✅1️⃣ Trusting the Babysitter

Chapter 42 - Need to Comply

Lorelei smiled when offered Chinese food, and took several minutes picking what she wanted while Adam and Claudia went through suggesting things from the menu. They were careful with the orders, telling her to answer what she wanted without giving any orders. Adam tried phrasing the order in a way that made it clear they didn't want anything to delay her dinner, so it didn't sound like a punishment. But they took quite some time to choose anyway, especially after Adam found a set of little plastic farm animals in the toy chest, and held them up to make animal noises while asking her what kind of meat she wanted with her dinner.

They all laughed. For the first time in the whole day, it seemed like Lorelei could have fun without it being at someone else's expense.

It still wasn't clear if she was really being affected by the drug in the cupcakes, or if she realised. But Adam was still nervous, not sure how long it would take to wear off for any of them. He'd split two cupcakes between the three of them, and while it seemed that Lorrelei was reacting the most, it was still a big mystery how this would alter the duration. He wasn't sure what other experiments they could do to learn more, so he left the question simmering at the back of his mind until they managed to arrive at a decision and Claudia went out into the hallway to be free of background noise while she called to order a delivery.

"Do you want to watch more cartoons while we wait for dinner?" he asked, not quite sure what to say now Lorelei had stopped being the little demon. "Or we could play a game. You can answer, but no being mean. Right?"

She nodded, and pointed to the television. Adam couldn't quite make out the mumbling, but he guessed she was capable of putting on whatever she wanted. It turned out to be more of Sparkling Thunder Presence, which turned out to be a superhero show that was almost certainly age-appropriate. He could see the connections to what she'd been watching before, but the differences were just as obvious.

"Right!" Claudia said cheerily as she returned to the room. "It's going to be more than an hour, because everybody wants food and they're very busy today. So I thought you might want a little treat before the main meal. I promise I won't tell mum." And she brought out her little sister's lunchbox again, holding it out to both of them.

"That's a good idea," Adam said with a smile. "Lorelei, you can have a cupcake. I don't want you being all grouchy when you get hungry."

"Don't want one," the little kid answered.

"And I don't want you to be grumpy. We both had one before, so you have to have one now."

He could see that she wasn't particularly happy about it, but she accepted the cake he was offering, and took a bite out of it. It took nearly ten minutes for her to finish eating, leaving more than a few crumbs in her lap, but he was pretty confident that she had eaten the bits that mattered. She even licked the sweet filling off her fingers, and didn't seem to let a drop go to waste.

"Do you like those?" Claudia asked. "Why were you so insistent about us eating them before? Tell me the truth."

"They're nice," Lorelei beamed. "And you do what I say. I can be really mean."

"You know what happens to mean girls, don't you?" Adam answered, one eyebrow raised. "Like the snake lady in that show you're watching. Do you want to end up like her?"

Lorelei didn't need to use words this time, she could just shake her head.

"So you have to be nice for the rest of the day," Adam answered, back in strict babysitter mode. "You've had one of the special cupcakes now. So if you try to do anything really horrible, we can do the same to you. It's only fair. Okay? Are you going to be good?"

"But we can still have fun," Claudia chipped in. "If you want to, that is. You seemed to enjoy Adam being a cute little girl to tease, and I don't think there's a law against that unless you're being really mean."

"Wait, I don't think that's really fair..." Adam protested, while Lorelei just nodded eagerly.

"I've been thinking about it. And if you think objectively, it could be funny in a way. Can we play a little more? Eat one of those cupcakes. You can pick one that looks freshest."

"No thanks," he said, shaking his head. It was only a second later that he realised... "It wore off. You told me to have another one, and I said no."

"Well, that answers that question. But Lori might have some good ideas for what to do with you, and I'll keep an eye out to make sure you're not really uncomfortable. Sure you won't give it a try?"

"Well..." Adam mumbled, and then he looked at the wicked grin on her face. It was a lot more subtle than her little sister's, and he was pretty sure that she had ideas of her own. Maybe teasing the babysitter together would be a bonding experience for the two of them, giving them a chance to rekindle their friendship. And maybe it would symbolically dissolve Lorelei's belief that Claudia was to blame for the way a babysitter had treated her a couple of years before. It could be a good thing, from one point of view. "If it's you asking, I guess I can try."

He bit into the cake, and was pleased to find that it didn't taste nearly as powdery if he made sure to get some of the syrupy filling in each bite. He could barely tell that this one was stale, and it was just as delicious as he remembered.

Once he'd finished, Lorelei was quite eager to be horrible to her new little baby. But Claudia was insistent: first she had to show them where she had stored copies of the pictures and videos she'd taken earlier, and delete every copy of them. She had to delete the blackmail pictures she'd taken of previous babysitters as well, many taken on their own phones and backed up onto the family computer for safe keeping. But some of those, Claudia decided she was going to print off first. Images of several guys trying on Claudia's clothes, which might have been suitable for blackmail if used individually, combined to make undeniable proof that St Jeremy's root didn't work quite like Mrs Cartwright seemed to think.

Then they were eating, and Adam found himself wearing a bib to keep from getting sauce down his shirt once the little girl demanded he pretend to eat like a baby. It was humiliating, but when he saw the two of them laughing it somehow seemed to be worth the effort.

After dinner, of course, he needed to get changed. And there was plenty of time for the sisters to treat him like a dress-up doll, holding a variety of girls' clothes up in front of him and speculating about what would come next. He knew pretty quickly that he didn't have any choice in the matter, but he was more comfortable getting dressed with the two girls standing outside on the landing; Claudia in the doorway to make sure her sister didn't peek.

After everything that had happened, he thought, the day might come to a happy ending.

Author's Note: I think the last few chapters might have been a little rushed, as I was attempting to write a whole book in a month. I may go back and rewrite them at some point, so any feedback on which bits work would be much appreciated.

I've also posted a rough plot for a sequel in my 'Plot Babĭes' book of ideas. If you'd like to see Adam and Claudia meet again (but this time knowing what's going on), and find out who gets babied this time, then leave a comment on that book :)

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