what I was doing. It was humiliating to be peeing in a diaper in front of my colleagues! A loud knock happened at the door, “Five minutes!” the bailiff shouted. I sighed, “I hope I’m still me at the end of this. I’m scared of what her mom will still find a way to do to me.” Kendra stood and walked over, “I’m sorry Cameron, we’ll find a way, I promise you!” “Look, even if this goes badly… you have to find a way to make her pay for Beth and the others. In the end I don’t care about myself as long as she sees justice!” “We’ll do everything we can,” Kendra hugged me. “And we’ll be by those four times to check on you!” “Thanks,” I told her. “Time!” the bailiff said. I sighed and walked over to them and Addison who was waiting outside and immediately scooped me up. “You done?” She asked with some disdain towards them. “Yes Miss Harris. We'll be taking advantage of Judge O’Connor’s times to check in on him. Please take good care of him, we want him back when the judge overrules this injustice.” She snorted in a way that probably was about to land her in the hospital by Kendra killing her, but a shake from my head told her to let it go. “Looks like we have a wet baby girl here,” she said loudly as she carried me down the hall. “Let’s go change your diapee and then we’ll get your nap in on the way home!” I looked at her, confused by the theatrics, but just sat on her hip with her hand on my butt all the way to the bathroom without another word. She took me inside the women’s restroom and pulled down one of the wall-mounted changing tables near the entrance. She hooked the diaper bag to a hook on the side, pulled out a changing mat with her free hand, and placed me down on it. “Aww… who’s a good baby girl?” She said with a smile. “I don’t know how that judge can even think of you not being a baby girl with a wet diapee like this,” she pulled my dress up to my chest and exposed the used diaper. She began tickling my stomach a little then without warning, “Aww… who’s the cutest wittle baby?” I couldn’t help but laugh while she was tickling me, and was silently trying to figure out what the hell was going on! I was annoyed when I felt my bladder twinge some more and release into the diaper before she finally stopped and pushed a pacifier into my mouth. She pulled another diaper out and had it ready to go as she removed the tapes from the wet one. I felt her grab my feet in her hand as a woman came and washed her hand in the sink nearby, “Oh dear, I think you have something a little extra on your little girl there!” The woman said. “Just for now, we’ll take care of it as soon as we get through our little custody battle that we’re having, huh?” she wiped my butt right then and I squirmed. “Sit still baby, we’ll be done with your changie in just a moment, huh?” Her baby talking was getting old, and I was seriously afraid of what had happened while I was meeting with David and Kendra. She placed the new diaper underneath me and laid me down onto it. The woman came up closer then and said to her, “Your mom expects you to be nursing her tonight where she can see you. If you don’t, you will be the one nursing…” She paused for effect there, then added, “You need to report to work tomorrow too.” The woman reached around past her and touched me nose, “Be a good baby girl! That’s all you’ll ever be now!” I looked at the woman in shock and only had a moment of looking before she turned and walked out of the bathroom. Addison looked shocked for just a second and then finished taping the diaper shut, threw the old diaper away, and then sat me on the counter while she washed her hands. “Let’s get going for that nap, huh? Then I guess I need to find you a good daycare to go to…” She carried me through the courthouse and I observed Henry Johnson standing around talking to the woman who had just been inside. Not that I had any doubts before, but I certainly knew now that her mom was going to be pushing things much harder moving forward! When she arrived at her SUV, she opened the door and gently placed me in the car seat. She had yet to give me anything other than a sippy cup, so I was surprised when she handed me a baby bottle with white liquid inside of it. “You need something to snack on here since we’ve skipped lunch,” she told me, “and I’m sure you’ve got to be getting a bit dehydrated. Your diaper was pretty yellow…” “What is this Mommy?” I asked her. “Just some formula sweetie. Regular baby formula,” she added. “It’s not the stuff made for Littles.” She saw my skepticism, and pushed my hand to bring the nipple to my mouth. “Be a good girl,” she reminded me. Something in her look told me I needed to do it for both of our sakes, so I sighed and took the nipple inside my lips. It took a little bit of work to suck out of the nipple, but wasn’t that much worse than a straw once I got a rhythm going. The taste was weird… it wasn’t milk… it was different than that. It was a little bit sweeter than regular milk, and seemed a bit thinner than the milk I would buy in the store. As I sucked the liquid down, I just wished I could have some coffee instead! It was a big bottle for a baby, but since I was bigger than a real baby, or a Little by a bit, I finished before we were out of the city traffic. ‘How the hell am I going to get out of this?’ I wondered as I absently kept chewing on the nipple of the bottle. Something about the formula, the car ride, the stress, and everything else sent me down for the nap that Addison wanted me to take. WHEN I WOKE up, I was staring into Addison’s shoulder as she was apparently picking me up. “Oh, I’m sorry baby, I didn’t necessarily mean to wake you up,” she said. I didn’t respond, just taking my hands and wiping the sleet out of my eyes. Based on what she had told me we were doing, I assumed we’d be going home right then. Instead, we were at some park with a few genuine toddlers running around and playing. “Where are we?” “The park, Princess,” she said as she squeezed me tighter. “I thought we could come play for a bit before we go home. I know you have your playset there, but I figured the park’s always more fun!” She whispered, “I thought we might be able to talk here some too…” “There’s no one following us?” I asked her. I noticed she didn’t have my diaper bag on her. She seemed to only have me, and nothing else. “No, I lost them, you know how I drive.” “I slept through that?” I asked. She smiled, “Guess you got used to Mommy’s crazy driving years ago!” She carried me closer and I could see some swings, “How about a swing?” I shrugged, “Sure,” I told her. She went to one that had a bucket style seat designed for young toddlers and deposited me inside. “How do I actually fit in this…?” “Sweetie, you’ve always been smaller than I think you knew. This is meant for probably up to a five-year-old Big, so you easily fit inside.” I was a little surprised as she gave me a little push then, but couldn’t help but acknowledge there was something nice about this. Getting into the spirit I said, “Higher!” She laughed and pushed me more fervently for a couple minutes before slowing it down to a gentler amount. “Sweetie, I don’t know what we’re going to do about my mom…” “What does she expect?” I asked her while keeping an eye out for any new people. So far it was just three moms watching two toddlers play in a sandpit, and another going up and down a slide a little way off. “Honestly? She’s expecting me to start nursing you, which will make you lose your continence.” “What else?” “What else?” “Yeah, what else does she want?” “Well, she has a few daycares she wants me to send you to one of them…” “Hypnosis there?” “Probably?” “What about the injunction?” “Are those really physical modifications?” “The breast milk would be?” “It’s just a bad reaction to food…” “That’s scary, that could apply to a lot of things.” She suddenly stopped pushing me and picked me up and squeezed me tight, “I am so sorry Cameron, I never wanted to do this to you!” I could sense the tears by the shaking of her chest even before I looked up. I sighed, “I know you didn’t… And no offense, but I really don’t want you as my mommy for the rest of my life.” “I never wanted that role with you either.” “Did you really love me?” I asked curiously. “Of course! It’s why I fought so hard for so long to stay with you!” I sighed, “Well, you should know I never really stopped loving you either.” I didn’t know what I wanted at that moment from her. “I figured… I hated breaking your heart that night...” “I guess I understand now… I wouldn’t have wanted you gracing the covers of some baby fashion magazine nursing from your mother...” “Not like you are going to be now?” I laughed nervously, “I don’t think that me being on a cover will be a problem. Now, the question is how do we get ourselves out of your mom’s control?” “We can’t?” “We can’t? Or we just don’t know how yet?” “Both?” “Okay, well we’re going to have to get some more help. Hopefully that is coming, for now we probably should give you mom what she wants to buy us some time…” We talked for a while before she plucked me from the seat and said, “Okay I think we have a plan… you want to prove to me you can do this?” “Huh?” “Let’s go play on the slide, and then the sand, silly!” “Oh,” I said. She sat me down on my feet and said, “Can you be a big girl and use the slide all by yourself, or do you need Mommy?” I looked up at her and said, “Big girl!” I ran to the smaller toddler’s size slide and began climbing up it. As I got to the top she waited at the bottom, “Come on, slide down to Mommy!” I forced a smile at first, but as I slid down it sort of became real. We played with the other playground equipment for a while longer before I started getting kind of tired of running around. I was just standing up from the slide when I felt the need to go poop come. I desperately wanted her to at least let me wear training pants, and she was thinking about it for the next day to help out with the plan – but made no guarantees yet. In the meantime, I knew the diaper was on, and it was expected I would use it like a good baby. The urgency was there, so with a sigh I paused and bent my legs. I squeezed, and at first nothing would come out, long built potty skills refusing to give in. I kept trying for a few more minutes, before eventually I felt the log start to push its way through. Once it started there was no stopping it! It kept filling my diaper, and I was out of breath and kind of dizzy when I finished. “Looks like someone made a boom boom!” one of the other kids’ moms said nearby. Addison laughed, “Looks like it!” “Not in a hurry to potty train her?” “Nope, she’s my little poop machine,” she leaned over and pushed a hair that had come loose from the headband she’d used on me that morning back in place. “Sweetie you want to go on the slide one more time, then we’ll go change your poopy pants?” ‘No, I want changed now…’ I thought, “No go!” “You can have one more time, go down the slide and then we need to get going sweetie.” I knew I needed to learn to play this part, so I went and climbed up the steps one last time, feeling the warm sticky mass rubbing against my butt. I made it to the top of the ladder and forced myself to do the unthinkable, I sat and slid down! I could feel as it squished the poop all over my butt, and I knew Addison was going to have fun cleaning it all up. There was something though in the act of letting go right then that felt right. So, I decided to be a typical toddler and ran back up and snuck one more slide down the slide into her waiting arms. “You little sneaker,” she said as she tickled me. “Stop!” I cried. “Let’s go get your stinky butt changed and get home.” She kissed my forehead and carried me to the SUV where she opened the back up. For the mess that I knew was in my pants, she cleaned it up like it was no big deal to her. I was soon in a fresh diaper, and she walked with me on her hip to a nearby trash can to throw the diaper away before buckling me back into my car seat and shoving another bottle, this one of juice, into my lap. “You’ve got to be thirsty by now.” I just nodded and drank, knowing there would be a lot more baby bottles and poopy diapers before this plan would work one way or another. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you for reading! Please press the 'Like' Button and consider leaving me a comment! I am truly amazed by how many have done so on this novel! I appreciate each and every one of you who have done so!!! So now you all know what happened to Addy that changed her so abruptly that Cameron was caught off guard. Curious to see what you all think! I know some of you had kind of wondered on that track of thinking! As of right now I plan to post again Sunday. Next week there is some wiggle room in my schedule that an extra post or two might happen - we'll see how it goes!

Chapter 20: Sizeism OUR GROUP HAD become a close group of friends over our first two years at school, and we found that we all worked together very well. Only Sam and I lived in the village, so we tended to get together a lot at my place to study, since Sam was a little skittish about letting Big people inside her place. On those occasions Edgar visited, he had to duck a little to come inside my apartment, and tended to bring his own folding chair, but it became normal for us all to hang out a few nights of the week. One of the few times that I was inside Sam’s apartment; I had caught sight of a package of night-time protection that I guessed was why she didn’t want anyone over. She’d even been leery of me at first, but as we got to know each other, I told her more about my own past and Beth. As a consequence, we became good friends and I helped her out in situations where even in this city it wouldn’t be a good idea to go unescorted as a Little! I had not seen Beth in person now for all of that time - even though I now knew roughly where her father had taken her. Beth and I talked every single day via video though, and oftentimes I would just set up the connection and we’d hang out while I did my studying, or even watched movies together. A distance relationship sucked, but I felt like we were making it work pretty well! The nice thing was that my time in law school was flying by unbelievably quickly! During my second year I had worked really hard to earn the recommendation of one of my professors to get an internship with the Chief Justice on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Justice Ruth Jones was highly respected, and had a reputation for being a no-nonsense juror, but understood applying the law accurately and fairly as well. After my finals ended in May, I’d made a quick trip home to grab my car and drove first to New Haven. I’d taken a hurried day at Harlan to move much of my stuff out into storage, and the needed things into the car to take with me. I had been on the road for two hours to get to Crescent City, Capital of The State of Hartford, on the Saturday before I was set to begin interning. I was glad it was a city in the same state as Harlan, just so I could feel safer about this adventure. Unfortunately, the move was pretty much sight unseen for me with the apartment. I had interviewed with Judge Jones via a video conference instead of being in person due to my classes. She’d been completely understanding of my need for that, and had even complimented me on taking my coursework seriously. After she offered me the position, she was kind enough to send along a couple of recommendations of places to live that she knew were nice places close to the courthouse. This apartment was in a high-rise building downtown only two blocks from the courthouse. Luckily it also had access to a parking garage for my car, even though it looked to me on the surface to be possible to never have to leave the area for anything other than maybe groceries. I pulled into the garage as I’d been instructed by the manager, grabbed my briefcase, and walked down the tall stairs to exit the garage. At the bottom I found a door that led to the adjacent building. Opening a large door, I followed the arrows to the management’s office. To my surprise it appeared to be a bigger office than I expected. A tall secretary looked up from her computer and said, “Well hello there! Can I help you?” The problem wasn’t the words… The problem was the pitch was high like you would use with a preschooler... or a baby. I hadn’t dealt with that much since I’d begun studying at Harlan. I braced myself for more of that, but forced the smile I knew I needed in the courtroom, “Yes, I’m Cameron Sylvester. I’m supposed to move into my apartment today?” Her face looked inquisitive for a moment, typed something in her computer, and then looked back at me. “Umm… No one told us you were a Little?” I bit my tongue, “I’m not a Little, I’m legally a Mid, but my size isn’t going to be a problem in renting? That would be discrimination of course…?” “Let me get my manager…” she stood up and walked away. I pulled my phone out and placed it in a panic mode that could call Dad without being seen. I hadn’t felt the need to have a panic button ready to go in years now, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was going to be treated as a Little by her. I also started a recording on the phone just in case I needed evidence of what I feared was coming. Another tall woman made her way to where I was standing. “Mr. Sylvester?” she said. “Yes, ma’am?” I said as I held my hand up to her. “I’m Ryleigh Edger, I’m sorry about the confusion here. You were given a reference by Judge Jones, but no one said you weren’t a Big.” “I don’t see the relevance?” “Well, we have an apartment furnished and ready to go for you, but it is unfortunately Big sized.” I shrugged, “I grew up in a full-sized house, it won’t be an issue.” “Well, maybe it wouldn’t for you… but we have an insurance company that doesn’t approve larger sized rentals for lessee’s due to the safety risks. Concerns of people falling out of too tall beds… not being able to reach safety equipment.” “So, what you’re telling me is that you will not rent to me? Based upon my size alone?” “Well…” “You realize I will be reporting your discrimination? I will probably seek out a small claim’s suit against you all as well. Where am I supposed to rent an apartment on this short of notice?” “Sir…” “Sir, what? You’ll rent to me?” “No sir, I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” “Then I will do so.” I told her. I turned and walked back to my car, getting inside, locking it, and shaking with nerves then. If she HAD called the cops that would have been a way to manipulate an arrest and get me into the courts. I set my car to drive a safe distance away to a shopping center parking lot where I could try and figure out a plan. I had just left the parking garage when my phone rang. “Hello?” “Mr. Sylvester?” I heard the voice of Judge Jones. “Oh, hello Judge Jones.” “I wanted to see how you were doing? If you had made it to the city yet?” I sighed, “Well… I made it to the city, but unfortunately the apartment I had arranged to rent was in a building that apparently believes in discriminating against anyone who’s not a Big.” “What?!?” She sounded genuinely unhappy. “They can’t do that! You told them that?” “I have a recording too. She was trying to claim it was due to their insurance not being willing to insure the apartments against an injury if I fell…” “Really?” She acted surprised, “I haven’t seen one of these cases in a couple of years here. When we hang up, I want you to send me the audio recording. I think I’ll get it to our local DA and let him go deal with them… I guess that means your place to stay has fallen through?” I sighed, “Yeah, I was just getting ready to find a place to park and start calling around for other places.” “Well…you know what… don’t bother.” “Ma’am?” I said, nervous she was about to fire me. “I mean don’t bother. I have a room you can stay in at my house. I have had interns come before, but didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by suggesting it first.” My stomach did flip-flops. For the second time in twenty minutes, I worried my maturity card could be in jeopardy! ‘She’s not one of those…’ I thought. I thought back to everything I’d researched about her. She had four kids – natural ones – who were all grown. The youngest son had just graduated college this spring, and as far as I knew they had never had a Little, and her kids hadn’t either. Her record spoke pretty positively on the Little front actually, having decided against many Bigs trying to cruelly bypass the stringent adoption rules that the State of Hartford had in place. “I’d expect to pay rent,” I found myself saying. “Nonsense! You’re a student! You and I both know what it’s like to eat ramen and get by with the bare minimum on things. Save your money.” “Well… I have to do something to make it up to you?” “Nonsense, now, I’m going to text you our address and I’ll be expecting to see you soon!” “Yes Ma’am,” I found myself saying. I got off the phone with her and messaged her a copy of the audio file from the apartment. I uploaded it somewhere safe too, before programming in her address and sending my car off to its new destination. I called Dad then, “Cameron? Did you make it into your apartment already?” “Hi Dad… No. Things didn’t go as expected…” I filled him in. He seemed to have his own worries along my lines, but neither of us saw another solution. “I’ll be careful Dad, I love you,” I told him. “Love you too Cameron,” he said to me. I saw that she must live a fair way out of town, because it was still another twenty minutes to get to her house. Right then my phone lit up with Meg’s number. I pressed accept and said, “Hi Meg, how are you doing?” “Hi Cameron, have you moved into your new place yet?” She asked. “Not exactly,” I told her. “What’s wrong?” I explained everything, “Cameron that’s kind of scary. Are you sure it’s safe to go stay with her?” “I hope so… all of my research tells me I should be safe…” “Be careful!” “I will… How’s everything going there?” “Odd.” “Odd?” I asked curiously. “Yeah… You know, when Stacy left there were some weird things that happened.” “Like?” “Well… I don’t think I ever told you about my cousins, did I?” I thought back to what Stacy had told me about them, “You didn’t, but Stacy told me they were all in the worst shape, no teeth, can’t walk, etcetera?” “Yeah… they were.” “Were?” “A month after Stacy left, they healed suddenly. Grew teeth, started to struggle walk again, and could talk like normal.” “Uh-oh, what did your aunts do?” “Nothing… Well… sort of nothing. They like turned up the affection levels… I haven’t seen them hit one of them since about a month after that. They’re even letting them eat regular food, and changing their diapers when needed - like a normal parent would. Before they were really abusive, but now both of them treat their Littles like cuddly dolls that they actually love. Well enough, that Neville told me decided to not run away when he suddenly could again.” “That is weird… You think Stacy?” “Yeah… I do.” “Well, at least it’s just them?” “No… that’s the thing. In the last six-months I’ve noticed less and less of the abusive behavior when Megan has taken me out. Then this week a judge made a ruling that Littles have the same rights to safe homes as normal minor children.” “You think she somehow hypnotized everyone?” I had to keep from her that I knew full well what had happened. “No idea… but I’m guessing she had something to do with it.” “Does that mean Littles aren’t being adopted now?” “No… unfortunately that hasn’t changed. If anything, I think I’m seeing more adoptions among Megan’s friends. There’s still plenty of ‘adjustments’ happening too, but at least the beatings and such seem to be not as frequent…” “Things are still the same there with you?” I changed the subject. “Pretty much. Megan’s thinking about switching jobs though, so I may have to start going to a daycare during the daytime…” “Ouch… I hope not?” “She’s promised she’ll make sure it’s a nice one if she does.” I saw the car was three minutes from my destination, “Hey Meg, I want to talk to you some more, but I’m almost to her house. I need to let you go so I can keep track of which of these mansions is hers…” “Big houses?” “I have a feeling her house is going to be bigger than Amanda and Fred’s.” “Ooh… Good luck Cameron!” “Talk to you later Meg,” I told her and hung up. The car brought me to a gated entrance and I pressed the button at the gate, “Hello?” A voice asked. “I’m here to see Judge Jones?” “Is that you Cameron?” “Yes, Your Honor,” remembering my better manners now that I wasn’t so frustrated. “I’m opening the gate up and the garage, just park your car in the empty spot on the end.” “Okay,” I found myself saying. The large gate was twice the height of my dad’s car, and looked like it probably would stop a very large vehicle from ramming through it. I saw it close behind me as I guided my car up the driveway to the house. I discovered they had five double garage doors lined up along the side of a large house finished with a stone façade. It looked to be three stories tall, and probably had a basement I guessed too. As I parked in the empty spot, I noted there was a large truck, two SUVs, a luxury sedan, and a small modest classic sports car in the other bays. It looked like there was a pretty good-sized shop setup in one of the other bays to work on cars too. I opened my door and looked at the tall figure of Judge Jones walking towards me with a man that I guessed was her husband. Her hair was short and gray, while he lacked anything on top of his head, and the hair on his sides was white. “Hi Judge Jones,” I said. “Thank you so much for helping me out here.” “I’m Cameron,” I said to the tall man beside her. She was probably a little under eleven feet in height, while he was probably four inches taller than her. “Nice to meet you Cameron, I’m Doug,” he told me. “So, you made it alright?” Judge Jones asked me. “Yes, Your Honor,” I said. “Oh, stop it with that. If you’re going to be working with me, and living with us, I can’t have you ‘Your Honoring’ me every two seconds. Call me Ruth, or if you really feel a need to be formal Mrs. Jones will be just fine.” “Umm… Thanks.” “What did you bring with you?” She looked inside the car as I opened the back. “Well, I had thought I was moving into an apartment today, so I brought most of the things I needed from my on-campus apartment…” “You won’t need a lot of that. Why don’t you bring in your clothes, computer, and anything like that and leave the rest of your things in your car for now? We can store the rest of the boxes next to your car in the garage, or just leave it all in the car. I figure if you’re living with me, we’ll commute into town together.” “That’s very generous,” I said with a smile. “Why don’t we go show you your room,” she said after I had grabbed a couple suitcases, my computer, and her husband had grabbed another suitcase. They led me up the steps of a large porch that wrapped around the house, and inside the entryway of the huge house I had to gasp. I’d been inside Addy’s house twice while we had dated, and while probably more expensive, this seemed more elegant. “You have a beautiful home,” I told them. “Thank you,” she said. She led me up tall steps that were definitely sized for Bigs. It was a big step up for each, but I managed to balance everything and make it to the second floor, and then the third floor where she opened up a door, “I figured you’d probably appreciate the privacy the third floor will give you. This room was my youngest daughter’s… so sorry about the colors in here. You can at least switch the sheets if you’ve got the right size with you.” I looked in at a room that I was surprised was suited for a shorter person. “She’s shorter?” I asked while looking at a bed that was sized for a Mid or a small Big child. “Yes, Jenny somehow ended up with a recessive gene. She’s only eight feet tall,” she told me. “Not that much taller than you really.” “No, that’s the height my dad is,” I said. “Anyway, when we figured out that she was going to be shorter, we found appropriate sized furniture. We also had the bathroom altered to make it a bit more manageable too.” “Great!” I said with a smile. “I really do appreciate this!” “Well, why don’t I let you get situated in here. I’ll have dinner ready in an hour – please come down and join us.” “Are you sure I can’t pay you anything?” “Help me with dishes after dinner each day, we’ll call that even,” she told me. She gave me a look as I was about to argue more, so I smiled, “I’d be happy to do that.” They left and I took a look around the room. It was decorated for a teen girl with a definitely girlish scheme. Two walls, including one with a huge window seat, were painted white, while the opposite walls were painted a light purple. A bed that looked to be my size was covered in a very feminine white comforter, with the headboard backed up against one of the purple walls. On the wall above the bed were hundreds of stuck on mirrored star shapes that were actually kind of cool. The opposite side of the room held a white vanity with a mirror on it that I assumed her daughter used to do her makeup with from the small dusty remnants that still remained. A fairly sturdy white desk sat beside it with a nice computer chair. I opened up the closet and discovered it would have been a dream closet for most girls with all of the bars available to hang things. As I unpacked my limited amount of clothing I thought, “I sure hope she isn’t wanting me to be a new daughter in here…” As I said that quietly aloud, I noticed my long hair in the reflection of the vanity would certainly suit that look. ‘Why does Beth have to like it long too…?’ I shook my head and made sure I made it downstairs promptly for dinner after putting all of my things away and making sure my ponytail was tucked in and hidden beneath the back of my t-shirt. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This past week you all pushed me over 2000 career likes on this site, and I wanted to give you a bonus chapter for that today. (I would have done it then, but like I said in a couple posts yesterday - it's been a long week!) Please keep pressing that Like Button and leaving comments and I'll occasionally feel like rewarding you all with some extras! I'll post again tomorrow afternoon. This coming week is going to be a busy one again, but hopefully things will let off enough the next week I can finish writing the book. I'm starting Chapter 52 finally after being stalled all week long. Thanks for reading! ?

Chapter 2: DEAN NORTHRUP LED me to a conference room down the hall, where I found our missing students and Matt finishing up with their own meeting. “What happened to you?” I asked him as I realized he now towered over me, even though he was shorter than our hosts. “Guess I’m one of the rare ones who grew. We had a couple of our students do that, too. Where’s everyone else?” “They all got assigned to the Little’s dorms,” I said. I noticed Northrup had left, and the others were further away. I closed the gap to him, and he leaned down toward me like one would a little kid. “I have a bad feeling about things for them…” I watched him give me a skeptical look. He was about to respond when I heard, “Doctor Benson?” from a new voice. I turned to see a woman in doctor’s scrubs, more than twice my height, closing the gap to me. I noted that my head didn’t even reach her hip height! “Yes?” I said though politely. “Great! I’m Erica Daniels; I’m your host at the hospital this semester!” She knelt on the ground before me and held out a hand. I took it politely, noting that her hand, compared to mine, made me feel like a toddler! “Nice to meet you. Call me Katherine,” I told her. “I was asked to give you both a ride to the apartments,” she told us. “You’re Doctor Owens, right?” She said to Matt. “Yes, we appreciate the ride!” “No problem. The history department chair will meet with you after the luncheon,” Erica told him. “Let’s get your stuff and get you all settled in!” I found myself walking beside Matt as the giant woman in front of us led us to a baggage collection area where only our bags now remained. My suitcase seemed bigger, but it was likely the loss of ten inches of height. ‘I wonder if anything will fit?!?’ I’d taken some precautions, bringing clothing smaller than my normal size and a few spare white coats in a handful of other sizes. I wasn’t ignorant of the possibility of shrinking, and I hoped that my planning would at least leave me something to wear after that. Erica led us outside the building, and I felt my jaw drop when I saw the massive size of the buildings around us. Like an Ivy League back home, the campus was stunning! Occasionally, you’d see students or others doing something with advanced tech. One group of students seemed to be playing some game with glasses on. “Here we are,” Erica said as we approached a vehicle. It resembled a sedan, even though the outside was devoid of locks or handles. It seemed designed to be ultra-aerodynamic with some very organic curves. With a button, the back of the vehicle opened, and she put our bags inside before leading us along the side. Then, Erica pressed the side of what I assumed was a driver’s door, and both back doors opened. Seeing a toddler’s booster seat before me, my stomach plummeted. “Matthew, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to sit in this seat due to your height.” “I’m taller than back home?” he asked in surprise as she patted the seat. “Yes, but you’re still about a foot short of not needing it. Sorry, the authorities here in Ames track safety seat usage quite closely.” I looked up at Matt, who sighed, shrugged, and climbed into the seat. She helped him pull a shoulder belt across him and then waved at me, “Your seat is on this side, Katherine.” Only then, on the other side of the car, I realized what kind of seat she was referring to. “Umm… can’t I at least sit in a seat like Matt?” “I’m sorry, Doctor Benson, but they told me you’re only ninety-seven pounds; rear-facing seats are required up to one-hundred and twenty pounds here.” Without warning, she picked me up and set me down in a pink rear-facing toddler car seat. “Give me your arm here,” she said politely, while I felt a firm hand guide my hand into a car seat strap like I’d done with my niece Ava just a few weeks prior. I blushed as I was grateful to have worn a pants set today instead of a skirt when she invaded my personal space even more to pull a crotch strap between my legs. I felt her pull down on the straps, and my whole body felt locked in the car seat. “There you go,” she said with a smile. “It’s a short trip over there, but I figured you wouldn’t want to walk that far with your luggage.” She closed the door, and I saw Matt’s face looking concerned. We couldn’t talk before the giant hostess climbed into the driver’s side seat, shut the door, and said, “Go to the Iliad Apartments, please.” “Yes, Doctor Daniels,” a voice responded. “It seems a little more intuitive than our systems back home,” Matt said to make small talk. “Definitely more advanced than my car,” I told him. “I’ve kept my car from high school all these years to save money trying to pay off med school bills.” “I understand that; I think I only have three more years of payments left now. Fortunately, my med school came through with extensive fellowship funds.” I tried to see out of the car windows, but my view was definitely more limited. Fortunately, it wasn’t long until we reached our destination, and I was let out after she helped Matt get the buckle. While I waited, I tried pressing the release buckle myself, but I must not have had enough strength for it. However, Erica had no problems using one hand to undo it and gave me a lift out to the ground. “That’s awkward,” I said to Matt. He nodded, “Yeah. I assume we need to find the manager’s office?” “That’s what I was told,” Erica said to me. She helped pull my two suitcases out of her car, Matthew’s one, and led us to the offices. “Good morning, looking to rent an apartment?” a tall gentleman asked. He wore a polo and slacks and had a name badge that read ‘assistant manager’ from my low position. “These two have apartments set up by Emerson?” He gave us both a look, “Names?” “I’m Doctor Matthew Owens,” he told him. “And I’m Doctor Katherine Benson,” I told him. He pressed some buttons on a tablet. “I see the accounts are all set and paid…” he looked down at me. “Are you staying with her?” he asked Erica. “No…?” She said hesitantly, “I’m just their ride?” He sighed, “Okay, I have one Tweener apartment where Doctor Owens can be situated here. I don’t have anything in Little sizes right now, though.” “Can’t you just rent her a Tweener apartment too?” He shook his head, “Our insurance company doesn’t allow it.” “What about a regular apartment?” I asked, not liking the feeling I was getting. “No can do, Doctor. Sorry, Emerson will have to help you find a different apartment.” “Can she stay with me?” Matt asked, trying to be helpful. “Sorry, you’re in a one-bedroom, and we don’t allow non-married couples like that due to some past issues with nasty breakups.” “Let me get you your key, and I’ll have someone guide you to your apartment,” he told Matt. Meanwhile, I found myself standing there lost. Erica suddenly came down to my level, got on her knees, and gave me an unexpected hug. “We’ll get this figured out, Katherine. I can’t believe they weren’t prepared for you to be a Little!” “Umm… how hard is it to get another apartment in Little sizes?” I asked. She said, “Give me a minute; let me call the person responsible for the exchange program. “ I watched her do something and realized she was talking over some device I couldn’t see. “Yes, this is Erica Daniels… Yes, we got to the apartment; we’re having a problem, though… Can you get her something else…?” I stood like a spare part for several minutes as her face went despondent. “No, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to stay with her students in their dorm…” I felt my blood chill thinking of them trying to make me wear that hideous uniform… or worse yet…? “Okay, please do let me know.” She looked down at me with a pitying look. “Umm… look, I know this may be awkward since we’re going to be working with each other, but I do have a guest bedroom at my house. You’d be welcome to stay there?” “I couldn’t possibly put you out like that…” I objected. “It’s no problem; I don’t have a husband or a boyfriend… so my house is kind of a waste of space?” I looked up at the useless apartment manager staring at me. “I guess I don’t have any other option right now. I should work at least until Emerson can sort this out.” “Great!” she told me. “Would you please let Matthew know I’ll be back to pick him up in an hour to go to the luncheon?” “He should be able to take a university-provided Bruber. I’ll show him how the system works,” the manager said. “Great! Well, we’ll go drop off Doctor Benson’s things then.” “Sorry I couldn’t be more help,” he told me. A short while later, I was again strapped into the embarrassing seat, and we were driving on the road. “This’ll work out better anyway, Katie!” she told me. “We can just carpool into the hospital each day this way!” ‘I hate that name. My name is Katherine,’ I grumbled inside my head. It’s hard to be rude about it, though, given that she’s helping me out.’ “Great,” I said with forced enthusiasm. Fortunately, I wasn’t strapped in too much longer as I was beginning to need to hit the restroom rather desperately. I mentally cursed myself for not asking to go after the meeting! Erica pulled into a garage and came to release me even as the door closed to the outside. Once we were inside her kitchen, she started to show me the downstairs rooms. When we came to a bathroom beside the kitchen, I asked, “Do you mind if I use this restroom?” “Umm… Sweetie, you probably want to use the upstairs hallway bathroom instead.” “Why?” I asked, even as I looked at the enormous toilet before me. “Umm… how do…?” “You get on?” she asked. “It’s going to be tough with that one. I have a step and a potty seat for my nieces and nephew upstairs, though.” I felt my blood drain even as I left my suitcases for the moment downstairs and climbed up the staircase. By the time I was shown the guest bathroom, I didn’t care about the indignities of using a toddler step and potty seat; I was desperate to pee! My panties were a bit damp as I pulled them back up, and I nervously considered the rules that had been shared with the students in our meeting! Fortunately, as I pulled my pants up, washed my hands with the aid of a step stool, and looked in the mirror, I couldn’t see any outward signs of my struggles. Erica was waiting right outside the door, “Everything okay?” “Yes, I just should have gone after our meeting. I figured I’d be at my apartment by now, though?” She nodded, “I get that.” She looked at her watch, “I think we need to get going if we’re going to get you back in time for that welcome luncheon. Why don’t you just leave your bags down here, and we’ll look at everything when we get back?” I blushed. “That’s probably a good idea. I thought I would bring some smaller sizes, but I don’t know if I brought anything small enough.” “From what I have heard, things don’t necessarily size down the way you expect all the time either,” she told me. “Okay,” I said. I grabbed what had been a small purse inside my backpack and realized what Erica had said. Before I left, the small purse had been barely big enough for my cell phone, wallet, makeup, and a couple tampons. Now, it was practically the large purse my mom carried around! My backpack itself hadn’t exploded in size, but the purse inside had behaved oddly. ‘I hope I have any clothes that fit…?’ I worried as I followed Erica back out to the car and was buckled back into the embarrassing car seat. “Why do you have two seats in here?” I asked her. “That seat is for my niece and the other one works for her brothers and cousin when needed.” “Oh,” I said. “I never kept more than a booster in my car for mine.” “You have nieces and nephews?” she asked me as she closed the driver’s door and instructed the car to drive us back to campus. “Yeah…” We had a conversation about our families then, and it was nice to connect with this friendly giant on that level. Her size intimidated the hell out of me, but she was quite gentle. The drive back to the university didn’t take that long, so we were soon navigating the buildings, and she led me to where the luncheon was being held. “I’ll come find you in about an hour?” She suggested. “That’s probably long enough?” I suggested. “You could probably come join me as a guest?” She shook her head, “I’m going to head to the bookstore while I’m here for a couple things. I’ll catch you in a bit!” I walked through the enormous doors to enter the banquet hall where the reception was held. I immediately saw Matt. “Hey,” I told him, “You made it here, okay?” “Yeah, they set up this cool autonomous ride-sharing system called Bruber for us while we’re here. You should have it too, but I don’t know what happened to the package you would have had waiting for you in your apartment, along with a university-provided phone?” I was about to ask more about that when the tall Dean from earlier said, “Good afternoon; good to see you made it back here! We’re putting all the faculty up at the head table there, if you want to take a seat?” I looked ahead and was sure if the table hadn’t been on a stage, I’d never have seen it over the tables and people in front of me! I noted two tables with a lectern and a university seal in the middle. Matt and I made our way to the table, and I found myself staring at a chair that was way too tall for my now-shortened frame. “One second, ma’am,” a uniformed staff member said then. I looked up at him and saw him holding a child booster seat that he strapped to the chair. Here, let me give you a hand.” Without warning, he unceremoniously picked me up, sat me on the booster seat, and pushed me towards the table. Matt looked at me with a bit of amusement and concern. “Guess I didn’t think through what it would be like if you shrunk that much,” he said. “The car seat earlier was bad, too,” I told him. “I can’t believe that at my new height of eight feet, I have to sit on a booster!” “I know,” I said to him. Before I could speak more with him, a tall gentleman approached us. “Hi, I’m Ryan Barnes. I’m the university president here…” We spoke for just a couple of minutes as he welcomed us. Someone signaled him, though, and he stepped between the two head tables to the lectern. “Good afternoon! It’s so great to have all of you here! My name is Doctor Ryan Barnes, and I have the pleasure of serving as the President of Emerson University! The university and I are so excited to have you join us on your exchange visits! In total, we have four sets of exchange students from four different dimensions this spring, and we’re excited for you to learn about us and for us to learn more about you all! During your stay, please don’t hesitate to contact my office for assistance if you need it! We want you to be successful and take home your knowledge and new experiences to benefit our societies!” I tuned out a good chunk of the speech beyond waving when I was introduced. I looked at the small sea of students and noted that most seemed to be in that ‘Little’ height. The few taller students mainly looked like the Nest Mothers we’d been introduced to at the Little’s meeting. I was personally astounded by just how large the portions of food were! I ordered the chicken dish and was sure the ‘chicken breast’ they’d placed on my plate was bigger than any turkey breast I’d ever made back home! Dean Northrup ended up beside me, and I asked, “How big are your chickens?” She laughed, “That question often comes up at these first meals with our guests!” Conversations were what I expected at events like this. Similar to any donor luncheons or occasional faculty dinners I was pulled to for the medical school. There was suddenly a disturbance in the room that surprised me. I recognized one of our students, Noah, who seemed to be in the middle of it. “I can’t… I’m full.” “Come on, take a bite for me, sweetie,” a voice said like an impatient parent trying to get their toddler to eat. I saw a Big holding a fork to his mouth. “No, I don’t want to.” “You need to eat your vegetables, hon,” she told him as if he wasn’t even two. I wasn’t sure what happened next, but suddenly an object flew towards us at our table! I recognized a fork and a piece of carrot landing on the ground before us. “Shit, I said leave me alone!” Beside me, I heard, “Miss Anderson, would you mind escorting that young man to my office and waiting for me there? We’ll ensure someone else helps guide your Littles to the next event?” “Certainly, Dean Northrup,” the tall girl said as she suddenly picked up the struggling Noah and threw him over her shoulder. “May I ask what’s to happen with him?” I heard Matt ask. “We’ll apply the code of conduct with him. He may not be remaining here, unfortunately, though.” I felt queasy at the way that was stated, but since chocolate was my weakness, I couldn’t help but eat ten bites of the dessert. I knew I would regret it later! I noted that Dean Northrup and Matt ended up with a different-colored dessert plate than I did. Theirs were larger portions, too, so I put it out of my mind. As everyone broke up the meal, I watched most students get led in lines like young school children out of the room and back, and I assumed their dorms. “Did you get settled at Erica’s?” Matt asked me. I turned to him, “We didn’t have much time for that by the time we made it there. I left my stuff there, used the bathroom, and we had to return.” I paused, “How was the apartment?” “I know they said it’s sized smaller, but I still have to use step stools to reach anything. It’s like being eight or nine years old again,” Matt told me. I thought aloud, “Wonder what age that would make me?” Erica showed up before we could talk more, “All done?” she asked me. “Yes, I guess we should head back to your place so I can see what fits.” “Sounds like a plan,” she told me. “See you sometime soon, Matt!” I told him. “Same!” With that, Erica led me back to her car and helped me get inside it again. “Well, Katie, shall I give you the grand tour, and you can unpack your bags now?” “Great!” I said. “Well, obviously, this is my kitchen, as you saw earlier,” she said, waving her hands around. “I don’t honestly use it all that much. I tend to use my AmeniTea more anymore since it’s just me.” “AmeniTea?” I asked. “Oh, I know you don’t have them back home. It’s basically like a self-contained restaurant. You tell it what you want, and it makes a complete meal from scratch for you in just a short time.” “Really? Just like a few things?” She shrugged, “I’ve yet to think of something it either can’t make or can’t make without a refill of some other ingredient pack.” “Huh, that’s cool,” I said as she pointed to a device high on a counter that I couldn’t see. As she gave me the kitchen tour, I noted that there was a table that my head didn’t even reach the top of. ‘I could stand up underneath it and not hit my head,’ I thought. She showed me the living room with its enormous furniture and a holoscreen she turned on briefly, to my astonishment. I noted there was a playpen folded up in the corner. She noticed my gaze, “I have a couple young nieces and a nephew who I watch during some of my off days,” she smiled. “I’m sure you’ll get to meet them since you’re staying with me!” “That sounds lovely,” I told her. I couldn’t help but note that, just like the infant car seat I’d been strapped inside, that playpen would probably effectively cage me like an infant when it was set up! She showed me a small office she had downstairs and then led me back upstairs while carrying my bags for me. “To the left is my room,” she told me before leading me past a room in the middle of the hallway, just past the bathroom I had used and down to the end. And this will be yours,” she smiled as she opened the door. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like Button and leave me a comment!!! I really appreciate that there was over a full page of comments after the first post! 💜 Things will be pretty uneven on posting dates/times for the next week and a half. I'll be out of the country with no privacy/internet the next week of Christmas. Once that's done with though I should be able to get you to a regular posting schedule! This week you'll get your next post on Wednesday. Not sure if it'll be before I go to work or after. Thanks for all of your support! I really hope you enjoy this tale! 🙂

Chapter 123: No More Malls BETH HAD BEEN eternally grateful for Fred’s timing in getting there. She put the gown on, then realized she was missing something, “Umm… Fred?” She asked when he returned. “Yes, Beth?” “Did you happen to see where the lunatic lady left my pants?” “Damnit!” He said, “I bet that’s what she shoved down that garbage chute!” “So I take it I won’t see those again?” “Doubtful,” I agreed. “Any chance you can find me some underwear?” Beth cringed, “Preferably not the diaper she wanted me to wear?” “Let me make sure you have Nikki back here first.” “Where is she?” “Not sure,” Fred replied. Right then, the Little doctor returned. Beth noted she was probably just a few inches taller than Carly. “Hi, Beth, I guess we can officially meet now? I know your dad?” Beth nodded, “He’s told me about you a few times?” “Definitely rose above the circumstances we first met,” she smiled at Beth. “Now that I’ve taken care of the psycho nurse who wanted to make up rules for you, why are you here?” “I don’t really know what happened, Doctor Nickerson. One minute, I’ve got a knife next to my throat, and I’m convinced I’m going to die, and then the next, I’m being woken up. Everything until I get to this room is really hazy?” There was a knock on the door, then, “Can we come in?” Beth recognized Megan’s voice. “Who are you?” Dr. Nickerson asked. “I’m Megan Lethbridge, Miss Sylvester’s attorney, and Fred’s sister-in-law. We’ve met a couple times?” “Right! Nice to see you again!” she told her. You have attorney-client privilege, so I’m okay with you coming in. Who is this other woman, though?” “Sorry, I’m Nikki Paulson, Beth’s bodyguard?” “Looks like you missed today?” “Well, yes and no,” Nikki said. “Okay, do you two know what happened to my patient?” “Yes,” Nikki said. “Okay, I’ll let you tell me that, then you can wait outside.” “Actually, we need to hold off on Beth hearing Nikki’s side until she’s interviewed by the police. How about we just give you the basics, and then you can go down and check on the other patient you came in for?” Fred said. “Go ahead?” Megan said, “Just a very broad overview? Just what was done to her physically, not any of the facts. I don’t want Detective James claiming we are changing stories here.” “Got it,” Nikki said. “We were cornered in a restroom at the mall by a Tweener gang. Long stories short, Beth had a knife held against her neck that I believe may have left a small nick, the reason for that gauze, and then she was a contact victim of a Pulse Gun that I fired at the hostage taker.” “So she received a full Pulse?” Dr. Nickerson said with a frown. “Not directly, but it was enough to knock her out since the assailant was holding onto her. She was unconscious for about ten minutes.” “Got it, Mrs. Lethbridge; you may stay in here? Fred, you’re also welcome since you have privileges here?” “I think Megan has it in hand, and since Nikki is outside, I’m going to go see if I can scrounge some replacement pants up since our favorite nurse apparently trashed hers.” “Make sure you purchase a new pair,” Dr. Nickerson told Beth, “and then send the receipt. We’ll dock it from her final paycheck.” “Lie back, please, Miss Sylvester.” “Please, just call me Beth?” She asked. “As long as you call me ‘Doc,’ that’s usually what everyone calls me!” “I can see that,” Beth said with a smile. She lay back on the table and waited for the scan to complete. “I’m not seeing anything directly right now; I’m going to send the scan results on to a colleague who deals with more of these effects on adults brought in by the police. I think you’re good to go if he doesn’t see anything. That wound on your neck didn’t pass through the epidermis, so give it a week, and it should be healed. It shouldn’t even scar.” “Thanks,” Beth said. “Whenever Fred reappears with something for you to wear, feel free to change into them. Since you’re conscious and coherent, I don’t foresee any reason to keep you overnight.” She sighed in relief, fearing she’d have more nurses like the first! “Here’s your purse, Beth,” Megan said, handing over the valuable bag. She opened it and found her phone inside. She quickly texted her parents an update and was just going through the bag, hoping she had a spare pair of panties, at least when there was a knock at the door again. Right then, the detective from earlier at the restaurant came inside. GRANDMA SIGHED DEEPLY, “That daughter of mine!” “You think Stacy is responsible?” Doc asked. “I’m sure she is. I’ll have to call her later and figure out what she did and how we can avoid Carly having more problems. I’m guessing the nanites used energy from the body to heal her, which meant taking mass from somewhere.” “That seems like a reasonable hypothesis,” Doc said. “It might be good to have a follow-up appointment sometime next week?” “I’ll see when we can get in; what days are you scheduled?” “Pre-consults mostly Monday through Wednesday. I do surgeries usually on Thursdays and Friday mornings.” “I’ll see if we can’t get her in here on Tuesday; she’s got an empty spot in her schedule since a class got canceled.” “Sounds good,” she said. “I’m going to go check on the results from my other patient; then we’ll get both the girls out of here!” “Thanks, Doc,” Grandma said. We were about to dress me back in the clothes I arrived in when Grandma realized there was a large hole in my sweater, and the jeans were ripped in an embarrassing spot right on my butt too. Fortunately, she had a spare onesie and leggings outfit in her bag that fit! I figured they were about to release me when a knock came on the door, and Detective Paulson arrived with Aunt Megan in tow. “Good afternoon,” he said. “I’m hoping we can get your statement now?” I looked at Aunt Megan, “This works as well as anywhere, Carly. Saves us a trip to the station.” “Okay, where do you want me to start?” “First, I need your name, date of birth, address, and phone number, please?” I gave him the basic details, and he asked, “Where do you think this began?” I sighed, “Beth and I went to a movie last weekend. We were waiting in the bathroom for a changing table when two girls tried to snatch my backpack off Beth’s shoulder. I think they thought it was a purse? A report of that incident has been made,” I said. “They couldn’t get the bag since their knife wouldn’t cut through the straps, so they hightailed it out of there.” “Go on?” “The next day, I was shopping with friends, and we heard one of our friends scream from the direction of the changing rooms she had gone to. As we were running, I noticed movement ahead of us and realized the girl from the day before was carrying a bag that matched my friend’s, who was screaming. I could see the strap was cut, so I decided to stop her.” “The report said you broke the girl’s knee?” “Detective, I hope you are not going to turn this into something we need to stop now?” Aunt Megan said. “No, but you did?” “She claimed her knee was broken?” I shrugged, “She had a friend with her again who she told to get away since she wasn’t going to make it with her. The injured girl was arrested and taken away? Then we shopped in another store or two and got out.” “And today?” “Today, we were having a good time with the girls from my family and Beth, hanging out and shopping? We’d stopped for lunch, but there was a… wardrobe issue for Nikki that she needed to take care of. Nikki, Beth, Shelby, Leelah, and I went to go to the restroom and let her sort it out. There were three stalls, so Nikki, Shelby, and Leelah each took one while Beth changed my diaper.” “You’re a college student, correct? Not an adopted Little?” “Correct?” “But she changes you?” “We have a close relationship,” I told him with a shrug. “Huh,” he jotted a note, “Okay, so what happened next?” “While she was changing me, a couple girls came inside. Neither of us was really paying attention, though. When she had me dressed and set me on the ground, I realized one of them was the purse snatcher’s partner. Right then, I realized the other looked like trouble, too. I also noted a cable running along the doors to block the stalls from opening, meaning Nikki couldn’t help us.” “Then?” “We might have tried running, but two boys came inside and shut the door behind them. We figured out one of them, ‘Tuck,’ was the leader, and the other was just another goon. I tried to stall by talking to them for a few minutes, but then he told them to grab us. At that point, I started ducking and doing my best to stay safe.” “During this ducking, I understand there were some injuries?” “They might have been really clumsy?” I said. “Hmm… One girl has a broken kneecap and dislocated joint; her other knee has a fracture. Her lip is completely ripped open, and she has a bruised trachea. The other girl has what the doctors described as a ‘destroyed’ ankle - doctors are planning an extensive surgery with nanites tonight to try and save it. The shorter male had most of his left ear ripped off, a severe concussion, and a bruised and dislocated kneecap. And finally, the final one just has a mild concussion and after effects from the Pulse Bolt fired at him.” “Detective, are you preparing to charge my client?” BETH WAS GRATEFUL that her questioning with the detective didn’t go on too long. She described a bit of what she saw with the fight but explained that once ‘Tuck’ had grabbed her and held a knife to her throat, everything just kind of became hazy. Detective James was thankfully gentle with questioning her and left sooner than she could have hoped! Fortunately for her, Fred had somehow found a pair of scrub pants in her size. He’d brought a Pull-Up, too, but Beth had been fortunate to find a spare pair of panties in her purse that she kept for just in case she leaked while she was on her period. Grateful she didn’t have to wear infantile padding instead of panties, she quickly pulled on her borrowed scrub pants over them. Fortunately, her shirt was not missing! Nikki knocked and came inside as soon as the detective left, and she waited to be discharged. “How you doing?” She asked her. “I hurt a lot!” Beth told her, “It feels like I just ran three marathons, lifted weights for eight hours, and then let a bulldozer run over me?” Nikki blushed, “Sorry, Beth, I figured you being sore was better than him slitting your throat.” “Do you…” Beth felt her words catch in her throat, “Do you think he…?” “Would have done it?” Nikki asked. Beth nodded. “I would hope not, but I wouldn’t have trusted that. That boy was cornered and very angry. I won’t be surprised to find out he was on some combination of drugs, too.” Beth nodded. “Beth, one thing I spoke with your parents and Doctor Nickerson about is that I want you to schedule some therapy appointments this week.” Beth felt her face move to alarm, “I’m not…” “You’ve just been through a traumatic event, Beth, I’m insisting the same for Carly, too.” Beth sighed, “Fine.” “Now, why don’t you go ahead and actually call and talk to your parents for a bit with an update? That way, they’ll stop blowing up my phone?” Beth felt her stomach twist, “God, they’re going to want me to come home…” “I know… but I will say your dad understands more. Call them,” she said, pushing her phone to her from where she’d sat it down. Beth looked at the phone like a snake for a long moment before pressing ‘Call Home.’ Her parents answered immediately! “Oh my god, Beth, I’m so glad you’re okay!!!!” Her mom was crying. “Me too, Mom,” Beth said. “Won’t you please come home now?” Her mom asked. She sighed, “Mom, what happened today could have happened back home too? It was just a gang?” “But at least we can be there for you here?!?” Her mom said. She saw her dad place a hand on her shoulder, standing on the couch beside her. “Addy, I know I’d feel better with her here too, but she’s right; this could have happened anywhere. Beth, Nikki told me what she knows. Can you tell me what happened?” Beth squirmed and felt practically sick as she told her parents about what happened. She wanted to leave out the knife part, but the gauze that was still on her neck wouldn’t allow that. When she finished, “Look, Mom, things would have been way worse if it wasn’t for Carly?” “Maybe, but it also sounds like she’s the reason for the attack?” Her mom answered back. Her dad shook his head, “Maybe, but I see more and more she’s exactly like her mom. Trouble just kind of follows both of them.” “Then maybe they shouldn’t see…” her mom said. “No!” She and her dad said simultaneously, and she was grateful he was an ally. “Look, Addy, Stacy had a knack for finding trouble, but she also had a knack for getting out of it unscathed, too. She went to the ends of the earth for her adopted sister, friends, and anyone she felt she could help. I can tell Carly is the same way.” He turned back towards Beth, “Look, Beth, we won’t run your life. All we can do is ask that you please be more careful?” “Don’t worry, I’m never stepping into another mall ever again!!!” Beth told him. “Well, we’ll see how long that holds,” her mom gave a nervous laugh. A nurse came in then with a tablet, “Mom, Dad, I think they’re ready to get me checked out of here; I’ll call you again tomorrow sometime.” “Okay, and I think Nikki already told you, but you will be seeing someone to talk about this during the week,” her dad said. “Yes, Daddy,” she said. “Bye.” “It’s always the same with parents, isn’t it?” The nurse told her. “Here, if you’ll go through and sign these forms here, we’ll get you out of here?” Beth took the tablet and followed the instructions as quickly as she could. All she wanted to do was get to Amanda’s, put on some jammies, and cuddle with Carly and Rings! DETECTIVE JAMES LOOKED at Megan intensely for a moment but shook his head. “No, to be honest, right now, I doubt there’s a prosecutor out there who would take the case, even if I thought they should. Carly looks like she couldn’t hurt anyone, but I worry that she seems to be leaving a trail of destruction?” I felt my blood chill, as I worried I was about to be in a lot of trouble in this foreign dimension. ‘Would I be sent to an etiquette school?’ “You really believe she did all of that?” Aunt Megan asked, with a fair amount of skepticism in her voice. “If it hadn’t been for the video I found of the department store, I probably wouldn’t. I would guess Carly was covering for Miss Paulson, but that was more than just a trip in that store.” He turned to me, “Miss Slane, I’m going to be wrapping up this investigation, and no, I won’t be recommending charges for you. As far as my report is concerned, there was a vicious attack by gang members on a harmless group of young ladies.” I felt a grateful sense of relief and only then realized my hands had formed fists that I relaxed. He paused, “They were defended adeptly by Miss Paulson. While she did fire a Pulse Gun in the mall, she did so in defense of life. The only charges being filed will be those against the members that attacked you.” “Thank you, Detective,” Aunt Megan said to him. “However,” he said, bringing back a sense of dread, “I will tell you this as clearly as I can. If I see this trail of broken bodies continue to build, I am going to have to tell the DA to seriously consider if you should be walking freely. I’m not a big fan of etiquette schools and forced adoptions, but that may be something that needs to be considered out there for the sake of society.” “That would not happen without a fight,” Aunt Megan said. “If you’re finished with your questions, this interview is over.” “Very well, have a good afternoon,” he said, closing the door behind him. Aunt Megan turned on the device from the car again for a moment, “Carly, you are going to have to be very careful from here on out… Those were serious enough injuries that I think he might have been able to make a case against you.” “Why do you think he didn’t?” “Nikki… I think he appreciated her saving his butt this morning. If it wasn’t for that, I think we’d have seen a different side of him right now.” “Got it… We’ll start with no more malls!” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading!!! Please press the Like button and leave me a comment! So I'm going to be up front with you all about the coming chapters—or the soon-to-be-lack of them. My normal writing season usually extends through April, and then I hit June and it slows down. This year I had a lot of real world stuff that hit in April, so my season ended sooner. I may have some energy in the next weekend to get some more writing, maybe a little coming up, but we may be coming to a season break for this work until I can get to the spring again. Your comments seriously help motivate me when I'm not motivated, so please keep them up. I appreciate each of you who press the Like button and leave me a little comment or response, or more crazy ones like some of you do! (Please do watch out for the Amazons you all, because they are watching! You know who you are! 🫣 ) I have two more chapters in the can at this point, I'm hoping I can maybe get to another before I run out, but I do want you to know there will be a season break coming up here unfortunately! That being said, it's my sincerest hope I get this book completed by May this next year no matter what! Thanks again! All of my completed works, are available on Amazon Kindle. If you enjoy it please consider supporting me with a purchase! http://amazon.com/author/babysofia

Chapter 73: Conferences "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, thank you for coming to this press conference. I know you are aware of the student protest that has broken out today, and my administration wants to assure all of our students that we believe in the health and safety of our students." He shifted for a second before continuing, "I've become aware of most of these concerns at the same time as you all and am coming before you to make sure you know we are taking these accusations seriously. Friday, my office received a complaint that a nest mother had poisoned one of the Littles she was supposedly checking on. Our office immediately launched an investigation, and that nest mother was terminated immediately, along with a co-conspirator. Their actions have further been referred to law enforcement officers for investigation to what my office believes were criminal actions." He clearly pushed a button on a tablet to switch to a new page. "Today, as students began gathering in protest in front of our administration building, we were made aware that more ill-advised actions were taking place against Littles on our campus. An investigation confirmed that since students have returned back from winter break, there have been an alarming number of issues with bladder and bowel regression amongst their numbers – far greater than normal amongst the population of our students." "We are still actively investigating the causes but are taking the accusations and evidence seriously as it does seem like illegal experimentation has taken place. As such, our office is taking the following immediate actions. One, Dean Northrup, the Dean of Little Studies, and Doctor Greene, the head nest mother for the dorms, have been placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of our investigation. Two, the alleged devices installed in the pods of our Littles dorms have been ordered removed before the end of the evening. Third, Littles will no longer be given a mandatory lights-out time for this semester. Instead, they will have a dorm curfew of Twenty-Six O'Clock, meaning they must be inside their dorm buildings by then. Nest mothers may choose to enforce a 'last-check' time for protective garments, but no bedtimes will be enforced." He shifted screens again, "Finally, any demerits that have been handed out before this date are now voided. Every Little student at Emerson resets to zero on our demerit system as of this evening. We will not revisit any past discretionary university discipline actions. Still, we believe this is a start to healing the many grievances brought to us today. Emerson University also pledges to provide medical support, protective garments, and physical and emotional support for any damages inflicted upon the students." He paused for a moment, "Thank you for your time. I apologize, but I will not accept questions at this time. We ask that the protestors please disburse and clear the area in front of the building in the next half-hour. Anyone remaining after that will be cited by University PD for trespassing." He turned and left even as questions flew at him from reporters. The image faded as Mackenzie turned off the holoprojector. "Well, now that you've heard that from the source himself. Do you have any questions?" She asked us. "So we don't have a lights-out time now?" I asked. "No, Connor, you may stay up as late as you wish. However, I will insist on putting everyone in their pajamas and night-time diapers no later than Twenty-Seven O'Clock. You may also ask me to change you earlier if you want. After that, you'll have to use your diapers for the potty if you need to go, as I have my own hours to spend on my homework." "What about what's happened to us?" Liam asked, "I hadn't wet the bed since I was six before coming here? Do I still have to wear diapers?" "You will have potty privileges restored in the form of you may ask for me to take you to the potty. Those of you in diapers will have to remain in them, though, until you show us you have only one accident per day. All Littles must wear night-time diapers until you go two weeks without wetting the bed." She looked at us, "As far as I know, Connor is the only one who's had dry nights in the past few weeks. I don't know how long the effects from those devices will last." "Did you know?" I asked her. "Know?" she responded. "That those things were making us wet the bed?" Wyatt pushed. "Know?" She shrugged, "I was suspicious, but our contracts forced us to follow whatever Doctor Greene and Dean Northrup said to do." "Are we done?" Logan asked curtly. "If we don't have that stupid bedtime, I want to get back to work on homework, so maybe I can pass my classes?" "We're done," she said. BETH WATCHED THE news conference in her room with Livy. "Holy shit!" Livy said, "The protestors actually won?" "And it looks like they aren't being punished in the case of the Littles?" Beth said in her own incredulous voice. "Seems like it?" "Somehow, I doubt this is over," Beth told her. "Yeah, I think anyone shorter than eight feet needs to keep an eye out this semester." Livy agreed. "In other words, us?" She responded. With a nod, "Yep, especially me. I do not like how close I am to the line there." "My dad was the same in college," she agreed. "So what's this about you doing some film project with Charlotte Perez?" Beth groaned, "I wish it was just a film project! It's like the world's worst and most cliché plot!" "It can't be that bad?" "Potty training buddy?" Beth countered. "No…" "Yep! And guess who's the dunce?" Livy looked aghast but giggled nonetheless. "You'll make a cute dunce?" Beth pounced on her friend then and was relieved Rachel didn't appear to force them apart. The two calmed down and studied together for a few hours while watching some of the chatter on social media across the university. Everyone seemed to agree that Charlotte was the reason for success instead of disaster. Even as many quietly voiced concerns that something terrible might happen to her now! I LOOKED AT the clock as we finished our meeting and saw it was an hour past that obscenely early bedtime that had been enforced the past week. I put on my EdgeSphere glasses and called Grandma virtually. I had learned how to use a neuro link to talk to where my actual voice wasn't heard so we could have complete privacy. "Connor?" she asked. "Isn't it past lights out?" "You didn't see the news conference?" I asked. "No, I'm on the way home?" "President Barnes just basically revoked all the rules we're bound by." "Really?" She asked. "What about Dean Northrup and Doctor Greene?" "Both being fired, it sounds like?" "Be careful, Connor; this seems too easy in my experience." Grandma seemed concerned. "Don't worry, I'm watching out for signs of problems… I agree, it's suspicious." "Well, I guess you can get more homework done this way. Don't stay up too late?" "I won't; thanks for coming for us today. I'll talk to you later. I love you!" "Love you too, Connor," she told me. I pulled the goggles from my head and tried to list things I could do right then. 'I have another script due for screenwriting next week?' I decided to get a start on that, choosing to use my laptop so I could still see the others on my periphery. An email popped up from Dr. Owens a while later. To: Exchange Students Good evening, Given there have been some significant announcements and events today, we wish to have a meeting with our exchange students tomorrow. President Barnes has given us permission to have you meet at the seminar room tomorrow, and we'll go to a conference room instead of that class to discuss your situation. Please make sure you are in attendance! Dr. Matthew Owens Professor of History 'Huh…' I thought to myself. 'They're not going to suggest leaving early, are they?' Right then, I noticed that the other three seemed to fade and go to bed shortly after the usual bedtime. Eventually, the time Mackenzie set for the last changes came upon the clock, and she said, "Connor, you need to use the potty one last time? Then we'll put your diaper on?" I looked up and nodded, "Please?" She followed me to the bathroom, grateful I could pull down the Pull-Up since she hadn't put a diaper on me earlier. 'She must have known what was coming?' I wondered. I washed my hands, brushed my teeth, and followed her to the room, where she lay me on the changing table. "What happened to your face?" She asked me quietly, the other three having already apparently crashed out for the night. "Long story… they were stuck on my face, but my grandma got them off this weekend?" "Hmm… I liked you better with it," Mackenzie smirked. Soon diapered and dressed in my footed sleeper, I felt the fatigue hitting me. "Guess I'll follow their lead and call it a night…" I hesitated, "Thank you for coming to my rescue on Friday." I gave her a hug then. "You're very welcome, Connor; Lilly, in particular, would kill me if anything happened to you." She squeezed me back lightly. "Why, though?" She shrugged, "I don't know entirely? She just says her family owes your mom?" She chose that moment to tickle my side, "Maybe she wants to steal you to come to her nest?" "Stop," I complained. She did, and I climbed up into my pod. For the first time that night, there was no closing of the door behind me. I could quickly get up, go to the bathroom, or just get out and study. It was both freeing and a little unnerving! 'Is it a trap?' I couldn't help but wonder. I squeezed Kylie tightly, 'I must remember to ask Mom about you tomorrow!' BETH WENT ABOUT her nightly routine to get ready once Livy had left. She'd spent a while working on homework, reviewing the script, and planning her week. She was about to think to call it a night when her phone lit up with a call from her dad. "Hi, Dad," she said. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" He shrugged, "Can't sleep right now, a little too worried about my little girl." "Daddy, I'm fine," she blushed as she reverted to her childish name for him. "For now… Amanda was telling me about this film project?" “Oh… that…” "Yeah, that?" "Umm… well, Charlotte has at least been defending us?" "But, you'll be wearing diapers? And using them?" "Simulated, I think?" Beth squirmed. "What happens if it gives people ideas?" "What do you want me to do? Drop the class?" "Might be a good idea?" "What about Connor?" "What about him?" He asked her. “Dad… I… umm…” "Are sleeping with him now?" He asked with a smirk. "That was innocent; we were clothed!" "I know. Amanda would have probably kept it from us if you weren't." "She told on us?" "More sent us an adorable picture?" her mom suddenly appeared. "Hi, Mom," she said nervously. "So I guess we both like shorter boys, huh?" Beth blushed. "Just Connor, Mom." "Well, we can't exactly get mad at you for dating different-sized boys," her mom told her. "Just be careful! With everything this semester, I don't want to see you over in Sanders Hall in a nest!" Beth turned white but nodded, "I know." "So what is Charlotte Perez like?" her mom asked her. "Really cool, actually," she told her. "Honestly, I guess it's like having Dad on the Supreme Court? Important and big-name people are usually people, too?" They both nodded at that, "In this case, she definitely came through for that protest!" her dad said. "How so?" "From the moment I heard about it, I was keeping an eye on things. We weren't hearing any cases today, so I was in the office looking up some past cases for precedent on an upcoming case next week. One of my clerks mentioned it since she knows you're there, and we watched that grow from about fifty to that crazy sixteen-thousand number that seems to have shown up!" "Where did that many people even come from?" Beth wondered aloud. "According to many, they came when they discovered that Charlotte was an ally for the cause. She gave interviews to just about every major news organization this afternoon, and it played very well for the cameras. Was she being genuine?" Her dad asked. Beth shrugged, "It's so hard to tell with people, but my gut feeling is that she probably was?" She paused, "She could easily have just said we're filming this stupid project and ignored all of the tauntings from Kelly and others, but instead, she put her foot down right away. If anyone dared to say something, they didn't after that?" "Huh…" her mom said, "Given who her mom is, I'm kind of impressed by that." "Her mom?" Beth asked inquisitively. "Let's just say my family was very much friends with her mom's family when we were little," her mom looked uncomfortable, just as she always did when forced to talk about her family. "Oh…" Beth said, "So I'm guessing Charlotte probably grew up with a Little for a sibling?" "More like a dozen last I knew," her mom said. "Her mother treated Littles like she was a little girl still collecting dolls to show off to the rest of the neighborhood." "Huh, I wonder how she turned out okay?" "Some of us try not to be our parents?" her mom said. "Sorry, Mom, sometimes I forget…" "I'm glad you can," she said with a sigh. "Anyway, you should probably get some sleep tonight, and so should we," her mom said while looking at her dad. "Okay, but you are an hour ahead of me, so there's not much room to talk!" Beth laughed. "Goodnight, we love you," her dad said. "Night, love you too!" As the holocall ended, she couldn't help but feel a little more lonely than she had been a moment ago. With a sigh, she went to the bathroom again, then climbed up into her bunk when Rachel appeared. "Good evening, Rachel; thank you for giving me space tonight?" she told her. "You're welcome, Beth; I could tell you needed your friend and then your parents tonight. May I tuck you in?" "Since you asked so politely," Beth said with a nod. A small smile did grace her face momentarily as she climbed under the sheets held open for her, then snuggled underneath as they were tucked shut. "Good night, Beth," the hologram said as she faded out from view. Hugging Rings, she turned into the wall and squeezed the red panda tightly. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ What did you think? Please leave a Like and a comment if you enjoyed this! I may post a new chapter again on Sunday if I see enough 🙂 I'm traveling home tomorrow from spending time with my family for the holidays, it meant things had to be posted a bit off schedule here. Thanks for bearing with me!

This chapter contains descriptions of violence and content that may be of issue for certain readers. Reader discretion is advised. Chapter 61: Rage I GROANED AS I woke up, feeling like I had the ultimate hangover as I opened my eyes and was assaulted by too bright lights and the strong smell of chemical disinfectants. I blinked my eyes and wondered how long I had been out. Looking down, I found myself strapped into what looked like a Little’s highchair without the tray. It was almost too small for me with my butt feeling rather cramped. The arm restraints must have been too small because instead of buckles, there were zip ties pulled through the two end pieces to expand them a bit. I heard a desperate grunting going on to my left and found Addy tied up in an office chair. The shorts she had been wearing turned darker as she began crying and I knew she must have just had an accident. A smell in the air a second later told me she was sobbing for good reason. I wiggled a little in the seat to check my own bottom and was pretty sure I was still clean back there, but I was definitely soaked! “Addy…?” I tried saying, but I realized then that I had one of those stupid Little’s locking pacifiers in my mouth. It didn’t fully block it, but it made what I said hard to understand. Looking back over at her I saw her mouth was covered with a larger version that, until Kristin had one, I didn’t think existed outside of some sort of odd adult industry. She made a sound, almost like ‘Cameron’, and I sighed, knowing that we were both probably screwed here! I looked down at my shorts and saw that small half-moons were making the presence of a too wet diaper known below them. My skin felt clammy around my legs where the shorts were wet, and I wondered again how long I’d been sitting there, unconscious. I looked up and saw a large TV screen mounted on the wall, a medical exam table underneath it, and worryingly to me, a drain in the floor in front of me. The ground around it was a polished tile that had at one point probably been white, but was now yellowed with years of use. It appeared there was only one door to the room and no windows. The door was a large steel affair that I had a feeling would probably take a fair amount of punishment if it was locked, even if I could get loose! Looking down at my wrists and the zip ties, I thought there might have been a chance to get out of them, but then the little proof harness would probably nullify any of those odds. ‘Like it or not, I’m probably stuck in this until whoever put me in it lets me out…’ We sat there for a long while, Addy sobbing and I was annoyed that I had to pee in the already soaked diaper again, before there was the sound of keys in the door confirming to me it had been locked. The door swung open and I watched the person I thought was in jail walk in, followed by Mindy… and… Danica…? ‘What the hell?!?’ I thought to myself. ‘Why is she helping her mom…?’ “Look what we have here!” Aubry said, “Guess I have two Little girls who can’t control their bladders? Dani, did you know your sister had a problem like this?” “No…” she said tersely. “And pee-eww, someone’s a stinky girl too!” “Well, she might not have had this problem if it wasn’t for this brat!” She came over to me and ripped the pacifier out without letting it fully deflate!!!! My jaw shrieked with pain! Even though my teeth stayed in place, I felt like they’d nearly been pulled out!!!! I hissed but refrained from calling her the names I wanted to. “So tell me, Little Man, feel better now that you know you have officially ruined my daughter?” “Like you’ve done?” I asked incredulously. “Danica, you know your nanites won’t work with her controller anymore, right?” I felt the air from the hand just before the flesh slammed into my jaw that was already in pain. The slap from Aubry Harris felt like a brick was smacked across my face, and I felt a ringing in my ears. “You really think my daughter is helping just because I threatened her?” “Kind of hoped, honestly,” I told her, “I thought she was the good one…” Aubry laughed at that, “Maybe not a fan of the cruelty, but she likes money? Let’s just say she gets a lot more if she goes along with things.” I shrugged, “Hard to spend money if she’s in prison with you?” “What makes you think I’m going to spend one more night in jail? I was released on bail, but there’s no way in hell anyone is ever going to convict Aubry Harris in a trial!” “Stranger things have happened,” I told her. “So, what’s your big plan? Turn Addy and I into your babies?” “Not mine,” she smiled and glanced over, “Dani’s! She’s been wanting her own Littles for a while now. A pair of infant girls will suit her just fine to be able to cuddle with when she wants, and then they can be sent to the nanny the rest of the time. You’ll make great PR photos as we push our company further by manufacturing some new products you can model too!” Addy screamed some more next to me, and even with the large pacifier in her mouth I could understand the ‘fuck you’ from her, and so could her mom. “Well, might as well and try to say big words while you can Princess, you won’t be able to say any more shortly.” “What’s the point?” I asked. “You don’t have to do anything to her.” “You’re right, I don’t have to, but after her scheming with you and allowing testimony to help your case I think it’s time I cut the ties. If she’s not going to be there for me, then it’s time for her to go.” “You know this isn’t going to end if you do this, right? My friends and allies will keep going after you until there is nothing but a smoking ruinous crater remaining?” She laughed, “They can try Cammie, but the truth is I have more power than you can possibly know. I already have some senators looking into how to remove your precious Judge Jones. If that doesn’t work, I have another team that will look into removing her in other ways.” ‘Did she seriously just say she’ll assassinate a judge?!?!?’ I thought to myself. “What are you going to do to us?” “Well, it’s pretty simple, Cammie, all we need to do is give you the right injection and we’ll have you looking like your new mommy, complete with your innie instead of your outie!” She paused, “I think I’ll start with my daughter though, so you can see it in action.” “I bet you can’t do it to me,” I smirked at her, even as two technicians had started to move towards Addy with a cart of syringes. “What?” “I said I bet you it won’t work on me. Go ahead and give me your worst shot, bitch.” “Stop!” She said to them. “I don’t want to listen to this anymore, let’s take care of him first.” I watched as they came over to me and cut loose the zip ties and unbuckled me from the harness. As they carried me to the table, I looked at Addy, “I love you,” I told her, realizing that in spite of everything, those three words were as true then as they had been the day that I asked her to marry me. “Get the subject’s clothes off,” one tech said. “Might as well make the cleanup easier later...” I was sat down on the table and a pair of scissors made short work of my shortalls and shirt. I was left then in just the soaked diaper with dribbles running down my bare legs. “Want to get the subject out of that diaper?” another asked. “No point, she’ll just shrink out of any diaper we put on her…” “Take it off!” Aubry ordered. “Ma’am?” “I want her to watch as she loses her parts.” “That could get messy…” “And it’ll all wash off, there’s a reason for the drain and the waterproof cover on that bed, right?” The man didn’t hesitate to quickly rip the tapes of the diaper off to expose me. Another thoughtfully wiped me off with a baby wipe before I was strapped onto the bed with my arms and chest restrained with two large straps, and another holding down my legs just above the knees. I half-expected the level of care in a hospital, with leads being attached to my chest or something. Instead, one of them just proceeded to bring a large syringe over. I watched in horror as the needle gleamed with a droplet of the solution, and he proceeded to slowly insert it into my left arm! The solution was so cold!!!! It stung badly as it was inserted, and a flare of pain went up my arm causing me to scream!!! I watched, as for a moment my hand seemed to shrink, as did my arm just a little, before it stopped. The pain went away, and I sighed with relief. “What’s going on? He should be the size of an infant by now!!!!” Aubry screamed. “I don’t know Mrs. Harris… This is weird. Try the other one on his other side?” He said, pointing to the other syringe on the cart. It was larger and clearly meant to hold more nanites to change her daughter versus me. I grimaced as the needle again glistened and then was inserted into my right bicep. The solution again froze and stung like hell. “Fucking bastards!!!!” I screamed, deciding there was no reason to be good anymore. I watched my body and arm in horror, and was relieved that other than a small reduction in length and width of my fingers, nothing seemed to have changed. “What the fuck is wrong with you all? Can’t even turn me into a baby?” I taunted them. “Told you it wouldn’t work bitch,” I told Aubry. “Try another!” She screamed at him. “I don’t have any more solution down here. I’ll have to go program some more. It’ll take me about an hour.” “Well, what are you waiting for?” She told him before he scurried out. She glared at the other techs, “Go help him!” They clearly didn’t need any incentive to run, leaving two security guards, Danica, and Aubry in the room then. “Your little brat needs a spanking for her language,” she told Danica. “Yes, she does, but I think I want to wait until she’s a little baby so the lesson sinks in more.” “I think it would be a shame if she waited that long for her lesson.” “I guess you’re right,” she said. “Help me turn her over?” “Might wanna put a diaper under her first.” “Good idea,” she said. I squirmed and tried to use the loosening straps as an opportunity to get free, but nothing helped as I was turned onto my stomach over a diaper. “Cammie, you do not call your grandma or anyone else a bitch!” she said as she rubbed my butt gently with one hand. There was a millisecond where it left before it slammed back down so hard I grunted. “Fuck you!” I shouted. “I think that’s another hundred…” she said. I managed to last twenty just being numb from the shock, before the pain really hit my brain. At twenty-one my eyes were bleary, and by her count of eighty, I was a blubbering mess. I had long ago peed again in the diaper beneath me, and her hand showed no signs of stopping. I must have eventually passed out from the pain… THE NEXT THING I knew I was woken up by cold ice water being dumped on my face. “Huh?” I groaned and unfortunately found myself staring into Aubry’s face smirking down at me, and my ass feeling like it was genuinely on fire. “Bet you wish you hadn’t called me a bad name now?” I would probably have cussed some more, but a pacifier had been shoved in my mouth and I couldn’t spit it out. “He’s awake now, let’s do this again!” “We think we’ve figured it out, we’ll see…” the tech said. “We may have to do each individual site on his body for some reason.” I lay there as injections were made in each foot and each leg. The pain was unbearable, but even as I was processing that I heard them say, “Let’s try his face next.” ‘My face?!?!’ I tried to squirm, but a strap had been added, holding down my head. I watched the needle close in on my face and screamed as it was inserted into my nose. Another was inserted into each cheek and a fourth at the bottom of my jaw. Each injection felt like I was being given some sort of icy solution and I guessed my body was going to go into shock from the combination of the temperature there and the pain!!! I could feel my bones attempt to restructure themselves and tissue shrinking down, and I was concerned it would be my teeth too! Fortunately for me though, it stopped even quicker than with my arms. “What the hell, I thought you said this would work?” “It should have!!!! There’s enough nanites in his body now to transform the entire college campus at Emerson!” “It’s only barely making any changes where you inject it though!” “I know, it doesn’t make sense! It’s almost like his body is fighting the nanites with his immune system!” “How much more do you have?” Aubry asked. “This is the final syringe of solution. It’s going to take three days to make more…” “Then let’s make it count,” she said, “Hand it to me!” I heard Addy squirming behind me and hoped that it would go to her, but apparently, I had her mother in enough of a rage that she felt like I was more deserving. “I think there’s a special spot that has to change if we’re only going to change one thing successfully, right Dani?” “Right…” Danica said nervously. “Give me the syringe, I’ll do this one myself.” “Ma’am?” The tech asked. “Give it to me.” I was just able to see the handoff in my peripheral vision. “Let’s pull this head strap off so you can watch sweetie,” she said with a smile that was enough to make my blood turn even colder. The needle glistened as I wondered where she was thinking of targeting, not ready for the spot that she chose to go for. “Let’s see if we can’t at least get rid of these nasty things!” I watched in horror with my head lifted up as she took the needle and began to insert it into my genitals just as the lights suddenly went out in the room! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Reaction Button (Like or other) and leave a comment! If I see fifty of those I might give you the posting early, but I'm pretty much planning on making you all suffer until Friday! ? This is obviously taking us further into the endgame. I've loved seeing all of your guesses, and some of you have narrowed in on parts of the ending over the past few days. (I hope it's still a complete surprise the way everything comes out though) Thanks for reading!

Chapter 49: Cuddlebug “CAMERON?!?” I HEARD from the familiar face. I looked to see it had been Meg who had spoken first. “Umm… Hi,” I said, letting the pacifier fall from my mouth into my lap. “Hi…” Meg said, her own pacifier hanging from a strap too. Concern littered her eyes, and I guessed no one had told Bella, her, or Megan about what had happened. Amanda didn’t look surprised, so I hoped that meant that Kendra and David had gotten in contact with her. “Addy, why is Cameron dressed in a dress? And a diaper? He’s an adult!” Megan was clearly pretty furious. “Calm down Megan,” Amanda said. Megan looked like she wanted to continue to fight, but Danica stepped in and said, “Whoa… not her fault… Let her explain?” “I want to hear it from Cameron,” Meg said. I felt the poop still squishing and sticking to my skin, talking was the last thing I wanted to do right then! “Umm… You know how my firm is suing her mom’s company, right?” “Right,” Megan said tersely, “Did she just snatch you up then?” I shook my head, blushing badly, “No, there’s a corrupt judge who declared me in contempt of court, and issued a verdict that I’m demonstrating a case of Maturosis.” The pacifier was pushed back into my mouth then by Addison, who knelt beside me. “Rather than let her go to an orphanage, or a horrible foster home, I stepped in.” Addison said, calmly, but clearly annoyed. “I didn’t want to do it… but I couldn’t let Cammie go that route.” “What’s with the dress? Have you already changed him?” Megan asked. “Well Cammie does need her stinky pants changed,” Danica giggled next to me, making me turn even more red from mortal embarrassment. “No, the judge actually ordered I either remove his teeth, mobility, ability to talk, and potty training, or I could have him as a toddler girl instead maybe able to potty train.” “But…” I sighed, “Both choices sucked, I chose this option…” I said dumping the pacifier out again, squeezing Rings tighter then. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t like it,” Addison told her. “Just before we were going to complete the court order there was an injunction and another hearing. Her case is supposed to be heard in a week-and-a-half or so appealing the Maturosis ruling. If they succeed in the appeal, he’ll be free to go.” “If it fails?” Meg asked. “Then I guess she’ll be my baby girl forever and ever,” she cooed and put the pacifier back in my mouth again. “We really do need to go and change her; I don’t want her getting a rash.” She started to push me away and I heard Megan shout, “Wait!” The stroller stopped, “Yes?” “How about we exchange numbers? Maybe baby Meggy and Cammie can have a playdate? They were good friends in college, they’d probably have fun playing together now?” “I don’t think that’s a good idea…” Danica started to say. Addison cut her off though, “Sure… What’s your number?” I sat with Meg still staring at me while the poop on my butt continued to feel slimy and gross. The smell was beginning to get to me too, I was grateful when Megan finished with, “Call me soon!” The stroller was pushed forward again and I started to feel tears running down my face. It was bad enough being stuck like this, but for my close friends to see my new existence was too much! My nose had completely clogged with snot by the time we reached the changing room, with tears going down my face. “Dani, can you watch her stroller and stuff? I’m going to go change her.” “Don’t need help?” “I’ve got this,” she said. All of the sudden she bent down in my view and said, “Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry…” I felt her undo the buckle and picked me up into a hug, squeezing me tightly, “I’m sorry… I never even thought about them seeing you…” She took Rings from me and handed her to Danica to hold, before she walked forward into the changing room. I opened my eyes just enough to see there were probably about a dozen changing tables spread out, about half of them in use right then. She pushed the dress up to my armpits as she laid me down and said, “Let’s get you out of those poopy pants…” I chewed and sucked on the pacifier, blinking away tears and looking to my side where I saw an actual baby was getting their diaper changed too. I turned back forward, blushing when I realized that’s all I was at the moment. Nothing more than a baby… If the appeal failed, I would truly be stuck forever with people wiping my poopy butt in public changing rooms like this. As the diaper was pulled away, I was grateful that most of the stickiness left too. She kept my butt in the air though as she wiped and I mooned the others in the room. “Your baby girl has such a pretty booty!” “Well, maybe now…” Addison laughed at the mom’s odd compliment. “I know about poopy butts! I’ve been changing her stinky butt now for ten years.” As my feet were let down onto the table and a new diaper was taped, I could see the woman in question was probably about my age. “Ever think about potty-training her?” Addison asked, sitting me back up and rubbing my back. “Nah, I don’t mind a poopy diaper or two a day. Besides, she’s been in diapers for almost half of her life. I don’t see her being able to train now. The day I picked her up outside my apartment with poopy pants I knew she wouldn’t be trainable. I do think I might actually wean her in a few years though if my breasts will cooperate!” Addison laughed, “Yeah, that part is well out of our control!” The other woman left, and I felt even more depressed by the probability I was close to that poor woman’s fate. Addison held a tissue in her hand that she put to my nose, “Blow baby girl,” she said. I hadn’t had a tissue held at my nose like that since I was little, but blew as hard as I could. She used a baby wipe then to wipe the tear tracks and snot that had stopped running, even though my face remained as red as ever. She tossed the trash from my change away, pulled my dress back down over my diaper, placed me on her hip, and walked to a sink that was in the room to wash her hands. She sat me down on the counter for a moment while she did so, dried her hands, and then picked me back up, “Come on Princess, let’s shop for just a bit longer and then we’ll go get lunch.” I just leaned my head into her shoulder. I felt a little bit better when I was at least in her arms then. The warmth from her body, and softness of her skin that was bare around the thin straps of her top, was comforting. She walked out to where Dani waited past other mothers changing their Littles and genuine babies. As she moved to put me down, I just hung onto her, “Carry me?” I asked. I could see in her face that she was kind of startled by that request. “Okay,” she said though and squeezed me tight. “Dani, can you put her bag down there? Rings can have the stroller to herself for now.” Dani actually bucked her into the harness then, and it was funny enough I giggled a little. “See, you’re okay,” she told me. I stayed in her arms for another forty-five minutes as she walked around the stores with Dani pushing the stroller before we came to a store that specialized in baby and little gear and apparel. A worker greeted us as we came in and said, “Looks like you have a cuddly little girl! You need one of our carrier harnesses!” Addison said, “You’re right, that would probably be great, but she’s too big for them, isn’t she?” “How much does she weigh?” “One-sixty?” “We have a perfect one for her!” she said, “I can show you?” Addison bounced me for a second, seeing a mother holding her infant daughter in one that had her on her belly facing her mommy. I saw her gaze at the mother and smile, “Please!” She followed the woman through several aisles of baby gear, pacifiers, bottles, car seats, and strollers were passed by before she came to the aisle. “This one is meant for bigger babies, sixty inches and up, and seventy to two-hundred-and-ten pounds for weight. With as tall as you are, I guarantee you can probably carry her all day on your belly or your back without any strain. This one also is really cool because it can put her on your hip like you’re carrying her now too.” I looked at the black carrier she was holding, debating how I felt about it. ‘Not going to escape if you’re in that thing…’ I mentally sighed, ‘not going to escape anyway…’ “We’ll take it!” Danica said next to us. “Can she use it now? Baby Cammie is upset, and being a bit of a cuddlebug right now.” “Tell you what, why don’t we get it out of the package, get the baby girl all situated, and then I’ll walk to the front with you and the box?” “Sounds great!” she told her. I watched as she pulled a knife from a pocket and opened up the box. She pulled out the black harness from the plastic, and then said, “Which way do you want to wear her?” “Umm…” Addison seemed unsure. “Go with the front for now Addy, she’s needing more comfort than seeing,” Dani said. I kind of would have liked to see, but I also thought, ‘If I can’t see anyone else… they can’t recognize me!’ “Okay, front,” she said. “What do I do? I’ve never used one of these before?” “Why don’t you set her down right in front of you, and I’ll help you out?” the woman said. “With an older toddler it’s easier if they’re standing. If you’re at a zoo or something you may want to go with the back version, and it’s easier to have help, but if you do it in the front it’s simple to do by yourself!” I was sat down on my feet, with the dress flaring up to show my diaper for a moment, before I shoved my skirt back down. Addison was given a tutorial on the buckles and how-to setup things safely for her body, before I heard, “Now that we have that one done, pick your baby girl up and put her leg right there.” I was in the air, once again flashing my diaper as she set me into a spot on a piece of cloth that was going to hold my butt, with one buckle forming a seat already. “Now, go ahead and buckle that one,” she told her. “And you can do this neck support or not depending on what your baby needs there.” She made some other adjustments because I was a bit taller than it had been set up for, before pronouncing, “And you’re all set!” “Great, I’ll go up and pay, Addy you start looking for other things that you and Baby Cammie need!” Danica said. We both sighed at the same time as they departed. She squeezed me in a hug and kissed my forehead. “How is it?” I wiggled my feet a little, “Honestly pretty comfy.” “Good, I’ll probably just use this instead of a stroller most of the time. Sure you don’t want to be on my hip or back instead?” I shook my head, “No one can see me this way,” I said and leaned into her. She squeezed me tighter again, “I’m sorry Cam, I love you though.” I just sucked on the damn pacifier then, and I guessed that hurt her some. ‘Hard to say ‘Love you too’ back to someone who has me as a captive…’ I griped, ‘I know it’s not completely her fault… but still.’ With the neck support put in place on the carrier I found myself able to view stuff behind Addy, but I really wasn’t interested in more baby torture items. Instead, I laid my head down on her chest and closed my eyes for a bit. I listened to Danica and Addy coo about this or that, adorable clothing was placed into a cart that Danica had decided was needed, and the stroller was given to the store to give to a family in need. Everything inside of the stroller had fit in the diaper bag, which was in the cart, except Rings, who was wrapped in my blanket in the seat. I heard them giggle every now and then about how silly that was, and had peeked a couple times at that. “I know it looks like you both like that carrier,” Danica said eventually, “But I think it would be good to get you a better stroller too, huh?” “Yeah, she’s light enough for me that she is just like the average three-year old to me. But even they get kind of heavy after a while.” “Are you calling me fat?” I couldn’t help but let out. It startled Addy I guess, since I hadn’t spoken much, but both laughed. “You’re definitely not fat Sweetie, you’re entirely too skinny still!” She hugged me and kept moving. They settled on a stroller that had a price tag that would have stopped most people, but for them of course it was nothing… It featured a much comfier seat than the other one, nice cup and bottle holders for Addy up top on the handle, a big area to put all of my diapers below… but also a motor that would assist going up hills, or brake going down. It was pretty much the nicest stroller I’d ever heard of, and even though I didn’t want it, it was mine now… I watched the cart load of a billion things get rung up, and Danica paid for everything, insisting it was her duty as the auntie. In addition to the clothes, there had also been a small stack of toys added in too. Building blocks, some sort of magnetic building toy cubes, a couple craft kits, a chair that apparently was designed for toddlers to learn how to use them… The most embarrassing things were the toys that were meant to be played with to teach me my letters, colors, and numbers… because of course I was now too little to remember any of that?!? I was more than a little annoyed at her about buying those, but didn’t have time to dwell on it before being carried to lunch. In the food court I was given a simple grilled cheese sandwich to eat, while Addy had a pizza, and Danica had some stir fry dish. We were sitting there having mostly finished when Addison sighed, “I don’t want to do this here…” she said that soft enough only I could hear it I looked up from my booster seat, eating the last bite curiously. “You done with your sandwich?” I nodded. “Okay, come here and let’s get you dessert…” My eyes opened wider as I looked around at Bigs, Mids, and Littles alike walking freely about the food court. I could even see a couple college students sitting not far from us like Stacy, Meg, and I had that fateful day that Meg was adopted... I didn’t even have time to consider it though because she pulled me from the seat and placed me across her lap. “Mommy knows how much Cammie loves her milk, and since Mommy has too much…” she said quietly. 'Use a damn pump!’ I wanted to scream at her, but as her breast was presented to me, I couldn’t resist latching on. “Oh,” she said as I nursed, “That feels so much better!” “You look…” I heard a gasp, as Danica said, “Damnit!” “What’s wrong?” “My damn milk let down again… I haven’t had that problem in a while!” “If she’s not asleep at the end of mine, you can use her?” “That sounds so wrong Addy…” her sister said somewhat morosely. “I may need to though. Do you have some spare breast pads?” I kept sucking, mind completely on autopilot. “Just a couple, it won’t get you far…” It was quicker than I expected that I was switched to Addy’s other breast, ‘there was still some milk in that one!’ I thought… She pulled me away before that breast stopped providing too, “Here, she’ll like yours as much as she likes mine, I’m sure!” I looked up at her in horror. “But…” “Come here munchkin!” Danica said after tickling me for a moment, “Time to help your auntie out since you caused this…” I wanted to argue, but her smaller breast was presented to me and my mouth was once again surrounding a nipple. I was annoyed to be seen as nothing but a living breast pump, but her milk tasted nearly the same as Addy’s… and unfortunately that meant I couldn’t resist it! Fortunately for my very distended stomach, she didn’t have a lot of milk coming out yet, so I was soon burped and cuddled up inside of the carrier again as they began walking down the mall some more. With a full meal, and a double portion of milk, I was out like a light! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you for reading! Please press the Like Button for this Chapter and leave me a comment on what you think! This week is a crazy week for me, so the posting schedule may be a bit more irregular than normal. I'm going to try and give you a post on Tuesday, Thursday, maybe Friday, and Sunday. My apologies to my European readers as they will likely all be later posts for you all except Sunday. Thank you to everyone who has continued to read and leave comments on this work! It definitely helps make me want to work on the next project down the road!

Chapter 24: SOMETIME THE NEXT morning I became aware I was too hot. I felt Ivy’s strong arms squeezing me tighter as I tried to get loose from her gripping me like a teddy bear. “Morning Princess,” she told me and let me wriggle free. I looked at my watch and saw it was after lunch time. “Wow… it’s late.” “Yes, it is, we should probably get moving. Definitely need to get that diaper changed before you leak on Mommy’s bed!” I sat up and stretched as she got out from the covers and picked me up. “Actually, Mommy needs to go pee, why don’t you go wait by the changing table?” She sat me down pretty quickly and I wondered, ‘How close was she to an accident?’ I grinned thinking about the sweet justice of a Big having one! I followed her directions though and toddled my way to my nursery. I definitely needed a change! My diaper inflated enough that it made me waddle! I poked at it for a second and then wandered around my room wondering how long she was going to be. She was quickly there though, and scooped me up to change me. “The rash is looking better already,” she told me even as she had applied more of the cream. I wasn’t a huge fan of it because of the weird odor, and it seemed to stick a bit to the fabric of the diaper. She carried me to my closet and said, “What do you want to wear today?” “Are we going anywhere?” I asked her. She shook her head, “No, not planning to.” I looked at the wardrobe options and pointed at a one-piece creeper outfit that I knew was pretty comfortable. It was pink and had a lacy top section by the collar. It snapped all the way down the front through the crotch. It provided a small amount of material, almost like an ultrashort pair of shorts at the end. It was really babyish… but it was also really comfortable. Soon I was eating leftover pasta in my high chair. When I was done, she had cleaned me up, and I figured she was about to suggest nursing and a nap, when the doorbell rang. “Who could that be?” Ivy asked and picked me up. She placed me on her hip and walked to the door. I leaned with her as she looked through the peephole, “There’s no one out there?” She unlocked the door and we looked down to see the leader of the Hellcats wearing a set of BDUs. “Hi, what can I do for you sir?” “I’m Colonel Jackal, may I come in?” the man asked. “Umm… sure,” she told him. “I was hoping to speak to you two…” he told us as he walked in the door and Ivy closed the door behind him. I could feel him examining me from the top down as we sat down on the couch together and he sat on the opposite end after easily scaling the couch. I blushed at this ‘adult’ viewing me as a ‘baby.’ “Sure, what can we do for you?” Ivy asked. “First I want to thank you Doc, you managed to save a lot of lives yesterday.” “Not all of them,” I said sadly. “If you’re thinking about the terrorist, I urge you not to feel guilty. He made his choice, and you made the only one possible to save that baby. We would not have been able to save the baby if he’d been left alone.” I nodded, “Mentally I know that… Emotionally that’s going to take some time.” “Well regardless of the next thing I want to talk about, we have some people we can put you in touch with to help you deal with that. PTSD is a real thing and I would be shocked if you don’t suffer from it at least a little bit after this.” I nodded, “Thanks…” “You wanted to talk about more?” Ivy asked. “Yes… Look, normally I don’t come in and talk to adopted littles and their bigs about something like this. Usually we only recruit from free littles.” “Recruit?!?” Ivy asked suddenly. “Yes, recruit. Doctor Nickerson, Doc here is an incredibly talented doctor with a good head on her shoulders… We’ve done some checking and we think it’s a waste of her abilities to just leave her in a daycare pretending to be a mindless baby.” I thought for sure with something like that Ivy would tell him to ‘get the hell out of her house…’ “I agree Colonel,” Ivy told him. “What?!?” I said suddenly and turned my head up towards her. “I agree, I’ve felt guilty about this for weeks… but I don’t have an answer. Holly you’re adopted and if I just free you, it is exceptionally likely you’ll just be adopted by someone else… Someone that would be more like Bob…” she choked up then. I looked back at the man. “What are you offering her Colonel?” “Holly’s freedom. She would come with us and go through our boot camp… it’s all of the physicality of a normal military boot camp, along with intense potty training for a little like Doc. When she passes, she gets assigned to our hospital on the base, and she’ll have occasional deployments to be on scene for emergencies on ops.” “What about her adoption?” Ivy asked. “This agreement would render it invalid, and her credentials as a member of the Hellcats would prevent her from ever being legally adopted in the future.” “What about Ivy?” I asked softly. “Her claim on you goes away.” I looked up at her and the tears streaming from her eyes and realized I really had grown to genuinely love her. With no family in the other dimension there was nothing keeping me there… but here? I looked at my clothes and over at his BDUs and wondered if I really wanted a military life. Yes, I would be free… I could probably even get my body set to have a puberty and become a full-grown woman with kids of my own there… “How soon do you need an answer?” I asked him. “Preferably in the next week since we’ll have transport in the area, but this will be an open-ended offer,” he replied. “Length of my term of service?” “Two years minimum,” he told me. “Give me your contact information please?” I told him. We traded information and he left. Ivy sat down on the floor to where she was closer to my level. “Why didn’t you just tell him yes?” “Two reasons…” I told her standing at my height and realizing even then I wasn’t close to her shoulder. “One, making a snap decision led me here… maybe not the best of ideas…” I giggled. She gave me a thin grin, “Maybe not…” “Two… I’m not sure if that’s what I want...” I paused and sighed, “I’m… I’m also not sure I want to leave you…” With that she gave me a big hug and asked, “why don’t we go ahead and give you some boob milk and then maybe take a nap?” I nodded and waited for her to shrug her shirt out of the way. I was soon latched on and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. IVY LOOKED DOWN at Holly sleepily nursing from her second breast. There was a different sensation when she was really asleep and auto-nursing as she thought of it. It was like when she was nursing a pacifier instead, and she had definitely reached that stage now. ‘Why didn’t she just take that offer?’ she wondered. ‘It can’t be as simple as me…’ She carried her to the nursery and changed the damp diaper before placing her in her crib to nap. She grabbed the monitor and walked to the living room. As an afterthought she stopped and grabbed her phone from her bedroom and took it with her to sit down. She was just about to turn the TV on to watch something when the phone rang. “Hello?” “Hi, Doctor Nickerson?” “Yes?” “This is Marcus Wethington, I’m on the board of directors at the hospital?” She thought back to the fancy meet and greet fundraisers she’d had to attend and said, “Yes sir, I remember you. What can I do for you?” “Well first, how are you and your little… Doc is her name? Today?” “Her name is actually Holly… Mostly okay so far. Yesterday was a bit rough on both of us.” “Of course, sorry the news is calling her Doc... When they interviewed some of the littles parents from inside the daycare, she was all they could talk about.” “Oh? I haven’t watched any TV at all… I didn’t want to upset Holly if she saw it.” “Well at some point you should probably at least get a copy of the newspaper. She is being considered the biggest heroine ever for littles.” “Probably should be…” she told him, “I still can’t believe what she pulled off in there.” “Neither can we to be honest. Look, myself and the board really need to talk to you as soon as we can. Is there a chance we could stop by your house?” “Umm… I guess. If Holly needs something though I’ll have to take care of whatever she needs.” “Of course! Would right now work?” ‘What the hell is going on?’ she wondered to herself. “I guess…?” “You’re still at the address we have on file at the hospital?” “Yes sir,” she responded nervously. “Great, we’ll be by in ten minutes.” ‘Ten minutes?!?’ She suddenly realized she was still in her pajamas! She jumped up and ran to her bedroom and quickly put on some jeans and a t-shirt thinking that would be okay since she was at her house. She made a quick look around the house and saw there was too much stuff out for caring for a little… ‘No way am I going to have this house spotless…’ she thought. She did quickly move the swing, playpen, and walker out of the way to her bedroom. She had a few folding chairs she kept on hand for company, that she dug out in record time. She was just about to check on Holly really quick when the doorbell rang. ‘Good thing I soundproofed her room to where the ring doesn’t reach inside there…’ she thought as she hurried to the door. Standing at her door was the full board of directors… all eleven of them remaining after Bob was killed. “Good afternoon Doctor,” Marcus Wethington said as he led the way into her house. She grabbed the kitchen table chairs to add to the others in the living room. “Can I get you all anything?” “No thank you Doctor, we’re not planning on taking up too much of your time,” an older woman she remembered was Sylvia Pinkerton, one of the wealthiest women in town. “Well… umm… what can I do for you?” “Well… it’s more what we want to do for you,” Sylvia said. “Okay…?” she responded, ‘stop sounding like an idiot!’ She admonished herself. “We’d like to offer you Bob’s position,” Marcus said. “Me? Shouldn’t you be doing a search committee? CEOs are never just hired…?” She asked incredulously. “Normally yes… but in this case we believe we already have the best candidate. You’ve been running Pediatrics very smoothly for several years now. We’re sure that you would do a good job with the hospital as a whole. Add in the fact that the staff loves you, from the other doctors, to the nurses, to the custodial staff – absolutely no one has a negative thing to say about you.” “I’m sure there’s somebody,” she thought thinking of how many times she’d chewed out an incompetent person. “Not really,” Sylvia added her two cents. “Well…” she thought for a second. “I would have a condition…” I WOKE UP and found I was in my crib. I sighed as I thought, ‘If I took him up on that offer at least I wouldn’t have to be trapped when I sleep…’ I sat there thinking about the offer some more until Ivy must have seen me awake on the monitor. She came in and asked, “Awake now?” I nodded, “Change me please?” “Of course,” she told me and had me laying down on the changing table and in a new diaper. “How about we have a movie marathon for the rest of the day?” “Another one?” “Did you have something else you wanted to do?” I shrugged as she pulled my legs up into the air, “Not really…” “You showed me one of your fantasy movie series from back home, how about I show you one of ours?” “That might be kind of cool,” I acknowledged. “But… you like that genre?” with some surprise in my voice. “I’m a bit of a geek at times,” she told me with a smile as she wiped me. When she was done putting on the new diaper, she dressed me in another one-piece blanket sleeper instead of my previous outfit. “Pajamas already?” I wondered. “Don’t worry, I’ll go put mine on too. Then we’ll order some Chinese food for dinner?” I nodded, “Okay, sounds a bit like undergrad…” She smiled, “Yeah it does.” The night went by pretty quickly with a trilogy that would have been appreciated back home. Elves, dragons, and orcs were all enemies of humans in it. There was a love interest then with a human and an elf princess… Well, it was pretty good all things considered. My only issue with them is that apparently along with longer days, their ‘adult’ movie length was also longer. The trilogy lasted a couple hours into the new day and we were once again up waaaay too late! I fell asleep nursing that night trying to think of what I wanted to do about that offer. ‘I have a feeling that if I want to do it the Hellcats wouldn’t let Ivy say no over it…’ ‘I don’t know that I want to be in a military force though…’ THE NEXT MORNING came way too quickly for my tastes after the two consecutive late nights. Both Ivy and I looked like hell as she got us both ready that morning to visit her parents. She dressed me in a pretty, but really short, yellow dress with an attached onesie. I liked it for being able to hold up my diaper as it got wetter. ‘I’ve learned droopy diapers suck…’ I mused. Ivy liked it because it made me look like her adorable toddler. In the driveway of her parents’ house I counted the same number of cars from the last time we had come a couple months ago. For some reason Ivy had avoided all of these gatherings since then… ‘Why?’ I wondered. The last time had been really awkward with poor Janice’s situation. And, Kelly being a brat… And, Katie being whatever she was… As she stepped through the front door it was obvious that a lot of changes had indeed taken place since we’d come last. The biggest was a playpen in the middle of the room that held Janice sitting in a onesie and sucking on a pacifier. Her face looked all red, like she’d been crying. ‘He decided she would be a baby after all?’ I wondered. The person drawing my ire though was one of the first to greet us. “Hi Ivy, Holly,” Jonah came and gave us a hug. “Hi,” I said timidly. “How are you doing?” He asked me sincerely. I shrugged, “So far I haven’t had the nightmares I expect to happen.” “When they come, don’t be too afraid to ask for help,” he told me in a voice that was different than I remembered him using towards me on my previous visit. “I’ll remember that,” I told him, “Thanks. Ivy’s dad came over and greeted us with a kiss on the forehead. “There’s the hero!” he said to me. I blushed, “I don’t know about hero…” “I do,” Jonah spoke up. “The news definitely thinks you are…” he added. “News?” I asked. I looked up at Ivy. She shrugged, “We haven’t honestly watched it at all,” she told me. “I have…” her dad said, “Somehow they got a video of the takedown you did.” I felt my stomach turn a bit with that, “How much…?” “How much did they show?” Ivy finished for me. “All of it,” Jonah said. “Even…?” I asked. “Yes… most stations put up a blur over you two.” “Not all?” I asked “No, two local and one national just warned viewers,” her dad said. I felt my stomach doing weird things and swallowed back the vomit that threatened to come out. I think Jonah sensed that and decided to change the subject, “You want to set her down with Janie for a little bit?” “Why’s she in a playpen?” “Kelly and Janie haven’t been doing too well together on Sundays, so I offered to bring her pen. She chose to sit in it instead of playing with Kelly today.” I looked over at her again, then over at Kelly, who was bossily trying to get Julie to crawl by moving one hand and leg then another… Unfortunately, there was no way that would work thanks to the butchery Katie had done to the poor girl. Ivy looked at me and I nodded, “Sure for a little bit.” She hugged me and whispered, “I won’t go far and I promise it won’t be long.” “Thanks,” I whispered. The ‘adults’ moved to sit around on the couch on the other side of the living room. I looked at Janice and whispered, “Janice, what happened to you?” “Whadoyoumean?” she said around the pacifier. “You’re an adult?” I suggested. She shook her head and pulled her pacifier out. “Nuh-uh, my boss decided Daddy was right that I was just a baby… so she told me I needed to stay home with him.” “She fired you?” “Nope, I’m a baby! Babies can’t work! I get to go to Auntie Katie’s daycare now. It’s lots more fun! You should come! We could play and have so much fun together!!!” She smiled and moved the toy rattle she had up and down. I shook my head, “Umm… I have my own daycare my mommy takes me to…” Her larger frame meant that the playpen appropriate for her was a bit larger than mine at Ivy’s house. Even with the larger sized pen though, she was big enough that there wasn’t a ton of space in there. I ended up leaning with my back against the side of the mesh where I could look at her and also keep an eye out for Kelly. She was now talking to Ivy and showing her big girl panties off for some reason. It looked to me like she’d grown quite a bit just since we’d seen her. Her dad grunted as he picked her up and talked about how big she was getting. I looked back at Janice, “So umm… what about being married?” “Daddy adopted me, I can’t be his wifee no more,” she said. ‘So, he did do it…’ I thought. I was debating what else I could do to kill time when Janice stood up and crouched in what I had learned from experience was a poopie crouch. “Umm, Janie do you need to go potty?” I asked. “Janie goes potty in her diapees like all good girls,” she said with a giggle as she filled the back of the diaper. The smell hit me and I wanted to gag. I looked over at Ivy and made eye contact with a motion towards Janice. She stood up and came over, “Peee-eeeew,” she said, “Someone over here is a stinky baby!” She made a point of picking me up and sniffing me, “I know it’s not you,” she whispered, “I’ll get her changed…” “Not my Princess,” she said. “Janice are you stinky?” “Stinky!” she exclaimed and then happily sat down on her poop to smush it. She picked her up and said, “Jonah, your baby needs changed.” She definitely emphasized the word baby in such a way I could tell she wasn’t really happy about it. “She likes her poopies,” Katie said, “Just let her play in her diapee for a bit. It’s good for her to accept her place.” “She’ll get a rash or a UTI,” Ivy said angrily. “Well then you change her,” Jonah said. “I’m with Katie on this. If you want to change her, I left her bag upstairs.” “Ugh,” she looked at Janice, “Well since they’re too lazy, I’ll get you to being a pretty smelling girl again.” She moved her to her right hip and then reached down and managed to grab me and placed me on her left hip. “Definitely glad you’re an only child…” she said as she made her way up the staircase. She sat me down in the nursery and went to work on the oversized baby. “You knew?” I asked her as she undid the diaper. She tickled Janice a little to get a giggle and nodded at me, “It’s why we haven’t been coming on Sundays. I can’t stand to know they’ve done this to her.” “What all have they done?” I asked softly. “Hypnosis, the potty training went with drinking breast milk several times a day… that’s it so far I think.” “She’s that far gone from hypnosis?” I asked as she acted every bit as babyish as the brainwashed littles at daycare. She wiped her bottom for a few moments before saying, “Holly, if I wanted to, I could make you behave like a little newborn with our hypnosis tapes alone… You’d forget you could walk, talk, or even crawl…” “Thank you for not…” I told her as she balled up the poop filled diaper and put it in a diaper genie they had in the nursery. She had to push her shoulders back down on the changing table, “Not done yet Janie,” she told her. I watched her dig into the pink diaper bag that said ‘Daddy’s Baby Princess’ on the side of it in large, glittery letters. A huge new thick diaper was pulled out, and I could tell it was different than the ones she had been wearing before. “Is that a crawler diaper in her size?” I asked. “Yes… it is,” she said as she did both tapes. She picked her up and sat her on the ground on her feet. Janie held herself upright for two seconds and then happily fell down on her bottom and giggled. “You need changed yet?” she asked me. “I’m probably okay,” I told her feeling the padding. She reached over and did the same, “Yep, I bet you can make it through lunch.” “How long are we staying after lunch?” “Not long,” she told me. “I think neither of us really wants to stick around, right?” I nodded and looked over at Janice, “She’ll be like that forever?” “A long time at least,” Ivy told me. “I would say until my brother gets tired of her poopy diapers, but it’s pretty obvious Katie is telling him just to leave her in them so he’s probably not changing them often.” “Why is she so happy in them?” “One of the first things that Katie does at her daycare is condition her littles to happily stay in poopy diapers for half a day or more.” “How is that not abuse?” I asked. “I don’t know… It’s one of many reasons why I won’t send you there.” “What are we…?” I was about to ask when her dad came through the door. “Your mom says dinner’s ready,” he told her. “Okay. Can you grab Janice so I can carry Holly down?” “I’ll be happy to grab Janie,” her dad said. He tickled her bare foot as he picked her up and proceeded to throw her in the air a couple times as we followed them downstairs. Ivy carefully sat me down into the high chair and buckled me in the normal harness. I looked over at Janice being buckled into a high chair now just like Katie’s two littles were. Only her head was left free, her ankles and hands were both strapped down. That was the first time I saw some sort of mental recognition in her eyes as she looked at me with worry. ‘I’d guess she’s very close to being past the point of no return…’ I thought morosely. During lunch I stayed quiet, remembering the rules from before. ‘Her mom doesn’t seem so bad on her own… I wonder why she’s like this on Sundays?’ They all talked around me, and in a way I was grateful for not being asked about the terrible incident. Towards the end of lunch her mom said, “Looks like everyone is ready for dessert?” “Yep!” Jonah said. She disappeared for a few moments and brought out a cake with ‘Congratulations Ivy and Holly!’ on it. “Why does it say that?” I asked Ivy. She sighed, “Well… It’s up to you still what you want to do about the offer you were given yesterday… but I have a counter offer for you.” “Counter offer?” I asked hesitantly. “While you were napping yesterday the hospital board of directors came by.” “I slept through that many people coming over?” “I had your room completely soundproofed before you came,” she said with a smile, “It’s why I always have the baby monitor… Anyway,” she said, extending out her syllables on ‘any.’ “They came by to make me an offer…” “What offer?” “Taking Bob’s place as the CEO of the hospital.” “Wow! Congratulations!” I told her, “That’s huge, why didn’t you say something last night?!?” “Because I wanted to surprise you with this - and I needed Jonah’s help to expedite it with the city.” She handed me a greeting card envelope. ‘Congratulations to a Super Heroine!’ it said with a diapered figure that reminded me of Supergirl back home. I opened it and a document greeted my eyes, ‘Work Permit.’ I read through it and realized it was like a work permit for a teenager back home. This particular one was for any minor, including adopted littles, and with the signature of the judge who had signed it gave me permission to work any job for up to eight hours per day, six days per week. “What’s this for?” I asked while I moved it aside and looked at the space behind it. I looked up at Ivy as she said, “I refused to take the job unless they promised me something.” “What?” I asked her. “That if I could get a work permit for you, they had to let you join the staff of the hospital as a surgeon in the pediatrics unit.” “I thought…” “You couldn’t?” She laughed as she pulled the tray away and pulled me to her lap. “You couldn’t before… but when you saved the life of that baby - and single handedly probably saved half or more of the lives in that room? Let’s just say it gave you some bargaining power.” “How does that work though?” I asked. “The Hellcats said I would have to potty train before I could join… wouldn’t I have to do that at the hospital?” “They asked you to join?!?” Jonah interrupted from across the table. I nodded, “Open ended offer…” I turned back to Ivy, “So…?” “So, part of the deal is that the diapers are a non-issue. If we can’t retrain you - as long as you’re wearing a diaper - it’s fine. We’ll have some nurses who will certainly be willing to change you if I’m not around.” “That’s kind of scary,” I admitted to her… “If I’m doing this… what surgical team would even listen to me?” “The ones that were there that day for certain, but probably the whole hospital now.” “She’s right,” Jonah said, “I heard more than a few comments about that while I was standing around there.” “So… what… I become like Janice was?” I whispered so she could hear me only. “Yes, you’ll do what Janice used to do,” she replied to me louder. “Only you don’t have to worry about me pulling you out of your job.” She hesitated, “Unless you start doing a bad job…” I shook my head, “I wouldn’t… Will my degree and license cover certifications here?” “As of this morning they will,” she said and nodded to her mom who brought over a gigantic wrapped package. I carefully ripped the paper while Ivy steadied it, revealing my medical school diploma next to a certificate to practice medicine there in this state. I was crying by then, “Really?!?” “Really,” she told me. I hugged her as best I could after she sat the picture down. “Thank you, Mommy!” I told her. “I can’t believe you think she can do surgery…” Katie said, “I sure as hell wouldn’t trust her…” “Just shut up Katie,” Jonah told her. “No, this is stupid… why in the hell would you let her work? You figured out that Janie had no business being a big girl… now you think that her baby should be doing surgical procedures?” I watched as a surreal scene occurred then. Jonah stood up, grabbed Katie, sat back down, and proceeded to pull her dress up and started spanking her! When she began crying, he kept going for a while longer and then pushed her from his lap. “That little girl may be the size of a baby, she may even piss and shit her pants like a baby, but I guarantee you she’s more mature than you sis. So just shut the fuck up.” He looked at Janie then who was crying, “I’m sorry sweetheart… Maybe this is a sign I shouldn’t be listening to sis anymore.” He picked her up and began rocking her back and forth while Katie stormed out of the room in tears. “Jonah, next time let me be the one to spank Katie if she needs it,” his dad said. “That being said, she needed it.” “So…?” Ivy asked me. “I would really be able to do procedures? No daycare? Parents would trust me?” “I guarantee it,” she said. “There may be some that will ask to have another surgeon… and we’ll respect that, but I think you’ll have more than enough respect once they know you’re the famous ‘Doc’ who saved lives last week. I leaned into her and thought for a second, “Okay… but you promise? It almost seems too good to be true…” She laughed, “I promise this time you’ll be working your butt off as a full-time surgeon on actual patients.” “Shake on it??” She held her hand out and I shook the massive hand of the CEO who ran my new workplace. *********************************************************************************************** Well folks, that's the final full chapter. There's a small Epilogue that I'll post tomorrow to finish it off. Thank you to everyone who has commented and liked the posts along this journey! Please let me know your thoughts with a comment and/or a like!