The Candymen Part 3

"All done!" In record time, Mrs. Grey had returned from downstairs, holding a large, bright yellow bag on her shoulder, holding it up as she approached Sam, "It's got everything you need, dearie. I put in some bottles, a few extra cloth diapers, and his blankie. That should hold him over. I didn't have any formula, though..."

Jason looked over at Robin and scowled, using only his facial features to warn him not to say a word about Jo or the "blankie". What he actually wanted to say probably wouldn't have gone over so well with his mother in his regular form, much less now.

Robin for his part did manage to hold back his laughter, if only to be nice and by reminding himself of his own situation at the moment. He was barely able to hear Sam as she shouldered the bag with difficulty, speaking politely, "Thanks so much, m'am. I'll take good care of Jason."

"I'm sure you will, dearie." Mrs. Grey then bent down in front of Jason, smiling, "Bye-bye, sweetie. Mama'll see you when she wakes up, okay?"

Jason turned his head to his right and toward a wall; apparently his mother had failed to notice that there were pictures of him through the ages, but at least that might have helped further her taking it as a dream. "Um, yeah... okay..."

"Aw, that won't do..." Mother Grey reached over, tickling Jason in his tummy as best she could, "C'mon... tell me 'bye' like you did when I'd drop you off at pre-school. You remember..."

As Robin's laughter let loose a second wave against his restraining it, Sam sweatdropped, "Uh... we really do need to be going, m'am...."

Against all attempts to restrain himself Jason let out a very small giggle, probably not even noticeable but still really embarrassing. He contemplated doing what his mom wanted him to do, but only for a second. No way was he going to give Robin that much to laugh at.

"Whatsa matter?" cooed Mrs. Grey, lifting her son out of Sam's arms and cradling him in her own. She began tickling him even more, smiling sweetly, "You too grown-up to tell Mommy bye?"

Oh yes, this was worse than Larry by now. In between a fit of giggles Jason, in as flat a voice as he could though that wasn't saying much, squeaked out a small, "Bye-bye."

Mrs. Grey let out a squeal of satisfaction, planting a kiss on Jason's cheek. "That's it... bye-bye, baby. Momma loves you." She nuzzled him a little as she put him between Jo and Robin, who had to put a fist in his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "Thanks so much for taking him, dearie," she said to Sam, looking up over the babies' heads.

---

As the scene of embarrassment hell played out at the Grey Household, Alex and Cassie were doing little better. Kirk soon found that his crush needed considerable help feeding herself, not only in working a spoon, but in actually chewing, swallowing, and keeping the food in her mouth once it was inside. Of course, since they had no highchairs in Sam's house, both Alex and Cassie had to be sat on the kitchen floor as they were spoon-fed by the two kids.

Naturally Cassie wasn't so bad off as far as messes go, solely because she did at the very least have enough in the way of motor skills to keep movement restrained to what Kirk needed of her. The same, however, could not have been said of Alex, solely because four-year-olds like Lilly have enough trouble feeding themselves. So while one baby was mostly spotless, the other...

This cannot be happening, was the only thought Alex had as Lilly wiped her face clean. They'd just finished the bowels of food in the house that they found didn't require chewing and she'd wound up with most of it on her. She couldn't even stop herself from squirming as Lilly cleaned her.

Kirk meanwhile smiled, picking up the tiny goth into a hug, "There! Dry, dressed, and full. Not bad, huh?"

"Y... yeah, I guess," Cassie said, feeling nice and comfortable for the first time all morning but still feeling like she was really wanting something. Returning to normal was definitely one thing but that wasn't it... Mommeeeee... Mom. That might have been it. Though come to think of it they never were very close...

After finishing with Alex, Lilly immediately exclaimed, "Yay! Now me an' Baby Alex can play!" And with that she grabbed ahold of the little girl's hand and, almost like she had a sixth sense for toys of all kinds, ran toward Sam's room.

Kirk frowned as he watched Lilly and Alex run down the hall. He didn't really wanna play weird girly games with them... He turned to Cassie, wiping the minor amount of food she'd gotten on her face off, "So uh... what do you wanna do?"
Being pulled along Sam's hallway by a giant four-year-old was quite a new experience for the former jock, and she didn't much care for it, "S-swow down! I'm gonna faww an' dwag!"

Lilly did slow down, though she looked a little disappointed that she had to wait even an extra few seconds.

"Um... I dunno," Cassie said with a mumble, "Maybe we c-" Cassie froze in mid-sentence, her mouth remaining open as though she was trying to get something out that just wouldn't come.

Alex blushed, feeling embarrassed, still holding Lilly's hand as they walked into Sam's now-gargantuan room, "Sawwy. Dish's jus'a new expewiensh fer me..." She gave a proud look up at the four-year-old, "But you'aw bein' a good big sistaw."

Kirk blinked, not understanding what was wrong for a moment before it hit him, "Oh! Right, I forgot!" He turned her around, setting her chin on his shoulder and patting her back heartily.
Unfortunately for Kirk, that moment did make quite a difference as instead of a burp emerging from the girl's lips it was a splatter of warm multicolored goo. Without really realizing what'd happened, Cassie let out a small sigh of relief.

Lilly shot both arms into the air in celebration at Alex's compliment. "Thanks! Now how 'bout we play?”

The ninja wanna-be let out a shudder as the wet substance got on his shirt, "Ewww...." He quickly grabbed a napkin, trying to wipe it off as he moved Cassie back to leaning against his scawny chest.

"Um... aw-wight." Alex felt nervous at this. She'd spent alot of time with Lita's younger siblings and played with them, but they weren't as hyper as this girl, and she hadn't played with them at a time that they were bigger then her.

Cassie's thumb had by now find its way back into her mouth. On instinct the young SinClair pulled her body in as close to Kirk's as she could manage. She felt really tired... even worse than she felt when she left--

"Da store!" Cassie exclaimed suddenly and loudly, probably enough so that the other two could hear her. She was definitely awake now.

Kirk stared, confused. He threw away the napkin, rubbing Cassie back gently as she rose her head off his chest, "What is it? You wanna go back to that store? What'd we forget?"

Alex turned around, hearing Cassie's sudden exclaimation, but before her brain could put it together, there was a grumble from inside her stomach. Something slid through her torso, recently partly-filled by Lilly's feeding only to land in the back of her diaper.

"No! Da candy store!" Cassie hoped that explanation would be enough for her meaning to shine through, though just in case she was already preparing a more detailed one in her head.

"Ew! Ninja-boy, Baby Alex is stinky!" That exclaimation on the part of the four-year-old was even louder than Cassie's, like Lilly's own way of claiming that as a more important problem.

Kirk blinked at Cassie as his own brain started putting the pieces together, "You mean... Wow. Good thing I didn't eat any of it..." He hugged the toddler tighter, trying to ignore Lilly's shout in light of this revelation, "So this all happened because..."
Alex, with so much blood in her face that she likely had none anywhere else in her body, inched closer to Lilly, leaning onto her and putting her head on her arm. She couldn't stop thinking about what Sam would say, what the people of Tandy Gardens would think if they saw her like this....

"Thuh-ink so. When dey get back with Jason if he's little like us den we need to go find Iwene," Cassie answered while clinging on to Kirk as tightly as she could. No matter who it was it felt really comforting being held like this...

With her free arm (or rather the hand attached to it) clasped firmly over her nose, Lilly looked down at her 'little sister' almost the same way she would if she was with her real sister, not to mention 21 and male. "Aw... I bet it feels bad, huh?"
"What about all the other people who ate that candy? The store was packed yesterday. I bet there's even more people there today," Kirk started pacing around the kitchen, rubbing Cassie's back without even knowing what he was doing. He couldn't stand the thought of Tandy turning into a city of babies. Taking care of Cassie and Robin was hard enough.

Alex nodded, feeling filled with shame, both for messing herself and having to rely on a four-year-old for help. The waste rubbing against her body inside her new underpants wasn't too great a feeling either.

Cassie nodded in agreement (not like it mattered since he couldn't see her head), though something also felt almost pleasant about the possibility of a town full of toddlers. Lots of playmates! Hold it, did she actually just think that!?

Lilly hesitated for a second, but wound up removing the hand keeping out the offending odor and then scooping up the heavy (relative to her size) baby as best she could. "How 'bout I take ya to ninja-boy and he get you outta those poopy pants?"

Had he been able to read minds, Kirk would've been freaked out by that, but he was currently preoccupied with his thoughts on how to handle this new candy mission. They'd have to go to the store and shut it down somehow. Might involve alot of ninja stars and fight scenes, but they needed to get it done... "Once the others get here, we need to go straight to the store and put things they way they ought to be, right black-banged girl?"

"Mmmm..." Alex squirmed in Lilly's grip, though still cuddling her in a way. The ninja kid was a boy. She didn't want a boy looking at her between her legs. But then she'd do anything to get out of this dirty diaper. It just felt so... icky.

"Nuh-uh," Cassie said, sounding rather disturbed at the moment but giving no indication as to why. "We needa see someone dat knows 'bout this kin'a thing. And da girl I know at da mall's on some 'cation with her family. Dere's another place vough..."

Walking slowly (how rare an occassion!), Lilly began to carry the toddler as best she could, all the while generally trying to both tune out the stench and avoid the particular spot that was sagging.

Kirk frowned, "Hmm.... So what do we do? Look in the phonebook? I don't think magicians put their names in there."
Alex nuzzled Lilly with her cheek, frowning, "W-wiwwy? Do uh... do you tink you could schange me 'steada da Ninja boy?"
"Nah, I know where ee's at..." Cassie tried to recall the exact location but couldn't seem to do so. "Um... sorta. I know ya have to go down stairs ou'side."

"Um... I'll try..." Lilly responded, clearly a bit nervous and disgusted by the notion but not wanting to let Baby Alex down.

Kirk sweatdropped, looking down at his little crush before laughing nervously, "Eheheh... maybe we should wait for Miss Sam to come back. I don't really know street names very well..."

"Tank 'oo..." Alex began sucking on her thumb and wrapping her arms around Lilly's neck. She normally would've been horrified to get herself changed by a girl barely out of diapers herself, but it just felt so gross. And she loved her big sister. She was so warm and sweet....

"Yeah, I duess..." Cassie said, sounding a little disappointed that the big bo-- little brat didn't know something.

Lilly proudly carried Alex into the kitchen, grabbing ahold of all the materials she thought she needed and taking her back to Sam's room while carrying it all. She struggled a bit, but in her mind it was worth it.

Walking with his crush to the living room, he smiled. Stretching out onto the couch, he let her lie on his stomach as he slid off his sneakers, "Let's just wait here for a minute...." He let out a sigh, moving about his spine so it wasn't cramped, "It's tiring taking care of babies, I just gotta sit down a minute, then we can look for Irene."

Alex nuzzled Lilly again, feeling bad about making her go through all this just because she'd had an accident. It was embarrassing enough already.

Cassie sighed contentedly, wetting herself a little bit but not enough so as to cause any real discomfort. Comfy, full, and (mostly) clean, the tiny goth fell asleep on the boy's chest, her thumb wedged in between her lips.

Lilly-- as carefully as could be expected from one so young and so hyper-- set Alex down on the carpet and pulled her dress up. After a gulp and some perspiration, Lilly opened the diaper... and gagged, but she tried to hide that.

Kirk blinked, feeling her breathing slow down through his shirt. He sat up as much as he could without shifting her. She just looked so adorable, lying there, the only parts of her moving being her cheeks as she kept sucking on her thumbs. It made him feel really warm inside...

His thoughts were interrupted though when he heard the backdoor of the house close, and a set of footsteps and voices enter the kitchen. "You ever the impression your mom knows about all the weird stuff we do, but has more fun pretending that she doesn't?"

Alex blushed brightly, turning away in shame, just hoping that this moment would be over soon. She'd woken up wet that morning, but she hadn't... dirtied herself yet.

"Not a day goes by I don't," Jason answered with a shrug of his tiny shoulders as Sam carried he, Robin, and Jo into her house. Jo had fallen asleep in Sam's arms.

"Aw, cheer up, baby sister!" Lilly said as she pressed Alex's ankles together as well as she could, mimicking the process she saw Robin and Kirk carry out earlier as well as she could manage. "I bet you'll learn to use the potty real soon!"

"Uh... hi," said Kirk, sitting up. He moved his arms to keep Cassie lying against her chest, hoping not to move her. "So... it happened to Jason too? We think we know why..."

"I do know," grumbled Alex. "It'sh jus' AH!" She let out a cry as Lilly's cold wet wipe cleaned her most sensitive area with a less-then-gentle touch.

Jason arched one tiny golden eyebrow in confusion. "And why's that?" He then noticed the visual of a sleeping Cassie sucking on her thumb while wearing a bright yellow dress, and probably would've cracked up if not for the outfit he himself was wearing.

"What's wrong, baby sister? Did I do it too hard?" Lilly seemed a little sad, lightening her touch a bit as she continued.

Sam walked around to the loveseat, lying Jo down onto its cushions and putting Jason and Robin on either side on her. Then with a sigh of great relief, she slid the heavy diaper bag off her shoulder and onto the floor as her legs gave way and she flopped onto the couch. Her arms ached, and she'd probably feel like lead all day.

"It might've been the candy store," said the ninja wanna-be, sitting up on the couch, still clutching the two-year-old close to his chest. "I mean, we were all there and me an' Miss Sam didn't have any...."

"It's uh... it's okay," said Alex, appreciating the softer approach she was getting but not wanting to hurt her feelings. "I jus' wasn't weady."

"Fair enough," Jason said with a nod of his now-chubby head. "Though there's one thing missing: motive. Why would they do it? Can ya answer that?" He of course knew Kirk couldn't, he just wanted to see if the boy had actually realized this on his own or if one of the others had pointed it out to him.

Regardless of what Alex said Lilly kept going in that same manner. She wanted to make sure her little sister was as happy as a baby could be. Just to make sure this was in fact that case, she paused for a second, reached over, and grabbed one of the plushies they were going to play with, putting it in Alex's hands before getting back to work.

Kirk paused, having drawn a blank. It took but a moment to recover, though. "Maybe they're aliens! Freaky, weird aliens who eat people but like them best when they're young and tender!"
On Jason's side, Robin let out a yawn, feeling it was almost time he had a nap as well. As he rubbed one eye though, Sam sat up from her armchair, suddenly alarmed, "Wait, where's Alex? Is she all right?"

"Aw, is Robin sleepy?" Jason asked in a manner that almost broke the sarcasm barrier, taking whatever chance he could get to get some shots in at Robin (even if none would compare to the few minutes Robin saw of him and his mother).

"Yeah. I guess I don't need a lullaby from my mommy to fall asleep." The once teen laid on his back, yawning, "Just gotta get some rest. Be alright soon...."

"They're in your room," said Kirk, pointing. Sam quickly rushed out, eager to see that her best friend was okay. The girl in question gave Lilly a small smile as she saw she was cleaning her more carefully. "You act wike you's done dis 'fore..."

"Uh-huh!" Lilly answered as she kept right on going. Baby Alex had made a really big mess. "Don't remember much though."

After Jason was reasonably confident that Robin was either asleep or very, very close to it, he turned to Sam and said something he'd been considering blurting out since the monet they left. "Um... can I have my blanki-- um, blanket?"

"Hm? Oh..." Being stopped from checking on her miniaturized best friend, Sam opened the diaper bag, looking through its numerous compartments and pouches for the piece of blue cloth. Finding Mrs. Grey had left her with everything needed to easily care for at least twelve toddlers, which would explain the bag's weight, Sam eventually came upon the desired blanket. She smiled, handing it to the tiny blonde, "Here you go."

Alex let out a sigh as she was slowly cleansed. It felt like Lilly was wiping away her shame. It didn't really feel that embarrassing once you got used to it...

Jason grabbed the item greedily, pulling it close to himself before yawning and moving around a little to fit himself in between his fellow two babies. For some reason he couldn't imagine sleeping without it.

Once Alex's poo was divided up between baby wipes and the inside of her used diaper, Lilly grabbed another plastic pair of underwear and slid them up under Alex's bottom. She then poured on baby powder, probably way too much as it also filled the air and got on the floor, and closed the new diaper.

Sam smiled when she saw Jason fall asleep, clutching his cotton blanket affectionately. Turning to Kirk who was sitting on the couch again, Cassie still sleeping in his arms, she whispered to him, "You're in charge. Make sure they're all okay." Getting a salute from the young ninja, she returned it before heading to her room to find Alex and Lilly.
Alex couldn't help herself. The powder tickled and she let out a giggle, small though it may have been. She heard her big sister giggle too, as if responding to her.

"Yay, Baby Alex is clean again!" She picked up the baby once more and set her back down on her feet, then asked, "Does little sister still wanna play?" She seemed to have completely tuned out the filled diaper and dirty baby wipes lying on the floor.

"Sure." Alex smiled, feeling much more like herself, but still very close to the four-year-old. Tugging her dress back down over her diaper, she took the big girl's hand, "What did you wanna play?"

"Everything all right in here?" came a voice from behind the door. As it opened, Sam suddenly gagged, covering her nose. The smell was terrible.

"Hi!" Lilly greeted her fellow blonde enthusistically, seemingly failing to notice her reaction to Alex's filth. She then turned back to that very toddler, stared at her for a second, and slapped her on the right arm. She then ran off off, while yelling "Tag! You're it!"

It was right bout then that Jo began to rise from her slumbe. She stirred slightly, pulling herself into a seating position before almost immediately starting to cry as she saw no Sam.

Alex blinked as she and Sam looked at each other. While behaving like a little kid wasn't that bad when Lilly was around, she was rather embarrassed by it in front of Sam. Her best friend just smiled though as she picked up the dirty diaper and wipes, "Just play nice." Soon after, Alex went bounding after Lilly on her shorter legs.

"Gah!" Kirk jumped, worried about Jo waking everyone else. Looking around but seeing no help coming he lifted her up with his other arm, holding her to his chest next to Cassie, "There we go? You feel better now, right?"

Jo calmed down though she still continued letting out the occassional whimper. Speaking of letting things out it was right about then that Jo's loose diaper almost fell off of her as a weight dropped into it. Her crying started all over again, as Cassie began to move a little, seemingly on the verge of waking up.

It was right about then that Lilly ran into the room, coming to an immediate stop. She was too distracted by the inherent cuteness of the two baby boys asleep on the loveseat to notice even the odor created by Jo.

Kirk blinked at the factors suddenly appearing all around him, but decided to handle them one at a time. With a pang of guilt, he lowered Cassie very gently onto the sofa in between Jason and his brother. Then, his attention focused on Jo, he gagged a little, holding the diaper in place while trying not to put too much pressure on it. He turned to Lilly, raising a silent finger to his lips.

At that moment, Alex came rushing in, attempting to tackle Lilly from behind, only to ram into her harmlessly and fall on her bottom, "You're i-oof!"
Alex's entrance and subsequent actions were the last things needed to wake Cassie up apparently, as right then the girl sat up. Against her better judgment, her eyes started to flood with tears. She'd been having such a nice nap, and now it was ruined.

The could-be ninja sighed, feeling like he'd just screwed up. Fortunately, hope entered just behind Alex.

"Jo's crying?" asked Sam, walking around the two little girls to Kirk. When the boy nodded, she smiled and let him hand her the toddler, "C'mere, sweetie. We'll get you out of that messy diaper, okay?" Kissing Jo's forehead and holding her close, she gave an approving smile to Kirk and Lilly, "You're both doing a great job, by the way."

Feeling encouraged and seeing that his crush was getting upset, Kirk quickly picked her up again from the couch, "C'mere, black banged girl. You feeling okay?"

Cassie shook her head, clinging onto the ninja for dear life while her eyes continued to water but the occasional tear sliding down her cheek. "N-no... still sleepy, and I t'ink I made pee-pee..." She blushed a little at the idea of her saying such things and being so quick to cry, but something about it all felt normal.

Lilly beamed at the compliment, before looking down at her Alex and helping her up. She then immediately tagged Kirk and ran off.

"Hey, I can't play! I've got a baby!" Kirk called out at Lilly and Alex as they ran off. Hearing Sam giggle as she left to change Jo, he sighed, bouncing his crush a little in his arms. Taking care of a baby was really time-consuming. But he still kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back soothingly, "It's okay. I'll get you changed."

Seeing the boy wasn't following, Alex came to a stop, her balance getting slowly better, "I dun think he's gonna pway, Wiwwy."

That sounded very nice to Cassie. She didn't know why she didn't want him to do it earlier. Cassie inserted her thumb into her mouth and got to sucking, a treckle of drool running down the side of her mouth.

"Aw... how 'bout hide 'n' seek? You're it!" Lilly ran off to hide just as quickly as she said it.

Kirk smiled, glad she seemed happy before strolling over to the diaper bag and opening it, lying Cassie down on the hardwood floor. Babysitting did have its reward though, he thought to himself. As he took off Cassie's diaper, he tickled her in the tummy, retrieving the needed supplies from the bag.

Alex pouted at the prospect of being 'it' again, but turned around to the wall and started counting.
Cassie's thumb popped out long enough to let out a few giggles. She could barely remember what she sad about before. At this point, she just wanted to get changed then go play with Alex and Lilly.

On the couch, Jason began to stir. He was still clutching his blankie dearly, though he wasn't sure why. It seemed like such a stupid, kiddy thing.

Kirk wanted to play with Alex and Lilly too. He didn't wanna be stuck as the grown-up all day... He powdered and wiped Cassie, but when retrieving a new diaper from the bag, he also spotted a little red pacifier. With a smirk, he plucked out her thumb and slid that in instead, sliding the diaper under her bottom.

Meanwhile on the couch, Robin turned over, putting his back to Jason. He was still sound asleep, a bit of drool escaping his mouth.

Cassie started sucking on the pacifier at first rather unwillingly, but soon she found it to be just as nice as her thumb. While she sort of had to wonder who if anyone had had their mouth on it before, the issue didn't really particularly bother her.

Once the fresh diaper was taped up, the someday ninja lifted his crush up and set her on her feet, "Wanna go play with Lilly and Alex? Miss Sam c'n watch Jason and my brother."

Cassie nodded, before rushing off to find a hiding spot. Part of her mind was sorta telling her there were more pressing issues to worry about, but she chose not to listen. Playing was more fun than big stuff.

With a grin, Kirk ran off after her. As they headed out the door to the living room, he was only able to let out a brief, "We'regonnagoplayhide-and-seekbye," to Sam. The cheerleader smiled, carrying Jo with her as she headed to her father's armchair across from Jason, "They're getting along really well, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jason was getting really bored and kind of wanted to join in, but he didn't say anything. Who knew what sort of reaction Robin would have if he found out?

Sam was taking a little kitten hand-puppet out of Jason's diaper bag to entertain Jo with, but didn't quite miss how the blonde looked away as he did, "Y'know, I bet they'd let you play with them if you asked them."

Kirk and Cassie were running pitter-patter down the hallway, briefly patting Alex on the shoulder to let her know they were playing to. Of course the toddler got a huge pout on her face when she realized she had to start counting again, but did so anyway. As the pair passed Sam's father's room, the boy spotted its large, high double-bed. With a grin, he grabbed her shoulder, pointing in its direction.

"I... I don't want to," Jason assured her, his expression and the direction he was looking indicating anything but. Feeling a little sad for some reason, Jason hugged his blankie tight while continuing to stare.

Cassie's eyes widened, and she basically forgot that she was supposed to be hiding. She started jumping up and down, trying to get onto the bed no matter how impossible it seemed.

Sam stared at the toddler, feeling sympathetic. Keeping Jo in her grip, she walked to the couch and sat beside the two tots. With a kindly smile, she picked Jason into her lap along with Jo.

Kirk stared, feeling a little embarrassed by his crush's train of thought. But he ran toward the bed, dropping down into a slide under it at the last minute, "C'mon under here," he whispered, motioning from inbetween two boxes.

Jason blushed a little, not letting go of his blankie. His eyes and head slowly moved up until he could see Sam's enormous face, then shot back into their previous position with the speed of the Flash.

Cassie reluctantly did as told, dropping to her knees and rather easily crawling underneath the bed.

Sam smiled again, rubbing his back in a very big sisterly way, "Go on.... I bet you'll have fun. But you can stay if me and Jo if you're more comfortable with us." She giggled, bouncing the pigtailed girl on her other knee, "She really seems to like you."

Kirk put an arm around the mostly-blonde as they lay on their stomachs under the bed. It was like they were in a trench at wartime. He pulled her close so that their sides were touching and they shared warmth.

"Well she's... gross!" Jason said with an embarrassing amount of emotion displayed in her voice. Jo pouted a little. He was ickier than she was,

Cassie rubbed against the big boy, nice and comfy under here. Though it was a little stuffy and kinda boring. Just then, as though her body was choosing the most inconvenient time to do it, her eyes widened and a smell emerged from her diaper. Cassie would've started screaming, it felt so yucky, but the pacifier prevented that.

Sam giggled setting Jason's sleeper-covered feet on the floor and patting him on the rear, "Go on. Unless you want Jo to try kissing you."

Kirk almost gagged, but managed to restrain himself and keep his arm around Cassie. A deep frown came onto his face as he tuned out the smell, giving her a little hug. He tried to weigh his options toward winning the game when he heard Alex shout, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Jason took an awkward step or two, before falling down and starting to cry. He had had trouble standing much less walking all morning, and even though it was only a little fall onto carpet it still hurt.
Cassie clinged onto Kirk as tears streamed down her cheeks, her pacifier moving in and out of her mouth at 90 miles a minute.

The cheerleader eeped, scooping Jason up again and holding him close. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know you had trouble!" Kissing him on the forehead, she held him against her chest, hoping to get him to calm down. She set Jo next to a slowly-waking Robin so she could better comfort the crying boy.

Kirk sighed, crawling out from under the bed and hugging Cassie, "Okay, I guess we can call a time-out and do it next time." He picked her up, although he let out a shudder as he brought the source of the smell closer to his nose.

Jason continued to wail, showing no signs of stopping. He managed to sob out, "W-w-wan' b-b-bwankie!" as his cries started to wind down a bit, only for them to return to full blast after he was done.

Cassie wrapped her arms around Kirk as best she could, still heavily crying but not making a sound other than her sucking.

"R-right! Of course!" She bent down to the floor, picking up the blanket from where Jason fell and put it into his little hands. "There you go? Feel better, sweetie?"

Robin sat up, rubbing his eyes. He felt disoriented and hot... Turning he spotted a pigtailed two-year-old grinning at him, "Uh... hi."

Kirk rubbed her back, taking her out into the hall and motioning to Alex that they were sitting this one out. As the head cheerleader sped past them to find Alex, the ninja sighed, "Second time in five minutes..."

Jason clutched onto his blanket for dear life, his cries almost completely silencing the second he grabbed it. It felt like he'd been without his most precious object for an eternity, but now he had it again.

"Hi!" Jo greeted, continuing to look at the brown-haired boy wth an almost creepy perpetual grin on her face. "Wanna play?"

"There, there..." Sam felt better now that Jason'd quieted down, but kept rubbing his back comfortingly. It made her feel good, anyway.

The events of the morning suddenly struck Robin in the temple, he realized how bizarre his surroundings were. Not just that he was trapped in a toddlers body on the gargantuan couch of a girl he barely knew just because he sampled some really good candy. That too, but mainly that he was awoken by the hysterical crying of his often-emotionless best friend. That in itself was a shocker. He was so stunned by it, that he didn't even respond to Jo's question.
Jason didn't even notice that Robin was awake, though if he did chances are he'd have given about 600% to trying to restrain himself. It felt really weird being this emotional and dependent, especially toward a girl he knew from school. He would've much rather been home with Mommy.

As Kirk entered, heading to change yet another dirty diaper off Cassie, Robin stood, toddling toward his friend. If being turned into an infant could make Jason cry like that, the situation had become that much more dire, "Jason? You okay?" "He's fine," said Sam, ruffling his hair a little in a big-sister kinda of way. "Aren't you, sweetie?"

Jason tuned out Robin for the most part, trying hard to regain his composure. He still wasn't entirely calmed down, and the fact that he was with Sam instead of Mommy felt really, really weird.

He wasn't the only one not paying attention, as Jo chose right then to, for her own amusement, pull down Robin's shorts and expose his diaper to the world.

Turning beet-red in the face, the boy immediately pulled his shorts back up as high as they could go, feeling like the attention of the universe had turned to him for those few seconds of exposure. He turned to Jo angrily, "Wh-why'd you do that?!"
Kirk giggled from where he knelt on the floor, wiping Cassie clean. That was too funny. Too bad he didn't get a picture.

Jo simply laughed in response. Apparently she solely did it because it was funny, or maybe because her old bullying ways were shining through, or maybe because she was a flirt among babies.

Cassie blushed a little, her sucking have slowly significantly. She sorta wondered if she'd look at Robin the same way again.

Kirk meanwhile, who had been gaining a steadily better reputation with Cassie all day, taped her diaper into place before setting her on her feet and pulling her into a one-armed hug, "There ya go! Nice and clean now. That's better, right?"

"So... you doing okay?" Robin saw that his best friend's eyes were still a little watery and desided not to bring up that he was clutching his blanket like he was dependent on it out of sympathy. And also to propose a mutual unspoken pact that Jason also wouldn't bring up Jo exposing him like that.

Cassie nodded happily in response to the boy, before instinctively taking off back to Sam's room to hide all over again... hopefully without the same results.

"S-Sam?" That was Jason, seemingly having regained his composure as he now suddenly sounded a lot more embarrassed than hurt or sad. "Can we go fix this soon?"

Kirk grinned, running after her. He spotted Lilly counting at the spot in the hall where Alex was a moment before, gesturing to her that they'd be hiding again as they ran into Sam's room.
"Course we can..." said the cheerleader, still rubbing his back. She reached over and picked up Jo, who was about to crawl off the couch and set her on her other knee beside Jason. "We need to get to the candy store and find out what happened..." She sighed, putting a hand to her forehead, "And we need to get to Irene! She's probably in a really bad state wherever she is."

---

In a park not far from the Smith household sat a little girl dressed in overalls, surrounded by little boys who practically accepted her into their gender given her eagerness to do boy things. This girl was of course Irene Lew, resident queen of kings.

The boys she was surrounded with were acting as they would be expected. Bumping shoulders, chasing each other and fighting wars against imaginary bad guys.

A little redhead, smaller then the other children (which was quite a feat considering their age) was leading the imaginary war at the moment, largely because her part in bumping shoulders had resulted in too many bruises for the other kids. "Phshooo, phshooo!" Wolfie lowered her finger/death ray, side-by-side with her squadran, "Don't look him in the eye, men! That's what gives him power over you!"

"Hey!" Irene shouted as she dared interrupt the game of, um, games. She stopped right in front of Wolfie, looking down at the little ginger with a somewhat angry expression on her face. "No girls allowed!" Sure, she was kinda in the exact same position, but whatever. Everyone knew that actually meant no girls but her allowed.

Wolfie pouted strongly. That was so unfair. While glaring at the taller, overalled girl, she reached over and tugged on the red-and-white sleeve of a boy next to her, "I c'n pway as well as aww da boys! Can't I, Scott?"

The Canadian child turned his head away from the sandbox for a moment, bring brought back to reality, "What? Oh, right. Sure..."

A toddler with medium-length brown hair who, in his shrunkenness, was without his glasses and therefore without most of his vision, scurried around the edges of the area wherein everyone was playing, stopping every once in awhile to pay attention. And now was such a time, as what he could see through his blurred vision looked interesting.

"That's jus' Scott!" Irene responded. "Da other boys don't wanna play with you!" Behind her was a mostly unanimous cry of approval, or perhaps more accurately pain.

Scott pouted at this as well, feeling as if Irene didn't care about what he had to say. He was really worried about Julie anyway. She had stopped crying when they got to the park and seemed to do okay in the sandbox by herself but he didn't want to leave her alone too long.
Wolfie glared, taking a step closer to the mean girl, being about a whole head shorter then her, easily passable for a toddler, "Oh, yeah? Well fine! I dun want yer boy cooties anyway!"

It was right about then that Irene's conscience kicked in, in the form of her boyfriend-turned-favorite-playmate James crawling into her line of view, a curious look on his face as he approached a not-so-happy looking situation. Something kicked on inside her. "Wai', Woofie... um..."

The redhead, still with a heavy pout on her face, stopped and half-turned, hoping to be let back in but still mad all the same.

"I'm..." Irene trailed off a little. Boys didn't feel bad about nothing! But she still felt bad, so maybe just this once. "I'm sorwy," she said meekly, low enough that Wolfie could hear it but hopefully no one else could.

Wolfie smiled, turning around fully and bouncing on her feet a little, "So I c'n pway now?"

As the scene between the two tomboys played out, Scott sidled off, grabbing Ivan's shoulder as he started to wander off and gently guiding him back to the group.

"Y-yes..." It was right about then that James reached Irene and the two instictively hugged, though after they did so they quickly let go, finding it to be sorta gross.

Ivan practically jumped out of his skin the second he was touched, though once he saw who it was he let out a relieved sigh and went along with Scott to the group. He was afraid it was a ghost, or aliens, or a witch.

Wolfie giggled, thinking that it was cute, even if it did leave them both open to a possible cootie infection. With a grin, she took a step back, letting the two be next to each other, "So y'wanna play hide-n'-seek?"

"You're th' biggest so we need you around the rest of us..." said Scott in a worried voice. "How far c'n you see?"

James nodded, with an enthusiastic, "Uh-huh!" thrown in just in case the motion wasn't a clear enough answer.

"I'ww be it," Irene volunteered, still feeling a little guilty about being so mean to the little redhead. No one liked to be 'it', but she deserved it.

"Just a little... Everything's blurry..." Ivan answered the Canadian kid; at this age he was much more shy than his older self, and it showed.

Wolfie smiled, not missing Ivan's sudden shyness or that he needed help getting around. She took his arm from Scott, smiling at him and leading him away, "C'mon! You can hide wif me!"
Scott nodded for his part. Now unburdened by Ivan, he ran off to hide behind the sandbox. It was a good spot, plus it let him be close to Julie.

As Ivan followed along behind Wolfie and James ran off to hide in a bush near the bathrooms (or as he now knew them the place grown-ups kept going into and coming out of), Irene walked over to a tree and buried her face into her arms. She began counting, at least as far as she remembered numbers being, which admittedly saw such obviously correct sequences as '1, 4, 2, 8, 3...'