Kat5

Chapter Thirty Five Amanda looked at her clock. About an hour until she had a guest, and somehow John was still awake. Usually he’s fallen over by now, but since lunch he was so wired he climbed on the couch, climbed down and ran around it with Xerxes following him. He drew for a few minutes and then got back up. Being mostly caught up work, with only an hour or so of work left to finish later, she stopped and pondered how to get him slowed down long enough for the sleepiness to take over without blatantly just putting him in the playpen. After a moment the idea came to her, so she tapped her computer to put into standby and went to gather her supplies. Bottle of a specific lotion. Shower cap. Gloves. Shower turned on. She was ready. Stepping out of the bathroom, she watched as John crawled around the corner of the couch and used the side of the couch to get back onto his feed and waddle away from Xerxes, towing a toy behind him. He definitely grumbled about the fact that once the rough pup diapers got the slightest bit wet he waddled, and when they got partly full he was reduced to crawling. But she had to admit it, he was rough on them and they never tore once. Waiting for John to waddle into range, she reached out and snatched him up. She got him against her up with a squish and hugged him “I know someone that’s getting a quick shower.” He grumped at her a bit about being stopped, but it was obvious to her that he was almost out of steam. Maybe he kept moving so he wouldn’t feel it. Either way, it was about to be solved by some relaxing warm water. Standing him up and kneeling down, she was able to undo the locking snaps on his onesie. Press up, twist halfway, pull, twist the rest of the way and pull while tilting it back away from the direction that it would get pulled if it got snagged. Or if little hands were trying to remove it. It was the most normal locking snap, meant to keep them from just getting tugged off while littles were playing. It also made sense to Amanda that some more regressed littles would try to take their clothes off even if it was cold, so that just seemed all too practical. With just a moment of effort, his onesie was off, his diaper was off and she was able to give him a quick pass with a wipe, and she could see that the cream she used in her diaper area had definitely gotten rid of all the hair. But the rash that wet hair had caused was just barely there. Swinging her charge up and into the bath tub she gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and started explaining. He always seemed calmer if he halfway understood what was going on. “Okay John, do you remember us talking about you getting a bit scruffy?” He nodded “Yes…” “Well, first we’re going to wash your hair and then put a shower cap on you. Then I’m going to use this cream to knock that facial hair off, and that will take care of that, okay?” She watched him nod uncertainly and then she got to work shampooing his hair that was some how halfway oily again anyway. It was rewarding how he closed his eyes and enjoyed the scalp massage. Once he was shampooed and rinsed, she held up the shower cap and explained “I just need you to stand still for a moment. This will protect your hair and eyebrows so we don’t have to worry about any splashing, okay?” He looked a bit nervous as he nodded but she went ahead and put the shower cap onto him, and then dried her hands before putting on her thick gloves. Now it was time to be careful. She took a moment to make sure that his eyes and ears and even the back of his neck was covered up before using a fingertip to smear the paste onto his face, up under (but not into) his nose and all the way down to his neck and chest. Thankfully the nanite paste had no smell at all. Since he was cooperating and being a very good boy, she was able to wash her gloved hands off, and rinse his face off slowly with a cup of water. Just to be certain, she rinsed him a coupe of extra times. And now for the rest of him, she took an old rag that was about to be tossed and used it to rub him down all over with the same paste from the neck down. Since she wasn’t worried about messing up and having an accident, it didn’t even take a minute before she was washing him off thoroughly. After taking her gloves off and throwing them away with the rag, she went ahead and popped the now empty tube into the trash with the gloves. It’s amazing how you could buy a tube sized exactly to do one whole little, and it was honestly very inexpensive, too. Now it was time to lather him up for real and give him a good scrubbing down! The rest of the shower was uneventful, and the warm water worked wonders, as he was starting to sway back and forth trying to stay upright. As she got him up and wrapped in her fluffiest towel, she stepped out of the bathroom with him just in time to see a shadow moving through the window. Apparently she had gotten a later start on this than she expected, and her visitor was here. Before they would knock on the door and wake up her son, she half-dashed while keeping her upper body still to reach over and open the door. She was greeted by a formally dressed woman about her own height, which was on the short end of the spectrum for her people. The woman looked to be in her forties and dressed in a very casual pair of slacks and presentable cool blue blouse. Everything about this woman, including her demeanor seemed to exude calm and collected. Even her light brown hair, which most professionals wore up, was brushed out long and presented half in the back and half over one shoulder with not so much as a wrinkle or split end to be seen. Amanda waved silently in greeting and pointed to the now sleeping little on her shoulder. The woman nodded immediately in understanding. Waving the visitor inside, she gestured her to the counter where she always met with guests and had coffee. Only once she was seated and seemed comfortable did Amanda turn and walk as smoothly as she could manage to the her sons room. Pivoting him slowly onto the changing table, she unwrapped the towel from around him and gave him a quick once over. The nanites in the paste had done their job admirably, and he was smooth as a baby. When his body hair grew back it would likely be a gentle fuzz, and not something thick or unsanitary. He slept through her putting a rough pup onto him. He was still out when she put a fresh onesie on him. And he was completely limp when she laid him in the crib and pulled a blanket over him. She knew she would find him laying comically butt up on his big pillow later, but for now he was just an adorable sleeping blessing. She pulled out her phone and took a picture to prove that he could be still, before sliding the rail back up and turning out the light. As she started out of the door she was confronted by Xerxes, who was sitting up and staring at her. She had to lean down to whisper to the dog “Go lay down next to his crib.” Xerxes did not move. He obviously wanted his little. So with a sigh she grabbed his doggy bed and carried it into the room, putting it next to the crib. The dog looked indignant, but eventually gave up and sat on his bed looking into the crib. Stepping out of the room and pulling the door semi closed behind her, she pushed the child gate on the bathroom closed and flicked the towel into the hamper through the open laundry room door on her way to greet her visitor. Holding out her hand, she was greeted with a gentle handshake. “Hello, I’m Amanda Taylor. I’m pleased to meet you.” With a nod back “I’m Carol Scientia, pleased to meet you as well.” With a polite smile, Amanda motioned “I usually have a cup of coffee around this time of the day, and if you would like a cup, coffee is better when shared.” The woman nodded thoughtfully “I would happily share coffee with you.” Taking a moment to pop the seal on the vacuum container that she used to keep her coffee fresh on the counter, she quickly got a pot of coffee brewing and then dutifully resealed it. Turning back to Carol, she waved “I have a variety of coffee cups, if you would like to pick your own. Or if you would like, I could just grab one of my favorites.” Now with a smirk, Carol said “You know, I’m interested to see which one of them is your favorite.” With a nod, she reached out and pulled her two favorite mugs off of the cup hooks and sat them down on the counter. One was a sky blue with wisps of white that reminded her of looking up at the sky on a foggy morning as the sun comes up and starts to chase away the fog. And the other was an earthy brown with swirls of light green that reminded her of a freshly tilled garden, ready to be planted. Neither one was fancy. The handles were just the right size, the bottom was slightly rounded and comfortable to hold from the bottom. Filling both cups with black coffee, Amanda sat them down on the counter between her and Carol and motioned “Take your pick, these are my two favorites.” Carol nodded as she took the blue one, saying “Thank you very much. I find myself drawn to the blue one, so that is the one I will take.” After they had a few sips of coffee, Carol spoke up again “You have a very nice house. It’s just the right size. What drove you to move so far out of town?” Amanda took another sip as she thought of the best way to answer. Finally she spoke “I know that a lot of people like to live in tight little neighborhoods and keep everything identical, and that’s fine if they want to do that. I just don’t … fit that mold. I can’t have a garden in a suburb. I can’t ignore my yard for a couple of days if I’m backed up a bit on work. Everyone around you is constantly pressuring you to conform to their ideals of your life. If … I guess if that makes sense?” Carol simply nodded along in understanding as Amanda spoke and when she stopped, Carol simply pointed to the three rows of mugs hanging under the counter from cup hooks. She spoke “Much like your coffee mugs there. Not being all identical is not a bad thing. Sometimes the uniqueness makes us more complete as a whole. And just the same, there are all types of people. If I may ask, how do you like your garden?” Now Amanda smiled “I love my garden. Now that I have John in my life I may need to save up a bit and move the fence back and then move the whole garden back next year so that he has more room to play. As much as he tries to spend all of his time outdoors, it may do to get him a nice playhouse. Maybe one of those with the solar panels to power some fans on the inside, since it get humid here in the summer.” Carol smiled “That’s more of a what you want to do with your garden than it is how you feel about it. It sounds like your garden is a big part of your life that you are willing to, literally in this case, move back to make room for someone in your life.” With a little laugh, Amanda nodded in agreement “I think that you might be right. I wasn’t lonely before, but now I already don’t think I could live without my son in my life.” Yet another smile in response, until the look on her face changed “Tell me, do you ever have any trouble with wildlife in your garden?” Cautiously, Amanda asked back “Do you mean like birds and squirrels?” After a very short pause, the response came “I mean those things, as well as foxes and snakes. Just any wildlife in general.” “Well, with the smell of Xerxes here, foxes have never dared come anywhere near the house. I do get the occasional garden snake. They’re non venomous, so I just get my gloves and grab them and carry them off to the treeline to set them free.” “Have you ever had any venomous snakes?” Now with a sigh, Amanda admitted “Only once.” “And how did you handle it?” “Well … it was rearing up at Xerxes, so I grabbed the shovel and … I’m sad to say that I had to make the decision to kill it. I felt bad about it, so I buried it out front and planted a white Azalea bush over it as my way of apologizing to it.” There was a pause while Carol left her to have her thoughts before she spoke up again “You know, from the report I was given, and what you’ve said so far, you strike me as a very model Big in some ways, and a bit rebellious in others.” Unable to hold in a bit of a laugh, Amanda asked “Okay. I can’t resist asking: How so?” After calmly finishing her sip of coffee, the visitor explained “You act to protect first and foremost. You value nature, you value life, and I’m willing to bet that you don’t want to mess up the forest around you, as you’d rather live in the middle of it, and not make it conform to your ideals.” Amanda nodded “I suppose that is all pretty accurate. And as for the rebellious side?” “Well” she paused to take a sip. “Where most people would just conform to what their neighbors expected of them and blend in to avoid standing out, which I’m certain that you tried to do, you decided that life was not for you, and you changed everything about your life that you needed to in order to get away from it and live more like you wanted.” Trying to take a sip of her coffee was a mistake as she choked on it a little as Carol ended her statement. That took a moment of coughing to get over. Covering her mouth as she finished coughing, she mumbled “My son is rubbing off on me.” Now even the incredibly calm seeming Carol joined in the chuckling “Littles do tend to bring out the best in us in some ways, and try our patience in others.” “Amen.” Exclaimed Amanda and they even raised mugs and clinked them together. After another sip, Amanda spoke this time, saying “Do you know what the giveaway is that a neighborhood is going to be super oppressive, from my point of view?” Now looking intrigued, Carol leaned in with a smirk and asked “Oh? Do tell, I’m always looking for more ways to understand patients.” Amanda held up one finger and answered simply “The mail boxes.” That gave Carol a moment of pause before she asked “Okay, what is it about the mailboxes?” Smiling now, Amanda explained “If all of the mail boxes are ornate and every single one of them is completely identical in every way, then that neighborhood is usually the kind where someone will yell at their neighbors about anything end everything, from how they park, to if their mulch is faded, if they plant a bush without clearing it with everyone else first, even if their driveway is dirty. Next time you drive through an unfamiliar neighborhood, look at the mailboxes.” For her part, Carol listened intently, nodding along, and finally agreed “You know, that is a bit reductive in a way, but I can only think of examples that prove your point. My Mother moved into a neighborhood like that and let’s just say that I got my masters by studying and writing about the people in the neighborhood around my Mother.” Waving a hand, Amanda explained “Oh, I’m certain that there are exceptions. But when I was trying to find a new place to live, that became my red flag before I found this place and fell in love with it.” Another moment and a couple of sips of coffee later, Amanda got up and brought the carafe over and refilled both of their cups. After putting the carafe back in place she said “Please let me know if you would like any water to drink as well.” With a nod Carol took her mug again before explaining “So I suppose you’re patiently waiting for me to ‘get to the point’ as it were?” Amanda shrugged a bit “I’m not going to rush you or anything, I figure that the small talk was polite conversation, and I don’t mind it. But if you’re ready, we can change the topic.” Carol reached over and placed her hand onto Amanda’s own and said softly “I was sent out to check on you because you seemed pretty shaken up last night. Which is very reasonable.” All that Amanda could really do in this situation was nod, trying not to dwell on the events that left her crying all night long. “Well.” Carol explained “The best possible news is that the little girl that you saved woke up two hours ago. She doesn’t know where she is and she doesn’t remember how she got to where she was, but she remembers being carried and someones voice telling her to wake up.” Finally she realized that she had been holding her breath when she exhaled and slumped against the counter in front of her, mumbling “Thank the Goddess.” For her part, Carol did not seem to say anything, she waited patiently for Amanda to take a few deep breaths and sit back up before continuing. “Now that she is awake, the LPS has assigned a case worker and she is in an LICU unit. She’s going to be very well taken care of and they’ll get her healed up. A Child Psychologist will be visiting with her, and she will be placed in a loving home.” It took a bit longer to process than Amanda was willing to admit, but the end result was still a relief. Seemingly that relief must have started to show on her face. Speaking now, Carol did not interrupt her until the end of her moment of reflection. “So you made quite an impression with Agent Praefectus, and the paramedics. There is a bit of a push to offer you a cash reward for your assistance. It wouldn’t be a huge number, but the higher ups over Agent Preafectus want you to be willing to cooperate in the future for a few things.” Immediately Amanda held up a hand “I refuse to take any money for that. Period.” Smiling now, Carol looked the image of pride as she explained “I already told them that you would likely refuse. But I know them so they are very likely to send out a contractor to try and talk you into an improvement to your driveway and maybe a walking path at the very edge of your property line, at the very least.” Frowning a bit, Amanda argued “I can maintain these things. There’s no need for that, really.” Now Carol seemed to actively choose to give a nonchalant shrug as she explained “I am here to help you adjust and make sure you are doing well after a traumatic event. You seem like the type that would prefer to know in advance. Arguing with them directly is your job.” Nodding appreciatively, Amanda admitted “Yes, I do appreciate that.” After a long quiet moment sitting together. After finishing her second cup of coffee, Amanda admitted out loud “You know, I thought this would be more stressful and it would turn into some sort of session? Looking up from her own mug, Carol commented with a straight face “You’ve been answering questions and reflecting on things for an hour now.” That gave Amanda a moment of pause while she thought. “Now” Carol interrupted her thoughts “It seems like you’ve had time to talk about the events from last night with someone and spent the night with them being there for you?” Amanda nodded along. “Have you noticed suddenly feeling over the top as far as being protective of your son today?” “Well … A bit, yes. I think I’ve kept it mostly under control though.” Carol nodded along “Why don’t we talk for a bit longer, let this process, and you can tell me how this has affected your internal dialogue.” Amanda sighed a bit “Okay, so that’s probably going to be a bit harder.” ~~~~~~~ An hour and a half John woke up in his crib, and not snuggling with his dog. He had that feeling that he got when he slept either too much or not enough and even flopping onto his giant pillow, which usually worked wonders, could relieve his temporary grumpiness.

Oh wow, that's VERY compelling! Excellent work!

I guess we could call him the Squirrel Whisperer behind his back? I'm sure he'll never find out. I never made the connection but Little is right there in the name! *Ahem* "Cookie."

Chapter Thirty Four John squeezed Amanda’s torso with his bare legs. An entire lifetime of being fully clothed to so much as walk outside to check the mail was screaming at him. And that was just the immediate part. Having had the perfect opportunity to explain that he didn’t like that Nana Claire woman one tiny bit, he felt that if he had to explain that he was about to freak out and punch her as hard as he could in the chest he might have wound up in trouble. And holding that in seemed like a good call. Honestly just thinking about it, he was still mad at her. He just wanted her to at least be wrong about which foods he would like. Something, anything just for her to not be right so he could feel like she couldn’t just magically understand him because he’s a little. While he was being carried into the Pet Store he realized that he was still dwelling on it and just making it worse for himself. So he rolled his eyes and flopped his head forward onto the chest in front of him. With a deep sigh he tried to stop thinking about it. Which only made it harder to get out of his own head. He felt Amanda stop walking and then his butt being patted. Then came the whisper from above him “Hey, you still in there?” Sarcasm being his default response, he shook his head and mumbled around the pacifier and into a breast “No. Please leave a message.” “There’s someone here with a puppy that they want to get used to being around littles.” Immediately John decided that he would mope later and pet the puppy now. His head snapped up and he looked around, squinting at the lights. When he caught sight of a small brown dog with curly hair and a tail whipping back and forth looking up at him he smiled. Behind the dog there was a man even taller than Amanda kneeling down with his hand on the puppies shoulder to keep it calm. As he felt Amanda kneeling down, he tensed up and said into her ear “I don’t have any pants on.” He could feel her stop down on one knee as she whispered back “No one even notices that. But if you would rather pass on petting the puppy, that is also fine.” Ugh. The one thing he couldn’t resist. Baby animals. John nodded “Just this once.” Amanda lowered him to the floor and he turned around. This ‘puppy’ still came up to his chest and it had a tail whipping back and forth just shy of the speed of sound. Still, he looked down at his bare legs and froze up. The giant man asked “Oh, is he scared of dogs?” John didn’t even have to look to imagine Amanda shaking her head as she said “Oh, he loves animals. But he’s new here and he’s still a bit shy.” The man just nodded knowingly and said “Yeah, that’s perfectly fair. It’s a big world and he’s suddenly a cute little guy that all the women won’t be able to resist.” Then the man looked at John and addressed him directly “Well, this is Latrare. She’s a Mastiff, so she’s going to get pretty big. She’s gentle as a lamb … but she may lick you to death. Do you want to pet her?” Of course John nodded mutely. He continued “Do you want to come to her, or do you want her to come to you?” John thought about over a hundred pounds of hyperactive puppy shaped missile and said “I’ll go to her.” With a nod, the man patted the dog on the booty and said firmly “Sit.” and the dog put her butt down. The tail was still sliding back and forth side to side on the furiously. Exceedingly conscious of his bare legs, John walked over to the large puppy and held out his hand for the puppy to smell. It was immediately licked. In for a penny, in for a pound, he just took one big step and got his fingers in and started giving the dog some good scritches up and down her side. The next five minutes were an exercise of John petting a giant hyperactive puppy, and a large man patiently keeping her calm. It was obvious that she was soft, but her fur was shorter and so it felt different. And petting her left like a film on his hands. Still worth it though because she was such a great dog! Eventually the man nodded and said “I think that’s about all the calmness she can handle. She needs to go run around now.” John nodded and asked “How big is she going to get.” The giant man said nonchalantly “Her Mother was about three hundred and forty pounds. But she is almost a year old and I don’t think she’s going to be much over three hundred. She’s been training to work with littles and children since she was six months old. She almo…” The man stopped as John got a giant dog tongue up the front of his shirt, neck over his face, and left some of his hair sticking up. “...almost got the hang of staying calm around littles.” Amanda was laughing behind him as she got a wipe out of the diaper bag and knelt down to wipe him off. Curiosity got the better of him so he asked “Mom, how big is Xerxes?” While she was wiping his face, she answered “He’s just shy of two hundred pounds. He’s not full blooded, but he looks just like a big border collie.” Once she was done wiping and explaining, John pointed at Latrare “You mean she’s going to get bigger than Xerxes!?” Amanda looked down at him funny and then sighed as she looked at the man “He rides our dog like a horse.” That got quite a laugh out of everyone involved. Except John, who sulked while mumbling “It’s not funny.” Finally Mom told him “Okay, say goodbye to the puppy, we have to get a toy and get our groceries home.” John reached down low and snapped his fingers. The moment Latrare looked down he darted in and kissed her on the forehead, praising her by saying “Good puppy!” and then darting back before he needed another wipe down. After that he was picked up and wrapped back around his Moms torso, they said their polite goodbyes and as they walked into the store, John looked up and said “I’m no expert, but that’s almost twice the size they get on my world.” He felt himself being raised some more and got a kiss on the forehead before she explained “Yes John. There’s a theme here. Things here are about twice as big, and combined with you shrinking will seem probably half again as big to you on top of that.” He rested his head on a boob while he thought. It was soft and it was conveniently located as a resting spot. Everything seemed so normal and so abnormal at the same time. An while John never considered himself to be dumb, it was just hard to process. Like everything was new and huge all over again. Plus there were the differences. Some of them were pretty incredible. Thinking of incredible differences, he felt a few pats on the butt as Mom said “We’re here at the toys. Take a peek.” John looked up and over and was greeted with a wall of dog toys. He zeroed in immediately on what he wanted the second his eyes focused on the wall. He pointed “That!” Amanda reached out and took a red plastic handle with a tennis ball on it off the shelf. It was about two and a half feet long and had a cup for the tennis ball. “You want this?” Nodding emphatically he said “YES!” She laughed now and said “You feel cheated that Xerxes can catch what you throw without having to chase it, don’t you?” “Yup.” With a chuckle she said “Okay, anything else you want for Xerxes? We really have to get those groceries home.” “Doggy breath mints.” A few seconds of walking later she had a bag of treats that said they were good for his teeth, and she said “If this isn’t good enough you’ll just have to start brushing his teeth.” He nodded “You get me on the side of the sink and I’ll brush his teeth myself. I’m closer to his mouth than you are.” They shared a good laugh, and as they walked by a young woman that was tagging merchandise, Amanda shuffled him around to her left arm and he could see her making a motion of some sort. There was a click-clack and something smacked him on the butt, followed by some giggling. As he was carried away he could see a red head with a great big smile waving at him. He wanted to feel indignant, but all things considered he couldn’t. As they approached the check out he looked around and spotted the cooler by the check out line. Even THAT was normal. But on closer look it had juice as well as sodas. “Mom?” he asked tentatively. “Yes sweety?” “May I have something to drink?” As the person in front of them left, Amanda leaned and said “Plapple or Grape?” “Can I have a soda?” She shook her head “You had more than enough sugar an hour ago.” “...Plapple.” The two items in her hand were put onto the conveyor belt and a bottle of Plapple juice quickly followed. But as the items got scanned, Amanda looked down at him with a mischievous grin and asked “Do you feel like doing something silly?” With a shrug, he answered “Sure?” And with that he was placed on the conveyor belt. Okay, this was funny but he did actually feel a little bit indignant. Amanda patted him on the head as he asked “Excuse me, could you do a price check on this item?” There was a “Hmm… Is it okay if I pick this item up?” Amanda looked at him “Do you mind if she picks you up?” He just nodded “It’s okay.” And with that he was picked up and rotated to face a very pretty brunette, about his age but much larger, and he was slid over a scanner and there was a loud ‘BEEP’ under him. The cashier said “I’m sorry Ma’am, but this item seems to be out of stock. I’m afraid I have to put several stickers on it and send it off.” He could hear Amanda laying on the drama as she said “Oh dear. Well, I suppose that if you are willing to put stickers on it, I can carry it back to where I found it.” John couldn’t help blushing as the pretty young woman put a sticker on his shirt, then another one on his arm and as Amanda picked him up … she swatted one onto his butt. One swipe of a card, and a wave, one blush as she blew him a kiss, and they were on their way to the car at a pretty brisk pace. Diaper bag slid in place, Booty in carseat, a quick check and then a snap of the buckles and Amanda was quickly in the drivers seat and starting car. He asked “Mom?” After pulling onto the road heading back to home, she looked up and asked “Yes?” “How many stickers do I have on me?” After a laugh, she answered “Five stickers and a price tag.” Rolling his eyes, he settled in for the twenty some odd minute drive with his sippy cup full of fresh cold Plapple juice. It was the little things. The irony of that saying was lost on him as he stretched in the carseat that was oddly always comfortable. One empty sippy cup of juice, and five minutes later, he closed his eyes for just a moment as the movement from the car relaxed him a bit. A moment later the car door opened and the sun hit his face briefly. He groaned. As he was unbuckled he could hear Mom saying “Well, someone fell asleep in the car.” “Nnnnn. Just closed my eyes.” John cracked an eye open and could see her nodding as she said sarcastically “uh huh. Let’s get you in the house and I’ll get the groceries in.” As she lifted him up and got her arm under his bottom she paused and looked at him at the same time that he felt how thick his diaper was. It was, frankly, huge. Carried through the fence and greeted by a jumping dog was nice. Having his shoes off at the grocery store he was just in his socks, so those didn’t have to be taken off. And Mom stopped and wiped her shoes off on the mat before stepping in to set him down and drop the diaper bag on the couch. As he stood there on the living room floor realizing that he couldn’t make his knees go anywhere near one another, Xerxes came in and smelled all over him. He was suddenly worried that Xerxes could tell he had petted another dog, but it turned out to be a non issue as he started getting a cold nose across his face. Xerxes was just happy to have his little home. When the dog walked over to the door to watch Amanda move in and out carrying in groceries, John tried to take a step with the diaper sagging so low, the plastic was pulling a bit painfully on his hips. At first he gave up and sat down on the carpet, but with an audible squish, he decided he didn’t like that. Plus he was a couple inches off the floor anyway, and that was weirding him out a bit. So that was how he waited patiently, watching his Mom carry in groceries and hurry to put away the cold stuff. Meanwhile his priority in life had been reduced to sitting with his legs under him not putting pressure on his butt. That was it for him at the moment. So naturally he sulked a bit. Finally, what seemed like half an hour, but he knew was really just a few minutes, most of the groceries were put away and Mom was on her way to scoop him up. In what seemed like moments she had him on the changing table. An with no shorts on there was no delay. But he could tell that he did have to scrub his legs and thighs a lot. Before telling him “lift.” After that it was business as usual, but once she was done taping him into a fresh new rough pup, she sat him up instead of lifting him off the table. “Arms up!” He lifted his arms and his shirt was pulled off. Immediately she said “back up!” and he could see her lifting a dark blue onesie up and over him. All he asked was “Onesie?” There was a nod in response as she said “Onesie. You have destroyed two diapers in as many hours, so … lay back … you’re in a onesie until after nap time, for easy changes. Sit up. Okay, I have to go finish things up, and wipe out something that got wet in the carseat. Would you like anything specific for lunch?” Thinking back to what they got he said “Cookies?” “No.” “Peanut butter sandwich?” “Yes.” “THEN cookies?” “One.” “Two?” “One.” “Three?” “None.” “You drive a hard bargain. One it is.” Finally she nodded and said “I thought you would see it my way.” Nodding along he agreed “You’re the Mommy.” That got him scooped up into a hug and deposited on the rug in the living room. A look at his wrist band had him wondering if it was about the time she always insisted he take a nap. Maybe she would let him skip the nap today and he could sit on the porch and draw. It never hurt to hope. After a couple of minutes he found himself in a booster seat looking at a ten inch wide peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had been cut in half diagonally. Only as he started eating it and felt the sandwich leaving traces on his cheek did he realize that this was not going to be a dignified lunch. Nor would it leave him seeming as mature as he surely still was. Not that it mattered, the jelly or the peanut butter, or just SOMETHING tasted like the embodiment of the word delicious. And he couldn’t stop himself until he was out of sandwich and sighing contently while he was being assaulted with a wet rag. When she was done wiping him down, he sat there looking at her expectantly. She looked confused for a moment as she asked “Yes?” The audacity!! His demand was simple: “Cookie.” She laughed. Laughed! He cleared his throat and repeated himself. “Cookie.” At least this time Mom turned around and got the package, holding it out to him “As serious as you are taking this cookie, I don’t think we even needed to get the little variety. Chocolate or Strawberry?” As he stared intently at the package, easily deciding which he wanted, all that was left was to ask “What is different about the little variety, and why even have a different one for us?” Flipping the package over, Amanda pointed to a spot “The little variety is made with something called Little Extract. From my understanding, it’s supposed to help with your different taste buds. Bigs and Littles have … well you know by now.” Smiling up at her, he said “You mean you like freakishly spicy savory foods, and I like sane people food?” With a laugh and a nod she answered “From my point of view it’s the other way around.” “So …” John pointed at the package “What is ummm… what is little extract made of?” Now she was smirking at him “It’s made from littles that didn’t eat their vegetables. So you’re safe… for now.” It was impossible to stop himself from rolling his eyes as he said “Oh God, Aunt Cat would be proud of you.” That got him a hair ruffle as she held out the package “Okay, pick one, and then I’ve got to get some work done fast before someone comes over.” Immediately he pointed “Strawberry, please.” As she handed him the wafer, he was unsurprised that it was generously portioned. Not gigantic by any means, but size wise it was like someone folded a pop tart in half. Despite its size, it seemed to weigh very little. Stopping to smell it suspiciously while Mom’s back was turned as she put the cookies away, he went ahead and took a big bite of the large pink snack. As he bit down into the crunch his brain had a reset moment. Something was so good that it seemed off. As in it shouldn’t be THIS good. Of course, he still finished the bite. And then immediately took another one. Figuring out what was off about it would have to wait. The wafer was crunchy enough that all he heard was himself chewing on it, soft enough that chewing it was delightful, and strawberry enough to just be downright amazing. Plus there was just some other flavor there that didn’t make sense to his brain. But this didn’t have to make sense. As he finished the wafer, he felt honestly a bit zoned out. Never even noticing as his hands were wiped and he was lifted up until he was held up and looking at his Mommy. She was definitely looking at him funny. “Sweety, how are you feeling? Do you need a nap?” Shaking he head he said “No, but another cookie would be great.” Being pulled in for a hug and a coupe of firm pats on the booty, he was told “Maybe one after dinner. As long as you’re good.” Oh, he was totally going to be good, he decided that immediately. Even if he had to cheat to do it.

Weirdos together! Edit: you may be amused to know that I'm not on any medication. I'm free range oddball.

To me that just makes it better! I guess in all fairness, y'all get me unfiltered here. If I wound up in the DD I would be so weird that instead of regressing me they might use me as a case study and point at me ans says "See? This is how they are, and why they need us to protect them from themselves."

Leave them on. I want them to know it was me. I will stare down a tribunal and make the argument that it needed to be done. You cannot have unicorns all over the wall, glitter all over the place, and no googly eyes. To neglect that is an affront to silly design. (Plus littles love googly eyes, if they don't know that already, they have failed as bigs.)

Don't worry, I'll put down some velcro all over the place and it will sort itself out eventually. Aside from when things go wrong, my plans are flawless. ... Also I'm putting googly eyes on all the unicorns.

I know that you're laughing because you know I'm quite eccentric. But if you understand my thought process, much of what I say is somewhat sensible. Even if slightly erratic.

You see, it's plainly obvious that since no one would think of it. You had to think of it to explain how outrageous and unthinkable it is. It makes complete sense to me!

I'm glad that I'm able to brighten your day a bit!

Thank you kindly, I can be a teeny bit smarmy on occasion. I don't know how much fiber a mango has. Just that they're tasty! When ours was a cute wee baby we had to use the towel we always keep in the car to wrap him up and bring him home in a couple of times before we started remembering to keep a spare onesie in the diaper bag, just in case. We also learned not to let him steal a strawberry smoothie. (These two things are very much related) (Edit: I have no idea what happened where my phone lagged and posted the reply four times.)

Chapter Thirty Three Amanda slipped John back into the shopping cart, and looked at his frown. He had no pants on and he was clearly unhappy about it. She held up his pants “I’m sorry sweety. I wrung these out as best I could, but they won’t be dry enough to put them back on you for a bit.” He mumbled something while looking down. Shaking her head “I’m sorry sweety, I didn’t catch that.” Looking up at her now he had such a sad face as he said “I’m half naked.” Leaning down, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly for a moment before standing back up and smiling down at him “No one is going to judge you, littles go without pants and even tops all the time here.” She could see him chewing on his lip. “But …” “What’s the matter, sweety?” “Everyone …” he obviously didn’t want to finish. Trying to lead him to finish the statement, she said “Everyone … can?” Finally John mumbled “Everyone can see my diaper.” Immediately Amanda held up a finger and said “Hold that thought!” and she laid the dry pants legs across his lap, and put Rupert against the other side of his thigh leaning on him. She watched him try to pull his shirt down in the back a bit, self consciously trying to cover his diaper from the back. Leaning down to give him a little kiss on the forehead she whispered “Let’s get this over with. I bet no one will even notice a thing.” She was already pushing the cart as he nodded. This was hard for him, but the longer he dwelt on it, the worse he would make it for himself. Best to get it over with so he can’t get stuck in his own head and lament over something as trivial as a little without pants. As they moved along she watched Johns eyes every time she could spare a glance without hitting anyone in the crowd. At first they were darting around like a scared animal, afraid someone would notice him. But by the time she made it to the cookie aisle, he seemed to realize that no one noticed him at all. Stopping in the middle of the aisle she waved around and said “Okay sweety. I want you to pick any cookies you want. I’ll move you to them or take them down and read the description for you.” Still watching his eyes she could already see he was staring at a specific package. But to make sure he knew all the options she held up a pack and said “chocolate chip?” He shook his head no. Next package “Oh-Io’s?” Another shake of the head. Now sporting a smile as she got closer to the package he was still looking at, but didn’t seem to be willing to point at, she grabbed the pack next to him and smirked “These are vanilla grahams. Quite popular!” He shook his head again. So this time she put the package back and stood their with her hands on her hips and “Hmm’d” loudly. Unable to stop herself from playing up the part of Mommy a bit, she asked “What shall we do, if we can’t find a cookie that my son isn’t interested in? I guess he may have to point at something and maybe even use his words!” There it was. She got a chuckle out of him. It was only one chuckle, but it was worth it. With a ruffle of his hair she whispered “Just point at what you want for me and I’ll make it happen.” He pointed to the package he had immediately homed in on and said “Those please.” Dutifully Amanda got the big package and read the label “Kubler Brand Chocolate Wafers and Strawberry Wafers. Is this what you’re interested in. Despite his unease at having no pants on, she was rewarded with a tiny smile and a nod. That was good enough for now, no need to press too hard. So she gently laid the package that was honestly half his size and put it in the top of the cart with it propped against his legs to obscure him some more. Cookies secure and easily enough groceries for over a week and a half in the cart, she turned and made a line straight for the registers. Despite the early hours, the store was starting to get crowded. While they were waiting in line, a woman stopped in the line to their left with a little girl with her hair done in two blond braids laid over the front of her shoulders. She was also in just a shirt and diaper. No socks, no shoes, and no pants. Pacifier in her mouth, and a stuffed kitty on her lap. She looked like the happiest little thing, you could see it in her eyes. The little girl spotted John and waved at him. He awkwardly waved back. She held up her stuffed kitty for him to see. He didn’t really seem to know to do so Amanda leaned and whispered “Compliment her stuffie” John put on his best confused smile and said “I like your kitty.” Her pacy fell out of her mouth as she said “Fluffers.” John just nodded. Amanda noticed the line was inching forward a little. She waited so he could talk to the other little a bit longer. When John did not reciprocate the little girl pointed at his stuffie, and then waited expectantly. After a moment she pointed again and looked at her own Mommy and then Amanda. If anything she looked like she was embarrassed on Johns behalf because he didn’t know how to introduce his stuffie. As Amanda was about to say something to him, he finally figured it out and held up his stuffie and said to her “Rupert.” The little girl let out the cutest giggle and put her pacy back in her mouth. That was all she seemed to have needed to be happy with things. They introduced their stuffies and she was set. Her mother now smiled and gave John a little finger wave. He blushed and looked down for a moment, then gave her a small wave back. And then they were moving forward and she had to walk in front of the cart to put all the groceries onto the conveyor belt. So many groceries. But she had planned on two bigger meals this upcoming week, just in case. She also bought way more juice than she probably needed, and three dozen eggs just in case. So she figured that she had only herself to blame. Once she had all the groceries from the front of the cart onto the belt she walked back to John, who was still just sitting their with his cookies and marshmallows. On a whim she picked the back of the cart up, with him in it, and leaned it by the conveyor belt. “Go ahead, you can put your stuff up there, too.” He quietly stretched and slid the items he was holding onto the belt. As she stepped forward the young brunette gave the exact same “Hello, did you find everything you needed today?” that every cashier Is tired of asking. Amanda simply nodded politely an gave her a “Yes Ma’am I did.” as part of the usual courtesy. The question wasn’t really meaningful. The response wasn’t really that meaningful either. Every cashier asked the same question. And ninety nine times out of a hundred the customer says ‘yes’ and occasionally makes the same joke about ‘yes, I found too much stuff’ It was all part of the usual social game. The items made it past the scanner and a young man was assisting her by bagging them and putting them into the shopping cart in the usual routine meant to get you paid up and out quickly. The cashier stated her total, but while Amanda was paying with her card in the machine, the young woman leaned and looked at John. “Have you been a good boy today?” she asked politely. John just kind of shrugged. “Well, either way, you’re being good for me, so let’s give you a sticker!” Amanda could see both of his eyebrows go straight up, but he didn’t make a motion to say anything. The cashier held up two rolls of stickers, and asked “Bunny, or Birdie?” Figuring that he would immediately point at the bunny, she found herself to be quite surprised when he pointed at the roll in her left hand and say quite shyly “Parrot sticker please.” With a smile the young woman said “There’s his voice!” as she peeled off a sticker and asked “Where do you want it?” She watched him full body blush as he pointed to his right sleeve. She even snuck in a ruffle of his hair. Receipt now in hand Amanda leaned down and whispered “Make sure to say thank you.” He squeezed the life out of Rupert as he looked up at the cashier and stopped biting the inside of his cheek long enough to say “Thank you Ma’am.” With a nod and a “Thank you very much” of her own, Amanda now pushed the cart out to the car. Once they were at the car she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek and asked “Now was that so terrible?” It really didn’t surprise her when he held out both hands palm up with an expression that just wordlessly screamed sarcasm. “Okay. Aside from that one incident.” Apparently she missed something because his eyebrows went up. Amanda was starting to worry that he was going nonverbal from stress. So she added “And the woman that hit me with the door. But you and your pack of marshmallows chased her off.” Now she watched him slump. What else could … oh, the messy diaper. No idea why he would be upset about that though. “John?” she asked softly. He blinked at her. With a sigh she unbuckled him and picked him up out of the carseat. She got him up on her chest and gave him a big hug “When we get things loaded in the car, and it’s just us, do you want to talk to me about it all?” It was easy to feel him nod into her chest, so she went ahead and got him into the carseat, put his sippy cup in with him and slid his diaper bag in front of him. Then she had the new challenge that her groceries wouldn’t all fit on the back seat where she usually put them, so she decided to put the cold stuff on the floorboard on the front passenger side, and divide everything else up on the front and back seats. Not a challenge that she expected, but honestly the smallest one that she had on her hands these days. As she got into the car and buckled up, she looked up at the mirror and asked John. “So what are you thinking back there?” She could see him just staring at the headrest in front of him. “John?” She watched him shake his head as he answered “I don’t know.” “You don’t know what you’re thinking.” He nodded. Tentatively she asked “Do you still want to go to the pet store? You can look at the animals.” She could see him biting his lip. He wanted to go, but something was bothering him. “If you want to go I bet there might be something you can pet.” It was worth a try. She could just barely hear him mumble “I don’t have any pants.” Ah, so that was it. It seemed understandable, since he wasn’t used to being a little here yet. So she tried to ease his mind as best she could “Well, did anyone at the grocery store even notice you didn’t have pants on?” He shook his head no. “Was that cute little girl wearing pants?” Again, a shake of his head. “If I carry you the entire time, would you like to go pick a toy for Xerxes?” After a moment of staring off into space, he finally nodded. Finally she started the car and pulled out. Thankfully the pet store she frequented was only a couple of blocks away, and better still it was on the way home. Bonus points, it was on the right side of the road so she could turn right in. In a matter of minutes she was pulling into the pet store parking lot and unbuckling John from his carseat. She got her left arm under his butt and with him sitting on her elbow, he looked a bit more comfortable with his legs covered partially. With a little kiss on his forehead she asked “Are you still up for a quick trip to pick a toy? If we see anything fluffy you want to pet, you can pet it, too.” He put his pacy in his mouth and nodded silently. Poor thing is still shy.

You know, littles learn the hard way. The way I intend it, after the chocolate, he was feeling a little bit regressed without even knowing what was going on. (Until the eruption)

Oh, if I were to self insert a character and be honest about things, she would spend so much time in the corner that they would have tk saw two sides off her crib so that she could sleep there, too.

Thank you very much for the compliment! His accident had some serious help from a gift via Nana Claire.

No, I just established toward the beginning that he hates bananas. And it was too easy to pass up the chance to put it in there.

Sofia. I'm snarky, I can't help it. Also curious. edit: My snark would 100% get me more corner time than any little in history.

Well yeah, we're just littles, they can use them on us all the time. What's the worst that could happen?

I mean, surely us littles wouldn't completely abuse any technology just because we thought it was super amazing and could do anything we want it to with absolutely no side effects.

Full disclosure: It was the chocolate. And she didn't just give him a sample. She gave him a huge chunk of it that he took with both hands. Nana Claire decided to help him "He’ll learn how much he needs to depend on us in no time, I promise.” In a previous chapter she timed him from the time he had coffee milk to the time he went off. I believe it was 24 minutes. Oh, and just to be completely honest: I did have a fever and write that. It -will- be used at some point.

Yes, she may be atypical to an extent and an incredibly caring and understanding Amazon. But she has also been changing him after he insists on coffee milk. This is just like ... four times worse. And expanding and foamy so it intentionally spreads just -everywhere- and you don't stand a change against it. Truly an evil an variant of the old time honored classic.

I mean, part of it is the mild effect from the chocolate making him giggly, but he called her Mom without even thinking about it.

Chapter Thirty Two Amanda looked down at John in the shopping cart. She could feel the worry on her face. “John.” she started slowly “We’re going into this store to get groceries. It’s not too busy this early, and there’s only a few dozen cars here. All you have to do is be cute, and help me figure out what you like.” John just nodded at her. He still looked a bit forlorn. But at least he nodded. This wasn’t shaping up to be the fun outing together she had hoped for, but she figured if she went straight to the strawberries that might snap him out of it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John knew he was being grumpy when Amanda started walking them into the store. He also knew that this was probably really bad timing to be grumpy. He tried thinking his way through all of this as quickly (and haphazardly) as he could. ‘Okay’ he thought to himself. ‘I knew I was stuck. Why am I suddenly pissed off about it?’ While he was debating in his head he saw the end of the parking lot and knew the building was close and he felt like he was being pressured to finish a thought process. So he reached over and patted Amanda on the arm. She stopped and leaned down to ask “You gonna be okay, sweety?” He nodded “I just need a moment. I’m a bit freaked out.” Her face filled his view and she kissed him on the forehead “Do you wanna talk about it?” He tried shaking his head but she was just staring at him like she cared SO much. “I don’t … wa… I THINK that….” He felt rather than saw her fingers running through his hair slowly. “Just try to say roughly what it is.” “I think …” he struggled to assemble a jumble of emotions into words “That … I … I think that I’m just really mad? Maybe just freaked ou… maybe it still hasn’t sunk in. I don’t know why I’m mad. Just that I’m mad.” Two large arms wrapped around him and a hunched over big woman hugged him to her chest. It wasn’t a bad sensation. But also didn’t really help his sense of helplessness. After a moment she got down to eye level with him again and said “I’m very proud of you?” “Uhhh…Why?” He had no idea why she would be proud of him for being mad. Her hand came into his view and she stroked his cheek with the back of a finger as she explained “It’s not easy to say what you feel. Especially when you’re confused.” He nodded like he understood. He almost sort of did. “Okay. We have to go get these groceries one way or another. What can we do now to make you feel a bit less mad, or maybe a bit more in control?” He looked down at where he was sitting. And then down … geeze he was higher up than he was tall. He knew what he wanted. “May I walk?” She looked him up and down and nodded. “On the one condition that Rupert comes with you.” Okay, weird condition, but whatever. “Yes Ma’am.” He was lifted out and stood on his feet and then Rupert was held out to him. “Okay, hold my hand, or hold onto the buggy. But don’t wander off no matter what you do. Say yes Ma’am.” He nodded “Yes Ma’am.” And that was how they walked in. Rupert under his right arm, his main hand holding onto Amanda’s right hand, and John feeling conflicted that he had to ask her to stop, but also somehow relieved that she heard him out. He felt a bit useless and dumb and confused. But somehow just being allowed to walk felt like it gave him a bit of control. Not much. But it was what was going to get. They passed through the automatic sliding doors and immediately he felt like he was looking ‘up’ at the most normal looking grocery store in the world. Shopping carts to the left of the door, rack of sales papers on a wobbly wire rack to the right. Flimsy table full of cheap … oh hey! John pulled on Amandas hand a bit and asked “Hey, what are those up there?” and he held out the hand with Rupert in it to sort of point at the clear containers. If those were what he thought they were, then this world was more normal than he expected. She looked down at him, then followed where he was pointing. “Oh. That’s some pastries. They try to sell you sweets the moment you wal… John why are you looking at me like that?” “I need to see!” It didn’t go unnoticed that she rolled her eyes while she chuckled, but she picked him up and got him up onto her hip as she walked over. John surveyed the table carefully. Sugar cookies the size of small plates. Croissants that he would have to hold with two hands, weird folded pastries filled with some sort of cheese that looked close enough to a danish. Silently, he nodded. “Okay. That seems normal enough.” He felt a pat on his back and he was slid down to the floor as she asked “Pass inspection?” With a silent nod from him, she waited like she wondered if he was going to explain anything. But when the explanation didn’t come she just shrugged and went back to walking. Clearly she didn’t understand how normal that table was. Looking through her legs as they turned right he saw generic floral display. Swinging his head back to the right, and of course up, he saw a cooler full of beverages and cheeses and those hilariously expensive looking bottles of juice. So far so good. Still obviously holding Amandas hand, his head was on a swivel, he felt like he was trying to look at everything at once, trying to find something different about this dimension. But it all seemed so oddly normal. “Oh! Can I see up there?” Very patiently, he was picked up and leaned so that he could see plastic containers of rotisserie chickens. “Heh. Your chicken looks way better than that.” There was definitely a chuckle behind him, but he was lowered back to the floor. They continued on their way with him unabashedly trying to see everything. He spotted shopping carts with Bigs pushing them. Several of them had kids, or kid-like adults in them. One woman in a dress with her blonde hair in a ponytail went by in front of them. She wasn’t paying attention to other people having to stop themselves from running into her as she payed no attention. That, unfortunately, also seemed normal. As they turned left he could see a great big wide open area with coolers that came up to Amanda’s waist. And therefore still over his head. But this area must have been a few hundred feet wide. Possibly more! “Hey umm… Mom?” he asked tentatively. “Yes sweety?” “Is this a big store?” She shook her head “No sweety. It’s sort of mid sized. I usually shop here instead of the bigger store because this one is less crowded and nowhere near as loud. I do go to the bigger ones for the sales sometimes.” Nodding yet again in almost comprehension, he said “This place is way bigger than a grocery store from my world.” Now she smiles “Would you say that it’s just over twice as big?” All he really did to respond was nod, but he let go of his hand and ruffled his hair. “Okay, hold onto the cart an I’ll go slow so you can keep up. We need a weeks worth of groceries, plus maybe some extra for one big meal this weekend. Even though we did a big meal two days ago. You’re not going to be good for my waist line.” “Not my fault.” he stated as he grabbed the back rail of the cart and walked as quickly as he could to keep up. She stopped at the obligatory wall of bread and grabbed two loaves. A few steps down was the usual section of peanut butter and assorted jellies. She looked down at him in consideration for a moment and grabbed a peanut butter and a squeeze bottle of red jelly. Then she squinted at him like she was remembering something. She turned and picked up a bottle of grape jelly and looked him up and down. He could tell that she was thinking of he and Kate stress eating three pounds of grapes the night before and almost throwing up on Aunt Cat. Time to look innocent “What?” he asked. She just shook her head and put the jelly into the cart. They continued on the way and started passing shelves with brightly colored fruit on the tops of them. This was the part of the store that he could never afford to visit consistently. As they passed between two rows, he spotted a small folding table. The table was only the height of his neck, so his curiosity was irresistible. Combined with the fact that Amanda stopped two (of her) steps away from the table, looked down at him, and then started pulling a little bag off of the roll. Well, temptation wasn’t even a strong enough word. John took five big steps and silently stood on tip toes to peek over the table to see what was on it. At first all he saw was an assortment of little paper plates with cut up bits of fruit and little snacks on it. Then he noticed a large gray hair woman leaning down to smile at him. Startled he stepped back too quickly and fell on his butt, squeaking a little as he landed on the hard floor. Thankfully he was wearing some padding. Silently the large smiling woman stood up and stepped around the table, and to him she looked like a thirteen foot tall smiling monster reaching for him. He started to scramble to get away from her, but a large hand closed firmly around his left upper arm and pulled him upright. His fight or flight reflex was swinging back and forth between flee and take a swing faster than he could process. He was rotated slightly and another hand patted his butt and he felt the top of his diaper being pulled back. THAT snapped him out of it, and he croaked out “Don’t touch my butt!” as every single muscle in his body tensed up like a steel cable, and Rupert fell from his hand. If the woman would have tilted him he would have kept the same pose, he was so tense. As she said something to him softly, she was pulling him closer. His fists were balled, his body was tense. He had a plan of escape. He was gonna punch her in the boob as hard as he could and cheese it to hide behind HIS giant. As he was being pulled within swinging range he heard a shout from behind him “JOHN. TAYLOR.” Oh shit. She used his full name. John looked up at the woman. Then over his shoulder at his big. Then he took his own posture into account. Think fast think fast think fast. He went limp and made grabby hands trying to reach for Rupert. That worked for the big that was holding him because he heard her say “Awww” and she stood up, lifting him up onto her hip with a sense of familiarity like she had lifted hundreds of people his size throughout her lifetime. She didn’t seem like a big monster. But she didn’t smell like his big. Not wrong, just not right. Amanda scooped up Rupert an stood with her arms crossed, tapping her foot while she stared at him. Amanda looked mad. “John. I told you to hold either the cart or my hand. Why did you let go?” The older woman holding him came to his rescue by saying sweetly “Oh Mommy, don’t be too hard on him. He just saw a table that wasn’t too high for him to see and he was curious. He only let go for ten seconds.” Then the woman holding him looked down at him and said “You were going to go right back to your Mommy, weren’t you little boy?” John just nodded. “Uh huh” Amanda interrupted. “Thank you for helping him up Ma’am. He’s only been in our dimension for a week and he’s still a bit afraid of all the big changes” After a shuffling of a john shaped rag doll from one persons hip to another, Amanda looked at John expectantly and then nodded toward the woman. “John. Are you going to say thank you to this nice woman?” His brows furrowed, he was still mad that she touched his butt and looked in the back of his diaper. But he also knew he was about to get himself spanked. His face turned red, and he didn’t know if it was because he was mad, or because he was embarrassed. Amanda seemed to know some of what was going on in his head. “John. Take a deep breath. Use your words. Your words John. Nothing else. Just your words. Words.” Okay. The redness was embarrassment. Looking over he mumbled “Tha...Thank you Ma’am.” “Clearly.” Oh, she had the tone. John cleared his throat and said more clearly “Thank you Ma’am.” but still not able to look her in the eyes. “Awww, that’s okay sweety. You just fell down and needed some help up.” The woman seemed to have either not noticed, or been completely oblivious to his previous body language. The way Amanda was holding him, the tension of the fingers on his thigh… yeah. She noticed. “Well, thank you very much for helping him up. He will absolutely learn his lesson and not let go of the cart, because he will be spending more time IN it.” John slumped as he sighed. “Oh Mommy, don’t be mean to him. Here, let Nana Claire give him a treat!” John looked over at the seemingly nice woman, and then up at Amanda. It was his turn for raised eyebrows. Amanda still had something to say “I don’t know if he deserves it at the moment.” “Well, you are his Mommy, but I have samples of fruit and chocolate. And if he’s new here, then we get to find out what he likes together!” He could FEEL Amanda soften against him. He looked over at her and she winked at him. This Nana Claire woman was good at getting samples into littles, even if she was oblivious about other things. “Okay.” Amanda conceded “But you’re still in trouble, Mister.” Amanda carried him the whopping one step to the table so he could see, while the self proclaimed Nana Claire sat back on her stool. As he looked at the small (to them) table he saw a variety of colors. He didn’t know most of these things. Nana Claire gave John a little finger wave like you would a small child and then smiled to Amanda “So how did you wind up with your little bundle of joy here?” Amanda softened slightly as she explained “I found him out in the woods. Well, my dog did. He wandered into a rift and then got lost.” “I..” John started, but he stopped as Nana Claire talked over him. “Oh my! The poor baby must have been so scared! Luckily he has a Mommy to keep him safe!” He looked up, Amanda was smiling a little now. Nana Claire was good. Nana Claire soldiered on “So you haven’t had your baby long, do you know what kind of things that he likes to eat yet?” “I ca..” John stopped as he felt a firm pat on his thigh. Amanda answered for him “So far I know that he loves raw sweet peas, grapes, he tolerated the sweet tomatoes, he traded another little for all of her olives, and he goes wild for strawberries.” “But I…” He tried again. “Well! What a great little eater!” Nana Claire talked right over him. Not on purpose, but like she didn’t know he was capable of words. Amanda patted him on the thigh like she was trying to get his attention as she continued the conversation. “Part of what I hope to do today is get a variety of fruits and veggies to see what he likes.” “Ve…” As Nana Claire spoke like he wasn’t there again he couldn’t help himself, he leaned his head back, rolled his eyes and flopped his head forward onto a boob. As the conversation carried on he mumbled into Amandas chest “I just want an apple.” He was listening to the conversation, but only halfway. He mumbled a few random things into the boob he had his face in. “I ate an entire ostrich.” was one of them. And “I killed all the dinosaurs. They were delicious.” was another. After a few minutes of being talked over, literally and figuratively, Amanda rotated him and pointed at the table. Nana Claire had a handful of plates pushed to the front of the table and she was smiling at him like she was looking at an infant. Happy, bubbly, vacant. “Here you go, can you be a big boy and try these for us? Mommy told me some things you like and I bet you’re going to love all of these things.” John looked down at the tiny paper plate with some little cube of pale yellow fruit on it. He just knew he was going to hate it because it was coming from Nana Claire. With a look up to Amanda it was obvious at a glance that this fruit was going in his mouth one way or the other. He huffed. “Aww, new littles are shy. But you trust Nana Claire and you’ll be very happy that you did.” John gave her the best fake smile he could as he leaned back and reached across with his left hand and picked up the little cube of pale yellow. “That’s called a mango. Can you say mango?” John just shook his head and said “Nope.” and then popped the fruit from another dimension into his mouth before anyone could catch on that he was obviously being snarky. As he bit into the juicy cube, he stopped moving. His brain had to reset. That’s not a Mango. Mango shouldn’t taste that good. It was as though the inside of his mouth was filled with sweet liquid and slightly crunchy fruit. His brain caught up with his taste buds and he started chewing faster. The two bigs read him like a book because before he could swallow. By the time he was done Amanda had taken Rupert, put him into the buggy and gotten him his sippy cup and said “Drink some water.” They didn’t even ask how he like the mango. They just assumed that he did because he ate it like he was starving. After a few pulls of water Amanda held up a yellow square that was obviously pineapple. There was no way that was … it got closer to his mouth and he tried giving her ‘the look’ but this was her world and that was about to be his bite of pineapple. Fine. Of course Nana Claire had to chime in to help “Don’t worry sweety, you like sweet things and tart things. You’re gonna love that.” GOD HE WANTED HER TO BE WRONG. John took the bite of Pineapple as indignantly as he could manage. And just like the Mango, it was delicious! Bit tart on the follow which made his eyes cross briefly, but other than that amazing. He was made to drink more water and when he saw a blueberry coming at him he didn’t wait, he reached out and grabbed it and popped it into his mouth like a piece of candy. It tasted sweet and just a bit tart and the only thing that spoiled it at all was that Nana Claire said he would love it. He wanted her to be wrong so badly. Next was a piece of banana that had been cut in half to make a semi circle. Nana Claire said “Now Mommy, your little boy may not like the banana. But if you want, I’m sure he could try it like a big boy and find out for sure.” As the banana came at him he leaned back. It came closer still and he twisted to lean back a bit farther. As it got right to his mouth he willed his spine to go limp so he could bend upside down. It didn’t work as the bite of banana went into his mouth. He closed his eyes and tried not to make a face as he chewed it. The sweet flavor was fine. But the texture in his mouth going from firm to goop in a few chews made him stop. He wanted to spit it out. He wanted to spit it into orbit. He wanted to untaste this bite of banana. He wanted to send the banana through a rift so it would be someone else's problem. As he finally forced himself to swallow the bite, he didn’t even care how obvious his distaste was on his face or in his mannerisms. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nana Claire nod “Well, it’s impossible to know for certain what our little babies like until they try it. He obviously does not like the banana.” A pox upon her for being right. Just as he finished taking some water out of his sippy cup, and before he could mouth off to her by shouting ‘Ya think!?’ he looked over and Nana Claire had left her stool and she was smiling at him holding a piece of strawberry out on a toothpick for him to take directly from her instead of from his own Mommy. That’s not fair. Nana Claire is good at this. Mean. Totally ignored him, but somehow actually did manage to read his body language. Which means that she knew full and well that he was scared and wanted to lash out earlier. But here she was offering him strawberry. He realized that she could indeed read him like a book as she said “Don’t worry, Nana Claire can tell what you like.” Begrudgingly he took the bite. Oh it was heaven. It was oh so sweet in just the right ways. It was just barely tart on the end. Juicy did not begin to describe it. It was perfect. Almost worth this batty dimension for more of these. Almost. He visibly relaxed. “Now!” Nana Claire, dismissive and mean and wonderful saint of strawberry procurement continued “I believe in saving the best for last. Mommy, is it okay if your baby boy has a piece of chocolate?” Amanda squinted down at him and asked softly “Do you want a piece?” Of course he nodded. It’s chocolate. So Nana Claire showed Amanda the packaging of the candy bar and gave her the whole sales pitch about how ‘Bigs don’t like sweets, but littles do. And this chocolate is made just for littles by people that love them.’ yada yada yada. Nana Claire opened up the little container with the samples of chocolate bar and instead of giving him a tiny piece, she got an especially big chunk and handed it to him. He had to take it with both hands. “Thank you Nana Claire!” He said without any prompting from either big. “Oh there’s his little voice! You are most welcome.” Of course -now- she could hear him. He would be more indignant, but he had a huge chunk of chocolate. One cautious nibble of it and he was sold. It was so good it tasted like drugs and addiction in one sweet sweet package. John was deposited into the shopping cart and Amanda and Nana Claire went around gathering up some fruits behind him. He heard something about “This looks like an apple but tastes like a grape” and honestly it didn’t matter, he had chocolate. Eventually they were done in the produce section and his fingertips were covered in chocolate. He didn’t really remember the last few minutes. Not did he felt the need to. As Amanda wiped his hands and mouth with a baby wipe he said “Mom?” “Yes sweety?” “Can you please tell her that I’m sorry that I got scared?” With a nod, Amanda turned and said “Nana Claire, John says that he’s sorry for getting scared earlier.” Of course she heard it from another big, Nana Claire smiled at him and said to Amanda “Oh that’s perfectly okay Dearie. He’s just new here and he hasn’t learned that the bigs know better. He’ll learn how much he needs to depend on us in no time, I promise.” With the two bigs nodding at each other, Amanda turned and pushed the cart away, with him now not only seated in it, but buckled in for good measure. His walking in the store privileges were obviously gone for the moment. “May I walk some more?” “No you may not.” He looked down at her feet as he said softly “Okay.” From there the rest of the shopping trip seemed to be comfortingly ordinary. Rice, beans, dry goods all went into the buggy behind him. He started to feel a bit giggly for some reason. He had no idea why, but when Amanda showed him a box of what was obviously a version of mac’n cheese shaped like little animals, he started having a giggle attack. Since he had been good since that incident two packs of marshmallows went into the front of the cart with him. He knew a bribe when he saw it. All went great and he was even tolerating having to twist around to see what groceries they had just passed. For some reason he started to enjoy putting his hand on top of hers when she was pushing the shopping cart. It made him smile. While they were in the cooler section and Amanda was reading the nutrition labels of various juices marketed for littles his stomach started to feel bubbly. It did not feel normal and the bubbles were not moving up. While he was focusing on the odd sensation a woman with a very familiar seeming haircut walked up behind Amanda and opened the cooler next to her, hitting Amanda with the door hard enough that Amanda said “Hey!” The rude woman said “Well, watch where you’re standing.” Amanda just let it pass with a harrumph. John saw her hit his Mommy with a door. And in his current state that set him off. John grabbed and launched a bag of marshmallows at the womans head. The bag just hit her and fell to the ground. It was like throwing a pillow at a giant golem. But it got the message across. The rude woman looked at him indignantly “Hey! You little turd! Don’t you know better!” Amanda turned and said “Hey! You don’t yell at him. You upset him in the first place.” “Well, certainly SOMEONE needs some mittens.” John started to chime in “Don’t hit my Momma!” but he stopped. For reasons that John could never explain, suddenly he didn’t have an urgent need to go. He HAD to go. The churning immediately turned to cramping and he grabbed the handle of the cart with a pained look on his face. He tried with all his might to stop it. But he may as well have been trying to stop a landslide with willpower alone. This did not feel normal. It was torrential and he couldn’t breathe as his entire abdomen convulsed to expel something that it wanted out of him more urgently than it wanted anything else. No movement should be this immediate, this liquid, and certainly not this foamy. It felt wrong in every possible way. John was trapped in the shopping cart and he tried desperately any way he could to pull himself up and take weight off of his bottom. It was beyond gross. And what was worse he had no choice or any chance. The woman had been prepared to scream at him and Amanda more, but while John sat there in the cart freaking out and obviously messing himself she stopped and stared. After a moment she covered her nose and said “Ugh. Littles!” and power walked away like she had anywhere else to be. All John knew was that it still hurt so much and more came out of him. It was too much. He was never one to cry easily, but he was also not prepared to be in another dimension and helplessly mess himself with the force of an upside down volcano. John started crying. And for some reason his emotions felt like they were dialed all the way up, so when he started crying he started CRYING. He didn’t even notice Amanda put the marshmallows back into the cart and start quickly walking away without saying a word. He barely noticed walking past over a dozen Bigs, all of whom looked at him and said some variation of “Awww, poor baby.” He was still crying when she unbuckled him. He was still crying when he was carried into the women's bathroom. He was certainly crying when he was laid down onto the changing table. His shoes were pulled off. His pants were peeled off. Amanda was talking to him softly, shushing him and trying to calm him down while she worked. He didn’t even register when she buckled a strap over his chest and ran across the bathroom to get several paper towels and put them under him and start wiping off his back and belly and legs. He started slowing down as she peeled the gross diaper off of him and saw what she had to work on. “Whew. Baby this is … a lot. Hold still for Momma.” Six paper towels and a dozen wipes later, she was going to great lengths to get everything off of the changing table and tilting him up to scrub underneath him. It was easily five minutes of dedicated work on Amanda's part before she had him in a fresh blue diaper. When she was finally done changing him, he was out of tears. He turned his head sideways as she went to the sink and turned his pants inside out, scrubbing them as best she could with hand soap and rinsing them under the faucet. After wringing them out as thoroughly as she could, she tried the hand drier on them. After a minute of the loud fan running she seemed to give up and walked back over to unbuckle him and picked him up into a big hug. She spoke softly as she asked “Are you feeling better now that you’re clean?” He nodded yes into her neck. “Are you out of tears? Do you need to cry any more?” He shook his head no into her neck. “Do you know that I love you?” He nodded yes into her neck again. “Why did you throw the marshmallows at that woman?” “Because she hit my Mom with a door.” There was quiet for a moment as he felt her hand stroking his back some more. Eventually she spoke again “Would you like to pick a pack of cookies?” Of course he nodded again.

So apparently the allergy medicine made me loopy and I typed out a chapter where Steve the Squirrel had to save the family and entire dimension from evil dimension jumping chinchillas. Maybe I'll repurpose the delirious fever and medicine driven scene for a dream later. Gonna get some more sleep and edit the story and post the next chapter (sans chinchilla invasion) tonight. (Edit to admit something: The weirdest part was that Miss Bairn had a scene where she didn't even fight back, she just stared at the invaders like she was disappointed in them and they ran away. I may actually be subconsciously afraid of her character.)