Laura sucked on the pacifier that had been stuck in her mouth, craving some form of comfort in her current situation. She was strapped into a car seat, wearing a diaper, and in some stranger’s car. Every now and then as they drove, the mother looked at Laura in the rearview mirror and smiled at her.
Abruptly, Laura felt warmth spread from her crotch. At the soft hiss coming from Laura, Timmy looked over. He poked Laura’s diaper. It squished.
“Mommy, this baby peed!” he announced. Laura sniffed, tears pricking the corners of her eyes at the humiliation.
“That’s what babies do, Timmy,” the mother said calmly. Tears began to stream down Laura’s face. She spat out the pacifier and began to wail, finally breaking down. Timmy leaned away from her, upset by the volume of her tantrum. After what felt like an hour to Laura, but was really only about five minutes, the burst of upset energy faded and she slumped, exhausted.
Her eyes slowly closed.
“Mommy, she’s wet!”
“Babies are wet sometimes, Timmy.” Laura opened her eyes. To her horror, she was still a baby, and still in the custody of a complete stranger. Even worse, she was flat on her back and completely naked. “Oh, someone woke up,” the mother cooed, tickling Laura’s stomach. Laura fussed and squirmed, desperately trying to get out of the situation. “Now, let’s not have any of that. I need to wipe this pee off you before I can put you in a clean diaper.”
At this, Laura realized that she was laying on a changing table and the mother was in the process of putting her into a new diaper. She looked over. Off to the side was a thoroughly yellowed diaper. Laura began to cry again.
“I said, none of that.” The mother popped Laura’s pink pacifier into her mouth. Laura suckled on it without meaning to. She cringed at mentally referring to the pacifier as hers. For the rest of the diaper change, she was on her best behavior. The mother finished taping the new diaper on and then picked her up. “There! Good as new!”
“Mommy, can I name her?” asked Timmy, who had been standing by his mother, watching Laura get changed. The mother chuckled.
“No, you can’t. Your father and I came up with a name ourselves.” Dread built in Laura’s gut. This woman intended on keeping her and raising her as her own daughter. “Go help your father with dinner while I feed the baby.” Timmy ran out of the room. The mother sat down on a chair and gently placed Laura, clad only in a diaper, on her lap.
“You probably have a lot of questions and can’t ask them,” the mother said softly. “I saw what happened to you, I know you’re not truly a baby. But right now, I have to treat you like one.”
“You slept for a very long time earlier. Long enough that I managed to find out why you turned into a baby. My husband – he’s very smart, he’s a lawyer – tracked down the source of those dice you were holding. The owner of the shop gladly took the dice back, but said he couldn’t fix you.”
Laura squirmed. She wasn’t sure whether she believe this lady or not. She’d said she wanted a baby girl, it would make since if the mother hadn’t actually asked to have Laura returned to her proper age.
“We found out a bit more about you,” the mother said, adjusting her hold due to Laura moving around. “Apparently you were an adult named Laura. Well, now you’re a baby named Lara. Yes, I know, you don’t want a new name. But Lara was the name my husband and I had wanted to use on a little girl, and it turned out to be close to your old name, so we changed it.” Laura’s stomach rumbled. “Oh, right. The whole reason I sat down was to feed you. Sorry about that, it’s been a while since I’ve done this.”
Laura dreaded what she meant by “done this”. Her dread built as the mother lifted her shirt and bra. The mother gently guided Laura’s head towards her breast. Laura fought against it, desperate to avoid being breastfed. It was no use, however. When Laura was placed appropriately, instinct took over and she began to suckle. Creamy milk filled her stomach.
“Timmy is my only child, so you might be curious as to how I’m breastfeeding you right now,” the mother said idly. “The man running the magic shop couldn’t fix you, but he could make you my baby. So he did just that. And my wonderful, wonderful husband, he convinced the owner that you should still be breastfeeding, since he remembered how much I enjoyed doing it when Timmy was this young.” The mother switched Laura to her other breast.
“I’m telling you all this not to panic you, but to help you adjust. You’re my daughter now. You need to accept it.” Laura was removed from the mother’s breast and gently burped. “What a good girl.” The mother brought Laura over to the changing table again and slipped a dress over her head. “Oh, how cute!” She picked Laura up. “Time to go say hi to your new daddy, Lara!”