Jess found herself absentmindedly rubbing her bump as she followed Macy down the aisle, her earlier panic being slowly overridden by a fog of comfort and a strange sense of purpose. Every step she took in the maternity outfit felt... natural. Familiar. Wrong and right all at once.
They passed racks of pastel onesies, soft blankets, and tiny shoes that looked like they’d barely fit on a doll. Macy held up a pair of matching pink and blue footies and grinned. "Oh my god, Jess, look at these! Do you think you’re having a girl or a boy?"
Jess blinked, the question slamming into her like a wave. “I… I don’t even know.” She clutched her belly, trying to think through the haze that seemed to wrap tighter around her mind with each passing minute. "Shouldn’t we… have ultrasounds? Doctors? I don’t remember—"
Macy giggled, already tossing the outfits into their cart. "You’re so forgetful today. Of course we’ve had our appointments. We both heard the heartbeats last week, remember? You cried."
"I… I did?" Jess asked, stunned.
Macy smiled, wrapping her arm around Jess's shoulder. "Yeah. You said it made everything feel real." She nudged her. "You really don’t remember any of that?"
Jess shook her head slowly. But even as she denied it, part of her started to remember—flashes of sitting in a warm clinic room, holding Macy’s hand, hearing the soft thump-thump of tiny hearts. She remembered feeling tears on her cheeks. But… had that really happened? Or was this memory being placed there somehow?
Her hand moved over her belly again. The bump was unmistakable now. And the more she touched it, the more real it felt. Her maternal instincts were growing stronger, thoughts shifting from confusion to a sudden worry: Am I eating enough? Should I be avoiding caffeine? Do I have the right vitamins at home?
Macy didn’t seem the least bit bothered. She was flipping through diaper bags now, gushing over ones with floral prints and little cartoon animals. “Do you want to match diaper bags?” she asked. “We could be that kind of mom friends!”
Jess laughed, despite herself. "Sure, Macy. Let’s match."
As they moved to the baby bottle section, Macy asked, “Have you thought about names yet? I’m thinking Lily if it’s a girl. Or maybe Oliver if it’s a boy.”
Jess blinked again. "No… not really." But even as she said it, a name popped into her head. Emily. She didn’t know where it came from, but it felt… right. She found herself smiling. “Maybe Emily.”
“Emily’s adorable!” Macy squealed. “Ohhh! What if both our babies are girls? Then they could be besties like us!”
Jess nodded, and her heart fluttered with unexpected warmth. Emily and Lily… best friends forever.
From a distance, Ryan and Billy were still watching. Billy leaned closer to the screen. “Dude… they really think they’re pregnant now?”
Ryan smirked, arms crossed. “Yep. I told you this thing could warp more than bodies. Mindset changes are just a few toggles away. They’ll live like this as long as we leave the flags active.”
Billy whistled. “That’s crazy. I almost feel bad.”
“Don’t. They’re happy,” Ryan replied, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Look at them. You ever seen anyone look more content than Jess does right now?”
Billy shrugged. “So what now? Do we… leave them like that? Or do something else?”
Ryan paused, watching the girls compare strollers and diapers. “I say… we push it a little further. Let’s see what kind of moms they’d really be.”
Billy raised a brow. “Like, actually make them act like moms? Take care of dolls? Think they’re living in the suburbs or something?”
“Exactly,” Ryan said. “Let’s give them the full stay-at-home mom experience. See what happens when they’re not just pregnant, but already mothers.”
He typed a new command into the device:
~Macy and Jess believe they already live together in a cozy suburban home. They each have a toddler at home with a nanny, with a husband at work, and are on a girls’ day out. Their mental states adjust accordingly—they feel like mature, responsible, loving mothers.~
He hovered over the enter key. “Ready?”
Billy nodded. “Let’s see what perfect little moms they become.”
Ryan hit Enter.