Chapter Thirty-Four:

I woke up in Jackie's bed, wearing a pair of her panties and her nightshirt. Her house was gorgeous. Low budget, in a good side of town, with four bedrooms. She said she had a roommate last month, but they moved out. That's why she started working for Abe in the first place. I walked around her house in her clothes, with my bare feet on the cold hardwood floor of her kitchen. She was making french toast.

"Um... thank you. For yesterday. For saving me..."

"Thank you for letting me, it was really brave of you." Not so much the me saving her part, but going through what she'd gone through. Neither of us knew if we were going to get paid now. We’d crossed Abe Scott, but work was work and I'd already been texting with Kate about Leona working with Jessie, worst case scenario.

"Can I have that, please?" I had a bowl of batter just out of reach, and bread on the other side of the counter. "Wanna help? Oh don't give me that face, it's easy as falling off a log, let me show you." She looked so cute in my clothes.

We made french toast together and ate at her kitchen table. Her place was really nice. I wondered how she could afford it on Abe's salary, but I guess her aunt or something gave it to her a few years ago. She just had to pay property taxes and utilities.

"I like it here," I said simply with the last bite of french toast in my mouth. "It's comfortable. Much more space than my studio apartment."

"I think it likes you too. And I like you, so... you should live here." Be cool! Act natural. Yeah, you got this, Jackie. Besides, she might be recently unemployed now. "I don't know the protocol on when to ask my girlfriend to move in with me because I've never had a girlfriend, but I mean, if you wanted your own room that would be alright, and if you wanted we could make one of the bedrooms a um.." I muttered under my breath the word 'playroom' shyly. "Anyway whatever we do, I need to go in and talk to Abe."

Move in together? "Haven't we been dating for like... two days? I'm pretty sure you don't move in after two days."

"Well I've been living with you for a week anyway, right?"

...huh. I didn't think about it that way.

"I guess... I'll consider it?"

Moving in with Jackie... I had never moved in with someone before. Gosh, why was my life so complicated?

"If you're going to see Abe, I'm going to. I know how to handle him." I'd been doing it for almost two years.

"Alright, but you're not to leave my side. I don't want him trying to worm his way out of this. He fucked up, and I'm going to do my best to make sure we both still get paid. Anyway, let me find you something to wear, and then we can shower." Together. Because I guess I was Assertive Jackie now.

An hour later, I was wearing some of Jackie's old clothes - stuff from when she was still in high school. She wasn't that much taller or that much bigger than me, but we definitely wore different sizes. I pulled the shirt down over my jeans and turned around in front of the mirror. My hair was still wet from the shower.

"You didn't have any fashion sense in high school, did you?"

"I did not." I smirked at her and shrugged my shoulders. "But maybe when you're old enough for high school, you'll be able to learn from Mommy's mistakes and do better, huh baby?" I leaned in and kissed her hair and ruffled it a bit. "Are you feeling alright? Are you worried about seeing Abe?"

"No," I said flatly, a little annoyed. But not by Jackie's gesture - for some reason, when she babied me... it felt different than being on set. I felt important. I felt special. I felt safe. No, I was annoyed because of Abe.

"I was vulnerable yesterday and he was a total asshole! So I'm ready to rip him a new one!" The fiery passion in my heart was reignited. Yesterday it had been quenched. Abe was in for a real surprise.

"Let me talk to him, because guys like Abe... if they piss you off, if they work you up, that's winning in their eyes. But if he doesn't respond to me, then I'll unleash my secret weapon, okay? Leona the Lionheart." Moreover, I wanted a chance to try and play this in her favor. I wanted to get Abe over a barrel, and I wanted to secure Leona's future.

It was cute that Jackie wanted to defend me. But I wasn't sure if that would work with Abe. We arrived at my studio a little after one in the afternoon, just as Betsy was leaving.

"He's not in a good mood," she warned us.

"Yeah, he never really is," I joked. Now that the documentary was over, all the pretense of treating me like a little girl had fallen by the wayside. I smiled nervously and told her: "Thanks for standing up for me yesterday. You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah I did, he went off script. You didn't sign up for that. So it wasn't consensual, and it wasn't okay." Betsy smiled an actual warm smile. "It was nice meeting you, Leona. I had fun playing the ‘big bad mom' figure, it was a great project. I hope you had fun too."

"I don't know if fun was the word," I said a little harshly, but that made Betsy laugh. She handed me a card, then one to Jackie.

"Call me if you need anything." With a wave, Betsy climbed into her van and drove away. Another chapter of my life closed.

"Well. That was weird."

"Right? I guess that was all just... a game to her? A role?" I mean, it made sense. There weren't people like Betsy in real life. But she was good. I was impressed. Even if I hated her still. I held Leona's hand and I took her into the studio, into Abe's office.

It was Sunday. Everything at the studio was shut off. Only one room was splashed with lamplight: Abe’s. He was sitting at his desk, reading over some document on his computer. When we walked in, he didn’t even look up.

"I know you're not trying to pretend we're not here. You owe us both for the week gone by. You got what you wanted."

"Got what I wanted? You think I got what I wanted?" Abe looked viciously up at the two women, but he stayed sitting firmly behind his desk. "I should fire you right now, Jackie!" Finally, he got her name right. He had probably been reviewing legal files all night. "You don't get a say about what happens on my set!"

"Your set, huh?" I let go of Leona's hand and pushed her down into the seat, then started to walk around the desk. "Your set. Abe Scott Productions. Mm. I think we can do better. See, what I'm thinking is Baby Luvs Productions. What I'm thinking… the life and times of an actual real life bonafide adult baby girl, and her live-in Mommy." Abe stood up, obviously annoyed at my pacing, and I actually pushed him back down! He looked furious. I felt powerful.

"No scripts. No goals. Maybe a sponsorship deal. I mean, we're going to be the most successful pay site in the community after that documentary airs. But... here's the thing." I took my place behind Leona, and I pulled her hair up in my hands, playing with the strands between my fingers.

"I’ve got the girl."

Abe liked strong girls. That was why he liked Betsy from the get-go. He sat back in his chair and watched Jackie play with my hair. I blushed a little and decided to stay quiet, as Jackie had instructed. Honestly, she was doing a pretty damn good job...

"I don't take threats from some two-bit camera chick," Abe told her, crossing his fat arms over his chest. "You're not anybody. You're no professional. You don't get a say around here. This is between me and Luvs here, so why don't you leave like a tree?"

"Because I'm the Mommy. I'm Leona's Mommy. And if you want her, you get me. And if you get me, then you'd better believe I get a say in things. In Baby Luvs Productions, we're three way partners." I knew a little bit about this, I'd done my business classes, I just... had no interest in it.

"You run the backend, the business, the website, the stream. Arrange sponsorships, holiday ideas, viewer participation and search engine optimization. I plan the activities. I make sure you get eight prime hours a day of live streamed Baby Luvs. Dressing her up, giving her baths, changing her diapers, taking her places that she wants to go. And Baby Luvs? Well. She brings the cute."

"I'm in charge of this studio," Abe said angrily. Even the suggestion was an affront to his ego.

"Not anymore," Jackie interrupted.

Abe didn't handle rejection well. He didn't like to share. He was a mogul, through and through. This was a wrench in his plans. So he did what any good business person would do - he called her bluff.

"Not a chance." Then he turned to me. "You start work Monday. You should be used to using diapers by now, so be ready."

"Actually," I told him. "I quit."

"You... what?"

Abe and Jackie both stared at me, bewildered. So I repeated myself. "I quit."

"Luvs! You are a star now! Do you know what you're giving up?!"

"Abe, what you did yesterday... I never want to see you again. So I quit."

I was surprised, but also... really proud. So I went with it. "Sorry Abe, I gave you your chance. You don't get to be a part of my little girl’s life anymore. You want to consider my terms? Maybe I can convince her to let you have a hands-off business role and make a ton of money." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a sucker - strawberry cream flavor - and unwrapped it while I talked. "But you know how kids are, right? Fickle little princesses especially. I'm sure by tomorrow she won't even remember who you are." I stuck it between her lips and smiled.

He had built an empire on Baby Luvs. Everyone knew it. This documentary was already in post-production, and the samples had been a hit online. I was top of the charts and skyrocketing. I sucked on the lollipop and Jackie took me by the hand.

"Let's go," she told me, and we did. But just as we got out the door, Abe called out.

"WAIT!"

We both turned around. He seemed to be dealing with an internal conflict. And finally, he said: "Fine."

"Fine?" I asked.

"Fine. I'll run the back-end. You two run the show. And we split it, fifty-fifty."

"Thirty-thirty-forty." I countered, motioning to me, then Leona, then Abe. We both knew his personality, we knew he needed to have a bigger share. But together, the two of us made more combined. And that's what we were now, we were a couple, an item, we were combined.

"We can take all the furniture to furnish our new nursery for the show, and over time we might work up to longer streams." I put my hands on Leona's shoulders and looked down at her, talking like a parent would to a child. "How does that sound to you, Baby Luvs? In the end, yours is the only voice that matters."

"Eight hours a day?" That was a third of my life. But I could use it for naps and baths, too. I could watch television for all anyone cared. Hm... I guess that didn't sound so bad. And my pay would go up from fifteen percent to thirty! I smiled happily and nodded my head. "Alright! Let's do it."

"I'll draft the paperwork," Abe grumbled. And on that note, we left his office.

I stopped in the parking lot to look at the studio one more time. I would never come back here. All the shots from now on would be in Jackie's house. My house, maybe, if I moved in. I looked at my girlfriend and hugged her under her arms.

"You sure this is okay? Setting up your house like that, and having you take care of me?" Until Betsy, I'd never had a caregiver on set. "I don't want to impose."

"Are you kidding me? I get to have my house, my girlfriend, and my job all in the same place. And I get paid for it! I can be... I don't know, knitting? While you nap? Or you know, developing photos, because I’m addicted to photographing you!" I tickled her up under the arms and forced her to laugh. She wore the most beautifully bright smile on her face, as bright as dawn. A brand new day for Baby Luvs Productions and a brand new day for Jackie and Leona.

[End.]

Names & Colors

Leona ‘Baby Luvs’ Whittaker

Jacqueline ’Jackie’ Mills

Abe Scott

Elizabeth ‘Nurse Betsy’

Melissa

Kate

Jessie ‘Sprinkles’

Store Clerk

Simon

Becky

Toy Store Clerk

Aims