Annie LXVIII: Regifting

(Chronological index: New World Order #13)

Pet came out of the carrier at a run. Angel was already leaning over to gather the sylph into a hug. Pet squealed and squeezed.

The gnome woman cuddled her over her extensive belly. Pet touched it with her hands. "Angel! You're ENORMOUS!"

"I am, aren’t I?" she replied. "It's from all this eating. Even for a former sylph, I'm a non-stop devouring machine. In fact..."

"Better run, Pet," Cruiser said. Angel licked her chops. She opened a mouth nearly as wide as Pet's head.

Pet screamed and kicked, then feared she'd hurt the baby, so she relaxed then lips started to nibble at her shoulder so she kicked again but hit Cruiser.

As that gnome was a blood sports vet, and Pet stood slightly over knee high to him, he hardly noticed the kick. He grabbed the ankles mostly to keep the girl from hurting his wife.

"Careful," Ray said from above the conflict. "She's very ticklish and she's been known to pee when-"

"I DO NOT!" Pet squealed. She stopped paying attention to her resistance as she protested.

That's when the gnomes pinned her between them in a loving hug. She forgot about Ray's outrageous slander and purred happily.

Tammy shook her head and asked Ray if he wanted a tour of the house.

Ray and his wives had felt that the apartment was no place for a growing family and a number of rescued sylphs. They'd helped Tammy and Mildred find and purchase a home more in keeping with their needs.

Mildred, Tammy and the gnomes lived together on the edge of town now. The property also included a building for Tammy's non-profit sylph rescue offices.

It took a while to make a full tour. Tammy was always ready to drop to her knees if a sylph had a problem. Anything from tying shoelaces to night sweats got her full attention.

Ray was not only patient with her distractions, he tried to help where he could.

"It's not the Sylph Center," she said as they finally came back to the house. "But we seem to be filling a need."

"Superman complex," Ray said with a nod. Tammy raised an eyebrow. "All those years of comics and movies, people tend to wait for some hero to swoop down and make changes for everything to be better.

"If everyone was impressed with the Center, they probably left everything sylph to the Anthonys. This, though, is helping break down the big problem into smaller ones."

"Is that a sizist remark?" Angel asked. Ray swore to his innocence, then knelt down by the woman.

"Can I get a hug?" he asked. "I mean, if you're through with Pet and hosing down anything she may have left-"

"I don't PEE on FRIENDS!" Pet screamed from the window. Cruiser had lifted her up to see the view of the fields behind the house.

Angel ignored the sylph and looked up at Tammy. She shrugged. "He's a Foster, so he's genetically programmed to revere pregnant women. And he's been trained by Annie to be gentle with tiny women. I'd say you're in the best of all possible hands."

Angel nodded and he lifted her gently up to his shoulder. She even twisted in his grip to let him touch her belly. The baby cooperated with a kick.

Pet bit her lip at the size of Ray's smile. He was always happy around babies, even when he was drafted into feeding, burping or changing them. It was too bad Denise had been infertile, even before they completely lost that chance.

But his smile was just as sincere after he put Angel down on the table. He had expressed no lingering resentment about how things had worked out.

He shook Cruiser's hand and lifted him and Pet to the table for lunch. Mildred wheeled her chair in and joined them.

Angel had first pick of the various snacks laid out for the diners. Cruiser cautioned Ray not to get in her way and he seemed very sincere.

Ray and Pet both stared as the woman put away an entire Buffalo wing. The Ohio Fosters laughed at their visiting cousins.

"Important safety tip, Pet," Ray stage whispered, "Never be alone with Angel unless there's food."

"IF I'm alone with Angel," Pet replied at the same volume, "I AM the food."

After the laughter and the assurances of safe conduct, Mildred pointed to the box beside Ray's place.

"What's in the gift box?" she asked.

"Oh, something for Tammy," he said. He ignored the silence that followed although Pet kept giggling.

"What is it?" Cruiser asked.

"A GIFT!" Pet shouted.

"It's a bit of a surprise," Ray said.

"You have ten seconds," Mildred said.

"Well... We have to set it up. Um..." He looked around the house. "Tammy, where's your bedroom?" She led him off down the hall.

Pet squirmed and giggled as they waited but refused to explain anything.

Ray shut the bedroom door and came back. He moved the box to the center of the table.

It was red metal with smooth sides. No lid was visible. He tipped it on one side and found a tiny button on the bottom. He pushed it and set the box back down.

"Well?" Angel asked. "Are you going to open it?"

"No, it's Tammy's," he said. "She has to open it."

"That's it? It's ready?" Cruiser asked. He looked from the box to the human. "You couldn't have done THAT with her in the room?"

"Oh, I guess so," Ray said. His deadpan expression was ruined by Pet holding her breath to keep from laughing out loud. "Okay. Tammy!" he called. "You can come out now."

The box popped open, split down the middle. A figure in red plastic sat up on a rubber pad. It climbed out of the box and shook itself like a sleeper. The figure was feminine enough to identify a gender, but not overly curved.

It stood exactly 18 inches tall, a little bit shorter than Angel. Tammy's face looked out from a tiny screen in the head.

The remote stood, marveling at her fingers, then looking around the room. Finally she saw Cruiser. "Oh, my God," she whispered.

"Yeah!" Pet shouted. She started to run over to hug the figure. Ray plucked her up into the air and shushed her.

"Cruiser goes first," he said softly.

"Oh, of course," Pet agreed. She curled up in Ray's hands and watched.

Remote and gnome stepped forward slowly, hands raised. They touched palms and interlocked fingers.

They stared into each other's eyes. Tammy's remote started to shake. Cruiser pulled her into a hug. They turned simultaneously to offer open arms to Angel.

"That things waterproof, right?" Tammy's mom asked.

"Yes, Aunt Mildred," Ray said.

"Why?" Pet asked.

"Because these sensitive idiots are going..." Mildred interrupted her dismissal of the overly emotional to sniffle. Ray ignored her as she wiped a tear from one eye. "The waterworks, Pet. They're always a glance away from waterworks."

Under the table, Ray's hand tapped her wrist. She grabbed his hand and squeezed.

The three figures on the table hugged tight enough to share footprints. After a long silence, Ray finally let Pet down to join them.

Tammy laughed and lifted Pet to hold between her and Cruiser. The rest of the available airspace was taken up by Angel and Little Millie.

"You'd better have brought two," Mildred said. "Or there will be repercussions."

"I'm not afraid of you, old lady," Ray said. She raised one eyebrow and he flinched. "Okay, okay, the other one's blue! It's in my bag in the living room!"

Cruiser gave Tammy a tour of the gnome living spaces and how the house looked from down there.

Pet ran around trying to keep up with Mildred. After months in the wheelchair, she was finding bipedal locomotion a bit of a thrill.

Angel hadn't felt like waddling around holding one remote back or horning in on the others' relationship. She sat on the table and watched Ray put dinner together.

"Should I be jealous?" she asked.

"I know you're not serious," he said. "But the answer is no. Cruiser is the sylph, or gnome, that Tammy's known the longest. Annie showed me around, showed me how to be a sylph. Annie showed Ruth and Pet showed Denise. Amelia showed Sam, now that I think about it.

"It's perfectly natural to share this with someone so... That you're the most comfortable with. But it doesn't change how anyone feels about you." He touched her reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Ray? I was talking about Mildred? About her mobility right now?" She pat her belly. "She's climbing the stairs and I can barely get out of bed on my own! I was just jealous of her... Physical freedom, you know?" She sniffed a bit.

Then she had to bite on her cheek to hide her smile. The look of horror on Ray's big, open face... It almost overcame her iron will.

"Oh, my gosh!" he said. "Angel, I was never... I hope you don't think... I didn't mean..." He paused. She stopped breathing as he leaned down close to look her right in the eye. "I know that face. Annie gets that face. Usually when she tells me that Pet got eaten by moon bats..."

He stood up straight, hands on his hips. "Is this the part where you burst into tears about ideas I put in your head? I can give you a performance review on that." He winked. "Or I can feed you."

"Food," she said simply. "All is forgiven if-" She stopped talking as he put a cookie in her lap.

---------------

After some experience with people using the remote, Ray had suggested a design improvement on the system. When dinner was ready, he turned the boxes over and pushed the button again.

Instant cries of protest sounded, from two bedrooms and beneath one sofa. There was also a thud in the library. Pet ran out of there.

"Mildred fell off the bookshelf, Ray! And she's not moving! Come help! Call 119! Don't move her but get professionals!"

"It's okay, Pet," Ray assured her. He lifted her up to the table and set her beside Angel. "She's fine. I just turned off the remote."

"Oh."

Ray held a hand to his ear. "Hear the profanity? She's fine!"

Pet and Angel covered their mouths and tried to smother giggles as a very irate Tammy stormed into the kitchen.

"Turn that back on!" she commanded. "Cruiser was showing me-" She sagged suddenly and caught herself on the back of a chair. Ray helped her sit down, then went to help Mildred into her chair.

When everyone was at the table, including Cruiser and the remote he'd carried over, Ray explained.

"It is easy to overdo it with the remotes," he explained. "They can sap your strength. So there's a time limit. After six hours running the thing, it shuts off. And then you can't run it again for twelve hours."

"Aw," Tammy protested. Mildred bit off much richer language and rubbed at her thighs.

"You can also push the button and end the session. The break is twice as long as the time spent in operation." He served the hamburgers around. "It's mechanized in the machines because not everyone sees the wisdom in the arrangement."

"How is Annie?" Angel asked.

"Pet?" Ray invited to answer.

"Oh, she's fine. She's taking a set of Undine-sized remotes to Mia's family. There's even one that makes Annie the same size as Mia!"

"That should be fun," Cruiser said. He was talking to Pet but looking up at Tammy.

"Yeah, it should," Pet agreed. "Everyone should have a chance to be the same size as their friend." At that thought she popped up and ran over to give Ray's wrist a quick hug, then went back to her slice of burger.

"And we brought one," she went on, "that'll let Tammy walk around in with the sylph's she's saved."

"That's very thoughtful, Ray," Mildred said. She had a very wide smile showing. Tammy snorted at the sight of it.

"You just want to be small enough to play with Millie," she said. Mildred refused to comment.

Angel started the rocking motion she used to get up onto her knees then her feet. Cruiser helped her stand. She walked over to stand by Ray's plate. Her husband hovered protectively behind her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Well," he said. "I recently met a sylph named Mai Crowe." He told the story of the trip to Savannah, and more marvelous magic in a miniature body that held a giant heart.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern," he said softly. "Whoever's making the sylphs? And saving sylphs and making undines and gnomes and God only knows what else? They... They want us to love each other.

"They're looking for love in all the small places." He cupped Pet in his hand and finger-hugged her. That hand extended towards Angel and Cruiser. They each took one of Pet's hands and one of Ray's fingers.

"I'm, uh..." His voice choked a tiny bit. Mildred took his free hand. Tammy leaned over to take his elbow. "Well. There are a lot of people I love. I want... I want them all to know it."

"Then set the damned timer to twelve hours," Mildred said without a moment's hesitation. Everyone laughed.

---------------

The next day started bright and early. Ray woke to the pitter patter of two pair of plastic feet padding down the passageway.

Mildred insisted on using the most of her possible walking time. Tammy insisted she just wanted to get a sylph's eye view of her rescues and their living conditions.

Angel grabbed Pet before anyone else could take her, insisting she wanted to test the safety features of the furniture in the little gnome nursery.

"Not to baby you, Pet," she insisted. "But no one's ever had a gnome baby before. Everything's new and we're...."

"Terrified," Cruiser said. Pet could scarcely resist a chance to be the reassuring one so she toddled off to the foam-furnished box under the stairs.

Ray carried Tammy over to the offices and met the day staff. Their director was underfoot and sticking her remote in everyplace.

She learned of a few new problems just because the sylphs were more comfortable with her at their scale.

She also found a few faults with her staff. Nothing earth shattering, they were just as hurt to find they'd missed something as she was.

In several cases, the sylphs had never complained because they'd never imagined trash shouldn't be collecting in a spot.

Ray sat in amazement as he watched Tammy host a staff and rescue meeting to find ways to make sure problems were identified, reported and solved.

She was still using the remote as he walked back. She ran back and forth on the path, checking flowers, grass, pebbles.

"This is neat!" she called up to him.

"It sure is," he said. "This is what I had hoped for when we started the project. The Military was looking at intel and security, I had my fingers crossed for follow on."

He knelt to offer his palm. Tammy jumped aboard then ran up to his shoulder. "Well, anyway, seeing you with your charges? To me, that makes the whole effort worthwhile."

"It's wonderful," she told him. "Now, I need to get back and try the gnome-mobile!"

He looked at his watch. "Um, you only have a half hour left to use a remote."

"What?" Flat fake feet bounced on his shoulder as she stomped in anger. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought I could use this remote for six THEN use the-"

Ray was shaking his head. "The drain is six hours using your body to send control signals through the helmet. It's the helmet that's got the timer, not the doll."

"Oh." She sat on his shoulder and crossed her arms. "Oh. Well, that's okay, then, I guess."

He started walking again. After a few yards he was reaching for the door. As if the thought had just occurred to him he said, "And you and Aunt Mildred can't trade helmets. That won't work."

"DAMMIT!"

-------

Mildred coached Ray through making her signature dish for dinner. He followed her directions faithfully and tipped the delivery driver generously. Then the assembled family dug into the pizzas with gusto.

Halfway through the meal, all the small people sat up suddenly. "Uh-oh," Pet said.

"What?" Ray asked.

"I smell bleach," she said. Cruiser nodded.

"Did something spill?" Tammy asked.

Angel raised her hand. "I think my water broke...."

Ray and Cruiser went straight to panic mode. Angel calmed her husband while Mildred and Tammy shot terribly self-satisfied looks at Ray.

"What? What are you looking at me for?" he asked. "Shouldn't we boil towels?" Mildred laughed.

"Ray," Tammy explained, "someone has to hold Angel's hand." He nodded. "That will be Cruiser." Both men nodded. "And someone needs to be helping her." Ray nodded.

"At the business end," Mildred said. Ray later told the story as 'then Mildred cackled.' "And it should be someone close to her size."

"I can do it!" Pet said.

Tammy shook her head. "You'll help, Pet, but Angel needs someone that won't get crushed between her legs."

"I'll jump out of her way!" Pet promised.

Mildred picked up the only sylph in the house and cupped her hands around the little woman. But her eyes were locked onto Pet's husband.

"I'd do it," she said, "but someone's amazing technology won't let me use the remote until midnight."

"Same here," Tammy said.

"I don't know nothing about birthing no babies!" he protested.

"Don't care," Tammy said a little too cheerfully for Ray's comfort.

"You're a Foster," Mildred pointed out.

"I've baby sat, burped, changed, entertained, wiped, washed and bathed, up to three cousins at a time, but I've never...." He pointed at the little woman leaning back beside the pizza plate. He shook his head.

Tammy started to clean the table off as Mildred produced the Birthing Kit. Towels and pillows were laid out.

"Ray," Cruiser pleaded, "Someone has to..."

"Please," Angel asked. "Help?"

He still hesitated.

"NOW!" Tammy said, jabbing him in the rib with her finger. He rose and staggered towards Tammy's bedroom and the red remote helmet. He calmed on the way, his walk steadying.

"Don't worry," Tammy told Angel. "We'll be right here, guiding his every step."

"Thanks," she said. She grunted as labor started. Tammy gently pinched her hand. Then she noticed that her mom was wheeling down the hall to her room.

"What the....?" Cruiser's scream drew her attention back to the table. "Hold her wrist, Cruiser. Don't let her hold your hand."

---------------

Mildred shut the door and wheeled over by her bed. The remote was recharging on the nightstand.

"What are we doing?" Pet asked.

"I want to get something to help Ray," Mildred said. She lifted the sylph up to stand on the metal box.

Pet looked at her curiously, but trustfully.

"Pet," Mildred said calmly, "you know I'm the only person in the house that's been through childbirth."

"You're Tammy's Mom!" Pet said enthusiastically. "I know how that happens!"

"Right, well, I want to run a remote and keep Ray from passing out on the table."

"Oh, no," Pet shook her head. "That's dangerous. And there's a lockout."

"Yes, Pet, I know." Mildred leaned a little bit closer. "But I figure, it's a software lockout. And software people like back doors. And Christmas eggs."

"Easter eggs," Pet corrected softly. Sadly. "Ray won't tell me what they are. He's afraid I'll tell Annie and she'll tell Ruth and Ruth'll do something dangerous and Ray will feel bad that something happens to her because he told someone something they shouldn't have known."

If only Cruiser had been this talkative at the start, Mildred thought. Or if the two could have been averaged. She closed her hands together for a quick prayer.

"Pet. I don't care about the danger. I'm willing to face the danger. For Angel. And for Millie."

"I know that, Aunt Mildred," Pet said. Her eyes were wide and starting to tear. "I know. I want to help you. I do. But I don't know how!"

"Don't get upset, dear," Mildred said. She spoke calmly and soothingly. "Just think. Is there any way we can make this happen? Think. Don't panic. Think back to when Ray ever talked about the remote and the timer."

She spoke for a little longer, getting more and more quiet as she went. Pet closed her eyes to think, then she started to nod and sway.

Suddenly, she stood up straight. Her posture changed. Her expression hardened. Mildred stopped breathing.

Pet opened her eyes. A rough voice came out of a mouth with a half-smile. "You're a determined old biddy, aren't you?"

"Bingo," Mildred whispered.

She settled herself a bit better in the wheelchair as the tiny figure looked around the room for a moment.

"What can I do for you, old lady?" Pet asked.

"Blaster, I take it?" Mildred asked. Pet nodded. "Then you know what I want."

"It's dangerous," Pet said. But it was more of a conversational comment than her previous protest.

"Ray makes it sound like I may be trapped in bed for a couple of days." She slapped at her thigh. "I'm prepared for that."

"Ray doesn't know about someone's heart condition," Pet pointed out. But she was walking over to the side of the box as she did.

"Still prepared," Mildred said.

"Oh, I know that." Pet jumped to the bed where the helmet lay. She paused, one hand to her forehead. "My hostess is screaming. No, no, no, no."

"Pet!" Mildred said sharply. "Would you risk your life for Denise? For Millie? Hell, child, you'd risk your life for a total stranger, wouldn't you?" She placed a hand on the bedspread by the sylph. "Risk is one thing. I’m prepared to pay.... to trade my life for the baby and her mother. Okay?"

"She doesn't like it," Pet said, "but she's stopped protesting." She pointed. "Pick up the helmet."

There was a button underneath the foam padding at the back. Pet directed Mildred in the operation.

"Press and hold, two, three, four, release, two, three, four, press, release, press, release, two three, press, release. You're now good for the life of the battery."

She held a tiny finger up as if testing the breeze. "That's about forty hours right now." She offered her hand. "And can I say, it has been an honor to meet you, Mrs. Foster."

Mildred shook, then lifted herself to the bed.

---------------

Ray knelt between Angel's legs and tried to speak soothingly.

"Tammy! Make him stop acting like I'm a horse that needs gentling!"

"You heard her, Ray. And she's in charge right now."

"I know, it's just..."

"And open your eyes, Ray. You're allowed to see her naked for clinical reasons."

"It's okay, Ray," Cruiser said.

"Don't talk," Angel said. "It reminds him that the husband of the naked woman is watching him watch her."

"That's okay," Ray said.

"See?" Cruiser said, "it's okay."

"Shut up," Angel insisted. "Your voice also reminds me that I hate you for putting me through this."

"Men," Mildred said as she climbed to the table top. She slung Pet down to the towel and knelt beside Ray. "Scoot over, wimp."

"Mildred! What the hell?" Ray asked. Pet tugged on his arm. He moved away from the gnomes.

Mildred touched Angel's thigh. "Hey, Ray, I can actually feel her pulse. Very good." She settled down and faced Angel. "You're doing great, dear."

"Mom?" Tammy asked. "Are you...?"

"I'm not the patient right now," she said without looking up. "Now, can you find me a washcloth?"

Ray helped as he could then tried to get out of the remote. That's when Mildred discovered the baby was a breach.

"Need your hands, Ray," she said, moving to the side. "You need to push on Angel's belly to move Mollie around."

"You'd know better what-"

"You know more about the strength of the remotes," Mildred countered. "I can't be sure I won't push too hard."

"I'm afraid I'll-"

"Ray?" He stopped protesting and turned around. Pet stood on top of the box for the midwife kit and swung a pair of scissors at his input camera. He ducked, staggering backwards.

Tammy caught the remote before he fell on Mildred's. She let him back down next to Pet.

"MAN UP!" the sylph shouted. "Angel NEEDS you! What if it was Annie or Denise or me going through this?"

"I'd be holding your hand," he said. Tammy thwacked his head with a flicked finger.

"How about Keshu, then?" Pet said. She trembled with emotion. "Or Cherry or Mia or Mai? You and Annie are always there for anyone that needs you. You'd walk through fire and grab a table saw to save a friend.

"You've been to an African jail for sylphs you hardly knew and drove through a brush fire for sylphs you never met and broke the laws for Still Renee and... And everything, Ray."

She pointed imperiously at Angel's belly. "Now save MOLLIE and don't give me any more LIP!"

Then she seemed to shrink by a quarter of her size. "Please?"

Ray nodded and moved to where Mildred pointed. Tammy took Angel's hands and squeezed.



Tammy held the scissors carefully. Mildred moved the umbilical between the blades and nodded for a cut.

Millie gave an odd bit of a squeak then quieted. Mildred moved the blanket corner back to tuck her in, brushing her head lightly.

"Good job, Ray," she said. His remote sat sort of relaxed to the side. Pet stood by his shoulder. "You can unplug, now."

The remote instantly went limp. Mildred smiled. "Anyone want to bet that the first thing he does is wash his hands?"

Tammy smiled but didn't look away from Angel. The others looked down the hallway.

To their surprise, though, Ray didn't go to the bathroom but to Mildred's room. "Aunt Mildred?" he called. "How are you feeling?"

"Fit and fine, mister nosey-pants," she muttered under her breath. He stepped out into the hall and looked towards the kitchen.

Pet ran to the edge of the table. "No one wants to shout while the baby is asleep!" she stage-whispered. He nodded and walked into the kitchen.

"Mildred, your pulse scares me. I think you're okay, but if I unplug you from the remote... Well. Maybe we should take you to the hospital before we do that."

"I don't think that'll matter," Mildred said. She rocked back on her heels. "I can feel... I feel..."

"Mildred?" Angel whispered.

"Mom?" Tammy caught the remote as it fell backwards. Ray turned and ran back to Mildred's actual body. Tammy swore and got up to follow him.

"She's not.... she's not going to..." Cruiser's voice trailed off. "Is she?"

"She made a choice," Pet said. "If you ever worry that Millie cost us Mildred... Don't. If anything? Mildred bought Millie. Okay?"

"Okay," Angel said tearfully. She squeezed Cruiser's hand. Pet walked over to straddle the remote's chest.

She leaned over the head and stroked it gently. The face on the screen showed her that Mildred was breathing though it looked labored.

The breaths faded, shallow panting with the rare sigh. Pet leaned close to the audio pick-up. "Of course," she said softly, "if you die on Millie's birthday, they won't name the kid after you." There was no response on the screen. "That's too big of a burden to lay on a kid. Even a tough one like Millie."

After a moment, Cruiser smiled and whispered in Angel's ear. She smiled and nodded.

"Pet? Tell her that we'll name the baby Emerson." Before the sylph could pass the word along, there was a shout of surprise in the bedroom. The panting stopped completely.

But only to take in a full breath. "My dying ASS!" Mildred protested.



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