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 58: Keys

WHEN I WOKE Saturday morning, I was still hooked up to the annoying heart rate monitor and I.V., and the crib rails were pulled up. Hannah looked like she was totally zonked out in her bed next to mine. I sat up and could feel that my diaper was completely soaked. I was debating about waking Hannah up when a nurse came in. I put my finger to my lip and pointed; she nodded as she came over. Then, she whispered, “You need a diapee change?”

I rolled my eyes, “yes, please,” I told her.

She lowered the crib rail and gloved up her hands before pushing my gown clear of the diaper and quickly changing me. “Do you want to wait for her for breakfast?” she asked.

I felt my stomach grumble but nodded, “I’ll wait.”

“If she’s not up in an hour, I’ll come to feed you myself,” she said as she put the railing back up.

“I…” tried to catch her to tell her I could feed myself, but she was gone.

Someone had set Emie down next to me, so I hugged her tightly, finding as much comfort there as in Caireen’s world. Looking down at my body, I felt like I was mostly healed. My mouth hurt, though - a lot! I found one of my pacifiers clipped to my gown, so I popped it in and chewed rather than suckled. ‘I wonder why my mouth hurts like it does…?’

‘I think you might be healing on your own,’ Caireen said.

‘So why does it hurt so much?’

‘Do you remember your sister teething?’

I gasped, ‘Please tell me…?’

‘I’m guessing that’s it.’

I groaned and thought back to my sister’s three separate months of teething stages. She had done pretty well in sleeping through the night for my mom and dad for the first few months after they brought her home. Then, her first tooth started coming in when she was seven months old. After that, I swore she cried all the time if someone wasn’t holding her or giving her the frozen teething chew toys mom bought. ‘If I start hurting as much as she sounded like she did…?’

‘Do you want me to make you one of those teething toys?’ Caireen asked me.

‘Let me hold off a while… I may take you up on that,’ I groaned. ‘It would be really embarrassing!’ I whined.

‘If you remember our lesson?’

‘Let me wait and see if nursing from Hannah helps at all first.’

‘Okay…’ she said.

Hannah must have sensed me watching her because she suddenly sat up, “Morning, Princess,” she told me as she sat up. “You been awake long?”

“A while…” I told her. “I didn’t want to wake you, though.”

“Thanks; I didn’t sleep the night before at all.” She stood up and walked over to my crib. I watched as she operated the latches to let the side down and reached in to feel my diaper. “You’re not wet?”

“A nurse changed me a while ago…?”

“Oh… I’m sorry, you could have woken me up?”

“It’s okay,” I told her.

“You want breakfast? I’ll probably have your Auntie Cammie come by and watch you while I head back to our room for some stuff.”

“Sure, Mommy,” I told her with a smile.

She tickled me, “I’m not really your mommy, you know, we’re not on assignment now.”

I shrugged, “You change me, you carry me around, your nurse me… I’d say you really are my mommy.”

“Maybe don’t call me that in front of other students?” She suggested, a bit red in the face, as she dug through the diaper bag. “Apple oatmeal work?”

I nodded, “Sure.”

“Your teeth doing any better?”

“They’re growing back in… Caireen thinks I may be teething here later today.”

Her eyes grew in fright; she’d also been there for some of Lily’s teething experiences. “Umm… Do we need to get something…?”

I shrugged, “Feed me and then nurse me… see where I’m at then?” I suggested.

She suddenly looked down at the diaper bag and said, “I actually have…” she dug some more, “Yep!” She pulled out several teething toys from the mission, including one that could be frozen. “I’ll freeze this for you in a few minutes,” she told me after putting it on my bed. I looked at the fake keys hanging from the teething toy she’d brought. They were meant to be frozen and then gnawed on… my sisters had been covered in disgusting drool!

While I’d been looking down, she’d velcroed a bib around my neck. She heated the oatmeal pouch and squeezed a little on a baby spoon. I opened my mouth, and we began a familiar dance of her feeding me baby food. I blushed when Camille came in to find me finishing the last spoon.

“Got here just in time for breakfast?” she asked.

“Almost done! I’m just going to nurse her, and then you can babysit your niece for a bit?”

Camille laughed, “Sure, I’ll watch the little rug rat.”

“I am here, you know!” I complained. She wiped my face with the bib since the lack of teeth meant more drool and food leaked than I wanted to think about! Soon I was nursing from her breast, and the two conversed.

“What’s with the teething toys?” Camille asked.

“She thinks her teeth are growing back in… I guess there’s a reason babies cry about it? She’s in a decent amount of pain. I had some teethers in this bag from the mission.”

“Ah…” Camille said, “Cassidy was a total wreck when she was teething!”

“Sofia’s baby sister was the same too.”

“So, we’re in for a cranky baby until they’re back?”

“Probably…” she said.

I heard footsteps and the nurse’s voice, “Oh good, you’re up and…” she looked startled, “I didn’t realize she was still nursing.”

I could feel Hannah’s muscles cringe, “It’s part of both of our emergences,” she told her. “She’s also hoping right now it’ll help her mouth. We think she’s teething as her teeth are coming back in.”

“Oh…” she said with the experience of someone who had been through that before. “I see you have a couple teething rings; I can get you some Orajel too?”

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate it,” Hannah said. “I’m going to leave when she’s done nursing, and Camille will stay with her. She’s kind of like her unofficial auntie,” she paused and lifted me to her shoulder to burp, “If you need something, though, she can call me on my cell.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine, sweetheart,” the nurse said. Then, she looked at me, “I’ll go find that Orajel and come back and check on you, sweetie.”

I blushed, “Thanks.”

Hannah put me down on the mattress, “Sofia, what do you want me to bring you from our room?”

I thought for a second, “I think all of my books are in my backpack, but if you’ll triple-check? And bring my laptop and phone?”

“Phone is right here,” she said and handed it to me. “You might think about calling your back home parents when it’s a little later?”

I nodded, “Do they know…?”

She nodded, “Sofia, you had gashes and were unconscious… I couldn’t exactly hide that from them. But I told them you were doing better last night and that I’d have you call today.”

“Thanks,” I told her. She gathered up her stuff and walked out. I looked at the teether toy and decided I could use magic to freeze the little silicone keys that dangled on them. I tried to pull in manna and went, “Whoa… I’m tired…?”

Camille looked at me, “You okay?”

“I just tried to use magic to freeze this… but I couldn’t do anything. It was like I had run a marathon or something, and I’m just too tired?”

Sora’s avatar voice came through, “Princess, with the battle you went through, I have no doubts that you did run a magical marathon. You need to rest for a day, and you’ll be fine. In the meantime, I’m sure Camille would be happy to help you out?” Her voice shifted, “Really, Sofia, you just enjoy being babied today. I’m sure those teeth probably hurt.”

“You have no idea!” I told her.

She froze the silicone keys for me and handed the embarrassing toy back to me. I turned red as I put it into my mouth and began sucking and gnawing at the little nubby flesh. The cold and the massaging action made them feel better, so I kept it up much of the afternoon. The Orajel the nurse brought helped a lot too, but the side effect was I had to have a bib on because I couldn’t feel my lips to prevent myself from drooling! I decided I would forever be sympathetic to poor babies going through this experience! They were also unable to talk and bitch about it!

Hannah came back, joined by Beth, and the four of us worked on studying together for a couple hours before lunchtime. Then, the nurse walked in, “I have your lunch?” She said, and I could see a bowl of mush.

“Umm… Actually, I have some other stuff for Sofia here,” she told her and brought out a couple of options for me. I chose one and endured the extra drooling, messiness, and lousy texture I had to deal with right then. ‘At least when I was on the mission, I had a few teeth!’ I sighed.

I nursed from Hannah and then made a call home to my parents. “Daddy?” I asked when he answered.

“It’s Sofia!” he said to Mom.

“Sofia!” Mom exclaimed a moment later, “Hannah said you’re doing better, but are you really okay?”

I sighed, “My teeth are growing back in slowly right now… other than that, I’m mostly healed.” I worked really hard to enunciate as I talked.

“Growing back in?”

“It hurts!” I told her, “I take back all the mean things I thought about Lily when she wouldn’t stop crying when she was teething!”

Mom laughed at me, “I’m sorry, that’s probably not fun… Do you have any teething rings? Lily always cried less when she had one of the frozen ones to chew on…?”

I groaned, “Yes, Mom, I do. Hannah can probably even share an adorable picture of me chewing on it with you.”

Hannah looked up at me and smirked. The pit of my stomach fell out as she took her phone out, and I heard a ding on my mom’s side.

“Oh my god, you look so cute with that,” Mom laughed. “Not the hospital gown, though.”

I sighed, “Not a fan of that either.”

“Well, since we have you on, we’re finalizing plans to come out and see you in a few weeks when you’re done with your finals.”

I smiled, “I can’t wait to see you guys! Hannah’s parents are coming too, right?”

“We’re all going to share a cabin we’re renting about a couple hours from your school,” Dad told me.

“So anyway…” Mom said, “I’m trying to…” she was at a loss for words, “trying to figure out what Santa is bringing my new little girl this year?”

I blushed, “Mom… Please tell me you’re not planning on making me go with Lily to…?”

“Already has an appointment for you while we’re there!” Dad said, laughing at me. “You’re not going to get out of it either! I want the picture just as much as your mom!”

I sighed, “Back to Christmas presents… I don’t honestly know? Maybe surprise me? But don’t just buy baby gifts?”

Mom badgered me for a bit to get me to help her with hints of gifts, but I didn’t have any ideas. Caireen tried to nudge me towards some, but in the end, I just said, “I really need to get back to studying… I’ll try and come up with some other ideas and email them to you.”

“Fine…” Mom said a little grumpily.

“Love you guys,” I told them as I hung up a few minutes later.

I wiped some tears from my eyes, and Hannah came over and hugged me. “We’ll see them all soon!”

“I know…”

I looked at Camille and Beth, “How do you all deal with it…? I mean, I’m so homesick? Hannah and I have each other…?”

They laughed, and I listened to their stories about when they first got to school. We were all laughing our way through studying that day until the three of them all left to get dinner together after Hannah fed me. “Are you sure…?” she asked me.

“Just because I’m stuck eating terrible food here doesn’t mean you have to be, go!” I told her.

When I was finally alone, I got onto my computer. I’d been studying non-stop and felt like I probably knew as much as I could for the tests. Thanks to my paradigm memory, it all stuck in my head quite quickly. I hadn’t had fun in so long, though… Like not being stressed, having fun… I found myself surfing the web and eventually logged onto a website to see if I could get my mom some ideas for Christmas. I picked out a few computer games that looked interesting. I added a piccolo because I missed playing flute since the Emergence and some martial arts stuff. Then, I forced myself to dig through the lists of baby gift suggestions. I couldn’t find anything that said ‘play with me,’ so I went through clothes next. I had developed a soft spot for footed pajamas, so I went and picked out a bunch of those… along with some other winter clothes, to get me through our time at the cabin. I looked up information about it and found it was near a ski resort I hoped we’d visit.

Hannah returned and asked, “What you looking at?”

I sighed, “Trying to come up with a Christmas list for my mom…?”

“Let me see,” she said. I watched her click through, “Those sleepers are adorable! I can’t believe you picked them out.”

I blushed, “I like them, alright? They’re comfy… part of why I’m in this mess is my sister looked so adorable in hers!”

She laughed, “And I’m guessing you’d rather be in one right now?”

I turned red but nodded.

“Don’t worry; I asked the nurse for permission and brought one for you to use tonight.”

“Thanks,” I told her. Then, a sudden pain shot through my mouth again, and I found myself chewing on the teething ring again. My teeth had alternated from lots of pain to not as bad all day long while I felt them get closer to the surface. Finally, I just pulled the toy from my mouth and saw it was covered in blood. “Uh-oh… Hannah, I may need you to get the doctor.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Blood?”

“Here, open up and let me see,” she said. Suddenly her hand started glowing brightly, and she placed her fingers in my mouth. “Nothing wrong, sweetie; you just had one of your teeth pop back through!”

I felt tears go down my face, “You’re not the one in pain!” I told her.

She hugged me tightly, “Here, let’s put some more Orajel on.”

A few minutes later, I was back to a drooling mess, but at least the pain was fading. “Thanks…” I muttered. Some of it had gotten on my tongue, and I sounded like a real baby then.

I sighed and looked at my phone since Hannah had my computer. “What are you doing?” I tried asking. It came out as gibberish, but Hannah smiled, “Oh, just getting some ideas of my own to add to your wish list for your mom.”

I groaned, “Can you make your own list, so she knows it’s not from me?”

She looked at me skeptically but nodded, “Okay, you’re no fun!”

Eventually, it was time for the patients to sleep, so Hannah nursed me to sleep, cuddling me the whole time. Then, just before I fell asleep, I heard her say, “I love you, Sofia.”

“Love you too, Mommy,” I muttered back.

 
 

Thank you for reading! Please press the ‘Like’ Button if you’ve enjoyed it! We’re coming to the home stretch of this tale, with just four chapters and an epilogue remaining! I would really really really appreciate it you would leave one! I do really appreciate the Kudos button, but please consider leaving a comment if you’re reading? Some of you are doing a fine job of commenting, and I really do appreciate it! Please keep up the good work! New commentators are always loved too!!!! I will fully admit to feeling neglected when there’s none…? (Pretty Please? With a cherry on top?!?)

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