The Adoption - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

The first chapter of a story commissioned by Patron Elizabeth. 

"I want to adopt."

It was the kind of thing most littles would quake at the sound of, terrified of the implications of it; even Lizzie couldn't help feeling a bit nervous as she looked at her boss, Heather, after she'd made the statement. It was a somewhat uncomfortable subject to bring up to her, she thought, although, she decided to take it as a vote of confidence, that despite that, Heather had decided this was something she needed Lizzie's help with.

Most people only viewed littles as babies, or babies waiting to happen. There were plenty of them who worked as assistants, though usually the title was purely decorative... They weren't trusted with any important tasks, unless it was something their bosses intended for them to fail at, to demonstrate their immaturity. It was rare for littles to become assistants to anyone quite as important, or powerful, as Heather, since most CEOs were beyond such silly games as that, and needed someone they knew could actually do their job.

When she'd first been called into Heather's office, Lizzie had been certain she was about to be fired, that she'd messed up on something major that had really been bad for the company, enough so for the CEO to handle it herself. Despite most people thinking - or at least telling Lizzie to her face - she was good at her job, Lizzie had never, in a million years, dreamed that she would be offered this job, or that, months later, she'd still have it.

So, there was only the smallest moment of hesitation before she answered, "What can I do?" That was, she was certain, the reason for the smile that crept across Heather's face, that or the woman was already imagining her new life, with her new child, a life Lizzie was ready and willing to help build for her, if that was what she wanted.

"Preparing for this is a lot of work," Heather admitted. "As much as I'd love to be hands-on for it, you know I don't really have time for that."

"No," Lizzie shook her head, "you don't." The woman's schedule was always full, and this was certainly the kind of thing, if done right, that could take up a large amount of time, especially if it was only being worked on at night, once Heather was done with work and back home, when she should be relaxing.

"I'll have time for her, of course," Heather said quickly. "But actually getting everything picked out, and set up..."

"I get it," Lizzie nodded, smiling slightly as she took out her phone and started taking notes. "So, it's going to be a 'her'?"

"Yes, I think so. That just feels right, don't you think?"

Heather's questions were rarely rhetorical, so Lizzie was used to answering them, even if they didn't seem to need one. "It's a very personal choice," she replied, "But she would be more fun to shop for, unless you decided to go for a sissy."

"I thought about that," Heather admitted. "That seems more like a second child sort of thing, though, when I have more time to savor the transformation. Now, I just want a sweet, innocent, adorable little girl."

"Of course," Lizzie tapped away on her phone.

"I want only the best," Heather instructed. "Spare no expense. Put it all on the card."

"Yes, ma'am." That was another thing few little assistants got to experience - usually, even if they were trusted with that position, they weren't given a company credit card. That kind of power was just too much, too tempting... They wouldn't be able to resist buying things for themselves, despite knowing that, if they got caught, they'd wind up either in baby jail, when their bosses found out, or actual jail - which, for littles, often wound up turning into 'rehabilitation'... Lizzie didn't like to think too much about that. "Do you have a deadline in mind?"

"As soon as possible," Heather said. "I've been putting it off far too long already."

"All right," Lizzie told her. "I'll get started right away."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lizzie could practically feel every eye in the store turn towards her as she walked into the store, feeling more aware of her tiny size than ever before. She gulped, part of her wanting to just leave and order online, like she'd initially planned to do. She was here now, however, and turning tail and running would look bad... And, she wanted to prove herself, which meant examining the things she bought in person, instead of relying on some pictures and possibly fabricated reviews on the Internet.

The workers all paused for just a moment, almost like they couldn't believe what they were seeing, before heading straight for her, like sharks, attracted to blood in the water. Most of them were Betweeners, but the one who reached her first - possibly because of her size advantage - was an Amazon. "Hello, there!" she exclaimed, bending down, hands on her knees. "Are you lost, sweetie? Or are you looking for a job? We don't have any openings right now, I'm afraid, though I'd be happy to take your picture and resume, and keep it on file... You'd fit right in!"

Lizzie was briefly confused; like most littles, she'd never been in one of these stores before, and, at first glance, she didn't see any others there. Glancing around, however, she began to notice movement in the display pieces, her stomach churning at the realization of what kind of job this woman seemed to think she was suited for here. Again, the idea of running away popped into her mind, and was quashed as quickly as possible.

"Actually," Lizzie straightened up, relying on her heels to give her a little extra height - not that it did her much good in the face of an Amazon - and pulling out her phone, "I'm here to do some shopping. I need a crib, a changing table, a rocking chair, a high chair, and a playpen. A matching set if at all possible, for a girl."

"Oh." Lizzie couldn't tell if the Amazon was more shocked, impressed, or amused... The other woman likely didn't know, herself. It did take her another second to shake her head and break into what was clearly her usual spiel, leading Lizzie through the store, explaining the benefits of each piece on display. There were a couple times that Lizzie saw her start to say something and stop herself, blushing ever so slightly as she narrowly avoided what was probably a joke about littles.

As proud as Lizzie was to be trusted with this assignment, it was hard not to think about how weird it was, being in a place like this. She wondered when the last time someone like her had been there on their own, and not dragged in by their new 'parent'... Had it ever happened before? She found it unlikely that the models, locked away in cribs and high chairs, had come in of their own accord...

She tried to avoid their eyes as much as possible, though, unfortunately, the nicer, higher-priced, things she was paying the most attention to were the ones with the most models on hand, trained to do their best to undo the latch on the sides of the cribs from the inside, or break free from the restraints holding them into the high chairs and onto the changing tables, or climb out of the playpens. And, really, as much as she wanted to make sure the furniture was going to be comfortable for Heather's new baby, it also needed to be secure. She didn't want it to look like she'd chosen something flimsy, just because it was going to be another little using it all; it wasn't going to look good if, after all this, the baby escaped immediately, from things that Lizzie had been in charge of picking out.

Cuteness was also a factor, but less important. They could always be re-painted, and redecorated... She loved one set that had flowers carved into each piece in different places - along the railings of the crib and playpen, on the back seat of the high chair and rocking chair, and on the trim of the changing table - yet, on further inspection, it all seemed a bit cheap...The little demonstrating the crib looked like she was holding back as she shook the bars, and even then, Lizzie noticed a bit of flex.

She was ready to add 'Find a carpenter' to her to-do list, to give some flair to one of the plainer, but far better built, sets, when the Amazon delivered her coup de grace. "This one might be out of your price range," she started, coyly, "but it's our top of the line..."

"Why didn't you start with that?" Lizzie cut her off, giving her a snarky smile. It was dangerous to speak to an Amazon like that, especially since she hadn't told Heather exactly which store she was going to when she'd left, not wanting to overwhelm the woman with details; fortunately, the woman smiled and took it in stride.

"I apologize," she said. "I wasn't sure how serious you were."

"I'm very serious," Lizzie told her. "I want only the best... Is that what this is?"

"Oh, yes," the Amazon nodded. "It looks like wood, but it's actually made out of solid metal, to ensure there's no escape." She gave the bars of the crib a tap, producing a sound that certainly sounded like she was telling the truth. "The lock mechanism is state of the art, simple to undo from the outside, and literally impossible to bypass from the inside." She demonstrated, while the little sitting inside, in what looked like a very soggy diaper, just stared sadly. "Everything in this line uses the same sort of lock, which was actually tested on The Little Terror. Have you heard of her?"

Lizzie nodded, impressed, though uncertain if the woman was actually telling the truth. The Little Terror had been big news for quite a while, a little cat burglar that the police were unable to catch for some time, until she got too cocky. She'd been a folk hero of sorts for other littles, a Robin Hood, even if she kept most of the things she stole rather than giving them to the poor. She didn't use a lot of them, or sell them... At her trial, she'd said she was only in it to prove that she could do it, and get away with it. She'd done a great job at the first; the second hadn't worked out nearly as well. As public as the trial had been, news on her had gone quiet after the sentencing... The theory was that she'd been rehabilitated, and the courts didn't want anyone to know where she'd ended up. Could she have been given to this company to test the security of their furniture instead?

Whether it was true or not, the story was impressive, and didn't end there. "We even have an app," the Amazon boasted, whipping out her phone and pushing a button, causing the side of the crib to slowly lower itself. "For if you have a fussy baby, and need to hold them... No matter how easy the latch is to undo, it becomes far more difficult with a squirmy baby in one arm." She pressed another button in the app. From the four corners of the crib, restraints appeared, then, with a second press, vanished again. "And, depending on how well-behaved, and obedient, the occupant is, you have the option of keeping them even more snug and in place, where they belong."

"And this works with the whole line?" Lizzie asked, trying to hide how impressed - and, in a more abstract sense, horrified - she was. She knew she didn't really have anything to worry about herself, but when she thought about all those stories of littles, being captured and imprisoned unjustly, and the possibility of them ending up in something like this, with no hope of escape... She had to suppress a shudder.

"Of course," the other woman said. "And the crib comes with a very comfortable mattress. Isn't it?" The little inside the crib nodded quickly, as she had clearly been instructed to do. "Do you want to feel?"

Lizzie didn't want to get any closer, but refusing might be admitting weakness, so she stepped forward, stomach doing somersaults as she got closer to the little prison, pressing her hand to the mattress. Sure enough, it felt like she imagined a cloud would, light and fluffy, and, if it had been anywhere else, she may not have been able to resist hopping onto it to see how it felt on her whole body. This would definitely be something Heather's baby would love... Although, now that she knew it was metal and not wood, the rather boring design of it was more of an obstacle.

As if reading her mind, the Amazon flipped over to the web browser on her phone. "It comes in a few different designs," she told Lizzie. "This is the plain, gender-neutral version, and there's one for boys, and one for girls." It was the last one that she pulled up a picture of, revealing a pink nursery set, covered in hearts, like the flowers of the other, far less secure, one that she'd been looking at earlier. If Lizzie pretended it was for an actual baby, and ignored the advanced security she knew was built into it all, it would have been absolutely adorable... Even in reality, it was hard to deny how cute it was.

"I'll take it all," she declared.

The Amazon raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want to know how much it is?" she asked.

Lizzie was curious, but shook her head anyway. 'Spare no expense', Heather had told her, and that was exactly what she was going to do. The Amazon took the company card, promising to return with the receipt, and a delivery estimate, leaving Lizzie standing on the showroom floor, trying not to feel nervous as, on her own, she began to notice a lot of attention focused on her again, despite the other workers all glancing in the opposite direction whenever she turned to look at them.

"What is wrong with you?"

Lizzie frowned, looking around, unsure where the voice had come from at first. It was far quieter than the Amazon, and closer than anyone else that she'd noticed in the store... At least, until she took a better look at the crib.

"What are you even doing here?" the little inside demanded. "Do you actually want this?"

Lizzie squirmed, her heart pounding at the sight of the other woman in her tiny, babydoll dress, and huge, wet diaper, a reminder of what Lizzie was sentencing someone else to facing. "I-I'm just doing my job," she answered. "My boss..."

"You're buying this stuff for somebody else?" the little looked even more disgusted. "Why would you do that?"

"I-It's my job," Lizzie repeated, the defense sounding a bit weaker this time. "I'm proving that littles can be reliable, and..."

"By giving someone the tools to lock another one up?" the woman in the crib shook her head. "You're a traitor, you know that? Just a dirty..."

"No, I'm not!" Lizzie glared, stomping her foot. "I want to make sure whoever winds up in these things is safe, and secure, and not tempted to run away, because I know my boss, and that would only make things worse. I'm not saying I agree with what's going to happen, but it'll happen anyway... And I'm sure my boss will be a good Mommy, so..."

"Whatever," the little rolled her eyes. "You're as bad as them..."

Thankfully, the Amazon returned - probably why the little had given up then - and distracted Lizzie, pulling her attention away from the captive, and what she'd said. Part of her wanted to ask how she'd gotten her job in the first place, or if she even got paid, but she wasn't sure she really wanted to know the answer. That could be why she'd been so willing to attack Lizzie...

Heather had never spoken about where she was going to get this girl she was going to adopt, though Lizzie was choosing to believe, for the time being, at any rate, that it would be someone who wanted this lifestyle. There were a few littles like that around... Surely, with all her money and connections, Heather could find one. Even if that wasn't the case, any little that would wind up in Heather's clutches wasn't likely to be making anywhere close to the amount of money Heather could give them as an allowance, if she chose to do so. Diapers or not, they'd be better off with her... Or that was what she kept telling herself, again and again, as she signed the papers that would have the furniture delivered to Heather's house in just a couple days.