Before Laura can do anything, she hears footsteps behind her.
“Uh, what the…” a voice says slowly. Laura turns around. A teenaged boy, likely an employee, stands before her, frowning. “Little boy, what are you doing here?” Unsure of how a toddler would respond, Laura merely sucks loudly on the pacifier. “Hmm.” The employee walks away. Laura gets to her feet, but is unable to make a move by the time the employee returns with an adult.
“This boy was here when you walked in?” the adult asks. The teenager nods. “Huh.” The adult looks over at Laura. “Buddy, can you tell me your name?”
“…Leo,” Laura mumbles around the pacifier, quickly changing her name to be more masculine.
“Leo. Okay.” The adult employee picks Laura up. “Wow, you’re big for your age.” Laura stays silent. “Well, I suppose we can watch you for a bit, until we figure something out.” The adult employee carries Laura through the store and into the staffroom. A playpen is already set up in there; there must be an employee who has a child.
“There you go,” the adult employee says, setting Laura in the playpen. Laura is left alone in the staffroom. She looks around and spots a security camera in the corner. They must be keeping an eye on her that way. She won’t be able to escape just yet.
Laura sits in the playpen, sucking on the pacifier and hugging the security blanket, trying to play up her apparent age to whoever is watching from the security cameras. After about fifteen minutes, the door opens. A police officer walks in, along with the adult employee. Laura’s heart races. Is she about to be picked up by the police for being an abandoned toddler?
“I’m going to call my boss in a little bit, since he’s dropped off his cousin’s kids at the store before,” the adult employee says to the police officer.
“Has he done so before the store opened?”
“Yes.” The employee looks over at Laura. “But if you think he might actually be the girl you’re looking for, it won’t hurt for you to take a look at him.” Laura swallows nervously. This police officer is looking for “Alexis”, and her disguise isn’t as ironclad as she’d hoped.
She needs to hammer home the idea that she’s a toddler, not a kindergartener. But how?