I sat on the floor in the lounge and played with Lyra, Alanis, and Jinny. After half an hour, something was starting to make me just a little uncomfortable, and I couldn't pretend not to notice any longer.
"Somebody pooped!" I said, and allowed myself to giggle like a small child. I thought it was probably Jinny who couldn't hold it this time; I was certain it wouldn't be Lyra, because her parents were starting to let her grow up again by now. I repeated myself, and it wasn't long before Monique came to attend to her daughters. It turned out they both needed changing, leaving me to play with Lyra for a little while.
"Are you having fun?" I asked her. "Mummy said you might be growing up again?" I knew I probably shouldn't make it so obvious, but I wanted to be sure that my friend was looking forward to getting back to school. I could see that it could be pretty scary, after the year we'd just had.
"Yeah," she beamed. "I gotta try potty training again. But it's hard, I dunno if I can do it."
"I think you can. You're such a smart girl, and once you start getting better everything will come back so quick. Then it'll be my turn next, I think."
"We should try together!" she said, and I forced a smile. I knew that I'd have to go back to my real age sooner or later, but it was kind of a scary thought. I knew that I'd be able to grow up again soon enough, but I'd be sad to leave the freedom of babyhood behind. It was a sad thought; and one that wouldn't even have occurred to me if I had still been in my usual diapers.
"Okay," I said eventually. "I'll miss the not thinking, but it'll be fun. Let's be big together, and go back to school."
I might have said more, but that was when I heard Monique and Alanis approaching again; and I didn't want to say anything that would worry her. I was also aware that while we'd been talking, the door had opened and closed very quietly. That must have been Melania leaving; not wanting Lyra to realise that she wasn't staying the whole evening. I knew it wouldn't be a problem, anyway; Monique and Sarah were our token adults this evening, and Scott might be joining us before stealing Sarah away. Three grown-ups for four babies wasn't such a bad ratio, especially when I was mostly just playing along. And when that thought came to mind, it gave me something else to laugh at: I was the smallest of the babies physically, but this evening my role would be something like a grown-up in disguise.
Still, we played. And all the grown-ups smiled when they saw how much fun we were having. If I had to fake it, I found that was something I could do pretty easily. Even if I had all the grown-up thoughts trying to squeeze in, I could ask myself how a little girl might react and just do that, and it was almost as fun.
I realised after a little while that I needed a diaper change, but I was a little hesitant to say anything. I wanted to hold onto my baby thoughts tonight, so I wasn't going to ask Monique. She was just as good as Mummy at surprising me, but I didn't need those surprises tonight; so I decided that I would wait until Sarah came back into the room before I asked. Sarah had already talked to Mummy, so she would know which diapers I was supposed to be in today. I put those thoughts out of my mind, and went back to playing. Sarah would be back in the lounge soon enough, and I would ask her then.
It didn't entirely surprise me that I heard the doorbell first; or that the first time Sarah came in to check on me was when Scott was helping her out. She wanted to check on me, but she was also a little nervous; but the presence of her boyfriend was kind of reassuring, I guess. As soon as they came in, I started moving towards my big sister, and thought about what I should say. I'd been sitting in a wet diaper for quite a few minutes already, and I didn't really think that it would make much difference if I waited a while longer. Besides which, the presence of Scott made me start worrying again. There were so many things that would happen now, and I couldn't say which was most likely. I wanted to be here to keep an eye on my big sister for as long as I could.
I still thought that I might say something; but when Scott patted me on the head and told me what a good girl I was, I thought it must surely be best to play along for now, and make sure I knew what was happening.
We played with dolls; fancy electronic ones that could talk to each other, and plain old-fashioned rag dolls. We watched cartoons. I showed Jinny some of my favourites, and I found that when I noticed the things that had stopped me enjoying Pocket Cats as a big girl, I could just laugh at how silly it was instead. I knew that the plots didn't make any sense, but somehow that didn't matter now. Maybe there was still some of one of the drugs in my system, making it easier to see the silver lining; but it felt real enough to me.
But eventually, I knew that it was time to give my full attention to the people around me. Sarah started fidgeting, and I saw Scott leaning over to whisper to her a couple of times. He always made sure to pay attention to me and the other babies, but it was clear that his main focus was on Sarah today. He really cared about her.
Eventually, as the clock ticked on, Sarah managed to find her voice. I noticed that some of my friends were a little less bouncy than usual. Lyra had actually fallen asleep already; although I was sure the wipes at her last change had something to do with that. Even when she was supposed to be growing up again, her Mummies had left strict instructions against letting her stay up too late.
"I uhh..." Sarah mumbled. "Do you need my help looking after the little ones? I think Lyra's in dreamland already, and Alanis isn't far behind."
"May as well help while you're here," Monique said with a smile that betrayed absolutely nothing.
"Yeah, I was thinking... I'm going to stay with Scott tonight, and it might be better if I go a bit earlier. Don't disturb his neighbours by opening the gates super late."
"Okay," Monique said, after a little thought. "Your Mummy said she'd be back around midnight, in any case. But can you help me to get all the babies into bed first? I don't know if I'm young and strong enough to carry Lyra to bed. If you young people could help, I'll offer you a hot chocolate to say thanks."
"Sure," Scott said, without hesitation. "Anything to help the little kids."
And that was how it ended up that Scott and Sarah were helping to tuck Lyra into bed, while Monique prepared their reward. I sat and smiled, and noticed that by the time my sister came back, Monique might be asking Scott to help carry Jinny up to her bed as well. That was a big benefit of having Scott here; two years of puberty blockers plus three months of testosterone supplements was starting to have a real effect on his physique. He could carry any of the babies, which would be a struggle for Mummy or Monique.
It took quite a few minutes before Sarah and Scott came downstairs; and they were both trying to hide their smiles when they appeared. I didn't want to think about why, but I couldn't miss Monique's frown as she handed them mugs of hot chocolate. She'd done pretty well at following Mum's recipe, and I was sure it would have tasted wonderful.
"Sarah?" I piped up, sure I shouldn't wait any longer. "I... uhh... think I need a change too. I'm not quite ready for bed yet, though."
"Okay," she smiled, and reluctantly set her drink down. "We'll be back in a couple of minutes, okay? And I think Alice deserves a hot chocolate too, if it's not too much trouble. She's been such a good girl."
"Yes, she has," Monique smiled, and then Sarah was leading me upstairs. My bed was doing double duty as a changing table today, while we had so many babies in the house. But I really couldn't object to that.
"Which wipes?" Sarah asked. When she looked down into my eyes, I was sure she could see that I was able to think like a grown-up. I didn't want to, but I could, and she knew that I had a better understanding of all the different diapers than she did.
"The Girlzz diapers," I said. "They're down beside my bed here. And octopussy wipes, if that's okay? But I don't think it matters much now."
"Oh? Giving up on your theory?"
I thought for a second, a little embarrassed. But I knew that I had to tell her the truth, even if I hated that it was happening. I told her what I'd seen, and then she went silent for a few seconds. She picked up her phone and sent a message before she actually replied.
"I guess you were right, then. Why are you always the one who sees through things and digs out the truth?" She shrugged, and helped me out of the wet diaper. "In any case, we'd better get you clean, right?" She thought for a second, and then agreed to use the star wipes. They would make me a little light-headed so I could enjoy myself more; and Sarah didn't think she would need any more help from me tonight. We talked a little bit about what we were going to do for the rest of the night, and then switched back to baby talk when my thoughts started to slow down a little. I could still have thought like a big girl if I wanted to, but right now I was glad that I didn't have to. My sister could take care of herself.
When we came down again, everybody was sitting together in the lounge. Alanis had asked to watch some old cartoon, and even Sarah and Scott could enjoy it with us. It was a weird one with different bits of the show aimed at different ages. It was about a group of teenage superheroes, but there was a secondary plot about their ghost dinosaur sidekicks, which even the babies could follow, and I could still just about see the edges of a more complex story between their parents, which could only be seen by reading between the lines.
There was something for everyone, although it wasn't long before Lyra was no longer cheering the appearance of the dinosaur ghosts, and seemed to be fast asleep on the couch.
"Oh, it looks like a little one has fallen asleep," Monique said, entirely unsurprised. "Adorable, isn't she? Can you two help me get her to bed again? I think Jinny and Alice will be joining her before long."
"Yeah..." Scott mumbled, and then paused to yawn loudly.
"Think you stayed up too late," Sarah said with a little laugh. "I'm starting to get sleepy too, maybe I should hit the hay. You okay with Alice and Jinniver, Monique? If we go to bed now? Mum'll be back soon if you need more help."
"That'll be fine," Monique said with a smile. "Thank you so much for helping. And I hope you both sleep well."