As Sarah predicted the other girls returned from their extra excursion incredibly tired. Too tired to even notice the subtle shift in Fara’s attitude or to complain about the very basic choice Fara had made for dinner. Thankfully for Rachel Fara’s choice of chicken nuggets was something they could grab in a drive through, which meant Fara could spend more time in her adorably diaper revealing outfit without risk of being accosted by the general public.

Even though outwardly nothing had changed, now that Rachel was fulfilling an official role as mommy, everything felt different for Fara. Even the, what had become typical, tasks of being strapped into her car seat, and given a bottle to drink from. Rachel of course could be more in her element now that part of the ruse was over. She was sure to cue the coos at opportune moments and kept Fara sufficiently little the whole time. Now that she was actually embracing the feelings instead of fighting against them Fara may as well have been a toddler, if that. She swung her feet in her car seat, and even whined to get Rachel to purchase an extra kids meal for the toy. She was just as much of a little as Rachel and Sarah had believed she was.

They very quickly returned to the cabin carrying a veritable mountain of fast food goodness from all of the girls’ different orders. The others all rose excitedly as Sarah and Rachel sat the food down on the table. There was a brief moment of chaos as the girls clamored for their ordered meals but eventually everyone had what they needed and settled down.

“Here’s yours sweetie,” Rachel said setting the chicken nugget meal in front of Fara. Fara made a move to dig in but she was stopped by the insertion of her pacifier. “Not yet baby,” Rachel scolded. Fara pouted as Rachel went off to her room, but didn’t touch her food until Rachel returned with a bib. Relatively plain but of course in Fara’s size. She brought the Velcro together behind Fara’s neck and with that Fara hungrily dug into her chicken nuggets.

“Just because you have a bib doesn’t mean you can be deliberately messy you know,” Rachel warned. Fara giggled in response, though in reality she was eating rather neatly.

“Something seems different between them,” Patty mentioned as she munched on her order of chili cheese fries.

“Looks the same to me,” Annabelle responded mouth full of a burger.

“Looks the same but it feels different.”

“Fara has come to embrace her role a little more,” Sarah said with a grin.

“Isn’t that right dear?” Rachel prodded Fara.

“Yes mommy,” Fara spoke quickly, with only a slight blush as she got back to her chicken nuggets. Annabelle grimaced a little but went back to eating. Riley didn’t meet Fara’s eyes and quietly ate her salad.

“Cute,” Patty squealed.

“Yes very,” Tara added. “I suppose congratulations are in order for you two?” Tara gave a coded message to Rachel and Sarah.

“I suppose so,” Was Rachel’s coded answer.

“Can I have the toy now?” Fara asked having finished her meal.

“After you finish the extra meal you made get to have your toy maybe,” Rachel handed Fara another, very small, portion of chicken nuggets with apple slices to eat. Fara pouted again but set to work on the meager meal. Once she was done Rachel finally relented handing Fara the fabled kids’ meal toy. A cheap plastic figurine from a carton that would more than likely break before the night was over, but Fara seemed to have fun with it.

“Weren’t we also promised ice cream after this?” Sarah gave Rachel a look.

“Oh yeah ice cream. You said we could!” Fara echoed Sarah’s sentiment. It seems that Sarah was already learning how to leverage Fara’s cuteness to get things. Rachel frowned. She was normally very strict about Sarah’s diet, and would be just as strict with Fara’s for sure. Letting them eat fast food was already pushing things, but she also did promise Fara ice cream. And one of the ways she was such a good top was keeping her promises.

“I do know of a parlor close by I think. Where we could get a small dessert,” Rachel put extra emphasis on small before either of them got their hopes up.

“Yay!” Fara exclaimed. Sarah was just as excited by she kept her reaction to a coy smile.

“It appears as if I have another stop to make today,” Rachel sighed with a smile. Fara giggled. “I gather you all will be in bed by our return.”

“Probably,” Annabelle answered.

“Told you they would be worn out,” Sarah gently elbowed Fara who giggled playfully.

“Ever the wise Sarah,” Tara retorted snarkily.

“Well good night then girls,” Rachel got up and her charges followed. “I shall see you all tomorrow.” The three left to Rachel’s car and eventually the ice cream parlor leaving the others alone.

“They sure seem to be moving fast,” Riley said once the three had left.

“Are they?” Annabelle questioned. “Doesn’t seem like all that much has changed. Well relatively anyway. She’s just calling Rachel a different name.”

“Honorifics are a big deal A.J.” Patty informed. “I’m sure they are both very happy they’ve gotten to this point.”

“If you say so. I just don’t understand any of this at all.”

“It is difficult to wrap your head around if you don’t understand the appeal I suppose,” Tara mused. “Not that I really get it either,” Tara added quickly. “I’m just more analytical.”

“Uh-huh,” Annabelle said with obvious disbelief.

“The order of events here seems weird to me,” Riley questioned. “It just seems odd to me that now Fara is calling Rachel mommy. She was already sleeping in a crib, drinking out of bottles, using diapers. Why now, after all that, does she call Rachel mommy?”

“Who knows,” Tara brushed off Riley’s observation. “Maybe it’s something that means a lot to her.”

“Plus Rachel is like loaded,” Patty added. “Probably really easy for her to get all of this stuff, she must have gotten one of everything for Fara to try. Buying all this stuff is probably like spending pocked change to her.”

“Maybe,” Riley was uneasy. “It just all seems so off to me. Like none of this happened like it should.”

“It’s been bothering you since we got here,” Tara was quick to remind. “Plus I’m not sure how this is supposed to happen so it’s difficult to say that it happened like it should or not.”

“Take it easy,” Annabelle defended Riley. “We all know Fara and Riley were close. So it’s probably a lot for Riley figuring all this stuff out about her best friend. It’s ok if she’s bothered by it.” Riley was quiet.

“Sorry,” Tara apologized. “I forget that sometimes.” Tara’s concern was pretty obviously feigned but Riley wasn’t all that concerned. She had already written the other girls off. She knew something was off, even if no one else would see it. She just didn’t know what she wanted to do about it, or if she wanted to do anything at all. Fara looked happy, was whatever shady activity Rachel and Sarah up to worth it for her happiness?

“Thinking about this is tiring me out,” Riley said abruptly. “I’m gonna hit the hay.”

“Right behind ya,” Annabelle added.

“Same,” Patty echoed as the girls made their way up to their rooms.

Rachel finally arrived at the ice cream parlor she had in mind. It was small, and it was fairly late at night so there wasn’t anyone else in there. This was the best outcome. Very limited exposure for Fara while she was in that dress and acting as little as she was.

“Ok girls, ice cream time!” Rachel cheered happily. Sarah and Fara cheered and giggled. As usual Rachel got out to help Fara out of her car seat, and then the three made their way inside. The worker behind the counter hadn’t noticed them yet, though shock was inevitable when they did. Fara’s outfit was revealing and she was acting sufficiently little to match it. Rachel didn’t quite think she could pass the girl off as a toddler, though she was remarkably close in size. Rachel of course had an ever faithful contingency.

Rachel rapidly approached the younger man behind the counter with a smile as Sarah and Fara lagged a little behind. The man looked at Rachel and then automatically drifted toward Fara. Before he could react though, Rachel flashed a couple of large bills in front of him.

“For making sure my friend has a wonderful time on her special day,” Rachel smiled but spoke forcefully. The man nodded and took the hint as well as the money from Rachel and immediately bottled up his gut reaction. Fara seemed to be oblivious to her outfit and that anyone could see her diaper, and she remained so as the worker greeted her with a usual smile.

“What can I get you three?” he said as normally as possible. Fara studied the menu quizzically.

“Tell mommy what flavor you want and I’ll pick you something out dear,” Rachel instructed.

“Chocolate!” Fara said quickly and excitedly.

“Strawberry,” Sarah said a good deal more calmly.

“Sarah entertain the baby while I order our treats,” Rachel ordered.

“I don’t need entertaining,” Fara fussed but Sarah dragged her away by the hand.

“Yes you do you little baby,” Sarah said back. “Come on I’m sure they have some coloring pages.” The two of them walked off to a table. The worker looked confused at them and then back at Rachel. Another large bill from Rachel prevented any question from leaving his mouth other than …

“So what’ll it be?”

After a few moments Rachel approached the table with three small bowls of ice cream. Specialty menu items with extra toppings, but the base flavor was what they requested.

“This is nice,” Rachel said as she ate her vanilla themed ice cream. “You make an adorable baby Fara. I’m glad to have you around.” Fara smiled, mouth full of chocolate ice cream. “Do try not to spill any on your dress dear.” Fara’s eyes widened as she realized finally the dress she was in.

“Oh my gosh I forgot I was wearing this,” Fara blushed deeply.

“It’s ok sweetie I don’t think he noticed,” Rachel smiled coyly.

“You do kinda look like a toddler,” Sarah giggled. “It’s not totally out of place.” These reassurances did nothing to stop Fara blushing.

“Fara sweetie,” Rachel said plainly. “You’re my baby now, and if mommy wants her baby to show off her diaper while she eats ice cream, then that’s what here baby’s going to do.”

“Is that supposed to make it better?” Fara said quietly.

“No but it means you don’t have to worry about it,” Sarah explained. “It doesn’t matter if everyone can see your diaper and if you’re embarrassed. You don’t have a choice, so there’s no sense worrying about it.”

“I guess,” Fara was still blushing.

“You’ll get there,” Sarah smiled. Part of here didn’t want Fara to get there, she looked adorable when she was blushing. Having her confidently showing off a wet diaper though was a profoundly enticing image though.

“Finish up and let’s get back,” Rachel commanded. Her charges obeyed and began to focus more on eating. “We still have one more day of vacation and it won’t do to have both of you be sleep deprived and grumpy.”