✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

41. Big Girl Fun

Tess found herself giggling again as Ffrances turned back towards the house. It was hard to tell if her amusement was because she'd been told to be carefree and giggly, or because the overbearing, overprotective cousin from yesterday was now sitting in her own pee, babbling and cooing like a baby? She couldn't tell, but it either way she found the situation funny.

Ffrances had said something that Tess didn't quite catch before she left, about keeping an eye on the baby. So she sat there and watched Gabby, and at the same time tried to wipe some of the mud off her own dress. She'd been crawling around like they were both babies for a good part of the afternoon, but now she was old enough to realise she was filthy again. Unfortunately, the best she could do was smear the dirt around a bit, and get her hands all muddy. Wiping them on the grass might have helped, but she couldn't find a dry spot. There was a big blanket spread out in front of the conservatory, but she quickly dismissed the idea of using that as a towel. When she looked at Gabby, she knew she didn't want to get on the adult's bad side today.

It wasn't long before Ffrances was back, carrying a big jute bag with the name of a local supermarket on the side. Tess tried to peep inside, but the mystery was quickly spoiled when Ffrances pulled out a pack of wet wipes and a big towel.

"Think you can get yourself clean while I attend to your baby sister?"

Tess nodded happily, and did her best using the wipes to get the worst of the mud off all the exposed parts of her clothes. Ffrances also pointed out that there was a tap on the wall of the garage, connected to a hosepipe. It took a few seconds to work out how to disconnect the pipe, and the water was ice cold, but she could get her hands pretty clean, and she thought she managed to do most of her face as well. Then she was grateful for the warm towel, and went back to see if she needed to help with cleaning up Gabby.

The baby was already clean, it seemed. Her T-shirt had changed to a pastel yellow one that said 'Mommy's Little Devil' in letters made out of blobby heart shapes. Her fashionable shirt and jeans were bunched up on the ground, and her legs were bare now. But that wasn't the thing that surprised Tess the most.

"She's got... a diaper?"

"Mmmhmm. I took one from the changing table in your room, I hope you don't mind."

Tess gasped for a second, her mind filled with so many competing thoughts that she didn't know where to start. There were diapers in those drawers? She had opened the top drawer when she moved in, found it packed full of a neat array of those bedwetting pants sorted by design, and decided that she was going to leave the whole table alone. She hadn't expected to find actual diapers there, unless Alice had a little sister who was much smaller. And as soon as she thought about that, Tess wondered how a diaper could even fit Gabby. Even if she looked like a baby right now, she was really a grown-up woman. Hypnosis couldn't actually make you smaller, could it? But she couldn't think about that properly, because she was shocked by the realisation that Ffrances had been in her room. For the last six weeks, Tess had been absolutely terrified of anyone stepping through the door, in case they found some evidence of her little problem. Now she didn't know what to say.

The panic lasted all of three seconds. Tess didn't need to keep her secret, because Ffrances already knew. She'd worked it out herself weeks before, and decided not to say anything until Tess tried to ask for help. That was a big thing: she hadn't teased her, she hadn't told her she needed to wear diapers. She had just accepted that it wasn't her business, and moved on. That was why Tess felt that she might be able to confide in her cousin's girlfriend. And if she had realised that Tess had been using some protection at night, it was clear that she didn't see it as a humiliating thing. She took a deep breath, and tried to calm down.

"I'm sorry, I know I should have asked your permission. I'll replace them if you want, but I think Gabby needs one more at present."

"They're not mine!" Tess blurted out. "They're Alice's. I mean... they were there when I moved in. I don't need diapers, I'm a big girl. They're only in my room because there's nowhere else to put them."

"I understand, dear. But they're in your room, so they're yours if you want them. Just like the cuddlies on your bed. If you want to try them it would be your choice, and nobody else's business. So even if you haven't, it was impolite of me to go in there."

"It's fine," Tess forced a smile. She wanted to say that she didn't want the toys either, and she would be so much happier when all the baby stuff in her room went away. But when she thought about the Dookbros and Dooktors, she knew she didn't want them to go away. They were the cutest cuddly ferrets in the world and she wanted to keep them until she could learn all their names so they could all be one big happy family.

"It's fine," she said again. "I don't need diapers. She does." That was enough to make Tess laugh, but it seemed Gabby couldn't even understand what she was saying now. When Tess reached out towards her, she just made grabby hands in the air, a clumsy attempt at a handshake that never connected.

"She's such a cute little baby. I didn't expect her to go that far, but it's good to be prepared."

"How does it fit?" Tess asked, furrowing her brows. "She's... not as little as she looks, is she? She's not really a baby?"

"No," Ffrances said, and she laughed a little at that. "You see her as a baby, then? I wasn't sure if that would work. Visual hallucination is something only a third of subjects can achieve. And I shouldn't be talking about this while you're too little to think about those things, should I?"

"No, it's good. I want to know. It's amazing!"

"Well, safe to say she's not that small really. But they make some pretty big diapers now. Some people still need them when they're older. Old people, or people with some medical problems. And some people like cute ones with a baby pattern even when they're older. Not to mention, there's people who enjoy imagining that they're young again. Can you imagine playing at being a baby? There's nothing wrong with that at all, and if somebody wants to try it, I think it's good that you can get adult sized diapers."

"I think I might know who wants that," Tess nodded slowly. Gabby had said she wanted to be a teen again, but then she'd kept on making Tess younger and younger. It was clear she really wanted to be a baby. And like Ffrances said, if it made her happy then it was a good thing. "I don't understand why, but... it doesn't hurt anyone."

"Exactly. So, are you okay with keeping an eye on the baby for a while today? You're happy with your current age?"

Tess nodded, and giggled. It was hard to stop, and she wondered if that was really how it felt to be a little kid. She didn't remember, but she was sure that it felt pretty good. This was more exciting than just going back to normal, and she didn't know how long it would take to talk Ffrances into hypnotising her again.

Tess was excited by how much had happened today, and how much more she could learn. And the more she thought about how much fun it had been, the more she felt the urge to run around the garden again. Just to prove to herself that she was a big girl now, and she wouldn't be falling into the flower beds or getting any more mud on her dress. She knew in the back of her mind that was something she would never normally do, and that made it so much more exciting. It was the variation from her normal behaviour, not the childishness, that grabbed her attention.

So she ran, and she yelled. Somewhere out there, Gabby was babbling like a baby while Ffrances tried to do everything at once. She knew she should help, but she was just a kid today, and nobody could expect her to behave like she was all grown up. It was strange, and liberating, to find such alien feelings flowing over her mind like a tidal wave.