In-Between - Chapters 61-63 free porn video

You will want to read this story in order for it to make sense. As much as I don't wish to send readers away, I do want you to know that if diapers, bottles, and all that entails for babies doesn't interest you, this story most likely will not be for you. This work is set in the 'DiaperDimension' that was created by PrincessPottyPants on some of the ABDL boards. Several other authors have taken their own spins on the dimension and I encourage you to read them if you like this work! WARNING: THIS POSTING CONTAINS SCENES OF VIOLENCE AND ABUSE THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR SOME READERS! READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED! *************************************************** Chapter 61: Rage *************************************************** I GROANED AS I woke up, feeling like I had the ultimate hangover as I opened my eyes and was assaulted by light and the strong smell of chemical disinfectants. I blinked my eyes and wondered how long I had been out. Looking down I found myself strapped into what looked like a Littles highchair without the tray. It was almost too small for me with my butt feeling rather cramped. The arm restraints must have been too small, because instead of the buckles there were zip ties pulled through the two end pieces to expand them a bit. I heard a desperate grunting going on to my left and found Addy tied up to an office chair. The shorts she had been wearing turned darker as she began crying and I knew she must have just had an accident. A smell in the air a second later told me she was sobbing for good reason. I wiggled a little in the seat to check my own bottom, and was pretty sure I was still clean back there, but I was definitely wet. "Addy...?" I tried saying, but I realized then I had one of those stupid Littles locking pacifiers in my mouth. It didn't fully block it, but it made it hard to understand. Looking back over at her I saw her mouth was covered with a larger version that until Kristin had one, didn't think existed outside of some sort of odd adult industry. She made a sound like 'Cameron' almost and I sighed, knowing that we were both probably screwed here! I looked down and saw that small half-moons were making the presence known of a too wet diaper below them. My skin felt clammy around my legs where the shorts were wet, and I wondered again how long I'd been sitting there unconscious. I looked up and saw a large TV screen mounted up on the wall, a medical exam table underneath it, and worryingly to me, a drain in the floor in front of me. The ground around it was a polished tile that had at one point probably been white, but was now yellowed with years of use. It appeared there was only one door to the room, and no windows. The door was a large steel affair that I had a feeling would probably take a fair amount of punishment if it was locked, even if I could get loose! Looking down at my wrists and the zip ties, I thought there might have been a chance to get out of them, but then the little proof harness would probably finish any of those odds. 'Like it or not, I'm probably stuck in this until whoever put me in it lets me out...' We sat there for a long while, Addy sobbing, and me annoyed that I had to pee in the already soaked diaper another time before there was the sound of keys in the door confirming to me it was locked. The door swung open and I watched the person I thought was in jail walk in, followed by Mindy... and... Danica...? 'What the hell?!?' I thought to myself. 'Why is she helping her mom...?' "Look what we have here!" Aubry said, "Guess I have two Little girls who can't control their bladders? Dani, did you know your sister had a problem like this?" "No..." she said tersely. "And pee-eew, someone's a stinky girl too!" "Well, she might not have had this problem if it wasn't for this brat!" she came over to me and ripped the pacifier out without letting it fully deflate!!!! My jaw shrieked with pain as my teeth stayed in place, but felt like they'd nearly been pulled out with pliers!!!! I hissed, but refrained from calling her the names I wanted to. "So, tell me Little Man, feel better now that you know you have officially ruined my daughter?" "Like you've done?" I asked incredulously. "Danica, you know your nanites won't work with her controller anymore, right?" I felt the air from the hand just before the flesh slammed into my jaw that was already in pain. The slap from Aubry Harris felt like a brick was smacked across my face, and I felt a ringing in my ears. "You really think my daughter is helping just because I threatened her?" "Kind of hoped, honestly," I told her. "I thought she was the good one..." Aubry laughed at that. "Maybe not a fan of the cruelty, but she likes money? Let's just say she gets more if she goes along with things." I shrugged. "Hard to spend money if she's in jail with you?" "What makes you think I'm going to spend one more night in jail? I was released on bail, but there's no way in hell anyone is ever going to convict Aubry Harris in a trial!" "Stranger things have happened," I told her. "So, what's your big plan? Turn Addy and I into your babies?" "Not mine," she smiled. "Dani's! She's been wanting her own Littles for a while. A pair of infant girls will suit her just fine to be able to cuddle with when she wants, and then they can be sent to the nanny the rest of the time. You'll make great PR photos as we push our company further into manufacturing some new products too!" Addy screamed some more next to me, and even with the large pacifier in her mouth I could understand the 'fuck you' from her. So could her mom. "Well, might as well and try to say big words while you can Princess, you won't be able to say any here shortly." "What's the point?" I asked. "You don't have to do anything to her." "You're right, I don't have to, but after her scheming with you and allowing testimony to help your case I think it's time I cut the ties. If she's not going to be there for me, then it's time for her to go." "You know this isn't going to end if you do this, right? My friends and allies will keep going after you until there is nothing but a smoking ruinous crater remaining?" She laughed. "They can try Cammie, but the truth is I have more power than you can possibly know. I already have some senators looking into how to remove your precious Judge Jones. If that doesn't work, I have another team that will look at removing her in other ways." 'She seriously just said she'll assassinate a judge?!?!?' I thought to myself. "What are you going to do to us?" "Well, it's pretty simple Cammie, all we need to do is give you the right injection and we'll have you look like your new mommy, complete with your innie instead of your outie!" she paused. "I think I'll start with my daughter though so you can see it in action." "I bet you can't do it to me," I smirked at her, even as two technicians had started to move towards Addy with a cart of syringes. "What?" "I said I bet you it won't work on me. Go ahead and give me your worst shot bitch." "Stop!" she said to them. "I don't want to listen to this anymore, let's take care of him first." I watched as they came over to me and cut loose the zip ties and unbuckled me from the harness. As they carried me to the table, I looked at Addy. "I love you," I told her, realizing that in spite of everything those three words were as true then as they had been the day that I asked her to marry me. "Get the subject's clothes off," one tech said, "Might as well make the cleanup easier later..." I was sat down on the table and a pair of scissors made short work of my shortalls and shirt. I was left then in the soaked diaper. "Want to get the subject out of that diaper?" another asked. "No point, she'll just shrink out of any diaper we put on her..." "Take it off!" Aubry ordered. "Ma'am?" "I want her to watch as she loses her parts." "That could get messy..." "And it'll all wash off, there's a reason for the drain and the waterproof cover on that bed, right?" The man didn't hesitate in quickly exposing me. Another thoughtfully wiped me off with a baby wipe before I was strapped into the bed with my arms and chest contained with two large straps, and another holding down my legs at just above the knees. I half-expected the level of care in the hospital with leads being attached to my chest or something, but instead one of them just proceeded to bring a large syringe over. I watched in horror as the needle gleamed with a droplet of solution and he proceeded to slowly insert it into my left arm! The solution was cold!!!! It stung badly as it was inserted, and a flare of pain went up my arm causing me to scream!!! I watched my hand for a moment seem to shrink, as did my left arm just a little, and then it stopped. The pain went away, and I sighed with relief that it stopped. "What's going on? He should be the size of an infant by now!!!!" Aubry screamed. "I don't know Mrs. Harris... This is weird. Try the other one on his other side?" He said, pointing to the other syringe on the cart. It was larger, and clearly meant to hold more nanites to change her daughter versus me. I grimaced as the needle again glistened and then was inserted into my right bicep. The solution again froze and stung like hell. "Fucking bastards!!!!" I screamed, deciding there was no reason to be good anymore. I watched my body and arm in horror, and was relieved that other than a small reduction in length and width of my fingers, nothing seemed to have changed. "What the fuck is wrong with you all? Can't even turn me into a baby right?" I taunted them. "Told you it wouldn't work bitch," I told Aubry. "Try another!" she screamed at him. "I don't have any other solution down here. I'll have to go program some. It'll take me about an hour to do it." "Well, what are you waiting for?" she told him before he scurried out. She glared at the other techs. "Go help him!" They clearly didn't need any incentive to run, leaving two security guards, Danica, and Aubry in the room then. "Your little brat needs a spanking for her language," she told Danica. "Yes, she does, but I think I want to wait until she's a little baby so the less sinks in more." "I think it would be a shame if she waited that long for her lesson." "I guess you're right," she said, "Help me turn her over?" "Might put a diaper under her first." "Good idea," she said. I squirmed and tried to use the loosening straps as an opportunity to get free, but nothing helped as I was turned onto my stomach over a diaper. "Cammie you do not call your grandma or anyone else a bitch!" she said as she rubbed my butt gently with one hand. There was a millisecond of a moment where it left and then another slammed into my ass so hard, I grunted. "Fuck you!" I shouted. "I think that's another hundred..." she said. I managed to last twenty just being in shock from the pain. At twenty- one my eyes were bleary, and by her count of eighty I was a blubbering mess. I had long ago peed the diaper beneath me, and her hand showed no signs of stopping. I must have eventually passed out from the pain... The next thing I did know was I was waking up splashed with ice water. "Huh?" I groaned, and unfortunately found myself staring into Aubry's face smirking down at me and my ass feeling like it was genuinely dealing with broken bones beneath the tissue. "Bet you wish you hadn't called me a bad name now?" I would probably have cussed some more, but a pacifier was now shoved in my mouth and I couldn't get it to go out. "He's awake now, let's do this again!" "We think we've figured it out, we'll see..." the tech said. "We may have to do each individual site on his body for some reason a few times." I lay there as injections were made in each foot and each leg. The pain was unbearable, but even as I was processing that I heard them say. "Let's try his face next." 'My face?!?!' I tried to squirm, but a strap had been added to my head. I watched the needle close in on my face and screamed as it was inserted into my nose. Another was inserted into each cheek then, and another at the bottom of my jaw. Each injection felt like I was being given some sort of icy solution and I guessed my body was going to go into shock from the combination of the temperature there, and then the pain!!! I could feel my bones attempt to restructure themselves. Tissue shrinking down, and I was concerned it would be my teeth too! Fortunately for me though, it stopped even quicker than with my arms. "What the hell, I thought you said this would work?" "It should have!!!! There's enough nanites in her body now to transform the entire college campus at Emerson!" "It's only barely making changes where you inject it though!" "I know, it doesn't make sense! It's almost like his body is fighting the nanites with his immune system!" "How much more do you have?" Aubry asked. "This is the final syringe of solution. It's going to take three days to make more..." "Then let's make it count," she said. "Hand it to me!" I heard Addy squirming behind me and hoped that it would go to her, but apparently, I had her mother in enough of a rage that she felt like I was deserving. "I think there's a special spot that if we're only going to change one thing successfully has to change, right Dani?" "Right..." Danica said nervously. "Give me the syringe, I'll do this one myself." "Ma'am?" the tech asked. "Give it to me." I was just able to see the handoff in my peripheral vision. "Let's pull this head strap off so you can watch sweetie," she said with a smile that was enough to make my blood turn even colder. The needle glistened as I wondered where she was thinking of targeting, not ready for the spot that she was choosing to go for. "Let's see if we can't at least get rid of these nasty things!" I watched in horror with my head lifted up as she took the needle and began to insert it into my scrotum just as the lights went out in the room! *************************************************** Chapter 62: Decisions *************************************************** "FEDERAL AGENTS!!! HOLD up your hands!!!!!!" I heard a voice order even as Aubry maniacally laughed and pushed down on the plunger of the needle. The resulting cold, pain, and fear made me scream!!!! "Back away from that man!!!!" a man in black shouted at her and ripped her away. As she was pulled away the needle moved and I screamed at the unbelievable pain increasing! "Oh shit!!! Get the medics in here!" Another man shouted. "Pull the goddamn thing out!!!!" I screamed. One of the men did just that while looking down at me sadly. I could feel the nanites trying to do something, but after seeing the shocked look on his face, I succumbed to the pain and passed out. "WE'RE INBOUND WITH a trauma patient!" I heard a voice say. "Significant mutilation and damage to the genital area. Mid, estimated 140 pounds, twenty-eight years old..." I blacked out again. "GET HER... HIM?" I heard confusion while addressing me. 'I'm a girl now?' I wondered at their reaction. I passed out again. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, was the next thing I identified. I struggled to open my eyes but was relieved that the pain was gone. I saw a white hospital room around me. "He's awake!!!" Kendra said. I found her in the room. "What...?" "Cameron, let David get your doctor..." I tried sitting up but found a strap across my chest holding me down. "Just tell me, Kendra, I'm completely destroyed down there, aren't I?" She had this habit of moving her jaw back and forth in poker games we had played before. I always took it as a sign she was bluffing and to bet big on the pot. It had never served me wrong as a 'tell' with her, and I knew I was screwed. "Don't try and move yet, they want to keep you still for now," she told me, not answering. "Water?" I asked. "Wait for the doctor..." she told me. I rested my head back on the pillow and probably would have just closed my eyes but a higher voice said, "Sorry, I was in my office." I looked over and saw Doctor Nickerson... the Little Doctor Nickerson. "Hi Doc," I said to her. "Hi yourself," she said, "I wanted to see you get your freedom back, but this wasn't exactly the excitement I wanted you to have to go through, so..." "Trust me, this excitement isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Kendra isn't telling me anything, give it to me straight Doc!" I told her. "Fair enough," she said, finding a step stool to climb to a more even height with me on the bed. "You currently have a contest running to see if you have more nanites in you, or living blood cells... We're not quite sure what to do about that part yet." "I'm a cyborg now?" She looked at me and laughed. "I guess you sort of are..." "Doctor Westerfield... have you called her in by chance?" "Mrs. Stein called her in, she should be here soon." she told me. "Okay, so you opened with that... I assume that's the good news...?" She shook her head. "No, the real good news is you didn't lose any height from this botched procedure. You have lost a lot of bone and body mass though, and your face and arms have a definite feminine look to them now. It seems like you've also lost about thirty-four pounds since you were in here a few weeks ago." "As if I didn't have problems before..." I groaned. "If it makes you feel any better, I understand where you're coming from?" "How?" "I was a male doctor in the other dimension. I woke up changed on this side." "Shit, that sucks," I said, "I still can't believe your mommy lets you practice medicine..." "It wasn't an easy sell," she told me. "Okay, so quit dancing around. What did the bitch do damage-wise last?" "Cameron, careful on the language..." Kendra warned. "Am I still adopted?" She shook her head. "No, actually we were coming to spring you with an order from Judge O'Connor ordering your release, when we saw three SUVs taking off out of the driveway from Miss Harris' house. Luckily we thought we caught just a glimpse of someone passed out in the back of one of the SUVs, or we might not have figured out what was going on." "So close..." I sighed. "Okay, I'll make sure that I avoid ending up back in babyhood. What's the damage, Doc?" She sighed. "I'm still not entirely sure, Cameron. The nanite dose there seems to have been enough to change eight-hundred or more patients! It definitely began the process of changing your penis into a vagina. Your body though was somehow fighting them and the other nanites off, so it didn't complete it. The biggest damage seems to have been caused by the needle being shifted when they pulled Aubry Harris off of you... It appears it destroyed both of your testicles." I felt my face blanch at that statement. "So... Umm... do I still have a penis?" "At the moment in my old dimension, I would consider you intersexed... You still have part of the shaft sticking out, but your urethra shifted, and there was an attempt by the nanites to form ovaries, but they were stopped somehow..." "Kendra, is this room clear?" I asked. "As much as we can make it," she told me. "Doc, I guess I need to fill you in... maybe you can figure this out then..." I had just finished explaining what I knew of Stacy's tweaks to keep me safe with the nanites to her, when Amanda walked in. "Oh my God, Cameron, are you okay?!?!" she asked me. I shook my head. "I'm alive, but I'm pretty messed up. Doc, please tell her what you know... I have a feeling I'm going to need your help Amanda..." FOUR HOURS PASSED of scanning, prodding, and seeing for myself the mess that was my genitals - which caused me to vomit and cry for a half- hour. Right then I also learned I was at least bladder incontinent at that moment... Those hours disappeared quickly though, and the shock of the trauma fully hit me. Finally, they stopped the testing as Amanda and Doc disappeared to go discuss my case with several other specialists, leaving me with Kendra, and now David, in my room. "So, what happened?" I asked. "Cameron, maybe you just need to wait and worry about your health right now..." Kendra tried to say. "Tell me, I need to know!" She sighed. "Judge O'Connor was planning on holding onto his decision another couple of days, but the news that there was a verified connection from Aubry Harris to Judge Taney's shrinking - not sure if you knew about that - caused him to issue the order for your release. Unfortunately, another judge had just released Aubry Harris two hours before that on a twenty-five-million-dollar bail bond..." "I got the idea she was out..." I said sarcastically. "Yeah... Well, we managed to follow the vehicles most of the way to where they took you before one of their security cars noticed us and pushed us off their trail. That's why it took so long to find you and get a warrant to get you out of there..." "What about Addy? Is she okay?" "Addy and Danica were both rescued..." "WHAT?!?!?!" I screamed. "HAVE THE POLICE ARREST DANI TOO!!!!!" "What?" David asked. "Shhh!!!" Kendra said. Right then a nurse came in. "Do we need a pacifier for this Little girl?" "Out," Kendra told her. "Sorry about the noise." "What about Danica?" David asked. "She's complicit!" "Shit!" David said as he grabbed his phone and dialed. I listened to him explain to an Agent who he had been working with. We all sat still for a half-hour before getting a phone call back that they had found Addy tied up at home, and were bringing her back to the hospital again to get checked out..." Unfortunately, Danica was nowhere to be found! I didn't have any time to worry about that though since Doc and Amanda were back, along with the Big Doctor Ivy Nickerson. "All three of you are here... that's not a good sign..." I said worriedly. "Well, it's not a bad sign either," Doc told me. "It just means we needed more brain power here. The good thing is you do have all three of us." "What's the verdict?" "Well, it's a toss-up," Amanda told me. "First you didn't end up shrunken to a newborn size like the nanites were programmed to do. The nanites that were already inside of you acted as an immune system, pillaging and hacking those nanites each time after they'd only had a small window of time to do damage." I nodded. "I could kind of feel that..." "The problem is that it wreaked havoc with your genetic code. From the tests we ran, it appears about half of your cells have changed from XY to XX." "What does that mean?" I asked. "Probably trouble long-term," Doc said. "I'd be concerned about cancers," her mommy added. "So, am I just out of luck?" "Maybe not... I think we do have to put you back into one camp or the other. It's always been harder for the nanites to change girls into boys though, so if you want to go back it's going to be riskier." Amanda replied. "Is that even possible?" I asked. Doc nodded. "It might be... The problem is finding an uncompromised source of your old DNA. Doctor Westerfield said that your parents are both deceased?" I nodded. "Yes..." "Any idea where we could get a DNA sample from? I don't think hair will have enough to be sure the code isn't compromised..." I sat there thinking for a moment, before remembering and saying. "I gave a semen sample the day I came in here the first time, would that work?" "Where is it stored?" Doctor Ivy Nickerson asked. I filled her in. "It's cross-listed under Cameron Sylvester and Camille Harris," I told her. "Let me go call..." "Okay, assuming we can get this DNA sample, it opens up trying to put you back to normal," Doc told me. "But it's got risks..." "Like?" "Well, you could end up shrinking?" Amanda said. "Would I be a man again?" She shrugged. "Theoretically?" "Any chance we can ask Stacy about it?" "I did... she didn't have much more of an idea than what we do." "What would you choose?" I asked Doc. "Honestly, I've been happy as a girl these past ten years. I don't think it's as big of a deal to switch teams, but if you'd asked me right away, I would have wanted it fixed..." I grimaced. "If you just made me into a woman?" "We could make you into a pretty normal-looking woman your height, with breasts, functional organs, etc," Doc said to me. "We also have the advantage of having a solid genetic profile if we use the common Xs on both of the types of cells in your blood. You would probably just end up being a lot closer to your mother's genotype." "What about these extra nanites?" I asked, trying not to focus on my gender. "Are they a problem?" "I think they're potentially a big problem, but I don't want to tackle them until we do this procedure one way or another," Amanda answered. "Can this be done without shrinking me?" I asked nervously. "What's so bad about shrinking?" Doc asked me. I sighed. "My mom was a Big, my dad was a foot taller than me, and I just made it past the line of being a Little by inches... I don't want to go backward..." She sighed. "Yeah, being short in this world sucks..." "Stacy had one suggestion there," Amanda mentioned. "I don't know if it'll work though..." Right then Doctor Ivy Nickerson came in. "Okay, they're sending over part of the sample by courier... hopefully we can sequence it and reprogram things?" "It'll take me a couple more hours once you get me the DNA sequence," Amanda said. "I'd like to help?" Doc told her. "Sure," she smiled at her. "So, what do I do?" I asked. "Make up your mind, which way do you want to go?" Doc told me. "I just want to be me..." I said with tears forming in my eyes. I received hugs from Amanda and Kendra then, and they all left me for some space when a nurse came to change the wet diaper I was wearing. She was kind, but the cooing definitely indicated that she thought I was a Little, not just an adult with a problem. 'What the hell should I do...?' I was trying to figure out. "Knock, knock?" I heard at the door. I looked up and felt my jaw drop in disbelief. "Aunt Ruth?!?!" She came over and gave me a hug, and a kiss on the top of my head. "I couldn't get out here until today, though I was hoping to be here congratulating you on the good news, not find you in the hospital! What happened to you now?" I watched as she pulled a chair nearer my bed and took the hand that didn't have an IV going into it into hers. She lightly stroked the back of my hand. "Well... Addy had taken me to the zoo with a couple of college friends of mine - one's adopted to the other - and we had a pretty good time together. We got back to her house and discovered her mom had sent some of her goons to kidnap us..." I did my best to tell her what had happened but completely lost it when I told her about what Aubry had done to me at the end. "That woman!!!" she seethed. She had that angry Judge Jones look on her face, and I figured it was a good thing that Aubry Harris was sitting safely in a jail cell somewhere. "What about this Addy? She's the one who had adopted you? Who is she?" She and I talked for a long while as I grew more tired, but it was like having a mother show up to care for you. I had missed her so much! "I just don't even know what to do!" I told her. "The nanites may be able to fix me... but they may shrink me even if they work." "Could you have kids then still?" she asked me. I shrugged. "They were going to look at the DNA samples from that specimen and figure out an answer." "So, if you can't have kids as a man, I know most of the nanite procedures can let you do so as a woman?" I squirmed. "A baby inside of me...?" She laughed. "There are many downsides, but it's also one of the most amazing things of all time too." "I've never wanted to be a girl though!" "Then why the long hair?" "It started because Addy liked it that way?" "When she broke up with you, why didn't you just shave it off...?" I shook my head. "I couldn't really tell you then... but Beth liked it long too..." "Once she was gone?" I sighed. "At that point, I kept it in the hopes she would come back someday..." She nodded. "So if you choose that way though, what are the downsides?" "I wouldn't have my legal credentials anymore?" "Simple name and gender change form that can be signed off by any judge." I smirked. "Including one on the Supreme Court?" She smiled. "Including that one." "I wouldn't ever be taken as seriously? I'd be short and just adoptable?" "And you weren't before?" she asked seriously. I squirmed. "I'm not..." "You certainly are Cameron. I won't lie and say that part of my instincts didn't ever want to cuddle you some myself." "You never showed that?" She shook her head. "Jenny taught me long ago to control that... I needed to for her sake since if she hadn't had that last growth spurt, she might have ended up adopted too." I nodded. "What do you think you should do?" I sighed. "I don't..." Another knock came. "Oh, hi, I didn't realize Cameron had other visitors," Megan said as she suddenly appeared carrying Meg. "I guess everyone's coming..." I thought aloud, a little embarrassed. "Well duh! We've been worried, you doofus!" Meg told me as Megan sat her on the bed next to me so she could give me a hug. "Megan, Meg, this is Judge Ruth Jones, or as she insists I call her, my Aunt Ruth." "The... Supreme Court...?!?" Megan looked shocked. She laughed. "I'm just an ordinary woman just like you." Megan and Meg provided a needed distraction for a while to avoid my problems. Kendra and David showed up again at one point too, and then suddenly the talk grew serious again about what I should do. I was shaking as I tried to figure out how to salvage things with my life that was in tatters after not only this nanite situation, but also the forced adoption, losing my fianc?e, and everything else! Amanda and Doc showed back up and I was left with them to discuss my decision. It wasn't an easy one... *************************************************** Chapter 63: Visitations *************************************************** I SPENT A full week in the hospital recovering after the procedure. It had been an agonizing decision to make, but I had no regrets now that the procedures were over and had gone so well. I saw Kendra walk in. "Ready to go?" I nodded. "They just finished giving me the last packet of bills..." "Don't worry about those, Aubry Harris and SafeFoods will be covering all of your care expenses... and much more when all is said and done." I nodded. "I just don't want them to get off easy..." "I promise you they won't. I know you talked with the federal prosecutor yesterday, but everything I'm hearing is that they are making this series of charges as serious as they can." "I just don't know if a jury in this state will even convict her," I told her. "I'm sure they will," she said just as a nurse came in with a wheelchair, followed by Doc, or rather Holly as she had insisted that I call her the past few days. "Haley, I heard a patient was trying to escape?" "You heard right, but this time there's paperwork allowing it..." Holly laughed. "Good!" She watched as I stood up and hopped into the wheelchair. I had a set of sweats and a long-sleeved shirt on for the trip home. "Here, don't forget her!" Kendra said, putting Rings in my lap. I'd been unconscious for two days following the initiation of the procedure while it was completed, and then the nanites were siphoned out of my blood. When I woke up, I discovered Rings and a get-well card sitting next to my bed from Addy simply signed 'Love, Addy.' Other than giving a deposition to the prosecutor, she had all but disappeared completely. I pet the top of the stuffed animal as I was pushed out of the room and debated giving her to someone at the hospital to give to a kid... Somehow though, I was too attached to her to let her go. "You sure you don't want to come straight back with us for a few weeks?" I shook my head. "No, I promised Amanda and Fred that I would go stay at their place for a few weeks so they can keep an eye on me. Amanda wants to make sure there are no weird side-effects still." Kendra bit her lip, but nodded. "You're not worried that she...?" I laughed. "I'm safe there. Safer than in a courtroom apparently..." "I doubt anything like that will ever happen to you again," she told me as we reached the automatic doors to the outside. "I'd like to think that would be the case, but honestly unless I grow another foot or two, it's always going to be a possibility in a state like Ames. That's what has me more annoyed than anything, Kendra, it's just completely unfair how easy it is to have your rights taken away here!" "More reason to get you back to New Haven..." "Not until after we finish Beth's case," I told her. "You sure you don't want to just oversee everything from home?" "Very," I told her. "I still have a score to settle!" I hobbled my way into the door that David had opened in their car. A simple backless booster sat on the seat, and I was able to belt myself in fine on my own, even as muscles twinged a bit still. I petted Rings' soft fur absentmindedly all the way to Amanda and Fred's, and soon enjoyed a surprise 'emancipation' party. With everything that had gone on it had almost been easy to forget Judge O'Connor's order that had been a complete overturning of my Maturosis ruling. I had been ruled to be an adult capable of everything, and another order was made from him stating that no Maturosis order was to be allowed against me ever again in his circuit, without approval from him. That night I enjoyed drinking a single beer with David and Fred, after Fred assured Amanda that one wouldn't hurt me a few days out from the procedure. It had been a glorious confirmation that I was indeed an adult again! Almost as glorious as using the real toilet had been throughout the day, was the dry Pull-Up that greeted me the next morning! WEEKS PASSED BY quickly, and I soon found myself entering the courtroom for a second shot at Beth's case. "All Rise!!" The Bailiff introduced Judge Nathaniel Manasco, a tall gray-haired man with a scruffy beard who looked like he could have been Santa Claus at Christmas. Kendra was back in New Haven, but David had come out to join me. "I have been informed that there is the possibility of a settlement being discussed?" He asked, getting down to things once introductions had been made. "Yes, Your Honor, we would like to ask for a continuance of twenty-four hours so that we may meet with the plaintiffs one last time?" A new lawyer named Elliot Naples said. "Mr. Benson, do you believe this is in good faith?" "Your Honor, we're willing to listen to what they have to say. To be honest I don't know what the offer that they're going to make is?" "We plan to make some generous offers, Your Honor. With the shift in leadership at SafeFoods, our shareholders just want this incident behind us." "Very well, we'll meet back here again at fourteen o'clock tomorrow to either give my approval to the settlement or begin jury selection." We made our way out of the courtroom and Elliot looked down at David and me. "Can we use one of the conference rooms here?" "Sure, we'll hear you out," I told him. We were soon sitting across from Elliot and SafeFoods' new CEO, Ivy Nickerson. "Doctor Nickerson?" I asked in surprise. "Surprised? I heard that I may have gotten this job because of you...?" I shrugged. "I mentioned your name thinking you would be a more responsible person to be in charge of SafeFoods. Hopefully, it works out for you?" "Certainly seems to financially, I'm going to leave these discussions mostly to our attorney and CFO though." "I'm Lynn Manchester," she said to us. "So, other than seeing a decent human being as your new CEO, I'm more than a little bit unhappy with your company right now. So, let's get down to brass tacks, what's your offer?" I asked. Lynn looked taken aback by that. "Now..." "Offer," I said, "Or we leave it in the jury's hands." She sighed and nodded at Elliot. "We understand you have a total of three hundred plaintiffs that have signed onto your suit, correct?" I nodded. "Those are the ones we've identified so far. From your records though it appears that you had nearly a thousand participants in the studies?" He grimaced. "That's true..." "So, let's assume one thousand victims need a settlement fund," David said, "Please keep that in mind with your offer." "We'll set aside a relief fund of five hundred million dollars," Elliot said. I laughed. "That's a joke! With a thousand victims that doesn't even hit five hundred thousand apiece! And that's with us not taking a share at all for our firm's pro bono time! Five hundred thousand doesn't even pay for the medical care, daycares, and other supplies that each of these individuals now needs for the rest of their lives. Nor does it fully offset the income lost by them that would have provided for families and children. There were plenty of mothers like Ashley Fehler who could have contributed more to their families in the coming years." "What do you think is fair?" Doctor Nickerson asked. "Ten million per victim," I told them. "That ensures proper care for their lifetimes, maybe a chance to research a cure of some sort, and serves as a punishment and a deterrent against any company ever experimenting on unwilling subjects like this ever again." "But that would be..." "Yes, Mrs. Manchester, ten billion dollars seems more appropriate. Additionally, there needs to be one hundred million dollars in a settlement made to Benson and Stein to cover our lost expenses due to your former CEO. If you cover that, we won't seek further damages from SafeFoods on behalf of my associate here." David said. "Let the two of us talk for just a moment?" Doctor Nickerson asked. I nodded. "We'll step outside for a moment." Outside, we waited. "Think they'll go for it, David?" "Depends on how serious they want to get past this scandal. I think it's cheaper than they'd get off from the jury at this point. A little under thirty hours later we were back in the courtroom with Judge Manasco. "Both parties are in agreement to this settlement?" "Yes, Your Honor," I said. "Yes, Your Honor," Elliot said. "In that case, I certify it as a court-sanctioned settlement. You are not seeking this to be a sealed settlement, Mr. Naples?" "No, Your Honor, SafeFoods has a very long road ahead of itself to regain the trust of its customers. This is a step along that road and we feel that hiding the settlement would be of no value to the shareholders." "Very well! The court is adjourned!" I turned around and saw Beth's dad standing there. I walked up to him and shook his outstretched hand. "Thank you," he said to me. "I'm only sorry that there seems to be nothing that they can do for Beth..." I said sadly. He shrugged. "You've only had a short while to come to that conclusion, I made that conclusion two weeks after they regressed." "I won't let them stop looking for a cure..." I told him. "I don't think there is one, unfortunately. Even if they cure the chemicals that bonded to their brains, it's too much damage... At best they might be able to re-learn things... but I'm not even sure that's possible now." I felt tears in my eyes. "What now?" "Well, I'm taking Ashley and Beth back to New Albany. I've bought a house up there and hired a woman who I think is trustworthy enough to be a nanny for them. She's kind and won't be mean to them at least..." He held his hand out again. "I so wanted to be able to call you my son- in-law, I hate that this happened. Thank you for not letting them get away with it." I shook his hand and watched as he left. I felt a hand on my shoulder, David said, "Now that we have that done, ready to go back to New Haven?" "Set a flight for tomorrow?" I sighed. "I have a stop I need to make before I leave." He nodded. "You're going back to Amanda and Fred's tonight, right?" I nodded. "Yes, sure you don't want to stay with them?" He shook his head. "I'm happy in the hotel honestly. I'll text you with information on when I need you to pick me up at the airport." I nodded. "Thanks," I said. I navigated my way through the courthouse and out to the rental car that was waiting for me. I felt nervous walking around the Bigs once more without my own 'mommy' for protection, but it was slowly becoming normal again to do so. I drove back out to my childhood home first. There was one last small box that I hadn't sent back to my home in New Haven yet, as I wanted to carry it on the plane with me to make sure nothing happened to it. I pulled into the driveway and could see the 'For Sale' sign standing proudly there, with a 'Sale Pending' board hung beneath it. I skipped using the garage at that point and walked up the front steps to discover an envelope waiting with 'Cam' written in neat script taped to the front door. I nervously looked at it and it felt like all it contained was a small letter. I opened the door and carefully used a key to slice it open, finding a letter that dropped out along with a cashier's check that I didn't look at too closely. Dear Cam, I really am bad at these letters, I'm sorry this is the second one you're getting from me... After everything that has happened with my mom and Dani... I just can't come see you yet. I wanted to be in court with the SafeFoods case this week, but honestly, I'm not sure I can look you in the eyes now with everything that happened. I'm still dealing with my own recovery yet too... I'm so ashamed of my small part of things, but mostly very ashamed to come from a family who is so awful! I made a bargain with you towards the end of things that you held up, so I'm holding up my end too. The cashiers check enclosed should cover the buy-in that Kendra said she needed you to pay in to be a full partner of your firm. They both agree it's long overdue, so hopefully, this will help you move past some of the damage we've done to your life. More than anything I want you to know that I have, and always will love you. You are a precious person and I wish our lives could have been simple enough that I could have said 'yes' years ago. I know we both would have been much happier now! Take care of yourself, Love, Addy Tears streamed down my face, and I noticed that the check was made out to Benson and Stein for eight hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. I wiped away tears with the sleeve of my dress shirt and continued upstairs to my room where the one small box still sat. I carefully looked inside the box that I couldn't bring myself to ship. Inside were a few mementos of mom and dad, but most preciously the engraved poem from a woman who would likely never write poetry again. A dream to grow, a dream to be together. Inches, just inches, sent our paths askew. May this be a token and a tether, For our memories of love, in inches. I felt tears run down my face as I thought of the broken dreams that seemed to follow me everywhere that I went. I couldn't take sitting there any longer, I turned, took one last look at the staircase I had grown up climbing, and carried everything out to the rental car for my next stop. This was a place I'd promised myself I would come to on this trip... But I hadn't when I'd arrived, and then I didn't have another chance - though I guessed Addy would probably have brought me there if I'd asked. I walked up to Mom, Dad, and my baby sister Cassie's joint tombstone with a bouquet of flowers I'd stopped to buy. I cleared out some dead flowers that looked to have been left by some other visitor besides me. Dad and I used to come out once a week when Mom first died, then it became once a month... and by the time he died, it was just once a year. Neither of us dealt with our grief very well when Mom died, but I'd never really thought about how much it hurt him to have lost them both. As a child, everything was about me really... "Hi Mom, Dad, Cassie," I said aloud after I put the flowers in. "I don't know why I can't bring myself to visit much... but with moving across the country there's been even less opportunity to do so. I just needed to see you all, I guess, and say I love you... I'm like the most cursed person in the world though, everyone around me seems to die, get regressed, or leave me. I don't know that I'll ever have a family like you all again, and it hurts..." I sat and spoke to their graves for an hour, before finally saying. "I'll try and come back someday, but I'm getting out of Ames safely while I still can... I love you all..." I walked back to the car in tears and half-worried when a tall woman noticed me and looked at me with concern. I just kept moving, climbed into my car, put the seatbelt on, and drove back out to Amanda and Fred's for one last night before I had to say goodbye to all of them too. ******************************************************** Thank you for reading! I will post the final two chapters and the Epilogue tomorrow! I think all of the loose ends are tied up through the last post. I really appreciate all of your comments! Please consider leaving me one so I can see what you think!