Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

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The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 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.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Chapter 18: A Baby

HANNAH HELD ME and cuddled me for a long while before I managed to regain control from bawling my eyes out. Then, when I was finally nearly calmed down and merely hiccoughing, she asked, “What’s wrong, Sofia?”

I shook my head and said, “I didn’t” I hiccoughed, “even,” hiccoughed, “know I had...”

She hugged me tightly. “It’s okay,” she reassured me.

“No, it’s not!” I said with fresh tears starting to fall.

“Yes, it is Sofia. You’re a baby! Why should you know or care that you’ve gone?”

“Because I’m not; I’m eighteen!!!” I bawled into her shoulder.

“Not all of the time Sofia,” she reminded me. “And I think when you nurse, you become more of a baby than at any other time.” I looked up at her, and she looked guilty, “which is why we don’t have to...”

I shook my head, “You need it, though,” I sighed, “And I guess I need it too.”

She sat down in the rocking chair with me for a while longer before she said, “You feeling up to going to the dining hall for me to get some food?”

“You only?” I asked.

“Well, you already had lunch,” she said while poking my nose.

I stuck my tongue out at her! She responded by tickling my side for a few moments before setting me down on the floor and going to the bathroom down the hall. I decided I couldn’t sit there moping any longer. I walked over to the new computer sitting there for me and was sad when it required login information I didn’t have yet.

I walked over to the toy chest and opened it with nothing better to do. It was filled with various toys, from infant or toddler appropriate, all the way to standard Lego sets. There was clearly more magic at work inside as it was holding much more than it should have been able to! I picked up a brand-new box of Disney Princess-themed Legos and examined the picture. It was supposed to be a castle and featured bright colors that were supposed to be girly.

Before I could open it up, Hannah walked in and laughed, “You always have liked your Legos.”

“It’s kind of cute,” I said, holding it up to her.

“Isn’t it a bit old of a toy for your age,” she teased me.

“Caireen must not think so since she put it in the toy box,” I said with a smile.

Hannah replied, “Well, I guess if she’s okay with it… you can play later?”

I smiled, “Okay!”

She grabbed my diaper bag and looked inside it quickly to see if it still had everything she needed. I watched as she grabbed a couple more diapers and an empty bottle to put inside it before zipping it up and throwing it over her shoulder. “Come here, Princess,” she told me.

I put my arms up, and she carried me off to lunch. Once again, I filled a plate and ate more than you would expect, but it wasn’t as much since I felt slightly fuller from my ‘other’ lunch. We sat with Esmie and a couple of her other friends for the meal. They were all intrigued by me, and I was grateful Hannah picked me up and held me after a while. She was like a mother bear with her cub in body language, and anyone with a brain could see it.

“Well, what do we have here?” I heard an obnoxious voice behind us. “We’ve found ourselves a new easy piece of tail, boys!”

Hannah and I turned in our seats to see three high-level paradigm boys who looked too handsome to be human. I knew a bully when I saw one.

“So sure of that, boys?” I asked. “I’d be happy to kick your tails back to the other side of Friar Hall.”

They looked stunned to see the little baby talking back at them.

“What the hell?!?”

“Get the hell away from them, Ewe,” Esmie said behind us.

“What? It’s obvious that she’s a teenage mom slut? She’ll be doing all of us before...”

I’d had enough; I didn’t know what I was doing, but I hopped down from Hannah’s lap and walked straight toward him. I jumped into the air and did a spinning kick at his groin!

Sadly, he didn’t go down like I had hoped. He did, however, look shocked.

“You little bitch… if you weren’t a baby…”

“Is there something going on here?” a man in a security uniform asked behind him.

“Yes,” Esmie said, “these jerks were just bullying our friend here. Then they attempted to attack a baby!”

I internally laughed at that… since it was definitely a lie.

“What have we told you, Ewe?!?” The guard asked. “Come on, let’s go talk to the Captain.”

“But the baby kicked me!”

“That innocent-looking toddler?” He asked incredulously. “Even if she did, what could she do to a big beefy invulnerable guy like you?”

I fumed in my head that the answer was not much. I watched as they were led away, and Camille came up. “We need to get you to your meeting with Mrs. Hensley.”

Hannah sighed behind me. “I knew this was going to happen…” she muttered.

I walked back over to her and hugged her leg.

A moment later, I was picked up from behind by Esmie and had to fight not to attack her again. I did catch myself, though!

“You are soooo light!” She said.

“Really?” Camille asked.

“Here,” she said and passed me to Camille.

“Oh, my goddess, you don’t weigh anything! How is that even possible with all the food I just saw you eat?”

I stuck my tongue out at her and found myself holding onto her side like a toddler looking at Hannah.

“Are you okay?” I mouthed.

She nodded.

We walked to the administration building and were shown where the offices were. Because it was a Sunday, only Mrs. Hensley seemed to be in for our special appointment. She motioned the two of us in and said, “Thanks for helping them find my office, ladies. I’ll make sure they make it back to Trident later.”

Camille sat me down on the ground after a quick hug. They closed the door, leaving Hannah and me alone with Mrs. Hensley. She pointed to two chairs in front of her desk, “Would you please have a seat?”

I moved to sit down in my own chair but noticed that Hannah still didn’t look alright. I found myself standing in front of her with my arms up. She smiled, picked me up into her lap, and turned me to face Mrs. Hensley while keeping her arms loosely around me.

Mrs. Hensley smiled, “I have to say, Sofia, you are the cutest student on campus… maybe ever.”

I blushed but mumbled, “thanks.”

“Okay, you two, unfortunately, have been through the wringer this weekend. I wouldn’t normally want to bring in new students mid-semester, but you won’t be the last we’ve had to take in on short notice like this. We have this week, and then our Thanksgiving Break, and semester finals start pretty soon after that.”

I felt Hannah shudder as much as I did. “I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to catch up that fast?”

“I don’t know about that, Sofia. With your new memory, I bet you can pick up on the coursework in a couple days. But this is the bigger issue; I don’t know that you both can. That’s why I think it’s best to go ahead and move you both back to your Freshman year.”

“Wait, you’re not going to put me back in middle school after all?” I said, both stunned and relieved.

She shook her head, “After looking at your transcripts, I think that would be a mistake… plus I feel there is no way we can separate you and Hannah down the road. So our best bet is to move you both to the same grade. I don’t think Hannah would be happy back in eighth grade either.”

I felt Hannah squeeze me, “Not especially… It’s bad enough going back three grades!” I could tell she was choked up in her voice, “Do I have to go back that far too?”

I watched Mrs. Hensley shrug, “With you missing half of this year, I think it’s for the best.”

I noticed her language indicated that the subject was now closed. “So, what now?” I asked.

“Well, we’ll get you both tested for your powers here in the next couple of days. Then, we’ll send Hannah’s results back to Los Alamos to backtrack the GEID she was given last night.”

“Me too?”

“Yes, while I think Los Alamos probably tested you better than most EPC testing locations, it’s best to be safe. We always recheck new students to be sure nothing was missed. We have far better personnel and facilities for it here.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I answered.

“Then after that?” Hannah asked.

“After that, we’ll get your schedules organized.” She paused to take a sip of tea from a cup in front of her. “That leads me to my next question. Is it possible for you two to be separated?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked.

“Well… your needs for one?” She suggested softly.

“It’ll depend on who is in her classes, I guess. If it’s a friendly face, we can have them help her out.” Hannah suggested.

“You mean someone else changing me…? A babysitter?!?” My voice raised a bit. Hannah hugged me tightly.

“Sofia, yes, I’m saying a babysitter to help might be wise in those cases.” Hannah added, “At least until Caireen unblocks your ability to magic yourself into a clean diaper.”

I sighed, ‘How long is this going to have to go on until you let me reclaim some dignity?!?’

I could feel Caireen’s smirk, ‘Until it no longer bothers you.’

‘So forever?’

‘I’d say a month to six months, depending on how hard you keep fighting it.’

I fought tears coming out of my eyes and could see Mrs. Hensley staring at me and feel Hannah’s stare from above me. “I’m alright; I’m just frustrated.”

“Well, we could have you just take the same classes all the time…?” Mrs. Hensley started.

“No, we need to take the classes that apply to us, and Sofia needs to get used to playing baby every now and then as needed,” Hannah said from above me.

The way she said it…

“That sounds like something a mother would say,” Mrs. Hensley said with a smile.

This time it was Hannah’s turn to blush. “Umm…”

“It’s okay; remember, I know the two of you bonded. Hannah, you emerged only yesterday; have you noticed anything else about your emergence?”

“Well… Umm…”

She squirmed and stammered for several moments before I decided to do the toddler thing. I blurted it out for her, “She’s lactating.”

Mrs. Hensley’s eyebrow raised. “Lactating? How much?”

“Enough that I’m already full again after two hours or so…?”

“Full again?” She looked at us both.

I sighed, “I nursed from her to help.”

“Well, that’s different... Sofia, do you feel a need to nurse from Hannah?”

I shook my head, “It’s soothing, but I don’t have to do it.”

“But Hannah, I assume you feel compelled to nurse her?”

I could feel her body move as she nodded and squeezed me tighter. “When she’s nursing, it’s like… it’s like I’m complete. As I get fuller, it gets painful until she’s nursed it from me.”

“You could just use a breast pump?” Mrs. Hensley suggested in a calm voice.

Hannah shrugged, “I guess.”

I sighed, “It’s not like she’s the first person to nurse me.” I told her.

Mrs. Hensley’s eyebrows raised further than they had before.

I blushed, “Caireen nurses me in the dreamland we meet each night.” I told her more about Caireen and the castle where I spent my second day each day. “So, I guess nursing from Hannah isn’t really any different for me,” I told her.

“Well… just when you think you’ve seen it all…” she practically muttered. “I see no real issue with it except. That said, Hannah, if you’re already full two hours later, you may need to still think about pumping some if Sofia won’t be around.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“You should be able to store that milk and send it with Sofia in her diaper bag when you’re in separate classes.”

“Umm…” I started, “I don’t have to have her milk in class. And do I really have to have a diaper bag in each class? Couldn’t I just carry a couple changes in my backpack?”

We must have spent an hour more going over procedures to Mrs. Hensley’s satisfaction and to mine to minimize my embarrassment as we went on. As the meeting drew to a close, “Hannah dear, you’re starting to leak, it looks like.”

“Oh no!” She cried from behind me.

“It looks like three hours is about as long as you can wait. So why don’t you go ahead and nurse Sofia in here while I see about getting you a pump and write a few more notes down.”

“In here?” We both asked together. I was sure our reddened faces matched.

“You can use my couch over there, dear.” She pointed to the couch, “Don’t worry about covering up; as far as I’m concerned, breastfeeding a baby is a perfectly natural thing.”

I think we both must have turned even redder, as this was anything but natural for us. Still, Hannah moved over to the suggested couch, and I nursed until she was empty. Then, Hannah burped me and said, “Thank you.”

I looked at her and said, “It’s private enough, I guess.”

Mrs. Hensley asked, “Tummy all full?”

I shook my head, “I don’t think I’m ever full... It’s more that she’s finally empty.”

She looked thoughtfully at us, “Well, I’m assuming you’re trying to be discrete with this need of yours, Hannah. We’ll try and schedule your classes so that you two can get a chance together for this every few hours. I ordered a pump to be delivered to your room; it should be there by tonight. I recommend you at least try it and make sure you can pump. For all we know, it might only work with a baby… or even just Sofia.”

“Oh…” Hannah said. “I hadn’t even thought about that.”

Mrs. Hensley shrugged, “we’ve seen so many weird things over the years that anything is possible. But, for now, please remember that unless it’s Sofia, it’s probably not wise to feed your milk to anyone else or their babies. I think we need to have your milk tested tomorrow as one of the many things they’ll be checking.”

“Okay,” she said simply.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked.

“Well, I think tomorrow you’ll be done quicker than Hannah on most tests, but it’ll probably take until Tuesday for you both to be done. So you both need uniforms still?”

“Caireen took care of that for both of us, actually,” I told her.

“Really?”

I nodded.

“Well, she does seem to help you both out quite a bit. I’ll be curious to see when you learn how to do all of this on your own. I suspect you will grow to be very powerful in a short amount of time, Sofia.”

I shrugged, “How much power can a baby really have?”

“A lot.” She said with a smile. “I would be willing to bet that within the next week, you’ll have recruiters from the CIA and FBI trying to get you to go ahead and join up to help them.”

“Why?”

“What’s more innocent than a baby?” She asked. “You’re the perfect spy.”

“Oh…” I said. That was true.

‘Yes, it is,’ Caireen said, ‘it’s why I think you can help so many children.’

‘What?’

‘Just think about how much help you could be in an investigation where children normally can’t answer questions?’

‘But I’d be dealing with…?’

‘Yes, but then some innocent child might be spared from some monster.’

“Sofia, are you still there?” Mrs. Hensley asked nervously.

“Yes, ma’am, sorry, sometimes Caireen and I have conversations…?”

“The voices in her head literally do talk to her!” Hannah said, and I turned my head to stick my tongue out at her.

“So, Sofia, do you want me to let any of those recruiters through?”

I sighed and thought for a moment about what Caireen had said… She was right, “I’d be okay with seeing the FBI ones.”

She nodded, “It’s a more worthy path, I think too.”

I just nodded back.

“Well, do you need anything else right now?” She asked us.

“I think we’re good,” Hannah said. “Caireen took care of everything. But I think we still need access to computer systems, student IDs, and such?”

Mrs. Hensley nodded, “Here is a packet for each of you that has your temporary ID and information on the network. You need to change your temporary passwords when you first log in.” She handed Hannah two large manila envelopes that she put in the diaper bag beside us. “Well, if that’s all you two can think of too, you probably need to change a stinky diaper.”

“Huh?” I said. “Again?” I groaned.

Hannah answered by picking me and the bag up and walking down the hallway. “That bathroom down the hall has a changing table for her,” Mrs. Hensley pointed.

I started to tear up and sniffled quietly.

Hannah patted my back gently as she carried me down the hallway. The bathroom was empty when we arrived, and she pulled down the changing table, wiped it off, placed my changing mat down, and then had me buckled down. As Hannah lay me down, I started crying out loud. As she changed me, she said, “I think you need this right now, Sofia,” and put a pacifier in my mouth.

The silicone nipple muted my sobs as she pulled my dress up and away from my bottom to expose the soiled diaper. It was a few minutes of work for her to fully clean up my messy bottom before she had me re-diapered and dressed. Finally, Hannah picked me up and patted my back, but I still wasn’t calming down.

“I don…” I hiccoughed, “know…” I gasped, “why… I… can’t…”

In the process, my pacifier fell from my mouth, but she managed to catch it.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ I called out to Caireen.

‘Shh… Hannah will get you sorted out.’ She reassured me.

Instead of carrying me outside and back to our dorm, Hannah sat on a lobby bench and pulled a bottle from the diaper bag. It was full of juice. She pressed the nipple through my lips, and I instinctively suckled. Initially, I couldn’t even focus on nursing, then as time went on, I calmed down and continued to nurse. By the time it was empty, I was almost entirely calmed down.

Hannah placed my pacifier back in my mouth and said, “I guess we need to get back to the room and put you down for your nap, huh?”

I couldn’t do much more than shrug as she carried me across campus. I never felt nervous about being seen nursing a pacifier until we were already back inside our room. Then, it hit me as Hannah removed my clothes and changed a slightly wet diaper.

“All of those other students!” I said, suddenly turning red.

“It’s okay, Sofia,” she told me, “you’re a two-year-old. It looks normal!”

I squirmed a bit as she wiped my bottom.

“So, what happened?”

“I honestly don’t know. My mind completely went into a meltdown.”

“I’m guessing you needed a nap!”

“But I’m eighteen!”

“Not body-wise. In fact, I’m beginning to think you may not even be fully the two that the testers put on your card.”

“But…”

“It’s okay, Sofia,” she said as she dressed me in a cute romper. “No one minds.”

“But our classmates…?”

“Will call you a baby?!?” She asked with a smirk.

I nodded as I turned red.

“Guess what, you are one!!!” She poked my nose and tickled my side a little to take the sting out. “Not only that, but you’re one of the cutest baby girls anyone has ever seen!”

“I’m not that cute?”

“Uh-huh, you are. But you’re also a cute little baby girl who needs to take a nap before we get your din-din.”

I sighed. Hannah hugged me tightly, kissed my forehead, and then placed me in my crib.

“Now, be a good girl for me and take a nap!” She placed a pacifier back in my mouth and pushed me onto my back. Esmie was put into my hands, and I was quickly asleep.

 
 

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