Even as he asked, he knew the answer. He didn't require confirmation. His now grown brother had asked one of the hottest girls in high school to babysit him.
Standing in his crib, Tanner glanced down at the pull-ups. He'd managed to stay dry overnight, but the Peter Pan cartoon figure on them just reminded him of his big changes. Was he now being forced to be the boy who never grew up?
He looked at his rounded tummy and then glanced up at Derrick. "Could I have a shirt?"
"Why do you need a shirt?" Derrick asked. "Toddlers like you are fine in just their pull-ups."
"But I don't want Katie to see me like this!" Tanner wrapped his little fists around the slats in the crib. They looked like bars for a jail cell.
"Katie won't mind," Derrick said, just as the doorbell rang.
"Right on time." Derrick left his brother alone in the crib.
Tanner heard Derrick's new masculine voice greeting Katie, and he heard her familiar voice. He was surprised when the two walked into the room, Derrick's arm around Katie's shoulders, almost guiding her. Tanner had often dreamed of being that close to the shapely Katie. She wore her long brown hair tied back. A tight sweater and the angle of looking down into the crib emphasized one of the things he had always liked best about her.
As he looked up at her, he felt his tiny nub stiffen. Just being in her presence had given him an embarrassing boner. Fortunately, the bulky pull-ups enveloped the tiny boner, quite concealing it from view.
"Aren't you a cute little baby?" Katie cooed at him.
Tanner felt the color rise on his cheeks. "I'm not a baby!"
Katie laughed. "Of course not. You must be this many..." She held up two fingers. "Is that right?"
When his brother stayed silent, Derrick urged, "Answer her, Tanner."
Tanner blushed more furiously when Derrick said his name, but Katie displayed no reaction to the name.
"He must be shy," she decided.
Tanner was confused. Shouldn't she wonder what had happened to Derrick's older brother, also named Tanner? For that matter, why didn't she find it strange that Derrick, the former eight-year-old she had often babysat for, was now practically an adult?
Katie looked around the well-equipped room. She saw a changing table, a shelf loaded with stuffed animals, and other items suitable for a two-year-old boy.
"Baby, why don't you grab us some sodas from the fridge?" Derrick suggested.
Katie smiled, but before she left the room, she shocked Tanner by kissing Derrick on the cheek. "This will be such fun!"
Derrick chuckled at Tanner's confused expression. "The Chronivac, little bro. I just made some slight adjustments to Katie's reality. She's now my girlfriend!"
Tanner felt the news like rocks in his stomach. Everything about the situation was now normal to her.
Before Tanner could discuss the situation, Katie returned. She gave Derrick his soda.
Then she reached down and picked up Tanner out of the crib. She swung his little legs over the rails and then cradled him against those breasts covered by her tight sweater.
"I bet he will be as good looking as you some day," she said to Derrick.
"Katie." Tanner said her name, but then stumbled, at a loss on how to proceed.
"Yes, baby?"
Tanner just stared at her with big, wide eyes.
"He should be fine," Derrick said. "Want to watch some TV?"
"Sure." Katie returned him to the crib.
They turned to leave, which was the last straw for Tanner.
"I want out!" Tanner shrieked.
His towering brother and Katie returned to the edge of the crib.
"Derrick, get me out!"
"Maybe we could take him with us," Derrick said unhappily.
"I know," Katie said. She had spied what she needed and grabbed the object. An instant later she popped something into Tanner's mouth.
"I bet some baby wanted his binky."
Tanner started to object loudly, but words were lost as he sucked on the pacifier.
MMMMhmmmm
"See? Works every time," Katie said to Derrick.
MMmmmUmmmm. Tanner tried to speak. He could just have pulled out the pacifier, but something about sucking on it helped relieve all of his stress. The sucking was actually both soothing and addictive.
"He'll be good for awhile," Katie predicted.