Emerald Princess - Chapters 1-5 (v2) free porn video

Foreword: In 2016 I began posting this story, Emerald Princess, set in the Whateley Universe. Real life happened, along with a major case of writer's block, and I stalled out in the middle of Chapter 21. Several people have tried to get me to return to this since I stopped, but I just could never get my head back into the story. Finally a new friend, Chloe, badgered me enough I decided to take another look at it. As a result I have managed to finish the full novel, which is 29 Chapters plus an Epilogue. As I've gone through the story I've edited some little details here and there, and decided I'd go ahead and repost the first 20 chapters this week before I begin posting the new chapters. This novel is set in the universe of the Whateley Academy. It takes place after the first generation characters have graduated, but I was in the midst of writing this before the 2nd Generation Canon came out - my apologies that it doesn't directly tie in there! This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy, and may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? Most likely it will not match the canon of the universe. I believe this is the first work in that universe that was written with the ABDL community in mind. What that means is there will be babying, diapers, bottles, and everything a baby does at certain points of this book. If that's not your cup of tea you may wish to find another story. Please keep in mind this story is a work of total fiction, and resemblance to real people or places is unintentional! If you would like to know more about the canon universe visit www.whateleyacademy.net This work is Copyright ©2016-2020 Baby Sofia, and may not be distributed or reproduced on any website or print edition without expressed permission. Chapter 1: Jealous I stared at the road as Mom drove me to school. The town where I grew up in was a category of its own really as one of the most unique towns in the world. Just for me to come to school, we had to drive through a checkpoint with a guard shack manned by an MP! As usual though my mom was waived through like normal without stopping. The only time they really checked vehicles like a military base was when there was some sort of alert. The town of Los Alamos itself was on the backside of a beautiful mountain that was a part of the Rocky Mountains. I loved hiking and fishing the mountain streams with my dad on the occasional weekend he wasn't bogged down in his research projects. I felt a prod in my side and looked over at my baby sister in her car seat. She poked me with the play hairbrush that she was using on her doll. "Why'd you poke me?" I asked Lily. "You play with me later?" I sighed. "If I get a chance I will later Lily. I have a lot of assignments due soon..." Lily looked at me with her pretty green eyes, "Please?" I sighed again. "We'll see Lily Bear." With that I tickled her a little to make her smile. "Stop dat!" she giggled. I smiled at her as Mom pulled up to the loading zone at the school. Lily was probably the prettiest baby sister that I knew of! She was a total oops child for my mom a bit over two years ago. My parents apparently forgot where babies came from one week while I was out of town at a music camp. I opened the door of the Toyota Land Cruiser and swung out. "Don?t forget that you have Tae Kwon Do tonight," Mom reminded me through the window that she had rolled down. "Like I could forget?!?" I asked with a bit of incredulity. I was testing for my second-degree black belt tonight! I just hoped I could manage to pass this test. If I could get this belt, then I would be able to really think about teaching in my own studio after I graduated college. After this belt though I would no longer be able to just test at home, I would be flying to major cities or maybe even to Korea! For something I had been practically forced to do at the start, I had really grown a love of it! I walked down the hallway to my locker to drop off a couple things. I passed my reflection in the window of a dark classroom and shook my head. I was one of the nerdiest of the nerdy kids to my peers, and in Los Alamos that was saying something! I was a decent height, five foot eleven, but was a total stick. It didn?t matter how much I ate - it took tons of fat just to get me to 105 pounds. That was with my clothes and shoes on! My brown hair was also really long - three inches past my shoulders in a neat ponytail. As far as anyone else was concerned I was really just riding the fad, but there was a deeper reason for it that I wasn?t about to share with anyone. "Nick!" I heard behind me. "Hey Jacob," I said as I turned to one of my few real friends? voices. "Did you get the math homework done?!?" He was in a panic. I groaned, like always he hadn?t done anything but played games last night. I spent the next few minutes walking to our first period band class being cajoled into helping him finish - ie copying my homework. "Please Nick!" he pleaded. "Jacob, you?re not asking to copy Nick?s homework, again are you?" Hannah asked with disdain. "Umm... maybe?" Jacob said, "Unless you?ll help me out?" he asked and batted his eyelashes. We both laughed. Jacob, Hannah, and I were like the three musketeers. Hannah and I had been friends for a long time and was one of the few people in the world that I felt like I could trust with anything. She also happened to be Lily?s go to babysitter if my parents and I weren?t available. I had a crush on her that confused me on a regular basis since I really just thought of her as a best friend. I looked at my cell phone for the time and figured we had about ten minutes to save Jacobs rear again. It?s not that he was stupid... he was probably as smart as I was, but he was lazy when it came to homework. Amazingly he managed to keep good grades up - of course his parents probably would have killed him otherwise. That?s the thing with having two parents with PhDs, slacking isn?t even a remote option. I was fortunate that my parents only had the one PhD between them... but it was almost like two since the only reason Mom didn?t have hers in Chemistry was that she found it too hard to take care of me and work on her doctorate. Dad was considered very useful at the lab due to his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and his Doctorate in Physics. Their graduate degrees both came from MIT and their undergrads were at rival Ivy League schools. Needless to say my parents were smart! In any other town their resumes would shine like a star, but in Los Alamos they were practically a dime a dozen. The number of well-educated parents in the community was absurd! As the first bell rang I pulled my flute case from my backpack and went to sit in my first chair spot that I had fought for so hard. Playing flute as a guy is never a task that will avoid people giving you grief. Fortunately I was one of three guys in the flute section, so I wasn?t alone, but still... I had quickly figured out that the way to shut up most of the chatter in junior high was by being better than everyone else. Well, that and the Tae Kwon Do lessons that they figured out I took by then. My sensei trained me never to be the aggressor from the time my parents had me start in second grade. That didn?t stop me from protecting myself when attacked though. It sadly took until seventh grade before the last bully figured out the folly of attacking me. "Morning," the band director said as he sipped a cup of coffee. "Morning Mr. Mu?ez," I responded politely. We both shared the same value of there being no ?good? in mornings and had our private joke with this greeting. Before too long rehearsal began and I once again had to hide a guilty pleasure that we were playing music from Frozen for our Christmas Concert in three weeks. Of course it might have been just that we were playing music that wasn?t traditional Christmas music too! That had to be played that day too unfortunately. It didn?t matter what a composer did with Jingle Bells, it still got old! At lunch I sat with Hannah, Jacob, and a couple other friends. "So your big test is tonight, huh?" Hannah asked. I blushed but nodded. "I hope I don?t fail it..." She gave me a hard stare, "Of course you won?t fail it. Didn?t you like just win several competitions this year?" I shrugged, "This isn?t a competition, and even if it was there would be just as good of a chance of things going wrong." She kicked me under the table, "Come on, positive attitude!" I smiled at her, "Okay, if you?ll quit beating me up I?ll think positively." That led to her kicking me again for spite. "So I hear it?s supposed to snow tonight?" Jacob asked. "Yeah, but don?t you go jinxing it!" I said with a warning. Truth be told it would take a fair amount of snow for school to be cancelled. Living in the mountains you just had to learn to deal with it much of the time. It?s why if you lived on the outskirts of town, like my family, you had to have a four-wheel drive vehicle. Hannah gave him the glare too. "Think the ski resort will open this year?" I asked thoughtfully. "Even if it doesn?t we could always go hit Sandia or go up to Wolf Creek over Christmas Break," Hannah suggested. "My parents have offered to take us up to either." "That would be sweet!" I said with a smile. "I?m hoping my parents will get me a new board for Christmas." We spent the remainder of our lunchtime talking before having to go our separate ways to classes. I managed to get through the end of the day, and my Calculus test, without too much trouble. By the time I fought my way through the hallways full of students to the curb outside my mom was waiting for me in our car. I climbed into the back out of habit so I could sit next to Lily. "You know you?d have to do a lot less driving if you?d let me get a car," I suggested to her. "Your father and I want to wait until after Christmas Break," she reiterated. I had just turned 18 the week before, but for whatever reasons my parents still didn?t want me driving by myself yet. It was like she could see my whining getting ready to increase. "Besides, you haven?t gotten a job to pay for it either..." I sighed. "Just be patient sweetie," she said. I looked to my left and saw my baby sister sleeping quietly in her car seat. "How did you get the princess to sleep?" I asked quietly. Mom shook her head. "She had a playdate today with Becky?s daughter Zoe. They didn?t stop running from the time I dropped you off at school until I packed her up twenty minutes ago." "Whatever works, huh?" I smiled. I looked back over at her red hair that mom had put into pigtails this morning. One of the rubber bands was starting to slide off so I gently fixed it. Mom drove us home to our house that was outside the city limits. Los Alamos is a weird town because it?s technically all government property. That means if you wanted to own your own house you had to move outside of town and commute. I didn?t mind because it meant our house that backed right up to the forest. Well, sort of... There was a major fire in 2000, and another later one had happened, so my family decided it was for the best when we moved here to clear the land immediately around the house. No sense making it easy for the house to burn down in a forest fire! Our house had two stories with a full basement that contained a workout room, play room, and home theater. As I grew older the playroom became more of a hangout room for my friends and I. The playroom was back mostly in use now though with Lily and had toys scattered everywhere in the room. Once Mom parked I threw my backpack on my shoulders and went to Lily?s side of the car. I opened the door, quietly unbuckled her highness, and then picked her up gently. Mom gave me an appreciative smile. I had to appreciate that she only weighed 25 pounds at this point. She was on the very small size for her age of two-and-a-half. "Is she wet?" Mom asked quietly. I felt her diaper under her tights and nodded as we walked into the house. "Here," she motioned. "hand her to me and I?ll change her before I put her down to finish this miracle nap." I smiled at her. "I?ll do it Mom." "How did I get lucky enough to have a son that doesn?t mind changing his sister's diapers?" She smiled at me. "I don?t know," I told her with a smile and walked upstairs past my bedroom door and to Lily?s room. My parents had switched her crib rails out last month for her toddler bed version of the bed, but had kept Lily?s changing table in there. I gently sat her down on it and took care of the wet diaper. Truth be told I loved taking care of my sister! She was the most precious person in the universe to me. I was able to get her tights pulled back up and lay her down in her bed without her stirring a bit. The pacifier she had in her mouth never once looked like it was in danger of falling out either! I walked quietly out of her room and went down the hall to mine. I sat down at the desk to start doing my homework. I only had about thirty minutes until Mom would call me down for dinner and then I would need to change for my testing. I figured it was just enough time to start typing the ridiculous essay that I had to write for English. My teacher wanted three pages analyzing Dante?s satirical use of people in the Inferno. It?s not that there weren?t plenty of people and characters to use, it was that all three of those pages would have to be perfect for her to be happy. I sighed and began typing. I managed to get through the first page when I was invaded. "Can I help?" Lily asked me as she climbed into my lap with her favorite doll. I smiled at her. "I wish you could!" "Play with me?" she asked with a smile. "Hmm... I kind of have to get this done," I told her. She frowned. "Please?" I looked at the clock, Mom was going to call us down for dinner any minute. I was just about to give in to her sweet eyes when Mom came in. "Dinner?s ready you two." I looked at Lily. "Maybe tomorrow night?" I suggested gently. She looked like she was going to go into her crying tantrum mode so I started tickling her. She instantly started laughing as I tickled her mercilessly for a moment. "Stop..." she cried and I stood up with her still in my arms. "Let?s go eat," I told her and carried her downstairs. At the table I set her in her highchair. Dad came in the door right as I finished buckling Lily in. He gave Lily and mom a kiss, said, "Hi," to me, and went to go wash up. We sat down to mom?s roast and potatoes she had put in the crockpot that morning. She looked up at the clock as I finished eating. "Nicholas go get ready," she told me. "Okay," I said with the butterflies flying in my stomach. It took me less than ten minutes to get dressed in my gi and I made sure that I looked ready for my testing. I walked out of my room to see Mom changing Lily again. She usually had a messy diaper right after dinner and it seemed like this was the case tonight too as I could smell it from the doorway. She had her bottle in her hand while she was being changed. "I?m ready," I said with a smile. "So is Lily, huh?" Mom said and gave her a kiss. I loved my sister, but I have to say she was extremely lucky to always have so much attention from us. ?I wish I received half that attention!? I smiled. My parents and I loaded up the Land Cruiser and headed to the dojo where I studied. Mom gave me a hug, Dad said, "Good luck," and I went to my place at the front of the middle line. Other students trickled in and before I knew it our sensei had us warming up and running through some simple forms as a group. A few other parents were there for the younger children that night, as well as a couple of my friends who were taking other belt tests. "Tonight we have twelve students testing for their next belt," Sensei announced as he had us gathered around the outside edges of the room. "We will go in order of lower belts to higher belts." He explained the process and I watched the other eleven students test through their forms, breaking, and sparring. It seemed like no time at all before I was called up. "Nicholas Hammerstein, please step forward." He smiled at me. I walked to the center of the room. "Nicholas is testing for the highest belt he can earn here. After this belt he will have to test elsewhere with a grandmaster present. Good luck," he told me. "Thank you Sensei," I said politely bowing. He called out for me to do my forms and I hoped I did a credible job. I was less worried about this part than the breaking test. I sized up the boards I was to break first with a punch and was relieved to see all of them broken after I tried. He had me perform a kick break which I successfully nailed too. I was feeling confident as the sparring portion came up. "Nicholas, you will spar against Randy," he told me, motioning to a student who had just successfully tested for his first level black belt the previous month. I watched him like a hawk and would have been declared the victor by points if this were a tournament. At that point Sensei concluded the match. I stood at attention before him. "Nicholas, you have performed well for your test, and it is my great honor to bestow your second degree black belt to you." He handed me my new belt and I bowed to him. "Thank you Sensei," I said. Suddenly I was attacked from below by a pink bundle. He laughed at me. "You are going to need a higher degree belt to deal with that one!" I held Lily all the way back to the car and put her in her car seat. "You so cool!" she told me with a smile. "Thank you Lily," I told her and reached over to hand her doll to her. That night we went and found a place to get ice cream before heading home. We talked about how confident I had been as I moved through the testing. Dad mentioned he thought I might even have a chance of sparring against mutants, but I shook my head. I knew how good they were from some of the tournaments that ran side-by-side with mine at times! They just usually had too much speed and faster reflexes; even if they didn?t have the strength to throw a car a block away! We eventually finished our ice cream and I fell asleep as soon as we got back into the car. It had been a long day! MOM WOKE ME up at home and I discovered the snow had indeed started to fall! "Snow!!!" Lily said excitedly waking back up. ?Uh-oh,? I thought, ?I bet she?s going to be a hyper handful for the rest of the night. I looked at my phone and groaned when I realized how late it was. ?10pm already?!?? I went upstairs, showered, and put my pajamas on before trying to get some of my homework done. The essay could wait until tomorrow night, but the math homework wouldn?t. I scrambled to do the six calculus problems but was struggling on the final one when my dad came in. "It?s time for bed Nicholas," he said. I sighed. "I have to get this last problem done first Dad, I just can?t figure out where I?m going wrong." I hoped that would get his attention and maybe he would help. He gave me a stare that told me he knew exactly what I was up to, but he looked at the clock next to my desk and said, "What is it?" Dad looked at it for five minutes and scratched his head too. "Okay... If this number was different this would work out to a nice even number, but the way it?s written... It has to be a mistake," he said to me. "How would you solve it though if it?s right?" I asked. I watched as he found another piece of paper and started solving the equation using his much higher level math knowledge he?d gained from his physics doctorate. "Well, this is the solution as written, but you can?t fully solve it either because of this." He pointed to errors. "Why don?t you..." He walked me through what he had done to get to that point at least and I copied it down. I understood how he did it, but like him I was pretty sure there was an error. This way when I spoke to the teacher tomorrow I could have both an answer and a question on whether the problem was wrong! "Okay, time for bed now!" he said. "Thank you Dad," I said as I gave him a hug. "I don?t know what I?d do if you didn?t know math!" He laughed. "You?d be fine, my parents used to look at my calculus homework and then walk away as quickly as they could!" I decided to go to the bathroom one last time and watched Mom put down Lily in her bed. As much as she was growing up she still wanted to be held in the rocking chair and told a bedtime story each night with her bottle. I figured one of these days Mom was going to have to be mean and finally take away her bottles, pacifiers, and potty train her, but she seemed in no hurry to do so. She turned and saw me walking back to my room. "You should have been in bed a half hour ago," she said with a look. "Sorry, Dad was helping me with homework. Besides, why should I go to bed before my baby sister?" I asked with a smirk. "She takes naps," Mom said with a smirk of her own. She gave me a hug. "Good night Nicholas." "Night Mom," I told her and crawled into bed. My last thoughts before going to sleep were, ?I did it! I?m a second degree black belt!? and then ?I?m so jealous of Lily, I wish I could have a bedtime story and a bottle!? SOMETIME IN THE middle of the night I woke up completely sweaty and chilled. I pulled a blanket that had fallen on the ground on and wrapped myself tighter, but I couldn?t stop shivering. I must have been audibly whimpering or something because my door opened and Mom came in. "Are you okay?" I shook my head. "I?m cold and shi-hi-vvv-vv-ering." She took one look at me and turned the lights on. I felt her hand on my forehead. "You?re burning up," she said with concern. I watched her leave the room and she came back with a thermometer and a wash cloth. She stuck the thermometer in my mouth and put the washcloth on my head. "This can?t be right..." she said. "Levi!!!" she shouted. Dad came sleepily in my room. "What?s wrong?" "He?s burning up... you don?t think...?" This wasn?t making much sense to me as I was just not feeling. All I could focus on was how much nicer it would be if she could just pick me up and hold me, maybe I?d be warm enough then. "I feel like I?m going to be sick," I said suddenly standing up and trying to run to the bathroom. As I got to the doorway of the bathroom I saw my baby sister standing in her nightgown with her pacifier looking at me scared. I felt bad that I had woken her up, she looked so cute. That was my last thought before everything suddenly went black. Chapter 2: Careful What You Wish For I LOOKED AROUND the house and wandered around from room to room. Where was Mom? Dad? Lily? I decided to go up to Lily?s room and found it empty. It was weird. I walked over to her changing table and noticed her favorite purple pacifier was there. I picked it up and looked at the pacifier and how it had an open area on either side of the button in the middle of it. I always liked her using it because I could see her cute smile still. "Would you like that?" I turned around and suddenly found myself facing a beautiful lady in her early twenties. I blushed. "If I was young enough, I?m sure I would," I said and sat it down. "Who are you?" "Names are powerful things young one," she told me. Something about this didn?t seem like a dream and I could feel like there was some sort of static electricity running up and down my body. "Maybe a nickname?" I asked before stretching out my hand and saying. "I?m Nicholas." "Well, they certainly brought you up to be polite," the lady said. "You may call me Caireen," she said simply. "You?re a very unusual young man. Willingly taking care of your sister?" "She?s a sweetheart," I responded. "Still not normal for an eighteen-year-old boy to volunteer to help," she said, "Of course, we wouldn?t be talking if you were normal." She smiled. "What do you mean?" "You?ll find out. For now, I guess we?re going to be together for a very long time since you found me. Please don?t be upset at your gifts," she said with a bigger smile before taking the pacifier off the table and putting it into my mouth. "There you go," she said. My eyes must have been as big as saucers as I realized this had to be a dream. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, I heard what had to be the most annoying metronome of all time as I woke up. I started to stretch with my eyes closed and suddenly realized something was wrong. "Levi, he?s waking up," I heard Mom say and I looked up suddenly at their faces. Something was not right here. Not right at all. The angle of their faces was all wrong from where I was lying, and I was obviously in a hospital... but not in a normal hospital bed. "Where am I?" I asked, or tried to ask. Something was in the way for me to talk. I reached up to my mouth and pulled out a... "Why do I have a pacifier in my mouth?" I asked starting to panic and sit up. My voice sounded really weird and squeaky. Mom gently pushed me down, but something was wrong there. Her hand was too big! "What happened?" I asked more agitated and feeling upset that my voice once again sounded weird. "It?s okay sweetie, calm down and I?ll try to explain..." she said. Something in her eyes reassured me, but somehow I could tell that she wasn?t being truthful. I lay back down though. "Explain." Dad came in with the doctor right then. "Good, you woke up," the doctor said. "What happened?" I said again more forcefully. "Nicholas," Mom started. "...I don?t think there?s any easy way to explain, but you manifested last night and went through a major burnout." "I?m a mutant?!?!?" I asked surprised. "Your mother and I both carried the gene recessively, but we figured you were not likely to get it... " I looked at them in shock. I never knew our family had any history of mutants. "But don?t people usually manifest younger?" I asked thinking back to when one boy in our school had manifested our sophomore year. The doctor shrugged. "Usually, but eighteen is not unheard of to manifest." I nodded finally. "Okay, so I?m a mutant. Why... umm... why do I think I changed a lot more than average?" The doctor answered this one. "Nicholas you?re going to have to do some testing to be sure, but I believe you are an exceptionally high- level exemplar. Your BIT, or the Body Image Template that it made you look like, normally shouldn?t change you so quickly, but for some reason yours did..." I sat up now, and felt my mom?s hand helping me. I had lost a lot of height. A LOT of height. I didn?t seem to have any hair on my arms or my legs. I felt the hair on my head and it felt like it was shorter than it had been. It barely reached my shoulders but had a lot of curl at the ends. I looked down at the gown and noticed it was covered with bears before running my hand down to my groin area. Something padded was in the way and I looked up at Mom. "How old am I?" "Eighteen..." she paused and grimaced. "Going on three we think." "And am I..." I was scared to ask this next one. If only it could be true. ?Please be true,? I said to myself. "Am I a girl?" She nodded and tears streamed out of her eyes. Dad came around and held one of my hands on the other side. I smiled. "Being the same age as Lily is embarrassing..." I hopefully looked at the doctor. "I?ll at least grow back up, right?" He looked at me and shrugged. "I don?t honestly know. Sometimes when a mutant manifests for the first time they?ll go through a similar experience and get younger. Most of the time they do age then, but usually at a slower rate." "The other times?" I asked founding myself craving something in my mouth to soothe myself. I knew the pacifier was sitting next to my hand and had to fight the urge to put it back in my mouth. "Well, there have been a few cases of them getting younger and not aging at all," he said, "I don?t know of any easy way to say it... but to be honest I think there?s probably an eighty percent chance your BIT may lock you like this." "Great!" I groaned. "So, I?m going to be the baby sister before long!" Mom smiled and said, "Well, at least maybe Lily will remember you taking such good care of you that maybe she?ll do the same?" It was at that moment that I passed out again. I WOKE BACK up as I felt my body being contorted. I opened my eyes and began to cry as I realized mom was changing my diaper. It smelled like one of Lily?s after dinner diapers, which meant I had to have gone poop in my sleep. She finished and then picked me up. I realized then that the wires and IVs had been unhooked while I was sleeping. "It?s okay sweetie," she told me and she hugged me tight, cuddling me like my little sister. Eventually I calmed down and she asked, "Do you want something to drink?" I nodded. She produced a cup with a straw and some ice water. I tried to put the straw in my mouth but there was something in my way. "Here, I?ll take that," she said as she pulled the pacifier out of my reddening face. A moment later I found myself guzzling down. I was really thirsty! When it was empty, I looked at her. "Am I a real baby or something, why did I have a pacifier in my mouth?" She sat down and held me on her knee facing me. "You were burning up and stumbled down the hallway. When you reached the bathroom you... you... you suddenly started smoking and steaming before there was a burst of fire where you were standing." Mom was crying as she spoke. "I thought you had to be dead, but suddenly the fire was gone and in its place was a... a little girl..." She cringed. "Lily was as shocked as I was and she walked over to you and her pacifier fell out of her mouth right next to you. We watched you pick it up, put it in your mouth, and then you passed back out." I grimaced. I honestly could feel a craving for it even now. "Sorry, I have a bad feeling it?s going to be hard to break me of my pacifier habit!" I told her. "You want it back?" she asked. I couldn?t help it and nodded. Mom placed it back in my mouth and started talking again. "What were you thinking about when you went to bed?" "Why?" I asked around the pacifier. Mom still understood with a smile curling on her lips. "It may have affected your BIT," she told me. I grimaced and thought back. "I was thinking how nice it would have been for you to be able to pick me up and hold me like Lily..." I paused. "Then I saw her standing there in the hallway looking cute in her princess nightgown." Mom looked like she had understood most of that around the pacifier and she hugged me tight. "I?m stuck like this, aren?t I?" I asked her. "Probably." "The baby stuff?" "Well, the pacifier seems to be tough for you to be without." I nodded. "And the potty training... maybe we can re-train you." I pulled the pacifier out again and groaned. "How am I going to go to school in diapers and sucking on a pacifier?" "I don?t know sweetie, but we?ll find a way. I don?t think your mind is going to be hurt in any way, if anything you?ll probably be smarter." I smiled a bit at that. "And, you?re probably a lot stronger too," she told me. "And you probably even have some really cool abilities now. The doctor said only the highest-level mutants seem to change this much." I just nodded to that. "Where?s Dad?" "He went home to get Lily." She told me. "What did you do with her last night?" I asked, suddenly worried. "We brought her with us and then were able to drop her off at Hannah?s house since there?s no school today." "Really? We had a snow day and I have to be sick?" Mom just laughed, plopped the pacifier back in my mouth, and sat there cuddling me until I must have fallen back asleep. I DIDN?T SLEEP long because I was soon woken up by voices. "Is that really Nick?" I heard and groaned. I opened my eyes. "Hi Hannah," I said timidly. Mom was still holding me so I felt some comfort from that. She held out a cute teddy bear to me that had a ribbon tied around its neck. I couldn?t help but notice it seemed more than half my size! "I thought maybe..." She seemed to lose her words and not be able to speak. "Thanks Hannah," I said as I held an arm out to hold it. Mom held onto my waist and kept me from falling off of her lap. "You?re beary welcome," she told me with a smile. She hesitated before saying. "Wow, you?re really cute Nick." "I haven?t even seen myself," I said aloud. Through the pacifier I thought it sounded like gibberish, but Mom must have understood it. "Do you want to?" she asked me as she stood up and leaned me back to look at her. I grimaced but nodded. "Uh-huh," I said. She walked me to the bathroom and I saw a really pretty little girl, maybe just a little bit older than Lily, staring at me. My hair was fiery red now, like the color of Merida?s from Brave, and I had green eyes. Not just any green though, it was a dark emerald color that seemed to glow almost - certainly not normal. The pacifier in my mouth must have been swapped at some point because it was a new one that I had never seen my sister with. It was purple with a button of pink flowers on it. It was so girlish I would have to keep it safe from my sister stealing it. I giggled at that. "What?s so funny?" Mom asked as I kept giggling. "What?s not funny?" I asked gasping as the pacifier fell from my mouth. "I?m supposed to be eighteen years old and all of the sudden I?m a three-year old baby girl with a pacifier in my mouth that my sister will probably want to steal from me." I kept laughing. "Well, you did steal hers first," she told me with a smile. She sat me down on the ground and I walked towards the bed again. Surprisingly I felt like I was able to walk normally. The only thing that made me waddle a little was the diaper that was obviously a little bit wet. Hannah had picked up my dropped pacifier and washed it in the sink. I walked over to her and put my arms up in the traditional ?pick me up? pose. She obliged and said, "Well, I guess you won?t be worrying about that English essay for tomorrow?" I smiled. "Somehow I don?t think I?ll get that lucky..." Mom nodded at me. "We?ll keep you home for now, but you?re going to do all of the assignments and homework from home." Just then Dad came in holding my sister. Lily looked at me and frowned. "Nicko?" She still couldn?t say Nicholas yet and that was the closest she could get. I sighed and said, "Yes Lily." "You little like me?" "Yes Lily." "You play with me?" she asked with a timid smile. "Sure," I said. Dad had brought some of her favorite dolls with her and I sat down in the bed... crib... with her and just like that we played for an unknown amount of time before I felt my stomach growl. Mom, Hannah, and Dad sat in the corner talking and watching us and paused, having heard it from there. "Are you hungry?" As if on cue an orderly walked in pushing a cart of food. "Mac and cheese?" she asked Mom. I groaned; I was going to have to get used to people talking about me as if I wasn?t there... "Yes, just leave it there," she told her. "Lily, you?re going to go back home with Daddy and Hannah to take your nap. Hannah?s going to stay with you until later when hopefully we?ll be able to bring Nicholas home." "I?m going home tonight?" I asked surprised. "The doctor said he?d probably send you home since you woke up. There?s nothing else they can do for you since you?ve stabilized. We have some paperwork to fill out though and they want us to get you tested Monday." "I wonder why I haven?t been able to sense any abilities yet?" I asked. As if it was waiting for that question all of the sudden the world looked very different. I could see all of these weird lines running over the floor every direction I looked. I saw some leading towards my new teddy bear and had a silly thought, ?She could really use a dress...? Everyone gasped as there was a small flash and suddenly my new teddy bear had a pretty purple dress on that was perfectly sized. "Did you do that?" Mom asked suddenly. "Do it again!" Lily said. I looked at her bear that she had brought and imagined a pink dress to match. Suddenly there was another flash and she shouted, "You did it Nicko! Thank you!" Mom looked at me and said, "How did you do that?" "All of the sudden after I asked what my abilities were, I saw all of these lines..." Dad sighed. "Well, that?s going to mean we?re going to have to get you taught sooner than later..." "What?" I asked. "It means you have a wizard trait," he explained. "You can do magic." "Awesome!" I said before my stomach growled again. The lines were still everywhere so I thought, ?Vision normal?? I smiled as the lines went away. "We?ll see you in a bit," Hannah said and hugged me. I hugged her back and soon Mom had me back on her lap with the tray of macaroni and cheese. "It might be easier for me just to feed you," Mom said as she tried to figure out the arrangement for me to have the bowl in front of me. The bed wouldn?t work. I sighed. "Let?s get it over with," I said. We managed to get most of it inside my mouth. A couple times she started to bring the spoon up and I turned my head slightly on accident and she missed my mouth. A baby wipe quickly took care of it though and she placed the bowl back on the tray. "Let?s change your diaper sweetie," she said. "I?m not..." Then I realized I was wet and finished. "Feeling myself going at all." "It?s okay sweetheart. I have a feeling between what you were thinking and your body size that this may be a part of life now." She had just laid me down. I felt tears going down my eyes. "Forever?" She didn?t say anything as she pulled the tapes, removed the wet diaper, wiped me, and taped on the new one. "Even if it?s forever, I?ll always love you sweetie." "But I?ll never have a normal life," I said sadly. "Who?s to say that sweetheart? You may find part of your abilities lets you grow up too!" Once she had the new diaper on me she carried me back over to the chair and held me. I felt comfortable as she gently patted my back. I fell asleep at some point, because the next thing I knew was Dad was back, and so was the doctor. Mom had woken me up to talk. "Okay sweetie, we have to have a frank discussion about some things here." I nodded and noticed the pacifier in my mouth. I pulled it out and held it so I could talk. "Okay." The new doctor looked at me. "I?m Doctor Earnhardt." He held a hand to me and I took it with his enveloping mine. "Nice to meet you, I?m Nick... well sort of." I smiled. He did too. "Okay, I think you?re out of the woods from the burnout possibilities. Your mom and dad will probably be best off taking you home now. We can?t do that though before we take care of some things." "Okay...?" "Well, first things first, we need to go to the nurses? station so I can measure and weigh you." I nodded. Mom picked me up and carried me down the hallway where I was placed on a scale, thankfully a normal doctor?s office one, and weighed. "Okay, 20 pounds," he said. "That?s it?!?" I asked surprised around the pacifier that had found its way back in my mouth. "Yeah, I thought you felt lighter than your sister," Mom said. "Okay, come over here and lets measure your length." He measured me against a wall and said, "Okay, thirty-four inches." ?I?m an inch taller and five pounds lighter than my baby sister,? I thought to myself. "I?m never going to be able to get a car and drive now..." I moaned aloud. Mom gave me a hug and we returned back to my room with her carrying me. Back in my room the doctor took out a measuring tape and proceeded to measure the circumference of my head, waist, arms, and just about everywhere else while making notes. He did some reflex tests on my knees and feet. He had Mom remove my diaper and checked my lower end gently for a long awkward moment before telling her to put my diaper back on. "Okay, honestly you seem to be physically a little bit below weight, but otherwise normal twenty-six-month old girl," he told me when she was done. "Your reflexes are better though, and I suspect you probably have the physical abilities of an adult or more. Have you tried lifting anything yet?" I shook my head. "Put her down on the ground," he said. He pointed to the chair against the wall. "See if you can move that or pick it up." I looked at him skeptically as I was sure it weighed more than twenty pounds! I walked over though and was surprised I could easily lift it up above my head. For fun I threw it up in the air and panicked as it hit the ceiling and bounced back towards me. Somehow, he caught it and said, "Okay, that answers that. Be very careful with your strength. You?ll probably find yourself getting stronger over the weekend. If you?re not careful..." I nodded, fighting the tears from my eyes. I could hurt my sister. That would be bad. "You made an appointment at the lab for Monday, right?" he asked Mom. She nodded. "First thing in the morning." "Good, last thing before I write the release papers... We need a different name for you I think." Dad had been sitting in the corner just being quiet. "Nicholas, do you want to pick, or do you want us to pick?" I froze at that and thought. "Can I let you pick but veto it if I hate it?" He and Mom smiled about that. "Okay," he said. "We were thinking Sofia," he said, "spelled with an F." "So like the cartoon character?" I asked, unsure if that was a good name or not. Mom nodded sheepishly. "It was the other name we thought of when Lily was born..." "And a middle name?" "Elizabeth like your mom and your sister," Dad said. "Okay," I said. "Really? You?re not going to fight us on this and throw a fit?" Dad asked, confused. "No, I?m not, let?s talk about it at home though," I told him. "Assuming I can go home?" I asked the doctor. "Yes, you may. I?m going to send a nurse here with the discharge papers. Why don?t you go ahead and get her dressed to leave?" I started again at the her. ?I can?t believe it really happened,? I thought to myself. Mom felt my diaper and said, "It can last until we get home. Which would you like to wear?" She asked me. She held up three outfits. One was a pretty dress with tights. I actually really liked it, but it was snowy outside if they didn?t have school today. The next was a yellow sweater and a pink set of overalls that had snaps along the legs, and the final set was a pair of jeans and a plain blue sweatshirt. I pointed to the overalls. "That one please." She handed me the sweatshirt and I gratefully put it on myself. I stood up and managed to pull the overalls up without too much trouble and buckled the straps unassisted. The nurse came then and before I knew it Mom was sitting in a wheelchair with me holding onto my new teddy bear, now named Amber, getting pushed out to the parking lot where Dad was waiting. He opened the door I normally got in through and I saw a brand-new purple car seat. "I guess I?m stuck in one of these, huh?" I asked. "Yes," Mom said. She pulled the harness straps around me, adjusting them, before buckling me in and closing the door. As we pulled away, I couldn?t help but wonder just what in the world happened to my brain cells that I had to get locked with a body image of a baby girl! I sat looking ahead at the road from the seat and noted that it was weird to be unable to move as much. I did feel safer though from a collision this way. I couldn?t believe how small I was now... I sat sucking on the pacifier more without noticing for a few minutes and decided to experiment by pulling it out of my mouth. I kept ahold of it in my hand to reassure myself though it wasn?t going anywhere. "Tired of sucking on that?" I hear Mom ask from the front. "Experimenting..." I told her. "Huh?" Dad asked. I sighed. "How long I can resist it. I assume this is what a smoker feels like while trying to quit." "It?s that bad?" Mom asked with concern. "Not if it?s in my mouth," I said with a grimace. Trying to change the subject, "So I?m the same size of clothes as Lily now?" "Well, not diaper wise..." she said. "Huh?" "You?re lighter and skinnier... you?re actually a size smaller there." I groaned. "I am taller than her at least." "For now..." Dad said quietly. I glared at the rear-view mirror in case he looked back. I managed to last with the pacifier out of my mouth until we were pulling into our driveway nearly thirty minutes later. Something about arriving home sent anxiety to my brain. The outside was covered in seven inches of snow or so. I tried in vain to pop the latches myself on the harness, but I couldn?t quite make my fingers hit it from the right angle. I had just decided to try using magic when Mom opened my door and swatted my hands from the straps. "I?ll get that honey." I sighed. "I?m not really a baby..." She raised an eyebrow and said, "I know you?re not... but how about we pretend the rules for your sister apply to you until we get testing done Monday." "What day is it anyway?" I asked. "Was I just out the one day?" "It?s Thursday, you were only unconscious about seven hours." "So three days?" "What, you can?t last that long?" Mom teased, but looked concerned. I shrugged. "I don?t know actually." "Well let?s go inside and let Hannah off the hook from your sister. Your dad is going to drive her home." She had picked me up and I was easily able to hold onto her and my teddy bear at the same time as she held her hand below my bottom. I could feel that my diaper was squishier than it had been a moment ago, but hadn?t felt anything. "Can you please change me too?" I asked. "Did you go again?" she asked me. I nodded as Dad opened the door for us. "I don?t know when either," I said with a frown. She tickled my chin. "No frowning, if you can?t help it, you can?t help it. We?ll deal with it," she said with a smile and then kissed the top of my head and carried me upstairs. Hannah and Lily had just come from the basement and followed us up there. Lily was climbing up the stairs as best she could. ?Great, that?ll be embarrassing,? I told myself as I considered how I would be climbing the stairs the same way now too. ?The baby gates are taller than me now too,? I sulked as mom carried me up the stairs. The most embarrassing experience was a few moments later when I found myself being laid down on Lily?s changing table. Mom didn?t hesitate or give me any warning as she put the strap over my chest and began pulling at the snaps at the crotch. I saw Hannah watching and then she turned away guiltily. As painfully embarrassing as being naked with a wet diaper was, I decided I had to say something to help with the awkwardness. "So... Hannah... are they planning on there being school tomorrow?" She looked back over at me and I realized it had to have been hard to understand around the pacifier. My hand pulled away the pacifier and I repeated it. "Probably, unless we were to get more snow," she said. "Can you turn in my essay if I can get it done?" I asked. "Umm... sure," she said. "I have calculus done too," I said as I felt mom rip the tapes open on the old diaper. As if she finally caught on that it was okay to look and to talk to me she came back towards me. "Did you figure out that last calculus problem?" "Sort of," I said as I tried to distract myself from Mom grabbing my feet in one hand and lifting my bottom while pulling the wet diaper out from underneath. "My dad and I think there?s a mistake. He helped me solve it as far as it could be, and then I also solved it with the corrected problem." "Think you can help me with that before he takes me home?" she asked me. "Sure," I said as Mom finished taping the new diaper on me. I had done my best to ignore the powder she had used and the whole experience. Especially the embarrassment I was fighting! Mom snapped the crotch of my overalls back closed and set me on the ground. "Now?" I asked. "I guess," she responded and we went to my room. Mom called, "Lily, where are you? Let?s change your diapee while I?m at it." My backpack was laying on the floor and I unzipped it without any problems. She looked at the book I was about to grab and was going to offer to grab it. "I?ve got it," I told her with a smile. "That book weighs like a quarter of your weight though," she started to argue. I picked it up like I was still her size though. "I may be the size of a baby Hannah, I may even never be potty trained again and need a pacifier..." All of the sudden I felt tears coming to my eyes. "Where is my paci...?" I started, but she reached down and put it in my mouth. The tears went away. "Fanks," I said around it with a sigh. "This sucks!" I said. "Anyway, I?m strong!" I told her with a smile that made its way around the shield. She shook her head and had a seat on the ground with me. Hannah had grabbed her backpack too and we sat down to talk about it. As we were finishing Lily came in after Mom had finished changing her and pulled at me. "Play with me Nicko?" I looked at Hannah and winked. "I guess now that I?m a baby I get to play more?" "All da time!" Lily said and kept pulling at me. "See you later Hannah," I told her, knowing she would be leaving now. She gave me a hug before I let Lily lead me down to her room and we began to play for what seemed like a few minutes when Mom picked us both up. "Come on, dinner time you two," Mom said. "Aww..." I heard Lily say and realized my voice joined her. She took us first to the bathroom where she picked us up to wash our hands, before carrying us down to the kitchen. Lily?s high chair had been joined by another. "You get chair like me!" she said excitedly. I sighed. "I?m too short for a regular chair now Lily," I told her. "Couldn?t I use a booster seat though?" I suggested to Mom. She looked embarrassed. "I don?t think we even thought about that... Would you mind for now?" I grimaced but said, "Okay." Mom put Lily down in her chair first and handed me to Dad. I groaned a bit as Dad buckled the seatbelt and put the tray in place. Mom put one of Lily?s bibs around her neck and seemed to look at me for whether or not she needed to put one on me. "Nicko bib?" Lily asked. I shook my head. "I?m a big... girl, I shouldn?t need it," I said to Mom as much as her. Mom nodded. "I know you?re still eighteen really... we?ll try it." I sighed in relief. Dinner was a piece of pizza it seemed and I asked, "Mom, may I have a fork and a knife?" She looked at me skeptically, but brought me a regular size fork and knife. I hated eating with my hands, especially pizza, something my mom had no idea where I had gotten that from. I noticed my parents trying not to watch me as I gripped the too large silverware in my hands. I had the coordination still to make the cuts, but they were really too big. I thought for a moment and decided to try something. I pictured the lines I had seen earlier back in my mind and I could see them on everything again. I visualized the silverware being back to a normal proportion for me and with a quick flash they were! "What did you do?" Mom asked nervously. "Same thing I did to make the bears' dresses," I told her with a smile and used the right size utensils to cut a piece of the pizza off. The single piece looked like half of a pizza to me from my new perspective. "May I have a drink please?" I asked her. She looked at me and shook her head. I watched her go to the cabinets where she grabbed a pink Disney Princess sippy cup for me and filled it with some juice from the fridge. I looked at her like, ?Really?? but she smirked at me. "You?re going to have to get used to using sippy cups in this house sweetie. I learned a long time ago that until you were about six it was a good idea!" I sighed. "Whatever," and took a drink. It really was okay, I didn?t mind the girly cup, but I hated having another reminder of my new situation. ?How bad is a sippy cup compared to a pacifier addiction?? I asked myself. With a sigh I went back to eating my meal and had the piece of pizza devoured before my sister had even managed about half of her much smaller slice. I finished the juice too. "May I please have more?" I asked. They had managed not to stare at me and were both surprised I finished the food. "You need more?" Mom asked. I shrugged. "I?m hungry I guess." Even I was a bit surprised as I finished the third slice a while later and finally began to feel full. "You?re going to be sick later..." Mom said to me as she unbuckled me from the highchair. "Maybe, maybe not... I?m not really three..." "No, you?re really more like two, sweetie," she said to rub salt in the wound, but had a smile on her face. I turned around and looked at my sister who was standing next to the couch. I watched as she bent her legs for a moment and knew what she was doing. Sure enough, when she stood up she smiled and looked happy for some reason. I was just getting ready to wonder if I was going to be in a similar state when I felt something warm coming out of my rear end. I realized I too was now standing with my knees bent and stood back up shocked. My sister had meanwhile sat down and I swear it looked like she was smushing it all around. Mom came up from behind me. "Smells like I have a poopie pants around here," she said. I just started bawling. I felt her pick me up and try to soothe me for several moments. It made it worse though because she accidentally smushed some of it against my butt when she picked me up. She carried me upstairs and said, "Lily, come on, I need to change you and your sister and put you in the bath." I only sort of registered that or anything else until she laid me back down on the changing table and pulled my coveralls off. I felt her undo the tapes and was surprised that this time I didn?t smell the terrible scent I normally did when Lily pooped her diapers. She gently opened the diaper and began wiping me clean. I was surprised when she sat me back down without putting another diaper on me. "Ni... Sofia, would you please go wait for us in the bathroom?" Mom said. I couldn?t do anything but nod at that point. I walked into the hallway bathroom and realized that everything seemed so big to me now. The toilet that I missed already was like a giant chair in front of me. Even if I was potty trained I knew it would be tough to get up and down it all of the time. The tub had begun to seem shallow a long time ago, now it looked like it could swallow me easily. I stood there for just a moment until Mom came in with my sister on her hip. Lily looked at me. "You have vageena too?" I sighed. "Yes, I do," I said. "But Nicko was boy?" Well, my sister certainly was as intelligent as all of the rest of us. "I?m not anymore," I told her. "You girl just like me?" "Yes Lily, just like you now," I told her, "but I?m still the same Nicko you?ve always known." Mom was listening in as I watched her filling the bath tub and adding bubble bath to it. She looked at me and I could tell she was really trying hard to think. "You sister now instead of brother?" I shrugged, hating the fact that I was naked right then. "I guess so Lily," I told her. For whatever reason that excited her. "Yay, I have sister!!!!" She suddenly jumped and hugged me. I returned the hug and couldn?t help but notice she was nearly the same height. An inch difference in height wasn?t that much, and it was clear she was bigger. I was careful when I hugged her though knowing my new strength was a bit dangerous. "Okay my little princesses, arms up in the sky like a ballerina!" I groaned but lifted arms up and let her pull my shirt off after she had taken Lily?s off. I watched her pick Lily up, plunked her gently in the tub, and then she did the same with me. As much as I didn?t want to take a bath with my sister, I couldn?t help but enjoy the playtime with her. Mom pulled out some of her toys and we ended up squirting each other and drawing on the walls with bath markers alternately while Mom washed us and our hair. She was very gentle as she washed my hair. "Close your eyes Sofia," she told me gently. I felt her dump several cups of water over my head before she started massaging shampoo into my hair. It felt pretty good really and before I knew it she said, "You can open them now," just in time for my sister to squirt water in them! Before I could retaliate, she pulled the plug from the tub and said, "Okay, let?s get you both nice and dry and ready for bed!" "Do I have to go to bed?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Not yet, your father and I need to talk with you first." I thought for a moment that going to bed might be the better plan! Lily looked like she might whine, but Mom told her. "Sofia will go to bed soon, she?s older though still, so just like before she has a later bedtime." Lily looked at her and said, "Okay." Mom wrapped both of us with towels and then sat Lily on top of the counter. I watched her take a blow drier and dry her hair while brushing it out. I noticed her wince a couple times as Mom found a ?snarl? as she?d learned to call the tangles in her hair. When she was done, she carried her to her room and said, "Sofia, come with me, we?ll come back and do your hair." She picked Lily up and sat her down on the changing table. I watched her give her the pacifier she loved and suddenly felt that craving for mine again. I groaned and found my thumb in my mouth before I could even think about the fact my hand was moving to my mouth. Lily was dressed in a pink blanket sleeper and then sat down on her bed. "Next princess," Mom said with a smirk. I put my arms up and the towel fell down. Mom placed my naked body on the table and quickly diapered me before pulling my thumb out and replacing it with another pacifier. I found myself relaxing all of the sudden from the change. I shook my head. ?This is going to get old...? I had to at least give myself credit for making it from dinner through my bath without it though. Mom asked. "Should I dress you?" I shrugged. "Do you want to?" The smile on her face and the gleam in her eye was enough answer. She dressed me in one of Lily?s other sleepers that was purple with white stars on it. Mom sat me down. "Your dad is downstairs if you want to go watch TV with him until I get Lily to bed." I realized dad must have brought her bottle up already as it was sitting next to the rocking chair. I felt my jealousy monster roar again then, but I nodded and said, "Okay," and began walking down the hallway. Being carried so much today this walking business was almost a novelty! I got to the stairs and had to hold back a feeling of panic of looking down the tall staircase! I grabbed the rail tightly and took it one step at a time before making it down. I looked back up and wondered how I was going to deal with those on a regular basis! I could hear the TV on in the downstairs living room and walked over there. My dad was sitting in his recliner and taking a drink right then. I thought about just walking over to the couch and having a seat, but he opened his arms up and said, "You want to come sit in my lap?" I had been so jealous of my sister I couldn?t turn that down! I started running and realized a problem as soon as I jumped into his lap. I was moving faster than I should have been. He said, "Oomph," and I looked to make sure he was okay. "I?m so sorry Dad! Are you okay?!?" I asked suddenly afraid I had hurt him. "Thankfully you missed the jewels sweetheart, I?m fine," he said and hugged me to reassure me. "You need to be really careful though. You look like you?re a baby, but you?re definitely not a normal one!" I returned the hug and then leaned into his arm to watch the TV show. It was a new episode of one of the CSI spin-offs that I didn?t normally watch. I just didn?t tend to spend much time watching TV between practicing and homework. It suddenly occurred to me. "If I?m stuck like this I?ll never be able to play flute again..." Dad hugged me. "I?m sure we?ll figure something out. What about piccolo?" I smiled. "I bet I could do that!" "Well, maybe we?ll see about getting one for you for Christmas." We sat there for about ten more minutes until Mom came down. "Already a daddy?s girl?" she asked teasingly. I tried to stick my tongue out at her before realizing there was something in the way. I pulled my pacifier out, stuck my tongue out, and then put it back in my mouth. She laughed and came over to pick me up from Dad?s lap. She proceeded to start tickling me without any warning! "Stop..." I giggled out. "Okay..." she said. Dad turned off the TV and came and joined us on the couch. I sighed; this was going to be one of those conversations. "Okay, so what do you want to talk about?" "A lot of things," Mom said gently. "Well... start talking," I said. "First off I think we?re going to have to have some ground rules here sweetie," Dad said. "Like?" I said and pulled the pacifier from my mouth. I had to force myself to hold it in my lap. "Well, for one until you get some training, I think no magic in the house would be a good one to start with." I looked at him skeptically. "Why?" He sighed. "Look, some of my work - which you know I can?t talk about - involves some of the after effects of magic. We?ve been trying for the last decade to isolate some of the physics principles that have to be at work behind it. So, that means we have a few magic users in our group that help us out. I?ve heard too many horror stories about them learning to use magic and making hobgoblins and destroying things..." "Hobgoblins?" I asked. "They?re kind of like creatures... but come in all sorts of shapes. Normally they start wandering around destroying things and wreaking havoc anytime they appear." "Oh," I said, "will I be able to learn from someone here?" Dad shrugged. "We?ll know more on Monday. There?s a school that a lot of other... " He hesitated, so I added, "Mutants," for him. He grimaced and nodded before continuing. "Go to back east. If you weren?t two years old, I?d have you on the plane next week probably. I?m not sure if they would be willing to have a student who basically needs a daycare though..." I hit him lightly on the leg. Or I thought it was lightly, he winced. "Sorry Daddy, are you okay?" "Yes, but that will probably leave a bruise. You?re going to have to be really careful sweetie!" he told me. I felt some tears in my eyes at that. He stroked my hair gently. "We?ll get through this, I promise you." "So, what else?" I asked Mom. "Well, I think when we?re out you need to pretend to be a normal two- year-old." "So, tantrums, pooping in my diaper at random points, sucking on a pacifier...." I sighed. "I have the second and the third down at least..." "It wasn?t random at least, it was after dinner just like Lily," she told me with a smile. "If we had put you on the potty in time you might have gone there." I smiled, but shook my head. "I might have by random chance, but I can?t feel when I?m going or need to go at all! Lily will probably be out of diapers before I am again." She squeezed my leg gently. "It?s okay though, that?s not the end of the world." Mom hesitated, but said, "No I mean also things like using a bib, just like your sister, definitely sitting in a car seat, high chairs, etc." "Why?" "Well, partially to protect you," Dad answered. "Huh?" "Look, and especially until Monday when you get tested, the MCO is a dangerous group that could come and take you away if something funny happens. Then there?s humanity first, while they don?t have much of a presence in Los Alamos, there are a bunch of those nutjobs in Albuquerque and Santa Fe." I nodded at that. "Okay, I get that. Do I have to be a complete baby here though? Can I please have time on my computer, and maybe keep up with my school stuff or something? I had fun playing with Lily tonight, but I?m still eighteen in my mind." Dad nodded. "I don?t see any reason why not. I think we may have to move your computer to another room though and give you another bed and redecorate." He hesitated. "It doesn?t have to be too girly though." I took a moment and decided to say. "No, it can be girly, that?s fine. Can we maybe decorate it with Sofia the First stuff? Since you named me after her and all. I mean they made a TV show about me, shouldn?t I have some stuff?" I winked at Dad. "Why do I get the feeling the girl part of this isn?t upsetting you at all?" Mom asked gently. ?Here goes nothing,? I thought to myself. "Because it?s a dream come true." "You wanted to be a girl?" Dad asked in surprise. His tone was still gentle though. I nodded. "Since as long as I could remember I thought I had to be one but I had the wrong parts. Now I have the right body... well, sort of." I grimaced and told them about how I?d been scared to ever say anything to them. I knew I was transgendered and becoming a girl was a dream come true! "Being a baby again really wasn?t in the plans though," I finished in tears. "I think that you were focused so much on the simple pleasures of Lily?s life though that you kind of got stuck on it then," Dad told me softly. He leaned over to me and hugged me. "I love you, never forget that." Mom joined in the hug and said, "So do I sweetie, whether you?re eighteen, two, or one-hundred I will always love you." "I love you too," I said to them and was glad that I had parents like these. We stayed there for a few minutes before I asked, "May I go to my room and get on my computer?" Mom looked at me for a moment before nodding. "You may, let me check your diaper first though." I grimaced as Mom felt the crotch of my diaper and said, "A little wet, but I think it?ll hold until bed." She smiled with that. "You could ask me to check it myself you know," I told her. My privacy already felt invaded during the changes. Mom looked embarrassed herself. "I?m sorry sweetie, I... I guess I?m just used to checking your sister." I nodded, I guess I checked her all the time too since she didn?t usually tell us when she was wet. "I?m sorry, I guess that?s natural for you." I told her and hugged her. I then hopped off of the couch lightly and headed to my room before the conversation could get any more awkward. I took the stairs a little faster this time. They still seemed gigantic, but I didn?t feel the fear of them. I had to climb up my computer chair awkwardly to get into it before discovering I couldn?t just sit and reach the keyboard. I hopped down and let the chair go as high as it could before climbing back in it. I could sit on my knees and just reach everything pretty much. I noticed my cell phone there and saw Jacob had sent me a whole slew of messages starting with, ?Hey, do you want to hang out?? at first to really worried ?Where the hell are you?? messages. I sighed. I opened my phones unlock screen and sent a text to him. ?Sorry bro, got... sick. I?m going to be quarantined at home for a while.? I sent a message to Hannah at the same time. ?Thanks for watching my sister earlier... and... thanks for being my friend.? Hannah responded first. ?You?re soooo cute now! You do realize that?? I turned red. ?I know...? ?So what are you going to do now?? ?I don?t know. I?m supposed to pretend to be two anytime we?re out and about. If you run into us somewhere go ahead and let loose your maternal instincts I guess.? ?lol, I?m sorry Nick.? I paused before sending. ?It?s okay, but it?s Sofia now... might as well get used to it. I need to go, I?ll ttyl? ?Ttyl (-:? I was just about to start browsing the internet when Jacob responded. ?Dude, are you okay?? I sighed. ?Sort of... look, I?ll talk to my parents and maybe you can come over with Hannah Tuesday for us to explain.? ?You?re acting like you manifested or something...? ?Tuesday,? I told him. ?Okay, I?ll take the hint. I need to go; Mom is yelling at me.? ?ttyl? With that I opened up the internet and typed, ?Mutant? into Wikipedia. Of course, everyone knew ?about? mutants, but I never thought I would turn out to be one. I searched one website after another looking for information and groaned as I read about BITs, or Body Image Templates that controlled a high-level exemplars body appearance. It seemed like the higher level you were, the more it could change you. I read a few accounts of gender change before, but it seemed like it wasn?t all that common. I didn?t find many listings of anyone getting younger, and none to my age. I looked at the clock and saw it was almost ten, figuring my mom would be coming in soon. I looked around my room and saw my new black belt laying on top of my dresser still. I wondered if I could even still do those forms. Curious I jumped off my chair and moved to the center of my room where there wasn?t a lot of clutter and began moving through the basic warmup forms all the way to the ones I?d performed last night. Surprisingly I felt like I was even more nimble and sure of myself. The only thing that seemed to be holding me back was the stupid diaper. Until I managed to lick potty training again though I would have to get used to it I was afraid. I had just run through the final form when Mom came in. She looked surprised to see me in one of my forms - well, I?m sure it looked a little out of place really. "Practicing?" she asked. "I wanted to see if I could still do everything," I told her with a smile on my face. "You can?" "Uh-huh!" "That?s great sweetie." She came over and kneeled down to give me a hug. "Look, I know you?re probably not a fan of this, but your father and I are tired and I think it?s time for bed." I just nodded. "I understand. Can you change my diaper?" Mom said, "That was just what I was coming to do!" Mom had my sister?s diaper bag and a changing mat that she laid down on the floor next to me. In next to no time at all she had my sleeper feet off, wet diaper peeled off, wiped bottom, powdered, taped the new one on, and had me redressed. "You would think you?ve been doing that for the last two-and-a-half years or something?" I told her. "Well, I had my three years with you before!" She picked me up and started to set me on my bed. I felt kind of embarrassed, but I pulled the pacifier out of my mouth and asked, "Umm... Mom... my?" She looked at me strangely. "Yes?" "I know this may sound kind of weird... but could you put me to bed like you do Lily?" I felt my face flush a bit. "With a bottle and a story?" she asked, kind of surprised. I just nodded and put the pacifier back in my mouth, my face now fiery red. "Sure sweetie," she smiled. "I?ll be back in a couple minutes." Mom disappeared downstairs and came up with one of Lily?s bottles filled with warm milk in one hand, and a book about Rapunzel that was one of Lily?s favorite stories. "You don?t have a rocking chair in here," she started to say, but all of the sudden there was a pop and one appeared where a bean bag I had on the ground was. "I thought we told you no magic?" I looked up at her in fear. "I didn?t mean to Mommy, I didn?t do what I did earlier at all!" ?You didn?t, I did,? I heard in my head. It was the voice of the lady from last night. Chapter 3: Emerald Castle ?UMM...? I THOUGHT in my head. ?Who are you?? ?I told you last night, Caireen.? ?And... you?re inside my head?? ?Your body. You bonded with me last night.? ?Oh...? I thought. ?So, I guess I?m an avatar?? ?I believe that?s what your people call it,? she agreed and somehow, I could sense she was nodding. ?So you can act without me wanting you to?? I asked. ?Most of the time no, but right now I couldn?t help myself. In fact,? I felt her do something and suddenly my walls, bed, desk, dresser, and clothes all seemed to transform. The walls became a purple with some beautiful scrolling leaves and flowers in some sort of mirror paint. My bed became a crib, the dresser a changing table, and the room straightened itself out too. It was a prettier nursery than Mom had done for Lily - and that had taken us months to do! "Sofia Elizabeth," Mom said to me while looking stunned. ?How am I going to prove I didn?t do this!?!? ?Let me talk to her...? There was something akin to a light switch thrown and I felt like I was now watching my body. "Sofia did not do this Mrs. Hammerstein," came from my body with a much more mature voice somehow coming from my vocal cords. "What did you do to my daughter?" Mom asked panicked. "Is she okay?" "She?s perfectly fine, you may call me Caireen. Your daughter and I bonded last night... I saw she was going to die without my help, but she has so much potential I decided I had to help her... In the process she and I ended up bonding." She looked through my eyes around. "She?s going to take back over now, I just don?t want her to get in trouble. She really needed a pretty nursery though." I felt myself take back over again and at the same time could still feel her presence. ?You?re still here?? I asked. ?Until you die sweet pea,? she said with a voice that seemed to smile. ?I?ll talk to you later; your mommy is worried sick.? "Sofia, are you okay?" I nodded. "I am, it?s exactly like she said happened." "You?re not trying to get out of trouble?" "I wish I could be this imaginative to get out of trouble," I sighed. Mom had a scared and shaken look that she managed to shake her head and ask in a mostly normal voice. "Well... still want your bottle?" I nodded. She carried me to the rocking chair and positioned me in the crook of her arm, handed me the warm bottle, and then began to read the story. "Once upon a time..." I stayed awake for half of the story and had to rely upon my memory of telling it to Lily to remember how it ended! ALMOST AS SOON as I fell asleep, I was standing in a green meadow with flowers and huge beautiful butterflies everywhere. It was truly a spectacular view when I turned around and saw a stone castle that looked even prettier than anything in a Disney fairytale movie! "Like it?" I heard her ask. "It?s beautiful!" I told her as I looked up to view a beautiful red headed lady with emerald green eyes like mine. Her eyes had a twinkle to them that said she was friendly, but with just a hint of mischievousness concealed beneath. Compared to my size she seemed like a giant, but I guessed she was probably under six-feet tall. I recognized the voice as Caireen?s and knew this must be her. "Where are we?" "Ireland," she said with a smile and I finally caught the accent that I had somehow overlooked in all of the weirdness from the night before. "Are we really here?" She shook her head. "This is sort of real, but it?s in your dreams. There are some Native American tribes here in America that have similar ideas, but this is where I?ve always come to relax and meet with others in the past..." She paused. "So... umm... Who or what exactly are you?" I asked. She reached down and picked me up. I noticed now I was wearing a very pretty green dress from sometime before the 1900?s. Actually, it wasn?t too far removed from what Merida?s dress in Brave looked like. As she picked me up, I could tell there was a thicker underwear on me still. I sighed at that. She took her finger and brought my face to look up at hers. "Don?t be sad. I?m not sure if you?ll be able to get to that stage of maturity or not again myself, but even if you don?t, at least it looks normal for you to be wearing diapers." Caireen carried me towards the castle and I once again asked, "Who are you?" "Well, that?s complicated," she stalled, "but I was known in ancient Ireland as the Goddess and Protector of Children." I sat there and mentally thought, ?Oh shit!? "It?s okay Sofia, I will not harm you." "Joining with you caused me to become a baby?" I asked timidly. "No, you were on your way to that on your own. I sensed you calling for someone to help and couldn?t help but fall in love with the baby girl I saw you would become." She smiled at me as we crossed through the gates of the castle. "So...?" "So I saw you needed my help to survive both your change and your future. I also saw that in doing so you would help me save a great deal of children from suffering in the future. You are the kind of person that I have encountered only a few times in my existence." "How long have you existed?" I asked her timidly. She smiled. "You should know better than to ask a girl how old she is!" Her voice said she was amused and not angry... even so she didn?t answer the question. As we passed through the castle it felt weird that there were no people there even though it appeared as if an army of servants were at work at all times maintaining it. She eventually reached a massive hall door and walked through with me. She climbed a spiraling staircase that were terrifying to me in my current size. They seemed to go on forever. Eventually she opened a wooden doorway that opened to a nursery. A round crib and other decorations for a baby in the past decorated the room. She then sat me down on a table that had to be a changing table. "Hold your skirts here sweetie," she told me and I had my view blocked by the very puffy skirts and underskirts. She unpinned the diapers and pinned a new one on me before setting me on the ground and joining me on a bearskin rug. "So, what are we doing here?" "Well, in the future you and I will do some training here." "What kind of training?" I asked. "Magic of course silly," she told me while touching my nose affectionately. "There will be teachers for you in your world, especially if you can go to that school, Whateley, but our magic operates a little differently from most of your kind. The only kind that are very similar are the Sidhe." "The Sidhe?" I asked. We sat talking for what seemed a long time as she told me about the crazy world that existed out there. Eventually she saw me sucking on my thumb and said, "Oh my dear, we?ve been going a long time. It?s time for you to take your nap!" For the first time in my life I didn?t remember arguing about a nap. She picked me up and laid me down in the pretty crib. "Sleep well princess." I WOKE UP with sunlight coming into the room. I could tell it was extraordinarily bright due to the snow outside that had mostly been a forgotten thing to me. I sat up and freaked out for a moment. ?Why are there bars around me?? I thought and then realized, ?oh...? I stood up and was wondering what I should do when the door opened and Mom came in. "Oh, so the sleepyhead decided to wake up finally?" she asked me. "Huh?" "It?s nearly eleven," she told me. "Really?" "Your sister wanted to wake you up to play, but I told her you needed to recover." "I probably did," I admitted. I put my hands up in the air. "Can you get me out of this cage please?" She laughed. I noticed that the crib seemed taller than Lily?s old one by a couple inches. I could just reach the top of the rails with my fingertips, but I would have to jump to grab on. She reached down and picked me up and took me immediately over to the changing table that had appeared last night. "You know I?m probably the only girl in existence that sleeps in a crib but her baby sister doesn?t?" Mom laughed at me again. "Do you think Caireen would let you sleep in a regular bed?" ?No,? I heard. I sighed. "No, she won?t." "Well then... I guess that?ll just be the first thing your baby sister does before you." She admitted as she unzipped my sleeper. "Sit up," she said and I was stripped from the outfit down to my diaper. My very wet diaper. I sighed. "This is embarrassing." As I woke up it really was becoming increasingly annoying to me. "Here, maybe this will help," she said and put a pacifier in my mouth. I would have loved to have claimed it wasn?t helping, but the truth was that it did. Mom was very quick and efficient with changing me into a dry diaper and then asked. "So what do you want to wear today?" I shrugged and said around the pacifier. "What are my options?" It sort of sounded like that enough for Mom to interpret. She picked me up and walked to the closet where I learned Caireen had been very efficient. My entire closet was filled with adorable dresses that I suspected would be sized perfectly for me. I noticed a green one that looked like the one in my dream last night, or whatever that was, and pointed at it. "Dat one," was what I think she heard through the pacifier. She pulled the hanger down and we discovered it had a matching diaper cover. "Probably should have some tights too," mom said and went looking for some tights to match in a dresser drawer that had obviously also been a target for Caireen. She looked for a few moments before deciding a set of black tights. They had some sort of leaves in a shiny gold stitch embroidered in them. Mom sat me back down sitting on the changing table edge and began helping put my toes in the tights. She had me lay back down and pulled them the rest of the way up before setting me down on the ground. "Okay, let?s step into these panties," she told me. "Mom, it?s a diaper cover, not even real panties," I groaned. She smirked at me. "Well at least between the tights and the cover you might not have your diaper seen later?" I stuck my tongue out at her. "Okay, now arms like a ballerina!" She smiled at me and I couldn?t help but giggle a little that she kept saying that to make me smile. Once she lowered the dress onto my body, I discovered it had a petticoat built in to puff it out. Mom tied a bow on the sash in the back and then went back to the dresser for some ribbons and had me sit on her lap in the rocking chair. She looked at my hair trying to decide what to do I could tell before doing a simple set of braided pigtails with bows on them. "You just need a tiara," Mom said with a smile as she looked at me. ?I can?t see myself getting one of those...? I thought to myself. ?But of course, you will,? I heard in my head. ?What do you mean?? ?I called you princess last night, that wasn?t the term of endearment that is used here in your modern world.? "What?" I asked stunned dropping my pacifier from my mouth. "What?s wrong sweetie?" Mom asked in alarm. "Umm... just something Caireen said Mom, don?t worry about it." ?So, I have a tiara in that world?? ?Actually, you should have it here too, here, let me just bring it out.? There was another flash, and then in my hands I held a beautiful me sized tiara. It looked to be a material like silver, but somehow, I guessed it wasn?t really silver... There was a large emerald in the middle with two slightly smaller emeralds on either side. Intricate curves and flowers with pearls decorated the rest of it. Mom gasped. "What is that?" I sighed. "Apparently you may call Lily and I ?princesses? mom, but I really AM a princess. Still trying to figure out how that one works though." ?I have a feeling this is priceless?? ?Yes Sofia, it is very priceless. It has been in the royal family for forty-five of your human generations.? ?You can tell me the story tonight?? I asked. ?Certainly, now try it on?? I handed it to my mom. "Would you please put it on me?" She held it for a moment and examined it. "This isn?t a toy, is it?" I shook my head. "Caireen?s words were that it?s priceless." "Maybe we should just put it somewhere safe..." ?Tell your mother that as long as you have it on your head it will never unwillingly come off. Also, that if it ever gets lost or stolen it will reappear to you.? ?Cool!? "Mom, Caireen says don?t worry about it... basically you can?t remove it from my head if I don?t want you to, and if someone does steal it I?ll get it back later." "O...okay," Mom said and she did put it on me. She instantly gasped and hugged me. "You?re beautiful sweetheart!" "Can you take me to the bathroom so I can see?" I asked. "Shoes first!" she said. She carried me to the closet on her hip and found some black Mary Janes that would go with the dress well. She set me down and helped me into them, picked me back up, and then I was standing in front of the mirror on the bathroom counter looking at my reflection. "Oh my god...dess," I decided I should add the last part at this point. ?You do look perfect princess,? I heard Caireen say. I was the picture-perfect toddler and tiara girl, but wasn?t fake with it. I looked like I legitimately belonged to a royal family and was being taken somewhere formal with the family. The tiara shone from my head and I couldn?t help but smile at how pretty I was. I turned around and hugged Mom. "Thank you for doing my hair." "Well, in the future we?ll have to do something different with your tiara. It?s not a formal enough style. Let?s go down and show your sister?" she asked me. I kind of froze for a moment, but nodded. "She?s going to be jealous though..." I said. "Not to worry," Mom said as she carried me through my sister?s room and picked up one of her play tiaras. "She won?t notice the difference I hope!" She carried me downstairs to the first floor where my sister was coloring in the living room with the TV on the toddler channel. Mom sat me down on my feet and I walked over to Lily. "Hi Lily," I said, "whatcha coloring?" "Just a princess picture," she said and then looked up at me. I watched my sisters mouth open. "You playing princess today?!?!" she asked excitedly and clapped her hands together. "Sure," I said. Mom placed her tiara on her head and I couldn?t help but feel a little bad that hers wasn?t real. ?No, don?t go doing anything Caireen!? I thought. ?You?re no fun,? she griped. "You two can play for a few minutes, but we need to get lunch in your tummies!" As if to emphasize it my stomach growled. Mom left me to Lily?s devices and we practiced our curtseys until Mom called us. I walked into the kitchen and waited for her to put my sister in her high chair and then she lifted me up. "I know you don?t want to wear a bib normally Sofia... But that dress..." Mom pleaded. I turned red, but nodded. "I don?t want to get it messy either!" Mom smiled and came back with a bib covered in butterflies and flowers and velcroed it around my neck. "What?s for lunch?" I asked her as she put one on my sister too. "Grilled cheese," Mom said. She watched as I held the sandwich with my hands, which I hated doing, and began eating. I finished the first sandwich and she looked at me incredulously before making me a second. "Where are you putting that?" She asked me. I grimaced. "Probably in my diaper later." She laughed at me and sat me down on the ground and she pulled the bib off. As she wiped my face with a wipe she asked, "Do you need changed?" I lifted at my skirt, and felt my diaper and nodded. "Okay, let?s go change the two baby girls and then maybe a nap?" "I?m not sleepy," I told her honestly. She whispered in my ear, "Maybe a pretend nap for your sister?s sake and you can get on your phone?" "Okay," I said. Mom grabbed a hand from each of us and led us up the stairs. Lily was changed, given her bottle, and then Mom closed the door. We walked to my room and I just hoped Caireen had not gotten rid of my cell phone during her act yesterday. ?I didn?t, I know how you teenagers are addicted to them.? I could practically hear her shaking her head. Mom changed my diaper quickly before she found my cell phone and then sat me down in my crib. "Can you take my dress off so I don?t wrinkle it?" I suggested. ?Don?t worry, it won?t wrinkle,? I heard. I shrugged. "Never mind, apparently that won?t happen." Mom gave me a look. "At some point you and I are going to have to have a talk Caireen." ?Tell her tonight we?ll talk,? Caireen told me. "I think that will happen tonight Mom." "Okay," she said, "Be quiet and don?t get out of your crib until I come for you." "Okay, I be good girl!" I told her with a smile. "You want a bottle too?" I hesitated for a second and nodded. She came back a moment later with a bottle of milk and then closed the door. I got on my phone and sucked at the bottle for a while and then noticed I was kind of sleepy. I laid down and wondered why I was sleepy after having slept as long as I had! I WOKE UP and played with Lily for the rest of the afternoon. Mom made my favorite meal of green chile enchiladas that night! I was nearly in tears though as I found myself suddenly much more sensitive to the green chile than I had been before. It tasted really hot! Mom had seen my face and brought me milk in my sippy cup to help. ?Why can?t I deal with spice now?? I asked Caireen. ?Why on Earth would you want to eat such disgusting things?? she asked in reply. ?You can?t ruin chile for me, I?ll never survive!!!!!? I told her. I was a true New Mexican and regularly had the spiciest chile dishes I could get my hands on! ?Well, then just get used to it again, I guess. Remember in Ireland we don?t really do spicy food.? I made it through dinner with Mom, Dad, and even Lily all laughing at me. Lily didn?t even have a problem with those mild enchiladas Mom made! Dad had looked at me in amazement when he walked in. He too was terrified of something happening to my tiara before I explained nothing could happen to it. All of us were in way over our heads and I just hoped that nothing bad happened to my family members through all of this. As soon as Mom let me down from the high chair I thought about walking to the toilet just to try and see what would happen. I found myself squatting in place just a few steps after I was let down though. I sniffled. "Mommy, can you change me?" "Give me just a few minutes sweetheart, I need to put this food away first." I stood still trying not to move and make it squish and get worse. All of the sudden I found myself squatting again and I guess I wasn?t done... I looked for Lily and saw her in Dads arms as he was heading upstairs. "Sofia, do you want your diaper changed too?" He asked. I nodded and did my best to follow him. I climbed up the giant steps one step at a time and felt the mushy poop roll against my legs several times. I finally made it up the stairs and saw Lily already laying on the changing table. I had to keep from crying so I put my thumb in my mouth. Daddy saved the day soon though and he worked to get through my diaper cover, tights, and pushed the skirt of my dress up so that he could get to the diaper that had become way messier with all of his attempts at removing my clothes. "Icky," he said to me with a smile. "You stinky!" I felt more tears going and he said, "Oh don?t go crying Princess, you?re a baby, this is normal." He tried reassuring me. Daddy had to use many more wipes than Mom had the night before, I think partly because he rarely changed Lily?s diapers. Usually that was Mom or me... ?Guess he?s having to step in now...? I sighed. I felt a mental hug from Caireen, but she didn?t say anything. Daddy eventually had my new diaper on, tights in place, and the diaper cover on and sat me down on the floor. I went up to him and hugged him around his legs. "Thank you, Daddy," I told him. He squeezed me back and said, "Any time Princess." Lily came up then and pulled me downstairs to the Basement playroom. We played with a playhouse that she had down there and pretended to make dinner and feed some baby dolls. I had fun just because I was spending time with my favorite sister. I was a little surprised I was having fun too, but I guessed the activity was novel enough I wasn?t complaining. I had basically been an only child until a couple years ago, so I?d never had a sibling to play with. After a while Mom came down and said, "Bath time," to us. "Do we have to?" Lily asked. "Yes of course we do Princess Lily, princesses can?t be dirty!" I told her with a smile. "Come on!" She smiled at me and I avoided the tantrum she probably would have had otherwise. I had a thought as we went upstairs. "Mommy, before I get undressed would you please take a picture with my iPhone?" She looked at me kind of funny, but said, "Sure..." We went down the hallway with Lily in tow and Mom took a picture for me in my room in front of the rocking chair, and then with me sitting in the rocking chair, and then at Lily?s insistence with her sitting with me. Mom then undressed both of us and we repeated last night?s bath before she let me again stay up for a while. I had picked out a purple nightgown that was in my closet. It looked like a modern-day little girls nightgown, compete with an embroidered picture of Merida on the chest, but I could tell it was another one of Caireen?s special clothes by the way the material felt on my skin. I got on my phone and texted back Jacob about some school things before sending Hannah the picture of me standing in front of the rocking horse. I?d completely forgotten most of the day that I was wearing my tiara! I giggled a little as I sent it to her with the caption, ?Princess Sofia.? ?OMG Adorbs!!!!!!? she sent me. ?Thanks,? I replied. ?That?s a really pretty dress and tiara,? she added. ?I know, they?re kind of special too. I told Jacob you guys could come over Tuesday after I get the testing done Monday...? ?You haven?t told him yet?? ?He kind of seems to be guessing something like this... well, not like this.? ?Giggle, no one could,? she responded. I eventually finished talking with her and went over to the child sized desk that my computer now sat on. Mom had sat my tiara there and I wanted to look at it. ?What is this made of?? I asked Caireen. ?Mithril.? ?Like from Lord of the Rings?? I asked. ?Tolkien had an encounter with some of the Fae at some point. That?s where he got a lot of his ideas from. It?s an uncommon substance that?s very special. This tiara was gifted to me from Queen Aunghdadhail herself back before the fall of the Fae.? ?Who was she?? ?Later,? she promised me, ?we have a very long time to answer the billion questions you have my dear.? I went to my Facebook account and decided it would be smart just to delete it now. I had backed it up last night just in case I wanted to do this. I then deleted my Twitter, Instagram, and SnapChat accounts while I was at it. ?The only social media I?ll probably be on for a while will be my mom?s ?OMG my baby girl is pretty? posts.? So far of course she hadn?t done any of those! I was just getting ready to do some more research into mutants when my mom came in. "Sofia, it?s bedtime." I looked and it was ten. I turned around and saw that she held a bottle and another of Lily?s bedtime books in her hands. I smiled at that. "Story time again?" "Yep!" she said with a smile. "Do you need a change first?" I had to nod. "I wish I knew when I was going. I just eventually notice that everything is squishy." Mom picked me up and changed me quickly before carrying me over to the rocking chair. She sat me like she had last night and I began nursing the warm milk while she told me a story of Merida this time. I felt a warm feeling coming from Caileen and I had a feeling she liked this story too. I lasted a little bit longer into the story, but I still didn?t remember Mom putting me down in my crib. I WOKE UP in another crib, this time at Caireen?s castle. I saw her standing there looking at me. "Come here," she told me and picked me up and cuddled me for a moment. She changed my diaper and put me into a new dress that was once again mainly green. My tiara was added and I asked, "So does this castle have a name?" "Emerald Castle," she said with a smile. "I take it you like green?" I asked with a smile. "It?s my favorite color," she said, "although I won?t hold your favorite color being purple against you!" She sat down on the floor with me and we talked for a little while before trumpets blared a fanfare. "That will be your parents," she said with a smile. "Huh?" "Your mom wanted to talk, remember?" she said. "It?s easier to pull them into here and talk than it is to leave one of us out when I use you to talk." "Oh." We waited a few minutes when I was surprised to see a well-dressed page come in. "The Duke and Duchess Hammerstein to see you Your Majesty." "Thank you, James," she dismissed him. I saw both of them looking around at my nursery with open mouths. "I do apologize at being so forward, but with Princess Sofia coming here each night I thought it would be wise to get the nursery back in use." She said, "I am Caireen," she said with a smile. "Why did he introduce us with titles?" "Well on your side of the family Rachel, may I call you that?" She paused for Mom?s nod. "Your family is the direct descendent of one of the last rightful Irish Kings in the 1700?s. On Levi?s side you are actually also descendants of a bloodline in Germany." "Oh," Mom said. "So... that?s too long ago though... why?" Caireen sighed, picked me up, and said, "Let?s go somewhere more comfortable for sitting?" They nodded and followed her to another door that opened up into a beautiful sitting room that would have fit right in a Louis XIV chateau. She pointed to a sofa and took her spot in a sitting chair next to that. Caireen looked at me and I stayed contentedly in her arms. "Okay, you?ve been very patient so far, and I do appreciate it," she told my parents with a smile. I was sitting on her left knee and could easily see her and my parents by swiveling my head a little. "First of all, please don?t be frightened, but I am not a mortal or a simple spirit. I am in fact what you would call a goddess." Mom spoke up. "I wondered. I searched your name after I learned it last night." "I know," she said with a smile. "Of what?" Dad asked. "Generally, of children." "Is that why Nicholas became a baby?" he asked. She shook her head. "I told Sofia about this last night, but here goes. She had already had her BIT set when she began changing. I was drawn to her because of her gentle nature and how she had always taken such good care of her baby sister. I?ve never seen a young man be more nurturing and caring with a baby! When I saw that he was changing so severely I knew he was in danger of dying due to a severe case of what your people call ?burnout.? It was much too severe of a change, happening too quickly for him to survive. I knew she was becoming a toddler all over again and decided that I could help her and she would be able to help others in the future. Her avatar talent that she has bound me to her though... I wasn?t expecting that! She?s exceptionally powerful there!" Mom and Dad just politely looked on at her to go on. "Anyway, the two of us will now be bound together until Sofia passes from this Earth. A time which I believe will probably be a very long ways down the road." "So how does this turn her fully into a princess?" Mom asked. "Well, essentially she?s become my daughter now too." She noticed Mom and Dad looking nervously at her. "Don?t worry, I will never ever take her from you." "What do you intend to do with her?" Dad asked. "I?m going to help her become an amazing girl who will have a magical talent few will be able to match. I?ll be with her to help her when she?s hurt, help her fight the battles ahead, and generally be her mentor. I may also occasionally be unable to help myself and have to throw in some real-world gifts here and there... Sorry I couldn?t help myself last night and today." "We appreciate the gifts," Mom said, "I didn?t really want to travel into the city until we get her tested." "A wise idea I believe. Having a quiet weekend with your two daughters at home playing would be the best plan you could have." "What should we do after that?" Dad asked. "Honestly?" Caireen responded. "I think Sofia would best be served by going to that Whateley school for her education. I?m hopeful they?ll accept her when they see her testing." "What about her age, will she ever grow up?" Mom asked. Caireen shrugged. "Like I said, her BIT was set before I even got involved, I?m guessing she?ll be this size and have the same needs for the rest of her life. She?s powerful enough she should be able to do some spells to make her life a little bit easier down the road. Glamour spells to make her seem like she?s a teenager, some others to mask the odor of a poopy diaper, and down the road probably one to change her diaper too..." "The pacifier addiction?" Mom asked. Caireen laughed. "I have no clue how we?re going to break her of that. She managed a couple hours today while she was playing with Lily. It?s possible if she?s distracted enough, she may be able to do without. Any time she gets nervous or frustrated though she needs it like a smoker needs a cigarette!" By this time, I started to feel my eyes drooping. My parents and Caireen must have continued talking through the night, but the next day I couldn?t remember anything after that. Chapter 4: Testing MOM WOKE ME the next morning and life began again. I managed to find some time in between playing with Lily to work on my homework and caught up with the stuff I missed Friday too. Sunday Hannah came over and oohed and awed about my tiara and nursery. Sometime during all of this Lily started to notice that I had a few more baby things like a crib and started asking if she was going to be the big sister from now on. I just groaned. ?I guess I?m going to have to accept that...? I admitted to myself. Before I knew it, Monday had come! Lily and I were in our car seats with Dad driving and Mom up front. Due to the secret nature of a lot of the work at Los Alamos National Labs, the lab setup a testing facility in town for if any of their personnel had kids manifest. Mom changed our diapers before we walked in with Dad carrying Lily and Mom carrying me. It seemed simply like walking into a doctor?s office to me as we approached a receptionist. "Do you have an appointment?" she asked. "Yes." "Name?" "Nicholas Hammerstein," she said. "Where is Nicholas?" she asked. Mom patted my back. "Right here." She stared for a moment before saying. "Whoa... that?s different..." She shook her head and then added. "Okay, please fill out this questionnaire, and we?ll be calling... her back shortly." We sat and filled out the forms together, essentially telling them the various things that had changed about me, symptoms of powers, etc. Under ?Any New Disabilities,? we wrote down incontinence. Embarrassing! About fifteen minutes after our appointment time they called. "Nicholas Hammerstein?" Mom walked with me and quietly asked, "May I go back with her?" He hesitated for a moment as he looked at me, but shook his head. "Sorry, he?s originally eighteen, correct?" "Yes sir," she replied. "In that case you?ll have to wait outside. I promise we?ll take good care of her." "Okay then," Mom said, hugged me, "good luck." "Thanks," I said. I followed the gentleman dressed in military fatigues into an examination room that looked like a standard doctor?s office. "I?m Lieutenant Commander Fields, let?s get you weighed and measured," he said. "Okay," I responded. We went through what would be a typical doctor?s exam, including blood work, before he asked. "So basically when you mutated your BIT turned you into a two-year-old baby girl?" he asked. I nodded. "Well this is a first for me, maybe anywhere for that matter... I?m sure this has got to be really hard on you. Your survey states you have no ability to control your bladder or bowel movements?" I shook my head. "And I have some really weird needs and addictions to things like pacifiers," I told him about a few other things too. "Well let?s get going on the tests then. I have some different staff members that will test you on different things for your levels for your MID card." The first room they led me to had a table of electronic components, gears, and other things sitting in various piles. The tester sat me down on the table so I could reach them. I played with them for about ten minutes, probably looking like a typical two-year-old playing while I was at it, but couldn?t make anything useful from it at all. "Okay then," the tester said as he opened a door and led me back down a hallway. "Did you bring a more practical set of clothing?" he asked. I looked down and thought about the fact a dress probably wasn?t the most practical clothing. "Oh... umm..." ?I?ll take care of it,? Caireen said. In a flash my dress changed to an emerald colored leotard with a tutu attached. ?Really? A tutu?? I groaned at her. I could feel the edges of my diaper sticking through the bottom of the leotard and knew I had to look as adorable as my sister going to her beginning ballet class each week. I sensed laughter from her. "That?ll work I guess," the tester allowed with a smirk. I was led into a room and he simply said, "Do your best to not get hit and avoid the balls." That was his only instruction. I sat there for several moments before I heard a pop from behind me and ducked just in time to see a rubber ball go flying past me. After that it seemed like they came non-stop. Somehow though I could just sense them before they arrived and I kept dodging for a long while before I finally got hit. "Very good," the tester said when he returned for me. "Let?s get the rest of the physical tests done..." I thought for a moment about a feeling in my stomach and groaned. Without having any control of it I squatted and messed my diaper. "Can I get a diaper change first?" I said with a whine and a groan. He looked at me in shock and said... "Umm... just a minute. Let me... uh... Let me go ask what we should do." I stood in that spot with a poopy diaper, made worse by the leotard smushing it, for about ten minutes before Mom came in with the diaper bag. She picked me up. "Where should I change her?" The man led her to a medical room where she lay me down on the table. She giggled as she did so. "You realize your poopy diapee just about broke that poor man." "Huh?" I asked sniffling, trying not to cry over the sticky state of my bottom as she popped some snaps that were in the crotch of my leotard "I don?t think they?ve ever had a two-year-old mutant before... And I?m certain if they did, they were potty-trained." Her eyes were twinkling. I groaned and did my best not to cry or beg for my pacifier. I wanted to seem a little bit more grown up, so I had left it intentionally with her in our diaper bag... One poopy diaper certainly ruined any hope of that image! "By the way, you look adorable in this leotard and tutu!" After a few minutes of mom magic she had me cleaned up and ready to move on with the rest of the testing. "All done?" a different tester asked as Mom returned me where I was. "Yes," I said. "Ma?am if you?ll please go back out to the lobby... we?ll come get you if she needs another change, otherwise please wait there." Mom sighed but turned and left while I followed the tester to a massive room with an obstacle course of ropes, beams, bars, and other things there. It was like the world?s biggest playground in my mind as the lady described the path. It was really intimidating and scary with the massive size of it! I began thinking of it like a playground though and just started running. I?m sure there were probably some stunned looks as I completed it in a respectable time, even with my size! I discovered while I was going through it that I could now leap some pretty large distances. Combined with the strength I already had discovered, it meant I really was only held back by my short legs. I certainly wasn?t a speedster, but at least I could probably make it faster through the course than a normal human. This lady verified my lack of speedster ability by setting me on a treadmill next. A ten-minute mile wasn?t too bad for a two-year-old I thought! I was able to keep running for four miles before she told me I could stop. "Okay, final physical test," she told me skeptically as she took me to a weird weight setup. "We?re looking for single max reps," she started the machine at my weight of twenty pounds. "I can do this all day," I told her as I pushed up. "You sure there?s my weight on there? "Yes... let?s bump it up." We sat there for a long while, probably longer than necessary due to her caution, before I finally said we?d hit my limit after doing 550 pounds. "This should be impossible..." she told me. "I know, right?" I shook my head. "Believe me, when you?re an eighteen-year-old thrown into the body of a two-year-old baby girl who?s not potty trained... it?s starting to seem less impossible!" She laughed. "Speaking of which, do you need a change?" I felt my diaper and sheepishly nodded. Whether it was pee or sweat, I did. "Can you get my Mom?" "Or I could just change you?" she suggested. "I have one of my daughter?s diapers in my bag over there." I groaned but decided it would speed things up. "I guess..." She returned from her bag by a desk with a diaper that was a different brand but the right size. "What?s your name?" I asked. "Lara," she said. "Thank you for changing me," I said as she finished. "You?re welcome sweetheart. I understand you changed your clothes yourself earlier?" I nodded. "Sort of... that was Caireen." "Who is she?" I was cautious. "She?s a spirit that I bonded with." "Diapers beyond her?" "I don?t know, she and I need to have that conversation though." I noticed she was staying silent. ?So?? ?I can do it... but I?d rather you be dependent on your mom or another adult like a normal baby for now.? "Apparently she?s choosing not to," I told Lara. "If you want to get back dressed to regular clothes, we?re done with the sweaty portions." ?Please?? I asked Caireen. A moment later I wasn?t dressed in the outfit from this morning, but instead the first emerald dress from a few days ago. I could feel that the tiara had made its way back on my head too. ?Any reason?? ?I think they?re going to take a picture later; this would be a good costume for you honestly.? "You?re so adorable!" Lara let out a squeal before looking a bit sheepish. It was funny to see her act like that with her lab coat on. "I know..." I sighed. "So, where to next?" She led me to another tester that tested magic ability with a bunch of crystals and other devices. Things kept happening with every test so I?m pretty sure the tester was impressed. I was asked some questions and described seeing the lines and being able to interact with them. "Whoa..." he said, and I guessed that was a big deal. "Now about this spirit you bonded with?" ?Should I be honest?? I asked. ?Yes, in this case,? Caireen responded. "She?s not really a spirit..." I started. "She?s actually a goddess." I watched the blood drain from the guys face as he kept making notes in his computer. "Her name?" "Caireen." "Culture?" "Irish." I watched as he searched for several minutes and then he asked a dozen more other questions. Finally, he sat down his tablet. "Okay... let me take you to the last stop." The final part of the testing was my regeneration. They started by pricking my finger and eventually making cuts on my arm that healed quickly. This sucked as it hurt! I really wanted my pacifier by the time he was done cutting me. Each time it didn?t take too long for the wound to heal. When they reached the point of wanting to cut off one of my fingers I said, "No more!" They made some final notes before I was led to an office with Lieutenant Commander Fields again. "Okay, you want your new name to be Sofia Elizabeth Hammerstein, correct?" I nodded. "Okay, just to explain a few things to you. Due to your father?s work for the lab you?re being given a Military Mutant ID card instead of a standard MID. Quite frankly it can save you a lot of hassle from the MCO." He shook his head in disdain at that organization. "On your card I?m listing your actual birthdate and age of 18, as well as your apparent age of two years old." I grimaced. "So which am I legally?" "Both," he said with a smile. "I guess your parents can take advantage of free admission and kids meal pricing at a lot of places with you! But, in theory you could get your driver?s license if you get a car adapted to your size." "Cool!" I said. "Somehow I don?t think my parents are going to go for that anytime soon..." "I can understand that," he paused. "You?d probably get pulled over by the police every other block!" He laughed and I giggled a little bit at that picture. "I?d like you to go over the information we?re placing in your file, but there?s one more thing we?ll need and that?s a code name." I thought for a moment and responded, "Emerald Baby." "You don?t think that might be a problem name?" I shook my head. "I?m a baby, probably for the rest of my life. If I embrace the nickname maybe I?ll get less grief for it." "Fair enough." He smiled a bit. "Okay, this is all going to be listed on our file, but this won?t be listed on your card. We choose not to share everything with the MCO if we can avoid it." "Okay," I said as I looked at the screen of the tablet, he showed me. Military MID 99-382385-3928-5 Name: Sofia Elizabeth Hammerstein Code Name: Emerald Baby Birth Date: 11-3-1997 Apparent Age: 2 Years Height: 35" Weight: 20lbs Avatar: Level 5, Esper: Level 3, Regen: Level 3, Wizard: Level 4+, Exemplar: Level 4 Legally recognized as both original birth age and apparent age per her requests. Additional information was stored about Caireen in the database, but not listed the card itself. A picture that had been taken with me in my ?costume? was on the card. "Okay, now for some of the ground rules. You must always have this card with you to show the MCO - if you don?t, they will arrest you. Keep in mind that with your size I really don?t think you want to be dealing with them any more than you have to. "Do they have any way of recognizing me as a mutant on sight?" I asked curious. "Facial scanners will pick you up now that you?re in the system, but also sweetie I hate to tell you - those beautiful emerald eyes of yours just aren?t quite natural." I nodded. "Am I done now?" "Yes, you are," he handed me a packet of information on some other laws and resources. "Follow that hallway and it?ll lead you to your family." I skipped out of there, so happy to be done! I leaped up to Mom when I saw her and showed her my card. "Good, glad we have that done!" Mom said, "Do you need changed? It?s been a long time?" I thought about it. "Probably, but I was changed again by a nice lady that was testing me," I told her. "May I please have my pacifier?" I asked in my next breath with the voice of an addict. Mom smiled, put one in my mouth, before we found a bathroom that she could change me in. I felt really embarrassed as another teenage mutant with fur on her arms came in and went to the bathroom while mom had me on the changing table. She just smiled at me though, probably thinking I was a normal baby girl. After she had me changed Mom helped me put my coat on before I was reunited with my dad and sister in the car. They had to leave the waiting area because Lily was getting bored and started to cause a scene. "All done?" Dad asked me as Mom bucked me into my seat. "Uh-huh." We waited until we drove home and were inside on the couch before they started asking me about the testing. "I can?t believe I pooped my diaper there..." I wrinkled my nose. "Sweetie, your body is a two-year-old?s body. Trust me, you?ll be going poopy at the most embarrassing times!" "I wish Caireen would just change me or teach me a spell to do so though!" Mom laughed. "She said she will eventually last night when we talked to her." "She did?" "You were asleep by then," Mom told me. "Oh." "So how did the rest of the testing go besides your poopy diapee?" Mom asked with a smirk. I was half tempted to throw my pacifier at her that I had a death grip on, but I thought better of that. "Do you really want to know it all?" I asked hesitantly. Mom and Dad nodded. "Okay.... Well they started off by showing me a whole bunch of electronics that apparently were supposed to do something. Don?t ask me what!" I said a little embarrassed. "After a while they decided I was clueless there they asked me if I had another change of clothes and Caireen changed me into that leotard and tutu." Mom grinned. "You looked soooooo cute!" I stuck my tongue out at her. "I always look cute apparently!" Lily laughed at that. She was sitting in Dad?s lap right then while I was sitting on the opposite side of the couch from Mom so I could look at everyone. "You do," Mom agreed. "As does Princess Lily." She smiled at my sister to keep her from feeling left out. "Anyway," I said with some exaggeration, "they took me into a room and didn?t really tell me what was going on other than, ?dodge the balls.?" I paused for a drink out of the sippy cup of juice I was holding in my other hand. "It took them awhile, I have a feeling they were re-calibrating it for my height or something, but I sensed a ball coming and dodged it. A whole lot more followed before I finally got hit when there were a whole lot in the air at once." "What was that supposed to test?" Mom asked. "Danger sense and being able to tell the future or something," I told her. "After that he was going to take me to the next test when I embarrassed myself... After you got done changing me, I was taken into this room that was a huge ropes and obstacle course. I didn?t think I would honestly be able to do anything with it due to my size, but it was no problem at all. In fact, other than the parts where running happened and my legs don?t give me a long stride, I apparently did pretty well above average." "You got to play?" Lili asked jealously. "Sort of Lily," I told her. "It wasn?t a lot of fun though," I lied to her. "They had me run on a treadmill then. I?ve slowed down there as I?m only running a ten-minute mile... but I guess for my height that?s considered pretty good." Dad nodded. "I think you?re probably much faster than any other two- year-old!" "Well, and I was able to run the distance too. I think they had me run like four miles without stopping." "What else did they do?" Dad asked. "Well, they ran me through a bench press test." "How much?" he asked, he had sensed my smile. "550 pounds," I said with a smile. Dad whistled and Mom looked a little uneasy. "How is that even physically possible I wonder...?" Dad said thoughtfully. "Within all reason a twenty-pound body should never be able to do that..." "They were just as confused Dad," I smiled. "The lady there was nice enough to change me then and Caireen switched my clothes back out to this dress. Apparently, she wanted me to look good for the picture on my card." I felt her mentally smirk and nod to me. "They then did some magic tests. I guess I?m a weirdo there too because I got the impression that they couldn?t really test higher than that." I debated about the healing test, but said, "Then they tested my regeneration." Dad flinched at that; he apparently knew what they did. Mom looked a little lost. "They tested how well I could heal from cuts." "They cut you?!?!?" Mom asked concerned. "You can?t even tell," I said as I showed her the underside of my wrist where they tried. She spent several nervous moments examining it before agreeing. "Apparently I have some regen ability too." "So what did they list your powers as?" Dad asked quickly to change the subject. "Well I?m an Avatar Level 5 since I am hosting Caireen. I think that might be higher, but that?s what he put down. Apparently from the ball attack test they decided I?m an Esper Level 3, I have Level 3 Regen abilities, I?m a Level 4 Exemplar, and they put down 4 plus for my Wizarding skills." Dad whistled again. "They ran out of tests with you then on the magic skills. You?re a higher ability level probably than any of the people I have working with me." I could see some wheels turning in his head. "Rachel, we really need to send her to Whateley." Mom nodded. "They were talking about sending someone out to see us when I called them earlier." "Sending someone out?" I asked surprised. "Isn?t that really expensive for a school?" "Depends on who you?re talking about sweetie, in their case they may have a warper that can just bring the person on out here without even getting on a plane or wasting too much time," Dad said. Right then Mom?s cell phone began to ring. "Hello? This is she." I heard her say some uh-huhs and such for several moments before she said, "Okay, tonight at eight would be fine for us." She ended the call and looked at me. "Apparently they saw something on your testing that bumped up their interview. They?ll be here at eight." I looked at the clock and saw it was almost four. I had missed lunch and was suddenly starving. "I?m hungry..." Mom laughed. "Tell you what, why don?t we go out to eat?" "Okay," I said. She proceeded to pick me up and told Dad. "You?re on diaper duty with Lily honey." He stood up with Lily without a word and we were both taken to our rooms for us to be changed. "You know, in most houses you two would be sharing a room so we only had to keep track of one changing table," she said as she looked down underneath. "We?re going to have to go buy you some more diapers." I just sucked on the pacifier that had reattached itself to my face and nodded. Mom had me changed quickly and asked, "Do you want a less conspicuous outfit on now?" I thought about it for a second and nodded. ?I hope you don?t mind Caireen,? I said. I felt her laugh. ?Go for blending in.? Mom picked out a purple one-piece romper that had hearts and flowers on the front of it and quickly undressed me and redressed me. "We need to figure out how you?re going to keep your MID on you sweetheart." I nodded... I didn?t know where though. ?Caireen you have any way for me to keep it on me? I?m a little worried of losing it since most of my clothing isn?t about storing stuff...? ?Here,? she said and a cute purple purse decorated with Princess Sofia appeared. ?Huh?? ?Put your MID in there,? she insisted. "Mom, can you hand my MID to me?" I asked. She was of course staring at me again. "Here," she said. I placed it inside there and asked, ?Now what?? ?Think ?put away,?? she told me. I did and it vanished. ?How do I get it back?? ?Just imagine it back in your hand.? I did so and then put it away a few times before realizing Mom was glaring at me. "Sorry, Caireen was giving me a lesson and helping me put it somewhere safe." "Okay Princess, let?s go then," she said a little bit on the cranky side herself. I hoped she would get to be in a better mood. Mom held the diaper bag on her shoulder while she carried me and Dad had Lily still. When both of us were strapped in our car seats we headed off to our favorite restaurant in town. We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by the hostess. "How many?" "Two adults and two high chairs please," Mom said. I refrained from glaring at her since we?d talked about this. I?d have a bib on too I was sure. My only real question was how I was going to get enough to eat! Mom and dad set us in the wooden high chairs that sat on opposite sides of the table and then Mom sat next to me and Dad next to Lily. "Here you go sweetie," the lady said to us as she put a coloring mat in front of us that I could just reach at the table. I felt Mom push me in a little bit farther to be able to reach. "Twins?" the lady asked confused. "No, she?s older," Mom said pointing to me. "Just hasn?t started really growing yet," Mom added. "They?re adorable, your waitress will be right with you." Mom and I quietly talked before she agreed to order a combination plate (chile relleno, taco, shredded beef enchilada, and cheese enchilada) for me to split with my sister. She would only want the taco and a little bit of the beans and rice Mom knew. I admitted my wimpy new status when I agreed green chile on the side was a better plan than smothering the plate. Once she had taken our orders mom asked her to fill our sippy cups up with some milk and then put bibs on both of us. I was sitting like that when I saw Jacob come in with his family. "Oh no," I said quietly to Mom. "Jacob is here!" "Relax," Mom told me. I sucked on my pacifier fervently as he saw us and looked obviously for the missing person, me. "Hi Mrs. Hammerstein, Doctor Hammerstein," he said. "Where?s Nick?" "He?s still at home sick," Mom said smoothly with a smile, "he?s going to be out for a while I?m afraid." "That?s too bad... any chance I could stop by and see him?" "Why don?t you and Hannah come by tomorrow after school?" Mom suggested. Jacob had a car and had long been designated as our trio?s taxi driver. "Okay, sounds good," he said and then stared at both Lily and I. As he looked at me he asked. "Who?s the other cute baby girl?" "Oh, that?s Sofia, she?s a friend of Lily?s that we had over today while her Mom does some shopping in Albuquerque." "Okay," He said. "Anyway, I?d better go join my parents, tell Nick we?ll see him tomorrow and bring his homework." "Thanks Jacob!" Mom said. "See, it?s all fine," she said to me after he left. "No, it?s not," I said trying not to cry. "What do you mean?" "I pooped my diaper again." Mom laughed, picked me up, the diaper bag up, and told Dad, "We?ll be right back. Someone is a poopie pants." I was so embarrassed to have my diaper changed in a bathroom that seemed to have a long line of ladies and girls waiting for the stalls, but a clean diaper was worth it, I guess. Mom carried me back and placed me in the high chair just in time for the food to arrive. After she split off my sisters? portion, she left the main plate in front of me. There were a few stares from the waitress as she came by and saw my devouring the plate. Mom had been thoughtful enough to provide me with the miniaturized silverware I made the other day. "I can?t believe she ate all of that," the lady said as she dropped off the check. I smiled. "How is she so tiny?" "High metabolism," Mom said and kind of glared at me. We were probably going to have this problem on a normal basis though, she was going to have to deal with it. As it was, I was still hungry. On our way out, Mom stopped in the bathroom to change Lily and decided she could skip me until we got home for me. I thought we were heading home, but instead we stopped at Safeway. "Honey do you want to stay in the car with the girls while I make a quick stop inside?" she asked Dad. "I need to go buy Sofia some more diapers and probably some more wipes and stuff for both the girls." He nodded and I found myself watching Tangled on the cars DVD player with Lily to kill the time. Mom came back out to the car not too much later with a large box of diapers and a couple of sacks of stuff that she put in the back. I was glad to have been spared the embarrassment of going inside to purchase diapers for me! "Come play!" Lily demanded when we got home at seven. "Okay, until our visitor gets here," I told her. "Actually, I?ll be giving her a bath at 7:30, so you have thirty minutes," Mom told us. "Sorry Lily, I promise I?ll play with you all morning tomorrow!" I said as I knew today had to have sucked for her. "Pwomise?" she asked. "Pwomise," I smiled and said right back the same way. In the end we sat and fed a couple of baby dolls and changed their clothes and diapers before Mom came for her to get her in the bath. Mom had just finished putting Lily to bed when there was a quiet knock on the outside of our front door precisely at 8pm. "Is this the Hammerstein residence?" a woman?s voice asked. "Yes, I?m Doctor Hammerstein," Dad said. "I assume you?re from Whateley?" "Yes, we are, my name is Elizabeth Carson, I?m the Headmistress, and this is Elyzia Grimes, one of our mystic arts faculty members and the head of our junior high program." "Please come in," he said. I was sitting on the couch waiting for them nervously when they came up, I jumped down. "And who is this pretty little girl?" the lady who hadn?t really spoke much asked. "Sofia Hammerstein," I said with a curtsey I hadn?t planned on but seemed innate. "How do you do?" "Wait a second," she said and her eyes opened. "This is the young lady we?re here to see?" she asked Mrs. Carson. "You can see why I asked you?" she replied. "I can?t handle another one!!!" she told her in a soft but scared voice. "I promise I don?t think she?ll be like the others you had," she said with a smile. "She doesn?t need to go stealing essence everywhere." "Where are our manners, please sit down, may I get you anything?" Dad said nervously. "My wife will be right down; she?s just putting our youngest to bed." "I?ll take a glass of water," Mrs. Carson said and Mrs. Grimes agreed with her. I had a feeling they did that just to give him a way out. When they came in, I forced the pacifier from my mouth, but it was still clutched in my hand. I tried to put it on the couch behind me, but couldn?t seem to release it. "So, Sofia, what can you tell us about yourself?" Mrs. Carson asked. "Well, until last week I was a skinny eighteen-year-old boy... I liked playing in band and did well in my classes like most of the kids at LAHS. I just tested for my second-degree black belt last week in Tae Kwon Do..." She nodded. "I also really loved helping take care of my baby sister Lily - kind of hard to do now." I paused and politely asked, "May I ask why you came so soon to see me?" After a second. "And how?d you get here?" Mom came in right then and Dad returned with the glasses in hand too. "Hi, I?m Rachel Hammerstein," Mom introduced herself. "Elizabeth Carson." Mrs. Carson stood and extended her hand. "And this is Elyzia Grimes," she added as Mom also shook her hand before coming to the couch where I was sitting, picking me up, and plopping me on her lap. I sighed. "So?" Mrs. Carson smiled. "You?re a driven individual, aren?t you? Well, you?ll definitely need that. I came so soon because the head of the testing lab called me and explained your situation. He seems worried that you are extraordinarily powerful and also may stand out a bit." I blushed. "How can a baby stand out?" She laughed. "Your size is certainly among the more unique mutations I?ve seen, but in my experience, I doubt that will hold you back in the future. Just how much..." She seemed to be fighting for words. "I think what Mrs. Carson is trying to ask is this, how much do you act like a baby?" Mrs. Grimes prompted. I really blushed then. Mom answered before I could. "The diapers are something I don?t think she?s going to be able to help. As far as I can tell she lacks any of the potty-training readiness that they tell you to look for in babies. She?s actually I think behind the age they figure she is for that. Other than that, she behaves pretty much like she did as a teenager. Her only real babyish thing that she can?t seem to escape is a need for her pacifier," Mom said while holding my hand up that was keeping it in a death grip. "Intelligence hasn?t changed, and maturity hasn?t changed?" Mrs. Carson asked. "Not that I?ve seen. She?s played with her sister a bit more and might be enjoying it more, but that may just be because she knows it looks normal now," Mom said. "Can she take care of her own needs?" Mrs. Grimes asked. I cringed as the conversation continued around me like I wasn?t even there... I had to jump in myself. "Well, I can change my clothes magically and normally still," I answered. "Diaper changes seem to be the one thing I have to be dependent on others for so far. Caireen seemed to indicate she?ll eventually teach me to do it with magic, but she wants me to get into the role first or something." I felt her nod before she said, ?I will teach you the magic to change yourself in a few months.? I sighed. "She said in a few months she?ll teach me that." "Okay, so when would you want to send her out to us?" Mrs. Carson asked my parents. "She?s accepted?" Dad asked in surprise. "Oh, most definitely. We?ll have to deal with the logistics of having a toddler as a student, but I honestly think she?ll do very well at Whateley. Other than the oddity of her transformation she is pretty much what we look for in a student that will excel at Whateley." "What grade would I be in?" I asked timidly. "Assuming you run the school by grades?" Mrs. Carson sighed. "I don?t honestly know yet. I brought Mrs. Grimes with me because she has had a number of young ladies as Junior High students the last ten years. Currently she has five that she takes care of. There?s not an elementary or preschool at our institution for us to even think of those as options. I looked at the transcripts your Mom faxed us over the weekend and I think you would normally be listed as a sophomore on entry to our school." "I have to go back two grades?" I groaned. "Would it be better to go ahead and have her be in the junior high?" Mom asked. I glared at her as she was not helping! Mrs. Carson said, "Maybe, but I think the high school level is where all of her classes will be, so we might do well to consider her to be a high schooler. Or maybe we?ll consider her an eighth grader to finish out the year.... She?s not going to grow I don?t think, so it?s not like waiting for her to get older will do any good. I?ll probably try and find a high school junior to pair her up with or something..." "And changes?" Mom asked. "I?m going to look into what our best options are for her." ?You?ll need space for a crib,? Caireen told me. ?Really?!?? ?Yes baby, that won?t change.? I sighed. "Caireen says I need space for a crib in my room instead of a normal bed." "She?s the goddess that you?ve bonded with, correct?" Mrs. Carson asked. "Yes ma?am," I replied. "May I speak with her?" she asked. I said, ?All yours,? to Caireen and felt her take over. "Good evening, I am Caireen," I heard her say through me. "Good evening Your Majesty," Mrs. Carson said, "I assume you know all of what we spoke about?" "Yes, ma?am I do." "Do you foresee any issues with Sofia coming to our school?" "No, she should be more than fine. I will ask that you either provide a crib and changing table for her, or I can create them when we get there. She will need an older student or adult to help her several times through the day." "You won?t help her with that?" "No, I believe it?s in her best interest to learn to blend in by being just as needy as any two-year-old is." Mrs. Carson looked thoughtful. "Okay, would you let Sofia rejoin us?" I came back from the closet it seemed like. "Yes ma?am?" "Would you be okay if I basically assign an older student as a big sister/caregiver?" I sighed. "I hope I don?t regret it, but I should be fine." "Okay, I have a student in mind in Poe Cottage that should do well. She?s a junior, so she?ll be able to be around next year too." "So, when do I come?" I asked nervously. "Well, after Christmas Break seems wise right now. You have a month and a half then to get used to things before coming out." "Will she be safe around here that long?" Dad asked her. "I?m not sure honestly. If it seems like it would be better for her to come out sooner please let me know. We can get her in sooner, but there are a lot of pieces we probably should have in place first. Not least of which are Caireen?s requests." She paused. "Best bet is pretend she really is two anytime you?re away. Any magic should be done only under Caireen?s supervision, and keep a low profile." ?Should be easy enough...? I thought sadly. ?Don?t be so sure...? Caireen said, and I thought I could detect some worry. "Well, I guess we should be going. If we need to take her sooner please call this number immediately." Mrs. Carson said handing her a card. "It?ll get to me no matter what and we can make emergency arrangements." "Thank you for coming to see us," Mom said to her. "Our pleasure," Mrs. Grimes said and to me, "I look forward to seeing you at school Sofia. You?re going to turn a lot of heads!" Once they were out the door Mom said, "Okay, bath time," and without any hesitation picked me up and carried me upstairs. She started the bathwater, stripped me, and washed me quickly. "What time is it?" I wondered suddenly. "Ten," she answered. "Time for baby girls to be in bed," she said as she dried my hair. "Oh." Mom took the time to heat up a bottle and fed me just like the previous nights. It had been a long day and I went to sleep during another story before it had even really begun. Chapter 5: Playtime I WOKE UP in the castle crib with Caireen standing over me. "There?s my baby girl," she said with a smile. "Hi," I said timidly. "Let?s get you changed and going for the day!" she told me with a smile. She changed the soaked diaper and then dressed me in a pale-yellow dress before setting me down on the ground facing a large dollhouse. "Okay, I think it?s time for you to start learning to play." "Umm?" I said. "Huh?" "Take one of your dollies," she told me with a smile. I looked and there were a number of cute and lifelike dolls sitting by the house. They actually seemed far more realistic that I imagined appropriate for this time period; very anachronistic with the surroundings. I picked one that looked kind of like me with red hair and green eyes painted on her face. I was surprised to see she was like Lily?s dolls and the eyes opened and closed as I picked her up or lay her down. She had on a pretty green dress similar to mine. I sheepishly looked under her skirts and sure enough she had a diaper on too. "Okay now you have to name her!" Caireen said with a smile. I thought for a moment about some of the Irish names that I had come across when researching who Caireen was the other day. I also thought about my code name and said, "Emie." "That seems perfect," she praised me in a voice like she was talking to someone my apparent age. "Okay, now for the fun part, let?s practice changing her clothes." I looked over at the box and saw there were other outfits there. I wondered though if she meant this to begin my training. I pictured a dress similar to the green one but fancier and with tights. I kind of willed it to be so and the dress I pictured was now on Emie! "Well aren?t you a quick learner!" Caireen said as she leaned over and squeezed me into a hug. That night she had me practice changing her dresses to other ones that were appropriate, more modern baby clothes, and so on before she finally had me work on her hair too. I was starting to feel tired when she said, "I think it?s time for bed here," she said with a smile. "Am I actually getting sleep in the ?real? world?" I asked sleepily. "Yes, Sofia you are." "Can I do this stuff there now?" "I think you can safely. Stick to clothes on dolls and hair on dolls for now though. The last thing you want to do is mess up your sister?s hair like you did Emie?s a bit ago!" I blushed as she changed a wet diaper, thinking about the tangled mess of hair - Caireen had to help get it back to normal. She then held me in a rocking chair and rocked me to sleep with a lullaby. I WOKE UP on my own when I heard Dad starting to move around the house to get ready to work. I smiled as I realized that Caireen had brought Emie into the real world for me and she lay next to me. This was the first time I had woken up on my own so I wasn?t quite sure what I should do. I tried saying, "Mommy? Daddy?" quietly for them to hear. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up my sister early if we could avoid it. Finally, I couldn?t help myself anymore, I reached up to the rail of my crib with a short hop and pulled myself over like I had a wall yesterday. ?You are so going to get in trouble for this,? I heard Caireen sigh. ?I?m not really a baby...? I told her. ?I know, but will your Mom appreciate the difference?? ?She?s going to need to, how else am I going to get out of bed at school?? I heard her sigh and I decided to just face the music. I opened my door quietly and walked downstairs where dad was reading the paper. "Well good morning Sofia..." He thought for a second. "how did you get out of your crib? Your mom is still in the shower." I blushed but decided to spit it out. "I climbed out." He sighed and I could tell he was mentally trying to decide what to do. "Well we didn?t say you couldn?t do that. Be ready for your mom to get mad about it though." "Mad about what?" Mom asked from behind me. "She climbed out of her crib," he answered. I turned towards Mom. "I?m not really a baby mom, and it was way smaller of a climb and jump than what I was doing yesterday." She picked me up and I suddenly worried I was going to get a spanking. She sighed. "I guess we?re going to have to get used to finding a balance between you being a baby and not being a baby, huh?" "You?re not too mad?" I asked, kind of scared. "I probably should be, but you?re not a regular baby. Of course, if you were this would be the sign we needed to get you in a big girl bed or spank your bottom. Since Caireen doesn?t really want you in a regular bed maybe..." I trembled. "Please no?" Mom smiled and tickled me. "Like I said, you?re not a regular baby. At least if you get hurt, you?ll get better quick. Don?t expect to come crying to me about it though!" I smiled. "Okay." She felt underneath my nightgown and said, "I guess I get an early start on diaper changes today, huh?" "Please?" Mom changed me into a knit dress that had a few tiers of ruffles on the skirt. Lily had one similar that she wore all of the time. As if Caireen had felt like there should be some sort of constant joke with my name it had a picture of Sofia the First on the front. "Okay, shall we get breakfast?" she asked as she sat me down. "Umm... can you actually get Emie for me? I left her in my crib by accident." Mom looked in the crib and saw my baby doll. "She?s beautiful," she said. "Where did you get her?" "Caireen gave her to me in the castle last night, I guess she decided to bring her with me to the real world." I hesitated, but then said, "Watch this!" I changed her dress into one identical to mine. She grimaced but said, "Cool. I actually think I liked the other one better," she said. "Okay," I said and changed it back. "This ability doesn?t work to change your diaper?" Mom asked. I sighed. "I asked Caireen that last night. In theory it works exactly like that, but she?s blocking me from it." Mom carried me down the steps and then let me down on the ground and I walked on my own to the dining table. "Pancakes?" Mom asked. "Really?" I asked surprised. "Well, it?s worth celebrating that you?re up before the afternoon!" she said semi-sternly. She sat me on the counter a few minutes later and I stirred the ingredients. She had to stop me before I went too far in mixing it, my extra strength had a practical application of helping me mix better! She paused long enough to go wake my sister up and bring her down in a nearly identical dress to mine, before actually cooking the batter. "We twins!" Lily said when she saw what I was wearing. I giggled. "Sort of, I?m taller!" "Well I?m heavier," she said. Mom laughed. "That?ll be the only time in your life I think I?ll hear you brag about being heavier Lily!" "Well, it?s the only time in my life I?ll probably still be taller than her too," I told Mom. "I get taller than you?" Lily asked me. I sighed. "Lily, by the time you hit your next birthday you?ll probably be taller than me," I added. "You?ll grow up but I?m always going to be a baby." Her eyes widened and I think she must have grasped that wasn?t normal because she toddled over and hugged me. "I love you, even if I bigger! You bestest brother sister ever." I smiled and hugged her back. Mom put us in our high chairs and then put bibs on both of us. I watched her cut up Lily?s pancake after putting some syrup on it, and then she did the same with mine. "You don?t have to do that..." I said. "Shhh..." Mom said with a smile. "If you complain too much, I?ll feed you!" I gulped and just ate the mutilated pancakes. She had given me a stack of three that I easily finished before also finishing the sippy cup of milk she had given me. Mom attacked Lily?s face with a baby wipe and then me as well. "You two go play; I remember someone made a promise last night." I nodded and said, "Come on Lily, let?s go down to the playroom." I stopped for a moment though and Mom seemed to have read my mind because she had a pacifier ready to go that she attached to my dress with a clip. "This way you can?t lose it!" I blushed and sucked on it. "Mine Mommy," Lily said. She produced it and I had a feeling Mom was wondering how she was going to get the baby sister to break a habit her older sister was never going to break. As soon as we hit the playroom, I let Lily take the lead. She ended up deciding we should have a tea party that morning. She made certain to teach me how to play right. I had fun with her and even amused her by changing the clothes of several of her dolls with magic. I also let her play a little with Emie. It was strange because I had to fight a strange possessiveness that I felt about her. Mom came down and watched us off and on through the morning. She changed another messy diaper on me during the morning and a wet diaper on Lily, but mostly just let us play. When lunch came, she made us wash our hands and gave us PB&J sandwiches. "Okay, nap time girls," Mom said as she lifted Lily out of her high chair and then came for me. She changed both of us and then let me have my cell phone and Emie in my crib. I had a number of messages from Hannah and Jacob, as well as some other friends. I just responded to Hannah and Jacob though telling them that they could come over that afternoon. With Hannah we debated how I should tell Jacob, but a couple of his messages from last night made me wonder if he hadn?t already put two and two together. I couldn?t help but think back to last night when I asked Caireen about changing my own diapers the same way as the clothes. As soon as she said I would be able to I tried. It was pretty funny when I suddenly ended up with this weird not diaper thing hanging half off of my body and the rest of my clothes went away too. ?I said you would be able to, not that I would let you yet.? She had said laughing. ?I think given your situation, size, and lack of potty training it would be best if you get used to being taken care of for a while...? As if to emphasize the fact it was a bad idea, I felt urine trickle down my legs without the diaper to collect it. I tried to argue and negotiate with her for twenty minutes, but in the end, I had ended up with another diaper, outfit, and been put back to play some more with the doll?s clothing. ?I know you think I?m being unfair,? Caireen said to me then. ?No...? I said, ?I guess I don?t mind Mom changing me. I wouldn?t even freak out too much over Hannah changing me later. It?s the thought of going to school with all of these superheroes and villains and being unable to handle something like changing my own poopy diaper.? ?I promise you it?ll work out.? ?I hope so...? I told her. After an hour or so, during which I was on my phone playing games and surfing the internet, Mom came in. "Didn?t feel like a nap today?" Mom asked. I shook my head. "I think I still have the circadian rhythm of a teenager. Or mostly at least." "Are Hannah and Jacob coming over?" I nodded. "I?m guessing they?ll be here in a bit over an hour." I let her pick me up out of my crib and walked downstairs with her. I decided since I was going to Whateley there was no point in doing my homework. Apparently, I was going back at least two grades anyway, so what was the point? I turned on the TV and used Netflix to find Sofia the First episodes. I had watched a couple with my sister, but I usually was doing homework and ignoring it. Somehow, I thought it would be wise to actually know what happens in the show! Three episodes in, my sister had joined me, the doorbell rang and I knew it would be my friends. "Lily, would you please give me and my friends some privacy for a while?" I asked. I could tell she wanted to be annoyed, but I was really proud of her. She said, "Sure, I play downstairs!" I would have hugged her, but she ran downstairs so fast I couldn?t catch her. I instinctively knew my pacifier was still in my mouth and decided to let it dangle from the clip instead. ?On second thought...? I pulled the clip from my dress and then the little purse I had my MID in from that other space. I looked in the purse and easily fit my pacifier in.? ?That?s my baby girl!? Caireen praised me. I smiled. Mom came to the front door and I decided to stand behind her. "Hi Mrs. Hammerstein, may we see Nick?" "Come in Jacob," Mom said instead. "Is he okay?" Jacob asked. "Hi Jacob, Hannah," I said as I came out from behind Mom when the door shut. "Hi Sofia," Hannah said. She couldn?t seem to help herself, she leaned down and picked me up. I hugged her before she said, "Come on Jacob, we need to talk." "Let?s go to my room?" I suggested. "Your room?" Jacob asked, but dumbly followed. "Hey this is Nick?s room, why is it a nursery...?" Hannah sat down on the floor with me on her lap. "Jacob this sort of is still Nick?s room, but you were sort of right on your guess that I was a mutant..." "Holy Fuck! Nick?!?!?!?" he said, finally getting it. "What the Hell happened to you?" "I manifested," I said, "unfortunately my body decided to play a trick on me." He looked around with an intensive stare at the crib and changing table. "So you?re like a baby now?" he asked. "Not just in size?" I sighed. "I?m no longer potty trained and have a bonding with a goddess who prefers I continue to act my appearance for a while." "Diapers?" "Unfortunately." "That sucks." He thought for a moment. "Hannah, why aren?t you shocked?" "His parents needed a babysitter for Lily when he changed. They were a little bit panicked for some reason," she said with a smirk and squeezed me against her tighter. "It was kind of impossible to hide it all from me." "How come you didn?t tell me before?" he asked. "Honestly, I?m scared to let anyone know about this! The fact that I let you know to come over was a big step Jacob." "So, did you get like any super powers?" I smirked. "Yeah, I did." "I mean besides super stinky diapers." I momentarily wondered if I hadn?t gone again, but he was joking. In revenge I decided to turn his socks bright pink and add some ruffles. "That?s not fair," he told me looking down. "I think they?re cute Jacob," Hannah said. "Change them back please?" he begged. "Or?" "Umm... tickle?" I squirmed against Hannah. "Oh no you don?t," she said, "she?s all mine." All of the sudden out from nowhere she started tickling my sides and couldn?t help but giggle non-stop until she finally let up. My dress had ridden up during the tickling and my very soaked diaper was on display. Mom came in just as it was ending. "I see you three seem to be doing okay..." Mom said and hesitated before adding. "Umm Hannah, seeing as how I assume you just helped her make that wet diaper, would you mind changing her?" With that she walked away and I found my mouth open. "Well, your mommy?s right," she said and I was up in the air before I knew it. She carried me flat in her arms outstretched in front of her. "You know I think you?re lighter than a lot of one-year-olds I?ve babysat. I blushed. "How much do you weigh?" "Twenty pounds." "I?m going to the restroom, I?ll be right back," Jacob said, clearly not wanting to be present for my change. "Wow, that?s light!" Hannah sat me down on the table. "How do we do this?" "What do you mean?" "I mean you?re my best friend turned into a two-year-old baby. Do I treat you like your sister when I?m changing her diaper, or do we do this different?" I shrugged. "Caireen seems bent on me getting used to embarrassment and diaper changes. Change me the same way you do Lily." She smiled. "Okay!" The next moment she had me laid back on the table and used the strap to keep me from going anywhere. She pushed my dress back up to where she could see my diaper. "Wow, you?re one soaked baby girl!" she said in that baby voice all girls have. My thumb found its way to my mouth then and she noticed. She reached underneath the table. "Here, why don?t you use your paci," she said with a smile and put it in my mouth. I nursed it as she undid the tapes of my diaper and pulled it out of the way, putting a new one in its place. She wiped me really good, powdered me, and then taped it back on. The next part was a surprise as she blew a big raspberry in my exposed belly button. I giggled. "Oh, do we have the giggles again?" she asked as she tickled my feet a little. Hannah undid the strap, pulled my dress back down, and then picked me up and held me in her arms. "You do realize you?ve stolen my heart at this point?" I looked at her, slightly confused. "You have got to be the most adorable baby girl known to mankind. I so want to take you home with me instead of leaving you here!" I knew she was joking, but a part of me would have been okay with that too. Jacob came back in then once he determined the coast was clear. The three of us sat back down then. "So, are you going to go to preschool now?" he asked, trying to start up the conversation. "No silly, I?m going back to high school!" I told him. He laughed. "Seriously, what are you doing?" "I?m going back to high school." "You?re joking, right?" He paused. "I know LAHS is weird, but even that would be too much for us." I laughed. "I am going back to high school, just not here." "Where are you going?" Hannah asked nervously. "There?s a private school in the Northeast that is just for mutants. It?s some sort of superhuman high school I guess..." They both gaped at me for that. "Anyway, I?m going to be a sophomore... or maybe in junior high for the rest of the year after Christmas and they?re supposed to get me through all of their other work as time goes on." "A sophomore again? Or back in junior high? That sucks!" Jacob said. I nodded, but said, "It beats daycare?" "I don?t know, naptime, playtime, snacks - daycare was pretty sweet," he said. I laughed. "I guess... of course at this rate I?ll probably find out since I?m not going until after Christmas. Mom occasionally has to drop Lily off at a daycare and do some errands and things. Especially with me no longer being able to babysit her." "I?ll babysit you two if you need one," Hannah said. "We?ll definitely be taking you up on that Hannah," Mom said from behind me, making me jump. "Are you two staying for dinner?" "Sure, if you don?t mind?" Jacob said. Hannah nodded. "I don?t have anywhere to go." "Let your parents know though," she told them. "Will do," I heard them answer in stereo. I watched them both pull their cell phones out and text their parents. Neither parent would be surprised with them being at my house. My new appearance... "Hannah, have you said anything to your parents?" I asked nervously. She looked sheepish. "I told my parents... They promised to keep it a secret, but I was worried they might ask some really embarrassing questions until I had no other choice." I just nodded. "I don?t see how you could have kept it a secret." "That being said my mom really wants to see you!!!" She laughed. I stuck my tongue out at her. "Sofia, you realize you?re just like all of the other exemplar girl models, right? You?re just the ideal baby model!" Hannah said while I shot her daggers. "No seriously, have you thought about it? You would be like their perfect toddler model since you could behave and listen to directions so much better!" "So, what you?re saying is that I should be modeling Pampers?" She laughed at me. "If it pays, why not?" "I don?t think so..." I said. In my mind I had to admit that money is nice though... We managed to talk about some things other than my new status as a baby. My missing in action status was hurting the flute section Hannah told me - apparently, they were lost without me. There was absolutely nothing I could do on that front unfortunately. I hadn?t even had a chance yet to see if I could still play a piccolo. I had no doubts that holding a regular flute would forever be beyond me now. "Dinner is ready guys," Mom said to us. "Okay," Hannah said in stereo with me. I had been sitting in her lap for a while and she stood up and picked me up at the same time. "You are so light!" "How light is she?" Jacob asked. "Here," Hannah said and handed me towards him. It was like a deer being caught in the headlights, the idea of holding a baby scared him to no end. Not to mention that I used to be his normally tall teenage best friend. "Umm..." "Boys!" Hannah huffed. "Here, put your arms out and let her grab around your neck, you grab her right here along her waist." She made sure he was holding me right, I made sure I could use a death grip to hold onto his neck if I needed to! "See, how hard is that?" I giggled. Mom must have heard some of it too and she ended up taking a picture of him holding me and standing there with Hannah. Three musketeers and all that... Mom had made nachos for dinner. For those of you who may be thinking those gooey things with fake cheese you get at the movies that?s not what I mean. Mom makes them with corn tortilla chips, then some refried beans, lots of shredded beef, and then real grated colby jack cheese. The beef is cooked in plenty of red chile based sauce so it has a bite. Much to everyone?s amusement I insisted on my ?me size? silverware. "What? I really hate eating with my hands!" I said to them. I still had to touch my food some though, the stuff doesn?t stay on the chip. It was a good thing she?d insisted on the bib though, my smaller mouth made it much more difficult to eat with big chips than it used to! I forced myself to continue eating the meat even though it tasted as spicy as a ghost pepper to me now! "How are you still eating?" Jacob asked in shock after my second plate. I blushed. "I don?t know, it?s not like it adds any weight to me..." "I wish I could eat that much and not gain weight," Hannah said. "Me too," my dad affirmed. When I finished eating Mom let me down from the highchair. I think she kind of was trying to help me be discreet, but just like the last couple days Lily pooped first, and I was right behind her. I sighed and scrunched my face up. "I?ll take one of them," Hannah offered. "Umm thanks," she said and Mom looked at me. I just went ahead and pointed my head towards Hannah as okay. "Which one you want?" "I?ll take this stinker," she said with a maniacal laugh and picked me up in such a way to avoid smushing the mess anymore. I was getting upset, she could tell, and she pushed a pacifier in my mouth. "There, that?s better," she said with a smile and teased my nose with her finger. I always knew Hannah was great with Lily because she liked her, but now I knew why she was great with babies in general. She got me changed and kept me giggling the whole time. Before she even pulled the tapes down, she had blown some raspberries on my belly and tickled me to make me smile around my pacifier. She cleaned me up quickly and never once made a real face about it. She made some fake ones of course about me being stinky. Well, sort of fake, you know what I mean. I?m sure it did smell! For some reason the smell of my poopy diapers didn?t seem to bother me. She had just finished washing her hands and thrown the dirty diaper away and I hugged her. "Thanks," I told her. "Anytime Princess," she told me. She looked at her cell phone. "I guess I need to get going home. If I can find a ride out here would you mind if I came out again sometime this week?" "You want to?" I asked amazed. "Sure, you?re still my best friend." As they were walking out the door Mom asked Hannah. "We?re going to Albuquerque to go shopping for some things on Saturday, would you be able to come and help with Sofia and Lily? It was nice having an extra set of hands for diaper changes today," she smiled. "And, I?m sure Sofia wouldn?t mind some time with a normal teenager." "Sure," she said, "I?d love to. Let me just check with my mom." "Let me know and we?ll pick you up on the way out of town." "Cool," she said. "Bye Lily, bye Sofia." As they left Mom came up to Lily and I and grabbed our hands. "Okay girls, bath time!" It was soon bedtime and Mom once again gave me a bottle of warm milk. "I guess with your regenerating I don?t have to worry about tooth decay," she said as she kissed my forehead. "I don?t know how I?m ever going to break your sister of her bottles and pacifiers though with you around." I pulled it out of my mouth for a moment. "Just wait until I go to school?" "That means getting through Christmas and your grandmother complaining about how her kids were done with bottles and diapers before they were one!" She laughed and so did I. "Have you told them about me?" Mom shook her head. "They?re supposed to come down for Thanksgiving... I think it?s best to tell them in person." "And Grandma Wendy?" That was mom?s mom. The other two were Dad?s parents. "Well, she wants us to go to lunch with us on Saturday..." "Oh..." I said. I sat up and hugged her as well as I could. Mom?s mother was her only family left as her dad died when she was just a little girl. The biggest problem with her mom though was that she was nearly a Humanity First member with her rhetoric. "Are you sure that?s a good idea?" Mom shook her head. "No, but you?re my baby girl and if she can?t accept it then that will finally be it," she said. Mom grabbed the bottle from my hand and pushed the nipple of the bottle back in my mouth. "You don?t worry about any of that sweetheart, I promise you?ll be safe." She didn?t read me a story that night, instead she held the bottle for me, stroked my hair, and sang a lullaby. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please consider leaving me a comment in the reviews if this is your first time reading this about what you think! I do have up through Chapter 17 of the revised postings up on WattPad if you don?t feel like being patient for the next postings. I didn?t want to just dump all of the chapters on here at once. WattPad is probably a slightly better option than the old files here just because there?s some continuity errors you may notice in the originals. Thanks for taking the time to read!!!