✅ Over Protected

62. Good Girls Save the Day

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I sat on the couch, slowly sipping at my drink as everybody moved around me. Monique had insisted that Scott couldn't sleep in Sarah's room tonight, and they didn't feel up to arguing. So Scott made up the camp bed in the spare room, while Monique kept an eye on the babies. I'd have to sleep in one of the collapsible cribs in the lounge while the house was so full, but I really didn't mind that. I really was starting to get sleepy, and I knew that when I was in that reassuring little cage there wouldn't be anything else for me to worry about. I was sure I would sleep like a log.

I found that I kept glancing up at the clock; but kept moving as well so that they would be able to tell I wasn't quite ready for bed yet. Scott came back into the lounge a few minutes later, saying that his bed was all ready and asking if Monique needed any more help with me or Jinny, the last two awake. Monique seemed to be lost in thought for a couple of seconds, but then looked back over at me.

"I think this little one will be ready for sleep soon," she said eventually. "She'll probably need one more diaper change. Can you see to her while I check on the others? There's a pack in my bag, so we don't have to disturb Alanis." That sounded sensible; Alanis and Jinny would be in my room tonight, as we all shuffled around in whatever kind of logistical nightmare was necessary to fit so many little ones into a relatively small house. So Scott lifted me up, and I could grin widely. There was no reason for me not to enjoy being taken care of by someone strong enough to lift me up with relatively little effort.

Scott was happy to change my diaper, and his hand puppets were perfect for keeping me from getting embarrassed; although right now I was still feeling a little too grown up to need them. I could still play song, and I knew that I could enjoy this moment at least.

"Princesses?" he said, holding up a diaper. That would leave my mind evaporating pretty quickly, but when I glanced down at the diaper bag I could see that there wasn't much of a choice. Monique didn't want the babies thinking clearly when we were all in one place, because she was still trying to hide the truth from Alanis and Jinny. Anyone getting curious would be harder to stamp out in a group. Normally I would have asked to go up to my room and pick one from the options Mummy had left me. But like Monique said, it was hard to fit everybody into the house; and we didn't want to disturb Alanis when she was already trying to get to sleep.

"That's fine," I said with a little smile, and took a quick glance at the clock before continuing: "I don't think you need me to help with anything now. We'll all be asleep soon, and Mummy will be home in like... twenty minutes. You're getting tired now?"

"Yeah. But it's been a long day, and I don't think–"

"Scott!" Sarah's yell was loud enough to wake anyone who'd managed to get to sleep already, and I could tell that he'd kind of been expecting it. He was surprised because he was in the middle of putting a fresh diaper on me, but only hesitated for a fraction of a second before running upstairs. I took a deep breath, and looked around me in panic for a moment. I didn't know if I would need to help with anything, but I had to be there. I pulled the front of the diaper up to my waist and slapped the tapes down, hoping that would be good enough to last a couple of minutes. Then I grabbed my phone from the bookcase, where it was wedged between a couple of comic books. I was already halfway up the stairs when I managed to get my thumbprint in the right place, and immediately swiped up to summon ZoneWatcher and switch from audio to video recording.

I bounded to the top of the stairs, and saw that the door to Sarah's room was standing open. I held the phone out in front of me as I ran in, at once terrified to discover what had made my sister scream like that, and determined to make sure I captured some kind of proof.

Sarah was sitting up on her bed, lit by the dim glow coming from the landing, with her shoulders pressed against the wall. Monique was in there too; apparently she'd thought it was appropriate to check on Sarah as well as her own kids. And Scott had grabbed Monique, with one arm around her waist and the other gripping her hand to hold whatever was in her hand out of reach. As I came closer he pulled her over to the desk, fighting furiously, and banged her hand on the wall to make her drop it. I stepped closer, breathing heavily, and tried to make my camera focus in the dim light.

"What was that?" Sarah shrieked. "A syringe? What are you trying to do?"

"I thought you were asleep!" Monique snapped, not even addressing the question. "You didn't answer when I asked. How are you–"

"Yeah, that's the thing," Sarah growled. "Alice is smarter than you think. She saw you putting those PerfectCalm drops in our drinks, and warned me not to drink it. But I needed to know what you thought you were doing. Now, what have you got to say for yourself? Is there any reason we shouldn't call the police?"

"You can't do that!" she shrieked, still struggling as Scott did his best to hold her in place. It was clear he was stronger now, and Monique hadn't been prepared to fight him.

"Quiet," I said, and blinked in surprise as Sarah turned the lights on so that I could get better pictures. "You don't want to wake Alanis and Lyra, do you?"

That at least got her to stop shouting, but I knew there was still a whole lot of explanation needed, and she wasn't in any mood to cooperate. I made sure to get a clear picture of the long, thin thing Monique had presumably been brandishing at Sarah, and then picked it up. It was a tube of some kind, with a plunger in one end. On one side I found a label and read it out. I stumbled a couple of times with the long chemical names, but I thought it sounded vaguely familiar. Thankfully, the label didn't leave me to guess what it meant. Underneath the actual chemical name – and much shorter – was the explanation "High strength topical muscle relaxant. For professional application only."

"Mummy?" I heard a confused cry from somewhere else in the house, and sighed. The noise had woken them up; that was one thing I'd hoped wouldn't happen. No matter what happened today, I didn't want Jinny and Alanis to suffer any more trauma from this. My mind raced, and then I rushed into my room and quickly whispered that everything was going to be okay, before running back again.

"Here," I said, handing her a bunch of cable ties that I'd vaguely remembered Mummy putting in the drawer with my diapers. "Tie her to the chair here, then you two can check on the little ones. It won't be too long before Mummy comes home, and we all need to talk about this. But I think we need to be sure she won't..."

I'd hoped that I would be able to sort everything out, but I knew that now I'd given them a push in the right direction, Sarah and Scott would do their best to make sure everybody was safe. And right now, I found all those big-girl thoughts slipping away again as my bladder suddenly decided to empty. I was starting to get confused, and I was already so tired. Sarah seemed to recognise that I was slipping back to the baby part of my mind again, and quickly carried me back to my crib. I couldn't keep my eyes open for another minute.

I was still somehow awake when I heard Mummy unlock the front door; but I knew that she would take care of everything. I'd done what I needed to do now, and now all I had to do was snuggle Reggie; and we could think about everything else in the morning. And I was sure that I'd been a good girl today.