Chapters 30 - 32 by Sofia Hammerstein

'Alterations' continues the story of Stacy's journey from 'Exchanged' and 'Little Hope.' Stacy is a young college student who chose to travel to a new dimension to study their advanced computing technology at a prestigious university as an exchange student. Stacy thought he knew what he was getting into when he traveled, but multiple events show that he didn't plan for every problem he would encounter. Recently on a trip his adoptive parents adopted another Little, Bella, to help prevent her from being taken by unscrupulous Amazons. Stacy now begins orientation and classes at Emerson as the small family attempts to stay safe from the outside threat. Can Stacy manage to navigate college classes and everything the dimension can throw at him, and still make it back home with a degree? (Story set in the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: Exchanged © 2017-2025 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 

Chapter 30: Busted
 

JUST THEN, ANOTHER knock came on the door. Dean Sanders motioned for Megan to stay there and went to open the door herself. Amanda stood there and, for some reason, didn’t really look shocked to see Dean Sanders’ face, “Good morning Jackie,” she said to her tiredly.

“Amanda, you look like hell,” she said.

I couldn’t help but agree as her hair was a mess and she was clearly wearing the same clothes as the day before. It looked like she had taken her makeup off at one point, and her bare face presented itself with baggy red eyes.

“I feel like it too, Jackie. I’m guessing you’re here because Stacy stayed overnight here?”

“Yes, I am. I am willing to consider this a one-time exceptional thing, but I’m a little concerned that your baby girl is making up stories. We can’t have students lying to the administration!”

“What did she say?”

“Some contrived story about an LPS officer poisoning her sister? What kind of person does she think I am to believe a tall tale like that?”

“Umm… Actually, it’s true,” Amanda told her. “They arrested her an hour ago, and she will be indicted for attempted murder.”

“Bella’s okay then?” I asked, cueing into the ‘attempted’ word.

“She’s not going to come out of this easily, Stacy. They had a good team of doctors, though, and she should mostly be alright.”

“Mostly?” Megan asked behind me.

“We’re afraid there’s going to be some brain damage and organ damage that will affect her long term.”

“You’re kidding?” Dean Sanders asked, “Who would do such a thing to someone else’s baby?”

“The same group that tried to have Stacy kidnapped last week here on campus broke into our house,” she glanced at me, “and the same group that actually broke into our house again last night. It was a good thing that Stacy was here with Megan last night, or they would have gotten her too.”

Dean Sanders had gone from looking like my future in the university was bleak to suddenly look like she felt bad for me. “That’s terrible… What are you going to do now?”

“Well, we have contractors taking care of the house, but we’ll probably go stay with my parents to be safe until they get this all figured out.”

“Well… if you can’t get things easily sorted, Stacy could stay in the dorms?”

“I guess we can keep that in mind… but I’d rather not have her that far from me. Besides, you probably don’t even have any rooms free?”

“Well… it’s the beginning of the year. We usually have to consolidate dorm rooms a couple times through the freshman semester. We’re almost to that first consolidation now… I know her nest already has two empty beds.”

I cringed and wondered who the two unlucky girls were.

“If this doesn’t work out, we’ll think about it,” Amanda said. “But she’s my baby girl, and I don’t really want to not have her around as much as possible. Plus, it’ll be helpful to have her around to help Bella get better.”

“It’ll stay an option…?”

“So, I guess our next question is, will there be anything we need to worry about consequences of her staying here last night?”

Dean Sanders looked like she was thinking for a moment, “No, Megan was babysitting her niece during an emergency. We’ll let this one slide. In the future, though, she needs to be babysat elsewhere. This dorm is no place for a Little…” she looked at us sternly.

“Yes, ma’am,” Megan told her.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get home to my babies, who are due for lunch soon. Or at least I’m due for lunch soon… My breasts definitely feel like it’s lunch,” she said as a joke to Amanda.

She gave a wry smile and nodded, “I know what you mean, have a good weekend, Jackie.”

As she left, Amanda closed the door and then came to pick me up. I asked her, “So what is going on with Bella?”

She sighed, “It was touch and go last night until my dad called with the poison’s information. Bella’s heart stopped three times before some of the medication stabilized her. Once we knew the poison, we treated her with some nanites to rid her body of that substance.”

I felt my face fall and panicked, “They weren’t modified?”

She grimaced, “I only had about ten minutes to get through the settings. I got rid of the same things that we did with you but missed a reduction setting, and her face has the same baby face look you have now.”

“How small did she get?” Megan asked.

“She’s only taller than Stacy by a few inches now. So I guess they can probably share dresses and outfits now…?”

I raised my eyebrows, “Poor Bella,” I said.

“Anything else?”

“We think that’s it as far as the mods are concerned, but she’s still in an induced coma for the moment. They plan to keep her in it for another day to give her body a chance to heal.”

I hugged Amanda and felt tears streaming down my face, “I’m so glad she’s going to be okay.”

“Me too…” she said softly. “Well, I think it would be a good idea to get you out of here, Stacy. Megan, do you think you could stay at Mom and Dad’s with her tonight? At least one of them will probably be there too, but that way, I know someone else is there?”

“Sure, it’s not like we have any homework yet anyway,” Megan said. “I’m sure I can deal with putting up with Mom and Dad for a night…” she sighed theatrically.

“Just keep an eye on her for me if Chloe and Cassie come over tomorrow?”

“Ugh… I forgot I was going to have to smell their insanity tomorrow!” I looked up at her, and she said, “I really don’t get our sisters keeping their Littles in shitty diapers. They smell terrible, and I’d rather see any diaper get changed immediately, so you don’t have to smell it! Plus, if they sit in it…?”

Amanda sighed, “They’re definitely the nutty ones…” she agreed. “Let’s change that wet diaper and get you into a uniform before we leave?” She suggested to me.

I just nodded and went along with it. Then, as we were leaving, I thought about something, “Mommy?”

“Yes, Stacy?”

“Can we go by the bookstore really quick? They said we could get a different ID in a wristband form to avoid having our ID being stolen?”

She looked nervously at me and her watch before nodding, “Yes, let’s go get one for you!”

It was a quick-paced walk to the bookstore, where I had to run to keep up with my two giant companions. At the bookstore, we were directed to a counter where my ID was scanned, wrist measured, and I was given a wristband that I put adjacent to the LittleProtect Watch. I was assured it would be just as impossible to remove without the proper university tools.

We didn’t look around for anything else and hurried out of the store. I held my arms up to Amanda, motioning that I wanted up outside so that I wouldn’t have to run to keep up with them. I played with the wristband all the way to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Megan picked me up from the car seat while Amanda grabbed my bags and a small one for Megan that she’d brought with her. As soon as we were inside, Grandpa greeted us, “Hi girls.”

“Hi, Daddy,” Megan said and gave him a hug.

“Hi, Dad,” Amanda said, “You’re sure you’re good with Stacy being here tonight?”

“Of course, sweetheart… I’ll make sure nothing happens to her. Go ahead and get back to the hospital and keep an eye on Bella. Your mom will be by there in a while, too, to check on you all. She just went to pick up some groceries for the weekend.”

“Thanks, Dad. I appreciate that you already took care of the house too.”

“Of course, I’m just mad that they got in. I’m glad Stacy stayed with Megan, but until we get this situation sorted out, we need everyone to be really careful about their safety.”

“I know… I’m glad the university is splitting the cost for security at least.” Amanda said.

“Well, it wouldn’t be good for one of their lead researchers or star doctors to get killed!”

“You forgot the genius student too!” Megan said with a smile.

“Mandy, go be with Bella,” her dad ordered. “Between myself and Megan, we’ve got Stacy more than covered!”

Amanda suddenly burst into tears then, and her dad hugged her, “It’s going to be okay, Mandy,” he reassured her. I almost felt embarrassed as I looked on from Megan’s arms, but she got herself together soon after. “You okay to drive?” He asked her when she began walking out the door.

“Yes, it’s not far, and I’ll be fine,” she took me from Megan’s arms. “I love you, Stacy, and I’m so glad that you’re okay. I feel terrible about what I let happen to Bella… But I’m glad you’re at least okay.”

I hugged her back, “You have nothing to be guilty about, Mommy, you were given credentials and had to follow LPS orders, or they could have removed both of us then. They did have one legitimate agent… You couldn’t do anything. Go be with Bella now, and we’ll figure out how to get her back to normal when she’s healed.”

She squeezed me, “I love you more than you know.”

“I love you too.”

She was gone a few minutes later, and Megan said, “you didn’t get a bath last night or this morning… you want a bath or a shower?”

I looked at her, sniffed myself, and nodded, “A bath would be nice!”
 

MY BATH WITH Megan was much like one with Amanda would have been. Even though Megan valued me more as a thinking adult than Amanda did, she played with me and some bath toys more than Amanda did. I enjoyed the bubble bath that ended with my body wrapped tightly in a towel and carried down to the nursery. I gulped as she laid me down on the changing table clearly designed not for babies but Littles. The head strap and arm straps showed a belief that Littles needed to be restrained more than just with a chest belt.

Fortunately for me, Megan didn’t buckle anything but the chest belt as she pulled the towel away. “So, what do you want to do today?” She asked me as she lifted my ankles in the air to slide a diaper underneath me.

“Play with my computer?” I suggested.

She gave me a look, “Didn’t you get enough playtime on your computer last night?”

I pouted, “No, I only made it through the first level of my game,” I told her. I motioned with my head towards the monitor and who knows what other bugs after what we’d been dealing with.

She laughed, “Okay, I guess you can play with your computer until lunch. Then you’ll have to take a nap, though. Grandma will insist on it,” she told me with a smile. “If you’re just going to play on the computer, let’s put you in this cute romper,” she held up one of my many cute rompers that ended in a puffy set of bloomer-type bottoms. As soon as I was dressed, Megan handed me my backpack and put me inside a playpen. She reached down and gave me a baby bottle of juice.

“Be good,” she told me with a smile.

I opened my computer and immediately groaned because I didn’t have their WiFi password… My new phone was next to me, though, and I discovered it could act as a hotspot. A quick connection had me back in and able to work on my projects.

The first thing I did was make sure that I was as secure as possible. I took care to spoof my location and built up multiple layers of security, hiding my identity before going to work first on our attackers. I found that they had indeed arrested the lady early this morning. From what I could see in the police system, she seemed to have clammed up and had a lawyer for her arraignment scheduled for this afternoon. I decided to follow the lawyer’s money and confirmed that Venture B&E was paying the bill for the attorney.

I sat there and thought for a moment, debating my next move. We couldn’t keep playing defense and hope their attacks wouldn’t succeed. Obviously, they intended to get me, and whoever else was left last night. A quick look at that police report revealed four suspects in custody who had also clammed up. Given the severity of the charges, I figured the DA was attempting to get them to be held without bail. I wondered how much their employers would protect all of them, though.

Before I did anything else, I decided that I needed to talk with Fred and Amanda. I had a few ideas on ways we could go on the offensive against this company, but I didn’t want to do so without their okay. So, with my initial thoughts exhausted, I went back to my project from the previous night to see if I could program the nanites to bind with the problem protein and avoid the clogged receptors.

I lost track of time and failed to notice Megan watching over my shoulder for a few minutes. Then, finally, “Whatcha doing?” she asked me in a voice that made me feel like she’d caught me with my hand in the cookie jar.

“Umm… well… a project?” I said innocently.

“Why don’t you close it down and tell me about it over lunch?”

I blushed and did as she said, pressing a quick shortcut key that killed everything I’d been doing. I held my hands up to her, and she picked me up and put her hand underneath my diaper as she carried me on her hip downstairs and deposited me into ‘my’ high chair. I eyed the others again and was thankful for a normal baby one! She velcroed a bib onto me before bringing over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich she’d cut into small triangles. I saw her sit down with a plate that held her own larger version.

“I hope you don’t mind peanut butter and jelly?” She asked.

I shrugged, “It’s fine.”

“Good, so what were you up to?”

I sighed, “Has grandpa swept this room?” I asked.

“Yes, I just did,” he said, entering the room. “Why do you ask?”

“Megan was asking me some questions I didn’t want to risk others hearing…?”

“So…?” Megan asked.

I sighed, “I started looking into the guys who broke into our house and the lady who poisoned Bella. There’s nothing else that can really be done there, though.”

“No, it’s pretty much in the courts’ hands now,” Grandpa Joe said. “I think they’re going before a pretty honest judge, but we’ll see what happens.”

“It’s all about the money,” I sighed.

“Yes, it is,” he agreed.

“So, what was with the chemistry I saw you looking at?” She asked me.

“I’m looking into the adverse effects of breast milk…?” I said, turning bright red.

“Which ones?” She asked.

“The loss of continence.”

“That would be a big breakthrough,” Megan said.

“And potentially a big target on your back!” Grandpa said, sitting down with a glass of iced tea across the table from Megan.

“I know… that’s why I’ve been keeping it low-key,” I said to them. “I haven’t even told Am… Mommy, how far I’ve made with it.”

“You actually know what causes it?” Megan asks.

I nodded and walked her through it, “I think if I can program a nanite set to act as a T-Cell of sorts to go and bind to the protein and block the binding of the receptors, there’s a good chance I can prevent the effects.”

“Or you could cause more problems…?” Grandpa noted.

“It’s definitely playing with fire,” I agreed. “But…”

“What about the addictive parts?” Megan asked.

“I haven’t made it that far… Since I know Littles can get past that, I don’t actually mind that part.” I admitted.

“It’s an interesting idea,” Grandpa Joe admitted.

“Just be really careful, Stacy. You never know what unintended consequences something like this might have.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything else; instead, putting a piece of sandwich in my mouth and chewing.

“So, what are you two up to the rest of today?” Joe asked us.

“Well, originally, I was going to go do some shopping with my friends,” Megan said, “but given everything going on... I think staying home and working on some video game skills is probably smarter.”

Joe shook his head, “I don’t know what I did wrong with you girls... “

I laughed, and he shot me a mock glare, “Don’t you go there, Missy. You’re as much of a nerd as your mommy!”

I stuck my tongue out at him and Megan, and he both laughed. “I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon making sure this house is secure for the night before figuring out what we can do with your home Stacy.”

It was weird hearing it called ‘my home,’ but it did feel that way at this point. “I don’t know what more you can do…?” I told him.

“I’m thinking robot security guards?” He suggested.

My eyes opened in terror… “Does it have to be robots…?” I could feel my rear still feel phantom pains from that stupid swing.

“I’ll see if I can think of something else,” he said sympathetically.

I nodded and took a drink from the bottle on the tray. I was full and asked, “May I get back on my computer, please?”

Megan shook her head, “I think a nap would be a good idea first.”

“I don’t need...!” I started to complain.

“Think about last night and yesterday?” Megan said, “I want to take one myself too. Why don’t you just take one with me?”

I wanted to complain, but I knew even with Megan, if she wanted me to take a nap, she would be able to make me take a nap… I sighed, “I guess.”

“Great,” she said as she picked me up out of the highchair and wiped my face of some crumbs with the bib she’d used on me. I made a face, but she laughed and put me back on her hip. She felt the diaper underneath the romper and said, “I’ll change you after your nap.”

“Our nap, you mean?” I asked.

She squeezed me, “Our nap then.”

We went up to her room. It was obviously still hers with childhood posters, pictures, stuffed animals, and a faded purple wall that I suspected was a color she liked when she was little. A faded sign on the door said ‘Princess Megan,’ much like the one on my door at Amanda’s house. She laid me down on her day bed set against the wall. As soon as I was down, she kicked off her shoes and laid down next to me on the open side. Once she was down on the bed, too, she began hugging me and cuddling me like a teddy bear.

I sighed as she was pretty warm but closed my eyes while trying to think of what was my next move. Her heartbeat again lulled me to sleep as she also hummed a lullaby.

 
 

Chapter 31: Investigations
 

I WOKE UP sometime later and discovered that Megan definitely woke up before I did! I rolled over and looked at her doing something on her computer at her desk adjacent to a bay window. The window looked to have a bench seat tucked inside. When I sat up, she was oblivious to my waking up and instead seemed intent on the screen in front of her. I crawled to the edge of the bed and looked at the long drop down to the floor.

I sighed as I realized I needed to pee badly right then and let it loose in the diaper before saying, “Megan?”

She looked up, surprised, “Oh, you woke up!” she said with a smile and came over to me. I felt her hand check my diaper, and she said, “How about we get you out of that icky wet diapee?”

I nodded, “Please!”

She carried me down the hallway back to the nursery and made quick work of the diaper change. “So I’m guessing you’re pretty much happy as long as you have your computer somewhere?”

“That bay window in your room?” I suggested.

She smiled, “I’ve always loved that window seat! Let’s grab you a bottle from the kitchen along the way.” She held me as she bent over and picked up my electronics bag from the playpen, carried me down the hallway to the stairs, and grabbed a bottle from the fridge. Moments later, I was placed onto the comfy cushioned window seat to work.

“Thanks,” I said as she handed over the bottle.

“Comfy?” She asked.

I nodded, “Much better than the playpen!”

She giggled at that, “I’m going to get back to my game then…?”

I gave my own giggle, watched her begin to play some city simulation game, and got back to my own tasks. I began exploring the university’s software for students and came across a chemical simulation program that was sort of able to run on my computer. It was compatible with some tweaking, albeit the program ran rather slowly as my processor wasn’t quite up to their standards. I was able to import the chemical structure of the protein that was so problematic in Amanda’s milk and then modeled the receptors needed to collect it and send it out through the body’s endocrine system.

I worked on it for about an hour when Megan said, “You’re going about that wrong.”

I started as I hadn’t even noticed her approach as she had climbed on the cushion next to me. Then, after I got my heart rate down a bit, I asked, “What am I doing wrong?”

“Do this…” she walked me through another method for ten minutes, explaining why along the way, and the simulation was suddenly successful. “So, if you get this in your body, breastfeeding becomes okay again?”

“I’m hoping…?” I admitted.

“Speaking of leaky breasts… I’m going to drop you off in the playpen for a bit while I take care of mine!”

“I’m sorry,” I told her, knowing my presence was responsible.

“Don’t be… though I have to say if you get this figured out, I may want some help at some point…?”

I smiled, “I’d be happy to help.”

She gave me a hug, helped me reclaim my electronics, and moved me to the playpen in the nursery before taking off. I used that time to drain some more of the bottle she’d left me with. I had promised I wouldn’t do this edit without letting Amanda check over my work, so I decided to move on with another project.

The nanites seemed to have other potential uses, and I wondered what else I could do with them… Just as I was thinking of my plans for future benefits, my phone suddenly shocked me by ringing with Amanda’s face showing up on the screen. I picked it up and said, “Hello?”

“Stacy?” Amanda asked tentatively.

“Hi, Mommy,” I said, “How’s Bella?”

“She’s doing a lot better right now. But, I need you to do something for me for tonight… The real LPS agency is sending over a team on a wellbeing check. Can you get Megan to help you put your toys away?”

I grimaced, “Yes, Mommy, how far are they away?”

“About a half-hour, they were told our lawyer must be present, and your grandfather insists on an officer that he knows he can trust absolutely.”

“Okay, I’ll get myself into cute baby mode… I love you, Mommy!”

“Love you too,” she told me.

I cut the connection and called out for Megan, “Auntie Megan!”

“What’s wrong, Stacy?”

“We have guests coming!” I told her as I was putting everything away into my backpack. “I need to look like a well taken care of Little.”

She nodded and began helping me with the backpack and clothes being put away out of sight. “Did you pack any of your princess diapers?” she asked.

“I bought some last week, and they’re in the diaper stacker,” Grandma’s voice said, coming in through the hallway. “Good idea for putting her into one of those.” She dug for a second in a hanging diaper stacker and handed her the pink rectangle, “Here, get her changed into that. You have her in a good outfit; I’m going to take this playpen downstairs and some toys to look like she’s spending time playing with them. Why don’t you just hold her on your lap and watch something safe on TV together until they come.”

“Is it fair for them to assess her in this house?” Megan asked.

“Not really, but fortunately, I’ve kept everything baby-proofed for your sisters’ babies. There is no real point in it for the Littles, it’s not like Stacy will be foolish enough to put something in an electrical outlet and electrocute herself, but LPS would insist on it otherwise.” She shook her head, “Go on, get that diaper changed and get downstairs,” she ordered.

“So, how scared should I be right now?” I asked Megan as she popped the snaps on my romper and pulled the tapes of the slightly wet diaper loose.

“I don’t know, honestly, Stacy… Hopefully, Dad and Larry have this in hand,” she told me as she lifted my feet in the air, pulled the old diaper out, and put the new one in place. She held my feet in the air for a second longer to wipe me thoroughly and then put some lotion on from my diaper bag. I shuddered for a second, thinking of poor Bella, but knew that lotion had to have been safe at least. As soon as she was satisfied, she wiped her hands on a wipe and taped me in. The romper was snapped shut, and she carried me to the bathroom, where she washed her hands.

“Let’s get you a pacifier?” She suggested.

“Maybe another bottle too?” I said with my mouth feeling parched all of a sudden.

She gently squeezed me before retrieving one of my pacifiers that she attached to my outfit with a clip and stuffed the nipple of it into my mouth. She patted me gently on the back as we moved downstairs, and I suckled on the reassuring pacifier, hoping that nothing terrible was about to happen to me. She stopped at the fridge and grabbed a bottle of juice and carried me to the couch, and exchanged the pacifier for the bottle that she held as she turned on a movie that she decided on, “This is a kids’ movie, and it’s free of subliminal messages as far as anyone knows.”

“Okay,” I said, pausing from the bottle for a second. I had downed maybe half of the bottle when the doorbell rang, and Grandpa moved to open the door.

“Hey Larry,” he said as he let in his lawyer friend.

“Hi Joe, did I beat them here?”

“They should be arriving anytime now, I would expect,” he said as I looked up from the bottle I was drinking.

I embarrassingly put it down as he came to sit down in a chair that Joe provided next to the couch. “How are you doing, Stacy?” He asked politely.

I shrugged, “I’ve been better. Do you know what they’re coming for?”

“I…” he started to say when the doorbell rang, and Grandpa Joe went for the door.

“Hi, I’m Claire Parsons, I’m with Little Protection Services, and this is Police Detective Deming,” I heard from the door.

“Hi Ty,” Joe said to the man.

“May we come in?” They asked politely.

“Yes, come on in,” Joe said and directed them inside the living room. I was a little surprised to see that Claire appeared to be a Betweener at probably only six and a half feet tall. Smaller than Megan, who waved at her from underneath me.

“This is Larry Worthington, our attorney, my wife Theresa, our youngest daughter Megan, and this is Stacy, who I believe you are here to see?” He asked.

“Yes,” Claire said, “May we sit here and talk?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Joe said politely and motioned to a catty-corner chair from where Megan and I sat on the couch. Grandma sat down next to Megan, and Joe sat down protectively next to her.

“Thanks for speaking with us. I know I wouldn’t trust anyone at this point with what happened yesterday.” Claire started out speaking with me. “Umm… just out of curiosity, I thought you were going to college, Stacy? I wasn’t expecting to see you living as a traditional Little?”

I wondered if it was a trick for a moment, but I decided there was something about the shorter woman that I could trust. Grandpa had already said he trusted the officer sitting next to her. “It’s kind of a dual arrangement,” I said with a smile, “I agreed to some of the baby treatment in exchange for being able to go to school. I don’t have to worry about being adopted and having to worry about being maimed or something… But I can study in this dimension where the technology is so much further advanced.”

“I don’t want you to worry about appearances for our sake right now, Stacy. I understand you are a brilliant young woman. We need to know what happened as far as you were aware yesterday…?”

“I agree, Stacy, don’t worry about playing baby right now. We want to know what happened so we can nail the lady and anyone else connected with her.”

“Go ahead, Stacy, and you can tell them about the other stuff you all have figured out too. I checked into her, and Ty here is one of the most trustworthy people I’ve ever known,” Grandpa said across from Grandma.

I gave him a look, but his nod meant I felt comfortable talking with her with that kind of information. I looked at her, “Where do you want me to start?”

“Well, how about yesterday to begin with?”

“Grandpa had me for the morning to stay with him. We had come here, and we were eating lunch when we got a call that LPS was doing a wellbeing check on us.” I paused, “We’d been kind of expecting something like that after everything was going on, so Grandpa took me back home. Two individuals had identified themselves as LPS agents waiting there when we got there. The lady stated her name was Diana Ellis, and she said the man’s name was Bob Drindel,” I told her.

“Wait, how do you remember that clearly?” Claire asked.

“I have a really good memory… as you said before, I’m smart. The lady insisted that she needed to be able to examine my body for marks or about the complaints of malnourishment. She started to try and change my diaper when she had me undressed, but Larry said he would take care of it.” I paused, “I appreciated his being willing to protect me from dealing with her molesting me at the time was all I worried about.” I felt a few tears come to my eyes, but I shook them off, “Anyway after he insisted on doing that, she said she wanted to speak with me. So we sat down on the floor for what I would expect would be a pretty typical interview?”

“What all did she ask?”

I thought back, “She asked about my adoption, if it was willing, if my parents spanked me, why I would bother to go to college,” I thought back and wasn’t remembering much else. “I think we discussed the failed kidnapping attempt at the university? She also seemed concerned that I’d been left unsupervised on the university campus… We pointed out a free Little could babysit me, and Larry shut down the conversation?”

He nodded, “That’s basically the conversation. I have a recording of the whole encounter from when I entered the room if you would like it?”

“We would; I know we already have the video of what happened with her and Bella…” the detective said. “Did you see any other signs of problems?”

I hesitated, “I’m not sure what it would look like for a normal visit, but I know a lot of abuse happens in this dimension to Littles that no one seems to do anything about… So, I have no way to gauge that, honestly.”

“That makes sense,” Claire said, “And you’re right about the abuse. We have several agents that we’ve investigated in the past too that have taken desirable Littles away to sell for a higher price…” she shook her head, “I hope you know not all of us are like that. I’m certainly not, which is why I’ve been tasked to investigate the matter.”

“So, you have no doubts as to the care of Stacy and Bella?” Grandpa Joe asked.

“None whatsoever, though I do hope that Stacy doesn’t get pushed anywhere she doesn’t want to go with her life… She seems too smart to get stuck with just being a mindless baby. Do you have any other information to add?”

I looked at them and nodded, “I took the video images we captured and compared them with pictures online… I let Mommy know about the discrepancy, and that was passed on to the police so they could arrest her. I was able to do some further research and tied her with a Breeding and Export business that was after Bella when we met her. They had gone through some elaborate steps to get her to fly out to Selegansol to kidnap her. Now they don’t seem too happy to have lost her. A few attempts were there to kidnap her, and I suspect the same group tried to kidnap me in the student union.”

“I agree,” Detective Deming said. “Unfortunately, proving it beyond a reasonable doubt and identifying the person who ordered everything is probably out of our reach for the moment.”

“Any ideas on how to keep me from being attacked anymore?” I asked him.

“We’ve increased patrols around this house and your home. Hopefully, that deters them. I know Joe was working to do some more work to secure your home there to harden entry points. They got in last night by ignoring the alarms and just busting in through a side window on the first floor. They appear to have run straight to the nursery and then ransacked it some when they didn’t find you.”

I felt a bit of fear in my gut, hoping that my Switch with the hidden pistol had stayed hidden. “How much damage did they do?” I asked.

He pulled out a tablet with pictures and showed me the nursery. Basically, everything had been tossed except my bed mattress, to my horror. The crib had actually been thrown onto its side, and clothes and toys were everywhere on the floor. It looked like they emptied bottles of baby lotion and powder and poured that around, too… it seemed pointless levels of vandalism. At least all of my important stuff, other than that weapon, was with me. It looked like the mattress to the toddler bed had been spared completely. I was able to flip through photos and saw they had also done some damage to the master bedroom and Fred’s office. It looked like they had been scared away before getting to Amanda’s workroom.

I handed the tablet back to him and said, “Thanks. Why’d they stop?”

“I don’t honestly know,” he said, “Unless they found something they wanted in the office?”

I shook my head, “I’m guessing they got scared off, myself?” Then, I paused, “I’m not sure what was up with the vandalism in the nursery.”

“Probably a psychological attack,” Grandpa Joe said, “It definitely struck Amanda to the core, and it takes away your sense of safety.”

“I agree,” the detective said, and Claire nodded.

“So, where do we go from here?” I asked.

Detective Deming sighed, “That’s a good question. I was hoping having a conversation with you might bring up some new leads… and it did with Venture, but that is like an impossible ivory tower to scale right now. They have so many politicians and officers bribed to protect them that they’re not going to go down easily. Add the Trelini family connection that seems present from your first kidnapping, and I’m not sure what can be done right now.”

“That’s a bit of a dreary picture,” Grandma said beside me. “Well, is there anything else you need from us?”

Deming looked at Claire, who shook her head, “We will investigate how the imposter got her credentials altered. When we checked on her, the lady she claimed to be was actually found murdered in her house.”

I felt my blood turn to ice as I could see how serious they were once again.

 
 

Chapter 32: Workouts
 

“MURDERED?” MEGAN ASKED as she hugged me protectively.

“She hadn’t been seen in a couple days. We know that they had been working on this for at least that long. The other guy with her was on loan from another office, so they hadn’t worked together before. He seems to be innocent in this.”

“That’s crazy!” I said as I felt some urine leave me into the thick diaper.

“Yes, it is,” Claire said. “Look, the only thing I can assure you of from my end is that your file has been flagged so that if it comes up again, I will be the agent to investigate any complaints. I’m pretty certain I’ll be able to close them in a single visit and a shake of my head. I can tell you’re definitely with good parents, and I hope your sister recovers quickly.”

“Thanks,” I said.

She and the detective made their exit, and I was left sitting on Megan’s lap. Larry made his own polite departure then, too, as he was no longer needed, leaving the four of us sitting there in the living room.

“This is scary,” Megan said.

“Yes, it is,” Grandpa said, “Megan, would you please help Stacy change into something more comfortable and a regular diaper so I can work with her… actually make it one of her uniforms like she’ll be going to school.”

“What are you up to, Joe?” his wife asked.

“The game has changed; we were just worried about kidnapping before. Now I’m worried about lives; I’m going to arm Stacy with every dirty trick in the book. We’ll be downstairs in the workout room for the rest of the day.”

“Are you sure, dear?” she asked nervously.

“Yes, I am. Go on, Megan,” he told her, and she followed his instructions with a squeeze of a hug for me.

“Are you okay with this?” She asked me.

I nodded, “It’s not a matter of if, but when I run into these guys again.”

She kissed my forehead as she laid me down on the changing table. “Definitely could have stayed in this one longer,” she told me with a smirk.

“You should have seen the monstrosity from the other day!” I groaned.

The change was quick, just a quick wipe, some powder, and the new Pamper was taped on. Next, we dug out one of my school uniforms and dressed me entirely down to the shoes before she carried me downstairs past the first floor and to the basement, where I discovered Joe had a mini version of his studio there.

“Go ahead and leave us alone, Megan. Call us up for dinner, and we’ll take a short break, but we’ll be down here until her bedtime tonight.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she said and set me down beside his towering frame.

He had changed into a gi and looked to be back in full martial arts master teacher mode. I bowed politely as she left and took a comfortable ready stance. When the door closed, he walked over to a bag and said, “I called a friend yesterday afternoon after I left you all and asked for a rush order on something.” He pulled out a pair of shoes that looked identical to mine. He sat down on the floor and showed them to me.

“They look just like mine; I have a feeling there’s something concealed?”

“Don’t ever let anyone find this, but there is a blade in each shoe,” he showed me how to quickly pull two thin-bladed weapons from the shoe’s heel. A set of finger holes resembled a set of brass knuckles attached to a thin single-bladed knife.

The weapons had a curve that made them look beautiful, if not deadly. I placed my fingers in the holes of the right hand one and was amazed that it was a perfect match for my hand. I took a tentative swing with it and marveled at how it became an extension of my hand. Finally, I looked up at Grandpa Joe, “I take it you can teach me how to use these without hurting myself in the process?”

He gave a light laugh, “That’s the idea. But, first, we’ll practice just drawing them smoothly.”

I pulled my other shoes off and replaced them with the new ones that even felt more comfortable. As I went to lace them, though, Grandpa said, “These have some special laces, put your finger right here,” he said to a place that seemed to be a spot of regular patent leather.

I did as he said, and they suddenly laced up on their own, “Cool!” I smiled.

“I take it you don’t have self-lacing shoes in your dimension?”

“Only in science fiction movies!” I said with a smile.

“They will only unlace now if you use your fingerprint on that spot. They won’t be able to cut them off easily either, so since they’re cute, you’ll probably see an Amazon give up in a hurry on taking them off.”

“So just keep them hidden and wait to strike?” I asked as I stood up.

“That’s one option, but I personally think your best bet at this point is to strike first and not allow them to get their hands on you if you can help it. These would also let you cut through safety belts in car seats. Since they would probably want you in a rear-facing seat, that might be an easy way to keep covert there.” We talked a while longer about some tactics before he said, “Let’s practice,” he said.

After the first time I pulled them free, he handed me a set of practice blades to put in their place and began drilling me in several positions to draw them and then move into a ready stance. We had only practiced that when Megan came down just as I had replaced the practice set in the shoes, “Dinner’s ready, you two,” she said, “Mom wants me to tell you to clean up, I’ll change Stacy, and then we’ll eat.”

“Okay,” he said. We exchanged a quick bow to each other, and then I walked up to the stairs where Megan scooped me up.

She made a face as she checked my diaper, “It’s been hours! This diaper should be a lot wetter. You need to drink more!”

“I’ll try and remember that,” I told her. She changed me into a fresh diaper, washed her hands, helped me wash mine, and then carried me to get situated downstairs in my high chair. I had a moment of fear remembering earlier on when I first arrived that I would likely be eating baby food under Granny’s watch.

From the pasta pot and a red pot of sauce, I saw that dinner was apparently a pasta dish in a homemade red sauce.

“Here, let’s get you a bib,” Granny said and appeared with one that said, ‘My Granny Spoils Me More than Yours.’ I rolled my eyes internally as she tied it on and then gave me a plate of pasta and one of my small forks.

I sighed in relief and said, “Thank you, Granny!”

“You’re very welcome, Stacy,” she said with a kiss on my head.

“Has Mommy called with any more information on Bella?”

“She’s still in the ICU, but they have seen some signs of her waking up. So they’re going to try and wake her up in a few hours if she hasn’t on her own.”

“That’s quick…?” Megan said. “I wish I could be there for her,” she added.

“If you want, I can stay here with your Dad and Stacy, and you can go there for a bit?” She suggested.

She shook her head, “Mandy wanted me to watch Stacy. Why don’t you go back after dinner, though?”

“I’ve got Stacy under control if you both want to go?” Grandpa Joe suggested.

They both looked torn as I twirled some of the large spaghetti noodles around my small fork and took a bite. After I chewed, I took a sip from my bottle that sat on the tray and said, “Go, it’ll do everyone some good. Grandpa and I will hang out downstairs anyway, right?”

He smiled at me, “Right!”

They both sighed but said, “Okay, I think we can trust you two for a bit.”

He mocked pain and said, “Just for a bit?”

“To be fair, they probably shouldn’t trust us at all,” I said with a smirk.

“Definitely my favorite granddaughter,” he said with a laugh.

We all ate pretty quickly, and I filled up on the large noodles. It was almost like eating pasta the thickness of penne pasta. The sauce was one of the best I’d ever had, “This is amazing,” I told Amanda.

“I’m glad you think so; I worried you might not like it?”

“Why?”

“I don’t put sugar in my sauce. Our other Little grandchildren didn’t like it while they could eat it.” She was sad at the end of the statement.

I grimaced but nodded, “I keep hearing my taste buds are weird…?”

“How else?” Megan asked curiously and seeming interested in a change of conversation.

“Well… I think Daddy and I might have to go and have some fun with fiery food challenges…?”

Granny looked a bit nervous at that, “What?”

“Well, I grew up that the smaller the chile, the spicier it is. So to me, even your smallest peppers are like the size of our mild poblano peppers. I think because of that, they taste milder. Bella regretted it when she tried a little of one that I didn’t feel a tingle on.”

Megan looked intrigued, “They have some events sometimes at the university...”

“Before or after bedtime?”

“Some before… I’ll keep an eye out for those for you!” She said with a smile.

Dinner ended soon, and Megan made me finish the bottle before changing me again. Then, she delivered me back to Grandpa’s care before they both took off for the hospital. “Okay, draw those blades again,” he told me and came at me simultaneously.

I did so with a front tumble as I moved to his left and drew the blades, standing to face him to my side. “Good!” he said, “But you left yourself open!”

We worked nonstop for the next few hours until my muscles hurt, and I was dripping with sweat. Grandpa showed me how to go for the tendons around the ankles and attack the hamstrings next. We also worked with him reaching for me and going after holding my arms and wrists. There were also drills with me getting to the blades while being held, cradled, and aggressively squeezed. I knew I could be beaten by the right person by the night’s end, but I thought I might have survived someone who underestimated me. I hoped that even the right person would be unlikely to win with more practice!

My watch showed eleven when Megan walked in and said, “Okay, Daddy, Stacy needs to take a bath because I’m guessing she stinks, then she needs to get to bed.”

We bowed to each other, and I said, “Thank you for teaching me, Sensei.”

“My privilege, I hope we have more time to train… Let’s switch the training blades out,” Grandpa added quietly as he hugged me. I discreetly repositioned the blades into my shoes. I now had the actual blades that were razor sharp where they could be useful.

I walked over to Megan, who looked at me with wide eyes, but squeezed me as she picked me up. I asked her, “Did Bella wake up yet?”

“Yes, she did. She’s groggy and disoriented but seems to remember everything that’s happened recently and further back in the past. She managed to answer questions for about fifteen minutes before she went back to sleep. So they’re cautiously optimistic that there won’t be too many long-term effects,” she had made it up to the top of the stairs then.

“Have they noticed any so far?”

“She seemed to have some coordination issues, nothing major, but some losses may be there. They can’t really tell much more until they have her try and move around, though.”

I nodded as she reached the door to the nursery. She stripped the dress I wore off and tried to take my shoes off but couldn’t do anything. I went, “oops, let me get those,” and put my fingerprint where the sensor was hidden. They came undone, and I slipped them off, “Make sure I put those on tomorrow, please?” I told her.

“Mmm… Okay,” Megan said, leaving me in just my diaper a moment later. The discolored garment was hanging almost loose on my hips as she removed it and carried me bare-naked to the bathroom, where Granny was already running a bubble bath.

I blushed as Megan passed me to her, and she sat me down in the water. “Do you mind if I bathe you?” Granny asked. There was definitely a tentative nervousness in her voice, but also, you could tell she really wanted to bathe me.

I blushed but nodded, “Okay.”

The next ten minutes weren’t that different from Amanda bathing me. It was a little more embarrassing with the lady who I had at one point thought would be my biggest antagonist. But, every stroke of a sudsy washcloth or massaging of baby shampoo in my hair was gentle, so I felt pretty content. I almost felt like going to sleep in the bathtub when she said, “I think my little grandbaby is ready for night-night, huh?”

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s been a long day.”

She nodded and wrapped me gently in a towel before carrying me down to the nursery. Megan was hanging around then as Granny asked, “So, are you okay with going to church with us tomorrow?”

I felt my nerves come up again. I wasn’t sure how to respond as Grandma deposited me onto the changing table.

Then, Megan came to the rescue, “Mom, why don’t I stay home with Stacy tomorrow?” With everything going on right now, she could probably use another day of sleeping in before classes start on Monday.”

I looked up at Granny, and she pursed her lips, “I think I can live with that if you promise me that you’ll both come next Sunday?”

I nodded, “Okay, Granny, I appreciate you letting me sleep in!”

She pulled my legs in the air as she put a thick princess diaper under my rear. “You’re welcome, sweetie,” she said. Powder followed all over my diaper area, stomach, and legs. She taped up the diaper and then helped me get dressed into my footed pajamas. She brushed my hair and used a loud blow drier before braiding it loosely.

“You want a bottle before you go to bed?” She asked me. “I heard you don’t mind them?” she added with a smile.

I looked at Megan, who flushed a bit at having been busted for telling my secrets to her mom. “No, they’re okay… sure. Just regular milk, though, right?”

“No breast milk for you for now per your mommy’s wishes,” she agreed.

“Here, Megan, hold her while I go get her a baba,” she said with a quick hug and passed me over to Megan.

She sat down on the floor with me and turned me around in her lap to face her, “Sorry I told Mom that.”

I giggled, “She’s your mom; you don’t probably have a ton of secrets from her. It’s okay.”

She gave me a quick squeeze, “I figured tomorrow going to church might be too much. I’m not sure if they’ll send you with the babies to the nursery, let you hang with us in the college room, or send you to a free Littles group?”

“Thanks, that’s more thinking than I would want to do tomorrow,” I agreed. “Maybe I can get a few more things done on my computer before Chloe and Cassie come over.”

“Sure,” she said. “Do you have many more things you’re working on?”

“I have a couple more things I want to check on... “

Her mother came back up the stairs with one of my bottles in hand, and Megan handed me over to her. She carried me to a well-worn rocking chair in the corner, where she placed me in the crook of her arm and the nipple of the bottle of warm milk to my lips. I latched on and began nursing as Granny hummed a lullaby that Amanda must have learned from her. My eyes closed gradually, and I must have been entirely asleep as she settled me inside the large crib.

 
 

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