“He said a couple things,” the employee says. “The first one is that the cure for regression takes a while to make. Bare minimum, a week.” Laura’s stomach churns. “The second thing is that he won’t be back from his vacation for another month.”
“A month?!” Chad shouts.
“More like five weeks. A month for the boss to get back, a week for him to whip up the cure.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do until then?” Chad demands. “I have a job and a girlfriend!”
“The boss gave me permission to take care of that.”
“How?” Laura asks.
“Well, you’ve got a few options. The first is that I arrange for someone you already know to take care of you while you’re this young, but they won’t know who you really are. The second is that someone you already know takes care of you, knowing who you really are. The third is that I drop the both of you off with someone that regularly watches people in your situation for the boss.”
“That doesn’t solve the problem of us disappearing for five weeks,” Chad grumbles.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve got that handled. No matter what choice you go with, starting as of now, no one thinks you’re missing. They think you’re off on an important trip.”
“How you do that?” Laura asks. The employee winks at her.
“Magic,” he replies. Laura smiles. Chad stomps his foot, frustrated.
“This is unacceptable!” he screeches. The employee sighs and walks back to the counter. “I refuse to put my life on hold for five weeks! Bring him back, now, and make him cure me immediately!” The employee returns carrying a spray bottle.
“This is your first and only warning,” the employee says tiredly. “Stop throwing a temper tantrum or you won’t like what happens.”
“No!” Chad screams. “I’m a busy and important man, I can’t-” The employee sprays Chad. With a poof, the upset toddler is replaced by a baby in a pink dress with pigtails. The employee looks down at the bottle.
“Dammit, I grabbed the regressing and gender changing one, not just the regressing one,” the employee mumbles. He sighs. “Oh well. This just means your cure will take a bit longer to make.” He looks at Laura. “Don’t worry, I won’t do that to you. You’ve been very well-behaved.”
“I worried about the dice,” Laura says. The employee shakes his head.
“No need. I took care of that while you were sleeping earlier. They aren’t bonded with you anymore. You won’t get any younger.”
“What happen to Chad?”
“Well, he no longer gets to choose who takes care of him while he’s young. Or rather, she no longer gets to choose.” The employee smirks. “She’ll be taken care of by the person the boss has watch regressed people. By the way, he and his wife are magic, and they’ll breastfeed anyone young enough to need it. Apparently, it’s very embarrassing.” Laura grins a bit at that.
“I get to choose?”
“Yeah. You get to choose what happens with you.” The employee raises an eyebrow. “So?”