Always His Baby

Chapter 7
Step Back

Chapter Description: There's more growing up to do for Sheridan.

It must be a dream. It feels like a dream.

But she’s still in her bedroom. Still tucked underneath her duvet, in her Tangled pyjamas, where Daddy left her. A little night-light shines from beside her bed so that she’s not left in complete darkness. Her mind always plays tricks on her when it’s pitch black and her eyes see shapes and movement that isn’t really there. Which is why she has the night-light that’s filtered to make the shapes of stars dance across the walls. It keeps all the monsters away and lets her sleep in peace.

She then slashes her fingernail across Sheridan’s face.

*

"DADDY!" Sheridan screams, sitting bolt upright in her bed.

Her hands reach up to touch her face where the creature struck her. She didn’t feel the thing’s nail cut her skin but...she feels strangely tingly all over. Her cheeks feel a tad chubbier as her fingers explore her smooth-skinned face. As smooth as a baby’s backside, you could say. And there’s a horrible cold, wet feeling between her thighs as she shuffles to the end of the bed.

What’s happening? What has happened to her?

Sheridan fumbles to turn on her bedside lamp, briefly acknowledging the Aladdin theme on the shade, before she has to jump down from her bed. Her knees buckle as her feet hit the floor. Was it supposed to be that high between the floor and her mattress? Dad had carried her to bed last night after her bath so she didn’t know if that was right or not. She looks down and sees that she’s wearing the same pyjamas Daddy had put her in last night.

Except there’s something bulging out a little around her hips. She takes a short breath as she worries it may have something to do with the sticky dampness between her legs. She pulls the waistband out and looks down to see she’s wearing...

Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Big no.

Sheridan stands in front of the mirror, staring at herself. She’s smaller than before. She’s certain of it. Even if she could convince herself that she was imagining things, the...thing around her waist was more than enough confirmation. She was younger. She’d regressed again. Six year olds didn’t wear. Nappies. And that’s what it is.

Worse than that. Six year olds didn’t wet their nappies.

"Sheri, what’s wrong?"

She doesn’t even realise that she’s crying rather loudly until her bedroom door opens. Dad stands in the doorway, in his jogging bottoms, looking a little disoriented by just having been woken up in the early hours by a crying toddler. He looks down, anxiously, at Sheridan standing there in her pyjamas with wet cheeks, looking terrified. It’s enough to snap him awake into parent mode within a micro-second.

Dad kneels down in front of his little girl, checking she’s aware and not sleep-walking before he can embrace her properly.

"I...I...The s-scary woman and...Da-Daddy, sh-she did somethin’ bad and now...Now, I..." Sheridan struggles, hyperventilating from the shock, half-choking on little sobs.

"Hey, hey, c’mon now." Dad picks her up and holds her close, bouncing her rhythmically in his arms; "Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay, Daddy’s here. Daddy’s got you. You just had a bad dream, darlin’, all right? It wasn’t real. It can’t hurt you. Daddy would never let anything hurt you."

With the pounding fear inside her head, she forgets herself briefly and curls her fingers around Dad’s arm, letting him be her anchor. His comforting words decrease her panic rapidly.

Sheridan sniffs and tries to pull back to look at him; "It w-wasn’t just a dream...There was a woman and she...She made me younger! Look at me, Daddy! I’m sma-smaller!"

Dad just blinks at her for a minute before tilting his head.

"I know, baby, remember?" He assures her, wiping her messy nose as she snuffles; "I haven’t forgotten. You were a big girl and then something happened that made you little again. I know everyone else thinks nothing has changed but I know the truth. I told you this yesterday? Don’t you remember, sweetie? When we were in the car?"

Sheridan frowns; "Uhm....Yeah, I ’member, it’s just." Of course she remembers so why is she telling him again?

"You’re supposed to be a big girl but something strange has happened and now you’re little. Is that right?" He tries to confirm for her.

Sheri nods. Yes, that was exactly right.

"M’supposed to be big girl. Big girl’s don’t...Don’t wear nappies." She cringes, squishing her thighs together and looking downcast with embarrassment.

"That’s right. Six year olds don’t wear nappies but you can’t help it because your body is smaller. It’s not your fault. It’s just natural for three year olds." Dad carries her over to her dresser. "And you don’t wear nappies all the time. Just at night in case of little accidents."

At that, Sheridan shakes her head vigorously.

"I don’ h-have aci-den’s!" She protests, a little bit stubborn, knowing that the horrid feeling against her crotch proves otherwise and she blushes again.

Dad just smiles, understanding, and ruffles her hair.

"It’s all right. You had a bad dream and it frightened you." He comforts, settling her down on the floor.

He helps take her bottoms off, leaving her in the top and the night-time nappy that’s decorated in Minnie Mouse pictures. Sheridan shudders with the never-ending humiliation that she actually wet herself. Because of that evil, horrible thing in her dreams that she doesn’t even know the name of or what it wants with her.

Dad brushes her tears away; "You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, Princess. No one is ever going to know. You’ll be back to normal by Monday and back at school with all your friends. Sammy and Amanda and Emma and all the others. No one but me will know and you know I won’t tell a soul. Pinkie promise."

He holds out his little finger to her. Sheri giggles a little through her tears at the gesture. It’s been so long since she and Dad made a promise like that. She curls her little finger around his. Of course she trusts him to keep her secret from her best friends.

It was bad enough just being in her knickers and vest in front of them all at the party. She didn’t want to be laughed at like that again for being a silly little girl.

"Here. You can take this off yourself, seeing as you’re really a big girl." Dad smiles at her; "Then, as it’s morning anyway, we can get dressed and have breakfast. Pancakes sound good?"

Sheridan nods, the tears having stopped leaking now. Pancakes always did cheer her up and Dad flipped the best.

She’s glad that she’s allowed to take the nappy off herself. It’s not like she’s a baby after all. It slips off rather easily, once she un-tapes the sides, though the pungent smell of urine makes her gag a little. She doesn’t mind Dad wiping her legs a little to clean her up before getting rid of the nappy. A wave of relief washes over her. No one will be any the wiser now. Just her and Dad’s little secret.

"Now, you can get dressed yourself, can’t you?" He says, confidentially.

"’Course I can!" Sheri replies, rather proudly, puffing her chest out a bit.

Dad pats her hair again; "That’s my girl. Pick out what you want to wear for today then? Obviously they’re going to be a bit different from your usual clothes. But that’s just another part of everything that’s changed around here. You understand, don’t you Princess?"

Sheridan does. But that doesn’t mean she likes it.

Once she opens the drawers, the outfits inside are all of bright, sweet colours that make her cringe. Pale greens and blues and pink and yellows with some whites. She fumbled through the various outfits, the majority of them dresses with frills and bows. She didn’t really wear this sort of stuff as a toddler, did she? Finally she finds a pair of blue dungarees with some roses stitched on the front. She picks a random pink t-shirt to go with it. With that done, she fishes in the top drawer for some knickers, only to find...

She pulls out one of the garments and turns to frown at her dad who’s taking the sheets off the bed from where her nappy leaked a little.

"You said I only wear nappy at night-time." Sheri protests, showing her discovery.

Dad just smiles again; "That’s not a nappy, Sheri. That’s a Pull-Up. They’re used by little girls who aren’t babies anymore and are learning to go potty by themselves, like big girls."

"I know that." She replies, a little petulant.

"Well then, it’s what a lot of three year olds wear. So it makes sense with everything else that’s changed you would have them in your drawer instead of knickers or proper nappies. There’s no changing table here, is there? It’s not like you’re a little baby who just goes wee wee without realising, is it?"

Sheridan shakes her head roughly again. No, of course she’s not a baby. She wet herself because it was an accident and she was scared. She wouldn’t do it again.

"You’re a big girl who knows when she needs to go to the toilet so you can just go find a loo and take these off when you need to. Just like your knickers. What’s there to be upset about?" He asks, softly, not trying to patronise her. Just being reasonable.

Sheridan nodded. There was no reason to be upset. She wasn’t upset. She was just...confused. She could prove she was a big girl. She wasn’t going to just wet herself because the Pull Up would absorb it for her. She tugs it up her legs and it does feel like putting on knickers. Just a bit thicker, she supposes.

Looking in the mirror, she sees they have a picture of Jasmine, Aurora and Cinderella on the front. A bit much just for training pants, wasn’t it?

She shakes her head and puts on her t-shirt before slipping into her dungarees. They were a little bit baggy around the waist but at least no one would notice she was wearing Pull-Ups which was a good thing. She tries putting the straps on properly and doing up the buttons. But her little, chubby fingers are rather difficult to coordinate. Eventually she starts to get frustrated with them not fitting in right and she hisses a little.

Dad comes to the rescue and does them for her; "There we are. You did the rest all yourself. Still a big girl, see? I’m so proud of you."

That makes her feel better. It’s nice to make Daddy proud.

She feels like he hasn’t been proud of her in a long time.

Sheri lets him put rainbow-patterned socks on her feet and nods when he offers to put her hair into pigtails like Sammy did for her before. A cute-as-a-button little toddler girl soon stares back at her in the mirror once Daddy has finished her hair and tied each pigtail up with a blue hair-tie that have little plastic flowers on them to go with the rose on her dungarees. She blushes a little, shying away from her adorable reflection. At least she didn’t pick out one of the dresses, she supposes. It wasn’t like she could help how cute she looked as a kid.

"All done. There’s Daddy’s gorgeous little girl." He praises, tickling her sides a little when he sees her unsure of her reflection.

She can’t help but giggle and squirm a bit. She always was ticklish. It was Dad’s rather cheap way of cheering her up but it usually always worked, especially if she was sulking.

"Right then. I wonder if anyone around here would like a big, tall stack of syrupy pancakes." Dad muses aloud; "What about...that lion over there? Would she like any?"

He points to a stuffed lion cub, placed on a tiny plastic chair in front of a make-pretend vanity mirror.

"Do you know her name at all?" Dad asks her and Sheridan finds she doesn’t have to think too hard.

"Ki...Kiara!" She suddenly remembers, light-bulb flashing over her head.

Dad grins; "Do you think Kiara would like pancakes?"

Sheri nods and runs to grab the stuffed lioness and hugs it to her chest before running back to Daddy. Of course she knows that the toy can’t really eat pancakes. But it’s just nice to be allowed to take something downstairs with her instead of leaving all her toys up here. Kiara feels so soft against her cheek as well. Would probably have been nicer to cuddle last night than the plastic Rapunzel toy.

She’ll know better when she goes beddie-byes tonight. Maybe then the scary woman won’t come back. If she does then she’ll go sneak into Daddy’s bed where it’s super safe. But she doesn’t want to think about that right now. Her tummy is hungry for breakfast.

"C’mon then, my darlin’." Dad smiles, standing up and offering his hand; "Let’s go downstairs. We’ve got a big day ahead of us."

Sheridan places her little fingers in Daddy’s palm; "We go fin’ ou’ where I can be bi’ girl again?"

"Of course. But there’s lots of other fun things we can do before that."

"Like pancakes!" Sheridan bounces a little on her rainbow socks.

Dad grins and lifts his little girl up again and onto his shoulders; "Like pancakes. And a whole lot more."