"Guyth?" Jacob watched Rick and James' dismay until his little heart could take it no longer. "Dere's somefing I gotta tell you."
"Can it wait?" Rick asked, frowning. "We gotta big pwobwem to deal wif heah."
"Well...ith because of what I hafta teww you dat we got dis pwobwem."
With that Jacob launched into his explanation of what the Chronivac was, how it'd come into his possession and even why he'd bought it in the first place. He handled the last revelation with some subtlety, framing it merely as a desire to be young again that'd gotten out of hand. The confusion evident on Rick and James' face turned to pure disbelief when he got to the part about the Chronivac creating this reality, when he described a world in which the office's regressed employees had never been turned into babies.
"...Jakey, I don' know what you're twying to do heah," Rick said, disapproval seeping into his babyish lsip, "but ith not hewping."
"I know ith hawd to bewieve," Jacob patiently continued. "But fink about it. Can you wemembah evah seeing a doctor for da viwus dat you fink made you widdle?"
Rick opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative, only to feel his frown deepen when he realized that he couldn't.
"James, do you wemembah how I wath howding da Chwonivac when you firtht thaw it?" James - who was still sucking on his pacifier - gave the slightest of nods. "Dat was wight aftah da Chwonivac tuwned me an' Wick an' Dave an' Kwis into babies - after it made it so dat we fink weah supposta be babieth. Somefing went wong an' I twied to fix it, but I could'n do it in time."
"So..." Rick's disbelief took on a tinge of pain. "In da weal wowld, weah stiww gwown-ups? Doth dat mean dat...you an' I awen't...?"
Jacob nodded sadly. Rick's troubled eyes fell to the blankie laying between his pudgy thighs.
"I fought I could keep fings wike dis 'cause of how gweat it is - not jutht for me, but for you an' Dave an' Kwis too." He gave James an apologetic look. "But now I know dat we gotta may fings nowmaw again. I'm weawwy, weawwy sowwy about what I did. Can you fowgive me?"
Rick and James looked at one another, the silence between them so long and so heavy that Jacob felt all but swallowed by it. When both babies nodded and gave him the tiniest of smiles, it was akin to surfacing after nearly being drowned.
"Okay," Jacob grinned. "We gotta get da Chwonivac back, whith meanth dat - "
The first step of his plan was interrupted by a long, squeaky fart that sang from James' corner of the crib, the flush returning to his cheeks as he spit out his pacifier and started trying to climb to his feet.
"I gotta go to da baffwoom," he whimpered. His blush was only deepened by hearing his two-year-old chirp for the first time, to say nothing of the difficulty he encountered in doing something as simple as standing. Not yet used to his chubby legs - nor the super-thick diaper that spread them apart - James found himself wobbling about for a few seconds before he grabbed the bars of the crib and used them to help him pull himself to his feet. With some caution he released his grip on those bars and started fumbling with the lock on the latch, growing clearly upset at the uselessness of his stubby little baby fingers.
"What're you doing?" Rick asked.
"I jutht thaid dat I gotta go to da baffwoom," James snapped as he banged a tiny fist against the lock in frustration. "Aw you gonna hewp or what?"
"Jameth..." Jacob - with some difficulty - stood and put a hand on James' shoulder. "You can' go out dere. If you do, Marco will cath you - an' den you'll hafta do it in fwont of him."
"Do what?" James' eyes widened when all he got in response - from both Jacob and Rick - were sympathetic frowns. "No. No way. I'm not gonna - "
His declaration was interrupted by a second fart, this one much more pressing than the last. Tears came to James' eyes as his pressed his hands against his wobbly tummy and bounced from foot to foot.
"I caaaaaaaaan't!" He wailed. "I can't uth my dipuh! I'm not a baby! I'm not!"
Jacob was at a loss, heart breaking at the sight of his toddlerized boss so distraught about being forced into such an infantile act. It occurred to him that the transformation might not have rid James of the hearty adult dinner that he had eaten earlier in the evening, meaning that there was far more in the toddler's tummy at the moment than there was meant to be. He had no idea what to do - until Rick took James' other side, a warm smile on his lips as he gently pushed away the whimpering baby's hands and started rubbing his rumbling tummy.
"Ith okay, Jameth," Rick murmured. "You're not a baby. Ith da man inside dat counts, wemembah? You'll stiww be a man, even if you uth your dipuh."
"Dat's right," Jacob chirped, following Rick's lead. He donned his own encouraging smile as he rubbed James' back, tracing small circles with his pudgy little hand. "We won't may fun of you or anyfing wike dat. You'we stiww big gwown-up Jameth, no matter what you do."
"But - " James seemed determined to fight the inevitable until he was hit by the most intense cramp yet. When he looked at his friends again, it was with shimmering eyes and a quivering lower lip. "...what do I do?"
"Jus' don' fight it." Rick cooed. "Aw you gotta do ith gwab da cwib...good, just wike dat...squat down a widdle...an' den push."
James quivered all over as he reluctantly followed Rick's instructions, doing so as Jacob marveled at the situation before him - all three of them toddlers with two of them encouraging the third to fill his diaper. He only had a moment to do so, however, as it was not a second after he squatted that James - with a grunt and a squeal - closed his eyes, dug his teeth into his lip, and started pushing a massive load into the seat of his Pampers. The two of them whispered little words of encouragement and continued rubbing as James did the deed, though neither could completely take their eyes away from the magnitude of the mess he was was making, at the diaper's rapid, crinkling expansion beneath the sudden weight being shoved into it. A telltale hiss pierced the air a few seconds into the process, the front of James' diaper rapidly yellowing as it was dragged further and further from his chubby hips.
Finally - just as the tapes seemed ready to snap - James gasped and straightened up, losing his balance and falling right back onto his wet, messy bottom. He did not cry at the audible squish, did not so much as whimper at the feeling of sitting in the mess he had made for himself. All James did was curl up on the crib's mattress, jam his thumb in his mouth and start sucking away at it with an infant's need, his eyes glassy as he lay there in his completely devastated diaper. Jacob and Rick looked at one another with concern - not only for the well-being of their friend but also for whether they'd be able to get the Chronivac back without him.