Mee

Featuring Another Animation! Welcome to Class! Regarding seemingly short windows to read the text; unfortunately this is caused by the website's GIF compression, which I cannot do much about. Therefore, if you'd like to see a version with not as rushed timing (closer to the source), then find the same animation with more on my Deviantart! Don't worry! No potty training required for this class!

Featuring a new Animation! Like what you saw? Show support by frequenting my Deviantart where you'll be able to find more stuff like this and screenshots from WIP updates on my upcoming game! Comments alone just to let me know living people view my stuff is enough! Thanks for checking this small animation out and I hope you enjoyed!

Thank you very much! Slowly working on my higher-res art skills to hopefully put out a different style of work at some point. Thanks! Sure does look like a flash!

BUILD-A-BAB! Hey everyone! If you've stumbled upon this post I'm sourcing ideas for character styles and designs! I have my own ideas on some hairstyles and outfits for characters, but I think it could be a lot of fun getting suggestions from the community and for anyone who might be interested.Currently this is for FEMALE characters only! In the future if this goes well, I'd like to run through it again but with male characters!The goal is to create more hairstyles, hair colors, ABDL clothing, diaper designs/styles and the like! If you go as far as to suggest an entire design from head to toe and it fits well, you could have an entire original character in the game!You don't have to suggest just babyish designs! Female adult/authority figures are welcome as well, such as the nurse and teacher design you can find in my earlier posts. I'm being extremely free-form about how suggestions are submitted, either via this posting or messaging me directly.Right now I have no definite date when I want to close this suggestions box and for all I know it could go quiet and silent. If that's the case, then so be it, but I plan on checking my messages/this post regularly.So please, if you're interested on getting a specific clothing item, hairstyle or character design in the game, please suggest and submit!FOR CONTEXT AND RULES: ALL characters are 18+! The youngest characters can be are 18 year old high school seniors. Contextually the game will be an ongoing regression in a high school setting that affects the students. I haven't considered how adults could be affected, but maybe you can be creative like suggesting daycare worker outfits, or maybe a specific daycare figure you'd like to see!For example, if I wanted to suggest an entire character, I might write along the lines of this:CHARACTER: A female senior high school student named Emily. She has long, straight black hair that reaches just past her shoulders and has emerald green eyes. For ABDL clothing she wears a short, light pink t-shirt that barely reaches her navel and wears denim shortalls to cover her thick diaper. The shortalls on the breast pocket have a sunflower embroidered on them.In this case I opted for a prose format. A list works too. You don't need to submit a character sheet or short paragraph; they can just be individual things, but if you offer detailed descriptions, names of things for me to research, it will help immensely with the research and creation process.So, if this tickles your fancy, please feel free to suggest via the comments of this post or message me on here!Alternatively, you can find me on the FTT Forums where it first originated to send me a message this way! You also might see a couple things you haven't caught on my Deviantart yet!FTT Forums | Maybe [USER: Maybe]Double alternatively, you can find the original announcement on my newly made Deviantart!Deviantart | MaybeMeeClosing this announcement, if you choose to reach me through FTT, PLEASE MESSAGE ME DIRECTLY, as those other locations aren't solely focused on this community announcement. I cannot promise with certainty all suggestions will be approved, but I also want to state that I am very open to ideas right now. If through Deviantart, a direct message or replying on the announcement post works as well!If you read all the way to the end of this exhaustive post, good job! Additionally, thank you so much and I hope to hear from you soon!

Uh oh! I wasn't hoping to create much of a sad vibe with this one. It was sort of meant to be safe/controlled chaos. Granted, Emily is sort of in a dramatic situation right now. Thank you for commenting! Hmm indeed! Thank you for the correction! I do not do the spelling of fancy words very well, it would seem. A lot like Emily, I feel like an impostor when it comes to tackling certain scenes "accurately"... If I had to guess, possibly a light scolding. I see people drawing parallels to the zoo incident which I sort of agree with looking at the general flow, but I would argue there isn't as much emotional tension to this incident, or at least there won't be any kind of break-up make-up kind of play like there was last time.Thanks for keeping interested! Thank you very much! Emily and Joyce never seem to catch a break with each other... As a personal rule of storytelling: if there's a plan, it shall go wrong without fail. Similar to the zoo trip, but thankfully no one's really hurt right now! (Emily's crying fit is thanks to her intoxication and tiredness). I definitely think that Joyce is going to be harder on herself for this one. From the start she's had it in her head that this is something she convinced Emily to do, and consequently all the mishaps that might follow are her responsibility to deal with. She was determined to pamper Emily during the trip, but unfortunately that seems to have fallen through a bit! Thank you for commenting! Joyce I think is going to be getting a bit more limelight soon. I'm still at a crossroads for a certain kind of development, but Joyce will eventually be the one to initiate it. What might happen is definitely going to be an "out there" sort of thing, but hopefully I can make it convincing enough as we slowly bring together all the threads we've seen thus far. Naturally, of course! What fun would it have been otherwise? Thanks for the comment and I hope you continue to enjoy reading!

Bumps have been received! A little busy with other projects at the moment, but hoping to have a chapter around soon. Thank you all for your patience!

34 - A Social Gathering “Toothbrushes?” “Got ‘em!” Emily handed them forward. “Okay...Socks?” It was a short trip over to the dresser and back. “Don’t we only need one pair each?” Emily asked as she handed them. “No. Go get two, just in case.” Joyce said as she played the packing game like it was an emulation of Tetris. “Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Emily nodded along as she went back and forth. “Perfect.” Joyce responded with gratitude as she slipped them into each suitcase. “Okay, uhm...scalpel?” Emily was already turning on her heel to begin the retrieval. “Wait...scalpel? Ugh...” Emily nearly threw a hand over her face once she realized too late that the trap had already been sprung. “Very funny, doctor...” She shoved Joyce, or well, tried to. Joyce shook her head with a chuckle. “Gotta make it fun at least a little...” She sighed, reviewing the job done thus far. “This is a good amount. I think there’s a few more things I want to bring, but these should be the essentials.” Essentials, barring the makeup and toiletries that were packed separately. “Okay.” Emily agreed. “What time are we going to the hotel?” “Let’s leave in about an hour...” Joyce said as her gaze drifted to the time. “The actual event won’t be until later tonight, but it gives us a good amount of time to settle in.” Emily nodded, though she started to wonder if she hadn’t seen Joyce packing the entire time. “Uhm...Joyce,” Emily looked over the bags, “Did you already pack our dresses?” “Definitely not,” Joyce said without a moment’s delay. “It’s not really the kind of thing you’d want to fold over and stuff if you can. Besides, if I ever did that to a dress Amy made for me, I think she’d disown me...” It always seemed that the rare danger Joyce seemed to be wary of was Emily’s idea of humor. “Oh yeah? What if she ever caught us packing the baby stuff?” Suddenly the look on Joyce’s face was much more rosy, unexpected by Emily’s predictions. “Oh? That stuff is fine to pack. With how hard I bet you can play, I think a little time in a suitcase is pretty minor?” She gave Emily a tender, motherly smile, in a way the girl hadn’t expected and left her with a light blush. “Oh...Uhm, yeah, that makes sense...” With the wind out of her sails, Emily tried to dismiss it now. “Did you wanna bring something?” Joyce gave her a telltale grin. “No!” Emily didn’t need to think this time either. “I was just trying to get a rise out of you…!” “Guess you failed~” Joyce stuck her tongue out, naturally turning the tables so easily. “That reminds me though!” She had a sudden moment of shock. “PJs!” She was already walking over to the dresser. Emily sighed with a smile, finding it funny how Joyce could fret over the strangest things. Though, once she saw Joyce pulling out one of her sets, that answered the question a bit more. Whenever it was about Emily it seemed to hold the highest importance. “So are we picking up the dresses on our way, then?” Emily asked once more. “Mm?” Joyce looked at her like she was an afterthought. “No, they’re being sent to the hotel...” She looked back at the pajamas, deciding to put those back. “It might be too stuffy...” She murmured to herself as she put them back. Joyce seemed to be preoccupied with a decision that held the weight of the world, in her mind at least, so Emily saw it as a moment where she might be better to phase out for at least a second. “Be right back,” Emily announced as she left the room. It’d been something she had been toying with reluctantly the past couple of days. As she entered the office she felt her heart getting tense all over again. She hadn’t forgotten her biggest mistake on day one, and her terrible guilt that she held after the fact. For both chore days, since then she didn’t even touch the knob on the door to the office. By this point she feared it like a legitimate drug; an addiction. Yet after some time away and being scared straight, she felt a little bit better about using the computer now. It technically wasn’t the time for it, since her slotted window had been this morning, but Emily reasoned that a few minutes couldn’t hurt especially after staying clean for two whole days… She sat down in the chair and wiggled the computer awake. Clicking on the internet browser icon as usual, she opened up the page, waiting for it to load, and-- Oops! This executable requires parental permissions to be used at this time. Please enter the password below: Before the page could get beyond the initial white screen this odd warning message had popped up. Confused, Emily clicked the small button at the top to terminate it, expecting things to proceed normally. Yet, like a deadman’s switch it killed the internet browser as well. Odd. Emily re-opened the browser, but was surprised and a little annoyed to get the same message. A small worry had her though, wondering if she’d given the computer a virus two days ago? She couldn’t have, could she? Joyce was in her office between then and now, so that couldn’t be it… “Joyce?” Emily called. Emily didn’t consider herself a tech-wiz by any stretch of the means, only aware of the basics, and Joyce as well, but maybe she could fix this…? A few seconds later and Joyce popped her head in. “What’s up?” “This internet isn’t working...” Emily said worriedly as she clicked and clicked, showing Joyce the screen. “It’s not a virus, is it?” “Hm?” Joyce stared at it for a second before realizing. “Oh!” She laughed a little. “No, that’s not a virus. Just something I had put on both computers.” “Both? What do you mean?” Emily asked, glancing down at the other tower. She hadn’t thought to try the other… “Since you didn’t notice until now, I guess that really means you did keep away from the office all this time?” Joyce gave her an impressed, proud look. “This is some insurance to yourself to keep you from going on when you aren’t supposed to.” “Hu...huh?” Emily asked again, still not quite getting it. Joyce saw that it wasn’t quite getting through and that this might turn into something slightly delicate. “Well...Emily, after what happened the first time and how beat up you were about it, I figured this would be like a last resort in case you tried using the computer when you aren’t supposed to?” “But that’s...” Emily started to say. She never expected Joyce to move forward with this on her own. It was Joyce’s computer, but...wasn’t it also Emily’s too? That sounded selfish to say even in her head. “I don’t need a lock on my screen time...” “Of course you don’t,” Joyce agreed, stepping in for Emily to slide the chair back. Joyce leaned over the keyboard and coincidentally blocked the screen as she typed in a way that Emily couldn’t see the password herself. And like magic the internet browser was back and working as intended. “Can’t we turn it off?” Emily asked. “Or just give me the password?” “I love you, Emily,” Joyce said resolutely, “but no, and no. You can job hunt, but it’s in moderation. Since you spilled over a bit last time, I wanted to try some ways that might help with that.” Emily stayed quiet. Amidst all the cuddles, baby clothes, diapers and subsequent use that came with it, this truly felt like she was being treated like a kid. Not in the ways that Emily consensually agreed to and engaged in with Joyce, which is why the effect felt so profound. This had been a one-sided decision made for her that affected her freedoms. “...But, it won’t happen again?” “I trust you and I believe you, Emily,” Joyce smiled as she gave her a kiss. “But I don’t want you beating yourself up again if something did happen. Listen, you won’t even notice it if we just stick to our agreement? I have it set up so it won’t turn on during the time of the day you’re allowed to. Outside of that, all you need to do is ask me? Though, I hope you’d be browsing mostly for fun.” Emily sighed. There was some truth to it, but what rubbed her slightly the wrong way was the means of execution. Maybe it was the explicit use of parental controls that’d be used on a genuine kid that bothered her. But, Emily swallowed the bitter pill and tried to be the bigger person. “Okay...then in that case, can I check my emails?” “Of course,” Joyce answered without a second thought. “I’m gonna throw us together a snack soon, okay? The drive up to the hotel might take a little with traffic.” “Kay, thanks,” Emily said as Joyce left the room. As Emily went back to her usual computer routine, while she felt a gentle leash on herself now, she did ponder things a bit more that didn’t make it seem completely oppressive… Joyce wasn’t keeping her from the internet or access to the outside world. She clearly still had her own phone for that if she needed anything; it was just a computer that she liked to use for business and job related stuff. With that in mind, limiting her time on a specific point of access didn’t really get in the way of most things unless Emily wanted it to. And not only that, but Joyce did sound lenient on the whole thing? Lenient within the idea of keeping the parental locks, though… And as she combed through her inbox, unintentionally the fuzzy corners of her mind started to fantasize a little too much. Guess having my screen time limited really makes me look like her little girl, huh…? Emily had a small grin with a blush, thinking in her mind. Holding something hostage from someone...was it normal to get excited over something like that? “Emily!” Joyce interrupted her devious thoughts with a call from a nearby place. “Come on! Computer time’s over, let’s eat this snack before it’s time to go!” “What?” Emily called back with confusion. Had it really been that long already? She glanced at the clock, once more dreading her inability to track the time. “Off the computer! Now, please!” Joyce shouted again, prompt and firm, like an authority figure would be. Emily did comply without a fuss this time as she shut it down. “It has bananas…!” A coaxing voice called once more. Emily was already on the move, though maybe a keen eye could have discerned that she did move a tiny bit faster at the mention of her trigger word… As they turned into the drive, a circular road attached to the main entrance of the hotel, Emily felt a little intoxicated by the magnitude and grandiose atmosphere from the front steps alone. “Are you pressing your face into the glass?” Joyce chuckled with a side glance at her. Obviously something like this was new to her. “Yesh!” Emily sputtered as she pressed her face against the window, just to find that even then she couldn’t see the top of the building and where it ended. The hotel looked like something you’d find a bunch of snobby yuppies lounging about in, which potentially could be true even in this reality, but the comparison stood. “Are we really staying here?” “No,” Joyce smiled with sarcasm, “I just needed to make a U-turn back the other way.” Emily, still staring out the window made a perplexing gesture, which was to aimlessly flail an outstretched hand back at Joyce, maybe meant to be a shove for teasing her? But being a weak-willed opponent and no match for Joyce’s deftness, she exploited one of her many openings by slipping her fingers between Emily’s. “Glad you came with me, you know?” “Sorry in advance once I make you look bad...” Emily did say with some trepidation. “Oh stop it,” Joyce said, and as they were in a short line of cars, she did have the visual freedom to land a playful shoulder squeeze on Emily. “It’s not going to be as scary as you think…” She tried to reassure her worrisome other half. Emily was still too starstruck to fully notice the car pulling forward, aligning her passenger window with the entrance of the hotel. It took a second then to realize that a cascade of red with arrayed buttons standing right in front of the passenger window was not the hotel, but the uniform of an employee. She pulled back with a blush as Joyce had been amusingly waiting for the realization, finally rolling down her window. “Good afternoon,” The employee had leaned over to fit his face into view. If he had seen Emily making herself look like a complete fanatic, he was doing a good job of not showing it. “Are there any bags you’d like for us to unload for you?” Emily couldn’t find the words as she started turning over to Joyce like she was the adult in charge. But just as she looked back Joyce said, “Yes, that’d be great! Is there someone who can take the car?” “Of course, miss,” the employee nodded as he stood upright and signaled another employee who was meandering by the entrance. After hustling over they disappeared behind the car. “Did we need them to carry it for us?” Emily asked, feeling a little weird. Hotels weren’t a foreign concept to her, but thinking in the past, she’d never dealt with staff this accommodating… Joyce seemed to catch on to this as well while she did look slightly confused, but smartened up right away. Sliding into a coy smile, instead she said, “Well, maybe with two sets of hands we could, but I need to hold your hand to keep you from getting lost, remember?” Emily rolled her eyes. “Would you ever do this to the staff?” “Obviously not,” Joyce laughed. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Emily,” she grinned, “you’re special to me!” Emily had to turn her gaze because she couldn’t stop the oncoming smile, watching as their familiar-looking bags walked into the hotel. “Okay, silly, our turn to get out,” Joyce announced with the audible unlock of the doors. Warm, orange lights dyed parts of the gushing water fountain. Men and women in suits, dresses, and all kinds of high-end wear flowed into the building. She couldn’t help but find them all seeming so...distant. Like worlds apart. Socioeconomic worlds apart. Emily had all the pieces on paper to know that this was the kind of world that Joyce lived in, yet a literal taste of it was finally being experienced. She was nearly ready to sit back into the car from overexposure right up until Joyce stepped out herself. “Thank you very much,” Joyce smiled as she deposited a set of keys into a staff’s hand, along with a neatly folded green bill. Emily couldn’t have been positive, yet it seemed as if it was a two-digit number and started with a five… She was still as mute and motionless up until Joyce grabbed her hand. “You’re not sick, are you?” Joyce began to show concern. “What…?” Emily refocused on her. “No...just...feeling out of place.” Along with a warm smile, Emily could feel Joyce’s thumb gently massage circles into her palm. “Fishie out of water, huh? I absolutely promise you, you’ll be fine.” Joyce said as they walked together up the steps. Beyond the glass windows and doors it led into a massive lobby, championing a ceiling that selfishly ate away either the two or three floors that could have been there instead. A grand, intricate chandelier hung from above, looking to span by an enormous width yet aligned with hundreds upon hundreds of illuminated pieces of foggy crystal as small as a finger a piece. Simple cream tiles decorated the floor, yet Emily couldn’t help but feel that within its simplicity was its appeal and massive expense. Even the massive plants propped in the corners or as centerpieces looked like they’d turn down the carbon dioxide exhaled from a mere commoner. Patrons occupying the lobby, which was a decent amount, were more of the same kind of people they saw from the car. Joyce was already sighing as they got closer to the desk, or as close as they could with the few guests ahead of them. “Another reason why I hate these overnight things...” Joyce whispered to Emily with a grin. Emily forced a smile, yet there was still an uncomfortable chill lingering in the atmosphere. “Do you wanna go sit down while I take care of this?” Joyce asked. “Uhm...” Emily pivoted a foot on its toe as she squeezed Joyce’s hand a little tighter. “I...I don’t mind staying with you…?” It reminded her of the times as a kid when she’d be too nervous to go about exploring a new place on her own. She wanted her comfort objects and she currently had one right in her hand. “Kay then,” a calm reply came. There was no pushback, yet complete understanding. At a time of extreme uncomfortability, partly induced by Emily’s own mind, what also flooded her thought space was self-conscious, worried thoughts about how close to Joyce she was being. Was she being too affectionate? Her eyes darted from side to side. Were they fully committed to showing themselves off as a pair? “What’s got you so wiggly?” A whisper entered Emily’s ear. The finger’s Emily’s were intertwined with suddenly re-buckled and trapped hers in place. It came with a friendly smile, one that was willing to dissect beyond the broad stroke Joyce already was aware of. “Is...” Emily whispered back, though leaning in a bit closer just to bolster a sense of privacy, “is it really okay for us to act like...you know…?” Joyce’s reaction was unexpected as her eyebrows rose high and the corners to her mouth fell slightly low. Her pupils ran in a small circle before she slightly leaned her head back then dove in with a swiftness for Emily’s face. “Mmmmm…!” Lips locked with lips as Emily wide-eyed only pulled away with the loud finish from Joyce, “-wah!” Immediately Emily looked around to see if anyone had noticed. A few people had indeed stared, and some others didn’t… What was Joyce doing? How could she be so bold?! “Does that answer your question?” Joyce gave her a cocky grin, yet melted into a sympathetic smile. “I told you, didn’t I? This is something we don’t have to hide.” Then she blinked, only realizing something as an unfortunate afterthought. “W-wait...you’re okay with this, right? I can kiss you in public, right…?” Her lips had been folded in on each other as she pulled away, but finally, a small giggle escaped Emily as her attention and focus had been stolen so easily and reset to a status quo. Somehow, her mind felt a little less foggy and had less on its plate. A lot less seemed to matter in the face of total upset. An answer for Joyce was by having Emily’s arm stick even closer to hers, nestling itself closer to Joyce’s side as did her arm to Emily’s. “Sorry...” Emily muttered, hoping that the one word could communicate enough on its own. “Don’t be.” Joyce affirmed, looking on ahead. A little bit after Emily had been settled down, it was finally their turn at the front desk. “Good afternoon, I’m sorry for the long wait,” the staff member apologized with seeming sincerity. “It’s no problem, really,” Joyce waved it off with a standard expression. “We have a booked room? Under Joyce Summers?” “Yes, of course,” they nodded, letting their eyes drift to the screen that was below and shrouded from the patron’s field of view. “Not that I doubt it’s you...” they apologetically laughed a little. “Here you go,” she already handed them the I.D. After a quick confirmation and a piece of paper was signed, Joyce asked them, “As for our bags, do you think someone could bring those up for us?” “Certainly.” They responded without hesitation. “Here’s your room key,” the staff handed Joyce a plastic card, then they glanced at Emily before going back to the woman in charge. “Would you like a second one?” “No thank you!” It came as a chipper reply, as if the speaker had been delighted to be asked such a thing. Emily did give Joyce a slightly odd stare, but Joyce was already walking them from the desk. “Shouldn’t I have one too?” Emily asked in a low voice. “Plan on doing some sightseeing on your own?” Joyce innocently asked, yet of course it was sarcasm. “You can have one if you want, but I figured this’d drive home the whole ‘leash’ thing?” “Oh...” Emily said at a slight loss, clearly forgetting their way-back-when discussion. “That’s fine then.” Not only avoiding making waves, but committing herself to her chaperone also sounded nice too. “What about our bags…?” Emily started to ask as she was led away by the hand. “They’ll get there. The staff use a different elevator, so we’ll probably get there before them.” Joyce explained. “Does it feel weird?” She chuckled. “Yeah...” Emily sheepishly admitted as Joyce called the elevator. “You aren’t worried about them stealing our stuff or anything?” Joyce laughed with a tone erring on nervousness. “Well if you say something like that, of course I’ll get worried! But no, not too much. Almost everything we brought is replaceable.” Emily felt her hand give a soft squeeze. “Almost everything.” “Joyce Summers?” A woman called just as the elevator doors dinged and parted open. Both girls turned their heads. “Oh! It is you!” A head of long, blond hair made its way over, glistening in their sea green dress and sparkling pearl necklace. Emily could practically see her own reflection in the white of their unnaturally perfect teeth that peeked through her bright redly dressed lips. “Caroline,” Joyce smiled back, yet Emily, the silent onlooker, could discern between one of her genuine expressions and a mechanical one… She was an absolute machine. “It’s great to see you! How have you been?” The woman made a cackle as she waved her white-gloved hand. “Oh, you know, travel and whatnot...scouting properties…!” “Expanding the business?” Joyce prodded, putting no more energy into her interaction than she had to. “Hm?” She seemed confused for a moment, then had a eureka. “Oh! Business? No, no!” She laughed. “I have a birthday coming up soon and my husband promised me we’d finally start looking into a third vacation home!” She made a small, womanly squeal that to Emily, seemed...off-putting from this particular adult. “Have you been to Italy or France, recently? Ugh...decisions…!” “That does sound difficult,” Joyce acknowledged with a nod, “I hope that works out for you and your husband.” “Thank you so much!” Caroline looked sort of sincere, albeit to Emily everything about the exchange felt forced, or at least one party was trying to placate the other. But then, it was only a matter of time until her eyes fell upon Emily. “Oh? Did you bring your assistant for tonight?” She looked back at Joyce after a brief glance at Emily. “I didn’t think to bring mine...” “No, I didn’t.” Joyce replied with a tinge of curtness, yet so small it went unnoticed by a woman blinded by dollar signs and glitter. Maybe it became a matter of pride, but in some way Emily being seen as anything but her absolute treasure seemed to irk her oddly; like a doctor’s greatest title and achievement being ignored. Emily made a small noise of surprise as an arm came from behind her back and around her waist. “I brought my girlfriend.” There seemed to be a look of genuine surprise on Caroline’s face, indicating she hadn’t pegged Joyce for the type. And as Emily was used as a display item, she remained exactly that with sealed lips despite the reddened cheeks. Joyce didn’t look smug or particularly angry, yet the slight crease on her forehead showed that she was determined to make a point. One to Caroline, and one to herself. “...Oh.” Caroline said only that. Her social balance had been thrown as the situation became awkward. While Emily’s inner part feared the idea of somehow rejection or ridicule, it obviously didn’t seem that way with the woman. She was just surprised. Only that. Had Joyce never shown any signs in the working world? Finally, a fourth player entered the match as it dinged with opening doors. “Well, that’s us~” Joyce continued to steal the rhythm of the conversation as she escorted Emily along by the waist. “See you at the dinner tonight!” After punching in the number, the doors closed. “Haa...” Joyce exhaled aloud, giving Emily a toothy smile. “That felt good, didn’t it?” In return she earned a dumbfounded, confused smile. “Hu...huh?” “You and I?” Joyce made eye contact with a silly grin. “We’re dating?” Emily found the look infectious, but was still confused. “Uh...huh?” But apparently it was enough for Joyce, as she let out her own squeal, although Emily found it to be like music this time. “It just...it really makes me excited getting to tell people that...” She laughed happily. “You sound like a schoolgirl,” Emily laughed herself, “It’s like this is your first relationship?” “...Well...it sort of is...” Joyce suddenly mentioned, which caught Emily by surprise. “Wait, what? Really?” Emily had a double-take. While there was Jack, there were some other smaller bouts, yet all the same that meant she finally had something over Joyce? “Not completely,” Joyce said in a chastising tone, wiping the beginnings of a haughty look off Emily’s face. “This is your first relationship with a woman too, you know?” Emily looked a bit more sheepish with an embarrassed chuckle. “...Good point.” “And what I mean is that it’s my first relationship that...you know, has gone as far as this one has.” Now that their minds were on the same wavelength, Emily could be in agreement. “So...you like getting to tell people that you have a girlfriend that you get to baby?” “Just the first part,” Joyce corrected readily, “but the other half is what makes me so excited… It’s like...if you and your friends each had a pool, and you all said that yours was cool, but deep down, no matter what, you just know that yours is the coolest?” “Uhm...” Emily laughed. “I think I get it? I guess I didn’t think of it that way… You’re my girlfriend, but there’s a lot more to it?” “So much more.” Joyce smiled. “You’re a one-in-a-bajillion, Emily. I love you so-so-so much!” Emily mumbled a response through the hug, but finally the elevator doors opened. “Fancy...” Emily quietly noted as they walked down the tiled hall. It sort of reminded her of the hallway they had leading into the apartment, but a bit more dolled up. But right then, Emily found it craziest of all to think that she could even compare this kind of hotel to her everyday now. “Not a lot of rooms on this floor?” She also commented, noticing the lack of doors. Joyce giggled as she kept Emily at pace with a hand behind her back. “You’ll see.” They stopped in front of a door and Joyce slipped in the key, opening up to the room. Emily was confused. They entered the room, or entrance area, paired with a small cabinet meant for shoes. Then, the area expanded into a much larger one. Tall, glass windows stretching from floor to arches just beneath the high, high ceiling, of which a chandelier was suspended from. A terribly long sofa spanned what seemed like a meager amount of the living space and wrapped around a large coffee table, set before a mini movie-screen. And to the left there was...even an area that looked like a small kitchen? A sink, counterspace, a fridge… “Wh...where’s the bed?” Emily laughed nervously. Clearly the stimulus and realization was putting her into shock. “In the next room,” Joyce laughed at the secondhand spectacle, continuing to guide her. Next over was the bedroom, a fully fledged one. But it couldn’t be right. This. This was what the hotel room was. A decently sized room with a bed, desk, nightstands and large tv. This is what Emily recognized as their room, clearly nice because it was such an expensive hotel. So in that case...She spun her head around from where they came, as if it were all some fever dream that couldn’t be distinguished from reality. What the hell was all that before? Some kind of communal space for everyone else on the floor? “Is...is all that stuff part of this room?” “It is a suite?” Joyce smirked. “But we’re just staying one night?” It was too surreal. Forget a suite; Emily couldn’t think of a time she’d ever been in anything more than a 2-star hotel, if that. “Not that we couldn’t afford it,” Joyce nonchalantly shrugged, “but the room is on another person’s dime? I might have gone a little smaller if I knew it’d do this to you…” Joyce chuckled as she ran her hand through Emily’s hair. There was a distant knocking noise. Joyce turned her head first. “Oh, they might be here with our stuff...” She already left the room with a stunned Emily slow from behind. Sure enough it was, although there seemed to be some additions with their luggage. Staff came inside holding vertical spreads of dress wrapped in foggy plastic along with what could only be shoe boxes. Joyce guided and instructed, whilst Emily remained a fish out of water standing off to the side as she silently watched them unload. Quiet and trying not to be a nuisance, she watched from over the couch as the staff brought everything in. They were deft and orderly, seeming to be gone faster than in the time it took them to come. Joyce ended their aid with more ample tips to send them along their way. “Now we have everything.” Joyce declared after she closed the door. “Are you sure you’re fine? I know this might feel like a lot right now… Just tell me if this is moving too fast for you.” “It isn’t...” Emily laughed apologetically. “I’m sort of just still trying to digest everything. I feel like this is the kind of stuff you only see in movies...” That was essentially the dilemma; feeling as if she truly was in a movie. Her first meeting with Joyce and her home was a lot in itself, but there was her down to earth personality, the home-cooked meals, chit-chat and romance that grounded everything Emily once revered to such a point that she needed to turn away. Yet tonight seemed to reset that level of comfortability that she had and left her in a place she found so unreal and to be so undeserving of, it couldn’t possibly be real. “It’s not a movie, I can promise you.” Joyce chuckled as she came closer, occupying Emily’s vision. “If you ever feel like it’s too much tonight, just let me know. We’ll head right back here. And even then if that’s not enough, I’ll drive us right home.” “Stop it...” Emily sounded appreciative, but she knew that wasn’t realistic. Obviously Joyce was here for the sake of her career. She couldn’t afford to make Joyce be selfish. “So, are you going to tell me if we need to leave, or should I make the judgement call myself?” Joyce gave her a stern, yet loving look. Emily raised her hands and dropped them on Joyce’s shoulders with a smirkish sigh. “I promise I’ll let you know… But I’m fine, really. Getting to see you is enough...” “I’ll keep that in mind tonight,” Joyce smiled and followed up with a kiss, “you can be an attention hog all you want, okay?” “Yah-huh.” Emily nodded as she stepped back with a small breath, feeling a bit better. “Why don’t you come watch me while I unpack?” Emily gave her a weird look. “I can unpack, too?” “But you do so much already now?” Joyce said in an earnest, disappointed voice. “Joyce...” Emily came off as a bit deadpan. “I make our bed, vacuum and get clothes ready to go in the washing machine...I don’t do that much...” Joyce looked a bit troubled, but she gave up fast. “No...you’re right. Okay, we’ll unpack as a team.” “Don’t make it sound like I’m pulling teeth!” Emily whined as she pushed Joyce with both hands, headed back to the bedroom. Joyce hoisted their luggage onto the massive bed and they got to work. Yet an unexpected surprise was sitting in Emily’s bag once she opened it. “Pip?” Emily’s instinctive reaction was to say its name, as if it were an actual person who could respond with just as much intrigue. “I told you, almost everything we packed is replaceable? Not Pip, though.” Joyce gave her a beaming smile like her smart planning had paid off. “You didn’t have to pack him...” Emily said with a tone that wavered on convincing. She gave him a brief squeeze as if to test by his squishiness if it were the original. And it was, meaning with the test concluded Emily flung him forward and to the other side of the bed. “We bring Pip all the way with us and you just throw him?” Joyce teased. Emily shrugged with a coy smile. “I dunno. But you can’t tell me how to treat my stuffed animals?” “You’re right, I concede...” Joyce gave up with her own grin. Emily would argue even now that Joyce overpacked for their one-night stay, given by the decent volume of things they removed from their suitcases. “Doesn’t it make more sense to just leave all our stuff in the suitcases?” Emily asked, truthfully finding it to be unnecessary. “We’re just gonna have to re-pack it all in the morning...” “So you volunteered to help but now you want to weasel out of it?” Joyce laughed. “I never said I wanted to stop; but we aren’t even gonna be here for a full 24 hours?” Joyce was bringing a few bundles of clothes over to the dresser. “That’s true, but you’d be surprised how just unpacking can make a hotel room feel a bit more like home?” And not to mention comfort objects as well, hence why Joyce couldn’t imagine a single trip that involved Emily now without bringing Pip. And the way Joyce saw it as well, she had coaxed and begged Emily into coming to this tonight. She owed it to her to make this a fun and comfortable night. “Does it?” Emily snickered with a small bit of disbelief. “Maybe it does, guess I’ve never been in a hotel long enough to unpack though.” She finished her complaints as she put away two shirts she’d likely never wear while they were here. “Well if you don’t, I will.” Joyce playfully turned her nose up as she moved her last few bundles over. “Could you please get me something from the fridge? I haven’t had anything to drink in a bit.” “Kay,” Emily hopped off the bed and started walking, but stopped for just a second. “Wait, would the fridge even be stocked?” “Usually all fridges are?” Joyce questioned back. “You’ve never been to one that is?” “Maybe mini-fridges...” Emily recollected on the tiny cubes she was aware of, but not the home-grade size that this spacious suite had. “I’m sure it has snacks too, so pick out some good ones.” Joyce added. “One each for us, got it?” She called as Emily was already gone. Finally something clicked for Emily in this high-end hotel. The expensive suite, massive rooms and presence of rich folk were entirely beyond and above her. Living the high-life only seemed to reach her when it was a step-up from her usual, not a leap and a hop. Thus, getting to raid the hotel fridge without caring about the price was what spoke to Emily. This is how she knew she’d made it. Lined with water, sparkling ciders, a few alcohols and juices, everything looked absolutely amazing. What’s more, there was no piece of cardboard waiting inside as a “courtesy” to let you know that you were about to be gouged by overpriced drinks. Was it all free? Did it come with the suite? Small questions lined with just as small prices to read as insignificant. It was silly, yet somehow this meant the most to her because it was the easiest luxury to understand and appreciate. In her much smaller world of finance, this was a tangible prestige. Out came a bottle of water and juice, followed by some kind of cracker and protein bar. “Think fast!” Emily shouted as she lobbed the protein bar. Joyce caught it unfazed, yet nearly missed the following crackers, then yelped as she defenselessly let the water bottle fall in her lap, then...just about screamed once an entire Emily came last. “You’re gonna crush the snacks!” Joyce laughed as she wrenched the cold water bottle from underneath her bundle, gingerly laying it on the nape of Emily’s neck. “S-stop! Stop!” Emily cried as she wriggled forward and free. “Is this how you’re gonna be all night, huh?” Joyce grinned as her fingers wobbled and waved, closing in on the girl like voracious tendrils. “No! Please!” She laughed with wet eyes as Joyce’s talons sunk into her sides, dancing to and fro as they lightly brushed underneath her shirt and atop her skin. She was coaxed into an infectious wail of giggle, but just as it came so did it stop, or was muffled by a hand over her mouth. Joyce was trying to choke down a laugh of her own, still with a helpless smirk as she held her hand over Emily’s mouth. Thankfully the tickling stopped, and Joyce finally released her a second later. “Sorry, I forgot we can’t make as much noise in the hotel...” Joyce sheepishly chuckled. Only then did it click for Emily that they had to be a little more conscious of themselves.Home and however it was designed afforded them the privacy for their sounds, never seeming to have much of an issue. Here it was different. There was yet to be anyone with scornful expressions or neighbors beneath them to complain, yet it didn’t take a person to make Emily feel embarrassed. “S-sorry...” Emily did apologize with remorse, even if it was arguably Joyce’s fault. “Don’t be,” Joyce giggled as she stroked her hair. “I like when you’re playful. I should have remembered that we can’t be super noisy earlier.” “Don’t make up excuses for me...” Emily pouted. “I should’ve known too...” And almost immediately Joyce accepted the momentum of her unneeded apology and flipped the script completely. “You’re right,” she frowned, “you should have. I can’t believe you didn’t know any better!” Emily was too well-versed by this point, or at least had the mental strength this time to see it coming and know that it was another act to talk her out of her own self-conscious thoughts. With the roll of her eyes and crinkling plastic packaging from their snack, they enjoyed their remaining downtime with wonderful bliss. “You promise you won’t leave me?” Emily asked for the umpteenth time as she leaned from foot to foot in her very short heels. “I promise, I won’t.” Joyce repeated as she had for every other time she’d asked, although with just as much patience in her voice as there’d been since the start. She stood much more confidently in her slightly taller heels. “We’ll find something banana-flavored once we get up there. I’m sure there’s lots of food being put out already.” She said soothingly “Don’t say that...” Emily whined. “You make it sound like I need one to calm down...” “Need what?” Joyce gave her a clueless look. “A paci--!” Emily started to respond, but the smile from Joyce spoke volumes. “Ha-ha...funny.” “Sorry, I did want to hear you say it...” She sounded apologetic, but it was still fun to hear. “Guess we’re a bit more on the same page, huh?” “Guess so...” Emily found it even hard to joke as her murmurs drifted toward one of the elevator walls. “How many people are gonna be here?” “More than a couple...” Joyce gave her a sympathetic smile as she circulated her thumb across the girl’s palm. “We’re gonna have to do a little socializing at the start. Don’t overthink things, alright? Just be yourself?” “If I was myself, they’d probably think I don’t belong here...” Emily spoke with a seed of pessimism as she dreaded the coming moment more and more. “Don’t say that...” Joyce started to chastise, but the elevator had reached their destination. Almost immediately their small, silent space had been assimilated into the distant yet growing chatter of voices and orchestral music. Emily wasn’t shy of crowds, per say, only the ones composed of an entire socioeconomic class she’d hear about in the news rather than see face to face. Yet that came as a stretch when Emily was sharing too much of her forward vision with the floor. “We gotta get off the elevator now, okay?” Joyce spoke gently, yet somehow her voice traveled so clearly through the noise. “Mhm...” Emily nodded, no less anxious as she squeezed her partner’s hand a little tighter. Their feet moved across the checkered tile floor, cleanly polished and shined, laced with just enough fog to obscure the reflection. A staff member in a clean red vest with a tablet in hand quickly and deftly seemed to admit guest after guest past the triple array of wooden glass doors. “W-wait, what if I’m not on the list?” Emily tugged on Joyce’s hand with irrational worry. “You’re my plus one; you don’t need to be,” Joyce hushed her as they drew closer and closer. Beyond the entrance Emily could see pockets of empty space ahead, surrounded by many heads in suits and dresses. Beyond that were tall arching windows that exposed the night sky. Not a star could be seen though, drowned out by the flood of light from the city which they were in. Even when so high up they couldn’t seem to escape the clutches of industrial capitalism. But of course, there was irony attending a party that hosted the many hearts of it. “Joyce Summers?” Joyce’s voice startled Emily out of her distant observations. She looked confusedly at her girlfriend, only realizing with warm cheeks that she was giving her name out to the staff member. “...Yes,” he finally said with a smile. “Right here. Have a great night.” He gave both Joyce and Emily a polite smile as Joyce led her into the spacious dance hall. Spacious supposedly, as so much of it had already gone to the endless party-goers. Amidst the crowds there were staff calmly patrolling the party, all with some kind of platter in hand, either dressed in filled glasses, interesting hors d'oeuvres, or empty leftovers from the many guests. Yet what was the entire mass this network of employees navigated through were the guests themselves. Many looked to be sitting at tables, yet just as many also stood about, drinks in hand, conversing amongst cliques of social elites. Naturally, Emily didn’t want to go any further, yet Joyce submerged them without hesitation, caring not to even dip a toe just to see how the water felt . “Doesn’t something sweet sound great right about now?” Joyce chatted with her as they moved wherever she intended them to go. Emily helplessly shrugged, albeit appreciative for the words regardless. Just from standing next to so many people it was like they’d sucked the social lifeforce out of her already. But just to hear Joyce, it reminded her that she was still alive and breathing. “Joyce Summers!” A sudden voice stopped them in their tracks; a man had stepped in front of their path, whether by coincidence or something else. “How’ve you been?” “Tom Fender,” Joyce put on her rehearsed smile as she tried to come off as cheery. “Great to see you, too. I’ve been well, and you?” “Great as always,” his shiny whites came right back. Emily continued to stay quiet. Their use of full names felt odd despite their positive tones; possibly a custom amongst financial titans who readied to trade blows. “Good to hear...” Her eyes started drifting on higher priorities. “Uhm, I hate to cut this off, but would you mind if we found each other in just a little bit? We got here so late...I hate to admit it, but if it meant I could eat, I was ready to buy out an entire restaurant on the way here!” It didn’t even sound close to a joke to Emily, much rather an awkward statement with exclamation. Yet somehow the man in turn was chuckling nonetheless. Ah. A joke that I’m too poor to understand. “No, no, I get it completely,” he laughed. “The food here does all look very good. See you around!” Joyce gave a small wave as the leash on Emily’s hand became taut once more. “Who was that…?” Emily asked in a quiet voice. “Hm?” Joyce sunk a little beneath the noise as her once again genuine smile occupied the girl’s entirety. “Sorry, it’s a little hard to hear you.” “Who...” Emily hesitated and considered dropping the matter entirely, lest she wate all this time over an unimportant question. “Who was that?” She tried to speak up. “Oh, him?” Her moment of visible interest was killed almost immediately. “Pharmaceuticals. I see him about maybe two to three times a year. Not much to tell, but he’s a stubborn guy, I’ve heard. You’re doing great, by the way!” “We just got here, I haven’t done anything...” Emily said in a low voice once more as they continued reaching the other end of the hall. Finally, beyond all the people and through the crowd Emily could finally start to smell the food. Once they emerged, it was a long banquet table of fine silver platters and ornate dishes, mini fountains, tiered displays of never-ending varieties of interesting and delicious looking foods. Finally, Emily had her own glimmer in her eyes. “Wanna eat?” Joyce grinned at her. “Is...can we take whatever we want?” She earnestly asked. Becoming a glutton wasn’t her intent, but she still wanted to sample so many different things… “Yes, but let’s take it slow,” Joyce planned to indulge her from the start, but she worried too much coddling might lead to some kind of upset. After all, she didn’t want her going to bed with a tummy ache. Again, despite all the lavish displays, the massive hall and no less the very establishment it was held in, what spoke to Emily the most were the much smaller, comprehensible details. Stacks of plates and silverware weren’t just at the very end of the banquet table! Multiple stations all along just to break up the traffic and keep everything moving. Maybe it was spurred by logistics and not a “rich people” sort of thing, but Emily was more than willing to fool herself with the fantasy regardless. Joyce reached first for their plates. While she had her eyes on the larger dinner meal kind of plates, instead she disappointedly watched as two considerably smaller ones were plucked from the adjacent stack. “It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing...” Joyce quietly reminded her, finding the subtle look on her face clear as day. It wasn’t, which is why Emily was willing to compromise. Now came the much more important task of finding the right first dishes to sample. The saying of the world being your oyster couldn’t apply more than ever in that moment. If it had to be tweaked though, the world would be your dinner for the night. Sandwiches, sushi, pastas, curries, soups, salads, desserts, chocolate fountains, fruits, flatbreads, things in trays, cuts of meat, and so many more things that Emily couldn’t put a name nor a memory to. It felt like she saw more things she couldn’t recognize than could. Joyce made sure her steps were in sync with Emily’s. She always stayed right behind her, truly with a watchful eye like any honest mother would. “Joyce Summers!” “Ms. Summers!” “How is the company?” “Let’s have dinner sometime?” “Are you interested in some inside info?” Yet as Joyce watched her adorable little girl become so lost in the simple pleasures she enjoyed best, her own face couldn’t go unnoticed by the countless others in attendance. Maybe some were being friendly, but business had taught her to recognize any kind of approach as a pretext to just that; business. “Good to see you Howard.” “Is your wife doing well, McKinley?” “Figures are good; optimistic for the next quarter.” “Reach out to my secretary, I’m sure we can figure something out.” “It never hurts to listen?” But unfortunately, the mama bear had lost her touch, if for just a moment. Turning her gaze back, she’d managed to let Emily get a few steps too many ahead of her, and would luck have it, a stranger stepped right in between them. “E--” Before even the first syllable could leave her mouth, apparently the stranger wasn’t a complete stranger. “Joyce, great to see you!” They were already trying to converse. They also hadn’t inherently done anything wrong, yet Joyce felt herself suppressing a pissy look. Instead, she allowed herself a tiny exhale through her nostrils as she smiled. Just a quick conversation, Emily won’t be far... Back in rose-tinted paradise, Emily found her own game of Tetris as she tried so desperately to find all the best pieces and simultaneously fit them in the tiny field she was given. Though, with how she dawdled and found herself so hung up on what wouldn’t be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but instead a many-in-an-hour kind, she was a little surprised she wasn’t getting an earful from Joyce behind her. But then again, Emily did have the sense to figure Joyce was likely easing her pace just a little, just so she could feel comfortable. “What do you think looks good?” Emily asked Joyce who was presumably behind her. Turning her head as she said it though, it was like a deer caught in headlights when Joyce was nowhere to be seen. Instead, some other woman was beside her, minding her own business as she looked for food as well. Yet Emily’s words were so directed that the stranger gave her a glance like it was meant for her. “Uh-m, sorry, I thought someone I knew was...” Emily bashfully tried to explain, but her mind was already being overtaken by the absence of Joyce. Where did she go? She promised she’d stay with her the whole time, didn’t she? Already the modicum of comfort she was feeling from Joyce like a thin veil had been vaporized immediately. Her brows creased as she hesitated with every step she took. Amidst a sea of people standing taller than her made the task of finding Joyce seem impossibly insurmountable. Was she supposed to stay put until she was found, or go search for her? As her stressed hands clutched the ceramic edges of her plate, instinctively the trouble inside her only swelled when she didn’t feel the squish of Pip, or anything with some give to accept her frustrations. Every way she looked was either the back of a stranger or the face of an unknown. Keep it together...she’s here somewhere… Yet despite her rational mind she was raw and vulnerable, God forbid if one of these people tried to talk to her. She’d be a blubbering mess; they’d find out she didn’t belong. She was an outsider, an imposter. The only excuse she had to be here was Joyce, and without her she was nothing more than a benign tumor hogging the floorspace. She didn’t stare at the food anymore as she nervously followed the banquet table to the very end. Her steps were slow and almost wobbly. Coordination wasn’t necessary, not when she needed to brainpower to look out for Joyce. Getting lost shouldn’t mean anything, yet being alone in a sea of capitalist sharks seemed to shift that perspective. So much for having practice at the zoo. The feeling in her chest only tightened once beyond the thinning crowd she found the tallest attendee at the party; a wall. What now? Emily was needless to say, at a loss for what she should do. Wait, her phone! That’s right! Already she was pivoting on her heels, looking for a spot to set her plate of food down. She felt ridiculous now. It was just a matter of calling her… So much for feeling like an actual lost child. She couldn’t see a good spot, other than the many tables that were already dotted with strangers. But as she looked, the desire to search quickly dried itself up. Emily’s memory was feeling keener by the moment. So keen, that she dutifully remembered as well that there was no phone to use. No phone on her person, anyway. Sitting right where she left it back at the hotel room. Her face scrunched up a small bit as she remembered, thinking of how it wouldn’t be necessary to bring. Joyce would’ve had hers, after all… She wanted to sit down, crouch even, just to give herself a grounded place to decompress. But she couldn’t do that, not here. Not at a five-star hotel, not in front of a bunch of prestigious people, and not in her special dress. This sucked. It all sucked. She didn’t want to be here. She only came because Joyce wanted her to, so where did she go? Emily just wanted to go back to the hotel room. At least Pip was there. But what sucked the most? Crying. Since she began her relationship with Joyce that’s what seemed to be the unexpected dark horse. They didn’t keep secrets from each other, so emotions no less couldn’t be hidden. Whenever she’d start to get herself in a mood, there Joyce was, tearing it all down just to come inside to make her feel better. It was great, obviously. But on the other hand, she was feeling slightly out of practice when it came to solidifying her emotions. Things were harder to bottle up, harder to compose. Taking rhythmic breaths and long inhales though, she was somehow managing. You’re fine...you’re okay. Joyce will find you. Just stay put and it’ll be okay… “Excuse me?” Just keep breathing...you’re making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe snack a little on the food… “Uhm...miss?” Emily shivered like an electrical shock had hit her as her gaze fixated on the person right in front of her. For the sake of appearances she held back a frown. It wasn’t Joyce. And because it wasn’t, her nerves seemed to become all the more worse. “Are you...alright?” He asked. Emily’s eyes were all over the place, following around the navy blue threads of his suit jacket or through the stripes of his tie. Whenever her eyes seemed to be near the man’s though, she didn’t have the nerve to commit. What was she supposed to do?! She wasn’t ready for this, she couldn’t afford to speak with others here. If they find out she’s with Joyce after what a piss-poor person she’ll inevitably make herself out to be, it’s going to be at her benefactor’s expense! Her breath wavered as she stumbled a response. “H-...Hi...” By the warmth in her face, Emily had a sneaking suspicion what she may have looked like to others right then, and seeing only a wordless blink from the stranger seemed to suggest that. “Are you okay…?” He asked once more as his head turned back to the rest of the party. Damn it. Of course she looked out of place. Emily nodded her head, trying to look cheerful, as well as conversational. “Y-yes. I’m just waiting for someone...” “Alright then...” He said, but didn’t leave. “I noticed you’ve been over here for a few minutes,” he made a motion with his finger behind his shoulder. “If you’d like, there’s a couple seats where my friend and I are? You’re more than welcome?” A decision. Emily’s world truly was crumbling. She could refuse and remain to be the awkward wallflower for as long as Joyce was nowhere to be found. Not only that, but make it seem that she spit in this man’s face in exchange for continuing to be a fly on the wall. Yet if she accepted, there would be the monumental task of keeping conversation with these titans and assuredly outing herself as some generic, normal person. It was a lose-lose in Emily’s dramatic eyes, so it was merely the lesser of two evils. “Is that okay?” He chuckled before turning on his heel. “Of course it is! Come on; I’m guessing you want a place to eat, anyway?” Great, now she looked like a glutton to others even at first glance. She wordlessly followed the man back into the crowd, sending a silent prayer that somehow Joyce will find her. This was nothing like the zoo. All the animals this time had no cages and there were no landmarks to find each other. They were in the jungle and Emily had already become prey. She stayed close behind the man’s back as they weaved through the crowd. Out of habit she kept her head down, only following the back and feet in front of her before reaching a clearing, nearly bumping into her supposed savior once they came to a stop. “You didn’t bring a bottle?” A woman said with a tinge of impatience. Was it coyness? Emily couldn’t tell, but Emily was so out of it that her head shot forward with a startle, forgetting social cues to realize that it wasn’t her that was being talked to. “That’ll be your turn then,” he sighed as he set down a half-filled wine glass in front of her. “‘Bring me a drink’ is awfully vague, you know...” “It would seem so.” She said back, seeming to imply that she still wasn’t at fault. It was his mistake for not reading any deeper. Emily remained silent, stiff as a board, unaware of how to broach the situation or whether she still needed to be introduced. Did the upper class work the same way as kings and queens? Do not speak unless spoken to? “Well, better than a bottle,” Emily felt a hand pat her half-naked shoulder. “Found someone to help me keep you entertained.” “Oh?” The interest in her voice was clear, and so was her gaze, even if Emily was too nervous to look at it. “What’d you say to her? She looks like we’re about to eat her.” “She seemed sort of nervous when I found her. Waiting on her friend.” Emily could hear the low sigh from the woman’s breath. “Stop talking like she’s not her own person. Hon?” Of all things, it had to be a pet name that garnered her attention. Out of reflex she did look ahead at the woman. She was pretty. In Emily’s book Joyce was always number one, but this woman was a close second. Her ginger hair was tied back into some kind of intricate bun and the deep freckles on the bridge of her nose looked like the count of people she’s stared down into a submission match. “I’m Rebecca, it’s nice to meet you,” she smiled in a way that felt like a test. She was gauging the poor girl. But for what? “I-I’m Emily, it’s nice to meet you.” Her response was nearly robotic. She didn’t have the confidence to speak off the cuff. Not in a place like this. “I-I don’t want to bother you guys; I can always go back and--” “Why?” Rebecca frowned, interrupting her so smoothly. “You’d rather be by yourself than sit with us?” The sudden twist of her words incited a small panic. “N-no, it’s not that, it’s--” “Ah, I see. You have better people to be with?” “No, that’s not...” Normally Emily would be frustrated by the woman’s curt behavior, but somehow she was only looking distressed. Everytime she tried to find her footing through words, this person seemed to casually sweep her right off her feet. “Rebecca,” the man found his timing much better when it came to interruptions. “Quit teasing her. Just because you hate these things doesn’t mean you have to lash out. Drink already.” The woman seemed to be so animated in the most subtle ways. Emily watched her eyelids droop as her gaze slightly narrowed, as if agitated by the man’s gaul to even think of challenging her. Yet like it was all a game, her mood immediately vanished as she went back to being a resting predator, sipping from her glass. “Fair enough...” She looked away as she said it. “Sorry,” he apologized to me, “Emily, was it? My name is Hank, nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for a shake, and Emily was so frazzled that she nearly went to shake with a plate of food still in both hands. Quickly realizing her mistake with a blush, she finally committed herself by setting the plate down on the table before shaking. “Nice to meet you...” “Did the host come by at all, yet?” Hank asked Rebecca who seemed to be boredly playing with her glass of wine. “Not sure...” she sighed. “Walked around, chatted a little. I’m feeling ready to head back home, already.” “Mm...” Even Hank nodded as he sipped from his own wine. “Well, appearances and all...” It must have been a mutual agreement, because Rebecca didn’t say anything back. “Uhm...” Emily started to speak, yet her throat seemed to close entirely once both faces gave her attention. Great. She poked the bear and for some inexplicable reason expected it to stay sleeping. “Is it just you two sitting here…?” There were only a couple of empty chairs, but two to a single table was still a low number. “Yep,” Hank nodded, though glanced at Rebecca who was with a pissy pout sort of look, already expecting the man to look at her. “Unfortunately we have a bit of a bully at our table, so we’re unpopular at the moment.” “Oh shut it,” Rebecca frowned the smallest bit, yet all the expression seemed to happen from her eyes and up. “Rebecca’s very...strong-willed, as you can see.” Hank whispered to me with a chuckle. The entire time Rebecca watched the exchange, knowing full well she was the topic. Emily would never in a million years say it aloud, but being somewhat bitchy seemed to be this woman’s personality… Lucky to have the few that could stand her and be around her. “So Emily, what brings you--” Hank started to say, but then… “Why bother with a question that has an obvious answer?” Rebecca cut him off. “Ask her why her boyfriend or husband brought her here. She has ‘plus one’ written all over her.” Plus one. The way Joyce had said it, Emily wouldn’t say she felt a charm, but it gave her some sort of fuzzy connection to Joyce in a small way. A fun little title. From Rebecca’s voice, it was a label. An inescapable brand that defined her clearly on the hierarchy amongst nobles. She’d been curtly kicked off the pedestal and back to the ground. It was only more damaging to her self-confidence. Had she thought there was even a chance at looking like she belonged, Rebecca’s bluntness paired with Hank’s gentle approach had shattered it entirely. Naturally, self-consciousness was the first thing to hit her bloodstream. “Is...is it that obvious?” Emily weakly asked Hank. He looked apologetic, but he didn’t disagree. “Not that it matters, though,” he was quick to say. “So in that case, what does your boyfriend do?” “Boy…?” Emily started to ask, feeling confused with the disillusioned mind that everyone in the world should already know she was smitten with a female, not a male. “Oh, uhm...my girlfriend, she has a medical company.” And there would be little to offer after that. It sucked knowing she couldn’t tell much about Joyce, not in the working sphere at least. Unfortunately Joyce had made it an effort to hide the bigger things from her, likely to prevent Emily from seeing her as anything but her sweet, motherly significant other. “Oh!” Hank had a slight tinge of guilt with his voice. “Sorry, we just assumed...” “Sorry about that.” Rebecca chimed in, possibly sounding genuine? “What do you guys do?” Emily asked, finally finding the courage to keep the ball rolling. “I manage a couple accounting firms,” Hank said ever so nonchalantly. “Nothing too crazy, but it has its perks. And just when she thought they were starting to seem like people, she’d been so graciously reminded of the gap. “I own a couple theatres.” Rebecca added to the conversation, just in case Emily wasn’t feeling dogpiled enough already. They weren’t being insulting (barring Rebecca’s attitude), but simply crushing her with facts. But in spite of that, Emily wanted to be brave. At least Rebecca had something tangible. “Oh?” She spoke up in turn, “That’s cool. How often do theaters swap out movies anyways? You probably get to see anything you want for fr--” “No, no,” Rebecca always managed to find a way to spearhead Emily’s gusto. “Not that kind of theatre. Musical productions. Plays. That kind.” “Oh...” Her reply was quiet, desperately trying to escape sheer embarrassment. Why couldn’t she have let her run away with sheer ignorance? “You could have elaborated?” Hank jumped in, throwing Rebecca’s feet on the coals now. “Quit being such a bully.” “I’m not being a bully.” Rebecca slightly averted her gaze at that. Conversation had only become a trap for Emily to make herself look even more foolish. In a twisted way it was like trying to sit at the grown-ups table. All the jargon and conversation went so far above her head that she could be disillusioned into thinking it was actually reachable. She had no reality that knew how to properly set herself apart from these people. Then came an audible sigh from the woman as she stood up from her seat. “Leaving already?” Hank seemed to ask, yet Rebecca somehow saw it as teasing once she shot him a glare. Storming off, Emily could only catch the sway of her dress as she disappeared. “Sorry about that...” Emily always seemed to feel the irrational need to apologize. If she was involved in any capacity she somehow always found fault in herself. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” Hank apologized in turn. “Rebecca’s supposed to be a grown woman, would you believe it. But in all the time that I’ve known her, well, she’s not exactly great at playing nice with others...” “How long have you two known each other?” Accounting and theater management. By this point, Emily wasn’t even going to try and fool herself into thinking she could see the connection. “Before the adult working world,” he sipped from his glass, “Our parents sent us to the same private school. Skybrooke?” Emily nodded attentively, deeply invested with a catalog to reference the exact detail in mind. Smile and nod. What the hell is Skybrooke? “She has her...quirks, but she’s a nice person, deep down. But for her to me? I dunno. Maybe she finds me tolerable?” With the sign of a grin, Emily was at least glad to hear he probably wasn’t a doormat to that woman. And quirks she did indeed have many. “Here.” Were her first words of return. Outstretched from Rebecca’s hand to Emily was a wine glass, but not filled with wine. It was filled with a frozen treat, drizzled in a thin wisp of chocolate, capped with scalped strawberries accompanied by skinned and sliced banana. As Emily found herself at a loss, the helpful cue was whispered in her ear next. “Rebecca’s idea of an apology...” Hank helpfully said. “...Take it or don’t,” Rebecca seemed composed, yet she seemed...uncomfortable? “I don’t care.” A gift from a queen? Emily perplexingly stared at the treat. It did look good, yet everything about this exchange was weird. A grown adult was trying to make peace through the offering of a dessert. Before the moment became too dragged out, Emily slowly accepted the glass. It’d be considered quite rude to refuse the Queen’s gift, wouldn’t it? Rebecca stood there for a moment longer, to the point where Emily started to think she wanted her to prove her sincerity by eating it right then. Thankfully that wasn’t the case though once Rebecca finally did take her seat once more. With amends apparently having been made, Hank continued to mediate the flow of conversation as they slowly crept upon their original pace, which wasn’t much to begin with at all. “...but in the end I guess it never really...” Hank was going on with his story about another financially unrelatable situation when his head started to follow something in the background. “What?” Emily tried to follow where his eyes went as infectious curiosity mandated. “...Nothing.” He shrugged. “Thought I recognized someone. If your girlfriend hasn’t told you already by the way, these dinner events are usually about the social aspect. Keeping everyone fresh in each other’s minds. A lot can be inside baseball, too.” “She did sort of say something like that...” Emily tried to reflect, but not for long until Rebecca’s glossy nails rhythmically tapped the cloth tabletop. “We use our words when we’re ready for another drink, you know...” Hank jokingly gave her the side-eye. “What?” Rebecca seemed to snap out of her trance then glance at her empty glass. “Sure, yes. I’ll take another glass.” “With a ‘please’?” He added a slight stretch to his voice just to prolong the teasing. “Red. The same bottle as the last,” she seemed to shoo him off without another look. And again, fate seemed to draw them together as Emily accidentally met Rebecca’s gaze from the other side of the table once more. “Bring Emily some, too.” Rebecca ordered her friend? “Same for you, Emily?” Hank paused to patiently ask her. “Uh…?” The hesitation in her voice was obvious. She hadn’t planned on drinking; this sort of thing was far too stressful for that. But...it was a weird time to take stock of things, yet in that moment all it felt like was sitting around with two decent friends. Maybe it was Rebecca’s gross immaturity or her snobbiness that made it all feel so unreal. An unsociable, unintentional bully who went red in the face as soon as her feet touched the coals. Then again, if she ordered a drink for Emily, was she starting to become part of “the gang” now? “Yes...please.” Screw it. Emily could fabricate a whole list of reasons for needing a drink right then. “Such manners!” Hank pretended to praise, albeit not to tease Emily, especially evident by the coy smile he gave Rebecca who only seemed to return a look of ire. “Be right back.” Hank was gone. “Your girlfriend really must be quite the busy body to misplace you so easily,” Rebecca passively commented. “I don’t suppose we should turn you into the lost and found?” Finally she smiled for once in the entire night Emily had been with her...even if it was by way of teasing. “Yeah, maybe...” Emily sighed, choosing to pass on the bait or instead regard it as unintentional mockery. But really, where was Joyce? The smallest amount of air started swelling in her mouth, favoring to push out her left cheek. “Karla, I’m glad to hear that things are going well,” Joyce cheerily nodded. She’d given this person exactly one minute of her time. Plenty. Generous, even. She should be grovelling for the saint that Joyce was; allowing such important seconds to slip through her fingers into the mediocre unimportant hands of others. “But, say...” She began, glad to be finished with useless talks of investment and prospecting. Who cared about the first ever hover car or working jetpacks? Did she think world hunger mattered more than Joyce’s own dilemma? “You wouldn’t happen to have seen a smaller girl around here, would you?” She maintained her bubbly inquisitive voice, internalizing all the annoyance and agitation every living obstacle seemed to be here. “Smaller?” Karla smiled, awaiting further explanation. “Black hair? Green eyes?” A bottom so round and so cute that it was a crime not to keep it padded? “She’s in a red dress?” Unfortunately not paired with a child leash. That’s the problem with jokes; they’re only jokes. She shook her head, the conniving bitch, so eager to waste Joyce’s precious time. “Sorry, can’t say that I have…Why, find yourself someone you wanna goad into a venture?” Karla started her laugh first, which Joyce did the same in unison, only she was already turning away, well-ready to punch the woman. Where is she?! I take my eyes off her for a single minute…! A business dinner much like Hank said is a chance for socializing and business dealings and opportunities. A chance for the rich to stay rich and perpetuate the inevitable lining of each other's pockets. During any business dinner at any time in Joyce’s life, she would not have hesitated to agree. That’s what these things are. That’s what they’ve all been for. But not tonight. Not this one. Instead, it’d become Joyce’s personal hell, having thrown her precious girl into a pit of lions that all have the audacity to feign ignorance as she tirelessly searches for which one ate her! She was supposed to be holding her hand the entire time...Why didn’t she just hold Emily’s plate for her? Tell Emily to point out the things she wanted? Christ! Why couldn’t these stupid events have a chaperone or something, or maybe an on-site police officer? This dance hall has speakers, so why wasn’t she hearing the call for a lost chi-- adult? What’s more, Joyce was acutely aware of Emily not having her phone. As much as Joyce was ready to shout aloud for Emily, even she had her own warped way of thinking that simultaneously felt the need to dote on Emily so heavily, yet maintain an outward appearance. Yes, it was twisted, and yes, Joyce was aware. As Joyce fought the raging battle inside herself, she could only assume that Emily was okay. What if she was crying? What if a stranger was talking to her? Wait, no, that’s normal at an event like this… But not for Emily! They’re all strangers! Find her! Find her! “Joyce, is that you?” A voice called. She spun on her heel with a trained smile. “Leonard, so good to see you!” A bubble rose in her chest with a fierceness, only for it to sputter out of her mouth as a sudden hiccup, throwing her entire torso forward. Where was she? Emily was slumped forward as she barely supported her head, chin resting in both hands. Rebecca herself still looked focused, yet her heavier blush likely spoke more of the alcohol in her system than any kind of embarrassment that could be found in the prideful lioness. “Sheesh late...” Emily slurred grumpily with a pout. She was no timekeeper, yet she was certain that exactly too-much-time-o’clock was certainly a bad time to not have shown up by then. Emily had done her job. Stay put. What had Joyce done? Who knows, but clearly it wasn’t good enough. “Just to let you know, I...” Rebecca seemed to lose her speech, finding the fuel needed with a final sip from her glass. “...I’m going to be charging for babysitting you so much tonight...” “Shaddup...” Emily groaned, too far from sober to remember formalities, not that either two drunk women seemed to care. “I’ll pay Hank...” She muttered as her head finally dropped with her hands, nuzzling into her forearm. Apparently alcohol was no caffeine stimulant. Not even adult beverages could save her from her hard limits. Quite easily the festivities of the night had gone beyond a time she was comfortable being awake at. “Alright...” Hank finished off his wine as he stood from his chair, commendably without a stumble of any sign. “Let’s go, you two. Before any of us are too intoxicated to get back to our rooms.” “Screw you...” Rebecca suddenly blurted aloud with her eyes not even remotely aimed at Hank. Her eyes widened with surprise only known to the inner workings of her drunk mind as she shocked herself into a laughing fit. “A-huh...” Hank waved off the words as they should have been, raising Rebecca from her seat with ease as he wrapped an arm around her waist. “You have your room key, right?” “F-....ffffuck you...” She murmured in her own headspace yet again, laughing loud enough to get a few momentary stares. “Really?” Hank still remained unimpressed. “I never get you to laugh, but all it takes is to be drunk and be the butt of your jokes...” He maneuvered his charge with him around the table. “Emily, can you get up? C’mon, I’ll take you back to your room. I’m taking Rebecca back, so I’ll take you too.” “No.” Emily meant to say it adamantly, yet it was more of a pout. “I’hm waiting for Joyce...She…” And for some reason she started to sniffle. “She said she wouldn’t leave me…!” The sad drunk started to whimper, bleeding into the personality of a stubborn toddler. “And she’ll be happy as can be once she sees you back at your room. Do you remember your room number? We’ll get you there.” “Mhm...” Emily nodded as she was already standing. So much for the crying fit about staying. Rebecca seemed to need a more hands-on approach as Hank continued to be firm with a grip on her waist. Emily stayed quiet, although holding Hank’s other hand as he led them through the crowd. Had she been of a sober mind, Emily would have certainly been upset, yet would have been forgiving once Joyce did finally see her. Instead of that, all she felt was the cloudy dread of being a poor doe unaccounted for. She wanted Joyce right then. This sucked. She somewhat had fun tonight, even if Rebecca was a pain at first, but the only thing that could solve her unease was getting back to Joyce. “Emily, what’s your floor?” Hank asked the quiet, daydreaming girl. “Fifteen...” She murmured as clear as can be, backed by zero confidence. It was a crapshoot trying to guess the floor even on a sober moment, much less one where half her brain seemed to function. Why fifteen? Because fifteen felt...like a number. Hank punched the number without question on the panel. Up they went. Once they reached the floor with a ding Emily stepped off first. Hank started the process of moving Rebecca who looked even more lurched over, only until she seemed to drag Hank’s suit jacket downard with all her body weight. “Rebecca...” Hank sighed as he stood in an awkward stance, trying to get her upright. “We can’t walk like this if you’re gonna--” A short-breathed grunt escaped Rebecca’s mouth. “G-gonna...” And as the words left her, so did her bile, reaching Hank’s ears as well as the substance reaching his pants did. Rebecca’s arms hung over her head as she was nearly ninety degrees bent over. Hank barely managed to hold her up as his face shuddered in surprise and disgust. “R-Rebecca...!” He cried at a sheer loss, well-conscious enough to know the pointlessness in scolding a drunk. “What the fu--!” He didn’t get to finish his sentence before the elevator doors closed. Emily stood there dumbly in the hallway, a place her room did not belong to, now separated from the other two. As she looked around the empty hallway, she scantly remembered why she even asked for the fifteenth floor. Was that the floor of their home back in the complex? Who knows. Too drunk to remember. She needed fresh air. It was too stuffy. It was hot… Opting for a different elevator, back down to the lobby she went. Thankfully her heels were short. They were like training heels compared to the ones she saw Joyce in. Emily could almost get away with normal footsteps, though needing to invest a slight bit more care in the way she walked, but thankfully within the means of her impaired mind. Her feet clicked across the mostly empty lobby, yet seeming to be a place of internationals and big business, there was always something going on, whether it be check-outs for an international flight, or check-ins for the exact same reason. She found a cozy bench beside the glass windows, sitting right near the entrance and exit as well as in front of the water fountain. Listening to the calming gush of water, leaning her head against the cool glass. It was nice. “Check her out...” A distant voice chuckled. “Think she had a good night?” He sounded as if he was speaking to someone beside him. “Oh, you’re right...Is she okay?” “Probably sleeping off a drink? We sort of do the same thing.” “Yes, but not in the middle of a hotel lobby; we should do something...” “I’m sure she’ll be fine? ” “Greg, don’t say that...Look, I’ll make sure she gets back to her room. Meet you back up at ours? Someone’s gotta put our food in the fridge anyways.” “You got it, boss woman.” It sounded like a salute as one walked farther away while a lighter set of footsteps came closer. Emily was dreamily dozing, half-asleep and half-awake, though she began to lose the former state of mind as a hand touched her shoulder. Emily hadn’t even the clarity to assume she was in danger or being assaulted as she lazily stirred and opened her eyes. “Hello?” A blurry face slowly set into sharpness. Emily needed to blink a few more times just to get things into focus. “What…?” Emily seemed to muster so casually despite them being a stranger. Maybe Rebecca’s interaction seemed to have desensitised her to new meetings. And just as things remained visually unknown for just a tinge longer, deep down, of course she hoped that it was Joyce. “Are you okay? Can you stand?” They asked her. “Are we going back up to the room…?” Emily murmured as she rubbed her eyes. Paired with too much drinking, she wasn’t used to being up this late. “I can take you back to your room, yes. Do you remember which floor?” “You forgot, too?” Emily yawned. Joyce’s touch felt lighter than she remembered. It didn’t feel as hands-on this time. She had half a mind to shove herself into the hand just to get Joyce doing it the right way again. “Well, you never told me...” The woman said at a loss. Emily frowned a little. That didn’t sound like Joyce… She finally fully opened her eyes, looking over. It wasn’t Joyce. “You’re not...” Emily frowned. “I’m...not?” The woman confusedly blinked behind her glasses. “Listen, I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink. Why don’t we go ask one of the staff to help you--” “Can I use your phone…?” Emily suddenly asked in a state of tired delirium. “To call a friend…?” She cautiously asked. “If you give me a number I can dial it for you?” Emily went quiet, biting her lower lip. She forgot Joyce’s number...for whatever reason, it slipped her mind. Digits went in some places, while others felt jumbled and scattered. Why couldn’t she think straight? Where was Joyce? She hiccuped, but not because of alcohol this time. “W-wait, don’t cry. What’s wrong? Hey, can you talk to me?” The voice continued to coax, yet Emily was a mess. She took a long, drawn-out sniff as she’d gone from a moment of peace to complete confusion once again. Why did she even go down to the hotel lobby? For a moment of relaxation? How did this get her any closer to being back home? All she wanted was to be in bed right now. She wanted Joyce to find her. Why wasn’t she here yet? She always found her! “What’s your name, hon? Can you tell me that?” “E-Emily...” She rubbed her eyes. The chandelier above was too bright… Where was a pillow she could just smother her face with? “Okay, Emily, what’s the name of your friend? I can go ask one of the hotel staff.” How likely of a needle in a haystack that could be, though. Lord if Emily could give her a last name to narrow the search. “Joyce...” Emily mumbled. “Joyce S-Summer...s...” “Joyce?” The confirmation was more than just that. Something else, like surprise? Or disbelief? Emily thought she nodded, or gave some kind of murmur as an affirmation. Either way, no more questions came her way, so she assumed that the job on her part was done. “Ms.Summers…?” She spoke next to Emily, though not at her. To someone else. Was she on the phone? “I...yes, I understand...I...yes, but, I think I found who you’re looking for...” She pulled the phone away from her ear. “Emily?” She fished for her attention as she put the phone up against her ear. “Emily?” A slightly hastened voice came from the other end. “Emily? Are you there?” “Joyce?” She answered back. It had to have been her, unless this stranger was able to pick apart Emily’s memories to manifest the perfect doppelganger to ever exist. There was a heavy sigh of relief from the other end. “Thank goodness...Where are you? I’ve been looking everywhere for you all night!” “I’m in the lobby...” Emily tearily yawned. Was she coming to get her now? She really did feel like a lost child. The day had been long and exhausting. She was done doing the heavy lifting. “Don’t move an inch. I’m coming right now. Put Sheila back on, please.” Emily lazily swapped her head to the other shoulder. “She wants to talk to you...” Emily yawned. It was hardly even a thought in Emily’s mind as she heard the name. Sheila. Maybe she’d heard it before, maybe she hadn’t. Too hard to tell at the moment if it bore any significance. Was that this woman’s name? How did she figure out Joyce’s number? “Ms.Summers?” Sheila put the phone back on her ear. “Yes, I can wait here. I’ll watch her, yes. I’ll see you once you get down here. Yes, understood.” She soon hung up afterwards. Emily had closed her eyes once more, nearly falling over onto nothing as she leaned the other way. Sheila thankfully was faster and pulled her back over to her, unceremoniously slumping her onto her own shoulder. This was certainly awkward, maybe helped the slightest bit by a modicum of familiarity. This. This was the final piece to the puzzle. The hidden cog that drove the machine. The arbiter of her boss’ mood, what dictated her whims and generosity. What decides whether it’d be a good day or a bad day for the people in wake of Joyce’s wrath. She looked over at the tiny titan with an odd sense of interest, finally seeing with her own eyes the hidden hand she thought she’d never see. Little Miss Summers herself. In the flesh.

Hey folks, another longer animation. Hope you enjoy!

Sorry, no ABDL on this one, but still another look from the creation lab! Went for a goth kind of look and I thought it wasn't too bad.

Hey everyone! If you do recognize my name at all it's likely from the tiny handful of stories that I have on here. I made a recent announcement on the Sheltered thread about how I'm getting into developing a game. While it's all good and fun, I think my art skills have gone from a solid 2 to a good 10 (out of 100). Improvements have been great, so I thought I'd share an animated piece I made as promo and to garner attention! For context, the character you'll see is the general style of how global sprites will look when in dialogue. Otherwise, you're a smaller sprite navigating a tiled map. Hope you enjoyed! Please share your thoughts and I hope to have your interest in my development! (Promo animations; her arms are missing because it's just a WIP)

Hey peeps! I apologize for the absence. It's no secret life does what life does best. I finished up the semester and swapped into full-time work and haven't had much time to write as of late, however I sometimes find little blocks to sneak some writing in. In addition to that, I've actually been working on a game! I'm very excited with how I'm improving in the art direction of things. There's a few reasons for my delay, but some can't be helped and others I think help me invest into my creative ability as a whole. Hoping to have a chapter of Sheltered around soon, my current one is almost done. Just to give you an idea though, here are some animated headshots from some character models! I apologize if stories are primarily your thing and not games, but the progress I feel that I've been making has been awesome and I want to at least tease a tiny something. If you're interested at all in the development on the game side of things, you can find some of my updates here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/foxtalestimes/wip-resource-thoughts-t1029.html Primarily it's sprite/character art at the moment, however there is a tidbit of a proof-of-concept for a bathroom function in the game. And if it wasn't clear, it will be an ABDL-themed game! If games aren't your thing, I completely understand, and only ask that you continue to be patient with me. Sorry for the silence, but I try to update frequently on this dev side of things!

Emily and Joyce will be having a lot of fun together in that sphere, but I can't promise to what extent that goes. Guess we'll have to see. Thank you for the comment and staying so invested! Beach house could be fun! It's alright for readers to make predictions or share their thoughts, but I can't imagine myself confirming any theories, but at best maybe dissuade some of them; I don't want to create any false expectations. Hmmm, that's an idea! Surely Emily could make a new career out of that! Thanks for commenting! Glad to hear people enjoy re-reading this! New chapter is soon! Promise! 33 - The New Routine Bewildered was Emily’s first instinctual response. As she tried to figure what’d just happened, she caught her tongue absentmindedly probing the flavored teat inside her mouth. She stared at Joyce’s back in silence, watching her work away. Her hand drifted to the ring of the pacifier, dangling her finger on it for a moment before pulling it out. “If I’d known how well that worked on you, I think I would’ve kept your paci on me a bit more often?” Joyce grinned as she peered over her shoulder. Emily wasn’t sharing the giddiness though as confusion reigned king in her mind. “What...what’d you do?” “I did what you asked me to do. I helped. Well, starting to help is a better way to put it.” She didn’t respond at first, but a small frown grew on her face as she looked at the baby trinket hanging from her finger. Not that she didn’t appreciate the gesture, but it wasn’t that simple… “I...thank you; but I’m serious, Joyce… What am I supposed to do?” “You’re supposed to relax for tonight,” Joyce calmly instructed, “and listen to how we’re going to make things better. You asked for my help, Emily, and of course I will give it to you, but you’re going to need to be open-minded about this.” Emily tripped over some hesitation before she spoke. “Open-minded…?” That felt oddly vague. Vague enough to remind her of what things were like right as they were just starting to explore their “alternate” lifestyle. Joyce turned from the stove and rested her hands on Emily’s shoulders. “Nothing you haven’t seen before. Just wrapped in a new bow.” Obviously Emily couldn’t fully decipher the meaning, but a sixth sense told her that the dedicated trip to the nursery for a single pacifier wasn’t some arbitrary thing. Joyce could see her looking down at the pacifier with a feeling of trepidation. Joyce gently lifted her gaze with a finger supporting her chin. “Don’t be scared. I’m not going to say I’ve thought of everything; this is something I really only started to play with recently. That being said, I don’t think what we’ll do is something you’ll hate. It’s just going to be...different.” “Different…? Joyce, I don’t get what you mean...” Emily expressed her concerns in the form of visual, yet Joyce’s comforting smile did not falter. “We’ll chat about it once we eat dinner, okay?” She cupped Emily’s cheeks as she kissed her forehead. “I just think maybe there’s a way we can change up the routine, is all.” She lowered her hand to raise the one Emily was using to hold the pacifier. “Why don’t you hang onto this for now?” “Joyce...” Emily thought she could see what Joyce was implying, and it honestly felt like a diminutive fix. “I’m not an actual baby...you can’t just...” She sighed a tiny bit, realizing that she was starting to contradict the very person she begged for guidance. “Pacifiers don’t solve problems for real babies, too, you know?” Joyce giggled as she took it from her hand. “Pacifiers do exactly what they’re called. They pacify,” she explained as she gently forced it back between Emily’s lips. “If you’re angry, sad, or even a little excited, think of this as a way to distract yourself or maybe an outlet to channel all that emotion? Emily, nothing meaningful has ever been done in a single day. You’ve been working so hard since the first day you lost your job, and I can’t tell you how proud that makes me. But now I want you to just calm down...and breathe.” Emily wanted to speak, to contradict or express her doubts, but she felt that if this imaginary spell was going to work, maybe she should stay gullible for at least a little longer. She took a moment and breathed through her nose, leaving the pacifier right where Joyce left it. “See?” Joyce stroked the top of her head. “We just spent a whole minute calming down, focusing on ourselves rather than anything unimportant!” Joyce chuckled. “We’re still doing just fine. You’re doing fine. We still have our house, and everything is as stable as it’s always been.” Emily had furrowed her brow, yet admittedly the crease in her forehead had lessened. “And you look like less of a worrywart now, too.” Joyce smiled. “Emily, I will never make light of your problems. Your struggles are mine just as much, but I need you to know that this isn’t as all-consuming as you might think. If I have to pull you aside like this to remind you of that, I won’t hesitate, understood?” Emily instinctually wanted to reply, but reserved herself to a visual nod. She did feel calmer now. It was more than enough for Joyce. “Good. We’ll have plenty of time to brainstorm during dinner and I can voice my suggestions then. For the time being though, just try not to have too many big thoughts, okay?” She tapped her finger on the plastic shield. “This is your friendly reminder. Stay small for a little bit. We’ll tackle things as we need to.” It was with reddened cheeks Emily continued to help make dinner. It was a weird limbo situation though. She wasn’t exactly Emily, but not Emmy either. As she helped cook with a pacifier in her mouth, Joyce still seemed to regard her as her normal self, albeit with a little more comfort in her words, like Emily needing handling with kid gloves in regard to her emotions. “Howh mush lohnger?” Emily found herself asking around the pacifier. The sentence was finished before she could regret the attempt as a pacifier accent seemed to override her speech. “Should be just a few more minutes,” Joyce flashed her an unperturbed smile, like the sight or sound itself wasn’t especially stimulating to Joyce, of all people, in any seeming way. Emily figured there to be some kind of teasing or sly comment, but it never came. Maybe it was her way of being considerate, or how to treat this as some kind of normal. If I need this, she probably doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it… Emily silently reflected. “Okay...” Joyce decided to untie and slip her apron off. “Emily? Could you put these back in the closet?” She asked as she held the apron out for her. Emily quietly nodded as she took her own apron off, but not quite before Joyce could give her a hand in undoing the knot behind her first. After she pulled it off, Emily was then hit with a one-two as Joyce briefly rested her arms on Emily’s shoulders, gently tugging the pacifier from her mouth and planting a kiss on her temple. “Thank you for helping me cook!” “I can always help...” Emily said in a shy voice as she walked over to the closet. As they ate, Emily couldn’t bring herself to have much conversation. Joyce did chat casually, like there wasn’t some impending bomb Emily expected her to drop at any moment. “What’s wrong?” Joyce asked with a concerned look. “Wait...it doesn’t taste bad, does it?” A look of horror started to consume her. “No, it tastes fine...” Emily mumbled with a slight grin as she angled her gaze closer to the table than Joyce’s eyes. “I’m just...a little scared...” “Scared?” Emily nodded. “I dunno...” She looked more clearly at her, “I’m just thinking that whatever it is that’s gonna happen...I might not like it cuz...it’s gonna scare me...” Joyce nodded thoughtfully, yet with stupefying clarification she asked, “So you’re scared that this ‘thing’ will scare you?” Of course when repeated through another mouth, Emily felt stupid… “Emily,” Joyce left a moment to get her full attention, “I don’t necessarily think you should stop looking for work; if that’s what you want, I respect that. However, I think you need to slow down your pace.” It was a no-brainer, yet the thought of any kind of delay did make Emily worry. It only made her think of all the potential opportunities she could have had, had she been any faster. It was the fear of missing out. “How...how slow?” Emily hesitantly asked. She didn’t figure there was a specific number in mind, yet she needed to know how deep this went. With, in fact, a specific number in mind, Joyce said, “An hour a day at most, kind of slow. And that’s for the weekdays only. Weekends I don’t want you stressing over that kind of stuff.” “An hour…? But that’s...” Emily had an idea in mind, yet Joyce’s figure grossly underbid her own. She was already spending the near entirety of her day job searching, and cutting it down to a mere fraction of that was essentially killing her chances altogether, wasn’t it? “With how things have been, Emily, I think that’s perfectly reasonable.” Joyce said firmly. “I’m going to be honest because I want to make a point to you: there’s absolutely no rush in you getting another job. I intend to be the breadwinner and I will be the financial support. Aside from that though, I’d never stop you from doing what you want, but I will regulate it, now that you’ve asked me to?” She smiled, but Emily was still looking conflicted. Emily tried to reason Joyce’s viewpoint. It was somewhat unfortunate, but Emily had always known before Joyce saying it herself that she couldn’t ever hope to financially compare. Joyce was the foundation, and whatever Emily contributed in that sphere likely couldn’t do nearly as much. Or rather, money was such an excess for Joyce that the concept of spending had become effectively bottomless, so what did it matter adding 1 to infinity? “Related to that,” Joyce continued, “I think this is a good chance to add some structure to your routine. Just because you aren’t working, that doesn’t mean a day can’t be productive? First and foremost, we’re going to decide on a time in the day when you can use the computer to job hunt-- Emily, don’t make a face.” Joyce paused herself just to scold the girl, who was starting to make a face… “I don’t need a specific time…!” Emily argued with a tinge of whine. It was one thing to be imposed with a harsh time restriction, but when she was allowed for it as well? “Yes you do,” Joyce gently, yet firmly contradicted, “otherwise you could be overlapping with all the other things that’ll keep your day busy?” The mention of other things surprised Emily a little, but she sort of expected it… But still, “What happens if I get an email, or a reply to a job offer or interview? I need to respond as soon as possible!” While this was constructive and it felt needed, Joyce’d be lying if she said that there wasn’t some element of “parenting” to this that she felt, and certainly enjoyed. “We can discuss that when it happens,” Joyce decided, “But until then, I won’t budge.” Emily felt defeated. There wouldn’t be any room for argument in getting that to expand. It was probably going to be the one thing of this entire bill that she wouldn’t negotiate on, given it being her greatest grievance... “What else…?” She asked her. Joyce quietly sighed, now arriving to the parts she wasn’t a fan of personally. It was likely trivial to Emily, but Joyce wasn’t excited about sharing her responsibilities, at least with Emily. In a power dynamic that poised Joyce at the top as the dominant caregiver, it felt wrong to make her charge participate, like giving her housework. “I...want to give you some chores to do on a daily basis.” “Chores…?” Emily asked, surprised. Joyce nodded. “Things like running the dishwasher, making the bed...vacuuming...” Now her lack of preparedness was starting to show. This was obviously something she didn’t want to dig into because she didn’t like the idea altogether. Yet, the duality was that it benefited Emily despite Joyce’s selfish suffering. “I don’t mind,” Emily spoke truthfully, “but...are you okay with it?” “Yes, I am,” Joyce smiled warmly as she lied through her teeth. “We can make a chart,” she did start to see the fun side of things, imagining a cute chore chart for Emily on the fridge, “and that can help keep you busy for at least a little bit.” Call it weird, but Emily didn’t mind the idea of housework. She said it herself and quite clearly that it was eternal boredom without Joyce, as well as tiring from job hunting. Not that she wanted to stop, but she knew her body needed to rest; she just needed someone to force her into it. “I can vacuum the rooms and wash the bedding?” Emily chimed in, better shaping Joyce’s ideas. “Mhm, that could definitely work,” Joyce nodded. “Oh, and I guess I could tidy up the nurse--” “Absolutely not.” Joyce didn’t look so friendly this time, like one of her prized assets was about to be attacked. “I want to be the one in charge of the nursery; I’m your mommy, after all.” The seriousness in her look was almost absurd to the point that the uninformed would be expected to laugh, or find the look on her face quite strange. Emily, however, instantly understood just how much it meant to her. In a strange way, giving these sorts of duties to Joyce was a big step for her, oddly enough… “O...okay...” Emily nodded, seeing that she nearly crossed a line. “Everywhere but there?” Joyce paused, considering any loopholes she may have left. “That’s fine. But, let me know if any of this feels like it’s too much for you, okay?” Her expression softened. “I don’t want to overload you...” “Joyce,” Emily gave a look that thought her to be a fool, “Up until recently I was working full time...I can do some chores.” She chuckled. “I know, I know...” She smiled, happy to see that at least Emily could make mention of it now without sour feelings. “Is that it…?” Emily asked, not implying whether she wanted more or not, just wanting to know in general. “...” Joyce took a bite from her food first. “It can be?” “What do you mean?” “I’d say we’re past the point of me getting to make decisions based on what I want. Now I want to include you; what we both want.” For once, Emily felt like she could see a little into Joyce’s headspace. “You mean, something related to the pacifier?” Again, she didn’t think that it was an unrelated, out-of-the-blue sort of thing. Joyce nodded. “To be honest, I think it might help you out a little.” And like that, Emily had fallen off the wagon. “How so…?” “We haven’t even mentioned your nursery once in the past week, Emily.” Joyce tried to hide her own frustrations, because she knew that this would be good for her as well. Deep down though, this idea wasn’t out of complete self interest. “I know we’ve had obstacles in the past, but I really want to give you a space in the day where you can just unwind; forget about the complicated stuff and focus on relaxing.” “What about you?” Emily asked after a moment of silence. “I don’t want to talk about me because I don’t want it to influence you,” Joyce said, “I want you to be selfish, Emily.” What she wasn’t sharing were the benefits she’s reap from this as well. It wasn’t any secret to herself that Emily being in poor sorts lately has affected Joyce and her attitude at the office. Nothing jeopardizing, but more than anything she simply wanted their old dynamic back, if not toned up a bit. “How would that work…?” She asked hesitantly. “Well, I guess it’d start once I get home from work each day. Assuming that all the chores have been done by then, we’ll go to the nursery and get you all set up. For the rest of the night you’ll get to be my baby girl.” “What about in the morning, though?” Emily asked, already wondering what was to be done with her diaper. Joyce did leave early in the morning, after all. “I’ll make sure to get you into some panties before I leave,” Joyce chuckled, “I feel pretty confident that you’ll sleep through it anyway.” “Yeah, but, if we do it every day...doesn’t that mean I won’t ever have a chance to have…’grown-up’ time around you?” She most certainly didn’t like that. Being a baby was fun, but it wasn’t a complete end-all be all. She needed some kind of breathing room around Joyce. “You most certainly will. First and foremost, you’ll always be the one that decides if we’re going to do it that night. If you say ‘yes’, we go to your nursery, but if it’s a ‘no’, you won’t hear me mention it until the next day. Emily, even when you are my little girl, there’s nothing stopping you from asking or talking about what you want, you know? The way I see it, all we’re really doing is giving you a space that discourages that sort of thing, but it’s not like you can’t be yourself. This isn’t meant to be you putting on an act; I want this to be an outlet for yourself.” “It is,” Emily found herself agreeing almost immediately, “but...I dunno. Maybe too much of a good thing is a bad thing? I guess we haven’t really tried...” “Maybe, but if we might have those kinds of limits, this is a safe way for us to explore them. At any point you make it clear that you want to stop, we stop.” They ate some more as Emily took a deep breath, finally starting to fully wrap her head around everything. She didn’t expect this sort of thing to be the rest of her life, but she knew that it was going to be like this for at least a little bit. Her bias still couldn’t shake the urgency she felt to strive for “adult” things, but she finally caved and Joyce was telling her to stop, so stopping she ever so reluctantly was. “So it all starts tomorrow…?” She asked as Joyce started to clear up their spaces. “I think it’d be best,” Joyce offered, but added much more resolutely, “but regardless, your computer time is still being limited.” Emily limited her disappointment to her mouth as she nodded. In that case, tomorrow would go back to being the sucky status quo she’d already found herself in if there wasn’t anything at all to do. “Then let’s start tomorrow.” Emily agreed. “And about the second half we discussed,” Joyce explained as she came over to wipe Emily’s face in a casual manner, “you are always in control, and like I said, you always decide whether we’ll do it or not, but...please give me a gentle reminder if I accidentally get pushy after a while...” “You mean if we haven’t done it in a bit?” She asked, wiping the residue of water off her mouth. Joyce nodded with a slightly bashful look. “We’ve talked a lot about how I can sort of lose control, and I know you understand how I can get, but...it’s still sort of embarrassing.” “It’s okay if it happens,” Emily smiled, “I mean, I’d rather not be asked every few minutes, but if its been what you think is a long time, please let me know; I...I get it that this is supposed to be for me, but it’s obviously something for you, too.” Need she remind Joyce that she was the one who pulled her into the rabbit hole first? “That sounds good to me.” Joyce nodded her head. “I love you so much, you know?” “...I love you too.” Emily reciprocated with a goofy smile and reddened cheeks. It still elicited a fuzzy feeling in her chest just to hear and say those words. They came in together for a hug and embraced one another, yet as they shared an intimate moment, it was disrupted by a loud, sniffing. Emily turned her head up to see a flaring nostril. “Uh...what?” Emily giggled. “Uh huh,” Joyce seemed unimpressed, “thought so.” “Thought what?” “I thought that you didn’t take a shower or bath today.” The realization made Emily freeze up. She sniffed herself, not finding any sort of foul odor, but at least not a freshly imbued either. “I...was busy?” “You were distracted,” Joyce disapproved. “We’re adding baths to your schedule, too. Come on, off we go,” she waved her hand to motion Emily ahead first. “Showers are faster!” Emily complained with a sense of play, although she did feel a tiny bit embarrassed. “Showers are for big girls that can keep themselves squeaky clean. I need to take my time with you!” She laughed after catching Emily’s grin. “Besides, I wanna monopolize every second I can get with you!” They both entered the bathroom. Everything was at peace again as Emily and Joyce were dressed in their pajamas, sitting on the bed, specifically Emily in Joyce’s lap as she kept a towel wrapped around her head. Both were on their phones, only Joyce’s torso was a bit taller which allowed her phone to not block Emily’s. Both were quietly browsing up until there was a sigh from Joyce. “What?” Emily asked as she comically turned her gaze up to the ceiling. “I just got some news from Sheila...” Joyce explained with a glum attitude. “Remember that business dinner my mom asked me about?” Emily did her best to rack her brain, but nothing of substance was bubbling to the top. “Uh...” “I have a business dinner coming up this week and I knew it’d be a late night, but I wasn’t expecting it to turn into something overnight...” “What do you mean?” Emily started leaning back to dig her head into Joyce. “The dinner’s at a hotel,” Joyce wrapped her arms around Emily’s waist and flopped on her back. “It’s a nice hotel, but of course the host thinks that he’s doing some of us guests a favor by buying us our own rooms for the night. You’d think people would stop doing that by now…?” She mostly complained amongst herself, because the concept of buying someone a hotel room for the night seemed like a gesture beyond Emily’s purse strings. “Can’t you just turn it down?” Emily partly lifted herself to turn over and rest her chin on Joyce’s sternum. “It wouldn’t look good,” Joyce said as she paused to groan, “being given a room usually means that there’s going to be some kind of breakfast in the morning...at least with this guy.” “Maybe he has a thing for you?” Emily cheekily giggled, but Joyce didn’t outwardly laugh. “Well, if he tries to make a move like that, I’ll just explain that I’m too busy managing your naps and bedtime...” She carried away with the thought like it was an honest threat. “Take a joke!” Emily giggled as the smile did eventually come to Joyce’s face. “What kinda host is it?” “He manages breweries. I can’t say I know much about the business behind alcohol, though.” Joyce gave a ‘no idea’ kind of look. “I don’t think I’m someone special to him, though; he does this for just about any big head that gets invited to his stuff.” “So you’re a big head?” Emily asked, sneakily prodding for information on Joyce. “I’m a mommy who played her cards right.” She smiled as she deflected the chance for inquiry, yet went back to frowning. “But, if he makes me stay the night, I’m not going to be back to spend the night with you!” Now it sounded as if a grave injustice had been committed. Emily didn’t exactly look pleased either as she shrugged. “It’s okay...It’s only one night, and it sounds like this is for your reputation?” “It is...” Joyce bit her lower lip in thought. “You...you could always come with me?” Joyce perked up at the realization. “Huh? Go to the business dinner with you?” Emily looked a tad bit nervous. “I don’t wanna intrude on that kinda stuff...” “You wouldn’t be intruding on anything,” Joyce patted the top of her toweled head. “Believe me, plus ones are more common than not. If anything, you’d help me stand out less?” Emily’s mind couldn’t help but drift to a slightly more sensitive area though. “Yeah but...even if you’re dating another woman…?” Joyce didn’t seem to be fazed, however. “I don’t think it’d affect much?” Joyce chuckled. “Really, all that worries me is the other thing about us going public. Which it won’t,” she reassured Emily and herself. “I might just surprise a few people in my spheres,” she giggled. “Most importantly, I would be a little excited at the idea of showing you off…?” “Showing me off? Like I’m a prize or something?” Emily asked with intrigue. “Other than the person themselves, one of the most fun parts about having a lover is the exclusivity,” Joyce smiled even wider as she leaned her head forward to kiss her. “I get to show everyone how stunning you are and make it abundantly clear that no one else can have you. It goes both ways, you know?” “What would I even say?” Emily asked. “I mean...I dunno if I could handle trying to socialize with any sorta bigwigs...I imagine if we weren’t dating and I just met you, you’d probably be sort of intimidating...” “That’s why you’d be on a tight leash the whole night?” Joyce offered as a solution. “Where I go, you go, vice versa. There’d be lots of yummy food there, too...” She added with coyness. “Like buffet food?” Emily asked with a neutral face. Unfortunately, those never seemed to be too stellar. A bunch of heated aluminum trays filled with lukewarm food. “Dunno, but I’d wager the food you’d have there is better than mine; probably a little above Carmine’s?” Above Carmine’s? That was setting the bar, and Emily falling for the bait was showing. “...I don’t even have a dress ready...” Now she was simply being difficult for fun. Joyce rolled her eyes. “Like you haven’t been pampered like a princess already. Of course you’ll have something to wear! Now come on; wanna come, or do you want to make me lonely for the entire night?” “Fine, fine...I’ll go.” “Great!” Joyce smiled with a giggle. “I’ll ask Amy about getting us a child leash, and--” “Shut-uuup!” Emily groaned, rearing her head back to devour her prey like a beast as she smothered Joyce with a kiss on the lips. Joyce could only flash her teeth with a squeamish noise of glee as she unwrapped the towel from Emily’s head just so she could run her hands through her hair. “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see you be so playful!” It was her way of saying how great it was to finally have her away from the computer. “Yeah, well, you didn’t give me much of a choice...” Emily said light-heartedly, but there was some truth to it. “Shush,” Joyce pressed a finger on her lips. “You’re going to be absolutely fine. Now let’s get to bed already; I feel like it’s been a millennia since we both went to bed at the same time!” As Joyce leaned over for the lights, Emily oddly found herself scanning her gaze across the bed, feeling like there was something missing. “Oops, almost forgot him!” A voice could be heard as a stuffed mochi fell into the valley between Emily and Joyce’s bodies. “Where’d he go?” Emily asked, truthfully forgetting their last meeting. “You left him in the bathroom,” Joyce grinned, “I made sure to blow-dry him, though; it was a little humid there...” “Since when do you dry off mochi?” Emily laughed. “Since they started having hair.” Joyce played along, but realism quickly caught up with her mind. “Actually...” she wore a slightly grossed out look, “hairy sweets doesn’t exactly sound all that great...” Emily shuffled herself closer against Joyce in bed. “And I’m supposed to be the silly one...” “No, no, don’t worry, you still definitely are...” Joyce stretched as she found a comfortable position, one that involved Emily’s head nuzzled close against her chest. Most certainly for Emily, it felt like the greatest sleep she’d had in a millennia. Emily, Good morning! I made sure to give you a big big kiss before I left for work! Today’s the first day we’re trying out a new routine, and I haven’t made anything official yet, so I wanted to leave you a note. Today, I want you to do a couple chores around the house. 1. Make the bed (Tug the corners of the bedding to get out all the wrinkles!) 2. Vacuum the living room (I already plugged it in the wall by the TV for you!) 3. Make yourself some lunch (You’ve earned it!) 4. Call me at 12:30PM (I need my recharge!) *5. 1:00-2:00PM You may use the computer for job searching (This one is OPTIONAL!) 6. Put our clothes in the washer at 3:30PM. (I have the washer all set for you, just press the ‘Start’ button. I’ll take care of the rest when I get home!) 7. Don’t cry too much from missing me! (30 more minutes!) 8. Wait 30 minutes 9. Give me the BIGGEST hug you can when I walk through the door! Make sure you don’t overexert yourself today, okay? Call me right away if there’s something you don’t understand or if you just wanna hear my voice! I love you so so so so so so much! XOXOXO - Joyce ❤ Emily had never seen Joyce write this letter, or any kind of letter, so there was room for it being a fake message and from someone else, yet...as she finished reading with a stupid grin on her face, she knew it couldn’t be anyone but the very Joyce herself. It was a lot of words and a lot of love for really three small things to do in the house, padded out by her own interests, as well as keeping herself fed and speaking with Joyce. Hopefully her list of tasks would expand, but for now this was a start. Leaving the small note on the kitchen table, Emily walked over to the fridge to at least have breakfast before washing up to start the day. She tended to those exact things, noticing the vacuum sitting by the wall as she passed through the living room, and first moved back into the bedroom. The bed wasn’t a complete mess, but obviously it had just been slept in. Trying to channel what would have been her working energy into housley duties, Emily took the route of completely stripping the top of the bed just to neaten it down to the very sheets. Overkill most likely, yet Emily felt that if she was too average about it, she’d be out of things to do in a matter of minutes. And while she worked she started to think to herself on the lack of things to do. If Emily could estimate it, even if she gave her all for these tasks, which she planned to, there’d still definitely be time in excess...time she could use to browse on the computer… Her mind felt a little at odds with her heart though. She agreed with Joyce that she’d have designated computer time… But if it were in moderation, maybe? And, as long as she got the stuff done on the list that she wanted, wouldn’t it bolster her case that she could balance both things? Prove she didn’t have to be so restricted? As she reorganized the bed, it was coming closer to a decided conclusion… One honest and thorough vacuuming later it wasn’t even time for lunch yet; just shy of two hours off. As expected, Joyce gave her an ample amount of time. Strangely finding herself looking out for anyone in the apartment that didn’t exist, Emily crept off to the office. Untouched, Emily sat down in the chair. She wiggled the mouse and the screen came to life. Just maybe thirty minutes to check on my emails and stuff… Maybe look at a few postings… Despite it being just another day in the office, Sheila was glad to see that her boss seemed a bit more alert and on task today. It was as if her earlier troubles had sorted themselves out. Either than, or maybe she’d detached herself from the person that she told her about. Either way, her performance was back to where it usually was, and that was a good thing. “Oh, Sheila, that’s right,” Joyce said as she accepted her scheduled drink, “I guess I am staying at the hotel the night of the dinner.” She said it with a smile, which didn’t flag as a problem for Sheila, but it did seem a tinge of strange. She’d never known her boss to be exactly glad over gestures like that. Maybe the first few times, but they tend to add up to the point of being an inconvenience. Sheila didn’t always accompany her, but even from the sidelines it was sort of understandable… “That’s good to know,” Sheila nodded as she made a note on her phone. “I’ll make sure to confirm your reservation later today.” “Thank you. Oh, one more thing, can you make sure that the reservation is for two?” “Two?” Sheila asked, signaling it as confirmation for her ears, but she was honestly surprised. She nodded with a faint glow on her face, like the sun itself was shining from her imagination. “Oh, and that also reminds me; do you want to come, too? I heard that the food is going to be good?” “I appreciate the offer, Ms.Summers, but I’d rather not impose on something like that… If it were for work-related things though, I’d be willing...” “I wouldn’t want you to work the night of a dinner,” Joyce waved off the notion. Truthfully, everything with Emily had put her in a good mood. She was feeling generous, and Sheila’s hard work was always due for some kind of reward. “What if I put you up in a room, at least?” Joyce continued to press, then she remembered hearing from Sheila something on a not so great night. “You and your boyfriend? It’s the least I could do for all your hard work?” And need she mention all the things that she asked of Sheila in excess… “Ms.Summers, I couldn’t do that to you. I really do appreciate it, but we don’t need to--” “But I want to?” Joyce pushed. “I don’t want you to.” Sheila said politely, but firmly. Joyce resisted a grin. Fortunately and not so fortunately, she didn’t fold like Emily usually would. “You haven’t taken any vacations this year yet, right?” Joyce asked. If there was one thing she certainly could remember about Sheila, it was the times that she wasn’t there, awfully because those were so few and far between. “How about that then? You take the day off and I give you and your boyfriend a hotel room? Is it not a nice hotel?” “It is...but if I’m going to be there, I should be on the clock to help--” “But if you were on the clock, how could I get you to justify accepting my generosity?” Joyce raised an eyebrow. “Sheila, let me pay you back a little for everything that you do?” Accepting gifts wasn’t Sheila’s strongest suit. They were nice, but as the supporting role for so long, minimal recognition had simply been the norm. To disrupt that was...well, disruptive. “I...suppose I can ask my boyfriend...” Sheila gave no definitive answer. She wasn’t going to try and talk her boyfriend out of it, but she still didn’t feel wholly comfortable. Maybe it was weird to think, yet it felt like she hadn’t done anything to earn it? Which objective was being extremely modest, given just how much Sheila considered her tasks to be the status quo. And on another note, a dog sitter would be in line as well. “Good!” Joyce nodded with approval. “You don’t have to come to the business dinner, but try to go out to eat? Do something fun; collect receipts for me. I’ll reimburse you for everything.” “I can’t do that!” Sheila raised her voice a little, quickly composing herself. “A room is more than enough, Ms.Summers. I can’t take advantage of you. It’d be a day off, anyway?” Joyce sighed, but still looked happy to have made progress. “Well, if you can go, that’s great; book yourself a room, don’t be stingy, because at the minimum I’m at least paying for that. From there, just let me know if there’s any other kind of bill.” It was most certainly all a definitive maybe in Sheila’s mind, yet gratitude was of course in need. “Thank you for being so generous, Ms.Summers...” “Thank you for always keeping me afloat,” Joyce smiled. Be it in the office or the home, she always seemed to have someone supporting her now. Sheila excused herself while Joyce continued with her work with a drink to help her move along. It was already a regular thing for her, but especially now she was eager to get back home. All the little things she wrote on the note that was left for Emily made her heart flutter and fueled the excitement she was having just to walk through the door. Would Emily really be waiting to give her a hug? She couldn’t wipe a silly grin off her face just from thinking about it. But before that’d even happen, there was also the time that she’d get to talk to her; in all honesty, that was her favorite. It was like a small recharge that she could use to power herself through the rest of the day. Will she call first? Joyce had her guesses, yet continued to play the innocent schoolgirl as she worked away. As her fingers moved so did the time, passing and passing, broken up by a few more talks with Sheila and hearing from other executives. No official meetings yet, thankfully. But, beyond all that boorish routine, the clock was finally arriving at noon-thirty and it was just about time to talk to Emily. Maybe she was making a big deal out of it, but Joyce still made sure that her phone was in clear sight just in case if the ringing somehow didn’t catch her attention. Once it was past a couple minutes, Joyce set aside her work, paying direct attention to her phone. “Maybe she’s busy…?” Joyce quietly murmured, lifting up her phone. She knew she was being overly punctual. Maybe just a few more minutes. 12:35 12:39 12:44 12:49 Finally, Joyce was somewhat frowning with a concerned expression. While there wasn’t much experience to make a fair judgement on something like this, Emily didn’t seem the type to forget about calling her. Giving up on the waiting game, Joyce dialed for Emily on her phone. Emily finally remembered to blink as she rubbed her eyes a little. She was in the midst of writing another cover letter. Easily this is what ate away at her the most, namely because it forced her to exercise her writing muscle, of which she had so little of. Unbeknownst to her, the time she’d been on the computer grossly passed 30 minutes over 2 hours ago. After a good night’s rest her body felt refreshed to find the rhythm again that put her in such a sorry state all over again. Not only that, but the rhythm apparently involved a faint vibrational buzzing noise now, yet it pulsated with its noise. Emily stopped for a second to see if she was hearing things, which she assumed she was, because eventually it did stop. “...I’ll just finish this letter, apply to the other position, then it should probably be time to call Joyce...” She muttered to herself, tracking the time on a sense of feeling rather than visual observation. A missed call. Joyce didn’t like the sight of that. Now it really fell out of Emily’s habits. She tried calling again, but it rang right up until the voicemail. Was everything okay at home? Did something happen? Or maybe she just fell asleep… With that in mind, it certainly was likely. Yet still, losing out on her chance to hear from Emily put a visible frown on her face, like a promised surprise that wasn’t going to happen. Finally though Joyce had enough of the pointless thinking. She navigated through her phone until she had her snapshot back into the apartment via the security cameras. She didn’t have any plans to snoop on Emily, she just wanted to make sure that she was okay… Though, there wasn’t anyone to be found. At least, not in the kitchen, not the living room, not the guest room, not even their own bedroom? While the nursery had no camera inside of it, a funny coincidence considering it wasn’t initially planned to be one, it was locked, and only Joyce had a key. There was only one place left to check, but obviously she wasn’t going to be in there. After all, she had no business there until… And yet of course, there she was. Joyce’s concern shriveled up as soon as she saw Emily, absorbed yet again on the computer as she typed away. She couldn’t see what Emily was up to, but if Joyce could guess, it was an answer she would not be happy with. She sighed as she put down her phone, feeling what she’d best equate to disappointment. Emily had promised her, and by some way or another she had convinced herself to break it. Was she mad at her? No, of course not, but it meant to Joyce that she was apparently being too soft. “Done...” Emily sighed as she somehow found a moment of reprise in the vicious cycle of job hunting. It was long enough for her to check the time, instantly feeling a worrisome feeling in her chest. It was nearly 2:30. All she could wonder in a panic was where the time had gone. Like a cold splash of water she was sober of her technological addition and rapidly closed everything on screen. “Shit…! I was supposed to call her!” Emily realized far too late as she practically jumped out of the chair. “Phone, phone?!” She shouted for the inanimate companion, feeling even worse as that distant buzzing she thought to be mindless noises was actually an important call. It was laying on the nightstand in their room where she had left it while making the bed. Sure enough, her heart sank even further once she saw the missed calls from Joyce. Just as she was about to call her, she stopped for a moment. What if it was a bad time to call now? She could be in a meeting or something? Emily stared down at the screen with a troubled look. Knowing Joyce, she was probably worried; she would want to hear from Emily in some way at least. If not call, then… TO: JOYCE Emily: I’m sososososososo sorry! I was supposed to call!! She sat on the bed nervously with her knees pulled into her chest. Call it a small growing dependency, but she was kneading her toes into the top of Pip who had been nearby. A few minutes later and a reply came. Joyce: I’m in a meeting right now… can’t really talk. Were you sleeping? Apparently she was right about the meeting part, which made her sigh with relief that she did choose to text her instead. But in her text, there weren't any warm or fuzzy words. She was busy, so it made sense why there wouldn’t be, yet Emily couldn’t help but let her guilty conscious already see it as a targeted message. And that part hurt the most. The thought of disappointing Joyce. It was supposed to be day one. The start of something new; rehabilitation. And yet she’d already gone and blown it. What would Joyce think? Emily was better than this. She should know better. She could do better. She was certain to… So,.with a lesson like this already taught to herself...if Joyce didn’t know, maybe it’d be better to just forget about it just this once…? It was a good scare for Emily and it still left Joyce happy. That being said, she’d have to be extra sure to make it up to Joyce when she got home, even if she doesn’t know the full story… Emily: Sorry...I dozed off after vacuuming… The guilt she felt was immeasurable, yet she knew it was a plausible explanation. She wasn’t lying maliciously; it was a white lie… Joyce did it all the time too, didn’t she? So how was this any different? They both had their secrets, so, this was fine...It was okay… There wasn’t any response, and Emily left it alone with the assumption that Joyce didn’t have time to get back to her. Feeling scared straight now, Emily avoided the office like the plague as she tried to keep herself busy. Just to make herself feel like she was still a good person, she tried to adhere to Joyce’s list by making herself lunch even if it did come late. Even if she was being an adult right now, she knew the exact feeling she was going through right now. Naughtiness. Not the sexy, fun kind. But the remorseful, troublesome one. It was what made her feel so small right then despite it being an honest mistake… Everything was going to be fine, yet she lied to Joyce to keep the peace and seemingly got away with it. She tried to forget about it as the day went on, calming down as the time passed… Joyce didn’t move for a second as she stared at the door leading into the apartment, but braced herself for whatever, given what she saw this morning over the cameras. Upon opening the door there was no one waiting for her at the entrance. She frowned a little, honestly disappointed, even if it was sort of joking that she wanted a hug when she came back. I totally wanted one… She silently pouted in her head. Turning around she closed the door and slipped off her heels. “Welcome...BACK!” A loud voice shouted with a wavering quiver as it came with a burst of energy. Joyce slightly stumbled to the door once a pair of arms assaulted her from behind, wrapping tightly around her waist. “E-Emily?” Joyce chuckled as she tried to turn her head around, yet her eyes widened as she saw what she thought she did. With a beet-red face Emily was pressing herself up against Joyce firmly, eyes sealed shut and keeping her lips pursed. While it was strange to see her like that despite the loud and energetic voice, it started to seem more forced than casual once Joyce noticed her distinct lack of clothes. No shirt, pants, nothing. Not even underwear. “W-welcome home...” Emily hugged tighter still from behind as her feet touched the cold slate of the shoe area. Joyce finally worked her hands off of her so she could swap for a frontal hug, which Emily continued to embrace strongly like her modesty depended on it. “H-hello to you too...” Joyce still kept an awkward expression, clearly not expecting this to be her greeting home. “Emily...why are you naked?” “C-...cuz I felt like it...” She tried to look pouty with a protruded lip and pupils to the side, yet her furrowed brow and tomato-red cheeks seemed to sorely contradict whatever act she was trying to go for. Joyce figured there was more to whatever game she was playing, but she also figured Emily was too embarrassed to put it all out into words at once. “Uh...huh?” Joyce smiled a bit, finding a bit of control again once it became obviously clear that Emily was struggling so dearly to be off-the-cuff. “And what’s the reason for that?” “Be...cuz...cuz I...I put all my panties in the wash,” Emily says with a weak ‘hmmf’, already abandoning her stubborn, cool-guy attitude for a different, logical progression kind of trope. Her foreplay was crumbling on account of being too embarrassed to actually carry it out. “All of them…?” Joyce seriously considered it for a second, then had a change of tune once she remembered her own promise. Was this her way of saying that she was ready for baby time? “Well, in that case, it doesn’t sound like you’ve got any panties to wear, huh?” Joyce said, repeating Emily’s own words, yet with a hammer and stake to solidify the loose logic Emily had laid out so hastily. “Y-yeah…?” Emily started to confirm with diction, yet it fell apart just as fast into a question. Had this been a stage production Joyce would have scolded her for making it sound like she herself was the mastermind, but she let it slide on account of her benevolence. “Yes, that is what it sounds like. And you certainly know that my panties won’t fit you either?” Emily had slowly been burying her face into Joyce, still in absolute personal disbelief she had willed herself to fling at Joyce butt-naked. Hopefully this was giving the effect she wanted… “Mhm...” Joyce tutted, slowly pulling Emily back by the wrists to bring her full naked self into view. Emily was like a stumbling doe, nearly slipping over as she tried to follow Joyce’s movements yet simultaneously keep her knees together to mask her crotch. “Now, now,” Joyce gave a stern look, “it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” she chided. And with extreme reluctance and a small whimper, Emily did shakily pull her knees apart. It was hard to believe she thought that she could pull a bratty act on Joyce while looking like this. Joyce exaggerated a long sigh. “Well since it’s come to this and you’ve gotten rid of all your big girl undies, I guess that really only leaves us with what really seems to be the more appropriate choice for you, doesn’t it?” Emily quietly nodded with shaky legs. “Uh...uh-huh...” And as Joyce looked at her with a waning shock factor, she remembered that Emily already had broken her promise by using the computer so early today. Keeping that in mind, it may have made a little sense as to why Emily was acting so brazenly right now. Maybe working extra hard for brownie points to cushion the moment Joyce inevitably found out? That is, assuming she hadn’t already... Fine. If Emily wanted to do this on account of guilt, Joyce would let her. “And what would that be?” Joyce asked as she crouched to come eye to eye with the embarrassed, naked girl. “Hm? Tell me,” she smiled, “Since you were a silly girl and lost all your panties in the wash, what does that mean you have to wear now?” “D-diapers...” Emily managed to say, but not without looking away. A few fingers found her chin though as they steered her gaze back at Joyce. “I can’t hear you if you look away, honey,” Joyce put on her best chuckle, the kind of laugh a gentle villainess would use. But in Joyce’s headcanon, this was all perfectly justified. “Go on, what do we need to put you in? Say it clearly.” “D-...diapers...” Emily said once more, only quieter as she did her best to look straight on, her face feeling hotter than it had ever been before. “That’s right!” Joyce beamed. “Diapers! Thick, cushy diapers for my little girl,” she smiled as she raised her hand along Emily’s wrist to turn it into a holding of hands than a dragging of the wrist. Though it was virtually the same as Joyce assumed the lead in walking to the nursery. The door was unlocked in a matter of seconds, and Emily was right on the changing table not much long after. It’s been too too long! Joyce practically screamed in her head. She wanted to squeal with joy that they were finally using this space again, like they’d finally opened back up to their other halves after so long. It was like giving oxygen to just a single lung; it was wrong, unnatural, and unsustainable. “Where did we ever get the idea of letting you get to have panties?” Joyce tutted as her outward, stern persona continued. “Maybe I’m the silly one for entertaining it...” “Y-yeah...” Emily filled the space with whatever sounded most agreeable as her head felt fried from the overstimulation. Regardless, Joyce seemed to be in a good mood, so Emily considered it a success, especially because she looked like she didn’t find out about the computer, nor she had any suspicions… Mission successful? Joyce took a long breath as she smiled down at Emily from above, leaning over to take a diaper out of the basket. She giggled so sweetly as she knew this was going to be a great night; making good on the lovely, special diapered cuddles and adorable moments she’d been starved of for so long. And all the same, she’d get to force a confession out of Emily. Emily’s generally embarrassed look froze a little as she heard Joyce chuckle and say, “Ohh Emily...my sweet, sweet, adorable girl. My naughty, misbehaving little girl...” It was all in good fun, but there wouldn’t be fun without scolding. As Emily laid there, the words felt out of place with how things had been moving. But they weren’t, and she knew that. The invisible chains of fate seemed to bridge her left-field comments to something she did this morning… Something she wasn’t supposed to do. “So,” Joyce continued with still a rosy expression, “Would you like to tell me what you did first? Or should I think of my own punishment instead?” There was the pleasant hum as Joyce cooked. Dinner would be ready soon and it will have been their first day trying this new routine. And so far, all things considered, it has gone pretty well. “J-Joyce…?” A sniffling, whimpering Emily moaned. “Yes, hon?” Joyce turned her head with a smile, facing the back of Emily’s head. “I’m...” her voice trembled and was on the verge of tears. “I’m really sorry…!” She sobbed as she started to turn her head. “I know you are,” Joyce tried not to laugh as she left the stove for a moment. “But keep that nose in the corner for ten more minutes,” she said as she gently steered Emily’s face back to the point where the two walls met. “Sorry...” Emily moped, sounding even more disgusted and disappointed in herself. “It’s alright. Once you finish your punishment, all is forgiven.” Joyce said a bit more compassionately as she straightened the waistband of Emily’s diaper, then walked back to the other end of the kitchen. Funnily enough, once Joyce “confronted” Emily in the nursery, not more than a few seconds passed until Emily was an absolute mess. She couldn’t have spilled the truth any faster if she tried. Joyce mentioning a punishment was sort of a joke, but...obviously what Emily had done meant a lot to herself. Joyce was a little disappointed about what happened at first, though it felt unnecessary once she could see how much Emily was beating herself up over it already. Then comes the more unusual part of the aftermath; the timeout. Emily was like a puppy that needed something to chew on. Or as another metaphor, she needed to “atone for her sins”, which wasn’t a lot, but maybe she’d feel better after? In other words, Emily essentially asked for a timeout… And as a passing thought which did make Joyce smile to herself was the likeness to an actual toddler. Then again, with the way Emily seemed to reflect so heavily, maybe even she’d give an actual kid a run for their money. From Emily’s perspective, it was thirty minutes in a scorching hell. String her up, torture her by any means, pull out her teeth, pull out her tongue; anything! She couldn’t believe what she had done. She had promised Joyce, she told herself that she was going to commit to this. And yet, she failed on day one? Not only that, which was offensive on its own, but also her attempts to lie about it and hide the truth from Joyce. She was absolute scum. She deserved this. Only the lowest of the low deserved a punishment like this… And again, back to Joyce’s perspective, all she could see was her girlfriend slouched over in the corner, looking like she had a teary scowl on her face. Under the guise of boiling water, Joyce sighed with a smile as she muttered, “My little crybaby...” “Okay, Emily?” Joyce spoke up approximately ten minutes later. “It’s been thirty minutes, you can come out from the corner now.” “Mhm...” Emily somberly nodded, slow in her motions to leave her grim prison. “Don’t just ‘mhm’ me,” Joyce finally laughed as she hoisted Emily up onto her feet. “The punishment is over, so don’t act like it’s still going on?” “It should be though!” Emily said. “I...what I did was bad, Joyce. I lied to you and I did what I was told not to do...” “Yes, you did,” Joyce acknowledged, “but that’s why you’ll prove that you learned your lesson tomorrow? It’ll be the same situation, so just remember today when you start tomorrow.” While the words meant well, Emily didn’t look very much inspired. Rather, the words were simply overpowered by Emily’s immense, and unnecessary guilt. Finally Joyce was losing her patience with a roll of her eyes. “Do I need to pull down your diaper next and spank you to high heaven? Is that what you want?” The bold suggestion caught Emily off guard. “N-no...” “I don’t exactly want to do that either,” Joyce agreed, “so can we please forget about this now? I was a little upset at first Emily, but I’ve moved on, don’t you think you should too? You’re making me feel like I kicked a puppy.” She snickered, then gave her a toothy smile.” “O...okay.” Emily nodded, finally feeling ready to put this to bed. Yet let it be known that she planned to carry this serious offense with her moving forward. A warrior steeled by their scars of the past. “Good.” Joyce nodded with approval, lurching Emily forward with a firm slap on her padded rear. “Now sit that bottom down at the table. We’re eating and I want to hear all about the stuff you did today, then I’m going to tell you about mine,” She sounded almost like a drill sergeant despite the pleasant suggestion. “Understood?” “Yes...” A smile finally started to come back to Emily’s face. “That’s what I like to hear. Let me get some plates out.” She said as she reached for the higher cabinets. For Emily’s sake, I probably should give her less opportunities for failure… In retrospect, she probably should have seen this coming, but Emily was quite the self-destructive ball of emotions, come to find out. Maybe Sheila might know something about computer software...

Mission failed. Who knows? Maybe James was planning to reveal Dawn sooner rather than later, but he was looking for the right window to do it. And whoa, whoa, so many assumptions about Dawn being babied! All I'm saying is, just because she's a Little in an Amazon's house, diapered, that's an awfully large leap in logic we're making here to think that constitutes being babied. I mean, Amazons are level-headed people, right? However, I'd have to think that no matter what, Waver snuggles is a solid guess... There's a comment down below that beat me to the punch, but Alex Bridges had an interesting take on the whole dog situation. Not sure if they were the first to do it, but that's the one I remember as the most recent. Though, that was domesticated bears as dogs. Call me simple, but I'm just opting for bigger dogs. That being said, I could definitely see bears from Earth being introduced into this universe as exotic pets? Laughed a little seeing the mention of lapdogs. Yes, definitely, surely that transcends dimensions! Home's where the heart is! Dawn's trials and tribulations may be in that same sphere, but it'll be a bit more clear as the story goes on... Thank you for the comment! I know, I know, I'm really setting records here with my release speed... Glad you enjoyed the chapter! At first I wasn't planning for them to have a pet, but the more I thought on it I figured that it could make for some fun moments down the road. Waver's definitely going to be a fun friend to have. As for interacting with Littles, dogs I figure are a bit harder to teach a complex kind of prejudice that belittles Littles. Either that or its absorbed in a much more simple way? Littles are small, therefore a dog would relate it to any other experience they've had with someone small... Not 100%. Not claiming to know much about dogs. An explanation from James... Well, given the current situation, it doesn't seem like Katherine is going to have much opposition! James, James...the wild card indeed. Set Dawn free or make Katherine as happy as can be? (I'm sorry, it popped in my head, had to put it down). The Devil is in the details, though. It might be the circumstances surrounding them that make it harder to realize Dawn's wish. Definitely a situation that has some serious duality. James seems to have to ends that are being tugged on. Katherine has already said that she's operating on consent, but that's not going to change just how she perceives Dawn, and unfortunately more time spent with her might start to bend her values? Thank you for the comment! ^^ This! It was definitely an interesting idea I hadn't considered. It's a fun way to force a Little to be afraid of particular animals. Truth be told, I needed about a minute to figure out the dog's name. I knew there was going to be one, but I didn't decide on a name yet. I just thought of that one like a dog's tail that wags is sort of like someone waving their hand to greet someone? Thank you! I can't wait to see what I come up with next, too! I'll figure that out once I start writing the next one, haha. thanks for commenting!

Thank you for the kind words! Hang on just a moment, I would argue it as her "temporary base of operations" for the time being. No other strings attached, of course. Hm. Very true it would seem. Dawn does seem to be coming around to that concept, but unfortunately it's more in retrospect at the moment than actual forethought. What? Another chapter in the same month? Okay, I'm definitely spoiling you guys. In all seriousness, this one came a bit faster, so apologies if there's any tiny mistakes I overlooked... As always, please let me know what you think and fair criticism is always welcome as well! 10 - Strategic Retreat Funnily enough, despite all the chaos it’d been thus far, it was an oddly quiet ride on the elevator. “...You can set me down now.” Dawn said up to James with an exasperated sigh. “My legs work?” “I can think of a few good reasons why I wouldn’t,” James grinned, but Dawn wasn’t feeling the humor. All she had was anger, sadness, and contempt, hence why she only understood it as refusal. “The hotel is a public space; I can’t imagine you wanting to walk around barefoot? Not only that, but we’re definitely going to get even more questions if anyone sees me letting a half-naked Little run around.” Dawn answered with another sigh as her tired mind mulled over the semantics. “I’m not going to run around...” She’d been so long without pants and underwear now that it sort of felt casual by this point, enough to make her forget that she was partially naked to begin with. The metal box made a ding and the two doors opened up to the lobby. James continued to carry her as Dawn made a passing glance at the front desk worker. She didn’t recognize this staff member; not the one from earlier. Yet still, essentially the same wolf in a different sheep’s skin. “Oh, it looks like it went well!” The female Amazon jovially waved at James as pleasantries forced him to wave back. But unfortunately James couldn’t avoid walking right past the conversation's distance from the employee without veering to the left and making it seem deliberate. “Awh, you must be Dawn, huh?” Her glossy lips formed an amused smile as she rested her chin atop her gloved knuckles. “Aren’t you a cutie!” It was partial instinct to respond with a casual “Fuck you,” but maybe it was the current circumstance combined with recent memory of being punished last time for swearing that made Dawn legitimately hesitant to the idea. Surprising herself, she answered with silence. “Thanks for your help again,” James said to her, “She’s definitely in good hands now. I couldn’t have done it without you!” “Of course, of course!” She nodded appreciatively. “Ugh, there’s been a whole daycare brigade of Portal Littles that’ve been staying here!” She wore a longing expression. “I just hope at least a few of them found their new forever home here...” Dawn’s face was starting to scrunch up, and that didn’t go unnoticed. “Oopsie!” The worker laughed as she had the gall to pat Dawn on the head. “Guess this tyke was one of them, huh?” She looked up at James. “Good job, Daddy! Right before they check out tomorrow, too!” “R-right,” James chuckled. Even he didn’t seem fully comfortable with the bizarre praise. Either that, or he was watching his attitude around the literal bomb he was holding. Just as James started to turn to the exit, they were stopped. “Oh! Sir, wait!” The worker called back for him. Dawn wished he would have ran, but apparently this wasn’t as much of a jailbreak as she had thought. “Sorry?” James asked. “You aren’t bringing her outside like that, are you?” The employee had a look of genuine concern. Really? Of all the teasing and belittling these Amazons could amount to, they were still humane enough to that degree? “Uhm...well...” Obviously James hadn’t thought much of it because he seemed as clueless as Dawn was becoming. “Just a second, please wait a moment…!” The worker stepped from behind the desk and rushed down a hall. “Can’t we just leave already? While she’s gone?” Dawn groaned. “It’s going to look suspicious if we do that,” James said. “Let’s just bear with it for a second, okay? We’re almost out of here.” “You say that like it’s a good thing...” she moped. Her heart was still racing and the nervousness in her voice was still potent. Even now she was still very unsure of her decision. Even if it was seemingly impossible to ride the same portal home with everyone, it gave her an absolutely sick feeling to know that she’d miss what should’ve been her dedicated window. This dimension was a big and dangerous place. Who was to say that she’d never get that opportunity? She really did need to trust in James, otherwise she was already making the biggest mistake of her life and she simply had yet to realize. The worker came back into view, but something she had with her now gave Dawn another queasy feeling. “So sorry for the wait!” Surely, without mistake, in her hand was a folded rectangle. Obviously it wasn’t panties, and Dawn hardly believed that it was a pull-up. “Oh…?” James wasn’t sure how to react as the employee gave him a diaper. Just from looking, Dawn could tell it would probably fit her. Yet it looked grotesquely thick, adorned with pale motifs of happy animals and cartoons she was proud to say she’d never seen before in her life. “Hm?” The worker tilted her head at the reaction. “Wait, don’t tell me you don’t have any diapers ready for her?” James was apparently slow on the uptake when he laughed. “Oh! No, no, of course not! I do--my wife and I do, just I was remembering that I didn’t bring any with me...” The employee for a moment was starting to look a bit skeptical. “Well...you really should have something like that. Littles tend to get a bit leaky when they’re stressed. For example, my sister’s Little leaked right through his diaper when he was having a temper tantrum!” She recalled like it was some grand revelation, and James was her typical girlfriend she could chat with. “I’ll keep that in mind...” James nodded. “Thank you for the diaper; first thing I’ll do is change her in the car--” “Oh! Don’t worry, we have changing tables in our bathrooms here,” the employee so “helpfully” pointed her finger at the rooms. “There are straps too in case she starts to get a bit...fussy. Newer adopted Littles tend to need a little more discipline.” She explained as her eyes drifted to Dawn with a grin. Don’t say anything. We’re so close… But even still, Dawn was ready to say something. Maybe not to this bitch of an employee, but to James she’d remind that she was by no means about to wear a diaper. She’d like to assume best intentions in that he had absolutely no plan of diapering her in the car. If they had to do it in the hotel though, where of course this woman would have to verify with her own eyes, that meant some kind of proof had to be shown. In other words, she really did have to be diapered. James was quiet for a moment, making a slightly audible thinking noise. Dawn, again, was seeing that even James was a greenhorn to playing this kind of stuff off. He didn’t seem to just go with the motions or casually deflect like one should. He was making this weirder than Dawn’s naked ass in a public space was. “Sir?” The employee asked. “Is everything alright?” “Yes!” James answered as if he just fell out of a daze. “To be honest, I was doing this as a surprise for my wife,” and Dawn assumed he was making up another lie, but she dreaded knowing that Katherine probably would consider it one. No matter; she would be out of this place by the next day over. She had to be. She’d hold James to it. “I guess it’s been a second since I’ve changed a diaper...” The employee finally raised a brow. She didn’t quite smile anymore. It was full-blown suspicion. And as Dawn hung beside his waist, the time left to herself in her own mind gave her ample space and silence to think. A grown, adult man came into a hotel he had no business in, convincing an employee to give him a room number so he could find a “kid” to take and adopt. And yet, not only was he carrying her half-naked out of the hotel, but was absolutely oblivious to the idea of diapering her. Frankly, Dawn was starting to see some kind of forced padding as a rite of passage for all these baby-crazed giants. So in a lot of ways, didn’t this look like a simple, malicious kidnapping? If there was even a distinction for that from “adoption” in this dimension… Suddenly the phone from the front desk was ringing. The staff turned her head, but gave another watchful glance at James, then Dawn. Then surprisingly, the staff reached her hands out and gently, yet swiftly removed Dawn from James’ grip. Dawn gave the man a shocked and disappointed look as she’d been so easily relinquished. Apparently he’d been so caught off guard he barely even struggled to resist. Or maybe it was more of his “playing it cool” attitude. But at the same time, didn’t giving up your own kid so easily also look bad? “Sir, if you could just wait a moment...” The staff held Dawn against her chest with enough force to keep Dawn from fighting back as she walked back behind the desk to answer the phone. “Yes, hello, front desk speaking?” Dawn was forced to listen to this woman speak as she truly was held hostage. She continued to give James the side-eye though, expecting him to do something. “Yes…?” She said into the phone, sounding confused for a moment, but Dawn watched her chin as she stared a bit more straight to look at James. Dawn could feel the arm holding her go just a little more tight. “Yes. Don’t worry, I have her with me right now. I won’t let him take her anywhere, just come down as soon as you can.” She hung up the phone and then used both arms to smother Dawn. James looked confused, as did Dawn, but then she remembered their seemingly harmless encounter… “I just received a call from another guest claiming that you’re a Little trafficker?” The employee spoke with heavy accusations. “A trafficker?” James sounded surprised, naturally. “N-no, I think there’s been some kind of mistake; I’m not a trafficker. I was here to adopt that Little. Her name really is Dawn, and I--” “Then why weren’t you even going to diaper her?” The woman asked. “Well, that’s...I...” He didn’t have a single thing to say. Was James just a terrible liar? Dawn was about dumbfounded. Beyond her disbelief by how easily James was letting this all slip, she was starting to realize that there was genuine danger to this. If James couldn’t get them out of this bind now, that other Amazon who was probably on her way might ruin everything. What if she convinces this staff member that James really is some kind of criminal? It’d be at least long enough for her to take Dawn and do who knows what… They couldn’t afford to keep waiting. Something had to be done, and Dawn was already blushing preemptively just from thinking about it. Something to at least sway the pendulum… “Dad...” Dawn said in a pained whisper. It was enough to garner the worker’s attention at a sound she might’ve heard. ”Dad...y...Daddy!” Dawn gave James a serious stare, bordering on a glare as her look didn’t quite seem to communicate daughterly love… “Daddy...can we go home now?” She was just about to turn ballistic once James nearly went stupefied yet again. He was just about to blow the social sacrifice she’d just made by calling some acquaintance “Daddy”. But somehow he kept it together. Somehow. “Of course, honey…!” He gave the employee a hopeful look. “It was a consensual adoption, I promise! You can ask her yourself?” With that Dawn fully drifted into the spotlight as she became the object of scrutiny. “Is that true, sweetpea?” She asked Dawn, holding her out from her chest to give her a line of sight. Dawn nearly stuttered and dropped the embarrassing act entirely, yet the lack of sleep maybe helped loosen her self-respect to become so humiliating. “Yeah!” She was ready to scream as she nodded her head vehemently. Would this Amazon be dumb enough to believe her if she acted childish enough? Amazons, or at least Katherine, seemed to be weird like that. Cognizant enough to see Littles as adults that just had to be knocked down a few pegs, but oblivious enough to actually believe they’re genuine toddlers once you hammer them into place. “Daddy’s gonna take me home--” then if by some kind of divine intervention, her believability must have shot through the rough once she cut herself off by an involuntary yawn. But it was finally enough to get the sparks flowing, because James had enough material to work with. At least segueys seemed to be his thing. “Oop, sounds like somebody’s way past their bedtime, too.” James said as he stepped up to the desk. Apparently between Dawn’s little performance and James managing to keep it together, it was enough to disarm the employee into reluctantly handing Dawn over. “The one thing I did at least think to bring her were pajamas,” James explained, sounding more composed again with the ball in his court, “but I guess I tend to be a bit forgetful. Those’re in the car too...” The employee started to nod, about to speak, but he flashed the diaper at her. “I’ll definitely use this in the car though to change her! Probably better to do it all at once than in two separate spots; she’s probably gonna start getting cranky soon…” For once Dawn might have agreed. Cranky was definitely an appropriate mood right now. Cranky after everything that’s happened. “Well, I suppose that’s fine, but...” The employee started to gesture to the elevator, but James had finally hit his full stride as he started stepping away. “There was a woman who planned to call about us. It’s just jealousy though. Thank you for all your help!” And James waved as he walked away with Dawn’s head looking back at the lobby. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to add some more… Begrudgingly, Dawn pulled a weak smile on her face as she waved at the employee. “Bye!” The employee waved back, smiling, but Dawn still had a hunch about her skepticism. But it didn’t matter. It was enough to get away. The real cherry on top was seeing the elevator just start to open as they stepped outside. “Ahh-ah!” Dawn suddenly yelped as a sudden brisk air seemed to bite her right on the bare bottom. It was breezy and cold. The worst kind of night, especially when you’re half-naked. “Would you have rather we diapered you in the hotel?” James asked, to a point that Dawn couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “I don’t even want to hear the word ‘diaper’.” She groaned as they briskly moved through the parking lot. There was also the argument of it doing nothing for her bare legs, but that might invite misunderstanding into thinking that she didn’t mind the diaper, which was oh-so far from the truth. Without a jacket as well, the breeze seemed to flow right through her and down to the very bone as Dawn suffered just a little longer on their way to the car. It was with sweet relief once she was in some kind of interior again. It was the same car from this morning meaning it had its own sense of familiarity, but Dawn visibly frowned once the familiarity hit her a bit too strongly. “Please. I’ll even ride in your lap if I have to,” Dawn said to him, briefly forgetting the implications of a naked girl sitting on another man. Whether James regarded it with much weight or not, it didn’t seem to change how he tried to laugh it off. “Come on, Dawn; it’s for your own safety and it also keeps us in line with the law.” “But what about the straps?” Dawn complained, though it wasn’t without fair reason. “What about the...the crotch one?” Need it be said she was bare-bottomed, meaning that her sensitive parts would be rubbing right up against a rough seatbelt strap? James did stop right before he strapped her in. For once it seemed Dawn had made an argument that an Amazon considered to be sound. “Hm. I guess it’s a good thing we got this, then?” James said as he lifted his hand with the diaper. Once again Dawn was dumbfounded for realizing that she was on a different wavelength entirely. Dawn shook her head as she started pulling the straps on herself, car seat be damned. “Nevermind; I can just stick my hand down there for the ride. No thanks.” “Dawn, don’t be ridiculous,” James admonished as he undid the straps faster than she could get them over her shoulders. “It’s just until we can get you something else to wear?” All he got was a frown that picked up on his choice of verbiage immediately. “So it wouldn’t be for just the car ride?” James looked sympathetic but not budging. “Well, you said it yourself that you don’t have any of your clothes…?” “You don’t get to use that against me! It’s not my fault!” Dawn scowled. “It isn’t, but that doesn’t change that you have nothing to wear.” James turned his head which way as he exhaled a warm breath, trying to negotiate with Dawn in the car seat while he stood outside by the open door. “Dawn, please don’t be difficult. I’m starting to get cold too. Wouldn’t you want to warm up a bit?” “Yeah, so let’s shut the door and crank the heat.” Dawn said. She was already starting to regret this… Planting her palm firmly between her legs to cover her nether region she laid back into the seat with an audible exhale herself. “I’m fine like this. Buckle me in already and let’s go...” James was starting to have that familiar look; tried patience. “I’m not doing this, Dawn,” he said quite firmly. “Go lay down on the seat.” Dawn rolled her eyes. “I’m not. I just showed you I can ride in this awful baby seat just fine. If you’ve forgotten, I don’t need a diaper like every Amazon seems to think!” James stepped back and shut the door. It wasn’t a slam by any means, but Dawn wanted to say that she sensed an inkling of unnecessary force to it. She turned her head, watching through the windows as he walked to the other passenger side. “Figured he’d at least buckle me in...” Dawn muttered as she started putting the straps back on. The car door opened. “No, take those off,” James said in a tone that didn’t enjoy repeating itself. Dawn fought another outburst as the straps were removed from her hands like she really was a child and set aside. Dawn figured he was going back to the driver’s seat, but apparently not. Now he stood on the side without a car seat; ample room for Dawn to lay down… “What are you doing?” Dawn asked, though with a likely idea in mind already. “I’m not playing this game. Get out of your car seat and come here and lay down. The sooner we get this on, the sooner we can leave.” He was clearly telling her to, which naturally didn’t sit right with Dawn. “No.” “Dawn.” He spoke a single word, symbolizing many more of the stern variety, but Dawn hesitantly chose to ignore them. Dawn offered an innocent look, reminiscent of her little act in the lobby, “Maybe if you want to sit in a car seat I’ll just drive us then?” she forced a cookie-cutter cutesy attitude. James was looking more annoyed. Instead he stood up straight with his arms crossed, still leaning his head into the doorway. “One.” He said. “One?” She asked. There was a moment of silence, waiting for whatever unit of time to elapse. “Two.” He then said. “Two?” She then asked, but had a quick change of expression to disbelief as it clicked for her. “J-James! You can’t be serious?” Dawn offered her empty hands as a sign of genuine shock that he’d resort to something so ridiculous. “Til the count of three, Dawn.” James frowned. “What do you mean? Come on!” Dawn whined. “Did I not just give you a hand back in there? You were going to be arrested!” “Two and a half.” He said without seeming to acknowledge any of her words. “Uggghhh!” She was reaching a head splitting point as she grumbled. He was seeing right through her. Obviously he was in the wrong if he wasn’t going to acknowledge her, but why didn’t that make her feel any better? Probably because she didn’t have the size or strength to resist those who are in the wrong. “Thr--” “FINE!” Dawn slammed her hand on the padded arm of the car seat, her good hand, composed enough to leave the hurting wrist alone. “I can’t believe I’m doing this because you’re too dense to realize just how dense you are!” James merely sighed as he didn’t respond, but as Dawn hopped out of the seat and walked across, closer to James, he quickly grabbed her ankle and tugged her foot forward. She fell on her back with a yelp of surprise, physically fine though thanks to it being on the seats. “I know you don’t like this, but you really need to start thinking about the things you might say and decide whether they’re worth saying at all. Dawn stared up at him with an annoyed look. “Don’t worry, I thought about it.” She really hadn’t, but it was another one of those moments where she felt justified to be pissy. Not only that, but it was a quick realization that her emotions seemed to be like a switch caught between two absolutes. If she wasn’t raging and angry with something to focus on, that meant she’d have to confront what was slowly developing right before her very eyes. She was drifting farther from home and about to be diapered; becoming the very baby she was terrified of being. It wasn’t really like that, or so she believed, but if the only difference to being diapered as a baby and as someone in need of underwear was loose context, it hardly did much for her feelings. It was either mad or sad, and she had plenty of reasons to maintain the former. Of course, Dawn’s fragile facade had shown its first crack once James had fully fanned out the diaper. “Can’t you hurry up…?” Dawn complained, opting to stare up at the ceiling of the car interior. “It’ll be done in a second. I wasn’t lying when I said I was forgetful about this kind of stuff… I’ve never changed a diaper before...” Dawn’s torso shot right up at the sound of that. A wonderful excuse to cease the ceremony. “Great! All the more reason why I’ll be fine withou--” A simple forward push on her shoulder sent her back to a lying position. “Uh-huh, nice try.” James did smirk for a moment. “Just because I’m inexperienced, that doesn’t mean I’m incompetent.” And he initiated the first step once Dawn jumped from reflex as he gathered her ankles with one hand. “W-well...don’t get used to it...” Dawn tried to stay brave, but the physical engagement and symbolic meaning was a raging assault on her emotions. She could hardly believe it, just as much as this very dimension existing. She was curvy, she had hips, butt and breasts; modest yet hers nonetheless. She was in the midst of her college years and pursuing a degree in English and lived with her boyfriend in an apartment. With all that for reason, her reality seemed to be shattered once all those small, yet dignifying things were so harshly contradicted as a giant lifted her bottom to slide a diaper underneath her. It was the farthest thing from independence or maturity. “Dawn, you still with me?” James asked. She briefly snapped out of it to snap at him. “Sorry, did you want me to actively watch myself be put into some diaper like I’m an actual baby?” “You’re blowing this out of proportion...” He sighed as he parted Dawn’s legs with the front of the diaper heading in between. The interior felt cottony and cushiony. It was starting to feel like a hug. A hug from some sort of parasite that wrapped its tendrils around your waist and between your legs. A parasite that lived off your bodily waste… James finally ended the horror by applying the two tapes across the front. “There,” James clapped his hands as if to wipe off any imaginary remains, “it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Dawn sat up, cringing as there was an audible assault on her ears from the crinkling of the diaper. She didn’t even dare to look down at the babyish designs it was drenched in. “It was the absolute worst thing I’ve ever experienced.” She didn’t leave it for conversation as she stood back up, feeling a fierce red burn in her cheeks as she stumbled for a moment, not realizing how she needed to accommodate the newly added padding between her legs. “I know, I’m sorry that you don’t want to wear a diaper, but it gives me a little peace of mind, at least. I’m sure it’ll help make for a more comfortable ride for you, too?” James offered as a silver lining. “Mhm.” Dawn glumly replied. There was likely a shock factor to wearing the diaper that just hadn’t quite hit her yet. She was beyond mortified and certainly embarrassed, but James being the only one to see, paired with her aggravation towards him sobered the desire to hide. Instead, she planted herself back in the car seat, trying to resolve herself to not make a scene about having to be buckled in as well. James closed the passenger door and moved into the driver’s seat. “...Aren’t you gonna do the straps or whatever?” Dawn asked. Was this some kind of mind game to get her to ask for things to be done to her? “To your car seat?” He turned his head back. “I can if you want, but I figured it was something you’d do yourself.” “Un-fucking believeable...” Dawn muttered under her breath. Diapers apparently were something outside her sphere, but putting on her own seatbelt was perfectly reasonable. “Just let me know when you’re buckled in and we’ll get going.” He said, and to Dawn’s relief, she watched as he turned on the engine and was already tapping away at a button on the digital console. A warm breeze started to creep up from beneath Dawn’s feet and it was heavenly. Nice enough to forget what had just been done to her, apart from when she shuffled a small bit and felt the fantasy be broken by the crinkle of her diaper. One thing in particular she hated about the car seat was its “one-way” style of design. The straps and buckle were put on easily; an Amazon or Little could do it just fine like Dawn normally would on Earth. She did just that, confining herself to the car seat as the final strap came up from between her legs, entering the buckle with an audible click. And just to reaffirm her theory, she tried pressing on the button to the buckle, but it didn’t budge in the slightest. Again, Amazons or Littles could easily connect the buckle and straps, but only an Amazon could undo them. It apparently took an absurd amount of strength to fight against whatever adamantium spring that must have been loaded in the plastic shell… “Ready...” Dawn sighed as she looked down at herself. It really was the perspective of a toddler. Confined to a car seat in a t-shirt and diaper with her bare legs dangling above the floor. She could feel a faint emotional pain as they pulled out of the parking lot. It gave Dawn the perfect glance at the hotel one last time as they started to drive away. That place is filled with people from Earth who get to go home tomorrow. Yet somehow I don’t. Instead, looking forward again, somehow she ended up as an unofficial baby for some questionable Amazon and his wife. James said this wasn’t what it looks like, and Dawn wanted to hope for the same. She desperately wanted to believe that. Certainly, please let the diaper be a fluke… “How far away is your home?” Dawn asked over the silence apart from the sounds of driving. “Katherine and I live in the next town over, so it’ll be a little bit of a drive...” The next town over? Dawn wasn’t familiar with the geography of this place, so she didn’t know whether to treat that with worry or disinterest. “So...like, thirty minutes?” “Closer to an hour.” James said. “An hour?” Dawn said with slight concern. On her tour she’d never traveled by automobile for more than twenty minutes, including the ride from the Portal Station to the hotel. If she had any lingering hopes of getting home on time, as her heart felt pained, those wishes would have certainly died by now. “Libertalia is a big place,” James explained, “there are multiple towns that make it up. Don’t worry though, I’m sure you’ll like it where we’re going. Gives you a chance to see more of the dimension, too?” “I wasn’t looking to extend my vaca...” Dawn started to yawn, “...shun...” “If you want, now wouldn’t be a bad time to get started on some sleep,” James suggested. “This isn’t me belittling you, but most Littles would be asleep by now...” Dawn blinked heavily, feeling everything catch up to her. Not only that, but she had a chronic habit of dozing off in a moving vehicle. “And why wouldn’t I be awake as long as you?” “Biology, I suppose?” James openly pondered. “Amazons are built for longer days. Not to mention, I think I heard about your home running on a 24 hour cycle? That definitely doesn’t help with our longer days here.” At the same time as Dawn rested her head on the cushioned side of the car seat, she could feel more things moving about inside of her. Metaphorically, and...physically? Her stomach spoke in the form of low grumbles and gurgles. It was only in her descent to sleep that she remembered how she’d eaten absolutely nothing the entire day. Maybe that was also a reason why she was so tired… Just as Dawn could see the car climbing a ramp onto a highway, she clocked out like a light. For real this time. It was the midst of a rapid breath once she opened her eyes. Her heart was just coming off the cusp of panic as Dawn awoke again. She wasn’t in the car she remembered dozing off in, and it wasn’t nearly as dark now. Half of her face was smothered against something, which she found out to be a pillow. She was feeling groggy, but roused enough to start identifying her surroundings. Standing her upper half up with her hands, she wordlessly looked around. It was a decently sized room sitting on the corner of wherever she was, because there was a window on both walls that she could see meeting in a corner. Opposite to that were two doors similarly positioned, both closed. Her body started to stretch as her hand reached for the ceiling that was lightyears away, better described as an Amazon’s kind of ceiling height. Apart from herself and the bedding she had slept in, the room was empty, save for the cream colored walls and lightly carpeted floor. Even as sleepy as she was, she could tell that she wasn’t in a proper bed, but that didn’t mean what she was on didn’t count. Underneath her felt amply cushioned as she pressed her hand down and could feel some give, enough to almost reach the floor it was on. It was like she was on layers of folded blankets, or stacked bedding to imitate a mattress. It didn’t feel rough or uncomfortable by any means either. Dawn turned over to face the other side, maybe to even lay down a second longer, but there was a muffled disturbance she heard underneath the covers. Seemingly unknown to her, Dawn peered under the covers with a confused look. Staring back at her was a familiar set of crinkly underwear, the diaper James had made her wear a little bit ago… Though, she turned her head up at the window, seeing the daylight flood the room and sample the chirping birds. Maybe it was the next day over. The next day… A moment of worry struck her heart, like she’d forgotten something terribly grave. And she did. In the company of herself she tossed the bedding forward, not sparing a moment to even disapprove of her attire or try to change it as she scrambled for one of the two doors. Managing to reach the handle and open it up, all she found was an empty closet space. She hurried over to the other door and reached for the handle. That was another thing that she’d become increasingly aware of. It was a society built for Amazons, clearly, but it also seemed to harbor prejudice not only in its citizens, but its most basic technologies as well. Dawn was short, but even she could tell that the handles on just about every door she saw were deliberately higher than one would expect. Every knob or grip seemed to be slightly, but noticeably above where one might expect to find it on Earth. It meant nothing to an Amazon; a handful of inches of difference, but the real target was clearly Littles. The hallway of wherever she was looked to be empty as Dawn hesitantly, yet swiftly tried to navigate the place. Was this a house? Considering James’ plans and destination last night, it made sense… So this was where James and Katherine lived? The walls were a light gray, though Dawn couldn’t tell if her eyes were playing tricks or if there was a tinge of faded purple mixed in. But that didn’t matter right now. Time was of the essence. She knew that it wasn’t likely to make some kind of fast-acting solution to get back home, but she just couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie, could she? Yet of course, then came the question of how she was going to get back to the hotel, or to the Portal Station… As much as she hated to admit it, with a mind sobered by much needed sleep, her inability to do anything by herself in this dimension came to the forefront of her mind. She’d need to ask James for help… As she passed a few rooms, that became the growing question: where was James? Dawn reached a set of stairs that went down and around like a stairwell, and a window sat high above, even for an Amazon, letting light into the space. She took her time on the stairs, unfortunately. They were a tad bit larger than she was used to. Thus far in the Diaper Dimension she’d only been through elevators or single or half-steps when traversing across an elevation. Even in those small instances though where she did need to climb on her own two feet though, part of her imagined the kind of exercise it might be to go up a single stair many times over. But thankfully going down was much faster. On her way down she could hear a voice speaking. Immediately she thought James, but it only came as an unfortunate afterthought that he wasn’t single. “...Hey Mom, how’re you?” Katherine could be heard in another room. It sounded more open-spaced. Dawn guessed a kitchen. At least she thought it was Katherine speaking. The voice did sound a bit somber. “Hm?” Katherine lightly chuckled. “No, nothing’s wrong, I promise… James, Waver, and I are all absolutely fine, I promise!” Dawn slowly crept along the wall, finding that the crinkle of her diaper was louder than she herself. Call it the creaking floorboard, except Dawn seemed to bring the creak with her wherever she stepped. “How are things with--” She had an abrupt pause over the phone. “Oh...that’s because I...wasn’t feeling my best today. I called in for a sick day.” She made some more conversational noises, implying that she was listening to someone else speak on the other end. There was an odd feeling rising in Dawn’s stomach. After everything she’d done and said to Katherine, truthfully, she didn’t want to face her. Not because she felt guilty, or completely so, but just to avoid any...awkwardness. Did Katherine even know she was here right now? Probably not. Dawn could only assume that based on how she wasn’t woken up by the woman already. Did James sneak her in? “James is out doing his jog right now. He should be back soon, actually...” Katherine’s direction of focus seemed to shift like she was checking a clock. Dawn finally crept up to the edge of a wide entrance. Directly across was a large living room that had bay windows and the back of a sofa that seemed to partially obscure Dawn’s view of a tv. But with her limited angle into the room Katherine was in, Dawn could see polished hardwood floors and a dinner table. Daring so much to peer more directly inside, she saw the beginnings of a kitchen. Then an island paired with bar stools, and… “Just wanted to check up on you guys? And, I dunno, I guess I just wanted to talk...” Dawn had found the source of the noise. It started with her back, but the head of hair with the slight tinge of red to it struck Dawn as all-too-familiar once she yanked her head right back out of view. Thankfully Katherine had been facing away from where Dawn was looking. She did most certainly have a phone against her ear, however. “Adoption?” A very not favorite word of Dawn’s as of late. An unfortunate coincidence she had to hear anything about it, or maybe that’s all Katherine did talk about with her mom… “It’s...it’s a difficult thing for us right now, I guess...” Her voice sounded tried and tested, saddened by whatever it may have experienced prior. Whether Dawn had anything to do with that was a debate she would most certainly lose, but for the sake of fairness, it was anybody’s guess why she seemed to sound like that. “We just haven’t found the right one yet?” Dawn finally snapped out of it and tried not to eavesdrop any longer. She had gathered what information she needed anyway, and that was James’ lack of presence right now. Of course it bothered her and tied knots in her stomach, but she had no choice but to wait until he came home. How much longer until then she didn’t know, but she dearly hoped that it would be soon. She needed to leave and fast. Before she could start thinking of the worst-case scenarios, she started creeping back to the stairs. Finally, something other than her own diaper seemed to make a louder noise. She could hear a close by door suddenly open. Alongside that was the jingling of something metal. Before she could decipher anything or get up even the first stair she heard James’ voice. “Home!” He announced, and Dawn turned her head to see him walking into view wearing sweatpants and a jacket. Simple enough. James. Not so simple, trotting in right beside him, was some beast on all fours. Atop its canine head were two pointed ears and a black nose on its extruded snout. A distinct wagging tail had the furry creature moving like it still had troves of energy to burn. It sniffed loud and attentively, and to Dawn’s horror, it turned its head in her direction. James was the last of the three to see the exchange, and just as the dog was about to lunge forward for Dawn, and just as Dawn was about to shriek, the dog was caught mid-air as the leash from its collar became taught with James’ hand on the other end. As Dawn stared at James and the unbelievably large dog with wide eyes, Katherine, still completely oblivious continued to say, “And speaking of James, he just came back with Waver!” Waver. Dawn thought she heard her mention that word like it was a name. A name for a pet. The dog, which Dawn had doubts of given its sheer size, wiggled and wagged its tail with its mouth hanging open just enough to flash its flappy tongue. It looked just like a dog from Earth, only bigger… Big enough that Dawn could only just see over it, The dog fell back down onto its front paws as it continued to stare at Dawn with sheer and absolute interest. Dawn wanted to say something to James to call off the hound, but obviously she couldn’t give herself away to Katherine. “Come on, boy!” James tried to coax the pet into the kitchen with him, gently pulling the leash along. And as he did so, he gave Dawn a glance that nodded his head to the ceiling. Now’s your chance. Go back upstairs. Dawn nodded back a silent understanding as she turned to climb back up. Turns out she would be getting a small exercise… There was a sudden bar from Waver that made Dawn jump. Clearly the dog hadn’t forgotten his fascination. “Waver, let’s go into the kitchen, okay? Let’s get you some water after that walk…!” Waver continued to bark though as he tugged back on the leash. Dawn was a little surprised to see James truly hold the leash with what looked like genuine strength. Dawn could attest to his muscles through visual and the feeling of being carried by him, which is why it only spoke to the strength an Amazonian dog could have as well. “...Uh huh...hang on, Mom?” It sounded like she turned her head from the phone. “What’s gotten into Waver? Did you two do your normal route today?” “Yeah...” James chuckled, and Dawn could see his gaze face into the kitchen as he spoke to his wife. “Guess he wasn’t tuckered out enough this time?” “Hm, well, try taking his leash off? Maybe he just wants to get back in his doggy bed. Let me see if I can get this little guy under control...” A slight shadow formed by the edge of the doorway as someone, likely Katherine, kneeled in front of it. A set of hands lightly clapped. “Waver! Here boy! Who's my special guy? C’mere!” And to the whisperer’s credit, Waver did forget about Dawn long enough to turn his head. He trotted toward Katherine. James briefly glanced Dawn’s way. “Ah...maybe I’ll take him for another walk instead? You don’t have to take it off.” “You know there’s no time for that,” Katherine said in a reminding tone, “you’re in the office today, remember?” Dawn didn’t stay for any longer. She managed her way back up to the second floor with a sigh as her rate of breathing had slightly increased. “I’m being set back by a dog...” Dawn sighed tiredly. She had nothing against animals, dogs most certainly included, but when time already felt so scarce and so invaluable, she couldn’t afford to lose a single second to a rambunctious pet! “Here, let’s get this leash off so you can go snuggle in your bed, huh?” Katherine continued to coo as she assumedly tinkered with the collar. Dawn by then had walked back into the room she was sleeping in, pushing the door to a closing state as she slumped back onto her makeshift bed. There was another sigh as she finally paid attention to the crinkles from her underwear. James said that they’d get it taken care of, but it felt like getting her panties was going to be just about the lowest thing on a list of priorities. Call Dawn crazy, but even she’d be fine with it if it meant that getting home was priority number one… As she groaned into the pillow, there was that same jingling from the dog collar. Only Dawn could hear it despite being on the second floor. And it was getting louder… She rolled over to look at the door and only realized too little too late that she hadn’t fully closed the door, and that small mistake would unravel her entire defense. Waver quite casually bumped his head into the door, gently opening it wide enough for him to stand with a wagging tail in the doorway. Naturally, being confronted by a dog that was as big as Dawn suddenly struck her with a sense of worry. It was just her and the furry beast. Dawn hurriedly stood on her feet. “Ea-...easy...” Dawn raised her open palms with caution. There was a specific style of posture the dog had that Dawn instantly recognized, just like she’d see with any other excited dog back on Earth. His paws were slightly spread apart and his lower front came down slightly lower. He was assuming the position to charge at a moment’s notice. Dawn wanted to call for James, but that’d mean blowing her cover and alerting her presence to Katherine. “G-go...go downstairs!” Dawn tried to command, but he didn’t budge, but he did bark. Dawn started to take a step, but apparently his vision was based on movement, because Waver dashed forward right for Dawn. “No! Nononono--stay back!” Dawn finally shouted as she tried to dash around him. In her pursuit to dodge and run for the door Waver had grazed her with his wet nose, leaving a pringly tickle from his warm exhale on her bare skin. “St-stop!” She involuntarily giggled. Thankfully she made it past the dog and outside the room, but there was absolutely no way that she could close the door in time before he could follow her from right behind. In the hallway it was a straight shot to the stairs, but a straight path was exactly the kind of scenario Dawn would be at a disadvantage in. Her plan to deal with Waver was just about nonexistent, other than trying to get James’ attention to deal with it. Dawn tried to carefully make her way down the stairs, but with a bounding beast coming from behind, she opted for a more careful method as she sat on her bum and slid down from stair to stair. And unfortunately, Wave seemed to keep at pace with ease as he even went down faster than she could. “Go away already!” Dawn whined, although in a quieter voice as they got closer to the ground floor. Waver happily waited for her at the midpoint on the stairs like it was some sort of game. She couldn’t believe she had to deal with this, but maybe now she could command the dog? He seemed friendly enough… Dawn stood in front of the dog, face to face as she gripped either side of his collar. Leaning her face in close she said, “Go. Upstairs.” A second of silence passed, and unfortunately negotiations seemed to have broken down. Waver’s response was his tongue which became acquainted with Dawn’s face from her chin to her forehead. Dawn made a disgusted look as she only realized from regret that she should’ve seen something like that coming… “Waver!” James suddenly called. But she didn’t expect this part. With her hands still on Waver’s collar, the dog’s head suddenly perked at the call of his name and dashed forward down the few remaining steps...with Dawn still holding on. “NO! Stop! Stop stop!” She finally shouted as she held on for dear life. Her hands were still gripping the collar as the dog dragged her down the stairs with such swiftness and ease. Thankfully it was carpeted so it didn’t really hurt, but the momentum was beyond frightening. “Did you hear that…?” Katherine started to ask James, but unfortunately, or fortunately, the question wouldn’t stay unanswered for long. Against her will, Dawn was dragged into the kitchen where James and Kathrine stood around the island. A look of surprise was on James’ face, but Katherine seemed to be delayed in even realizing what she was looking at. “James? What’s...” Katherine leaned in for a moment, but her reaction startled Dawn. There was a sudden crash as something hit the floor, fragments of ceramic and brown liquid. “D-...Dawn?!” Katherine exclaimed. Only a second after did she fully process dropping her coffee cup.”Ah…! Shoot! But...” She was still at a loss as she looked at Waver and Dawn. Dawn silently groaned as she let go of the collar, laying on the floor for a second as her cover truly was blown. “Stupid dog...” “I guess Waver followed you upstairs...” James apologetically smiled, which Dawn wasn’t sharing. “You knew?!” Katherine gave James an accusatory stare. She looked upset, but dare anyone say that it looked like there was some glow to her expression. Katherine seemed to be overwhelmed by all the stimulus. So much that she apparently started to tear up. “Kath, honey, what’s wrong?” James came closer with his hands aiming for her shoulders. She gently pushed him away though. “Not...not now! We have to clean up the mess I made...” She said with a teary smile. Unfortunately the cat was out of the bag. Or the dog, considering how Waver fit into all of this. Dawn sighed once more as she stood up, finding it pointless to try and pretend like she didn’t exist by now. “Waver, stay.” James commanded as the dog meandered by the spot that had no shards. Dawn walked over as she started to pick up shards as well. An open palm suddenly held her back though. “Oh! No, no honey, that’s fine, you don’t need to!” Katherine said to her with hurried worry. “James and I can handle this, okay? It’s very sharp and I don’t want you to step on anything...” Dawn started to furrow her brow. Already, even after being shocked by her appearance it wasn’t enough to delay what she thought of her. “I know what I’m doing...I can be care--” “Actually, Dawn,” James chimed in to his wife’s rescue, “could you keep Waver busy for a second? It’s really him that I’m worried about...” She wanted to argue because it felt like a convenient alternative to Katherine’s words, but she relented. “Sure...” She said as she walked over to the dog. Taking him by the collar she tugged, which did seem to get him to move actually. Too fast, actually. “Slow...slow down! Slow down!” She started to shout again as Waver nearly started dragging her again into the living room. “So...” James started to say as he and his wife cleaned up the floor. “...Surprise?” Katherine’s reply started with a sigh, but her smile couldn’t be misplaced. “After this, I want to hear everything.” She failed to hold back a small giggle.

Thank you, hearing from so many people about this being a favorite of theirs means a lot to me! I'm sure Emily does know that she's irreplaceable to Joyce, which is likely the same for Emily. With that in mind, maybe she'll be a bit more receptive to some self-care? Honestly, part of me wants to write another 0.5 chapter that's Amy just banging her head against the wall, waiting to see Emily all dressed up. Haha, jokes aside, thank you for the comment! Where there's a problem, there's a solution. Most likely. Glad to be back and thank you for the comment! I haven't made a mention of it, but I'm enjoying your In-Between story! I have my ideas about how things are going to go for Cameron and Addy, but that's the fun part about being the reader; expectations are never a guarantee! Thank you for commenting and reading as always! Honestly, I feel like any kind of stimulation for Emily at this point would be a step in the right direction. Communication is something they seem to be taking the initiative on as well. Thank you for the comment! Lots of avenues for sure, but we gotta take it in baby steps! (Too much to consider for me to plan out, lol). Joyce's way or the highway, that's for sure. Thanks for the comment! Short and quick, the one thing you will most likely never see with my writing or my timeliness, lol. Mostly the thing about time, especially. This may start to be more of a turning point for their daily lives as those "growing pains" start to reach their new destination. What it's starting to look like is that Emily's going to need to adapt to a lifestyle that doesn't have much room for what she was used to. Who knows what'll happen? Thank you for commenting and reading!

Surely she's reaching the end of her given patience stick? Dawn is definitely in an irritable mood right now, but if I were in her shoes, I don't think I could blame her? Sleep is definitely something she needs without a doubt. At best she got a small nap on the bed, but then her next dozing was on the floor... Something needs to give for sure if she's going to stop her downward spiral. Thanks for commenting! I swear, the cliffhangers aren't intentional! I just reach a point where I feel like I've hit a good length and I've covered everything I want to in that chapter. Though, like in this one, that can sometimes bring me over my general mark for length. Dawn is definitely in a peculiar situation. She's being taken in by a couple with seemingly progressive views, albeit Katherine has been vocal to the reader about what she wanted since the start. Dawn obviously wants to maintain her adulthood and get out as fast as possible. It'll be interesting to see how those things clash! As for compromise, maybe a kindergartener lifestyle wouldn't be the worst? First, thank you so much for the lengthy comment! It means a lot when I get to hear dissection from others and their own takeaways from the story. I think it helps a lot with reflection on how I write things and get to see how that translates to the reader. I'm not nearly as well-versed as other writers for the Diaper Dimension, but I had an idea so I figured I'd roll with it. If nothing else, this might be a segue into more Diaper Dimension stories if it goes well. Also, Katherine's not gone, I swear! I think it goes without saying that the Diaper Dimension is known to be very outlandish or very unique in how it functions. Because Dawn is from our world, I try to involve her perspective heavily whenever something very "Diaper Dimension" happens, because she's taking everything in with her personal dose of "reality" that very much isn't "Diaper Dimension". James is an Amazon so he'll have those Amazon tendencies, but I consider it to be his lack of maternal instinct that makes it doable for him to treat Dawn as something more than a complete child. Another factor may be that she's from another dimension, which might have him view her as something separate from a typical Little. About his "sketchiness", I haven't added many more examples since the first mention of adopting Dawn, but James truly does love his wife and wants to make her happy. Not that he sees Dawn as an object, but he definitely knows that having her could stand to be Katherine's everything. Pair that with his own understanding of things, expecting their world to be better than the one Dawn comes from, it'd seem like a no-brainer to convince Dawn to stay. Hopefully the couple doesn't disappoint once more is revealed about them! (As for work, Katherine is a librarian and James works at an electrical company). Katherine though seems like she'd love to become a mother! Fanfic away! I tend to slow down a bit as things come up in life, so sorry in advance if I brake check the fun too much! Thank you for the comment and I hope you continue to enjoy reading! P.S. Sheesh! I'm seeing that Heather is getting a lot of disapproval. I dunno...I can't blame her for how she reacted. We'll have to see what it's like to even try and get home for Dawn. Without a doubt it seems like it might be a serious undertaking. Hopefully James and Katherine don't charge too much for rent? Whoa, whoa! Doesn't what Dawn want not matter?! Uh-oh, I'm sorry you caught up so fast! I'm a terribly slow writer, lol. In all seriousness, thank you so much for deciding this was worth the binge. I'm glad it has a sense of believability despite the setting. I like the Diaper Dimension, but sometimes I can lose a little interest if the story runs away too fast with leaps and bounds in certain respects. Then again, that can sort of happen with any story... That being said, I really do like all the extreme tools people can use when writing in the DD, it's just about the delivery, I suppose. Thanks for commenting! Hmm...all very good guesses! We'll have to see how things develop! Thank you for staying invested as always!

To be honest, I get hung up on just about everything when it comes to writing, but usually the easier parts for me is coming up with a framework that can logically progress. The flesh it where I fall flat, though. As far as seeing James as a rescue option, he's more like a bitter pill that Dawn doesn't want to acknowledge. Definitely she's spent in about every capacity, but James and Katherine are two people she's claimed to be very distrusting to now. Thanks so much for the comment! Hmm, maybe choose the right person and they'd pull the switch without a second thought, lol. Who knows, maybe Heather's story isn't done yet? If not here, maybe a spin-off? Ooouu, these are good ideas. Thanks for the suggestion! As for the rabbit hole that Dawn is falling into, surely there's a way out? Thanks for reading and commenting! Sorry for the delay! Dawn seems to be going with them now for sure. But who knows what could happen in the tricksy Diaper Dimension? Thanks for the comment! Diaper Dimension ain't no joke when it comes to Little Laws. As far as Heather goes, I definitely wanted to make that interaction seem realistic (barring the kind of person that'd like to be stuck here, haha). I was hoping to make it pretty black and white that all things considered it would be insane to expect a stranger to take the dive for you in a foreign place (especially a foreign dimension) That's a good thing I could've added in retrospect. All the same, I can imagine Heather shutting the idea down instantly on the grounds of possible conspiracy. If she's not even willing to give clothes to Dawn, I don't see it being very far from even associating with the girl in any degree. I really haven't identified a time that this takes place in within the Diaper Dimension, not that there really are any definitive "eras", but I guess I'm trying to use a setting when the concept of people visiting the Diaper Dimension from their own homes is generally still in its infancy. (An infancy that still allows for commercially advertised travel). So because of that it adds (rather, detracts) from what policy there may be in the future to protect foreign visitors. Thank you for the compliment! I always hope I'm conveying my characters in a believable way. James and Katherine definitely aren't the absolute purest of heart, but as far as Amazons go, I'd say they're pretty alright (so far, at least?). Her hand has definitely been forced, and it definitely could be worse. But, considering she doesn't seem to be going home quite just yet, it definitely could be better. Lots of angles to consider! Even for me. I usually have vague ideas of where I want a story to go, but I do try to tackle a framework in some of the current/approaching moments. Thank you so much for being so invested and commenting! Certainly it's only going to get more "interesting" for Dawn! Thank you for the comment and I hope you continue to enjoy reading! Dawn could definitely stand to look at some of the silver linings, but I guess even I'd find that hard when I haven't slept much and need food. The return of Heather! Who knows? Find out next time! (Not really though, but who knows) It's late right now so I can't get to every comment, but I'll get to the rest of my replies tomorrow. Thank you everyone so much for the consistent hype and enjoyment this story seems to have. I'm sorry I can't be as regular/frequent with it, but when I am able to post chapters I'm glad that people support the story so much. That goes for this story, Sheltered, as well as other works I've heard from people about. I really do enjoy writing these kinds of stories and fully intend to continue as time goes on. Who knows, maybe if there's ever a free moment, I'd be open to suggestions for one-shots? Commissions are another thing I've noticed this website started an area for. Not sure about that, but if there's an interest for it, I'd love to be able to provide tailored stories for people. As always, thank you all so much, and here's hoping to another chapter soon!

9 - The Hotel Room Stacy stared at Dawn for as long as each syllable of the Amazon’s grim sentence sunk into her consciousness. What was she supposed to say in response? Did she even hear her properly? Dawn remained quiet yet her pupils were dilating as her panicked mind was at a total loss of how to communicate with her body. Stacy finally gave the Little some distance though as she huffed and puffed, crossing her arms. “Do you have any idea just how much trouble you’ve caused me?” Stacy asked in a much plainer voice. Dawn was still at a complete loss, which in some way visibly irked Stacy. She clicked her tongue as she stood from the bed. “I have spent this entire week taking care of all you Littles. I make sure to keep you all accounted for, I take you to your rooms, I take you on tours, I help you cross the street, remind you to use the potty…!” She sighed, continuing her rant to a petrified girl. “You see, munchkin,” she said, sounding far less sweet than the pet name implied, “I fill a quota for each and every tour. It’s important that for every odd sum of you Portal Littles that a few ‘happen’ to go missing. Does that make sense to you?” Dawn had no words. She knew Amazons were less than stellar people, and certainly Stacy had far less merit than even the disappointments like James and Katherine, but this was a new low. A new terror and fear that somehow existed beyond what unsightly persona she already had. “When I was told you’d been taken I marked you off, thinking that was that. Yet here I was, thinking you’d been adopted by a proper Amazon, not some kind of unicorn that lets you go.” Her eye just barely twitched, as if to visibly indicate her disbelief. “You were in a pull-up!” She exclaimed, postulating that the science most certainly did not agree with the outcome. “Honestly...” She groaned tiredly as she paced, “In the past three years, nothing like this has ever happened before…!” Dawn nervously watched her, trying to think of a way to speak or somehow poise her response or question in a way to avoid setting her off. The atmosphere was downright unnerving. Finally. She’d found it. Rock bottom. A scenario so bad and so inescapable that she’d crack her nails just trying to scrape past this bedrockian demise. Her last bastion that already was a burning siege had collapsed entirely as Stacy herself seemed to reveal her ulterior motive. What made Dawn’s throat hot and tingly with bile though was her nonchalant attitude. Stacy walked to and fro as if it really were a simple workplace blunder; robbing a person of their belongings and alienating them in a foreign dimension. Where was her humanity? She left a few fingers on her chin as her gaze focused on the nonmaterial. “Portal Customs is likely voiding her papers as we speak...” Stacy muttered under her breath, yet not enough to at least give Dawn more cause for concern. “A-ah...I-I’m sorry!” Dawn blurted out, barely even recognizing her own words. Her hurried pleas felt off the cuff, yet the farthest thing from her rational mind. “I-I...I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble! P-please! Let me go home! I promise I won’t tell anybody! Please!” And tears rolled down her cheeks, without any kind of alternative that could so much as spark in her brain. Forget the anger, the distrust that stunk so heavily from this Amazon’s craftiness and malicious intent. Even if Dawn was a mark for her personal agenda, it seemed to matter so little when she was the very key to getting home. Stacy turned her head at that. “Sorry? If you were sorry, honey, you’d be marching that bottom out of this hotel to find someone else that’ll adopt you.” She paused to let the suggestion set in. “Well?” She left a hand on her hip, coincidentally leaving herself out of the way between Dawn’s line of vision and the door. It was easy to infer by what she meant, yet naturally it was absolutely out of the question for Dawn. But because she absolutely wouldn’t throw herself to the wolves, and by consequence could not “apologize”, she sniffled as it meant further upsetting Stacy, the one person she desperately needed to stay on the good side of. “P-please, th-there’s...let me do something else! I...I gotta go--” “Why do you even want to go back?!” Stacy whined, seeming to find Dawn’s wishes simply outrageous. “Terra is hardly the kind of society ours is? Our technology is better, less carbon emissions, better education...it’s undeniably better to stay here! You remember all the tours, right?” Dawn hiccuped. She didn’t want to reason. She didn’t want to debate. She just wanted her things back, yet Stacy rambled like Dawn was an inconsolable child she could only talk at, not listen to. Stacy gave her an annoyed look, finally devoid of the cheery, cushy tone she’d given the past week, as if she finally ran out of fuel for pleasantries. “I’ll make it easy for you. I want you gone. I don’t care how you do it, but to me you’re just another Little needing to be put in their place.” “Wh-what?” Dawn stuttered on eggshells. “I-I’ll be gone! To-tomorrow! Please, please! I’ll go back to my dimension and I’ll never tell anybody!” She sobbed as she begged. “I-I don’t even need my luggage back! J-just give me my visa, my passport…!” Stacy came in very close, leaning her face in, leaving a mere few inches between hers and Dawn’s. “Even if I gave them back to you, they would be absolutely no good, honey.” The finality seemed to have restored some glow to Stacy’s face, in exchange for sapping the rest of it from Dawn’s. She sighed with a smile. “I won’t go into much detail, since it’s not an easy subject for a Little to handle, but when people like me add our chicks to the ‘quota’,” she said with added enunciation, “the people that I work for talk to some more important people, and they let other people know back in your dimension that you’ve returned safe and sound!” It wasn’t complicated. But it was, hence Dawn’s teary confused look. Returned? She’s far from anything close to being returned. “B-but I haven’t gone back…?” It was like honey to the Amazon’s ears. Her smile drifted farther from her once agitated expression. “No, that’s right, you haven’t.” Stacy nodded, easing back into her patronizing tone. “But the people in charge of the portals say you have! That means if anyone looks for you, the very last place you were seen was coming back from this dimension!” She explained with softened enthusiasm. “From there, a few more people extend your footprint back home a little bit to muddy the waters... But really, telling you anything at all is already far beyond what you need to know...” Disappeared. Stacy was right. The explanation was near unfathomable. “Wh...why…?” It was the only question. It could amount to so much in return, yet a gut feeling from Dawn told her that there would be meager crumbs of explanation. What was this already? Conspiracy? Collusion among officials between both dimensions? Stacy gave Dawn a distasteful frown. “I really don’t think any more explanation is all that necessary… At the end of the day though, you’re good for this dimension, and in exchange you get a better life here. Win-win, right?” It wasn’t a win. It was so, so far from it. But Dawn didn’t argue the semantics, not when it was an accessory to a life-changing misfortune. “And before you ask anything else, if you’re wondering why we’re even having this conversation, it’s so we don’t have to deal with any misunderstandings for tomorrow,” Stacy grinned, “After all, I can’t have a native Little getting on a bus meant for Portal Littles?” Dawn whimpered at that, gritting her teeth. She wanted to refute and argue, but what proof did she have? “Really, though, staying with that Amazon insane enough to actually let a Little go probably would have been in your best interest.” Stacy chuckled. “Have fun trying to find a golden goose like that again!” Another crushing blow. Dawn wouldn’t exactly consider James and Katherine ideal if she were to legitimately be stranded in this dimension, yet they did have their edge over some of the other deranged Amazons she’d seen this past week, including the very one that came very close to successfully kidnapping her this morning. And with each strike, Stacy seemed to be finding her stride once again. “Oh well! Again, I only took you back in the lobby because it’d be better to avoid any confusion. It’s not the tightest-lipped secret as to what goes on, but no questions are better than any at all, right?” Stacy seemed to give a genuine smile, which only hurt Dawn more. “So, to make it clear, once I leave this room, we do not know each other.” Stacy said as she sat back down on the bed. “To me you’re nothing more than a silly Little spouting stories. If I see you in that lobby tomorrow when all the other chicklings are going home, I will not hesitate to flag you as a lost Little in need of protective services, understood?” And her inviting stare was anything but compassionate. Menacing, cold and laced with venom. It was an outright threat. Dawn slowly nodded. What else was there to do at this point. Stacy sighed with relief, seeing that the last nail had finally been hammered into place. “Good, as long as you understand, you’re free to do as you please!” She paused to admire the imaginary roses. “Well, actually, I would call it more like going out on your own terms...” And with little left to the imagination, Stacy did not hesitate with a quick hand on Dawn’s pants and yanking them off completely. “H-hey!” Dawn cried, reaching out for what was so high away, stripped of her last set of pants. They were designed for toddlers, yet it was a shred of dignity more than complete nakedness. “No underwear underneath?” Stacy mockingly commented. “Last time I checked, you were in a pull-up...” She stood up from the bed, folding the small pair of pants and holding firmly onto them. “You’re free to do as you please, Dawn, but I need to make sure you at least land where you’re supposed to. No Amazon in their right mind will let a half-naked Little walk out of a place like this in anything less than a diaper, barring any weirdo Amazons like from this morning… But, lightning never strikes twice! And by that point it’ll mean you’ve been claimed, which is in both of our best interests.” She’d certainly put Dawn in a tough spot. She was a mouse in an empty field, stalked from above by countless hawks. A pantless Little screamed immaturity and checked every box to put her in her place. “So...well...” Stacy looked around the room as if she’d misplaced something. “I think that’s everything on my end?” She gave Dawn a quizzical look as if she were fishing for a similar response. “Worst case scenario, the maids will find you tomorrow past checkout time and deal with you then. Either way, you’re not my problem anymore.” Stacy turned on her heel and went for the door. Dawn was silent. Mute. Broken. She could call Stacy back and try to plead for some kind of chance, yet by the way the Amazon put it, things seemed to be out of her hands. Even still, that didn’t stop her from rubbing it in. With a wave of her fingers Stacy grinned from the doorway. “Toodaloo, baby-boo~!” Stacy cooed as she closed the door. She was gone. Dawn’s pants were gone. Her luggage was gone. Her phone. Her passport. Her visa. Her identity. Her dignity. Her modesty. Her sanity. Her livelihood. Her safety. Her boyfriend. Her family. Her home. Her dimension. Her everything. Dawn tried to stand, but even she didn’t know what for. It felt governed by instinct at this point. But she fell right back over. Either the strength had left her or she’d realized just what a fruitless endeavor it would be. She could kick, scream, cry, shout, but none of it mattered when her sphere of influence had already been locked in a box sealed from the outside. This was it. She’d finally arrived. The void. The next hour led her into the late of night, leaving her legs tired as she shakily stood on an overturned plastic bin that was balanced atop a steady foot-stool. Between her crying fits she peered through the peephole to her door, watching through the fish-eye lens view an exaggerated view of the hallway. What seeds of hope she had left were mere figments of imagination by this point, yet Dawn hinged onto what small items could even still be conceived. Each and every time there was a passing face, Dawn would flinch and nearly fall off her sloppy tower at the sight of some grotesque Amazon. Fear didn’t even describe it anymore. It was absolute terror now. Dawn stood, naked from the waist down as there was a slight chill on her bare bottom. It was the equivalent of gushing blood in shark-infested waters. Seeing the many giants pass through sent her imagination to haywire levels, petrified by what they would most certainly do if they found Dawn right then in the state that she was. But she wasn’t peering through the peephole just to shave years off her lifespan, but instead to find the one other kind of person she might be able to get through to. A fellow Little. She likely had other comrades on this floor, but the hardest and most difficult bar to clear for that to happen was sheer luck. To catch a Little walking in the hall seemed next to impossible the more she thought about it, which is why she tried not to. It was a hotel that serviced Littles, but only through cheap adaptations. Everything was Amazon-sized, including the door to every room, so why bother walking through a hotel that’s a physical exercise for you to navigate? What’s more, every other Little from Earth was likely packing their bags. That alone made Dawn uneasy. Everyone but her would be going home. Going home without her unless she could have one thing go right tonight. It was late, even less reason to see a Little out and about, and limited by her peephole, given she couldn’t go out there half-naked, just about every card in the deck was against her. Failure was approximately guaranteed, and even Dawn in her most rational state would consider this all to be a pointless, tiresome endeavor. She was on the cusp of single digit hours from being between now and when Stacy and the others would leave on the bus. She wouldn’t be on that bus and she wouldn’t be going through the portal home. Instead, she’d be waiting in this room, hiding from the maids that would inevitably find her, diaper her and send her off to who in the hell knows where. Did they have places like orphanages for Littles here? Dear God, she did not want to think about it. Her mind was in a crossfire of trying to pray and think of some means of escape, while also being attacked by her own morbid imagination of simply how much worse things will become. Her stomach growled as she tried not to squirm. She hadn’t eaten all day, and despite being in a hotel with room service, there was hardly a chance of making use of it. It went without saying that the risk was far too high in having someone deliver food to her room, lest the Amazon employee do something to her right then and there. She was exhausted, hungry and worried. She knew that she needed to keep fighting, as futile as it felt, but her body was reaching another hard stop. And in the midst of her hunger pains and obscured view, she caught a glance of a small passing brown head of hair. The head had come and gone by the time Dawn fully processed it, lagged by her body’s withdrawal. But when it did hit she scrambled to get off the bin that was on the stool, toppling over entirely as she fell on her side onto the floor. Her one small fortune was not falling on the wrist that she’d already done something to from earlier. It hurt, but what hurt so much more was thinking of a fate that left her trapped in a dimension as demented as this. Dawn stood with a burst of energy as she tried to ignore the pain, hopping off the ground to jump to grasp the handle to the door and swing it open. Gluing her lower half to the inside of the door, she leaned her head out into the hall to catch the distant figure. “H-hey…!” Dawn started in a half-whisper, pleading for the stranger’s attention. They were short. No, not short. They were Dawn’s size. Normal sized. But small they were as was their range of hearing, because Dawn’s voice had gone unheard. “H-hey!” Dawn said louder this time, bleeding with desperation. Modesty was a forgotten practice in the face of extreme duress. And for once her prayers had been answered. The person stopped and turned their head with a quizzical look. Both Dawn and the stranger exchanged looks of surprise. “D-Dawn?” “Hea...Heather!” Dawn shouted, overtaken by a wave of emotion. She nearly ran out into the hall to meet her, yet was frozen still by the draft on her bare skin. Heather fully turned around this time to walk back to Dawn, slowly transitioning into a small jog. “Dawn!” Heather exclaimed again with a wide smile. She had a small laugh of disbelief, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Y-you’re okay!” She exclaimed, stopping right in front of the door. Dawn only offered a meek smile in return. “Y-yea....mm...” Shestarted to reciprocate, but quickly lost the joy in her voice as it couldn’t have been farther from the truth. She hadn’t been any more okay since this morning. She’d simply found a new danger to be snatched by. “How?” Heather asked. “I-I...I ran to tell Stacy as soon as it happened this morning, but...she said not to worry about it...” The look on her face now shifted to one of gloom. But it lit up again as she said, “I can’t believe you escaped…! I’m so happy for you!” “H-Heather, I...” Dawn started, choking on her tears. It was a wild mix of emotions that she was feeling. Heather had tried to do something. She did try to get her help this morning. She did the only thing she could do was tell an Amazon. It wasn’t her fault that it happened to be Stacy, a woman who very much counted on Dawn’s disappearance. Heather was a good person, and this entire time Dawn had been talking herself into having animosity and speculating the worst. What’s more? She was planning to put a friend into a position where she might be adopted against her will. It was all a sham in the end, yet it didn’t change Dawn’s intentions despite her cruel assumptions. “What’s wrong?” Heather tilted her head, stepping closer to the door. “You’re back now, okay? We’ll all be getting out of this freaky place tomorrow. You need to tell me how you escaped!” Dawn sniffled with an ugly cry as she shook her head, drowning in irony. “A-a-ahm...I’hm n-not sure if I can go home…!” Dawn sobbed. “What?” Heather asked. “Why not? We’re all leaving tomorrow...Here, let me come in?” Heather came closer to the door. Dawn wanted to give words of caution, or try to prepare Heather for the objective weirdness regarding her state of dress, yet she stayed teary-eyed and silent as she did let the woman in. “Let’s just sit and...” Heather quieted down as she walked in, turning to see Dawn’s naked lower half. “Dawn…?” The room still looked a bit out of order. The trash bin Dawn was standing on laid on the floor on its side, the closet and dresser drawers were still haphazardly open from Dawn’s fruitless search for her luggage, and the bed was still ruffled and wrinkled by her sleep and Stacy’s visit. Heather quickly averted her gaze, turning back to the hall. “Uhm, how about I wait while you get dressed? Sorr--” “No!” Dawn spoke with pure, instinctual desperation as she grasped Heather’s wrist. Even if she looked deranged and nearing her last mental brace, and even if it wasn’t just how she looked, but how she truly felt, the suggestion alone of Heather showing a sliver of leaving now would shatter Dawn’s hopes into smithereens. Heather in this moment had become nothing less than Dawn’s very lifeline. “You can’t leave me! Please stay; I-I need help and I don’t know what to do! I’m scared…!” Her voice started to quiver as its pitch heightened with her heartbeat. Her hysterics seemed to be telling as they were off-putting, it seemed. “O...Okay, Dawn,” Heather gave her a seemingly stand-offish look. “Look,” she softened her expression, “I promise I’ll stay, but let me wait out in the hall while you get dressed?” She started turning, but Dawn held onto her wrist, tugging back firmly. “You don’t get it!” Dawn sobbed. “I don’t have any clothes…! I don’t have anything!” “...What?” Heather gave her a full look of confusion after the words hit in full effect. “You...already packed them?” “Noo!” Dawn whined, finding with each misunderstanding that more explanation was required. “I don’t have any of my clothes! I don’t have my phone, my ID, my passport, my visa…!” She started to work herself up more and more with each confession and truly started to emulate a toddler’s meltdown, only it was with serious and damning cause. Now Heather was raising an eyebrow, but she didn’t tug away. It seemed that she was beyond the point of total misunderstanding as she stepped farther away from the exit, though closing the door behind her. It was enough to loosen Dawn’s tension if by a little as her arms fell at her sides like clumps of mud. “Dawn, what happened to you?” The look on Dawn’s face scrunched up with a question like that. Even she couldn’t confidently answer it. Today had warped her mind and transformed her in ways she couldn’t even imagine up until now, much less draw a line from start to finish. She remembered the events themselves. Vividly. But, to consider how they made her feel and to make her so vulnerable to reach this point...it seemed impossible. She wiped a tear from her eye. “I’ll explain, but please...please don’t leave…” Heather nodded her head, walking deeper inside the room, passively observing the state of it. She turned her head back while near the bed. “Is it all right if I sit up here?” Dawn nodded in response, beside herself with a hand clutching her other arm. She did squeeze her legs together somewhat to give herself some sense of modesty, yet it’d been violated so many times today, it felt pathetic to think that she was already slightly numb to the embarrassment. Heather via the Little stool climbed onto the bed, sitting along its edge as she shuffled a bit to the side to make room for Dawn. And finally being a bit more conscious of herself, Dawn took the opposite end closer to the headboard where she could slip her lower half beneath the comforter. Dawn didn’t wait for Heather to prod first. “When I was kidnapped this morning on the sidewalk...” She felt physically ill just from trying to recall that hefty Amazon, “that Amazon took my pants and underwear, but I also had my phone then...” “But how did you get away?” Heather asked, which would be the inevitable bridge from Dawn’s story. “...I didn’t. Two different Amazons stopped her apparently. I was drugged.” Dawn spoke with a disgusted voice. Amongst everything that happened today, she’d never felt so violated. “Those two saved me from her and spent the day getting me new pants,” she opted to ignore the point on pull-ups. “Then why are you here now?” Heather, once again, asked in advance what would presumably be Dawn’s next explanation. “A...a lot happened when I was with them,” she kept it extremely brief, “but they brought me back here. It was starting to look like they were gonna kidnap me though...” If it wasn’t known by now, her opinion on the matter was a flurry of anger and unease. If it were to be equated to a near-death experience, Dawn was still trying to find her grasp on what was still tangible and stable. Naked and afraid, that meant she had little to recognize. Heather continued to be an interjection at every point. “So that doesn’t explain your luggage and stuff, though?” Just for a moment, Dawn’s nervousness and fear managed to subside for her to feel a tinge of annoyance by Heather’s listening ability, or rather her patience. But only a moment, as Dawn doubled down back on the severity of her situation. Now for the bombshell. “Stacy took them.” Dawn said, letting the heavy words drop before her open mouth. “Stacy did?” Heather asked rhetorically. “Why?” “Because of this morning...” To think that one of her most unexpected feelings right now would be regret. Naturally she needed to reach this point to even have a chance of going home, yet she started to imagine herself the fool for working so hard to get back to a place that had long left her behind. “Stacy is just like every other Amazon. She just wants us to ‘disappear’ and wind up being stuck in this God awful dimension!” The accusation left Heather with a slightly stunned expression, looking unsure of how to proceed. “But...then why are there so many of us left? Wouldn’t we all be ‘missing’ by now?” Even to Dawn that weak defense seemed ridiculous to even conceive. Heather wasn’t a college student, but to figure something like this shouldn’t take any critical thought… “It’s because it’s supposed to seem insignificant. If only a few people from an entire bunch go missing, it’s easier to cover up than losing the entire tour group, right?” “I guess...” Heather said with a crease in her brow. “So Stacy wants you to ‘disappear’?” Finally, having reached a meeting of minds Dawn nearly smiled if the matter weren’t so vile. “Yes! An hour ago Stacy came to my room and told me everything. She took my bag and all my stuff because she plans on making me stay here. She’s not letting me go back to Earth!” And as she went back into the meat of her explanation, she started to sound audibly more upset. “And finally, she took my fucking pants!” Dawn seethed, yet the ability to swear without a passive comment or direct punishment gave her a small sense of glee. Alternatively, it soured the sense of thinking her given rights as an adult were now privileges and not freedoms. Heather left the silence for a bit before speaking. She wasn’t entirely quizzical anymore. “She took...everything?” “Yes,” Dawn wiped a tear from her eye, “If I don’t have my passport and visa, I’ll never be able to go home!” As she said this, an even deeper pang of worry recalled Stacy saying that things were already in motion beyond her. What if somehow her visa were invalidated now, or she was specifically on a list to not be allowed travel, or was removed from one that was permitted? The possibilities for failure were endless, and a gaping void that if she stared too long into, would consume her entirely. “Please, Heather...I don’t know what to do! Please help me!” Now Heather looked a bit disturbed. She shuffled a little on the bed, clearly uncomfortable with the story and thinking of its many details. “Did Stacy ever say anything about me?” She asked. “What?” Dawn was caught off guard, expecting to focus on herself. “No, she didn’t. You’ll be fine! Heather, please! You’re the only person I have!” Dawn begged, praying dearly. She didn’t know a single other Little-- person, on this tour. Amazons were naturally out of the question, so that really left just Heather. Heather seemed to look a bit more relieved, who took a small breath. “Dawn...I asked Stacy this morning to help you…? When you got taken…?” She was avoiding eye contact, looking around Dawn, or nowhere near entirely. “Y-yeah…?” Dawn agreed, but what did that change? That was then. This is now! Heather briefly scratched her cheek. “D-Dawn...I wanna go home, too...” “Yeah, me too!” Dawn practically shouted. What was she even getting at?! Why couldn’t she give a straight answer? “I-I just need your help to think of something...something so I can maybe get my passport and stuff back… Please!” Why was she acting so strangely? Heather still looked away. Straight ahead. “Look, I uhm...I really feel for you, but...” her answer started in the form of action, as she started to slip off the bed, onto the stool and to the floor. “Wh-what?” Dawn’s voice cracked as Heather moved. “N-no, Heather, please…!” “I wanna get to go home too, Dawn...” Heather turned her body to face Dawn, yet she rubbed her arm and looked to the floor. Sounding nervous and afraid, she said, “I want to help, but what am I supposed to do...?” Like a punch to the gut, reality as twisted as it was gave Dawn an expectedly sick feeling. She still slipped out of the bed, having next to no concern for her lower modesty at a time like this. “H-Heather...” She even forced her hands into Heather’s, interlocking fingers as she tried to get her to look. “It’s just...” Heather’s voice trailed as her fingers left the interspaces between Dawn’s. “What if she threw your stuff out already, or something…?” “She didn’t! She said so! They’re probably in her room!” Dawn countered. Please, whatever it would take, if she could get Heather on her side, it’d feel like there was a modicum of a fighting chance left. “What if...what if we snuck in--” “You want me to sneak into her room?” Heather interjected with a tone of disbelief. “Dawn, like...I get that you’re in trouble right now, but why should I have to risk my wellbeing, too?” Dawn wordlessly stared at her. She was right. Heather had no obligation. Dawn was begging for her to jump into the shark infested waters with her, all for just maybe getting out, or otherwise giving the sharks two meals instead of one. But there was no comfort in objective reasoning. Dawn didn’t want a reason for why she shouldn’t get any help. It was a time to be selfish and desperate. “Then…then could you just help me out? Be a look-out or something? Just while I--” “What if she catches me, though?” Heather said, implying further risk for herself. “Dawn, look, I’m really sorry, but this is…--” “How can you be fucking sorry if you’re not willing to do a DAMN thing to help me?!” Dawn angrily shouted. She sniffled as she wiped her glossy eyes. “Don’t you get it? If I can’t get my stuff back I’m stuck here! Stuck in this horrible, twisted dimension! Are...aren’t we friends?” Some of her words and maybe attitude had caused an apparent shift in the atmosphere. Her next attempt had the exact opposite effect. Heather gave her a look bordering on disgusted. “We...like, met just today?” The further refusal made her wince as she tried other tactics. “I have a family! I have a mom, a dad, a boyfriend...I go to college!” As incompatible Dawn was making herself with her hastening meltdown, Heather was clearly starting to look more and more uncomfortable. After all, what was there to say? “L-look...I’m really sorry, Dawn, but I should probably go...” “No!” Dawn’s gaze shot forward at that. “You can’t! Just...just please help me a little! Help me think of something! I can’t stay here, Heather!” Her last gleam of light was fading and her world was crumbling. “I...uhm...I gotta finish packing...” Heather murmured, incidentally making a comment that stung more than it was supposed to. Dawn stumbled and fell to her knees, practically groveling. “Then pants! Give me a pair of pants at least, please! If I walk outta here like this, somebody’s gonna catch me!” “But...what if Stacy somehow finds out I gave you a pair?” Heather asked, sounding nervous. “What if she knows that we’re talking right now? I...no offense, Dawn, but I don’t wanna end up like you...” Dawn grit her teeth. It had felt like this was destiny, so why, why did it end so poorly? Was it just to mock another attempt to save herself? “...Ad-adopt you…! The...the Amazons who brought me back, th-they wanted to adopt you!” Dawn proclaimed, hitting her last-ditch effort. This did stop Heather in her tracks. “Wh-what?” A glimmer, if you could even call it that appeared in Dawn’s eye. “Y-yeah! The ones from this morning...who were talking about your ass? They’re the ones who rescued me! They brought me back because I agreed I’d let them meet you! But I didn’t! I tricked them! Because we’re friends!” Dawn gave her a trembling, inane smile with tears rolling down her cheeks. It wouldn’t have been a knowing lie had Dawn not spoken to James in the lobby. In other words, she was lying through her teeth. Anything to get help… “...Did...did anybody even take you back here?” Heather asked, a sudden switch from awkward, distant sympathy to accusation and distrust. “I...I don’t even know if that’s true, Dawn. I really need to leave now...” And so, her “friend” had hurried to the door, blessed with just a few more inches to reach the handle on her toes than Dawn could. The smile had faded, drooping into a frown as murmurs and emotional sputters escaped from her agape mouth. Dawn was a decrepit, sobbing and wailing mess as Heather opened the door back into the hall. Just over her cries she could hear a fleeting “Good luck,” and finally the shut of the door. That was it. She had no cards left in the deck. No ace that ever existed, nor a plan B that was ever made. Heather, the final face to turn to had abandoned her, rathering she save herself than stick her neck out any further for someone she barely knew. The worst of it all was that Dawn could understand it. She could justify the action and in a different life likely do the same. But like her thought process before, she didn’t want to hush her tears or find an explanation as for why it was expected that she would have no help. She wanted a savior, not the reason for why it wouldn’t come. Her stomach ached and her wrist complained just as much. She felt hot and frustrated despite wearing only her bare skin, and wanted nothing more than this all to be some terrible fever dream that would end in her waking up in her bed. At home, on Earth. She quieted down a little, closing her eyes as she laid on the floor, staring up at a ceiling that felt three times too high for what was reality. Her chest rose and fell, slowing down the rate and increasing the quantity of air, breathing as she avoided yet another panic attack. Then she opened them. Nothing had changed. It was the same hotel room in the same dimension with the same half-naked girl victimized by it all. The idea of thought, movement or speech seemed like moving mountains by now. And so, Dawn continued to lay there. Her throat was dry and she was sore all over. Nothing left to do other than let the time pass. The sun would never seem to rise on the endless night of misery, as Dawn had scarcely moved from her spot. She very well could have been the corpse to a crime scene awaiting its chalk outlining before being seen by the coroner. She stopped caring about the passage of time and in that block of unknown minutes or hours lost, she hardly even considered how to better her truly hopeless situation. Whether she tried to climb out of it or just accept it, she’d fall just as deep all the same. A sinkhole didn’t discriminate to its contents. Maybe she could flood the bathroom, and consequently the entire hotel? Just leave the bath running… It hardly did much for herself, but at least it left the chance of stunting everyone else’s chances of going home to the realm of her own deranged idea of possibility… But then again, it probably wouldn’t. Maybe the sick and twisted Amazons were smart enough to account for that; Littles playing with water. Maybe the bath had a sensor to prevent overflow, or a personal, hidden camera in the bathroom of every Little’s room that kept them from mischief… By now, she was willing to believe in any outlandish thing that seemed to make it worse for herself, because that’s all it had been thus far. As dead inside as she felt, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as soon as there was a knock on her door. Who could it have been? A debt collector for the pants she owed James and Katherine? Stacy back with another bottle of hand soap? Maybe hotel staff to tell her to check out early. Whoever it was, it was most certainly the end for Dawn. An Amazon would refuse to leave as soon as they knew a Little was in here. No matter the initial reason they’d want to “check on her,” or “make sure she has everything she needs,” and she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t have pants, nor underwear, to which they’d be happy to rectify the latter with disposable underwear. The discarded pull-up was still in the bathroom last time Dawn checked. Was it better to wear than nothing at all? Debatable, yet both equally as incriminating without anything to go over it. Hopeless, everything was… There was another knock. She’d forgotten someone was there in the process of thinking about the person that might be there. “Dawn?” A male’s voice called from the other side. Receiving the voice with curiosity would have been a bit too much to say, yet Dawn had at least expected it to be a female that would bring her demise. They knocked again. Dawn didn’t scream. She didn’t cry or wail. She merely thought to herself what a run it’d been. All the struggle and fuss just to end up in a place she’d always be, no matter the means. So she sat up, standing and walking to the door. Figuring that they would get in regardless, whether by having Dawn let them in of her own accord or them finding a staff member to let them in, she went quietly. Finding the energy to hop off the ground, she lazily grasped the handle, slipping off of it, then jumping again for a better grasp. Dejected was the best description for Dawn’s expression. She was letting the burglar into her home and couldn’t care less. Finally with purchase, partly dangling, she used the parts of her feet close enough to the ground to walk the door partly open before letting go. She didn’t bother covering up. She stood there in her half-naked splendor like it was a badge of pride. As prideful as someone so depressed could be, hands hanging by her sides. Lightning struck twice. It was easy to say that probably nothing by now could incite a reaction from Dawn that was anything but despair. Yet she now stood corrected. “Do you...always answer the door like that?” James gave her a curious look, standing right before the Little who held a shocked expression on her face. Dawn was wide-eyed. “James…?” She took a step back to make way, yet stumbled on her heel and fell on her bottom. She finally pressed her knees together as emotion flowed back into her brainstream. “Would you prefer if I gave you a second to change…?” James asked before stepping in. He didn’t fully look away, but he kept his eyes up. While Dawn didn’t complain for a few reasons, she was still trying to drain her expectations that truly believed this confrontation to be the end of her adult, independent being. Back on her feet, she started walking back to the bed, finally putting a hand on the crack of her backside. “N-no, it’s fine...come in. Why are you here? Isn’t it late?” “Very late,” he shut the door on the way in. “Almost didn’t expect to find you.” Yet he did. But why did he. Of all people, the last Dawn would expect to find on the other side of her door was James, maybe Katherine as a close second. After James’ confession from the lobby, Dawn was incredulous, but eventually seething. She wanted nothing to do with him nor Katherine ever again. Being toted around as a potential baby-to-be was plenty enough to burn the bridge between them, and Dawn made it explicitly clear. So despite all the cruel things she said to him, why was he here? But before chasing that line of thought, a new worry crossed her mind. What if he was here to collect, screw the idea of consent and just outright take her? By now it didn’t take anything at all to know that it’d be pointless to try and resist. “I get what this is.” Dawn said tiredly. Maybe it just wasn’t hitting her yet, or she stopped caring. “You do?” James asked. “I guess that makes this faster, then. Just a second...” And as he mumbled and seemed to move around, Dawn merely laid in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She tried to steel her heart, preparing for the worst and most likely, a horrid diaper. No crinkling of an unfolding garment, however, which meant the other thing: a cloth diaper. Why she even thought of the alternative was beyond her and enough to self-loathe even more. But, even that theory fell limp once she felt something small be tossed next to her on the bed. The lack of things done to her in such a vulnerable moment hardly matched the tempo this was all supposed to be. Despite it seeming so vile to admit, Dawn partly resonated with Stacy’s ranting; what was wrong with this Amazon? Dawn turned her head to find a small rectangular device. A strikingly familiar one. It was her smartphone. “Th-this is...” Dawn had already sat up, stammering as she found that it was still powered and wasn’t some fake. It had the same password and same fingerprint identification. Amazons couldn’t seamlessly replicate technology from her world, right? “It’s the real thing. To the best of my knowledge.” He added his second statement with a tone that threatened to chuckle. Given Dawn’s personal context, even in the short time she’d been apart from James, life had become a setting far too grim for there to be any humor. It certainly was her phone. She recognized all the recent photos, albeit that was her only test, given a lack of service in a different dimension. Sufficient nonetheless, however the novelty lasted but a few seconds once the newly added piece fell into the full picture. What silver lining was her phone without a passport or visa? A phone was less than a crumb of hope if it didn’t lead to any of her other belongings. At best she could have photos of her identification on her phone, yet her overflowing sense of pessimism hardly believed in that route should she even have the photos. “How did you even get this?” She asked, yet the curiosity was just about gone entirely. “How did you even find me?” James kept a friendly expression, yet Dawn sensed an almost touchy vibe from him.“The phone is one thing, that is something that might upset you… As for finding your room, you may not like how I did it.” “I don’t care.” She answered plainly without another thought. She’d already been beaten and battered so much and her time left as a free person was audibly ticking. “Just tell me.” She left James this morning feeling angry and betrayed. Those things hadn’t disappeared by any means, but call her overdramatic because they felt so insignificant in the face of her own mortality. James nodded his head, though took a brief glance around the room. Whether he had an opinion on the state of the room or not, he didn’t vocalize it. Instead, “Is it okay if I take a seat on the bed?” In other words, sit next to Dawn. She didn’t readily reply. Instead she stared at him blankly, trying to dissect the intent, weigh anything that may not have been considered, or… James made a sudden move, causing Dawn to jump a little. “Actually, this stool here doesn’t look too bad,” he said as he pulled over the Little step stool Dawn had been using by the door. It seemed grossly undersized compared to James’ size, but neither made further mention of it. “So, the phone, your phone...” He put his hands together as the explanation came to mind. “I didn’t realize until later on that we had your phone the entire time. Please hear me out when I say this before you react, but I think that Katherine kept it a secret so that we could focus on--” “--She didn’t keep it a secret,” Dawn curtly corrected him, “she outright lied to me. I asked her about my stuff and she lied. She said they were gone.” And there was the devil in the details. Intentionally leaving out certain facts was different from contradicting them entirely. As fair and neutral as James may have outwardly seemed, he was more than likely leaning in Katherine’s favor and willing to cut her slack, given their marriage. “I guess what I mean is that I think my wife had good, honest intentions. I don’t want to argue about that. I didn’t want to make you angry.” “I’m not angry.” Dawn said, though essentially lied. She wanted to appear civil, yet it probably looked silly, given her claims of the sky being green despite the very blue look on her face. “I found your phone in Katherine’s purse by chance on the drive back home. I haven’t talked to Katherine about it yet, but I took it while she was sleeping in the car.” “So you went home, found my phone, then drove back here just to give it back?” The lack of belief was beyond evident in Dawn’s voice. James did nothing but shrug. “I told you not all Amazons are as bad as you think?” There was a burning desire to follow up with that by asking about her pants, but she didn’t. Despite James being who he was, beyond his Amazonian tendencies, Dawn still stuck by the notion that he was the most upstanding giant she’d met here. Even as an enemy, Dawn would believe in him on account of his morals. That, and if he were willing to tell her about a phone, why omit something about clothes? Rather than trying to meet him in the middle, Dawn skipped the “grand revelation” and moved things along. “That doesn’t explain how you found me.” Maybe she was being unfair. After all, he did say that they were two separate explanations. No, she definitely was being unfair. She just didn’t care, whether she had respect for him or not. “No, it doesn’t,” he gave a small nod, even behind his neutral expression, somehow showing reluctance through his eyes. “When I asked at the front desk about you, they were reluctant to give out information on you, but...” He slowed the pace of his words. Dawn started to scrutinize the look on his face. Was it discomfort? Hard to believe James had any of that. Particularly any Amazon when it came to Littles. “They were a bit more helpful when I lied, saying that I changed my mind and came to adopt you...” “They just told you? That’s all you had to say?” Dawn asked in half-disbelief, yet it quickly became self-realization that she was the fool for thinking Amazons had reasonable standards. Of course her information was publicly available when it involved servitude in diapers. “I don’t plan on doing that at all, though,” James assured her, and Dawn did believe him, yet her respect for him fell even more into question with such a devious tactic. James stood back up, bending his knees a little to get the comfortability back in them from sitting on a Little stool. He sort of stared at Dawn for a few moments. No words were exchanged, just silent thoughts running through both party’s heads. Though from Dawn’s perspective, it was beginning to become unnerving. James spoke, but the tone had shifted. Maybe it was familiarity that somehow set him apart from any other Amazon as of late, but a familiar kind of intimidation came rushing back. “Dawn? Is there something you’re not telling me?” Her words failed her for a moment. She felt the intimidation, but it wasn’t a stranger’s kind. It felt authoritarian, like a...a parent that knew their child was up to no good. “Wh...what?” She could only merely reply. “I know you weren’t expecting me, so I guess if we ignore that you answered the door half-naked, which you probably shouldn’t do in the future,” Dawn took that as a jab, “you didn’t make any attempt to get changed after the fact?” Dawn wanted to reply with some sort of argument, especially to criticize him for making such a big deal about her being half-naked, but of course it was unusual. It was a sign of something. What’s more, did Dawn even want him to know what was happening? It was her seemingly certain demise once the sun came up and her last lifeline had fallen through. Why did she need to bother giving a spectator a recap? “Dawn?” James lifted his brows the slightest bit, “You can talk to me, you know?” And the look on her face only became more flustered. She felt caught in a way despite doing nothing wrong. Why couldn’t he have just up and left after giving her phone back? Sure, she was grateful, but he hadn’t earned an explanation. But he didn’t seem to fish for one any further. Not because he’d given up, but because now he started to step around the room. “What are you doing…?” Dawn asked in a shy, reserved voice. As she turned she kept the comforter bundled in a way to mask her lower half. He was pushing in one of the drawers Dawn had left open while looking for her luggage. “Tidying up,” he explained. “Not sure why, but I guess I’ve always been fond of a neat and clean kinda room?” He chuckled. For a brief moment Dawn felt less than in that regard, as if he were passively judging her character. “That’s because I...it’s messy because I was looking for something...” She didn’t mean to tell him that much, yet the lack of sleep and exhaustion on all fronts seemed to have loosened her filter. “Oh yeah?” He chatted as he continued to clean the room for her. “Look for what? Whenever Katherine misplaces something on a trip we have to turn the whole resort over...” The follow-up made her realize her blunder. Why was she even trying to be secretive? “N-nothing...” She poorly dismissed it. “Don’t you have to go now?” She knew he was working, somehow feeling annoyed that she bothered to remember anything about him or Katherine. “I will, I just wanna clean this room a little bit...” He said casually and readily, yet he did seem absorbed in the process. “That’s what the maids are for.” Dawn said plainly. “You can go now.” James stood back up after setting the trash bin in the corner by the TV stand. “If you insist,” he chuckled again. “I’ll just tell one of the maids to swing by--” “NO!” It was next to an almost involuntary response. Dawn’s hands fiercely clutched the fabrics of bedding around her as she audibly breathed. A deranged look awoke in her eyes as she became a shivering, cornered animal. Her plea had sounded so pained as she was already welling up with tears. James looked surprised by such an answer as he cautiously came over and took a seat on the bed. Dawn couldn’t even look at him as she tried to control her emotions. “Dawn, what’s going on?” He asked. “It’s...it’s nothing!” Dawn tried to shout, but the words came out shaky. She took another deep breath. “I’m fine...so leave already. But don’t tell anybody about me...” She couldn’t have made her troubles more obvious if she tried. “No.” Was the response. Truly husband and wife, it seemed that even James could only abide so much before biting back. “Leave! You gave me my phone, so fucking leave already!” Dawn tearfully shouted. “Take a breath, Dawn,” James said with a cautioning hand. “Get out already! GET OUT!” Dawn shouted, standing up to appear more to his size when he sat. She was blubbering, but still defiant. “Dawn, you’re making a lot of noise...” James continued to say in a calm voice. But Dawn continued to shout and stomp, seeing right through James’ attempts to rationally speak with her. The only thing that got her to go quiet and limp was a knock on the door. Both turned their heads, yet in Dawn’s eyes she was seeing a ghost. She stumbled forward and bounded across the bed, going as far as to slip right off the edge and onto the floor. “Dawn!” James had spoken with concern, but turned his head back to the door. Dawn was in a fetal position as she sat against the bed frame, trying to pretend like she didn’t exist. She was losing it. Trying to kick out an Amazon only seemed to make more swarm. When would it end? She was too busy and trapped in her own head to hear the door open. “Yes, hello?” It was James answering the door for her. “Hello...” The woman sounded like she was trying to look past James for something. “I’m sorry if this is the wrong room, but I’m the next one over; I could’ve sworn I heard some girl throwing a tantrum in here?” Dawn’s nails started to dig into her skin. She could hear James making an apologetic laugh. “I’m sorry, could you hear that? My daughter’s always difficult when it comes to bedtime; I’m very sorry for the noise...I promise, you won’t hear another peep from us.” There was a chuckle from the woman; the forced pleasantries of conversation amongst strangers. “Oh so that’s what it was! I heard there were a bunch of Portal Littles staying in this hotel, so I thought one of them was about to need some discipline...” “Oh, really? I didn’t know there were any in this hotel.” “So it would seem...” her response sounded opinionated and disapproving. “But I’m sorry to bother about the noise! Make sure to remind your daughter that throwing tantrums is what a Little would do!” “Haha, trust me, I will!” James said as he closed the door. Dawn turned to look up at him as he rounded the corner of the bed. “Can we please not shout anymore?” James asked. “From the looks of it, that’d be more for your sake than mine.” Quietly, Dawn nodded her head. Undeniably, he had saved her. “She...she took my fucking pants!” Dawn said in a distressed, but much more indoor voice as she poured out to James. “My passport, my visa, it’s all gone. All my luggage...” James quietly nodded. “Up the creek and without a paddle?” It hardly felt like the time for analogies. “If you feel like minimizing it, sure.” She said bitterly. But finally with someone who might give her some insight into this twisted dimension, “She can’t just do that, can she? Take my stuff and strand me here? Can’t I call the police?” She was expecting a resounding ‘yes’, but the expression on James' face only became more contemplative. “It’s not as cut and dry...” “Cut and dry? Why the hell not?!” Dawn raised her voice, but looked remorseful almost immediately as James gave her a look with regards to the visit she just had. “Wh-why...why would it be difficult?” “Dealing with Littles complicates the laws here, Dawn,” he started to explain, “Unfortunately laws regarding Littles here have been black and white for a long time, not so much in your favor, and only until recently are courts even starting to consider what’d be called a grey area.” “This is theft though!” Dawn countered. “Little or not, it should be pretty black and white!” “Even if the police believed you,” James paused to give Dawn a warning signal with his hand, seeing that she was ready to bite right back at that remark, “which isn’t what I’m saying personally, but what the cops might do, the entire circumstance you’re going through is pretty much unheard of...” “But she said that she does it regularly!” “Then that explains why this is as abnormal as it is,” James responded, giving an answer Dawn could just barely swallow. “Our society has enough trouble as it is with Littles, let alone Portal ones. I don’t even think that our laws have official recognition of Portal Littles, Dawn. You technically are as much of a Little as a natively born one.” Dawn gave him a speechless stare as she laughed insanely, sitting back down. “Unbelievable...everything in this dimension is just designed to stand against me? She can just take away my home and livelihood and get away with it?” James obviously didn’t want to be the one to tell her that, and it showed by the hurt expression he wore, which is why he stayed silent. “My god, I really am stuck here...” She stared off in disbelief. It felt strangely fine to say out loud, yet that only meant she somehow wasn’t feeling the full force of it yet. “Dawn...” James exhaled before continuing, “I can’t just leave you here.” Dawn gave him an incredulous look, as if he had the gaul to say such a thing. “Why? Because it’s so convenient for you now?” James finally frowned a little. “No, because you’ve said it yourself. You’re stuck here for the time being and your tour guide left you in this room so that you’d be adopted by some stranger. I’m not letting that happen.” His assertiveness was unexpected. Up until then James had been lax and a cooperative listener. Since when did he take the initiative? “Yeah, sure. You’re funny.” Dawn quite plainly shut him down. She wasn’t being adopted by anybody. Outside her own head though, maybe it was having that brief moment of safety under his presence that fueled her ignorance into thinking there were any real options left. “Dawn, if you don’t come with me, what else are you going to do?” “I’ll figure something out.” She said without a single forethought in mind. Whatever her alternative or lack of one was, it didn’t change her extreme reluctance to going with James. “Figure what out?” James pressed further. “If there’s going to be any way to figure this out, Dawn, you don’t have enough time to do it here. Please, just let me take you back to the house where you can--” “Are you kidding?! They’re leaving for my portal back home tomorrow!” Dawn whined. “I can’t go anywhere! If I go back to your house I doubt there’ll be any time to get back here in the morning! Besides,” she then gave him a much more scornful look, “did you expect me to just forgive you two after everything you did to me?” “Everything we did…?” James raised a brow. “What do you mean by that?” Dawn rolled her eyes. “You’re joking, right? You practically apologized to me when you carried me into the hotel this morning!” “Whatever I did say, I meant by how everything turned out, not what me or Katherine tried to do for you. It was all in your best interest.” Dawn scoffed. “Uh-huh, yeah, sure.” “You really don’t believe me?” “Says the guy married to a woman that lied about having my phone?” Apparently that crossed a line. James used a stern tone with a look of tried patience. “By now I would’ve been expecting a genuine apology from you. After everything Katherine and I have done for you today, you’ve only acted like a spoiled brat.” “Spoiled? Don’t you even--!” “You were being adopted by a stranger before we intervened!” James said plain as day. “Would you have rathered that we let you go?” Dawn’s tone started to grumble into an angry response, yet the solid fact caught her tongue. “Y-yeah, well, that doesn’t excuse everything else you did to me!” “Taking you back to the hotel?” James said with genuine confusion. “Buying you clothes? Trying to give you medical treatment after you injured yourself from running away?” Dawn furrowed her brow. “Well...you said I didn’t owe you anything for the clothes! So it doesn’t count!” James’ look of fury seemed to have sputtered at that point. With a sigh he said, “If you’re going to argue off of common courtesy and good manners, there’s nothing left to talk about. I don’t think all Littles need to be treated like children, but you’re starting to make me think otherwise.” The...the nerve of him! “Get out. Get the fuck out.” Dawn angrily pointed to the door. “I don’t need any more of your help. Not after all the bullshit you’ve put me through. Yeah, thanks for saving me, but fuck you for trying to get anything else out of me!” “I think it’s time to leave, too.” James said as he stood up. “But not without you. You’re coming with me.” Dawn grew even more agitated. What was he not getting? “And to think, I actually thought you were a half-decent Amazon.” Dawn frowned. “I’m not leaving. Go away already.” “I’m trying to help you, Dawn. Please, Littles in a situation like this don’t get this kind of opportunity...” “Yeah, well even if they did, I bet they’d at least have enough self-respect to refuse.” She crossed her arms. “Christ, this is just some petty attempt for you to try and ‘adopt’ me because it’s convenient for you now, isn’t it?” “I already said...Katherine and I wanted it to be consen--” “Well you have my consent for nothing.” Dawn coldly cut him off. James was quiet for a bit longer as he seemed to be breathing, and staring. “...I’m starting to lose my--” “--patience,” Dawn finished for him. “Me too. Now, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Bye-bye,” she casually waved her hand. Nothing happened for a moment. James’ look didn’t change, and he continued to breath, but he quickly moved forward. “Fine, I tried to do this the mature way.” In a simple motion he hooked his arm behind and around Dawn’s waist as she was swooped into the air. “W-wait, what?!” Dawn yelped as she was lifted up with such speed. “Wh-what the fuck are you doing? Put me down!” “After all that profanity and tantrum you just threw?” James gave her his own look of disbelief. “No. We’re leaving, and that decision is final. Be upset if you want, but this is for your own good.” Dawn tried to press away, but even if that were possible with Katherine, which it wasn’t, that by extension only meant she was currently trying to press on cement walls with how firm James’ Amazon muscles were. His firm grip on her was iron. “Put me down! Let me go!” Dawn raised her voice as he turned in place. “Whine all you want, you’re not being put down.” James said with a scolding voice. He bent over to pick up Dawn’s phone. “Is there anything else in the room that you need? This is the last time we’re gonna be in here.” “No it’s not! I’m not leaving, so let me go!” Dawn growled as she slammed her fists against his chest and kicked her feet against his side, but it was like shooting a water gun at the sun. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then,” he left it at that as he stepped with her into the hall. “What are you doing?! I don’t have any pants!” Dawn complained and criticized, left with only her words as viable tools. James ignored her as he carried her down the hall. It was falling in place for Dawn very quickly. She was going to be taken from the hotel. She’d miss her chance to go with the others back to the portal. Her chance to even get to the window of escape was already slipping. “H-help...” Dawn whimpered quietly, then started to shout. She shouted even louder than the first time she argued with James. “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” “Dawn, that’s enough of that!” James tried to tell her to stop, but she kept screaming. “I’M BEING KIDNAPPED! HELP!” James continued to walk, but to Dawn’s glee a door did open, a room next to hers. “Oh? Oh! You’re from the room right over!” It was an Amazon woman who was rubbing her eyes. James did turn around to face her. “You’re the...oh, jeez, I’m so sorry for waking you up...I know I promised the noise wouldn’t happen again...” “Well, what happens happens,” the Amazon woman shrugged it off as her vision adjusted to what was in Jame’s arm. “Oh! And is this the little troublemaker that kept me from sleeping?” She got a better look at Dawn, then shifted her expression. “Oh...she’s a Little?” “She is,” James said, “and we were just leaving, actually. And to be honest with you she’s not even my daughter; just someone I figured that I’d do a favor for, but quite frankly she’s being a brat about it.” Dawn frowned as she kicked and struggled. This James didn’t sound like the one she was at least complacent with before. Sure she was being pissy, but he was being an ass right then, too. Something made Dawn feel off though once James finished his sentence. Not about what he said, but how it seemed to make the woman feel. “Is that so…?” The corners of her mouth raised. “Well, I think you’ve certainly been patient enough with her? After all, tolerating a single tantrum I think is already being generous to these little troublemakers.” She leaned over to boop Dawn on the nose and it left the girl fuming, yet that only seemed to incite more intrigue from the woman. “Since you don’t have any real obligation to her, why don’t I take her off your hands?” She smiled at James sweetly. “I’ve actually been meaning to adopt!” Dawn’s look of fury turned into one of horror. This woman was trying to adopt her on the spot? Even...even if James was mad, he wasn’t insane, right…? Apparently even James wasn’t expecting the gesture. “Well, I appreciate it and all, but...” “And look!” The woman continued to insist. “She is butt-naked! Heavens...it’s a good thing I’ve been carrying a diaper in my purse...” She muttered as she turned her head back into her room. “What do you say, though? I’ve always wanted to be a Mommy, and I’d love a little girl that needs discipline!” “J-James...” Dawn turned her head up to him. “P-please...” Even James seemed to have a heart. “Miss, thank you for offering, but I think I’m gonna keep a hold on her for now. Sorry, we’ll get out of your hair.” The woman’s look wasn’t so pleasant, as if she’d just been cheated out of a shiny gem. “Really? So you’re just going to be a bother through and through? Fine. I’ll just call the front desk to complain about all the noise that unadopted Little has been making. See you in diapers soon, sweetheart!” And with a chuckle she went back into her room. “What...what the fuck…?” Dawn said at a loss for words. “That’s what’s waiting for you if you stay here,” James said not as a threat, but an honest warning. “Besides, she just said she’s going to call the front desk. Dawn, we can’t stay here. You can’t stay here.” “But...but I can’t just leave…!” She was starting to tear up. That strange encounter sobered her hatred for James, and even his own bothered attitude. “Dawn, look at me,” James lifted her up to face him clearly. “I promise you that this won’t be the end. We will do everything in our power to get this figured out, but please, we can’t do it here. One of the worst things that can happen is us staying and LPS gets involved. If that happens I can’t protect you.” “LPS? What even is that?” Dawn wiped her eyes. “I can explain later, but it’s something you don’t want to deal with.” Time was obviously running out, and thanks to some random bitch that fuse was now running significantly shorter. Dawn looked away for a moment, as if she couldn’t believe herself what she was considering. “You...you promise?” “...Cross my heart.” “F...fine…! Let’s just go already!” James needn’t another word to walk to the elevator. Dawn laid limp in his hold as her final decision seemed to have sapped her entirely. She likely just made the most life changing decision she would ever make. It was induced out of pressure, danger, and severity, but it was her choice nonetheless. As they rode the elevator down, they would soon begin to travel farther from the hotel. Farther from the bus that would collect all the Portal Littles. Farther from the Portal station that would take her back to Earth. Farther from her life as she knew it. Closer to a future of uncertainty. What have I done?

32 - Same Old Same Old It was halfway into the next week without much changing for the girls. Joyce worked and Emily continued to try to find any to begin with. It all started with online job searching, but the more and more she scoured, the more discouraged she was feeling. Hence a woeful Wednesday morning with Joyce getting up for her regular work hours. Quietly yawning, she silenced the buzz from her phone, awkwardly maneuvering her upper half to do the task. Her strained movement tickled her heart as she stroked Emily’s hair, who sound asleep had an arm draped over Joyce’s side with her head laid near close to Joyce’s chest. It’d clearly become a popular spot for Emily, not that Joyce had a single complaint. But as always, the fun could not last forever. Joyce carefully lifted Emily’s arm, trying to slip out of bed without an issue. Issue however was not avoided this time, as the girl was already groaning as she stirred in bed. “Joyce…?” Emily muttered in a tired voice. “Go back to sleep, hon.” Joyce whispered before kissing her on the head. Emily was delayed on the uptake, but shook her head, somehow finding it in herself to sit up in the bed. “N-no, I--” she paused for a great yawn, “I’m up too...” “Emily, you really don’t need to...” Joyce said, almost frowning. The girl’s eyes weren’t even open. “I do...” Emily adamantly answered in a tired voice. “I can’t slack just ‘cuz I don’ have a job...” she yawned yet again. “How about ten more minutes? Just to give yourself a small boost?” Joyce suggested. Call her cruel, but frankly she wanted to trick Emily into going back to sleep. Not for any malicious reason but instead for her own wellbeing. This jobless predicament wasn’t getting any better. “You’re my boost...” Emily groaned as she slumped out of bed, nearly taking herself to the floor. Her feet found stable purchase in the last few seconds though as she stood up. Joyce disapproved, but she wasn’t going to make anything big out of it. “Wanna eat breakfast with me?” Joyce asked, slipping her fingers between Emily’s hairs and scratching her scalp, then stepping into the bathroom. As Joyce did some light prep for herself in the mirror, Emily in its reflection could be seen walking in from behind, a stuffed mochi plush in her arms. She squinted her eyes though, teary from the irritation of the light. And as Joyce worked on herself, Emily either with a clouded conscious or deliberately no care, dropped her bottoms as she sat on the toilet. She squeezed Pip at the same time whilst she did her business. “Good girl...” Joyce spoke lowly and to herself, watching briefly with a small smile. Despite everything that happened up until now, Emily still regularly made a habit of what Joyce told her to do. Whether Emily was aware or not, Joyce was hoping to build a second kind of association to the bathroom for the girl. One that hopefully helped her when in diapers. Both were in the kitchen soon after, just beginning to see the night sky fade away. “What do you want? Eggs and toast? A bagel and some fruit? Something else?” Joyce asked. “Don’t you have to leave soon, though?” Emily asked from her chair at the table. “That wasn’t the question?” Joyce peered into the fridge. “I can make myself something after you leave...” “And that wasn’t one of the answers,” Joyce tutted. Where this all stemmed from was becoming terribly obvious, but it still didn’t feel right to seriously push the matter, at least not yet. They’d made headway on their personal matters but seemed to be feeling a wedge caused by joblessness. “I think you’re going to love eggs and toast.” Joyce decided for her, already reaching out for the necessities. “What if I called in today? Two heads searching for postings is better than one?” Joyce offered, though expecting a likely answer. “I can’t make you miss work because of me...” Emily said, dwelling sorrowfully over the offer. To her, it felt like a soft reminder that she needed to fix this issue fast. Already she wasn’t contributing financially in any capacity, but that didn’t mean she could be out of a means to rectify that. Her perception and Joyce’s were like night and day, but it was Emily’s own fears and insecurities that kept them from seeing eye to eye. “Okay...” Joyce didn’t fight her on it. “I just want you to know you’re not in this alone, alright?” “Mm...” Emily gave a small nod, keeping her weary eyes aimed at the tabletop. Joyce bent over to set a plate in front of Emily, but not before planting a kiss on her cheek. “...I’m sorry.” Emily suddenly apologized. “Sorry for what?” Joyce asked, sitting down in front of her own plate. “I’m being grumpy. I don’t mean anything against you...” “I know you don’t. What I’d like though is to not hold yourself to so high of a standard… It’s okay to relax, you know?” “Says who…?” Emily grimaced, hating to constantly be faced with her own incompetence. “Says me?” Joyce raised an eyebrow. “I think all the effort you’ve put into finding a new job really shows your determination. That being said, seeing you break down because of it isn’t something I like to see...” Out of impulse, a knee-jerk reaction, Emily said, “Well sorry my struggles don’t look nice to you...” But instantly she felt regret in her words. “Wait, no-- I didn’t mean it like...” Before she could even see a reaction from her girlfriend, Emily’s remorse was already sounding thick as her voice quivered. Joyce, outwardly didn’t seem fazed by her words though. “I know, it’s fine...” But internally, despite knowing the circumstances, her words did sting a little. “You’ll always have my support, Emily, but it’s my advice that you give yourself at least a small break today.” Emily had been rubbing her eyes, hiccupping. “I’m sorry...you didn’t do anything wrong…!” Joyce sighed with a sympathetic smile before walking behind Emily’s chair. She slowly rubbed her back as she crouched. Her look seemed to soften as a tender aura came about her. “You know, I think what the real problem is that somebody is up far too early for their own good...” she soothed. “Good little Emily’s like you need at least a full eight hours before they can even think about what they need to do today.” Her tears were just about done, but her objections were not. “But Joyce, I’m--!” “Emily?” She softly called, interrupting her, but looking her directly in the eyes. “That’s enough.” Her words were simple, yet rang like ironclad authority. They were girlfriend and girlfriend, yet almost instantly the dynamic felt completely different, yet familiar all the same. “I will never force you to stop doing what you want,” she made another bold move in pulling back Emily’s chair after standing up. “However, I certainly reserve the right to at least put it on hiatus.” The girl made a noise of surprise as Joyce hoisted her into the air. “Joyce! Put me down! I’m fine...really, I am!” Emily complained, resorting to her weak protests rather than flail her sluggish limbs. “You will be after some more shuteye.” Joyce corrected. Back into their bedroom they went. Joyce deposited Emily onto the bed yet was quick to pull the covers out and under from her then slipping them right back over her. “Sleep. Or else.” Joyce said grimly, but then made a playful growl with her hand shaped like a claw. “Don’t you have work?” Emily asked, remaining in the bed. “...I’ll just get out after you leave.” Joyce exhaled through her nose. “The reason why I am working today is because you told me you didn’t want me staying home for your sake. If I’m not going to help you out today, then I need you to at least give me this peace of mind?” And if she really did want to be stubborn, Joyce could as easily read her bluff with the security cameras. But, of course, she wouldn’t for something like this. Now that they were an item there was a definitive line that shouldn’t be crossed for when it came to absolute privacy, and this didn’t qualify. Emily didn’t look sold on the idea, but the difficult position between pleasing Joyce and continuing her search for validation tore her strained and tired mind in two. It was the straw of very few that broke the mentally exhausted camel’s back. She was already rubbing her watery eyes. “My little crybaby...” Joyce said with a soft chuckle, leaning over to grab Pip then slipping him into her arms. “I’ve instructed Pip to not let you out of this bed until you’ve gone back to sleep and get a couple more hours of rest. Otherwise, he’ll tell me all about it. Understood?” “That doesn’t work...” Emily wiped her eyes. “I’m an adult right now…!” “Yes, you are, but I’ll use every ace up my sleeve to cheer you up.” She kissed her on the forehead. “Sleep. After that, you’re free to do as you please.” Joyce stood up from the bed, watching Emily turn to her side and get comfortable. Satisfied, Joyce walked to the doorway. “Wait...Joyce?” She turned her head. “I’m...” Emily sniffled. “I’m really sorry...” Joyce nearly winced, it felt so powerful. “Everything’s forgiven. Sleep well, okay?” “Uh-huh...” Emily nodded. Joyce started to leave, but… “Wait, Joyce?” “Yes?” “...I love you.” “I love you too.” She smiled, then gently closed the door on her way out. Shame was what resonated the most when Emily was finally in a conscious and coherent state. It was her not so well-kept secret that getting up so early had left her with mere puddles in her tank and why she was so high-strung and so fragile. Barely arguing with Joyce and instantly crying over it… Being able to reflect on how she was acting practically made her cringe now. The most she could hope for was that Joyce didn’t take her temper to heart from this morning. But even now, given the chance to do things differently, she would, but not to go back to sleep. Sleep was exactly what she needed and that’s why she didn’t want it. Giving herself a moment’s rest is the last thing she could ask for, because in her frenzied state of momentum in trying to find a new job she was running herself into the ground. Going to bed late, getting up early. The only reason she found time to eat between her searches and stressing was because Joyce always forced her to eat something, thankfully. So, after pushing herself so hard for so long, it was inevitable that any real pause would make her crash entirely. Sleep just a couple more hours? Judging by the time on her phone, it was past four hours of sleep. The assumed responsibilities and urgency in her mind hadn’t changed, yet as she groaned and turned in bed, holding Pip tighter, everything except her own mind was fighting and begging her not to get up. Everything was too comfortable. Too easy and too simple; a stark contrast to the emotional gauntlet she’d been launching herself into. Laying in bed she narrowed her gaze, focusing on what was invisible. “Everything sucks...” Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, the usual chime of a bell to a familiar store had rang. Ahead, a man and woman as a pair were dealing with a blonde-haired woman behind a desk, seeming thankful as they received two flat rectangular boxes. “Hope you two enjoy these at the ceremony.” Amy smiled, waving them off. Joyce politely stepped to the side to let them past. Now it was just Joyce and the proprietor herself. “Joyce!” Amy beamed. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” She exaggerated in a grandish kind of manner. “Let me guess, judging by the look on your face...you were so satisfied with my work as always and felt the need to come back and thank me personally while also putting in another order?” She said, her voice leaning into sarcasm. Then her expression turned into a small grin before looking entirely sympathetic. “...Or not. Right,” she sighed in a knowing voice, “figured as much.” Joyce, who had yet to speak a word, now alone with Amy had a small annoyed expression on her face. A look that told she’d been thinking to herself in circles all afternoon, which added to the total of days she’d been like this, unable to find any effective solution to her problems. “Are you free right now?” Joyce asked. Joyce herself had her lunch break, but Amy… Amy didn’t bother looking at the clock. “I suppose I can start my break now.” She walked from behind the desk to close up the front of the store. “So, jokes somewhat aside, I see it that I’m playing counselor again today?” She smirked, yet Joyce still looked bothered. Not by Amy, but by her own problems at home. “Okay, come on...” She placed a hand behind Joyce’s back, gently pushing her alongside. “In all the time that you’ve had me employed, I can’t say I’ve ever seen you so expressive as you have been the past month or so… Is this about Emily?” “...Yes.” Joyce sighed. “I don’t know what to do.” “So you thought your seamstress was the best person to consult?” On a dime Joyce stopped. She already started turning back. “Fine, I can see you're busy. I’m sorry for inter--” “Stop.” Amy halted her with one word. “I was joking. Come on back...” She grabbed Joyce’s arm to keep her moving. “It’s fine, Joyce. This gives me a weird kinda deja vu though...feels like we’ve done this before.” They both walked up the stairs in the back up to Amy’s spacious apartment. Everything was white and clean as per usual, accented by the light coming in through all her windows. “Want to eat lunch with me, at least? It isn’t much, but I have stuff for sandwiches?” Amy offered. “I’m not hungry right now. Just stressed.” “Perfect reason to eat something. Give yourself more brain power.” Joyce sat on a barstool by the window looking into the kitchen. Amy was already in her fridge pulling out deli meats. “So, what are you two arguing about?” “We’re not arguing...” Joyce sighed, though saying that out loud did somehow feel reassuring. Instantly it reminded her that they together weren’t the issue. “It’s about Emily and her work.” “Mhm?” Amy left a crumb, waiting for the explanation to continue. “She’s been out of work for almost three weeks now, but only two weeks ago did she find out that she was losing her job. And it wasn’t even her fault!” Joyce outraged. “That...stupid company she was working for cut her department!” Originally she thought more rationally of the business decision, but with how everything had been going, Joyce would be damned if she even thought to use logic that might pit her against total and complete support for Emily. “So they just let her go?” “Yes!” “Hm.” Amy frowned. “That definitely is shitty. And she hasn’t found a job since?” “No. She’s constantly been searching, sending her resume out as far as I know. But nothing… I don’t care that she’s jobless. I already made that clear to her. What I hate is what she’s doing to herself in trying to get a new job. She goes to bed late, wakes up early, only eats when I make her...” “Hm...Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t being the one in charge of her meals be something that you actually--” “Not like this!” Joyce countered preemptively, hiding a flustered shade in her cheeks. In tense moments of ranting like this, it was easy to forget that Amy had some idea of what they did… “I...I just want things to go back to the way they were.” “Isn’t she searching for a job though?” Amy reminded Joyce, putting together her sandwich. “It may suck, but if you give it some time she’s bound to find one eventually. Then you both get what you want?” Joyce acknowledged the point somewhat, but that moment right then, seeing what Emily was doing to herself, it bothered her. It felt wrong to just let it sit. “I just can’t fully understand why it’s so important for her to put herself through all this...I mean, I support us both! I refused her money from the start! Maybe I should forbid her from--” “Ah-ah! Stop! Stop!” Amy interjected as she formed an ‘X’ with her arms. “Even if that’s just a joke, don’t think like that. No matter how close you two are, that’s a kind of agency you can’t take from someone.” “...I know...” Joyce sunk her head into her arms on the counter. “I’m terrible...Emily’s been trying her hardest, and all I can think of is how to get her to stop...” “Relax,” Amy put a hand on Joyce’s arm. “Your heart is in the right place, but I think you could use some perspective. You said it yourself: you refused her money and you’re the one that financially supports you both?” Joyce nodded. “And you both live in your house? That you exclusively pay the bills for?” “Yes...but I told her that--” Amy continued. “Does she cook meals for you? Do laundry? Clean?” Joyce went silent. It’d been unfortunately a long time coming as the laundry list was read. “...I do most of it...” “So you’re responsible for the finances and all the housework?” “...Yes.” “Joyce, I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it sounds like the only responsibility Emily was left with was her own job. Without that, what does she have?” “She has me!” Joyce said defensively. “Yes, she does. Calm down, mama tiger,” Amy held up her open palms at her fierce reply. “But in all seriousness, if all she has is her work which you won’t let her use to contribute to both your livelihoods, wouldn’t you expect her to be a bit shaken if she loses her last thing?” Only now were her faults starting to feel strikingly glaring. Up until now it had only ever been about placating the issue, or kicking the can further down the road. Joyce had taken everything from her. Joyce cooked, cleaned, worked, provided, paid and managed. She only ever expected Emily to be carefree, lackadaisical and comfy. But...of course that would get boring. Of course, being sat next to someone that handled quite literally everything and with such ability would make you feel less than. It makes you scrutinize what you do have, and makes you much more critical and forces you to value your few contributions. Inadvertently, in trying to be a godsend for Emily, maybe she was being the exact opposite. She wanted to take care of Emily in every sense, which might work when she’s her baby girl, but as an adult, all she was doing was taking away everything Emily could do to lead her life like one. Her job was the last real thing she had. And as the revelation passed through her mind, Amy finished preparing her lunch, and Joyce felt terrible. “I took everything from her...” Joyce whispered sullenly. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far. You’re possibly being a bit too over the top about it.” “But what you’re saying makes sense!” Joyce said. “When she was working, it was just work then go home to wait for me to get back and do everything...Emily has always been my equal, but maybe she never felt like it...” “Slow down a bit,” Amy said. “If you’ve gone this far to only have an issue once she lost her job, that can’t mean she’s been completely dissatisfied? I’m sure she’s been happy?” “I...I think so…?” Joyce suddenly said, oddly unsure of herself now. She smiled, she giggled, flirted and all those other things… Were they real though? “If I had to guess, maybe this is all subconscious then. Without realizing it, maybe Emily’s been put in this headspace because that’s how things played out. I highly doubt she’d ever hold anything against you, Joyce. You seem to have had the best of intentions, albeit what they are.” “But...would her finding a new job really fix anything, then?” Joyce aired her passing thought. Now it didn’t seem like a full solution; just a band-aid for a bigger problem. “I don’t think there’s one thing that could be called a complete solution...” Amy supposed. “Sure, she gets a new job, but then it’s back to the way things were before. Maybe if she had some other forms of routine in her life so that it’s not just work and waiting for you?” Joyce furrowed her brow, trying to think. Finding more things for Emily to do did make sense, but if she was being honest, Joyce still liked being the one largely in charge. Having control was what gave her pleasure. To know now that maybe it was hurting Emily, it put her at odds with her desires and her love for Emily. Of course Emily would win, but the imagined victory felt bitter. “I know it sounds selfish...” Joyce started, “But I like being the one to do the lion’s share...” “I’m sure you do.” Amy figured, given their discussion thus far. “There’s plenty of ways to diversify her lifestyle, and maybe if you’re willing to compromise, give her some chances to feel like you rely on her for more than what you two have now.” “Chances?” “Simple stuff. Like maybe three nights out of the week she’s in charge of cooking and cleaning?” “...Three whole nights?” Joyce asked, her skepticism sounding obvious. Not that she doubted Emily for a minute, but...Joyce liked doing those things for her. Amy shrugged. “Two then?” Joyce nodded, but still… “...What if we did one night, just to see how we both feel about it?” Amy rolled her eyes. “I’m not your couple’s therapist. These are just ideas.” Joyce shook her head. “No, no. Thank you. You’ve helped me consider stuff I don’t think I would have noticed on my own...” Which bothered her the most, not being able to read these things through her own intuition. “But huh...” Joyce reflected, “Maybe she doesn’t even need to work. At least, it’s not as important as she thinks...” “I wouldn’t say that right away,” Amy steered her conclusion, taking a bite from her food. “Sure, monotony and lack of responsibility might be this problem, but being a working adult at her age is another. I’m not a mind reader, so this doesn’t necessarily speak for Emily, but what if the next day tomorrow, you two were to break up? Where would that leave her without even a job to support herself?” Joyce pressed her hands on the counter, standing herself off the barstool with a raised voice. “That’ll never happen! I would never break up with her in a million years!” “It’s just a hypothetical,” Amy laughed at her serious reaction. “I don’t expect it either, but we always consider the worst case scenario. This is all speculation though. For all we know, Emily wouldn’t have any issues as long as she has other things to fall back on.” “And then it’s back to where we started…” Joyce miffed. Amy chuckled through her bites as she went on to say. “Well, an eccentric relationship comes with its unique trials and tribulations?” Her lunch came to an end as her useful advice did as well. “I think that’s plenty of food for thought though?” “It is...” Joyce pensively agreed. “...Thank you, by the way,” Joyce added with a sincere look, albeit slow on the thanks due to brainstorming already. “Of course,” Amy smiled, “other than for a friend, it suits my interests to keep my clientele happy, too? Course, I remember making a certain somebody a whole lot of special outfits I have yet to see them in…?” Amy raised her eyebrow with a coy smile. “Amy, I...” Joyce smiled through her moment of pause. She did want to show off Emily in Amy’s tailored clothes as a form of gratitude, and an excuse to see Emily herself in such adorable outfits, yet obviously things were difficult for a list of reasons, privacy being the utmost… “Relax,” Amy chuckled, seeing just how seriously Joyce took her, “just kidding. Sure, it’d be a nice plus, but it’s not exactly policy to see them wearing it myself...But, could I still float you ideas in the future if I get any?” And she was back to having stars in her eyes. “She’s such a niche that I’ve barely been able to work in! Besides, you wouldn’t mind putting in an order if you like it too, right? Right?” She eagerly pushed and pushed. “Y-...let me sort this out first...” Joyce sighed with her own smile. “...But yes, please keep me in the loop...” Hence why Joyce could be Amy’s favorite customer; lined with pockets that ran so deep that the store itself could make demands of the buyer. Amy’s reaction was an unbridled ear-to-ear smile. “Great! Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but this is like a special treat!” And like a dog that heard a noise trained to only their ears, she murmured to herself, “I gotta remember to draw something in my sketchbook…!” “Wait, really? Can I take a--!” Partway into her sentence Joyce clamped down on her mouth and came to her senses, suddenly looking like a guilty child. “I...should go. Before I get too sidetracked…” Joyce shuffled embarrassingly on the barstool. “I think you should too. Frankly you look like a kid in a candy store when you’re here for Emily.” Amy cheekily giggled. “Besides, fashion is art!” Amy then changed her tone to scold Joyce. “Maybe if it was something specific you wanted, but otherwise I don’t share my imagination! Wait until it’s done!” “Uh-huh, uh-huh...” Joyce sighed as she stood back up. “Sorry for cutting into your break. I need to get back to work as well. Thanks for letting me ramble a little.” “Of course. What are friend-slash-seamtresses for?” Amy laughed, leaving Joyce looking a bit bashful yet again. “Which reminds me,” she turned away from the counter to scribble something on a piece of paper, then handed it to Joyce. “Is this your phone number?” Joyce asked. “But I already have your--” “Business number, which essentially is my normal one, but I sometimes remember that I have a social one, too?” She reached out to Joyces hand, curling it up with the paper in her palm to drive the point home. “Use it from now on. Frankly I’m not sure why I didn’t just give it to you sooner. I think you’ve bothered me plenty about stuff that’s a far cry from making clothes.” “It wasn’t intentional...” Joyce looked the other way. “Well now it can be,” Amy smiled. “Now I won’t have my business phone buzzing in the middle of the night?” “You’re okay with giving me your number, though? I don’t want to bother you...” Amy was rolling her eyes. “Joyce, we aren’t dating. Don’t make this any bigger than it really is! We’re friends. Now be a good friend and let me go back to work!” She left the kitchen and opened the door for Joyce. “...Right. Thanks.” Joyce nodded simply, oddly put for a lack of emotion as she went down the stairs first. At the front of the store Amy saw her out. “And again, I one-hundred percent understand privacy,” Amy began with a hardened and serious expression, yet naturally melted into a gushy melt, “but try and butter her up for me? I gotta know how she looks in the clothes!” Amy glowed like an addict in need of their fix. “I’ll see what I can do after all this...” Joyce gave a sympathetic look, one intimidated by the massive expectations Amy seemed to boast. “Bye~!” Amy waved her off as Joyce went back to her car. Joyce sat in her vehicle, silently staring at the scribbled number on the piece of paper. She glanced back at the store. “I guess we sorta are friends...” Joyce quietly said, morphing into a small smile. And if she needed an explanation for all the new faces that’d come into her life, her phone vibrated, signaling a text. FROM: Emmy Emmy: I’m really sorry about this morning… u aren’t mad, are u? Joyce gave it a few minutes of thought before sending a reply. Joyce: Only if you haven’t forgiven yourself yet? There wasn’t an immediate reply, likely meaning that the message caused Emily to stew. Satisfied with the supposed reaction, Joyce felt a bit more rosy on her drive back to work. “Hey!” Joyce called out as she stepped inside the apartment. It was the same day only much later into the afternoon. No response, which unfortunately had become the norm as of late. Along that same trend, Joyce knew where to find Emily. Slipping off her heels and walking down the hall, she lightly knocked her knuckle against the open door frame. “Hey?” Joyce announced again in a casual tone. In her home office behind the glowing screens a black head of hair perked up. The swivel chair wheeled back just a little for Emily to stand into view. “Hey,” Emily said back, somewhat neutral. She was engrossed with a cocktail of emotions, attributed to her unemployment, exhaustion, stress and remorse from her attitude that morning. “Was work good…?” “Enlightening,” Joyce kept it brief and cryptic as she walked around the desk. Emily was looking over the computer screens as she sat in the chair, “You made yourself lunch, right?” She started to massage Emily’s tense shoulders. “I had an apple...” Emily murmured. She was both too focused and too sheepish to admit her irresponsible time management. “How about we have dinner, then?” Joyce leaned forward to rest her chin atop Emily’s head. “I’m hungry, and I know you can eat, too. Keep me company in the kitchen?” Anything to get her away from obsessing over something that just caused her pain. “Mm.” Emily quietly nodded. “I’m just gonna send out a few more emails...I had to re-do my resume today...” Since Emily wasn’t looking up, she couldn’t see Joyce’s brief frown. “...Actually, uhm, I thought I could use your help tonight?” Such an unexpected request gave the shock factor one might expect from Emily. She stopped typing and gave her full attention to Joyce. “You need my help? For cooking?” Joyce nodded. “Yep. A second set of hands’ll help make dinner faster and let us both relax?” “Uh, okay...” And Joyce was ready to sing as that was enough to get Emily out of the chair. “Is it okay if I leave this stuff here? I’ll take care of it after we eat.” “Of course,” Joyce smiled, seeing her out of the office first. Frankly she hoped somehow Emily wouldn’t set foot back into that office until the next morning. A cruel, yet effective thought crossed her mind -- just install a lock. Then she’d really feel like a mommy… “Shoot,” Joyce bit her tongue, realizing it only as an afterthought. “I told myself since the last time we cooked together I needed to get an apron more your size...” She said out loud while she tied one of her own on Emily’s. It certainly got the job done, but of course a more properly sized one would better suit her build. “I mean, it’s only once in a while that I help...” Emily softly countered, allowing her hair to be tied up. “Well, maybe if we get you your own apron, that might force things to change a little?” Joyce said. That certainly struck Emily as odd, even in her preoccupied state, still weighing the troubles of employment on her mind. “But...cooking’s your thing?” She confusedly said. “It is,” Joyce agreed, “but no reason why it can’t be yours, too? You don’t have to cook with me if you don’t want -- I just figured since the time you said that you wanted to bond mo--” “--No, I do,” Emily cut her off, “I’m just a little surprised, I guess. But no, I mean, that sounds good. I don’t really cook as well as you, though...” She started to recline into her own insecurities. “Emily, you cook just fine.” Joyce warmly corrected her. “Besides, I’ll whip you into shape if I think anything seems amiss!” She finished tying on her own apron. “Is this what ‘enlightening’ work does to you?” Emily laughed, turning away to go to the fridge. It didn’t seem to elicit a response as Emily turned back to see Joyce looking silent. “Is something wrong?” Joyce shook her head. “No. At least, I don’t think. You sorta guessed it...I did some thinking and talking today, and I guess I wanna hear your take on it.” “...Okay?” Emily raised a brow, not sure to what extent she was about to go, nor what she had to say. “But first, let’s start washing some veggies,” Joyce walked over to the fridge, “I don’t wanna make this seem like another ‘talk’, because it’s not. Just wanna pick your brain a little.” “Sure?” Emily replied, accepting two red tomatoes. Over the running faucet they stood side by side while they washed. “Emily, when you were working, what did a normal day look like for you? Before I got home?” Emily was silent, thinking to herself. “Uh...I dunno. I guess I sorta just...lay around...” It felt a bit embarrassing to admit. “...Watch tv, I guess...” “And that’s completely fine!” Joyce was quick to reassure, seeing that Emily might be interpreting it as accusatory than something much more sincere. “I made it clear from the start that I wanted you to enjoy yourself. I said that I’d handle all the heavy-lifting.” “Mhm...” Emily nodded. “But in trying to give you a relaxed kind of lifestyle, I’m only starting to think now that I’ve made it too relaxed for you…” “Too relaxed?” Emily asked, setting aside a polished vegetable. “Em, once you get home from work and have the apartment to yourself, doesn’t it get boring?” Boring. Not once had the word ever crossed Emily’s mind, yet Joyce saying it aloud had her oddly resonating with it. “Boring? I mean...I dunno if that’s how I’d describe it...” Emily said as she stared down at the sink. As Emily gave a lukewarm answer, it was enough to really confirm Joyce’s suspicions she sprouted with Amy, yet by the same token nor did it dispel them either. In all fairness, the assumptions she made about Emily craving for hobbies, tasks to do, more routine -- even Joyce couldn’t imagine herself being able to put a pin on such a stretch. Naturally Emily’s feelings knew what was really going on, but of course the emotional heart doesn’t communicate in words to the brain. How could Emily say if she didn’t even know herself? For what kind of life Emily had started to lead Joyce felt completely responsible for. It wasn’t all bad, of course, and largely good. But, in Joyce’s demands and Emily’s willingness to abide by them, it proved to not only be progressive, but particularly regressive for her. What stung the most was again what she felt so conflicted about while speaking with Amy. Change did need to occur, but Joyce just couldn’t settle herself on Emily finding another job. It’d just be a return to the status quo. And yet it wouldn’t. It would be worse. Nevermind the job possibly being worse than her previous one, but be mindful of how it might validate Emily’s misguided thinking, believing that being employed again is what’ll keep her in a state of complacency. “Joyce?” Emily got her attention again, gently swinging her hip into Joyce’s thigh. “Veggies are done being washed. What next?” “H-huh? Uhm...now we chop them up. Don’t forget, kitty paws...” Joyce passively reminded as she tried to think of what to say next about their conversation. “I think one of these jobs I’m gonna apply for might be a decent chance...” Emily half-smiled, trying to stay positive, but also steadfastly grounded by the realities of seeking employment. “Mm.” Joyce made a noise of acknowledgement while she chopped. “‘Mm.’ That’s it?” Emily turned her head over to Joyce, yet a hand quickly grabbed her head of hair, gently turning it back to where she was chopping. “Eyes on where you’re using the knife, please,” Joyce reminded in a friendly manner. “And yes, ‘Mm…’. I just have a lot on my mind, is all...” “Stuff on your mind you’re gonna share?” Emily asked, though keeping her eyes where they should be. “Stuff I’d...rather let stew for a bit longer...” Joyce dodged the question. Emily’s look faded into something hovering above a small frown. Resting the butt of her hand on the halved onion, she carefully and slowly chopped. “Is it about me not having a job?” “...I don’t want to make waves...” Joyce said, hoping that it could be left there. While she thought Emily might be too focused on the prospect of getting a job, Joyce also didn’t want to seem like an obstacle to that very goal. It was obviously important to Emily, and Joyce just didn’t know how to circumvent that without direct confrontation. “...I wanna talk about it, though.” Emily finally decided. “We agreed that we were always gonna face our problems right away, didn’t we?” Joyce with part of her face turned away bit her lip. That they did. “You’d be feeling like me right now if I used that against you, you know...” Joyce sighed, trying not to lose the airy atmosphere. “Probably,” Emily agreed, “but you’d still think it’s for the best?” Ouch. That gave Joyce another scrunch in her look. She pondered choosing her words more carefully in the future… But naturally, she was right. And as Joyce thought, Emily was thinking as well. Her mind drifted to what was the hot topic of her life right now and by association, Joyce’s too. Employment. Ever since the night Emily confessed to losing her job, Joyce really hadn’t offered anything very opinionated on it since. Was it because she was suppressing her impatience for Emily not having a job by now? As kind as Joyce was, Emily at least expected something like that… But Emily knew her efforts were known, so maybe Joyce was just looking to get the feeling off her chest. Emily could handle a few more expectations. “And...I think I might know what you’re thinking already,” Emily started. Joyce gave her a caught off-guard kind of look, wondering if she really did know. “Look, Joyce, I know I’m not working right now...but I promise, I’m working as hard as I can and I’m sure I’ll get one soon...If there’s anything else I can do in the meantime, I...” Her words started to fade once she saw the look on Joyce’s face. It was a frown. Unmistakable disapproval. The slight dip in her expression as she held a hand on her hip. “Emily, this entire time I’ve wanted you doing anything but looking for a job...” She finally spoke her mind, spinning Emily’s head upside down. “Are you joking...?” Emily asked. “Are you?” Joyce retorted, she didn’t mean for it to be rude, but her disbelief was genuine. “Did you really think that I’d want that of you? Emily, I’ve always refused your money and I’ve always wanted you to be happy. I also told you this morning that I wasn’t going to get in the way of what you really want, but if I’m being honest, this really feels like a time when I’d be doing just that.” In retrospect, Joyce being in the opposite camp wasn’t so unimaginable, but seeing that her assumptions were shattered right there, Emily needed help finding a new one. “Wh...why?” “Because of this morning!” Joyce raised her voice, not at Emily, but just from thinking of the past week. “Every day it’s been getting up early and every night going to bed late. Every afternoon when I come home I always find you in my office! It looks like you forget to eat lunch… I’ve debated whether or not I should be leaving you something in the fridge for when I’m at work!” She let off some steam, and Emily stood still, taking it all in with hurt. Has she really made her that upset? “I’m sorry, I...” Emily started to apologize, “I have the savings to buy my own computer, I’ll remind myself to eat...” “Emily, that’s not the point!” Joyce made it clear. “I love you more than anything, which is why I hate that you’re so fixed on this idea that you need to put yourself through all of this just to get something that you think you need, but really don’t!” Her long-winded sentence ended on an audible breath. Every spoken word lifted an emotional weight off her chest, yet without her own context, it merely offloaded more stress onto Emily. “Emily, all I mean is, I don’t care whether you’re an engineer or struggle to tie your own shoes. I’ve already decided that you’re the one I love and that I’m fully prepared to support you in every way imaginable. If getting a job is important to you, that’s fine and I will respect that, but I won’t respect you day-in and day-out stumbling over yourself for ungodly hours on end just to rush yourself into something that you have all the time in the world to figure out!” As Joyce left it with silence and she started to calm down, Emily aimed her gaze at the floor with a difficult expression. She had her hands at her sides, though fumbling with the edges of her apron while she tried to think of something to respond with. Joyce, however, was feeling quite good. She got to say what she wanted and it was what Emily wanted. It may have come off as a bit forceful, yet Joyce was glad to let it be known now. Really, all thanks to Emily and her words of wisdom… Joyce sighed, ready to chuckle as she tried to transition things again. Joyce looked over at Emily again with a cheery smile. “Huh, didn’t expect you to make use of my number so quickly?” Amy laughed over the phone, sounding as if she was preoccupied with something else. “What’s up?” There was a meager sigh from Joyce’s end of the line. “I think I messed up...” Joyce mulled with a hand underneath her chin. She rested her arm on the counter while she stirred what was in the pot on the stove. Emily was no longer in the kitchen, currently in the bathroom. Crying. “What? You messed up?” Amy said sarcastically. “What’d you do?” “I...told her about what we talked about this morning...” Joyce confessed. Thinking about it now, maybe her delivery was a bit off, too… “What? Joyce! What happened to the soft power plays, or whatever? Small delivery! Did you at least explain why you thought that way?” “So...sort of...” Joyce glanced to the side, as if avoiding eye-contact with the imaginary Amy in the room. “I tried to explain that I didn’t want her looking for a job… But she confronted me about that. I was trying to get her to cook with me!” “So then where is she now? She didn’t leave, did she?” “No, she’s in the bathroom right now...crying...” Joyce bit her tongue, feeling guilty. Apparently she was too hasty to have ended her speech on a smile. “And you decided to call me?” Amy asked in a tone pointed at curiosity. “Shouldn’t you be tending to her right now?” “I know, but I’m a little afraid that I’m going to say the wrong thing again...” Joyce hesitated with a soured expression from the thought alone. “And I know that I gave you my personal number to reach me better, but I think this is a time when you should be talking to Emily. You don’t need any advice. You already started explaining yourself, so give her the rest of it?” “I was already thinking of that…” Joyce said, standing up as her gaze turned back to the hall. “Guess I wanted a second opinion.” “I really am gonna start charging you two favors for this, you know?” Amy warned with a grin over the line. And before Joyce could even think of how to respond, she heard the bathroom door down the hall open. Shortly thereafter were the small footfalls of a teary Emily walking back into the kitchen. “I’ll call you back...” Joyce said, hanging up the phone. “I’m not mad at you...” Emily said, sniffling. “I was crying ‘cuz I was mad at myself...” “I didn’t explain myself very well,” Joyce said in the form of an apology as she walked over for a hug. “I just...you mean so much to me, Emily, and I want you to know that it doesn’t have to be like this.” “But what else am I supposed to do?” Emily rubbed her eye. “I can’t just sit around here all day, Joyce. It...it feels depressing. I...I barely do anything as it is!” It was already hard enough to stomach being barred from financial contribution, but from Emily’s perspective she felt lost. She didn’t have the same ideas as Joyce right now, hence why she felt such a burning need to strive for the one thing that she did think would solve her problem. “At least when I was working I got to feel like I was doing something…” “Emily...” Joyce was sympathetic. The more Emily elaborated, the more her hypothesis seemed to ring true. Emily was feeling strained. She felt limited, minimized and didn’t know how to cope. “I’ve hated this week.” Emily said resolutely. “I hate having to get up early to throw my resume at every single listing and never getting a response other than rejection. I hate losing my whole day to sitting in front of advertisements…! I hate when I get angry and snap at you…! I hate thinking that I need to find a job, but if I don’t it’s just gonna be more of what I did before! Nothing!” She sniffled as she was getting ready to sob. “I’m not mad at you, Joyce, I’m just upset because I thought I was doing the right thing! But I hate what I’m doing, and it doesn’t feel right, but I don’t wanna be a total freeloader! I...I’m just so stressed...” Emily ran her hands through her hair, flushing her face as her internal temperature began to climb. It’d only been stress and confusion since her indefinite “vacation” had begun. It’d been a bit nice having some time off at first, yet as the days went on it only seemed to show just how little she had going on outside of work. Of course there was Joyce, but what if she wasn’t around? Then what? Once she realized what little there was she had, her feelings had shifted from excitement to concern. It wasn’t about trying to fill her empty days with new things to do, but worrying about whether she was going to get her old routine back. “I...I thought getting another job would fix everything, but...” Emily paused to sniffle, “maybe you’re right.” It was an admission to something she rathered wouldn’t have been true. She still hopes now that it isn’t. In her eyes, maybe it was the daunting intimidation that came with having to explore and navigate a whole new kind of lifestyle. By now it was the definitive point for Emily that things had certainly changed since being with Joyce. For better, and for what felt like an excess of grayness. Maybe it was the spell Joyce had on her, she wasn’t sure, but she was willing to give in to her temptations at least this time. “Please help…!” Emily buried her face into Joyce. “I don’t know what to do anymore. Whenever it’s not you, it just sucks so much…!” Emily could feel Joyce’s hands gently wrap around her wrists as she eased them back down. Joyce seemed as if she’d just heard music to her ears. Her pleasure didn’t come from Emily’s guilt or sorrow, but from a gesture that invited her opinion. Her guidance. Her affection and love. Joyce wordlessly kissed her on the forehead before leaving the kitchen. Emily nearly thought to follow, but stood there awkwardly in the kitchen. After the sound of a door inside the apartment, Emily watched Joyce come back looking no different than from when she left. “Where...where’d you go--!” Emily just finished her question, but not with the rise in inflection as a silicone teat found its way between her lips. Instinctively her tongue brushed it as a familiar coating imparted a dash of its taste unto her taste buds. Bananas. Joyce had a smug look of content on her face as she gently pressed on the shield of Emily’s pacifier, making sure that it was all the way in. But her brief moment of victory subsided as her expression softened back into her hybrid form of Mommy and girlfriend. And with a final declaration before going back to making dinner, Joyce said, “Let’s try things my way for a little while.”

Thanks! Well, surely nothing bad has ever happened in the Diaper Dimension, right? But well, maybe if something "inconvenient" were to happen...hm, well, who knows? Universe is a crazy place, so who knows? Wait and see! Thank you for the comment! Wouldn't that be justice in its own twisted way! Poor Dawn, but yay for Katherine? Meanwhile, James as the neutral. Then again, maybe for him it's happy wife happy life. Hm. Unfortunately, I do not think "soon" really applies anymore, but since it's all figurative, let's say soon is now! So to answer your question, yes! It's coming soon! Thank you for commenting and being so invested! "Happy" is certainly a matter of perspective. I think by now that it goes without saying that the Diaper Dimension is filled with many different views, often polarizing as to what "Happy" might be considered. Thank you for the reply! I'm sure Dawn will remember their fonder qualities in moments of...stress with other Amazons. YES! Right? How do these things even stay in business?! Definitely the people on these sorts of tours are the ones adventurous enough to bite on what looks like spam mail. Honestly, you could argue anyone taking up on a advertisement for Dimensional travel to be deserving of whatever it might involve. Of course! Amazons may be written off as monsters for babifying adults, but they aren't savages that discard letters! Hmm. The possibilities are endless. However, she is an English major, so maybe she'll find an opportunity to take up writing? Likely if she makes it out of this; definitely an interesting story to tell. Hey, thank you so much for leaving a comment! Absolutely no worries at all about the language barrier. I'm always excited to read the comments from readers and it's always fascinating to read from international users! Thanks and I hope you continue to enjoy reading! Yes! Not abandoned! Just...delayed! It's difficult to make an exciting comment on your predictions without implying any sort of thing down the road, so I'll keep it at expressing my joy for you being so invested in the story. Thank you so much for that! Hey now, who said anything about diapers? Not all is guaranteed in the Diaper Dimension! Course, that works both ways, so diapers are still very possible... 8 - Home Again “Dawn? You-houu~, sweetheart?” came the voice of a woman who was likely not so sweet, rather, one who was simply so saturated in it that the very word itself became toxic. In other words, Stacy had nudged Dawn’s shoulder, the girl who had been lost in thought as she stared back at her reflection trapped in a glossy wooden panel. Stacy wasn’t worth the words, nor the iota of trust Dawn had left for Amazons, crusting at the deep dark bottom of her chest cavity. The best she could give was a blank look. “Hm?” Stacy angled her head, moving her hand atop Dawn’s head. “What’s wrong, honey?” The sudden shift in gesture was only a mere step behind the Little’s reflex to step back. She’d been dumb enough to let two crazy hormone-driven giants that had eyes for her hold her, dress her, and parade her around like she was their property. Like hell she’d even come near a line of affection close to that ever again, especially with a complete stranger. “Please just take me to my room...” Dawn spoke lowly, just managing to keep her breath in order. She could hear a snigger above her ears, one from the same person that had just tried to touch her. “Of course! Only after you give me a big smile, though?” coaxing and cheery as she was, Dawn wasn’t sharing the mood. Thus, instead of a smile, the deathly line her lips already formed arched into a soured frown. They’re all the same… Projecting, controlling, seeing everything how they want to…! “Maybe some tickles are what we need then. Huh? Huh?” and with each coo she inched closer and closer, faster than Dawn’s backpedaling, to the point where the woman’s wriggly fingers did just touch Dawn’s sides. “St-- DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME!” She was going to shout ‘no’, but that was before Stacy had actually crossed a line. She quite screamed, falling back on her bottom and kicking her feet. Stacy did stop, looking a slight bit surprised, even sharing a look with the woman behind the desk. Stacy then sighed, “Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to adopt you...” “Well, not expecting tantrums is being a bit too wishful,” the employee chimed in, chuckling a little herself. Their small-talk existed just outside the girl’s realm of influence, who was coming to terms with her small outburst. Unlike the James and Katherine she held so much ire and disgust towards, Stacy, the just-as-worse, had absolutely no reason to be lenient with her, nor hold back. Such a crucial fact that would have made for a better forethought rather than after, had Dawn stuttering over her trembling self. “W-wait, no--! I-I didn’t mean that...it’s just, I was...” And unlike before, now the Amazon before her shaped a smug grin on her face. She had no simple admonishment, but instead something ulterior. “Excuses are no good, especially if they’re not going to have an apology to go with them.” Stacy leaned in a bit closer whilst the small girl had herself planted bottom-first on the floor. With each inch given, so was her composure out the window. Suddenly a sail with no wind, she could only watch as the shark swam closer. “Now,” the lack of distance intensified the authority. She could practically see herself in the reflection of the Amazon’s glossy lips, and even more feel the whisper of warm breath on her skin. “Didn’t we talk about bad words not being allowed while you’re here?” Her brow was raised, and even bent over she still assumed her hands on her hips. After today, feeling like a millenia ago, Dawn did recall some inkling of a mind-boggling briefing once they first arrived in this dimension. It was a strange list of rules and requirements, and one such oddity was the forbidden use of ‘naughty’ language. Under no circumstances will the use of adult language be prohibited. This includes but is not limited to swear words, derogatory terms, potty words, as well as swear phrases, including disrespect toward authority figures, colloquially termed as “back-talk”. “B-but...but I...” She had all the thought and reason she could ever need to at least say something, but the commanding stare from Stacy was enough to melt it all entirely. “There is zero tolerance for bad behavior, Dawn,” Stacy tutted, taking the girl by the hand and standing her upright. Dawn was too frazzled to do anything. It was the thought of what was to come that petrified her the most, and it was showing. “Honey, now,” Stacy just didn’t manage to choke down her small laugh as she patted the statue-esque Dawn’s head. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” “I-I’m sorry...” Dawn murmured under the weight of her own worries. “Hm? What was that?” Stacy with her sickly, condescending smile, leaned in just a smidge closer. “I’m sorry...” Dawn said again, now upgrading herself to a whisper. “Sorry for what?” Just the etches of white were starting to peek between her red lips. “Sorry...” her eyes drifted to the skies, yet the face of a deity stared back at her, drowning the girl in its absolute shadow, blinding her for just long enough to slip her hands from the reigns and fall back off her pegasus into the depths below. Where this world deemed her to be. “Sorry for saying fu--” “Don’t, repeat that?” Stacy’s voice made a sharp incision, deftly stopping Dawn’s tongue in its track. Her expression hadn’t changed, yet you couldn’t mistake the authority and annoyance masked in her tone. “I’m sorry Stacy, for breaking what rule?” It wasn’t a cold sweat this time. A warm, bead felt as if it’d begun to accumulate at the top of Dawn’s forehead, right underneath her hair. She was feeling a new kind of warm and frustrated that was the worst complement imaginable to her reddened cheeks. Stacy’s expectant stare hadn’t left and nor did her proximity change. Every moment felt like battering humiliation. Each encounter was another opportunity to shape her into something she so desperately didn’t want to be. “Sorry for saying a...a bad word...” And even still, what to her was a fleeting gesture or run-of-the-mill, an infraction as harsh as swearing from a Little probably held the weight of the world in measures of impurity for an Amazon. Or at the very least, Amazons forced the image and perceived significance of it. “Awh!” The desk worker fawned, still a spectator to the public shaming, “Look at how worked up you’ve got her! She’s already in tears...” As much as Dawn wanted to call bull, she was too busy wiping away the inklings of tears she did in fact have. “I-I’m not… Just, look, I’m sorry! I’m sorry for swearing, okay? Please! Just let me go back to my room, okay? I’ll be good! I just want to go home!” Stacy finally leaned back some, rearing away with a thoughtful breath. “Normally, when I hear something like that, it’s an express ticket back to the hotel and you’re off the tour, you know?” As if it wasn’t clear, Stacy had been notorious for sending many-a Portal Little back to the hotel early for breaking some sort of rule on the tour. Not only that, but to drill the severity of breaking the rules even further, you essentially become a child disallowed from the class field-trip for breaking the rules. And given such harsh rules, a few offenders are naturally inevitable, hence the few Dawn did remember being sent back to the hotel. But, to finish the thought for Stacy and spare Dawn’s ears, they both knew a punishment like that didn’t hold water since they already were at the hotel and essentially on the last day of the tour. Dawn was smart to not be wise. Speak, even, lest that be considered anything remotely close to back-talk. She was scared. Scared more than she’d been while with...those other two. “But still, a pottymouth is a pottymouth...” she tapped her finger off her hip, as if trying to decipher the answer inside her head. And the more this pointless charade went on, the more sour the feeling was in Dawn’s stomach. It made her sick knowing that something diabolical was to come. The impending doom was enough to make her cry again. She couldn’t help it. Amazons are so terrifyingly capable through both their own strength and sickly enginuity. Was this it? A simple swear word that did her in? Next thing she’d know, Stacy would be pulling out the diaper right then… “S-s...oap...” Dawn whimpered, sniffling. Stacy stopped her pondering, raising a curious brow. “Hm? Soap?” Dawn quietly nodded. “I-I’m really sorry...” “Oh!” Stacy ‘aww’ed’ in some twisted form of adoration as it looked as if she’d genuinely given the tearful girl a smile. “That’s a great idea!” She snickered, sealing the deal with a fist planted in her palm. “That takes guts, little munchkin,” she chuckled, already swooping the yelping girl into the air. “But I can tell you want to show that you’re sorry.” “Wow, I’m really impressed!” The worker nodded with just as much enthusiasm. Dawn shrunk further and further into herself. Completely bashful and utterly disgusted with her own cowardice. The only thing she could think of as salvation was to dig her own grave. Go out on her own terms. If only then, she might be able to come up with an idea that was bad, but not bad to the level of these sadistic giants… Dawn hiccuped with a quivering frown as she nodded, meekly playing along to their “compliments.” “There’s a bathroom down the hall by the elevators,” the worker pointed with a rosy smile. It was the first time Dawn had seen her so happy. It wasn’t corporate this time, likely because Dawn’s own demise resonated with something primal in both giantesses. “Perfect! We’ll get that mouth of yours squeaky clean. Then we’ll apologize properly,” Stacy assured with a firm squeeze on the girl’s bottom. Surely she knew what was underneath the pants, if it wasn’t obvious already. A horrible thump struck her chest with each step they took. Dawn knew what was to come, and assuming there were no tricks, the face value was terrible enough already. “You know, I was thinking how to punish you, but I definitely didn’t think of an idea like this!” Stacy confided, looking almost giddy. “What-with you being such a pottymouth, I figured we might as well make you look like a potty-pants too!” She shared a laugh with herself on that, then subsided into a reminiscent sigh. “Of course, then we’d have to find you diapers… This gets to the point in its own way though! And we’ve arrived!” An outstretched hand swung open the door to a checker-tiled bathroom, one wall lined with a long counter of sinks and a matching mirror. In its reflection Dawn could see herself, locked in the carrying arms of Stacy, who looked happy as could be in the mirror. Dawn, however, looked much more plagued with trepidation, as if about to throw up. And to think, had this, her “brilliant” idea not hatched, she’d be off to legitimate diapers instead... It was happening a mile a minute. Suddenly she was sitting on the counter, between two sinks, and right behind her, a gargantuan soap dispenser. “Can...” she looked behind, then back at Stacy. Desperate, pleading, “can I...” her voice was thick as the reality started to sink in. Her eyes were glossy as Stacy started to look confused. “P-please! Don’t make me! I-I’m sorry! I promise I won’t do anything bad again! Don’t make me eat soap!” She started to wail as punishment itself breathed down her neck. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t be punished. It was disgusting and beyond demeaning! Stacy turned her head some, “Are you saying you’d rather diapers then?” she asked a genuine question, devoid of any rhetoric that might make you think otherwise. “No!” Dawn shouted back, a mess of tears and sniffles. “J-Just...please! Forgive me this once! I’ll be good, so don’t punish me!” “Dawn!” Stacy exclaimed, as if chiding with a good friend, “I only went along with this because I thought you wanted to show you were sorry!” “I-I do!” Dawn cried, lurching forward. “Well, how can I know that?” Stacy shrugged, easing her back. Even now, she still had something of a smirk. “B-Because...because I...” Dawn was lost, the emptiness was in her eyes. The worth of her word meant nothing. She had to in some way show she was sorry… To apologize. To be punished… “Because, nothing...” Stacy hushed, running a hand through Dawn’s hair. Dawn was breathing quickly, trying to keep herself intact. “Shh, shh...okay, come on now...let’s be mature about this...” Dawn could barely react. She was suddenly being embraced, but it wasn’t soap in her mouth, so she wasn’t opposed. Anything but that felt like paradise right then. She could even feel herself starting to breath again… “And...good...” Stacy stepped back, satisfied. “We’re a big girl, right?” “Bi…?” Dawn only half-caught it. “I...I’m an adul...” “Right, a big girl,” Stacy smoothly talked over her, smiling with a nod. “And big girls know how to face the music.” “But I’m...” “So, let’s just do a little something first...” Stacy stepped in again, taking a hold of Dawn’s waist. The Little was too afraid to kick, terrified that she might invite the sadist back into the room. Her large thumbs hooked into the waistline of her stretchy pants, pulling nice and slow as the pants came down her legs, accompanied by a gasp from Stacy. “What? Pull-ups!” She made direct eye-contact with Dawn. “And not big girl panties?” Stacy shook her head with a feigned uncertainty. “I don’t know, Dawn… The only big girls I know wear panties,” she gave Dawn’s padded front a light, crinkly pat. “Not these, hun-bun.” “Yeah, but that’s only because--!” “Well, but they’re not diapers either...” Stacy continued, pretending to ponder, yet Dawn had become too shaken to realize it was a full-on act. “Babies definitely wear diapers, no doubt about it...” she nodded, solidifying her key logic. “But pull-ups? Hmm...well, you tell me Dawn?” “Wha...what? But, I am telling you!” Dawn sat herself on her knees, pressing a hand to her chest. “I’m an adult!” “An adult? With those?” she accusingly pointed at the underwear. “Definitely not. Big girls don’t make stuff up either... So really, I guess all that means is...” “Big girl!” “Huh?” Stacy asked. “One more time? What’d you say?” “B-...” Dawn looked crestfallen, defeated. “I’m a big girl...” “Oh! Well, I guess that could be true...” she considered. “You’re in pull-ups, but I guess that means you could be out of them any time soon. Diapers or panties…” she muttered a bit lower, “But, who knows? There’s more to it than just potty training...” Once more she seemed to drift, alluding to Dawn’s “bad behavior” from before, hence Dawn’s panicked input. “I-I am though!” Stacy looked her way again. “I...I am...” She was unfortunately smart enough to know exactly where this went. “I...” she wiped her eyes again. “I can prove it.” “Well, if you say so,” Stacy encouragingly nodded. “Big girls take the initiative, after all. So, go on,” she gestured with a hand and an eager smile. “Show me how sorry you are!” Her hand beckoned to the beast behind Dawn, bolted into the wall. A large rectangular, plastic box with rounded corners with a faint red light projecting from underneath it. In reference to Dawn, the dispenser was massive, likely storing a whole gallon of hand soap… She felt the knots in her stomach battle already with squeamish hiccups. “You can’t get any soap if you’re so far away, silly!” Stacy laughed as an open palm cupped Dawn’s lightly padded rear, forcing her forward. Whether she liked it or not, she was well within arms reach of the dispenser now. I’m actually washing out my own mouth… She was still beside herself whilst things only became worse and more jarring. Yet her hand stuck forward, as if she were preparing to wash her hands. But she wasn’t. Not even close. “I-Is...is it safe?” She turned her head back to Stacy, who seemed to lose a little glow in her smile once she could see Dawn was starting to delay the spectacle. Stacy sighed, already turning in place. “If it’s too hard, there’s always diapers, you know?” “No!” She didn’t even consider the alternative. “Please! See?” and out her hand went, illuminated by the sensor light and the mechanical noise of a dispenser releasing its contents. She could feel the lukewarm, viscous substance pool into her hand. It was translucent and had a very “clean” smell, not to be confused with anything positive-sounding like “wonderful” or “lovely”. Just industrially clean… It reeked of chemicals. Right then, after getting her serving size, the mere thought of putting it in her mouth made her gag. Her palm was already filled quite well, considering it was likely more of an Amazon sizing. Despite having the shakes, her hand more or less hung there, suspended by the stress and anxiety of her own imagination. “Hmm...” A nothing but judging mumble came from above and behind Dawn’s shoulder, from an all too familiar face. “You did say a very bad word… We should be extra safe to keep that pretty mouth of yours clean, shouldn’t we?” “B-Bu...” there was a sunken look in her eyes as Dawn wordlessly confronted the Amazon, still holding the soapy substance in hand. Her speech was broken, and you could hear the fragments of composure left in her tone sink through the remaining pitfalls. “Come on,” Stacy urged with a matronly tone as she gently pushed Dawn’s filled hand back in by the elbow. “A little more won’t hurt...” There was a painful twist in her chest and a reactionary whimper as more liquid seeped into her hand. So much that it was leaking between her fingers. Overflowing soap in hand, she’d never known how much a simple hygiene product could embody such a terrifying, skin-crawling abyss. It was incomprehensible. Somehow, all this soapy muck was going to enter her body… “Turn around too, I need to see it. To see that you’re apologizing properly?” This time she didn’t do it herself, although Dawn was sluggish at best in doing so. The hand holding her demise had practically become stone with how still it was. The entirety of her right half had gone numb, at least mentally so. “P...” she sputtered between her lips. “P-p-blease!” It was better than diapers, but that didn’t mean this was any good either. She just...she couldn’t! The very idea of what she was about to do was inconceivable. She’d barely even prepared herself. With how quick Stacy had been, Dawn had but a minute to realize that her own spur-of-the-moment idea was manifesting at such a shocking speed. And because she wasn’t ready, all she could do was beg. Beg and grovel. Wasn’t this what Amazons liked to see, anyways? Littles crying? Belittled? Suffering? She was giving every morsel of it on a silver platter, so maybe it was enough to convince Stacy. Maybe-- A large finger quickly and forcefully shot itself between Dawn’s lips, opening her mouth just a little wider to compensate. Her tongue brushed the appendage, tasting something wet, almost gel-like, but couldn’t misplace its terrible taste, already feeling the bubbles begin to foam. She could feel it dripping down her lips as the finger slipped itself out, coated in hand soap, leaving behind a nice dressing of chemical hand product in Dawn’s mouth. Wordlessly she looked at Stacy, seeing she was the one to have done it. She already reached for a faucet and washed her finger, sporting a somewhat annoyed look. “Sorry, I got a little impatient,” she sighed, looking again at the bewildered girl. “See? Now you know what it tastes like. Not good, huh? Think of that taste whenever you think of using bad words, because that’s what it feels like.” She felt violated. Never had a stranger inserted themself into any of her orifices, especially a giant trying to force soap down her throat. Regardless, the taste was vile, just as bad as she’d expected. It was so terribly unpleasant and she tried so hard to lick all the corners of her interior mouth to somehow get rid of the sickly aftertaste. It felt like a thin layer of muck that’d bonded with her own saliva, covering the roof of her mouth, like it was permanent. Every stroke of her tongue would catch more of the everlasting suds. It was bitter, almost metallic; utterly disgusting. Dawn tried to gag but she couldn’t throw it up. There was simply too little of it to try and she couldn’t convince her body. It was stuck inside her and she was bawling. “You know if you swallow it while the taste is still in your mouth it’ll go by a lot faster...” Stacy whispered in a clear voice, gesturing Dawn bring the pile of soap in her hand even closer. Dawn wanted to look at her with anger and hatred, but she was too busy crying over the terrible taste and trying to fathom how she was going to consume so much more. There was no saving grace. No last-minute interruption. In all her moments of suspense in this dimension there’d always been something to cause a surprise or complete upset. But not now. As reality had once again backed her into a corner, there wouldn’t be a third party this time. “Dawn,” Stacy tapped her foot. “As much as I’d like for you to dilly-dally, the world can’t stop just because you said a naughty word. Either we can do this now or skip to the diapers, then we move from there. Your choice, sweetheart.” Your choice. Prove yourself. It’s your fault. And more and more as the pressure grew, she watched as the soap-filled hand came closer and closer, her face grimacing the more she looked. That terrible aftertaste was still lurking in her mouth. She’d be sanding off the top layer of her taste buds just to forget this feeling. She couldn’t count on Stacy making empty threats which is why she couldn’t hesitate. What’s more, of everything, this absolutely was the very last thing she wanted to admit, but even Stacy wasn’t totally baseless saying that she’d be better off eating the soap fast… Her mouth was smothered by it, pressed close by her palm. Her body moved faster than her own disgust could prevent it as the liquid soap was pressed against her open mouth. She could feel it hit her tongue, the back of her mouth. But it wasn’t perfect. The viscous gel now coated her teeth and was dripping from her bottom lip, heavy droplets striking the countertop. Dawn winced and her face scrunched, once again doused in that terrible, metallic taste. Her tongue tried to move it down to swallow it faster, but the substance only spread and clung to untouched surfaces. Her mouth had practically become a swamp. She was messy all over and she could barely keep herself steady. “Mmmm!” Stacy cheered, burning with a fire behind her eyes. “Isn’t it so yummy?” Stacy chuckled, wiping her finger underneath Dawn’s dripping chin. “Native from here or not, all you Littles sure can be messy eaters,” she laughed some more. She wanted to curse. She wanted to scream. But her mouth was filled with soap and she was currently dealing with the consequences of “being bad” in the first place. New tears left her eyes, all for a new reason. This time she’d truly been put in her place. Checkmated, as she helplessly swallowed a generous helping of soap, only to find so much of it was still slowly trying to creep down her esophagus. She didn’t deserve this. It was a stupid rule to begin with. This Amazon was being cruel for the sake of just because. Then by some miraculous cause her body finally did object. Dawn had visibly seized once her gag reflex triggered, and out went a helping of her recent “food” with more foreign substance. “Uh-oh!” Stacy mockingly cried, “guess you went a little too fast, huh?” Dawn had been looking down with her hands planted on the counter, struggling to keep herself straight. There was a terrible burning sensation in her throat as an everlasting drip ebbed from her lips. She could feel the tiny amount of bile still sitting inside her as she coughed, yet it stayed dormant. Her body was no longer her own once Stacy helped her sit upright. Then came the sordid act of Stacy turning Dawn around to face the mirror. A mess would have been putting it lightly. Beyond her reddened eyes and flushed cheeks, random strands of hair stuck to her face and the corners of her mouth, glued to her skin by an excess of soap. She couldn’t tell whether it was more soap above her mouth or snot leaking from her nose. It could’ve been both. Her shirt had ample amounts of staining, dark splotches dotted all around, accompanied by a cold adhesive feeling to her skin. Her entire look was deranged and she was certainly feeling the part as she looked lower. Her pants were still bunched around her ankles and her underwear was a horrid spotlight in its own right. Her pant-- no, her pull-ups, she second-guessed herself with a quiet, teary laugh, seemed to be the only part of herself that had avoided a wardrobe malfunction. And just beyond the tiny beast in the mirror was the glowing prim and proper giantess who did all of this to her. Watching the mirror’s reflection, Stacy leaned her head in close enough that the two faces were side by side. “Tell me,” with two delicate fingers she separated one of Dawn’s hairs from her skin. “What do you see?” Stacy continued to keep that same calm and collected look, whilst Dawn’s madness continued to bleed into reality. “A-...an--” she stopped herself short to cough, feeling as if her throat had been shortened, dried and clogged. “A-an a-adul...” “Dawn, honey...” Stacy set a large hand on the girl’s back, visibly shocking her as she jumped, her own surprise leading to more whimpers. “I know we didn’t just do all this to make the same mistakes again, right?” Either it was rhetorical or Stacy stopped caring for answers, because she continued to speak. “What do you see?” “M...me.” “Uh-huh?” Stacy nodded on, as if there was more to the tale. “Look...I’m sorry, so...” “That’s right, you are sorry,” Stacy replied, not letting her finish. “Proved it, too. Who proved it, Dawn? Only little kids in baby diapers make up fibs when they break the rules. But you’re not like that, right?” “No...” “I agree,” she glowed, giving Dawn a pat on the rear. “So! Tell me, what are you?” “A…” She could feel herself choking on the very phrase itself. It was another vile substance she’d either been forced to swallow or expel. “A big girl.” “There we go! That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” she showed the girl some physical affection then took to grabbing a wipe. “I’ll clean it up this time since I’m in a good mood, but try not to vomit in the future...” Kill me. Dawn felt conflicted about whether to cry tears of joy or still sulk in her own depression once she got back to the room. A large and grotesque hook she’d been hanging from since this morning had finally been freed from her flesh once the door shut. Truly, without exaggeration, she was by herself this time. The atmosphere was refreshing, crisp and cool. She glanced at the Amazon-sized body mirror and could see her raggedy self, still covered in crusty soap, snot and tears. “Sh...” she grimaced, looking at herself. “Shower first...” Taking advantage of one of the room’s multiple step stools, Dawn pressed down on the door handle and leaned forward to push it open, nearly losing balance on her miniature ladder. The hotel in all its aesthetics was impressive, but only from an objective standpoint. Those feelings started to become skewed once someone like Dawn, a Little, tried using it. Considering that independent Littles were seeming more a minority in this dimension, it made sense that public services catered to the larger masses instead. The Amazonian room had been cheaply retrofitted to service someone of a smaller size on the fly. The only indicators of a Little staying here were the multiple step stools dotted in various spots, including the least subtle aspect, the bars lined on either side of the bed. Not crib level, but certainly guardrails to prevent you from rolling off. It made sense to avoid injury, but Dawn couldn’t shake the sinister aura they gave after being what she’d been through today. She couldn’t have thrown her pull-up against the wall any harder if she tried. At least the shower tub had a Little-sized detachable shower head. A downpour of hot water instantly relaxed the muscles and literally washed away her scars. Layers of grime dissipated under the downpour of warm water. Excess amounts of soap, old and new streaks of tears, snot, and even pee… She scrubbed, and scrubbed, harder than she’d ever scrubbed before. So hard that you just might think she was trying to shed her skin. No matter how many times she’d rinse it would never fully come off. There was always something unsightly and an ugly reminder. She scrubbed, but it wouldn’t come out. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fit a bar of soap in her own head to wash away the trauma. She couldn’t even look at soap the same way again. It was after the fourth cycle she relented, figuring it was either all in her head or persistence just wouldn’t do. She glanced at the discarded underwear with simple apathy, feeling no responsibility owed to it than someone as beaten and tortured as she was would feel. After all, it was her last night, so why nitpick over leaving a clean room behind… All there was to do was bide her time and find some way to burn through it. Despite the prison bars on it, the bed did look inviting. She was certain to sleep well that night. But at least she could reminisce about home for at least a little bit. It didn’t get service here but at least she could browse some pictures on her… She forgot. Her phone was gone. Since this morning. Since that monstrous pig wrenched it from her along with her pants. It didn’t offer much utility to have it considering she couldn’t communicate with it, but she at least felt “equipped” to have it… Her contacts, photos, personal information, social media accounts, conversations, all of it. All of it was gone. She at least had her freedom; a shot out of this dreaded world, but she’d be leaving this place a lesser being than when she’d first entered it… Travel is supposed to be enlightening, isn’t it? The only worldly experience Dawn could attest to was supposing that it wasn’t always worth looking beyond your own horizons. Trying to compress her overwhelming grief and annoyance into a single sigh, she climbed the stool and deposited herself onto the freshly-made bed. Stark naked. By the way the bed was clean and the footstools were orderly, Dawn could tell the maids had been through again… Unfortunately there were no “Do Not Disturb” signs in this dimension. She looked all over the room for one on the first day and even called the front desk, but to no avail… She watched the corner formed between the painted wall and ceiling lost in her own thoughts when a flash of imagery almost caught her eye. She’d been suspicious, turning her head some, but gave it no thought until the black-screened tv wasn’t so black and displayed a moving picture. “Hi there,” a disembodied voice spoke from the tv. Dawn looked at the screen with scrutiny. It was a slideshow of hotel scenery, fading from image to image. “Thank you for choosing to stay at our hotel chain Vineyard Stays. Our hotels offer a wide variety of--” The spokeswoman didn’t have time to finish before the screen blinked back to black. Dawn with the tv remote in hand muttered to herself, “Weird...” She’d taken to putting a hand between her legs, just to block out a view of her delicates, but seeing as it was only a tv… Yet the more she stared at the blackened screen, catching the faint blurry echo of herself in the screen was enough to incite some kind of mild paranoia. “Suitcase...” Dawn quietly muttered to herself as she crawled across the expansive bed and back over to the safety rail. Climbing down the Little-friendly steps she walked back around the bed to the other side for a change of familiar clothes. And once she did round the corner of the bed, she slowed to a stop. She blinked as she stared. Her suitcase wasn’t there. Not where she had left it. Not where it had been the entirety of this freaky wonderland vacation. It was the disbelief, confusion and fear that gave her an awkward walk to the empty space. She was a Little in an Amazon’s room, but that didn’t make it easy to misplace an entire suitcase, sized for a Little or not. Dawn’s heart started to race as she turned her head, trying to figure if it’d just been moved somewhere nearby in the room. It wasn’t by the coffee table. It hadn’t been somehow stuffed in a drawer. Not in a cabinet. Not in the closet.Not in the bathroom. Not in the trash bin. Not even in the mini fridge. Dawn was making a light jog all around the room, feeling more worried with each avenue of explanation leading to a chilling dead end. Then, a moment of brilliance struck her as she looked back at the bed. Obviously it could have been slipped under the bed! Almost instantly her pent-up worries were fastly dissipating as she near giggled at her own silliness. Walking over to the bed she lifted the cover, met with a new surprise. Wood. Instead of the bed having any accessible bottom, the bedframe was supported by wood paneling on all three sides, save for the one obscured by the wall. Meaning, the last place where her suitcase could have been in the room’d just been ruled out. “You’ve gotta be kidding...” Dawn kept her voice low, yet it trembled. She’d put herself through so much turmoil, stress and disaster trying to get back to the one pseudo safe haven she had in this dimension, and even that had been compromised. What was she supposed to do now? As much of an inconvenience it was to lose her clothes, what meant oh-so-much more was the last of her identification. Her passport. Her dimensional visa. As she tried to keep her emotions in check, sitting naked on the floor, a grave and terrifying conclusion was reaching her mind. Without any kind of papers, who was to say she was a Portal Little and not a native? She stumbled back into the bathroom, never thinking that she’d be glad to find her ordinary shirt, bra and worst of all, stretchy pants. The pull-up was skipped over without hesitation however, sufficing for a commando approach for as grave of a situation as this. Dawn climbed back up the stool onto the Amazon-sized bed, crawling over to the nightstand with a phone sat atop it. She raised the phone to her ear, bothered by how large it felt compared to her size, yet pressed on the given digits for the front desk. There was a silent hum as the phone rang for a few moments. “Hello! This is Candace with the front desk speaking!” A rosy and chipper voice suddenly spoke from the other end of the line. The sound came off loud enough for Dawn to flinch as she held the phone an inch from her ear. “How may I be of service?” “H-hello...” Dawn started, rubbing her ear and trying to level her anxiety. “I...uhm, my name is Dawn and I’m in room 305...I just came back to my room and I can’t find my suitcase...” “Room 305?” The employee asked to confirm. “Let me see...” She went quiet over the phone, and each moment of silence meant a unit of time had passed with Dawn’s fears still yet to be squashed and for her chest to ache even more with her troubled heart. “Oh!” The employee exclaimed. “I understand now... Yes, Dawn S. from the group that’s touring from Terra? The Portal Littles?” The way she asked her question, or maybe by the way it sounded, despite being seemingly sweet and attentive, it felt...off-putting for the girl. Yet in the end, maybe it was paranoia. “Y-yes...” Dawn slowly answered back. “Perfect! Well, hm...losing your suitcase is a bit of an issue, huh?” She seemed to speak much more patronizingly now, as if this weren’t an exchange between customer and concierge, but rather a schoolteacher and a charge without their homework. Nevertheless, fear was a powerful agent in getting Dawn to stomach just about any passive humiliation at this point. Having the ability to get home mattered much more than seeking a dignified response for what Dawn dearly and desperately hoped was a minor issue. “I-I swear; I looked for it everywhere in the room and--!” “Well, let’s retrace our steps,” the woman said in a sing-song kind of voice, “where do you last remember having it, honey?” “In my room!” Dawn whined over the phone. She could already tell that it was going to be like pulling teeth just to get anything close to progress with this Amazon. “Please! I’ve searched everywhere! I think one of the maids took my luggage, or something!” “Now, Dawn, stealing is a very serious accusation,” the Amazon slowly explained over the phone. “Are you absolutely positively sure that you didn’t misplace it by accident? Why don’t you go look again just to be--” “YES!” Dawn did shout this time. “I’m positive! Please! My bag has my passport and visa in it! I need that stuff to leave this dimension!” There was a pause over the other end of the line. Dawn’s heart sank. Did she upset the Amazon? Was she mad now? Her heart felt ready to burst as she was already reliving the experience with Stacy in the bathroom. What if this Candace woman came up to punish her for yelling? What if it was worse than a soapy mouth? What if--?! “I see.” The woman then spoke again, sounding still upbeat, though closer to neutral than Little-friendly peppy. “I can promise you honey that we will do the best we can to find your belongings, but I need to double-check with you. You really think that someone stole your things?” “Yes!” Dawn replied, much more mindful of her volume now. “Alrighty then,” she said, and Dawn could hear the smile from the other end. “I’ll officially log your complaint! It may take a little bit for our internal investigation to be complete, but I promise you’ll be taken care of in the meantime. Can you describe what your suitcase looks like?” “It’s mainly turquoise, with a black trim...” Dawn said. “Turquoise, black trim…” The woman muttered to herself, sounding as if she were writing it down. “Is there anything else I can do for you, honey?” It was a little surprising that the woman planned to do what Dawn had hoped for. An Amazon was listening to her. Sure, maybe obligated by the responsibilities of her occupation, but cooperation nonetheless. “N-no...that’s all. Uhm...thank you.” Dawn said. “Of course, sweetheart!” Yet she couldn’t shake that tone which talked down to her. “Thank you for staying with us, and I hope the remainder is to your satisfaction! And not to worry; I’ll inform your tour guide, Stacy, about your current situation!” “Y-you are…?” Dawn asked, slightly surprised. Maybe she could grasp the potential formalities in place, yet the only thing she wanted from that terrible Amazon was distance. Yet if experience taught Dawn anything, direct pushback only seemed to make things worse for her in this dimension. “I...I see...okay, then. Thank you...” And she hung up the phone, exhaling a deep sigh as she felt the need to cry. In the span of one day she’d been kidnapped, re-kidnapped by a different couple that tried seducing her into becoming their permanent baby, force-fed soap by her own tour guide, robbed of her phone, and now potentially every other thing she brought with her to this dimension. What unnerved her the most was an extreme sense of powerlessness. Constantly, for anything to ever progress now, it seemed that her only options were to either let the Amazons around her do as they pleased or for herself to do what they demanded of her. Even now, left without the last of her belongings, she was physically incapable of taking any direct action to find her things. She called herself an adult, but what agency did she really have? All she had was this “system” to trust in, truly screwed if the legislation itself decided to turn on her. With that being the end of her thought exercise, left on such a grim, paralyzing note, she did feel her eyes begin to water as she laid back down on the bed that was far too big for her. She stared across at the window she could only reach to put her hands on the sill of, much less summon the Amazonian strength required to open it. Hope being the last thing she had left to combat any obstacles thrown her way now, Dawn managed to give herself some time to sleep despite the cesspool of negative emotions she was encased in. “Dawn...Dawn?” A familiar, unwelcomed voice jostled her shoulder as the girl moaned and groaned. She opened her eyes and could see out the window. The sky was blackened and the stars were in the sky. “Dawn?” The voice said again, speaking above her. The girl turned her head and felt a jolt in her chest once she saw who it was. Looking down at her with a complacent smiling face was the terrible Amazon, none other than Stacy. Dawn quickly rolled herself across the bed, moving with such urgency and with fear that the only thing which stopped her from going off the other end entirely were the safety rails added on the edge. “My! Someone must’ve had a bad dream, huh?” Stacy chuckled, yet no matter how cheery she looked, Dawn witnessed first-hand just what lies beyond her mask. This was the first time Dawn had ever found this woman in her room unannounced. It’s not a matter of possibility, Dawn would expect she could, considering the hotel staff only let the Amazon tour guide handle their room keys. That being said, being woken up by an Amazon that punished you the last time you saw her was an easy scare. Taking audible breaths, and trying not to incur this woman’s wrath, Dawn ignored her desires to scream, shout, object and criticize. “What...what are you doing in here?” Dawn asked, feeling her hand grasp one of the bars behind her. “Mm...” Stacy pressed a supposing index finger on her lips, glancing back at the door. “Well, I had knocked earlier, and after getting no response I figured you were taking a nap… Guess I was right!” She chuckled, leaving Dawn’s question no more answered than it was a sentence prior. “Okay… Did you need something?” Dawn said, trying to rephrase her question. “I think it’d be better to ask if you need something?” Stacy grinned, as if a matter of losing one’s legal identification were worthy of light humor. Her counter caught Dawn off guard for a moment, mostly inciting confusion, but the conversation she had on the phone with the employee jogged her sleepy memory. “Y-yes...Someone took my luggage from my room.” A cheery look on Stacy’s face suddenly dropped, morphing into concern and worry. Yet with the woman’s theatrics, it only made Dawn feel more sick as the act and emotions appeared as grossly forced and fabricated. “Oh no!” Stacy laid a palm against her cheek, mouth hung agape. “All your things?” Dawn nodded with a gulp, already stressing just from acknowledging the predicament. “Maybe you just misplaced it?” Stacy passively commented. “You’ve been so busy and distracted with all the fun things going on...” “No. I checked everywhere in the room...” Dawn said, yet again giving up on her protest as to being an adult rather than a child. “I see...that’s a very serious issue, Dawn.” Stacy said, as if the girl at her wit’s end had not known this already. Yet as terrible as this Amazon was to her, being the authority figure that she was, Stacy was the only person Dawn could ask a burning, heart wrenching question. “Stacy...” Dawn struggled to voice the words, too paralyzed to face the potential truth. “I-if, if they take a little longer to find my stuff by tomorrow, I can just go back later, right? I mean, i-it wouldn’t make sense if--” “Oou.” Stacy interrupted, making a brief, crude noise that matched her furrowed brow. “That is something, isn’t it?” “What?” Dawn willed herself to ask. “Wh-what does that mean?” She couldn’t be implying what Dawn wanted to believe was ludicrous, right? They wouldn’t just bar her from going home if she missed the portal that she was scheduled for? They’d just send her off on the next one! It couldn’t be legal; preventing someone from going back to their own dimension. The more and more Dawn talked herself into it she fastly tried to believe that she undoubtedly would go home regardless of the outcome. And yet, what terrified her so much was how it all seemed to be contingent on others that made the decisions for her. What bled her dying hope even further was the less than stellar look Stacy was giving, even through what exaggerated lens she expressed herself through. “Honey, if you don’t have your passport or visa, that means you won’t be allowed to use the portal to go home,” Stacy explained quite simply. It felt like a ton of bricks that rained from above. “W-well...once I get them back, I can go home?” Dawn added, desperately searching for something to cling onto. “Assuming the hotel finds your belongings before tomorrow, yes.” Stacy nods. Each answer she gave only seemed to exist in hypotheticals and general statements. It was as if she seemed to avoid acknowledging a terrible, terrifying alternative that even Dawn wanted to believe wasn’t true. “But, once I do get them back, even if it’s later tomorrow I can still--” “No, you can’t.” Stacy says. An eerie silence wafted throughout the room as Dawn wordlessly stared at a certain-looking Amazon. “Why...why not?” Dawn’s voice trembled. “Your visa is only approved for travel between when you first came, sweetie, and when you’re supposed to leave tomorrow. After tomorrow at the time you’re scheduled for, your visa expires and then you won’t be allowed to travel back to Terra.” “B-but I...” Dawn’s voice quivered. “I-it’s not my fault…! I didn’t lose them, they were stolen!” Dawn pleaded, as if Stacy were the one who could solve her problems. This couldn’t be real. It was a fantasy. All a bad dream. All she needed was a mere moment of observation to realize just how fictitious this all seemed. Some random spam mail had managed to convince her to travel to another dimension, filled with giants that are infatuated with treating normal people like perpetual babies. Nothing about it made sense and neither did this, so all Dawn could find was less places to grip herself onto reality. She wasn’t really here. She wasn’t being talked down to like a child. Her phone, passport and visa weren’t missing. She was going home. She wasn’t stuck in a dimension of giants. Absolutely not. “Dawn?” The girl gasped as she felt Stacy’s hand on her shoulder. A soft touch from a woman that coated her mouth in soap. “They’ll find my stuff, right?!” Dawn started to weep. “I’m gonna go home! Th-they...they can’t just keep me here because somebody stole my stuff!” She sniffled, feeling her chest rise and fall. And above all else, what hurt Dawn the most right then was Stacy. She made a small frown, as if to offer meager amounts of sympathy. From Dawn’s perspective, Stacy scantly seemed to offer much condolences at all. If she thought at all like that woman Katherine, she might even think of her being stuck here as a solution rather than a problem. Another Portal Little saved from their own demise. “They’ll do their best, honey...” Stacy briefly rubbed Dawn’s back. Dawn sobbed, trying to hold herself together. She tried to tell herself that she needed to be prepared for whatever might happen, yet that seemed impossible when faced with every obstacle possible. “Of course,” Stacy exhaled, staring off at the door, “I suppose it’d be difficult if your bag was hidden?” Dawn sniffled, barely taking stock in her words. Hidden? What did it matter if it were hidden or not? “Whoever took it’s probably long gone, now...” Dawn hiccuped, erring on the side of pessimism with little hope to be found. “Mm...no, they’re not.” Stacy said. Like that, her words cut through the atmosphere. “How would you know…?” Dawn asked, clearly fueled by suspicion now. Her gaze slowly turned up to Stacy, who looked as rosy as could be. “Dawn, honey, do you know what the word ‘quota’ means?” She smiled down at her. “Qu-quota…?” Dawn mouthed. What did a quota have anything to do--? “Quota means a certain number of something you have to do or get,” Stacy explains, likely willfully misinterpreting Dawn’s tone. “You see, Dawn, even us Amazons can get a teeny bit upset!” Stacy explained, annunciating her explanation with squinted fingers in front of Dawn. “When you said that naughty word in the lobby, you very much needed to be punished for it, but I suppose I may have gone a bit further than I normally would have… I was upset with you, you see.” The longer Stacy went on to speak, the more confused Dawn felt. She came here to discuss your missing luggage is what you figured, yet why was she trying to relive the very recent past? It was obvious as could be that swearing pissed her off. Need she explain that any further? “I-I apologized...” Dawn muttered, now feeling afraid for any kind of retroactive punishment Stacy might figure on the fly that should be warranted. “Yes, you did,” Stacy nods to herself, “and you showed me how sorry you were. I forgive you for that.” But what did any of this have to do with her luggage? “My job as a tour guide is very important, Dawn,” Stacy said, “It’s my job to keep all you chickadees accounted for the entire time you’re under my care! For example, if I were to take you all out to the park across the street, but one of you stayed behind at the hotel and I didn’t know, you understand how that would be very troublesome for me, don’t you?” “I...I guess…?” Dawn shrugged. “Good!” Stacy nods, approving her piecewise digestion of the nuggets of explanation. “So, can you also understand how troublesome it might be if...say, one of my little chicks were to be adopted by an Amazon while we were outside, then come back as if nothing ever happened?” Dawn wasn’t looking at her right then, staring forward as well. Yet in that moment Dawn could feel a chill up her spine, prickled by all the goosebumps along her arms and hairs sticking up.She could feel two piercing eyes above her, staring down on meager prey with its carnivorous fangs. “Dawn?” Stacy said in a crisp, neutral tone. Everything felt so acute in that moment, Dawn could hear the separation of the Amazon’s very lips before she even went to speak. “Dawn, you were marked as the last Little for my quota.” Stacy said. “I figured you had been adopted when one of the other Littles came and told me you’d been grabbed.” She knew? She knew about this morning; her being taken? And yet she didn’t do anything about it? Dawn wanted to ask why in the hell no one came to rescue her, but Stacy continued. And as she did, Dawn could hear the annoyance and pissed-off attitude begin to bleed into her chipper voice. “I’m supposed to be one Little shorter than I am right now. This nest has one too many chicks in it, Dawn.” And then, Dawn could feel the mattress shift as the Amazon leaned in closer to her, so close that she could feel the woman’s breath as she spoke in a low whisper, directly into her ear. “You’re supposed to be adopted right now.”

Void has been filled! For a moment, at least. Truth be told I've had this chapter in excess for a bit, but I tend to go back to things I write and tweak them over and over. I figured I should just put it out as is though. Lots of tangents for other one-offs I'll possibly revisit, but if you're referring to Illegal Immigrant, yes, that I have been working on a bit more closely the past few days! Thank you for commenting and I hope that you continue to enjoy! Yes! Thank you for the kind words! Ah, yes, Joyce and business; name a more dynamic duo (Other than Joyce and Emily). I'm glad that I've left it in a seemingly interesting place! As for life, it's slow, with it's obstacles, but it's in a decent place. I was meant to be studying abroad in Japan this coming Summer, but unfortunately that was a bust. Thank you for commenting and continuing to enjoy my work. I'll be excited to post again! Haha, thank you for enjoying the story so much! If I ever feel like I'm hitting a dull moment in the story I always think of how many people are enjoying and impressed by the character development thus far. Again, thank you so much for the kind words and continuing to read! Heyo, thank you for the comment! Yeah, chapters typically stay around mid-20 pages in the format that I type in, but every now and then it tends to reach pretty far... Thank you for also mentioning your thoughts on the pacing! I definitely think some kind of pause needs to be taken for the characters, but I definitely want to progress things in particular areas. Not going to lie, I'm a bit of a fan of Emily and Joyce myself. I'm always excited to hear that this story is held with such high regard for so many people, it really means a lot to me. Thank you for your patience as always, and I'll be excited when I'm able to post again! Hmm...a legitimate avenue? Or, maybe just a silly tangent? Who knows! Thanks for commenting, and I hope you continue to enjoy!

31 - Moment of Pause “Just...just don’t hit any bumps, okay?” Emily pleaded nervously, practically a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her head. She clutched her charge and held it close to her arms, fearing for its dear life. “If you act like that, it makes me want to tease you, you know?” Joyce grinned, leaning her foot just a little more in tune to the engine’s growing hum. “Stop! Stop!” Emily shouted, and her cries were answered as Joyce eased off the speed with an amused laugh. “Emily, it’s just a bottle, not a bomb?” Joyce giggled. “Yeah, but it’s an expensive one!” Emily worriedly said, looking down at the luxurious item. “You don’t even know how much it is?” Joyce said, keeping her eyes on the road. “Because you wouldn’t tell me!” She retorted with an annoyed attitude. The day Joyce came home with it Emily had asked what it was, and her answer being a “small” gift to Michael and his wife for having them over. Well, Emily knew it to be expensive because if it hadn’t been Joyce wouldn’t have minded telling her the amount. In other words, responses like, “Don’t worry about it,” or “Not that much,” equated to a digit followed by too many zeroes for Emily’s purse. “Does it bother you that much?” Joyce asked, though looking no less chipper. Frankly this felt like a wonderful serving of karma for Emily’s little stunt about the whole “cheating” scandal. It’d been almost a week and it still made Joyce furrow her brows, thinking how gullible she’d been… “Mm...well, I hope they like wine…” Emily pensively spoke, looking down on the bottle. A dark crimson encased in a tinted glass, sealed by a cork wrapped in twine, shrouded by a paper covering, added with a present bow to boot. Joyce stole her an urgent glance. “Well don’t say that now! That wasn’t cheap, you know!” “See!? I knew it!” Emily hadn’t skipped a beat in her persecution, followed by more laughter from Joyce. Naturally she’d done it to get a rise out of the frazzled girl, and it felt great. “You’re gonna need to calm down there, munchkin,” Joyce rhythmically ran her thumb across the steering wheel, “otherwise you’re gonna be too tired to socialize when we get there?” “Maybe all I need is some of this fifty-thousand fun juice.” Emily mused. “Okay, it wasn’t that expensive. Two digits less, please.” “You didn’t pack me a weird bathing suit, did you?” Emily asked as she turned her head to the large canvas bag they had in the backseat. “Cross my heart,” Joyce swore. Though, that wouldn’t be for forever… Sure, getting to see Emily in a bikini was exciting, but her other side wanted to see what kind of kiddush one-pieces she could get her into. Which begged a new question: does Amy do bathing suits too? “...No diapers either, right?” “Definitely not.” Joyce didn’t play with the phrasing much at all this time. It’d unfortunately become a sensitive issue in not the way she liked. “...And in regards to that, I was thinking we should finally talk about that. Either tonight or tomorrow… Is that alright?” And it had certainly been a week since the Zoo incident; the reason for their small get-together today and the tension that remained behind closed doors. “Mm.” Emily nodded with agreement. It had become more of an awkward thing the longer they stayed away from it. Once again, neither felt any kind of animosity to the other, yet felt a need to establish themselves clearly. What one would acknowledge though and the other would never say was Joyce’s need to be fitted with a kill switch or speed bump. Mommy Joyce, particularly. But no matter what, what both wanted more than anything was to go back to the way things had been and continue progressing as they were. Somehow they’d lost the reigns and given themselves a scare. “It’s kinda weird, though,” Emily passively spoke as she looked out the window, “I’ve never been outside the city here.” “Yeah?” Joyce in tune responded. “I think I have a couple times. I thought about getting a nice house out here for a short minute, but in the end, I would rather staying closer to the company, and financials aren’t too big of a factor...” “Speaking of which, are we almost there?” Emily muttered, leaning into the GPS on the console. “Our Estimated Arrival Time is approximately three minutes.” Emily repeated verbatim from the screen. “Roger that, navigator.” Joyce smirked. They were driving up a winding hill right now. It was an interesting neighborhood; suburbs that hadn’t prioritized the quantity in housing over quality. Decently sized and spacious properties. Probably a few degrees less than the market Joyce might start to consider, but nice nonetheless. Clearly Michael and his wife did well for themselves. “I was a little surprised to hear from Michael so soon,” Joyce said. “Yeah, me too,” Emily agreed, “but it’s probably better this way. Otherwise we’d probably forget about them?” Nothing against Michael and Jackie, but that’s how relationships went. Leave them idle and you start to drift elsewhere. “A very fair point, especially when your only connection is having given couple’s counselling to the other?” Joyce chuckled. “True...” Emily said, not so warm to reliving the experience. “It’ll be fun to get to know Michael a bit more, though. Him including his wife; I think he said she was back home from business?” “What if she turns out to be like your...business enemy or something?” Emily asked in a mostly not so serious tone. “Not gonna happen, don’t worry,” Joyce laughed. “I don’t really see my competitors as enemies. More along the lines of...potential business partners with similar interests.” Emily only stared at her, letting the description soak in. “You sound like the business enemy...” “Well, it’s all a matter of perspective.” Joyce curtly replied, leading to giggles from Emily. “Regardless of what she does for work, which is very much unlikely the same as mine, I promise to play nice!” Emily gave an accepting nod. “Mmph.” She approved, as if she were the new authority figure in their dynamic. “I’ve raised you well.” “Raised me? We’ll see who raises who when I toss you into their pool...” Joyce muttered with a sneaky grin. Though her playful tone shifted almost immediately. “Oh look! We’re already here.” She said as they rounded the final curb. Coming into view was a nicely sized two-story home, paired with a double garage and a large, green front lawn. A tall white fence ran along the perimeter of its backyard. “It seems kinda stereotypical? In a good way.” Emily remarked about the home. It looked nice, especially the bottom trim of rock and mortar along the base of the house. “Well, stereotypical for an above average middle class home, I guess.” Joyce agreed. Joyce pulled into the long driveway before killing the engine. Both got out, and Emily was closer to the path leading to the front porch, but she lingered by the vehicle, waiting for Joyce. With the mention of swimming, both Joyce and Emily opted for something more poolside, that being sandals, exposed shoulders, sunglasses and shorts. “Actually, I haven’t swam once since I came to this state,” Emily suddenly admitted. “Really?” Joyce was a little surprised. “Are you excited to get a chance to go back in a pool?” “Kinda...” Emily pivoted her sandal-clad foot off the ground with her toe, as if to vent her poorly hidden feelings. “...It’d be kinda nice...” “I’m glad to see you looking forward to something~!” Joyce commented with a kiss on her cheek. “W-well, you’re gonna swim too, right?” She asked. After all, it wouldn’t be cool unless the cool kids were doing it. “Who’s gonna lift you up when your feet don’t touch the bottom?” Joyce asked, though the joke became apparent faster than Joyce could keep a straight face. “Bleeeeh~” Emily replied, in the form of a wet, flapping tongue. Joyce slung the canvas bag over her shoulder and walked with Emily to the front door. They rang the bell and waited patiently. “She’s here! She’s here!” A faint voice came from inside the house. Joyce and Emily shared a look with each other, trying to discern it. Suddenly, Joyce was tapping Emily on the shoulder. “I’d hate to blow her cover, so try not to make it obvious, but...” Joyce pointed Emily’s gaze to a window accompanied by curtains, only one end looked moved to the side, as a tiny pair of eyes stared from within. As Emily leaned back to get a better look, the eyes vanished and the curtain fell back into place. “Whoa--what? Jackie! Slow down! You’re gonna make me trip and break something!” A familiar voice chastised from inside the home. Finally, they heard the knob turn and the door opened to Michael greeting them. “Hey you two! Emily, Joyce, glad you guys could make it!” “Thank you for having us,” Joyce thanked him, “Should we come in through the front or around the back…?” Michael waved the notion off. “Come on in, we can head into the backyard from inside.” He opened the additional glass door on top of the wooden one for them. “Pardon the diabolical Jackie Bomb that went off in the living room. Try not to look on the way by; it isn’t pretty...” And as the ashamed tour guide explained, they did pass by the entrance to the living room, which certainly did look...out of sorts. Toys were scattered everywhere, and so were some of the throw pillows kept on the couch. Emily could also hear some kind of cartoon coming from the tv. “Where is Jackie, by the way?” Emily asked. “We thought we heard her...and saw her.” She added the last point with a small laugh. “Well, I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal if we told her you two would be coming over the weekend for a small pool party, but apparently a week wasn’t enough to get it out of her system.” Michael sighed with a chuckle, reminiscing with questionable feelings. “Sorry in advance, Emily, but Jackie may be very well glued to you. We’ll keep her on a leash as best we can, though.” “No problem…?” Emily answered, wondering why she got the special warning. But giving it some more thought, maybe because she met Jackie first and had some one-on-one with her… “Joyce, sorry to say she seems to have a fixation on Emily. I’m sure she’ll be excited to see you again too, though?” Joyce played it off nicely, laughing as she said, “Don’t worry, I promise not to take offense!” In spite of her fondness of babying Emily, that didn’t extend to being a huge fan of kids. She’d never dislike a child without reason, including Jackie, but the thought of them didn’t put her over the moon. The closer they got to the kitchen, a conversation could be heard. “Jackie, you need to stop tugging on my pants!” A voice complained. “But…! Can you come with me?” Jackie could be heard begging. “I need to finish setting up the snacks, honey. You’re perfectly capable of saying ‘hi’ on your own. Go on now, shoo!” She chastised her playfully, chuckling as Jackie could be heard making a whining noise. And as Michael, Joyce and Emily entered the kitchen, it came to no one’s surprise when they saw the scene. Just as the voices and tone described, Jackie was clutching the woman’s pants, now hiding herself behind them with half an eye peeking at Emily and Joyce. “What are we gonna do with you, you little monkey?” The woman laughed. She looked up and turned to the three other adults. “Oh! You two must be Emily and Joyce! I’ve heard so much about...” She continued to smile at their entrance, though she looked at a loss for words once her eyes fell on Emily. Then after a confused pause, her expression lit up again.”Ah! I remember you!” She laughed to herself while the only other person in the room who could be capable of understanding was Emily. “Huh?” Michael looked between Emily and his wife, Joyce in a similar fashion. “Hon, you two know each other?” Apparently it got to the woman quite a bit, because she was wiping her eye. Emily stayed quiet though, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed. “We saw each other at a bar almost a week ago! We didn’t exactly end on good terms though...funny how things work out.” “G-good to see you again...” Emily felt sheepish, and quite regretful over the way she acted the first time. She really wasn’t counting on seeing her again. “I’m sorry about what I said--!” “Oh? That?” She waved her hand dismissively with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. You had your reasons,” she looked at Michael to give him the abbreviated version, “I chatted with her for a little bit and offered to pick up her tab, but I guess I must have sounded like a shady conman with some of my comments...” Now Joyce was starting to feel a bit more clued in, taking in the realization that this was the woman from the bar Emily went to… Red hair...nice figure...good looks...stable financial income? She was right about to give her a narrow gaze until her inner voice of reason walloped her brain. Idiot! She’s married! How is she going to steal Emily from you?! “So you two already met?” Michael asked Emily. “Sort of...” Emily said awkwardly, hoping dearly they wouldn’t have to go into any more detail about how bitchy she was being. She didn’t see much of a profiteer anymore, rather a cheery wife and mother. “We never exchanged names, though.” “It’s great to finally meet you, I’m Joyce.” Joyce was the first to extend her hand, “I had heard some pretty interesting things about that day!” Joyce laughed, though not even herself knew if it was truly genuine. “Sorry if you heard anything bad about me, I’m promise I’m not as bad as I might have seemed,” she returned the shake, “I’m Carol. And, I know you’ve already met her, but this is our little fireball, Jackie, who won’t seem to come out from behind my legs?” True to her word, the six year old remained terribly shy. She made a vocal pout as she stayed behind cover. Carol gave a loving sigh, leaning in to give an audible whisper. “Honestly, this little monster stretches my pants twice over every time she meets somebody new!” “Uh, it’s nice to meet you, Carol…” Emily spoke up as she came forward, “officially, this time.” Emily stuck out her hand. Carol smiled once more, returning her gesture. “Likewise, Emily.” Though, to Emily and Joyce’s surprise, she tugged on Emily’s hand, pulling her in for a brief hug. While Emily tried to comprehend what had happened, Carol let out another laugh as Joyce blinked. “Sorry, sorry!” Carol lamented, letting her go. “I figured there might have been some tension left over from our first, unofficial meeting. That, and I don’t want you to get the impression I’m all business.” “Uh...it’s alright,” Emily did her best to laugh it off. As Emily stood there between Carol and Joyce, her back to the latter, she could feel herself in the way of a targeted gaze. She turned her head, expecting to see some kind of fury, but instead it was a rosy smile from Joyce. Emily had an inkling of something in her mind however. She’s...jealous?! “Now, if my wonderful husband could do me the pleasure of removing this tiny terror from my legs, I’ll be almost done with our snacks!” And in turn, Michael managed to get ahold of Jackie as she squirmed in his arms, pouting the whole time. “Come on Jackie, don’t you want to say hi to Emily and Joyce again?” Michael sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You wouldn’t believe it,” Carol added as she spoke to them, “Jackie could not stop for a second about you!” She said to Emily. “The whole week it’s been about how much fun she wanted to have with you! Even when one of her friends came over she managed to infect them with curiosity, too. You’re like a mini celebrity to her.” She laughed, as Emily sort of did too. It was a bit odd to be obsessed over like that, but given it was through the scope of a child, it became more endearing than anything else… “Well, I thought knowing you’d be off the market, I was safe, but maybe I still need to be on the defensive?” Joyce countered with a small joke. Carol found it funny, but Emily wasn’t sure whether she trusted Joyce’s intentions. “That reminds me!” Emily finally spoke up. She held the bottle wrapped in a bow forward. “We wanted to get you two something for having us over...” “Really?” Carol gave a surprised look, but accepted the bottle while reading the front. “Really, you two didn’t have to do that... Oh, honey! Look! It’s a bottle from Carmine’s!” She looked back at Joyce and Emily. “We can’t take something like this - it must have cost you a small fortune!” “Please, we insist,” Joyce stayed her friendly self, “I’m a bit of a regular there anyways, so if you think about it, getting you a gift also puts me in good favor with the owner?” “Jeez,” Michael made an impressed whistle as he looked at the bottle’s date. “I don’t suppose we could trade the bottle for a reservation there instead? We tried for our last anniversary, but we weren’t expecting such a long backlog for reservations…” “I couldn’t find anyone in my circles close enough to get us in...” Carol sighed. “Well, next time you’ll have my number?” Joyce chimed in. “I’m sure I can figure something out for you down the line.” “Don’t joke,” Carol went back to a little more cutting and organizing on a large wooden platter, “we’ll actually take you up on that!” “I’m counting on it,” Joyce happily replied. She hoisted the canvas bag back over her shoulder. “I don’t want to move the party, but is there somewhere we could set our bag down? Emily and I haven’t changed into our bathing suits yet...” “Of course! If you go back down the hall, on your right you should see the opening to the bathroom. You two can change there. Michael and I need to do the same, actually, and so does Jackie.” She set her stuff down, walking to her husband and accepting Jackie into her arms. “Sorry folks, the diva’s feeling a bit shy at the moment...” She excused herself with her daughter in arms. Emily looked back at the platter. It looked divine. “Oh wow, an antipasto platter?” Joyce asked Michael, admiring the handiwork. “It all looks so good!” She commented. Closely packed and dressed in varied assortments of meats, cheeses, olives, crackers and more. “Well, especially now considering the gift you two just gave us, it’s the least we could do,” Michael said, seeming to revere their gesture much more than his own. “Either way, it all looks really good!” Emily finally commented. She tugged on Joyce’s hand, “Wanna go change now?” Joyce nodded. “Sounds like a plan, my little diva,” she grinned, leaving Emily puzzled over the verbiage as they walked to the bathroom. “Any complaints if we change at the same time?” Joyce asked right before closing the door. “Wait,” Emily’s complacent look dropped, “you mean...I’m gonna see you...naked?” Joyce furrowed her brow. “Well, yeah...you didn’t seem to mind before when I...” Then she saw the grin on Emily’s face. “You’ve been teasing me an awful lot, you know that?” Joyce tried to hide her smile as she already started to strip. “What can I say? Gotta make up for lost points. I feel...reinvigorated.” She spoke with a feigned distance in her star-struck eyes. “Hmm. Well, I’ll be needing to think about how I can knock you down a few pegs again...” She spoke deviously as she unhooked Emily’s bra, then turned for hers to be undone the same way. “And hey,” Emily stopped to look at Joyce in the eyes, “remember to play nice?” “I promise. I was just...getting the rest of it out of my system. Wouldn’t you be surprised if someone you felt threatened by hugged me the first time we met?” “So you do feel threatened by her!” Emily accused, trying to stifle a laugh. “She’s married, Joyce! To a guy!” “I know, I know! I was being...irrational.” She read her lines off the ceiling. “You know that about me already. She can’t surprise me anymore. Besides, she seems nice; I’d like to get to know her more.” Emily paused, as if to try and discern whether or not it was a lie. But it wasn’t, or either Emily could not discern well enough, because she let her off the hook. “I believe you. And another thing to remember,” Emily said, pressing her bare self against Joyce, “I only belong to you!” Joyce had raised her brows, but her look tempered into a tender smile, one Emily could feel with absolute certainty. “Yes you do,” she kissed her on the head, “And you’re the only one I take orders from.” She finally pulled out their bikinis. Understandably, Michael was the first one to be outside by the in-ground pool when Joyce and Emily came out. Joyce carried towels for both as they sat down in some chairs next to Michael surrounding a table. In its center was a long pole, and above that was an expanded umbrella to shield them from the bright sun from above. “Oh wow, I knew it was going to be a nice day, but the stars really did seem to align...” Joyce commented. “Right?” Michael agreed. “It feels like you can’t make weather-dependent kinds of plans, otherwise Murphy’s Law rears its head...” “Sorry we’re late!” Carol announced her arrival as she brought Jackie out in arms with her. Carol was in a two-piece as well, whereas Jackie was in a one-piece. Pink, polka dotted with mermaids patterned all over. Joyce fought hard not to sigh. Definitely need to get Emily something like that… “Jeez though, it’s been so long since I’ve even gone near a pool,” Emily briefly ranted, “I’m practically ready to be a mermaid if it means I can swim again!” Of all things to happen, no one expected it to be the turn of Jackie’s head, a wide, glowing smile. “You like mermaids too?” Emily suddenly paused with surprise. “Uhm, yeah! I like them a lot. Do you too?” “Yeah!” Jackie vigorously nodded. Taking advantage of the moment, Carol was able to let her go. She scurried over to the seat next to Emily, climbing in. “Do you like Ariel?” She eagerly asked. “O--...of course I do!” Emily said, suddenly nervous about how much her mythical sea life knowledge was about to be called into question. “She’s my favorite mermaid!” Though, she hadn’t a clue what other ones existed, if any… Jackie giggled, seeming overjoyed to hear this. “Me too! I like Ariel cuz she has hair like Mommy’s!” Hair like her mom’s? Like Carol’s? Oh, duh. Red. Emily made an agreeing noise. “That’s a good point. They both do look kinda similar...” Carol then came back out with the platter of delicious looking food. After another quick trip inside, she was coming back out with cups of ice water. Emily had been saved from her interrogation once Carol sat down in the chair Jackie was in, opting to keep her in her lap. “I would offer to try out that bottle you two brought, but for the sake of sensible thinking and safe decisions, maybe when we don’t need to worry about driving that night?” Carol smirked, leading to mutual agreement. “So Joyce, you’ve gotta be pulling our leg, right?” Michael asked as she grabbed a small ball of mozzarella. “You said you’re a regular at Carmine’s? We can’t even manage to go once!” “Mm, well...” Joyce paused to finish swallowing, “It started first as a business dinner, but I guess I had a chance meeting with the owner that night. I said I was a fan of the food so he insisted that I come again. So I did, talked a little more, and it wasn’t so hard after that getting to go again. Also, the food was good, so I may have invested a little...” Emily from the sidelines raised a brow. A little? “But, I guess I’m a regular for the owner. It’s a little embarrassing, but they sort of know my face there.” “If we do somehow manage to go, you’ll have to go with us,” Carol added, “you seem like you’d get the red carpet rolled out for you every time you go! And Emily needs to come too, of course!” “That definitely sounds like fun,” Joyce smiled. “Can I come too?” Jackie chipperly added. Joyce gave a difficult response, which was an awkward smile, unsure of how to phrase her response. It needn’t be said, but Carmine’s was closer to a business dinner establishment than a regular restaurant. Kids weren’t much of a thing there… “I don’t think you’d like it there anyways, Honey,” Michael jumped in. “No chicken fingers,” he said solemnly, to which incited a genuine frown from Jackie. She had lost interest entirely. “Mommy!” Jackie had already shifted her attention. “Can we go swimming?” “In a minute, honey,” Carol said as she pacified her with half a roll of sliced provolone and gave herself the rest. “Joyce, I’m sorry for putting the spotlight on you so much, but what do you do for work?” Joyce nodded as she chewed. “I run a medical company. Frontier?” Quietly, Emily gave her the side eye. Not only was this the first time she’d heard the exact truth herself, but someone she just met could get the answer out of her immediately? By now Emily had started to draw her conclusions, but it was still vexing in its own way… Michael lightly laughed as he took a sip of his water. “Stop joking - after that gift you gave, we really won’t know what you say is fact or fiction!” Joyce raised a brow, signaling her innocent confusion. “...You’re being serious?” Carol asked once more, and Joyce nodded. “I don’t want to make this all about me, but if you can’t take my word for it, you could always look me up...” The married couple quickly double backed though. “No, no! We believe you; we’d never call you a liar, it’s just...surprising,” Michael gave an astonished chuckle. “It’s kind of funny to think how one thing led to another. What were you two doing at the zoo?” “My parents were visiting for a few days and Emily and I came up with the zoo as a place for us to go.” Joyce explained. “Ah, that’s right!” Michael then remembered. “Emily mentioned something like that when we were talking.” He didn’t go into detail, which both Emily and Joyce appreciated. He had the politeness to not dig any further. As great as it was to meet him, their first introductions weren’t caused by anything good. “And Emily was fighting with Joyce!” Jackie suddenly said with an earnest tone, assuming her contribution to be helpful. “A-ahm…?” Joyce gave an embarrassed laugh, unsure of how to bridge off of that. Emily looked equally as stunned as well. “Jackie!” Carol admonished, “We don’t talk about things that aren’t our business to share.” “But I was there!” Jackie complained. “No ‘but’s,” Michael stepped in. Before Jackie could start to feel upset about being scolded, Emily hurriedly interjected. “It’s okay, really! It’s just a sort of...sensitive subject, that’s all.” “Sorry...” Jackie was the first to say, impressing her parents, even if she couldn’t look Emily in the eyes. “It’s alright.” Emily smiled. There wasn’t much point in being upset now. Not as if it could be taken back, and well...kids are kids. “Actually, come to think of it,” Michael pivoted, “Emily, I can’t remember. Did we ever talk about work? What kind of work are you in?” It was an odd instinct, but Emily’s surprise from the question left her looking at Carol for a split-second. “Me? I’m...in real estate.” Her answer was slow and to herself less than stellar. Still, Michael nodded. “That’s great. I mean, the market fluctuates, but there’s always gotta be some kind of property that needs moving, I guess? Are you someone that sells the houses?” He asked. “Not exactly...I was...” She was starting to feel a bit warm. Her own mind was talking her into this, yet she couldn’t shake the dreadful embarrassment in having to state that she was jobless. Regardless of the reason, what good did it look to declare yourself a jobless face living it up with a wealthy company head? “I do the office work.” Emily managed to speak, but didn’t find it hard to be brief. Uncomfortably so. Nevertheless, Michael eased the tension seemingly felt only by Emily as he nodded. “I can definitely relate to the office work. I do detailing work for an electrical company, but no matter the medium, there’s always the same middleman stuff we have to deal with...” He sighed right then, as if reliving the workdays that just transpired. “Meanwhile,” he looked at his wife with jealousy, “this one probably spends more time outside her own office than in it.” “You try driving and flying all over the place, five days a week, with weekends included.” Carol defensively said. “Well, now that we’ve all had a turn, what do you do, Carol?” Joyce asked, truthfully curious herself. “Me? I’m a bit more freeform, I guess, but I help invest in smaller and more...unorthodox establishments?” Naturally, the use of a big word garnered Jackie’s attention. “Mommy, what’s un...un-or-thoh-docks?” She asked. “It means not as common. You don’t see it often.” Carol answered, kissing her on the forehead. Joyce had asked and she wasn’t disappointed. Rather, spurred. “Really? Which kinds?” “Well...I’d be willing to discuss more, but...” And with her hand out of view from the small girl sitting in her lap, she quietly pointed at her. Joyce laughed, understandingly. “Actually, nevermind. Emily’s keeping me on a tight leash anyway; today is all play and no business, she said.” “Oh?” Carol’s tone rose in mischief. “I didn’t mean it like that…!” Emily made a small whine, giving Joyce the kind of look that felt quite cheated. And just as Joyce was thinking of another playful quip to say, Jackie had once more stolen the show. “Mommy…!” Jackie genuinely whined. “I wanna go swimming!” “Okay, okay,” Carol relented, lifting her out of her lap as she stood. As soon as she set her down, Jackie was already bolting for the shallow end of the pool, right until Michael called for her with a stern voice. “Jackie!” He said, freezing her in her tracks. “You know you’re not allowed in without your floaties?” And for Emily and Joyce, unbeknownst to Jackie’s personal stance on such a controversial matter, were quickly enlightened by the erupting whine from her mouth. “But Daddy…!” “Absolutely not, honey.” Carol affirmed the parental law. “Floaties first, then we can go swim.” “No!” Jackie shouted back, lightly stamping her foot. Carol set her hands on her hips. The visiting couple remained quiet, as was tradition for these kinds of things. It was always awkward having to watch a parent discipline their child right in front of guests. But before Carol could do any stern parenting, Michael elected the path of questioning. “Jackie, you’re always okay with wearing them; why not now?” Joyce much like Emily tried to mind their business despite sitting right next to it all, but she couldn’t help but make a discerning observation. The little girl, constantly as she maintained her objections, gave a not so subtle glance at she and Emily. “I...I’ma big girl!” Jackie said simply. “Yes, you are,” Carol agreed, “which is why big girls know to wear their floaties if they haven’t finished swimming lessons, yet.” “I don’t wanna!” Jackie pouted. “Then you don’t want to swim?” Carol countered. “No!” Jackie was already getting teary-eyed. “Then floaties it is.” Carol held her hand out. “Come on, we’ll go get your favorite pair.” The little girl sniffled as she took her mother’s hand and they started walking to the sliding doors. “Uhm...Carol?” Everyone turned their heads, well except for a bashful Jackie, to Emily. “If it’s okay...maybe I could use a pair, too?” Emily awkwardly chuckled. “After all, it’s been a while since I last swam...I might be out of practice?” Everyone seemed to be surprised, yet the constant outlier seemed to be quite curious. “Do you need floaties too?” Jackie asked Emily, turning her head. “W-well...” Emily looked yet again on the spot. “I guess it’s better safe than sorry?” “Emily, are you sure?” Carol asked, looking terribly apologetic. Above Jackie’s head all the adults could see her intent clear as day. “You really don’t need to...” “No! Honestly, I better play it safe. Don’t wanna drown in somebody’s pool, after all.” Emily breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief, stealing a grin at Jackie, infected by the look and mumbled a giggle. “Hmm...you make a good point, Emily,” Joyce spoke up next. “Mm...Carol? Actually, could you bring me a pair too, if you have them? I think I might have gotten a bit rusty as well.” Emily gave Joyce a brief look, who smiled. Carol seemed to have been caught off guard not once, but now twice. Michael seemed surprised as well. “...Alrighty, then.” Carol nodded. “Three pairs of floaties.” Then she looked down at Jackie. “See? Emily and Joyce don’t mind wearing them, why do you?” “No! No! I’ll wear them!” Jackie kept tugging on Carol’s hand, her attitude pulling a complete 180. They watched the mother and daughter go inside before turning back to themselves amongst the trio. “Thank you, you two.” Michael appreciatively smiled. “Even though she’s just a kid, Jackie can be self-conscious around others, especially people she wants to impress.” Michael said, especially looking at Emily. “Well...it’s only a pair of floaties,” Emily shrugged. “I can swallow that kinda pill if it makes her feel more comfortable.” Really, the thought only barely crossed her mind before she was already putting it into action. Granted, opting in for a kiddie look probably didn’t do great things for her “Adult Image”. A pair of lips kissed Emily’s temple. “What was that for?” “Nothing. Just proud of you.” Joyce grinned. And so it wasn’t much later on until Two women and one small girl were all donning inflatable floats wrapped around their arms. “They’re...snug...” Joyce said, looking at her arms. They didn’t fully reach her biceps and sat just above her elbows, seeing as they were kid-sized. Carol paused for a breath, who was currently breathing air into Jackie’s which did fit her as intended. What seemed to matter the most was that her smile was from ear to ear. “Don’t worry, my husband’s a great swimmer if you start to drown!” Carol joked. Joyce smiled back before saying to Michael, “Counting on you!” to which he gave a playful nod. “Jackie, stop fidgeting, you little rascal,” Carol said, finding her mouth being dragged every which way as the little girl couldn’t stop hopping around. She marveled at all the grown-ups taking after her. And how couldn’t she? She felt part of something now. “It almost feels like getting my blood pressure taken...” Emily commented on her own set, decorated in mermaid prints. Jackie had insisted Emily get her favorite pair. Which is funny to think about, that Jackie could have a favorite among things she seemed to hate… “At least yours fit pretty well,” Joyce observed, giving Emily’s a little tug. Unlike Joyce, Emily’s arms were just small enough to slide them up into place with a little finagling. Would it actually save her from drowning? Doubtful. But, would it keep her fashionable? ...Also doubtful. Emily stepped over to the edge of the pool, sticking just a toe in the water. And to her pleasant surprise, it was quite warm. “Is this pool heated?” Emily asked Michael. He nodded. “To quote my wife, ‘I wouldn’t be caught dead swimming otherwise’.” “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a heated swimming pool before...” Emily touched the water again in awe. “Okay, honey, all set.” Carol sufficed, giving her daughter a pat on the back. All four girls looked at the water. Carol said to Michael, “Coming in?” “Maybe in a minute,” he paused to eat a piece of cheese from the board. “Gotta make up for everybody’s share!” And in a sudden moment Emily saw the world around her turn sideways as she felt a moment of trance. It was a princess carry like the many she’d found herself in before. And there she was, in Joyce’s arms. Staring up at her with a blush, especially admiring her figure in her bikini. This all happened in the span of a couple seconds, and Emily blushed, flustered that she’d be making such a bold and romantic advance right now… “J-Joyce! Really? Righ--” But it was Joyce’s devilish smile that betrayed the fantasy. “Emily’s first!” And for just a moment, Emily had flown. She soared wonderfully high. High enough to wail from the bottom of her lungs to the top, enough to feel her heart drop for just a moment as gravity pulled her right back down. Then, wonder and amazement quickly swam away as the girl cannonballed into the water. Underneath the water everything was muted above, but Emily scrambled with waving arms and kicking feet as she swam to the surface. All she could hear were Jackie’s eager giggles and laughs. “Do me! Me next!” Jackie begged, hopping from toe to toe in front of Joyce. Joyce though gave her a confused look. “Do what?” “That!” She excitedly shouted, pointing at Emily. “That where?” Joyce turned her head, obviously playing dumb. “Like Emily! Over there!” She fully turned this time to point. And now with Joyce in her blind spot, the squeal of a six year old became the new tune as Joyce whisked her in the air and dropped her in the pool, aiming for the shallow end this time. The girl immediately bobbed to the top, courtesy of her floaties, and the rush of excitement already had her begging for more. “Is it warm?” Joyce asked. Emily could only stare with a fire in her eyes. “Hey Em, catch!” Michael shouted from behind. Emily turned in the water at the perfect time for a splash from something hitting the water to hit her face. A worthy cost though for what she had received. “Hm? What did you toss in?” Joyce asked Michael as he walked back from the small shed to his seat. “You’ll see!” But she didn’t see. Not until she felt it first. A sudden gush of water shot like a weaponized faucet at Joyce, starting at her midsection before traveling up to her chest and part of her face. Now Joyce was shouting in protest, shielding herself with a hand. Emily couldn’t stop laughing, now a super soaker in arms. Carol looked to be in love with the spectator’s seat right then, quietly stepping into the shallow end of her own accord. Joyce though put a hand on her hip, assessing the challenge before her. Not a moment more passed until she came diving into the water. A war had begun. “C-c-can we g-g-g-go back in th-the water?” Emily pleaded with chattering teeth, wrapped in a towel standing beside the outdoor table. “Unfortunately, the one drawback to having the heated pool,” Carol agreed with her own slight shivers. “BrrrRRRrrrrRRRrrr!” Jackie exclaimed with giggles, flapping her lips. Next, she started to open and close her mouth in exaggerated motions as she bared her teeth. “Look!” She excitedly grabbed Emily’s attention. “I can do it too!” She kept opening and closing her mouth, making sure to touch her teeth together each time. “D-do what?” Emily asked, looking puzzled. Michael chuckled, hoisting Jackie into the air from behind. “She means being a goofball. Looks like this little sea monster’s all pruned!” He said before playfully grabbing her hand, touching all her small, wrinkly fingers. Still, Emily moved over to Joyce to complain. “Why didn’t we bring those big towels?” She whined. “The ones that are big on me?” Joyce, who was getting the last few strands of wet hair away from her face, gave her an amused smile. “Duly noted, but those are our bathroom towels?” She reminded in a way to insinuate that the laws of the land did not permit such things. “Maybe they make those cape towels with the hoods for adults, too…?” And in that moment, before Emily even thought to oppose such childish things, her mind immediately leaned on the convenience of it. “Oh! Maybe we could ask Amy?” Joyce suggested. And this time, it wasn’t her putting on airs to get a rise out of Emily. “I just need to bring two towels next time...” Emily left it at that. “But until then, somebody needs to make like...an air heater or something. If they can heat a pool, they should heat all the outside stuff around it.” Every adult except for Emily within earshot - so all of them, raised an eyebrow. “Like a...heater?” Michael asked with a small laugh. Emily’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Like that! Only...” She paused to realize what she was saying. “...Nevermind.” With another laugh out of the way at Emily’s expense, a new topic came up. “Oh, are you planning to have lunch with us?” Michael asked the two. “I know I didn’t give much info over the phone, but that’s what we were planning for.” “As long as we aren’t cutting into your time elsewhere,” Carol added. “Stay!” Jackie commanded, yet in truth disguised by her childlike tact, begged. “Please! Please!” Emily and Joyce shared a brief “why not?” kind of look before mutually nodding. “I don’t see why we wouldn’t?” Joyce decided. It was a resounding joy from the family of three, some more vocal than others (Jackie). “I think I’ll take me and Jackie in first, then,” Michael said standing from his chair. “Less hair on our heads to deal with. Have fun, ladies!” He bid them a temporary farewell as he ushered Jackie along and back into the house. Carol watched them leave with a smile before looking back at them. “Thank you, you two, for playing along with Jackie like that.” Emily smiled and waved it off. “Michael said the same thing; I don’t really mind.” “We don’t really mind?” Joyce butted in with a grin, making Emily feel apologetic. “Sorry...forgot.” Her sheepish attitude naturally gave the other two giggles as they sat down in the chairs while wrapped in towels. “Carol, I hate to admit it, but it’s been eating away at me…” Joyce looked at her with tingles of interest. “What kinds of businesses were you talking about?” Carol nodded, but glanced at Emily for just a second. “Joyce, I don’t mind talking about it, but awfully bold of you when Emily has you on a leash, remember?” Joyce gave Emily what could only be akin to her own version of puppy dog eyes. With an upturned nose and an exaggerated ‘hmmf’, Emily turned her head. “Do as you please! I tried!” With her liability out the window, a corporate war spawning in the simple backyard of a suburban home was no longer her fault. She tried. With her daydreams out of the way though, Emily listened on with a bit of her own curiosity. “Now I feel a bit on the spot...” Carol pretended a nervous laugh. “But, really, it’s nothing as crazy as you think. I’m not some kingpin with a monopoly on the underground drug trade, or anything!” Emily and Joyce laughed, although inside Emily’s mind, a small voice seemed to tell her that the depths of business had no end in sight… “Like I said earlier, I tend to help build up...niche businesses in...niche markets.” Carol explained, albeit cryptically. Emily looked a little shocked before muttering, “D...drugs?” “No! Absolutely not!” Carol dismissed it entirely as Joyce was in stitches and Emily with reddened cheeks. She sighed before her smile came back in full. “Niche doesn’t mean illegal, you know!” She laughed herself despite the push-back. “To be honest, it sort of feels weird to talk about it with anyone outside the business, I suppose...” She pondered her own words for a minute. “Even to my own husband, he finds it strange, understandably.” “Well?” Joyce edged her along. “You’ve definitely built up the suspense now if you hadn’t already?” Carol briefly smirked, yet sighed as she opened it with a preliminary question. “Well...I guess for starters… Do either of you know what a...erm...fetish is? Like a kink or something?” Had the spectral plane been visible, an arching, static shock would have flashed the mother’s eyes as it sprouted between the two heads before her. Emily and Joyce almost simultaneously felt an odd jolt, as if they’d just seen an old friend from an old life suddenly trying to integrate with the new. In other words, it was a sudden sense of discomfort. “Mm...I think I have an idea?” Joyce gave her head the slightest tilt, opting for the sweet, plain vanilla, ignorant role. “I’ve heard of it before...” Emily muttered, “...I think?” Yet in truth, if there had ever been a pep talk to be had before situations like these, bless Emily, but Joyce would ask her to simply say nothing at all. Emily trying to lie about anything even remotely close to her interests, meaning sensitive emotions were involved, was nothing short of wishful thinking. But maybe Joyce was being too over analytical because Carol didn’t comment on it. “Well, I don’t want to go into much detail, for...reasons, but the gist is basically a specific theme, practice, idea - virtually anything, to be honest, that people might take to in a sexual sense.” “Like...roleplay?” Joyce suggested, once more playing the innocent facade. Carol nodded. “That’s an example of it. I’ve heard it can even be on the tamer side… But I’m getting off track. From a business perspective, market potential within any group of consumers is almost always going to be less than the actual size, and the same thing applies to these groups of people tending to their...respective kinks.” Joyce nodded, but Emily only blinked with a neutral look. It was almost surreal for the girl right then, imagining a conversation that involved Joyce, business, and diapers, quite easily two of her favorite things. But in the same sentence? Saying that Carol was talking about diapers definitely was a stretch, but didn’t it fall into that category of kinkdom? It could, but the more Emily thought, maybe not for them…? Meanwhile, in Joyce’s head she was experiencing something a tad bit different. Business and kinks; broad topics she wouldn’t mind peering into. That being said, what she and Emily had...she didn’t see it that way. It wasn’t a momentary pause for her to get her rocks off; Emily either. Joyce didn’t baby Emily for sexual pleasure. No, the much more adult side of things came from their relationship as adults. What they did as a mommy and daughter remained much more pure. Well...remembering their first “trial” night with Emily in diapers nearly made Joyce visibly frown. Unfortunately she crossed a line, trying to “rub” the pleasure into Emily via a wet diaper. Never again… “...And so,” Carol tuned back into their ears, “It works out that supporting many smaller...niche businesses, turns a good living. But, if anyone asks, I’m just a general investor.” She finished with a motion to lock her lips. “...You mentioned roleplay being a kind of kink,” Joyce said, “but what other kinds have you seen in your work?” “Well...” A breath of air escaped Carol’s lips as she thought. “One place was a ‘costume’ shop,” she said in air quotes. “Don’t get me wrong, it was -- high quality costumes, even, with...props. But meant for bedroom play, I guess.” Joyce nodded thoughtfully, though with a look that expected more. “Have either of you heard of something called B-D-S-M?” Carol asked. Emily was the first to nod, but Joyce came a bit slower. “See? Then you already know one kind of kink,” Carol chuckled. “But anyway, it’s of course something couples tend to do in the bedroom and at home, but there are gathering spots for stuff like that. These kinds of places charge you maybe a flat fee or an hourly rate to have access to their themed rooms, props and toys. They have a very...straightforward kind of name? Dungeons.” All things considered the specifics were spared, though even at the level they were Emily wasn’t entirely vocal about what she thought. Only to Joyce had she even mentioned a word about their own kind of play, yet now she was seeing it to the same degree, only in a business sense with a woman she’d just officially met. “Dungeons?” Joyce raised a brow. “I guess that matches the fantasy theme?” Carol’s eyes lit up as she drank from her glass. “Good point! Never thought of that! Oh! And another one -- it didn’t pan out, but there was this store having to do with giant animal costumes and fur...” It was an example that truly rang no bells for either Emily or Joyce, hence their confused look. “But I think you two get the point,” Carol transitioned with a wave of her own clouded mind. “Well, if I ever think of sprouting my own business like that, I’ll know who to call?” Joyce grinned. “Please, give me a call and every cent I can invest is yours!” Carol begged with a laugh. “Frankly I wouldn’t want myself at the head of that kind of operation,” Joyce spoke reflexively. “It goes without saying since I’ve said it once, but all that kind of stuff is beyond my scope of knowledge...” “But what it sounds like is investing yourself wouldn’t be off the table?” Joyce shrugged in defense of her opportunistic nature. “What can I say? If it looks promising...” “If you’d like, I’m attending a dinner party a few weeks from now? If you really are serious, I can put you through to some serious business opportunities?” “Oh? They just let anyone come? Especially for such...private stuff like that?” Joyce asked skeptically. “No, they don’t,” Carol said, “which is interesting in a way, considering vetting your investor pool is like shooting yourself in the foot... But it leads to a healthier relationship, knowing that there’s some mutual understanding to begin with. Either way, my word should go far enough to vouch for you.” “So it’s settled, then?” Joyce had a slightly giddy look, to which Emily rolled her eyes at. “Oh? Trouble in paradise?” Carol grinned with her eyes on Emily. “What?” Joyce whined at Emily defensively, to which she sighed. “When I said no business talks in the car, I was mostly kidding, but I didn’t actually expect you to do business while we were here!” “Uh-oh, somebody’s in trouble!” Carol laughed. “It would appear so...” Joyce agreed. “How about we exchange numbers before we leave after lunch?” “Sounds like a plan.” Carol nodded. Joyce looked back at Emily who was quiet, yet obstinate. “What?” Joyce exaggerated. “Not happy with that?” “Outta sight, outta mind...” Emily relented with her own smile. “No! They can sleep over!” Jackie begged as she continued to tug on Carol’s pants. Michael and Carol were seeing Emily and Joyce off at the door, but their time spent at the residence was the perfect amount for the once shy little girl to finally warm up to her guests. Emily tried to be the gentle voice of reason. “Jackie, as much as we’d like, we didn’t bring any PJs?” “I have some!” Jackie was quick on the rebound with hope in her eyes. Emily had tried, and her mouth hung slightly agape, finding her own response just as obvious...yet hard to place. Michael and Carol naturally stood above their daughter, smirking as their daughter tried to fight for the impossible. “Goes to show how much Jackie sees you two as friends more than just grown-ups.” Carol laughed. “Jackie, I don’t think they’ll fit in your PJs, sweetheart...” Michael said to her. “They can use Mommy’s!” Jackie then shifted tactics. “Joyce’d probably be fine...” Carol quietly remarked, though her words had been all used up once the unspoken said quite the opposite about the smaller Emily. “Not the point, though! Jackie, Emily and Joyce have their own home to get back to. We’ll see them again.” “Soon?” Jackie dearly asked. “Soon.” Joyce answered for Carol. “When?” Certainly, this girl did not seem to skip a single beat. “Alright,” Michael cut in, hoisting Jackie into the air. “Enough twenty questions out of you, missy.” “But I wanna know~uh!” Jackie whined in an exaggerated tone. “And you will once that information is declassified, private.” Michael asserted in a general’s tone. “What’s dee-classih-fide?” “I’m afraid that’s classified.” And then the frustrated giggles ensued, seeming to shift Jackie’s focus away. Carol came to their rescue, seeing them out the front door while Michael had Jackie in arms. “Bye Michael, bye Jackie!” Emily waved, and so did Joyce. “Thanks again for having us,” Emily said to Carol as they walked down the steps and over to the car. “Don’t even mention it. In all honest truth, it was mostly our daughter that kept a fire lit under Michael all week, so I’ve heard. She would not stop talking about you, Emily!” She laughed. “To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect meeting you two, but I’m really glad for us to have met.” “Michael and I had talked about meeting again, but I guess it was sort of half-hearted at first?” Joyce similarly agreed, feeling less shy about admitting her reservations now. “Same here though, I’m glad this worked out.” “Glad you got business...” Emily murmured from the corner of her mouth. Joyce with a rosy smile gave a little giggle as she continued to face Carol. “Jackie’s such a nice kid. I’ve seen too many that have no real discipline... And speaking of which, I need to go give some to Emily after all these snide comments she’s been making to me today?” “Hah?! What?” Emily stammered. “Honestly, you two can’t catch a break, can ya?” Carol cracked up. “Anyway, Joyce, we’ll be in touch. Emily, lovely meeting you the proper way this time! Hope to see you both again soon! I better get back inside before Jackie can wriggle her way back outside. Drive home safe, you two!” And with Carol seeing them off from the steps as they pulled away, the get-together was over. “That was fun,” Joyce was the first to say. “Would it have been fun if you didn’t get invited to an investor’s dinner?” Emily cracked. “Of course it would have.” Joyce answered plainly. Then, after some pause, “Just...without some glow to it...” “Uh-huh?” Emily giggled before her tone made a slight shift. “More importantly though, I can’t believe what kind of work Carol does...I sorta got the chills when it hit so close to home...” “You too?” Joyce chuckled. “Gosh, it’s somewhat of a joke, but it seems like even when we take every kind of precaution, that kind of stuff always seems to find its way back to us...” “Haunting of the babydom...” Emily sighed, already with an imaginative name in mind. “And hang on, that investor thing Carol invited you to, are you really gonna go?” “I don’t see why not? Maybe I’ll find something I find interesting.” She wasn’t well-versed in kinks, and especially not when it came to business. “Yeah but it’s all kink stuff… All I mean is that you tend to mention about keeping the really sensitive stuff private and separated from your career. Wouldn’t it be bad for your reputation if someone recognized you there?” In a world where Emily had no shame, the only thing stopping Joyce from giving Emily a leisurely diaper change wherever they may be in public was guarding her own business image… And Emily’s own embarrassment, of course... Joyce nodded thoughtfully. “It could certainly cause issues, but being called out as an investor for that type of thing wouldn’t necessarily be damaging. Slightly surprising, at best. I thought about it a little more, but it’s a good thing that they vet their investors for these kinds of things. Not only does it keep interests at heart, but it does add a layer of privacy to it.” “As long as you’re okay with it.” Emily said back, holding Joyce’s wellbeing above all else. From the driver’s seat she smiled and with a free hand squeezed Emily’s thigh. “Thank you for worrying about me!” Emily puffed her cheeks with a slight blush as she turned her gaze to the passenger window. “Well...you’d do the same for me...” “Absolutely. No matter what.” Both sat on either end of the corner to the couch in the living room, sharing in the silence, save for the faint noises from the city streets far below. Joyce and Emily seemed pensive as they sat there, somewhat formal and struggling to figure out what they wanted to say. “I figured this’d be a good time as any to set us back on track...” Joyce said. “Mm.” Emily nodded. “Emily, I--” “Wait!” She blurted out, cutting Joyce off. “I...I wanna make it very clear before we talk about this stuff. I know you’re a lot more worried about how we do this now...and you being my mommy… But, I said it before: whenever I was being your baby, I never had any real issues with it. Nothing I wanted to address. What I wanted to make clear was when we weren’t in that headspace, sometimes it’d feel like it bleeds over. So, I don’t wanna put any limits on what we do when we’re intending to do it. Just...outside of that space.” Joyce held a look of silence and surprise, taking it all in, right until she burst. “Hah...thank goodness.” She sighed with relief before collapsing somewhat into the couch. “I said so before, didn’t I?” Emily reminded, scooching a little closer across the couch. “You did, but...I dunno, part of me still thought we might have to reshape what we intended to have. But no,” she sat back up straight, looking more serious. “I completely agree with you. I don’t want you taking any responsibility for this; it’s my fault for being too...motherly when I’m not being a mother, but a girlfriend.” “However,” Emily raised an important finger into the air. “Let it not be confused with being cutesy,” she explained in a professional, exaggerated manner. “The defendant is more than allowed to continue that.” Joyce couldn’t stop laughing. “Duly noted! No more jokes right now though, I want to treat this seriously. It’s important to me that we both feel like we’re respecting each other's boundaries. Emily, at the end of the day you are my number one priority, so what you say goes. I promise to do better when we’re both acting like adults, but I don’t want you to hesitate in calling me out when I’m doing something I shouldn’t be.” “Just call you right out?” Emily asked. “Yes. I don’t want to put you in an awkward spot.” “But...I guess I was thinking about that too. I guess you could call it a safeword, maybe...” A safe word, meant to be the hard stop or red switch that’d cease any type of kink play. “You want a safeword?” Joyce asked, neutral in tone, but truthfully with her own sort of reservations. In her mind that kind of association almost immediately tainted what they had. In any other case it made perfect sense and she saw no harm, rather, encouraged it. That was for kinks and fetish play though. Was that what Emily saw this as…? “Sort of...” Emily answered. “But not for when we’re a mommy and baby!” She quickly corrected herself, remembering just what they had meant to Joyce. “If there was ever a problem then, we can just talk to each other in the moment… I mean a safeword for when we’re in public, when we are just Emily and Joyce. Maybe a discreet way of letting you know that you’re doing something that bothers me…or when I’m bothering you. “So a safeword...for when we’re both adults?” Joyce clarified, a bit confused, seeing that to be the exact opposite scenario where you’d want to have a hard-stop like that... In any other traditional sense, wouldn’t the safeword be in the private sector and the casual talks in the public one? Joyce tried not to crack a grin. It was only Emily that could come up with something as out of the box as this...But as odd as it was, maybe their unique relationship thus far is what seemed to make it click for Joyce. “What do you think?” Emily then asked, looking self-conscious. “I guess I kind of agree that I don’t readily like a safeword either, especially when you’re my mommy...it makes it feel like it’s something less than real...and I don’t want that.” “I think that’s a good idea,” Joyce smiled. “It gives me a safe reminder and it doesn’t affect what we already do.” It was then a moment of mutual relief. Both had been dreading the “talk” up until now, but like most suspenseful moments, it overshadowed the reality completely. Now in place of that inhibiting and awkward knot that had seemed to bog them down since Mary and Frank’s visit, was a feeling of liberation. Everything was right again, and maybe after such trials and tribulations they were stronger because of it. Emily couldn’t hide her excited smile. “...Mm...but...” Joyce started with a difficult expression, to which already rained on Emily’s parade. “Huh? What is it?” She asked. “Well, I know what we both want, and we’re definitely on the same page...but, I guess I just want some extra clarification as to what you want.” “What I want?” Emily mimicked. “I want the usual stuff...what you want.” Joyce furrowed her brow, tutting like a detective without all the clues. “Yes, and I completely understand that. I suppose I just need something verbatim. I want to hear clearly what you want, Emily.” And for a moment the corners of her mouth perked up, immediately confirming Emily’s suspicions. “D-directly?” Emily stuttered slightly, suddenly feeling much less forthcoming about her desires. Already she was in Joyce’s trap. Joyce’s expression lit up, making approving noises as she nodded her head attentively. “Yes! Just let me know what you want, and that’s what we’ll do.” Emily narrowed her gaze, thinking before she answered. “...I want what you want...” Joyce chuckled, in the sort of way that Emily could tell was partly forced, but also spurred by amusement. “I know you do, silly! But, I need something a bit more specific to go off of? After all, I want a lot of things?” She didn’t bother hiding her grin this time. Now things were starting to feel familiar, namely because of how hot Emily’s cheeks were feeling. “F-fine...” She paused for a deep breath. “I-I...I want you to...” She murmured something intelligible at the end. “Hm?” Joyce leaned in. “I didn’t quite hear that last part… Could you please repeat that for me?” “I said I want you to ba…--...me...” “Emily,” Joyce attentively said in a soft, yet authoritative voice, “louder, sweetheart.” “I said I want you to baby me!” Emily finally shouted back. “Ohh, I thought that might’ve been it!” Joyce planted a fist in her palm as if the lightbulb only shined just then. “Of course I’ll baby you, silly!” Joyce feigned another laugh whilst Emily looked to be just as flustered as always. Emily was simply glad to have gotten through the spectacle. Once again, a hard lesson learned when it came to thinking she could tease Joyce and get away with it unscathed. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Balance was restored, at least… Then, Joyce rose a finger to her chin, humming a thought. “Mm...but...” But? Emily felt a brief moment of fear, surprised by the continuation. “Maybe I’m being the silly one!” Joyce laughed. “I think I may have forgotten what you like about me babying you...” She put her hands together as if making a request of Emily. “Could you possibly remind me some more?” Emily’s eye nearly twitched. This woman didn’t want equilibrium, she wanted domination. “I like it when...you call me by my nickname...” “Your nickname?” “E-Emmy...” “Emmy! Of course!” Again, Joyce pretended to have a revelation. “Such a cute name for such a cute girl! And? What else?” What else? Emily internally groaned. Was she really going to put her through this? “When you make me my special drink...” “Uh-huh! Served up safe and secure in your ba-ba~! Anything else?” “When I get to wear cute clothes...” “Anything you wear is cute!” Joyce chuckled. “But I get what you mean.” She still gave the look that expected Emily to continue. “When I get big stuffed animals...” “Mhm?” “When I get my own special seat...” “Your high-chair?” She smiled. “When you force me to take naps, even when I don’t wanna.” “Otherwise you’ll get cranky.” Joyce passively commented. “When you give me baths.” “Cleanliness is prettiness!” “And...when I call you Mommy!” Emily said with a sudden outburst, catching Joyce a bit off guard. Though, Joyce quickly softened into a warm smile. “An absolute given and inalienable rule.” Joyce smiled wide. “Now come on, what’s the last one?” Emily’s bravado was gone hearing that. Somehow, she knew that Joyce knew, or it meant that they were thinking of the same thing. “And I like...” “Like...what?” Joyce asked. “...Diapers...” “Diapers?” “I like wearing diapers!” Emily said. “When you check and change me...” She was feeling lightheaded. In an aggravated tone she said, “I’m sorry for teasing you! Is that everything you wanted to hear?!” Joyce scooched even closer, pulling her into a hug as she giggled. “Everything and more!”

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading and commenting! Thanks for the kind words! I hope you continue to read and enjoy! Hello, thank you as always for the kind words! I'm hoping to add a couple more moving parts in the next few chapters, and I can't say for absolute certainty how that will affect some forms of more favored content, so I figured the dream bit might be a fun way to keep a reminder of what is involved in Joyce and Emily's relationship. I hope you continue to read and enjoy. As always, thank you so much! Gotta pull back the curtain when they least expect it! Or when they do the most. Depends on my state of mind for how I interpret some of the things I write, haha. Thank you for leaving a comment! Sorry for the wait! I'm happy to hear that there's a niche in my story for you to enjoy. With regards to realism, I definitely think I stretch things a bit, and I can't say that I won't be doing it in the future, however for everything that does happen in the story I fully plan to ground it in the established reality as best as I can. For example, you won't be seeing any magic or what-not. That's a theme for a different story. Thank you for leaving a comment! Much apologies in getting back to this comment! It's essentially my on-going disclaimer than I can be delayed in my posting/replying activity. I can promise that I'm always reading though. The state of the story is healthy and content under wraps does exist. Thank you for being so eager to continue reading my stuff and being so invested in this story!

30 - It's just Soda “Emmy, hun-bun, come on!” Joyce called by the front door. She was already dressed in her heels, slacks, blouse and donned a black overcoat. With a handbag slung over her shoulder and a hand actively supporting the strap, she was clearly ready to go at a moment’s notice. “Coooming~!” A loud and earnest kind of voice replied from the other side of the apartment, sounding much more direct than a typical person might. It didn’t carry the baggage of stress or overcomplicated thought, seemingly unfiltered in its unbridled nature. Joyce tried to purse her lips, though the day’s events were a bit too exciting to keep up a front. Her stern attitude sputtered into a grin as she failed to hide a smile. Though, trying to take her little girl’s word for what it was, her heels clicked across the hardwood floor as she made her way to the kitchen. The sound of a fridge opening and closing, followed by the slunking and shifting of aluminum as it swung little by little from the plastic handle secured in Joyce’s hand. Just then a blur of black hair, plaid and plastic crinkles raced by Joyce like sound itself. “I gotta go get my lunch!” The girl shouted on her way by, nearly slipping and sliding with each step from her socks. Though, if Emily moved like sound, then that’d put Joyce at the speed of light, who with her other free hand caught Emily by the scruff of her collared shirt. “Not so fast, speedy pants. Already got it.” Joyce handed her the lunch box with a smile. Rather than taking it by the handle, Emily happily received it with both hands. “Thank youu~!” Emily smiled a toothy grin as she looked down at the painted design. Rainbow kitties, stylized in the cartoon sense, exploding in all directions from the corner like a nuclear weapon of cuteness; so cute that if the Geneva Convention were a matter of emotional warfare, you might find this lunch box on it. Though, potential war crimes aside, Emily’s grin as she looked down at it turned into a puzzled, or complicated expression. Now Joyce wasn’t finding it so hard to suppress a smile. “You said you liked that one, didn’t you?” “I do...” Emily muttered, maintaining her judgmental look at the lunch box. Joyce raised a brow. They’d spent nearly twenty agonizing minutes at the store trying to pick out the “perfect” lunch box. Even if it was feasible, out of principle and values, Joyce was steadfast in limiting Emily to one lunch box only. Ultimately, it had come down to the rainbow kitties or super hero monkeys, and they made doubly sure to confirm it was the one Emily wanted… “We spent nearly half an hour,” spare Emily the facts; embellishment seemed appropriate, “picking out the right lunch box, didn’t we?” Joyce put a hand on her hip, lightly scolding her. Emily kept her gaze toward the floor, puffing her cheeks the ever slightest. She dragged out her words as it fell on the cusp of a whine, akin to a toddler’s pout. “Uh-huh...” “Besides, didn’t you say you liked the kitties?” Joyce’s words gave her something simple to grasp onto, a talking point she could easily spring her simple desires from. “Yah, but the monkeys were--!” A finger was pressed to her lips. “Honey, we’re gonna use this lunch box for now, okay? If you really don’t like it a week from now, we can talk about getting a different one, alright?” But truthfully, Joyce figured a matter as serious as the design on Emily’s lunch box to be as minor as whether she needed Crayola or MotzArt brand crayons, given the same amount of time to take its course… “...Fine...” She continued to pout as her arms fell by her sides like weights tied to rope, the lunch box hanging from her hand. “Ah-ah?” Joyce tutted, clearly wise to the beginnings of a tantrum. “What was that?” Emily looked at her sheepishly, already with a change in expression, closer to fear, incited by the tone Joyce took with her. “N-nothing!” Joyce had been through this many times with her. Particularly it was never about the words Emily used, but rather the tone she chose to use them in. “Come on,” Joyce smiled, deciding to table the reminder for good behavior, believing she’d drilled enough of that already. “We still need to get your sneakers on!” Emily was the first to scurry to the shoe area, already lighting up at the sound of another new accessory of hers. Swish swish swish. Joyce couldn’t help but have an elated feeling well within her. It was always her running that sounded the cutest… She trailed behind, thinking fondly of how their current lives were, fantasizing about-- “--Emmy!” Joyce half-shouted, though a bit more urgent and surprised than anything else. Emily, on all fours as she scours the slate floor, shoes strewn all about, turned her head back to Joyce, completely oblivious to what the matter might be. “Huh?” “Don’t you ‘huh’ me, missy!” Joyce tried to sound direct, though it was no secret she had a low tolerance to Emily’s cuteness. “You can crawl on the wooden floors inside the apartment, but not the shoe area! Your pretty outfit is going to get dirty!” A pretty outfit and being dirty were two concepts fundamentally at odds, hence why a ghastly expression overtook Emily’s face, as she practically sprung off the floor like it was lava, bending and leaning over to inspect herself like a spider was crawling underneath her skirt. “Am I dirty! I didn’t mean to! I wanna look nice for the first day!” And all subsequent ones to follow, ideally. And in her panicked motions, she managed to flash her skirt as she tried to do the impossible in looking at the back of it by turning 180 degrees, expecting it to be waiting for her. “Nope, clean as a whistle.” Joyce determined from the side, able to see her from every angle in her rapid motions. Though, in being able to observe from afar, she could feel her own suspicions about something else on the rise… “I was just tryna look for my shoes...” Emily explained in a mumble, interlocking her fingers bashfully. True to her word, unfortunately, Emily had been looking for her shoes. What was once a land of peace and order, happily married pairs of shoes had been cruelly separated and torn apart by the manic hands of the toddler tyrant known as Emily. With every shoe either acquainted with themself or another random mingler now, flung all over the shoe area, Joyce could only sigh, having no one to blame but herself for expecting such a high strung girl to be anything but that on her first day. “We put them in one of the shoe bins, honey. Remember?” Joyce spoke with a kind and gentle tone. But before Emily could give anything else the “Midas effect,” Joyce slid one of the cloth bins out from the 3x3 shelf of cubbies, revealing a pair of bright pink and white sneakers. A squeal of joy erupted from the younger-seeming girl as she eagerly bounced on her heels as Joyce took them out. “I wanna put them on! Let me do it!” Emily eagerly begged, though already sitting herself down on the edge of the wooden floor as she kept kicking her feet. “Let me show you how to do the first one, okay?” Joyce said, rather than asked. Tearing velcro filled the immediate area as Joyce pulled off the strap, grabbing the tongue of the shoe and stretching and flexing it some, just to begin that broken-in kind of feel that’d help her foot fit in easier. And as a pair Joyce fed Emily’s foot into the sneaker, whilst Emily pushed forward with hers. Though, what was its own form of cuteness was her overcompensated form of coordination, because even though it had no reason to, Emily’s other leg stuck out nice and straight too, as if she couldn’t operate her legs separately. But either way, there was that satisfying push beyond the horizon once the foot slipped in nice and snuggly. Still being new shoes, Joyce patted the bottom of her clean sole, indicating to put her foot back down. “Now make sure you pull the strap out to tighten the shoe, okay?” Joyce instructed while she performed, keeping the explanation simple and clear. “Then when you feel like it’s snug enough, fold it back over and on top of the other strip.” She finished the first shoe for Emily, as promised. “Not too tight?” Joyce asked. Emily shook her head. “Good. Now show me what a big girl you are and do the second one.” Joyce initiated the little test by setting the second shoe by her foot. Earnest and eager, Emily took the other shoe and tried to imitate Joyce’s actions, albeit a much more abbreviated approach. She didn’t take the care of undoing the velcro strap, nor trying to make the shoe any roomier beforehand. That, and she held the shoe in such a way that she wasn’t doing her foot any favors in trying to push it in. After a couple seconds of grunting frustration, Joyce stepped in. “Do you want a little help?” “Y-...yes please...” Emily muttered, dropping the shoe back down with a blush. She crossed her arms annoyingly so. “Come on, now, you’ll get it...” Joyce gently encouraged. “Let’s do this one together. How about I get the shoe on you first?” Undo the velcro strap, flex the tongue, slide it onto Emily’s foot. “Now it’s your turn.” Joyce had her take over. “Pull the strap out and up, right until you think it feels snug enough. Got it? Good. Then, bring it back over and put it right on the fuzzy strip. And...there! Good job!” Joyce gushed with overenthusiasm, showering her with praise. Emily sat there as she shuffled her hands between her legs, too silly to contain all that influx of praise and pride into such a tiny body. “Such a good girl,” Joyce said once more. “And before we go, I just need to check one last thing...” Emily watched innocently as Joyce leaned in closer to her, but her look changed into a frown and a blush once Joyce flipped her skirt. “Mommy!” Emily complained in a strained voice. She looked to jump a little in place as Joyce did something between her legs. “I’m sure you don’t want to leak on your first day of daycare, honey?” Joyce spoke as she slipped her finger between Emily’s inner thigh and crotch of her slightly yellowed diaper. “Only a little...” She commented to herself, pulling it back out then fixing Emily’s skirt. She stood Emily up, slipping a pink backpack over her shoulders. Damn, she looked cute. Joyce would be hard-pressed to have any more compliments for the other kids combined compared to the endless ones she had for Emily. “Let’s review...” Joyce muttered some more to herself. “Dressed, lunch box, shoes, change of clothes, checked her diaper...” At the end of her list, Joyce’s arms fell at her sides. She leaned down to kiss Emily on the forehead. “My gosh! You’re going to have so much fun!” “...Can I bring Pip with me?” Emily suddenly asked. She sounded worried, and nearing tears. Her excited expression seemed to have faded almost instantly, now face to face with reality, that being her inevitable journey to daycare. “Emmy…” Joyce started, taking a knee to look up to her with both hands on her shoulders. “We talked about this: you are going to be absolutely fine today, okay? I know the first day is always scary, but you’re going to make so many new friends and meet all the nice workers!” Having something less than a ‘yes’ was bringing on the sniffles and whimpers. “Besides,” Joyce changed her tone from encouraging to deductive. “If I’m not here, and you’re not here, who is gonna watch the house? I dunno about you, but I’d feel a lot better knowing Pip was protecting all our stuff while we’re gone. Wouldn’t you?” “Y-yeah...” Emily nodded sadly, swinging her leg aimlessly. “If you ever need to talk to me today, all you need to do is ask one of the nice ladies, okay?” Hell, it pained Joyce to think that it wasn’t a double standard. The kids got to call the parents as they pleased, but Joyce couldn’t reach out to Emily if she wanted. The parents get nervous, too… Emily nodded again, seeming slightly better, but only by a modicum. “Come on, sweetpea, let’s go have a fun day!” Joyce encouraged once more, leading Emily by the hand to the door. And as she touched the knob, she heard a faint beeping. Turning her head, Emily was gone, and the beeping grew louder. She turned back forward, and the door was gone too. So was the entire wall. All she saw was an empty void, followed by more beeping. Beep. Beep. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP! BEEP! “Nngyaa!” Joyce groaned in her bed as she finally came to. She reserved herself to lightly slapping the snooze button on her phone rather than punching it, likely the difference between a few minutes more or less of sleep, and a broken phone. She sighed, staring up at the ceiling from her bed. What a nice dream...she thought to herself longingly. So real, yet so...imaginary. Exhaling, she rolled over to find her sleeping beauty still fast asleep. “Sho cute...” Joyce spoke in a syrupy voice as she puckered her lips, kissing Emily on the forehead. “Just a few more minutes for you...” Joyce decided in a lowly whisper, carefully slipping herself out of bed. Maybe more than a few minutes, as the steamy hiss of the shower started from the bathroom. During work days, she didn’t use the main bathroom very often. As luxurious as the spacious bath was, and how fun the ceiling panel could be, it just felt like too much of a process for such a minute detail in the weekday. That, and she knew her showers needed to be quick and to the point; how could you not want to just soak in a shower like that? She sighed as she lathered her hair, still troubled by the night’s closing events, and nervous about the future… Everything is going to be fine. That’s what Joyce wanted to say, yet from her past discussions with Emily, it seemed to have wavered her certainty… Looking at things objectively, Emily losing her job wasn’t a financial loss; it wouldn’t affect their way of life or access to entertainment and pleasures. But rationally, Joyce knew it was more than that, though only to such a degree. She hated to admit it, but it felt like the first time she’d reached a point where she couldn’t fully empathize, namely because she’d never experienced this sort of thing, hence the trouble of fully grasping her loss. Joyce was trying earnestly, though her selfish part just wanted Emily to...to just shut up so she could make it all better! Under the guise of a steamy shower, Joyce let a groan escape her. Obviously it didn’t work that way, and obviously Joyce was being ridiculous. Whatever Emily was going through, it was expected and perfectly justified. That, and it was a clear reminder as to why Joyce couldn’t take the simple approach in drowning her in love and affection. It made for a great lubricant, but it made no direct effort to digest reality… What kind of recourse was there for this? She’d be lying if she said having more free time with Emily wasn’t a treat, but even Joyce knew with her limited views that Emily’s concerns vastly overshadowed a mere silver, and highly debatable, lining. A thought had crossed her mind. What if she got Emily a job at her own company? Obviously it could be done without issue. Yet, how did real estate work translate to a medical product manufacturing company? But even before that, how did she know if Emily would even accept the job? She furrowed her brow thinking about that. What was good for Emily, but not for Joyce, was her pride. Time and time again Emily had tried to refuse Joyce’s generosity, but did always concede in the end. Taking a job given to you on a silver platter, which truthfully you may not even be fully qualified for, is a much harder deal to sell… And given the way even Joyce hesitated over it, maybe it wasn’t a good idea at all. The worst case scenario would be that not only does Emily refuse it, but she’d feel insulted as well. She came back into the room with a towel wrapped around her torso and another around her hair. She watched the sleeping girl, feeling her heart ache just to watch. “How am I supposed to help you, sweetheart…?” Joyce quietly whispered, tracing her finger behind Emily’s exposed ear. Every option she had either felt like further disaster or simply prolonging an issue that shouldn’t be ignored. From Joyce’s perspective, Emily being out of a job made little difference to anything. Emily’s feelings about being out of a job was what mattered. If they could solve that, everything would be fine, even if it didn’t include getting a new one. Surprisingly, Emily began to stir on her own as she stretched in bed. She opened her eyes to see Joyce looking down on her with a sad expression. “Morning...” Emily yawned, wiping a sleepy tear from her eye. “What’s wrong?” She asked. “I’m just thinking, that’s all...” Joyce said, unwrapping the towel from her hair. “Are you sure you don’t want me coming with you today? All you need to do is give the word and I can make time fo--” “I’m fine, but thank you.” Emily started speaking and it hushed Joyce almost immediately. Joyce nodded, but didn’t look happy with her answer. You say you’re alright, but why do you have to look that way when you say it…? Emily yawned once more before speaking again, still peacefully resting her head on the pillow. “Do I have time to shower before Charles gets here?” “Of course you do,” Joyce answered without a second thought, kissing her on the temple. She stood back up from the bed to start getting dressed. “...So if we begin to consider our options on how to proceed, shareholders in mind, it’d be best that we have our teams refine the material cost for the frames...” A representative of some sort rambled from the front of the room, most executives in attendance, lined around the table. All were at least remotely attentive, however give anyone the mundaneness of back-to-back meetings for hours on end and you’d be bound to catch their attention slipping a little if not a lot. And among those heads dressed in suits, blouses or blazers, right at the very center end was a familiar brown head of hair, sitting mostly upright. Having nearly a perfect profile view of her boss, her head supported by the finger guns angled beneath her chin as she looked forward, that sense of preoccupied thought was written all over her eyes. It probably wasn’t obvious to most, but, for the money that she made, it had to be clear as day to someone like Sheila. “Ahm...Ms. Summers?” A voice politely asked, causing Joyce to take a longer blink than normal, including Sheila’s own hyper focused thought being broken. How silly of her; getting so lost in thought about her boss getting so lost in thought… “Yes?” Joyce replied in a neutral tone. Her voice hadn’t made her sense of disinterest totally obvious, yet you could tell she wasn’t fully invested. Still, her face, form and stature commanded authority. Somehow despite looking so boredly idle, there was some kind of aura or atmosphere she created. Being only a representative from one of the company’s research teams, he wasn’t quite up to snuff with experience on conversing with the higher-ups. That very atmosphere was starting to eat away at him. “I...uhm, about the material cost and efficiency for our...for the beds...” “Do it.” Was all Joyce said. The way she spoke, you’d have almost expected it to be accompanied by a hand wave just to send the poor employee off. The man nearly stuttered. “Are you sure, ma’am? It’d set prototyping back by at least--” “Then if prototyping delay is of concern, why would you propose something that would cause that exact issue?” Joyce curtly cut him off. Sheila quietly pursed her lips from the sidelines, silently typing her notes. She’s rarely seen her boss like this, but has seen enough to understand the gist. Disinterest, agitation; even from day one she would know something is obviously going on, only nowadays she’d know what to guess as possible stressors. “Well...that’s because...” Clearly she’d fried him with a simple, however curt, contradiction, seeing as it was backed by the weight of an entire company packed into every verbal punch Joyce could throw. Everyone’s gazes fully turned once the executive’s chair pushed itself back from the table, Joyce standing on her feet. She adjusted her blouse, letting out a small sigh. “Unfortunately, I have other engagements I need to attend to. Thank you for the informative presentation. You have my input, and I’ll leave it to the rest of the board to make the final decision.” Her parting words sang like the classroom equivalent of an unexcused student walking out on a teacher’s class. There were a few goodbyes exchanged in small amounts, but really no other words than that were mentioned. Joyce was the first out of the board room, quickly followed by Sheila with a laptop held to her chest while she tried to unzip the case slung over her shoulder. While working under Joyce has never been a day-to-day repeat of the last, at least within the scope of a week, a month or two, there was enough of a trend to be called predictable. Not so much a pattern to perfectly map the future, but a circle of odds she’d know she could find her boss in. But of course, just like probability suggests, if an expected outcome is not certain, there creates the possibility for an unexpected one. It happens, every once and awhile, but it’s a rare chance for a reason. But reason hasn’t meant much at all, as of late. What happened outside of her boss’ working life was generally a nonfactor. A change in mood, slight shift in her tone during her meetings; amount of overtime spent at the office. Everything was a tell for how she was feeling and doing. Most importantly, it was all by some cause within the office, within the work and business. Sheila didn’t watch in the creepy, stalker sense. Put simply, you start to notice a person more the more you spend time with them. “Sheila,” Joyce talked as they walked, “what else do I have planned for today?” The human part of Sheila rathered she herself didn’t share. Her boss didn’t seem to be in a pleasant mood right now, yet she understood the need to detach herself from the implications of her job. “An hour from now you have one last meeting with one of our partners, and until then you requested that I remind you to finish the last of next month's reports.” And out came a heavy exhale from her nose. They were headed back to her office, where she could at least destress a little. Once they reached her office, Sheila followed inside for regular debriefing which would follow after every meeting. However, what Sheila understood best about doing her job for Joyce was that sometimes, doing her best was by not doing her job at all, or at least in the way she was supposed to. So rather than a typical debriefing… “...Ms. Summers, is there anything you’d like to talk about?” Joyce sat in her desk, slumped, massaging her temples. If it wasn’t clear in the meeting, now was as evident as ever to signal her stress and how much it was plaguing her. “Sheila...” Joyce started to speak, though continued to stare off into space. “Sheila, have you ever lost a job before?” Sheila’s eyes widened. She was calm and collected, but on the inside a little panicked. “Ms. Summers, if there are any issues regarding my work ethic or ability, I can assure you that I…--” “N-no.” Joyce stammered, cutting her off. “I’m sorry; that came out poorly. You do just fine, Sheila. This isn’t about you. I...someone I know is having some trouble at the moment.” So not to make a scene, Sheila shared her sigh of relief with only herself, securely in her own head. “I see...” Sheila nodded. “Unfortunately,” yet fortunately to herself, “I can’t say that I have faced a situation like that...” A few questions pegged Sheila’s mind though. Was this friend a poor worker? Did they deserve to lose their job? Causation for firing affected levels of sympathy, for Sheila, at least. Joyce tapped her finger on the desk with a steady beat. “Though...I’d still be willing to hear you out?” Sheila offered. “...This person I know recently lost their job. It wasn’t her fault, just...unfortunate luck…” Sheila didn’t show much sign of it, though she was feeling a difficult expression. She offered to listen, though she did not promise her capability to offer much advice. “I guess I just don’t know how to help them, and it’s frustrating...” Joyce sighed once more. “Anything that I think of just doesn’t seem like a good solution.” “Well, with all due respect, Ms. Summers, in your position, I suppose I would remind myself that I can only do so much for another person at my own expense… What I mean to say is that if someone else’s grief is affecting you just as much, you may need to distance yourself.” “I can’t just do that...” Joyce shook her head slightly. Distance wasn’t an option; she didn’t want it to be. Given the full picture one might call Sheila inconsiderate, but of course Joyce wasn’t being fully forthcoming about who this person was. “She means a lot to me.” Sheila nodded her head, though remained silent. “...Would getting a new job help her feel better?” “That’s what I think...” Neither seemed fit in a position to give advice nor receive it. While Sheila held good intentions, it was unfortunately a start she couldn’t see to the end. “But that’s unrelated,” Joyce broke the oddness in the air by interrupting the note she had left it on. She exhaled again, yet her focused thought diffused into a kind smile. “Thank you for always putting up with me.” “O...of course.” Sheila answered back, reaffirming herself. “Would you like a debriefing of the meeting?” “That would probably be for the best...” Joyce said as she started to gaze out the window to her side. Though, she furrowed her brow and turned back to Sheila. “Earlier, I...think I may have came off as a tad bit grumpy...” “Another one...” she woefully demanded, brushing the other empty glasses to the side. The silent man raised a brow as he polished a glass in hand with a white rag. “Sure you wanna roll that fast?” “Another one.” Emily repeated, staring off into an endless abyss. With a sigh, he shrugged, walking over to a tap, filling the glass three quarters to the way, the difference made by frothy bubbles. And the world then through the eyes of the sorrowed, sullen girl was tinted brown as she stared through a lens of unhealthy coping and self-harm. She was so slumped over, not even her eyes stood above the glass. Her walk of shame out of the office was dreadful. Despite the deal being sealed well-before she even set foot in the building that was her former workplace, every step with her belongings in hand left behind a sense of lingering attachment; hope, that this might all be one big misunderstanding, or some kind of mistake. But, seeing as it was the middle of a working day and Emily was nowhere to be found in that building, rather a quiet bar, it said enough in the way that her incessant demand for refills spoke to her despair. There was a small bubble in her chest, and seemingly all the turmoil was causing it to swell. So much that it felt like her chest was going to burst. Soon she’d have a crater inside herself that’d leave her looking just as ruined as she felt. It was getting bigger pressing outward from every direction, soon she’d-- A loud belch came from the small woman as she flung back from her lazed slouch along the counter. No more bubble. Well, maybe she wasn’t physically being affected, but certainly emotionally so. The door to the bar opened, but Emily hardly paid it any mind. Frankly, she fit the stereotype exactly for an adult lost in midday drinking. At this point she considered herself no better than any other person equally as down in the dumps, yet that didn’t mean she wanted to wallow in her own filth. A few more drinks, then she’d go back home… Home. Emily grimaced a slight bit at that. What a freeloader she really was starting to be. “Damn, two people in the middle of the day?” Emily could hear the bartender chuckle. “Seems like today is a weird day.” “What she’s having, please.” A female voice answered back, above Emily’s head and out of her sight. She didn’t give much of a glance the stranger’s way. “Sure thing,” he replied, turning his back to them for a moment, but returning with a glass. From the corner of her eye, Emily could see one of the empty glasses she championed beside her slide a smidgen closer to her immediate vicinity. Diffracted through the glass was the sight of the woman’s hand resting on the countertop. “Thank you,” she said to the act of having a drink be placed in front of her. She lifted the cup to her lips and gave it a sip, yet quickly scrunched her face as she sat it back down. “Wait, uhm, I think there’s something wrong with this drink...” The bartender gave her a look of confusion. “Wrong with it? I poured yours from the same tap as hers.” He nodded to the dejected Emily. “What brand is it?” She asked. “It tastes like soda, or something.” He cracked a grin at her confusion. “That’s because it is.” “What?” She said back in minor disbelief. She paused to look over the carbonated beverage, then sighed as she pulled it back in for another sip. “I guess that’s my fault for trying to drink in the middle of the day...” “...Sorry...” Emily murmured from her seat, turning the woman’s gaze. “Huh? What do you mean? Not your fault I felt like teasing my sobriety a little. If anything you steered me onto the right path, so...well, thanks for that.” “Mhm...” Emily nodded, quiet apart from sipping her drink. “You’re welcome to stay quiet on the matter, but what might have you looking so glum?” “Everything.” Emily blankly replied. Half the reason she barely thought of a worthwhile answer was attributed to this person being a complete stranger. She likely wanted some tunes to pass the time while she drank. “Mm...I see.” She nodded, pausing to take a sip. “Well, what’s been the most recent thing? My husband always likes to say talking things out can help; especially for our daughter, and me. It’s crazy how those little balls of energy can manage to light their own fuse...” And Emily sat there for a moment, feeling still just as glum, but not feeling any further driven into her shell. It’s not like reliving the past could make her present day any worse in the literal sense. “I lost my job as of yesterday. I had to pack up all my things today.” Emily finally spoke, also somehow convincing herself to sit up relatively straight. She turned to look at her inquiring stranger. Ginger was the closest you could call it, albeit less fire in her hair, and her skin not so pale. Though, she radiated an odd kind of ‘Joyce’ vibe, but not the way you might expect. Rather than the matronly lover, Emily saw the business, analytical part to her. It carried that same tinge of lightheartedness, but it was safely tucked away. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she paused to sip, “what did you do?” “Nothing, I don’t think, at least...They just let me go. My whole department went…” “So they let you go? They didn’t fire you?” Emily nodded. Even if it couldn’t get any worse, this discussion still felt like she was grinding her face against the status quo. “What are you doing here?” Emily asked, suddenly flipping the script. It may seem rude, but she was willing to do anything to keep herself off the spotlight. The woman raised a curious brow. “Me?” She took a sip of her drink while keeping her eyes on Emily. “I’m on a business trip right now.” Given the odd answer which didn’t seem to agree with the facts, Emily only gave a brief nod. “Uh...huh...” “Officially, at least,” she finished her sentence, even though the time she left between her words qualified it as two separate statements. “But, from one stranger to another, if you ever hear from someone that their business trip ended early, and it’s nothing malicious, that probably means something went south...” Emily tried to look invested, yet felt still behind the eight ball. Rather, she thought more of how Joyce might be able to relate a bit more to this person. Judging by the blazer she wore, it certainly felt that way. “Sorry, I’m being vague, aren’t I?” She suddenly called herself out. “I was on a business trip meant to last a week, but one of the people I needed to meet had a family emergency. It was either spend four more days in Texas, or come home. Frankly, I can’t stand being away from my husband and daughter for too long...” She spoke while briefly reminiscing. With something finally relatable to play herself off of, Emily responded. “Sorry to hear that. Was it important business?” “Sort of; meaning, I had to see where it went before deciding how important it was. I’ll have to get back to you on that two months from now,” she chuckled. Emily made a small noise of agreement as she half-missed the humor in her leveled tone. Did Joyce ever have business arrangement issues like that? None that Emily knew of in the present day. Granted, not that Emily was much of a judge, but she wagered Joyce’s level of stature set a high standard for the working world around her. Dealings with her were probably so important, they may even trump family… “It’s likely far too early to ask, but have you considered what new job you might be searching for?” She asked Emily. “Not in the slightest,” Emily shrugged. “I worked in real estate, but it was all computer work; nothing as complicated as it was tedious...” She may have been selling herself short a little, but her kind of work certainly didn’t take a degree. After a month of training slash supervision, she was just about fully housebroken. Finally, Emily went back to her mug of soda. “Well, have you considered modelling?” Emily suddenly sputtered as she choked on her drink. Did she hear this woman correctly? “M-mo--what?” The woman hadn’t shown much of a reaction other than neutral and inquisitive. “Modelling? Posing in outfits and having pictures be taken of you? Why not?” “W-well...” Emily started, at an odd loss. The concept was so at odds with her mundane self, taking the suggestion seriously enough just to find legitimate fault with it was hard enough. “I don’t exactly think I’m model material, and...yeah, I dunno, I’m just not pretty, or whatever.” She silently mulled, now thinking to herself. Not a natural born goddess like somebody I know… The woman appeared to have listened, yet responded with a shrug. “The business isn’t exactly gated in the way you might think. Sure, looks are important to a fair degree, which you could clear, but it’s more so the financial backing you have to get yourself in the door...” “No thanks,” Emily curtly replied, finally seeing her angle. “I don’t feel like playing pretend model, and I’m not paying for any phony photoshoot...” She blinked, then chuckled. “Hm? No, no, I’m not trying to sell you anything. I was just making a suggestion, that’s all.” Emily was already flagging the bartender to pay. However, right before he stopped in front of her, the other patron called his attention. “Her’s is on me. All of it.” Emily looked over to her, confused. “What? You don’t have to pay for it; I’m not interested in your ‘business’ or whatever.” “I told you I’m not a con artist,” she laughed, “and it’s the least I could do for someone out of a job.” “Well, it’s fine. I can pay for it myself.” Emily fired back, indirectly demanding for the bartender again. Just because she was out of a job, that didn’t mean she couldn’t safely pay for some sodas. And truthfully, she’d had an excess of savings lately, seeing as she rarely found herself needing to pay for anything...Joyce. “Come on, now, there’s no need to be so prideful. You kept me from a buzz, after all?” The woman continued to insist. “Well I don’t need some haughty stranger trying to sell me a scam and buy me drinks!” Emily snapped, leaving a few bills on the counter, then marching for the exit. Everything about today sucked, and the last thing she needed to add to that were mental shakedowns and profiteers. There wasn’t room for a response as Emily was gone. When Emily walked back into the apartment she could already hear the sound of kitchen ongoings. Surprisingly, but also not so surprisingly, considering her personal outing, Joyce was home before her. “Heyo~!” Joyce called from the kitchen. “I couldn’t find you all over the apartment except for your office stuff! Didja do anything fun?” “You didn’t call me?” Emily asked, poking her head in, half of herself getting closer to communicate with Joyce, and the other trying to smell whatever was in the pot above the stove. She shook her head. “I figured you might want some alone time to yourself.” Joyce said. She kept it at that. Frankly, when she couldn’t find Emily in the apartment she grew a bit worried, but then came the reminder that she couldn’t be a complete mommy 24/7. That, and she had to learn the unfortunate truth in supporting others. Until they’re the one to call you, the best action is no action at all. Emily nodded, staying pensive, but then returned to her first question. “I went to a bar ‘cuz I felt like drinking some soda...then some weird lady tried to pay for my drinks… I’m gonna go shower.” And at that, she excused herself. Though, simultaneously, Joyce’s rosy smile was stunned as she nearwell sliced off her own finger along the cutting board. “Wh-what?!” She spun her head around. “Someone tried to buy you drinks? Who?!” Her mind was racing as she chased her into the hall. Distance? Inaction?! Who the hell thought of advice as stupid as that? She let her girlfriend drop off the grid for half a day and she’s already being fished by other predators?! Grabbing her by the shoulders, Joyce turned Emily around, looking both clueless and surprised at Joyce's worried and urgent expression. She looked starved for answers. “H...huh?” Emily cracked a confused and nervous grin. “Don’t you ‘huh’ me!” Joyce frowned. “You said someone was hitting on you at the bar! What was that all about?” Hit on? Emily furrowed her brow. “Nobody hit on me, I just said someone tried to pay for my--” “S...same thing!” Joyce cut her off. “You didn’t accept their offer, did you?” “N-no...” Emily fumbled with her response. She kept her look aimed towards the floor, trying to cover her face. And Joyce, who watched from above, seeing her mask her expression, used her acute reasoning and the will of her heart to judge the girl. “You did!” Joyce exclaimed. “N-nuh-uh…!” “Then why do you sound like you’re ready to cry? Be honest with me! I’m not mad...but I don’t want you flirting with other--!” Emily couldn’t take it anymore, and she did burst with tears, though not in the way Joyce expected. Rather than a look of remorse or guilt, instead it was gut-wrenching laughter. “E...--” Joyce was now in the dark, but affirmed herself. “Emily! It’s not funny! How could you? I thought we had…--” “Oh...oh my gosh!” Emily giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’ve never seen you like this before!” “Like what before?” Joyce sounded agitated, unsure of what was going on, other than her girlfriend was laughing at her for figuring out she’d been fooling around with another woman! “So...so jealous!” Emily continued to giggle, nearly falling over, but instead falling into Joyce. “And you think cheating is funny?” Joyce bitterly retorted, not seeing the humor. “No!” Emily said with a joyous expression. “But I never cheated! They were just drinks, and I paid for them myself! You gotta let me explain!” Emily continued to laugh at Joyce’s expense, who was quickly starting to feel like an embarrassed fool. Joyce puffed her cheeks, casting her gaze to the wall. “W-well...say that sooner then!” She pouted, marching back to the kitchen whilst she dragged Emily who kept her arms around her waist. “Hahaha!” Emily couldn’t stop, “Th...thank you! This made my night!” She giggled. “And what do you mean? Buying drinks isn’t the same as cheating!” “Well I’m glad at least one of us found it amusing...” Joyce stayed playfully, though somewhat genuinely distant… Meanwhile, Emily composed herself enough to make a mental note: Joyce gets extremely jealous… And in Joyce’s head, she was very well thinking to herself, to hell with keeping the playing field mutual. She had half a mind to spank her bare bottom red, or stick that cheeky little nose in a corner for at least an hour...Though, she resolved herself to exhale through the nose. Maybe she got a little excited for just a moment… “I may have overreacted a little...” Joyce muttered. “Only a little?” Emily repeated, finding just a few more laughs in herself. Before Joyce could respond, her phone started to buzz. “You’re lucky. It was just about to be fifteen minutes in the...” Joyce started to chastise, then trailed as she looked at the ID. “Hello?” She spoke as she answered. “Oh! Michael, is that you?” While still on the phone, she shared a surprised look with Emily. “Of course I remember you! From the zoo! How could I forget?” She chuckled, as if there were never a bother in her head to begin with. “Come over? When?”

Thank you for reading! Yeah, when one chapter comes to a close, gotta keep things going with a whole new development! And yep, no fault of Emily's, just unfortunate circumstances. Thanks for commenting! Awesome and thank you for the kind words! AS far as continuation goes, it's always been the plan, just everyday life can make that difficult at times. Thanks! Thank you! I'm excited to write some more! No, I totally get it. I've been really happy to hear from some people that have created accounts just to comment on the story; it really does mean a lot. Besides, if I hadn't started posting my own stories, I'd probably be a lurker myself. I'm hoping college pans out well, too, lol. Classes are fine for the most part, but predominantly online instruction just isn't really my thing. (Thanks for the encouragement on the graphics card; makes me wanna cry every time it disappears from my shopping cart T-T) Glad to hear it! Thank you! I don't think of myself as too great of a writer, but I'm glad people enjoy what I put out. Truthfully I think it could be fun to take requests at some point; it could be fun putting other's ideas to paper. Hey everybody; I'm stoic that there's been such a great response to a new chapter! Really, thank you so much! Before the next chapter comes, I had a tangent I felt like writing at one point, but it's not pertinent to the story, so I called it a half-chapter. If it is a xx.5 chapter, don't expect anything canon! This is not important to the story. It takes into account what's going on in the story at the moment, but it has no real progression; it's just a fun read. Thought of something funny, so I figured I'd include it. Let me know what you think! If you'd rather not see stuff like this, just let me know; maybe I can turn it into a more defined short with the same characters, just different/made-up scenarios. Either way, please enjoy! 29.5 Unpacking “Closed? For how long?” Joyce politely, although restraining agitation spoke over the phone. It was a Friday evening and work was finally over. It would have been an exciting night for what was to come tomorrow, but a sudden phone call was quickly changing that. She let out a deep sigh. “Indefinite? Well if it’s indefinite, I can expect a full refund, yes?” More silence as Joyce listened to the other end, yet her brow started to twitch. There was a visible frown on her face. She was rational to a degree, and this person on the phone wasn’t the true object of her aggravation, but damn if she couldn’t use the target practice. “Credit? If you’re closed for who knows how long, what do you expect me to do with a--!” She paused as her phone started to buzz. It was another call. From Emily. The mere sight of her name on the vehicle’s console was enough to calm her down and just as much fill her with worry. “I...” Joyce clutched her steering wheel with an exhale. “I’m sorry for losing my temper. Th...thank you for your help...” She ended the call, looking at the new incoming signal with trepidation. Her finger drifted slow and sluggish to the ‘answer’ button. It felt bad to think, but after receiving such a bombshell of news, it wouldn’t feel the worst to let the call ring unanswered... “H-hey!” She did her best to sound upbeat, though straining a smile to convince positive verbiage. Her incoming reply, however, spoke with excitement from a much more genuine place. “Hi!” Emily, replied. “Hey! So I was thinking...uhm, maybe if you’re okay with it, we could do takeout tonight? So we can focus on finishing our packing?” She ended her suggestion with a stifled giggle, and it stirred a feeling of unease in Joyce’s stomach. “...” Joyce didn’t say anything. What could she say? How was she supposed to phrase it? She’d spent the past two weeks talking this whole vacation up to Emily, and now it had just gone up in smoke? Even she wasn’t fully convinced. The money, the planning, the excitement...It couldn’t totally be gone, could it? Whisked away in the span of a minute and delivered unto by a complete stranger? “Joyce?” Emily patiently asked over the phone. “You still there?” “Y-yes!” Joyce quickly stuttered a reply. “Uhm...takeout? Y-yeah, let’s do that. Start searching for somewhere you want to eat from, okay?” “Kay!” Emily eagerly replied, and prior to this car ride, Joyce would have been ecstatic to hear her girlfriend so over the moon, but it’d so quickly turned into fuel for dread and disappointment. “Oh! And, we’re gonna have to do dessert, too…” Emily openly pondered as if it were a given. “Oh! Oh! Can we get milkshakes too? At that shake place?” “Mm...well...we’ll see...” It pained her to hear the excited giggle over the phone. “Alright, whatever you say…! Bye, see you when you get home!” Joyce said her goodbyes then hung up the phone. Had she not been driving on the road she’d be ready to slam her own head on the steering wheel. She was already calling another number, facing a whole new level of stress. “Sheila?” It didn’t feel amazing misusing her staff like this, but a secretary’s job is to manage their employer’s schedule right? Surely this counted somehow… “Y-yes...No, I apologize for calling you after I just left the office. You are welcome to refuse, but do you have a moment to check something on a computer for me? You can? ...Thank you, I really appreciate this...” There was some intermediary pause on the phone. “Okay, uhm, I need you to see if there’s any hotel waterparks that have vacancies this weekend...If you can’t find a combination, separate locations are fine too...” Truly, what Joyce valued the most about Sheila was her discretion and lack of questions, save for logistical ones. More silence, but a response did come. It wasn’t a good one. “N-nothing…?” Joyce asked over the phone, nearly her mouth agape as she was left in disbelief. “I knew things were getting worse, but… Safety concerns, yes.” She sighed once more. Sheila was about as best of a person as resourceful people got, which is why she wasn’t going to second-guess her status report. “Have a good weekend...” Joyce hung up. She was maybe another ten minutes away from home, and she still wasn’t emotionally prepared. . .. … She was already on the phone again. “Joyce?” Amy’s voice intrigued from the other end. “We usually don’t talk like this unless I’m during business hours? So, uh...good job?” “I need advice.” Joyce was quick to her point. “I planned a vacation with Emily to a waterpark and I was just called by the resort and they had to cancel our reservation due to...recent circumstances.” “Uhm, okay...As in, pointers for what you can do instead of going to the resort?” “No...” Joyce spoke with meekness. “I mean...I’m almost home and Emily doesn’t know yet...” “So you’re worried about how she’s going to take it?” Joyce visibly nodded, despite Amy only having ears to receive her. “Y-...yes...” Joyce could hear a stifled giggle from the other line. “Amy!” Joyce practically begged. “Please! I’m being serious. What if she gets upset? Or, or starts to cry? Or...” Joyce started to look more troubled and bothered as Amy seemed to laugh again. She did speak soon after she cleared her lungs though. “Joyce, take the tinted lenses off. Despite how you and I might like to dress her, she’s mature and old enough to handle some bad news.” “Maybe...but--!” “But nothing,” Amy plainly cut her off. “You’re getting yourself more worked up than this thing’s really worth. Don’t worry, I’m sure you can make your vacation from home plenty exciting.” Joyce could suddenly hear a meowing noise from Amy’s end. “Uh...but then again, age only signifies so much...Much like my grown furball that makes a scene the minute he doesn’t get his dinner!” Amy half-shouted away from the phone. “Sorry about that. By the way, let me know if you ever want to trade partners; I think Emily would make for a cuter cat than the one I’m stuck with now...” “Thank you...” Joyce ran a hand through her hair, already parked in the building’s garage. “Maybe I am getting worked up over nothing...” “Yep, anytime! Well, within reason. Another small piece of advice; at least treat her tonight to let her down gently...” “Already part of the plan...” Joyce mulled. She hung up. More than anything she hated the thought of disappointing Emily, but not getting to spend quality time with your girlfriend, clad in cute swimsuits and playing with her at a waterpark was a horribly close second. “Emily?” Joyce called as she shut the door, kicking off her heels. She could hear her naked feet patter across the hardwood floors. “Welcome...” Emily’s voice started to fade in the closer she got, as Joyce could hear her pace turn into a dash. “...Hoooo~me!” She cheered as she flung herself into Joyce. Joyce caught her as she twirled with a hug. As happy as Joyce was to see her like this, she remained stiff and awkward. Her heart was too tangled with the sin of killing this joy. Emily took a look at her face and stopped swinging in her arms. She gave her an almost scrutinizing look, branded by her signature cuteness. “What’s wrong?” Emily asked. She stood upright to a posture that dignified her concern. “I...” Joyce looked visibly upset. Too many things were going on in her head; the countless simulations of Emily’s possible reactions to her bad news. “I got a call on the way back from work...” “Uh-huh?” Emily squeezed her hands. “And…--Emily, please don’t be upset with me…! I’m so sorry! We spent all this time planning and building up to it--and now…” Before she could even state the issue she was already trying to apologize, rambling as Emily was completely taken aback. “W-w-wait!” Emily stammered, trying to calm her down. “I don’t even know what you’re apologizing for?” It was so out of character for Joyce, Emily almost laughed. Was she acting right now? Joyce sniffled. She had no other way than being direct. “...The vacation...we can’t go. It was canceled.” “Canceled?” Emily asked, confirming the word rather than the meaning. “What do you mean?” “On the way home I got a call from the resort; with everything that’s been happening, all the hotels and parks are closing...” “Wait...” Emily was just catching up. Her voice was soft and somber. “...So we can’t go?” “No...we aren’t.” Joyce sulked. “I’m so sorry...” They were both quiet, seemingly lamenting over the current circumstances. Joyce felt twice the force though, as no response from Emily was worrying in itself. Amy had given her rational thoughts and reasoning, but that seemed to be tossed out the window entirely when trying to put it in practice. “Well…” Emily rubbed her shoulder. “That kinda sucks, but I guess we can’t do much about it...” Joyce had been crestfallen with her eyes aimed at the floor, but Emily’s reaction to say the least had subverted her expectations. “You...what?” Emily had looked glum, but Joyce’s question made her look confused now in turn. “What? I was looking forward to it, too...I even called you and everything...” “I know, just...I was expecting you to be more upset...” Maybe not holes in the walls, shattered windows and complete chaos, but maybe something a bit more vocal? “Well, I am...” Her words made Joyce almost flinch. “But not at you, obviously. Besides, if everything’s closing, I guess it wouldn’t be a smart move to try and go anyway?” Emily reasoned with a level head. Joyce seemed relieved, but there was still a large degree of upset written all over her face. That sadness ignited into surprise though as Emily assaulted her lips with her own, made possible by Emily’s earnest feet which stood high off their toes. Joyce looked down at her to see an almost pouty look with exaggerated air puffs in her cheeks. Emily twirled her fingers, drawing imaginary circles in the air as she chanted. “Pain, pain, go away! E-mi-ly’s here to save the day~!” And she ended her ritual with a magical blast of love, flashes and light as lightning erupted from her fingertip, directly into Joyce’s heart! … Well, not really. But the emotion was still there. Sort of. Joyce gave her a confused look, and not being the reaction Emily anticipated, it only added to the silence and weirdness left in Emily’s little dance, leaving her to shrivel as her cheeks grew red. “S-...say something, at least…!” Emily pouted for real this time, now feeling quite embarrassed. “H...h...pfff--!” Joyce couldn’t help it now, laughing from her diaphragm. “Wh...what was that…?” She held her side as she laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. “Wha…?” Emily looked annoyed now, her mouth agape. “Dummy! Stupid! That was supposed to cheer you up!” “That...that was like one of those shows with the magic superheroes!” Joyce couldn’t put the words together as she tried to keep her laughter in check. In fairness, Emily’s actions were comparable to a magical girl… “Hmmf!” Emily gave her the 90 degree turn with her arms crossed. “Last time I ever try to cheer you up!” “No, no!” Joyce begged with her arms over Emily’s shoulders. “You gotta do that again!” She swallowed to clear her throat. “Thank you. You really did make me feel better...” “G-good...” Emily sufficed, making no further comment. No matter the means, Emily always seemed to turn a situation on its head, so far for the better. Though, Joyce was back to feeling sore. “Is there any way you can get your vacation time back?” “Uhm...there’s a good chance?” Emily offered, though she couldn’t say for certain herself. Seeing as a less than certain response already made Joyce look guilty, Emily considered it a good wager as opposed to giving a definite no... With another deft and effective move from Emily, she squeezed Joyce’s cheeks with both hands. “I. Want. Takeout.” Three simple words, to move things along and get Joyce out of her funk. Joyce could only give a defeated miff as she nodded her head. “So what did you want to get?” Some time later that night, oddly enough, Emily and Joyce were walking back into the apartment, half-empty plastic cups of shakes in hand. Emily was looking as content could be, sucking from her straw, whilst Joyce looked emotionally worn, although pleased herself to see Emily in positive spirits. In large part was the taste of the refreshing treat, naturally, but also successfully persuading her girlfriend to make it not just a dinner, but a dessert too. “We’re gonna have to learn how to make our own shakes for the time being,” Joyce sighed as they both sat down on the ledge to manage their shoes. Going to Shake Stop that night was a smart move for two reasons. One, it kept Emily in high spirits, and two, it’d be the end of Shake Stop until places started opening up again… “This whole thing really snuck up on us, I guess.” Emily shrugged, not really having much else than that. “Sort of...” Joyce half-agreed. Emily had plausible deniability, but Joyce didn’t exactly...Even though she was the head of her company, that didn’t mean she had a hand in every policy; too much to do, otherwise, but she has the corporate ear to listen in on these things. While she focused on the far and wide aspects of her business in tandem with her coming vacation with Emily, it really blinded her to the tethers of reality. “Hey, how about we unpack together?” Emily asked with an upbeat tone. “It’s fine, I can unpack for both of us,” Joyce waved off her offer. “Would you stop it already?” Emily groaned, hanging her hands off of Joyce’s shoulder as she used all her weight to jostle it. “It’s not your fault! It sucks getting our expectations blown, but I never blamed you for a second! How could you have known this is what would have happened?” Joyce frowned, reflecting deeply. “I...I know, but it still doesn’t change what happened...” “Maybe not,” Emily agreed, though to the minimum extent. “But you’re doing that thing again. You keep holding yourself to an impossible standard!” “Because you deserve my 120%...” Joyce sulked, who despite even being in a melancholic state, could somehow still flirt with Emily as if it were like breathing. “Well, I dunno, turn it down to like a 119% or something?” Emily giggled. “119.9.” Was all Joyce said in response, looking to contemplate her power consumption and yield efficiency… “Point 9-9-9-9-9-9-9…!” She trailed with the repeating digit up until her mouth couldn’t afford the vocalization, what with her lips being busy with Emily’s. Emily lasted as long as she could, pulling her lower self away and finally her lips right until the very end. “Come on, let’s go unpack.” Emily coaxed her girlfriend with tugging hands. Thankfully Joyce was willing, and came of her own accord. With physics as a witness, the numbers simply did not support Emily’s strength and her ability to move someone like Joyce. So to clarify a small detail, it was by means of emotional persuasion Emily moved Joyce, not physical. There in the corner they were, sitting primed and ready to go, close if not completely ready. Two large suitcases stood against the wall, about to be gutted and hollowed for who knows how long. They’d been given life through the possessions Joyce and Emily stored in them, yet now were to be put to death by the disappointment of reality. Emily tugged hers onto its wheels and guided it over to the bed. “You said you wanted to finish packing tonight?” Joyce asked as she looked on with skepticism. With an angled look bordering on doubt, she couldn’t help but notice the overstuffed kind of look there was to her bag. “I hope you weren’t planning to pack much else?” “Just a couple..nnnn…! Tid-bits!” Emily tried to stay nonchalant as she physically exerted herself to lift her luggage onto the bed. “I feel like a bomb is gonna go off once we unzip that thing...” Joyce inched a bit closer, oddly tempted by her own morbid curiosity, played to much more ‘G’ rated levels. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything...” Emily spoke as she tried to get the zipper around the corner of the suitcase. “You know I’d have made sure we have the essentials?” Joyce reminded her, trying to hide her smile as she watched Emily struggle. Funny enough, before all this was even set into motion, Joyce had considered offering Emily to pack for her. Though, not so funny, Joyce was also considering that she would have been overbearing at that point. Finally the zipper was undone and the top cover almost popped up like an overstuffed stomach trapped inside a button-up one size too small. As the forces of nature settled Emily’s pile of luggage to an equilibrium, her mountain of clothes sat well-above the edge of the suitcase by the time they stopped expanding. “New rule: you only get to pack when I’m supervising.” Joyce said in a matter-of-fact kind of voice, looking quite unimpressed with the mass of clothes. “What? It was gonna be for three whole days!” Emily barked back, pulling a few shirts out. Joyce blinked in disbelief as she came to her senses, finding it worse than she initially thought. Jeez, you’re right! When I looked at your pile I assumed it was for five! Nope. Nope. No, no, no, no. Nada--never again!” She wagged her finger at Emily. “I hereby reserve the right to manage your packing for all future trips and vacations.” “Haaaa?” Emily mouthed back in confusion as well as humorous shock. “It’s not that bad?” She looked at her mountain of clothes, then back to Joyce. “Is it?” “At least I can sneak all the cute panties and skirts I want in your luggage, now!” Joyce answered with enthusiasm, making Emily frown, though grin a tiny bit. But, Emily was no quitter. She wasn’t going to back down without a fight. “Yeah? Well...then if you do that, I won’t pack any ‘surprises’ anymore!” With a haughty noise of satisfaction, Emily turned her head with a smug grin. “Oh?” Joyce did perk up at the mention of that. She raised her brow. “Surprises? Wanna elaborate?” “Wanna let me pack my own bag?” Emily countered, feeling herself on the high ground despite being the one having to look up. “Well frankly, a few more trips with you and I think the threads on that suitcase will be ready to tear, so...” She trailed, yet giving Emily an obvious answer. An answer she wouldn’t accept. “No deal, then!” Emily plainly rejected. “Since when did I teach my girl to be such a businesswoman?” Joyce chuckled, entertained by the persona. “Come on, though! Tell me! You have my curiosity. What surprise?” Joyce smiled eagerly. “Not. Gonna. Tell!” Emily snickered, happy to see that the shoe was on the other foot for once. Now she was the one to do the teasing! She’d be the one in control, and soon after, she’d become the mommy, turn Joyce into the baby, put her in the nursery! And then--! Emily’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she saw Joyce tossing things aside from in her bag. “Wait! No, nooo!” Emily had immediately lost her tone of superiority, trying to get in the way of Joyce and her bag as she whined like an indignant toddler. “Stop! Stooop!” Emily, who had felt so superior, was now back to being at rock bottom. The one thing she didn’t anticipate, which was her most obvious downfall, was indicating that she already did pack one of those little ‘secrets’. In other words, if Emily didn’t want to talk, all Joyce had to do was look through her bag to see for herself. “Let’s see what you packed…!” Joyce couldn’t hide the excitement as she shifted through shirts, shorts and bathing suits. Emily meanwhile was at an arm’s length, being kept that way by Joyce's hand, minding her girlfriend’s whining so little with different priorities in mind. “Stop! It’s supposed to be a secret! You’re gonna ruin it!!” Emily tried to bargain, to get her field advantage back, yet Joyce was getting dangerously close to the bottom of the pile. With no other smart idea, and already whining like a panicked child, Emily could only resort to those kinds of tactics. Backing on her heel to reposition, Emily stepped away from Joyce’s hands and rushed her directly from behind. Shaping both her hands like hooks as she curled her fingers, Emily sunk her fingers in between Joyce’s slacks and underwear, tugging them down with all her weight. “E-Emily?!” Joyce suddenly gasped as she felt something happening from behind, to her behind, and she paused the illegal baggage inspection to clutch her behind. “Wh-what the hell are you doing?!” She couldn’t help but laugh at the bizarre maneuver, but was an odd sort of panicked as well. “Oh, look! They’re purple today!” Emily comically remarked, catching a nice view of Joyce’s rounded bum and the detailed and intricate underwear they were in. Though, as much of an upset Emily was causing, unfortunately it didn’t affect Joyce in the way she attended. “F-fine!” Joyce laughed, albeit blushing a small bit, and decided that the sacrifice was necessary. And so she pretended to ignore being pantsed whilst she went back into Emily’s bag. Damn it! Emily was very much at the end of her rope. A few more seconds and she’d find what she packed! Think...think…! Joyce had come close to the bottom, and while she hadn’t fully realized it yet, she was beginning to see the shape of something defined with a bit more rigidity than shirts and pants would have...Right before she could solve that mystery though, she’d suddenly slipped back and had her chin hit the comforter and mattress. It wasn’t exactly her best plan, but a plan nonetheless. Emily with triumph had taken Joyce by the ankles and pulled her out from in front of the bed. “You little weasel!” Joyce spat viciously with playfulness as she was far too driven now. If Emily was working this hard to avert her, then that could only speak to the pleasures she was about to find! She was about to stand, but Emily tugged again, aided by the minimal friction there was between the hardwood floor and the sleek smoothness of her slacks. But right before she’d been pulled from the bed completely, she’d grabbed part of Emily’s suitcase, ending the grand battle once and for all as its remainder of contents spilled on both Emily and Joyce. Where is it, where is it?! Emily’s mind was racing as she scrambled on the floor, tossing her stuff aside. True to Joyce’s joke, it certainly looked like a bomb had gone off in the room. As Joyce sat there, partly naked from the waist down, save for her panties, she pulled one of Emily’s bikini bottoms off her head as she collected herself. Then her brows rose in surprise as she looked down at her lap. Sitting squarely there was a… “What do we have here?” Joyce asked with a devious grin, and Emily’s heart sank once she saw what she was holding. Emily groaned, slumping into a shy, fetal position, sitting on the floor with Joyce. “When did you sneak this out of the nursery?” Joyce probed as she looked upon Emily’s ‘secret’ with fascination. Emily was too red around the cheeks to respond properly. “I j-just wanted to make it special…!” Emily pouted, wanting to leave right then. So much for making it a surprise. Joyce bit her lower lip, never expecting this. Emily had teased a secret, but she was expecting maybe a skimpy outfit, or a cute swimsuit she bought! But instead she went straight for Joyce’s sweetspot; she knew exactly how to please her. Joyce’s emotions were ready to burst, she wanted to say so much…! Emily squeezed herself tighter once she heard the squeal. “Emily! Oh my gosh! This is too cute!” Joyce laughed as she wrapped her arms around her. “La-la-la-la!” Emily blocked out her ears. “I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!” “D’awhh, come on!” Joyce nuzzled her cheek with hers. “You’re so adorable! I never thought you’d pack a diaper on your own!” Joyce was in blissful disbelief. She always considered herself to take the lead. She gave the bashful Emily a long-drawn kiss, who still looked pouty. Finally Joyce was smiling less, letting her expression tone down some. “Are you really angry with me?” She asked. “Yes...” Emily sulked...But shook her head. “...No. I lied. I’m not...Just embarrassed...” Yes. Somehow, for some reason, Emily packed one of her diapers in her suitcase. Frankly she’d been tormenting herself over the decision for almost the past week. Joyce was coming home late most nights and only wanted to relax, and not to mention they only saved this kind of play for the weekends. If they were going on vacation for the weekend, they would have missed another mommying opportunity. So...after enough time to wear away her reluctance, Emily decided to maintain the fun of their trip, as well as keep the magic they had behind closed doors… “I...I thought you’d get homesick if we couldn’t do what we usually do at home...” Emily murmured, glancing at the diaper in Joyce’s hand. “Thank you for thinking of me.” Joyce smiled, sharing another kiss. “But...frankly, I’m kinda glad I found out now, assuming the trip was still on.” Joyce admitted, almost apologetically. “Why’s that?” “Well...truthfully, I don’t think I’d wanna stop after just one diaper,” Joyce giggled. Emily took a pause though, realizing she could have awakened the mommy inside of Joyce for the remainder of the vacation. “Rest assured though, I wouldn’t ever do something like that unless you gave me permission.” She smiled confidently. “Mm...” Emily pensively agreed, feeling like she dodged a bullet now. “Well...” She started to say, surveying the mess around the room. “At least I’m unpacked now?” The sudden humor caused Joyce to give a small snort of laughter. “Let’s unpack yours now.” Emily stood up, walking to Joyce’s bag. “Oh! Uhm, actually, I can take care of that.” Joyce waved her off simply. “There isn’t much, and I don’t wanna get it confused with everything you have everywhere...” She casually explained. “Uh-huh...” Emily nodded. “I see.” Yes, she did see, as her eyes kept drifting to Joyce, then her bag. Joyce started to frown more concerningly with each glance. “Emily…? What are you--Emily! No!” It was Joyce’s turn to reach out and stop her perpetrator, yet history or some culmination of karma was doomed to occur once more. Before she could reach in time, Emily laid the bag across the floor and in one swift motion undid the zipper. “Now!” Emily giggled mischievously. “Let’s see what we have in--!” Her voice came to a halt as she flipped the cover over. She turned her gaze to a speechless Joyce. Joyce nervously smiled back. “Uh...hehe…?” Joyce had certainly been busy packing. Packing things that had nothing to do with her clothes. Diapers. An entire pack of them, along with wipes, powder, onesies, two Emily-sized baby bottles, her favorite pacifier, Pip…! “What the hell have you been doing every night?!” Emily bombarded her with questions. “You said you wouldn’t do this unless I gave you permission!” Joyce looked stunned as she slightly stuttered, not expecting to have her plan foiled so quickly. “W-well…!” She stammered. “I...I had to be ready incase if you did ask for it…!” “New rule!” Emily declared. “We each pack for EACH OTHER!” And in one swift motion, Emily lifted the package of diapers above her head, tossing them directly at Joyce. “Back to the nursery from whence they came!” Emily commanded. “Yes, boss~...” A guilty-sounding Joyce giggled as she walked away, diapers in hand, never minding to put her own pants back on. “Honestly...” Emily sighed to herself with disapproval. “Sometimes I feel like the mommy...” SHORT END.