Adi's curiosity got the better of her before she got around to getting dressed again. She knelt down on the floor, and twisted the catch on a cover low on the wall. It was designed to give access to some of the pipes that fed the shower in her en suite bathroom, but she'd found out years before that the hollow inside the wall was perfectly placed for funneling sound up from the lounge, if she was in the mood for a little eavesdropping.
"...been such a klutz!" Garfield was saying, just a little edge of frustration in his voice.
"Everybody makes mistakes," that was Mom, trying to keep the peace as always. "But that doesn't look like a mistake to me."
"Yeah, like she didn't want to put the top on her glass. She's a–"
"Enough. If you'd left it where it was, she wouldn't have hit it. I think you put the glass in the way deliberately, anything to mess up your sister's big day."
"Right, does that sound like something I'd–"
"Enough. Adi's going to be back in a minute, and maybe you might like to compliment whatever she's chosen. Or maybe apologise for putting her drink somewhere it would get knocked over. You certainly aren't going to insult her, young man."
"Who cares? I mean, she's going to be a baby again later, and you can't expect me not to laugh then. So why should I put on this whole nice-guy show now?" He carried on mumbling, but Britney's voice drifted up inside the walls to cover the residual bitterness.
"I'm surprised she hasn't put a badge on yet," she was saying. "Do you think she's still too scared?"
"I don't know if she wants to," Toni answered. "You've got to consider the possibility that it really was just an accident when she listened to that file for the first time. For a dare, or whatever she said. Maybe she's never been interested in this, and all the hints she's given us have been a big misunderstanding. The few moments when she tries to make herself more babyish after being triggered, buying a present without realising she's doing it, like she said."
"Maybe," Mom answered. "So we have to let her choose. But I thought you were more confident. You said she was listening to the file again, didn't you?"
"My mistake. She didn't check the description properly. She thought she could change her baby name, and escape the suggestions. Tried it last night while I was there, in a little break in between games. Started out listening to the file, saying a different name that nobody would ever say by accident. I even thought it might work, that she'd be able to change the trigger phrase. But then her eyes close, and ten seconds later she's back to repeating 'Adelaide' over and over and I had to shake her awake so that it doesn't reinforce the effects anymore."
Adi said a naughty word under her breath. She could feel her body trying to pee as she heard the word, and she knew it was sheer luck that she'd already used the bathroom. She took a deep breath, and wondered if it would be safer to wear diapers today after all. But then everybody would think she wanted to be a baby, and she couldn't have that. This was her special day.
She quickly closed the panel, deciding that eavesdropping wasn't good for her today. Everyone was trying so hard to avoid saying her name, but that only applied when they knew she was there. And she didn't want to get in trouble on her birthday of all days. She quickly pulled on the first top that caught her eye and glanced at herself in the mirror. Maybe not top class fashion sense, but the orange patches kind of complemented the flame-print belt that Toni had offered her this morning. That was about as fashion-conscious as Adi ever got.
With clean clothes and a smile on her face, Adelaide bounded down the stairs to enjoy her first birthday as a real adult.