Chapter Six:

I was plopped down in a car seat. Not a custom-sized adult car seat - just a normal one. Abe was taking all this a little too seriously, if you asked me. But the guy in the passenger's seat pointed the video camera back at me, so I giggled and kicked my feet. Betsy drove. I knew I'd be a little girl full time, all week long, but beyond that, I was kept out of the loop. So when we pulled up outside a hotel and Betsy lifted me up in her arms like an actual child, I was a little taken aback. We were outside. Like, out in public. Oh, I didn't like this...

I followed and took pictures, because that's what I did, but I stayed back from the spectacle that was unfolding. In public, an adult grown woman, in a diaper and a cute top, bonnet around her pretty hair, being carried by another woman and filmed nonetheless. How safe was this? I wanted to think that Abe had planned it out, arranged it in advance, but the look on the receptionist’s face said he didn't.

"Hello there," Betsy set Leona down on the receptionist’s counter and smiled, charmingly, "there's a room under the name of Scott Productions?"

I made sure to capture some things that probably wouldn't make the final cut: anxiety, trepidation, nervously kicking her feet and trying not to look at anybody who stared. I felt so damn protective over her.

I did NOT sign up for this! I scanned the room for Abe, frustrated and humiliated, but he was nowhere to be found. He couldn't use this footage anyway! If anybody found out where I lived, he'd have a lot more to worry about than a lawsuit. Betsy grabbed the key from the receptionist and we boarded the elevator - her, me, the single camera-man, and Jackie. Right after the doors closed, I kicked Betsy until she dropped me down on my shoeless feet.

"Are you kidding me?! Do you honestly think that was professional?!"

"Well now who's got a little temper now, mm?" Betsy smiled knowingly.

I was about to step in, honestly! Like, Leona was upset, how dare she make fun of her like that!

"The footage of you probably won't be used at all. Mr. Scott simply thought to film up until the camera crew finishes up for the day. He's quite frugal."

"And by that you mean he's a tightass prickly dragon hoarding his precious dragongolds, right?" My contemptuous remark actually made Leona look like she might laugh, and that was worth it. She was so cute.

The elevator doors opened to an empty hallway and the smile faded from my lips. I looked right and left before stepping out, but Betsy pushed me forward all the same.

"It has nothing to do with the damn camera," I snapped, as the four of us made our way down the hall toward the door that matched our keycard. "You had no right to take me into that lobby dressed like this. You know that, right? Fuck, you're dense."

"You should get used to it, for the next week you'll be coming here after shooting winds down for the day, and if I hear you using language like that again, I won't hesitate to discipline you. And I'm sure Mr. Scott would pay handsomely for footage of that."

Wow. What a bitch. She unlocked the door to the room and the first thing I noticed when we entered was the scent of vanilla and baby powder, all mixed up and mingled together like the head of a fine wine. The next thing I noticed was the crib setup against the backdrop of the door wall adjacent to the balcony, with pink and yellow curtains raining down from above. Filmed in just that angle, it looked just like a baby’s nursery, even though a few feet away, there was a TV and armoire and a proper full sized bed like any other room. Abe had been ostentatious with the crib - adult sized, custom made, gorgeously finished - but cheap with everything else. Typical.

"Is that.... a crib?"

I stared in awe at the crib. I'd never seen anything like it before. Huge. Solid wood. And unrealistic in almost every single way. And by the time I was halfway across the room, I realized how small I was by comparison. I mean, how... who had these kinds of resources at their disposal?

"Roll the film," Betsy told the cameraman and I turned to her with frustration.

"I'll say when I'm ready!" Truth be told, she was really getting on my nerves.

"We have four more minutes of video time, Baby Luvs, and I assure you there'll be consequences if you keep causing a fuss - wetting isn't the only thing your fans might want to see you do, so be good."

I sat on the edge of the bed, and Betsy continued in character, lowering the side of the crib smoothly and turning to Leona.

"Now Baby Luvs, it's getting late and I know you get oh so cranky when you don't have your nap, so let's get you down to bed. Would you like to introduce your fans to your elephant stuffie? What was his name again?" The crib was FULL - like maybe fifteen or twenty! - of plush animals along one side.

Thankfully, I was good at slipping into character on a whim. I pouted and talked to the camera. I whined about staying up late and that I didn't need a bedtime. But in the end, I was sucking my pacifier and curled up to my stuffed animals by the time the film ran out. I spit the pacifier out and sat up in annoyance. But Betsy was already on her way out the door, with the camera man in tow.

"We'll be back at 8:15am to get you ready for the day. Be awake and have had breakfast, Baby Luvs."

The door clicked shut. And suddenly... so suddenly, it was just me and Leona. Hey no problem, right? I'd volunteered for this, how hard could it be? "Sooo… she's kind of a bitch." Baby Luvs wasn't allowed to curse, but I sure as heck was!

"An understatement." I climbed up on my feet and tried to lift my leg over the bars of the crib. But I wasn't really the most athletic girl in the world, either. I managed to get my heel over the top, but I couldn't pull the rest of me over. And I'm sure the thick puffy diaper wasn't helping either! In the end, I surrendered to the inevitable: with my height and the size of this silly contraption, I couldn't get out on my own... I looked up at Jackie, then down at my frilly socks. My cheeks burned.

"Um... could you..."

"Huh?" Oh. "Oh, yeah, sure." I wasn't sure what she wanted, or maybe I was and I just did what came next anyway: I picked her up in my arms and lifted her out of the crib. And you know, I could have lowered the bars more; they clearly went down more, but I didn't think of that. No, I just thought about Betsy holding her, her hand under her diapered behind, what her hair must have smelled like, if those eyes looked even prettier up close and... God dammit, what the shit Jackie?! I set her down on the bed and tried to flush those thoughts away. Fuck.

...not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it worked. I knew I was a small girl, but I didn't think Jackie could pick me up like that. Betsy was sort of a monster, both literally and figuratively. She could pick up a car, probably. But Jackie...

"Um... thanks..." I shuffled up on the bed and tugged the shirt down as far as I could. It barely covered the diaper...

"I'm supposed to film you with my phone when I think you're being cute, I guess?" So, always? "But if you wanna order room service or something and eat first, we could do that? The room's billed to Abe anyway, so I have every intention of taking advantage of that unpleasant man." She should probably stay in diapers the whole time, though; Baby Luvs was a project for an entire week uninterrupted, after all.

"I'm not going to be pushy or bitchy like Betsy, but I do have to make sure you follow the rules still, so let's just agree that you will and then pig out on hotel food, alright?" Let the record show that I hated taking video.

"Yeah, I got it." After all, I'd agreed to this. So I put on my best Baby Luvs voice. "Auntie Jackie - does dat make you my babysitter?" I put my finger in my mouth and batted my eyelashes, looking up at her earnestly. "Dun wan' go to bed! Wan' stay up all night and drink tiny liquor bottles!" I could hardly stifle my laughter. "I love my babas Jackie!"

I managed to get my phone open and filming to capture SOME of that, but my laughing at the end kinda spoiled it. "Alright so," I had a huge grin on my face, "clearly I need to keep my camera open at all times for instances of random cuteness, huh? You're something special, Leo... I mean, Baby Luvs. You're just naturally adorable, like, all the time. Much more interesting to photograph than furniture. Do you wanna do some stills out on the balcony while we still have light? We're probably high enough up that you can flash yourself to the world and nobody would see."

"Eh, I think I've had enough of that for one day." I laughed a little and looked outside. The sun was already down, but I'd taken quite a long nap. I wasn't tired in the slightest. "So how about that food? Order all the expensive shit."

"Language."

I blinked. Oh... that caught me off guard. "Um... sorry," I muttered. I had to remember, right now I was Baby Luvs. Relaxing my persona wasn't an excuse to slip out if it.

I didn't do parent all that well, which was probably why I had no interest in having kids, but I could do Auntie Who Lets Her Niece Have Whatever She Wants pretty okay! I plopped down on the bed and pulled her against me, which I think caught us both off guard, but it was just so we could look at the room service menu together.

"What are you thinking? I'm thinking lobster and steak and truffle mac and cheese. That's baby appropriate food, right?"

I smiled brightly up at Jackie and nodded. "Absolutely!"

She ordered a pay-per-view movie about two long-lost sisters and I gorged myself on mac and cheese. We talked a little bit about our lives - school, dreams, all that crap. What else was I supposed to do when I was stuck in a room with some girl? But the clock ticked ever onward, and by the time midnight rolled around, I was rubbing my eyes. Jackie took a picture and I stuck out my tongue.

Maybe it was the wine coolers - I never did hold myself very well, which was more than likely the price of having dignity. Maybe it was just how cute she looked through the camera lens; that could have been it, too. But even though I knew that video was the order of the day, I started taking photos. Click click click.

"Okay, it's Christmas morning, you wake up, your Aunt Jackie tells you we're going to Disneyland. Show me what you look like." Click. I didn't bark orders the way that Abe did, I didn't push her around, or degrade her - I took pictures of a little girl. And I took them for me.