In-Between Prologue and Chapter 01 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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.
 

I’m posting the next book in my Diaper Dimension Series because I believe some readers on this site will enjoy it! It is a bit different from the past works I’ve posted, but it does have a TG element later in the book. My current work-in-progress, Lights, Camera, … What?!? draws characters and story from this work, so I feel like I need to post this before I post that work. This book is fully written, as mentioned above; it is available in full on Amazon at this time. I’ll be posting chapters a few times a week until the full work is on here. Thanks for reading!

 
 

Prologue
 

I LOOKED AT the mark my dad had made on my doorframe again and smiled with glee! Today was going to be the best day ever of high school! I might never have noticed if my friend Shawn hadn’t said something yesterday about it seemed like I’d grown. I’d given up hope that would likely happen anymore at eighteen and stopped measuring, but here I was… finally!!!

I was practically bouncing as I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a breakfast bar and a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Ready?” My dad asked while walking back into the room with a travel cup of coffee.

“Yes!” I told him with a smile, “Can we leave now so I can see the nurse before school?”

He laughed, “I figured you’d want to do that. Grab your bag, and we’ll head off.”

I walked to the car ahead of him, opened the back door, and looked at the seat, or rather the lack of a car seat! I smiled as I buckled up, and Dad drove me to school. He pulled up to the front, where there was a little activity already, even though it was a half-hour before school.

“Have a good day, Sport! I love you,” He told me with a good-natured smile.

“Thanks, Dad; love you too,” I told him as I closed my door. I walked up the steps to the school, dodging a few students who were definitely still taller than me! As I opened the main entrance, I saw one of the senior girls dragging a boy not much smaller than me to the office with her hand grabbing tightly onto his wrist. The tell-tale wet spot on his front would not go over well for him inside the office... While I felt for him, the girl’s giggling and laughter over his misfortune spurred me to walk faster to the nurse to hopefully beat them there after a principal saw them.

When I arrived, I found the woman I was looking for sitting at a desk I could see over pretty well, except where a computer screen blocked my view.

“Cameron! What brings you here so early, baby boy?”

I felt my gut wrench at that statement, but I knew she used that tone with everyone who was too short to be a ‘Big’ to her.

I forced myself to sound confident, “Hi, Mrs. Giddings, I’m here to update my height records if you might have a chance to check?”

Her eyes narrowed at me, and I wondered if I had now offended her. “Well, you think you might have grown since the beginning of the year?”

I nodded, “My dad and I checked last night.”

“Well, step over to the scale over here. Take your shoes off first, though!”

I blushed, knowing I had shoes that gave me an extra two inches and stood barefoot on the scale as she read off my weight. “One-hundred-and-ten pounds… You are a scrawny boy, aren’t you?” She smirked at me.

I shrugged, “I eat all the time, just never gain anything,” I told her honestly.

“Still, you might see about having more fattening foods in your diet; add more milk to your meals?” She suggested.

I bit my tongue and groaned, knowing that she thought of me still at my old height… and what kind of milk she would have wanted me to have. “I’ll try,” I told her an easy lie.

She reached behind me and pulled up an attachment from the scale that seemed anachronous from the high-tech instruments that even a school nurse’s office had. I could see in the corner her automated changing table, an auto-feeder, and an older model of a machine that I knew would take all of the body hair off of someone with the press of a button once they were strapped inside… I shuddered as I thought about how many times I had barely avoided them!

I gently felt a bar land on my head as she pushed it down. “Stand tall little one!” She told me. I did so, and she looked down to ensure my feet were flat on the scale’s surface. “Those feet are flat, right?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I told her calmly, awaiting her verdict.

She stared at the digital readout above the scale for a moment and adjusted things before saying, “Well, I’ll be! I guess you’ll grow up to be an adult here after all!”

“How tall?”

She smiled, “Seventy-three inches!”

“So…?” I asked with a smile.

“You’re officially no longer a Little, Cameron!”

I smiled widely as she entered the information in the system and then looked at me, “I’m sad this is the last day I’ll see you in that uniform. If you brought anything else with you, you may go ahead and change?”

I nodded and said, “Thanks!” before heading down the hallway into a bathroom that I found unoccupied. I hurriedly took the stupid clip-on tie off, followed by the slacks and button-down shirt. I was already wearing normal boxers, so I could quickly pull on shorts and a T-shirt with my favorite band on the front. I had risked a bit by already wearing regular tennis shoes. Still, those went back on with a smile that I wouldn’t have to wear the stupid Littles’ dress shoes I’d been forced to wear since elementary school.

I looked in the mirror at my face and smiled, knowing once and for all, I wasn’t in danger of being just adopted off of the street like my Little friends! Mom had been a ‘Big,’ but I had inherited short genes for some reason. I would never be as big of a ‘Betweener’ as my dad, but at least legally, as a ‘Betweener’ like my dad was, I could have a future that didn’t involve a nursery and diapers for the rest of my life!

I headed out of the bathroom, noting the now full hallways, and made it to my first class just before the tardy bell rang.

“Mister Sylvester, why are you out of uniform?” The tall twelve-foot woman who taught English asked me.

I forced myself not to be nervous as I craned to look up at her, still towering at me, even sitting at her desk. “I’ve just been to the nurse. Please check my records; you’ll see I’m no longer required to wear the Little’s uniform, Ma’am.”

I was polite, knowing that she could still met out punishments that involved diapers and moving backward in my educational status.

“Is that so?” She asked as a couple of large girls in the front row giggled.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“No way! Cam’s definitely still a Little. Can I take him to the nurse so you can get on with class? I’ll get him diapered and send him off to a daycare?” Kristin, a total witch of a girl, said.

“Well, let’s just see what the records say,” she said. I watched her pull up the school’s student information system on her tablet and clicked through before tutting, “Well, I’ll be! You did finally grow up, didn’t you?” She said to me.

I nodded, “Yes, ma’am.”

“So, I guess this means you’re going to college next year after all…?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said to her.

“Which one?”

“Emerson?” I told her. It was a university a few hours from my hometown that would have accepted me as a little too. Fortunately, now that I had received a new official designation, I would be able to cancel my CARE exam that had been scheduled for next week!

“My Alma Mater!” she said with a smile, “Too bad, I guess that means you won’t be in Wenig. I was an RA for two years there.” She looked over at Kristin, “That’s, of course, where I met my little guy.”

Fortunately, the school announcements started then, and I could avoid hearing any more discussion about the poor man’s fate. I’d seen him on several occasions in our class, dressed just in his onesie and a messy diaper. Kristin had especially seemed to enjoy getting a chance to dote on him. Whenever he was there, she constantly cooed at him with baby talk as she worked to actively embarrass him while he tried to hide behind his large stuffed puppy dog. ‘He certainly isn’t lacking milk in his diet,’ I thought while grimacing at the number of girls in the class who had nursed him while we would read as a class out loud.

I paid attention as she gave us the final project we had to complete for the semester before our exams began in three weeks. I walked out alongside Beth, my best friend, who was unfortunately only seventy-one inches tall. Her brown hair was braided into two pigtails on either side of her head like most of the girl Littles. “So, no uniform, diapers during exams, or graduation now?” she said with a smile as she hugged me. “Congrats Cameron!” She said with a smile.

“Thanks,” I told her, returning the hug. Unfortunately, her plaid uniform dress with the required white blouse labeled her as the ‘Little’ she would forever be. “I’m sorry, this means we’ll be in a different dorm now…?”

She shrugged, “It’s not like you can’t come visit me?”

I nodded but felt my stomach a bit queasy, “Maybe we can meet for lunch on campus each day?”

“Already afraid to be around a little who can drag you down?” She teased me.

There was a hint of truth in it that we both knew neither could escape.

Now that I was officially a Mid or a Betweener, it was risky to hang around Littles, lest I be labeled as one myself! Even ones like Beth, who was nearly as tall as I was, and every bit as potty trained, could draw unwanted attention to me! I hoped her Betweener mother and Big father would be able to get her safely away from the graduation ceremony later that month. I was glad I wouldn’t have to worry about the gauntlet that the Littles usually faced as soon as the caps were thrown in the air!

 
 

Chapter 1: Fresh Starts
 

GRADUATION HAD COME and gone before I knew it! I had been fortunate to end up with another Betweener roommate, Jason, who was only a foot taller than me. His height was much less intimidating than if he had been a Big! He was shorter than my dad, so our height difference didn’t bother me as much as if I had a Big roommate.

Orientation had been a blast! I had been so glad that I wasn’t a Little, though, as I caught glimpses of the occupants from Wenig Hall, the Littles’ dorm. I could enjoy the dance, a movie on the lawn, a casino night, and a few other activities that happened at night. If I had been just a tiny bit shorter, I would have been forced to be in bed in the Little’s dorm!

I had caught sight of Beth being pulled along a stupid ringed line rope thing like a bunch of preschoolers on the first real night of orientation. She texted me the next day that she was sorry she couldn’t get together with me yet.

We’d had a big send-off barbeque with our families the night before we moved in, though, so it wasn’t like it had been weeks since we’d seen each other… We finally got to plan a lunch together on the first day of our classes since we had the same course right before lunch. I was looking forward to seeing her, and from her text message, she was looking forward to going to class without her Nest Mother always peering over her shoulder.

‘Nest Mothers…’ I snorted at the stupidity. With a normal dorm, you got R.A.s, who were essentially there to keep you from partying or doing epically stupid things. They also tried to help you out if you were in a bind with something. For Wenig Hall, the Littles all ended up in ‘Nests’ with ‘Nest Mothers’ to watch over them. The Littles had to obey them, like nannies or babysitters, and everyone had horror stories about them!

I shook my head and dodged a tall girl standing in the middle of the hallway for some reason. Just as I passed her, she grabbed my wrist, “Where are you going out of uniform?”

I sighed, “I’m not a Little; please let me go; I need to get to class.”

She looked down at me skeptically, and I noticed that she was easily over eleven feet tall. “You don’t seem like you are tall enough…”

“I promise I am. Do you think a nest mother would let a Little out of Wenig without their uniform?” I asked. I nodded towards a pair of Littles walking right past me. I kept my face calm as I could tell there was padding underneath their pants. One had a little tale-tale bit of white plastic sticking up over the back of his shirt that had been tucked inside the diaper somehow.

“Come on, Holly,” a bit shorter girl standing beside her said, “We need to get to class too. Besides, you know the rules. You can’t adopt Little students, and Betweeners aren’t required to wear the uniform.”

She sighed, “Get lost, baby boy,” she told me.

I didn’t hesitate to follow her instructions and took the chance to get the hell out of there. I was sure she had Little-fever bad! I made it to class and sat beside a smiling Beth in the third row of a large lecture hall.

She stood up carefully off the booster she’d sat on in her chair and hugged me. “Cameron!”

I squeezed her back, “It’s good to see you, Beth!” I told her. As she sat back down, I noticed I smelled baby powder, and her bottom seemed to crinkle... I tried not to get nervous at being next to her – I didn’t want my friend to be labeled as having a case of Maturosis. That’s what the Bigs tended to call it these days… ‘Maturosis’ was their way of marking a Little and saying their only use was to be a babied living doll. I never wanted to see a friend getting stuck with that label, but it looked clear that Beth could be on her way.

“So, how are you settling in?” she asked me.

We talked briefly before our biology professor began introducing the class. I intended to get an undergrad degree in Chemistry or Biology before pursuing a juris doctorate. I had learned from my grandfather that lawyers with the technical background to understand the details of science would do better with patent law cases. It seemed a good match for something that wasn’t overly physical labor-wise and would enable me to stay out of view much of the time as I prepared for cases.

I’d always done really well with science as a kid, so this class would just be a review from what I read on the syllabus. I tucked it away in my backpack and stood up to follow Beth out of the hall and to the nearest dining hall.

Next to the entrance, one of the T.A.s had one Little by the arm and was pulling up her skirt - showing off her purple training pants. “Uh-oh, someone made a stinky in her training panties! Guess we need to go see the Dean!” she said with a smirk and then smushed a lump in the back intentionally as she picked her up.

Beth seemed to shrink into me as we passed the other T.A. “Let’s see how you’re doing on your first day, little girl!” she told her as she pulled up her skirt without warning. I watched in horror as a pair of pink disposable training panties were displayed and pulled back from the back so she could look inside. “Bit wet, but all clean! Make sure you get a change before your next class, little girl,” she told her as she pushed her skirt down and clung to me with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I told her as I hugged her outside. “We’ve got to keep moving, though; you can’t be seen crying out here, Beth.”

She nodded and calmed down. The two of us had made a pact long ago that we would help each other through the big bad world of Bigs looking to kidnap and baby us. She’d done the same for me many times when I was shorter than she was. We arrived at the cafeteria and walked together around the stations to get food. I helped her get some things from a couple of the serving dishes she couldn’t reach and tried to ignore the hungry looks some of the Bigs were giving her… and me!

Not all of them were like that, mind you; I could see a larger number of students really looking through new books, schedules, and talking to friends across their tables. Those were generally the safe type of Bigs when I had been still considered a Little. I glanced over at Beth, who handed her card to be swiped, and thanked god again that I finally had a small growth spurt! Until I was a freshman in high school, I hadn’t even hit five feet. By senior year when I was five feet ten inches at the beginning of the year, I was afraid I would be like Beth, forever just a hair short of the mark. Emerson’s school uniform for Littles didn’t even allow for lifted shoes to let her get away with pretending to be that extra inch.

I handed over my card and followed Beth to an area of the cafeteria better sized for Betweeners… ‘or really elementary school children,’ I had to admit. Truthfully just because I was over six feet now didn’t make me an adult in the eyes of many of those around me. Since I was still just the size of an average preschooler, it didn’t bring me a lot of safety. It just meant, though, that most Amazons that wanted to humiliate their charges, change diapers, and breastfeed their pretend babies would give me a pass at first glance so they could have their cuddly ‘infants.’ I did have to be wary, though; some would prefer a pretend ‘potty-training’ inept Little boy that goes to preschool or elementary school each day - always missing the potty and having ‘accidents.’ I could honestly remember several Littles like that in my kindergarten through second-grade classes. They became pretty rare by middle school and high school. Usually, only newly adopted Littles with ‘parents’ who wanted to run them down by continually demoting them through the grades would be sent to high school. Most got ‘Go Straight to Daycare, and Don’t Pass Go’ cards.

I shuddered, thinking of some of the last ones I’d seen in high school.

With that, I looked at Beth, “So, how are things, really?” I asked her.

She looked around and then said, “I knew…” She sighed, “I knew that I would probably end up diapered at night… that’s been happening every night. We were told for the first week it was mandatory, and then we could have our big girl panties back for bed if we proved we weren’t bedwetters on our potty charts. I’ve never had accidents back home, but I’ve woken up wet all but two nights here! I think they’re doing something…” she started to say when a tall girl approached our table.

She was wearing a top that was way too tight, causing her plump breasts to practically pop out of the top of her shirt. Something about her body language said she was bad news as she walked up to our table. “Well, there you are, Lizzy!”

I could mentally picture Beth wanting to kill the woman already. Even her parents didn’t call her that!

“Hi, Miss Nancy,” Beth told her politely. Her body was tense, though, and I could see this girl was getting under her skin.

“And who is your little friend? Is he in our dorm as well?” she asked.

A lightbulb went off in my head, and I guessed she was one of the damn Nest Mothers. “I’m Cameron Sylvester,” I told her politely and extended my hand.

“You know you’re not allowed to have boyfriends…” the girl told Beth.

“I’m not a boyfriend,” I told her, “we’ve just been friends for a really long time. We grew up together,” I told her.

“Sort of grew up,” she said with a wry smile. “I think you must have just edged over the finish line that wittle Lizzy couldn’t make! No matter,” she said as she suddenly put her hand up Beth’s skirt and pulled up. “Who’s a wet wittle girl? This girl, huh?” she tisked, “I guess you really did need those cute training panties, huh?” She talked to her in a very patronizing voice. “Make sure you come by after lunch for another pair… or you can see one of the attendants at the changing stations too. They’ll probably only have diapees, though.” She stood then and looked back down, “Of course, that might be a better option for you anyway if you’re not going to stay dry. Smells like you’re clean, at least, though. See you soon, chickling.”

As she stood and walked away, I looked at Beth, whose shoulders were visibly tense, and she was doing her best not to break down again. I sat quietly for a few minutes and asked, “So, who was that bitch?”

“Shh!” she told me. “If they think I said that…”

I smiled, “Relax, I’m a big adult; I can say naughty words.”

That was enough to make her giggle a little bit, at least.

“So, who was that?”

“Nancy Dannigan, my nest mother.”

“Landed yourself one of the good ones… huh?”

She shook her head, “I think she’s probably the worst. My nest is already half-gone after orientation. Someone must have spiked the punch for the Littles - all but a few of us who didn’t drink it ended up messing our pants!”

“Not you?” I asked her.

She held up her water thermos, “You know I don’t ever drink water I can’t trust.”

I nodded; it was a good plan as a Little. She was worth a lot of money to the university as a Little student in special grants and aid. Still, I’d heard about the demerit system from others around campus since we’d arrived. For Littles, there was a rule of ten demerits in a year… Run through those, and you were immediately escorted to a daycare the university ran or taken to an orphanage if you’d pissed Dean Sanders off too much. It seemed like there were a lot of ways to get stuck with them, but the worst was pooping your pants in class. Doing so would be an automatic eight demerits! From what I’d seen a couple times during that morning, it seemed like they would swoop in on the opportunity to knock two more for wetting their pants, not wearing protection, swearing, or… well, anything.

Honestly, I was glad I was no longer bound by those rules. I hated to see my best friend stuck with them! I’d made it to safety, and I felt guilty about that.

When I was beginning to get more information about her life in Wenig, another Little asked, “Can I sit here?”

I looked a little down at the girl who was standing and still shorter than I was in the seat.

“Sure, Meg,” Beth told her.

Once she had sat down, she looked up at me, “Hi, I’m Meg.”

“Cameron,” I told her.

“Boyfriend?” She hissed at Beth.

We both laughed, “Just good friends,” I told her. “How do you two know each other?”

“Oh, we’re in the same nest together,” she told me.

“I’m sorry, I just had the displeasure of meeting your Nest Mother?”

“Yeah…” Meg said. She took that moment to take a bite of her food. “What’s your major, Cameron?”

“Either chemistry or biology… I haven’t decided yet.”

“Future doctor?”

I shook my head, “Lawyer, actually….”

We talked for a while, and I learned she was majoring in electrical engineering. Beth gradually calmed down and became more of her normal self with us before blushing and excusing herself to return to the dorm. I guessed for that change… Meg and I were heading toward the same part of campus where my chem lab would be held.

“It was nice meeting you,” I told her as we parted.

“You too!” she said with a smile.

I noticed a couple Bigs giving me a look like I was shrinking by hanging out with a Little. Still, I just shrugged and walked through the hallway, up a staircase, and found the small lecture hall I guessed they had chosen for us to meet on procedures before taking us into a lab. This class met for a lecture on Mondays and then had lab time to complete the projects and experiments on Wednesdays and Fridays. I was probably as excited about this class as any I had on my schedule!

I found a seat not quite at the back and looked on as other students entered. Most were Bigs, of course, with several Littles mixed in here and there. I looked to be one of only two Betweeners in the class and knew I’d have to be careful not to get labeled with an infraction of some sort… I noticed that one of the girls was in a thick diaper as she did her best to climb onto a seat and flashed the room. She blushed when she noticed me watching.

I blushed and looked back at the doorway in time to see Her.

The girl who walked in looked to be one of the tallest Amazon girls I had ever seen! I guessed she was probably close to thirteen feet tall! Her red hair was styled in a beautiful down look, with a gentle curl visible at the ends of her long hair that stretched to the middle of her back. I could tell that she was well off from the obvious designer clothes. I squirmed a bit to hide a reaction as she sat just a few seats down from me, and I stole a glance at an equally beautiful face.

‘Too bad she’s a Big!’ I couldn’t help but think. ‘She’s gorgeous!’

I wanted to say ‘hi’ when I saw her again later in my history class, but I didn’t have the guts to do it. After class, I watched a tall guy, barely shorter than her, who could have been a model, say, “Babe, you’re so hot! How about going out with me tonight?”

The slap across his face was well deserved, in my opinion! After that, though, I certainly wasn’t brave enough to approach her!
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 2: Inches
 

MONDAY NIGHT, I checked the online portals for my classes. I discovered my writing professor had posted an assignment due on the first day! It was just a short assignment, but it was more than a little bit sneaky to require work to be due even before we’d received our syllabus! I’d heard stories about such things before, though, which is why I checked! It was smaller than most intro freshman classes, and the professor could easily pick out the five of fourteen students who hadn’t done the assignment. Two were Bigs, who she ripped into, and told them they were on their way to failing her class. Even though I wasn’t even the one getting berated, I still felt like I wanted to hide underneath my too-tall desk!

Another Betweener girl, a foot taller than me, was in tears as she told her, “Not doing your homework is a sign of not being mature, isn’t it? You know you might have your own case of Maturosis coming on?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am; I’ll do better. I’ll prove you can trust me from here on out!”

I gulped at that, knowing the implication that she was really a Little… and all that implied! Fortunately for her, two boy littles in our class had also failed to turn in the assignment. One argued, “I’m sorry, Professor, our Nest Mother made us all go to bed early last night, and I didn’t have a chance to log in to see...”

“Blaming your failings on someone else…?” She asked coldly.

“N…” he tried to get out.

“Well, Jimmy, I’ll add that to my notes to Dean Sanders when she meets with you later for your demerits. She can look into it… If she tells me you really had no free time at all yesterday and the night before when I posted it, I’ll consider giving you an extension.”

I watched the other guy motion to him to knock it off.

‘Both will be in diapers and gone before long,’ I thought.

My work was thankfully approved, and given compliments before she got into the next assignment. I was grateful there weren’t a lot of topics in this class that would be like a grammar class, but we did talk about how a technical article or paper should be written. By the end of class, we were assigned a two-page essay that we would have a week to do, along with information on a more significant ten-page paper that had to be completed by midterms.

I sighed on my way out the door, knowing that even as an easy course, it would probably occupy much of my time!

My trip to Chemistry was mostly uneventful for me. As I walked, I couldn’t help but notice that nearly every Little seemed to be padded now in some way. My chemistry professor was like a savant with names and faces and called on me mid-way through the class after a Big failed to answer the question he was asking correctly.

“Mr. Sylvester, can you help him out?”

It was a simple stoichiometric equation that I responded to quickly with the correct answer.

“Correct!” he told me. “Mr. Nutter, you might want to see about getting a tutor for this class?”

He continued on for a long time in that class before assigning us about forty pages of the textbook to get through by Thursday. Some optional assignments and worksheets were also given out that he ‘encouraged’ everyone to do. I suspected the fact that there were only three tests in the class was going to make it easier to fail if someone didn’t keep up. I didn’t intend to draw the same attention as the others in my class earlier!

At the end of class, I had a text from Beth to meet up for lunch.

“Hi, Beth!” I told her with a smile.

“Hi, Cameron,” she said and hugged me quickly. “I miss hanging out with you more.”

“I miss you too,” I told her honestly. I couldn’t help but note that unlike the other Littles in my classes that I’d seen, Beth didn’t seem to be crinkling. “How’s everything going today?”

“Okay, so far, I have that stupid Seminar class this afternoon.”

“Sorry,” I told her apologetically. “I’m really glad I had that growth spurt,” I told her kind of guiltily.

“I wish I’d had one… or that I could have gotten away with heels to hide my height or something. Emerson is so strict on them for Littles!”

I nodded, grateful that I didn’t face that restriction as a Mid. I actually had two-inch lifts on to make me a little less obviously on the line. “Regrets on coming here?”

She shrugged, “There’s not a lot of options out there, are there? I didn’t want to stay with my parents… and at least it’s a bit of time to do something other than be adopted by some Big who just wants me to suck her tits...” Beth said the last part in a whisper, obviously not wanting to upset any Bigs who might be listening in.

I nodded at that as we took our places in line. We both had our cards read by the lady at the door and began walking to the different sections together with our trays. “How was your Chemistry class yesterday?” I asked her. “I think we have the same professor, right?”

She laughed, “Yes, he’s great! But don’t show up without knowing your stuff… I couldn’t believe he called on people by name at random! One Big was completely humiliated yesterday when they didn’t know the answer. Then he turned and asked that really tiny Little the question, and she knew the answer immediately!”

“Tiny little?”

“Some sort of special case; I don’t really know much about her. She lives off-campus with her adoptive parents? Or she’s some sort of exchange student? It didn’t make sense to me, but somehow she’s gotten out of living in the dorms.”

“Sounds like a smart plan,” I said.

“Sort of, she’s in diapers full-time, and I’ve heard rumors she may suck on pacifiers a lot and even… breastfeeds too.”

I grimaced. It wasn’t known why, but it seemed that every Little stuck breastfeeding their kidnapper’s breasts would lose all of their continence. As a Little, I had always been told to avoid strange milk in cups or bottles at all costs! I looked over at Beth and said, “That’s bad… Has anyone explained it to her?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know; I’m curious to see if her Mommy lets her stay in school all the way.”

I had just put some fries on my plate and was just about to ask if she wanted some, too, when I noticed a panicked expression on her face.

She just gasped, “No…” as her body made a quick dip, and she left her tray and took off running out of the dining hall!

That look and the smell that had accompanied it… Even without looking at Beth’s fleeing form, I would have known what it probably meant. I sat my tray down on a table and tried to follow her trail.

Unfortunately, as soon as I reached the hallway, I could see a trail of dribbling wet brown stuff…

The trail led to the women’s bathroom, where I thought about standing and waiting for her or offering something… other clothes…? But I could suddenly hear her screaming, “No!!!!! It’s not my fault!!!! Someone…”

A smack followed. Then another one, another… and then a ton of crying and wailing. I was too much of a coward to charge in to try and save her. Not that it would do her or me any good. It seemed forever before a Big girl dragged her out behind her, forcing her to walk with her holding onto her wrist like a naughty child. “Well, young lady! Looks like we need to address your lack of padding! If you’d at least been wearing protection, you wouldn’t be going to see the dean, but now you’re in for an extra spanking and demerits!”

She dragged her so fast there was nothing I could do for her… Just when I thought she would leave without looking at me, she turned and saw me while the girl pushed the door open.

Her expression, tears, and eyes broke my heart.

‘Poor Beth…’ I thought as I turned, returned to where I had left my tray, and tried to eat something even though my appetite had left me.

Her friend Meg showed up right then, “Can I join you?”

“Sure,” I told her.

“Where’s Beth?” She asked.

I fought to keep a calm face, “She umm… she had an accident,” I told her.

“No…” she gasped and gave me a sad look. “Where?”

“Here, not long ago?”

I noticed she was crinkling a bit as she moved. “Did she wear the training panties they suggested we keep on today?”

I shook my head, “She’s always been stubborn… something happened?”

“An outbreak of something,” she said before whispering, “I’m pretty sure our Nest Mother slipped something into everyone’s drinks last night… or is using some sort of hypnosis or something.”

I nodded, “It would take that… she hasn’t had an accident since middle school, and that was foul play too.”

“I hope she doesn’t get in too much trouble…” she told me.

I nodded in agreement.
 

THAT AFTERNOON I worried about Beth, especially when I didn’t hear anything back from her when I texted and emailed her. The next day I had hoped after my calculus class, I would see her in the Biology class we shared.

I felt my stomach sink when I didn’t see her there.

‘That’s it then…’ I thought as I sat in class listening to the lecture. ‘They demerited her out… she’s probably…’

I did my best to focus on Biology and take notes from then on. After class, I was so intent on walking to the dining hall, feeling guilty for her, that I almost didn’t notice her standing next to the entrance with a tall, gray-haired woman. She was no longer dressed in the awful school uniform, at least…

I wanted to vomit!

She was dressed in a yellow one-piece romper that barely covered a very thick diaper. The sleeves had ruffles, and a large pink baby bottle and pacifier were embroidered on the fabric in the middle of the chest. They matched the pink pacifier hanging from a strap clipped to the romper.

“Cameron!” she said to me nervously.

I walked up to her after taking stock of the woman who gave off vibes of being less trustworthy than a snake.

“And you are, young man?” The woman asked me.

“I’m Cameron Sylvester… I’ve been friends with Beth for a long time.”

“This is the boy you begged to talk to first?”

“Yes, Mrs. B,” she said to her.

She glared at me, “You two can have three minutes to talk. I’ll give you some privacy.”

After we watched the woman walk about fifteen feet away, still staring at us, Beth locked me in a tight hug, “Oh, Cameron!” She was in tears, “I didn’t want to… I couldn’t…”

“What happened, Beth?” I asked calmly.

“Yesterday, I ended up with nine demerits for pooping my panties in the dining hall… I don’t know what happened to me… I couldn’t hold it at all!”

She sniffled, and I felt my heart breaking for her. “I’m sure someone...”

“Probably… but no one cares about that, Cameron! After that - well, I only had one left…” She sniffled again, “I thought about it all night long, and this morning I decided I was better off giving Student Services a chance.” She said softly. “After I texted my parents to tell them goodbye, I went there before my first class.”

“You…”

“I gave up…” she told me. “I didn’t want… I don’t want… but what choice? At least this way, I’m supposed to be able to choose my… ma… ma… mommy?”

She broke down in tears again, and I embraced her in the tightest hug I’d ever given my best friend. I tightly locked my arms around her to show her I never wanted to let go.

‘There’s got to be something she can do…?’ I thought to myself, but I knew the laws were clear even then. She had effectively ended her rights as an adult that morning now that she had put herself up for adoption. I just hoped they weren’t lying when they said it was a better process when you gave yourself up.

I held her for a long moment before the woman came and said, “Time’s up; we need to get going!”

She squeezed me one last time, “I love you, Cameron.”

It was whispered so only I could hear it, but the woman grabbed her into her arms and carried her away so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to reply.

Her long legs whisked her away from me.

It wasn’t fair!!! It was only two damn inches!!!
 
 

Chapter 3: Chemistry
 

TWO DAYS LATER, I was still distracted by Beth’s abrupt demotion from college. I had been able to study and do my homework, but I couldn’t help but worry about Beth every other moment of the day. Her parents had called me that night and asked if I had seen her… My response was as clear as I could make it. I had to force my composure since my roommate was in the room. Fortunately, he left soon, so after I finished talking to them, I could hide my face for a couple of hours as I cried over her loss.

Having no other choice, I forced myself to focus on my new schoolwork as much as possible. I had no desire to end up in the same situation Beth had found herself in. Just a few months earlier, I could have easily been in that boat! I was still distracted as I viewed the tall giant girl again entering the lab we had been assigned to. To my ultimate luck, I’d been paired with her on Wednesday at a lab station! Of course, I’d been too tongue-tied on the day we had been tested on lab safety to talk to her. Especially after I realized there were no accommodations for height available in the lab! I ended up using the stool Bigs sat on to stand on to reach things on the countertop.

I blushed as she looked at me then and couldn’t find the words to speak. I just smiled with what I hoped was a friendly smile and turned back to the instructions for the lab.

Today though, we were doing a titration assignment, and I was in the zone! I loved working with procedures, following the detailed steps, being precise with measurements and masses, and heat… well, I was a nerd and proud of it! Experiments like this always made me feel like a mad scientist preparing to take over the world or something… I was at a point of having to just sit and wait for the process to go when I saw her struggling next to me.

I debated but decided, ‘What the hell?’

“I’m Cameron,” I said, holding out my hand to her.

She looked at me skeptically, “Addison,” she said tersely.

I watched as she turned back to the experiment and sighed with exasperation.

“Would you like some help?” I asked her politely.

She looked down at me again, confused, “Why would I want your help?”

I shrugged, “I can tell you’re struggling, and I understand this stuff pretty well?”

Right then, one of the T.A.s came by, “Cameron, right?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“Nice work here! Make sure you record everything! Just glancing at things, it looks like you may have had the most success out of your group here.”

“Thanks,” I told him as he walked over to Addison.

“Oh, dear… You probably should start over here… Addison?”

I felt like she was about to slap him like the other guy, but she sighed, “I guess you’re probably right.”

I watched her clean up her work to start again off and on as I confirmed and documented my results. I was just about to clean up my station when I saw her staring at me. “Sure, you don’t want my help?”

She sighed, “I should say no… what will my friends think of me letting a Little tutor me?”

“Well… tell them I’m not a Little?”

She laughed, “Barely?”

I shrugged, “Trust me, that inch counted more than you can know!”

“I bet it did,” she said as we looked at the two Littles in our group getting their training pants checked.

“Well, little girl looks like you’re clean still, but you may want to think about some diapees with as much as you like to go pee-pee in your training panties! You’re almost leaking!” I saw the tall girl TA we had pat her and say, “Off you go!”

I saw the boy, who was my age and only about six inches shorter than me, try and follow her.

“Not so fast, little man,” she told him, pulling back the ridiculous elastic pants the boys had to wear. The waistband of a pull-up was pulled back too, and she clucked, “This is what I was smelling… Guess we need to get you to Dean Sanders. Poopy pants in class are worth eight demerits, but in a lab, it’s worth all ten.”

I watched the poor guy scream and struggle for a few minutes before she pulled his pants down and spanked him over the Pull-Up. She eventually pulled him out by the arm to walk across campus in only the shit-filled Pull-Up, his pants lost during the spanking.

“Poor guy,” I found myself saying – surprised when Addison’s voice was in stereo with me.

I looked up at her in surprise, “What, you think that all of us are heartless? He probably does need to be in diapers, but that lab rule seems extreme to me…?”

“Yeah,” I told her. “So, are you ready to start again?”

“What about you?”

“I’m already done, and we have another hour and a half until history?”

“You know history is my next class?”

“Yeah… I noticed you the other day,” I was honest with her.

“Noticed me?” She frowned a bit, and I wondered if I had screwed up.

“Well, you were the most beautiful girl in the room.” I smiled, “And definitely the scariest when you gave the one jerk what was coming to him.”

She smiled, “I couldn’t believe that? You probably couldn’t see he put his damn hand on my butt and copped a feel!”

“Jerk,” I agreed. “Come on, let’s get this going. First of all, Tare out the scale.”

I helped her redo the experiment, catching her a couple times when she was about to say something was ‘good enough’ or adding things in an improper order. When we finished, she had a result that wasn’t quite as good as mine, but pretty close!

“Thanks, Cameron,” she told me as I jumped off the stool and gathered my bag.

“You’re welcome,” I told her with a smile.

We walked out together, and it was obvious our sizes were dramatically different. That didn’t come up in our conversation, though, however, until we arrived at our history class. “Sit with me?” She asked.

“Sure,” I shrugged and internally wondered if I was playing with fire. I could hear Beth saying, ‘What are you thinking, Cameron? Are you a complete idiot!?!?’ My dad would probably say, ‘Go for it, son!’ while ogling her inappropriately.

He’d married up himself, being a couple feet shorter than my mother. I forced emotion back as I almost thought about what she would say, but I’d barely been out of diapers when she died. Thoughts of Beth didn’t help with my mood much either, unfortunately.

I watched Addison duck her head as we came into the hall again. She looked at me a bit bemused with the cushion I put on top of the chair to give me a little more height. “Are you sure you’re not a Little?”

I shook my head, “Very sure; trust me when I say there was nothing more exciting than getting the nurse to mark my height down as seventy-three inches last spring!”

“You weren’t kidding about only an inch, were you?”

I shook my head. “So… I noticed you had to duck your head to get in. If you don’t mind me asking, just how tall are you?”

I watched her look a bit shocked that I would even ask. It was kind of like asking a lady how old she was… you generally didn’t ask if you were a short person, just how tall a tall person was… It just wasn’t done really in ‘polite’ society. Just before I thought she would be offended, she answered, “Not quite thirteen feet. Twelve-foot-eight-inches… You would think this place would at least have thirteen-foot doorways like are required in code, but I guess this building was grandfathered in.”

“Wow, that’s really tall,” I said. I meant it… The average size of a Big was usually ten to eleven feet. Getting to twelve feet was pretty tall, but nearly thirteen feet tall… “You’re over twice my height,” I noted.

“Thus, why you might as well be a Little compared to me,” she smirked at me.

“Can’t help my height,” I told her.

“Neither can I,” she agreed with a laugh. “How tall are your parents?”

“My dad is about eight feet tall,” I told her.

“Your mom?”

I sighed, “She was ten-feet tall…”

“Was?” she asked gently.

It was an old story, but it still made me sad at times. “She died when I was four, giving birth to my baby sister…”

“She didn’t?”

“Neither of them did, sadly. It was really hard for my dad and me,” I told her. I sighed and shrugged, “Life sucks sometimes; you just have to keep pushing on, though.”

She nodded. When the professor began the class, I was about to ask her questions about her parents. Afterward, Addison asked me, “What’s your number? In case I have any more chem questions?” She added the last part nervously.

I bit my tongue for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea to give it to her. I wasn’t that far away from being like the littles in the room… and I knew that one betweener had already been demoted to Wenig… “Sure, it’s,” I gave it to her, and she gave me her own. Once we exchanged numbers, she parted ways from me, and I ran into Taylor Esther, one of my friends in my dorm.

“Cameron, how the hell did you get her to talk to you?!?”

I smirked at my friend, “It’s just chemistry,” I told him.

He laughed when I explained.

We were on the elevator upstairs to our floor when I finished the tale, “Dude, you know she’s like the richest girl at this school, right?”

I looked at him, “Really?”

“Really! Her mom is like this really big-time CEO!”

“Huh…” I said, “I didn’t know anything besides she’s beautiful?”

“What are you thinking, though?” He asked me, with my eyes glancing up at his taller form. He was a pretty average ten-foot-tall guy with no danger in being a Mid, but he was still four feet taller than me.

“Huh?”

“She’s tall enough. She might just mistake you for a Little! You don’t want to be one of those Littles in a shitty diaper the rest of your life, right?”

I shrugged, “The downside being I would get to stare at her breasts the rest of my life?”

He laughed, “Dude, you might have a point there!”

Even as we both laughed about it, I couldn’t help but feel nervous that such a thing could, in fact, happen.

Adoptions of ‘Mids,’ as we were more frequently called in the legal world, were far rarer than Littles, but it did happen. Usually, it would occur due to a Mid committing a crime and getting sentenced to being ‘re-raised.’ Because Mids ranged up to eight-and-a-half feet technically in the legal definition, depending on your parents, you could be the same size as an average eleven- to twelve-year-old Big and still be put back in diapers! Being only an inch above six feet meant that I was closer to being an average four-year-old Big. Something that bullies in high school had, of course, rubbed in my face countless times!

The worst was graduation day when we took our traditional walk through the elementary and junior high schools to show off our gowns. The goal was letting kids see ‘they could graduate one day too!’ Of course, the Littles had to be in the same padding and uniforms as they wore at graduation, so I felt bad for Beth that day. I was taller than most of the preschoolers we passed, but quite a few kindergartners and nearly all of the first graders were taller than me. Unfortunately, our district had recently segregated Littles in the lower grades for extra care to another campus, so we never saw the Littles that were under third grade that day.

I nearly forgot to go to dinner that night because I was so deep in thought about everything as I unpacked my lab journal to start my required report. I heard a few voices talking about food outside, though, and decided to get a bite before returning for homework. Downstairs I ran into my new friend Grant from down the hall.

“Heading to the dining hall?” He asked, looking down at me.

“Yeah… almost forgot to go tonight!”

“Too busy playing video games?”

I shook my head, “Thinking about a girl,” I told him honestly.

“That short one you’ve eaten with a few times?” He asked me.

I shook my head, “No, though I am worried about her. She… she ended up going to student services the other day.”

“Shit man, I’m sorry… That sucks…”

“Yeah, it does. Two inches, man, that’s all she needed to be in a regular dorm with us!”

“I’m glad I’ve got a bit more distance over the line than you do, but even still, I’ve dealt with people who insist on me still sitting in a damn booster seat like a little kid.”

I laughed to avoid crying about Beth again, “Try the rear-facing car seats….”

“Seriously?”

“I’ve been with Bigs before that insisted on it. I swear my grandmother didn’t even care that my dad said a booster was fine; she forced us to wait while she dug up a car seat from her car and strapped me in last Christmas… My legs got cramped, but I’ve seen the damn box labels – I am still barely within the weight limits. Hell, you are still in the weight limit for a forward-facing toddler seat if someone cared to force it.”

We both sullenly walked for a few minutes before he asked, “So if it’s not just your friend you were thinking about, who was it?” He paused, “Not the tall goddess you were sitting next to in history…?”

I blushed, “Yeah, actually…?”

“I have two thoughts: what is wrong with you? And, how in the hell did you pull that off?!?”

“I just talked to her. Why does everyone seem to be scared of her? Taylor seemed intimidated too?”

He shrugged, “I know many Littles talk about the features of the ‘Little Foods’ on the market. I know her parents’ company is in charge of testing those foods out, but not much more. I know there have been rumors about how they test some of it on littles, though.”

“Any proof in court or anything?”

“Not that I know of.”

“So, it could just be rumors?”

“Could be, but you know, you cover up bad publicity in business. When you hear stories like that becoming more common, it’s hard to doubt at least some of it is true.”

We walked into the cafeteria towards the end of the main dining time, and I saw no sign of Beth but assumed she was probably past curfew if she’d still been there.

A few other of our new friends joined us for a late dinner and hang-out session before heading back to our dorms to study. I was just finishing my titration report when my phone dinged.

I felt my heart leap and my stomach plummet as I saw it was from Addison.

‘Cameron, I just want to thank you again so much for your help earlier!’ she added a heart emoji too.

‘Happy to help,’ I replied to her. ‘Did you get the report done, okay?’

I wondered if this was a good idea to keep talking to her, but I hadn’t gotten ‘desperate mommy’ vibes from her.

‘Honestly, it’s not due until Monday. I haven’t even started it yet.’

I laughed, ‘I see you’re a procrastinator.’ I texted her a winking face with that.

She sent back a laughing and crying emoji, ‘You already know me!’

I texted back and forth with her for another hour. During that time, I learned she had chosen the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Chem Class, which was the same course, just taught over more days. In high school, I’d been good with chemistry and went with the one-less-day class. Eventually, that night, she sent, ‘Honestly, I’m already having trouble in my regular Chem class too; any chance you would be willing to meet and study somewhere?’

I thought briefly and responded, ‘Sure, the library or the dining hall?’

‘How about lunch together, and we’ll study in the cafeteria? Or move over to one of the lounges at our dorms?’

I refrained from squealing with a bit of excitement then. ‘Sounds great!’

While it was Friday afternoon and plenty of my friends seemed to want to do ‘fun’ things, I stayed in my room and worked on the paper due for my writing class. I just couldn’t bring myself to go out and have fun that night while thinking about Beth lying in a crib in some nursery on campus… or maybe already settled in her adopted mommy’s dream nursery.
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 4 and 5 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 4: Demotions
 

SATURDAY MORNING, I found myself still intensely studying, trying to avoid thinking of Beth. An hour before lunch, my dad called, “Cameron!”

“Hi, Dad,” I told him.

“How are you doing? Things still going well?”

“I guess… Classes are at least.”

“What’s wrong?”

I sighed, “It’s Beth?”

“Oh… I ran into her dad at the store yesterday.” He said sadly.

“What did he say?” I asked, hopeful something good would have been said.

“Well… after they got her text that she was giving up, they got their lawyer involved. His dad is at least a Big… so that helps, of course, but he’s also a donor to Emerson. He’s trying to see if he can re-adopt her, or at least get visitation rights…?”

“If they can re-adopt her?” I paused, “That would be great!”

“Well… obviously, the courts would insist on her being treated appropriately for her Maturosis… it wouldn’t be just going home, right?”

I felt myself shaking, then, “No…”

“I don’t know… she might be better off just with the visitation rights, Cam,” he told me.

I sat silently for a moment before saying, “I might at least be able to see her if she was back home?”

“If she wanted you to?”

“She insisted on saying goodbye to me after she turned herself over,” I told him. “She made the lady bring her to see me… She was… well, she was already in her new clothes.”

“At least you got to say goodbye?”

I sighed, “Yeah, I guess that’s more than her parents got. I hope something works out for them… but more importantly, I hope Beth doesn’t end up with one of them.”

I could feel his nod, “Yeah, there’s definitely plenty of that around here. Look, you have to keep going, Cameron; you can’t mope for her. I promise things have a way of working out – she was smart enough not to fight things, so she should be okay.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“What else are you up to?”

“Well… I’m going to meet this girl for lunch and to study.”

“Alright! Who is she?”

“Her name is Addison,” I told him. “She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met, honestly….”

“What’s so special about her?”

“Well, she’s like a giant… I mean, seriously, she’s the tallest girl I’ve ever met in person.”

“How tall?”

“Twelve-foot, eight,” I told him.

“That is tall!” he said. “Is that wise? Beth just…”

I sighed, “I don’t honestly know, Dad. I’m pretty protected here at Emerson as long as I have Mid status.”

“Maybe it would be better…” he sighed, “What the hell? What can I say? I did the same thing with your mom…”

“Look, I’ll be careful, but she also seemed to feel bad for a Little the other day when we both watched her get in trouble in our lab.” I paused, “I don’t know, I get the feeling that maybe she’s different?”

“I hope you’re right,” he told me.

We talked for another half-hour before I made an excuse to get off the phone and gathered my stuff.

I had a hard copy of the textbook for Chemistry I had bought at Dad’s insistence. While I preferred an eBook version on my tablet, he asserted it was easier to get away from a device and study with a real book. Since he was the one who really paid for my books… Well, I went along with it since it was the one thing not covered by my scholarships! I threw the heavy monstrosity into my backpack, along with my lab notebook from our Chem Lab and some other notes I had taken in another old-fashioned notebook.

I locked the door and wondered briefly where my roommate had ended up the night before. ‘Maybe he went home for the weekend?’ I thought. I hadn’t seen Jason often the past week since he’d made friends with someone in another dorm. It was weird he hadn’t been back at all last night, though.

I quickly reached the cafeteria and walked around to see if Addison was there. Not seeing her, I decided to just go ahead and get a tray of food and a table meant for mixed sizes that was open. I climbed up the tall stool’s steps and hoped no one would think I was a little sitting there. I had no desire to sit at a Big table and struggle to reach or use a booster seat like I saw several doing around the large room. I noticed that one of the nest mothers had one of her charges sitting next to her in a booster seat. I stared as she velcroed a bib around her neck when Addison suddenly appeared.

“Hi Cameron, good pick of a table!” she told me with a smile and took a seat on the opposite side meant for Bigs.

“Hi, Addison,” I told her.

“Call me Addy,” she told me, “If we’re going to be friends, Addison is way too uptight.”

I smiled, “Okay, hi, Addy.”

She smiled that gorgeous giant smile at me, and I felt like I would probably do just about anything for her right then!

“So, first week of classes down. What did you do to celebrate last night?”

I grimaced, “Not much, stayed in and studied. Didn’t feel much like going out, honestly,” I told her.

“Something wrong?”

I grimaced, “Yeah, but don’t worry about it. Just something a friend of mine is going through,” I added.

“Oh…” She looked at me and asked, “Anything I can do?”

“Nope, what’s done is done,” I told her and forced a smile. “What did you do last night?”

“Oh, I just went out with my parents for dinner. They hadn’t seen me since they dropped me off and wanted to see me.”

“Free food from the ’rents is never a bad thing, huh?” I smiled at her. “You enjoy it?”

She shrugged, “On one hand, I do miss them – even though it’s not like this campus is that far from my house.”

“How far away did you grow up?”

“Oh, just about twenty minutes or so - out in the suburbs. I could commute here every day, but my parents insisted I stay on campus to get the ‘full college experience.’ I don’t mind that, though, because last night was tough enough with my mom still thinking I was her baby… Geeze, you think you grow up, but when she’s even taller than you, it still doesn’t help.” She shook her head and took a bite of food.

“She’s taller than you?” I asked in surprise before taking another bite of some pasta.

She swallowed and laughed, “Yeah, she’s got three inches on me - and will never let me forget it.” She smiled, “But at least I have two inches on my dad!”

“I can’t imagine being that tall,” I told her honestly. “It would have been nice to at least get to my dad’s height, though.”

“You’re only eighteen, right?”

I nodded.

“You could actually still grow in the next year or two. Who knows, maybe you’ll still pick up a few more inches?”

I laughed, “Inches versus your feet!”

She told me about her little sister, Danica, who was three years younger than her. It sounded like they fought a lot when she was still at home, and apparently, she’d skipped the family dinner to do something at school. We talked about our backgrounds and what we liked to do for the next hour, even after we finished eating. “Well, where do you want to study?” She asked me.

I shrugged, “How about one of the lounges in this building? I haven’t really been in them much yet, but they had some couches and chairs that looked fairly comfortable?”

“Sounds good!” She said to me. I climbed down the stool and grabbed my backpack. She had her own, and we walked to the lounge nearby, occupied only by one other person studying. We picked a set of individual chairs across the room from him to set up at.

“So, where are you struggling?” I asked her, and we got to work on studying.

She was bright but, for whatever reason, hadn’t had a good chemistry education in high school. It didn’t help that she wasn’t a fan of math either… With that knowledge, I took a few steps back to re-explain something Professor Casio talked through quickly in our class. After two hours of helping her, she said, “You taught me more in the last two hours than I learned in an entire year of chemistry in high school… or any of the tutors my parents hired...”

I smiled, “Glad to hear it.”

“I need to go get ready for an event my mom’s old sorority is hosting, but how about I take you out to dinner on Friday as a thank you?”

My stomach did a few flip-flops right then. “Umm… sure, where?”

She smiled, “I know of a few good places. I’ll make reservations. Do you have a sports coat?”

I nodded, “Yes, though I don’t wear it often.”

“Why not?”

I sighed, “I’m legally past the point of being a Little, but I’m always worried about the same things that Littles are about appearances. Looking like you’re dressing up too much can look bad…?”

“That was honest of you,” she told me. “I promise with you as my date though no one will dare say anything.”

“Date?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Date. I like you, and you’re the first guy I’ve ever met that hasn’t been obviously wanting to go out with me for my money.”

I laughed, “You’re beautiful enough. You don’t need that as a reason.”

“And you, what you don’t have in height, you make up for in brains and personality. It’ll piss my parents off to see us dating – and I’m also okay with that!”

“Is that a good idea…?”

She laughed, “You’re a Mid; you’re safe. If you were really a little or diagnosed with a case of Maturosis as a Mid, then we might have a problem. I don’t think we’re in danger of that, though.”

I smiled, feeling a bit better about our new relationship. “Okay, date it is.”

I arrived back at our room to find the door open. “Made it back, Jason?” I asked as I walked in the door.

Then, I realized Jason had made it back… and… he had the Littles Dean with him. “Oh, good afternoon, ma’am,” I said politely. “I’m Cameron,” I said politely, looking at her imposing form.

“Hmm… I’m Dean Sanders,” she said, looking at me like she was deciding to see if she was going to scrape a bug off of her shoe. “This one should have taken your lead on learning how to be mature and behave.”

Then, I took in Jason’s appearance and tried not to run out of the room screaming. He was a foot taller than me but clearly dressed in a Little’s uniform, complete with a thickly padded rear end!

I had no response, and she took that to mean an affirmation, “How did you spend your Friday evening?” she asked me.

I shrugged, “I worked on some homework and a paper coming up for my technical writing class.”

“Did you now?” She asked. “You’re not just lying?”

“I can show you the timestamps on the files if you’d like,” I told her with a smile, “I had probably the lamest Friday night of anyone on campus,” I told her. ‘Excepting the poor Littles,’ I allowed.

“And just now, where are you coming from?”

“I was having a study session to help a friend with Chemistry.”

“Indeed?” She asked.

“Who?”

“Addison Harris?”

She looked at me like I had grown horns then. “Why?”

“We’re lab partners, and I helped her out this week. I’m good at Chemistry,” I told her. “I know I’m just barely a Mid, but we get along quite well.”

“Do you?” She asked. I was pretty sure in her mind she was appraising how I would look dressed like Jason right then, but decided that wouldn’t be her move then.

“We seem to, at least? We have a date for dinner scheduled for Friday again,” I told her.

“Hmm… Well, I hate to inform you of this, but young Jason here has unfortunately not followed your mature lead. He was caught partying and drinking alcohol last night. The fact that he’s underage is bad enough, but he also apparently can’t hold his liquor! When security picked him up, he had a big accident in his whittle pants. We’ve decided he’s going to be better off over in Wenig, where we have a more appropriate and caring environment all set up for him. We know the staff can properly give him the care he needs. Luckily, we have plenty of newly open beds to put him into. I think we have just about all of his things out of here. If you find anything else, please drop it off at my office?”

“Umm… sure, ma’am, be happy to,” I told her.

I looked long at Jason and couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. He was still crying from the humiliation that was likely only just beginning. I knew, like me, that he would probably blend into a preschool or kindergarten setting quite well. There were too many ‘parents’ that liked to also have Littles who were continually failing at their potty training when they were too old for diapers… Unfortunately, I had a feeling Jason may have just found his way on the road to becoming one of them. The uniform he wore and the ID badge around his neck now denoted him as legally nothing more than a Little.

“Umm… Good luck, Jason,” I told him as a large Amazon guy returned with a cart they loaded with his last possessions to take to his new dorm.

As they walked away with her holding his hand, I sighed in relief that I was still dodging bullets.

I was staring at the empty side of the room a few minutes later, with the door open, when Grant came by. “Dude, where’s your roommate’s stuff?”

“On its way over to Wenig with him,” I told him.

“Dude! He was nearly my height!”

“Yeah… I think the week’s lesson is that no one is safe…?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah… Thank God I was a boring nerd last night and stayed in to study. I swear she looked at me as needing a Maturosis diagnosis too!”

“Fucking Amazons are nuts…” he said to me.

I just nodded.

“Well, at least you can have all sorts of wild and crazy sex in your room now and won’t have a roommate to care?”

I raised my eyebrows, “Not sure that drawing attention to myself is a good idea right now.”

“Yeah, man… I get that. We’re going to set up a gaming session tonight in the lounge; you want to join us?”

I thought for a second and shrugged, “Sure!”

I enjoyed playing role-playing games with him and a few others from our dorm that night. It took my mind off of height and forced babyhood for a while.

By the middle of the week, I noticed a significant number of Littles gone from my classes. Meg and another girl, Laura, were some of the few I still had to talk to at lunches. I tended to eat dinner later with my Mid friends and Addison in the evening when the littles were supposed to be in bed. On Thursday, I was sitting in Chemistry class and heard one of the loudest farts I’d ever heard outside of a bathroom! It stopped Professor Casio from speaking for a moment, and every one scanned the room to see who might have done it.

Suddenly my eyes landed on my former roommate, who I hadn’t even realized was in that class before because he had been skipping all his classes. He was acting… Well... suspicious. I wasn’t the only one who noticed his behavior, and when we all heard another fart, his entire body seemed to turn red. One of the girls, TAs, approached him and said, “Stand up, please…?”

She turned him to where his back was to her, and we all watched the horror show as she pulled the back of his elasticized pants and diaper open. “Whoopsies! We have a wittle boy who made a big pwesent in his diapees! Guess we better take you to Dean Sanders!”

He walked by, and I could see tears in his eyes as his face was bright red. Only a student Little on campus for less than a week… Unfortunately for him, Dean Sanders must have decided he had his demerits because I never saw him again.

With all the beds probably now available in Wenig, I made sure I went to classes, did my homework, and otherwise stayed out of the Bigs’ way.

One thing I did start doing the day after Jason was demoted to Wenig was to begin growing out my beard. Dad had always insisted it was one of his best tricks to seem like an adult amongst the taller people. While he had a couple feet on me, I hoped it would help out the same for me if I didn’t look cute and baby-faced.
 
 

Chapter 5: Fast Rides
 

I HAD LOOKED forward to my date on Friday with Addison with hope; and also a little bit of dread. Everything I had seen of her seemed to imply she wasn’t one of the baby-crazed Amazons, but having researched more about her family’s company… Well, I worried that the apple often doesn’t fall far from the tree!

SafeFoods was a legitimate corporation that was quite wealthy! Their last reports from the previous quarter to shareholders valued their company at over 280 Billion Dollars. It was clear that every major company that manufactured food and formula for Littles used SafeFoods to get through the government regulatory process. Feeling like there was probably more to the story, I used the internet off my phone to VPN to a couple of sites that Littles used to warn others about nefarious schemes. Almost right away, I found references to SafeFoods.

StayedDryforYears: I am so stupid! I needed some cash and responded to a study ad I received via email from SafeFoods. It didn’t require you to report to a site or anything where they could grab you, so I thought it would be safe. They claimed simple testing of meal prep kits, and I could have them shipped to a postal box, so they didn’t even know my physical address! I signed up, and sure enough, I received a package of ingredients with recipes four weeks ago. Looked like good-quality stuff, actually! I was happy to follow the directions and make the meals. Some of them were quite elaborate, and all of them tasted amazing when I was done!

The next week I started waking up wet. A week later, I began having daytime accidents – something I hadn’t had since I was a baby! I immediately guessed it was the meal prep kits and stopped using them the next week. I regained control this week, so I’m sure something was happening in their kits. I’m worried that they can find my address through my post office box now, and I will have to move away. Trying to arrange to stay with a buddy until I can get a new place.

OldandCranky13842: Could have told you that one. SafeFoods only tests foods meant for BABIED littles! There are not many companies out there I would trust less! Get yourself out of there tonight if you haven’t; I guarantee they’ve informed your apartment manager about you by now if they have your address.

I felt my blood turn cold as I read more and more accounts of free Littles being tricked by them. There weren’t any cases of Mids being hoodwinked, but that could have been better hidden. A glance over to my roommates’ bed was more than enough proof that the line between us wasn’t so vast to save me.

As bad as that account was, the ones that bothered me more were the ones from Littles, who supposedly managed to sneak access to their ‘parents’ computers and write about the products being tested on them. Some of it was… ‘innocent’ enough; formula and baby food were tested to see if it tasted good and would be eaten. ‘Someone has to do that…’ I had thought to myself while wrinkling my nose about some of their descriptions of it tasting like vomit... However, others were being tested to see what effects they could have on the Littles.

For some Amazons, it was known that they just liked the fight that a Little would give them. A Little that constantly screamed how they weren’t a baby but kept on having forced accidents gave them some sort of sick pleasure…? I didn’t claim to understand what it did for them, but they liked battling them until they broke them. Those Bigs tended to be the ones that snatched Littles off the streets. Others preferred to ease them into their forced babyhood with more chemical or hypnotic influences to ‘calm’ them. Some foods seemed to work like that, inhibiting their cognitive abilities. One of the accounts was from a twenty-four-year-old woman. She and her twin sister had recently been forcibly adopted while they were out shopping together. LittleFoods used her as a control versus her sister in a ‘twins’ study. Her poor sisters’ teeth had just plain fallen out of her mouth one day without warning, and now she couldn’t even say ‘mama’ after eating the testing foods for only two weeks!

She claimed her adopted ‘parents’ were now calling her the big sister and were unhappy with how far LittleFoods products had pushed her sister. ‘They probably wanted to take her teeth out the old-fashioned way?!?’ I groaned.

It was with the full knowledge I was about to go on a date with the daughter of Satan that I dressed in my sports coat. I didn’t wear a tie since she didn’t say it was needed, hoping to look a little less like I was a Little playing dress up. My scruffy beard wasn’t doing too bad for having been growing for not quite a week. My dad could grow one fully in a week, and I was already close. I shaved the spots that I wasn’t growing out carefully before getting dressed, combed my hair, and hoped Addison would like me in the right way that night!

After a quick last trip to the restroom, I soon found myself walking towards her dorm. I noted that it was much nearer Wenig than mine. My look was definitely drawing some unwanted attention from the Bigs around me. Giggles stares, and… well, I walked with a purpose up to her dorm and messaged her I was there.

“You here to see someone, sweetie?” A surprised sound from a tall girl who seemed a bit older.

“Umm… yes, I’m supposed to meet my friend here.”

My phone dinged, ‘Need a few minutes more; I’m in room three-fifteen. If you can get someone to let you in, you can come to my room.’

“Who is it?”

“Addison, she’s in room three-fifteen; any chance you could please swipe me in?” I asked her.

“Really, Addy?”

“Yes, I can wait down here still, but she just said she needs a bit more time.”

“Tell you what, let me help you find her room,” she said with a bit of glee in her voice that made no bones about her seeing a Mid just as easy to tame as a little.

“Umm… Thanks,” I told the tall girl with a forced smile.

“What are you all dressed up for?” She asked me in the short elevator ride.

“We’re going out to dinner somewhere tonight since I’ve been helping her with her Chemistry class.”

“Oh… really?” She asked, kind of surprised.

I followed the unwanted guide out of the elevator and down the hallway to her room’s suite. As soon as the door opened, I could tell this was an upgraded room from my own. These rooms had just been built in the last year, and you could tell! There was a small lounge with a large TV hanging over a gas fireplace to my right, while a full kitchen and breakfast bar with stools sat to my left. They even had a small dining room table that could probably sit six people comfortably all to themselves there!

A door was open that I could see labeled three-fifteen. “Addison, I brought you a guest?” She said skeptically.

“Thanks, Danae; I appreciate you letting him in! Come on in, Cameron, you look good!”

I turned to the giant who had led me in, “Thanks,” and stepped into a nice large single room. Ironically now that I was roommate-less, my double now meant that I had a bigger space to myself - but this one was still more than big enough for one person. As she closed the door behind her, I got a look at what she was wearing and nearly had my eyes fall out. “You look even prettier than normal, Addy,” I told her.

She was wearing a black, short mini-dress, with the bodice squared off and held up with two thin spaghetti straps. It was a sheath style and hugged her lovely and proportional curves! Her breasts were featured, but the fact that she didn’t have gigantically out-of-proportion breasts was something I liked! While she was a phenomenally tall Big, she was very skinny.

“Thanks, Cameron,” She told me with a smile. “I just need to go to the bathroom quickly; then we can be off?”

She looked at me, and I half expected her to ask if I needed to go too, but she shook her head and walked out.

“Okay,” I told her.

I blanched when I looked above her desk and saw a printed picture of her holding a baby boy sitting on a small end table by her bed… it wasn’t a baby boy, though. Very clearly a well-muscled Little without his shirt on, being bottle-fed by her.

I was going to play it off when she arrived a moment later, but she said, “Oh, that’s my new baby brother, I guess…” she told me.

“You guess?”

“Mom apparently lasted two weeks with one daughter out of the house, and last Sunday decided to adopt a Little who spilled a coke in the food court of the mall she was at.”

“That’s all he did to get adopted…?” I asked.

“Yeah… I mean, he’s actually sort of sweet when he’s drinking a bottle of Mom’s milk, but I don’t really think he deserved to lose his life over one silly accident. Hell, I drop stuff all of the time…”

I looked up at her and said, “You’re one of the rare ones then, Addy.” I sighed, “I hope you’ll never think of me needing that…?”

She smiled, “You’re way too mature to be in that boat. Not to mention an inch taller than allowable normally.”

“Normally,” I nodded in agreement, “Shall we go to dinner?” I asked.

“Let’s!” She said and led me out.

I couldn’t help but feel like a toddler when I walked beside her. The two of us drew more than a few stares as we walked out of the dorm and to her car in the parking garage. Even though she was already way too tall, she wore heels that raised her height even further.

Knowing her family was well off, I wasn’t surprised when we approached a very nice car… but this was something else. “That’s almost as beautiful as you,” I found myself saying as I looked at a two-passenger sports car. The lines on it were amazing, and while I didn’t pay much attention to cars, I knew this was a top-of-the-line, barely street-legal, performance race car.

She opened the passenger door for me, “I know you technically are past having to sit in a car seat because you’re tall enough, but for my piece of mind, would you mind riding on that booster seat?”

A simple booster seat with no back sat ready on the passenger seat. I was annoyed because I would have to sit on it without looking like a jerk, but I was excited because I had never ridden in the front seat of a car before. Being as short as I was, I had even been relegated to the back when I had finally passed the legal requirement of the safety seat in the spring.

I noticed then that even the booster seat was covered in leather. I nodded, “I hate it, but I’ll do it.”

She smiled, “Well, at least you’re honest with me.”

I clambered up onto the seat and found it was easier to get into with the car’s low height. I climbed onto the booster and took the seatbelt she’d grabbed to offer me. I buckled it myself, and she closed the door.

She buckled herself in and backed out. When she was clear of the garage, I found out that the race car look wasn’t just for show! I was pushed back into the seat as she accelerated at a completely irresponsible speed. I couldn’t help but say, “All right!”

Addison laughed, “Sorry, I probably should slow down a bit with you in the car.”

“Don’t slow down on my account; I think it’s awesome!”

“Maybe one of these weekends we can go out to the track together,” she said with a smile.

“That would be fun!” I told her. “Why’d you pick this car? I mean, besides, it’s awesome?”

“I told Daddy I wanted a sports car for my eighteenth birthday. We had to search for one that worked for my height. Most of them, I hit my head when I try to sit down in them,” she explained. “Henry here has just enough headroom for my dad and me. Mom can’t drive him, though,” she said with a laugh. “First time Dad and I have ever appreciated our difference in height from my mom!”

She eventually got snarled in some traffic and had to drive like a responsible young lady. It was just in time to avoid getting caught by a cop, too, so it worked out in the end!

About ten minutes later, she pulled up to the stand of a valet at a restaurant. I unbuckled my seat and hopped out as a man opened the door for me. I straightened my shirt and coat and smiled up at her as she came around. “Please take care of him,” she told the valet.

“Yes, Ms. Harris, we’ll baby him like always,” the man told her. The voice was a little bit intimidated by her.

She came around and said to me, “Shall we?”

I walked into a restaurant I’d heard about from some friends who had spent way too much money on their meal for prom the year before. I knew it was supposed to be not just locally renowned, but they’d also received some serious global awards. A starter at this restaurant costs four meals at a normal restaurant! I was slightly uncomfortable as she led me inside, “Ah, Ms. Harris, it’s good to see you again. I have your reservation here for two, but didn’t realize a Little was your… umm… guest?”

“He’s actually a Mid, but that doesn’t matter for you, does it?”

“Umm… no, ma’am… but we will need a couple minutes to find a high chair…?”

“A booster seat would be more appropriate, don’t you think?” she suggested.

“Umm… yes Miss… One moment…”

I blushed at the blatant discrimination I was almost sure would have happened if I had been with anyone else. Soon we were led to a tabletop for two covered in a beautiful white linen tablecloth, a lit candle in the center, and a chair with a booster opposite a normal chair. I was going to begin to pull Addy’s chair out for her, but one of the wait staff was already there. Another held my chair and unexpectedly picked me up and sat me down. When they started to do the belt, I said, “Excuse me, sir, I don’t need that.”

“Miss?” They asked.

“He doesn’t,” she told him. They handed her a menu and looked uncertain with mine, “For Pete’s sake, please give him the regular menu. He’s not a Little.”

“Yes, Miss…” the man said and handed me a huge oversized menu board to look over. It was only one page long and seemed to be set up where you chose one of a few options for multiple courses. A sign of just how exclusive the place was, there were no prices on the menu!

“Order whatever you want,” Addison told me, “Trust me, it’s all fantastic!”

“Okay,” I said tentatively. I looked and chose my way through lobster, filet mignon, and scallops as the centerpieces of three of the courses. A soup and a dessert were also selected in my mind before the waiter returned.

“Have you decided, Miss?” The waiter asked her.

She gave me a look that I nodded to, “Yes, I’ll have…” she listed off her order.

“Is your little boy going to just share?”

“He’s not a Little, and he will order himself. Ask him,” she seethed. “If you or your staff forgets that one more time, I will never return, and I’ll make sure my friends don’t either….”

“Sorry, Miss, I’ll make sure everyone knows…”

“Sir?” He asked me nervously.

I went down the board and gave him my choices before he said, “We’ll have the first course out here shortly.”

“Thanks,” I said along with Addison.

She looked at me, “Does that always happen?”

I shrugged, “It helps when I’m on campus because the littles wearing the uniforms set them apart from me a bit more.”

When the food finally started coming out, I felt it was more than worth a little bit of embarrassment. Courses were small for an Amazon size, which meant pretty large for me. I still managed to devour each course and dessert but felt bloated out of proportion at the end. “That was amazing!” I told her with a smile. “Thank you for dinner.”

“You’re very welcome,” she told me. “I must slip off to the lady’s room before we go.”

“I’ll hit the gents then, too,” I told her with a smile.

I slid off the booster seat and walked beside her to the restroom. There was a short urinal that I could just make work for me. I zipped my pants and managed to just barely reach up to the sink. An air dryer for my hands was just out of reach, but I could hop up and get it to register my hands and dry them as best as possible. I was just about to struggle and open the door when it suddenly slammed open and just missed me, “Sorry about that little guy,” the man said.

I shrugged and waited in the hallway for Addison. “Waiting for your mommy?” a girl asked me as she came out.

“Friend,” I told her assertively.

She looked like she was about to argue, but when Addison stepped out and said, “Ready to go, Cameron?” the shorter girl backed off.

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

“Where to next?” she asked me.

“I don’t know, you’d only mentioned dinner?”

“We could go catch a movie? Or maybe just head back and hang out at my place?” She suggested.

“Your place?”

“My dorm suite,” she said with a smile and reminded me, “I have a single.”

“So do I,” I told her.

“How?”

“Well… my roommate was moved to Wenig last weekend.”

“Was he a little?”

“No,” I told her. “Actually, Jason was taller than me,” I said as we came to a stop light, and she looked over at me.

“Why’d he get moved then?”

“Apparently, he had an accident when he was involved in underage drinking?”

“You seen him since?”

“Briefly in Chem class the other day… he had a rather epic accident. I don’t think I’ll see him again,” I told her.

“Sorry,” she said.

I shrugged, “It is what it is; he chose to get drunk…?” I told her.

“True,” she said. “So, where are we heading?”

It was a sign that I wasn’t a Little that I could make a choice at all. “Seems a shame we got dressed up for one thing; how about that movie?” I suggested.

“Sounds good!” She smiled.

I was carded to see the action film she chose, but with a more upscale theater, I didn’t need a booster seat to have an unobstructed screen view. Midway through the film, she pushed up the armrest I had been awkwardly trying not to lean on for her to have. A large arm swept me closer, and I found myself cuddled up next to her for the rest of the film.

On the one hand, I was nervous about going into a position with her that might be fitting for a Little. Still, her body was soft and warm, and I quickly grew comfortable next to her. ‘She stood up for me all evening,’ I thought with a smile as she squeezed me tighter during a tense moment in the film. We both smiled as we walked out the door to her car that night.

Back at school, she insisted on walking me to my dorm to say goodnight. She knelt down at the door and said, “I had a really great time, Cameron.”

“Me too, Addy,” I replied as I looked into her big beautiful eyes.

It was then that she leaned in and kissed me on the lips. It wasn’t a chaste kiss, but it wasn’t a full-on make-out session either… it was somewhere between. I said, “Wow,” as she pulled away, “Thanks for going out with me tonight.”

“No problem, I’ll call you tomorrow, Cam,” she told me.

I practically buzzed my way to the room that night, so energized from what was, in fact, a DATE with a dream girl! It was a bit awkward with our height difference being so extreme. Still, my dad had always told me that love in the relationship counted more than any physical differences.

That night I finally saw that maybe he was right!

In-Between Chapters 6 and 7 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 6: Pranks
 

OVER THE NEXT few months, my life revolved around classes, hanging around with Addison in the evenings, and generally having lunch with Meg, her friend Laura, and another friend of theirs, Stacy. Stacy was like a Little’s Little! She was half of my height, and I couldn’t help but look down at her and realize the proportion was the same between her and me, as Addy and I! Stacy was also a bit of a conundrum in that she didn’t even have to bother to pretend to be potty trained like Meg and Laura. Her only concern was not pooping in class but otherwise was a completely diaper-dependent Little. I’d even seen her sucking on a pacifier once while her mommy was carrying her from her office. I learned that her ‘mommy’ actually regularly breastfed her. Oddly, she claimed to actually enjoy it too! The cool thing, though, was her adoptive parents let her still go to college.

It was weird!

Meanwhile, the university’s Little population decreased daily in our freshman classes. There had been nearly two-hundred littles, I guessed from the copy of the freshman class photo we had taken during orientation; now, if there were still sixty in our class, I would have been shocked. For my part, I chose to avoid that topic as much as possible to avoid people linking me with them!

My classes were going great; going into finals, I had nearly perfect hundreds in every class! Studying with Addison was paying off for her, too, because apparently, even as privileged as she was, she’d never been more than a B student. We were coming up on Finals and were being given a two-day break at the end of the last week of classes to study. Free time meant that besides studying, I was involved in one of my new favorite activities – playing pranks!

It had started with one of our floormates duct-taping a complete layer of tape across my door, making a solid wall that I ran into half-asleep on my way to the shower in the morning. If I didn’t have a good kitchen knife I’d brought, I might have been stuck inside there and late to class! After I cleaned it up, I figured the guy who laughed loudest was most likely the prankster. Some investigating let me prove it, so I showed him how that prank should be done. I had to get an accomplice, Addy, in to help me, but we stacked solo cups, some filled with fine pink and purple glitter, all the way up his door when his roommate left one morning. Then he got the tape on the outside. To ensure it would topple over, I created a string of tape to pull it all down inside towards them as they opened the door.

Addy had to go to class, but the look on his face was epic when he opened the door and was covered in fine glitter! He was about ten feet tall, so the look of death he gave me had me nervous for my safety, but when he began laughing, I knew we were good. “Good retaliation,” Chris had told me.

That had been in October, and now that we were getting closer to December, I noticed that all of the pranks in our dorms were getting more and more outlandish. I had slept in a bit, headed to the bathroom, looked briefly at my shower caddy, and realized I had left my body wash and beard wash in the bathroom the five of us shared. I hated doing that, and I considered it kind of a jerk move to make everyone move my stuff. I personally couldn’t stand when someone left a soap bar in the shower, and I had to move it… It disgusted me a lot for some reason! Realizing I had made a mistake, I mentally noted I’d need to not miss that again…

I showered, washed my hair with the shampoo that I had kept in my room, and took care to really scrub myself clean since I’d be seeing Addy later that afternoon for a study session we were going to go to for Chemistry. My hair took a while since Addy had convinced me to let it grow out. Something about a thing she had for long-haired guys... I had shrugged and gone along with it – frankly, I would probably do just about anything for her!

Since we’d been dating for a few months, we’d gotten a little further along with our relationship, and we’d spent a lot more time learning what could work with our height differences. I always worried she would decide that dating me was like dating a little kid, but she didn’t seem to feel that way! We hadn’t made it any further than second base together, but that was mainly because she had some clear boundaries she said she didn’t want to cross before marriage. When I heard that, of course, I had two reactions – where can I find an engagement ring, and… that’s awkward!

Until my growth spurt, most of my friends in high school had obviously been Littles. Amongst our friends, I was probably the only one still a virgin since it was well known that if you didn’t do it before you graduated, you probably wouldn’t get to in some crazy Bigs nursery! I knew Beth had several partners over the years, and only the fear of getting pregnant kept her on the pill. She’d so wanted to have her own babies, though!

‘Beth, I wonder what happened to you…?’ I couldn’t help but worry about her still. Dad hadn’t given me any updates in a while, except her dad was still trying to re-adopt her.

I finished with the shampoo and moved on to the special beard wash my dad had recommended. His beard was like Santa Claus’s, long but not completely gray. He claimed the wash helped keep things from getting ratty, and that was Addy’s biggest stipulation for me to keep it. She wasn’t a huge fan of kissing me with facial hair, but she understood why I was growing it.

It always made my face feel much cleaner despite the hair and let me get it combed straight. By this point, I’d managed to get my beard to grow quite full, and it was long enough that I had to be careful of food and drink dropping in it. Addy had slyly grabbed a napkin and plucked something out of it a couple times in the past week before teasing me about it.

I sighed as I dried off and walked out to the sink. I brushed my teeth and popped a few pimples before returning to my room with a towel around my waist. I closed the door and dressed in comfortable jeans and a sweater before sitting at the computer. I grabbed a drink from my water bottle and realized I had some hairs on it.

I brushed my face with my hand.

More hair.

I moved quickly to look at myself in the long mirror in the closet. A patch was completely gone out of my beard. I put my hand on my face in disbelief and watched as the slightest touch knocked my beard from my face.

In disbelief, I ran back to the bathroom and washed my face, hoping whatever it was would come off and keep from causing any more hair to fall out! I pulled up the sleeves of my sweater and splashed water on my face repeatedly; after I wiped my eyes clear of the water, I looked down in horror. The drain was completely clogged with a hairball.

Looking up in the mirror, I was horrified that my face was the cleanest-shaven ever… you might even call it a… baby face. I couldn’t even see the little black hair follicle spots on my face, and I was worried whatever happened was completely permanent! I grimaced and looked at my arm, only to notice that there were patches of no hair there too!

Chris peeked his head in right then, looked at me, and laughed.

“What did you put in my stuff?” I asked nervously. Hoping beyond hope, it was a temporary loss.

He tossed me a mostly empty bottle.

‘Little Hair-No-More!’ was the label. Looking at the directions, it was the worst-case scenario.

‘To permanently remove Little’s body hair wash on like soap and wash off. Takes fifteen-second application and fifteen to twenty minutes to take effect and permanently remove all hair follicles from the applied area. Warning! Do Not Apply To Any Area You Do Not Wish To Remove Hair!!!’

I nervously looked up at my hair but remembered my shampoo had been safe in my room. My longish collar-length hair was still intact.

“Jack-ass! We said nothing permanent!” I told him.

“It’s only permanent on Littles. My sister tried it on her legs and still has to reapply it every few months. Don’t worry, Bro; you’re not a Little, right? It’ll grow back in a few months!”

I gave him the double bird salute before going back to my room. I switched clothes before I left to meet Addy for our study session. When I did so, I discovered every bit of my body hair on my front, where I could reach my arms, feet, legs… and groin was completely bare. I didn’t scrub my back well, so the upper part was still hairy.

My reflection in the mirror before I got dressed scared me. It reflected a baby-faced Little boy, who could easily be adopted and taken somewhere before height even came up…

I didn’t have much time before the study session, so I grabbed my backpack and computer and headed to meet Addy. She looked at me with a shocked look as I approached her; you could see ‘Wha??’ coming out of her lips, but I didn’t see it long because a Nest Mother appeared out of nowhere.

“And where are you going, young man? All of the boy’s nests are to be in their rooms studying!”

I looked up at a tall and a rather plump Nest Mother that I vaguely remembered being in charge of a boy’s room since there weren’t many ‘daddies’ interested in the job.

“Pardon me, but I’m not a little; I don’t live in Wenig,” I told her.

“You’re going to lie to me? I’ve seen you there every day!” She was about to grab me when Addy came up.

“What do you think you’re doing with my boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?” She looked at Addy in shock, “Eew… he’s a Little!”

“He’s actually a Mid, as he was telling you. Both of his parents were taller, but he got the short end of the straw. And yes, I said boyfriend. I’m also more than willing to call the President of the University and complain on Cameron’s behalf about the abuse he was about to suffer.”

“Well… he looks… I…”

“Was just leaving?” Addy suggested.

She turned on her heels, and I looked up gratefully at Addy. She bent down and gave me a hug and a kiss that drew some looks. “What happened to your face?” She smiled, “Not that I’m complaining. I prefer kissing you like this!”

I sighed, “Chris spiked my body wash and beard wash with some sort of permanent hair removal product!”

I watched her stifle a giggle, “I’m sorry, it’s not funny… but maybe in a few months you’ll appreciate the prank? That’s pretty epic?”

“Nothing permanent… those are the implicit rules in our prank war,” I told her.

We sat down and took part in the study session for Chemistry. It was definitely more for her than me, but I would appreciate it if I could avoid losing a point or two on a test!

The only plus to the prank was that Addy preferred to kiss me without the beard. She did at least console and reward me with a make-out session that night after our study session.

Of course, apparently, I wasn’t Chris’s only victim… He’d gotten two other people, including our RA, and found himself in hot water with the university. They were on the verge of kicking him out, but his parents managed to negotiate it down to promising he would be on his best behavior. I nearly pulled a prank to frame him - just to retaliate but hadn’t felt I had the best opportunity to do so and get away with it cleanly.

I complained to Stacy and Meg about it on the third day of finals. “Look at my face,” I whined a bit.

Meg nodded, “Buy some bigger lifts and be careful what you wear?”

Stacy looked confused, “So what’s so bad? He’s tall enough, right?”

I shook my head, I would sometimes forget that she wasn’t from the dimension, but comments like that would remind me. “They mostly leave us Mids alone, but if you look cute enough, it can still be a trip to a daycare or preschool… I think I’ve grown another couple of inches this semester. Still, even if I miraculously reach seven feet before I stop growing, I could easily be smaller than a four-year-old Big.”

Meg nodded her agreement, “I’ve seen it… it’s not as common since it’s not like the newborn size you are, Stace, but it’s close enough for some crazy Amazon mothers.”

Two days later, on the day of my last final, I walked out to the main part of campus and saw that all six of the big fountains between my dorm and my class that had been turned off for the winter had somehow turned back on. It was a warm day, so they weren’t freezing, but they were all a big puff of bubbles!

This was another one of those pranks I felt was pretty much too far with as much clean-up and potential damage as I knew it could do. After the other day, I couldn’t help but wonder if Chris wasn’t involved in it.

Sure enough, when I made it out of my last final that day, I passed him speaking with university police officers. Twenty-four hours later, his roommate found out he would have a single for the next semester as he was being booted from the university. It was one prank too many when they found him on the security cameras leaving the dorm with a large backpack and followed him to each of the fountains.

A part of me was just disappointed that I couldn’t return the prank on him.
 
 

Chapter 7: Pyrrhic Victories
 

MY FINALS ENDED, and I went home to wait for my test scores to be posted online. Addy had driven away a couple hours before Dad had picked me up. Addy and I had ensured that we had a good sendoff for each other before we said goodbye. Fortunately for us, it was only goodbye until two days before Christmas, when she would come to pick me up to go to a company party her parents were hosting. Given my stature and lack of facial hair now, I had gotten her promise that she’d stay with me the whole time except in the bathrooms! I was quite nervous about finally meeting her parents!

I had just finished setting my stuff down in my old bedroom, which hadn’t changed at all in my absence, and walked down to find Dad sitting at the table drinking some coffee. “It’s good to have you home, Cameron,” he told me.

“Thanks, Dad,” I told him. “It’s good to be here… It’s kind of weird now.”

“Yeah, I remember coming back from college and feeling the same. I don’t mind you going out and doing things if you want, but make sure you let me know where you’re at?”

“Sure,” I told him.

“There’s one…” he sighed, “There’s one place you might want to go, and you might not.”

“Where?”

“Beth’s at her parent’s house.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” I asked. “I have to go see her!”

“I figured, but… Cameron…” he couldn’t finish the story before I was already out the door and walking the few doors down to where she lived.

I rang the doorbell, and Beth’s tall dad answered.

“Umm… Hi Mr. Fehler, umm…”

“Cameron, it’s good to see you,” he told me sadly, “Come in.”

I walked in and immediately knew that things were not good for Beth.

Their kitchen now featured a Little’s high chair - complete with all the restraining straps that were never on a baby’s. I felt my stomach drop at the thought of her being strapped in, unable to move her hands, feet… or head if he used that one… To my right, I looked in the living room and saw all the signs of a baby living there. A playpen, a swing, a walker, soft toys, and… well, it really looked like a baby, at most a year old, lived there now.

Unfortunately, I knew it wasn’t a real baby; it was instead one of my best friends.

I looked up at him, “I’ll let you see her… but we have to talk first, Cameron,” he told me. “I know she would want to see you.”

I followed him to a pair of armchairs in his living room. I climbed onto the tall chair and noticed a star-shaped baby’s rattle wedged in the cushion. I ignored it and looked at him.

“Cameron, first of all, I want you to know that Beth considered you her best friend… and maybe more than that growing up. Her mother and I always hoped the two of you would get together and get married someday… you were good for each other,” the tall man told me.

“I know,” I told him. “I don’t know that I realized it, though, until Beth came to say goodbye to me?”

“I think she figured it was probably a true goodbye Cameron. And, in a way, it probably was.”

There was a sadness in his voice that spoke of him being brokenhearted about whatever had happened next. “My dad said you were trying to re-adopt her… obviously that worked?”

“I knew when Beth went to college that there was a good chance that she would end up demeriting out and getting adopted. Honestly, when you have a Little as a child… well, you have to accept that’s probably their future. It’s not fair, it’s not right… but it’s the way the world tends to work. Most Littles come from parents of the same height, so there’s really no chance they can interfere. When she told me she was going to student services, I immediately started to fight for her to return home. The problem, though, is the iron-clad student contract that a Little signs when they go to school at Emerson. As soon as you go to Emerson, if you’re under seventy-two inches tall, you must sign a power of attorney and consent form that makes the university your legal guardian. It supersedes any blood relationship… even for the child of a Big.”

My gut twisted in knots over it, “But you got her back… how?”

He sighed, “I fought with my lawyers at my side for two months, Cameron. She stayed in a special ward at the university while they were also seeking other options for her adoption. In the end, a woman who was about thirty and an alumnus of Emerson had… paid the ‘application fees’ for her adoption with a ‘donation.’ I managed to tie things up, though, to where we were brought in before a judge for mediation. It was… it was the first time I’d seen Beth...”

His voice broke, and honestly, there was no doubt that he was heartbroken, and I knew things had to be bad.

She ran to me and hugged me before they ripped her away, sat her down in a high chair, and stuffed a locking pacifier into her mouth. We both made our cases for a long while, and the judge finally said, “The university agreed that she would have a choice when she committed herself to the student placement services, correct?’”

The university’s lawyer answered in the affirmative, even as the woman was told to be quiet because she was sure she should be hers!

I sat there, wondering what had come next; I suspected it was probably the worst.

The judge considered some documents and said, “Take that gag out of the girls’ mouth.”

When the bailiff complied, the judge said, “Young Lady, make sure you understand if you can’t be at least a little bit mature and quiet right now, I’ll make this decision completely for you. The way I see it, I think you should have a choice. Still, we also have to acknowledge that you recognized you have a growing case of Maturosis, and going back and becoming your father’s big girl again isn’t in the cards now, is it?”

Beth meekly said, “No, ma’am,” and asked, “What is my choice?”

“Hmm, well, if you go with the nice lady over there, she’ll do a nice job of re-raising and supporting you the way you need, and she can start with you exactly how you are. She’ll be in charge, and you’re her baby forever.”

I watched her dad wipe a tear away.

She continued though, and said, “I’m willing to consider, though, that your daddy loves you very much – so much so that he’s gone through a lot of time and effort over this case to prove that he is by far the best person to care for you. But, again, with your case of Maturosis, you can’t be a big girl, can you?”

I couldn’t help but think that was the second time she’d said that phrase. I felt my gut twist as I saw a diaper peeking out of a package to the side of the playpen that was probably tall enough to contain me.

My little girl answered respectfully, “No, Your Honor?”

“Right then,” she’d said.

“The judge lined out that Beth could come home with me, but only if she agreed to be regressed to having no potty training, treatment so she could no longer walk, have her teeth removed and replaced with a gum implant so she could only have a liquid and pureed diet, and have a tongue procedure to reduce her diction. She insisted the procedures were necessary so neither of us would be tempted to pretend she was a big girl when she came home… At that moment, I wanted her to choose the woman with all of my might – so there was a chance she might not have all of those things done to her!”

I looked at him, “She chose her daddy, though,” I said softly.

“She chose me,” he nodded as he wiped away tears.

“She can still think and talk, though?” I asked.

He shrugged, “When she chooses to? Honestly, Cameron, it hit her hard… Her mom wasn’t here when she came home either, which didn’t help.”

“Where is she?”

He sighed, “We got a divorce, hoping it would help me regain custody without her. Many would consider her ‘Tweener mother to be a negative influence that led to her Maturosis… It’s amicable, but she can’t be here and has no visitation rights allowed per the agreement with the judge.”

I sat there stunned before finally asking, “May I please see her now?”

“Sure, she should just be waking up from her nap. Why don’t I go up and change her, then I’ll bring her down so you can talk…?”

I watched him walk up the stairs, felt my gut twist, and waited for him to bring her down. I heard an odd, high-pitched, laughing sound upstairs as if there was a giggling baby. I was glad that she was at least smiling as he brought her down and said, “Why don’t you sit with Lizzie on her blankie? I’ll give you two some privacy,” he told me as he sat her down.

I climbed off of the chair and walked over to join her. Beth was dressed in a short dress with a snapped onesie attachment. A pacifier was bobbing in her mouth. “Am…Am!” she said to me. She tried rocking forward to her hands to push herself to a standing position but fell forward. I caught her and helped her sit back as she grabbed me and hugged me.

We were both crying then. “Oh, Beth…” I said sadly. “I’m so sorry.”

She squeezed me though and pushed away, letting her pacifier drop from her mouth, “Is okay,” she told me. “Daddy bes home.”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t get her ‘t’s’ out without her teeth, but I was glad she could at least communicate still.

“You’re really okay?” I asked her.

“Yeth,” she smiled. “No wi mean wady, wi Daddy. Would be way worse!”

I nodded. “He’s being nice about it?”

“Hurs him more an me,” she told me. “Diapees no all ba…”

“Daycare?” I asked, knowing he worked.

She blushed, “I jus pren complee baby.”

I nodded, “That’s probably smart.”

I had been terrified that Beth was a mindless shell of herself, but clearly, her dad had refused to force her to regress any more than the judge had already done. ‘She was probably right in some ways…?’ I grimaced at the thought, ‘Her dad would have let her earn her panties back and freed her within a year.’

It was possible to free a little you had adopted, but the steps and paperwork were vast. There was a complete legal outline of the steps you needed to prove a Little could handle to grant them emancipation. Among those steps was that you had to demonstrate that the Little could care for themselves and function independently. With Beth unable to walk, use the potty, or even eat real food… well, she was stuck.

We talked for a bit more before I hugged her and left to go back home to have dinner with my dad. On my way out, I held my hand out to Mr. Fehler, “Thank you for saving her… I hate what the judge did to her, but at least I know you love her and will always take good care of her. You did everything you could,” I told him sincerely.

“Thank you, Cameron. She talked more to you than she has to me in the entire time she’s been home…” he told me. He looked to be nervously wrestling with something, “Look, I don’t have a problem if you come by and drop a present appropriate for under an infant off at Christmas, and maybe come say bye to her before school, but it would be a bad idea for her, and you, to come here regularly….” He nodded, and I suddenly realized an industrial security camera sat watching the living room.

I grimaced, hoping our conversation didn’t get them in trouble, but said, “Yes, sir, I’ll respect your wishes.” I sighed, feeling vomit as I said, “I know she’s not my adult friend anymore...”

He squeezed my hand again, and I headed back home to my house, deep in thought. ‘The damn judge ordered them monitored too?’

I walked through the door and saw Dad putting something back in the oven. “Cam?” He asked.

“Yeah, Dad, I’m back.”

“You… okay?” he turned towards me.

I sighed, “I guess. What the judge did to her…?”

“Sucks,” he said.

“Yeah… I mean, at least Beth’s with her dad, who won’t treat her like some doll to find new ways to torment. But it’s all bullshit!”

He nodded, “I can’t tell you how grateful I was when you grew that bit before you graduated. By now, that probably would have been your fate too…”

I nodded. “Yeah, two stupid inches is all that separates us.”

“Well… more than that now…”

I looked up at him, “Huh?”

“Have you actually measured yourself this semester? They say guys may not finish growing until they’re twenty. Clearly, that’s true with you.”

“No?”

“Look, dinner needs a few more minutes in the oven; why don’t we put another mark on the wall?”

I curiously followed him up to the wall we had started when I was a baby, and we moved into the house. The first mark was ’14 months’, and we’d marked where I was at least a few times each year. There were a lot of shorter lines! I removed my shoes, stood against the wall, and let him lean down and mark where my head reached. I couldn’t help but notice that distance wasn’t the same as in the spring. He had a tape measure and ran it from the bottom up.

“Seventy-seven inches,” he said; you’re almost six-and-a-half feet tall!”

“I hadn’t even noticed I’d grown…?”

“I did. Can’t you see your pants are shorter?”

“Well, we bought them long… so no… I hadn’t paid attention.”

“How about tomorrow we go buy some new pants for you? And didn’t you say this Addy was picking you up to go to a party in a week or so? Probably need a new suit too?”

I nodded, “Sounds great, Dad,” I told him.

I was genuinely smiling about the fact that I was now further over the safety line in height. No one would be able to just ‘adopt’ me off of the street now. Everything for someone like me had to go through the courts unless something like ending up in Wenig Hall with the university forced me to sign away my rights.

Dad walked off to pull dinner out, and I examined the wall again. After age seven, another set of initials had an occasional mark. I couldn’t help but run my fingers over the B.F. initials from last year. Beth had been at my house and seen it was still there, insisting on another set of marks for both of us... Thanks to the bitch of a judge, she would never again stand tall like that on her own.

“This sucks!”
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 8 and 9 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 8: Plus One
 

I HAD A total of six weeks off for my holiday break, and I began my first full day at home by just enjoying sleeping in! Just before lunch, Dad knocked on my door and got me out to go shopping with him at the local mall. I found several pairs of new jeans and some shirts at a large chain store before heading to a shop that specialized in Mid and Little dress apparel. Since I was probably really about done growing, Dad paid for a nicer suit and had it altered to fit me perfectly. The tailor pointed out there were three inches of extra material in the legs he could let out down the road if I needed it, though.

We’d also found a couple of new dress shirts and ties to go with it for when I needed to dress up around Addy. As much as I knew it set Dad back a bit, he encouraged my relationship with her and knew I would need some nicer clothes to date her. We found some cool new shoes while we were out as well.

I hated being in my hometown at that point, though! Since I had been short of the mark until the last month of school, almost all of my friends growing up had been Littles. Unfortunately, whenever we went inside a store, I would see another friend being pushed in a stroller, pulled along with a cutesy monkey backpack leash, or held in an infant carrier on some Big woman’s chest.

Most of them looked miserable and embarrassed to see me. The worst was when a Big from my graduating class, Kristin, saw me and said, “Cameron! Wow, what a big boy you’ve become!”

She was a bitch in high school, and I would have just ignored her, but she deliberately came over to us pushing a stroller. I felt sick to my stomach as I figured it contained another of my best friends, Tyler. He wasn’t dressed as a ‘he,’ though. Instead, it took me way too long to recognize him with the pigtails and short dress proudly displaying a yellowed diaper. One of those stupid locking pacifiers was stuffed in his mouth with drool dripping on one side down his face onto a waiting bandana bib. I saw scars on his legs that told me he was at least as bad off as Beth.

“Hi, Kristin…” I said politely and looked down at Tyler, “Hi, Ty.”

“Oh, it’s not Tyler anymore; it’s Trinity! When I adopted him, Tyler just didn’t work anymore with her new apparel. We had everything fixed up for her to be a good girl last week!”

He looked miserable, “Oh… well...” I stammered, and then something snapped, “I’m sorry, Tyler, that you got stuck with this bitch. I can’t do anything for you right now,” I looked up at her, “but I hope she gets her due in time somehow.”

She went to grab my arm, but my dad was beside me and said, “Miss, we’re not Littles, and if you don’t behave yourself and walk away, we’ll have to call the police.”

“Watch yourself, brat,” she said to me.

Dad and I walked away from her, “Cam, you can’t go off like that….”

“Sorry, I…”

“I know… stupid Amazons…” he said to me.

“Yeah,” I said.

I spent the next week pretty much only hanging out at home, playing video games since I had no desire to run into more former classmates. During that time, I received my final grades for the semester. I was extremely proud to have ended up with nothing less than a ninety-eight in any of my classes! I began my college years with an email congratulating me on my Dean’s High Honors List award for the semester.

I also spent time texting Meg, Laura, and Stacy about what they were up to. Stacy obviously wasn’t going home for the holidays but mentioned working on a big project. Ever since she had saved her ‘sister’ and herself from that insanity by being kidnapped, she’d been pretty driven to work on something. She had asked me some random technical chemistry questions a few times because she knew I was good at it.

Meg and Laura ended up at home with their parents, and Meg mentioned it was a relief to escape the diapers and their horrible Nest Mothers. Meg had been having more and more problems with making it to the bathroom, so she said she was doing her own potty-training boot camp while she was at home. Laura didn’t mention anything about potty training, so I figured she was probably still going through training pants fairly regularly…

A week before Christmas, I was dressed up in my new suit, pressed red shirt, matching tie, and dress shoes that gave me a three-inch lift concealed cleverly by the polished black shoes. When Dad and I saw the quality and cleverness in how well-camouflaged the lifts were, we both got a pair!

When Addy arrived in her awesome car, I could see a couple neighbors staring as I greeted her. I noticed she hadn’t worn heels – I guessed it was an attempt to not be any taller than me than she already was. She was dressed in a stunning red dress that closely matched my shirt. She gave me a hug and a quick kiss on the lips before I said, “Come in and meet my dad really quick?”

“I’d love to!” She said to me.

I led her to the front door and held it open while she ducked and walked inside. Our house was sized for Bigs for my mom but was older, and the door frames were shorter than the newer standards. The ceiling in the living room was thankfully tall enough for her to stand comfortably, and I introduced her to my dad.

“Dad, this is Addison Harris,” I smiled, “Addison, this is my dad, Roger Sylvester.”

My dad held his hand to her, “Please call me Roger; it’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”

She smiled down at him, “Same for me!”

We made some small talk for a couple minutes before Dad embarrassed me, “Any chance I can get a picture of the two of you?”

“Dad…” I hissed.

Addy just laughed, “Sure, Mr. Sylvester.”

We sat on the couch where I sat beside her, and she put her arm around me. I turned the glare into a smile before pulling Addy’s hand, “Let’s go before my dad decides to do anything else!”

She laughed, “I’ll have him back before midnight.”

“Have fun,” Dad said.

“Ugh…” I complained when she began backing out.

She laughed, “I thought it was cute. Your dad just wanted to have a memory of us together. Nothing wrong with that.”

I rolled my eyes but said, “I guess.”

As we passed Beth’s house, I saw her being carried in just a onesie and a diaper back inside the house from their car by her dad. It looked like she was asleep as she sucked on a pacifier. I’d caught a couple other glances of her, but per her dad’s wishes, avoided going to their house. I’d ordered a more advanced shape sorting toy for her that was made for Littles… and listed as appropriate for twelve months plus. I hoped he’d be okay with her having something more complex to stimulate her brain. Of course, the pieces would still be too big to fit in her mouth per safety guidelines.

“Who was that?” Addy asked, being way too perceptive.

“You remember my friend Beth?”

She nodded, “She was the one you were really close to, right?”

“Yeah… she was close to demeriting out and gave herself up to Student Services instead. Her dad fought to be able to readopt him himself.”

“Well, at least she’s with her own daddy?”

I shook my head, “Yeah, but for her to go home with her dad, the judge ordered a bunch of ‘treatments’ done to her to help ensure he properly cares for her and to prevent him from letting her grow up ever again.”

“Oh…”

“I went and saw her the day I got back. She’s still in there… but...”

“But I can see why that would be hard,” she said and reached a hand over to squeeze my shoulder.

We drove silently before she said, “Look, I need to warn you about my parents’ company…?”

“That they cater to studying products to be used on adopted Littles?” I said, looking at her.

“Well, I’m not surprised you know that… Yeah, our company tests products for everyone to be used with Littles. I’m… I’m personally not proud of it. I definitely hate some of the things that are done to Littles by them. And… I know you are short enough that you’ve been through some of it, I’d guess, growing up. I didn’t want you walking in there without at least a warning. My parents will not approve of us dating, and I’m sure my mom will especially try and get you riled up a bit.”

I looked up at her, “Then why’d you invite me?”

“Because I’m dating you, I love you, and I couldn’t give a damn about them.” She smiled as she said that.

“Thanks,” I told her. “I don’t understand why, but thank you.”

We drove for a while before coming to the nicest hotel in the city. It cost a fortune to stay there a single night, and I knew they had a large ballroom where most of the city’s biggest formal events were held inside. She pulled up to a red-carpeted entrance, and both of our doors were opened by valet attendants. The man who opened my door gave me a shocked look before saying, “Welcome,” to me.

Addy approached my side of the car and said, “Well, shall we?”

“Sure,” I told her.

I was glad she didn’t want me to hold her hand since that would have meant awkwardly reaching up like a toddler. Walking beside her, I would have the best chance of appearing as a partner… rather than… yeah.

We walked through the entranceway and down the hallway to the ballroom, where someone stood checking invitations. “Oh, good evening Ms. Harris! It’s so good to see you!”

“It’s nice to see you too,” she greeted the young woman at the door. “My father’s treating you well?”

“It’s great being his assistant,” she told her with what I felt was genuine enthusiasm. She looked down at her sheet, “This said there’s a plus one?”

“Hi,” I told her.

She looked down at me in surprise and instantly knelt down. “Addy, why didn’t you tell me you adopted!!! He’s adorable!”

Addy, to my annoyance, laughed but swatted her hands away. “He’s not my Little; he’s my boyfriend.”

“Whaa???” She did this weird fish-staring thing going back and forth between us. “Does your father know…?”

I looked up at Addy, curious for that answer myself, “He will soon, won’t he…?” She smiled.

“Umm… well… good luck?” she told her.

“Come on, Cameron, let’s get meeting my parents out of the way.”

We walked together into the room, and I saw a very tall woman and a man standing near the entrance greeting guests. It was quite the resemblance from Addy to her mom, but I had already memorized their pictures from online articles. Mrs. Harris was by far the tallest of the giants in the room! It was like she had been born to be a CEO with the very presence her confident body language gave off in a stunning sparkly silver dress. Her hair was a vivid red that Addy had already said was from a salon treatment. Her eyes fell on Addy, and she began making her way over to us, pulling along her husband.

Mr. Harris was a little shorter than Addy and still one of the tallest giants in the room! He was balding from what I could see, while the sides of his hair had turned a very respectable gray. As they approached, I saw her mom looking for her plus one before settling her eyes on me.

“Plus one? Addison, you know Littles must be dropped off at the daycare?”

Addy put her hand on my shoulder to reassure me. “He’s not a Little, Mom; this is Cameron, my boyfriend.”

“You’re wha?!?” her mom turned a vicious shade of red on her face, and it was clear she was not a happy person.

“Pleased to meet you; I’m Ryan Harris, Addy’s dad,” he spoke over and leaned over to shake my hand. “Normally, it’s good practice to meet the boyfriend before you declare him as such?” Her dad said to Addy with a smirk in his voice. He apparently wasn’t too bothered by it.

On the other hand, her mom said, “Addison, this is not acceptable!” Addy’s mom told her in that whispered voice every mother has that lets you know you’re about to get your butt blistered as a child.

“Mom, he’s not a Little. He is, in fact, a Mid and the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. You liked my grades, right?” Her mom continued glaring, “He’s the reason I did so well this semester. He’s brilliant!”

“Aubry, please, we can talk about this later. Your outrage will bring more stares than they’re being a couple…?”

She looked around, and it brought my eyes around to see he was correct. “You’re right, dear,” she told him. “Addison Elizabeth Harris, we will be discussing this at home tonight!” she told her in a low voice and then turned to walk to the other side of the room, dragging her husband in tow.

“Well, that went well, sis!” I looked up and saw a much shorter copy of Addy but with blonde hair. “Hi, I’m Danica,” she told me with a smile, bending down to shake my hand. She touched my nose lightly, “He’s a cutie Addy,” she told her.

“Thanks…” I found myself saying, along with Addy, while rolling my eyes.

“So why don’t we go find a quiet corner so that you two can tell your baby sis all about you dating? This sounds juicy enough to make Mom forget about the detention I got last week!”

“What did you do?” Addy asked as we followed her sister across the room.

“Carly, I think I’ve told you about her… she was being a total witch to that Little girl Jilly who’s in our grade about an accident she had. I saw Carly drop something in her drink when she wasn’t looking…?”

“So, what did you do?”

“I might have borrowed some of the experimental potty-b-gone powder from the lab…?”

“You didn’t?” Addy said with a smile.

“Of course, I didn’t… I would never do anything like that. I’m Mommy’s little angel…” she smiled, but it faltered, “well, I was until Matty came along.”

“Trust me, you’re still the angel,” she told her. “So, what happened to Carly?”

“Well, let’s just say that she went to see the principal and received a new uniform for school.”

“How’d you get busted?” I found myself asking. I could appreciate a giant who wanted to help instead of joining in on the fun.

“I didn’t technically, but they think I did it. Since they can’t prove I did it, I’ve just got detention for a month.” She squirmed, “If they could have proved it, the principal said they would have enforced the same uniform on me.”

“Worth the consequences?” Addy asked.

“For her, yes! She had it coming!” We had come to a tall table with three chairs away from everyone at the edge of the ballroom. “Why don’t we all sit down, though? My big sis hasn’t told me you’re a Mid. All she told me was that she fell in love with the most gorgeous guy who’s really smart…?”

We were there for about a half-hour talking with her sister. Addy explained to both of us she figured if the explosion was going to happen, it was better to just get it out of the way in public rather than her mom trying to cover it up. I was a little annoyed, but at the same time could completely understand. I was half her size… I knew it would look awkward to the Bigs… and I knew it looked uncomfortable to the Littles, some of whom, like Beth, were not that much smaller than me.

Eventually, an announcement was made that dinner would be served, and we went to sit down with her parents. Another couple was introduced as Desiree Fields and her husband, Trent Fields. Both were Bigs, but Desiree was only about ten feet tall, and her husband Trent was just nine feet tall. I was more than slightly surprised that there would be someone else so short at the family table. Still, it turned out Desiree was Mrs. Harris’s personal assistant. Obviously, she felt an obligation to her at this party to be a good host and thank her.

We were seated at a circular table with Mr. and Mrs. Harris sitting together, with Desiree at Mrs. Harris’s side. Her husband, then me, Addy, and Danica wrapped it back around. A small discrete cushion had been found by the wait staff, who helped prop me up to where I could put my hands comfortably on the table with my seat scooted in by one of them. The seating arrangements guaranteed that Addy’s mom looked straight at Addy and me the whole time!

“Well… Cameron, is it?” she asked; when I nodded, she continued, “What is it you hope to do with your life for a career? Your short stature will surely limit your possibilities?”

I shrugged, “I’m currently a chemistry major, Ma’am. My plan is to apply to law school, though, once I complete my degree.”

“My, that’s ambitious. If you want to be pre-law, why not poly sci or economics for your major?”

It took a great deal of effort, but I smiled despite her withering look, “Those are the traditional routes, but I don’t want to just be any attorney – I want to focus on patent law or industrial trade law, I think. Having a degree in chemistry means I can understand all of the science behind the lawsuits without having to call a separate expert all of the time. My grandfather suggested it would also stand out more when I apply to law school.”

“Interesting,” she said. “How do you think your short stature will affect you in court?”

“I’m not a Little, so it shouldn’t affect me. Even then, there are Little attorneys. Emerson has Professor Marshall, for instance.”

“Doesn’t he wear diapers, though?”

I shrugged, “From what I understand, he was kidnapped years ago and, due to his mistreatment, never could fully potty train again.”

“And just when was the last time you wore a diaper, young man?” she asked pointedly.

“Mother!” Addy and Danica hissed in stereo. I watched her husband put his hand on her arm, but she swiped it away.

“Honestly, ma’am, it was when I was thirteen, and every kid under seventy-two inches in the school got stuck in diapers for six weeks because a Big decided to spike the food for our lunch with something that made us all lose control – even some larger Bigs ended up diapered though after that. I was lucky that I must have gotten a small dose because I was fine within a couple weeks. Another friend of mine…” I couldn’t help but picture Tyler, “had about six months of hard work to get over it. Most of our classmates did, but a few never regained control,” I told her honestly.

I paused and debated but decided, ‘What the hell?’ “Look, Mrs. Harris, I know that Addy and my relationship isn’t one you would traditionally see. My mother was ten-feet-tall though, and my dad is only eight-feet, so I grew up without that difference seeming like a huge deal. I know Addison is twice my height, and I know that I look a lot like I could be a Little at first glance. I am legally five inches past that designation, though, and I love your daughter. Addy’s smart, kind, beautiful, and she’s… she’s crazy enough to like me for who I am. I don’t know how to bring you around, but I promise I love your daughter. As long as we are together, we will be partners in helping each other out.”

She glared at me enough that I feared she would give into her Big instincts, stand up, pick me up, pull my pants down, spank me until I had an accident, and then be off to diapers for the rest of my life. Something in her façade cracked, though, and I soon saw something of a grin or a grimace. “Well, I don’t approve, but I do admire your chutzpah. Don’t hurt my daughter,” she warned me. Then added, “And keep in mind if you do ever make it far enough that a marriage is in the cards, there will be a prenup!”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, ma’am,” I told her with a smile.

She gave me another withering glare, but food began arriving, and everyone became distracted. It was a delicious meal, in all honesty! At one point, her mother walked to a podium to speak, and Addy leaned over, “I’m both sure that you’re insane and proud of you for standing up to my mother like that.”

I smiled and enjoyed the short kiss she leaned over and gave me. Her mother thankfully didn’t see that, but her dad did and clearly wasn’t sure how he felt about it. The evening never really got away from… awkward. There was some dancing after dinner, but it felt like I was a little kid dancing with an adult during slow songs, so we only danced to fast ones. I hated being considered ‘cute’ and had too many of those comments throughout the night. In the end, I decided her dad was okay, her baby sister was pretty cool, and her mom… well, she was the CEO of a huge company that made it their business helping to exploit Littles… and it showed!

When she dropped me off at my house later that night, she said, “You know, Cameron, it is unusual for us to be together, but I love you for you so much I don’t care about your size.”

“As I love you,” I told her.

We kissed on my front porch for a long while before she said, “I’d invite you to our New Year’s party at my house, but I think we should let my mom slowly get used to the idea of us dating rather than immediately antagonizing her again.”

I laughed, “That’s fine; I think I need to find some stilts to dance better with you!”

She smirked, “I could just hold you while we’re dancing slow songs.”

“I don’t mind the idea of being held by you,” I told her honestly, “but I think that would be a sign of weakness around your mom.”

She sighed, “Yes, you’re right.”

“I’ll see you in a few weeks,” I told her with a smile and a hug.

“See you then,” she told me.

I watched her drive off like the crazy girl she was in her sports car before I walked back inside my house. Dad had stayed up and wanted a recap. We drained a pot of coffee talking together that night before finally heading to bed.
 
 

Chapter 9: Bells
 

ON CHRISTMAS EVE, my mom’s parents were supposed to arrive to stay with us for the holiday. Mom had been the second youngest of their four kids. When she died, it became a tradition for them to come and stay with us at Christmas and celebrate while looking after us on that tough holiday. At times it had been with my aunt and uncles coming with my cousins too. Still, this year they were all away on opposite sides of the country with new grandkids for the older two and a job my youngest uncle couldn’t leave that year.

I always had mixed feelings when they arrived! I loved them both, but Grandma Suzy had never seen me as amounting to anything other than her adorable baby grandson, who would never grow up. Just last year, we’d gone out as a family for dinner, and they’d insisted on driving. Grandma had opened the back door and insisted that I ride in a rear-facing car seat she installed! Presents of babyish clothes, stuffed animals, and even a stroller one year when I was thirteen made me dread her visits. Grandma was even taller than Mom had been, being about eleven-and-a-half feet tall, and she was what I would call a ‘typical Amazon.’ If it weren’t for Dad doing well in his career, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see her adopting both of us after Mom died. Any time she visited, which fortunately was mainly only at Christmas, I could depend on being picked up as soon as she walked in the door and carried around like a doll for most of her visit.

Grandpa Frank was a few inches over ten feet tall but a lot more reasonable about my size. He would always try and run interference for me, and I did my best to stay closer to him so she wouldn’t feel the need to constantly hold me. He was pretty good about saying, “Now Suzy, Cameron isn’t a baby or a Little…?”

Last year she argued that I was eighteen and still hadn’t passed the six-foot mark, so I was a Little. That afternoon we’d been shopping, and Dad had to talk her down from buying me at least some Pull-Ups to protect the rental car!

Strangely, despite that, I couldn’t help but love them, so I didn’t tell Grandma to just get lost. There had always been something about when she held me that made me feel safe… and honestly really reminded me of my mom, who I still missed! I had seen pictures of Mom when she was younger and compared them with Grandma; besides her darker hair, Mom had been like a miniature version of Grandma. She even had the same eyes that I remembered my mom had.

Dad had always insisted on the house being absolutely spotless before they came, so we’d spent a week deep-cleaning every room. I’d tossed many old clothes and childhood toys from my room on our run to the dump this past week. It had driven me crazy as a young kid when Dad went psycho for the pre-visit cleaning! As I got older, though, I realized that as a Mid himself, he was worried Grandma would make a case that he wasn’t mature enough to take care of me – or himself – and force me… or both of us to go with her so she could properly ‘take care of us.’

Fortunately for both of us, that had never happened, but I understood his caution more in the last couple of years!

It was afternoon, and they had called to say they were just boarding the plane to come. “Dad, I’m going to run Beth’s present over to her house!”

He looked up from the plate he was washing in the sink. “You sure that’s a good idea? I mean, I know you bought something that should be considered appropriate...”

I looked at him and said, “I have to at least tell her Merry Christmas, Dad…?”

“You sure it’s Addison that you’re in love with?”

“Dad…” I sighed, “If Beth had crossed the finish line… Yeah, I probably would have wanted to go out with her at some point. But she’s always been my best friend more than anything else. It really hurt when she disappeared. I understand her dad is worried about being watched, but I’m just being a good friend and bringing a present for the baby?”

He turned and hugged me, “I’m sorry, Cam, I hate that this world is like this. Go take care of that, but don’t overstay your welcome. I need you back in an hour at the most.”

“Sure,” I told him, grabbing my coat to walk to her house. A couple of inches of snow had fallen two days ago, but it mostly melted. You could see little piles in the shadows, though, and the icicles dripping water from Beth’s house were probably as doomed as she had been in life. I rang the doorbell and waited a minute.

Beth’s dad held her on his hip, “Oh, hi, Cameron.”

“Hi, Mr. Fehler. You had mentioned it would be okay to give a gift to Beth for Christmas?”

He bounced her up and down, and it was then that I noticed she was wearing only a pink sweatshirt with a unicorn on it and a spotless diaper that must have just been changed. The sweatshirt looked like it had gone ten rounds with a couple of different colored baby food jars.

“Come on in, Cameron. Beth, can you say ‘Hi’ to Cameron?”

She blushed and leaned into her dad oddly, almost uncoordinatedly. “Hi Am,” she still couldn’t seem to get a ‘C’ sound out of her mouth. I remembered he said they had done something else to her tongue while working on her teeth…

“Hi Beth,” I told her, “Merry Christmas!” I said as Mr. Fehler sat her down on the ground sitting up. She plopped forward and managed to crawl over to me. I reached down and gave her a hug, sat down, and pulled her onto my lap. With my growth spurt, I had a head’s height on her and put my chin on her head.

“Erry Ismas,” she said to me.

“How has your break been?” Her dad asked me as he gave me a head nod towards the camera. I took that as a warning that I needed to be careful.

“It’s been good; my grandparents are coming here shortly, so I thought I would just drop off Beth’s present.”

“You had a good sense of timing; I just finished feeding Lizzie her nummy lunch.” He sighed, “Of course, she didn’t seem to appreciate it,” he motioned to her front.

I looked at the kitchen table and saw a jar of peas, another of carrots, and some mac and cheese concoction sitting with their lids on but a little still in each. I felt my stomach tie itself in knots as I considered being forced to eat baby food for the rest of my life like she was.

“I can see that,” I told him. “Beth has always been a bit of a messy eater, though, hasn’t she?” I tickled her side for the cameras and was rewarded with giggling. I hugged her again.

“Well, she needs to get her nap in now,” he said.

“No, Ap!” She told her dad with a whine.

“How about Cameron feeds you your bottle?” he suggested diplomatically.

She looked up at me with eyes that clearly didn’t know what she wanted to do. I could see the embarrassment by the red of her cheeks, but there was a look of longing too that I felt was asking me to. “Pease?” she asked me quietly.

“Sure,” I told him.

A few moments later, he handed me the bottle and picked her up, and I followed them upstairs to her room… ‘Not room…’ I admitted, ‘Nursery.’

I looked down at the baby bottle in my hands and felt like I was holding a grenade. It wasn’t the kind we had when Beth and I were babies; this was for a Bigs toddler. It was like a liter bottle of Coke. The nipple was large and would fill my mouth quite easily. I blushed at holding it but knew I had to be ‘Big’ in my behavior and not consider it a big deal.

The door had her babyish name of ‘Lizzie,’ which she hated as a teenager, in carved baby blocks. The nursery was covered in unicorns, which was actually not that different from when she’d been a teenager. She’d always been obsessed with collecting glass unicorns, but there were only plushy ones now.

“Why don’t you sit in the rocking chair, and I’ll hand her to you?”

I climbed up. Beth wasn’t much smaller than me, but she was skinnier and two-thirds my weight before everything happened. I suspected she was a little heavier now from the ‘healthy’ diet she was being fed. He draped her over my lap, and I used the arms of the chair to help support her. I looked at her beautiful face that opened and showed me the smile with no teeth remaining. It was like a horror movie knowing the depression and everything she must be going through. I hesitated as I brought the bottle to her mouth but pushed the nipple inside and held it for her. She placed her hands on top of mine and sucked what I assumed was formula from the bottle. We looked into each other’s eyes while she nursed it, and I watched liquid and bubbles travel through the bottle. Mr. Fehler disappeared for a few minutes, and she pushed the bottle away.

“Am you no ome ba, dan” she struggled, “danjuh.”

“Beth…” I complained.

“No, no mo,” She said, pulling the bottle back into her mouth. Tears ran down her face as she drank, and I felt her diaper warm on my leg.

When the bottle was empty, her dad reappeared, picked her up, burped her gently, and then placed her sleepily into the crib after checking her diaper. He nodded for me to follow him. He walked with me outside, “Cameron, you really can’t come back here… She’s got a case worker that reviews the video. She saw you in the film the other day, and I have a feeling that if you reappear too many more times, she will declare you... to need help too.”

I sighed, “I guess that doesn’t surprise me, sir. Look, take care of her please… but if you ever get a chance to undo…?”

“Believe me, I know Cameron… I never wanted anything but for her to grow up and have a happy life.”

I sighed, “Thank you… as bad as everything is for her, at least she’s loved. Maybe I can swing by for Christmas again if you’re still living here next year?”

He nodded, “The heat might be off by then,” he told me as he held out his hand.

I shook it and walked back home in a fouler mood than I had hoped I’d be in. I barely acknowledged Dad’s greeting as I walked back upstairs to my room and sat at my computer. My phone dinged, and I saw a message from Addy. I ended up chatting with her via video for a half-hour before Dad said, “Cam, your grandparents are leaving the airport now.”

“Thanks,” I told him, looking back at Addy on the screen.

“Cam?” she asked with a smile.

I blushed, “It was his nickname for me growing up.”

“Hmm… Okay, Cam, sounds like you need to go,” she smiled.

I groaned, sticking my tongue out. “You’re right. Love you; I’ll talk to you tomorrow sometime.”

“See you then,” she told me with a smile. “Love you too!”

I cut the connection and walked downstairs to the living room. Dad and I sat for fifteen minutes before a large SUV pulled behind his car. I took a deep breath before stepping outside to greet my grandparents. Grandma was the first out of the car and greeted Dad first since he was in front. “Roger, it’s good to see you!” She wrapped him in a tight hug straight into her breasts.

“You too, Suzy,” he said awkwardly.

I looked up at her as she walked towards me, “And who are you? You can’t be my little Cameron? Your dad said you had shot up a few inches, and he wasn’t kidding!” She picked me up like I was still a toddler and hugged me tight before kissing me on my forehead. “It’s so good to see you, Cameron,” she told me.

“You too, Grandma,” I told her. I hoped I was getting heavy enough that she wouldn’t carry me inside, but a few inches just weren’t enough for that. My head still only came up to the belt that held her slacks up, and she could easily carry me just like I was a little kid.

After everything that day, I wasn’t overly fond of this arrangement, “Grandma, why don’t you put me down so I can help Grandpa with your luggage?”

“Hmm… I guess you are getting to be a big boy after all, aren’t you?” She kissed me on my nose and did place me down on my feet.

I returned to where he was unloading the suitcases and was enveloped in a hug from him. “It’s good to see you, Grandpa,” I told him with a smile.

“You too, Cameron,” he said and squeezed me tight. “You really have done some growing up this year, haven’t you?”

I shrugged, “Almost six-and-half feet tall now, not that big compared to you and Grandma.”

“No, but I was worried you’d never cross the Little line,” he said with a smile.

I grimaced, “I was too.” They had three large suitcases at my chin height, standing on their wheels. Besides them, there were several carry-on bags of a more reasonable size. Grandpa said, “Why don’t you grab those? I’ll grab these two, your dad can grab that one, and your Grandma can grab her makeup bag there…”

I nodded and pulled the two smaller suitcases up the porch and into the house. It was a bit more daunting to carry them up the stairs to our guest bedroom, but I managed to just do it, even though I was nearly sweating and dropping them by the time I reached the top. Meanwhile, Grandpa and Dad carried the other ones like they were nothing!

I let them unpack and walked to my room to grab my tablet. I looked around my room for a moment before going downstairs to sit on the living room couch. I had a novel I’d started reading the day before. I figured I’d wait for them to finish unpacking before we had the dinner that Dad had started working on earlier.

It wasn’t long before Grandma was back down and sat on the couch beside me. Given that it was a couch meant for a Big, she had no problems sitting on it. I was just getting ready to finish a chapter, so I was a bit annoyed when she reached over and picked me up to put me on her lap sideways so she could see me.

“So, how’s my big college boy been? Have you been good or been partying all the time?”

I sighed, “Grandma, I’ve always been a good kid. I haven’t been to one party this year… well, unless you count my girlfriend’s parents’ company’s Christmas party last week.”

“Girlfriend? That Beth girl you always hung around? She lives just down the street, doesn’t she?”

I grimaced, “No… Beth’s always been just a friend. My girlfriend’s name is Addison.”

Grandpa came in right then, “Go you! Do we get to meet her?”

I shrugged, “She said she might run over here tomorrow if she can get away from her parents. From what she said, her mom pretty much only cares about the new Little they adopted.”

“Little? Her parents are big?”

I laughed, “Grandma, her parents make you look short.”

“And just how tall is this girlfriend?” Grandpa asked.

“Here, I have a picture of the two of them,” Dad said, coming in with his larger tablet. He showed them the pictures from the other night.

“She’s beautiful!” Grandma said, “But isn’t she too tall for you, Cameron? Is that a good idea? Or… are you looking for a mommy?”

I looked up at her, “She is my girlfriend, not my mommy. I admit it’s unusual, but it worked for Mom and Dad, and we love each other enough that size doesn’t matter.”

“Well, she is gorgeous,” Grandma admitted, “and she did have a very handsome date,” she said, squeezing me tight.

“How are your grades?” Grandpa asked me; I could tell he was changing the subject.

“My lowest grade was a ninety-eight,” I told him. “I made the Dean’s High Honor List.”

“Good job!” He said, “So the dating isn’t dragging down your grades?”

I laughed, “The grades are what led to the dating.”

Before I could get dragged into anything more conversation-wise, a timer went off in the kitchen, and we soon ate dinner. Dad and I had to deal with a way too helpful Grandma at times, but she mostly behaved until it was time to go to bed.

She was someone who would never break with tradition, so she gave me a present to open on Christmas Eve. My mom had done it before she passed away, and Grandma had taken up the torch when she was gone. I knew it would be something with pajamas that would make me feel embarrassed, but even then, I felt obligated to open it for my mom’s sake. I tore off the red wrapping paper with green cartoon Christmas trees. Inside I saw there was a plaid-colored bundle of cloth. It was in a surprisingly boring shade of red and black pattern. I pulled it out and opened it, seeing it was a one-piece footed pajama set. Until you made it to the feet, they were actually something I could see a college kid wearing around the dorm.

The reindeer feet, though, kind of took that away. They had red noses and little antler pieces sticking out above each foot. I noticed, too, that there were bells on them that made a little bit of noise even as I held them. They were sure to jingle every time I took a step!

“Umm… thanks, Grandma,” I told her.

“Keep looking inside there,” she told me.

I looked over to the side and saw a container of some hot chocolate meant for Littles and a copy of an old Christmas cartoon that aired yearly on an old disc. We had a player, but Dad and I rarely used it since everything could be downloaded or streamed.

I sighed but said, “Thank you, Grandma; I appreciate it.”

She picked me up and hugged me before setting me down and jokingly giving me a swat on my butt. “Go put them on; I want to see you wearing them. Then we can have some of that hot chocolate and go to bed.”

I looked suspiciously at the hot chocolate and noticed that it was endorsed by SafeFoods, Inc. Having a bad feeling about it, I said, “Umm… Not to be rude, Grandma, but Dad and I picked up some hot chocolate the other day that I think we all might enjoy more. The Little stuff is too sweet, honestly.”

“Oh…” she said, taken aback, “Well, I don’t disagree about Littles liking their sweets more… Let’s try this other stuff you have then, Roger.”

I gave him a pointed look, and he said, “Sure, give me a little bit. I think it’s got to be made with milk. Takes a bit to get put together. Cameron, go put on your Christmas jammies, and I’ll have it done shortly.”

I hoped he read the ‘thank you’ in my eyes and the swearing about the pajamas. Even as I carried them up to my room, they jangled! I brought myself to put them on and felt like I was suddenly more like Beth than myself… ‘At least there are no diapers involved…?’ I thought grimly.

I walked down the stairs for the walk of shame to show my grandmother the pajamas. Just as I expected, with every damn step, you could hear me walking. “Well, no worries about you sneaking down to peek at what Santa left you, huh?” Dad joked.

I would have strongly considered flipping him off if he was a friend. Instead, I said, “Haha… funny, Dad.”

At least Dad came through with the hot chocolate, and Grandma kept trying to figure out the secret ingredients of the new mix. He later told me it was vodka… Grandpa had quietly suggested it!

I very carefully dumped the Little stuff out later that night. When I went to bed that night, I sat in bed on my phone and researched it. It was sweeter, so I wasn’t lying about that. I was also right to avoid drinking it because it seemed to have something inside of it that caused bedwetting in most Littles…
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 10 and 11 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 10: Christmas
 

THE NEXT MORNING, I couldn’t help but smile as I smelled breakfast cooking downstairs. My first instinct would be to go down to eat breakfast, but I decided I wanted to put on some less embarrassing clothes first! I dug through my drawers and pulled out a pair of track pants and an Emerson sweatshirt. My bedroom had an attached bathroom, so I quickly dressed and hopped in for a shower. I couldn’t help but note that there was still no sign that the hair removal cream was losing effect. I was still completely hairless everywhere except my head and the top of my back…

I brushed out my hair as quickly as possible and stared in the mirror momentarily at my reflection. I had talked about cutting it before the break, but Addy had made me promise to leave it long. She insisted she’d go with me somewhere to get it properly trimmed, but she liked guys with long hair.

I sighed. Truthfully if it made Addy happy, I’d never cut it again!

When I arrived downstairs, I discovered everyone was already seated with half-eaten breakfasts on their plates. Grandma looked at me, “I was hoping you’d stay in your PJs for presents…?”

I smiled, “Sorry, Grandma, I just needed a shower to wake up.” I walked over to the cabinets and grabbed one of the coffee cups. Dad kept mugs lower for me to easily grab them. I reached up and carefully poured a cup, feeling Grandma’s eyes on me.

“You know you shouldn’t be drinking that… it stunts your growth…” she complained.

I laughed, “I’ve probably grown as much as I’m ever going to Grandma. Besides, that’s an old wife’s tale.” I sipped the black goodness and sat it down in my chair. I grabbed some of the food set out as a buffet and joined them at the table.

I enjoyed the breakfast that I knew based on tradition Grandma had cooked. The pancakes were fluffier than anywhere else I ever had them, the bacon perfectly cooked, and the sausage and eggs made for a very filling meal. After I rinsed my plate off and set it in the sink, Dad said, “Shall we open presents now?”

“Sure!” I replied.

I wasn’t a little kid anymore, but I think everyone enjoys presents! As the only kid, I was designated to pass out everyone’s gifts from underneath the tree. My pile had been quite a bit smaller this year until Grandma and Grandpa arrived. Their gifts weren’t gigantic, but quite a few smaller gifts were added after their arrival.

Grandma added our stockings to our piles when everyone had their gifts, and I began opening the stuff inside. It was mostly candy inside the stockings, but there were a few restaurant gift cards and a deck of playing cards. Until three years ago, Grandma had included several pacifiers every year, so I was glad she’d finally let that one go… There was also a noticeable absence of small bouncy toys inside of it, which had even been in last years!

“Thanks, Grandma,” I told her after I was done with the stocking. I moved on to the main gifts, beginning with what Addy had given me.

I had searched long and hard for her gift, knowing with her family’s vast weather, she already had everything. I ended up thinking back to what had brought us together, Chemistry. I found a necklace that depicted the molecule chain of dopamine. It was a simple-looking necklace made of silver, but I gave it to her with a card telling her how happy she made me. It was sappy, but I hoped she would appreciate it! We had chosen to wait to open our gifts until Christmas Day, so I hoped she’d call me or stop by later wearing it.

I opened the wrapping paper of her gift and found a jewelry box. I felt weird as I opened it up and discovered a necklace marked ‘18k White Gold’ on a tag in the box. I never considered myself a necklace person, so it was an odd gift, but it was really nice. It featured a pattern of three smaller circular chain loops, a long ovular loop, then repeated the smaller ones repeatedly.

“That’s pretty!” Grandma said. “Who’s that from?”

“Addy,” I told her. I put it back in the box and handed it to her outstretched hand to look at it.

“Who is this girl?” Grandma asked, “She must have spent a couple thousand dollars on this.”

“A couple thousand?!?” I squeaked.

“Sweetie, this isn’t a cheap necklace. You can’t accept this, can you?” Grandma said as she showed her husband and then handed it back.

“The thing is, to her, it probably is cheap,” I sighed, knowing I would never keep up with her.

“Huh?”

“Let’s just say she’s really well-off, Grandma,” I told her. I pulled the necklace out of the box, “She’s supposed to come by or call later; I guess I should wear it for her.”

“Well-off?” Grandma asked.

“Her family is worth billions,” I told her.

“What’s her last name?” Grandpa asked.

“Harris,” I replied.

“SafeFoods, Harris?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Whoa…” he replied, “Yeah, she could afford that.”

I managed to get it clasped around my neck and let it fall down around my neck. Most guys’ necklaces fell lower on their chests, but this one was not as long - making just a small circle at my collar line. It was a little more feminine that way, but if it made Addy happy, I’d wear it!

I returned to the other presents and found a variety of mainly useful gifts. Grandma had given me some sort of microwave pasta dish, “You can make mac and cheese in it without using a pot,” she told me. “I figure you don’t have an easy-to-reach stove or dishwasher.”

“Just a big-sized one, and the manual kind,” I agreed.

There were a pair of shower shoes and things like that too. Eventually, I came to a larger one from Grandma and Grandpa that I ordered. Inside was a light gray blanket that felt like it had something inside. I pulled it out and looked at it, confused since it was heavier than the cloth should be.

“It’s a weighted blanket; I’ve heard it can help with stress and figured it might help you be more comfortable in your dorm,” Grandma told me.

“That’s thoughtful; thanks, Grandma,” I told her.

“You’re very welcome, sweetheart.”

I moved down the pile, having received some Emerson University clothing from Dad and my grandparents, and came to one gift that I hoped might be really good from Dad. Opening it up, I was excited to see a new laptop from Melon Corp! It boasted its specs on the box, and my favorite thing was the battery that was supposed to go six months on a single charge! It was thinner than one of my lab notebooks and weighed only a pound! “Thanks, Dad!” I told him and stood up to give him a hug.

“You’re very welcome, Cameron!” He gave me a squeeze.

“One more gift,” he said after I looked around at my empty pile of presents.

“Where?”

He threw a small box at me that I quickly unwrapped. I was confused at the black fob inside it for a second before realizing it was a key fob! Knowing what that meant, I ran outside, and sure enough, there was a small car! “It’s one of the new self-driving cars based on the Bremmer technology.” He told me as he stood behind me.

I ran up to it and realized it was sized for smaller Bigs and Mids, so it seemed just big for me instead of huge! It was a two-door boxy-looking vehicle that was short enough that I could almost reach up and touch the roof from the outside. It was a silver color that I hoped wouldn’t attract attention but still looked quite classy. I opened the driver’s side and noted manual controls on the steering wheel. “You’ll have to go take your test tomorrow,” he told me, “but I have no doubt you’ll pass. Because it’s self-driving, you can get your modified license and drive independently if it’s on the self-driving mode.”

I turned around and hugged him again, “Thank you, Dad!”

“Well, just remember to come to see your old man every now and then,” he told me with a smile. “Your grades have to stay above a B average while you’re in school, and I’ll sign it over to you at graduation.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I told him.

“You’re very welcome, Cameron. I’m glad you’re tall enough that we can legally get you your license for a self-driving car!”

I nodded at that. It shouldn’t have been impossible for Littles to drive with all the available technology. Still, the discrimination against them resulted in a law that said anyone under seventy-four inches could not get a license of any type. Between seventy-four inches and ninety-five inches in height, there was a provision that you could operate a self-driving vehicle if you were properly restrained. You had to know how to use the steering wheel and hand controls to slow the car to a stop in an emergency, but the test was making sure you could program the car to go from one place to the other. Not many Mids could afford one, so most people my height still used public transportation. This car was going to open a whole world of possibilities for me!

I climbed into the driver’s seat, and Dad climbed into the passenger seat. We went for a quick illegal drive around the block in it. The acceleration was designed to be very smooth and cautious, so I wouldn’t be racing Addy anytime soon! Still, it was comfortable and could get me from Point A to Point B. ‘I just wish it didn’t have that stupid harness seat,’ I thought as I locked it and walked back inside the house when we returned. There were child seat-like five-point harnesses on all five seats in the car for safety. It also gave the car category the nickname of ‘baby cars.’

Everyone was in good spirits through the Christmas Dinner we had for lunch. After cleaning up from the meal, my grandparents and Dad went to take naps. I was sitting in my room playing with my new computer when my phone dinged.

‘Merry Christmas, come outside!’ I saw the message from Addy and hurried downstairs. She was standing at the door, and I let her in. She scooped me up for a hug and sat down on the couch next to where she sat me down.

“Thank you for the necklace,” I told her.

“Thanks for mine!” She said as she showed that she was wearing hers too.

“Sorry, it’s not the most expensive…” I started to apologize before she kissed me.

When she was done, she said, “Cameron, I’m not dating you for your height or money; I’m dating you for you. I thought it was one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. And I will always cherish it.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I told her.

“Looks like I got the right size on the chain, too,” she said.

I smiled, “I think so? I’ve never worn a necklace before?”

“It looks perfect on you,” she said to me. “So, what else did you get for Christmas?”

We quietly sat and talked for an hour before Grandma appeared. “Who’s this?” she asked, startling me.

“Oh, Grandma, this is Addison Harris, my girlfriend. Addy, this is my grandmother Suzy Harrington.”

Addison stood and held her hand out, “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

“You as well; Cameron here seems to think you two are dating?”

“Yes, Ma’am, we are.”

“Isn’t that a bit weird dating someone who could be a Little compared to you?”

Addy touched the back of my hair and stroked it lightly. “If I only focused on height, yes. But Cameron is way more than his height. I love how smart he is, his personality, and we have a lot of fun together.”

“Hmm…” Grandma said, obviously disapproving. “Well, don’t hurt him, please.”

“Of course not, Ma’am,” she told her.

Somehow, I swerved the conversation to a friendlier tone over the next few hours. Addy stayed for dinner, and then I walked her to her car. “Your dad and grandpa are really sweet,” she told me.

I smiled, “Yeah, they really are. I think they both like you.”

“Not so much your grandmother?” she said when we were standing beside her car.

I sighed, “She’s never really accepted that I’m not a Little. I’ve always been worried she would decide to ‘adopt’ Dad and me at some point. She’s very much your typical Little obsessed mommy.”

She nodded, “She and my mom would probably get along well.”

I nodded. “Like my car?” I said, pointing to it a moment later to break the tension.

“That’s a car? I thought it was a golf cart,” she teased me.

I blushed, “At least it has wheels and can go places.”

“Self-driving only, right?”

I nodded, “Unless I have a sudden growth spurt, yeah.”

She walked over, “Good, it has the proper harness seats.”

“I’m not as much of a fan; it’s like sitting in a car seat!”

She laughed, “Well, you need one!” She kissed me to soften that blow. “We’re going out of town next week, so it’ll be when we return to campus before I can see you again. Call me later!”

“Will do,” I told her, and we kissed again before she climbed into her gigantic sportscar and took off down the road.

Over the next few days that Grandma and Grandpa stayed with us, I heard lots of sniping about my relationship with Addy. “We can just go get the diapers ourselves if that’s what you want,” Grandma had said in frustration, “You have to know all she wants is for you to be in her nursery.”

I finally had it with that and left for my room. It was a frustrating visit from Grandma and Grandpa that overshadowed my joy of being given my license for my car. It allowed all of the automated driving to be legal, and I took advantage of my newfound freedom to drive myself to school a couple weeks later, at the end of the break. I had to deal with getting a permit through the university, but I soon had a parking space towards the top of the parking garage that Addy also kept her car in.

My friends were all jealous of my presents when they also started returning to the dorm!
 
 

Chapter 11: New Semester
 

I CHOSE TO return to the dorm a few days before school started. It was odd that the campus was so quiet, but I enjoyed being on campus without the pressure of classes pressing down on me. A couple other friends came back early, too, and we hung out for a couple of movie nights. Sunday before classes were to resume, I found myself having lunch with Meg and Laura.

“What did you get for Christmas?” Meg asked me.

“Umm… a computer and a car?”

“A car?!?” Laura asked in surprise. “How?”

“I’m able to drive if it’s self-driving,” I told her.

“Oh… I forgot that clause was out there,” Meg said. “I guess you’re the only friend I have that’s in that height range.”

I nodded. Laura reached up and touched my new necklace that was hanging out on top of my collar. “This is pretty; it’s new, right?”

“Yeah, Addy gave it to me for Christmas.”

“Claiming her property,” Meg said darkly.

I shrugged and smiled, “I’m honestly okay with that. I gave Addy one, too,” I said with a smile. “How about you? How was your Christmas?”

Meg answered first, “Well… honestly, the best thing was getting to wear panties again over break! Without all of these stupid rules, I worked on making it to the potty nearly every time! You know it’s weird, but after two nights back home, I didn’t even wet the bed like I do here…” She blushed at that. “I shouldn’t have said that; it’s embarrassing…”

I patted her hand, “It’s okay; I’m not so removed from being with you to not understand….”

“You?” I asked Laura.

She sighed and shook her head, “No such luck for me… My mom actually went to the store and bought me diapers the first day back because I went through four Pull-Ups before dinner! She said it probably wasn’t my fault; the Nest Mother probably put some sort of hypnotic tape on or something at night, but she couldn’t deal with stains on the furniture.” She blushed, “At least she let me change myself,” she added, “If Mom had insisted on changing me, I think I would have died….” I noticed Meg shuddered a bit at that too. “They did get me a new computer for school, though. I was excited about that!”

We talked for about an hour before Meg asked Laura, “So what will you do this semester? You still have all of those demerits? Aren’t you the only one left in your nest?”

I remembered the last semester and her group getting blamed for her Nest Mother getting a case of explosive diarrhea. “Tasha is still there too… and I guess Stacy technically is in our nest.”

“Still, all it takes is one?” Meg asked her nervously.

“I’m a good girl; I wouldn’t have any if it wasn’t for your Nest Mother pranking mine… I just have to be careful. I always wear Pull-Ups or a diaper, so they can’t get me on a wetting violation. I should never have gotten those other demerits either!”

“Pooping, though?” Meg asked nervously. I was sure she remembered her close call at the beginning of the year that she’d told me about.

“I make sure I go before breakfast, again at lunch, and... it’s embarrassing, but it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s not in class,” she said.

“Sure…” Meg said. “I’m just saying, if I get within a demerit, I’m looking for my own mommy. I don’t want some random orphanage experience…”

Sitting there while they talked about this topic was awkward, all while knowing I had made it past the finish line. I felt a fair amount of survivor’s guilt, and all I could think about was Beth. “Hey Cameron, did you find out anything about Beth while you were home?”

I nodded, “Her dad was able to adopt her…”

“That’s great! So, she’s at home living the high life without school or a job and with someone who actually loves her!” Laura said.

“Sort of,” I told them.

“Sort of?” Meg asked nervously.

“Look… I don’t want to talk about all of it? Basically, the judge decided since she had given herself up willingly, the university had promised her the ability to choose. Though the stupid judge decided she couldn’t just go home if she went with him… She had to…” I felt my voice crack, “They made modifications…”

I watched both of their eyes open in terror. “Which ones?” Meg asked quietly.

“Teeth, walking, potty,” I told her simply.

“Those barbarians…” Laura said.

I nodded, “I would do anything to see her able to be herself again! They’re watching her too closely for her dad to even think about doing something for her. When Dad told me she was there, I ran down the street to see her at her house. Seeing her like that was terrible,” I said as I did wipe a tear from my eyes. “I went back again on Christmas Eve. Both she and her dad told me not to come back that day. Apparently, an LPS case worker was reviewing the footage from their house and seemed to think I needed my own special care if I came around to see her too much.

That spooked both of them, “You didn’t go back, right?”

I shook my head, “I have no desire to end up in diapers and a nursery. I’m big enough to be the ultimate potty-training dunce for the wrong mother.”

They nodded at that. With their sizes, diapers were just expected when they were adopted. When you were the size of a preschooler who should be potty-trained, they liked to use you as an example to their late training real children on why they should grow up and not be a stupid Little in diapers. It was something that had kept me up at night many nights over the years after seeing people my size being openly spanked and berated for their failures in stores and malls!

“Has anyone heard from Stacy this week?” Laura asked us.

Both Meg and I nodded; she responded first, though. “Yeah, she had a great Christmas. Apparently, they found a cure for Bella over the break, and she’s recovering and talking again!”

“That’s awesome!” Laura said.

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed. “Just in time for that jerk’s trial too.”

“That started last week, right?” Meg asked me.

I nodded, “I guess Stacy has to testify soon, but she’s one of the prosecution’s last witnesses.”

“That whole thing was crazy,” Laura said.

“Yes, it was,” I told her. “I can’t imagine making it out of that Little mill being even partially aware. Not sure how Stacy managed it, honestly.”

“I would have been a goner,” Meg agreed.

I had a class with Addison, Stacy, Laura, and Meg on Tuesday morning. I would probably have considered sitting next to them. Still, due to when they arrived, I ended up sitting a few rows back from the front with Addison beside me instead. She returned to campus the night classes began, and we’d had an excellent evening of reacquainting ourselves with each other! She’d even taken her shirt off that night to make it easy for me to give her breasts some attention that she clearly enjoyed. We were down to our underwear for most of a steamy make-out session in her room, but nothing went further than that, still per her wishes.

The professor had been about to start class when I noticed Laura’s head seemed to be shifting back and forth more than normal in the first row. It was like she was bouncing up and down or something… A few minutes later, I smelled a fart as our professor discussed more advanced concepts. He looked around suspiciously for a moment but kept lecturing. I noticed his teaching assistants were now watching every one of the few Littles that remained in classes. All told, there were only twenty in this class, and they were all sitting toward the front of the room.

I heard another fart that sounded a lot longer… and messier. I looked at Laura and could see the back of her neck since her hair was pulled into a high ponytail. The color of it was burning red with embarrassment. ‘No…’ I thought to myself, trying to think of a way out for her when one of the T.A.s reached her and pulled her to stand on the seat’s cushion. Her uniform skirt was pulled up to her armpits, and I watched in horror as she pulled back the diaper and made a face.

“Uh-oh, someone’s made a big pwesent in her diapee for Dean Sanders!”

“Please take her there?” The professor asked, “She’s disrupted this class enough.”

Reality hit for Laura, and she began sobbing, “NO!!!!!! YOU CAN’T TAKE ME THERE!!!!” Laura suddenly started screaming and wriggling, trying to get free. She desperately hit the girl across the nose. The girl screamed in pain and dropped Laura to the ground while holding her bleeding nose. Laura didn’t wait around and began running as quickly as she could out of a side door. She made it nearly out of the room when another freshman girl, a tall Big who was a bit shorter than Addy, reached out and scooped her up like a toddler. I watched in horror as she held her tightly and sat in a nearby seat, flipping Laura onto her stomach across her knee.

She began landing a series of loud swats on the girl’s bottom. “You DO NOT HIT PEOPLE!” she told her repeatedly, punctuating the words with a swat. By the time she was finished, there was poop smeared down Laura’s legs and onto the other girl’s arms. I shuddered because I knew without a doubt that as bad as it would have been for Laura, she just made it a thousand times worse…

The TA collected Laura’s sobbing form from the girl and began walking out. Laura was still wailing in pain and fury as the girl said, “Aww… we just had a big blowout, huh? Dean Sanders will know just how to care for a wittle baby girl like you!”

My stomach clenched at that point, and it took a lot for me not to want to follow her out and try to save her. I felt guilty that I was grateful in a way when her cries faded, and our professor soon concluded the lecture as if nothing had happened. Addy and I ended up following Meg and Stacy out the door. We were stuck standing there for a moment while their skirts were pulled up and the back of their diapers pulled open. “Just two wet little girls here; make sure you see someone to get those changed! Wouldn’t want to have a diaper rash, would we?” The fact that the T.A. was taunting them was nothing new, but I really didn’t want to see more of that day!

I sighed as Stacy caught sight of me and waved sadly. Addy and I walked over to her, “Poor Laura,” she told me.

I nodded, “Meg and I tried to warn her yesterday!” I told her.

She nodded, “Sometimes I really hate this dimension.”

I agreed with her on that. “Umm… I don’t think we’ve actually been introduced before; I’m Stacy,” she said, looking up at my gigantic girlfriend.

“I know, between Cameron telling me about you and hearing about your exploits this year, you are probably the most famous Little on campus.”

Stacy blushed at that, “Umm… thanks. Anyway, I have to go to my mommy’s office, I’m not sure what other classes I have with you this semester, but I’ll see you around?”

“Sure,” I told her.

After we had walked far enough away from her, Addy said, “She is the most adorable Little in the world. I completely understand wanting to baby her.”

I laughed, “Luckily, she was smart enough to know that was a likely possibility. She’s the only Little on campus safe from the crazy nest mothers and university staff.”

“Except for when she gets kidnapped…” she reminded me.

I nodded, “Yeah… that certainly wasn’t too good! I guess she’s supposed to be testifying this week. They somehow managed to help her sister recover, though.”

“Really? I thought they had done some significant modifications to her?”

“They hadn’t done too many physical ones, mostly neuro Stacy said. I guess they figured out a procedure with nanites to rewire things…?” I shook my head, “Stacy sort of explained it to me a couple weeks ago when she asked me about some proteins they suspected were at fault. I understood the chemistry she was looking for clarification on, but not the neurological or nanite side of things.”

She nodded but looked more curious than I expected her to. “I wonder if she would explain it to me?”

I shrugged, “She might? She’s not overly trusting of Bigs she doesn’t know, though.”

She sighed, “For good reason! Most of us are better off not trusted.”

I looked up at her curiously, “What do you mean?”

She shook her head, “Don’t worry about it; I just had a lot of fights at home over the break.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked her.

“Didn’t want to bother you with it. I honestly expected it when my mother met you, so it wasn’t a surprise.”

I nodded and didn’t press it. After Grandma and my brief encounters with her mom, I knew very well that dating her would not be easy, with her parents being potential in-laws.

Thursday, I sat down with Stacy on one side and Addy on the other. Then, I heard the unfortunate news that she had seen Laura the day before when she’d had a near miss at the daycare. Learning our friend had her teeth removed, and seemed to be at least marginally impeded by hypnosis, had just made me all the more depressed.

In-Between Chapters 12 and 13 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 12: Weekend Get Away
 

DURING THE FIRST week back, I could tell that Addy was getting more stressed about her classes and her family. She refused to talk about the details, but suffice it to say, I guessed that her mom was probably pissed off at her still dating me. I worried about her and decided I wanted to do something nice for her. I carefully planned out a date night with dinner, followed by a show in a nearby city. I made reservations for a hotel room with a built-in jacuzzi for the bathroom and did everything I could to ensure we had a great time. I had convinced her to keep her Friday afternoon until Saturday evening open for a surprise.

Friday, we headed to one last class that we both shared, intro to computer programming, and she kept trying to badger me for information. “So, what is my mysterious boyfriend planning this weekend?” she smiled.

“Well, it’s still a surprise, but you’ll need to drive if you don’t mind? I would drive, but we’d need a shoehorn to get you into my car!”

She laughed, “I figured. What do I need to wear?”

“Bring a nice dress for tonight, maybe a bathing suit, pajamas, and something casual for tomorrow?”

She gave me a questioning look, “So this is an overnight trip you’re kidnapping me on?”

I smirked, “Assuming that you’re game for it?”

She smiled, “I have to now! I’ve got to see what romantic weekend my boyfriend came up with here!”

After class, she asked, “How are you with this programming assignment? Does it make sense?”

I shrugged, “I think so… but if it doesn’t, I know who I’m calling for help!”

“Who?”

“My friend Stacy?”

“She’s good with computers?”

“She’s like a genius, from what I understand. She skipped out of all of the lower-level programming classes.”

“Hmm…” she looked thoughtful. “I can be packed in about twenty minutes to leave?”

“Sounds good; I’m already packed. Why don’t I just come to your dorm after grabbing my things?”

“That works,” she said, “I’ll have time to change wherever we’re going?”

I nodded, “Especially with the way you drive!”

She stuck her tongue out at me, “I’ll see you soon, Cam.”

As I went upstairs to my dorm room, I couldn’t help but think that she was beginning to call me that more and more. Most people calling me that would bother me, but I called her Addy… so I guess it was okay to have a shortened name for me too.

I was already packed and able to grab my rolling garment bag with my suit inside of it, pajamas, next day of clothes, toiletries, and my bag with my computer just in case I needed it. I took one last look around to ensure I had my wallet and credit cards, just in case they couldn’t take the payment off my phone. I double-checked that I locked the door, then headed off to Addy’s dorm.

One of her friends saw me downstairs and said, “Ooh… Addy told me you were going on a mystery trip… I wish my boyfriend did romantic things like that!”

I smiled, “Thanks,” I told her and kept going upstairs. I’d hung around her dorm quite a bit towards the end of the semester, so I was considered normal. I reached her open door just as she zipped up her suitcase.

“There you are!” She said with a smile. “I take it you’re ready?”

“Yep, you?”

“Just want to hit the potty one last time.”

I nodded, “Actually, that’s a good idea; I’ll run down the hall and be back.”

I went down the hall to one of the boy’s suites and used their bathroom quickly. The toilets in this dorm were all Big sized, so it was a bit of a pain to use them, but I managed okay by standing. When I had to go more than pee, though, it was a bit of a struggle to get on top - even as a Mid!

Having taken care of the necessities, we walked to her car and loaded our bags in the tiny trunk in front of her car under the hood. “That’s so weird,” I commented.

She laughed, “Normal for this type of car, though. So where am I driving?”

“Oak City,” I told her. “I’ll program your GPS for the destination – it’s the hotel we will stay in.”

“Alright,” she said with a smile. “I haven’t been there in a while.”

I sat in the seat and watched her get on the highway and gun it. She didn’t care about the speed limit; a ninety-minute drive was over in just under an hour! She pulled into the fancy hotel where I’d booked us a room and asked, “Can you afford this, sweetie? I don’t want you to feel like you have to impress me?”

I looked at her, “I’ve been saving up for something like this weekend. I can tell that you’ve been really stressed. I can afford it, and even though I know you could do so too, I’d like to do this for you as a thank you for all you’ve done for me.”

She kissed me on the lips, and we stepped out of the car. Addy took care of our luggage and valeted her car while I walked into the reception area. There was a Betweener just a bit taller than me working the counter.

“May I help you sir?”

“Reservation for Cameron Sylvester?”

He looked at me suspiciously but proceeded to check me into the system. His manager came over then, “Sir, I’m going to need to see your identification to secure a hotel room for the evening.”

I shrugged and handed him the license out of my wallet. He stared at it for several moments. I saw Addy coming over from the corner of my eye. “Sir, we’ll need a guardian to secure this room for you.”

“Excuse me? Your policies state that anyone eighteen and older can rent a room with a valid credit card and ID. I’ve presented both of those to you.”

“Sir, if you were taller, that would be the case…”

“Wait a second, I’m not a Little. Look at my license; you’ll clearly see my height is above seventy-two inches. Even if I was shorter than that, it’s not legal to discriminate based on size in any form of contract. If you want to go there, please let me know; I’ll call your corporate headquarters and file a suit with the courts.

“And I’ll be happy to have my family lawyers help out,” Addy said suddenly beside me.

“Ms. Harris?!?” he seemed surprised, “You know this… umm… gentleman?”

“Yes, he’s my boyfriend.” She told him.

“But… you… he…”

“Back to the matter at hand, I said to him, are you going to choose to discriminate here or not?”

“Ms. Harris, I’d be willing to rent the room to you…”

“Either you rent it to Mister Sylvester, or we’re walking away. I’ll make sure we don’t use your hotel anymore…”

He looked genuinely upset and torn, “Okay, finish the room for him,” he told the clerk. “Do you need a crib brought up?” he had the nerve to ask Addison.

“Cameron, I think we should go find a better hotel.”

“Sounds like you’re correct.” I looked at the manager, “You will cancel this without charging me a dime.”

“Well, we say you must cancel outside twenty-four hours…”

“I’m here and tried to rent a room; you’re canceling it now.”

We had a staring match before he took a quick glance at Addy and began working on a keyboard for a computer himself. I was soon presented with a receipt for zero dollars. “Great, I’ll make sure the word gets out about your terrible service,” I told him. I walked out with Addy, “I’m sorry…”

She laughed, “That was actually kind of fun, honestly. I know of another hotel not far from here.”

We got checked into it, and I found the hotel was as nice but slightly more painful to my wallet initially until we explained what happened. Apparently, they were part of the same ownership group, and our room ended up being comped as their manager tried to undo the damage of the other hotel. I was just grateful when we finally had a key and made it upstairs to our room.

It was a large suite with a kitchenette and living room, a separate bedroom and bathroom, and a balcony with a sunken jacuzzi. After we set our stuff down in the bedroom, she reached down and picked me up to plop me on the bed, where she laid down with me on top of her. “Sorry your plans got a little delayed here…” she told me, kissing me quickly.

I smiled, “I’m still here with you; it’s worked out. Besides, you drive so fast we still have plenty of time for our dinner reservations and will make the show just fine?”

“Show?”

I smiled at her and told her the name of the show we had tickets for, “I’ve wanted to see that! I didn’t have time to go on a trip to see it during its main run!”

I smiled, “I remember you talking about it.”

“So, how long until we need to leave for dinner?”

“About an hour?”

“Not much time then,” she said and rolled over, pinning me underneath her. She kissed me again, but this time was a long and sensual kiss. “Thank you for thinking of me and doing this,” she told me.

“Anything for you,” I told her with a smile.

She kissed me quickly again and got up from the bed, and sprinted to the bathroom to get ready. I sighed contentedly for a moment before rolling over, finding my bag, and dressing in my suit. I had just undressed to my boxers when she returned quickly, wrapped in a towel, to grab her makeup bag. I blushed but kept getting dressed and waited for her to finish. She came out dressed in a stunning sparkly blue dress, and I was glad I had on a nice three-piece suit!

“You look amazing, Addy,” I told her.

She smiled down at me, “You’re not too bad yourself!”

I smiled, “I have no doubts I pale to you. If you let me hit the restroom quickly, I’ll be ready, too.”

Our dinner reservations were at a nice restaurant I had already made a reservation for. To my relief, the restaurant seated us with no issues at all, not even a kid’s menu in sight! We had a great meal, enjoying each other’s company, before heading to the show I knew she wanted to see.

I had purchased seats on the floor level, though not the most expensive, and we both had a good view of the musical. I was a little surprised when they had a Little as an actor. He was diapered, but clearly, he could still speak, walk, dance, and sing at a level at least equal to his fellow cast members. At the show’s end, he received the biggest ovation from the audience, and it seemed like the audience respected him as more than a stupid baby. I smiled at that!

A more sobering thought was maybe the fact he was a ‘freak’ was why they liked him…

After the performance, we returned to the hotel room. After a dip in the jacuzzi, we ended up in bed together, kissing passionately in our pajamas to continue a make-out session we began in the water. I found the buttons on the front of her blouse and gradually unbuttoned all of them before she shrugged it off and revealed her bare chest. I looked lustfully at her beautiful breasts, and soon I was fondling them. My own shirt was quickly lost after that, along with my pajama bottoms, leaving her only in her panties and me only in my boxers.

We were passionately making love when my mouth kissed her nipples and lovingly gave a suckle upon one.

I was shocked when milk squirted into my mouth!

I found myself both repulsed and longing for more right then as it tasted amazing!

I blushed and moved away, “Umm…”

She looked just as shocked, “Damn, they haven’t done that for a while…”

“Sorry…”

She sighed and shook her head, “I’m sorry, too; that felt amazing!” She kissed me on the mouth again then, and a moment later said, “I wish I could get you to go ahead and empty them…”

I sighed, “Addy, I would love to, but we both know it’s…?”

“Addictive and will probably mess with your control …”

I sighed, “Yeah.”

She hugged me tight as I felt like cold water had been flung on both of us. “Sorry if I ruined your mood,” she told me, “I know how much you fear being seen as a Little.”

I nodded, “Sorry…”

She didn’t respond, though, instead pulling my boxers away and beginning to pay attention to the beast below. “Did you bring any condoms?” She asked me.

I looked at her in shock… “My wallet…?”

“Get one over here…” she told me, “Time to see if this can really work for us.”

A half-hour later, I think we both decided that the pieces still assembled properly. After a trip to the bathroom for us to clean up, we cuddled up and slept together for the first time.
 
 

Chapter 13: Tutored
 

ADDY AND I woke up the next morning and found ourselves repeating the previous night’s gymnastics. We took a shower together, and as she dressed, she said, “I’m going to have to go straight back to school… I need… I need a pump…”

I looked up at her breasts, clad in a bra that she’d stuffed some Kleenex into soak leakage, and said, “Sorry….”

She shook her head, “Not your fault… I mean, it sort of is… but it’s just my body. I saw a Little at the show last night that started crying in the line for the women’s room. She was adorable - that probably started it…”

“Do…” I started to ask but stopped myself, “Never mind.”

“What?” She asked curiously.

“I shouldn’t ask…?”

She laughed, “Go ahead, now I’m curious!”

“Do you really produce milk that easily? I always thought that was a little bit of a Little’s myth.”

She nodded, “I’d prefer if it was, but yeah… Unless you have your own genetic kids, most of us find ourselves producing milk at the drop of a hat.”

“It’s painful?” I asked.

She shrugged, “Not if it comes out… I’m usually good for a day before it gets that bad. I need to get home, though, and get it cleared out. I’ll have to pump a few more times this weekend. Hopefully, it’ll dry up by next weekend.”

I nodded, “Useful genetic trait, I guess, for you all.”

She shrugged, “Not every Little needs to be babied… and a Mid like you certainly doesn’t! Although I did enjoy you sucking on my breasts,” she said. “But I also don’t want to see you shipped off to Wenig, so we’ll have to avoid that bedroom play,” she said with a smile.

On the way back to school, I reflected on how reasonable of a Big that Addy was! I couldn’t help but feel guilty and more than a little curious about what it would have been like to continue to nurse from her. The one mouthful I had was really sweet and tasty! I had often heard of Littles, who fought latching tooth and nail but got hooked as soon as their ‘mommy’ got a drop in their mouth. I had always known that some Littles took one hit, and they couldn’t stop craving it even if they escaped from their forced babyhood. It scared me to think that I might have been more like them…

We shared a passionate kiss outside her dorm, thanking me for the trip, and then we went to get some studying done. By mid-afternoon, I had completed most of my homework but struggled with my programming assignment. I just could not get the damn thing to compile! I decided it was time to seek the cavalry and texted Stacy.

‘Hi Stacy, how are you doing?’

We exchanged pleasantries for a bit before I said, ‘I’m having a hard time with my programming assignment. Any chance you could look over my code?’

I watched some dots telling me she was typing for a couple minutes before she said, ‘Why don’t you come to my house? Amanda could come pick you up?’

‘I have a car, actually… that would work. What’s your address?’ I asked.

She sent it to me, ‘Okay, if I’m there in about twenty minutes?’

‘Sounds good! Mommy said you’re welcome to stay for dinner too.’

I squirmed a bit; even knowing that Stacy was living with someone that had adopted her and another Little made me nervous to be around them. Everything Meg had told me, though, was that things should be safe with her parents. ‘Besides, you’re not a Little,’ I reminded myself as I drove to her place.

I was surprised they lived as far from the university as they did, but I remembered Stacy saying they’d had to move after their house had been attacked. I felt my stomach clench about ever getting mixed up with any of the people who had gone after them!

When I pulled up to a tall gate, I had to get out of the car and stand on my tip-toes to press the call button. I returned to my car and waited for someone, “Can I help you?” I heard a female voice.

“Yes, my name is Cameron; I’m here to get some help on my homework from Stacy?”

“Of course!” the voice said cheerfully, “Come on through; just park in front of the house.”

I drove through the gate down a long driveway and noted the tall walls around the property. ‘They’re serious about security…’ I thought to myself. As soon as I was parked, the door opened, and Stacy came out in the most mature outfit I’d ever seen her dressed in. She wore a simple tucked-in t-shirt and skinny jeggings that would have looked much better without the bulge of the diaper she wore underneath. It really was a good look for her!

“Hi, Cameron!” she said to me with a smile.

“Hi Stacy, thanks for letting me come over to get some help!”

“Any time!” She looked inquisitively at my car, “How do you have a license?”

I smiled, “I’m over seventy-six inches, so I can operate a self-driving car.”

“Can I see?” She asked curiously.

I laughed, “Sure,” and opened the driver’s side for her to look.

“It looks like my car seat,” she said, pointing towards the harness. “And hand controls?”

“For an emergency,” I told her. “And yes, the stupid laws insist on the harness.”

“But at least you can get to places by yourself?” She said with a smile, “That’s so cool!”

I smiled, “It is! Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s in your future…”

She laughed, “No… When I came through and shrank this time, it didn’t give me any chance… I just hope I grow back to my normal height when I go back home.”

I gave her a skeptical look as she led me inside the door. I looked up and saw her tall mommy, Dr. Westerfield, standing by the dining room table. Two high chairs and a few regular chairs surrounded the table. “Hi Cameron, nice to see you again,” Amanda told me. Stacy had introduced me once during the fall when we were having lunch together.

“Nice to see you too,” I told her politely. “Thanks for letting me come over.”

She smiled, “Happy to see Stacy making more friends. Sometimes all she wants to see is the computer screen!”

“Mommy…” Stacy whined.

“Oh hush, you’re at home. Now why don’t you two go upstairs and work in your room? Please keep quiet since Bella is taking a nap.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said politely.

I followed Stacy as she did an awkward climb up the tall stairs. Really, they seemed like they had been built tall even to me, but I could still walk up them normally like I did at my own home. Stacy looked like she was practically climbing a mountain with every step! Somehow, she wasn’t out of breath at the top, and I watched her do something with a baby gate that blocked the top of the stairs. I wondered momentarily if we needed ‘an adult,’ but the gate opened for her, and I followed her down the hall. I could see a door that said, ‘Princess Stacy’ on the outside of it in cutesy letters and girly pink and purple colors. Inside her room, I expected an extravagant baby girl-styled nursery. Still, I was surprised to see a regular bed… well, at least a toddler bed, instead of a crib. A rocking chair and changing table were still there, but she also had a desk-sized for her with a computer sitting on it. Alongside it were several other electronic gadgets that didn’t look appropriate for a baby.

She noticed me looking, “Juvenile, I know…”

“More mature than what I expected, actually….”

“Expected a crib?”

I nodded, “I’m surprised you don’t have to sleep in one.”

“When I first arrived, Mo… Amanda made me sleep in one, but my crib went to Bella when she adopted her. Since I’m going to college, they try giving me more freedom as a big girl.”

I nodded.

“Why don’t you set up your laptop over there?” She pointed to a slightly higher workbench desk that I could stand at, and she could comfortably sit in a tall chair next to it.

“Okay,” I told her.

For the next twenty minutes, she looked at what I had done so far, looked at the assignment, and then walked me through what I knew about coding. “I would never do it this way… but I think your professor is looking for something ‘conventional’ here…?”

She showed me the concepts and helped guide me to code the assignment correctly over the next hour. I learned more from her in that hour than in class the previous couple of weeks! When I finally finished and pressed ‘compile,’ I was pleased to see everything on the simple program worked well!

“Thank you so much, Stacy!”

“Anytime… this is kind of my thing,” she said with a smile.

I nodded.

“So, how did your big date with Addy go last night?”

“After we went to the second hotel, it went really well!” I told her.

“Second hotel?”

I sighed, “I may not be a Little, but I’m not tall enough to get away from everything without the sizeism either.”

I told her about it, and then before I knew it was talking about the rest of the night. Somehow the breast milk came up, “I was just, you know….” I felt awkward talking about this with someone so little, “and milk came out…?”

She gasped, “You didn’t actually nurse, did you?”

I shook my head, “No, I know how much damage it can do, unfortunately.”

“Just the damage you’re worried about?”

I blushed, “I’ll be honest, the little bit I had in my mouth tasted really good.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” She smiled.

“Wait, aren’t you planning on going back? And how do you not have bowel problems?”

She blushed now herself and quickly pressed something on her computer. I watched her for a moment before she said, “Sorry, I don’t want to be overheard, so I changed what the baby monitor is hearing,” she pointed towards it.

“She heard all of what I said?!?” I nervously asked.

She laughed, “Probably not? She doesn’t always monitor me when I have friends here.”

“Anyway…?”

“When I came here…” she blushed, “Keep this a secret, please… When I came here, there was a misunderstanding about my name.”

“Huh?”

“In my dimension, Stacy can be a boy’s name.”

The cogs clicked, “You’re a boy?”

She sighed, “I was when I came.”

My stomach twisted, “Amanda made you get a gender adjustment?”

She shook her head, “No, they would have let me be the boy version, but the problem was that Emerson had me enrolled as a girl. We were worried they would use the wrong gender issue to be a reason to give me demerits…?”

“They probably would,” I responded.

“Yeah… honestly, I wasn’t that married to being a man… so I went along with it. Anyway, the nanites that were used still reside in my body. I figured out a way to alter them to filter out the chemical that builds up in the brain and blocks the ability to know you need to go.”

I looked at Stacy like she was some sort of alien. “What?!? How?!? Can you fix anything?”

She sighed, “I have to be really careful with it… There are side effects when you initiate an edit.” She squirmed a bit, then, “It’s how I was able to help Bella, though.”

I nodded, “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything…”

“Thanks…” she said.

“I wish…”

“You wish?”

“I wish I could not worry about it… I would totally help Addy out more…”

She smiled, “You better be careful – she won’t be a girlfriend; she’ll be a mommy!”

I blushed, “I know… Honestly, I wouldn’t want that from anyone else…”

“From her?”

“I much prefer our current relationship,” I said, turning slightly redder.

“Have a good time in bed?” She asked with a smirk.

“After the shock… yeah… Let’s just say that the mechanics do work.”

She laughed, “Probably easier for the guy to move up. I don’t think it would work the other way.”

I shuddered, “No, probably not. My dad moved up, though, too… just not quite as far.”

Our conversation moved on, thankfully, to some other things. Stacy told me a bit about the sorority she had joined, Lambda Delta Pi, and some of the events they did. “That’s cool that you help each other,” I told her. “Why doesn’t Meg join?”

“Good question,” she told me. “I keep trying to get her to join so she can have some extra help. I think she’s convinced that her last year, she will probably be stuck getting adopted no matter what?”

“I know,” I told her. “She said something like that to me once. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You really think you’ll be able to go home?”

She nodded, “Amanda and Fred promised. And, even though they don’t need the money, they get another payment when I return through the portal to get home.”

“You can’t go home until then? Not even for Christmas and Summer?”

She laughed, “I can’t afford to shrink again! The first time I came, I was near Mid height!”

Right then, Amanda entered and said, “Why don’t you two wash up and come down for dinner?”

“Where’s your restroom?” I asked.

“Right through there,” Stacy told me, pointing to a door attached to her room. “I’ll let you go first, then I’ll wash my hands,” she told me.

“Thanks,” I said, actually feeling a need to go becoming more urgent.

I noticed the smallest child’s potty I’d ever seen sitting there and a step stool for the sink beside a large Bigs’ toilet. Deciding it was already there, I shifted the stepstool to the toilet and used it to sit down and go. I was a little concerned by the sudden urgency. ‘We were working for a while…’ I thought to myself. I was more than a little concerned, though, that even in that one mouthful of Addy’s milk, maybe I had received a high dose of the protein that Stacy had explained. Before Christmas, she’d asked me what I thought about the chemical bonding of that protein chain and another, but I didn’t realize what she was doing with it then!

Soon, I was downstairs and used a booster seat at the table, noting that Stacy and Bella sat in regular baby high chairs. It was a little difference that many might not have noticed, but having feared a life like theirs my whole life, I certainly did! Bella seemed to still have some coordination issues from her ordeal. Still, she mostly seemed to manage the chopped-up roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots on her own.

Amanda and Fred made small talk with Stacy and me through most of the dinner. “So, your parents are both taller?” Fred asked me.

“My mom was about ten feet tall; my dad is just over eight feet,” I told him.

“No Littles in your family?” He asked curiously.

I shook my head, “Not sure why I’m the runt of the family; all of my cousins are nine feet tall or taller!”

“My sister is shorter, too,” Amanda said. “You’ve met Megan, right?”

I looked at her and then Stacy, “Meg?”

Stacy giggled, “No, MeGAN, Meg isn’t related. They just happen to have the same name,” Stacy laughed. “I refer to her as Auntie Megan a lot now that I’m hanging out more with Meg,” she said. “Well, when I’m not with the sorority or you.”

Amanda and Fred asked about my life in my dorm, and I filled them in on my roommate’s epic exit and the prankster from the fall. Amanda and Fred both seemed to scowl at their treatment.

“You don’t approve?” I asked curiously.

Amanda sighed, “I never wanted a… traditional… adoption. Stacy here was just insane enough with her plan to interest me, honestly. Bella was a total accident, but we couldn’t let her get taken by the group that wanted her… well, we tried, at least.”

“You did your best, Mommy,” Bella spoke for one of the first times I’d heard her voice.

“I really don’t think a lot of the Littles that end up in care need it,” Amanda said. “Maybe some do… But if they do, their treatment should be a lot kinder. My sisters are terrible to theirs.”

I nodded.

“Sounds kind of like Beth may have made the right choice,” I said.

Stacy looked at me, “Heard anything more since the break?”

I shook my head, “Dad said he’d try and check in with her dad every now and then, but he mentioned seeing an LPS van there a couple times in the last few weeks. I’m hoping they’re not making things worse for them.”

Dinner got quieter there for a bit before Stacy and Amanda started talking about some new computer gadget that went above my head completely. Fred smiled at me, “You’ve kept up with more of their computer talk than most people, but I recognize that look.”

I laughed, “Yeah, Stacy’s awesome, but she will always be one of the nerdiest people I know!”

She stuck her tongue out at me, “Which is why you asked for my help on homework?”

“Well, duh?!?” I smiled. “You don’t ask some dumb jock for tutoring – the nerd is the best bet!”

I hung out with them for a little bit long before deciding I needed to get back to campus. As I was leaving, Amanda approached me, holding Stacy on her right hip. “Umm… Cameron, can you please not mention to anyone that Stacy is still awake right now?”

I looked at my watch and realized it was 8pm. “No problem; I don’t want to get anyone in trouble with Emerson. I’ll probably try and run by a grocery store on my way back so I can say that’s why I’m later too.”

“Thanks, Cameron,” Amanda said. “Please feel free to come over anytime! There aren’t many friends that Stacy has felt comfortable with seeing things here.”

Stacy blushed in her arms. “Honestly, Stacy, I hope you realize how great you have it here. I worried this was my fate for years until my growth spurt last year… and honestly, I still worry it could happen… I never dreamed there was a Big out there who would let their Littles do as much as they let you and Bella. I think you got a fair trade here.”

She nodded, “I’ll see you Monday at lunch?”

“Sounds good. I may have Addy with me; if you and Meg are uncomfortable eating with her, I’ll understand.”

“I’m actually curious to talk to her more… See what you see in her?”

I smiled at that, “See you later,” I told them and got inside my car. I programmed it to drive to a grocery store on the way home and monitored things just in case of an emergency. I couldn’t help but wonder how Stacy had avoided the breastmilk-causing issues. ‘If I had that ability, would I keep nursing from her breasts…?’

When I returned to the dorm, I needed to go to the bathroom urgently again and hoped it wasn’t a sign of possible problems.

Monday, Meg and Stacy joined Addy and me at one of the mixed-size tables for lunch. There seemed to be some great conversations about classes, the differences in the dimensions, and general nerd ideas throughout the meal, as Addy appeared to get the stamp of approval from Stacy and Meg.

“I really think she is a good one,” Stacy told me as I helped her get down.

“Me too,” I told her.

I handed her the backpack she had sat on the table just out of her reach. As I passed it to her, I touched her skin for just a bare moment. Suddenly I felt a serious spark of static electricity! “Ow…” I griped. “I hate that winter always causes static electricity to build up.”

She nodded, “Really annoying, isn’t it?”

I shook my head and said, “Yeah… anyway, we all better get to class. See you later!”

I walked to my next class and couldn’t help but smirk at the idea of what other people probably thought of Addy sitting at the table with all of us.

‘Well… they probably think she wants to adopt a full family…?’
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 14 and 15 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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.
 
 

Part II: Forward Motion
 
 
Chapter 14: Awkward Questions
 

THE PAST FEW years had flown by for me. I was now in my fourth year in college, and the end was in sight of my undergraduate years! I had spent a very focused summer preparing and taking the national standardized test for my law school applications. When I received my scores last month, I was very proud of earning a score that put me into the top two percent of test takers! It wasn’t even late September yet, and many schools were trying to convince me to come to them. I knew no matter which I chose, I wouldn’t have to worry about paying for law school, not with the scholarships and fellowships they already offered!

Addy and I had continued to date for the past few years. She was amazing, and we complimented each other very well on our strengths and weaknesses. Going into this final year, we nearly moved into an apartment together for our senior year, but her mom had a fit and shut the plan down! My dad thought it was better to live in the dorms one more year just to be safe… It was almost pointless, though, because I spent more nights at her apartment than I did in my single dorm room!

We usually had dinner together each night, worked on homework, and then found something fun to do together. I’d learned over the years that Addy gave an amazing massage when she had time for it! I tried to help her with homework and housework as a tradeoff for everything she did for me!

Today though, I wasn’t in either place; instead, I was over at Stacy’s for a bit of a barbeque and a pool party. Meg had needed a ride out to their home, so I’d taken her myself over like I had many times the last couple of years. Since our sophomore year, I’d had to install two rear-facing car seats for when I drove Meg and Stacy around. At that moment, Meg and I were floating in the pool, talking and using pool noodles to lazily float while Stacy was doing her crazy laps. Bella was sitting in a swing being pushed by Fred.

“So, how are things going for you?” I asked Meg.

She shrugged, “I’m glad I switched my major to management… But I don’t know what I will do after this year. What business wants a Little manager?”

I shrugged, “Start your own?”

She nodded, “That’s one thought…”

“You have some others…?”

She sighed and pointedly looked at Bella, “Her life isn’t so terrible, is it?”

I noticed the large smile on Bella’s face as Fred pushed her higher.

I shook my head, “Hers isn’t, but you know Amanda and Fred aren’t normal, right?”

She nodded, “I know.”

Stacy swam up right then, pulling up quickly with her fish-level ability to swim that she must have been born with. “Why do you two look so serious?”

I looked at her swimming so easily in the water. I could stand in our spot if I chose to, but it was far too deep for her or Meg to do the same. “Figuring out Meg’s life,” Meg said.

“Oh…” she said. “You know I could still get you a bid for Lambda.”

She shook her head, “No, I’m nearly finished anyway,” she told her. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do once I graduate.”

“What, are you wanting to be adopted?” I asked as kindly as I could.

She started to shake her head but then slowly nodded, “I’m thinking about it. If I could find the right mommy... It would be better than waiting for whatever witch sees me at a store or work and decides I need them to be my mommy by force.”

“Doesn’t Emerson keep you from being able to choose?” I asked.

“There’s a loophole I found and triple-checked with Professor Marshall. If I were to find a mommy off-campus, I could be adopted just by saying I lost my ID and not fighting the adoption in court or with the registration clerk.”

“Oh,” I said.

“So, who are you looking at?”

“Addy interested at all?” She asked me.

I laughed, “I doubt it. Addy and her family constantly argue about me with her. Meanwhile, she argues about her adopted ‘brother’s’ treatment. Addy may still consider adopting a willing Little way down the road, but she just wants to get her degrees now. She’s still deciding if she wants anything to do with her family’s business.”

“She’s thinking of not?” Stacy asked in surprise.

I nodded, “It depends… Addy loves me… and her mom doesn’t like that. She says she would choose me over that any day of the week.”

“Aww…” Meg said in stereo with Stacy. Meg sighed, “Doesn’t get me any closer, though. Any other ideas?”

Right then, Megan, Amanda’s baby sister, walked through the door. She was more my dad’s height than fitting in with their Big family. Still, technically, because her parents both were Bigs, she got to consider herself a petite Big within the laws instead of a Mid. “What about Megan?” I said half-jokingly.

“She would be a good choice,” Stacy said, surprising me by agreeing.

“What?!?” Meg said, “We’d have the same name… and she’s not that much taller than Cameron… Can she even legally adopt me?”

I nodded, “It would be weird, but it’s legal. Megan’s got a good steady job now that she’s out of school, and since she works from home, you wouldn’t even have to worry about avoiding daycare.”

“I don’t know…” Meg said.

A moment later, Megan jumped into the pool and came to catch Stacy to give her a hug. She held her briefly before sitting back in the water to resume swimming. “How are you doing, Meg, Cameron?”

“Great,” I said while watching Meg turn bright red.

“Good,” Meg squeaked out.

“How are things going this semester at school?” She asked.

Meg calmed down after a few awkward moments, and we soon chatted with the four of us quite normally. When Amanda called us over for lunch, we all sat down on a picnic bench-style table. I conversed with Fred a lot, with him giving me some advice on a few things he’d encountered when he went to med school that probably also applied to my Law School applications. We had a few more nerdy conversations about some science studies coming out about chemically creating new biological pathways. I’d gotten interested in that after Stacy had told me about how she healed Bella.

Every now and then, I looked to where Bella was sitting in Amanda’s lap, feeding herself the hotdog pieces on her plate. Stacy had a smaller hamburger in its whole form that she was allowed to eat on her own. When Bella finished, she said, “Nummies?” to her and tugged at her blouse. I blushed as Amanda pulled away the blouse and began breastfeeding her in front of us.

I knew Stacy was still nursing too, but I’d only seen that once in the years I’d been her friend. I figured Amanda did her best to not embarrass her in front of me.

After a while, Amanda took Bella inside to put the Little down for a nap while I helped Megan and Fred clean up the dishes. “You don’t have to do that,” Fred told me as I carried stuff inside.

I shrugged, “Happy to help,” I told him. “I appreciate you all having me over and feeding me! As a college kid, this seems like the least I can do!”

He nodded, “I get that. It was amazing when I finally started getting a real paycheck!”

I laughed, “I figure I’ve got about three more years with law school, and then hopefully, I’ll know that feeling too!”

After helping clean up everything, I found myself in the jacuzzi with Megan, Meg, and Stacy. Stacy was giving me a weird look, and I wondered if she wanted me to help out with something.

I saw her eyeing Meg and then Megan and got the point. ‘How do I do this…?’ I thought to myself.

“So, Megan, now that you have your job and everything going well… you found anyone to date?”

She shook her head, “Honestly, I’m not that interested… At least right now. Also, I’m like Amanda because I can’t have kids naturally – so I’m not sure I can even find anyone who wants me.”

“Thought about adopting?” I asked her.

“A real baby?” She sighed, “Of course, but you know as well as I do that there aren’t that many ever out there. No one wants to give up their real baby.”

I nodded, “What about a Little.”

She scoffed, “Hell no! I have no desire to be like Cassie or Chloe!”

“What about being more like Amanda?” I suggested. “Stacy and Bella are well taken care of?”

She laughed, “Well, yeah, they are… and I guess I could see something like that. But I don’t want to make someone feel like a baby all the time.”

“So, never interested?” Stacy asked.

She shrugged, “I guess ‘never’ is a long time… but I don’t think so. I’m happy being at home with my fur baby.” I knew she had a massive cuddly cat at her apartment that she posted pictures of as often as moms did with their kids!

“What about adopting to save someone?” I asked curiously. “Like Amanda did with Bella?”

She shook her head, “I don’t ever want to live through what they lived through… not worth angering people. They could easily decide I need to go back to middle school or something even worse….”

I nodded at that, “Yeah… I get that.”

She laughed, “It would be preschool or daycare for you, I’m guessing, Cameron.”

“Probably,” I told her. “I think my worst fear is someone deciding to declare that I have a case of Maturosis and turning me into a potty-training failure to make their real kids feel better.”

Stacy nodded, “That would be bad…”

“I’ve always thought if I get adopted, I’d rather just use the diapers and get it over with it,” Meg suddenly said.

“Would you really want that?” Megan asked in surprise.

She shrugged, “It’s probably not going to matter what I want… I’m small enough that I know I’m going to get adopted. Probably this year, something will be made to happen before graduation.”

“That sucks,” Megan said sadly.

“Yeah, it does. I keep thinking I’d be better off just picking someone to,” Meg coughed, “to be my mommy instead of a random weirdo.”

Megan looked at her and said, “You know, that might be one of your better options. You’re in school at Emerson, though; aren’t you locked into either graduating, demeriting out, or giving yourself up to Student Services?”

“If I was somewhere and ‘lost’ my ID with the right person, I could allow them to adopt me without telling the clerk I was a student.”

“That would be risky,” Megan said. “You really need to be able to trust the person…”

“Not many Bigs that you can do that with, huh?” I prodded Megan.

“No… Too many are like my sisters.” She paused, “They’d say they’d be kind, then the next thing you’d know, they’d be removing teeth or something…?”

I debated about pushing any further when Stacy made up her own mind. “What about it, Megan? Would you be willing to help Meg out?”

Megan’s face visibly drained of color. “Me… adopt Meg? Absolutely not!” she said. “I’m not wanting to be some mommy!”

She said it with such conviction I felt bad for her.

“It was just an idea,” I said, trying to help Stacy get her whole leg out of her mouth.

“A terrible idea… I respect Littles way too much to become part of the problem.”

“Even if it would mean you really were being part of the solution for her?” Stacy suggested.

“Stacy, I love you to death, but keep in mind you know that you’re going home to your dimension at the end of this year. What you’re talking about is a lifetime of being enslaved…”

“With you, it wouldn’t be horrible, though?” Meg said quietly.

She looked at her, and her look softened, “Meg, I appreciate that you even think of me highly enough to think of that. But I…” she paused, “I like you way too much to do that to you.”

Meg looked heartbroken but said, “Thanks, I guess….”

After a bit, I managed to steer the conversation to other topics, and Megan calmed down. Pretty soon, it was about two hours before Meg’s slightly later senior Little’s curfew, so I packed her back up in the car seat in the back and began the drive back to campus.

I walked her back to Wenig to make sure she made it safely with a half-hour to spare on her curfew. “Thanks for taking me over there,” she told me.

“Sorry, Megan’s not interested,” I told her.

She sighed, “I know… you have to know she’s the best possible Big out there, right?”

I nodded, “Yeah, the very fact that she doesn’t want you makes her even better in my book.”

“Let me know if you think of any better options?”

I nodded, “I’ll do what I can. I’d suggest Addy’s little sister, but she’s just starting her freshman year here.”

“I liked her when I sat with you all at lunch.”

“Yeah, but she wouldn’t qualify for that loophole since she’s bound by the student code of conduct,” I reminded her.

She sighed, “I know… At least I still have all ten demerits remaining this year. Last year I’d already lost three by now.”

“Well, so you make sure you don’t get any more, you better get moving inside.”

She nodded, “See you later, Cameron, thanks!”

I turned and walked back from her dorm, heading towards my own. ‘Poor Meg…’ I thought. I didn’t want to see her turn into another Beth. ‘Beth…’ I thought sadly. I’d seen her at Christmas the past couple of years and even a couple of times this past summer since the monitoring from LPS had finally concluded. Her dad had gone and gotten a clandestine treatment done in a nearby state to reverse the mobility impediment that very next week, the monitoring was ended!

They’d been careful, though, to make it seem like she could still only crawl when she was at daycare or while they were out shopping. Only inside their house was Beth able to start at least living a little more normally. She now had the coordination to feed herself again… even if it was only soft pureed foods or formula with her missing teeth. He wanted to get dental implants for her, but Beth was clear with her dad that she was terrified there would be a random LPS visit. Beth didn’t want to know what would happen if they saw her with teeth!

She was still dependent on diapers, and daycare was pretty mind-numbing, she told me, but in the end, it beat the treatment I knew she would have had elsewhere. The same treatment that I feared Meg would get stuck in as well.

Just as I returned to my room, my phone rang, and I ended up chatting with Addy for a few minutes. Her parents had dragged her and her sister home for a weekend event with their company. Addy had floated the idea of my attendance but been shot down, ‘unless you’re going to do the right thing and put his butt in the diapers that are more appropriate…?’

I felt terrible that she was dealing with her parents like that just to keep dating me. I often considered telling her it was time to break it off for her sake.

The problem was that we were deeply in love with each other!

After I hung up with her, I started on a case study I was doing for a management class I had decided to take. It involved industry research, and I’d chosen her parent’s company for my topic. The more I learned about them, the more I hated her parents. It was unbelievable to me how unsafe the products they tested were. The fact that they presented reports to the government that claimed they were safe and effective in almost every case made me furious.

Due to their influence, I had to ensure I kept my opinions out of the paper. The last thing I wanted to deal with was a slander suit from Addy’s wealthy and connected parents!
 
 
Chapter 15: Christmas Shopping
 

OUR FALL SEMESTER of college was swiftly drawing to a close this year. With it came the pain of never-ending applications to the law schools that still seemed intent on recruiting me and a few visits across the country. There were a couple in the east that I was really focused on, including the highest-ranked school out there, The Harlan Law School. I didn’t want to move so far from home, but it seemed inevitable because all of the most respected law schools in the country were far away! I had already completed ten applications, and I had two more that I was finishing for some backup schools with later admission deadlines.

Ding! I saw a text from Meg. ‘Could you take Stacy and me to go Christmas shopping?’

I looked at the clock and saw it was just before noon. We had two days to study before our exams began the following week, so I didn’t have anything pressing I needed to do. Addy had been dragged to some event on the other side of the country again by her parents, so I was completely free of worrying about doing something with her. I was taking five classes this semester and had qualified to be exempt from all but two of the exams… so I even had an extra two days before I would even have my exams.

'Umm… sure… I’m guessing I need to pick you up from Wenig and her from her house?’

‘We’re both at her house, actually.’

‘Give me a half-hour, and I’ll be there,’ I told her.

We didn’t do it often, but we had gone shopping a few times as a trio. They both wore their uniforms and IDs while we were out to avoid anyone doing anything. Still, I was also tall enough to be a legal babysitter for anyone who questioned things.

I changed out of the pajamas I was still wearing and into a pair of jeans and an Emerson sweatshirt I liked. I took a couple quick minutes to pull the hair band off the back of my ponytail and ran a brush through my hair. Addy had convinced me to let it keep growing since I began dating her. It fell down to the middle of my back now and generally became a nuisance. Every time I threatened to cut it, she would take me to a place and give them specific instructions to only trim it… It was annoying, but she definitely blackmailed me to keep the hair with more time in the bedroom on the line. I looked in the mirror and knew that it looked more like I was a skinny girl than a twenty-one-year-old man…

‘For some reason, that turns Addy on, though….’ I smiled.

Sighing, I finished grabbing my keys and headed out to my car.

As soon as I pulled up to Stacy’s house, the gate opened, and Amanda came out with Stacy in her arms, dressed in her uniform, and Meg matching her walking behind them. “You don’t mind doing this?” She asked as she buckled Stacy into the car seat in the back.

I shrugged, “I wasn’t doing anything else,” I told her. “I only have two finals I have to take, and they don’t start until next Wednesday.”

“Stacy’s nearly the same,” she told me. “Meg still has five, though, so I wouldn’t recommend staying out all day.”

“We won’t,” Stacy said.

“Be good for Cameron,” she warned Stacy.

I laughed, “We’ll be back by dinner.”

As soon as I started the car moving, Meg and Stacy began talking with me about what they were looking for. “I want to find a good present for Amanda since this is my last Christmas with her,” Stacy told me.

“Why not go shopping with Megan?”

“She’s terrible at keeping secrets!” Stacy laughed. “Plus, I think she’s supposed to be working today?”

“Oh, yeah… easy to forget sometimes that she’s like a for-real adult,” I laughed.

They laughed too. Meg had a few ideas of presents she wanted to get for her mom and dad, but like normal, neither wanted to go someplace like a mall alone. We made it to the mall and stopped at stores they were interested in. Stacy found a beautiful set of earrings at the jewelry store that she wanted to buy. The salesman was really skeptical, “Little girl, these aren’t pieces of play jewelry. They’re seven-hundred dollars for the pair! Why don’t you run along to the store down the way, and you’ll find something…”

I spoke up then, “Her money isn’t good enough? Seems like you’d appreciate the commission off of the earrings?”

“We’re not paid on commission,” he tried to say.

Another man came right then and said, “You’re right; you’re not paid by commission. Go clock out! I’ll send your last paycheck this week.”

I watched an embarrassing argument between the manager, who was about eleven feet tall, and the salesman, who was just over ten feet tall. Eventually, the manager said, “My apologies, young lady. Are you still interested?”

“Maybe… any chance of some consideration for the boorish behavior we just had to witness?” Stacy asked.

I felt a trickle of nerves for her, but he laughed, “How about five hundred?”

“Four-fifty?” Stacy suggested. “I suspect you still make a hundred dollars at that price?”

His eyes narrowed, “Good guess… Okay, I can do that.”

I noticed an item right then that caught my eye. “May I see that, please?”

“Umm… certainly… that’s for a big…”

I smiled, “I know.” I took a close look at the piece of jewelry and ended up talking him down twenty percent below the sale price. It knocked out all the money I had set aside, but it was worth it.

“I hope she likes it!” Meg said to me as I carefully placed the box in my pants pocket to ensure its safety.

“Me too!” I told her. I looked at Stacy and said, “You are crazy...”

She laughed, “Yep! I came to this dimension willingly, right?”

Meg also found some gifts for her mom and dad before we agreed lunch was in order. Stacy and I chose a stir-fry place, while Meg chose a place with gyro sandwiches. We met at a table meant for Betweeners and sat down to eat. I watched several Bigs stare hungrily at our table. I tried to put their stares in the background as we ate.

“So, what else are you looking for?” I asked Stacy.

“Not sure; I’d like to find something I can take back home next spring.”

“Isn’t that against the law?” I asked her.

She shrugged, “There’s some leeway if it seems like it would be somewhat normal. Medical items like diapers seem to be allowed to take back too.”

“You really think they’ll just let you go back?” I asked her curiously.

She shook her head, “Nope! But I have a plan!”

She had no time to elaborate as Meg said, “Something wasn’t right with that…”

I looked down at her gyro’s last few bytes and noticed that the tzatziki didn’t look quite the right color.

I watched as Stacy looked at her wrist and tried to pull off a charm from her bracelet for some reason. “Here… swallow…” she could only get out two words before Meg curled in towards her stomach, and I smelled something that no free little should be doing in a mall like this.

“Let’s get her to a bathroom,” I told Stacy, “walk calmly, and we’ll pretend I’m your babysitter… maybe we can get her out of this…?”

Meanwhile, Meg had tears rolling down her face as we gathered her stuff and began walking to the other end of the food court, where I knew there was a single-family restroom we could use safely. ‘If we can just make it there…’

The hungry-looking Bigs did look a bit curiously at me as I held her hand like she was a child in my care. I was enough taller than her, s that would be a reasonable assumption.

We were in the final hallway to the bathrooms when I felt her violently yanked from my grasp, and her shopping bags clattered to the ground!

“What do we have here?” A tall woman who attempted to be trying to grow as wide as she was tall picked Meg up. She pulled up her uniform skirt and said, “Uh-oh, seems like someone made an oopsie in her big girl pants. Guess she’s not ready for them.”

“Put her down, please, Ma’am,” I told her.

She looked at me and laughed, “Why?”

“Because I’m watching her for a friend.”

“She’s got a university uniform, but where’s her ID?” She asked with a smirk as she ripped it from her neck. Meg screamed in pain as the chain broke, and I watched it fly to a trashcan on the other side of the hallway like a perfect 3-pointer shot. “Guess I’m going to have to take care of her since she’s not ready to do so herself!”

“Ma’am put her down,” I said again.

“And what will you do about it?” she said.

“Tell the girl’s actual mommy about the witch trying to take her little girl?” I gasped as I saw Stacy wrap herself behind Megan, who had suddenly appeared.

“Mommy!!!!” Meg screamed and tried to get loose to go to Megan.

“Haha, good one, she’s not adopted yet. She doesn’t have her ID; I got her first!”

At that moment, a security guard asked, “What’s going on here?”

“This woman is kidnapping the little girl I was watching for her new mommy,” I told him while pointing at Megan.

“Do you have any proof of this?” He asked.

“Ask her yourself,” I said, pointing to Meg.

“She’s my mommy, not this mean lady!”

“Hmm… let’s go to the security office. I’ll get a police officer down to sort this out.”

“Fine, I’ll be leaving with my new baby girl when the visit is done!” She said to Megan.

“For now, how about I hold her?” The security guard said as Meg continued to cry and squirm violently for her ‘mommy’ to try and put a good show on.

He grabbed her and said, “We’ll get you with your right mommy here in a few minutes… Pee-ew, you are one stinky baby girl, though!”

Meg continued bawling, and I just hoped we could make the case to the police officer that arrived. We were led to a back office, and to my surprise, a police officer was already there. “What’s going on here?” He asked the security guard.

“Looks like this little girl has a newly developed case of Maturosis? She’s not officially been adopted yet and is wearing an Emerson University uniform.”

“I can see that; besides the poopie pants, what’s the problem? How would she be eligible to be grabbed and adopted by this woman?”

“Officer, if I may?” I got his attention.

“You are?”

“Cameron Sylvester, sir, I was babysitting her while her new mommy went to find her purse and a diaper in her car.”

“And she trusts you to watch her new Little?” He asked skeptically.

I nodded, “So does her sister with her, Little,” I nodded to Stacy, who was doing her best to blend into Megan’s leg. “I’m twenty-one and a college student.”

“And I guess you’re just tall enough to legally be allowed to be a babysitter…?” He looked at the surprisingly quiet woman, “And just what’s your part in this?”

“I saw this one leading her to hide her poopie pull-up so she wouldn’t be in trouble!” She tried lying. “Clearly, they’re just all working together!”

Meg was sitting more quietly in the security guards’ arms then. The cop turned his attention to Meg, “What’s your name?”

“Meg…” she said shyly.

“Well, Meg, I’m sure you can see we have a bit of a disagreement here on what happened. I think we can solve this pretty easily, though. Which of these ladies is your mommy?”

Meg didn’t hesitate, pointing at Megan, “That’s my mommy.”

“Seems clear enough to me,” he said to the woman.

“Now you listen here!”

“No, you need to calm down. I’ve already reviewed the footage and found the ID you ripped off. Obviously, she will need a mommy now, but it won’t be you. Get out of here before I arrest you for kidnapping!” He told her.

The woman backed away then and got out of there.

“Well, miss, let’s get you to your mommy so she can change your stinky pants,” he said as he passed her from the security guard to Megan. “You can change her here, but then I will insist on following you to the adoption center.”

“But… you just said you saw her ID was stolen?” Stacy asked nervously.

“You’re right, but she doesn’t have it on her now, does she? And she also told me that’s her mommy, so unless you want to send her to the city orphanage, I would recommend finishing what you started,” he told Megan.

She sighed, “Guess my plans for this afternoon are completely shot. She pulled her purse off her shoulder and asked, “Can I use this desk?”

“Certainly!” he told her, “I’ll wait for you outside.”

“Well, this went wrong…” Stacy said to me…

“Or right…” I said quietly, thinking about our conversation months ago.

Megan pulled a disposable changing mat out of her purse and a diaper I assumed was for one of her nieces since it was way too big for Stacy. “Let’s get you out of those poopy big girl panties!” She cooed. A few female security officers were still in the room, so I assumed she was putting on a show for them. “Here, you can have a paci too while I do this,” she pushed a pacifier into her mouth from somewhere.

I watched her toss the pull-up into the trash can after she taped the new diaper onto Meg. She gathered her on her side and said, “Okay, you two, I guess it’s time to go to the adoption center with this one… Stacy, do you want to go with me?”

I grimaced, and she did as well. Stacy nodded, “Are you coming too, Cameron?”

I shrugged and looked at Meg in the hallway; the officer was standing there.

“Where are you parked?” he asked.

“By the food court entrance,” she said, “on the south side.”

“I’ll get my car and meet you over there. Please don’t leave until I’m with you. Do you already have a car seat for her?”

“Yes, I have two in the back,” she told him.

“Okay then, I’ll see you again in a second.”

“You want me going with you?” I asked Meg.

Meg shook her head, her face red, but at least the tears were drying, “No… I can do this with Megan.”

Megan added, “You’re just close enough in height. I’d be worried about taking you in there. Stacy, are you sure you don’t want to go with Cameron? I’m not looking forward to this, and I can’t imagine it will be pleasant…”

Stacy shook her head, “I’m not leaving her alone… I’ll go for moral support.”

“I guess, like you said, I’m close to her height… Should I go back to Stacy’s and wait for you?”

“Actually, why don’t you just go back to school. I’ll get Stacy home, and she can call you when we’re done. You can come over and check on Meg at my place tomorrow if you want?” she paused, “I guess I should say our place.” She looked down at Meg, “I really didn’t want to have a Little… but there was no way I would let anyone go to that witch!”

Unfortunately, ‘that witch’ stood at the entrance as we walked out. She pushed me away from Stacy and tried to grab Stacy and run off then. ‘Try’ being the correct word because somehow Stacy hit the woman hard enough that she dropped her and stumbled. I watched in disbelief as Stacy then somehow somersaulted directly to her feet. She kicked the lady’s ankle out and did something to her knee. From the angles a second later, I could tell that the ankle was definitely broken, the knee dislocated, and I could see now that the nose was bloody.

I was afraid things would continue to escalate, but the same police officer drove up with a partner then, “What’s going on?”

“She tried assaulting and kidnapping her,” I said, pointing to Stacy.

“What happened to her, though?”

“She tripped when she tried running with me,” Stacy said.

“Jim, get her cuffed and in the back. We’ll follow these four over to the adoption clinic and then take her to the hospital that’s next door to get looked at before we book her.”

“I’m actually returning to my car right now,” I told him.

“Your car?”

“I have a self-driving car license,” I told him.

“Oh, well… why don’t you get inside her car, and she’ll drive you to your car? You can drive off once we see you in it. I don’t want any more excitement happening today…”

I nodded at that. At Megan’s car, she placed Meg and Stacy in the rear-facing car seats she had for Stacy and Bella to use. I hopped in the front passenger seat for a quick ride to the other side of the mall, where I parked.

“Call me later?” I told them as I got out.

“We will as soon as we finish the clinic,” Stacy told me.

“Good luck,” I said to Meg.

She smiled weakly at me, tears still going down her face as she quickly grew accustomed to sucking on that pacifier. I got into my car and set it to drive to campus before calling Amanda and filling her in. “At least you all got out safely… Not sure how Megan will cope with being a mommy, though… not to mention names will get even more confusing around here!” She paused, “I guess Mom and I will have to put together a Little shower for them too….”

I soon pulled into my spot in the parking garage on campus, made my way to my dorm, and began studying some more. All I could do was sigh and hope that everything would work out for them in the end.
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 16 and 17 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 16: Devices
 

THE NEXT DAY I got a message from Meg on her phone that she’d be changing her number, but Megan was letting her still have a phone to talk to her friends. I wanted to go see her, but Megan insisted on waiting a week while she was busy trying to make her apartment appropriately Little Proofed in case LPS decided to come to check on the new adoption. The woman’s assault had made it onto the local news that night, and it turned out the lady was a prominent figure on the local school board. I decided Megan might, unfortunately, have had a reason to be concerned there!

I spent the next few days worrying a little, but I honestly figured that was the best thing that could have happened for Meg… And when it came down to it, that’s what she had wanted to have happen. Late Sunday night Addy made it back to town, and we went for dinner before going to her place for the night.

“How was your trip?” I asked her.

She shrugged, but her facial expressions made her look really upset, “If I wanted to be in my family’s business, I guess it was good… I just don’t want to join in on any of it.”

“What do they want you to do?”

“Well, since I’ve had my awesome tutor that got me through all of my advanced chem and bio classes, Mom wants me to run their lab division.”

“Like all of the experiments?” I asked nervously.

She nodded.

“So, like you’d be involved in all the trials…?”

She sighed but nodded, “Yeah, unfortunately.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Stall… Grad school and working on my doctorate should let me push it off four to five more years?”

“What then?”

“Good question,” she told me with a sigh. “It’s too bad that they don’t actually protect Littles.”

“Could you make that change?” I asked curiously.

“If my Mom and Dad died… well, I’d have thirty percent of the shares since Danica gets the other thirty percent. If she voted with me, we could make those changes. Still, otherwise, the forty percent owned by shareholders would have a bigger influence.”

“And for profit’s sake…”

“Profit’s sake means continuing as they do now…” She sighed, “It sucks! How was your weekend? Do anything with Meg and Stacy?”

Luckily, she didn’t consider either of them to be competition to be jealous of and seemed more than okay with our friendship. “I did… I went to the mall with Stacy and Meg for Christmas shopping.”

“Find anything good?”

“A few things,” I said with a smile that turned dark, “Need to go back, though; our trip was interrupted when someone spiked Meg’s food….”

“What happened?”

I told her the story from beginning to end. “She is probably better off with her than anyone else. I didn’t think she’d last long past graduation.”

I nodded at that, and we soon found ourselves occupying our time in the bedroom, making up for the lost time of the weekend!
 

MY FINALS WERE done on Friday, but I wasn’t driving home until Sunday since no one would be home there anyway. My dad had gone out of town for a company trip and wouldn’t return until then. Addy still had a final that day, so I decided to see if Megan minded if I came to check on Meg. “Hey Megan, this is Cameron,” I said when she picked up the phone.

“Hi Cameron, how’d your finals go?”

“Should be good; I’ll have to wait until probably tomorrow or Monday before grades are posted,” I told her. “I’m staying in town an extra couple days still and wondered if maybe I could come to see Meg?”

“I’m sure she would love to see you,” she told me. “If you want to come over now, you can join us for lunch before you go back?”

“Sounds great!” I told her.

With that, I headed for my car and input Megan’s address. I wasn’t as worried for Meg as I was for Beth, but I wanted to ensure Megan hadn’t gone off the deep end. Her apartment complex was on the other side of town from the university. However, I still made it pretty quickly - even with my vehicle that insisted on always going the exact speed limit!

I pulled into a parking space by her building and made my way up the stairs to her second-floor apartment. I knocked and waited.

A moment later, I heard the deadbolt turn and watched the handle open. “Hey, Cameron!” Megan said, “Come on in!”

It wasn’t a huge apartment, but it looked cozy enough. A baby swing sat in one corner, a walker behind the kitchen table, and a playpen sat as far out of the way on one side as they could get it in the combined living room.

“Hey, Cameron!” Meg said to me as she came up and gave me a hug.

Breaking apart from her, I took in her appearance. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants that didn’t look much different than she wore before – might have even been one of her old pairs – with a shirt tucked inside them. There was obviously the bulge of a slightly wet diaper. Her hair was tied into two cute pigtails with large bows, but other than that, she didn’t look any different than she did the last time I saw her. “You doing okay?” I asked her.

She nodded, “My mommy is the greatest of all time!”

Megan smacked her head, “I don’t know what I was thinking! My sisters are the ones who are supposed to be called Mommy!”

I laughed, “Sorry, but thank you for saving her.”

She smiled, “Well… honestly, the moment I saw that woman rip her from your hand, I didn’t see any choice! I guess I just have to get used to having a little rugrat running around here.”

“Everything went okay with the actual adoption?” I asked, looking back and forth between both of them.

“Mostly… Thank God Stacy warned me about what they would do to me back there!”

“It was bad?”

“Not for me, because I kept my mouth shut and made sure that I didn’t cry or complain…?”

“You saw someone who didn’t?”

She nodded, “Lots of them… But I made it through, and now I have a chip in my arm that says I belong to Megan now.”

“And she’s not even given me any trouble!” Megan laughed, “Other than our names being too similar! I’m not letting her steal my name, so our family will know her as Meggy now.”

I smirked at that, “Well, it’s better than getting some sort of dog’s name…”

“I know… I’ve seen some of my friends do that…” Megan said.

I spent the next few hours learning about the forced shopping trip with Amanda and their mom, who was now ‘Grandma’ to Meg. She’d also filled me in on a visit they’d had with her real parents, who seemed relieved that she at least had a good ‘mommy’ compared to all of the rest. I learned that she was just wearing diapers full time, sitting in high chairs and strollers, and sleeping in a crib… Other than that, Megan was treating her like she was still the college friend that she was.

Unfortunately, Emerson considered losing her ID a violation of the Student Code of Conduct, so her adoption resulted in her dismissal from the university. Meg theoretically could transfer credits somewhere if she and Megan wanted to. Still, I think Meg just decided it was game over for her education. “I was about to fail at least two of my classes anyway…” she admitted.

They’d beat an epic video game the previous week together in team mode since Megan was now on mandatory maternity leave for six weeks from her company.

“So, you’re just getting to laze around here and make Megan take care of you, huh?” I laughed while Megan was making lunch for us all.

“Well… it also comes with the mandatory requirements, too…” she told me.

“Like?”

“I have to use my diapers for everything…”

“No potty for number two like Stacy, huh?”

She shook her head, “No, just in case someone comes around… That part hasn’t been fun, honestly. I mean, I’ve had many poopy pull-ups and diapers since I came to Emerson, but…?”

I nodded, “Not a pleasant feeling…”

“How do you know?” Megan asked, reappearing.

“Remember, I just managed to get past the line. I was a Little to the school district all the way until the last few weeks of school my senior year. Thanks to some poisoning at my school, all of us – including some Bigs, actually - ended up in diapers when I was thirteen… Dad wasn’t a fan and did his best to get me cleared out of whatever chemical someone had given us as quickly as possible. There were quite a few poopy diapers until we got it under control,” I blushed.

“That sucks,” Meg said.

“None of that now,” Megan said. “No potty-mouth babies here!” She giggled, but I suspected she kind of meant it.

“Sorry,” Meg said.

“What other requirements?” I asked a moment later when Megan went to check on the stove.

“Well… I have to drink out of bottles – no sippy cups- and nap each day… and sleep in the crib.”

“Other than that?”

“Other than that, Mommy is even letting her still use her computer, her phone, watch TV, and see her friends and family!” Megan said as she came and picked her up. She tickled her side a bit as she plopped her into the highchair. I noticed that her diaper definitely squished as she did so. “Guess we need to change you as soon as we finish lunch, huh?” Megan told her.

She nodded.

Lunch was grilled cheese and soup, something I could easily be okay with. She let Meg feed herself with a spoon, and the sandwich cut up an extra time beyond ours. Ultimately, she said, “Guess I should have put a bib on you?”

I looked at Meg, and sure enough, there were a lot of stains from the soup, along with crumbs from the sandwich. “Oopsie,” she smiled.

“Well, I need to get this one changed and put in something clean for her nap,” Megan said. It was a polite but clear dismissal after we had finished eating.

“Yeah, I need to get back to campus; I’m working on a gift for Addy….”

She smiled, “Meggy mentioned what you bought her the other day.”

“I’d almost forgotten about it with everything else by the time I made it home!”

“Good luck!” She told me.

“Thanks!” I told her.

I’d been going back and forth for the entire week on whether or not I wanted to do it… but in the face of seeing yet another friend lose their freedom… I’d decided you only live once!

This year, I worked for the chemistry department as a tutor and lab assistant, so I had a key to the freshman chemistry lab. That lab, fortunately, was closed down with no one using it since freshman chemistry lab finals were all paper-based. I got in there, began setting up some tubing in a large clear tank, and then inserted the chemicals into both parts of the setup. I prepared it to activate with a simple bump of the device and left to get Addy for dinner.

A couple hours later, we went to a nice restaurant near campus that was close enough to walk to. I chose it because we would have to pass by the chem labs on our way back to my dorm, where she parked her car. She was smiling and happy that she’d finished her final exams that day, and we planned to spend the next day together. On the way back from dinner, I said, “I forgot something in the lab yesterday; mind if I stop by really quick?”

She gave me an odd look but said, “Sure.”

Since she did not need a job, she didn’t do anything extra for the department like I did. Because of that, she didn’t normally go into the buildings outside her classes and lab times. Fortunately, my key worked twenty-four hours a day - even with it being nine o’clock at night with all exams finished.

The building was like a ghost town as we walked the halls and went up the stairs to the freshman chemistry lab, where we first met.

“Hard to believe this is where it began,” she said as I opened the door.

“Let me get the light… it’s on the other side of here for some reason,” I said, intentionally bumping my device.

Suddenly, the inside of the tank lit up with the glow of a chemical reaction from inside the tubing I had carefully formed into words. I heard Addy gasp as she saw it and turned around to open the box in my hand.

“Addison Elizabeth Harris, you are the love of my life. I knew from the day I met you four years ago I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you… Will you marry me?”

My whole body and soul looked into her eyes and waited for her response.
 
 

Chapter 17: Midtown
 

I WALKED INTO my childhood home knowing that no one would be there. It was lonely and silent as I turned the entryway switch, turning on the lights in the living room. Looking ahead, I saw an old picture of my mom holding me on her lap in a field of wildflowers before she died. You could just see the bump in her stomach that should have been my little sister… That one always made me sad. I couldn’t help but miss her, even all these years later - and I would have given anything for a hug from her right then.

I walked upstairs to my room carrying the suitcase I had brought to get me through the break, sitting it inside the bedroom I’d slept in since I was a baby. I sighed as I dug out a pair of pajamas and emptied my pockets. Emerson ID/Wallet, car key fob, house key, cell phone, and a jewelry box that I gently tapped before wiping tears from my eyes.

I pulled my shirt off, followed by the slacks I was wearing. Two AM clicked over on the digital clock, and I knew I probably should have just stayed in my dorm for the night. I couldn’t stand the thought of being there, though, since all my friends had either left already or been adopted now…

I pulled on a soft pajama shirt, pulled on my pajama bottoms, and retied my hair behind my head.

I nearly went for the scissors right then but decided it was too late that night.

I could tell that Dad had washed my bedding before he left on his trip since I could still smell the scent of a dryer sheet on them. Pulling the covers over my body, I cried even more at the hurt.

“I’m sorry, Cameron,” she said. “I didn’t want… I don’t want…” Tears streamed down her face as she took a breath and said, “Look, I do love you more than you can know, but…” She practically screamed, “I… I can’t marry you. My family will disown me! And my mom… This week Mom… Mom made me...” She sobbed, “Made me... promise to break it off with you before I came home for Christmas…”

“You mean…”

She pushed the box gently back into my hands, kissed me on the top of my head, and said, “I can’t, Cameron. I don’t think another man will ever be in my life because I love you so dearly. But clearly, I can’t keep leading you on with false promises of a future together… I’ll always love you, Cameron, but… but we can’t do this anymore.”

She had turned and left me standing there with the box still in my hand and tears running down my face. Wordlessly I cleaned up the mess of my attempt to be romantic, walked back to my dorm, packed my suitcase, and set the car to begin driving back home on the dark roads.

‘This sucks…’ I thought through the broken heart that I felt.

I tossed and turned for a while before giving up and going downstairs to turn on the TV. I tried reading a book, found a snack, and then tried again. I finally must have fallen asleep about eight that morning, and the next thing I knew, it was close to six in the evening.

Dad wasn’t due home until the next afternoon from his business trip. I decided to shower before dressing in fresh, comfortable pajamas and checking my phone.

Cameron, I really am so very sorry about everything… I will always love you, but I think you’ll understand when I say that I can’t even see you to give you the things you had at my apartment. I placed everything in some boxes and sent them this morning to your dad’s house… you should get them Monday.

Good luck in the future,

Addison

She hadn’t even signed her name Addy… that’s how far I had fallen. I felt the tears in my eyes again as my phone rang. Meg’s photo showed, “Hey Cameron! Are you okay? I thought you were coming to hang out at Stacy’s today?”

I saw Stacy standing there, too, as the video feature went live. “Oh, Cameron, what’s wrong?” Stacy asked.

“She said… She… No.”

“Oh, Cameron! I’m so sorry!” Stacy and Meg said in near unison.

Megan suddenly came into view, “Where are you?”

“I packed up my stuff from my dorm last night and just came home?”

“Didn’t you say your dad is out of town?” Meg asked.

I nodded, “He’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.”

“Are you okay? You need us to come there and hang out?” Megan asked.

I hesitated momentarily but shook my head, “No, I’m definitely not okay… but I’m guessing I will be after some time. Honestly, I just want some time to try and process everything. I mean… what do I even do with the ring I bought?”

Megan frowned, “Hang onto it for now. After the break, maybe Amanda and I can take you to return it? I have a feeling that if you try and do it yourself, it won’t end well…”

I nodded, thinking that a Mid with a failed engagement ring wouldn’t be safe returning it…

“Yeah… that’s probably a good idea.”

“Look, if you change your mind and want us to come over, let me know! Or if you just need to talk! I hate to see you alone right now, but I can understand you wanting that.”

“Thanks, Megan. Thanks; sorry about bailing without letting you know….”

“Understandable, Cameron!” Meg said.

I sighed as I hung up the phone and decided I needed something to eat. Dad didn’t have much in the kitchen, so I went out to my car and drove to a fast-food place nearby. I ordered a hamburger combo and took it back home to eat.

Throughout the evening, I curled up underneath a blanket on the couch in the living room, watching some of my favorite movies. The phone rang when my favorite part was coming on one. I felt guilty and embarrassed again as I saw Dad’s face. I paused the movie and turned on the video feature for the call like we normally did.

“Hi, Cameron… are you home already? Weren’t you planning on doing something today with Meg and Stacy?”

I sighed; I hadn’t brought myself to call him. I was so mortified! “Last night, I asked Addy to marry me….”

Dad knew me well enough, “I take it she didn’t answer how you wanted…?”

I shook my head and wiped a tear from my eye, “No, she told me her family had given her an ultimatum to break up with me by yesterday… It’s not fair! I love her, Dad!”

We talked for a while, with tears shed on his side too, it looked like, before he said, “Look, Cameron, I’ll be home in the morning. Maybe we’ll pick up a six-pack of beer or something and drink it together? Or go out somewhere?”

I looked at him in surprise, “What?”

“You’re twenty-one, right? With your birthday being after school started, we never got a chance to go out for the beer a father owes his son?”

I nodded, “Okay… that sounds good, Dad.”

When he hung up, the living room felt emptier. I looked up at the picture of Mom again and sighed, “I really wish you were here!”

I curled back up under the blanket and found myself on the two social media sites I used. I felt a knife in my gut when I saw that Addy had changed her relationship status and unfriended me in the past half-hour. Friends of mine had already sent me messages asking what happened.

I mostly ignored them but answered a few before throwing the phone on the counter and avoiding it the rest of the night.
 

DAD MADE IT home at about three in the afternoon and immediately wrapped me in a hug. “I’m so sorry, Cam,” he told me.

I felt more tears trickle down my face and let them flow for a few minutes before he released me. “I know it seems impossible right now, but I promise you you’ll find someone even better than Addy.”

I shrugged, “Maybe...”

“You will… Now, why don’t you take a shower, put on some nice clothes, and we’ll go out for dinner and some drinks.”

“Is that safe?” I asked him nervously.

He laughed, “As long as you’re with me, you’re fine. Besides, we’ll go to Midtown – you probably won’t even be the shortest person there!”

I nodded at that. I had never been there, but I had heard that it was a club that catered to Mids and Littles with a nine-foot height limit enforced by bouncers at the door. They also intentionally only installed short nine-foot door frames and low ceilings that were supposed to be a physical deterrent. I hopped into the shower and thought it was odd that I still hadn’t needed to shave again after all these years. The hair removal stuff from my freshman year was still in full effect.

I was annoyed with the long hair as I dried it, but even though I’d grown it out for Addy… I kind of liked the way I looked still. ‘Maybe I can dye it gray and look like an old barrister…?’ I forced a quiet laugh and sighed.

I dressed in the suit that I normally went out in with Addy. After deciding to go without a tie, I put on my lifted dress shoes. They brought me nearly seven feet in height when I wore them. ‘Maybe I’ll find someone who isn’t so tall…’

It hurt, though, and twisted in my guts like a knife, thinking that the relationship I’d had for over three years was gone just when I thought it would continue forever!

Dad was dressed nicely and had his beard combed straight. With the gray in it, he really could have done the Santa gig if he wanted it! We called a cab to come to get us. Walking outside to it, “Excuse me, just give me a minute so I can get a car seat out for your young man,” he insisted.

“I’m tall enough…”

“You might be, but I don’t want to have the death of some kid on my hands because they weren’t properly restrained!” He said tersely.

“It’ll be fine, Cameron,” Dad said to me.

The man latched in a front-facing car seat that looked like it had seen better days. The faded pink color and unnamable stains on it failed to make it any better. Dad didn’t get off the hook either, though, as the man installed a backless booster, “I need you to sit on that, sir,” he told him.

He just sighed, “Of course…”

The ride to the restaurant wasn’t long, and it was thankfully within walking distance of the club. Still, I flushed as at the dropoff area of the restaurant, my door opened, and a valet picked me up from the seat. “Welcome, young miss,” the tall man said to me.

“I’m a guy, that’s a cab, and I don’t normally sit in a car seat,” I said tersely to the giant.

He looked like he was going to be offended, but Dad grabbed my shoulder and said, “Let’s go get something to eat.”

Over dinner, we enjoyed a glass of wine with the meal. Dad told me about some things with his job, funny stories, problems, and other bits of his life since I was at school. He worked as one of the chief technicians on a crew that made repairs to independent portals like Diamond Tours and PR, Inc. His understanding of the technical workings of the machines meant he was in high demand - and paid pretty well. It also meant he got stuck dealing with some of the most idiotic Little crazy Bigs out there... He was well practiced with it, though, and usually dealt with them quite easily!

By the end of a delicious meal of filet mignon, I was feeling the effects of the alcohol but was certainly not drunk yet.

“Let’s hit the gents and then head over to the club,” Dad said after he paid.

“Good idea,” I said. ‘The last thing I want to do is have a drunken accident like my old roommate!’

We finished up there and walked down the block to the club. As we walked, I watched many couples and people out for a night on the town. Whenever I saw that they held hands or kissed, the knife in my gut twisted some more. This was a popular area that had grown a lot in the past few years since I went to college. A few Bigs were around, but mostly Mids and a few Littles wandered from place to place.

“Bigs don’t come down here?” I asked Dad as I could see the sign of the club.

He shook his head, “A bunch of Mids and Littles got together and bought up this block. They built everything smaller than the Bigs, so it mostly keeps them away. A volunteer group of security also wanders the streets to help dissuade anyone from adopting shorter folks.”

“Huh…” I said aloud. “Too bad we don’t have a part of town like this near Emerson!”

“It’s been so successful here that they’re talking about putting one in a few miles from the university, actually,” he told me.

“Just in time for me to graduate,” I noted.

“That’s the way it works,” he agreed.

“ID?” the bouncer asked me as I came up. I presented my limited license, and he motioned for us to continue without asking my dad for his.

Dad must have picked up on my thoughts, “Enjoy that they ask for it. You’ll be old like me someday and wish they did!”

“I guess,” I said.

I had never been inside a bar that was my size, and only once to a Big’s with Addy when I turned twenty-one early in the fall. We walked up to the counter, and I could get on a bar stool with much less effort! “What can I get you?” she asked.

I looked at Dad, “This is your idea…”

“Let’s have a Jack and Coke and a shot of tequila apiece,” Dad told the bartender.

“Any preferences?” He asked, motioning towards the tequila.

“An Extra Anejo,” he said.

“Just a minute,” he said. I watched as he poured a finger of Jack in two glasses and topped it with coke from a fountain nozzle.

Two shot glasses joined them in front of me, and Dad raised the larger drink to me, “Cheers,” he said.

We talked for a couple hours and more drinks about how it might have been better this way. “You were worried about picking a school near her, right? Now you can just worry about taking the best offer!”

That thought didn’t make me feel better, but it didn’t feel so bad as the tequila was sipped slowly after the cokes. After a short while, I could feel the alcohol affecting my brain chemistry! I was most definitely drunk when we hopped into another cab to go home. I was still capable of stumbling upstairs, using the restroom, and making it into bed all on my own, though.

The next day I had a hangover like nothing I could have imagined! It meant I hardly registered the four boxes that arrived from Addy’s apartment for me.
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 18 and 19 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 18: Poetry
 

THE LAST SEMESTER of my undergrad years flew and dragged by after I returned from break. Without Addy to hang out with, I tended to spend more time at Stacy’s or Megan’s that spring. ‘Meggy’ had managed to adjust to the new normal with Megan. Meggy really was treated as maturely as could be allowed by a Big who adopted you. The one exception was that she finally convinced Megan to stop throwing away the milk she was constantly pumping and allowed her to remove it for herself. It quickly finished what limited control of her potty training Meg had remaining, but she didn’t mind because it made it less stressful to not have to force herself to poop in her diapers. She believed it was easier to just have a genuine accident and go, ‘Oh, my diaper’s poopy?’

It was a bit awkward, but I’d been over at Stacy’s several times and watched as both of them were nursed by their ‘mommies.’ Stacy, in particular, seemed more needy than in the past as we got closer and closer to graduation. I suspected it was since she knew her return to her dimension was imminent, and she would have to say goodbye to Amanda and Fred - whom she had grown very close to!

A week before graduation, she invited me to her house and led me upstairs to her room. She shut the door, pressed some buttons on a tablet, and said, “Cameron, I need to talk to you about some things…”

“Like what?” I asked curiously. This was the most secretive she’d ever behaved – which was saying something!

“I’m going home Saturday after Commencement, and I feel like I need to at least let one person in this dimension know about some things.”

I was really curious, “Like what?”

“Well, first, I need to apologize to you... I did something to you a few years ago and didn’t tell you about it.”

My eyes narrowed, “What did you do to me?”

“Remember freshman year when you told me that, Addy,” my gut clenched at her name. She clearly grimaced herself then, “You told me that you had been making out and accidentally got a mouthful of her milk?”

I nodded, “I never went near there again… I was too nervous of becoming another incontinent Little.”

She smiled, “You could have multiple times a day, and it never would have been a problem.”

“What?”

“I doubt you remember, but you helped me get my bag down from a table the next week. While you handed it to me, you were shocked by something that felt like a static charge?”

I thought for a second, “I kind of remember that…”

“Well, you’d mentioned wishing you didn’t have to worry about it… and I didn’t want to worry about seeing another friend joining the permanent diaper train. So… I transferred some nanites to you.”

“What…?” I gasped. “Is that why I don’t have any body hair still?”

She shook her head, “No, that’s still down to that awful prank. The main thing I programmed them to do was clear the protein that’s in Amazon’s milk from your nervous system. That protein binds to receptors, which would have rendered you incontinent.”

I breathed a sigh of relief but was still slightly annoyed, “You could have asked…?”

“I couldn’t let anyone know I had that ability, Cam.”

I nodded at that, “Did it do anything else?”

“Not yet, but I want to add something for you.”

“What?”

“You’re still susceptible to some of the hypnotic suggestions out there, right?”

I blushed! She knew that I had fought for a month just a few months ago to avoid a sudden nighttime thumbsucking issue after watching a movie at Megan’s. “I guess I am…”

“I’d like to add a routine to the nanites inside you to filter that out.”

“You can do that?”

“That’s how I escaped those Venture people freshman year,” she told me.

“Any risks?”

“I don’t think so with this.”

“With other things?”

“Well, when I did the more significant things with Bella, she unfortunately shrunk.”

My eyes widened, “That won’t happen, right?”

“It shouldn’t.”

I thought for a moment. Stacy was one of the most brilliant people I had ever met… and she was pretty sure of herself, so I decided, “Yeah, go ahead.”

She pressed some buttons on her tablet, and I suddenly felt a jolt over my body, but it was over instantly. I looked at my clothes and was grateful to see no change in my height!

“You said there were other things?” I asked her.

“I have a prototype of something I want to release in the wild. I want to leave information with someone just in case the information is needed, though…”

“What’s it do?”

“Hopefully helps get rid of some of the cruelty towards Littles?” She stopped, “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve used it on my aunts and uncles. It should activate in two weeks once I’m gone. Another with my cousins will activate in a month. If all of those work… then maybe it could be released elsewhere…?”

“Tell me more…”
 

THE WEEK OF Commencement, both sets of my grandparents came into town to see me graduate. That night after I walked the stage, we had a big party at my house to celebrate my degree and acceptance into the Harlan School of Law. It was easily the most prestigious law school in the country, and I would be paid to go!

Grandpa Jack and Grandma Wendy came to see us very few times when I was growing up. Most of the time, we saw them involved us driving the ten-hour drive to their home once a year in the summers. They hadn’t seen me in person since my high school graduation, so I matured a lot since then! Fortunately for Dad and I, they got along with my Mom’s parents quite well.

“What happened with that girlfriend of yours?” Grandpa Frank asked.

“Girlfriend?” Grandma Wendy asked.

I sighed, “It didn’t work out, unfortunately,” I tried to leave it at that.

“No wonder she was like the total opposite of you, dear,” Grandma Suzy said.

“That wasn’t the problem,” I tried to reign in my temper and emotions. Even five months later, the wound was an open sore for me.

“What was the problem then?” Grandma Wendy asked.

“Her parents didn’t approve of her going out with a Mid. Marrying me was completely out of the question… they told her she had to break it off with me, or they would cut her out of her inheritance.”

“Was it a big one?”

“You could say that,” I said sadly. “I really don’t want to talk about her, though.”

“Fair enough,” Grandpa Frank said, trying to put the genie back into the bottle. “You excited to move to your new school?”

I nodded, “I’m looking forward to seeing another part of the country. And I’m looking forward to being at the best of the best,” I responded.

“I’m jealous that you’re getting this experience,” he told me.

I smiled at that, “I just hope it all works out!”

“I’m sure it will! Just don’t forget about us when you’re the big-shot lawyer!” Grandpa Jack said.

I smiled at that. After we had enjoyed a great dinner, I opened a stack of presents everyone had given me. The first one was larger than the others when I opened it. I was excited to see a really expensive leather satchel briefcase from Grandpa Frank and Grandma Suzy that looked really classy. It was sized to look perfect for my height!

“Thanks!” I said as I gave them a hug, “I’ll use this all of the time, I’m sure!”

I also received a leather portfolio notebook that matched the brown leather. My other grandparents gave me a nice gold-plated pen set with my initials. Dad had bought a new computer for me to use - something that surprised me since my current one worked just fine! I thanked him, though, and the party was over soon enough. They had all left the next day to return home, leaving Dad and I alone, when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” I said to him since he was working on a load of laundry. I opened the door and was surprised to see Mr. Fehler holding Beth on his hip.

She sucked on a pacifier, wearing a very short dress that displayed an attached onesie snapped together to cover most of her diaper. “Hi Cameron, we heard you had graduated. May we come in?”

“Sure…” I said as I motioned for them to come inside. I shut the door and made sure the blinds were closed. As if he was waiting for that, he set Beth down, and she ran over to me and bearhugged me!

“I’m so happy for you, Cameron!”

“Beth… you’re running and talking normally?!?” I looked at Mr. Fehler, “You’re letting her grow up?”

He shook his head, “No, I’m certain if anyone found out about her recovering her locomotion or the teeth I had implanted and fixed her tongue, we’d have a problem. As it is, we’re hiding the teeth under a prosthetic,” he said as Beth opened her mouth and pulled out a piece of silicone that reminded me of a mouthguard from sports, just a lot thinner and flesh-colored.

“I still have to wear and use diapers everywhere but home… and go to daycare,” she squirmed a bit, “Anywhere we’re out, I pretend nothing has changed… But at least when I’m at home, Daddy is letting me be more of a big girl!”

“I’d ask you not to tell anyone…” He said to me and my father, who had come in.

“You won’t hear it from us!” Dad said. “I’m glad to see Beth happier!”

“Me too!” I said with a smile, putting my arms around Beth for another hug.

“Here, open it!” She told me and handed me a wrapped package.

“It’s all her,” her dad told me as we sat down on the living room furniture, with Beth sitting beside me.

I looked at the package and opened it up, finding a piece of black slate mounted vertically to a wooden base. It had a poem inscribed on it.
 

 

I felt the tears in my eyes just then and hugged her, “I’m sorry, I never realized…”

She laughed, “I never pushed… It never seemed like there could be a future for us… well, for me, once you finally grew.”

“Why don’t you two go to your room, Cam?” her dad suggested.

I gave him a questioning look, and he gave me a nod.

I grabbed her hand and led her upstairs to my room, grateful I had just made my bed that morning since my grandparents were still around.

“Nothing has changed here?” She said as she sat down on the bed.

I shook my head, “No, it’s like a time capsule every time I come home… well, I brought everything home this time, I guess.”

“So, other than graduating, how have things been? You and Addy…?”

I sighed, “She broke up with me just before Christmas when I proposed to her.”

“That’s awful, Cam!” she told me.

“Yeah… I’ve had a hard time getting over her this semester. It gave me a lot of time to think, though,” I told her.

“About?”

“About the one who got away because she was mere inches from me,” I told her.

I stared into her eyes and wondered if it would be okay to kiss her now that she was mostly back to normal. I didn’t have time to decide that for myself as she launched herself at me and kissed me more passionately than Addy had ever done. I kissed her back and found myself being practically attacked by her passion.

“What will your father say…?” I asked, taking a quick break.

“I told him what I wanted to do with you.”

“Oh, what is that?”

“Make up for lost time…”

Her diaper and my underwear were the only things that stayed on over the next hour. I didn’t have a condom, or I might have considered letting her convince me to go ahead the rest of the way.

“Please?” she had asked me.

“I can’t risk getting you pregnant… I’m already risking my possible legal career right now…” I told her.

“Why?”

I sighed, “Because even though you are an adult, the court considers you a minor…”

“You don’t really love me,” she started to say, but I kissed her firmly on the lips.

“That’s not the case at all! I just need us to be cautious here, Beth. I have three years of Law School to go. I’ll come back at breaks, and if your dad is a willing accomplice to bring you over here… well, we can see what will happen. But maybe, just maybe, by the end of those three years, we can get you an emancipation hearing?”

“That’s not possible… is it?”

“Not in this state… but maybe if your dad moves you to another state with better laws, you can all work on that while I go to school.”

“But if I came back here?”

“Who says you have to come back here?” I smiled, “It’s not like there’s much keeping either of us in this crappy town?”

She smiled, “Okay, I work on getting certified as a grown-up again, and you work on becoming a big-shot lawyer. I can live with that.”

“Great,” I told her and gave her another kiss. “You get that certificate, and I’ll show you what we can do as adults…”

I helped her put back on the dress and snapped the crotch shut for her. Her diaper was getting pretty soggy, so she needed to go home and get a change.

Over the next three months, while I was at home, Mr. Fehler brought her over at least once a week. We would video chat every day for hours at a time otherwise. Each time he came, I gave him information about some places they could move and overturn the Maturosis diagnosis. By the end of the summer, they had already managed to get past the most challenging part of things, the re-potty-training.

She had an occasional setback since she could only use the potty at my house and her own… It bothered her that she had to make sure she acted like a drooling infant at daycare. There she still had to crawl around, eat meals of only baby food and formula, and pretend that pooping and peeing her diapers was normal.

The night before I left for law school, Mr. Fehler brought her over and handed me a package inside a bag. I blushed when I realized what was in it. “Is that a good…? You are okay…?”

“You both need it,” he told me. “Just make sure you use that. You might want to have Lizzie use the potty first…”

It was probably the stupidest and riskiest idea of all time! But I took him up on the offer when she made all the moves toward me. Taking her diaper off was among the weirdest things I’d ever done. Still, when it was off, I discovered that things definitely fit together much better than they had with Addy!

I was still smiling from the experiences the next day as my plane touched the ground in the city that held my law school.
 
 

Chapter 19: New Haven
 

DAD HAD FLOWN with me to New Haven to help me move in. We were definitely on the shorter side of passengers walking around without ‘guardians.’ We had both dressed up for the flights hoping it would help keep people from dismissing us because of our shorter heights. Fortunately, it seemed to work as we left our home airport with reasonably decent treatment. Arriving in my new city, I was greeted with the sights of a decidedly more liberal society. Littles could be adopted here, but the rules were significantly more stringent. There was a mandate that a Little had to be willing to be adopted. Forced adoptions only occurred in the case of court rulings. In those cases, the lawyers and mental health professionals had to agree on a diagnosis of Maturosis for an adoption to be ordered. It meant most of the babied Littles were perpetrators of some criminal offense and needed re-raised as a criminal consequence, or they genuinely preferred living like that.

There were still plenty of diapered and babied littles in view as we exited the airport, but at last, nearly all of the ones I saw seemed happy. As we passed them, I didn’t see any signs of the scarring that so many had back home from mobility impairment surgeries. Also, I noticed that all the smiling Littles still had their teeth! New Haven was named long before Littles were even considered, but the name seemed to fit. The Harlan School of Law often took a leading role in Little Rights cases, and it was clear that, at least here, things seemed to be better for Littles.

I would have suggested Mr. Fehler bring Beth here. Still, unfortunately, while the adoptions were more difficult to legally occur, they also had rules that made it equally more challenging to emancipate an adopted Little. That was because they assumed they had been willing to enter into the agreement… or had a valid reason to be forced into it by the courts.

Fortunately for Littles, wet or messy pants weren’t enough of a reason here to lose your freedom!

I sighed as we walked out to the line of cabs, and a tall big waved one down for us. “Thank you, sir,” Dad told him.

“You’re welcome!” he said.

The cab driver got out and helped load our luggage in the back. We had both brought our maximum luggage allowance, using Big sized luggage that was a challenge for me to push around. Dad’s was mostly filled with my stuff, too, as we decided not to drive my car out to school. We made that decision because everything was within walking distance from the student residential village I was assigned. The school maintained a series of apartments that my fellowship covered near a grocery store and retail area. Unless I was trying to explore, I wouldn’t even need to leave the section of town that I was in. If I did need to travel, the mass transit system there was very well thought out and worked just fine.

It was saving me a lot of money for parking permits that weren’t necessary from what I could see on my visit. If I changed my mind, I would drive it back at Christmas. For now, I focused on getting moved in and worrying about getting ready for orientation and classes to start later that week!

“Where you heading?” The cab driver asked as Dad, and I sat down without a booster seat in sight.

“The residential village at the Harlan Law School?” I replied.

“You have an address?” He asked, “I know where the school is, but not the village?”

“Sure…” I gave him the address and watched him enter it into his system.

He made small talk as he drove and seemed surprised where we were from. “What brought you out here?”

“Law school,” I told him, “I wanted to go to the best school! The fact they also made a huge package financially to get me out here helped too.”

I smiled at that thought. The terms of my schooling were that I had all tuition and books paid, my apartment was free, I received a stipend for T.A.ing a class for undergrads, and another for being a gopher on a legal team. Obviously, I would still have some expenses, but I was getting paid to go to school! My test scores, grades, and interviews had been enough to land me the best package they offered to grad students.

Coming closer to the university’s campus, I saw the buildings of Hamilton University that hosted the Law School as part of its institution. The buildings were old! Several of them were over two centuries in age, and all the architecture was beautiful throughout the campus. A trio of buildings housed the Law School that were among the oldest buildings. I had loved the old brick facades, the wooden floors, and their old library, which lent itself to a fantastic gravitas when I walked in during my spring visit.

Down a block, we came to the newer building that housed the graduate student housing. A sign said ‘Welcome New Students!’ and directed us inside a building for registration.

Dad paid the bill for the taxi, and we walked towards the signs. “How about I watch your suitcases here,” he suggested to a bench that was in the shade of a tree, “And you can go get everything set up?”

“Sounds good,” I told him. “Thanks, Dad!”

I joined a line that, thankfully, wasn’t too long. I saw that there were probably ten Bigs, three other Mids, and surprisingly two Littles! The Littles did look a bit nervous about the Bigs that were around, but seemingly less so than any back home. One of them caught my eye, a brown-haired man who was probably only five feet in height. There was no sign of any padding of even a Pull-Up or thicker underwear on him. “What are you staring at?” He asked me with some hostility.

I shook my head, “It’s so much different from back home. I’m glad to see that you have the opportunity to go to school here.”

“Where are you from?” He asked me, “I’m Brad Grant,” he told me.

“Greenville… it’s in Ames,” I told him, adding, “I’m Cameron Sylvester.”

“So, is it as bad there for Littles as I’ve heard?”

I looked in surprise, “I’m going to guess maybe…? I’ve… I’ve never seen a place that wasn’t like it?”

He nodded, “You’ll probably get a bit of a culture shock here then.”

I nodded, “I figure, but that’s part of why I wanted to come here.” We talked for a few minutes, and I learned he was a doctoral student working on dimensional physics for portals as his focus for his thesis. ‘He and Dad could probably nerd out for hours…’ I thought. I had just finished explaining I was there for Law School when he was called to the table. He grabbed his key, and I took his place at the table and soon signed my life away for the key I held in my hand.

“See you around,” he said as we crossed paths.

“Yeah,” I told him with a smile. It was nice to see Littles free!

Dad and I got into my furnished apartment and started messing with unpacking what I had. He was taking the bed for the three nights he was staying while I volunteered to sleep on the oversized couch until he left. This apartment was actually sized for a tall Mid, so I didn’t need a lot of step stools to get to things – even though there was one provided by the university.

We cleaned, made trips to the grocery store, and unpacked the boxes of dishes, pans, and other things the next day that I had shipped to myself. We generally did some sightseeing before he had to head home the night before our orientation for grad students began.

“Stay safe,” Dad told me as he opened the taxi door and hugged me.

“You too, Dad! I love you!”

“Love you too, Cam,” he told me with a smile.

I watched the cab drive away with him that night and walked back into my apartment. I turned on the TV and watched a few shows when my phone rang. It was pretty late by then, but the phone showed a number Mr. Fehler had me memorize before I left. I was pretty sure it was a burner phone to avoid being traced.

“Hello?”

“Hi Cameron, I just wanted to let you know that we made it safely to where we’re settling in to get Beth a better chance.”

“Since you’re there, can you tell me where you’re at now?”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll wait until we get moved into our new house in a few weeks. I want to make sure we’re established here first, just in case someone tries to trace us from back home.”

“That makes sense… may I talk to Beth?”

“I’m sorry, Cam, it’s way past her normal bedtime, so she’s already out like a light. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t worried about us getting out.”

“Thanks, I was! Can you maybe call me with her tomorrow night?”

“Sure, Cameron,” he told me. “But I don’t want you pining over her while you’re apart. I’m sure this will work out, and you two can make a life together here in a couple years. Focus on your schooling so you can provide a good life for you both.”

I smiled, “Yes, sir, I plan to!”

“Good, I’ll worry about getting her ready for that life. We’re in a good place with pretty liberal emancipation laws. I hope we can get her emancipated by next year and then figure out what’s next for her.”

“That’ll be great, sir; thank you for being a good father to her!”

“I’ll always love my baby girl – but I don’t always want to be changing her stinky diapers!”

I laughed, “Thank you for that too.”

That night I went to sleep and felt hopeful for Beth for the first time ever. I didn’t hardly even think about my nerves about starting law school the next day!
 

BEGINNING THE NEXT day, I learned I wouldn’t have any time to be pining over Beth! Orientation presentations weren’t all that different from what they had been at Emerson. The pride in the Harlan Law School was apparent with the introduction and the guest speakers present. Soon we received a tour of the buildings, course schedules, and supply lists needed to get picked up all that day. I soon found myself completely immersed in my new studies.

On the first day of classes, I carried my new gifts of the briefcase and computer to a small lecture hall, dressed in the required business attire. In our first class, I had sixty-five students, and we were split into small groups to work on a group project. My group was assigned to research facts surrounding a case HLS was assisting with. We met in a small conference room right after getting our assignments.

“Hi, I’m Wendy Spencer,” a girl who was only about nine feet tall told us as we sat down. She was a bit heavy in build but had an amiable smile framed by her chin-length brown hair.

“I’m Cameron Sylvester,” I said.

“I’m Edgar Freeman,” a tall eleven-foot-tall man about my age said. He looked like he was wearing quality clothes based on my memories of being around Addy for all my time at Emerson. His suit alone probably cost a couple grand, I guessed. His wristwatch was at least ten grand with all of its bling. He wore a friendly smile, though.

“I’m Kyle,” an older gentleman with graying hair only a foot taller than me said. His face and demeanor looked like someone who had been through a lot. “I’m the old man, I guess… Decided to come to law school after serving my time out with the service.”

A girl who was almost exactly my height, with shoulder-length blonde hair, said, “We’ll be relying on that experience!” Her smile was genuine, but I would wager her boobs were not! She might have needed a larger cup size than Addy… “I’m Penelope Madden,” she added.

The last member of our group spoke up, “I’m Samantha Rutgers, but please call me Sam.” I was surprised to see so short of a little joining our group. She was only about five feet tall, with her black hair pinned into a bun on her head. Her skirt suit fit her well, but I knew she would have just been accused of playing dress-up back home.

“Nice to meet you all,” I said again. “Shall we get started? How do we want to do this?”

We made a really good team for a group that was incredibly diverse in height, wealth, and age! Harlan had decided to help represent a small company being sued for providing a service to repair computer systems, even though they weren’t authorized by the manufacturer. The manufacturer sued the business for ‘illegally repairing’ their products for much less than they would have charged for the same repairs. There seemed to be a lot of case law on the manufacturer’s side. The school was helping the defendant’s side due to a clear indication of an unfair competitive environment. They were leading in defense of the lawsuit and leading a countersuit effort to try and effectively change the unfair practices going on. The six of us split off some different research areas. I’d been assigned the owner’s bio to try and determine if there was anything else at work.

The business owner had used an alumnus member’s law firm only for speaking with the manufacturer and the Law School. No one had ever seen them in person, and I wondered if there was a reason…?

Stacy had taught me many tricks over the years before she left after graduation. I soon found myself using most of them because the owner was incredibly secretive! I finally located the owner, ‘Trinity Snyder’ and figured out there was a reason why she was hiding her actual appearance.

“She’s a Little…” I said out loud.

“Umm… duh, I know I’m a Little; problem with that?” Sam said to me.

“No, not you… the client.”

“No way? How can that be?” Penelope said, “Isn’t her business in Ames?”

“Yeah… if anyone finds out she’s a Little, the case will be over, too,” I said aloud.

“How do you know that?” Edgar said.

“That it’ll be over?” I asked.

He nodded, “I’m from Greenville there… Trust me, we don’t have many Littles that make it out of college, let alone own businesses.”

“If they were here, we could make a discrimination argument,” Wendy said.

Edgar sighed, “I’m so sick of seeing everything skewed against Littles.”

I think all of our eyes looked over at him above his computer. “But…” Kyle said, “You’re one of the Freeman family members. Aren’t you happier with Littles being ‘put in their place?’” He said the last part with evident scorn.

“I’m the black sheep of the family,” he told us. “I came here to Harlan hoping to gain some tools to fight that blatant sizeism.”

My opinion of him went way up, “Well… So, we know this will be an issue for the client. Does anyone else have anything? Maybe ideas to help?”

We worked on the initial research several times in the next few days before returning to our full class and presenting our findings. “Who discovered that the client is a Little?” our professor asked.

I raised my hand, “That was me, sir.”

“How did you do that?”

My methods became its own class discussion, and a point was made that sometimes research is the most important thing to do in a case.

A week later, Trinity Snider was safely relocated to New Haven, and the case could move forward over the next eighteen months, with us being asked to do the legwork for them a few more times. She eventually won the case, with some significant damages awarded to her. That award included covering all of her legal expenses, which benefited the law school!
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 20 and 21 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 20: Sizeism
 

OUR GROUP HAD become a close group of friends over our first two years at school, and we all worked together very well. Only Sam and I lived in the village, so we tended to get together a lot at my place to study since Sam was a little skittish about letting Big people inside her place. On those occasions, Edgar had to duck a little to come inside my apartment. He tended to bring his own folding chair, but it became customary for us all to hang out a few nights of the week.

One of the few times I had been inside Sam’s apartment, I had caught sight of a package of night-time protection that I guessed was why she didn’t want anyone over. She’d even been leery of me at first, but as we got to know each other, I told her more about my past and Beth. Consequently, we became good friends, and I helped her out in situations where even in this city, it wouldn’t be a good idea to go unescorted as a Little!

My time in law school was flying by unbelievably quickly! During my second year, I worked really hard to earn the recommendation of one of my professors to get an internship to clerk with the Chief Justice on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Justice Ruth Jones was highly respected and had a reputation for being a no-nonsense juror, but understood applying the law accurately and reasonably.

After my finals ended in May, I’d made a quick trip home to grab my car - driving it first to New Haven. I’d taken a hurried day at Harlan to move much of my stuff out into storage and the needed things into the car to take with me. On the Saturday before I was set to begin interning, I had been on the road for two hours to get to Crescent City, the Capital of The State of Hartford. I was glad it was a city in the same state as Harlan just to feel safer about this move. Unfortunately, the move was pretty much sight unseen for me with the apartment. I had interviewed with Judge Jones via a video conference instead of being in person due to my classes. She completely understood my need for that and even complimented me on taking my coursework seriously. After she offered me the position, she was kind enough to send along a couple of recommendations of places to live that she knew were nice places close to the courthouse.

This apartment was in a high-rise building downtown, only two blocks from the courthouse. Luckily it also had access to a parking garage for my car, even though it looked to me on the surface to be possible to never have to leave the area for anything other than maybe groceries. I pulled into the garage as I’d been instructed by the manager, grabbed my briefcase, and walked down the tall stairs to exit the garage. At the bottom, I found a door leading to the apartments. I opened a large door and followed the arrows to the management’s office.

Surprisingly, it appeared to be a bigger office than I expected. A tall secretary looked up from her computer and said, “Well, hello there! Can I help you?” The problem wasn’t the words… the problem was the pitch was high, like you would use with a preschooler... or a baby. I hadn’t dealt with that much since I began studying at Harlan.

I braced myself for more but forced the smile I needed in the courtroom, “Yes, I’m Cameron Sylvester. I’m supposed to move into my apartment today?”

Her face looked inquisitive momentarily; she typed something into her computer and then looked back at me. “Umm… No one told us you were a Little?”

I bit my tongue, “I’m not a Little, I’m legally a Mid, but my size isn’t going to be a problem in renting? That would be discrimination, of course…?”

“Let me get my manager…” She stood up and walked away.

I pulled my phone out and placed it in a panic-mode to call Dad without being seen. I hadn’t felt the need to have a panic button ready to go in years, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say I would be treated as a Little by her. I also started a recording on the phone just in case I needed evidence of what I feared was coming.

Another tall woman made her way to where I was standing. “Mr. Sylvester?” she said.

“Yes, ma’am?” I said as I held my hand up to her.

“I’m Ryleigh Edger; I’m sorry about the confusion here. Judge Jones gave you a reference, but no one said you weren’t a Big.”

“I don’t see the relevance?”

“Well, we have an apartment furnished and ready to go for you, but it is, unfortunately, Big-sized.”

I shrugged, “I grew up in a Big-sized house; it won’t be an issue.”

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t for you… but we have an insurance company that doesn’t approve larger-sized rentals for lessees due to the safety risks. Concerns of people falling out of too tall beds… not being able to reach safety equipment.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that you will not rent to me? Based upon my size alone?”

“Well…”

“You realize I will be reporting your discrimination? I will have grounds to seek out a small claim suit against you all as well? Where am I supposed to rent an apartment on this short notice?”

“Sir…”

“Sir, what? You’ll rent to me?”

“No sir, I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Then I will do so,” I told her.

I turned and walked back to my car, getting inside, locking it, and shaking with nerves then. If she HAD called the cops, that would have been a way to manipulate an arrest and get me into the courts. I set my car to drive a safe distance away to a shopping center parking lot where I could try and figure out a plan. I had just left the parking garage when my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Sylvester?” I heard the voice of Judge Jones.

“Oh, hello, Judge Jones.”

“I wanted to see how you were doing? If you had made it to the city yet?”

I sighed, “Well… I made it to the city, but unfortunately, the apartment I had arranged to rent was in a building that apparently believes in discriminating against anyone who’s not a Big.”

“What?!?” She sounded genuinely unhappy. “They can’t do that! You told them that?”

“I have a recording too. The manager was trying to claim it was due to their insurance not being willing to insure the apartments against an injury if I fell…”

“Really?” She acted surprised, “I haven’t seen one of these cases in a couple of years here in this state. I want you to send me the audio recording when we hang up. I think I’ll get it to our local DA and let him go deal with them… I guess that means your place to stay has fallen through?”

I sighed, “Yeah, I was just getting ready to find a place to park and start calling around for other places.”

“Well…you know what… don’t bother.”

“Ma’am?” I said, nervous she was about to fire me.

“I mean, don’t bother. I have a room you can stay in at my house. I have had interns come before, but I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by suggesting it first.”

My stomach did flip-flops. For the second time in twenty minutes, I worried my maturity card could be in jeopardy! ‘She’s not one of those…’ I thought. I thought back to everything I’d researched about her. She had four kids – natural ones – who were all grown. The youngest son had just graduated college this spring, and as far as I knew, they had never had a Little, and her kids hadn’t either. Her record spoke really positively on the Little front, having decided against many Bigs trying to cruelly bypass the stringent adoption rules that the State of Hartford had in place.

“I’d expect to pay rent,” I found myself saying.

“Nonsense! You’re a student! You and I both know what it’s like to eat ramen and get by with the bare minimum on things. Save your money.”

“Well… I have to do something to make it up to you?”

“Nonsense, now, I’m going to text you our address, and I expect to see you soon!”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I found myself saying.

I got off the phone with her and messaged her a copy of the audio file from the apartment. I uploaded it somewhere safe before programming in her address and sending my car off to its new destination.

I called Dad then, “Cameron? Did you make it into your apartment already?”

“Hi, Dad… No. Things didn’t go as expected…” I filled him in. He seemed to have his own worries along my lines, but neither of us saw another solution. “I’ll be careful, Dad; I love you,” I told him.

“Love you too, Cameron,” he said to me.

I saw she must live a fair way out of town because it would still be another twenty minutes to get to her house. Right then, my phone lit up with Meg’s number. I pressed accept and said, “Hi Meg, how are you?”

“Hi Cameron, you moved into your new place yet?” She asked.

“Not exactly,” I told her.

“What’s wrong?”

I explained everything, “Cameron, that’s kind of scary. Are you sure it’s safe to go stay with her?”

“I hope so… all of my research tells me I should be safe…”

“Be careful!”

“I will… How’s everything going there?”

“Odd.”

“Odd?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah… You know, when Stacy left, some weird things happened.”

“Like?”

“Well… I don’t think I ever told you about my cousins, did I?”

I thought back to what Stacy had told me about them, “You didn’t, but Stacy told me they were all in the worst shape, no teeth, can’t walk, etcetera?”

“Yeah… they were.”

“Were?”

“A month after Stacy left, they healed suddenly. Grew teeth, slowly struggled to walk again, and could talk normally.”

“Uh-oh, what did your aunts do?”

“Nothing… Well… sort of nothing. Aunt Chloe and Cassie started turning up the affection levels… I haven’t seen them hit one of them since about a month after that. They’re even letting them eat regular food and changing their diapers when needed - like a normal parent should. Before, they were really abusive and neglectful. Still, now both treat their Littles like cuddly dolls that they actually love. Well enough, Neville told me he decided to not run away when he suddenly could again.”

“That is weird… You think Stacy?”

“Yeah… I do.”

“Well, at least it’s just them?”

“No… that’s the thing. In the last six months, I’ve noticed less and less abusive behavior when Megan takes me out. Then this week, a judge ruled that Littles have the same rights to safe homes as normal minor children.”

“You think she somehow hypnotized everyone?” I had to keep from her that I knew full well what had happened.

“No idea… but I’m guessing she had something to do with it.”

“Does that mean Littles aren’t being adopted now?”

“No… unfortunately, that hasn’t changed. If anything, I think I’m seeing more adoptions among Megan’s friends. Plenty of ‘adjustments’ are still happening too, but at least the beatings and such seem to be not as frequent…”

“Things still the same there with you?” I changed the subject.

“Pretty much. Megan’s thinking about switching jobs, though, so I may have to start going to daycare during the daytime…”

“Ouch… I hope not?”

“She’s promised she’ll make sure it’s a nice one if she does.”

I saw the car was three minutes from my destination, “Hey Meg, I want to talk to you some more, but I’m almost at her house. I need to let you go so I can keep track of which of these mansions is hers…”

“Big houses?”

“I have a feeling her house will be bigger than Amanda and Fred’s.”

“Ooh… Good luck, Cameron!”

“Talk to you later, Meg,” I told her and hung up.

The car brought me to a gated entrance, and I pressed the button at the gate, “Hello?” A voice asked.

“I’m here to see Judge Jones?”

“Is that you, Cameron?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” remembering my better manners now that I wasn’t so frustrated.

“I’m opening the gate up and the garage. Just park your car in the empty spot at the end.”

“Okay,” I found myself saying. The large gate was twice the height of my dad’s car and looked like it probably would stop a considerable vehicle from ramming through it. I saw it close behind me as I guided my car up the driveway to the house. I discovered they had five double garage doors lined up along the side of a large house finished with a stone façade. It looked to be three stories tall and probably had a basement, I guessed too. As I parked in the empty spot, I noted a large truck, two SUVs, a luxury sedan, and a small, modest classic sportscar in the other bays. It looked like a pretty good-sized shop was set up in one of the other bays to work on cars too.

I opened my door and looked at the tall figure of Judge Jones walking towards me with a man I guessed was her husband. Her hair was short and gray, while he lacked anything on top of his head, and the hair on his sides was white. “Hi, Judge Jones,” I said. “Thank you so much for helping me out here.”

“I’m Cameron,” I said to the tall man beside her. She was probably a little under eleven feet in height, while he was perhaps four inches taller than her.

“Nice to meet you, Cameron; I’m Doug,” he told me.

“So, you made it alright?” Judge Jones asked me.

“Yes, Your Honor,” I said.

“Oh, stop it with that. If you will be working and living with us, I can’t have you ‘Honoring’ me every two seconds. Call me Ruth, or if you really feel a need to be formal, Mrs. Jones will be just fine.”

“Umm… Thanks.”

“What all did you bring with you?” She looked inside the car as I opened the back.

“Well, I had thought I was moving into an apartment today, so I brought most of the things I needed from my on-campus apartment…”

“You won’t need a lot of that. Why don’t you bring in your clothes, computer, and anything like that and leave the rest of your things in your car for now? We can store the rest of the boxes next to your car in the garage or just leave them all in the car. If you’re living with me, we’ll commute into town together.”

“That’s very generous,” I said with a smile.

“Why don’t we go show you your room,” she said after I had taken a couple suitcases, my computer, and her husband had grabbed another bag. They led me up the steps of a large porch that wrapped around the house, and inside the entryway of the enormous home, I had to gasp. I’d been inside Addy’s house twice while we had dated, and while probably more expensive, this seemed more elegant.

“You have a beautiful home,” I told them.

“Thank you,” she said. She led me up tall steps that were definitely sized for Bigs. It was a big step up for each. Still, I balanced everything and made it to the second floor. Then the third floor, where she opened up a door, “I figured you’d probably appreciate the privacy the third floor will give you. This was my youngest daughters… so sorry about the colors in here. You can at least switch the sheets if you’ve got the right size with you.”

I looked at a room I was surprised suited for a shorter person. “She’s shorter?” I asked while looking at a bed sized for a Mid or a small Big child.

“Yes, she somehow ended up with a recessive gene. She’s only eight feet tall,” she told me. “Not that much taller than you, really.”

“No, that’s the height my dad is,” I said.

“Anyway, when we figured out that she would be shorter, we found appropriate-sized furniture. We also altered the bathroom to make it a bit more manageable.”

“Great!” I said with a smile. “I really do appreciate this!”

“Well, why don’t I let you get situated in here. I’ll have dinner ready in an hour – please come down and join us.”

“Are you sure I can’t pay you anything?”

“Help me with dishes after dinner each day; we’ll call that even,” she told me.

She gave me a look as I was about to argue more, so I smiled, “I’d be happy to do that.”

They left, and I took a look around the room. It was decorated for a teen girl with a definitely girlish scheme. Two walls, including one with a huge window seat, were painted white, while the opposite walls were painted a light purple. A bed that looked my size was covered in a very feminine white comforter, with the headboard backed up against one of the purple walls. On the wall above the bed were hundreds of stuck-on mirrored star shapes that were actually kind of cool. The opposite side of the room held a white vanity with a mirror that I assumed her daughter used to do her makeup with from the small dusty remnants that still remained. A reasonably sturdy white desk sat beside it with a nice computer chair.

I opened the closet and discovered it would have been a dream closet for most girls, with all the bars available to hang things. As I unpacked my clothing, I thought, “I sure hope she doesn’t want me to be a new daughter here…”

As I said that quietly aloud, I noticed my long hair in the reflection of the vanity would undoubtedly suit that look. ‘Why does Beth have to like it long, too…?’ I shook my head and made sure I promptly made it downstairs for dinner after putting all my things away.
 
 

Chapter 21: Introductions
 

MONDAY MORNING, I sat nervously as I rode in a worn booster seat in the back of Judge Jones’s car as she drove us towards the courthouse. I reflected on how lucky I seemed to have gotten! That weekend I learned that she and her husband were truly a sweet couple. He retired as a chief engineer from an aerospace company just last year. He now spent his time tinkering in the garage and tending to the large yard around their house. She was a total legal nerd, and I literally gasped aloud when she showed me her library Saturday evening - it was equal to most law schools!

That led to some interesting legal debates that I loved hearing her opinion on. Truthfully this short pseudo-clerkship was a dream come true for me as a law student!

“When we get to the courthouse, I’ll take you to get your credentials. This morning I’ll introduce you to my staff and a few other people around here; then, there are those three hearings that I told you about yesterday this afternoon. I’d like you to sit next to the court reporter and make notes on the proceedings. I’ll have you work on many things through your internship, but I think it’s invaluable that you get a good grasp of how the appellate level really works. Things never go exactly according to your classes,” she laughed.

I nodded, “I’m really looking forward to it!”

We pulled up to a security gate where a guard looked at Judge Jones and was about to motion her through before seeing me. “Take your kid to work day, Judge Jones?”

“No, this is my intern this summer. I’ll take him to the security desk to get his credentials.”

“Fair enough, go on in.”

She drove through a couple turns and parked in a parking space that had her name on a sign. ‘Judge Ruth Jones, Chief Justice 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.’

‘Must be nice to have your own parking space…’ I couldn’t help but think in my head.

She noticed my look, “It was not easy getting to this job; the little perks are really nice, though!” She laughed, and I joined in.

I fell in beside her as she walked to an elevator and soon found myself in a ground-level hallway where we stepped through a metal detector with a guard and then continued to navigate through a maze of corridors that led to a security office. “Good morning Judge Jones; what can we do for you today?” A polite older man with a darker skin complexion spoke to her.

“Good morning to you, too, Officer Branch! I need to get my intern, Mr. Sylvester, all credentialed for the courthouse.”

He looked down at me, and I was relieved to see a genuine smile rather than another Big like the apartment manager. “Certainly, Judge Jones! May I please see your ID, sir?”

“Hi,” I said politely, “Thanks for helping me with this.” I pulled out my wallet and handed him my driver’s license. He sat there momentarily, typing on a screen before saying, “You’re from Ames, huh? Don’t see many people from that way here.”

“I have one more year left in law school at Harlan. It’s home back there, but I like New Haven a lot better.”

“The State of Hartford is definitely a nicer place for shorter people,” he nodded. I figured he’d never had to deal with that since he looked to be eleven feet tall. As if he could read my mind, he said, “I’m tall, but my older sister wasn’t – she’s a bit shorter than you. She ended up moving out that way with her husband… a year later, she was the baby, complete with a new mommy. Took us years to find a way to get her back safely to here.”

My eyes shot up at that, “Is…”

“She’s fine, not a piece of padding in sight, except on the genuine grandbabies!”

I smiled, “That’s good!”

“The system shows we’ve already completed the background check on you, so if you can just stand over here, I’ll get your picture for your ID.”

I stood before a blue backdrop and smiled as best I could as he took the photo. “That’ll be a nice photo, actually…” he said with a smile. I waited a moment before he handed me a tablet, “Please sign where it tells you to.”

I signed my life away effectively with federal laws if I violated rules. It was many signatures and initials before I finished and handed it back to him over the counter. He traded me for an ID badge with a clip on it. “Here you go, Mr. Sylvester. Work hard for Judge Jones, and she’ll do good for you. She’s the best we have here!”

I smiled at him, “I plan to; thanks for your help!”

As we walked away, she said, “You’ll do well with me.”

“Huh?”

“I’d already had a good chance to judge your character this weekend, but I always find the true nature of people who work with me by how they treat people like Officer Branch there.”

“What do you mean?”

“You treated him with respect and were pleasant to him as he did his job. Many interns and clerks I’ve brought to him have disdainfully acted as if he was beneath them when he took care of the formalities.”

She stopped at the elevators and looked down at me, “The best lawyers and judges I know treat everyone like they’re the same as themselves. It’s easy in the law profession to feel like you are better than everyone else in the world. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are no different than that officer, and you will go far.”

The elevator arrived, and we rode upstairs to her office on the sixth floor while I pondered what she said.
 

JUDGE JONES INTRODUCED me to her staff, some of the court staff, and some bailiffs that worked around her courtroom and showed me around the important places on her office floor like the break room, copy room, and bathrooms. She set me up at a large desk in the anteroom to her chambers and handed me three stacks of files that pertained to the three cases she would hear arguments about today.

“I know you don’t have nearly enough time to fully brief yourself, but see what you can get through in the next two hours. We’ll get a bite to eat, and then it’ll be time for the first hearing.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said with a smile.

I opened the first case and saw it was Robertson vs. the United States of Acirema. A man had killed another man and had argued it was self-defense, but the jury had ruled otherwise. The attorneys for the case were making a technicality argument that some of the evidence shouldn’t have been presented. Reading through the Appellant’s and the State’s briefs, I honestly didn’t think there was anything of value to the argument other than maybe making the man feel better with an appeal being made on his behalf.

I saw the second case was Kounze vs. the United States of Acirema. Their appeal alleged prosecutorial misconduct was at work during the trial of a man convicted of burning down a building and killing three people inside. In question was a video recording of the man doing what he was accused of. It was presented but not shared with the defense before its presentation at the trial as part of the discovery phase. That one was probably bound to be retried, I figured from looking at it, since that was a pretty big oversight. There was no doubt in my mind that the man was guilty…

The final case of the afternoon was Reinhardt and Dane vs. Tully (Dane). My eyes went wide as I read the briefs. Somehow, a Little had managed to escape out of Ames and made it to New Haven. Her ‘mommy’ had gotten desperate for her baby’s return and hired a bounty hunter to find her. The woman had managed to live independently for three years, was now married, and had two kids when the bounty hunter caught up to her. When he attempted to reclaim her to take her back to her mommy, the police officers of New Haven stopped him and allowed her to go home since it was clear she was a free Little right then. They took him into custody and charged him initially with attempted kidnapping. After a few days, they established that Tully was a runaway Little, and she had been collected by Little Protective Services to be cared for until her status could be determined. At question was whether they could legally deny Reinhardt the right to take Mrs. Tully back to Ames and interfere in her return.

I squirmed at that, knowing that technically the Constitution said that she had to be returned to her rightful guardian of Mrs. Dane. From what I could see, her only hope was that it was just Judge Jones hearing this case and not the full Appellate Court. Maybe there was some loophole I didn’t know about, but I certainly couldn’t think of one right then. Because of the nature of the case, it was automatically kicked up to the 3rd Circuit Court to decide since it involved a question of multiple state jurisdictions of Hartford and Ames.

I read both briefs as quickly as possible in all three cases and tried to memorize as many of the facts and arguments presented in writing as I could. When Judge Jones reappeared, she said, “Ready to get a bite to eat?”

“Sounds good!” I said with a smile and quickly organized my piles before following her down the elevator. We walked across the street and down the block to a small deli where she insisted on paying for my meal.

“So, what do you think so far of the briefs?” She asked me after making sure no one was nearby to listen.

“Well, the first case seems like a non-starter to me. The defendant’s counsel isn’t presenting any real procedural arguments in writing, at least? Seems more like an attempt to make a client pay more legal fees.”

“I’m curious to see if the attorney has anything more that he didn’t have in the briefs, but I would agree with your estimation of the case in writing that the arguments are slim.”

“The second case honestly looks like a valid concern on the face of things. The defendant was clearly guilty from that evidence. Still, discovery means the defense should have had access to all the evidence, including that video. Procedurally I think the prosecution has a lot to explain.”

She didn’t give me a clear answer, “That one will be interesting to hear the arguments. I think the guilt of the defendant is clear, but the rights of the defendant are important to the foundation of our judicial system. Would he have been convicted without that evidence? It should be interesting to hear both sides.” She smiled, “And the last case.”

My stomach churned, “The law is neither moral nor immoral… it’s the law.” I sighed, quoting a professor while debating about saying aloud what I actually thought. “I think it’s abhorrent that Mrs. Tully would be forced to leave her children and go back to Ames to be babied by her fake mommy for the rest of her life. According to the briefs, her two kids would get to stay with their father but never have their mother around as they grew up. I personally think the fact that she’s made a life for herself, and has a family of her own, shows that Maturosis is a lie of culture designed to enslave Littles like her.” I sighed, “That being said, the case law is clear that, legally, she should have to be returned to Ames. She could theoretically appeal there for a change in standing, but that won’t go anywhere within their courts. The 6th Circuit and all of the District Courts will agree that she had been adopted, and without a declaration of emancipation, she’s still her ‘baby.’”

I blushed, knowing I had spoken more passionately about this matter than may have been healthy.

She smiled at me, though, “You understand the law quite well, Cameron. One of the worst things about being a judge is that sometimes there are immoral laws you must uphold. You missed that the laws of New Haven are also quite strict on the procedures for being emancipated – it would seem that Mrs. Tully seemingly has met all of those criteria. Not having a willing mother to release her, though, means that’s an uphill battle.”

“I hate the system on that one,” I told her honestly.

She looked at the time and said, “I, too, hate the system sometimes; let’s go get to court.”

I walked with her back to the courthouse, and we found one of her long-term clerks, Kathy Stanford, waiting at her office. After introductions and some small talk, Judge Jones said, “Kathy, can you go ahead and head to the courtroom and show Cameron where he can set up next to you and the reporter?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” To her before smiling down at me, “Ready for the first day?”

I smiled up at the tall eleven-foot-tall Big, “Absolutely!”

She showed me a large table with chairs next to the court reporter. Someone had thoughtfully placed a thick pillow on one of the chairs for me. I clambered up and watched people move about the room for a few minutes before I heard, “All Rise!” as Judge Jones walked into the room, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye, The Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit Court is now open according to law.”

As I stood, I reflected on how I was always a bit bemused by how far our traditions went back with courts like this. Being present here was like a dream come true to me! “Thank you, you may be seated,” Judge Jones said to everyone once she sat down.

The bailiff stated, “The first case on today’s docket is Case number 5348203 Robertson vs. United States of Acirema. Mr. Tyrone Ashton.”

I watched as the man stepped to the large lectern. Atop the podium, I knew full well about the three lights representing his time and ability to make his case. A preset guideline of fifteen minutes had been set for both sides of arguments. When he was allowed to speak, a green light would be lit. There was a two-minute warning that the amber in the middle represented. When the red light showed at the end, he would be done unless Judge Jones asked him questions or gave him additional time to speak.

“Thank you, and may it please the court, I am Tyrone Slade representing Chris Robertson…” He presented an argument that I was almost surprised to even see him keep a straight face for.

I was still getting to know Judge Jones, so I observed her while also making notes about his case for appeal. Her face was set in a completely emotionless stare as she watched the attorney speak. The intensity of her eyes was very intimidating, and I’m certain the lawyer had to feel that stare burning into him. At the end of his time, she didn’t ask any questions of him, and the DA for the case came and had his own fifteen minutes.

I was curious to see how she would make her ruling known. From what I had studied, there was a lot of wiggle room for those decisions to be announced. Usually, this would be published on a website after the judge could render a written decision. In some cases, they might go ahead and state their opinion from the bench.

“Thank you both for your arguments. Normally I would tell you an opinion will be written and published by my office in about seven days, but I do not wish to waste additional time with this case. Mr. Ashton, I see no merit at all in the appeal you have filed before this court. The motion is denied with prejudice, and I highly suggest that if you come before this bench in the future, you have a more meaningful and substantial reason within the law to do so.”

With a strike of her gavel, the case was at a close. Next to me, Kathy said, “She was really annoyed at that one…”

“I kind of guessed. When I read the briefs, it sounded like a waste of time.”

During the following case, she asked a lot more questions of both the defense attorney and the prosecutor. It was clear to me that there was a genuine concern that the discovery of evidence wasn’t shared with the defendant. Some questions about if the evidence wasn’t there, would they still have convicted him? Ultimately, she stated that her opinion in the case would be rendered in seven to ten days. “Court is in recess for thirty minutes before the next case.”

“Good time to hit the restroom,” Kathy said, “I have a feeling this next case is going to go on longer.”

“Why?”

“Because… well, did you read the briefs?” She asked as she motioned with her head to move towards a hallway behind the courtroom. She led me towards one of the bathrooms meant for court staff, not the lawyers or the general public.

“I did… Unfortunately, isn’t the law unambiguous?”

“It is, which is why I think Judge Jones is going to figure out where she does have some wiggle room. I’ve been clerking for her for nine months, and her biggest pet peeve is when families are separated for no good reason.”

I nodded at that, “I agree with her there…”

I went inside the men’s, while she went in the women’s. I was back out quickly but decided to be polite and wait for her. I noticed a few looks from some Bigs walking around, but thanks to New Haven’s laws, I knew I was pretty much as safe as anyone could be as a Betweener. However, littles might still need to take more precautions with some of those looks!

When she reappeared, we walked back to the courtroom, and I talked with her about her schooling and past. She was doing a typical clerkship after finishing law school that was scheduled to last two years. When she finished, she planned on finding a firm somewhere to join up with. For now, she felt like learning everything she could about the Appellate Court was in her future client’s best interests.

I nodded, as that was kind of where I was leaning. The idea of finishing school and returning for a longer, more proper clerkship did seem appealing.

By the end of the recess, a new set of lawyers were set up at the two opposing counsel tables. I felt bile in my throat as another woman with an LPS badge held a tightly swaddled woman on her lap. A large locking pacifier was clearly hurting her from the winces of pain I could see. Through the blanket, I thought I could see signs of her having further restraints on her ankles and hands. Her face looked covered in sweat from being overheated by the tight blanket. ‘And she’s supposed to be the one protecting Littles…?’

The cry of All-Rise was repeated, and Judge Jones reappeared.

“The final case on today’s docket is Case number 534359342 Reinhardt and Dane vs. Tully(Dane).”

Before the bounty hunters’ lawyer could even begin to make his case, Judge Jones stated, “Ma’am, who are you, and why is Mrs. Tully being so aggressively restrained?”
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 22 and 23 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 22: Fugitive Little Act
 

“I’M JULIA FAIRBANKS, Your Honor, from Little Protective Services. Lilibeth is a fugitive Little, so it’s standard procedure to restrain her to prevent further escape attempts, Your Honor.”

“It may be standard procedure elsewhere, but it will not be in my courtroom. Mrs. Tully, can you be respectful of court decorum if I order Mrs. Fairbanks to remove that gag?”

I watched as the woman nodded quickly.

“Mrs. Fairbanks, remove that inhumane torture device that you all try and say is a pacifier, the swaddle blanket, and those leg cuffs and any other restraints I can’t see. You will then place her in a booster seat over by her attorney.”

“Your Honor…” Reinhardt’s attorney wanted to argue.

“This is my courtroom. Choose your next words wisely,” Judge Jones cooly told him.

He shut up, and I watched as the poor woman was placed into the seat wearing nothing but a pink onesie that barely covered her thick diaper. I noted that it seemed to be dry and clean, at least. “Thank you, Your Honor,” she said to her when she was seated.

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Tully.”

The bailiff was about to introduce the attorney again when Judge Jones said, “From here on out, I expect a level of respect to be granted for Mrs. Tully. Notice I said Tully and not Dane. We are not in the State of Ames right now, and really this isn’t about being in the State of New Haven. This is the 3rd District Court, which will be my ruling throughout this case.”

“Mr. Ingleton, presenting on the case,” was finally called once a moment of silence settled over the room.

“Thank you, and may it please the court, I am James Ingleton representing Henry Reinhardt and Elizabeth Dane in the recovery of the woman referred to in this court as Lilibeth Tully, but previously Lilibeth Dane as adopted by my client ten years ago. At that time, the municipal court of Oak City made a determination that Lilibeth Dane had demonstrated she was presenting a clear case of Maturosis after she pooped her panties in the grocery store where she worked. Ms. Dane happened to be shopping in the store. She found her panties a hygienic mess of fresh poop stains, so she cleaned her up and adopted her to re-raise her as is the normal guidance by health professionals.”

He paused, “After four years of care, Lilibeth was abducted from a park she was playing at by a man who is unfortunately still at large today. Ms. Dane went to the police, federal authorities, and others to locate her, but every attempt failed. When Mr. Reinhardt’s respected services became available, she used them. Within six months, he believed he had found her in New Haven. Once he had positively identified her via fingerprints and facial recognition software, he attempted to rescue the girl to take her back home to her mother. The authorities unlawfully entered this custody dispute and placed her with LPS pending this hearing. Per the Fugitive Little Act of the Constitution, she should be remanded to Ms. Dane’s custody immediately following this hearing. However, Ms. Dane does not require her babies to return to Ames; they may stay with their daddy here in New Haven.”

Only then did I notice the woman in a tasteful business suit immediately behind their counsel’s table. I could see tear marks on her face and guessed that must have been the bitch of an Amazon. On the other side, I noticed that Mrs. Tully had her husband, who looked just an inch shorter than me. He was sitting there looking aghast at the whole affair.

“The FLA promotes the well-being of all adopted Littles, regardless of the State they are in when they are found. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled over the past century that nothing impacts a parent’s rights from reclaiming their Little who has been kidnapped or escaped, and that any bounty hunters that seek them out must not be impeded in any manner.”

I felt my stomach turn at his arguments and correctly quoted laws. Each State had adopted its own laws pertaining to Littles… Ames, I had discovered, along with Calisota, where Selegnasol was located, was pretty much the worst. New Haven was probably the best for avoiding adoptions, but once you were adopted, it was one of the strictest to get out of them besides those two. The other two were under the jurisdiction of different courts. Still, the law of the land was that a ‘found’ Little had to be returned.

I was grateful when the bastard attorney’s red light turned on, and I looked up to see Judge Jones looking decidedly grim. Mrs. Tully’s attorney was called up then.

“Thank you, and may it please the court; I am Douglas Adams, representing Mr. Brian Tully and his wife, Lilibeth. This case represents more than a simple rule of law, Your Honor; it represents a situation where following the letter of the law will lead to immoral consequences. Mrs. Tully was abused badly when she was in the custody of her tormentor, Ms. Dane. She was regularly left alone to stew in diapers that weren’t changed for days at a time, repeatedly beaten with paddles and canes, and fed only pureed meals of food that truly didn’t meet her minimum caloric needs. During her time with Ms. Dane, she went from being one hundred pounds, a healthy weight for her size, to losing forty percent of her body mass and only being a malnourished sixty-one pounds when she was treated at a hospital here in New Haven after her escape. She received beatings so severe that X-Rays show the healed fractures from no less than seven broken arms and legs over the four years she was held captive.”

The other attorney squirmed a bit but bit his tongue. Ms. Dane didn’t, though, “That’s not true! I only kept her in a poopy diaper when she was a really bad girl! And as a time-out because she kept hitting me!”

Judge Jones brought her gavel down, “Order! If you can’t keep quiet, ma’am, I will have you removed from the courtroom.”

“Please resume Mr. Adams,” she told him.

“Fortunately, she contacted an operative specializing in helping abused Littles escape bad situations. We believe that should Mrs. Tully be forced to return with Ms. Dane, she will enact severe beatings, mutilations, and consequences upon Mrs. Tully as revenge for her escape. Furthermore, beyond Mrs. Tully, there is her family to consider. She is raising two beautiful baby girls with her husband, whom she legally married in Hartford…”

For the next bit, I watched as her attorney didn’t dispute the law but attempted to humanize Mrs. Tully to maybe make it possible for Judge Jones to find a way to rule in her favor. To her credit, by her questions, it appeared that she was trying to find an out through the law in any way she could. Finally, after she finished questioning both sides, she spoke. “Due to the circumstances of this case, I will render a ruling after a thirty-minute recess.”

I noticed that the attorney for Ms. Dane seemed surprised by that. Judge Jones waved at Kathy and me, “I’d like to see you in my chambers,” she mouthed.

The two of us jumped up, followed her quickly to her office, and sat down in the chairs she pointed to. “I think it would be completely unjust to return that poor woman to Ms. Dane, but the law is the law… Any ideas?”

I’d had an idea bubbling in my head after something Ms. Dane’s attorney had said, “The statute doesn’t give a specific time frame, does it?”

She looked at me with wide eyes and pulled the statute up on a screen we could all read at the side of her desk.

Fugitive Little Act:

SEC. 3. And be it also enacted, That when a person held to a diagnosis of Maturosis in any of the United States, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other part of the said States or Territory, the person to whom such adoption has been made, their agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from care, and to take him or her before any Judge of the Circuit or District Courts of the United States, residing or being within the State, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such Judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such State or Territory, that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the State or Territory from which he or she fled, owe their caregiving to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such Judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent, or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from adoption to the State or Territory from which he or she fled.

“It certainly implies it’s immediate,” Kathy said.

“True, but it doesn’t say it in black and white,” I replied.

“What are you thinking?” Judge Jones asked me.

“Well… What if you said that you will issue the proper warrant to return Mrs. Tully, but only when she no longer has any children below the age of their majority.”

“Buy her seventeen years?” Kathy said. “That doesn’t seem like a true solution… And I don’t know that it would be upheld on another appeal?”

“Interesting… Could actually be longer though … She could have more children?” Judge Jones mused. “Ms. Dane is already fifty-five… she might be able to outlast her.”

I nodded, “That’s possible.”

“Any other ideas?” she asked me.

“What about you choosing to rule Mrs. Tully as emancipated?”

“You can’t do that, can you?” Kathy said to her.

“Does she meet the criteria?” Judge Jones asked… “She’s clearly supporting herself financially… Lives apart from Ms. Dane just fine, has her high school diploma, and I would say from the reports from her lawyer can make decisions just fine…”

“Problem is her potty training?” Kathy said as she flipped through a folder.

“What?” I asked.

“It says here while she’s been in LPS care, she’s only been using her diapers; she hasn’t even tried to use the potty once.”

“How much of that is really her fault, though?” I found myself asking in stereo with Judge Jones. We both looked at each other.

“I think I know what I’m going to do… for now… Let’s get back to the courtroom.”

We entered just before her and were still standing when the bailiff called for everyone to rise. She sat down and got straight to the point as she gaveled the case back in session. “This case is a difficult one that pulls at many controversies within our society. On the one hand, we have a girl who was determined nearly a decade ago to be incapable of caring for herself after she had poopy panties in the grocery store she worked. She was clearly cared for by an abusive adopted mother for the next four years. That abuse is something I believe should carry some weight in this decision. Mrs. Tully clearly is a good mother by all reports I have in front of me, and she loves and cares for her one- and two-year-old babies very well. Her husband has a good job, they have a home, and she clearly is capable of making good decisions.”

She shuffled through some papers, “According to the relevant code, I have received proof that Mrs. Tully is the Little that Ms. Dane adopted. Per the code, I am supposed to grant a warrant to Ms. Dane or her agents to carry out a return of her to Ames, where she lives. Per this code, I am issuing said warrant,” my heart fell. Tears fell immediately upon Mrs. Tully’s face, “that shall be enforceable only after Mrs. Tully no longer has any children below the age of their majority.”

“What?” Ms. Dane’s attorney shouted.

“Order!” She gaveled. “Per that order, Mrs. Ames is to be released on her own recognizance. Ms. Dane and her agents and Little Protective Services are ordered not to approach within five-hundred yards of her or her family until the warrant becomes enforceable. Court is adjourned!” The strike of her gavel resulted in a lot of confused chatter around the courtroom.

She stood and paused, “Mr. Adams, I would like to see you and your clients in my chambers in fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” he shouted over the top of a loud roar of conversation happening.

There seemed to be a total uproar in the room over her decision. “That’s not going to make her very popular,” Kathy said as we followed Judge Jones to her chambers.

“It was a just decision, though,” I told her.

She sighed, “Yeah, I doubt it holds up to the Appeals process.”

“Somehow, I suspect that is part of why she wants to meet them in chambers,” I told her.

“What do you think her plan is?”

“I’m not sure she has one more than letting a mother be with her babies as long as she can,” I told her.

Judge Jones had Kathy wait outside but invited me into her chambers and pointed to a chair beside a small couch in the office for me to sit on. When the attorney and the two Littles came in, they climbed up on the sofa beside the lawyer. Mrs. Tully was still dressed in the awful onesie, and the diaper was now uncomfortably sagging.

“Your Honor,” he said and shook her hand. “I don’t understand where this ruling came from, but we’re grateful for your mercy here.”

“I can’t lie to you and say it’s not going to cause problems, but the medical reports alone tell me that you should never have been with that woman,” she told Mrs. Tully. “As far as where it came from, it was an elegant solution from my intern, who’s in his first day here.” She nodded to me.

“You are?”

“Cameron Sylvester, sir,” I told him.

“You’ve graduated school already?”

“I’m getting ready for my third year at Harlan,” I told him.

“Impressive… Not many lawyers your size out there, but if you have a brain like this, I have a feeling you’ll do quite well for yourself. Your Honor, we’d like to get the Tully’s home to their kids; what did you wish to see us about?”

“Well, I can guarantee that within twenty-four hours, there will be an appeal to the Supreme Court on this ruling.” She told him, “And if I had to guess, they will probably wish to take this case up on their docket. I would wager it’s an eighty-percent chance that they strike down my ruling and demand that the warrant be executed immediately. The only way I see forward is for your client to be emancipated.”

He nodded, “That would solve the problem in theory…”

“But as soon as I was taken by LPS, they did something to my bladder and bowels… I’m worse off than before I escaped,” Mrs. Tully looked terrified.

“A condition which you will have a medical diagnosis behind within a day, won’t you, Mr. Adams?”

“Your Honor?”

“I’m giving you a letter stating that, in my opinion, Mrs. Tully is not suffering from Maturosis and has demonstrated she can care for herself and meet all requirements of an emancipation ruling. You need a doctor to sign off on the incontinence caused by abuse and a medical issue. From there, you should be able to apply for an emancipation ruling with the support of my document. I recommend placing a request in Judge Mercer’s docket before you leave today. Find that doctor, and you should be able to get everything squared away before the appeal is filed. It’ll still be heard, but I believe the emancipation will make it a moot question.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Mr. Tully said, “I didn’t know how I was going to go on without her.”

“I hope you don’t have to figure that out for many more years! If the higher court doesn’t accept an appeal, it might not be a bad idea for you two to have a few additional kids, though. You should be completely free if you can have kids under eighteen until your former mother passes away.”

Mrs. Tully broke down in tears in her husband’s arms at that statement. After the door was closed, I watched them leave and asked, “Will it really work?”

She shrugged, “It might, it might not, but in the end, it was the most just decision to make in a case full of immoral options.”
 
 

Chapter 23: Why?
 

WHEN WE WALKED downstairs an hour later to her car, I couldn’t help but wonder what she had been thinking. She opened the door in the back for me, and I climbed onto the booster seat. It was a faded purple backless booster, and that morning she’d apologized that it was the only one she still had from her daughter. I had just shrugged but noted that the padding was quite worn! She’d told me that until the end of Jenny’s eighth-grade year of middle school, she had forced her daughter to sit in it. Only then did she have a final growth spurt that got her over the line further to eight feet and fully legal to not use it.

I sighed.

“What’s that sigh about?” she asked me.

“Honestly, trying to process today? I really expected to be watching some cases today and maybe reading briefs like this morning… Why…?”

She was at a stoplight and looked at me in the rearview mirror, “Why what?”

“I guess there’s multiple… Why do we even have these slave laws as a part of our constitution? Why does someone like that have to live in fear of being kidnapped and taken from her children as some sort of fake baby?” I grimaced, hoping I wasn’t offending her, “And… I guess I’m wondering, why did you help her?”

She nodded as she pressed the gas pedal. “Well, the constitutional amendment about slavery, as you refer to it, was a direct consequence of our country discovering the new race not long after the last century began… I agree with you that it should be gone. The problem is there’s no way to make that happen without another constitutional amendment. I am doubtful that enough states would ever consider ratifying that amendment, even if it did pass through Congress…”

I sighed, “I’m definitely aware of that. I’m also aware of the Maturosis decisions that have come down about Littles and even Mids, but that doesn’t make it right?”

She shook her head, “It’s not. You asked why did I help her?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

She laughed, “You’re going to have to stop the ma’am stuff when we get in the car to go home, Cameron. You’re too polite for your own good!” She laughed lightly.

We were heading out of the city proper, and she engaged the autopilot in the car before turning her seat around. A holographic display hovered in front of her so she could still monitor the vehicle, but it was a given, like my car, that it would drive itself just fine. “When I was about two, my mom adopted a Little, Charlotte. She renamed her and proceeded to diaper her and dress her exactly as I was. At the time, we were the same sizes, so Mom bought two of everything and dressed us like twins.

That went on for some time before Mom declared it was time for ‘us’ to be potty trained!” She sighed, “I was young, but I remember Mom making fun of Charlotte for having an accident while I sat on my potty and went like a good girl! Meanwhile, Charlotte’s training pants would be soaked or messy, and Mom would spank and berate her about being more of a baby than me.”

She wiped a tear from her eye, “I was potty trained in about a month, from what Mom told me. Charlotte was given one last set of training panties the day I was given my big girl panties. She was told if she could keep them clean and dry until bedtime, she would get to keep wearing training panties and using the potty like her big sis. If she didn’t, she’d go on a vacation from worrying about the potty.”

She sighed, “During dinner, she begged to get out of her highchair and use the potty, but Mom told her, ‘Big girls can hold it…’” I watched as she shook her head, “She didn’t stand a chance, though; my mom really just wanted a baby that never grew up – since she felt I had to. I felt so bad for her as she cried and was dressed in a diaper after dinner. The messy Pull-Up had doomed her…”

I watched her face grimace, and she wiped her eyes. “Ten years later, on my thirteenth birthday, we found her hung by the sheets in her crib, having finally had enough and committed suicide.”

“That’s awful,” I told her, “I’m sorry…”

She said, “Thanks… I think the fact that I was officially a teenager and really no longer a kid finally pushed her over the edge. To this day, my birthday is a day I mourn… I don’t celebrate it.”

“How did your mom take it?”

She laughed, clearly not thinking it was funny for real, “She found herself another Little. Immediately removed her ability to walk, talk, use the potty… It was awful! She didn’t want to worry about Kelly following in Charlotte’s footsteps.”

“I’m guessing you disapprove… That’s why you helped Mrs. Tully?”

She nodded, “I’m okay with the Littles who freely give themselves up for adoption… I’m even somewhat okay with the Littles who are adopted out rather than spending the rest of their lives in prison… but some poor Little who managed to escape a life of Hell after being sentenced to that life for no more than a skid mark in her panties?” She shook her head, “I can’t usually do much, but you gave me a path forward. Thank you for that!”

“You’re welcome… I hope it at least buys that family some time.”

We pulled up to her house about ten minutes later, parked her car in the garage, and both carried our briefcases inside. I smiled as I watched her receive a kiss from her husband to welcome her home. “How was your day?” He asked her.

“You know, with the help of Cameron here, it was pretty good!”

“Huh?”

“Tell you over dinner, sweetheart, just let us change into something more comfortable, and we’ll join you down here. What’s for dinner anyway?”

“Stuffed salmon,” he told her with a smile. He looked down at me, “Hope you like fish?”

I nodded, “I eat just about everything.”

He laughed, “As a student, I figured that would be the case!”

Judge Jones and I went upstairs, and I came back down dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I’d debated about putting on something more comfortable than that. Still, as much as I figured I could trust her now, I didn’t want to risk maturity signs!

When I walked over to the table, I discovered they’d dug up an old booster seat from somewhere that day. It looked like the straps had long since been removed, so I deemed it reasonably harmless in the big picture. The color was a pretty hideous faded purple, but given that I knew it had to have been Jenny’s as well, I wasn’t surprised! With a sigh, I climbed onto it, blushing, but I was kind of grateful since their table had been challenging to reach the past couple of days! A plate that could have come from a restaurant was put down in front of me. “Wow! I thought you were an engineer…” I said with a smile, “Not a professional chef.”

He and Judge Jones laughed, “I joke that his retirement job is cooking for me and being my personal chef. It’s been a hobby of his all his life.”

“My mom insisted I be able to cook when I grew up to impress the ladies,” he joked.

“I may have to get some lessons; this looks amazing!”

I began eating the piece of fish, which I noted was smaller than theirs by a little bit, and took a fantastic bite of stuffing that must have had crab, mushrooms, and some sort of cheese! It was to die for! The dinner conversation was quiet, but they started asking me about my background some more.

“So, anyone special in your life?” Judge Jones asked. “You’re not married yet, right?”

I shook my head, “I have had some bad luck on the love front. I had a girlfriend from freshman year until the end of my last fall semester at Emerson that I proposed to... She turned me down, though, because her parents had actually insisted that she break up with me before she came home for Christmas that year.”

“That’s awful! Why would they do that?” she asked me.

I sighed, “She was much taller than me, and with the family being rich, they didn’t want me to marry her.”

“How rich?” He asked me.

“Billions?”

“Whoa, what family?” He followed up.

“The Harris family?”

“SafeFoods?” Judge Jones asked, some scorn present in her voice.

“Yeah… Though Addy wasn’t like the rest of them.”

“I can see her family not approving of a Mid though,” Judge Jones said. “You may have been better off, though…”

I shrugged, “I really did love her… and I think she probably really loved me. It was just tragic that her family was her family.”

She nodded, “So, anyone since then?”

I blushed, “Well… yeah.”

“Who is she?”

“Complicated…” I said with a sigh. I debated telling her, but after that day, she’d earned some trust. “Her name is Beth… and I grew up down the street from her.”

“Ooh… high school sweetheart?”

“Could have been, but I never made a move back then. I guess I didn’t even really know I loved Beth until…”

“Until?” She asked.

“She was nearly demerited out and chose to go the student services route and give herself up for adoption.”

“Demerited out?” Her husband asked.

I gave him a strange look, “I thought this was everywhere… Littles at Emerson are allowed ten demerits a year for discipline infractions. If they run through them, they are automatically demoted to the daycare until they are adopted…”

Judge Jones grimaced and nodded, “It’s not something that you see in Hartford, but Ames isn’t the only state with schools like that. So, she was close… and decided she was better off allowing herself to be adopted?”

I nodded, “When I saw her next, she’d talked the woman who ran the program into letting her say goodbye to me. I don’t think I really knew I loved her until then.”

“Works that way sometimes,” she nodded, “So what happened to her?”

I explained how her dad had re-adopted her and dealt with the courts. I was a little leery of telling her how he had let her grow up, but since he was in a different state with her then, I felt a bit safer. “So, her dad moved her to somewhere in New Albany where he’s been helping her get her life back together so she can try to be emancipated.”

“You talk often?”

“Usually, at least once a day if we can,” I told her.

“If she gets emancipated?”

“I want to ask her to marry me,” I told her.

“You know New Albany is right next to this state. Do you know which city she lives in?”

I shook my head, “Her dad is really paranoid about someone investigating them, so he hasn’t told me where they are to be safe more than the state.”

“You should invite him to bring her here over a weekend or something!”

I gave her a weird look, “You’re okay with this? Me having a relationship with her?”

“She’s what, an inch from being a Mid?”

I nodded.

“As far as I’m concerned, if she’s emancipated again, it’s perfectly legal. I’d love to meet this girl who captured your heart, though.”

I blushed, “I’ll mention it…”

“Do it!” she said with a smile.

We talked a bit longer, and then I helped with the dishes. While the meal was terrific, I was also amazed at how many pans he managed to use to make the meal! When I finally had the dishwasher running most of it and the rest drying in a rack, I joined them in the living room, where they had a news channel. His face looked nervous, and her face just looked angry.

“I’m here in Crescent City where protestors have gathered in front of the Courthouse to protest a decision that Judge Ruth Jones issued from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal today…” I watched them talk about the decision from a more unhappy approach. An interview was played with a woman, Jennifer Bennett, “I’m here with Jennifer Bennett, the head of ELNAP. Mrs. Bennett, what are you all saying about this unusual decision to issue the warrant for a Fugitive Little’s return but to put a time stamp on it for years in the future?”

“It’s unconscionable! How in the world would a judge in their right mind even consider that an adopted Little can safely raise two babies?!? All four of their ‘family’ should be getting on a plane in matching diapers and be headed back to Oak City to be with her mommy.”

Another picture pulled up, and I understood this would be a cluster of a panel. A tall Amazon and a little dressed in a business suit joined on that screen. “With us now, I have Rebecca Washington and Nadine Key, both of the movement CAMOL. We’ve heard what Mrs. Bennett has to say; what do you think about this decision? I assume that you approve?”

“Well, I don’t approve that she would even theoretically have to go back to her mommy when her kids reach their majority,” the shorter Little, Nadine stated. “I do, however, admire Judge Jones attempting to thread morality with the immorality of the constitution of this country that encourages this slavery of Littles.”

“Additionally, I believe it’s unconscionable to even consider sending a Little back to a mommy that has so obviously physically abused and neglected the Little when she was under her care,” Rebecca, the Big said.

“Those allegations, do we have any proof of them?” The reporter asked.

Rebecca nodded, “Medical exams and signed affidavits were submitted as evidence in today’s hearing…”

The TV turned off then, and I looked at Mr. Jones, sitting in an armchair next to the couch I saw with Judge Jones, “Well, you two upset the applecart today, huh?”

I nodded but was happy when he told her he was proud of her! Before I went to sleep that night, I looked up more stories about the case. ELNAP was an extremist group in my mind that believed Every Little Needs a Parent… In their view, every single Little, and most Mids like myself, needed to be safely dressed in diapers and cared for in a nursery according to their manifesto. They specifically believed that Littles should have teeth removed and mobility impairments to help care for them the best… Their site even referred to it as routine as spaying and neutering pets... I had just about vomited at that.

CAMOL, or Citizens Against Mistreatment Of Littles, on the other hand, was decidedly against those procedures. They seemed to support the total emancipation of Littles everywhere. Still, they were more realistic in their efforts and focused on getting Little Rights Bills passed like they were present in New Haven and Hartford. Both of those jurisdictions, of course, were part of the 3rd Circuit.

As I went to bed that night, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for whatever part I played in trying to help that family!
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 24 and 25 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 24: Guests
 

THE NEXT WEEK was an intense time around the courthouse. Protestors gathered on the steps and the large grassy area before it to protest and counterprotest all week! I watched several reports on the news where the ELNAP protestors tried to adopt some of the Littles protesting with CAMOL. Fortunately for the Littles, they were in Hartford, preventing them from being adopted immediately. Most of them managed to get released over the course of a day or two when their ‘parent’ tried to take them to the adoption clinics. Unfortunately, the ones that didn’t were dragged over state lines to a nearby state to our west that was more like Ames.

I soon discovered most of Judge Jones’ days were not as momentous as my first! Most of them dealt strictly with evaluating if a technicality of law was broken and what that effect might have on the verdicts in the lower courts. That being said, I felt like I learned more from Judge Jones, sitting in her office and car talking to her, than I had my entire time in law school so far!

I waited a few weeks for the protests to die before asking Mr. Fehler and Beth about her idea, “Hi, Mr. Fehler!”

“Hi Cameron, it’s good to hear from you! I know Beth was wondering if you would call today!”

“I wanted to call her all week, but it’s been crazy here. Speaking of that… Judge Jones, the woman I’m staying with and interning, suggested that since you’re not far from here, you could come and stay the weekend sometime before I leave to return to New Haven in August?”

He looked thoughtful, “Where would we stay?”

“She has a huge house! She has several guest bedrooms…”

“I’m guessing we’d only need one; I know where Beth would want to stay.”

“Until…”

He nodded, “Beth mentioned your concerns. How about next weekend?”

“Let me check with Judge Jones really quick; I’ll call you back in ten minutes?”

“Sounds good!”

After confirming with her, I confirmed with him, which led to an exciting conversation with Beth! We hadn’t seen each other in person for nearly two years!

The following week was the slowest-moving week of all time! Each day the minutes seemed to take forever to pass, and the days themselves were just serving as obstacles to the weekend! I had spoken to Dad, and he had reminded me as long as Beth was still adopted, I had to be careful around Judge Jones since she was legally bound to deal with indiscretions. Having already been forever paranoid that anyone would ever find out about our last time together, I had agreed.

The day finally arrived, and Mr. Fehler pulled in driving a midsize sedan. It was just before dinner, after we had come home a little early to meet them. Judge Jones and her husband joined me outside to greet them. I watched as Mr. Fehler opened the door, waved at me friendlily, and turned around to open the back, where he pulled Beth out of a car seat.

The first thing I noticed, though, was her clothes.

They looked like an ordinary woman in her twenties should be dressed!

I stared at her wide smile as I took in slow motion her being helped to the ground and bounding towards me. She wore a conservative short-sleeved striped top that emphasized her petite curves. Her shorts looked like they were an appropriate length, but something was missing underneath them!

She reached me and pounced on me, “Cameron!!!!”

I hugged her back as she clung to me, and I felt tears come out of my eyes at finally reuniting.

“Here, Cameron,” she said a moment later as she handed me a piece of paper she’d been carrying.
 

 

I began shaking and crying as I hugged her again. “I’m so glad you’re free!!!!”

I felt slightly embarrassed as I realized everyone had all watched that display. Still, I didn’t care as I regained my composure and remembered my manners.

“Sorry about my manners here, Judge Jones; I’d like to introduce you to Beth Fehler and her father, Jerome Fehler.” Just then, I realized someone else was there, “And Mrs. Fehler?” I said in surprise as I saw her standing there.

“Hi, Cameron. Surprise!” She said with a smile. Her mom was a hair under eight feet tall, so while she was taller than me, she was still pretty short.

“I thought…” I stammered.

“We’ll explain in a moment,” her dad said, “This is my wife, Ashley. Why don’t we get everything unloaded first, and then maybe we can all sit down and discuss things?” He looked at Judge Jones, “I hope you don’t mind that we brought one more person than Cameron expected?”

She laughed, “Not at all; Cameron told me about everything that happened with Beth at Emerson and afterward… so I’m curious to hear this story too!”

Beth squeezed my hand and said, “Where am I staying?”

“In his room,” Judge Jones said. At Beth’s open eyes, she said, “You’re emancipated, and as an emancipated adult now, I don’t care. You can sleep there, or I have another room with a bed for you too.”

She blushed, “With Cameron, would be fine.”

I helped Mr. Fehler and Mr. Jones grab luggage for the family and carried Mr. and Mrs. Fehler’s upstairs to the second floor before continuing with Beth’s stuff to my room.

She smirked when she got there, “I bet you were worried she was matching your hair to the room when you moved in here?”

I blushed, not thinking about the color much anymore, “It did occur to me. I don’t know why you, and Addy before you, all love me having long hair…”

She leaned on her tippy toes and kissed me before running her hands through my hair. “For me, at least, I love having your long hair to run my hands through…”

She pulled my head down to her level and then really kissed me with absolute unbridled passion! Our tongues played in each other’s mouths for a moment before I pushed her back and said, “We should probably get downstairs so everyone can hear this story.”

She smiled, “I think you’ll be proud of me!”

I hugged her again, “I already am!”

She ducked into the bathroom momentarily, and then I held her hand to walk downstairs together. We came down the main stairwell and saw her parents and the two Jones were already sitting at the dining room table. All of them were staring up at us. “Now that is an adorable sight!” her mom said.

We both groaned but joined them at the table. I smiled as I saw Beth sitting on a simple portable booster cushion on her chair beside me. We sat with her mom on her right, her dad across from her, Mr. Jones at the head, and Judge Jones beside him opposite me. Before us, we each had a beautiful steak dinner that I knew he had cooked. “Thanks,” I told him after tasting it, “it’s exceptional, as always!”

He smiled, “I will miss you when you return to school! Compliments every time I cook?”

Judge Jones punched him on the arm, “I give you compliments too, you dolt!”

Once we mainly had finished our food, we sat with empty plates, and I asked Mrs. Fehler, “So what happened?”

She smiled, “Well… We knew that if Beth was to have a chance, we would have to separate. We were sure the court would rule that I was too immature of an influence and might corrupt Beth further. In the past, some of the courts in Ames have ruled that the Betweener mother suddenly needed to be considered a Little too…” She wiped some tears from her eyes, “I didn’t want to leave Beth and her father, but it was her best chance. Long term, we figured that New Albany would be the safest place to try and get her to and grow her back up, so to speak… So, I moved there and found a house out in the country with our divorce settlement money. I worked remotely anyway, so nothing had to change with my job.”

“When we decided it was finally time to leave at the same time you did,” her dad said, “I left without calling her from Ames. We just showed up a couple days after I called you to let you know we made it to safety.”

“I was so excited to see Mom! Dad had never even told me where we were going!” Beth said, grabbing her hand.

“So at least I know where you’ve been… What have you been doing? You’ve always been kind of cagey about it,” I told her.

“Well… for safety’s sake, when we moved in for the first year, we had her continue to act like a baby outside the house. We had a nursery for her to be safe in case any inspectors happened to come by. When we were sure that no one was following us to check up on her, we started focusing on the potty training even more. We enrolled her in a community college to earn an associate’s degree - she just finished in May, and prepared her for the testing center.”

“Testing center?” I asked curiously.

“It’s easier in New Albany to earn your freedom,” she told me, “But the test is pretty intense.”

“What do they do there?” Judge Jones asked, just as curious and making herself still known.

“Well, it’s a three-hour test. Part of the requirements for passing it is to show you won’t wet or mess your panties during that time. They give you a test that is something like a high school exit exam, and you also have an interview with someone who asks you really personal and embarrassing questions.” She squirmed a bit, “At the end of it, they check your panties in front of the room of test takers… Then you have to use the potty in front of them to do both things…”

“That’s got to be horribly embarrassing,” I said.

“You have no idea, Cam!” She smiled, though. “But when I was done pooping in the potty, wiped myself, and had one last panty check, they gave me the certificate that let us go to the court. Dad had to testify, I had to testify, and then it became official!”

“I’m so proud of you for getting through all that,” I told her with a smile.

“Me too! I didn’t think I would ever be an adult again…” She said morosely. “Now, what’s new here…?”

The next hour we had dessert, I did the dishes with Beth’s help, and her parents and the Joneses ended up having a very cordial conversation. I had been watching Beth for any sign that the early bedtimes were still a thing, but she was wide awake as it approached when I usually called it a night. Everyone excused themselves about that same time and went upstairs to their rooms.

When Beth and I reached my room, I said, “You don’t have to sleep with me if you don’t…”

She launched herself at me and kissed me.

Passionately kissed me! I could feel my insides curling with passion as she broke it off and gently pushed me away.

“Shut up, Cam… Let me get dressed for bed, and then I’ll make sure you know exactly what I do want out of you!”

I felt my arousal at that statement, making my pants uncomfortable, and decided to get dressed in the pair of soft pajamas I had bought in the hopes of such a reaction from her. They were just a pair of plaid pajama pants and a shirt, but they were the softest fabric I’d ever felt. I thought she might enjoy feeling me through them.

I wondered why I had bothered getting dressed when she exited the bathroom!

She wore a sheer nightgown that showed through to her lacy bra and panties underneath. ‘Real panties,’ I noted! “I hope you have some condoms?”

I nervously nodded, “Yes…?”

“Well then, let me show you what I want after being locked in diapers for most of the last seven years…”

That night we definitely did what she wanted! We made up for the lost years multiple times that night before finally falling asleep.

We spent Saturday hanging out, walked around their property together, and eventually had a great meal outside with everyone. I spent some time with her parents too, and things seemed pretty much perfect. After dinner, I nervously looked at Beth and got down on one knee with her parents and the Joneses watching.

“Beth Fehler, years ago, I never knew what I had with you… I was too caught up in getting to college and avoiding being seen as a Little. The day you gave yourself up was one of the worst days of both of our lives. After everything that’s happened, I know for a fact there’s only one thing I want in this world. I don’t want mere inches to come between us ever again. Beth, would you make me the happiest person in the world and be my wife?”

The world stopped then as I waited to see if things would end the same way as with Addy.

The ring wasn’t the same as Addy’s, I had taken that back with Amanda’s help all those years ago, but it was just as valuable. It was a solid platinum band, with a separate wedding band that would eventually intertwine with the beautiful blue sapphire in the center, with two high-grade diamonds set beside it. The ring itself had more diamonds and sapphires alternating inset around it. I looked into her eyes, afraid of what she would say.

Instead, she looked at the ring in my hands, placed her hand out, and let me slide it onto her perfect finger. “Yes!” she said before wrapping me in the tightest hug I’d ever felt!

We kissed tenderly then, and I heard clapping from the onlookers before we were both mobbed with hugs.

As I looked at her beautiful face and held the hand with a ring, I was the happiest I had ever been! I called Dad and shared the news with him right away. He had been as ecstatic as her parents had been and insisted on talking with his future daughter-in-law to welcome her to our family.
 
 

Chapter 25: Precendent
 

THAT NEXT DAY when I said goodbye to Beth, it was the first time I’d not felt a sense of foreboding like I would never see her again! Before she left, we began planning the early stages of dates for our wedding, aiming for June after I graduated from law school in May. By then, I would have taken the Bar Exam and hopefully passed on my first attempt! I knew if I didn’t, I would be the first person from my school to fail it in decades – no pressure!

I hoped to get a job in New Haven or Hartford before I graduated. I was pretty sure that Judge Jones would be a vital reference! In fact, my time with her seemed to work amazingly well for both of us. The week before I was set to return to Harlan, I helped her decipher a chemical mess that lawyers for both sides of a lawsuit kept going back and forth with experts. The whole case rested on a chemical that seemingly caused forty Big children to suddenly stop growing and then begin regressing in their potty training to the point all of them were now diapered and being treated as if they were Littles in their education.

“So, was this intentional?” she was trying to decipher. Really the case was about whether or not the company was knowingly responsible when someone used the chemical in the snack food being given out as samples. A lower court had said no, but the plaintiffs had appealed, saying the judge had improperly thrown out evidence of a chemical chain that was present.

I had recognized that chemical chain when we were sitting in her chambers going over decisions she was publishing. “Umm… Judge Jones?”

“Yes, Cam?” she said. “Remember, we’re in my chambers; enough of the Judge crap.”

“Sorry, Aunt Ruth,” I said, rolling my eyes. Over the course of the summer, she’d rendered a verdict that if we were at home or alone in her chambers or her car, there was to be none of the Judge Jones ‘nonsense.’

“We’ll get you past this one of these days,” she said with a smile, “But seriously, what?”

“I recognize one of these protein chains in this document…”

“What do you mean?”

“They claim the children lost all their potty training, right?”

She nodded, “Every last one of them.”

“Well, it’s because of this chemical chain. It’s in Bigs’ breast milk, and it’s what causes Littles to become incontinent.”

“So, did they know this?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know if there’s any way to prove it, but I would guess yes. It’s a pretty specific molecule that I only know of because of a friend of mine from college.”

We discussed things quite in-depth, and she ordered a new trial with a specific ruling that the evidence had to be shown to the jury! I followed the case a few months later and discovered that SafeFoods was now a party to the suit. I felt it was definitely justice deserved when they lost their case a year later and were ordered to pay the victims’ families one-hundred-and-eighty-million dollars!

The day I packed my car back up and headed back to Harlan was a bit melancholy. It was raining as I hugged Aunt Ruth goodbye underneath the garage roof.

“You be safe going back, and good luck this semester! If you don’t find something with a firm this spring, let me know, and we can get you on for a full-time clerkship. I would love to have you around for a couple years, and it’d be a good way to get your feet wet.”

“I’ll remember that; thank you so much for everything!”

I had a long drive back to school and passed much of it on the phone with Beth. She and her mom had picked out a beautiful private ranch for the wedding that was Little friendly for our small ceremony. They’d made friends in that community they invited, along with both sets of my grandparents and her grandparents. Some aunts and uncles on both sides would be coming with cousins too. I couldn’t help but smile at how excited she was to be able to plan our future! Aunt Ruth was even going to preside over the ceremony for us!

When I reached my first class back that semester, we were pretty much planned, I thought… Of course, Beth had set me straight about that when I mistakenly said that!

I was happy to leave her to it, though, and focused on getting back in the swing of things for the semester. Walking into my first class, I saw Wendy already sitting waiting in a seat and chose one next to her. “Hey Cameron, how was your summer?”

“Great! I spent the time clerking with Judge Jones in the 3rd Circuit,” I had just said that as Edgar walked in.

“You were working with her?” Edgar said. “She’s definitely got balls! That Dane vs. Tully case will be one of the biggest cases in thirty years as people study it.”

Right then, the professor said, “You’re right, Edgar, it definitely is. Cameron, you were interning for her; any idea where she came up with that unique view on the law?”

I choked for a second and debated what to say, “I’m not sure that I should say, sir? I was involved in some pretty privileged conversations there, and it’s still up in litigation to see if the Supreme Court will take it on appeal?”

He looked at me and nodded, “Probably a pretty good plan… You know you might make a good lawyer someday,” he joked. I felt like groaning; the number of jokes like that I heard regularly was painful!

“I hope so, sir,” I told him with a smile.

When he walked further away, Edgar was sitting on the other side of me from Wendy. “Was that your idea?”

“Pardon?”

“The solution?”

“Like I said, I can’t really discuss that case… but I will say Judge Jones is a force to be reckoned with, and she’s very clever!”

Class began shortly after that, with the traditional syllabus being handed out and loads of cases assigned for us to study. To my shock, Dane vs. Tully was listed on the syllabus. “You sure you can’t talk about it?” Wendy said.

I shrugged, “I guess before I say yes or no, let me talk to Judge Jones for her permission?”

“Please!” The professor said, having overheard me. “You are young enough that I don’t know that you understand the gravity of that decision. If the Supreme Court chooses not to take the case, that will be a new precedent. If they take it up and uphold or strike it down, those will also be new precedents… It is probably the biggest case in Little Rights in the past half-century.”

“Huh?” I said, “It wasn’t that big of a case? Just involved one woman?”

“And figuring a way around that Little Fugitive Statute of the Constitution. Honestly, it was brilliant work; I expect it to have a decent chance of being upheld if it’s heard.”

“I’ll ask…” I said, suddenly wondering what my idea had set into motion.

After classes that day, Samantha walked back with me to the residential village. “It was your idea, wasn’t it?” She asked.

“Huh?”

“To deal in the fact there was no specific time listed on the statute?”

“I really shouldn’t say…”

“It’s okay; I know it was. I can see your fingerprints all over it, Cameron. I’m grateful for it too!”

“Umm… Thanks,” I told Samantha.

“So, what did you do there besides help make legal history?”

“Well… Beth got emancipated in June!”

“Wait, that’s that Little you knew from back home, right?”

I nodded, “Her parents drove her down to see me, and she gave me the good news… I asked her to marry me!”

She gave me a big grin, “Good for you!” She stiffened though, “Is that okay legally?”

“Now that she’s emancipated, she’s an adult again, so yes, it is!”

“That’s exciting! When’s the big day?”

I talked with her for a while before finally entering my apartment. I texted Judge Jones, ‘Aunt Ruth, would you please call me when you get a chance? I got asked a lot of questions today and need to know what I can and can’t say. Thanks!’

Looking at the time, I was pretty sure she was probably still in court, so I called Beth, “Hi Beth!” I said to her.

We spoke for thirty minutes before Judge Jones called, “I need to take this; I’ll talk to you later, Beth!”

“Love you, Cam,” she said to me and made an air kiss at me over the video.

“Love you too, Beth,” I smiled.

I answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Cameron?”

“Hi, Aunt Ruth,” I said.

“How was your first day back?”

“Umm… Good, I guess… I failed to realize how much my internship with you would result in questions from students and professors.”

She sighed, “Yeah, that happens sometimes when you’re around the big ones. Which case?”

“Dane vs. Tully,” I said.

“Oh… Yeah, that one does seem to be picking up a fan base, doesn’t it?”

“It’s on my syllabus this semester, along with every other major civil rights case involving Littles. They asked me questions about the case, but I deferred until I could talk to you. What can I say?”

She made a ‘hmm…’ sound that I knew meant she was thinking heavily. “Anything that’s in the decision that was published is fair game. I wouldn’t say you gave me the idea, but you can explain the rationale behind the no-time statute there… Honestly, you shouldn’t talk too much beyond that, though, until it works itself through the appeals.”

“That’s more than I thought I could say, honestly,” I told her.

We talked for a bit longer before I hung up and printed off the decision. I made a few notes and texted Judge Jones some questions about things I thought might be okay. Later that week, the professor mentioned that the Supreme Court had declined to take up the case after a brief was filed that Mrs. Tully was now legally emancipated. It effectively side-stepped a decision from them. It did leave the judgment of Judge Jones standing and made it a precedent, at least within the 3rd Circuit. Still, it could likely be applied elsewhere and stand until it made it back to the Supreme Court.

“So, what can you tell us now?” the professor had asked me.

“Well, I spoke with Judge Jones, and she suggested I stay within the opinion while we waited to see what the Supreme Court would do.”

“Since they just dodged it?”

“I might be able to answer a few more things next week? Again, we had some privileged conversations over the past few months.”

“You got to know her pretty well?” My professor asked.

“Well, yeah, I ended up taking a room at her house, so I spent a lot of time with her.”

“You stayed with her?”

“Well, she and her husband… and I met a couple of her children and grandchildren later in the summer,” I said.

“So, you know a lot more about her docket?”

I shrugged, “Probably more than an outsider?”

Ultimately, I broke it down to the fact that Mrs. Tully had been living independently for four years after recovering from horrible abuse. The decision was elegant, hoping to help her buy time with her kids, at least because Judge Jones despised breaking up families. The professor, Doctor Warner, motioned for me to stop that day when I left class. “You realize you have one of the best chances to get a career skyrocketing after graduation now?”

“Sir?”

“You’re party to one of the most monumental decisions in decades. You clerked with Judge Jones, who I’ve heard quietly is being vetted to take over the Supreme Court spot that Judge Mansfield just stepped down from.”

“She is?”

“She is,” he said.

“Cool! She deserves it. She’s brilliant!”

He laughed, “Yes, she is. But if you end up being able to say you clerked with a Supreme Court Justice…”

“Oh… That’s good for me, too, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. I think the key isn’t whether you get a job this year; it’s what you want to specialize in. From what I’ve seen, Corporate Malfeasance or Civil Rights are your best specialties.

“Those do both interest me, Professor.”

“Well, I’ll keep my ears open for the right firm and start pushing your name out.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said with a smile that stayed on my face to my apartment. I gathered my mail from my mailbox and walked inside to look through everything. It was mostly junk, but I noted a flyer that said, Need Extra Cash? I was morbidly curious, so I looked up the information and felt sick.

Are you a Mid looking for some extra $$$? College student? Grad Student? We at Serendipity Industries are looking for people like you to answer surveys and try a variety of products...

‘This sounds like something Addy’s parents’ company would be sending out…’ I couldn’t help but think.

I was about to research the company when my phone lit up and showed Beth’s face.

“Hey, Cameron!” She said to me, “How did today go?”

“Oh… well, I guess I might have to choose between amazing job offers, according to Professor Warner.”

“Why?”

“I guess Judge Jones…”

“You mean Aunt Ruth!” She corrected with a smile.

I sighed, “Aunt Ruth is being vetted for that open Supreme Court seat.”

“Does she stand a chance of being confirmed?” She asked me.

I shrugged, “I don’t know, the Tully case seriously has a lot of people angry at her, but it also got a lot of progressive attention.”

“That’s cool!” She told me. “So, where are we looking at living?”

I smiled, “I really want to stay in New Haven, honestly, but I’m okay with up there in New Albany or anywhere in the State of Hartford.”

“What about going straight to the Capital?”

“Live there?” I shook my head, “It would be one of the worst places we could live with you…” I cringed, “Honestly, besides Ames, I can’t think of a more dangerous place for us to live for your safety?”

She shrugged, “It may be unavoidable someday, Cam, if you become as big as I think you might!”

I laughed, “Trust me, no Mid will be sitting on a major judicial seat anytime soon!”

We talked for a while. Toward the end of the call, Beth said, “I’m working on finding my own job here too… just so I can save up some money for when we’re married.”

“Doing what?”

“Not sure yet; I have a few leads. Mom is actually looking at one with me.”

“What happened to her job?”

“She officially retired last week… but just wants to find something to occupy her time now.”

“That’s cool; tell her congratulations for me!”

She smiled, “I will, Cameron. I love you!”

“Love you too!”
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 26 and 27 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 26: Disconnected
 

THE NEXT FEW months were busy with classes, studying cases, memorizing facts, creating legal briefs for assignments, writing, writing, reading, and more writing!

While doing this, I planned a trip to the Fehlers’ place in New Albany for Christmas this year. I was so excited to see her in person and not on a video screen! We made the most of our daily calls, but it wasn’t the same! The trip would also be my only chance to see everything Beth had planned for our wedding. I was really looking forward to it, as happy as the preparations were making her!

I had to get through Thanksgiving first, though, and went up to Aunt Ruth’s for the holiday since she insisted I couldn’t be alone! They were in the midst of moving out of their large house, with their kids picking through their long-stored possessions too. After the holiday, Judge Ruth Jones would take her place on the Supreme Court for her lifetime appointment! Because of that, they had sold their house and were moving to one just outside the Capital.

We had just finished dinner on Thanksgiving, and I tried calling Beth. She didn’t answer, but I figured she was probably just busy. I soon found myself helping out with sorting and packing Judge Jones’s law library and became quite distracted when she gave me two two-hundred-year-old law books to keep! They were in as perfect of condition as any book that age could be, and I thanked her profusely. Her youngest daughter Jenny was the closest to my height, only a bit over a foot taller than me, which made her kind of my go-to friend those couple of days that I stayed in the filled house. It was a chaotic place with Judge Jones’ large family. I felt overwhelmed most of my stay there, as her four kids and four grandkids made their previously quiet house – very not quiet!

I had a good time, though, and I was kept quite busy until I left to drive home to my apartment at Harlan Saturday morning. Only then did I realize Beth hadn’t ever called me back. Thinking it was pretty odd, I tried calling her again.

“We’re sorry, but the phone number you have dialed has been disconnected…”

“What?!?” I shouted.

I redialed it manually to see if I just had some weird bug. The same message played.

I tried her dad’s number.

“We’re sorry…”

I had her mom’s number and tried it too.

“We’re…”

“What’s going on?” I said aloud.

I called Dad, “Dad, do you have any idea why Beth and her family’s numbers are all ringing as disconnected?”

“No…? Let me try from here; maybe you have a bad line.”

We hung up, and I watched the highway pass by for a few minutes before he called me, “I have no idea, Cameron… Maybe their phone bill got messed up?”

“I’m worried, Dad,” I told him.

“Give it a day… if it’s still that way, we’ll see what else we can find out.”

When I made it back to my apartment, I called again.

And again.

I used my computer to try and contact her via messaging apps.

Nothing!

I had some access to state, and national records requests through the law school that I immediately got to work diving into the next week since I still hadn’t heard from her! I found information on their house in New Albany in a records database under her mother’s maiden name. I was excited to have picked up the trail since I still hadn’t been given their address for safety reasons. My relief immediately turned to disbelief and dismay as I discovered it had been sold for cash… cheap and quick, the day after Thanksgiving!

I searched for any other records for Mr. and Mrs. Fehler but came up empty.

I almost drove up immediately to check on them, but I received some follow-up from the new property owner. They confirmed the Fehlers had left even before the house was rapidly sold with all of the contents in it.

Over the following weeks, no matter how I searched or who I enlisted to help me, the Fehlers seemed to have fallen off the face of the planet!

I had half-hoped that I would see a filing in Ames by a judge about a case against Mr. Fehler for failing to raise his daughter according to the stipulations. An indictment that maybe showed contempt of court or anything!

Nothing.

The morning I flew home for Christmas, I held the desk piece she had made for me of her poem, Inches, and couldn’t help but fear I had been thwarted by mere inches yet again.
 

CHRISTMAS PASSED BY, and Dad and I took a trip to see if we could pick up any piece of the trail on the Fehlers. The property owner mentioned he had found a pile of receipts they probably needed for some tax write-offs, so he’d not thrown them away. When he handed them to me, I couldn’t help but blanch at the sight of diapers in both the right size for Beth… and a bigger size that would probably fit her mother.

“What the Hell happened to them, Dad?” I asked him.

“No idea Cameron… Do you have any idea what the job was that they were looking at? That’s the only other lead I can think of?”

I shook my head. He was right; that was our best lead, so we focused on asking questions about that. Unfortunately, that led to its own dead end as we asked around town about them. After a few days of finding nothing, Dad flew home, and I drove home to my lonely apartment. The clutter that had built up got to me, and I began binge-cleaning almost immediately to cope with my stress about Beth. One of the worst parts of my apartment was a tall pile of junk mail sitting on a counter by the door. I began tackling it with a large trash bag, shredding it as needed, and tossing the truly worthless mail.

I hadn’t tackled it before Thanksgiving, so it was quite a pile! I noticed the ad I had saved from Serendipity Industries. I was about to just throw it away, but instead, I sat down at my desk and opened my browser on my computer. I searched the company and found it was just a front company held by another larger corporation, SafeFoods.

“Well, I thought it sounded kind of like something Addy’s parents would be involved in,” I shook my head as I threw it away. “How many people get caught by those free money ads for being a guinea pig?”

Before I could think much more about it, though, my phone rang. Every time it rang, I looked at it hoping it would be Beth but instead saw it was Aunt Ruth.

“Hi, Aunt Ruth,” I told her over the video screen.

“Any word about Beth?”

I shook my head, “Dad and I ran into a complete dead end up in New Albany. I don’t know what happened… There was a receipt for diapers in both her and her mom’s sizes that got left behind. I’m worried something bad happened to them, and either her dad had to run away with them… or they were adopted, and something happened to him.”

“I’m sure he’ll contact you eventually, Cam,” she told me.

“I hope so… We’re supposed to be married in June… How can things like this keep happening to me?” I couldn’t completely hold back the tears.

She also had tears in her eyes, “I don’t know, Cameron, but I’m sure things will work out in the end. Be patient!” She sighed, “I needed to call and tell you that I think David Benson from Benson and Stein will be giving you a call.”

“About?” I asked while thinking, ‘They’re one of the biggest firms out there for Little Rights and Malfeasance cases!’

“About a job.”

“Really? Why me?”

“Well, I might have had a conversation with him and Kendra Stein at a reception the other night at a conference. I told them about this brilliant law student I thought would fit their firm well.”

“Thanks for that.”

“Well, you deserve it! You have a brilliant legal mind, and I know you’ll do well. At some point, I hope you end up sitting on the bench yourself.”

“Not likely with my size,” I told her.

“Not impossible, though – there are no laws against it!”

I laughed lightly, “I know… Thanks for letting me know they might be calling.”

“Cameron, take advantage of this if they call. It’s the right move for you to get a good start. Even if you don’t stay with them for more than a few years, you’ll have time to get your feet wet, and some cases under your belt.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said.

“And Cameron, let me know if you hear anything about Beth. I’ll do all I can to help if I need to…”

I smiled, “I know you will, thanks, Aunt Ruth.”

We hung up, and it was only then that I realized in the short time I had known her, she had taken on the role of a surrogate mom. Not like an adopted mommy for a Little, but a caring mom who wanted to see me succeed.

After I got off the phone with her, I began researching Benson and Stein. It was pretty remarkable, as it was a team of a Mid and a Big for the partners of the firm… and the Mid’s name was first! I thought it might have just been alphabetical at first, but reading into some of their cases, it seemed more like the Mid, David Benson, was the one that led everything in the courtroom. Kendra Stein, his partner, seemed to be almost there more for literal muscle. Their cases intrigued me as they tended to run the gamut of abused Littles, improperly adopted Littles, Mids with rights reduced, and other civil rights cases, all the way to issues like companies committing ethical violations in their testing. I saw a couple of suits involving the illegal use of chemicals to do things to patients at daycares and hospitals listed too.

In short, I suddenly found myself really hoping they would call!

It wasn’t a right-away phone call for them, though. Instead, two days later, I had a professor mention they’d gotten a call and were checking up on me. I kept busy while waiting for them to vet me before approaching me. In the meantime, I was busy preparing a case with my group of friends for the Law School to litigate about a drug patent. I’d gotten dragged into doing it because of my chemistry degree, and I pulled my friends in to help me. The minutia of preparing the briefs and the court filings kept me busy and unable to dwell on Beth as much.

Not that I wasn’t still constantly worried about her and hopelessly searching everywhere for her and her parents! Staying busy was a way to cope with my loss, though.

During the third week of the semester, I received a phone call, “Mr. Sylvester?” I heard on the other side of the line.

“Yes?”

“My name is Kendra Stein, with the Benson and Stein Law Firm. We’re looking for a couple of young attorneys to join our staff, and your name has been brought up to us by a few people. I was wondering if you might be willing and able to meet with my partner at our office this Friday.”

“I’d be happy to!” I told her. “I didn’t submit an application or anything. Do I need to do so?”

She laughed, “Trust me, your application was submitted for you by your excellent work.”

“Where’s your office located?”

“We’re in downtown Crescent City, not far from the courthouse.”

“Okay, I’ll have to see about finding a place to stay the night. Any chance you know of any hotels that would be Mid friendly? I tried renting an apartment last summer, resulting in a small claims suit…”

She laughed, “We know; it was a great pleasure to see the court order them to pay you for that one! We’ll arrange your hotel and accommodations and pay a stipend for gas and meals on your trip here. Do you think you can be up here by, say… two o’clock?”

I looked at my calendar, “I have a class, but I think Professor Roberts will let me out of it for this.”

“Sounds good; looking forward to meeting you!”

I hung up the phone and felt excited that a career I dreamed of was within my grasp.

Then I felt sad that it looked like the love of my life wouldn’t be able to join me.
 

THE REST OF the week flew by, with coursework keeping me busy. I also compiled a portfolio of my best work on briefs for the university’s legal team, a copy of my resume, and some of the decisions I had formally assisted Judge Jones with.

Driving in my car to Crescent City, I couldn’t help but wish this had happened a couple months ago when I could have just stayed with her! She’d bought a house with her husband about thirty minutes outside the Capital, where they could get a bit of land around them, along with a wall and a security system that was certainly needed for someone in her position. She’d gotten approved by the slimmest of majorities through the senate after her decision this summer almost universally disqualified her in the minority party’s view. Whatever had taken her over the finish line, she was now a justice until she decided to retire or die – and I knew her personally! It made me smile a little to think about that.

Unfortunately, that gave me more time to consider Beth’s disappearance while driving. I had tried everything I could short of one of those damn bounty hunters like Ms. Dane had used. Nothing seemed to pop up no matter where I searched, and I just hoped that maybe her dad had gotten them out in the nick of time from whatever had gone wrong.

Eventually, the city’s tall skyscrapers came into view, and the car navigated to a parking garage they told me to use. “Sir?” The attendant at a gate asked.

“Hi, I’m here to meet with Benson and Stein?”

“Name?”

“Cameron Sylvester,” I said, watching the guard type my name in.

He looked up, “You’re expected. If you enable the auto-guide feature of your car, we’ll get you parked. You’ll want to take the elevator to the lobby, and then they’ll get you to your floor.”

“Thank you,” I said appreciatively and okayed the prompt my car was showing me.

A lot of times, I still had to manually drive the car with the hand controls in the garages and parking lots of places, but this was clearly a place that had invested in an auto-parking system. It soon had me parked in a row of spaces mere feet from the elevators he’d mentioned.

I opened my car door and straightened my tie out. I pulled my suit coat on and grabbed my briefcase. I found the elevator had two sets of controls, one for Bigs and one for Littles. Seeing how the Littles were closer, I almost used them, but the last thing I wanted to do was appear weak if anyone was watching. I leaned on my tip-toes and pressed the lobby button on the taller panel.

I found myself in a large imposing lobby with a reception desk to one side. I walked over to it and said, “Good afternoon. Would you please direct me to Benson and Stein’s office?”

The tall woman looked down at me and gave me a demeaning smile. “Why would you be going to their offices?”

“Just directions, please, Ma’am,” I told her.

She gave me a look like she wanted to argue, but someone else walked up then and said, “Take that elevator over there to the forty-second floor. They have a receptionist there that will get you to wherever you need to go.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” I told her with a smile. ‘I sure hope not many Littles try and get up there on their own…’

I walked into an open elevator and would use the Bigs panel again, but ‘42’ was way too high up on it. I instead sighed and pushed the ‘42’ that was about my shoulder height on the Littles panel. It looked like there were fifty floors in the building, but even on the forty-second floor, I knew it would be a higher office than I had ever been in!

The ride was surprisingly quick for being so high up in the air! I stepped out into the office and was surprised to see a receptionist that was a Little. “Can I help you sir?”

I smiled at her, “My name is Cameron Sylvester. I have an appointment?”

She looked down at a tablet she had turned on and nodded, “Yes, sir, give me just a moment to let them know you’re here. Would you like water or something while you wait?”

I looked at her and realized if there was ever a random secretary, I would trust it would be her, but I shook my head, “No, thank you. Do you have a restroom, though, by chance?”

She smiled, “Down the hall and to the left.”

“Thanks!”

I made a quick pit stop before walking back and sitting down in a chair near her desk.

I wasn’t seated long before a man a smidge taller than me and probably close to fifty came to me from a hallway. “Mr. Sylvester?”

I stood, “You must be Mr. Benson?”

“I am, David though please, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you! My partner and I have heard really great things about you from multiple sources. We’re looking forward to speaking with you today,” he said.

“You all have a great reputation here; I’m looking forward to it too!”

I was led to a conference room where a tall woman was already seated. She stood when I entered the room, and Benson said, “Cameron, this is Kendra Stein, my partner here at the firm.”

She held her hand out to me, “Cameron Sylvester, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I told her.

She towered over me, and I guessed her height was a few inches shy of twelve feet. She wore a tan skirt suit that flattered her figure quite well. “Please, have a seat,” she said, directing me to a desk chair that pneumatically took me to a height I could see over the table without needing a booster seat. ‘Hmm… I need one of these…’

“Well, let’s just get down to business,” David said. “We’re looking for a couple of new lawyers to join our team as our caseload is increasing recently. Kendra and I would prefer to give a bit of a helping hand to some students from our alma mater at Harlan if we can. I was already going to speak with some professors there. Still, before I did so, Judge Jones mentioned you at a reception…” I soon found out that they’d been looking into me for a while and vetted me with every source they could, “So, we’re sure that you’re a quality person that will probably be a big help to our firm. What we want to know is, would you be interested?”

I nodded, “I appreciate that, and I am interested! Before we start hammering out details, though, I would like to know my role?”

Our conversation was cordial and went on far longer than I think any of us anticipated. Still, at the end of it, we shook on a deal for me to be hired and make a six-figure salary in my first year before case bonuses! We also discussed who else might be a match for the firm, and I suggested my friend Edgar who would be a good Big to add to offset my height. That was something they were looking for to create a balanced team.

I left the meeting and called Dad first to tell him the good news. He was just as excited as I was and said that when he retired in five years, he would come to join me there. My next phone call had to be to my ‘Aunt Ruth,’ of course. She was properly congratulatory, but most importantly, I thanked her for her part in getting me the job!

Even with a great job in hand before graduation… All I could think about was Beth... What happened to her…?

In June, our wedding date came, and instead of waiting for her at the front of the aisle, I found myself surrounded by Dad’s arms crying. Fortunately, he had thoughtfully visited me in Crescent City that week as I moved into a new apartment.

More than anything, I just wanted to know that she was safe!!!
 
 

Chapter 27: Serendipity
 

THREE YEARS HAD passed since I joined Benson and Stein. I found myself a much different man than before Beth’s disappearance. On the positive side, joining their firm was the best choice I could have made. Given the successes I had been having with the cases I’d been assigned, they were talking seriously about making me a third partner in the next year. Everything in my career took off like a rocket once I joined them! I’d led dozens of successful suits against companies, people, and the government on behalf of Littles, Mids, and even a few Bigs because their Littles had been wronged.

My bonuses based on cuts from settlements and jury awards became more significant than my main salary, and I had invested in a house not far from where Judge Jones had used to live. I had paid it off in one year and appreciated having a place away from the city where I could think quietly.

Though I avoided that ability to think simultaneously because Beth’s disappearance had merely been the start of the worst year of my life! It was a year that had very nearly broken me completely...

By Thanksgiving that year, I would have been married; all four of my grandparents passed away! From cancer, a stroke, and finally, a car accident caused by Grandpa Frank’s sudden massive heart attack while manually driving his classic sports car. Their vehicle rolled out of control and off a cliff, killing Grandma Suzy, who was in the passenger seat.

The losses devastated Dad and me, but at least we had each other!

Then Dad…

Then… that next May, Dad passed away.

He was on his way home from work, and a dumbass drunk Big overrode his self-driving controls, ran a red light, and smashed head-on into his car.

Leaving me truly an orphan…

I would have taken being hugged by my overbearing Grandma Suzy just once more!

Fortunately for me, ‘Aunt Ruth’ followed my news and regularly invited me to spend time with her and her husband. Occasionally her kids would join too, and I soon found myself a welcome adopted son more or less in their family.

In the last eighteen months, I had coped by being single-mindedly focused on my cases. I had no life outside of work…

“Hey Cameron, we have a new client coming in a half-hour to discuss taking their case. Any chance you can come join us?” Kendra asked.

I looked up at her smiling form and again appreciated that she was a fantastic person to work with. “Sure, I’m almost done with my pre-trial motions on the Weber case. Who is it?”

“Honestly, Desiree took the call, and David did the follow-up, so I don’t remember.”

“Okay, I’ll see if I can’t grab a look at the notes in the system before I head in there.”

I returned to work, and soon I had typed a few last sentences on my project. After saving it, I looked up at the clock and realized the time had gotten away from me. Noticing I only had a few minutes, I quickly hopped into the restroom and carried a cup of coffee to the conference room, where we met most of our clients. David and Kendra had set up a great office here, with our firm controlling all of the forty-second floor of the building. It let us have the conference room on a window overlooking the capital building and the nearby courthouse. I was known to sometimes come work there just to have a break and enjoy the view. I knew that was why both of their corner offices overlooked the same view on either end of the building!

I placed my coffee down and was about to sit in the chair when Kendra’s voice became clear, and I heard her talking to the man she was with. “We really are the best you can get for something like this…”

I was grateful I had set my coffee down because I would have dropped it otherwise!

“Mr. Fehler?”

“Ca… Cameron,” he said nervously.

Over the last few years, my soul had broken, and it had all started with the day they had disappeared!

“Where is she?!?!?!?” I shouted.

Kendra looked taken aback. “Umm… You know this man?”

“I’m supposed to marry his daughter! Where is Beth?!?” I asked hoarsely as I rounded the table and prepared to confront him.

Mr. Fehler clearly didn’t know how to react, but as the tears reached both of our eyes, he hugged me, “I’m sorry, Cameron… We had to run… but I had no idea the damage was done… and… well…”

The hug broke, and he said, “I’m sorry, but let me tell the story… it’s a long one.”

“Maybe we can all sit down?” David appeared and joined us, using a hand on my shoulder to steer me to the table.

I nodded and sat back down with my coffee cup in front of me. I took a sip, the black bitterness helping calm me back down. In front of me sat the only link I had to the love of my life, and I needed to know what had happened to her!

I managed to take a second sip and said, “Sorry about that… Umm… Full disclosure before Mr. Fehler speaks. I was engaged to his daughter, who has been a lifelong friend of mine growing up when they just disappeared without a trace or a word on what happened.”

“Fair enough, Cameron,” Kendra said.

“Mr. Fehler, what brings you here today?” David asked.

He sighed, “I had no idea Cameron was working for you all. I hope that doesn’t make for some sort of conflict of interest?”

“We’re not prosecutors,” David said, “and I have a feeling his passion may make for a better case here. Tell us why you’re here?”

“A little over three years ago, my family and I were doing well! Our daughter, Beth, was a Little by just two inches but unfortunately had to turn herself in at Emerson University to their Student Services when it became apparent that she would be demerited out. She would have been forced into an adoption with no choices otherwise. I used every connection I had to help me get a hearing, and the judge allowed her to return home with me. Unfortunately, she put in place some stringent monitoring and restrictions for a few years after her re-adoption to ensure I was properly caring for her case of Maturosis. In the process, I also divorced my wife, a Mid, hoping it would strengthen my case.”

He sighed, “I cared for Beth as kindly as possible with the requirements as long as the court-ordered monitoring was in place. When the monitoring finally ended, I waited a few months and then began helping her regain all she had lost. In the process, she reconnected with Cameron here, and their young love was something they finally admitted to each other.”

Kendra shot me a curious look - I had never mentioned Beth to her or David because I couldn’t bear to discuss it. “Go on?”

“Well, I decided it was time to help her go the full route to emancipation, so I moved her to New Albany, a state I knew had the loosest laws for emancipating an adopted Little. My ex-wife had moved there right after the divorce, hoping we could do this at some point… It was nice for us to reunite as a family again, and I even remarried her officially a year later. We worked hard to potty train Beth again, get her an associate’s degree from a community college, and meet all of the emancipation requirements of the law. We visited him the June before Cameron’s final year at Harlan, and she showed him her emancipation papers. That weekend he proposed, and they planned to be married in June after he graduated the next year.”

I took the tissue Kendra offered me then, as no attempts at trying to be tough would work here.

“You all were doing fine! What happened?” I asked hoarsely.

He sighed, “My wife, Ashley, had retired from her job and was looking for something else to occupy her free time. She came across an ad looking for Mids to test products. The descriptions seemed harmless, and she signed both herself and Beth up since her height was just below that level. They’d both already tested things when…”

“Do you have the ad still?” I managed to ask.

He reached into an envelope and passed it over to me. I felt my blood freeze as I recognized the same ad that had been in my own mailbox around the time they disappeared. Serendipity Industries… “This is a front for SafeFoods,” I said without hesitation.

“How do you know that from just looking at it?” Kendra asked.

I sighed, “I received this very same ad years ago… about when they disappeared, and remember looking into it later. It’s one of their shell companies that they use to test items because people have figured out not to trust stuff from SafeFoods.”

Her dad nodded, “If they had said anything to me, I would have done the same research… Well… I did the same research later on.” He wrung his hands and ran them through what remained along the sides of his large head. “They tested things for nearly a month before I learned about it. Apparently, it started innocently enough with some shampoo and body wash. From what I can tell, those didn’t do anything directly to them but acted as catalysts later. Some deodorant and lip gloss, and then some new tampons were next. Nothing, of course, gave them any sort of red flags…”

I nodded, ‘I doubt I would have seen any of those as dangerous…’

“What happened next?” I asked.

“Well, the day we disappeared, they tried a new body lotion they had been sent. They thought it smelled pretty good and put that opinion down on the form they would have to return. I figure I came home two hours after they had tried it and found Beth lying catatonic, having wet and messed herself on the living room floor, and my wife not much better upstairs. She just managed to tell me what she thought had happened before she too… well…” he cried then, “basically became an infant for all intents and purposes. Both of them! All they can do now is crawl with some effort, drool, and cry…”

Hearing this brought to life my worst nightmare for the past few years. Everything I had ever considered in my darkest thoughts had been the truth all along. I felt my stomach twist in horror, my heart wrenched open, and I quickly ran down the hall to the bathroom and emptied my stomach into the toilet!

I sobbed for several minutes afterward. ‘Beth…’

I felt a hand on my shoulder, “You okay?”

I turned and saw David looking at me with concern. I shook my head, “I’m about as not okay as you can get David… but let me rinse my mouth out, and hopefully I can get back in there. You’d think after I said goodbye to her once, the second time couldn’t be worse…”

He patted me on the back as we re-entered, and Beth’s dad looked at me sadly. “I’m sorry, Cameron…”

I sighed, “I know; it’s not your fault. I’m sorry I freaked out here… To say I’ve been heartbroken and worried for all of these years since I got a ‘We’re sorry, your call cannot be completed’ message on your phones would be an understatement…”

“I know… I’m sorry, I wanted to let you know… but I also didn’t want you to try and hold yourself back for Beth.”

“So, what happened after you found them?” I asked as calmly as I could. A part of me now wanted to find a way to beat him to death for not telling me. Still, another part needed to demand to immediately see Beth anyway.

He took a deep breath, “Well… I hit the practical side first. We still had some diapers for Beth, so I dressed them both in one. It was a squeeze for Ashley since they were definitely the wrong size for her… but at least I knew it would protect a little. I carefully swaddled them on the floor of our bedroom, then ran to the store down the road and picked up some diapers in Ashley’s size. I had just finished changing Ashley into a better-fitting diaper when the doorbell rang. People never visited us in the country where we lived, so I went down cautiously and was surprised to see a van with the logo of Serendipity Industries. One of the men said, ‘They’re probably drooling by now, just break in and let’s get them out of here…’”

I gasped, understanding more of what happened there. “What did you do?”

“Bluffed,” he told me. “I opened the door and said, ‘Hi, may I help you?’ If not me, maybe the sheriff officer who is on their way?” He smiled, “One of them was pretty sure I was bluffing, but they hightailed it out of there anyway. Understanding we were in danger, I got them in the car with a few changes of clothes for everyone, the products, a few mementos, all of the diapers, and hightailed it out of there.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked. “I bet I could have helped…”

He shook his head, “Honestly, I left our phones and electronics at the house. I had some cash and a bag just in case we needed to get out if someone from Ames was looking for us still. I bought a new car the next town over and then kept driving…”

He looked physically drained at that point. “We kept hopping from place to place for two years before I finally found an apartment and a daycare I could trust to leave them. I don’t know what to do anymore, but I do know that whoever this company is can’t be allowed to get away with this!”

“Can I see them?” I asked him softly.

“I don’t think Beth would want that, Cameron…” he said softly.

“But…”

“You have no idea how hard she worked to grow up for you! The tears and screams when she missed going to the toilet and had a stinky pair of panties instead, before that, the hard work to just be able to bring a spoon back to her face… I can’t let you see her like this… It’s worse than before! A lot worse...”

I shook my head but said, “I think she would want to see me, but I’ll respect your wishes. What do you want to do?”

“I want justice for her and my wife and the hundreds if not thousands, of others who have been abused by this company!” His body visibly shook while he clenched his hands. “I don’t have much money remaining, but I’ll pay you what I can…”

“This will be pro bono,” I found myself saying in unison with Kendra and David.

I gave them both a small smile. “We’re going to need them both examined, and I want to know exactly what they’ve done to them so we can prepare the best case.”

“I think we also need to move you all to a more secure housing arrangement if you’re going to be a star witness in this trial… SafeFoods is not a safe company to deal with,” Kendra said.

“I’ll get Desiree on it,” David said as he hopped up.

Soon David took Mr. Fehler to get his wife and Beth to take them to a remote location we owned for cases like this. Several security guards were stationed around the clock, and the house was one of the most physically secure places I knew of! I wanted to go meet them there and see Beth for myself, but a part of me knew he was telling me the truth…

Kendra put her hand on my shoulder, “I don’t have a problem with you staying on this case, but are you sure you want to?”

I nodded, “If this company intentionally did this, or at the very least knowingly did this, I want their bank accounts emptied. I’d prefer their entire board and owners rot in prison, but I doubt that is possible.”

“Let’s get to work then, huh?”
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 28 and 29 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 28: Swirling
 

DAVID, KENDRA, AND I spent the next two months compiling everything we thought we needed to put together a case against Serendipity Industries and their parent company, SafeFoods, Inc. To my surprise, we were able to begin gathering several other plaintiffs to quietly join the suit. We presumed we were moving toward a Class Action status for the case.

David and Kendra focused on the clients, the witnesses, and most of the paperwork. I researched the science of what had been inside the products. Unfortunately, many of the cases lacked victims to examine because similar vans that had come for Beth and Ashley had also come for them – no one knew what happened to those victims! If it hadn’t been for home security footage, we wouldn’t have been able to fully link those cases with the Fehlers.

In other cases, they had left the victims with loved ones at home but claimed they had to return all of the products per the legal agreement... Fortunately, Beth’s dad had kept all the products in a sealed Ziploc bag as one of the few things he took out of their house. I got help from the university that housed the Harlan School to analyze them. My chemistry background came into full use as I studied what had been given to them, what each unique chemical caused, and agonized over just how much damage had been inflicted with the horrific plot.

Four years to the day that I had asked Beth to marry me, we filed the case in court. A summons was sent to both companies, and the media immediately picked up on the suit.

Things became a bit of a circus around the firm as we dealt with national news networks requesting interviews, a countersuit from the company, and the initial late summer court date soon approached.

I had asked Beth’s dad several times if I could see her… but he kept refusing, “She wouldn’t want you to see her like this, Cameron…”

“I was ready to say until death do us part,” I told him. “Please? So, I can remind myself who and what I’m fighting for!”

He finally agreed a week before the first court date, and I found myself driving carefully out to the safe house. I was let in by the security team, and Mr. Fehler met me in the living room. “Cameron, are you sure you want to see her? I’d rather you remember her like she was…”

“I have to… I… I love her!” I told him resolutely.

His shoulders fell, “Very well then, come upstairs to their nursery…”

‘Nursery’ felt like a stab to the gut, but I couldn’t help but note the ‘their’ in the sentence. His wife was just as wronged in this case as Beth was. He opened the door to a happy-looking nursery with two large cribs, a changing table, a playpen, and a… and a pair of adults wearing baby clothes laying on their backs with toy gym things hanging over them. I watched for a moment as Beth made a very uncoordinated effort to hit a suspended unicorn toy hanging on a string above her. She was distracted a second later by staring at herself in a mirror toy next to it and then attempting to kick her feet out. She and her mother looked to have put on forty or more pounds since I saw them last, ‘Probably from the lack of exercise,’ I knew.

My blood froze as drool ran out the corner of Beth’s mouth, forming some little bubbles with her spit, and we made eye contact.

I stared into her eyes and hoped something remained of the woman I loved.

Anything…

Even a glimmer of recognition…

After she was regressed, leaving Emerson, I could always see her as strong as ever inside her eyes. Now instead, all I saw was a blank stare. I started to hope when I saw her mouth change into a smile. I thought for just a second maybe it was the sign I needed that something was left! Right then, her body tensed, and a second later, I realized she was pooping her diaper and giggling about the sensation.

I walked over to her and said, “Hi, sweetheart…”

She smiled, but it was the look of a baby looking at someone who looked friendly and was paying them attention. Not the look she gave me the last time we spoke via video chat… or the last time we passionately kissed.

I sighed, “Beth, I don’t know if there’s anything left of you in there, but I want you to know I have always loved you and will always love you no matter what. I will get you justice, my love, and somehow I’ll find a way to cure you and your mom.” I leaned over, gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead, and stood to walk back out.

“Cameron, I have something for you before you leave…” her father told me. “Let me go get it, and then I’ll change her after I show you out.”

I nodded. Then, I looked at Beth’s older gray-haired mom in nearly the same state on the other side of the room. She had managed to grab one of the toys hanging above her. She had it in her mouth, where she began slobbering and sucking on it, leaving a glistening mess of slobber when she pulled it out a second later. With a sigh, I turned from the room and closed the door. Mr. Fehler handed me a white envelope.

It felt oddly heavy in one corner of it. I looked curiously at it, “What’s this?”

“Her engagement ring…”

“But…” I tried to hand it to him.

“No, Cameron… Obviously, there’s no way she can get married to you the way she is… I highly doubt we ever cure her and her mom, but… Cameron, if we do somehow manage to cure her… I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to legally stand on her own again.”

“She’s still emancipated, right?” I asked.

He shook his head, “I had to adopt both of them in case someone tried saying they weren’t adopted to take them from me.”

I groaned, “That means even if…”

“They’ll both have to go through that emancipation process. I don’t honestly know that Beth could do it again, Cameron. My wife…”

I found myself hugging him, “I’m sorry,” I told him.

“I am, too,” he sighed, “Take the ring. If we ever get them out of it, you can ask her to marry you again.”

I nodded. “I’m going to hold you to that, sir,” I told him.

I soon found myself back in my car, heading to the city. For the second time in my life, I had an engagement ring returned to me.

I would have usually called Dad to talk about something like this… but he was gone. I pulled up Aunth Ruth’s number… but couldn’t quite bring myself to dial her. I feared bringing her in because I didn’t want her to have to recuse herself if this case made it up to the Supreme Court at some point.

Driving home, I had never felt more alone in all of my life…
 

WE HIT OUR first roadblock right away when we went to the first court date. We’d filed in the District Court that the injury had occurred – a standard practice. Their lawyers somehow convinced the judge, I presumed by bribery or blackmail, that it needed to be moved to the District Court in Ames instead. We decided it wasn’t worth fighting the jurisdiction battle for a couple more years. Instead, we were at least fortunate that I had joined the bar association back in Ames, too, when I graduated. We fast-tracked applications for David and Kendra, but it seemed likely that we would be held up on David’s because he was a Mid. I remembered my application had taken a full six months, so I wasn’t holding my breath on his making it anytime soon. Kendra’s was fortunately approved the week we began the trial there. Otherwise, it would have only been me presenting our case.

The three of us found ourselves sitting at a table with all our resources for the first hearing in Ames. Across from us, their attorneys were doing the same. Just about five minutes before the hearing was to begin, Addison’s mother, Aubry Harris, entered the courtroom and sat next to the attorneys for her company. She looked at us and glared. ‘I wonder if she recognizes me?’ I couldn’t help but think. ‘I’m sure she does.’ I watched her lean across the railing and make a comment in her lawyer’s ear.

My hand brushed across my shirt collar, and I reassured myself that the necklace Addy had given me hung suspended with Beth’s engagement ring on it. As far as I was concerned, Addy’s mom had taken both of the loves of my life away from me, and I was wearing them as a symbol of what I was fighting for! Before long, the bailiff cried, “All Rise, District Court Fifty-Two is now in session, the Honorable Justice Lynn Taney presiding!”

I watched a tall woman with short and obviously dyed blonde hair approach the bench in her robe. From my research, I knew she was fifty-seven, healthy, and had three Littles sitting at home with their nanny.

“You may be seated,” she said.

The bailiff introduced our case, “The first case on today’s docket is Case number 384459322 Fehler and Others vs. Serendipity Industries and SafeFoods, Inc.”

“Mrs. Stein, I believe you are the lead counsel for the plaintiffs?”

“Yes, Your Honor, along with my co-counsel Cameron Sylvester. Also joining us is my law partner David Benson who is waiting for recognition from the Ames Bar Association.”

I heard a hiss from Addy’s mom, and I guessed if she hadn’t recognized me before, she certainly did now.

“Mr. Johnson, you are the lead counsel for the defense?”

“I am, Your Honor,” he told her. I already knew that Henry Johnson was a piece of work. We’d actually faced each other in a few cases back in Hartford that I had come out the better on. “On behalf of my client, we wish to request a summary dismissal for this farce of a lawsuit; there is no basis, in fact, for this slander.”

“Objection, Your Honor,” I found myself saying. “We have evidence, witnesses, and hundreds of victims of a so-called ‘Product Testing’ scheme. There is clear criminal intent, or at the very least gross negligence, on the part of Serendipity Industries and SafeFoods.”

The judge glared at me, making me remember Aunt Ruth staring people down. I also looked straight at her, and she said, “The motion is denied; it would be a serious miscarriage of justice to at least not hear the facts of this case, Mr. Johnson.”

“Then, Your Honor, we would like to request a continuance until we have further prepared?”

I worried the judge would be fully in their pocket, but she shook her head, “No, I don’t think that will be necessary. Let’s begin these pre-trial motions…”

We had long debated about a jury trial or a non-jury trial. We couldn’t help but worry that the judge might be more crooked, but ten jurors might be a stretch out of the twelve. Ultimately, we flipped a coin and went for the jury trial.

The not quite hour-long hearing dealt with many details and set a date for choosing our jurors in five days on the following Monday. The class action motion was presented, and she said she would rule on it at the next hearing.

“We’re going to go ahead and fly back home for the weekend, Cameron; sure, you don’t want to come back with us?” David asked me.

I shook my head, “No, I never have done anything with selling our house here… I need to spend some time cleaning it out and getting it ready to go on the market. I will also see some friends I haven’t seen since I lost my dad.”

He grasped my shoulder, “Let me know if you need anything else!”

“Will do, and why don’t you both just plan to stay at my house here when you return? There are two extra bedrooms not being used,” I added.

“We’ll take you up on that,” Kendra said.

Right then, all of our attention was dragged over to the defense attorneys, who were accosted by Aubry Harris. “What the Hell are you doing letting that Little get away with objecting to your motion? Why didn’t you fight that objection?!?” I could hear her hiss.

“Mrs. Harris, Mr. Sylvester is a fully credentialed attorney recognized by the Ames Bar Association…”

“Watch your back,” Kendra said as we walked out to the front of the courthouse together.

“Same to you guys,” I told her.

I was just about to get inside my rented car when I heard, “Cameron!”

I turned to see Addy’s mom walking toward me. “What can I do for you, Mrs. Harris?”

“What can you do for me?” She snorted, “Drop this ridiculous lawsuit before I have you put into diapers like your client… Or should I say your fiancé?”

I gritted my teeth but said, “So you’re threatening me? Just to make sure you know, that would be something I would have to bring up in court.”

I stared up at her imposing form, knowing if this got physical, there wasn’t much I could do.

“Of course, I’m not threatening you, Little Man. Just stating a fact that you are probably in danger of wetting your pants in court. I believe a case of Maturosis by the plaintiff’s counsel would probably not bode well for the suit?”

“It probably wouldn’t help, but that would be part of why I have partners who can take over if something happens to me, huh?”

“This isn’t going to end well for you if you keep pursuing this.”

“Kind of like how the three cases I’ve already won against SafeFoods in the last two years went?”

She gritted her teeth then, and I knew I was really getting under her skin. “You watch yourself!”

“I would also remind you that the security cameras here are watching too,” I said, pointing directly to two that happened to be pointing at us.”

She huffed, “Well, at least my daughter had better sense than to marry a baby like you.”

With that, she turned around and left.

I was shaking as I got into my rental car and started the engine. I put the coordinates into the GPS for my home and let the self-drive system navigate the garage and the streets. I took a moment to start uploading the video from the camera I was wearing as I dialed David.

“You okay?” David asked on the video screen on my dash.

I shook my head, “That may have been a close one. I’m uploading the confrontation to you, but you might also subpoena the courthouse parking cameras if anything happens to me.”

“You think something will?”

“I’ve never had someone look at me like that before… I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t try something.”

“Are you really sure that you don’t want to fly home? We can still get you a seat on our flight?”

I nodded, “I need to be here for a bit to take care of things. I should be safe enough…”

“Watch your back, Cameron,” Kendra said over the video from beside him.

“Always do…”

In the time it took to drive out of the city and to my nearby hometown, I thought about needing supplies in the empty house. I ended up detouring for some essentials I knew I would need at a grocery store. Soon after that, the car pulled up to the garage of my childhood home. I activated the garage door and pulled it manually inside, looking at all the tools and miscellaneous items in the dusty garage with a sigh.

When Dad died two years ago, I hadn’t had the heart to clean out things then… We had just done that with both of my grandparents’ houses the previous year… That had sucked, but doing that with my childhood home would be so much worse! I took the steps to my bedroom and was startled to see a screen lying on the bed. ‘That wasn’t there before?’ I thought back to when I left after Dad’s funeral.

Just as I approached it to check it out, the screen turned on, and a vivid swirl of colors began swirling on the screen…
 
 

Chapter 29: Tails
 

IN MY HEAD, I shouted ‘NO!!!!!’ as I flipped over the tablet onto its screen. I had seen just enough to realize there was a weird filter color with words somehow overlaid above the moving video. Still, I didn’t keep looking long enough to figure out what it was.

“Shit!” I exclaimed, “That was close!”

I found a pair of gloves in the medicine cabinet. I placed the tablet inside a manila envelope before calling the police. I called David and Kendra and let them know about it before meeting the police at the door a short while later. They looked suspicious about it when the screen was black but took it in for evidence anyways. There was absolutely no sign of forced entry into the house, which made me even more nervous! I paid a locksmith to come out and rekey my locks and add physical deadbolts onto each door. They were contracted to return and put in an alarm system the following week. David and Kendra told me to expense it all when I got back…

It was late that night when the dust finally settled, and I found myself lying in my childhood bed. ‘They gave it a solid attempt to use hypnosis on me…’ I thought as I tried sleeping. ‘I’m guessing they’re hoping I’ll pee my pants in court on Monday, and they can get rid of me and the case with a Maturosis ruling…’

I had no way of knowing how long ago the tablet had been planted, though… I hadn’t been inside the house now in about twenty months. My only hope was that there were fingerprints or some sort of digital fingerprint associated with whoever planted it inside my house.

At some point in the evening, I must have finally dozed off, waking to my cell phone going off the next day.

I looked over and saw it was Aunt Ruth, “Hi, Aunt Ruth,” I told her sleepily.

“Hi, yourself,” she said.

“Umm… am I in trouble?” I asked sleepily.

“A little… How come you didn’t tell me that you are involved in that big case against SafeFoods on behalf of Beth?”

I sighed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, glad this was an audio call only. “It’s been in the news? I figured you already knew?” I paused, “Honestly, I didn’t want to create conflicts of interest if the verdict gets appealed to your court?”

“That big, huh?” She asked.

I sighed, “Big enough, they tried getting me last night,” I said, instantly wanting to take back those words.

“What do you mean?” She asked like a mother worried about her kid.

“I shouldn’t have said anything…” I sighed, “I came home to my dad’s house last night and narrowly evaded a hypnosis trap set for me.”

“You’re okay?!?” She asked, “You’re sure? Hypnosis doesn’t always appear immediately?”

“I’m sure… I’ll tell you why some other time.” I thought, ‘Thanks, Stacy.’

“What exactly is this case?”

“I’m not wanting to create a conflict…” I insisted.

“If the case involves you, it automatically probably reaches that anyway, Cameron.” She paused, “Besides, it’s my call if I have a conflict of interest, no one else’s.”

“Well…” I hedged, “I guess I’ll give you the overview. A few months ago, now Beth’s dad showed up at the office wanting to file a suit against Serendipity Industries. He didn’t realize I worked at the firm… It was a bit rough,” I admitted.

“How rough?”

“Well, I didn’t kick his rear like I wanted to…” I shook my head, “Honestly, in the end, I would probably have mostly done the same thing he did other than finding a way to at least get in touch with me. Beth and her mom signed up for some sort of product testing service as a part-time job. That Thanksgiving, she disappeared; they had just tested something that made them both… Well… they show no signs of cognition,” I told her sadly, “I don’t know if anyone can ever do anything for her or her mom. Her mom was actually the one who signed them both up to test stuff… With her larger body mass, she lasted just long enough to tell her husband what happened before she ended up in an infant state too.”

The tears I felt going down my face reminded me this nightmare was far from over, “We’re suing Serendipity and their parent company SafeFoods for them and one-hundred-and-thirty other clients so far that have signed on. We motioned to make the case a Class Action suit and will begin jury selection on Monday.”

“You think the attack last night?”

“I’m sure it was them. Mrs. Harris confronted me by my car too. I already have a video of the exchange in David and Kendra’s hands.”

“You have to be careful, Cameron…” she told me worriedly.

“I will… as much as I can.” I wiped another tear away, “Honestly, with Beth like she is now, my whole family is gone… I sometimes wonder if there’s anything more I can really lose.”

“I wish I could hug you right now… Hang in there, kid!” she told me. “And your whole family is not gone; you know I’m there for you anytime you need something! And I expect a call at least once a week, so I know you’re okay!”

I smiled, “Yes, Mom,” I told her.

I heard her suck in a breath. “You know I really do think of you as another one of my kids at this point, right?”

“And honestly, you’re as much of a mother as I’ve had since I was little. Thank you for caring about me,” I told her.

We hung up soon after, and I couldn’t help but think I wanted to tell her I loved her as I did, so… it was really true!

I showered, got to work on our current case, and did some prep for several others. I spent an hour on a video conference with David and Kendra about things before beginning to work around the house on making headway on keep vs. give away/throw away. I started in the last place I wanted to, Dad’s bedroom, so it would be available for David to sleep in. Kendra would get the larger bed in the guest room that my grandparents used to use.

Going through his stuff was an emotional minefield. I cried for about two hours as I frequently encountered something that reminded me of him. His clothes were boxed up for charity since they were too big for me. I kept his watches, tie clasps, and other jewelry he had. Mom had left some jewelry that should have gone to my baby sister if she had lived… That made me cry again, but I couldn’t throw that out. That all got carefully boxed to fly back with me, as I knew there was a lot of value inside her jewelry boxes. “Maybe someday I can give them to Beth…”

Some trinkets from my grandparents and their families were of sentimental value that I also kept. By the end of the day, I’d packed about twenty boxes, filled trash bags, and emptied his room out of everything but the furniture. I closed the door, so I wouldn’t have to look inside on my way to my bathroom to shower. I was meeting Megan and Meg at Amanda and Fred’s for dinner, and I didn’t want to smell bad from all the sweating I’d been doing.

I’d last seen them when they came for Dad’s funeral… Meg and I used to speak a couple times a month, but living on the other side of the country practically made it hard to keep up my friendships as well as I’d like. Losing Beth had only meant I’d closed myself off more too…

Once dressed, I checked that everything was locked up tight and climbed inside my rental car. I had sold Dad’s car since I couldn’t legally drive it within a month of his passing. I wished my car was back with me, though, as the seats in this car were not nearly as comfortable! I set the navigation on the car’s computer and headed towards Amanda and Fred’s house, wondering what might have changed with them in the time I’d been gone.

I was stopped at a stoplight with the car signaling to turn when I looked back and noticed a blue car with a couple of large men. They seemed to be staring intently at my car, but I just assumed it was probably one of the annoyed groups of people who hated the rule-following self-driving vehicle. I knew many Bigs who complained about being unable to speed with more and more of them on the roads blocking them!

The car navigated out to the area where their house was, and I jumped a bit when I realized that the blue car was still behind me!

I breathed a sigh of relief when the car went past me as I turned into their driveway, but I couldn’t help but think it might not have been a coincidence!

I was soon buzzed in and parked in front of their large house. Meg and Megan were standing out there alongside Bella, who was dressed more like an adult than I’d ever seen her! Meg was dressed in a puffy blue gingham romper with a large butterfly embroidered as if their roles had been reversed. It was appropriate apparel for a year-old baby… not really for a twenty-eight-year-old. ‘Did Megan go off the deep end?’ I wondered.

Meg ran up to me and hugged me, “Cameron!!!”

I squeezed her tightly, enjoying the physical contact with another human being. I pushed her back and asked, “So what’s with the attire?”

She blushed, “I came from daycare… Mo… Megan got a new job, and I have to go there during the days.”

I looked at her, “Are you okay?”

She nodded, “It was embarrassing at first… I got picked on a lot because I dressed how I normally dressed. I took some advice from a new friend there, though, and started dressing babyish and adorable… All of a sudden, I was treated a lot better by the staff and other kids!”

“Well, you do look adorable,” I told her with a smirk. “Glad to know Megan hasn’t lost her mind, though…”

She came up to me then and gave me her own hug, “It’s good to see you, Cameron! I promise I wouldn’t send her there if I had another option… As it is, I have Mom watch her one of the days, so she’s usually only at daycare four days.”

“Today just happened to be one of those,” Meg said sourly. “I was running late, so we didn’t have time to get other clothes.”

“How are you doing, Bella?” I asked as she stood by. We’d never really grown to be close friends… she was so much older than I was, and I’d been there to see Stacy more.

“Good,” she said and hugged me, to my surprise.

“It’s good to have you back, Cam,” Meg told me.

“Thanks,” I said. “I should say ‘hi’ to Amanda and Fred.”

“Amanda’s inside; Fred is out at the grill,” Meg told me.

“Let’s go see them,” I said, following them inside.

Amanda hugged me tightly, “It’s good to see you, Cameron!”

“You all as well… it’s been a while!”

We walked outside, and the four of us sat on one of their picnic benches after I greeted Fred with a handshake and a brief conversation. “So, how are you doing?” Meg asked me, “Really doing?”

I sighed, “I saw Beth last week finally…”

“How… how is she?” Meg asked.

I shook my head, “Not good…” I found myself looking at Bella, “I think… she might be further gone than Bella was.”

Bella started slightly but nodded, “I’m so lucky I had Stacy on my side. It was horrible...”

I nodded, “Yes, you were… We all were…”

“We were?” Meg asked.

I looked for Fred and Amanda, but not seeing them, I said quietly, “She injected me with nanites freshman year but never told me. She tweaked them before she left… If she hadn’t, I would probably be in a world of hurt right now.”

“What happened?” Bella asked.

“When I made it to my dad’s house last night, I found a tablet sitting on my bed. It activated when it detected me… Nothing happened to me, probably in part because I flipped it over quickly. Still, I’m pretty sure it was one of those intensive hypnotic video setups.”

“You’re sure it didn’t get you?” Amanda said behind me, making me jump.

“Yes… I looked at a clock just before I looked down and again after I flipped it. The numbers hadn’t changed over, so it was definitely less than a minute, but I’m sure it was only about three seconds…”

“That should have been more than enough if it was one of the advanced types,” Fred said, overhearing us and joining in with a plate of food he placed on the table.

“It probably would have been if it wasn’t for some help Stacy gave me.”

Amanda’s eyes widened, “You’re the one she told about what she did before she left!”

I shrugged, “Maybe?”

“What did she tell you?”

“Well… I don’t think we should talk about it outside?”

She nodded, “Inside later; we need to talk.”

Our table conversations moved onto more mundane matters, and Meg ended up being more than slightly embarrassed as she became a topic of discussion. Megan and Amanda seemed to be trying to outdo each other with stories of blowouts of their adopted daughters’ diapers for some reason… We were just getting ready to eat dessert when a loud alarm sounded.

Amanda shouted, “Get inside!”

I followed them inside as they ran and noted that Amanda seemed panicked! The second we were all inside the door, I watched the unique door turn into a solid piece and heard heavy locks slam closed.

She was looking at a tablet, “Looks like they were just approaching the perimeter; they didn’t make it to the wall even.”

I looked over and saw a video of a man I recognized. “They were following me,” I found myself saying.

“Who did?” Fred asked.

“Those guys! They were in a blue car that tailed me leaving the city. I thought it was suspicious, but they passed me when I turned.

“Well, this seems like a problem,” Amanda said. “Let me call Dad.”

I ended up being at their house until later that night than I had planned, as her dad worked with some police officers he trusted. “I don’t see these guys in any of our files,” the officer told him. “I do, however, think they probably work for some sort of private security group…”

‘Probably for SafeFoods,’ I thought to myself.

When they left, Amanda asked, “Can you come talk to me in my workroom?” Once inside, I watched her do something that I assumed scanned the room, and she asked, “What exactly did Stacy do with you?”

I sighed, “She injected me with nanites to disable the effect of breastmilk freshman year when I accidentally had some of Addy’s when we were making out.”

“Oh…” she said. “That was nice of her!”

I nodded, “Not sure why she never did it for Meg, but I think since she seemed determined to just give up, she didn’t want to be cruel to her if she got adopted… Stacy seemed to think there was some value in not noticing using diapers.”

“Sounds like her,” she agreed. “Did she do anything else to you?”

I shrugged, “She said she did something that would block any of the hypnotic videos and sounds out there. Last night was the first time I’d encountered one since she did that. I saw some sort of filter color at work, so I think it must have helped…?”

She nodded, “Stacy did something like that to herself before being kidnapped. What you saw is what she described it as.” She looked thoughtful, “Didn’t she tell you of anything else she did?”

“Did she tell you about anything else she did?”

She shook her head, “We can’t talk privately over the dimensional communications. She did allude last year that someone here knew, though. Meg didn’t, Megan didn’t, Bella didn’t, Fred and I didn’t… My dad doesn’t know anything else, either. That leaves you?”

I shrugged, “She was trying for something to help with the abusive parents here. Something to increase the desire to be loving instead of cruel? I’ve seen some reports that may be the case?”

She nodded, “Some crueler medical procedures have finally been banned here. A few other things for rights protection to ensure Littles are treated as real babies in their treatment. Something that would be abusive to a baby or a child is now considered abusive towards Littles. Unfortunately, it seems like the adoption rate may have rapidly increased though. Fewer free Littles are going to decline their population in a hurry...”

I nodded, “Sounds like it might have worked, but caused some side effects?”

“Maybe…” she said. “You want to stay here while you’re in town for the trial? You won’t have to be alone in that empty house?”

I smiled at her, “I appreciate the offer, but I need to get the house cleared out to sell. Kendra and David should be returning Sunday night, too, and will stay with me.”

“If you change your mind…?”

“I know where I can come,” I told her with a smile.

I hung out with Meg and Megan for another half-hour before it was the former’s bedtime, and I needed to get back home too. It was almost a familiar feeling as I stopped at a grocery store after being at their house.

Unfortunately, I noted the blue car was back on my tail again!

 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 30 and 31 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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: Credibility
 

THE NEXT DAY I was constantly looking over my shoulder and finding a couple of teams that seemed to alternate in following me. When David and Kendra returned on Sunday, they insisted on paying for some extra security for my house and traveling around with us when we went to court each day. The teams following me did back off once we had a few brawny security guards traveling everywhere with us. Kendra had also decided it was a good idea for her not to leave me alone to go back to Crescent City, so that left David going back and forth on the weekends to check on the office. None of us were quite sure what the stalkers had planned, but it didn’t seem like it would be good no matter what!

We made it through the pre-trial motions, chose a reasonably decent panel of jurors who weren’t all Little babying maniacs, and were on our second day of testimony of the third week I’d been back. On the first day, we called a few ‘caregivers’ and ‘parents’ as witnesses to testify about their perspective of what had happened.

“Your Honor, we would like to call Doctor Katrina Welsh as our next witness,” I said firmly.

Katrina was a chemist who had studied the contents of each of the items we had remaining in evidence, not only from Beth and her mom but thirty others as well. I watched as she was sworn in and stepped up to the plate for the first time in this trial since Kendra had taken yesterday’s witnesses.

“Doctor Welsh, would you please tell us your qualifications?” I began.

“Certainly, I have a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, with an emphasis on proteins and neurotransporters.”

“In lay terms, you study the chemistry of how our bodies make decisions and communicate between the brain and the body parts?”

She nodded, “That’s a good way to break it down.”

“You have in the past studied a specific Casein Protein involved in a specific process, correct?”

“Yes, I was the lead researcher in a study we titled ‘Pathway to Control’ that looked at a phenomenon known to most Bigs and how our breastmilk affects Littles. Several studies have linked adopted mothers nursing their Littles as causing a severe reduction in signals to a Little’s bladder or bowels to let them know they need to go. Long-term breastmilk feeding to Littles seemed to completely eradicate any ability to voluntarily control those functions on their own. Our study identified the specific protein that we dubbed Casein Protein E3. Further studies show that it essentially gums up the Pontine Micturition Center of the brain, along with the spinal cord and nerve receptors of the bladder and anal sphincter.”

“So, in this study, you effectively proved what everyone had always known was probably true about breastmilk?”

“Objection, Your Honor, Speculation!” The defense counsel roared.

The judge looked down at me and said, “Sustained.”

“Your Honor?” I asked.

“Asking her what has always been known is out of order. Continue on with your questions…”

I kept my cool and said, “Now that we know about your focus, you had a chance to examine samples of the body lotions in exhibits thirteen through forty-three, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” she said with a smile.

“And what did you find?”

“A true chemical hodgepodge… Standard ingredients are based on a petroleum base, Sodium, Citrus, and some elements for a scent that are normal in such products. What wasn’t normal though was a high concentration of the Casein Protein E3, as well as E8, J4, and a neurotoxin that is commonly found in stingrays.”

“A neurotoxin?” I asked.

“Yes, I was quite surprised by it, actually… The fact I found it in all of the lotion samples was not something I would have expected given I was told they were from dozens of separate sources?”

“Objection, Your Honor! The witness is speculating!”

“Your Honor, the witness is an expert in biochemistry; she is using her expert knowledge and opinions to render a valid series of scientific observations.”

“Sustained,” the judge said coolly. “Stick with the chemistry.”

I was more annoyed then but moved on, “This neurotoxin you identified, what effect would it have upon entering someone’s bloodstream?”

“Well, it was a true cocktail of sorts within these samples. The neurotoxin, in particular, would most likely attack the person’s nervous system, at the very least causing them to have severe coordination and motor control issues. In too high of a dose, there is always the potential for a heart attack.”

“So, a person would probably not be able to walk very well?”

“Or talk… or potentially even breathe,” she added.

“What would the other items affect?”

“Well, with a dose in enough quantity, I would expect the neuro-receptors to be gummed up by the E3 protein. It would be the equivalent damage as three years of nursing…”

“Objection, your honor, again, this is pure speculation. Not to mention breastfeeding has shown no negatives in study after study!”

“Sustained!” the judge looked at me.

“On what grounds? This isn’t speculation; this is hard science being presented by a specialist in the field!” I argued.

“My courtroom Mr. Sylvester, move on!”

“Doctor Welsh, if you had to predict the effects based on your knowledge of chemistry, what happened to the individuals who applied this lotion to their bodies?”

“I believe it likely they would collapse within a relatively short time, be unable to control their bodies, and likely suffer significant permanent motor function losses from the neurotoxin. It is also quite likely that two of the proteins would bind to centers in the brain for motor control, and another would be binding to the emotional area of the cortex. Based on studies with lab animals, I believe it would also likely do significant damage to other portions of the brain, such as the hippocampus, that controls memory. Those animal subjects were later autopsied and found to have literal holes in the tissue of their brains where healthy synapses should form.”

“In lay terms, this would essentially create a vegetable?”

“Your Honor, Objection, the counsel is attempting to prejudice the jury against our clients!”

“Sustained,” the judge looked at me, “Mr. Sylvester, are you quite through here? If you’re not, I want to warn you that I’m about to strike all of her testimony if you continue to push the bar.”

I debated for a moment about pushing it, but glancing at our table saw David and Kendra waving me off. “No more questions, Your Honor,” I told her.

I watched the defense begin to cross-examine Doctor Welsh. We raised our objections several times, but we were overruled on all but one of them. “Court is in recess for ninety minutes for lunch!” The judge said.

I groaned as we gathered our things and walked to a nearby deli. “What the hell is her problem?” I asked the two quietly as we sat at a table away from anyone else.

Kendra shook her head, “I’m not sure, but there’s clearly something more at play here. Cameron, you need to be careful with this judge; I don’t trust her…”

“I agree,” David said. “You sure you want to take the afternoon? She’s way more combative with you than she was with Kendra?”

“I want to at least get through Doctor Nickerson. She’s a Big with a massive reputation that I’m surprised we got to help us out here.”

“You shouldn’t be surprised,” Kendra said. “And you have the wrong Doctor Nickerson.”

“Huh?”

“You’re thinking of Doctor Ivy Nickerson, the CEO of the hospitals in town here. Doctor Holly Nickerson is the one who did the examination. She’s actually a Little herself.” Kendra smiled.

“Huh?”

“Apparently, she got into a scuffle with terrorists a few years back? She’s from the other dimension?” David filled in.

“She’s adopted?”

David nodded, “Yep, but some loopholes let her run the pediatric ward at University Hospitals General Campus.”

“She was quite the steal to have examined them. Flying her out to check out the patients in New Haven helps out with credibility locally.” Kendra stated.

“Won’t they just dismiss her for being a Little?” I asked, confused.

“I doubt it in this town… or state. She’s made quite the name for herself since they let her start practicing medicine here.”

“Huh,” I said, “I think I maybe remember some of that news… If it’s the attack I’m remembering, it was completely crazy!”

My steak and cheese sandwich was pretty tasty, and I was feeling nice and full going back to the courthouse. A quick trip to the restroom was made before we began the afternoon arguments. Kendra saw that Doctor Holly Nickerson was set to go while David and I made sure we were organized at our table. Just before we heard ‘All-rise’ that afternoon, I noticed a tall figure had joined the bench behind the wall of the defense team.

Her beautiful red hair was as lovely as ever, and the grey scoop-necked dress was both classy and flattering to her form. We made eye contact for one second, and then my attention returned to the judge who was just being announced.

“Please call your next witness,” she told us.

“We would like to call Doctor Holly Nickerson,” I said aloud. ‘I sure hope that David prepped her…’ I couldn’t help but think. ‘I should have been involved with her being a Little!’

The short woman walked confidently to the witness stand, where a booster seat was provided. There were titters in the gallery and the jury box, so Judge Taney used her gavel and called, “Order!”

Doctor Nickerson wore a pantsuit with her white doctor’s coat over the top. Once she was sworn in, I began with the typical questions, “Doctor Nickerson, to begin, would you please state your qualifications for the court?”

“Certainly!” she said with a smile. “I received my MD from Yale University, a university back in my home dimension. I completed an extended residency afterward and focused on general and pediatric procedures. Since arriving in this dimension, I have become the head of the Pediatric department at the University Hospitals General campus. I now specialize in nanite procedures and trauma care for Pediatrics for Children and Littles who come to the hospital.”

“Objection, Your Honor! There is no way this Little is qualified to testify here!”

To my surprise, the gavel came down, and she said, “Overruled; Doctor Nickerson here is a very competent doctor; I know this for a fact as she performed surgery on one of my own Littles last year, saving her life. She’s actually known as the best pediatric surgeon in the region if not one of the best in the country. I doubt they could have found a more respected doctor or expert witness.” She said confidently.

Holly Nickerson looked just as surprised by the defense but smiled and said, “Thank you, Your Honor.”

“Continue on, Mr. Sylvester,” she told me.

“You had a chance to examine thirteen patients mentioned in this suit so far?”

She nodded, “I did. I was able to perform comprehensive physical examinations and scans, and a colleague of mine performed neuro examinations.”

“What were your findings?”

“Overall?”

I nodded.

“All of the patients had significant motor deficiencies upon my initial examination. It became apparent that something had been done to them. All thirteen that I examined seemed unable to follow conversations, answer questions verbally, or do more than struggle to crawl. Four of the patients could not even turn themselves over from their back to their stomach or their stomach to their back. If I was to put an age on their behavior, I would put them at about the one to two-month level for motor skills.”

Videos of the victims were being shown by David remotely on a screen during her explanation.

“Did they react to any stimuli?”

She shrugged, “Not a lot. Three patients would follow a parent with their eyes as they moved about the room, but most didn’t even do that. A light pinch did induce crying, so the pain receptors are functioning. I also observed crying for attention to the state of their diapers, and they all cried if they were hungry.”

“This isn’t a natural occurrence?” I asked.

She shrugged, “Not normally. Maybe if there had been a severe head trauma incident, a stroke, or a long loss of oxygen, there could be some of these symptoms, but not all of them.”

“What else did you find?”

“Well, using some of our scanning technology,” a screen pulled up, and a brain scan was shown. ‘Victim A’ was labeled, and I knew it was Beth’s scan, even without the smaller name listed. “We looked at scans of their brains and discovered some significant buildup of proteins on these centers of their brains. In this patient’s case, it almost appears to be a hard casing that’s formed, blocking the brain from receiving signals.”

“Objection, Your Honor!” The defense suddenly said. “The Doctor is not a neurosurgeon!”

Curious, I looked at the judge as she seemed to wrestle with a decision. “Sustained!”

“Your Honor?” I questioned. “You’ve already stated this witness is qualified?”

“Not in neurosurgery; you must call another witness for that.”

“Your Honor, move to strike the witness comment about blocking the brain from receiving signals?”

“Your Honor, that’s a hard fact that she’s seeing on a scan that she is qualified to note!” I argued.

“Sustained,” she said, looking apologetic at Holly for some reason. “Move on, Mr. Sylvester!”

I debated arguing more but returned and got her observations on the damages that were visible outside of the brain… ‘This is bullshit!’ I couldn’t help but think.

Eventually, I ended my questioning, stepped back, and watched the defense go to work. The opposing counsel asked question after question and seemed flustered that Doctor Nickerson ably defended her observations. I guessed they were about done with their cross when I heard a fart.

“Excuse me,” Doctor Nickerson said with a blush.

“Your Honor, would you please have the Bailiff check her diaper?” their counsel said.

“What?” I found myself in stereo with my table and the judge.

“I believe the Little Doctor just pooped herself?”

“Umm… Please do so…” The judge said to the bailiff.

I watched as her coat was pulled out of the way and the suit pants pulled back. By the face, the bailiff made, I knew the answer, “She is poopy,” he said.

“Any more questions?” The judge asked the counsel.

“Just a motion that her testimony be stricken from the record, Your Honor. Surely anyone who cannot maturely control their poopy pants has no credibility in this courtroom.”

“I don’t think…” Doctor Nickerson tried to defend herself.

“Your Honor, Doctor Nickerson has a medical condition; she’s allowed to ably practice medicine despite this. Surely if she can perform life-saving surgeries, her control shouldn’t mean her testimony should be thrown out?” I argued.

I turned and noticed that Aubry Harris was staring the judge down, and she was looking straight back at her.

She turned to their attorney, “Very well, you have a point. The Jury is instructed to disregard the testimony of Doctor Nickerson, which is hereby stricken from the record! Give the girl back to her mommy so she can be changed.”

“Your Honor, this is outrageous! What are the Harris’s blackmailing you with?!? I motion that you recuse yourself from this trial; it’s clear that it won’t be a fair one with you on the bench!”

The eyes staring at me told me I’d gone too far. A quick glance at Kendra and David’s faces revealed that they felt it too. In response, I stared down this judge who embodied everything unjust in this damn state!

“Mr. Sylvester, you are in contempt of court! I declare you unfit to be an adult at this time! Bailiff, seize and diaper him before he has an accident in my courtroom! Have Little Protective Services see to his future care!”
 
 

Part 3: Adopted
 
 

Chapter 31: Right to Remain Silent
 

“WAIT!!!!!” I HEARD a familiar voice shout from across the aisle just as I was gaining my senses and thinking that I should run. I turned and viewed the figure of Addison standing next to the railing. “Your Honor, I’m a witness to his Maturosis; I want to adopt him!”

“Your Honor!” Kendra said, “I object to this! There is no reason to issue this contempt charge! My colleague had a valid objection!”

“You’re out of order Ms. Stein!” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Very well, Ms. Harris, you may adopt your new baby, Cameron Sylvester. His care is entrusted to you, but I would have a word with you about the requirements before you go with him. Approach the bench – Bailiff, collect her new charge.”

A million things seemed to go off in my head right then. The most lucid one looked at Kendra and David, “Call my Aunt Ruth,” I told them. They knew who she was and nodded. “Please try and get me out of this…”

Right then, a locking pacifier was suddenly forced into my lips, and twisted to inflate it, just before immovable arms grabbed me. I couldn’t help but think, ‘If I struggle, it could be more like Laura…’ It took everything in my being to not fight out of panic! Instead, I forced myself to go completely limp in the strong arms of the massive twelve-foot-tall court officer. I knew that struggling would result in a resisting arrest charge on top of everything else!

I didn’t even make a face at the damn gag… I knew without a doubt that there was no hope of winning the war today. I made one last look at the horrified faces of David and Kendra before hearing the Bailiff shout, “Anyone in here have a spare diaper for the baby here?”

“I have one!” I looked and saw it was Addison’s mom. Of course, ‘Grandma’ would have one…’ I thought angrily. “It might be a little small, but my daughter can get the right size at the store. You need a hand changing him?”

I looked up at the man and watched his smile grow, seeing that he wouldn’t have to deal with the ‘baby.’ “That would be mighty helpful, Ma’am; I know this baby boy knows he’s in for more punishment if he acts up?” He gave me a menacing look in the eyes at that statement.

I nodded once, feeling my body begin to shake.

The SafeFoods lawyer cleared the table in front of them. I watched as a blue disposable changing pad was placed on top of it to make a makeshift changing table. She took me from him and laid me down, pulling my pants and boxers off; but curiously leaving my shirt, coat, and tie alone.

I blushed, knowing the forty or so people in the courtroom, including the twelve jurors, were all watching this horror show. My naked body was fully exposed in a way not done since I was a young teen. Even then, the nurse had changed us more discreetly!

She used one hand to grab my ankles and said, “Let’s lift up that cute wittle bum bum baby boy! My baby grandchild better get used to this!” She smiled and cooed at me. I couldn’t help but know I was looking into the eyes of a psychotic crazy woman. My butt hanging in the air, she took a baby wipe and wiped between my crack.

I took a deep breath as she dug deep into the crack of my butt and pulled away a tiny brown amount on the wipe. “Hmm… A little poopy here?” She smirked as she intentionally showed the courtroom what she had dug out.

I felt utterly violated, but I just lay there and watched her annoyance as she didn’t get the reaction she wanted from me. She flipped open a diaper and placed it underneath me after saying, “I just love a baby in a fresh diaper!” As she began to tape it shut, I could tell immediately that it would be too small for me. She used all of her strength to pull the back of the diaper forward and barely got the tapes to stick to the very edges of the tabs of the front cover on both sides. I felt like I was getting cut in half as I was sat upright. I worried that the garment might also just pop open at any time.

“Thanks, Mom,” I heard as I was suddenly picked up by Addison, who had now joined us.

She placed one of her large hands under my diaper and said, “Well, baby boy, now you’re all mine, thanks to that nice judge. We’d better get you to the store for a better diapee first, huh? Mommy’s got plenty of help getting everything ready back home while we do that, though!”

I looked into the eyes of the woman I had loved in absolute shock. Her eyes were narrowed in an intense, angry glare, and her face had matured since I had seen her last from afar at our commencement ceremony from Emerson. Her hair was still kept below her shoulders. It was apparent she had been to a salon recently with the perfect pearlized green nail finish she wore on her fingers. I hoped maybe she would at least take the damn pacifier out, but instead, she gathered me and said, “Mom, I’ll call you later. We’re going to go to the store… I called Mindy and Carrie to get everything set at home. I already had a room mostly ready for a baby to come along; they should have everything ready by the time we get there, though.”

‘The room ready?’ I felt my stomach plummet. ‘Addison never wanted a Little before… she’d felt it was cruel?’ I choked back a sob, ‘Was every bit of our time together a lie? Or had our nearly seven-year separation changed her that much…?’

I caught one more glance at Kendra and David and found myself blushing in shame at the diaper. “We’ll get you out of this somehow, Cameron!” Kendra said as Addison began leaving the courtroom chaos.

I’d wondered about them keeping my suit coat on. As soon as we left the courthouse, a series of ELNAP and CAMOL protestors on either side began cheering or hissing and booing at my treatment. “Is that one of the plaintiff’s attorneys?” I heard a newsman shout.

Fortunately for me, Addison carried me quickly to a far more sedate-looking SUV than I would expect her to drive. In the back sat a forward-facing car seat and a purple booster seat. She wasted no time buckling me into the car seat but didn’t say a word as she did so.

I still had the damn pacifier jammed inside my mouth as she pulled out from the parking lot, driving as recklessly as ever. Fortunately, it wasn’t meant for a Mid, so it was impossible to spit out for me rather than causing the pain I knew they did in a Little’s mouth. That wasn’t much consolation, though, as I was stuck in the first damn diaper I’d worn since I was a teenager! Worse yet, while I knew I could hold out another hour or so, I could feel the urge to pee beginning to make itself known. A look at the dashboard clock revealed that it was already nearly two hours after we had walked into the courtroom, and I’d last gone shortly before we started. At a stoplight, I noticed Addison looking at me in the mirror… I saw a look of absolute hate there and wondered just what mess I had found myself in.

‘We were in love…’ I thought to myself. ‘I’m sure that she loved me too!’

I thought back to the breakup and that she had put it squarely on what her family demanded. I wasn’t even the one who broke up with her! I should be the angry one here!!! All of the years we dated, she had made it crystal clear that she hated the mistreatment of Littles… Had that changed that much since we last were together? The car accelerated again like a race car with the green light, and I wondered what Kendra and David were doing right then. ‘Hopefully, one of them calls Ruth!’

I knew the laws would make getting my freedom incredibly tough now!

A judge had the absolute right to declare someone in contempt of court. Most of the time, you’d end up with a small fine, maybe a night in jail, or as a lawyer, possibly disbarment would be pushed. In my case, because I was under eight-and-a-half feet tall, she had that other option of deciding I was small enough to be declared a victim of that damn fake mental illness ‘Maturosis’ that every Big seemed to love justifying forced babyhood. Theoretically, everything she had just done was legal and within her rights, though… and all without a trial!

The only feasible way to get me out of this would be for a higher court to rule that she had violated some sort of procedure in my sudden maturity demotion. Or, they would have to prove my objection about her being bribed was correct. She’d seemed genuinely torn on Doctor Nickerson as a witness and had shut things down at first. The fact that Doctor Nickerson pooped her pants didn’t, quite frankly, surprise me. She was obviously wearing a diaper for a reason. She didn’t even bat that much of an eye about her poopy diaper. The fact that it was an objection also didn’t surprise me… That she struck the entire testimony without hesitancy seemed weird and inconsistent after she had stuck up for her!

I was still processing everything and missed the car coming to a stop. Addison put the car into park and unbuckled her seatbelt. At the click of her release button, I looked out the window and saw we were at a grocery store I had just visited the other day…

She came around and opened my door. I saw she had a purse… and another pacifier in her hand.

“If I pull out this locking pacifier, will you be good and suck on this one?”

I strongly debated my reply here, but any escape attempt I might consider must be without that in my mouth. I nodded.

To my relief, she turned the pacifier knob off, pulled it out, and stuck the new one into my mouth. I debated spitting it out, but I could also see she was watching and waiting to see if I was going to. The other one sat in her hand for a second before she put it inside her purse.

“I know this isn’t what you want, Cam, but we’ll have to get you some diapers that actually fit you. That’s all we’re going in here for, actually.” She paused as she unbuckled the harness, “I promise it’ll be a quick trip.”

Something in her eyes looked vaguely like the old Addy, and I wondered what she was really thinking. As she picked me up, she held me in her arms away from her and looked me in the eyes, “Don’t even think about trying to escape. You would be caught between the judge’s order and my mom within an hour.”

I sighed but refused to respond to her.

She brought me to her side, carrying me on her hip like a toddler. Compared to most average-sized Bigs, I would have at least seemed like a preschooler. I knew that to them, I would have been considerably heavy to haul around for a long time, but with her enormous height, I just seemed like a two or three-year-old by comparison.

She walked up to the front of the store and pulled a cart out of the row of carts, pushing the baby seat open. I couldn’t help but turn red as she placed me inside and buckled me in. I noticed she skipped the Little’s basket, as did a greeter at the door. “Ma’am, we have those Little’s versions if you want? It looks like you have a new addition. The Littles ones will keep them from getting away?”

I noticed the extra straps on the carts and that they seemed heavier-duty.

“I don’t think that’s necessary. We’re just making a quick trip in and out,” my captor told the worker. “Thank you, though, for looking out for me as a new mommy.”

‘Mommy…?’ I felt my stomach twist.

As she pushed the cart forward, she didn’t say anything, but I attracted plenty of stares from people. We were entering the diaper aisle when the first brave soul approached. “Oh, did you get yourself a big baby boy who had an accident? Did he make a pee pee or poo poo all over his pants?”

Addison shook her head, “No, this little brat decided to go against a judge and my mom… Saving him from an orphanage since I used to hang out with him in college.”

‘Hang out with me?’ I thought morosely.

“Not so big now?”

“Nope, never really was, though. Excuse me, please, we’re just here to grab a few things and get out of here so I can get my new bundle of joy home to get used to his new status as my baby boy.”

“Of course,” the woman said, seemingly taken aback at being rapidly shot down for additional commission. I looked up at Addison then and noticed she had a total glare on her face. I’d seen that look on her mother’s face before, but never on hers. I found myself nervously biting and sucking on the stupid pacifier as I grimaced at seeing the diapers around me.

She stopped before a stack of boxes that touted their ‘Little Proof Tabs’ and twenty-four-hour protection. An adult, Little, graced the front of the package with a smiling expression that looked drugged or regressed. I felt my stomach twist as she looked through sizes but pushed on. ‘What’s she looking for?’ I thought.

I was shocked when she stopped again, this time in front of regular baby diapers. She grabbed a large box of ‘Size 7’s’ that started just under my weight and went up another thirty pounds before hitting the ‘Size 8’s’ range. She placed them in the cart, “These should fit your cute little butt better at least…”

I didn’t comment back to her on that.

She grabbed a large box of baby wipes and headed down the aisle. To my shock, she stopped again at the training pants. She reached down quickly and threw in a box I swore was purple and pink behind the other one where I couldn’t see it. ‘Did she adopt?’ I wondered. I knew she found out she couldn’t get pregnant…

Addison was as good as her word as she immediately pushed me toward the checkouts. I found myself looking at her chest way too often the way I was sitting, even with her breasts. I blushed at that, even as I feared I would soon find myself attached to them without a choice…

‘Was Holly’s pooping on the stand an accident?’ I found myself wondering. Something about that seemed well within the wheelhouse for Mrs. Harris’s company to have instigated. They could choose from many possible products even with just the stuff on the market!

‘Would use…’ I thought morosely, realizing I was now entirely in the devil’s clutches. Apparently, Addison must have worn enough of a ‘don’t mess with us’ look that no one else commented on my new ‘baby status’ other than the checker.

“Which one is for this cutie, I wonder?”

Addison laughed, “Guess,” she said with a smirk as I realized that, yes, there was a purple and pink box of training pants that were placed back into the cart after being scanned. They clearly said ‘for girls’ on them. Knowing my fate from the judge, I knew that the diapers next to them were definitely mine.

I sighed and wanted to spit out the pacifier. It was getting old sucking on it, but the last thing I wanted was to push things here. From the moment the judge had pronounced my unjust sentence, I had done my best to be seen as one-hundred-percent compliant… I knew from some past clients that this could come into play in court in the future. I was taking my own advice right then and going with the flow until a real opportunity to escape legally or illegally presented itself!

Addison finally finished paying and pushed the cart out to the car. As soon as she got there, she put the boxes down in the back of the SUV and dug out one of the diapers. I was lifted from the cart, and she laid me next to them on the cargo mat. “Might as well put you in one that will actually hold something before you finally let go here, Cameron.”

I debated arguing but stayed silent as she ripped the tapes off the old diaper. It suddenly occurred to me that I was about to show my naked body off to anyone who passed outside her car. ‘First the courtroom, now anyone on the street...’ Sadly, I knew this was the first of many more situations like this. Her windows were tinted at least, but just as she pulled the front of the old diaper open, a little girl walked by.

“Mommy, why is that man getting his diapee changed like a Little?”

“Maturosis can happen to people other than Littles, sweetie…”

“You mean he’s like Lindsey?” I heard the girl, who couldn’t have been older than five or six, badgering her mom as she walked by.

I blushed and tried not to scream or cry… or try and hit Addison. She made eye contact with me right then, and I couldn’t quite read her expression. It was clearly angry still… but hurt also described it. ‘Great, she’s holding a grudge against me?’ I wondered. ‘Damnit! I’m not the one who broke it off!!!’

It had taken me six months to even think of getting over her after she dumped me. ‘I hope she was hurt too,’ was a very ungracious thought.

The diaper was still dry, so she decided not to wipe me, obviously, or add powder or lotion. That meant it was just a matter of lifting my bottom onto the new one and taping the new tapes down. It probably took less than half a minute, I guessed.

“Let’s lose this suit coat,” she told me. “Not sure why I hadn’t already taken it off of you…” she said mostly to herself.

I noted that the diaper I was wearing didn’t have the ultra-strong tapes, and I could probably easily remove it myself if we got to a point I could do so.

“Not going to speak to me at all?” She asked.

I intentionally didn’t make any facial expression at all to that.

She sighed, “Well… I guess I deserve that.” She buckled me into the car seat and closed the door before getting on the driver’s side and pulling out. “I have a house that’s way out of town… It’s about an hour’s drive from here… I guess I feel free to take a nap if you want.”

She started the car and took off like a bat out of Hell, squealing her tires as she pulled out.

In-Between Chapters 32 and 33 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 32: Limited Options
 

I REFRAINED FROM snorting at the suggestion to take a nap. I briefly looked down at the dinosaur graphic on the diaper, blushed, and began looking around some more. My gaze fell to my left at the purple booster seat I’d first noticed when I got in. It was a high back booster with a five-point harness still. Still, definitely, years up in maturity from the toddler car seat I was currently buckled into. ‘I’d prefer that…’ I thought over the seat, clearly meant for an actual toddler. One thing I noticed that was odd, both the seat next to me and the seat I was in appeared to be brand-new. ‘Why did Addy have brand new car seats?’

I finally committed a small act of defiance by popping the damn pacifier out of my mouth. As I did so, I noticed it was purple and had a pink and white cartoon butterfly painted on the shield. I placed it in the seat’s cupholder since I didn’t want to willingly hold onto that.

“Surprised that it took that long,” Addison told me, noticing it through a screen in front of her. I groaned when I realized she could watch me and the road simultaneously.

I ended up trying some breathing exercises I’d learned at some point in school to try and calm myself down. ‘Something is really not right…’ I thought. ‘Besides the fact I’m now enslaved by my former girlfriend!’ I grimaced, ‘That sounds like some sort of bad porn movie or something…’

‘Just add that to the massively fucked up list, including that my fiancé is pretty much a braindead baby…’ I sighed. I noticed Addison was still watching me but didn’t say anything more as the car continued down the road. I began to recognize some of the streets and realized we were in the same area as Fred and Amanda’s place. When I watched their driveway pass by, I just wished there was a way I could have jumped out of the car and gone there to get away from this! Undoubtedly Amanda would have helped!

My hand found its way up to my neck and the necklace that held Beth’s engagement ring. I did everything I could to not cry then, knowing the criminals responsible for her horrible fate would probably get away with it now. ‘Not to mention I’m now literally in their clutches!’

The ride was blissfully silent in the expensive SUV, and twenty minutes further down the road at highway speeds, we finally turned into a driveway. An imposing granite gated entryway blocked the way, but a metal gate automatically split open to let her drive inside. I noticed a large delivery truck was parked next to a black sedan. Addison drove past them and into an oversized garage that opened. She came around for me and said, “Well, welcome home Cam.” Her voice wasn’t very welcoming, though, as she unbuckled the harness and picked me up. She placed her hand under my diaper and straddled my legs on her hip like a toddler. “Let’s get this over with…” she said quietly under her voice a moment before opening the house door.

“Miss Harris! I figured you would be here at least five minutes ago?” a tall woman dressed in a skirt suit said. She appeared a couple years younger than us and probably about ten-and-a-half feet tall. Her brown hair was tied in a neat bun at the back of her head, and I guessed she was probably some sort of assistant to Addison.

“We stopped for some diapers that fit better for the trip home,” she told her. “The one my mom, had in her purse was two sizes too small.”

“That makes sense; it’s just that you always drive so fast I figured you’d be here before they finished, but they just walked out to the truck. Everything is set upstairs like you requested…” Something about her expression made me wonder what wasn’t ‘right’ according to her.

“Thanks, Carrie,” she told her. “I appreciate you and Mindy helping get the contractors in here. Where is she?”

“She had to take off about ten minutes ago to pick up her grandbabies from school.”

“Oh, it is pretty late, I guess…”

The tall woman came closer to me and put her face practically next to mine. “So, this is the wittle troublemaker?” She reached down and grabbed my foot for some reason and squeezed it.

“This is Cameron, my former boyfriend and general pain in the ass to SafeFoods and my mother.”

“Well, look who’s going to be nothing but a good baby now!” she said with a smirk. “Looks like he’s still got a dry diaper, though… has he been a good baby and made a stinky diapee for his mommy yet?”

I then laid my head against Addison’s shoulder and tried to tune out the horrible witch.

“Thanks, Carrie; you can take off the rest of the week. I probably won’t be at work again until at least Monday if I can avoid it. Enjoy some time off.”

“Seriously?” she said. “If we’re both not there, things will fall apart on the Tinker account. I’ll go in and monitor things. I’ll only contact you if I really need to, though!”

“Very well, Carrie, have a good evening,” Addison told her. I stayed still as she carried me to the door and watched her leave through a large window beside the door.

She sighed and said, “Shall we see what they did with my instructions?”

I looked her in the eyes and shrugged, still not saying a word.

“Cameron, you are going to have to talk eventually…” She said, clearly not happy with my silence.

I shrugged again, and she grimaced, “Well, you’re going to have to respond to me one way or another in a minute…”

Her house was at least as big as Aunt Ruth’s old house but much more modern in style. Alongside the walls, I noticed several contemporary pieces of art that I was pretty sure I recognized artist signatures on… They didn’t look like prints, either!

The flooring featured thick carpeted areas with beautiful wooden floors mixed in as well. Even without the artwork, the house screamed that it cost probably ten or twenty of my own large home!

A large staircase was padded with an ornate carpet leading up to a second story. I guessed a third was above us, but Addison didn’t need to go up there with me yet. She turned to the left at the landing, walked down the hallway, and motioned to an end door, “That’s my bedroom…” she said. “Yours will be one of these.”

A door was pushed open to one of two doors that were across from each other. My blood turned to ice at the sight before me.

The walls were painted a baby blue, with some little cartoon dinosaurs painted around the walls. On one end near the window was a large dark walnut crib that looked to be an extended size for me as a Betweener. A changing table, an extra-large walker, and baby toys of every type imaginable filled shelves along the sides. The smell of fresh paint made it clear that this had somehow been done that day. ‘Before or after the Maturosis ruling…?’ I couldn’t help but wonder.

“They outdid themselves,” she said. “What do you think?”

I looked at her without comment.

She sighed, “Well, this is Option A for you, Cam.”

I looked up at her questioningly.

“I’ll explain more in a second,” she said. I was bounced lightly up and down, and then she carried me across the hall to another room.

I felt my blood chill even further, as I wasn’t sure which of these nightmares was the worst!

The walls in this room were painted a pale yellow, with colored butterflies and flowers making up a mural across the bottom portion of the walls. The ceiling was painted to look like a blue sky with white clouds. I noticed a white changing table along one wall, but instead of a crib, there was a white toddler bed with a shorter rail that ran just halfway down it.

Toys were just as abundant in this room, but all were pink and purple, dolls and other items, making it the perfect little girls’ room. I glimpsed an open closet with poofy skirts and dresses visible. A rocking chair sat in one corner, and Addison walked towards it and sat down, turning me sideways in her lap.

“Cameron, I’m not going to lie… I’m not happy about this at all, but when I went to speak with the judge, she gave me two options for your ‘Maturosis Treatment.’” She practically scowled at those words, and I now wondered about her involvement since everything seemed premeditated. “I… I shouldn’t have gotten involved, but she’s giving me two ways here… Neither of them is great, Cam…”

For the first time since I’d seen her in the courtroom, I wondered if some of the old Addy was still present.

“What are they?” I found myself asking.

She jumped as if surprised I could still talk. “Talking to me now, huh?”

“For now,” I told her. “The jury’s out on the future.”

She looked sad but nodded, “Fair enough, I’d…” She paused, “I’d probably feel the same way... The judge will let me use either of these rooms with you. In this room, I would give you a few days, and if you can prove to me that you’re going to be good, I can let you wear Pull-Ups. The downside for you is that the judge feels there had to be some sort of penalty, so you would have to become my little girl instead of a boy.”

I made a face at that but couldn’t help but know she had always liked my hair long.

“The other room?” I asked.

“In the other room, you can keep on being a boy, with all of your parts, but you will be given a treatment tomorrow that will make it to where you cannot walk anymore, will have your teeth removed, and it’ll be diapers, and breastmilk and baby food for the rest of your life.”

I felt myself begin to hyperventilate a little. This was worse than my worst nightmare! I suddenly shook and said, “You can’t do this to me…” I felt tears going down my face, “You said you loved me years ago!”

I felt her arms around me even as I tried to wriggle free of them. Her mouth was beside my ear, “I do love you; I never stopped. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have stood up today…” She paused, “You might have had both procedures done already. I know which choice I think is better, but you have to choose.”

I sat in her arms tightly for a long while before breathing again. She let up on her grip, and I looked around the room. This room would mean relative freedom…

“I just have to dress… like… a… a… a girl?” I asked.

She shook her head, “The judge insists if I choose this treatment for you, you must be altered to fit that gender tomorrow.”

“I can’t… You can’t… But…” I found myself stammering; I didn’t know what to say for the first time in years.

“Judge Tanye said that I’m supposed to choose for you, Cam, but I’m going to let you choose. You’re going to have to deal with one of these options. At least, as Cammie, you could still do everything. If we have you treated tomorrow to remain Cameron… well…”

I noticed then that her face was just as wet as mine. I looked around the room and then down at my diaper. I needed to go to the bathroom, and my bladder felt like it was going to burst. “Can I use the potty,” I asked timidly.

She shook her head, “Sorry, but you’re stuck in diapers for at least a few days. That means you have to use them.”

I cringed but knew that was probably the answer. My new ‘mommy’ began stroking my hair right then like she used to, and I forced myself to let go into the diaper. It warmed and quickly ballooned as it soaked up the afternoon’s pee.

The diaper, honestly, wasn’t the worst part of either of the options. Being unable to walk, losing my teeth, and becoming like Beth had been was kind of past the point of even being an option. ‘Not like you can do anything with Beth anyway…’ I thought morosely.

“Can…?”

“Can?”

“Can we save some of my sperm before you do it?” I blushed.

She looked thoughtfully at me, “The judge didn’t say we couldn’t, so I guess we can. We’ll find some time for that sample before your procedure.”

“I guess… this is my room…”

She actually smiled, “Good choice Cammie! Let’s get you dressed and go find something to eat…”

Addison sat me down on the ground for the first time since the judge’s ruling, and I realized the wet diaper would affect my gait slightly. It sagged between my legs, and I suspected I had peed enough that some was just barely escaping out of one of the legs, and a droplet crawled down my leg. I didn’t feel relieved, but I did appreciate that it was a regular baby’s diaper. At least it wasn’t a ‘crawler’ diaper that would have forced me to crawl… Or worse, one of the ‘newborn’ ones that kept you on your back or stomach, unable to move! She walked over to the closet and dug through it for a second, not asking me anything of my opinion. When she turned around, I saw she held a simple purple dress with butterflies made of sequins flying up the skirt and onto the bodice. I guessed it was probably high-end children’s wear, but it still seemed practical for a dress.

She sat it on the changing table and lifted me onto its padded surface. As she did so, I noted that it was a typical ‘Littles’ changing table with a standard chest strap like a baby’s, but also arm, head, and feet straps available as well. I grimaced at memories of seeing those used on Littles in store and mall bathrooms.

She sat me up with my legs dangling on the edge and began undoing the buttons on the dress shirt I wore one button at a time. At one point, it would have been an arousing act, but today it was like each button was another level of maturity ripped away from me. When she was done, she pulled it off, revealing the necklace she had once given me and Beth’s ring hanging like a pendant.

I watched her eyes narrow in on it. It was like a switch had been thrown as she just froze and silently stared at it.
 
 

Chapter 33: Too Little
 

ADDISON LOOKED AT me in shock for a second before gently twisting the chain. “You’ve kept it all these years?”

I sighed and didn’t hold back, “I wore this today as a symbol of the two loves I’ve now lost to your mom and her cronies.”

“Cam…mie… I’m sorry,” she said. I saw a tear go down her face and wondered what the hell she really had to be sad about at this point! She wasn’t the one who received a life sentence to babyhood today! “I can’t let you keep this right now…”

I grabbed her hand and pried it off of my necklace. “It’s the only…” I sobbed, “It’s the only thing I have left of her; you can’t take that too!”

She shook her head, “I promise I’ll keep it safe… but no, I can’t let you keep it.”

I considered fighting her then but pushed her hands away gently. “Fine, let me be the one to remove it…”

I felt tears stream down my face again as I undid the necklace’s clasp and caressed the ring for a moment before saying, “You have to let me have this back…”

She shrugged, “We’ll see Cammie.” She looked really torn right then before sighing. “Cammie, do you remember you telling me about your visit to see Beth freshman year?”

My eyes narrowed, but I nodded.

“Well… You’re caught in the same situation, sweetie… we both are.”

My eyes widened as I realized if she was telling the truth… I looked up and realized I could see at least one camera in plain sight. ‘Shit!’

“Promise me,” I told her again.

“I can’t do that,” she told me, even as she gave me the slightest head nods.

I reluctantly let go of it, and she sat it down at the end of the changing table next to some wipes. Her hand pushed my body back onto the changing table, and she turned my legs parallel to the side. A strap was placed across my chest, but to my relief, she didn’t use the extra straps I had seen available.

I felt my body tense up rigidly as I knew what was coming. I hadn’t had a wet diaper changed in over a decade… and at least that horrible incident had meant it was my dad or the school nurse… This was my… ‘Mommy?’ I closed my eyes, as I couldn’t look up at the woman I had fallen in love with all those years ago. I had loved her; we had been a great team…

I felt her hands on my hips and heard a ‘scritch’ as she tore the Velcro fasteners loose. I felt her grab my ankles, and then she lifted my legs and hips off the changing pad cushion. I peeked out and saw that since she was still so much larger than me, she only needed one hand to grab my ankles, just like a woman with a real baby. She reached into a container and pulled out a wipe, flipping it open in her hand, before smiling as she brought it towards my crunched form. I felt the wipe and was pleasantly surprised to feel that it was at least warm.

She took a couple minutes to rub my bottom down before flipping open another diaper and placing it underneath me. When she had me down, she used another warm wipe on my crotch, and I couldn’t help but, unfortunately, feel aroused at the first real touch down there in years! I watched as she tossed that to the side with the used diaper and then grabbed for some lotion.

“Your skin isn’t used to this…” she sighed, rubbing lotion all over my diaper area and then the rest of my body.

I had a moment of panic, wondering if this was some of their company’s ‘special’ lotion that had screwed over Beth. I tensed, finding my arousal instantly gone, and she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t…”

She shook her head, “Normal baby lotion; we won’t be using many of my family’s products on you.”

Her hands went back to work on my stomach and shoulders. I hated that her touch and contact felt so stimulating after the last few years of hell. It twisted my guts, as I felt like it was a betrayal of Beth to feel like that, knowing full well that Addison was now the assistant director in charge of the testing division that led to Beth’s fate.

‘At least she was still in grad school when they hurt Beth,’ was all I could think to justify keeping her separate from what happened. She wrapped up the short massage by rubbing my toes with lotion and then wiping her hand with a wipe. She then returned her attention to fastening the diaper between my legs, probably grateful that I was still fully potty trained and probably wouldn’t intentionally pee in her face… It was actually tempting for a second, knowing they were preparing to take that ability from me the next day - but I hoped that maybe something of the old Addy was still within this monster. Pissing her off, literally, seemed a poor move at that point.

She pulled the front of the diaper tightly to my crotch, and I felt her pull my left side tab loose and then tape it down before repeating with the right. “Sit up, baby,” she told me softly after she undid the strap. As I did so, I saw this wasn’t one of the diapers we had just purchased. Instead, it was a bright pink diaper covered in rainbows, suns, clouds, and star shapes. “Carrie outdid herself; these are cute,” she told me.

I huffed as I could tell it was also thicker than the baby diaper I had worn before.

“Is it not comfy?”

I looked up at her, “Why don’t you put one on and tell me?”

She had the nerve to laugh, “I don’t think they’d fit me, sweetie. Sorry that you’re the size of a small preschooler still. If you were forty or fifty pounds heavier, these wouldn’t fit…”

“Shouldn’t have gone on that diet,” I grumbled. Two years ago, I was packing on the weight with seriously unhealthy habits. Last year I forced myself to try and gain control of my life, and with a strict diet and cardio regimen, I managed to drop over thirty-five percent of my weight. I was again back in the nominal BMI numbers – only one-hundred-and-ninety pounds last I checked six months before. Since then, I’d probably lost more since learning of Beth’s fate. I rarely seemed to have an appetite, constantly thinking about her messed up situation.

“Arms up, Cammie,” she said to me.

I looked at her holding the dress before her, and seriously thought about fighting back again. Still, the memories of watching failed Littles do that repeatedly reminded me it would be hopeless. I half-heartedly put my arms up, and she soon grabbed onto my wrists to guide them into the sleeves and pulled the fabric over my head. I looked down and was at least grateful that the dress covered the damn diaper.

I thought that might end everything, but she turned my body to face the wall and pulled at the rubber band holding my still-long hair back. “I’m surprised you never cut this after we broke up…” she said almost casually.

“Beth likes it…” I replied. “Or she did, at least before your company turned her into a mindless husk.”

Her hands froze for a second but didn’t respond. A brush appeared and ran through my hair, “You always had nice hair… need to get it trimmed, though. It’s a little long now, I think.”

I sighed.

I felt her separate the two sides and had seen enough Littles and real girls to know she was making pigtails. Fortunately, she didn’t braid them, just used some hair ties to make the high bunches, and then some ribbon was tied into bows around each. I was picked up and sat on the ground in front of a tall mirror hung on one wall.

I felt my stomach turn as I looked at myself. You could see my jaw was wrong, my nose a bit too large, but the dress and the hair made me look way more like a girl than I was comfortable admitting! ‘I should have shaved it off…’ I thought to myself. I looked up at her and saw that at least she wasn’t smiling.

“How about some dinner?” She asked me, walking back to the changing table and grabbing my necklace.

I shrugged, “Okay.”

To my surprise, she didn’t pick me back up, instead reaching down with her hand. I took the hint and grabbed onto ‘Mommy’s’ hand.

‘I should make her carry me everywhere…’ I thought for a moment as I waddled a little with the diaper. ‘At least she’d be dealing with some physical pain to match the emotional pain I’ve been through.’

The diaper wasn’t one of the thick crawler ones I’d seen Littles forced to wear, but it was still padded enough to remind me of its presence with every step. The crinkle it generated from underneath the dress would surely tell any Big around me of my underwear demotion.

She led me down the hallway, “This is Mommy’s room,” she told me in a cutesy voice. “You should stay out of here, but I’ll show you where we’ll put your old jewelry for safekeeping…”

I watched as she let go of my hand and pulled open a picture frame of a painting of a real baby running across a field on a hidden hinge. She used her fingerprint on a reader and opened the safe door. She placed it inside and closed it, “It’ll be safe in there.”

I felt angry right then, but there was nothing I could do at all. The former love of my life grabbed my hand again and led me to the grand staircase. Downstairs I saw a large living room with a big fireplace beside the front doors. She showed me back through a large dining room and into the kitchen, where a smaller table was set up. I noted the high chair sat at the table and was completely unsurprised when she let go of my hand, pulled the tray off, and turned around to me.

I made a face, and she sighed, “Sorry, Cammie, but you’re too little now to sit at the table without this.” Without further explanation, she picked me up under my armpits and sat me in the chair. I noted sourly that there were hand and head restraints on this chair, but I was relieved when she only did the harness up and pushed me towards the table without the tray in place. It did allow me to be at the right height for the table, at least, and a taller view to watch as she moved to the counter, where she dug through the cabinet and made a face for a moment.

‘What am I going to get stuck eating…?’ I couldn’t help but wonder. ‘I’m the size of a preschooler; I shouldn’t get stuck with baby food at least… It’s why I went with this ridiculous girl route.’

I was distracted momentarily, looking down at the weird sequins that made butterflies on the dress. It felt like a long shirt at the moment, but at least the only person looking at me with it was the one who forced me into it… ‘Tomorrow…?’ I couldn’t help but squirm. ‘Would she really do it?’ I wondered

‘If I can’t have the love of my life anymore, does it really matter?’ I thought darkly.

I must have been brooding for a few minutes because the additions on the table made me jump. A tall pink sippy cup meant to be drank from any side was set to the right of a weird-looking divided plate. I watched as Addison pressed down on it for just a second and tugged on it, “Huh,” she said, “that’s kind of smart…” I turned to her and watched her look down at me, “It’s meant to stay in place, so it can’t be thrown.”

I made a face at her, “Trying to give me ideas?”

A smirk tried to go across her face but never reached her eyes, “Eat up,” she said, patting my back.

A set of plastic utensils was provided in addition to the plate. I was grateful it looked like the same beef dish she was eating, other than she’d pre-cut it. That was annoying, but given the plastic baby utensils I’d been given, probably necessary.

There were four sectioned areas of the plate that she’d doubled up on roast beef in two, some mashed potatoes in another, and some carrots that looked stewed with the meat in the last. I looked suspiciously at the food for a moment, “I promise you it’s the same thing I’m eating,” she said with a sigh. I noticed she blushed then as she sighed. “I really hate Mom…”

Deciding that she still hadn’t earned my trust back in any real way, I just picked up the stupid plastic fork thing and began awkwardly spearing and bringing pieces up to my mouth. Annoyingly through the meal, I dropped more than I liked to admit. Looking down at my dress when I was done eating, I had a feeling she would comment.

“Well, I guess I should get you a bib next time… Of course, with those plastic utensils, I’m not surprised…”

“You could just let me use real utensils, you know?”

A nod of her head to the corner of the room was made as she said, “Sorry, Princess, I can’t do that. You’re just too little now; with your Maturosis, you might hurt yourself.”

I followed her gaze a second later and guessed there was yet another damn camera. It took everything I had not to tell her to ‘go fuck off,’ flip her the bird, or otherwise mouth off. Over the past few years, I’d found some of our cases completely destroyed by video of the Little going off like that. So instead of that, I just stared at her with my ‘what the fuck face.’

“Let’s get you cleaned up, and then you can watch TV with Mommy before your bath.”

I really hoped the old Addy was in there. Still, as she referred to herself as ‘Mommy,’ she used a baby wipe to attack my face and the dress and unceremoniously stuck her fingers underneath my skirt to squeeze my diaper; I was sure she was just another Amazon with a Mommy complex! “Still dry, but no wonder since you haven’t finished your juice,” she said while handing me the sippy cup. “You need to finish that soon.”

I hadn’t even taken two sips, recognizing the Plapple juice inside. It tasted good, but I knew usually only young babies and diapered toddlers drank it due to the tendency for it to make you go pee. I had heard it could help on the other end too. Still, I rarely had it growing up unless Grandma Suzy or the school cafeteria workers forced it onto me…

She unbuckled me as I put the cup to my mouth and sipped from it. Truthfully the sweet drink did taste good, and I was doomed to use the damn diapers anyway for now, so it wasn’t worth battling her about it. ‘Somehow, I doubt much soda will be in my future, let alone the alcohol I really need right now…’

I was carried to a large home theater room and unceremoniously sat on the couch. “If my mom comes over, you won’t be sitting on the couch unless you’re on one of our laps…”

I glared at her, “Is she coming?”

“Not tonight,” she said with a sigh that sounded grateful. “I convinced her I needed time with my baby alone to imprint properly.”

I looked up at her. The expression on her face was one that she had worn many times while we dated when her mom was pushing her buttons. It was the face of exasperation as she tried anything to get around her mother’s machinations… And I honestly took it as a sign that maybe she wasn’t as committed to this screwed-up situation as I had initially feared.

‘She’s still going to take you in for a gender change tomorrow…’ I griped. She walked over to a bar along one side of the room and poured herself what looked like a large rum and coke, something she had used to like when we were in college too. She returned, sat on the opposite side of my couch, and turned on the TV.

She looked torn on something, “According to my mom, I should be doing something else with you to bond with you tonight, Cammie, but I’m not going to. Pick something to watch,” she said, reaching her long arm to me with the remote.

“Umm… okay?” I told her. “To be honest, I never watch TV anymore…”

“Oh… Why not?”

I shrugged, “I spend all of my time working.”

“All of it?” she asked curiously.

“What else is there to do?”

“Go out? Go clubbing? Hiking? Camping? Shopping?” She looked confused, “You used to do those things?”

“I used to have someone to do those things with,” I told her honestly. “I don’t know how much your mom told you, but my life has been pretty much downhill since you all screwed up Beth and her mom. Both sets of my grandparents died, and then my dad followed within a year of that happening.”

She looked at me with a shocked expression, “All of that in a year?”

“All of it.”

The look in her eyes was the old Addy when she had genuine remorse for something. For seeing a Little being mistreated or someone being hurt. She used to be a pretty empathetic person.

“I’m sorry, Cam. My dad died last year, but at least I still have my sister and my mom…” she said. She took a deep gulp of her glass and then turned the TV onto some detective drama that I vaguely remembered catching an episode of once. The mechanics of the courtroom scenes were marginal, but it was entertaining.

About twenty minutes into the episode, I needed to pee again and decided to just ask. “Umm… may I use the potty?”

She looked at me, “Of…” She stopped and glanced at the corner, “At least until we get done tomorrow, that diaper is your potty, Cammie. Just go in it like a good baby girl.”

I could see her wince as she said it.

“Really?”

She nodded towards the camera, “Really… and make sure you go number two tonight if you can. They said if you hadn’t had one by tomorrow, they would need to give you an enema to ensure you were clear first.”

I glared at her and crossed my arms then, leaning against the arm of the sofa opposite of her still. It took me a couple moments to get the pee to release again, but the stream quickly filled the diaper and dried. ‘At least it’s not a cheap diaper…’ I couldn’t help but darkly appreciate it. ‘I can probably pee in this stupid thing for eight hours before it even thinks of leaking. And I doubt I’d get a rash if she left me in it for an entire day…’

My cup was empty as I tried to take a drink, so she said, “Here, hand me your cup. I’ll fill it with water – it’s all they really want you to have until after your procedure.”

I just watched her go to the bar, open it up, rinse it out, and fill it with ice and water. She brought it back over and, instead of just handing it to me, picked me up and hugged me. She whispered, “I’m sorry, Cameron,” into my ear.

It was then that I officially broke down and cried.

Everything since Dad had died, Beth’s destruction, and my fate hit me then, and I completely lost it.

I felt her cradle me and run her hands alternately through my hair, or patting my back, until my body had decided enough was enough, and I must have faded off to sleep.
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 34 and 35 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 34: Watched
 

I WOKE AND bit back a scream when I saw the white bars around my vision. A slightly closer look revealed they were only by my head and not tall enough to keep me from jumping over them.

“Where…?” I found myself breathing. “Damn, it wasn’t a dream…”

The Sun peeked through the edges of blackout curtains along the windows, keeping the room reasonably dark despite the strong early morning sunlight. I rubbed my eyes and found they were nearly matted shut from the crying last night. ‘I can’t believe I lost it…’ I sighed. I moved my hand again and discovered that a pacifier was clipped to whatever I wore. Looking down, I realized it was a footed pajama set. I could just make out its purple color in the darkness, and the bulge of the diaper beneath it reminded me I needed to do something.

I always needed to go in the morning as soon as I woke up, but not usually quite like this! I stood up and held my arms tightly around my torso, trying not to encourage my bladder’s needs for a moment before remembering the baby monitors in the room. ‘Well, and whoever else is watching Addy…’

Grimacing, I let go of the urine into the diaper. Remembering suddenly what Addy had said last night and feeling a slight urge, I decided it was probably in my best interest to get the other out of the way too.

Deciding I had to play the long game, though, and doing it, were two completely different things!

I tried just squeezing but only got a little more urine out. The years of potty training were difficult to get past, and my body was naturally clinching to keep me from messing my pants! Even when I’d ended up in diapers as a young teen, thanks to that prank, it hadn’t been my choice when to go initially. And after that was all through my system, I just waited and used the bathroom at home or before school.

I grimaced, but memories of friends from school meant I knew I really didn’t want an enema!

I remembered seeing babies and Littles squatting over the years to poop their diapers and decided to try that. I bent my knees and tried to visualize sitting down on the potty. Right about then, the urge hit me, and I managed to push out a long log of poop.

As soon as I finished, I regretted it. I wrinkled my nose but was at least pleasantly surprised I wasn’t immediately gagging from the smell. Having no desire to sit down and make the mess worse, I walked around the room, looking around. The feeling of the disgusting pile in my diaper didn’t make me feel good about that, as I could feel it smear between my thighs. Still, hopefully, Addy wouldn’t be too long in coming to find me. Toddling would have been a more apt description as I tried to keep it from smashing anymore against my body!

I curiously examined a tall dollhouse that sat in one corner. The house looked identical to what I had seen of this house so far! It couldn’t go deeper than one room three-dimensionally, but the rooms were eerily accurate. My room even had a little girl doll with pigtails sleeping on the toddler bed inside. I curiously picked her up and saw that, yes, she had a diaper on too. I saw an office for Addy on the first floor that I hadn’t been shown yet. The nursery was also present, with a baby boy fully dressed in a onesie and a realistic-looking disposable diaper on that doll. On the same floor, it looked like there was a massive playroom with toys everywhere inside it.

‘Guessing that’s my ‘playroom,” I thought to myself. On the first floor, there was a swimming pool that I hadn’t seen yet either, along with it looked like a backyard play set?

I was just about to turn and look around at some more of the room when I heard a beep, and the door opened inward towards the room. Addy stepped inside, looking like a young mother in comfortable jeans and a stretchy blouse. Her eyes landed on me even as I saw her wrinkle her nose.

“Good morning Princess,” she said way too cheerily to me. “Guess you woke up on your own this morning?”

“Guess so,” I told her.

She knew I wasn’t a morning person, “Well, we have a grouchy princess this morning? Of course, the way it smells, I know why!” She walked over to me, and I held my arms for her to pick me up.

I hoped she would at least avoid the problem in my diaper, but to my dismay, her strong hand held me up by the middle of my filled diaper. I could feel the log smush and ooze around inside. I winced and wanted to tell her to stop, but it was too late. She saw my face, “Oh, don’t worry about that poopy little bottom! Mommy knows all about how to take care of opening a present like that!”

She laid me down on the changing table, and I cringed as I felt the poop smear even more inside the diaper. I sat as still as I could as she unzipped the sleeper I was wearing from the collar down to my right foot. I let her pull it from my body one part at a time and sat it in a laundry basket beside the table. She used the chest strap to ensure I wouldn’t ‘fall off’ the table then and got to work on the diaper.

“Woo,” she exclaimed, “what a stinky wittle baby girl!” She pulled one tape free, then the other, and then opened up ‘her present.’ “Mommy can’t wait to be able to potty-train her little girl! Such a stinky little thing!”

She lifted my legs off the table with one hand and used the other to wipe away most of the mess with the old diaper. Too many wipes were used to clean off the rest of the muck before she wrapped the gross poop and wipes inside the used diaper and dropped it into a nearby disposal. “Going to have to get in the habit of putting a new diaper under you sooner,” she said as much to herself as to me.

‘Why?’ I wondered. ‘I can still control myself…?’

She let my body rest back down on a fresh diaper and quickly rubbed some lotion on me before taping the diaper shut. She looked down at a wristwatch and said, “Let’s get you dressed, and we’ll get to your appointments this morning.”

“Appointments?”

“I made a special one for you with your request,” she told me as she sat me down on my feet and walked towards the closet.

With everything I had gone through yesterday, I’d almost forgotten about that one…

I watched as she dug through the closet and came up with a yellow top that flared like a short dress and a pair of blue leggings. “Arms up like a pretty ballerina!” She told me as she knelt down and quickly threaded my arms through the shirt holes. It felt weird the way it flared out, but I noted it barely hung past the tapes of my diaper. She pushed me gently onto my back and began bunching up the legs of the blue leggings. I grimaced as I noticed the butt of them was covered in rows of ruffled material!

“Awww!” She cooed, “You look so sweet I could eat you up!” She started tickling me then, and I was forced to giggle for a moment before she leaned down and hefted me back onto her hip while shouldering a diaper bag I hadn’t noticed. “Let’s do your hair in your chair downstairs, then we’ll get going.”

I had been silent throughout all this, not feeling up to conversation. I was still blushing bright red with embarrassment as Addison carried me into the smaller family dining area and saw another tall woman standing beside the table with a newspaper. “Well, so this is the princess?” The woman said with a smile.

“Yes, Mindy, this is little Cammie!” She said with a coo as she bounced me up and down. “Cammie, this is Miss Mindy; she’s our housekeeper and cook.”

The tall woman was a couple feet shorter than Addison, so I almost looked down at her from my position on Addison’s hip. “Aww… she’s adorable!”

“Isn’t she, though?” Addison said as she bounced me up and down. “Just the cutest wittle princess!” She squeezed me tightly.

“Definitely!” Mindy smiled at us both. “I knew you would make a great mommy someday, Miss Harris.” I looked at the woman with her slightly graying brown hair. She was probably only a dozen years older than us, but she had a very motherly look to her plumper frame. “She’s a shy one, huh?”

“She is, but that’s okay. Cammie is just Mommy’s wittle baby, huh?” Addison bounced me up and down and sat me on the highchair seat. “She’s also probably more than a bit nervous about today. She’s losing her precious wittle peepee today, huh?”

I glared at her, wondering where the caring Addison had disappeared from last night!

“She’ll be so much happier being one of us, though,” Mindy said with a smile.

“Yep! Just need to brush her hair quickly, and then we’ll get going.”

“She need her baba, or something?”

“No, they told me nothing past bedtime if we could help it.”

“Oh, well, how about her paci?” She smiled at me.

“There’s one in her bag,” she told her.

“Just one, Miss Harris?” She asked as she began rummaging and tutting, “This won’t do! You need a good five of these in here. You never know when she’ll be playing and drop it, but need it to soothe her for a skinned knee or just because she’s hungry.”

My eyes opened as she grabbed the first one in the bag and placed it into my mouth. Unfortunately, it was a locking one, and Mindy had no qualms with twisting it once, “Well, I guess she won’t be dropping that one, Miss Harris, but I’d better go get you a few more pacis and babas for her. Trust me when I say you always want to be prepared for your baby girl. You did at least pack enough diapees and spare clothes in here…”

The damn thing wasn’t too inflated, but it still sucked to have it expand larger than my regular teeth opening.

Addison had just grabbed a brush and did a couple quick strokes until she was out of sight. “Sorry about that,” she whispered in my hair. Her hand reached in front of my mouth and loosened the pacifier. “Keep it in your mouth…”

I nodded in relief and winced occasionally when she found a snag in my hair. I usually took great care of it, but the last day wasn’t exactly in my control!

I was zoned out enough that I almost jumped when Mindy reappeared. She used a clear Ziploc bag to add in a handful of more pacifiers and plunked in two baby bottles of water. “I know you said she can’t have anything yet, but after her surgery, I’m sure she’ll want her bottle.”

“Thanks, Mindy,” Addison said as she pulled at my hair in the back. At first, I wasn’t sure what she was doing.

“That braid is going to be really pretty, Miss Harris.”

“Thanks,” Addison said, “I had lots of practice on my baby sister growing up.”

“You should have her over here sometime!”

Addison nodded, “She’s supposed to visit her new niece this weekend.”

“I hope to see her then! What do you need from me today?”

“Just the normal Mindy, and could you have a good dinner for us in the oven? Something not too heavy since I’m sure she’ll be a bit out of it from the anesthesia.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to feed her a jar tonight?”

I felt a last tug on my hair as Addison told her, “Mindy, I want to assure you that Cammie here is mostly a big girl. In fact, that was her choice – she could be a little baby boy eating out of jars or be a big girl. She chose to be a big girl instead, so we won’t feed her baby food unless she’s a really bad girl who needs to go back further.”

“You sure about that, Miss Harris?”

“Yes,” Addison said, coming around and undoing the harness on the seat. “I’ve known Cammie here for a long time and very well, and I don’t believe we’ll be getting to that point, will we?” She pulled up my chin lightly with her finger to look into my eyes.

“No, Mommy,” I told her nervously.

She kissed me on the forehead, picked me up out of the highchair, and placed me on her hip. She reached down and grabbed the diaper bag, and said, “Thanks for everything, Mindy; we’ll see you this afternoon or tomorrow morning, depending on when we get back.”

“Good luck Princess,” the woman cooed at me.

I sighed in relief when the heavy garage door shut behind us on the way to her SUV. She opened the door, sat me in the car seat, and buckled me in. As soon as she was at the driver’s door, I pulled the damn pacifier out of my mouth.

“Sorry about her,” Addison said. “My mom hired her last year to help me care for the house.”

“When is she there?”

“Usually in the mornings until early afternoon – I’m usually at work. You won’t see Mindy but for the mornings probably since you’ll be at daycare…”

“Daycare?!?”

“Once I finish maternity leave, yeah, you’ll have to go to daycare or preschool. I’ll let you pick, I guess…”

“Neither?” I said, annoyed.

It was silent for the next forty-five minutes while she navigated back to the city and stopped outside a building that said Jameson and Associates Fertility Clinic. I felt red at the thought of what I was doing there and why I was doing it…

“Come on, let’s get that sample for you…”

She carried me inside and went to a receptionist’s desk. “Hi, May I help you?”

“Yes, I have an appointment for Cameron here,” she said with a smile.

I knew it was probably possible to easily tell I was a man underneath the clothes she had me in, but her flat-out saying it sucked the air out of my lungs. “Last name?”

“Harris.” She said, “Though I want it stored under his original name, Cameron Sylvester, and her adopted name, Camille Harris.”

“Certainly,” she said. “We can cross-list it, though I will say that it doesn’t usually matter once a cute baby girl like her is adopted!”

Addison squeezed my back a bit tighter then to hug me, “Probably not, but we’re going to go get her properly plumbed right after this, so I promised to save her a sample if she didn’t scream her head off all day.”

“That’s mighty nice of you,” she said, finishing entering some data on her computer screen. “You already completed all of the rest of the information online. Someone will be back for you shortly.”

Addison carried me to a seat. I looked around at several couples sitting around, obviously waiting for appointments to help deal with fertilization issues. ‘I’m probably the only one about to become infertile…’ I sighed. Fortunately, we didn’t wait long before a nurse returned and showed us to a room.

“Okay, not much to this, Mommy?” she said to Addison.

“Yes, I just adopted her yesterday. We’re just collecting a sample before we go get her corrected.”

‘Corrected?!?’ I wanted to scream but sucked on the pacifier that had somehow found its way back into my mouth.

“Okay, there’s two ways to do this with a Little one like Cammie here. You can either have her do it into a cup, like an adult, or we can use this special milking machine that Bremmer Industries has created.”

I looked over at the machine and gasped. It looked like a horror movie torture device had mated with a cow milking rig.

“I think we can manage with just the cup,” she said, looking at my face.

“Very good! I’ll leave here; you want to get as much as possible inside. Normally I would say go ahead and come back, but it sounds like that won’t be an option. We should get enough from one sample, though, to make a few attempts in the future.”

“Thanks,” Addison said as she took the small cup from her. There was a table sitting there that she sat me on and pulled the leggings and top off from me. “Still dry, huh?”

“I haven’t drunk anything,” I reminded her.

“Stay here for a moment,” she told me. “Don’t move.” I watched as she took the diaper bag and sat it outside the door.

She came back without any jewelry on for some reason, pushed me down on my back, and undid the diaper tapes, “I’m really sorry about this, Cameron; I didn’t want to do this…”

I looked up at her in surprise, as that really sounded even more like the old Addy than I heard last night.

“Then why…?”

“My mom has everyone, the judge, the police, and half the state government, in her pocket. She’s set it up to where they’re monitoring at home, and I’m pretty sure that your diaper bag and my phone are listening devices too. I don’t think I can do anything to get you out of this… she was originally going to make me do this, but then I convinced her to let me back out. But when I saw it was either I take you, or you go to an orphanage… I’m sorry, I couldn’t let you get lost like that,” She told me with tears streaming down her face. “My mom was going to completely regress you to being an infant boy, complete with shrinking you right away, but I talked her into this girl option… It’s the only way…”

I sighed, “Get this diaper off of me and let me save something here… maybe someday you can emancipate me. She’s gotta die someday…”

She looked horrified at me for that but got to work on the diaper. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything for several minutes alone, so she began helping me. We left there with a sample stored, but I didn’t want to go to the next destination even as I felt mortified by the first!
 
 

Chapter 35: Menus
 

BETWEEN MY LEGAL cases, my time growing up below the mark, and Beth’s and Meg’s stories, I knew all about the adoption clinics, hospitals, and other options Bigs had to ‘customize’ their enslaved babies. I was surprised we were at the University Hospital at Emerson right then, though.

‘I thought they stopped doing procedures like this…’ I thought to myself. Between the incident with Stacy and that daycare terrorist incident, I thought this was over - at least in Greenville…

I did some background research when we had to change the case venue. As far as I could tell, the administration for the University Hospitals was still against forcing unnecessary and unwanted procedures… Doctor Ivy Nickerson had vehemently spoken about them on the public record multiple times! Apparently, that didn’t extend to forceful gender changes?

Addison appeared a moment later with the diaper bag over her shoulder and unbuckled me from the seat. She held a pacifier in her hands with a clip that she attached to my top and pushed the nipple into my mouth. “It’s just a regular baby one,” she assured me.

I glared at her and resisted the urge to say something I would regret - especially with where we were.

She placed me on her hip and carried me towards the hospital, only two blocks from the chemistry lab we had met. ‘Grandma was right…’ I thought a bit sourly.

Even knowing that Addison was in a forced situation here didn’t improve things. I was still about to have an unwanted surgery to completely change the body I’d been born with! She approached a receptionist desk that was about thirty steps inside the entrance. She placed me on my butt at the counter but kept an arm around me as she said “Hi” to the receptionist.

“Oh my, those leggings are sooo cute!!!” the receptionist said.

“I know, right? I love the ruffles! They actually call the line RuffleButts!”

The woman and Addison had a good laugh at that while I became more agitated. How could Addison claim to be forced into this if she was having this good of a time?!?

I bit my tongue, though, as Addison said, “Miss Cammie has an appointment this morning - Camille Harris.”

I jolted again at the name, “I see her right here... Okay, here’s a tablet. I need you to complete the information about your baby girl here. Just bring it up when you’re done, and we’ll get someone to get you.”

“Thanks,” Addison said, picking me back up and grabbing the tablet awkwardly in her other hand. She walked a short distance to an open chair and sat down with me in her lap. It began with the standard request for medical information. Given we had dated for nearly four years, I wasn’t surprised she had most of the data still memorized. She was about to skip past allergies, “I have an allergy,” I told her around the pacifier.

“Oh, what is that?”

I explained the drug we’d tried to help with growing back my body hair caused a massive rash instead. “Just lucky that didn’t work, huh?” She said with a squeeze of my body. “I’d hate to have that taken care of today too!”

I glared at her for that, but she kept going through the screens. She asked me for my family history information; cancer especially sucked to put down as it reminded me of my lost grandparents. ‘At least Dad didn’t live to see this…’ I thought darkly. ‘I’m pretty sure Grandma Suzy would have hopped right on board with these leggings that she’s so proud of…’

Eventually, I noticed her come to screens that read ‘Procedure Preferences.’

“Finally, what we’re here for!” she said with too much glee for my tastes.

I felt my stomach twist as I realized this screen was essentially a menu board of options to have changes made. The gender option was one of the first changes a mommy like her could make. Incontinence was the very next set of options, and cruelly a Big could select either urinary, bowel, or both for their Little. Teeth removal was another choice that she could go for with the click of a radial button, and I could have no breasts or big breasts, apparently. I cringed when I saw that even things like my fingernails could be altered, as the list went on and on and on! I noted that there was a height reduction setting that could also quickly reduce me to a more manageable infant height if she wanted to.

“Letting your baby girl see what Mommy has to choose from?” A woman nearby asked with her own tablet.

Addison patted my head, “She already knows what I’m choosing, but I thought I’d let her see how much further we can take things down the road.”

“The greatest thing is that once you have this done, you don’t have to come back here to make changes. Your pediatrician should be able to activate any additional changes you want,” she told her.

“Oh?” Addison said, “I didn’t know that. Can just anyone make changes?”

“Only if they have Mommy’s permission with her password.”

“That’s good, at least,” she told her.

While she was talking to the woman, I noticed changes could be made to my circadian rhythm, my motor skills, and even my sex drive…

I debated filling it out for her with her attention diverted, but I just sat patiently and sucked on the damn silicone nipple in my mouth. The annoying thing was that it really felt kind of good to have it there… I’d developed a habit of sucking on pen caps a lot of times since law school, and this was really just the original version of that habit! Dad had told me I wouldn’t stop using mine until first grade. Since I should have been a Big, they hadn’t taken it away from me before I was four, and then Mom dying meant Dad didn’t have the heart to take it from me...

Eventually, they tired of talking, and Addison got back to work. To my relief, she put pretty much everything in states that they would be left alone, except for my gender and my hair color. She selected red for the hair color and must have heard me sigh. “What? If I have to have a daughter, I want her to look like she’s mine!” she whispered.

I sighed and clung to her as she gathered me in her arms and turned in the tablet. The receptionist scanned through it quickly, “Umm… She hasn’t been officially adopted by you yet?”

“Well, I thought she had since the judge ordered it yesterday? Their offices are the ones who set this appointment up?”

“Oh, but no chip yet?”

“Umm… no, no chip yet.”

“You’ll need to take care of that at the same time, then. We’re not allowed to do the nanite treatments on unadopted Littles.” She paused and smiled, “Or big Littles in this case!”

I turned my head into her neck then and just closed my eyes. I couldn’t take any more of that woman!

“The nurse can take care of the registration paperwork and her chip while she’s out for the procedure, or they can do it before while she’s still awake. Which do you prefer?”

“Let’s do it during. I don’t see any reason to make my baby girl feel pain if she doesn’t have to.”

“Wish half of these mom’s felt that way,” the receptionist said, apparently agreeing. “More screaming than I care to listen to sometimes! It should just be a few more minutes,” she told her.

Addison carried me back to the chairs, and I nervously began to shake. With this treatment, I would never be my father’s son again… never be the man who asked Beth to marry him… my career was probably already over, but this would be the final straw since all of my degrees and qualifications would be listed under the name of a dead man. That day Camille Harris was going to be born, and Cameron would legally die.

I bit down hard on the nipple of the pacifier in an attempt to center myself in any way.

“What’s wrong?” Addison started to ask. “Dumb question,” she said.

Instead of prodding, she squeezed me tighter, placing my head against her neck and squeezing me tight. She rubbed my back softly and sat silently while I shook like a scared animal.

“Camille Harris?” A loud voice called.

“Here,” Addison said in a softer reply, standing up.

“Mommy?” The voice asked.

“Yes,” she answered tentatively.

“Let’s get her back and set up for her procedure. You’ll be able to stay with her the whole time today.”

“Good, she’s terrified, honestly.”

“Aww, it’s okay, Sweetie, we do this all the time, and we’ll get you all taken care of and better in no time!” The nurse cooed.

That did not make my anxiety any better!

I could almost feel the drop of her footsteps seemingly increase as she followed whoever came for us to take us back. Eventually, I heard, “Go ahead and get her dressed in this gown. You can leave her diaper on her, but everything else needs to come off.”

“Okay,” Addison said.

“Someone will be here shortly to finish taking her vitals before we start.”

“Thanks…” Addison said.

I had my eyes still closed as she sat me down. “Come on, Cam, open those eyes up for me?”

I shook my head, “I can’t…”

She sighed, and I hoped she knew just how unhappy I was with this forced fate of mine. Addison might not be the one ultimately behind all of this, but I considered her a partner in what was about to be done to me!

“Come on, Cameron, look at me,” she said.

At the sound of my real name, I looked up at her. “I really am sorry about this. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t be going through with this, but this is happening by Judge Taney’s order.”

I shrugged, “You could have driven me somewhere else?”

“Like where?”

“Back to New Haven?”

She shook her head, “I would have been arrested, and my mom would have gotten the court to let her have custody of you. I don’t think you really want to be with Matty, do you?”

I grimaced; the last time I’d seen the diapered Little, things were not going well.

Tears went down my face, “There has to be another way…”

She shook her head, “This was your best chance, Cameron.” She wiped her eyes with a little bit of mascara running, “Come on, let’s get you in this hospital gown.”

I was pretty much a limp doll as she pulled the top off over my head and then my shoes and leggings off of my legs. The gown wasn’t as sterile-looking as an adult gown, instead having bright pictures of animals spread about on top of the pink base color. Of course, it didn’t cover the diaper well, and I found myself shivering with the cool temperatures of the room we were in. Rather than leave me in the small hospital bed with its low rails, she cradled me in her arms, dug in the diaper bag for a second, and wrapped a light purple blanket with yellow stars around me before sitting in a chair by the wall.

In all of the time we had dated, I had always felt smaller than Addison, but I’d never felt more infantile than that moment. She squeezed me tightly as she held me to her body for several minutes with no one there.

A curtain suddenly yanked open, drawing my attention to a nurse standing there.

“Ms. Harris and Camille?”

“That’s us. This is Cammie,” she told her.

“What’s Cammie’s birthday?”

Addison answered about my birthday in early September eerily quickly.

“We need to go ahead and get her vitals. Can you come with me? You can leave her diaper bag there unless she needs a change.”

I felt Addison’s intrusive hand then, “Nope, all dry. We followed directions and haven’t had anything to drink. Poor thing is probably really thirsty.”

‘I am, thank you for reminding me…’ I wanted to say, instead biting down harder on the damn nipple stuck inside my mouth. I should have spit it out by then, but I knew too many cases of Littles being caught on camera demonstrating their Maturosis with ‘misbehavior’ in situations like this. Meg and Stacy had told me about when they had been taken to the adoption centers, and I had no desire to screw up with anything.

‘I’m still hoping that David and Kendra find a way to come through for me,’ I thought, ‘But it looks like I’m going to have this done before any chance there…’

We were soon in a little alcove where the nurse had her stand me on a scale. “Let’s see, one-hundred-and-thirty-five pounds… Let’s get your height, sweetie; just step back against here…”

I followed her directions in the embarrassing hospital gown, knowing full well that my diaper might as well be fully on display while thinking, ‘When did I lose so much weight?’

“Seventy-seven-and-a-half inches, it looks like… does she need the half-inch Mommy?”

“Yes, give her the half-inch,” Addison said.

‘Inches,’ I couldn’t help but think. ‘We weren’t as far apart as we once thought, were we, Beth?’ I thought sadly.

“Looking at her weight, it looks like she needs to put a few pounds on?”

“She said she was losing some weight in the last couple of years. But you’re right; she took it a little too far.”

“She should be about one-eighty-five, according to the charts. I would keep a close eye on it; usually, once a cute baby girl like this is adopted, the weight goes back to healthy numbers with a good mommy keeping track and feeding her better.”

“Well, I’ll definitely be trying,” she told her.

I was picked back up by Addison, feeling like a total bystander in my own body. I had no control left over myself now, and after the blood pressure cuff was removed, I knew I was another step closer to my new fate.

“Mommy, we need to get her temperature; which way would you prefer?”

“Temporally, please?”

“We can do that,” she agreed. “Most of our new mommies prefer to be extra sure of accuracy, though, with a rectal number?”

I felt my stomach clench; it was probably inevitable that I would have a thermometer stuck up my ass. Meg and Stacy had mentioned it happened way too often to them!

“I’m certain you’ll be more than close enough with the temporal reading.”

I kept my eyes shut then as the woman pressed something against my head and took a reading, “Looks normal, and that’s the last thing that we need to do here. You can keep her in your lap until the anesthesiologist gets here. Doctor Lindquist will perform the procedure once he has her all hooked up. It only takes about a half-hour to complete then.”

“Thanks,” Addison said softly as she left. She had sat back down with me in the chair, rewrapping me with the blanket as soon as my weight had been taken. “We’ll have to get some weight back on you, sweetie. I thought it was odd I could see your rib-bones yesterday, but I didn’t realize how much underweight you had gotten.”

“Neither did I,” I told her softly around the pacifier.

I hadn’t weighed myself probably since Mr. Fehler appeared. ‘I really didn’t eat much then,’ I admitted. Since knowing Beth’s fate, I just worked and worked, skipping a lot of meals… Not really sleeping much, either...

“We’ll need to get some pounds back on you no matter what happens,” she told me.

I looked up at her, wondering what that meant…

A few minutes later, the curtain opened again, and a nurse was bringing in some equipment and an IV stand. “Hi, I’m Doctor Kestner; I’ll be Cammie’s anesthesiologist,” he said, extending a hand to Addison. “Let’s get her down on this bed, and we’ll start getting her hooked up.”

I felt my heart rate race as they pulled up the gown and began sticking heartrate monitor stickers down everywhere. A few minutes later, I felt tears going down my face as an IV port was poked into my arm. “Okay, Mommy, you want to tell her goodnight? She can keep her paci in her mouth until we start the nanites. Doctor Lindquist will administer them, and then we’ll get her back awake in no time!”

I looked up at Addison, seeing tears going down her face too. If I was stuck with her for the rest of my life as a daughter, I had to hope she would at least take care of me… I had to believe she really didn’t want this for me and hoped she would at least be better than someone like her mom.

“Cammie? Do you know your numbers?”

I glared at him but nodded, “Yes,” I said around the pacifier.

“I figured you were a smart little girl! Can you count backward out loud for me from one hundred?”

I sighed but nodded.

“One hundred,” I said.

‘Growing up, we found ourselves to be like,
two peas in a pod. Together we grew’

“Ninety-Nine,” I said, still lucidly.

‘to find that life was not to be alike.
Inches, mere inches kept us from a view.’

“Ninety-Eight,” I could feel things kicking in.

‘A dream to grow, a dream to be together.
Inches, just inches, sent our paths askew.’

“Ninety-Seven,” I knew it was about over; my fate was sealed.

‘May this be a token and a tether,
For our memories of love, in inches.’

“Ninety…”

‘I love you, Beth!’ I thought wearily.

I just heard a voice screaming, “WAAIII,” before it all went dark.

 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 36 and 37 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 36: Injunctions
 

I WINCED AS I blinked my eyes. The lights seemed too bright, and I was confused about where I was at that moment. I turned and saw Addison sitting in a chair with… Kendra beside her?!?

I noticed that a uniformed officer was present then too.

If I was more with it, I probably would have immediately sat up and asked what was going on? As it was, the anesthesia had kicked my butt quite hard! I assumed I was now a girl and just hoped I wasn’t screwed up any more than that.

‘Wait…?!? Kendra is here?’ I thought, looking back at them.

“What are you doing here?” I asked with somewhat slurred speech.

“Cameron, I guess you’re finally coming out of that anesthesia,” she said. “I’m here with this officer because there’s been an injunction placed by Judge Ruth Jones on any modifications being made to you until your appeal is heard.”

I felt tears going down my face, “No modifications?”

“None until the appeals process is completed,” the officer said. “Mrs. Stein and I will wait here to ensure nothing happens to you inside this hospital.”

I shifted my gaze over to Addison, who clearly looked perplexed. She didn’t look angry at the turn of events, but she did wear her ‘I’m worried’ expression that I’d learned to read years ago.

“What happens next?” I asked Kendra.

“We have a hearing before a different judge tomorrow to see if the injunction can stand. Judge Jones’ order carries through until then.”

I felt more tears go down my face knowing that appeals like these rarely went well for someone like me. “Thank you,” I said simply as tears fell down my cheeks in relief.

Kendra walked over to the bed, grabbed my hand, and leaned over to whisper, “Behave and be smart! We’re going to get you out of this mess.”

She leaned down and hugged me, something which I returned half-heartedly due to the anesthesia. ‘I hope I even remember this later,’ I couldn’t help but think.

“Here, why don’t you try drinking this down, Sweetie,” a nurse said, handing me a clear sippy cup that seemed to contain water.

Kendra looked at her, “That is just water, right?”

“Yes, ma’am, we wouldn’t dare do anything else once an injunction is received. Keep in mind that the procedure we were about to perform normally isn’t possible in this hospital against the patients’ will anymore. Only the court order allowed it to be performed without Mr. Sylvester’s consent.”

I smiled at that, ‘saved just in the nick of time…’

An hour later, I was held by Addison as she carried me out to the car, followed closely by the officer and Kendra.

“Ms. Harris, you have officially been served this injunction. Please ensure that no modifications happen physically to Mr. Sylvester before his appeal is heard and a judgment rendered.”

“Yes sir,” she told him as she stood up from buckling me inside.

Kendra waved at me forlornly as Addison drove away from the hospital. “Shit, Mom is going to be pissed,” she said under her breath.

I found myself rubbing the soft fleece fabric of the pink-footed pajamas she had dressed me in. She slipped a pacifier back inside my mouth before she closed the door, but I spit it out when she began driving. ‘Maybe I have a chance here…’ I thought.
 

I MUST HAVE fallen back asleep from the anesthesia. I remembered having surgery and having that problem before. I might have been awake, but the drugs still weren’t completely clear from my system! A huge face was in front of me, and I realized Addison was already back home and picking me up from the car seat.

“Cammie, just to warn you, we are about to have company. Be careful what you say…”

I looked up at her and rubbed my eyes. “Who?”

“My mom,” she said.

“Oh…”

She reinserted the pacifier she had clipped to my outfit inside my mouth and carried me inside. She took me upstairs, then paused, considering which room to go inside. She shook her head, went inside the one I had chosen, and laid me on the changing table. I hadn’t wet a diaper in a while, and she noticed. “Do you need to go pee pee, Sweetie?”

I looked at her, thought about it, and nodded, “A little.”

“Can you be a good girl and go in your diapee so I can change you, and then you’ll be in a dry diapee when my mom gets here?”

It took some effort, and I had to sit up, but I managed to empty what was in my bladder from the IV fluids and the glass of water I’d had.

“Good girl,” she told me and pushed me back down on the table. The sleeper I’d been dressed in was unzipped, and she pulled my legs out and pushed the onesie up behind my back so she could reach the diaper.

I sat still as she ripped one tape, then the other, and pulled the diaper open. I sat up and looked desperately with my eyes that my parts were still intact before she pushed me back down.

“Stay down,” she said, “I guess I should have used the strap, huh?”

I shook my head, “Sorry, I needed to see.” I decided I didn’t care who was listening in; who wouldn’t want to see for himself?!?

I looked at her face and noticed that she seemed hurt by that, but she took one of the warm wipes and wiped my groin without a word, then lifted me off the wet diaper and wiped my butt. She held me up in the air while opening a new diaper and placing it underneath me. I was waking up a bit as she rubbed my diaper area with some cream first, then folded the diaper over and sealed me in with the two tapes. She pulled the sleeper back down and pushed my feet inside before zipping me back up.

She had barely picked me back up when a doorbell sounded downstairs. She sighed, “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

During our time dating, there were plenty of moments I had been jealous of her having a complete family. As a little kid, my mom had been everything to me until she died, and I couldn’t imagine ever disparaging her honestly. It was clear to me, though, that Addy felt about the same as I did about her mom – something that was really sad to me. Addy gripped me tightly under my diaper and walked downstairs to the door.

“Took you long enough,” Aubry Harris told her daughter as she opened the door. “Where’s Mindy? Don’t we pay her to be here?”

“She was in early this morning, Mom; I don’t need her waiting on me all the time.”

Her mom looked like she was going to argue but instead shifted her attention to me. The bottled color of her hair had never really changed in the years since we’d met, but I could tell it was gradually making her hair a bit more brittle and thinning it out. I debated looking away from her eyes but instead stared her down, biting down on the pacifier as hard as possible to avoid saying something I shouldn’t.

“How is it that this little brat isn’t treated by nanites yet? Lynn swore to me her ruling would stand!”

“I don’t know, Mom, but those two attorneys she used to work with did something. Do you know who this judge is that put the injunction in?”

Her mom’s eyes made contact with me, and she ripped the pacifier out of my mouth. “Who is this judge?!? How can she possibly be stupid enough to go against me?”

I couldn’t help it.

I laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed! My hiccoughs started then, and her mom looked like she wanted to hit me. “Give the brat to me, I’ll teach him to laugh at me!!!”

Addy backed away, though, and her arms wrapped protectively around me. “Mom, she’s just been under anesthesia, is stressed from being struck down from being an adult, and has you yelling at her. You are not going to teach her anything.”

“Why you ungrateful little…!!!” Her mom looked like she might have been about to slap her then, and I froze.

“I’ll tell you, but don’t hit her.” I managed to gasp.

It startled her enough to snap her out of her rage towards Addison for a moment at least. “Who is this judge?”

“Supreme Court Justice Ruth Jones,” I smiled at her shock, “I’m lucky enough that she oversees this circuit.”

“That bitch!!!! The one who handed down the verdict against us four years ago?”

I smiled at that, “I was happy to be on hand for that, actually. Putting that molecule inside of stuff you tested on Big children wasn’t a smart choice?”

“That’s it! Let’s take him to the office! I want to get this over with! I know you wanted a big preschool Little, but this one will be nothing but a baby.”

“Mom, there’s an injunction; I can’t let anything physically be altered on him…”

“There’s an injunction against you; there’s nothing against…”

The doorbell rang differently this time, and after a moment, I realized it was the gate bell.

Addison looked down at me and her mom, then activated a screen on the wall. You could clearly see a marked car with a discrete lightbar sitting there.

“May I help you, officer?” She asked as she shifted me again and pressed a button on the screen.

“Ms. Harris, is Mrs. Harris there?”

“Yes?” Addison said, not noticing her mom trying to get her not to tell him she was there.

“Would you please open the gate so we may come in?”

“Umm… sure, officer,” Addison told him.

“Why the hell did you tell him I’m here?!?”

“I’m not lying to the police for you, Mom.”

Her mom looked livid at that, “Young lady, do you remember who I am?!?”

The doorbell rang then, and Addison carried me to the entranceway and opened the door. “Good afternoon; how may I help you?”

“Miss, I am Federal Marshal Branch, and this is Marshal Rayburn; you said Mrs. Aubry Harris is here?”

“Yes, sir,” Addison said. “Right inside here,” she added, leading them to the sitting room where Mrs. Harris stood.

The two marshals were both large imposing men who I had no doubt could take care of any suspect they needed to. I was more surprised that the marshals were there, though. I guess that meant another subpoena or order was being delivered. They introduced themselves to Mrs. Harris and said, “Ma’am, we are serving you this order from Judge Robert O’Connell, Chief Justice of the 6th Circuit Court. You are hereby ordered to have no contact with your daughter Addison Harris nor the minor in her care, Cameron Sylvester, otherwise known as Camille Harris. You are not to come within five-hundred yards of them nor to make any contact via electronic, paper, or other means. Failure to abide by the order will result in you facing consequences, including jail time. Here is the order, and at this time, we will be escorting you off of Ms. Harris’s property.”

“Just who the fuck do you think you are?” she swore at him. She looked at Addison, “Did you have something to do with this?”

“Ma’am, I can tell you this order did not originate from any request by your daughter. Now I would advise you to depart peacefully without any further statements. Failure to do so will result in us executing an arrest based on this order.”

I thought for a second that Addison’s mom would argue. “Fine, I’ll have my attorneys deal with this!”

As she passed us, she glared at me like she wanted to strangle me. I involuntarily found myself leaning tighter into Addison’s embrace, then, as she walked out the door and one of the officers continued with her, the other stayed there. “Ms. Harris, you received the first order earlier, but this is a further one. You are also not to have any contact with your mom or anyone else from your family or your family’s company until this matter is brought before Judge O’Connell.”

“What about work?”

“We know this will inconvenience you and your company, but the judge’s order stands…”

“Shit, that will piss my mom off more than her order.”

“She’s being informed of your restrictions at this time now too. Remember there are to be no physical modifications made to Mr. Sylvester.”

“Yes sir,” she told him.

The officer looked at me, “Unfortunately, you are a minor, so you have limited rights until this matter is concluded. The judge will ask you if all parties have complied, though.”

I nodded, “Thank you, officer,” I said, letting the pacifier slip from my mouth for the first time.

“My uncle said to say ‘hi’ if I managed to serve this with you present.”

“Your uncle?”

“He works for the 3rd Circuit?”

I thought for a minute, “He’s your uncle? He’s an awesome, really nice guy. I know Judge Jones had a lot of respect for him!”

He laughed, “She must have a lot of respect for you too.”

Addison’s mom’s car sped out of the drive right then, and he said, “Well, I guess that concludes our business here, Ms. Harris. Have a good afternoon,” he said.

Addison held me there for a second in the doorway before looking down at me and closing the door. She sat me down by the stairwell banister where a side table stood. I looked curiously at her as Addison pulled her watch and earrings off. She also sat down her phone that had been jammed into her back pocket. She picked me back up without a word and carried me through the house to a backdoor I hadn’t been through yet.

I gasped at the sight of her backyard then. A massive brick wall surrounded what would be a couple acres of land. A separate fenced area contained an amazing playground set that any real kid would die for! The most unique feature of the backyard was a fake waterfall mountain that rushed down into a massive swimming pool below. ‘Stacy would have loved this…’ I thought to myself. ‘It looks like something from a theme park…’

She didn’t say a word until she got close enough to the waterfall that it was really noisy. She sat me down in a dry spot between some fake rocks and sat across from me.

“I’m glad that someone is looking out for you, Cameron… Maybe we can still get you out of this mess, but who is this Judge Jones? My mom is going to be out for her blood?”

I laughed, “I wish her luck. I interned and did a mini-clerkship with Judge Jones during Law School. During that time, she set a new precedent in a case of a Little that had escaped from Ames.”

Her eyes opened, “Wait, that’s the same judge? My mom already hated her for that decision before she ruled against her company! You clerked for her?”

“Just a short internship one summer.” I decided not to tell her how close I was to her. I still couldn’t trust her after all. “I told my partners to call her.”

She looked a bit shell-shocked, “What can she really do?”

“Well, I’m guessing they already started the investigation into Judge Taney and will find out your mom is on a first-name basis if they haven’t already. It sounds like my being forced into being your baby will also go on appeal.”

“I’m sorry about this, Cam! I really am!”

I looked at her, “If you’re so sorry about it, then help me! Don’t make me dress like a baby? Don’t make me dress like a girl?”

She shook her head, “You don’t understand… you never did…”

“Then explain it to me!” I ordered her. “What hold can your mom possibly have on you that would make you encourage the awful atrocities SafeFoods is responsible for?!?”

“She’ll…”
 
 

Chapter 37: Jurisdiction
 

THE NEXT MORNING, I found myself being carried into a 6th Circuit Courtroom. I was still blushing from having endured an embarrassing change in the back of her SUV. The diaper was covered by a grey woolen dress with different patterns checked across it. The top of the dress featured a ruffle almost in a sailor’s dress pattern, with a black bow randomly tied and sewn on my left collar. When I was allowed to stand, it came to midway down my thighs and barely covered the diaper. Addison was dressed in a sheath dress of the same material and pattern, making it obvious it was a set of ‘mother and daughter’ dresses.

“Ms. Harris, please leave Mr. Sylvester with his attorneys at the front,” a bailiff ordered.

“But…”

“You may sit behind him.” He told her.

I was grateful to see Kendra and David and gratefully accepted the hug from Kendra and the handshake from David. “What’s going on?” I tried to ask while noting that Aubry Harris was sitting behind the other side’s table, and one of her attorneys was with two different representatives at that table.

“Well…”

“All Rise!” I heard and saw a tall man with a bald head and graying sides coming inside the room in his robes, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye, The Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit Court is now open according to law. The Honorable Justice Robert O’Connor presiding.”

“You may be seated,” he told everyone.

The bailiff stood and said, “The first case on today’s docket is Case number 61584903 Sylvester, Benson and Stein, and Harlan Law School vs. State of Ames, SafeFoods, and Harris. Mr. David Benson.”

“Objection, Your Honor, Mr. Benson isn’t on the Bar in the State of Ames!”

“Your Honor, I have, in fact, received my approval from the Bar Association in the State of Ames just yesterday, and I’m also credentialed in all of the other states in the 6th Circuit.”

“Overruled counsel,” Justice O’Connor stated, “And may I be blunt? This isn’t a standard courtroom. You’re in a Court of Appeals – act like it!”

“Yes, Your Honor,” the attorney stated.

“Your Honor, today I seek an appeal of a ruling of Maturosis against my client by Judge Lynn Taney. Two days ago, she engaged in hostile conduct in her courtroom to throw out testimony and evidence by a lead witness in our case Fehler vs. Serendipity and Safe Foods. My colleague, Mr. Cameron Sylvester here, objected when the testimony was thrown out only because the highly respected surgeon had defecated in her diaper on the witness stand.”

“We feel that, first of all, it shouldn’t have disqualified her highly qualified testimony. Also, we have evidence that the witness was intentionally poisoned. I have submitted to the court signed affidavits from Doctor Holly Nickerson, the witness, and Doctor Ivy Nickerson – her adopted mother- that it was highly unusual for her to have a bowel movement that time of day. Due to the unusual circumstances, they rushed her to the hospital to do a blood sample. When the hospital’s lab ran the test, they discovered the foreign agents reported on the affidavit. We believe that someone from the defense placed a small amount of a cream that contained this agent onto the edge of the booster seat that was brought in for her testimony. That substance was absorbed through Doctor Nickerson’s skin as she sat on the seat. The timing of her accident is consistent with the understood effects of the chemical agents and the average time it needs to take effect.”

“Due to this illegal witness tampering, we feel that her testimony should not have been stricken from the record. Further, the behavior of Judge Taney shows a clear bias of support for the defense. We submit exhibits three and four that show accounts of her discussions and communications with the head of the defense’s corporations, Mrs. Aubry Harris, before the trial. The two even most recently played a round of golf at their country club together the weekend before this hearing took place.”

Another document was handed over, “Further, we submit into evidence video footage obtained from the courthouse steps, along with synced audio recordings, of Mrs. Harris threatening Mr. Sylvester with having him declared to have a case of Maturosis. Further, she made reference to him peeing his pants potentially in court. We believe that there was, in fact, an attempt at that made with the use of this device.”

David continued to lay out the strong evidence linking the strongarm tactics to the result in the courtroom. “We believe there is a preponderance of evidence that Mrs. Harris and Judge Taney conspired to give a verdict of Maturosis to Mr. Sylvester.”

“We hereby seek immediate relief against that diagnosis of Maturosis, or at least a continuing injunction, for now, to continue to prevent Ms. Harris and her mother from modifying our client from a male into a female against his will. We ask that also preclude any other modifications to his body or mind. Finally, we seek a change in jurisdiction for our related case.”

The red light went on in front of David, and he stepped away from the podium.

“Henry Johnson for the State of Ames,” the bailiff stated.

I watched as the attorney stepped up to the podium. I found myself nervously doing what I could not to play with the off-center fishtail braid Addison had put my long hair into earlier. The way she braided left it naturally across my left shoulder. The gray bow tied at the end was tempting to fidget with, but I forced myself to put my hands back down on the desk and listen to whatever lies were coming.

He didn’t look all that confident, though. “Your Honor, I have been asked to represent Little Protective Services as their representative in this case, along with representing SafeFoods in the other pending case,” he dug through his papers, clearly unprepared, “it seems to me that this is all a misunderstanding on the appellant’s behalf. Of course, my client knows Judge Taney – they belong to the same country club, after all…?” I sat there and listened to him try and explain away the facts until the red light turned on.

Judge O’Connor looked at our table and asked, “Mr. Sylvester, would you please come to the podium?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” I said, hopping carefully from the chair. I wasn’t careful enough because the short dress flipped up, exposing my stupid pink diaper. After that, I walked to the podium with as much dignity as possible. The snickers in the gallery behind me didn’t help things, though.

I was sworn in, and he asked, “Mr. Sylvester, are the facts presented by your attorneys about Mrs. Harris’s behavior true?”

“Yes, Your Honor. I was concerned enough at the time that I passed on that information to my colleagues and a few other people.”

“I’m aware… I most definitely had several phone calls on your behalf. The facts of this case are, in fact, quite glaringly suspicious to me, particularly your being labeled with a case of Maturosis. I have reviewed the court reporting of the day and made a few inquiries. I understand you did not fight with anyone that day following Judge Taney’s ruling?”

“No, Your Honor. To be perfectly honest, I have seen what happens when resisting occurs.”

He smiled, “Quite right, you would have. All reports are that you have behaved as maturely as allowed under the circumstances, which is in your favor.”

‘Please tell me he’s about to release me…’ I thought desperately.

“I cannot set aside a decision such as this completely without much more investigation and information. However, I am willing to give you a choice.”

My stomach twisted, “A choice, Your Honor?”

“You can instead go into the care of Little Protective Services. They will find a suitable facility or foster home for you while we await a more informed hearing.”

“Your Honor, you said a choice?”

“It seems to me that other than an attempt to physically modify you, which seems to also have been court-ordered, you were in good hands with Ms. Harris?”

“Umm… She didn’t abuse me, at least?”

“No, and I don’t think she will from what I’ve seen. If you wish to stay with her instead, I will keep the injunction against contact from her mother, and you can stay with her until we resolve this? Hopefully, in a few weeks time?”

“In diapers and dresses, Your Honor?”

“Honestly, you wear the dress well,” he smiled in a way I could tell was friendly ribbing, “It’s probably better than foster care, though?”

I was about to respond when I heard a “Your Honor” behind me.

“Yes, Mister Johnson?”

“Our belief is that the injunction against contact from Mrs. Harris to Mr. Sylvester may be justifiable to the court; however, if this plan goes into place, we request the injunction against Ms. Harris going into work be suspended? As a new mother, she is entitled to her maternity leave. Still, she has several critical deadlines that may involve a trip or two to the office?”

“Noted,” the judge said, turning his eyes back to me. “The injunction against her mother would stay in place against contact with you and only supervised contact between Mrs. Harris and her daughter Ms. Harris. I will limit the order to those two. I understand there’s a sister, but it won’t extend to her unless I learn it’s necessary. It’s that or foster care because I can’t rule against the Maturosis ruling today.”

“What about my attorneys?” I asked. “May I at least have a guarantee of being able to confer with them? Free of Ms. Harris or anyone else present?”

“Those are your two options for placement; however, I am willing to put in place an hour of exclusive time with them when we conclude this trial, and their ability to monitor randomly up to four times per week for a minimum of another hour each time.”

I sighed, “Your Honor, it’s not much of a choice; I’ll stay with Ms. Harris for now.”

“Very good, Mister Sylvester. Ms. Harris - Mr. Sylvester will remain in your care for now. The injunction against any physical modifications to him stands. He is not to be harmed! Take care that you follow the injunction to the letter.”

“Your Honor, very well, but I would ask that you allow me to at least modify his hair?”

I gulped at that, ‘What?’

“Why?”

“Honestly, it needed cut when he was an adult.”

“Fair enough, but no shaved heads.”

She laughed, “No, Your Honor, my baby girl will always have long hair.”

“Hmm…” he sighed, “I should probably put an injunction against that too, but I don’t want to overstep the bounds of how you raise your child. Be gentle with him.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Your Honor?” Kendra said, “Is there any chance we can do something about the clothing she is forcing our client to wear?”

He shook his head, “Since I still haven’t overruled the Maturosis diagnosis, his mother may dress him how she wants. As long as no permanent modifications are made to him physically, she may dress him as she has. That, of course, includes appropriate absorbent underwear as she deems necessary.”

I sighed, ‘Nice try, Kendra,’ I thought.

“Mister Sylvester, you may return to your attorneys. After they meet with you, Ms. Harris may collect you.”

I sighed, knowing that things would go way worse in foster care. At least in this case, I didn’t think Addison would maliciously maim me, and with the injunction, hopefully, her mom wouldn’t get me…

“I am setting another hearing on the case of Mr. Harris’s status to be held in two weeks’ time; my office will be in touch on scheduling. Regarding Case number 384459322 Fehler and Others vs. Serendipity Industries and SafeFood, I am ordering a change in jurisdiction from Judge Taney to Judge Nathaniel Manasco for the duration of the case. The trial is ordered to restart with a new jury, with a special note that testimony is to be heard from the witnesses that Judge Taney dismissed - regardless of the state of their diapers. Further questions on the trial will be handled by my office.”

The stamp of a gavel was soon heard, and I turned to see David and Kendra giving me a look of uncertainty. I sighed, “Let’s go find a room to talk…”

An officer said, “Ms. Harris, you may accompany Mr. Sylvester to the room where he will meet with his attorneys, but you must remain outside.”

I realized that Addison had been standing there behind me, expectedly. “That’s fine, but she’s wearing a dress. Would you please stop saying, Mister? It’s Cammie right now,” she said, a bit annoyed.

“Ma’am, the Judge has continued to address him as Mister, and I will also.”

She sighed and reached for me, “Why don’t you let him walk,” Kendra said.

She looked like she would argue, but I was more grateful for Kendra as I walked between her and David. It was embarrassing as hell to be standing next to David in his suit and Kendra in her pantsuit while wearing the juvenile dress! I wasn’t that much shorter than David, so I figured he was probably as uncomfortable seeing me like that too. ‘One small step for someone doing the same to him…’

The diaper I wore crinkled as I walked but was still dry since I hadn’t needed to go again yet. I was not looking forward to a future need to poop again later this afternoon. Given my fasting the night before and yesterday, I hadn’t needed to do that since the first time. ‘I doubt it’s going to be any better the next…’

We were led to a room, and the bailiff told Addison, “I’ll wait here with you for them. I’m beginning the timer now; you have one hour to speak with him.”

I followed Kendra and David into a small conference room and sighed with relief when the door shut. No one began talking at that point, though, as David began sweeping the room for listening devices. There shouldn’t have been anything, but it was good to be cautious, given everything we were dealing with. “Clean,” he said, beginning our own encrypted recording system to make notes.

“How are you really holding up?” Kendra asked me as I sat in the oversized chair across from them.

“This sucks… And if you don’t get me out of this, I will likely have a forced gender change as soon as that injunction is lifted!”

“Addison is the one that wants that?”

“I was given a choice when I got to her house, I could live in the baby boy nursery with my teeth, motor skills, and potty training all taken from me, or I could live in the toddler girl room and maybe be allowed to wear Pull-Ups…”

“Yeah… no choice, huh?” David said.

I shrugged, “At least I got her to let me store some semen away… You guys got there just in the nick of time yesterday!”

“Judge Jones did everything she could to move things along…” David said.

“Any idea why they targeted you?” Kendra asked.

“Addison and I used to date in college – well, most of college. I asked her to marry me, and she turned me down, saying her mom forced her to break it off with me. I just didn’t realize how much force she used…?”

“What did she do?” David asked.

“And how do you know?” Kendra followed up.

“She told me about it last night…”

 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 38 and 39 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 38: Reasons
 

“SO, WHAT DOES she have on her?” Kendra pressed again.

I grimaced, “Of course, I don’t know that we can verify this, but this kind of makes sense to me. This is what Addison told me…”
 

“She’ll shrink and regress us remotely,” Addison said.

“How is that even possible?” I asked.

“Remember when the lady in the waiting room said there was a password and things could be changed elsewhere?”

I thought for a moment but nodded. “Yeah, but honestly, I was more concerned with what was about to happen to me.”

“Sorry,” she said sadly, encircling her knees with her arms and placing her chin on them as she stared at me. “The weekend before I broke up with you, Mom told me I had to come home and bring Danica too. We had just walked through the door when two of her researchers ambushed us and injected something into us. I managed to deck one of them and shouted, ‘What the Hell is going on?’”

Addison sighed, “My mom just laughed, ‘What’s going on is that if you and your sister don’t start shaping up, you’ll be shaping down.’”

“I asked her, ‘What do you mean?’”

“‘Let me show you,’ she said with this smirk I’ve always hated. Right then, a girl who was a former friend of mine from high school was dragged into view. She was about ten feet tall, screaming behind a gag they had in her mouth, and had a red face filled with tears.”

“‘What are you doing to Gina?!?’ I shouted at her.”

Mom pressed a button on a tablet she was holding and said, ‘This…’”

“I couldn’t believe it… she was screaming and shrinking before my eyes! Before I knew it, she was shorter than your friend Stacy! I could only tell her true height for a second because she fell over and couldn’t even get up after that. She began wailing in a cry that didn’t sound like an adult…” Addison wiped a tear from her eyes, “I yelled at her, ‘Change her back!’”

“‘No,’ my mom said, ‘She was trying to turn us in on some things she found working for us in the office. She’s going to get adopted by a nice couple tonight. She’ll make a nice baby… just like the two of you will…’”

“‘Mom, you can’t do this to us!’ My sister Danica had screamed back at her.”

“‘Oh, I can… I don’t want to, but I certainly will! If either of you doesn’t behave and do what I want you to, I’ll have the code sent remotely to both of you so I can have a beautiful set of baby twin sisters for their big brother Matty. Now, first thing you’re going to do, Addy, if you don’t want to be Baby Addy, is break up with that sniveling Little boy you’ve been dating!’”
 

“Holy shit!” David said. “She injected her own daughters with that shit?!?”

I nodded, “That’s what she said.”

“Is that even possible to do?” Kendra asked.

I shrugged, “She got the idea indirectly from Addison, who deciphered some hints from one of my friends. She figured out that the nanites she’d been injected with to alter her after her adoption were still active in her body. She could make further alterations to herself by linking up to them.”

“Seriously?!?” He asked.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“You’ve kept that a secret?” David asked me. “Where is that friend now?”

“Yes… not something most people should know. Let’s just say she was a good friend and is outside of any control here now. She returned home to her dimension at the end of undergrad.”

“What now? What if she does that to her?”

“I don’t know. I need you to contact Dr. Amanda Westerfield at Emerson; she’s the expert in the field and may have some ideas to help here.”

“Okay?” David said, “You sure you can trust her?”

“With my life… Which I guess I am. With Addison, we need to be careful how much you involve her so her mom doesn’t take retribution. You need to find a way to take her and SafeFoods down permanently and get rid of this nanite bomb waiting to happen.”

“Well, they’ve definitely given us a lot of leverage since they played their games. Judge Jones is pissed! She made it clear to us that if the case fails, we are to file an immediate appeal to her, and she’ll respond by putting another injunction herself. She tried to avoid being the one to do the injunction for questions.”

“Won’t she have to recuse herself?”

“If you were a blood relative, yes, but the court has gotten very lax on recusals in the past fifty years. There’s enough precedent in play that she can stay on any case – and it might actually be her duty to do so since her vote and voice are needed to avoid a tie.”

“I won’t turn down her help at this point…” I squirmed a bit as I felt the need to pee badly coming right then. “Any chance you could sneak me to a bathroom?”

Kendra sighed, “No, and the Maturosis ruling is still effectively in place, so I’m sorry… you are still in the care of your mommy, and she wants you in those cute diapers.”

“This sucks!” I complained.

“Yes, it does, but make sure you keep behaving – it definitely was a point in your favor with Judge O’Connor. If you don’t rock the boat, I think at the next hearing, we can get you free of this.”

“I sure hope you’re right… and nothing else happens before then.” I decided to stop being miserable and took a second to let out the pee into my diaper. I blushed red as I figured from Kendra and David’s expressions that they knew exactly what I was doing. It was humiliating to pee in a diaper in front of my colleagues!

A loud knock happened at the door, “Five minutes!” the bailiff shouted.

I sighed, “I hope I’m still me at the end of this. I’m scared of what Addison’s mom will still find a way to do to me.”

Kendra stood and walked over, “I’m sorry, Cameron, we’ll find a way, I promise you!”

“Look, even if this goes badly… you have to find a way to make her pay for Beth and the others. Ultimately, I don’t care about myself as long as she sees justice!”

“We’ll do everything we can,” Kendra hugged me. “And we’ll be by those four times to check on you!”

“Thanks,” I told her.

“Time!” the bailiff said.

I sighed and walked over to them, and Addison, who was waiting outside, immediately scooped me up. “You done?” She asked with some disdain towards them.

“Yes, Miss Harris. We’ll take advantage of Judge O’Connor’s times to check in on him. Please take good care of him; we want him back when the judge overrules this injustice.”

She snorted in a way that probably was about to land her in the hospital by Kendra killing her, but a shake from my head told her to let it go.

“Looks like we have a wet baby girl here,” she said aloud as she carried me down the hall. “Let’s go change your diapee, and then you can take your nap nap on the way home!”

I looked at her, confused by the theatrics, but just sat on her hip with her hand on my butt all the way to the bathroom without another word. She took me inside the women’s restroom and pulled down one wall-mounted changing table near the entrance. She hooked the diaper bag to a hook on the side, pulled out a changing mat with her free hand, and placed me on top.

“Aww… who’s a good baby girl?” She said with a smile. “I don’t know how that judge can even think of you not being a baby girl with a wet diapee like this,” she pulled my dress up to my chest and exposed the used diaper. She tickled my stomach a little, then without warning, “Aww… who’s the cutest wittle baby?”

I couldn’t help but laugh while she was tickling me and was silently trying to figure out what the hell was going on! I was annoyed when I felt my bladder twinge and release into the diaper before she finally stopped and pushed a pacifier into my mouth.

She pulled another diaper out and had it ready to go as she removed the tapes from the wet one. I felt her grab my feet in her hand as a woman came and washed her hand in the sink nearby, “Oh dear, I think you have something a little extra on your little girl there!” The woman said.

“Just for now, we’ll take care of it as soon as we get through our little custody battle that we’re having, huh?” she wiped my butt right then, and I squirmed. “Sit still, baby; we’ll be done with your changie in just a moment, huh?”

Her baby talking was getting old, and I was terrified of what had happened while I was meeting with David and Kendra.

She placed the new diaper underneath me and laid me down on it. The woman came up closer then and said, “Your mom expects you to be nursing her tonight where she can see you. If you don’t, you will be the one nursing…” She paused for effect there, then added, “You need to report to work tomorrow too.” The woman reached past her and touched my nose, “Be a good baby girl! That’s all you’ll ever be now!”

I looked at the woman in shock and only had a moment of looking before she turned and walked out of the bathroom. Addison looked shocked for a moment and then finished taping the diaper shut, threw the old diaper away, and then sat me on the counter while she washed her hands. “Let’s get going for that nap, huh? Then I guess I need to find you a good daycare to go to…”

She carried me through the courthouse. I observed Henry Johnson standing around talking to the woman who had just been inside. I didn’t have any doubts before, but I knew now that her mom would push things much harder moving forward!

When she arrived at her SUV, she opened the door and gently placed me in the car seat. She had yet to give me anything besides a sippy cup, so I was surprised when she handed me a baby bottle with white liquid inside. “You need something to snack on here since we’ve skipped lunch,” she told me, “and I’m sure you’ve got to be getting a bit dehydrated. Your diaper was pretty yellow…”

“What is this, Mommy?” I asked her.

“Just some formula, sweetie. Regular baby formula,” she added. “It’s not the stuff made for Littles.” She saw my skepticism and pushed my hand to bring the nipple to my mouth. “Be a good girl,” she reminded me.

Something in her look told me I needed to do it for both of our sakes, so I sighed and took the nipple inside my lips. It took a little bit of work to suck out of the nipple, but it wasn’t that much worse than a straw once I got a rhythm going. The taste was weird… it wasn’t milk… it was different than that. It was a bit sweeter than regular milk and seemed thinner than the milk I would buy in the store. As I sucked the liquid down, I wished I could have coffee instead! It was a big bottle for a baby, but since I was larger than a real baby, or a Little by a bit, I finished before we were out of the city traffic.

‘How the hell am I going to get out of this?’ I wondered as I absently kept chewing on the nipple of the bottle.

Something about the formula, the car ride, the stress, and everything else sent me down for the nap that Addison wanted me to take.
 

WHEN I WOKE up, I was staring into Addison’s shoulder as she was apparently picking me up. “Oh, I’m sorry, baby; I didn’t necessarily mean to wake you up,” she said.

I didn’t respond, just taking my hands and wiping the sleep out of my eyes. Based on what Addison had told me we were doing, I assumed we’d be going home right then. Instead, we were at some park with a few genuine toddlers running around and playing.

“Where are we?”

“The park, Princess,” she said as she squeezed me tighter. “I thought we could come play for a bit before we go home. I know you have your playset there, but I figured the park’s always more fun!” She whispered, “I thought we might be able to talk here too…”

“There’s no one following us?” I asked her. I noticed she didn’t have my diaper bag on her. She seemed to only have me and nothing else.

“No, I lost them; you know how I drive.”

“I slept through that?” I asked.

She smiled, “Guess you got used to Mommy’s crazy driving years ago!” She carried me closer, and I could see some swings, “How about a swing?”

I shrugged, “Sure,” I told her.

She went to one that had a bucket-style seat designed for young toddlers and deposited me inside. “How do I actually fit in this…?”

“Sweetie, you’ve always been smaller than I think you knew. This is meant for probably up to a five-year-old Big, so you easily fit inside.”

I was a little surprised as she gave me a little push then, but I couldn’t help but acknowledge there was something nice about this. Getting into the spirit, I said, “Higher!”

She laughed and pushed me more fervently for a couple minutes before slowing it down to a gentler amount. “Sweetie, I don’t know what we’ll do about my mom…”

“What does she expect?” I asked her while keeping an eye out for any new people. So far, it was just three moms watching two toddlers play in a sandpit and another going up and down the tall slide a little way off.

“Honestly? She’s expecting me to start nursing you, which will make you lose your continence.”

“What else?”

“What else?”

“Yeah, what else does she want?”

“Well, she has a few daycares she wants me to send you to one of them…”

“Hypnosis there?”

“Probably?”

“What about the injunction?”

“Are those really physical modifications?”

“The breast milk would be?”

“It’s just a bad reaction to food…”

“That’s scary; that reasoning could apply to many things.”

She suddenly stopped pushing me, picked me up, and squeezed me tight, “I am so sorry, Cameron; I never wanted to do this to you!”

I could sense the tears from her chest shaking even before I looked up.

I sighed, “I know you didn’t… And no offense, I don’t want you as my mommy for the rest of my life.”

“I never wanted that role with you either.”

“Did you really love me?” I asked curiously.

“Of course! It’s why I fought so hard to stay with you for so long!”

I sighed, “Well, you should know I never really stopped loving you either.” I didn’t know what I wanted at that moment from her.

“I figured… I hated breaking your heart that night...”

“I guess I understand now… I wouldn’t have wanted you gracing the covers of some baby fashion magazine nursing from your mother...”

“Not like you are going to be now?”

I laughed nervously, “I don’t think being on a cover will be a problem. Now, the question is, how do we get ourselves out of your mom’s control?”

“We can’t?”

“We can’t? Or we just don’t know how yet?”

“Both?”

“Okay, well, we’ll have to get some more help. Hopefully, that is coming; for now, we probably should give your mom what she wants to buy us some time…”

We talked for a while before she plucked me from the seat and said, “Okay, I think we have a plan… you want to prove to me you can do this?”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go play on the slide and then the sand, silly!”

“Oh,” I said.

She sat me on my feet and said, “Can you be a big girl and use the slide all by yourself, or do you need Mommy?”

I looked up at her and said, “Big girl!”

I ran to the smaller toddler’s size slide and began climbing up it. As I reached the top, she waited at the bottom, “Come on, slide down to Mommy!”

I forced a smile at first, but as I slid down, it sort of became real. We played with the other playground equipment for a while longer before I started getting kind of tired of running around. I was just standing up from the slide when I felt the urgent need to poop. I desperately wanted Addison to at least let me wear training pants, and she was thinking about it for the next day to help with the plan – but made no guarantees yet. In the meantime, I knew the diaper was on, and I was expected to use it like a good baby.

The urgency was intense, so with a sigh, I paused and bent my legs. I squeezed, and at first, nothing would come out, long-built potty skills refusing to give in. I kept trying for a few more minutes. Eventually, I felt the log start to push its way through. Once it started, there was no stopping it! It kept filling my diaper, and I was out of breath and dizzy when I finished.

“Looks like someone made a boom boom!” one of the other kids’ moms said nearby.

Addison laughed, “Looks like it!”

“Not in a hurry to potty train her?”

“Nope, she’s my little poop machine,” she leaned over and pushed a hair that had come loose from the headband she’d used on me that morning back in place. “Sweetie, you want to go on the slide one more time, then we’ll go change your poopy pants?”

‘No, I want changed now…’ I thought, “No go!”

“You can have one more time, go down the slide, and then we need to get going, sweetie.”

I knew I needed to learn to play this part, so I went and climbed up the steps one last time, feeling the warm sticky mass rubbing against my butt. I made it to the top of the ladder and forced myself to do the unthinkable; I sat and slid down!

I could feel as the slide squished the poop all over my butt, and I knew Addison would have fun cleaning it all up! There was something, though, in letting go right then that felt right. So, I decided to be a typical toddler and ran back up and snuck one more slide down the slide into her waiting arms.

“You little sneaker,” she said as she tickled me.

“Stop!” I cried.

“Let’s go get your stinky butt changed and get home.”

She kissed my forehead and carried me to the SUV, where she opened the back hatch. For the mess I knew was in my pants, she cleaned it up like it was no big deal. I was soon in a fresh diaper, and she walked with me on her hip to a nearby trash can to throw the diaper away before buckling me back into my car seat and shoving another bottle of juice into my lap. “You’ve got to be thirsty by now.”

I just nodded and drank, knowing there would be many more baby bottles and poopy diapers before this would end, one way or another.
 
 

Chapter 39: Warnings
 

THE PARK MUST have been relatively close to her house because we quickly returned inside her garage. A glance at the car’s dash told me it was just about two hours past noon, so I was feeling quite hungry, even after the formula she had me drink left the courthouse. At the time, I had been actually kind of surprised by how filling the drink was.

She pulled me from the car seat and carried me inside the house. Due to the early afternoon hour, I wasn’t surprised to see Mindy waiting for us inside.

“Miss Harris, you were gone longer than I expected?”

Addison shrugged as she sat me down on my feet, “We decided to stop by the park and play a bit after her nap.”

“Aww… I bet that was a cute sight!”

“It was! You want to see pictures?”

‘Pictures?!?!?’ I looked up at her, and she smirked.

She pulled out her phone that she must have returned to the car at some point, and showed them to Mindy. “Cute, huh?”

“Absolutely adorable, Miss Harris!”

“You want to see your pretty pictures, Cammie?” she asked me in that baby voice that women use towards babies, and I wanted to scream as she knelt down to show me her phone.

I nodded, though, morbidly curious.

I was disturbed that I never noticed her taking pictures as I went down the slide or played in the sand. I knew it was me in the photos, but there was a disconnect in my mind about how the cute girl playing on the playground could possibly be me. I could still recognize my face, but with how she had done my hair and the dress… Well, it was apparent I looked the part.

“Princess Cammie is cute, huh?” She asked me and began tickling me a little.

“Stop,” I giggled.

“Did you get lunch yet?” Mindy asked.

“No, we didn’t. What do you think, Princess Cammie; do we need a late lunch?”

I nodded.

“What do you want?” She asked me.

I thought momentarily; I wasn’t used to getting food made for me. I shrugged, “What is there?”

Mindy smiled, “Probably almost anything you want! But what do you think about a grilled cheese sandwich?”

I nodded, “That sounds good… Thank you, Miss Mindy,” I said politely.

You could see her absolutely melt with my politeness, “She is such a perfect little girl, ma’am!”

“Sort of; she’s kind of dirty from the park. We’ll go change her clothes while you work on that?”

“Sounds good, ma’am; you want one too?”

“Please, I love your grilled cheeses,” she told her.

“Nothing special, ma’am,” she told her.

“Yes, they are! You always brown them perfectly!”

“Well… That’s just how you’re supposed to make them! Go get that baby girl into something less formal – you should have done that before she played, but we’ll get that dress clean still - just leave it in the hamper. I’ll have your lunch ready when you get back downstairs.”

“Thanks, Mindy,” she told her.

Addison held her hand to me, “Come on, baby girl…”

I sighed but let her larger hand envelop mine and walked upstairs beside her. The diaper was still dry, but the crinkle let me know it was still there with every step. It felt like it was hugging me as my legs moved up the steps. I couldn’t help but remember back to commercials on TV that bragged about diapers hugging every move of a baby or Little over the years. It made me blush to think about being in the same shitty situation as those poor Littles!

I walked to my room with Addison pulling me along and stood still where she let me go by the closet. “Hmm… what shall we wear for the afternoon?” She asked herself. “Ooh… Is it really your size?!?” She was way too excited about whatever she found. “Look!!!! These are sooooooo cute!!!” She exclaimed happily in a voice that meant I knew I would hate whatever it was.

As she turned around, I saw that I was right!

One of the outfits I always felt the sorriest for a Little being dressed in was in her hands. Usually, you would only see a baby under two dressed in such a thing, or probably a shorter Little under about four-and-a-half feet tall. I had to guess this was some special-order item, as I couldn’t imagine it being readily available for someone my size!

I’d once asked Addison why anyone would dress someone in such an outfit, to which she’d shrugged and said, ‘They’re kind of cute.’ I’d asked out of morbid curiosity what it was called, and she told me, ‘It’s a bubble romper! On a real infant, I think they’re one of the cutest things ever!’

This horrid outfit in question was a pale yellow with white stripes every inch or so running horizontally. It featured a short exaggerated ruffled sleeve and a high stretch waistband that would probably fall just above my belly button. The worst part wasn’t how puffy the bottom portion that snapped close was! No, the worst part was that the back was covered in four rows of matching ruffled fabric that made yesterday’s leggings look tame. I groaned. I knew they would bring extra attention to my diapered bottom.

“Do I have to…?”

“Why yes, you do! You’re going to look so precious! And no silly pants to get in the way of you moving around while you play!” She squealed with delight.

‘She actually squealed?’ I nervously worried, ‘She usually has better control over those urges!’ I thought in the half-second before she was right there picking me up. She was giddy as she sat me down on the changing table. The dress was off before I even had a chance to consider another argument. My shoes were placed on a shelf, and my socks followed the dress into a nearby hamper.

Naked, except for the still clean diaper, I felt nervous as she looked at me and suddenly pounced with her fingers tickling my feet.

“No!” I cried.

“Yes!” She laughed and continued her attack up my legs and onto my belly.

I was really seriously about to pee without any control when she finally let up, “Oh, I guess I’ll stop attacking my baby girl at least long enough to get her dressed.” It was almost like a slow-motion horror movie as she opened the snaps in the crotch of the monstrosity and gathered it up in her hands. “Arms up like a pretty ballerina!” she cooed.

“Shoot me…”

“Why would we do that?” She said as she pulled it down over my hands and momentarily blocked my vision before pushing me down on the table. “There we go, all snapped in!”

She was genuinely enjoying this; I could tell that. I looked down at the babyish outfit, probably worse than I feared. The puff of the bubble in the bottom part was ridiculous! I wondered if it wasn’t exaggerated because they knew only a babied Mid would fit into this?

I sat there for a few minutes while she undid the more mature fishtail braid she had made in my hair for the court hearing. Addison quickly brushed my hair into a high ponytail and used a matching yellow ribbon to tie a bow.

“Let’s go show Miss Mindy!” She smiled at me, picked me back up, and carried me downstairs.

“Oh, my word!” Mindy said when she saw me, “I had no idea you could dress a big girl like you so pretty! That outfit is absolutely precious, Miss Harris!”

“I know, right?” Addison squeezed me tighter, “I’ve always found these to be super adorable! I’m so glad they found a couple of them in her size! They’ll be perfect for her to play at home!”

“Yes, they will!” She agreed.

As Addison placed me into what I now knew as my highchair, I could sort of feel the rows of ruffles behind me - even through the diaper! I let her maneuver my arms through the five-point harness to buckle me in and then watched as she placed the white tray into place. I was a little annoyed with how my bare legs touched the bottom of the chair where the fabric ended, and the plastic began. At least, other than that, I guessed it was as comfortable as a highchair could be. ‘At least she’s not using those other straps…’ I thought with a shudder. Addison finished preparing me for lunch by velcroing a large yellow bib behind me before Mindy placed the plate of smaller cut-up sandwich pieces on the tray.

Addison had walked to a cupboard and filled a sippy cup with more Plapple juice. “Eat up, baby,” she told me.

I stared at the pieces before me and was annoyed I didn’t have the sandwich like she had. For hers, Mindy had just sliced it in half diagonally. For mine, she had cut it what looked like a total of four times. It meant I had eight smaller triangles to eat that would cool off quicker. I picked the first one up and saw that it looked like it had quality cheddar cheese inside, at least, and was nicely lined like it was cooked on a sandwich grill.

I moaned at the first bite a second later, “Wow!” Looking up at Mindy, I smiled, “How did you make it taste so good?”

She smiled back brightly at me, “Just a little extra love, Sweetie.”

I began devouring more pieces and saw that Addison and Mindy mostly watched me, even though Addison would occasionally take a bite.

“She really is adorable! What happened in court today?”

“The injunction against Mom having contact with Cameron or me is still standing. If there is a need for communication, it is supposed to happen with supervision.”

“What about your custody of little Cammie here?”

“Well, Cammie is still my baby girl for now. The judge plans a separate hearing to decide if I get to keep her or not.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will! Your mom’s attorneys are the very best!”

Addison rubbed my shoulder, “I’m sure they are.”

“What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” Mindy asked Addison.

“Well, I think we’ll probably go swimming for a bit before dinner after I cuddle this little girl. Maybe we’ll get some playtime in her playroom before bed too.”

“That sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon together. You’re on maternity leave now, right?”

Addison shrugged, “I’m supposed to be, but apparently, I’m supposed to go to work tomorrow.”

“Oh my, your mom is making you come in still?”

“She was back at work the next day after she adopted Matty; I guarantee Mom doesn’t think anything of it,” she told her. “I need to ensure I have a daycare appointment set up, actually…”

“Why don’t you go do that? I’ll watch while wittle Miss Cammie finishes eating her num-nums?”

“That would be great, actually,” she told her, scarfing down a last bite and stepping out of the room.

I was about three-quarters through my sandwich and silently ate while Mindy watched.

I had just taken the last bite when she said, “You know there’s no way you’ll win against Mrs. Harris, right? You should just volunteer for the procedures and get it over with?”

I looked at her with new eyes, “Everyone has a weakness. I have mine; you have yours, and Mrs. Harris has her own. I hope you aren’t trying to send a message for her?”

She narrowed her eyes, “And if I was?”

“Well, that would probably make Judge O’Connor unhappy when he hears that.”

“Only matters if you can tell him?”

I shrugged, “If I can’t, the real bombs will start going off. You might as well tell Mrs. Harris that backing off would be her best move. She’s messed with the wrong person. Even if she destroys me, something that I know is probably coming, I have allies and assets that aren’t going to take that lightly.”

I think she was about to say something else, but Addison came back in. “All taken care of! The daycare my mom suggested luckily still had a space free for you! It’s the best one in town, so I know you’ll love it there!” She cooed at me.

“Great…” I deadpanned.

“Someone is kind of cranky?” Mindy suggested.

“Probably, well… I know what can help! Might as well deal with the other problem I’m having right now. Would you mind cleaning up?” she asked Mindy as she moved the tray aside and pulled the bib off me.

“Of course!” she said, “I can bring you a glass of water when I’m done?”

“That would be great; we’re going to sit in the living room for some quiet,” she told her.

“Sounds good, Miss Harris.”

I looked at her as she tried to talk to Mindy in some sort of code, a little nervous that I knew precisely what she was talking about. As she sat down with me in a rocking recliner, I looked at a clock and saw it was mid-afternoon.

“We’ve put this off for long enough,” she told me. “You should have been doing this from our first night together!”

“No…” I squeaked out.

“Yes, it’s past time, my milk has been in for two days now, and I don’t want to keep pumping all day.”

“I don’t…” I told her as she placed me on her right leg for a second and began messing with the dress. Apparently, it was designed for nursing mothers because she quickly pulled her left breast free a moment later without taking the top down and undid the latch of a nursing bra to expose her nipple. I looked at the erect nipple sticking out, thinking about the first and last time I had a taste of her milk. I’d thought about it for months afterward! Even as I saw a droplet forming on the tip as she gently expressed it, I could feel a craving coming.

“Come on, baby girl, Mommy knows you liked it before. You don’t have to worry about losing your potty ability this time, though, because you’re already in a diaper!”

“You told me I could wear big girl pants!” I complained, eyes still focused on the white droplet still hanging there.

“That was if we had you altered yesterday. You’re still an icky boy where it counts, so we will keep you in diapers until we get everything figured out. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones that can still use the potty when nursing?”

“Nnnn…” I started to say, but she guided my head to her nipple and used the opening to push my mouth on.

The single droplet hit my tongue.

It was the tastiest thing ever!!!!

The single droplet reminded me of everything I had wanted to have again after that first accidental time!

At that point, my willpower failed. I began earnestly sucking at the nipple, being rewarded with each suckle by a mouth full of the tasty milk. My tongue began licking the nipple to try and get more of the taste, and I found my hands gently squeezing the warm flesh of my ‘mommy’s’ exposed breast too. I felt like time was passing without me then, as all I knew was suckling.

I felt a need to pee but was at least relieved that it was a typical urge. I held it for a couple sucks before just admitting it did no good to hold it and let it out into the diaper. Addison must have felt it because she cooed at me as I kept sucking.

“Mrs. Harris will be happy to see you finally started,” I heard just before I must have gone off to dreamland from the milk.
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 40, 41, and 42 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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 40: Swimming
 

I FOUND MYSELF incredibly disoriented when I woke up on my bed. I wiped my eyes and pulled out the pacifier from my mouth. ‘Did that really just happen…?’ I wondered.

Pressing on the front of my diaper, I was relieved to find it dry. ‘I definitely went while I was nursing… Addison probably changed me after I passed out?’ I blushed at the thought I would have slept through my body being manipulated like that!

I looked around the room and saw that the door to the hallway was closed. I had no idea if she cared, but I decided it was time to stand up and see what I could get away with. A real toddler wouldn’t necessarily stay in their room after a nap, so I decided that if she wanted a toddler without a crib, she should be okay with that. ‘I just hope she doesn’t decide that means I need a crib…’

I went to the door and tested the door knob. I knew it had a lock on the outside based on the first day, but when I tried, the door opened.

Across the hall, I could see the door to the nursery room was closed, hiding that ongoing threat of further demotion. Remembering the doll house, I knew she had an office downstairs; would she be there?

I had barely started climbing the stairs when Addison appeared at the bottom, “Did my wittle princess decide to wake up from her nap?”

I sighed but nodded, “Yes… How long was I out?”

“You slept good for about an hour?”

I sighed with relief that I hadn’t been knocked out longer. I knew some Littles would be down for two hours or more after a nursing session like I had. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely rule out any effects from the breast milk. I depended on Stacy’s work to get me through this without a lifetime of diapers staring me down! ‘I sure hope David and Kendra got ahold of Amanda…’ I thought.

I walked down the rest of the steps and was instantly picked up and in Addison’s arms. “What a big girl coming down the steps all by herself!”

I just sighed, “What now?”

“You want to go swimming? Miss Mindy left us dinner in the oven that should be done in about an hour?”

“Sure,” I said.

“I saw the perfect swimsuit for you in your closet earlier!” She squealed again, and despite my hopes that she was above board with our talks, I couldn’t help but imagine she was just like every other crazy Amazonian woman wanting to play with her baby doll…

She carried me back up the steps I had just climbed down and right back inside the room I had just ‘escaped.’ She stood me on my feet by the changing table before turning to the closet. I watched as she opened the door, dug inside for just a second, squealed, and quickly emerged with a bundle of cloth I didn’t have a chance to look at as she sat it down on the changing table.

“Let’s see here… did they put in some swim diapers…?”

I watched her root around the boxes of diapers for a moment before saying, “They didn’t put any in here…” She looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I don’t have to wear one?” I suggested.

She laughed, “I’m not draining my pool because you have a poopy accident.”

“I wouldn’t…”

“You’re on Mommy’s milk as part of your diet now; I wouldn’t count on that.”

‘I really hope that statement is wrong…’ I thought as I sighed.

She looked thoughtful and said, “Stay here. Mommy’ll be right back!”

I watched her leave the room through the open door. She went across the hall and opened the nursery room but closed the door behind her for some reason. I watched the door reopen quickly and close, and then she came closer with a handful of colorful-looking swim diapers. “Found some!” She told me excitedly.

“Great…” I said sarcastically.

She picked me up and put me on the changing table, pulling the strap across my chest. I was relieved that the embarrassing bubble outfit was unsnapped and came off! ‘I wonder if she has a fireplace I could burn it in…?’ She opened the diaper and said in a shocked voice, “I can’t believe you’re still clean and dry… Must take longer to affect bigger babies?”

“Or maybe I’m not a baby at all…?” I said smartly.

A pacifier was shoved into my mouth with a warning look. “Be a good girl, or you can just go to bed right now without dinner!”

“Sowwy, Mommy,” I said around the pacifier.

She kissed my nose, “I know you are.”

She pulled the diaper out from underneath me and didn’t even bother with a wipe since I was clean. I was still more than a little bit apprehensive at being completely naked right then. At least she immediately slipped the swim diaper up my hips like a pair of underwear and then undid the strap across my chest. She messed with a bundle of cloth for a second and then grabbed my feet to begin feeding them through the swimsuit.

Only then did it dawn on me that I’d be wearing a girl’s swimsuit outside!

She pulled the tightfitting spandex one-piece suit up to my shoulders and guided my arms through the straps. She sat me up and had me face the wall while she began braiding my hair back again. I poked at some rectangular pieces attached to the suit, and surrounded me.

“Isn’t that swimsuit so cute?!?” She cooed. “It has little floatation things, so we don’t have to deal with those silly armband floats.”

“You remember I can swim, right?”

“Aww… You sure used to be able to, but you’re not the same person you were, sweetie. You’ll have to accept you need more help with things now. Mommy’s more than happy to help her little baby girl with all those things, though!”

I sighed and sat still while she was still braiding. Looking down, I could see the very top of the suit was a light sky-blue color with a pink flower drawn on the area above my left chest. The material came to meet a pair of the thin shoulder straps I would expect from a girl’s swimsuit. Below it, on a white background, hundreds of small and big flowers were overlaid below it. It felt embarrassing and weird to have my legs uncovered like I was only wearing underwear. I never really considered that girls must feel pretty exposed whenever they wear a swimsuit like this.

On a real toddler girl, it would have been a cute swimsuit.

On me…

“Done!” She said a moment later, happy with the braid she had tied.

She picked me up then and walked down to her bedroom, where she sat me on the bed. I watched as she found a bikini and sat it on a dresser. She began pulling off her shirt and shorts, revealing her underwear. I couldn’t help but feel aroused, watching as she took off her clothes. The swim diaper and suit made me feel horribly squished below where things ran out of space. Her nursing bra came off and fully exposed the breasts I had fondled so many times in college and now had nursed from. Soon she was completely nude while she pulled the swimsuit bottoms up her legs, and only then finally turned away from me. She was facing me again, though, as it seemed like she took forever to tie the bikini top closed. I squirmed more as the swimsuit and diaper were very painfully constricting!

It subsided slightly as I watched her carefully braid her hair and then place a swim cap on top of it.

“Mommy, how come I don’t have a cap?” I asked her after taking out the pacifier, I realized it was still in my mouth.

She laughed, “You’re a little girl; getting your hair wet in the pool is okay! You haven’t had it dyed or anything yet.”

“Yet…?”

She just shrugged and plopped the pacifier back into my mouth, “It might be nice for you to match Mommy? The judge said I could have your hair styled…”

I glared at her, but it did no good. She picked me up and carried me out to the backyard and through the protective fence to the pool area. A few tall umbrellas outside were open, extending shade around them. On one end was a large outdoor kitchen covered by an awning and a bar that looked appropriate for hosting a large party.

The themed pool’s waterfall cascaded downward, and I figured it must have had a thirty-foot drop to the main pool. It appeared deep enough to dive from, and a diving board was cleverly hidden the more I stared at the feature. ‘Cliff diving into a home pool… Not something I would do even if I wasn’t being treated like a baby!’ I thought to myself. ‘Stacy would have been crazy for it,’ I admitted. ‘That girl was part fish…’ I smiled as I thought about her arguing with Fred and Amanda that she was a ‘dolphin, not a fish!’

I noted that the pool was extra deep in that spot, marked six meters there. The large pool looked to come up to one meter at the shallow end, looking at the markings. It was a huge pool!

I refocused on my surroundings as Addy placed folded pool towels on one of the covered chairs. “Come here, baby; we have to put sunscreen on you!”

I sighed as she began liberally spraying sunscreen on me and then herself. ‘I hope this is a high-quality sunscreen,’ I thought, playing with the odd straps, ‘These tan lines could be really embarrassing…’

While she was doing it to herself, it seemed to take longer, and I really just wanted to jump into the water… As much as I wanted to, I decided waiting for her was probably a better idea. I did pop the pacifier out onto the towel as it seemed like a bad idea to take it into the pool to me. I couldn’t help but note that her overprotective mommy self was popping out badly since she…

‘Since she nursed me!’ I thought with an epiphany. ‘I forgot that they bond more with the Littles they nurse too…’

I looked at her and just hoped I was wrong about that. The last thing the plan needed was an overly maternal participant… ‘even though that would probably help since she’d defend me like a mother bear...’

“Mommy, may I get in?”

“Wait for me; I know you liked the water before and are in a hurry!”

I sighed as she fidgeted more with her swim cap and pulled a watch off. I found myself readjusting one of the straps on my shoulder then. The suit must have been too big because it wanted to slide off my shoulder. The bottom was giving me a weird wedgie, but the swim diaper prevented me from being too bothered by it now that things had calmed down there. I heard the camera click and looked to see her with her phone out.

“No pictures…” I whined.

“Yes, pictures! All sorts of pictures! We might even have to get some good baby pictures made this next week!”

I groaned, “Can we just get in the water now?”

She laughed as she put her phone in a holster that she dropped around her neck. A second later, she picked me up and hopped into the pool with me.

“Aah!” I said, not expecting that!

She smiled and let me bob in the water. The buoyancy pieces on the suit were more than enough to hold me up but not quite as cumbersome as a life vest would have been. I still found myself treading in the water out of normal instinct.

The pool itself was the perfect warm temperature to feel good! It must have been a saltwater pool because it had a lovely silky feeling to the water, and it didn’t seem as harsh as many pools I’d swam in over the years. I knew it was nicer and ridiculously more expensive with the thematic elements than Amanda and Fred’s. I sighed again, desperately hoping that Amanda had some ideas... or maybe Stacy could help somehow from her home dimension.

After a while, I let go of my worries and forced myself to just enjoy the sensation of floating since I hadn’t been swimming in a couple months. I didn’t notice that Addison pulled out her phone again and took a few more pictures for a while. “Really?!?” I complained.

“Really!” She said and swam over to me. She said, “Selfie time!” She took one of us together and said, “No, you have to smile!”

“Do I have to?”

“I can always tickle you? Or find other ways of torture?”

“Fine!” I said and smiled.

“Not like that, like this!” She said, making a face that I could see in the camera.

We must have spent five minutes with her trying to get a bunch of faces out of me. I knew that all of these would probably end up on the social media accounts she’d blocked me from years ago! ‘Look at my new baby! You probably recognize her!’

She finally let up, and I swam to the other side of the pool by the waterfall area. I noticed she took a couple more pictures from the distance of me underneath the dripping falls before she sat her phone down on the wall we had entered and swam over to me.

“Please tell me you haven’t really lost your mind?” I asked her.

“What does my wittle baby princess mean?” She asked me with a serious face.

‘Oh shit…’

Then she burst out laughing! “Okay, I’m not going to lie - I am having fun with this - but no - I haven’t lost my mind.”

I sighed in relief, “You have had me really worried,” I told her.

“Well, with Mindy around, I have to be careful. I don’t know if you were conked out from the milk, but she clearly implied my mom is watching us.”

“I heard,” I told her. “She also implicitly threatened me on behalf of your mom… And to make it worse, now I’m going to a daycare tomorrow that your mom picked?”

She sighed, “Well, she did give me three choices… this was the best of the bunch.”

“How bad?”

“Well, at least it’s not robot caretakers?”

I gulped.
 
 

Chapter 41: Rings
 

WE STAYED IN the falls, our designated ‘time-out’ spot, for just a few minutes before returning to the other part of the pool. The two of us just lazily floated around for a while before she decided it was time to go inside for dinner. “Let’s get you into a dry outfit, and then we’ll get some din-din in your wittle tummy!”

She tickled my side again while we walked inside. The walk upstairs didn’t take long, and I was soon dressed in a simple t-shirt dress and a new diaper. “Why don’t you stay here while Mommy goes and gets dressed really quick?” She suggested.

I sighed but nodded.

I explored the room more, looking at the toys spread about the shelves and the floor. There were a few Littles-based learning toys that might offer a small amount of challenge to play. Most of the ones I recognized tended to be designed to educate or entertain someone who had struggled through their high school coursework. Many Littles knew the fate coming and didn’t care about school work from middle school onward since math wasn’t exactly complicated when you were just pooping diapers and crawling around on a floor. For these toys, Math problems might be at the Pre-Calc or Algebra level for the math learning toys on the advanced level settings. Spelling toys might ask you to spell words that would be easy college test words… Others might involve some games that might give you a little team challenge as a video game. Over the years, I’d heard some weren’t too bad, but there was far too much danger in ever holding one – even at my slightly tall height, it would have been like inviting a mommy to come and claim me!

Some building blocks were placed in some tubs. Still, they were the big ones meant to be too big to fit inside a baby’s mouth, not the small ones you could do really cool things by building designs and sculptures with. I found a shelf of coloring books and some paper I guessed I could draw with when I was truly bored.

And then there was the dollhouse, and probably a dozen baby dolls spread about of different sizes that ranged from the dollhouse size up to an actual newborn Amazon size. I picked one of them up and looked at it momentarily, not even understanding what a kid did with them. Truthfully like most Littles, I had avoided holding onto any toys too long growing up in a vain attempt to be seen as bigger than I was. I turned to one last portion of the room and a giant net that I hadn’t really looked at the contents of so far. It was filled with a ton of stuffed plush animals. One, in particular, stood out to me as I got closer to it.

It had four black legs, then a lighter brownish-red fur above it on the torso. The creature’s muzzle was white with a cute little black nose and a splotchy brown and white face around its eyes. The ears were white in front and black on the back, and it had a ringed tail alternating with brownish red fur, then a darker brown, and then black on the final ring at the end of it.

I tried to think of what the creature was called? I couldn’t help but pick it up and stroke its very soft fur out of curiosity while I did so.

It was so very soft!

I was just thinking I should put it down again when I heard the click of a digital shutter and realized I had an audience. I sat the creature down hurriedly and looked up to glare at my assailant. “No pictures…” I whined.

“Yes, pictures!” she said as she came and knelt next to where I stood. She grabbed the stuffed animal and said, “Did you make a new friend?”

I shook my head, “Just looking,” I said.

She wasn’t convinced, “What’s its name?”

“Name?”

“You have to name your stuffies and your dolls; it’s in the little girl rulebook.”

“I’m not… I don’t…”

She brought it closer to me and handed it into my arms. I instinctively took it and hugged it, “What’s its name?”

“I don’t even remember what it’s supposed to be? I was looking at it because of that.”

She laughed, “It’s a red panda; isn’t it adorable?”

I nodded, “She’s soft too…”

“So, it’s a she?”

I shrugged, “She looks like a ‘she’…”

“Hmm… we’ll have to both think of a name tonight! Let’s take her downstairs to dinner so you can cuddle with her…”

“We don’t…” I started to say, but she already had me on her hip as I awkwardly hoped she wasn’t dropping me as off balance as I felt. I squeezed the animal tight, though; something was comforting in that juvenile act.

She squeezed me tightly, “Let’s go get some din-din!”

I sighed and endured the walk downstairs to the table. As Addison buckled me in, she took the animal from me, and I said, “Rings?”

“Rings?”

“Name!” I said, “Does it work?”

She laughed, “She’s your stuffie sweetie. I think Rings works very well, though, like her little tail, huh?”

I blushed but nodded.

“Rings it is.” She returned the stuffed animal to me, “You can snuggle with her while Mommy gets your din-din on a plate.”

I blushed some more but took her and found myself squeezing her while Addison went about the kitchen. I rested my chin on her body as her legs fell below my left arm, and her head rested above my elbow. There was something genuinely comforting about holding her. Even though it wasn’t alive, it felt like I was cuddling some kind of large cat or something.

A childish plastic plate was brought out again. I watched Addison mutilate a piece of tasty-looking lasagna with a knife. She placed a larger whole piece on a glass plate and put both on the table in front of her. The high chair I was in suddenly was pulled closer to her on the wheels it was on, and she took and placed Rings on the table out of reach. I sat still as a bib was placed around my neck, expecting she would put the plate on the tray. Instead, it stayed next to her. I looked inquisitively at her but didn’t say anything, knowing something was up.

The reason became clear as she started scooping up a bite with her fork from my plate and brought it to my mouth, “Open up the hangar, Princess!”

I stared at the fork for a second before sighing and opening up.

The meal was one of the most embarrassing I could imagine, short of being spoon-fed baby food! ‘It’s almost pureed with as much as she cut it…’ I griped. She made it into my mouth most of the time, but I swore she intentionally missed a half-dozen times, smearing it onto my cheeks and chin. She’d then reach down and pick the bib up occasionally and wipe my face with it, complaining about the ‘messy baby.’

I honestly couldn’t decide if it was more or less mortifying that Addison was the one pretending to be my mommy here!

When the plates were cleared, she attacked me with a baby wipe and handed me the stuffie, “Here’s your cute Rings back!”

I blushed but squeezed her as she lifted me from the high chair and placed me on the ground. She reached for something on the table and said, “Here’s your baba too - why don’t you finish the juice in there while Mommy finishes cleaning up?”

She didn’t do much but put the dishes in the sink, knowing that Mindy would take care of washing the dishes the next day. I was just watching her rinse things when I felt the urge to pee come as I finished the bottle. With a sigh, I let go into the padding, knowing full well that it would be my only option here. Addison noticed I had finished the bottle and immediately replaced it with a pacifier. “It’s a lot later than I thought it was. We need to get you a bath and then get you in bed. You have a long day at daycare tomorrow!”

I shook my head, “It’s not that late?”

She smirked, “For a baby, it is! And that’s all you are now, isn’t it?” She picked me up and tickled my side lightly.

“Stop tickling me…” I complained.

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll…”

“You’ll what…?”

“I’ll pee…?”.

“Oh no, another diapee to change? Oh, the humanity?” She exclaimed as she walked into my bedroom, dropped me on my bed, and attacked me with her fingers longer than I ever remembered being tickled. I felt like my senses were utterly overloaded as I did pee out what little was left in my bladder and giggled uncontrollably!

“Stop…” I cried out, dropping the pacifier from my mouth.

“Oh, all right,” She said, letting me catch my breath.

“You’re mean,” I told her.

“I know,” she smiled. Right on the bed, she pulled the dress off my head and tossed it into the hamper. I blushed, wearing only the diaper then, as she carried me inside the bathroom that I guessed I would probably only be visiting for baths.

She closed the door and sat me on top of the closed toilet. I watched her start the water flowing into the tub, “Shower?” I asked hopefully.

“Nope, you take baths now, sweetie. You’re much too little now for showers.”

“Not that little…” I complained.

“Oh? And how big are you?” She asked with a smile. “You’re much shorter than Mommy?”

I groaned, “You’re just really tall!”

“And you have a diaper on, huh?”

“You put it on me…”

“And it’s wet, huh?”

“You tickled me…”

“It was dry before that?”

I sighed and shook my head, “No…”

“And who wet their diapee?”

“Me,” I said softly.

“Who else wets diapees?”

I shrugged.

“Babies, maybe?” She smiled as she added some bubbles, “But that’s okay, because little Cammie is my cute little baby who is far too little for showers now, but just the perfect size for her mommy to give a bubble bath!”

Without warning, she reached and pulled the tabs open on my diaper and stood me up. She manhandled me gently but held me in front of her to look at my butt before picking me up and setting me into the tub. The water was probably higher than a real mother would ever use with their baby. Still, I appreciated the chest-high water and a pile of bubbles, as at least it hid my reaction to her humiliating treatment of me. I had no idea why I was having that reaction, but I jolted as I couldn’t deny that a part of me did like this side of Addison.

I sat still as she loosened the braid in my hair. A moment later, I jumped as a plastic water container was dumped on my head, “Eek!” I complained.

“Oh, stop being a drama queen, Princess; we just need to wash this hair out since we haven’t done that since you got here!”

“Warn me next time,” I grumbled.

“Here it comes!” She said as she was dumping it again.

I just sighed and spit out a hair that fell into my mouth. Addison began massaging in some baby shampoo then, and I had to admit the touch felt good. I’d been so isolated from people since Beth’s disappearance kicked off the worst years of my life. ‘This really is the worst of it, though, losing my freedom,’ I thought.

‘Could be worse,’ I reminded myself as she dumped more water to rinse the shampoo. I squirmed as she began using a washcloth all over my body to scrub me. She finished my legs and held my foot up over the water. I giggled as it tickled.

“Oh, how is it? I never realized how ticklish you were before?” She said as she held my foot.

I looked at her worriedly.

She laughed, “I don’t want to be splashed; you’re probably safest in the tub!”

I gulped. ‘Can I stay in the tub forever…?’

“Sit up, sweetie,” she told me a moment later, “put your back towards me,” she added as she turned me. That was when the washcloth got way more up close and personal than I realized it would. My butt was the target, and I squirmed as she embarrassingly clawed at whatever bits might be there.

“All clean!” She exclaimed a moment later and began draining the tub.

After drying me off, she carried me to the changing table and placed a diaper down underneath me. I was surprised when she turned me over face down and began rubbing me down with some sort of lavender oil.

I began utterly mortified by my nakedness.

After a few moments, though, I decided it was the most heavenly massage she had ever given me! She must have massaged my back, legs, and neck for thirty minutes before doing the same with my front, hands, and feet.

I felt pretty sleepy as she wiped her hands clean with a baby wipe and taped a new diaper on my butt. She wrapped me in a light blanket before she lifted me up and walked to the rocking chair. “One last set of nummies before bed!” she said softly.

I looked up at her sleepily and realized I was truly going down the rabbit hole of being a breastfed Little. She pulled her shirt off and over her head this time and removed her bra, leaving herself completely naked from the top up. Years ago, this was when the foreplay would begin and lead to something downstairs… and I could feel my reaction to that possibility still going on.

She shifted me in her arms and moved the blanket so our skin made contact. Her nipple was within reach, and I thought honestly about refusing for a moment...

After all, I’d managed the willpower to not nurse from her for years after that first hit!

My memory of years ago and of early that day, though, got to me. I couldn’t resist latching on and beginning to nurse the amazing liquid from within her breasts. She moaned with some pleasure even as I couldn’t help but feel amazingly relaxed, comfortable, and connected with her then. I used my tongue to help depress her nipple, and she shuddered underneath me. I was too far gone to even think about her sexually right then.

Between the massage, the swimming, the stress, and the milk, I was out like a light.

 
 

Chapter 42: Bunnies
 

I KICKED MY legs back and forth nervously in the car seat that I was strapped into since there was nothing else to do. ‘I look ridiculous!’ I complained to myself for the hundredth time since I’d been dressed that morning by Addison.

Honestly, I didn’t really have much of an expectation of looking like a grown-up, obviously. Still, I swore that Addison must have chosen the most babyish and girly outfit in the closet! She called it a playsuit when she put me into it, but it was pretty much a puffy onesie like the bubble outfit the day before. With the scrunched-up ruffled cuffs on my legs and a ruffled collar, created in this light pink color that was most definitely meant for only baby girls to wear… I played around with the tiny bow trapped underneath the seat buckle for a second before returning to my view of the window that I could barely see out of. I tightly hugged Rings a bit closer to me to deal with the stress.

I knew without a doubt that for Littles, the LAST thing you wanted was to be sent to daycare. It was sure to be even worse for me as a Mid! If I was a small Little, my outfit wouldn’t be that far out of the ordinary, but a Mid would never have a reason to be this babied unless they really ‘needed’ it.

I was even more nervous because this was one of three daycares suggested by her mom. She claimed this was the best of the bunch, with an all-human staff, a low staff-to-student ratio, and supposedly an excellent facility with plenty of play equipment… It was, unfortunately, a mix of Littles and Big Children at the facility, and that was probably going to be its own problem, depending on how they segregated the kids.

Addison had told me a little about the place as she started driving. It sounded like a very large daycare that housed nearly five-hundred Birth to Six-Year-Old babies and kids in a combined Daycare, Preschool, and Pre-Kindergarten facility. From what she had found out, it seemed like a little over half of the ‘students’ were Littles. ‘Now at least one Mid…’ I thought morosely.

It seemed like the car ride both took forever, and it wasn’t long enough before she pulled to a stop and came to my door. She carried a pink diaper bag on her shoulder covered in butterflies for me. I had watched her load half a package of diapers, spare outfits, pacifiers, and more that morning. On top of that, she had another lunch bag cooler that I blushed at seeing six bottles of breast milk placed inside and a stack of frozen milk pouches. “Now, Mommy isn’t going to necessarily be leaving you there every day, but we need to make sure you have plenty of Mommy’s milk!” She had said to me with Mindy staring over our shoulders. Neither of us doubted that her mom was seriously watching her through Mindy and the cameras, so she was being cautious. I was also shocked by how quickly she’d generated that much milk!

Addison undid the latch on my car seat harness, picked me up, and placed me on her hip. Other parents were also taking their kids in. Still, I noticed that every one my size and taller was walking in on their own and, at most, holding a parent’s hand… and here I was being carried in like one of the smaller babies!

I could feel my pigtailed hair bobbing up and down as she carried me inside a building that worked hard to seem warm and inviting from the outside. It was a modern-looking school-type building that could easily have been an elementary school instead of a daycare. A large fountain outside the building made out of baby blocks spelled ‘Changing Tikes,’ the place’s name. As Addison carried me past there, a couple of older looking Big children looked at me, pointed, and giggled to each other. I just hoped I was nowhere near them during the school day! Bigs learned to bully those smaller than them at a young age!

I was carried through the main entrance door, and Addison walked to a reception desk.

“Hi, may I help you?” a woman in a long flowy colorful dress asked.

“Yes, I’m here to drop off my baby girl. It’s her first day?”

“Oh, how exciting!” The woman cooed, “First days are my specialty!” She waved at me, “We’ll have such a good time together here!”

Addison bounced me in her arms for a second, “We’re hoping so. We may not be back every day – my maternity leave should technically still be going on – but my mom wants me back at the company… so…”

The woman made a face, “That’s criminal, you know… mom or not?”

Addison shrugged, “They really do need me, so yeah. It may be a day here and there, or I may have to leave her here normally. I’m not sure yet.”

“Well, let’s get her checked in here. What’s this beautiful baby girl’s name?”

“Can you be a big girl and tell her, sweetie?” Addison asked me.

I almost said ‘Cameron…’ but stopped myself. Today would be bad enough being dressed as a little girl when they figured that out. “Cammie Harris,” I told her.

“What a big girl!!!” The woman squealed at me.

I just blushed and leaned into Addison. “So, it says on her registration forms, and I can see her diapee there, it’s obvious that she’s not yet potty trained. That means she’ll be in one of our toddler classes. They’re normally for babies up to thirty-six months unless they need some extra time to figure out the potty like this cute little princess!” She smiled again and pressed a few buttons on her screen. “Now, she’s in diapees now, but do you see yourself trying to potty-train her anytime soon? Bigger Littles like her can usually make it to the potty most of the time if they’re trained and well reminded?”

“Oh no, she’s much too little to be potty trained. I mean... I might try again with her in a few years, but she happily sits in her pee and poo-filled diapers. I also think her bottom is so much cuter like this, too,” she told her.

Addison and I had talked about this during our timeout moment. As much as I didn’t want to keep using diapers, if I was wearing them, it wasn’t a Maturosis strike in court if I used them. A baby in diapers could hardly be expected to not use them, right? If I wore a Pull-Up, any mistakes would be ‘accidents.’ At the daycare especially, I knew it would be likely the workers would play mind games with me, spike my food, and do all sorts of other things I’d learned of happening to clients and friends. I wouldn’t earn that strike by being ‘mature’ and accepting my fate.

At least, that’s what I hoped.

“Very good! Well, since she’s not a potty trainer, I’m not going to bother putting her in one of the older rooms with potties in them.”

“You have different rooms within the toddler groups?”

“Oh yes! About twenty percent of our toddlers are fully potty-trained, and another twenty percent are exploring potty training. Sixty percent are the Littles and Babies who aren’t yet ready… We keep them in classrooms with extra staff and changing tables. The extra staff rotates between rooms to help change their diapers. They must be fully potty-trained to move onto our Preschool or Pre-K groups.”

“That seems very prudent!”

“We think so…” She smiled. “Now we’re going to put your baby girl in Miss Crystal’s room since she only has fourteen toddlers right now, fifteen with this pretty girl! Miss Kristin is the assistant in that room, and I know Cammie here will love both of them as much as they’ll love her!”

“I’m glad to hear that!” Addison said and looked at me, “Aren’t you excited? You get to play all day today and make new friends!”

“Yay,” I said half-enthusiastically.

“Oh, we’ll work on getting her more excited than that!” She smiled at me. “Now, Mommy, I’ve just sent Miss Crystal a message that she has a new student and is on her way up. Before we do the hand-off, why don’t you look at this screen and confirm your choices on discipline, food, and therapies we offer?”

‘Therapies?’ I wondered nervously. ‘I just want to make it out of this with my mind not completely mush and my body not altered…’

“I can hold Cammie for a minute while you check it!” she said to her. “Come here, baby girl! You look so pretty!” She traded me for the tablet the girl offered while the receptionist cooed at me. “Your stuffie is soo cute! What’s its name?”

“Rings,” I said softly around my pacifier.

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“Girl,” I told her.

“Do you know what kind of animal it is?”

“Red Panda?” I said to her.

“Wow! What a smart baby girl!”

She cooed at me for a moment before Addison said, “I marked a few things out. Please note that nothing physical can be harmed or changed on her due to a court order. It’s preventing us from taking away the surprise in her diaper too. As soon as the custody dispute is settled, we’ll take care of that.”

I squirmed at that casual discussion of the fact I was being forcibly crossdressed right then. I didn’t have time to dwell on it, though.

“Well, hello there!” A tall brown-haired woman said to me. I looked closely at her and saw a name badge with ‘Crystal James – Teacher’ on it. Her plump face was filled with a genuine smile that looked friendly enough. “I hear I’m getting a brand-new student!”

I nervously looked at Addison, who still left me in the receptionist’s arms.

“I heard that she’s a special furry student?” I realized she was looking at the panda. “What’s her name again?”

“Oh, her name is Rings!” the receptionist said with a smile. “But that’s not the new student, silly; that’s her stuffie! This beautiful princess is your new student!” She said, bouncing me up and down.

I wanted to groan – I probably would have if I wasn’t so terrified! The woman wasn’t as tall as Addison but was perhaps only a foot shorter than her like my Grandma Suzy had been, so she was still nearly double my height!

“What a silly mistake I made! What’s your name, baby girl?”

I blushed at that but said, “Cammie.”

“Well, if you’re Cammie, you must be Cammie’s Mommy?”

“I’m Addison; nice to meet you,” she said. “We’re both a little nervous, of course,” Addison said.

“Totally normal! We’ll take very good care of this pretty little princess!” I watched as she gathered my diaper bag and the milk bag.

“Did you hear that?” Addison said, looking at me, “You’re going to be in good hands! Now give Mommy a hug and a kiss, and then it’s time for you to go play with Miss Crystal!”

She came closer, kissed me on the forehead and nose, squeezed me tight, and then watched as I passed to my new jailer. “Wave bye-bye to Mommy!” She actually grabbed my hand and made me wave to her before turning down to leave the facility. “Now, I always like to give my big baby girls a special tour!” she smiled as we went.

“There are two main hallways to your new daycare. If I walked down the other one with you, I probably wouldn’t be carrying you because that one’s only for Big Boys and Girls who don’t need that! This hallway we’re walking through to your classroom is on the baby side of the school for all of our wittle babies that aren’t big enough to use the potty quite yet!”

She carried me down a corridor that reminded me design-wise of an elementary school, with inset doors for classrooms at regular intervals. I saw some ‘Toddler’ signs on doors, and everywhere was painted with vividly colored scenes appropriate for a daycare. I saw a few other workers taking ‘kids’ and real babies back and forth down the hallway. I was the only one being carried, it seemed…

“And over here, we have our wing’s nurse’s office in case you get a little sicky with a tummy ache,” she said with a smile. I shuddered at the thought of going to a ‘nurse’ here, given what happened to Littles, who visited them in my high school!

Each room seemed to have a baby animal as its theme, which reminded me of Wenig Hall at Emerson. ‘They probably have a lot of staff and teachers that went there since we’re in the same city.’ I thought.

I felt my stomach turn a bit at that!

“Since you’re a big girl and can walk just fine, you get to be a big girl in our toddler class! If you were littler and couldn’t do anything but crawl, you’d be in the next few rooms,” she said, motioning with her head down the hall. I could see the decorations became even more babyish – if that was possible – the further down the hallway you went. “And, of course, all the way down is where our tiny infant babies, who can’t even crawl yet, are taken good care of! I’ll show you the cafeteria and other play areas later, but let’s meet all your new friends!”

She had stopped in the hallway to point out those things, and now I was turned with her body to a door that said, ‘Miss Crystal and Miss Kristin’s Bunnies’ on top of the door. Obviously, our animal was the bunny… They were everywhere on the door, shown munching on carrots, hopping through a field, and other playful images. I noticed that every single bunny had a diaper on in the pictures. ‘Well, obviously, we’re babies…’ I griped.

She opened the door, and the first thing that overtook me was the smell. It was a mixture of baby powder, poop, urine, bleach, and deodorizers attempting to control it. The room was carpeted in a short pile, with alternating carpet tile squares in bright primary colors and a massive round rug in the middle covered in bunnies and flowers. The walls carried the bunny theme all around, with the diapers being comically thick on the bunnies over by three changing tables in a corner. One blonde-haired woman had her back turned to us as she was changing the diaper of a ba… man. “Now wittle Mikey, I know what must be your problem! You must be all stuffed up, lucky that Mommy left us with a special tool for that, huh!”

I caught just a glimpse of his face of horror as she began shoving a suppository up his ass. The squirm and sounds told me he would have been screaming without the pacifier locked into his mouth. “Let’s put your stuff right here, Princess!” she said, pointing to a cubby out of reach of most of the room’s other occupants. I could reach if I wanted to, but I did not want to get into it. “Let’s leave Rings right here, okay?”

She pulled her from my grasp, and I mentally smacked myself for wanting her back so badly!

She noticed my look, “It’s okay, sweetie, we’ll have nap time, and you can have her back then to cuddle!” She bounced me up and down, and I saw another eleven occupants spread about the room. Most of them were playing in two areas right then with dolls or trucks, depending on their gender. I noticed one genuine baby was playing with a toy off to the side, perfectly content with that. I saw a mixture of Bigs and Littles and a couple I wasn’t entirely sure of which they were.

Miss Crystal walked around the room with me, showing me the dress-up corner, the toy wall, the story time area with three rocking chairs for the adults, and art supplies, and even pointed to their teacher’s desks next to a fridge and a counter filled with bottle warmers. The woman changing the one Little had just finished up, so she walked over there and checked my diaper.

“What a big girl you are with that dry diaper!” she cooed at me as she walked over. “Probably thirsty, huh?” she added, “I’ll get you a bottle after circle time!”

“Miss Kristin, I’d like you to meet our newest adorable Bunny Princess!”

As the woman turned, Miss Crystal said, “This is Baby Cammie!”

The face in front of me wasn’t that of a stranger… It was a girl I had gone to high school with! Ten years ago, I had last seen her pushing around the stroller with my friend Tyler dressed as a baby girl she’d renamed Trinity and let her have it.

‘Shit!’
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia

In-Between Chapters 42 and 43 by Sofia Hammerstein

Cameron Sylvester has grown up always hoping he'll live up to the heritage of his mother's family height. She was a ten-foot-tall Big, after all, and his father was a tall Mid, which meant it shouldn't have been a question that he would grow out of the Little category of height early on. A bright student, he's been at the top of his class in science and math throughout his academic career! Looking toward his high school graduation and towards college, he's received scholarships to attend Emerson University. it's a question of inches if he'll be left to the fate of being a Little with a limited future or manage to make a future as a short 'Betweener.' Even as a Betweener, the question remains to be seen if he can be a normal adult or if he'll be left 'In-Between.'  (A Tale from the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: In-Between © 2020-2026 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.
 

I was getting ready to post this chapter and realized I had mistakenly skipped posting the actual chapter 41. I had posted Chapter 40 and 42. I've inserted it into the last post, if you want to go catch it. It introduces a very important 'character' that will come back in this story and a future work.

 
 

Chapter 43: Circle Time
 

I LOOKED IN horror at Kristin Guilford but tried to keep my face passive. ‘Maybe she won’t recognize me…’ I had to hope. My arm was once again waved at someone as she said, “Can you be a big girl and say ‘Hi’ to Miss Kristin?”

“Hi, Miss Kristin,” I forced out.

“Well, ‘hi’ to you too, Cammie. I love your outfit! Your mommy dressed you so pretty for your first day of daycare, huh?”

I dumbly nodded, hoping to escape her as soon as possible. To my horror, I was passed over to her, “I need to call the office for something. Would you please introduce her to the Clark sisters since they’re sitting next to Bella and Gracie? They’ll be good girls for her to start playing with.”

“Will do!”

She held me securely, and I needed to pee from my nerves being so bad. I’d seen what she had done with Tyler and found out he had been grabbed immediately after our graduation ceremony… A Big that does that straight after high school was usually one of the worst ones to watch out for! Knowing it wasn’t like I had a reason to hold it, I let it out into the diaper.

Her hand must have warmed as she sat me down; she asked, “Aww… did you make pee-pees in your diapee like a good girl?” Her fingers squeezed the padding in front before patting my backside gently, “What a good girl! I can see why your mommy had you come to our room instead of a silly Preschool room. Just not ready to be a big girl, huh?”

I looked at her and shook my head lightly, “No, Miss Kristin.”

She smiled, “You’re going to do just fine here!” I noticed then she had sat me down next to four other ‘baby girls’ who were playing with baby dolls. “Girls, this is Cammie. Can you all tell her what your name is?”

“I’m Layla!” A genuine little girl said with a smile. She seemed a bit big to be in the toddler room and was dressed identically to the girl next to her, who she grabbed in a hug, “Dis is baby sistah, Sammy!”

Another girl next to Layla was a genuine baby, too, “I’m Bella!” She shouted.

“Inside voices, remember Bella?”

“I’m Gracie!” The other ‘girl’ that sat there said with a giggle that matched the two genuine babies. Her age definitely didn’t fit, though! While her hair was blonde, it was clearly dyed because I could see some gray roots showing. The wrinkles on her face were not something you saw on a young woman either, and I guessed she was probably at least two decades older than me.

“Play nicely with Cammie,” Kristin told them as she sat me on the rug. “Here’s a baby doll for you to play with, too,” she said as she handed me a cloth-covered doll.

I took it from her, “Thanks Miss Kristin,” I forced myself to say.

“Oh, what a polite big girl we have!” She squealed, patted my head, then walked away.

“You’re new, but you at least have a brain,” Gracie said.

“Umm… Thanks?”

She giggled… it was disconcerting to hear that from someone her age. “You’d be amazed how many can’t figure that out. Taylor over there just got adopted. She fights tooth and nail on everything.” She indicated with her head a shorter Little, probably about four-and-a-half feet tall. She had her brown hair tied into pigtails, giant obnoxious bows tied on each, and a ‘dress’ that barely covered her swollen diaper. I noted she had one of those damn locking pacifiers in her mouth, mittens on her hands, and a tear-filled face that looked miserable.

“What did she do?”

“Made Kristin mad… Didn’t like the suppository she was being given and managed to kick her in the boob.” The woman looked at me, “Wasn’t a good idea... I wouldn’t recommend doing that, especially given you’re going to stand out in this room being so big.”

I nodded, “I kind of figured.”

“How long you been adopted?” the girl, Sammy, asked me.

Looking over at her chunkier form, I figured she probably weighed as much as I did but was about nine inches shorter. “Three days…?”

“You’re newer than I am!” she replied. “How come your mommy isn’t at home taking care of you? She should have plenty of maternity leave?”

The disconnect between her romper, obvious diaper, and our conversation was significant.

“Her mommy wants her back at work today…” I replied.

“Oh… Rich mommy?” Gracie asked.

I nodded, “Yes… unfortunately.”

Layla shoved me before they could ask me anything more, “Play!”

Surprised by the shove, I watched her sister say, “Layla, you can’t push people! Mommy said no to that!”

“You baby, play!” Layla said to me.

Gracie nodded toward the doll and asked, “What do you want to play, Layla?”

She looked happy with that question, beginning to talk in words I could barely understand half of. She was just ‘teaching’ me how to push my baby in a stroller when she bent her knees and grunted. I could smell the diaper instantly, but she didn’t seem to care. Her sister Sammy sighed, stood up, and went into the same crouch. I watched as she grunted much more than her sister but was just as smelly.

I watched as she sat in it, and her sister grunted a bit more. Her friend Bella suddenly went to another group to play, while Layla looked like she was done and wanted to sit down like her sister did. Miss Crystal came by right then, though.

She made a show of sniffing, “Uh-oh, I smell a poopy pants!” She picked me up in the air, sniffed me, grabbed my diaper, and said, “It’s not this one.” She smiled and sat me down. I watched as she checked Gracie, who was also wet, and then the two sisters. She checked Sammy first, “A little poopy, but I know you can wait until your change. I’ll make sure your mommy knows you were a good girl in your diapee!”

I was surprised when she sat her right back down on the mess instead of taking her to change, “Must be you, huh?” she said as she tickled Layla. “Yep, you stinky!” She held her up and tickled her on the way to a changing table.

“What just happened?” I asked before thinking.

Sammy sighed, “What just happened is I was adopted in the hopes that my mommy could show my sister how to be a big girl. She hasn’t shown any interest in potty training, so she thought she needed a sister to show her the way… Anytime she has a poopy diaper, I have to have one to make her feel better about herself...”

“Why…?”

“Bigs are crazy?” She replied.

“No, I mean, why…?”

“Why didn’t she change her too?” Gracie asked, running a brush through her doll’s hair. “You want to potty-train a Big, so they change them right away. No sense in them sitting in it and learning to like the feeling of their messy diaper. A Little will never grow up, so there is no reason to change us immediately.”

I squirmed at that information. “How long…?” I asked.

She smirked, “Better get used to that one soon, baby boy… I mean, baby girl. What’s the story there?”

I sighed, “I had a choice; regressed, teeth, walking, as a boy, or be a ‘big girl’ and in Pull-Ups.”

“Wrong room for Pull-Ups?” she said to me.

“My procedure was stopped at the last minute by the courts.”

She looked at me more warily, “Why does some court care about you?”

I smiled, “I have friends…”

“Well, I doubt you get out of those wet diapees anytime soon, but I wish you luck. I’ve been in various daycares in diapers now for twenty-eight years… had a couple years as a big adult girl working a nice job, I guess. Still, now I know I’ll be in them until they put me in a grave.”

I was about to respond to that horrible truth when I heard, “Time to clean up, boys and girls! It’s circle time!”

Another lady appeared right then and came over to where we sat with Kristin, “Can you be big girls and help Miss Erin put away your dollies? Then you can show little Cammie what we all do for Circle Time?”

I nodded numbly at the treatment I knew was only just beginning. It was like herding cats as the three women gathered all fifteen of us up into a circle around the perimeter of the large floor rug. The two teachers and Miss Erin spread about the ring, and I found myself sitting on a colored carpet circle right next to Miss Crystal.

“Good morning, everyone!”

“Good morning, Miss Crystal!” All the voices except mine and the two Littles with pacifiers stuck in their mouths replied enthusiastically.

“Oh, we can do better than that, can’t we, Cammie?” She called me out. “Let’s try that again, class! Good morning everyone!” She said even more cheerily.

“Good morning, Miss Crystal,” I joined in to avoid further embarrassment.

“Now, class, today we have a new student; this is Cammie!” She said, leaning over and hugging me with one arm. “Everyone say, ‘Hi, Cammie!’”

I heard everyone respond to varying degrees. Several of the genuine babies seemed actually happy to see a new face. Most of the Littles were either faking enthusiasm or numbly following along.

“Now, since Cammie is new, we’ll have to teach her all about what we bunnies do, huh?” She said as I watched her smiling face. “So, first, let’s teach her our good morning song! Everyone, stand up!”

She sang all the lyrics, but Kristin and Miss Erin jumped in with an echo part we were supposed to say.

Good morning, good morning.

How are you today?

Good morning, good morning.

I’m happy; let’s play.

I felt a poke at my side from Gracie when I didn’t join in on the second one and figured I should at least try to join in. Like an elementary kid in the choir who didn’t know the song, I tried to do my best. Fortunately, she did that first set of lines twice, so I could sing the second time.

Stretch up, stretch down.

Spin your head, turn around.

Move your shoulders up and down.

Stretch your arms and turn around.

She and the other teachers led us in the stretches, and obviously, they were intended to get the wiggles out of the genuine little ones. For my part, I felt things crackle as I did them since I was not exactly the picture of someone exercising recently! They moved back into the chorus twice, which I had figured out by then.
 

Good morning, good morning.

How are you today?

Good morning, good morning.

I’m happy; let’s play.
 

“Yeah, let’s play!” she and the other teachers clapped and set off the actual babies, and then the Littles followed along. “What a great little singer you are, Cammie!” She said as she had everyone sit down.

“Thanks,” I blushed and knew I wasn’t!

“Now that we’ve said good morning, let’s all introduce ourselves!” she said with a smile. “Say your name and whether you’re a boy or a girl!” She smiled at me.

‘Bitch…’ I thought to myself. ‘Likely if I were to answer truthfully, I’d get in trouble… if I say I’m a girl, it’ll be another thing…’

She started, “My name is Miss Crystal, and I am a Girl!”

She nudged the girl next to her, who was a genuine toddler, “My name is Emma, and I am a girl!”

The next girl was the one who had been playing by herself, “Olivia, can you say your name?” Miss Kristin asked her.

“Livia,” she said.

“And she’s just a cute wittle girl, huh?” Miss Crystal said and reached over to tickle her. On and on it went as I was introduced to the seven Big toddlers, seven Littles, which was now made up of nine girls if you included me, and six boys.

Finally, it returned to me, “Can you finish it off?” Miss Crystal asked me.

I debated but decided both options sucked; one would probably result in more punishment. “Hi, my name is Cammie, and I am a… girl.” I managed to get out.

“And what a good little girl too!” She said with a smile to me and hugged me again.

I had no idea how long we were sitting in the circle singing songs, playing little games, clapping and jumping on command, learning our days of the week, making faces on how we felt, and more before she finally said, “Okay, boys and girls! It’s snack time now! Let’s line up, and Miss Kristin will give you your snack!”

I realized one of them had gotten up and begun heating up bottles and things while we were doing ‘circle time.’ I waited my turn in line and went pee in the diaper again. “Oh, let’s see what you get, Cammie,” Kristin said as she looked at a tablet. “Looks like you’re still a special baby girl who gets her mommy’s special milk, huh?”

I dumbly nodded as she handed me the large bottle that had been warmed, knowing by the label that it was mine. Everyone was sitting at some short tables in one corner of the room eating grapes, cheerios, or other snack foods, or most of the Littles and little Olivia were lying on the carpet drinking their bottles. I found myself a place next to a girl named Taylor, who looked to be about twenty. I looked at the bottle for a moment, and she said, “It sucks, doesn’t it,” in a quiet voice.

I nodded, “Yeah, it does… How long for you?”

“Two months… I volunteered when I was about to demerit out from Emerson.” She motioned to stick the bottle in her mouth, and I followed suit but didn’t start drinking right away.

“Why don’t you make yourself more comfy and lie down?” Miss Crystal said to me as she pushed me down. “After that, baba, we’ll see about changing you into a new diapee too.”

I nodded and tentatively took a suckle from the bottle. This was the first time I had Addison’s milk outside of directly nursing it from her. To my delight, it tasted the same, even though the temperature wasn’t quite right. Now that I had the taste on my tongue, I couldn’t help but nurse faster on the bottle. As I did so, I needed to pee some more and could feel another growing need.

I was kind of groggy as I began sucking at an empty bottle. I tilted it a couple ways trying to get more out, and Miss Crystal noticed. “Aww… did you need more milk?”

I just stared at her and shrugged.

“I’ll get you another bottle later, sweetie, you’re clearly new to it, but I’m surprised you’re still awake with that much. Your mommy sent you a big bottle!”

She tickled my stomach then and said, “Why don’t you walk over to the story time corner with everyone else? Miss Kristin is going to tell you all a story!”

I sighed but stood up and let her take my bottle from me. I saw a few pillows spread about the area and walked towards one. I was about to sit down and prop myself on it when I felt the urge build again. Taking a peek at poor Mikee with his locking pacifier and very stinky diaper, I decided holding it wasn’t a good idea. I assumed the squat position that seemed necessary for me to go and pushed.

I blushed as I realized at least ten pairs of eyes were watching me as I pushed a huge load into the diaper. I could feel it curl and begin to squish against my skin as it ran out of space before the thick padding. When I was done, I panted a little bit and looked up to see the biggest boy other than me, Lucas, say, “Cammie stinks; she poopied!”

“Yes, she did, huh?” She approached him instead of me, “She’s a stinky baby, just like you, huh?” She tickled him and carried him to the circle, “We’ll change both of your stinky butts after storytime. Sit down, crisscross applesauce, boys and girls!”

‘I hate her…’ I thought as I sat down in the mess. I could feel it ooze around my bottom, and the stickiness of it and knowing what it was, made it all the worse!

‘Why isn’t she changing him? Didn’t Gracie say they changed Bigs normally right away?’ As Kristin opened up the storybook she was using, I took a better look at Lucas. He was the oldest of any of the actual babies in the room, probably well over four if I had to guess. Then I remembered kids had to be potty-trained to go to Preschool. ‘Why is he here…?’

Kristin held up a book and began telling a story about a butterfly… Her storytelling impressed me, but that didn’t change my fear of her or that Addison’s milk was beginning to strike me.

I switched from sitting to lying down and must have fallen asleep midway through the story.

 
 

Chapter 44: Tag!
 

I WOKE UP, being carried by Kristin to the changing table. One look at her face that close scared me, and I involuntarily squirmed. “Shhh… It’s okay, baby,” she cooed at me. “You took a nice nap during story time; we just need to change your poopy pants now.”

‘I fell asleep with shit in my diaper?’ I worried. The breastmilk hadn’t made me lose my continence so far, but it still seemed to have the sedative effect I knew most Littles dealt with. Looking around the room, I could see more of the genuine babies up and moving than the Littles. ‘I wonder if it’s because every Little had a bottle full of their mommy’s milk…?’

“Here, suck on your paci,” she told me and inserted what I hoped was one of my ordinary pacifiers that she clipped onto my outfit. “This is such an adorable outfit!” She said to me quietly as she laid me on the table, “Your mommy has great tastes! If you were just a bit younger, I’d set up some play dates with my Littles. You’re much too big for them, though.”

I just stared at her sleepily, hoping no communication was the safest thing. She took a strap and went across my chest before saying, “Your mommy said you don’t need extra restraints. Is that true?”

“I’m a good girl, Miss Kristin,” I said, “I don’t move…”

“Well, we’ll see, won’t we!”

There was a gleam in her eye that was slightly different, and I was getting more nervous about being under her care then. My gut reaction was that as sweet as she pretended to be at times, she was one of the ‘bad’ ones. Especially given what I’d seen happen to Tyler…

‘Of course, I’m in his situation now…’ I sighed as she undid the crotch snaps of the outfit and gave the pacifier a suck. ‘I never really saw the point in these before, but as long as they’re not the expanding ones, they’re not terrible…’ I thought as she pushed the outfit up to my armpits and began tickling me.

“Stop…” I cried around the pacifier while giggling.

“Shh…” She told me. “I’ll have to remember you’re a loud giggler.”

I sat still as she gathered gloves and placed them on her hands. A diaper from my diaper bag sat beside me, and she tore the tapes off of the diaper. “Wow! What a big stinky from such a pretty little girl!” She cooed. “Most new kids have to have help to use their diapees here, but you just pooped like a champ right away! Good girl!”

I genuinely believed she thought my pooping this diaper was the height of my success in life right then, and it made me want to scream. ‘Just bide your time…’ I reminded myself.

“Guess we have a little surprise in your diaper, huh?” She whispered in my ear before shoving my legs back to my face.

When Addison had done this, she had been very gentle; with Kristin, she just shoved, and my back popped as she pushed. ‘Great, the last thing I need is a broken back…’ I thought.

“Oh baby, you must not be stretching enough! We’ll work on that later!”

‘What does that mean?’ I wondered.

She used several wipes on my butt before returning and placing the new diaper underneath me. She dropped another wipe on top of my genitals while gathering some baby lotion and spreading it on my body. It was a very babyish scent that was calming, but I hoped it was the stuff from my bag, not something with regressive qualities.

She seemed to spend some extra time pushing it into places I wasn’t comfortable being touched, and I wondered what was the line where I could get her on assault? ‘I’ve never really explored that case law that deeply,’ I admitted. What cases I could think of probably would be in her favor as she would say she was just caring for the baby… Unfortunately, her attention had me standing at attention as she went to put the new diaper on.

“Aww… does someone have a little crush on me?” she teased.

Suddenly I felt pain as she flicked my part hard with her fingers, and it went down as I cried, “Oww!”

“Don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll get used to me… or your mommy will take care of things. I need to read your file during lunch and figure out your story. Was this your choice to be a little girl, and your mommy is helping you become the little princess you’ve always wanted to be?”

I shook my head.

“Ah, so punished then?”

I shook my head, “Not really…?”

“Well, we’ll see what it says. Keep in mind lying to me is not a good thing.”

“I made Grandma mad,” I told her. “Mommy adopted me instead of me going to an orphanage like the judge wanted.”

“That’s so sweet! But that sounds like you were bad, doesn’t it?” I shook my head, “Well, we’ll see if that’s the truth, huh?”

She snapped the crotch of the playsuit closed again and made sure the ruffles on the leg cuffs were just right. Her actions sent weird signals to my brain, making it more challenging to deal with her ‘care.’ Fortunately, there were others to change, so I was soon off to be with my fellow inmates.

I noticed a few of them had gotten toys out, but most of the Littles had just found a nice comfy spot to sit down. I understood why a moment later when one of those ridiculous ropes with rings on it was brought out. I felt my stomach twist as I thought of the times I’d seen Beth, Meg, Laura, and all of the Littles I’d known being pulled along one of those. Now I would be too…

“Come on, Cammie, let’s grab a ring!” Bella said to me helpfully. At less than three years of age, she was only eight inches shorter than me! She successfully pulled me to the loop, and I grabbed onto one of the rings, wondering how much snot and other nasty things had been on it since they had sterilized it last…

“Okay, class, let’s go outside and play!” she said.

‘Oh…’ I thought to myself. Kristin held the front ring, while it looked like Miss Crystal had the back ring, with all fifteen of us walking between them. ‘This feels like it might be one of the most humiliating things yet…’ They led us past the crawler and infant rooms she’d pointed out down the hallway and turned left at the end into a shorter hallway that led outside.

I found myself in a large outdoor playground with at least another class or two of toddlers present. Many toddler swings, see-saws, slides, sand, and playhouse areas seemed to be set up. “Now, all of you go have fun and play!” Miss Crystal said. When we stopped at a certain point, the others released the rings.

“Come on!” Gracie said in an excited voice that seemed very wrong for her age.

She led me to a play structure with a slide, a little covered area, a set of steering wheels, and a tic-tac-toe rolling board. “So…” she said as she directed me to start a game with her. “What exactly is your connection to Kristin?”

“Connection?”

“I saw the look in your eyes when you saw her? I could also see you shaking as she changed you. Don’t blame you on that; she’s the worst here…”

I shrugged, “I went to high school with her?”

“Oh… that hasn’t happened to me in a while, but it did some when I was younger. Those adults make the worst babysitters…”

I sighed, “It’s going to be worse than that when she figures it out.”

“Why?”

“Well, the last time I saw her was in the mall back home about ten years ago. She was pushing a stroller that held a friend of mine, who used to be a boy but was in a dress and a diaper… I might have told her what I thought of her.”

She giggled, “This may be the best drama I’ve seen in a few years. Talk about irony,” she said, motioning to the clothes. “What’s with the getup anyway?”

I sighed, “My ‘mommy’ is obsessed with bubble rompers? I really don’t know. She decided if she dressed me more babyish, I might get picked on less?”

“Not a terrible plan.”

“So… like, what do you do all day here?”

She sighed, “Play ‘baby?’”

“You’re not regressed, though?”

“Most of us here aren’t in the toddler room. Occasionally, we’ll have to mix with a crawler group for something – they’re much more regressed. And, of course, the infant rooms are the worst…”

“Anyone in the preschool rooms?”

She nodded, “I think there’s like sixty Littles in the preschool rooms and two or three in the Pre-K rooms. We only see them during lunches, so it’s hard to say for certain. The ones that are in the preschool rooms don’t usually stay there.”

“Down here?”

She nodded, “Demotion to diapers or Pull-Ups means back to toddler classes. That even happens to the Big children, who are more stubborn. That’s what happened to Lucas.”

“He’s an inch taller than me and almost as heavy, I’m guessing… I can’t believe he’s a toddler?”

She shook her head, “He’s about four-and-a-half. He came back to our class last week after messing a couple Pull-Ups. They made a big deal about telling him he was back to being in the baby classes… Must have really strict parents; they usually at least put those kids in the potty-training rooms.”

I nodded at that.

“Psst, teachers are coming!” I heard a whisper. Immediately after, a hand touched me, “Tag, you’re it!”

Gracie started running away.

“No fair!” I said and began running after her. Somehow in an instant, a game of tag was started to apparently cover up our adult conversation. By the end of our playtime, I learned that there were some specific rules to deal with the Bigs in charge, including never being busted for being ‘too big for our diapers.’ I also figured out that across the four classes that were out in our recess time, Gracie was the ‘old woman in charge’ of the Littles. It seemed kind of like she was a gang leader in a prison… They seemed to both respect and fear her, and I could see staying on good terms with her was a winning proposition.

Eventually, we heard some whistles, and I could tell they wanted us to return to line up. Many of the Littles were regressed entirely, but more were helping their actual toddler ‘friends’ get back there. ‘So, Littles help these daycare workers out…?’ I couldn’t help but think. ‘Enslaved babies doing free labor!’ I shook my head.

I noticed it wasn’t all of them, though. Taylor, the girl in mittens that morning, was pouting and grabbing onto the ring already on the line. She’d been let out of the mittens apparently for good behavior. Still, the locking pacifier looked to be back in place. Thinking about her pacifier made me remember that I let mine drop on the leash earlier, so I put it back into my mouth as I approached. Bigs always seemed to like Littles, who used them without complaints. ‘A Little is better seen than heard…’ I remember someone once telling a kid in my high school geometry class. That teacher had brought a pacifier from home and used it on the poor girl who was yelled at for whispering to her friend instead of listening to her.

I soon found myself being led back to our room, where we were all taken to a pair of sinks and had our hands washed by one of the two teachers. ‘Can’t even wash our own hands now?’ I thought as Miss Crystal rubbed soap on my hands and held them in the water. Once everyone’s hands were washed, we lined up at the three changing tables for diaper checks. I stood in the line as a couple were stinky and changed, but everyone else was lined up on the rope line and taken to the cafeteria.

It was an odd cafeteria… I should have expected it to be like a school with nearly five-hundred ‘students’ in this daycare. Half of it reminded me of an elementary cafeteria with low round tables around long rectangular tables that folded up. Depending on their classes, I could see the ‘big’ kids were over there in their Pull-Ups and big kid pants. We were led instead to the other side of the room, which seemed intended for the kids in need of high chairs still. There were rows of these arc tables with four plastic kids’ seats inset into them. Miss Crystal surprised me when she suddenly picked me up, sat me down inside one of the spots, and then used a black nylon seat belt to buckle me in. Layla ended up next to me and her sister on the other side of her. With two of the tables put together, it made a half-circle of up to eight kids that each teacher needed to watch. My group was supervised by Miss Crystal, who placed down trays in front of us with some chicken nuggets, fries, and peas.

I made a face at the peas and definitely planned to eat them last until I caught a gesture from Gracie, who was eating them first. I made a face, but she mouthed, ‘Eat them first’ pretty emphatically.

I sighed, knowing that someone like that was worth listening to. I used the little spork spoon to put a few peas on and started eating them. I made a face after eating a spoonful. They were mushy, bland, and... just disgusting! I wasn’t stupid, though, so I kept forcing them in.

Right then, I discovered why it was a good idea.

“Taylor, sweetie, eat your peas!” Kristin told her.

“Miss Kristin, they’re yucky!”

“Taylor, you need to eat your peas,” I could hear a warning tone in her voice.

“No, they’re nasty and overcooked!” Taylor said.

I saw Gracie shake her head.

“Well, maybe you’re just not ready for big girl peas yet?” Kristin said. “I’ll be right back!” I saw she took a plate that still had half the nuggets and fries on it.

I watched curiously as Kristin walked over to a countertop area on the side and messed around momentarily before returning. Soon it was like watching a train wreck as she put a bib on her and began feeding her a jar of pureed peas. “Open up for the airplane!”

Poor Taylor tried everything to avoid eating them, but Kristin held her nose until she opened her mouth. As Taylor inevitably opened her mouth to breathe, she aggressively shoved a spoonful in. The dam broke then as the poor woman cried and accepted mouthful after mouthful of the disgusting puree. I definitely appreciated the nuggets and fries way more after that! Even though they were missing sauce and soggy, at least they were solid!

By the time I’d returned to the room, I had used my diaper a couple times between the playground and lunch, so I figured I’d get a change like everyone else. When I got to the front of Kristin’s line, though, she felt my diaper and said, “Oh, Sweetie, you’re good to go; definitely don’t need a change yet! Your diaper can hold a lot more pee-pee than that!”

I looked at her in disbelief, sure it was about to the leaking point. Then, she leaned over, “I thought you looked familiar, but it wasn’t until I read your record that I figured it out! Cameron, I see no reason to change the diaper of someone who decided to call me a bitch. Funny how someone who judged me about getting my perfect baby girl is now one himself, huh?”

I was speechless and nervous about what else she might do to me.

She patted me on the diaper and said, “Make sure you get your special baba from Miss Crystal before naptime!”

My mouth opened around the pacifier to speak out, but my brain kicked in, and I turned to go over to get that bottle. “May I please have my bottle?” I asked her.

“Oh, such a polite big girl with your questions!” Miss Crystal said to me. “How about we try it the bunny way, though! Just say, ‘Baba pwease.’”

‘So, grammar is supposed to go…’ I sighed, “Baba, pwease, Miss Crystal.”

“How could I ever say no to those beautiful eyes?” She handed me the bottle with my name and said, “Miss Jenny, would you find that new nap mat for our new baby girl?”

I followed her to the floor and realized they must have pushed some extra staff over there to help prepare for nap time. A fourth woman was helping out, a bit shorter than the other Bigs; she was still probably ten feet tall. She was a rather large woman in different ways, though, and the hug she gave me as she showed me the foldable nap mat felt like it would crush me. “Now, there you go! Do you have a stuffie in your cubby?”

I nodded, “Yes.”

“Let me get it for you…” she said, reappearing with Rings a moment later. “Here you go; what’s its name?”

“Her name is Rings,” I told her.

She smiled, “Cute!” She spread out a blanket I recognized that Addison had packed that morning on top of me a minute later and said, “Now drink your baba and close your eyes!”

Knowing there was no other option that didn’t probably land me in the crawler room in a crib, I pulled out the pacifier and put in the nipple of the bottle. I took a sip. ‘This doesn’t taste the same,’ I thought. I took another sip, ‘did this go bad…?’

I opened my eyes and saw Kristin smirking at me.

‘Shit!’ I thought. I debated telling someone the bottle tasted off, but I figured it wouldn’t kill me – and it probably wouldn’t be optional if I stopped drinking it. Instead, I gave her a ‘kiss my ass’ glare and nursed it, knowing I would not like the effects on my body of whatever she had put inside it!
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a few times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. The full novel is complete (65 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though!

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $5.99 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $9.99 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia