A Family For Briana (Chapters)

Melody woke up with a diaper so soggy that at first they were worried they’d messed themself. Rosa was naked in bed next to them, breathing slowly and softly. The peace of it made Melody’s breath catch in their throat. It stripped away any remaining illusions about the adrenaline-fueled bacchanal they’d had with Beatrix. That bed, that whole relationship had been full of hidden thorns. Every wrong move had drawn blood.

Rosa was safe. Cozy. Melody’s heart overflowed with love for their girlfriend, their mommy. Tears flowed without warning. It was too much. Too good. They didn’t deserve it.

That last thought was the first really sharp one of the morning. Along with the clammy wet of Melody’s diaper, it was too much in a different way. With as much emotional control as they’d had over their bladder, Melody was crying in soft whimpers.

Rosa stirred, blinking bleary eyes at Melody. They hadn’t wanted to wake her up. Rosa deserved to sleep in as long as she wanted after everything she’d done yesterday. Big, ugly sobs wracked Melody. There was no stopping the meltdown spiral.

“Hey – baby.” Rosa said through a yawn. “It’s okay, whatever it is. Mommy’s here.”

“I di-di-di-didn’t want to wake you up!” Melody wailed.

Still struggling to wake, Rosa stared at Melody for a moment. Her mouth twisted in a sort of ‘oh well’ expression. Rosa propped herself up on one elbow and hefted a breast. The nipple landed right on Melody’s lips.

Melody’s mind record-scratched in shock, but their body didn’t. They were sucking eagerly on Rosa’s breast before their brain could catch up to what had happened. By the time realization struck, even a blush seemed redundant. Melody closed their eyes and kept sucking. They’d never felt like such a helpless baby. It was torturously reassuring and comfortably sexy.

“Wow, that really worked.” Rosa said, in a tone somewhere between amusement and delight. “I’ll have to keep that trick handy. Whenever you get fussy I can just pop a boob in your mouth.”

Melody squirmed. Things were rapidly shifting toward the sexy end of the spectrum. Their sopping diaper made it impossible to tell if they were wet from something other than a nighttime accident. There was a lot more heat down there than there had been a moment ago for sure.

“Ooh, baby likes that idea.” Rosa said, stroking Melody’s breasts. “Imagine all the places that would work. You get cranky because you’re tired, I put you on my breast. You have a hard time in class, I take you to a pumping room and give you a nipple. My baby gets fussy around our friends that know you’re a baby, and I pop a tit in your mouth so the adults can talk.”

A hot moan briefly interrupted Melody’s work on Rosa’s nipple. Their skin was prickling and hot. Rosa’s teasing, tugging touches on their own nipples were driving them wild. They moaned again when Rosa mashed their heavy diaper against their crotch.

Not that she was content with stopping there. Heedless of the wet, Rosa shoved a hand in Melody’s diaper and rubbed the nub of desperate heat between their legs. Electric pleasure flowed out from Melody’s crotch, setting their mind on fire. They thrashed and quivered in pleasure, moaning but never quite abandoning Rosa’s nipple.

It wasn’t until the fire in their nerves had dimmed, until they were trembling and panting on the bed, that they finally released their girlfriend’s breast. They snuggled up to Rosa languidly, floating on happy chemicals.

“Amazing.” Rosa said reverently. “What a good, sexy baby you are.”

“Mmm, I love you.” Melody said.

“I love you too.” Rosa said, squeezing Melody tightly. “You got mommy all wet between my legs though. You’re going to have to clean that up.”

“Yes Mommy.” Melody said, smiling eagerly.

They scooched down Rosa’s body, nuzzling and kissing as they went. She hadn’t been kidding about how wet she was. Rosa’s sex was shining, even leaking a little. Melody licked gently, then more and more firmly. Using Rosa’s moans as a guide, they worshipped their girlfriend’s sex with their tongue. The taste, the feel of Rosa’s legs quivering where Melody was gripping them, and the afterglow all combined into a soft feeling of bliss.

They held on, lapping at Rosa until she had to grab a pillow to scream into, and longer. When Rosa collapsed, quivering, Melody fitted themself against her, a happy sticky mess from head to toe.

“That was incredible.” Rosa said, when she regained her voice.

“It was perfect.” Melody said with a beatific sigh.

“We have just a little more mommy / niñe time, then we need to talk.” Rosa said.

“Yes Mommy.” Melody said.

“It sounds like my roommates are up.” Rosa said, cocking her head at the door. “You lie here. Mommy is going to take care of you right here, completely.”

Melody nodded. That sounded amazing. They were even too happy to worry if they deserved it or not. If Mommy said that’s how things were going to be, that was enough for baby Melody.

Rosa was gone for a while. She returned, showered and with a bottle of some white liquid in her hand. She also had a shower caddy stuffed with various towels and bathroom amenities.

By now, Melody was over the soaked diaper thing. When Rosa started off with the bottle, they tried to protest. Rosa wasn’t having any of that. Melody didn’t get more than a whine out before they got a pinch on the thigh and the rubber nipple in their mouth. Surrendering to Rosa, Melody dutifully sucked on what tasted like a vanilla protein shake.

The bottle was exchanged for a toothbrush, with minimal paste on it so that they didn’t need a sink afterwards. After the toothbrush, Rosa occupied Melody’s mouth with a pacifier. They would have preferred a breast if there had to be something in their mouth constantly, but decided that might be a little greedy.

Finally, the sopping diaper came off. Using washcloths and wipes, Rosa started at Melody’s hairline and washed them all the way down, even getting tickly scrubs between their toes. A fresh diaper followed the sponge bath, with tender caresses delivering the lotion and powder. Melody’s clothes from the night before were a wreck, so Rosa dressed them in her own clothes. The fit was a little baggy in the chest and hips, though the diaper helped a bit with the hip area.

Rosa held Melody gently, sitting up against her headboard with Melody leaning on her chest. It didn’t end up being a nap, exactly. There wasn’t a lot of thinking that went on though. Mostly Melody just let themself feel and bask in the comfort.

All things did have to end, even amazing ones. Melody found themself coming back to conscious thought when Rosa sat them up and took the pacifier out of their mouth.

“That was a lot of baby stuff.” Rosa said. “Are you okay to talk now, or do you need more time to come around?”

“I think I can.” Melody said, smiling softly. “I feel more relaxed than Little right now.”

Rosa beamed. “I’m so glad. This is amazing for me. I can see on your face how good it is for you. We still have to talk about it though. I need it to stay amazing. I don’t ever want to hurt you, or get us all tangled up in the game.”

“Thank you.” Melody said. “I don’t want to lose myself. I want to be your niñe, but I want to be your Melody too. You liked me before you ever knew about this stuff. I still want to be that person.”

Rosa nodded. “That’s good to hear. I don’t want to lose that Melody either.”

“Um, where do we start?”

“With dividing up time I guess?” Rosa said. “How often do you want to do baby stuff? Every time we spend the night together? A couple of times a week? Almost all the time, with picking a break day sometimes?”

“I’ll do whatever you want.” Melody said quickly. They needed this to work. Desperation and anxiety raised twin hydra-heads in them, at the thought that Rosa might not like how their ABDL time went. “You pick how much you want to do it. You’re doing all the work.”

“No.” Rosa said firmly, bapping Melody on the nose. “That’s not how this goes. I want to hear what YOU want.”

Melody bit their lip, squirmed. Rosa’s gaze was relentless. Out of options, back against the wall, it was time for a radical strategy. Genuinely expressing their desires.

“I want it a lot.” Melody said. “Right now I’d say whenever we’re together alone, or at my house. Maybe I’ll want it less later but right now I really want it.”

Rosa smiled. “Me too. So that’s good, we’re aligned on that. I’d like to have fun with it and we can check in with each other to make sure it’s not getting to be too much. Does that sound okay?”

Melody nodded. “I guess we should also decide if there’s stuff we won’t do. Boundaries.”

“That’s a word you know?” Rosa teased. “Yes, my love, good idea. Last night you were really upset by the idea of – it’s called messing, right?”

“Yeah, it is.” Melody blushed. “I don’t know about that.”

“I’m not eager to try it either.” Rosa said. “So that’s one boundary. Anything else?”

“I’m not sure. I like everything you’ve done so far.” Melody said. “What about you? What don’t you want to do?”

“Well I’m in charge during our scenes, so what you don’t want is more relevant.” Rosa said. “There’s stuff we haven’t done. Like adding bondage gear to make you more helpless.”

“You’ve been doing research!” Melody said, grinning.

“Maybe. Shut up.” Rosa giggled, blushing. “Seriously though, this is kind of like BDSM in some ways, but not in others.”

“I trust you.” Melody said. “But I don’t like being tied up for long periods of time. You um – could uh – spank me if you wanted.”

Rosa’s eyes sparkled. Melody wondered if they were going to regret having offered that.

“That brings up another thing. I’m taking care of you, we have a whole mommy / niñe dynamic.” Rosa hesitated, grabbing Melody’s hand. “Do you want it to extend to stuff outside of the bedroom? Do you want – caregiving in general?”

“I don’t want to give up my job or my bank account or anything really extreme.” Melody said, squeezing Rosa’s hand. “But if you – had behavior stuff you wanted to make rules about – that’d be hot.”

“Even if it’s bigger stuff than like, swearing or staying up late?” Rosa asked.

“Like what?”

“You have a problem with honesty. Especially to yourself. I want – I’m trying not to be too controlling here – but I want to help you with that. I want to correct you to help you be a better Melody. The one I get to see when you’re being your best self.” Rosa cringed. “That probably sounded too much like B…”

“NO.” Melody said. “Don’t even say it. You aren’t – you don’t live in the same universe as her.”

Rosa sighed and nodded. “But it’s too much, isn’t it?”

“You’re not wrong about me.” Melody said. “It’s – weird to imagine giving that to you. I – I want to try it.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, please Mommy.” Melody said. “I – get that kind of stuff from Veronica too. You could um – coordinate.”

Rosa smiled shakily. “I will not abuse this. I promise. Part of that is you have to tell me if something makes you uncomfortable or feels wrong. That’d be our number one, unbreakable rule. Is that okay?”

“Okay.” Melody said, taking a deep breath.

“Please really think about it. We don’t need any other silly rules about bedtimes or whatever. If I want to put you to bed early, I’ll just do it.” Rosa said. “But this is the rule I need. For the behavior coaching to be okay, you need to communicate with me so I can be a good mommy. Even more, I have to believe that you’re really telling me when something is wrong.”

Melody looked down at their crossed legs. Their eyes wandered aimlessly across the bright stitching and loose folds of Rosa’s track pants. It wasn’t a bad ask. It wasn’t even something that Melody didn’t want to do. The problem was, they weren’t sure if they could do it. It’d be so easy to ignore the little twinges, like they always did. So hard to speak up and push back.

Looking back up at Rosa, Melody felt a burst of love in their chest. She was waiting patiently, with an open and caring expression on her face. It didn’t seem like Melody had to agree. Melody saying no seemed like something Rosa was willing to accept. They’d have to re-negotiate the behavior stuff, but Rosa wasn’t dictating. She was asking.

They had to trust her. She was worth the hard, uncomfortable thing.

“I can do that.” Melody said. “I really can. But, I’m bad at it. Also, I think uncomfortable is the wrong word. Telling you when something feels wrong will be uncomfortable. Sitting in a wet diaper is uncomfortable. I think the rule has to be that I tell you if it feels wrong – or if it hurts my heart.”

“I think that’s exactly right.” Rosa said, tears shining on her cheeks.

“Is that it? Can we hug?” Melody asked.

“That’s the important part.” Rosa said, making a slow-leap up into a big hug that crashed them both down on the bed. “We just committed to keep talking anyway. We can work out other boundaries and turn-ons as we go.”

“Yeah, I want to talk about stuff we want to do instead of just negatives.” Melody said, nuzzling into Rosa’s neck.

“I’d say we found one this morning.” Rosa laughed. “My nipple is a little sore. You didn’t get any milk there, but not because you didn’t try.”

The morning they’d been cuddled up to Veronica’s full breasts flashed suddenly to mind. Melody squirmed and curled in on themself, blushing profusely.

“Hmm? What’s going on?” Rosa asked, stroking Melody’s back. “You weren’t this shy about it even afterwards. Talk to me, remember?”

“Veronica um – has that going on.” Melody said in a hushed voice. “She feeds Briana. Not in a sexy way. You just um, reminded me.”

“Oh? You didn’t…”

“No! I don’t want things to be sexy with her. Only with you.”

“Oh, so it’s not sexy for Briana but it would be for you?” Rosa said, a teasing tone creeping into her voice.

“Rosa don’t.” Melody whined.

“It sounds intense. I’m not sure that’s something I could do.” Rosa said. “Maybe when I get my morning coffee, I can put some cream up on there and you can suck it off.”

“Rosa!” Melody wiggled, wrapping their legs around one of Rosa’s. It took a lot of willpower to not grind against their girlfriend.

“This really does something for you.” Rosa said, curiously. “It’s – kind of scary to think about.”

“We don’t have to…”

Rosa cut Melody off, rolling on top of them to pin them to the bed. “Scary because I might like it too much. It sounds like a super powerful experience.”

Melody swallowed hard. They flexed their hips greedily against their girlfriend’s – their mommy’s leg.

“No, not again. We have other things we have to take care of, Niñe.” Rosa said.

To Melody’s massive disappointment, Rosa sat up and pulled Melody into her lap. Bereft of anything to rub against, all they could do is squirm against Rosa’s warm body as much as the arms around them would allow.

“Your phone has been blowing up all morning. I’ve seen a lot of notifications pop up on the lock screen from Veronica. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”

Melody sighed. “Yeah, I should…”

“Wait hon, there’s more. She’s not the only one messaging you. You’re getting constant texts from Beatrix. Scary, unhinged ones. I – don’t think you should read them. The previews that popped up on the lock screen were nasty. Violent.”

“Mommy.” Melody forced themself around to face Rosa, pressing their face into her shoulder.

“I could call the police but they aren’t going to do anything over some texts. Especially between queer folk.” Rosa said. “I don’t know what kind of mojo Veronica has, but it’s more than what I have. We need her help.”

Melody nodded. “You’re right. I – I’m sorry for all of this. If I’d just listened to Veronica, or you, or…”

“Hush, Niñe.” Rosa said. “You call her Mom, right? Mom and Mommy will fix it.”

“Is that okay? We didn’t really talk about that. I know saying Mommy was special for us. I could just call her Veronica or something.”

“I think they’re different enough. You could also call me Mama.” Rosa said, pronouncing it Mah-mah.

“Oh. Like in Spanish.”

“That’s right.” Rosa said, stroking Melody’s hair. “Now, it’s time to go face your family.”

“Our family.” Melody said suddenly, fiercely.

“Our – are you…?”

“No I – I’m not proposing. Sorry! I – you’re important to me. You’re special. I don’t want to talk like Briana and Veronica and Jane are permanent and you aren’t. You’re part of the family.” Melody looked up at Rosa determinedly. “If I have to say stuff that I don’t want, then I get to pick things that I want too. You’re family.”

“How do you do this to me?” Rosa asked, smiling through the tears pouring down her cheeks. Before Melody could answer, Rosa leaned in for a kiss. It was a long, tender embrace full of happy giggles and overwhelmed sobs.

“Okay.” Rosa sighed, holding Melody close. “Now that you’ve completely wrecked me emotionally, it’s your turn. Let’s go talk to your mom.”

“Yes Mama.” Melody said, testing the word out on their tongue. The tight, needy hug they got from Rosa was a big point in the new name’s favor. Mommy would have to stay in the rotation too, though.

—-

Despite Melody having plenty of diapers at home, Rosa insisted on packing a diaper bag. Hopefully she wasn’t feeling intimidated by Veronica. Not that anybody ever felt anything but intimidated by Mom-Goth. Melody happily endured the fuss Rosa made.

Pulling into the driveway was the first time the anxiety really hit. They’d been awful to Veronica the last time they’d talked. Even now they hadn’t communicated beyond a quick text letting Mom know that they were coming home. Melody braced themself for more emotional havoc, and opened the front door.

What waited on the other side was so much scarier than they could have anticipated. Veronica was standing in the middle of the living room. The furniture had been re-arranged to make as big a clear space as possible. She was flanked by Jane and Briana. Behind Briana was Gary. Along one wall was Casey, Suzie, and even Erin. The other side had Tamira and Arthur holding hands.

“Oh shit babe, this is an intervention if I’ve ever seen one.” Rosa said.

Focusing on the odd part of that statement was way easier than facing the wall of concerned people.

Melody asked, “Wait, when did you go to an intervention?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Was it for you or for someone else?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Rosa said, smirking. Melody swore they’d just seen their girlfriend do the anime cat-smile.

“Please come in and close the door, Melody.” Veronica said. “We need to talk to you.”

“I know.” Melody said, shutting the door and shuffling into the middle of the room. They were trembling all the way up their body. Rosa’s firm grip on their hand was a lifeline.

“This is serious, what happened yesterday…”

“I mean I really know.” Melody said, cutting Veronica off. “I’m sorry Mom. I screwed up. You were right. Rosa was right. I – it was bad with Beatrix. Really bad. I need help. I need you to help me, please.”

Veronica blinked. Her mouth twisted in something between a satisfied smile and a frown. Melody felt a little bad for lecture-blocking their mom, but wasn’t sure they could have endured the lecture. Especially when they’d already felt the lesson.

“That’s – good. I’m glad to hear it. As long as you’re really being honest with us this time.” Veronica managed, after a long pause.

“I am.” Melody said. “I want to apologize to everybody here. I’m sorry. I caused a lot of trouble. I’m glad you still care about me. Rosa and I – she’s my mommy – different from you, Veronica.”

Melody twisted her legs on the balls of her feet. The babble was getting out of control. “She’s going to help me be more honest. I’m trying and, please tell me if I screw up.”

“Wow!” Briana said. “Sib, that was amazing!”

Melody looked up just in time to prepare for the Briana cannon-ball that smashed into them and held tight.

“I’m so proud of you! That was super brave!” Briana said.

“I agree.” Jane said. “You have done well, Melody.”

“Congratulations Melody, you have managed to be more frustrating than Briana.” Veronica laughed and stepped up to join the hug. Rosa piled on, shortly joined by Jane. Melody held on to whoever they could touch, silent tears pouring into Veronica’s trademark black dress.

“Mom, that’s wasn’t nice!” Briana protested.

“We can revisit Thanksgiving if you want, little lady.” Veronica said. “Everyone you caused trouble for is here right now.”

“This is about Melody today.” Briana said quickly.

“That’s what I thought.” Veronica said, to a general chuckle around the room.

“Well that was a pretty anticlimactic intervention.” Suzie said.

Veronica broke the hug up gently, stroking Melody’s hair. “Those are the best kind, I assure you.”

“Yes, the ones with the screaming and crying are much more frustrating.” Jane said sagely.

“You’ve been to an intervention? When?” Veronica asked, furrowing her brows.

“I’ll tell you another time.” Jane said placidly.

“Was it for you or someone else?” Veronica persisted.

“Another time, love.” Jane said, with finality.

Melody did a quick “eye see you” gesture to her fingers to Veronica. Their mom laughed, shaking her head.

“In that case, please have a seat, everyone. We have coffee, tea, Christmas cookies, and a cheese plate for the solutions phase.” Veronica said.

“And hot chocolate!” Briana interjected. “You said there’d be hot chocolate, Mom!”

“How could I forget?” Veronica smirked. “Gary, do you mind helping Briana with the chocolate?”

“I’m on it.” Gary said.

He took a quick step forward and squeezed Melody’s shoulder. “We’re with you.” He said, softly. Then he was gone, leading a bouncy Briana to the kitchen.

Melody would have been happy to help, but instead they found themself on the biggest couch, tightly packed between Rosa and Veronica, with Jane on Veronica’s end. Erin brought food out of the kitchen, while Tamira had Arthur taking drink orders.

“What do you need, Little One?” Veronica asked gently.

“Mom I need help.” Melody said. They took their phone out of their pocket, unlocked it with shaking hands. “I can’t – there’s messages from Beatrix. Scary ones. I haven’t looked at them. Can you…?”

“Of course, sweetie.” Veronica took the phone and began scrolling through texts.

The tension in their mom was instant. Soft gasps or even snarls accompanied Veronica’s scrolling. In short order she’d handed the phone to Jane.

“Jane – I hate to ask but – I can’t read any more of this while I’m comforting Melody.”

“Of course.” Jane said, taking the phone. Her eyes were grim as she scanned the screen. “This is ugly. I will copy the criminally actionable messages to a file.”

“Melody, my poor, brave baby. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.” Veronica said, wrapping her arms around Melody.

“It’s going to be okay, Niñe.” Rosa said. “We’ve got you. Veronica, thank you. I can’t fix this on my own.”

“I can fix it.” Veronica said, her voice suddenly stern and terrible. “Not in one day. This warrants – a thorough response. I’m going to promise you both something right now. Beatrix will not hurt either of you, any more.”

“Thank you Mom!” Melody said, trying to snuggle Veronica and Rosa both at once. They ended up settling for leaning their shoulders against Veronica, and pressing their hips against Rosa.

“Thank you Veronica.” Rosa said. There was a worrying amount of relief in her voice. She’d really been scared by what she saw in those messages.

“Uh – mom says I have to ask you about drinks even though it seems like I’m interrupting.” Arthur said, awkwardly.

“You’re not interrupting at all dear.” Veronica said. “I’ll have coffee. No sugar, one drop of cream.”

“I’ll take tea. Thanks Arthur.” Rosa said.

“Cocoa please.” Melody said softly. Arthur grinned at them. Melody managed a small grin back.

“I am – going to get something stronger.” Jane said, rising from the couch with Melody’s phone. “Melody, may I copy this entire text history from Beatrix and then erase it from your phone?”

“Is it that bad?” Melody asked, shivering.

“She threatens your life several times, Little One.” Jane said softly. “In graphic detail.”

Melody whimpered and grabbed their mom and mommy tightly. “I don’t want to read that. Make it go away, please.”

Jane nodded, and made her way to the liquor cabinet.

“Rosa, would you like to stay in Melody’s room a few days?” Veronica asked. “I can send Gary and Casey with you to pick up some things from your apartment.”

“That would be really good.” Rosa said. “Thank you.”

“Of course, I…”

“Mom.” Melody said, tugging insistently at Veronica’s dress. “Mom, listen. Rosa is part of the family, okay? I – I need it. Please.”

“Oh my goodness.” Veronica said, planting a kiss on Melody’s head. “Rosa, did you teach them that?”

“Kind of.” Rosa said. “It’s our foundational rule. They have to tell me when they need something, or when something is a problem.”

“That is an excellent rule.” Veronica said. “In that case, you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need to, or would like.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. Once Beatrix is dealt with…”

“I don’t take family lightly.” Veronica said firmly. “Melody is family. If they say you’re in, then you’re in. There’s no halfway.”

“Thanks.” Rosa said, squeezing Melody again. “I’m still not deciding long term right now, but thanks.”

“We have some time. As much as I’d like to spend every minute solving our Beatrix problem, the world doesn’t work that way.” Veronica said. “Would you like to compare notes on taking care of our little troublemaker over the next few days?”

“That sounds pretty cool.” Rosa said, hesitantly. “I don’t want to mess up your dynamic though.”

“Nor I yours.” Veronica said, releasing Melody to take a cup of coffee from Arthur. “It’ll be good to see how you are together.”

“Okay, yeah.” Rosa grinned. “Melody is going to be so mommy’d-up that they won’t know what to do.”

“Mom! Mama!” Melody protested.

“The joke is that it doesn’t matter if you know what to do, because we’re going to make all your decisions.” Rosa said, letting Melody go so that they could get their hot chocolate.

Obviously that was the joke! Being treated like a dumb baby left them without a way to respond. Melody took refuge in their hot chocolate. Light chatter spread around the room as people dug into the snacks and came down from their emotional tension.

Melody found themself on the floor in front of their Mom and Mommy, cuddled up against Briana. Their sister had an absurd amount of whipped cream on their hot chocolate. Not content with that, she’d studded the whipped cream pile with mini-marshmallows.

“You really hurt my feelings and scared me.” Briana said softly.

“I’m sorry, sis.” Melody said, leaning against Briana.

“I forgive you. I’m really glad you’re safe.” Briana tilted her head up to plant a creamy kiss on Melody’s cheek.

“You are such a gremlin.” Melody said, wiping their cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Briana said, happily. “I know how to be big now. I’m going to help take care of you too, while Mom is fixing this.”

“I’d like that.” Melody said with a happy sigh.

“We’re getting our Christmas tree tomorrow!” Briana gushed. “Oh, and do you have presents you still need to buy?”

“Yeah uh, I haven’t really bought any.”

“Sib!” Briana scolded. “You’re lucky this hot chocolate is so yummy. Otherwise I’d go Big and spank you.”

“You can’t spank me even when you’re big.” Melody retorted.

“That’s what you think. I’m a Rasmussen woman.” Briana said. “We’re fierce.”

“You are a ridiculous dumbass, is what you are.” Melody giggled. “Can we play?”

“Yeah! What do you want to play?” Briana asked. She took a big gulp of her cocoa, spreading whipped cream across the whole bridge of her nose.

“Cloudland.” Melody said. “I wanna be strong – but safe.”

“Okay! We won’t go questing, we can just say in the castle. Alanna can tell us about the big quest she just went on.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it was a crazy one, with scary monsters and a bunch of stuffies from other houses.”

“Sounds wild.” Melody said, grinning.

“Before you two wander off…” Rosa said, leaning down. Melody squeaked in embarrassment as Rosa pulled the waistband of their track pants and diaper open. The squeak only served to put all eyes on them. Melody hid behind their cocoa cup.

“You need a change.” Rosa said.

“You can use the changing table in the drawing room if you like.” Veronica said.

Veronica took the opportunity to check Briana as well. Melody’s sister took it without complaint. Stupid super-baby sister.

“Thanks. Does Briana need it too?” Rosa asked.

“She does, I can take care of her.”

“No worries, we’re family right?” Rosa said, with a question in her tone. “I’ll get them both.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Veronica said. “Thank you Rosa. I have a feeling you and my mother will get along famously, when she gets here.”

“Your mom?” Rosa smiled nervously. She hopped to her feet and took a hand each from Melody and Briana, pulling them up. “Right! Anyway I’ll take care of these two.”

“Arthur, do you want to play with us after we get changed?” Briana asked.

Melody cringed. Great, everybody was talking about it super loud. Suzie was giggling at Melody and their sister. Melody hid their face in Mommy’s shoulder.

“Yeah – okay.” Arthur said bashfully.

Thank goodness that at least one of the Littles was shy too. Melody followed Rosa to the drawing room. A huge weight that they hadn’t even realized they’d been carrying was gone. They had no idea what Veronica was planning, but they trusted her to keep her promises.

It’s not over, but I’m safe. Melody thought. I’m safe with my family.