Samantha's heart skips a beat as she hears the sound of a baby crying from the entrance. Her mind races with confusion and panic. She rushes out of the bathroom, her younger self forgotten in the chaos of the moment. Samantha's eyes widen as she sees a small six month old infant being carried into the house by one of the guests.
As soon as Samantha lays eyes on the baby, a strange sensation takes over her body. It feels as if time is unraveling and rewinding at an alarming speed. She clutches her head, unable to comprehend what is happening. In an instant, Samantha finds herself shrinking and suddenly surrounded by warm liquid in which she felt she was floating. She was in the womb! Quickly though, her sense of self starts dissipating--what is a womb? Is she a she?
"Mary, I'm so glad you and Petey could make it!"
"Diana, you're glowing!"
"Don't tell anyone, but Todd and I are expecting."
"Really? Congratulations! Which do you want, a boy or a girl?"
"I know Todd would never admit it, but I know he wishes this baby were a boy, but really, I want our first one to be a little girl," said Diana as she fingered the ring that had appeared on her finger as a sudden tingle bothered her from it--odd, it must have been static electricity or something.
"Well, whichever it turns out being, your baby will be a year younger than Petey when it's born, and we can start arranging play dates not long after that."
"That might be nice," said Diana.
"It is, trust me, just imagine we leave the kiddos in the play pen to get to know each other and then we sit down and talk over some coffee in the kitchen."
"Sounds like a great time."
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Samuel Todd Cartwright was born six months later to Diana and Todd Cartwright, unbeknownst to him that he'd been a middle aged woman a few months prior, let alone previously his mother's cousin. Now he was just learning about the world and slowly growing up. Years pass as Sammy grows older, becoming a toddler who learns to walk, talk, and is potty trained. He pals around with Pete, who Sammy looks up to almost like an older brother, given that their moms are constantly visiting one another. Just as Sammy enters preschool, Mommy has another baby, this one being a little girl named Emma Samantha Cartwright. Not long after Emmy is born, Emmy being how Sammy can say Emma at his young age, Daddy sits Sammy down and explains to Sammy what being a big brother means--that he has to protect Emmy when Mommy and Daddy can't. Sammy eagerly agrees to this--even though his three and a half year old mind can't completely comprehend what he is exactly agreeing to, but Daddy trusts and believes in him, and that's all that Sammy needs to make him feel happy at being Emmy's big brother.
That happy feeling, the summer before he's entering kindergarten is lost on him. Emmy is now toddling on her own and is big enough to reach the door knob and turn it to toddle into HIS room to play with HIS toys. She has her own toys, and yet she keeps breaking into HIS room to mess EVERYTHING up! So Sammy gets an idea to lock his bedroom door. It succeeds in keeping Emmy out, but then it also keeps him out too, and he gets an earful when Mommy gets home.
That lesson that his door won't always open however sends Emmy for a loop and soon she's trying Mommy and Daddy's room, and she climbs up onto Mommy's vanity and starts playing with her rings. She was about to swallow one when Sammy found her in the room. Luckily with a bit of prying he was able to get her and the ring away from each other--which of course sent Emmy into a crying fit that he had to try to calm her down from just before the babysitter came in and scolded him for making her cry. Sammy knowing he would have to wait to return Mommy's ring later, slipped it into his pocket and forgot about it until later that night when he was changing into his PJs to go to bed.
"It's so pretty... no wonder Emmy wanted it..." said Sammy as he marveled at the ring. Knowing he couldn't return it until morning, and not wanting to lose it, Sammy slipped the ring onto his thumb--the ring comically oversized for his small childish hands, and went to sleep.