✅ Over Protected

40. My Friend Tests a Theory

"Alright, sweetie!" Mummy said, and took Penny by both hands to help her stand up. "Now, can you play by yourself for a second while I see to Alice?" She nodded eagerly, and she really did look like a little baby right now, with a long T-shirt that could almost pass for a dress, and just pink leggings that didn't hide the thickness of her diaper at all.

"Mummy?" I mumbled, as she helped me to lie back so she could change me. "Is Penny a baby too? I thought she was petending but..."

"Sssh," she answered, and then leaned closer to whisper her answer. "Yes, Penny wanted to know how it feels. I let her try the little trick with a cup of water, like you did before. I think that most of the effects will have been while she was drifting off to sleep, and it might have faded a bit by now. But it seems she still feels a little bit fuzzy, and she's enjoying herself. So I'm going to let her be the baby for a little while. If you want, you can be the big sister for an hour or two, while you seem to be a little clearer in the head."

"Yeah," I giggled. "That sounds like fun. Will her daddy not mind?"

"She's going to be staying for dinner today, a babysitter to help me out. She should be completely back to normal for tonight. Now, she did ask if she could try the other ones as well, just to see how it feels. But I suggested that it might be better to leave that for another day. She's had a little experience of how it feels to be wet now, with the water trick, but I think that she should be able to think about that with a clear head before she decides if she wants to lose control. And even then, I would try as much as I can to make sure it was only for one naptime; and then leave it a week to wear off before letting her be exposed to any of those things again."

"You're being extra careful," I said with a giggle. "That's good. Is she going to play baby with Lyra as well?"

"I was thinking about that while you were asleep. I called Melania to see what she thinks."

"Does she know?" I asked, not quite able to remember who knew and who didn't.

"Melania knows. Gill knows that this is something to help Lyra get over her behaviour, but no more detail than that. Rab and Sascha, as far as I'm aware, only know that this is some kind of medical condition which they expect to clear up on its own given time. So... I'll have to ask Penny not to tell them. But from what she said, I think I can put that into terms that won't make her ask any more questions. Maybe we can tell Lyra that Penny got the disease, but got some medicine when it first started so it couldn't set in fully, making her problems occasional and mild. Or that Penny's just playing along because she saw how much you enjoyed being a baby... Lyra knows you're enjoying it, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. I told her that there was a treatment I could have had, but I said no because I wanted this. I didn't want her to worry I might have caught it off her or something. And I wanted a reason why I could choose, but she can't, that won't make her mad with her mummy. So... maybe we'll tell her that Penny had the treatment I said no to, and now she just gets a little bit babyish if she skips her pills. So she doesn't mind doing that to let us all have fun together."

"Yeah," Mummy patted me on the head. "You're such a good girl. I feel like I shouldn't praise you for lying, but you just want everybody to be happy, don't you. That's so kind of you, and I don't think anyone could possibly blame you for that. And hopefully, we won't need to tell any more stories. So, do you think we can persuade Penny to play along, if this is something that she wants to do?"

"You can help me tell her," I said. "She's a good girl, and she likes being a baby. Even if she can only do it a little bit. I think she'll understand that it's not so good telling Lyra about that."

Mummy had finished changing my diaper while we were talking; it was so normal that I didn't even pay attention to the feelings now. But I still loved it when she gave me a big hug, and helped me out of the crib. Then we went downstairs again, and sat in front of the television to watch the next episode of Paradise Pen. This time, it was me pointing at the characters on the screen, and asking Penny if she could remember their names. Sometimes she could, and sometimes she couldn't, but game was fun for both of us; and maybe I started to realise why babysitting could be so much fun as well. By the middle of the episode, it seemed that she was almost back to thinking like a big girl again, and it wasn't hard for her to recognise that Charlize was a cat, or similar things. But she still played along, having so much fun just from knowing that she didn't have to know all that complicated stuff.

When I felt the sudden urge to pee, I knew it was good that Penny had grown up a bit now. I tried to hold it like a big girl, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. And a minute later, I was back to being the one who didn't know anything; and Penny was ready to take over asking if I'd understood what the cartoon penguins had learned from their anthropomorphic friends today.

"Fweinds... fun!" I said, and we both got a laugh out of that. Whoever was the big one, I knew that we would have fun together, just like the penguins had learned. And I didn't need to think about the future, because the grown-ups would make sure that everything was perfect for us.