“Oh honey, that’s fantastic! That’s such a big step!” The ample-faced woman on the screen beamed excitedly. Jessica grinned back, embarrassed.
“It’s just the one night, mom. I’m not going to do anything with the patients yet.”
“But you will! Oh, I’m so proud of you! My little nurse, going out there, saving lives. Your father will want to hear all about it when you get back!” Jessica’s mother stared wistfully in the distance, before returning to reality.
“They’re not going to keep you on the night shift, right?”
Jessica laughed. “No, no, that’s a long way off mom. This is the only shift I could get in to shadow.”
Her mother considered this with a thoughtful ‘hmm.’ “Well good luck pumpkin, and don’t put sugar in your coffee. You know that’ll just make you crash.” Jessica laughed again. “I know, mom, I won’t.”
“How’s Sarah? Is she being good? Are you too getting along?”
“She’s fine. She misses you guys, and a lot of her stuff.” Jessica chuckled. “How’s the move coming?”
Her mother sighed, the exasperation apparent in the sound. “It was going great until until your father refused to let the movers do their job and threw out his back. Now he’s in the hospital as a patient instead of a doctor.”
“Mom, you know chiropractors don't work in hospitals.”
“Oh you know what I mean.” Her mother gave a final annoyed huff, before changing the subject. “So how’s Lisa? Is she watching Sarah for you tonight?”
Jessica shook her head. “Lisa’s out of town for a tournament. She won’t be back ‘til Monday. Tod’s coming over tonight to watch her.”
Her mother’s brow furrowed at that. “Tod? Are you sure he’s up for it?”
“He’s fine, mom. He’s great with kids.”
“Well, if you say so honey.” There was a ringing in the distance, catching her mother’s attention. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. Good luck tonight! Love you pumpkin!”
“Love you too, mom.” Jessica got out before the Skype call was closed. She shut the laptop and pushed the chair back from the desk, standing up and adjusting her scrubs. Well, this was it, the big night. She walked out of her room, closing the door tightly before knocking on the one next to it.
“Hey Sarah? I’ve got to leave soon, Tod’ll be here any minute. Come on out.”
“Just a minute!” a voice squeaked through the door. Jessica shook her head, smiling. Anytime she tried to get Sarah out of her room, she was always in the middle of some vital project. Probably some new masterpiece made from the scraps of construction paper her safety scissors had chewed through, or trying to get her latest “Princess Tower” more than five princesses tall before it collapsed in a pile of royal rubble. Belle and Aurora made the best bases so far. She was sure any moment now Sarah would pop out and show her what she had made, or what was left of it. Jessica knocked again.
“Sarah? You almost done?”
“Just a minute!”
“Sarah, I have to go, honey. Hurry up.”
When she didn’t get a response, Jessica turned the door handle and opened the door.
“Sarah-”
The door swung open, only to hit something behind it, with a clatter of plastic, a wet splash, and a shrill “YAAH!” following it. There, standing in front of the door, was Sarah,along with the smuggled cup of grape juice knocked out of her hands and onto the floor. Fortunately for the floor, and unfortunately for Jessica, the contents had landed mostly on Sarah’s white shirt and pink sweatpants, staining her chest and legs quite profusely.
“What did I tell you about bringing drinks upstairs? You have to leave them in the kitchen!” Jessica scolded, surveying the damage. Sarah didn’t meet her gaze, only muttering a soft “Sorry…”
Jessica groaned. “Well, let’s get you into something dry.” She marched her sister over to her bed and pulled her sopping pants and shirt off, rolling them up and dropping them in the laundry basket, trying to contain the purple droplets threatening to fall from them. She left Sarah standing in her white, fruit-patterned underwear, those thankfully being spared the grapes of wrath, while she dug through the small closet, looking for the first dry thing Sarah could wear. After a moment of hunting, Jessie pulled out a long-sleeved pink shirt with a stylized blue flower on it and a pair of cyan cotton pants with large matching ruffles at their ankles. She dropped the shirt on the bed and got Sarah’s attention, holding the pants.
“Alright bumblebee, step right in here-” But as soon as Sarah stuck her foot in the first pantleg, the doorbell rang.
“Crap, that must be Tod.” Jessie muttered under her breath. “Get dressed and come down when you’re done.” With that Jessica dashed downstairs. Sarah wasn’t exactly a veteran when it came to dressing herself - and those times usually resulted in a jacket, the bottom-half of a fairy costume, and both socks on the same foot. Still, she trusted Sarah could figure this one out, especially as she had started her out on the hardest part.
Jessie rounded the corner and pulled the front door open, revealing the lanky, awkward dork she loved so much. He had impeccable timing.
“Tod!” She beamed, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her level, kissing him on the cheek.
“Whoa, hey, easy there!” He laughed as she pulled him through the door. She released the vice on his neck and backed away, grinning bashfully.
“Sorry, you’re just a total lifesaver tonight. Thank you so much for doing this.”
He held up his hands, smiling. “Hey, it’s nothing. Better than having to try and read Jerry’s script again.” He grimaced, the painful purple prose of Jerry’s epic rock opera starring a thinly-veiled version of himself as a musclebound space adventurer. Hopefully the rest of the troupe would reject it with him. Jessica laughed. She had only seen the script once, but the third song about how brave Space Jerry was had told her enough.
Jessica pulled her purse off the rack by the door, probing through it to make sure she had everything for tonight. “Okay, I’ll be back around 6 this morning. Call me if you have any trouble, and just make yourself at home.” Satisfied her purse was as it should be, she poked her head in the stairway.
“Sarah! I’m leaving now, come down here, Tod’s waiting for you!”
A door slammed open, and a clumsy, uneven patter of the little girl running down echoed through the small hallway.
“Be good, okay? And dooh my God…”
Sarah had dressed herself. She had dressed herself in the clothes Jessica had laid out for her. However, her method was... unorthodox, to be charitable. She had slipped her arms through the pantlegs, wearing them like a very restrictive vest, while she had slipped her legs through the waist of her shirt and stuck her legs through the sleeves. She had pulled the upside down shirt up as high as she could, to the point the bottom of her underwear was poking through the neckhole.
“Sarah, how…? What...?” Jessica stared at the fashion disaster in stunned silence. The disaster for her part just beamed back with a wide toothy smile, barely suppressing her giggles.
“I did it!” A cheeky pride in her squeak. Jessica was less amused. She made a move to try and pull the pants off her arms, but stopped when she couldn’t get them to budge.
“Tod, can you get her? I’m sorry, I really have to go. Bye you two!” She jumped out the door, waving to the pair as they waved back. “Good luck!”
The door closed, and the babysitter and babysat were left alone. Sarah turned to Tod, still grinning and still just as proud of her joke.
“You’re silly.” He poked her little button nose and she giggled. “Let’s get you fixed up.”
He sat her on the couch and with some difficulty, pulled the pants-turned-shirt and shirt-turned-pants off her, getting them back in their correct positions quickly. He couldn’t help but notice they were a tad stretched out. With his charge now dressed, he picked Sarah up and stood up, holding her up to his face.
“So, what do you want to do, squirt?”
“Let’s go to my room. Carry me!”
“Whatever you say, princess.” He smirked. He knew she had him wrapped around her little finger, but it was hard not to let her take the lead like that. She was too cute to not oblige. He marched up the stairs, careful not to bump her head on the walls before they stepped inside her domain.
Sarah’s bedroom was one of the smallest rooms in the house, beaten only by the half-bath downstairs and the coat closet. The house was technically a three-bedroom, but Jessica and Lisa had turned the extra spot into a den and storage closet, though after Sarah moved in with them, it had returned to its original purpose, sort of. The small bedroom-turned-den-turned-bedroom was really only a bedroom in that it had a bed. The extra desk, shelf, and corkboard were still inside, though they had been taken over by the room’s resident. Sarah had brought no shortage of her things with her, and the room had utterly transformed into a land of fairies, princesses, kittens, and pink. So, so much pink. The bedding was pink, the posters were pink, the alarm clock was pink, the playtable was pink, and many of the clothes scattered on the floor were pink in one way or another. It was a minefield. Unlike her big sister, Sarah wasn’t a neatnik, content to leave things as they were. Besides, she had a system. Clean stuff was in the closet or half-folded on the small dresser. Dirty stuff was in the basket or on the floor. It worked great!
But, Sarah’s cleaning habits weren’t what had brought them in here. No, she had a mission. She ran around the room, picking up a few favorite dolls and stuffing them in Tod’s outstretched hands.
“Here, you take these.” And with her load packed up, she went to grab two more things. One was a collapsible castle playset that was more or less scaled for the dolls. The next was a large purple dragon figure, with a green underbelly and a golden helmet and saddle. Tod liked that dragon. He looked so fierce but so goofy at the same time. With her supplies packed up, Sarah led the way downstairs, struggling with her load.
As they reached the bottom, Tod noticed that Sarah’s pants had started falling down at some point. It looked like the stretching they received from her little fashion faux pas had more of an effect on the clothes that he initially thought. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself as they slipped down more and more, exposing more of her white panties to the world once again. By the time they reached living room, her pants had all but fallen off. They had fallen down to her ankles, and probably would have been discarded all together if not for her feet acting as a stopper. Sarah either didn’t notice, or just didn’t care.
She bent over to place the castle and dolls down, giving Tod a good view at her now pantsless rump. Pineapples, strawberries, watermelons, stars, and sunglasses stared him in the face. All bordered by small, seafoam green frills around her legs and waist. Seeing all those fruits adorn her rump made him laugh again. “Okay, anything else we need to grab?” Tod asked as he placed his load next to the castle.
“Nope!”
“Okay, but if we’re going to play, you might want to pull your pants up. Unless you plan on distracting the big, scary dragon with a nice fruit salad,” Tod said as he pointed down to her feet.
Sarah looked down and squeaked with laughter before pulling her pants up. “I don’t want Mr. Dragon eating by undies!” With another giggle, she pulled her pants up as high as they’d go and held them firm.
Satisfied her pants were secure, Sarah sat down by the castle, looking over the princesses as she thought who to pick first. It was a very important decision, one that would have consequences for minutes to come. Tod, for his part, sat on the other side of the castle, picking up the dragon and looking it over, fidgeting with its limbs and head. He smirked. This thing was pretty neat, he had to admit - the mouth even opened up to spit a missing missile. The kid knew how to pick them, he gave her that.
Sarah finally settled on Cinderella, a good all-around choice for whatever your princess needs might be. She pushed herself into a kneeling position, setting the doll on the tallest balcony of the castle.
“Oh it's such a pretty day! I'm gonna go for a walk. La de la la la laaa.” she put on her best regal voice, the grandeur somewhat dampened by the voice crack on saying ‘pretty’. Still, she stayed in character, walking, or rather hopping, Cinderella down the spiral staircase to the castle gate. Sarah reached over and pushed the large purple double doors open for Cinderella, before making her step out and look around.
“I hope that mean dragon doesn't come back! He tried to eat my… my bottom!” she almost fell back laughing at the thought. She had to stop for a moment and pull up her pants as they had started to fall again. Still, she was a professional, and she regained her royal composure, setting Cinderella back down and making her hop and scoot around the castle grounds. Tod took that as his cue and held the dragon out, opening its mouth menacingly.
“Graaargh! I'm the great dragon Stinkybreath, and I'm going to eat all the princesses in the land! Rawrharharhar!” he thrust the dragon towards Cinderella, making Sarah squeal in alarm and delight as she pulled the princess up and out of harm's way.
“Noo! Don't eat me!”
“Blargh, but you look so yummy!”
“Nohoho!”
“Yes!”
“No!” And with that final no she stood up, half running, half waddling to the kitchen, clutching poor Cinderella tightly as she carried her to safety. But danger was hot on their heels as Tod stood up, bringing the purple princess eater with him, hunching over to hold him at Sarah’s level and chasing her at a slow jog.
However, despite Sarah’s best efforts, her previous attempt to fix her pants was failing, and with every step her waistband slipped a little more, until the whole fruit bowl was showing plain as day. She stopped and pulled her pants back up with one hand, before running back to the living room as Tod chased her, growling while she squealed in mock terror. In the middle of the room however, her pants had slipped again, even farther this time with her clumsy attempt to fix her runaway trousers. This time she used both hands to pull them back up, letting Cinderella see more than she probably would have liked. As she finished, Tod poked her on the top of her head, causing her to spin around and run back to the kitchen, now with her pants down to her knees. Again she ran back as Tod caught up, barely able to pull her pants up at all, leaving her half her panties sticking out over the waistband. Again she fled to the temporary safety of the living room, stopping fully to properly get her pants back in place.
Little did she realize that Tod was getting into the chase. As he rounded the corner back into living room, she started to run, but felt something pull her back. She only felt the pressure around her waist before being hoisted in the air with a squeal of surprise.
“Grawhawhawhawhaw! Now I've got you, my pretty!” Tod had hooked the back of Sarah's pants and pulled up, lifting her in the air in the dragon’s talons.
“Pumme down, you big ugly dragon!” she squeaked angrily, as the elastic of her distressed pants whined worryingly as it was stretched to its limits. Between Tod’s wedgie in the back and the full weight of Sarah pressed on the front, you could see them slowly grow in size. Sarah squirming in her captor’s grip didn't help much either.
A menacing smile grew on Tod’s face as he decided to take things to the next level. He lowered Sarah just a little bit, before hefting her up into the air with his hand. Sarah squealed as she flew into the air before feeling Tod’s arms wrap around her legs. Sarah let out a small grunt as she put her hands out; stopping herself before she hit his stomach. “Grawhawhawhawh! Now, I shall take you to my cave! There I wi…” Tod stopped mid sentence when he realised Sarah was beginning to slide from his grip. In all the excitement, he’d actually forgotten that her pants were stretched to oblivion. “Oh crap. Just hold on, Sarah. I’ll get you to the couch.”
Sarah Squeaked when she saw the floor getting closer and closer. To attempt to stop her deccent, she grabbed onto the closest thing to her at the moment. “Every princess for herself!”
Tod’s eyes widened slightly when he felt sara’s little hands grip the legs of his basketball shorts with all her might. As she continued to slip from his grasp, he could feel a tug at his shorts. “Almost at the couch, so please don’t grab those. Bad things will happen.” His cries fell on deaf ears as Sare seemingly tightened her grip “Sarah, pl…”
Before he could get his second plea out, the unthinkable happened. A surprised squeal filled the room as Sara’s pants finished their journey off of her body, sending the five year old to the floor with an ‘oof.’
That’s not the only thing that went to the floor, though.
Due to her grip on his shorts, they fell to the floor along with her. “Owchie,” whined Sarah as she rubbed the top of her head. Thanks to Tod’s shorts slowing her fall, she didn’t hit hard enough to hurt herself. That said, she still fell to the floor from an elevated position. And that means a boo boo.
“Oh my gosh! Sarah, are you okay?” Sarah continued to rub her head as she sat up. When she turned around, her eyes got wide as something caught her attention. “Sarah?”
Her mouth quickly curved up into a grin as she started to laugh. “I see London, I see France! I see Tod’s underpants!”
“Huh?” Tod looked down. Sure enough, she was staring straight at his boxer shorts. And they were staring right back. At least, the many lion cub Simba’s all over them were staring right back. He silently thanked whatever forces caused this series of events to happen that there was no one else there to see them in this situation. A small, half naked, five year old girl sitting in front of a 19 year old man with his shorts around his ankles? Yea, that doesn’t look sketchy at all.
He reached down to pull up his shorts before scooping up Sarah in his arms. “Please don’t tell your sister about this.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll let you have an extra scoop of ice cream if you promise.”
Sara’s face lit up “Yaaaaay, ice cream!”
With a chuckle, Tod placed Sarah down on the couch before taking a better look at her pants. To say they were stretched out was being kind. They looked to be about many sizes bigger than they were supposed to. “I...don’t think these’ll fit you anymore, kiddo.”
Sarah jumped up on the couch and grabbed the pants away from him. “Yes they will. Watch.” She fell back onto the couch as she worked her legs into the holes of the pants before pushing herself back to a standing position. “See!” The comedic timing was almost perfect as the pants just fell right back down to her ankles a second later. “Hey!”
Tod laughed as he sat next to her on the couch. He felt his stomach start to rumble before he took a look at the clock. “Looks like it’s about time for dinner. You want some Pizza Hut?”
Sarah, who had just finished pulling up her pants again, jumped up and down on the couch in joy. “I want a cheese piiiIIIIII…” In her excitement, Sarah lost her balance on the couch and fell back onto the cushion. “Cheese, I want a cheese pizza,” she continued without missing a beat.
“One cheese pizza, coming up.”
Tod pulled out his phone and called, putting in the order. With the promise of pizza now on the way, he sat back down on the couch, watching Sarah jump from cushion to cushion in excitement. His extra weight had shifted the balance, and on landing on the middle cushion Sarah lost her balance, almost falling over before Tod caught her.
“Careful there, bunny girl.” He chuckled, and helped her up. She stood there next to him before dropping down, landing with a soft ‘wump” on the cushion. “It’s going to be a while before the pizza’s here. You want to do anything before that?”
Sarah thought for a moment, before smirking mischievously at Tod. “Can we watch The Lion King?”
“Sure, that sounds…” Then the joke hit him. “You little stinker!” An evil smile grew on his face. “Maybe I should go see if i can make a fruit bowl to go along with that pizza,” he said as he gave the back of her undies a slight tug.
“Hey!” She whined, grabbing the back of her undies and holding them tight, rolling over and pressing her back against the sofa. She gave him a ‘glare’ that told him she was watching him. He only laughed, relenting and getting up, pulling the DVD out and sticking it in the player, offering her an olive branch. No hard feelings, in the end.
They settled in the couch, watching the animated Savannah sunrise light up the darkening living room, the sun setting in the real world. Around the time Zazu was telling off Scar for missing the ceremony, Sarah had somehow managed to worm her way onto Tod’s lap, leaning against him and making herself right at home. Her eyes were transfixed on the movie, but were starting to glaze over, her head starting to lull to one side.
Then the doorbell rang. Sarah’s face erupted with a smile. “PIIIZZAAAAAAAAAA!”
“Sarah!” Tod tried to calm the girl down, but he was too slow for the pure, unadulterated energy of a five year old. Before he could grab her, she had darn near flung herself off the couch to go answer the door. She made it a good two feet from the couch before finally landing and rushing away. She didn’t make it too far though, as her pants, once again, fell to the floor; tripping her up. Almost as if she wasn’t aware her pants were the culprit, she just got up and continued to run to the door, leaving the pants where they were.
Tod noticed this, and quickly began chasing after the girl. “Sarah, wait! Don’t open the door!”
But of course, he knew he’d be too late. Before he even left the room, he could hear the front door being opened. “Hi Mr. Pizza Man! Can I have the pizza?”
Before another word could be spoken, Sarah was scooped up from behind. “Next time, wait until you’re fully dressed before greeting a guest,” Tod said hoping questions wouldn’t be asked. That was, until, he realised who the delivery man was. “Aaaand of course they would send out Kevin.”
“What, no love? And here I thought we were so close,” Kevin said with a snicker. “So what’s with the half naked kid? Not doing anything sick and twisted I should tell Jessie about, are you?”
Tod knew Kevin was just messing with him, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to smack him upside the head for bringing it up. “I’ll...tell you tomorrow. So what’s the damage?”
“One medium, cheese pizza comes to ten bucks.”
Tod set Sarah on the floor and nudged her away from the prying eyes of the world before grabbing his wallet from his pocket. “Alright, I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”
“Sure thing.” Before Tod could close the door, Keven stuck his foot in the way. “Oh, and one more thing.”
“What’s up?”
“At least make sure you treat the little one like you would Jessie. Nice and gent…” The door was quickly slammed in his face before he could finish. “Oh come on! I’m just joking! Have a little fun, why don’tcha!” Kevin knocked on the door one more time. “Watch out for Chris Hansen!” Todd opened the door again just enough for Kevin to see the middle finger he had raised, before slamming the door again. Kevin howled with laughter, striding back to his car with a spring in his step, before climbing in and driving off.
Tod shook his head, chuckling himself. Kevin was a dick, but he was a fun dick. He wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow, already thinking of an explanation that wouldn’t make Kevin ask him to “take a seat over there” for the next week. Then again, he probably would no matter what he said. Maybe if he…
Sarah poked his leg, her eyes darting between his face and the glorious pizza in his hand. “Are we gonna eat now?” She whined, her eyes finally settling on the pizza, locking on hungrily.
“Right, yeah, sorry about that squirt. But don’t you want to put your pants back on before you eat?”
“No! Pizza now!” She jumped up to try to grab the box from his hands but fell short.
Tod looked into the other room. He could see the poor, stretched garment sadly lying there on the floor from when she tripped on them before. “I guess it’s not like it matters much, anymore. Not like they’d stay on at this point, anyway,” he said with a sigh as he made a mental note to take them up to her room after dinner.
He set the pizza on the coffee table in the living room, before grabbing two paper plates from the kitchen. He sat on the couch, Sarah leaping on it next to him, an ecstatic grin on her face. He could almost here the chant of “Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza!” playing on loop in her mind. Or that could have been her whispering it under her breath. That seemed the more likely. He set the plates in front of them and opened the cardboard box like it was a precious lost treasure, found after centuries of searching. To Sarah, it might as well have been. She clapped excitedly as Tod grabbed a slice, the melted cheese stretching beautifully as it was transplanted from the box to the plate.
After placing a couple slices on his own plate, Tod looked back to the screen. It looks like they were at the scene where Nala was about to find Simba again after all these years. As he chomped down on a slice, he couldn’t help but wish there was something more to the pizza. Maybe some sausage, or canadian bacon. He would have even taken salami, but Sarah wanted plain cheese, so plain cheese she got.
Speaking of Sarah, she was happily munching on her slice. Like the child she is, she was making plenty of “num, nom, myam,” sounds as she chewed with her mouth open. “Chew with your mouth shut, Sarah.”
Sarah looked at him as she took another bite. “Mmmyokay!” Of course, she continued to chew with her mouth open. Even after another two requests, things didn’t change.
Figuring he was fighting a losing battle, he just continued with his own slices. He put down one last slice before he was finished. Sarah had been done minutes before him. After finishing her first slice, she demanded another which she took all of one bite from before claiming she was full. Since everyone was finished, he figured he’d pick everything up. Not like he was missing much, anyhow. The final fight between Simba and Scar just didn’t have the same magic as it did when he was young. Not since he grew older and realised it was a slap fight between a starved, old man, and a young, malnourished, untrained adult.
He’ll never forgive Kevin for putting that image in his head, and ruining the ending of one of his favorite Disney movies.
As he stood up to take things into the kitchen, Simba started getting slapped around by Scar. “No!” cried Sarah as she jumped to her feet. “You can’t give up Simba!” Without warning, she ran over to Tod and took hold of his shorts, yanking them down to the floor. “You just can’t lose to Scar! He’s a meanie face!” It didn’t seem to matter to Sarah that she was currently screaming at Tod’s cub Simba print boxers. To her, he was just as real as the older version of him on the screen.
“Hey! What did you do that for?” Tod tried to bend over to pull his shorts back up, but Sarah started getting into the moment a bit too much and began hugging onto his leg as she watched the movie. It was like she thought that being close to his boxers would give Simba the power to beat Scar in the movie.
“Come on, Simba!” cried Sarah as she hugged Tod’s leg even harder. Unfortunately for him, the extra weight pushing on his leg, combined with his feet being tangled in his shorts, made him lose his balance. He cried out as he fell back onto the couch, bringing Sarah with him, and sending his shorts flying across the room.
Tod just sat there for a moment. He just sat there, wondering what he did to bring such things upon him. Was this some sort of test put on him by some sick, twisted god above? Prove you’re not a disgusting pervert by doing nothing to this half naked girl no matter the situation you’re put in? Or was it all just some stupid, unlucky series of events that just happened because fate deemed it to happen? The world may never know.
Tod did know one thing, though.
He knew that he felt very uncomfortable being in his boxer shorts with a five year old, who was also without pants, hugging his leg. It was even with how close her hands were, unintentionally, coming to rubbing up against something they shouldn't be ANYWHERE near. “Okay, this needs to end.” Tod grabbed hold of Sarah’s arms and pulled them apart, freeing his leg from her iron grasp. He lifted her up, and sat her down on the couch next to him. “You can stop praying to my boxers, now. Simba won the fight, see?” He pointed to the TV so Sarah could see that her prayers had worked. “Now I need you to sit here for a minute while I go get my shorts back on, and put the pizza away. Can you do that for me?”
“Yup!” squeaked Sarah as she stared up at him with a big smile.
Smiling, Tod got up off the couch and retrieved his shorts. They had been flung to the opposite side of the table the pizza was on. After regaining what was left of his dignity, he grabbed the pizza and plates to take them into the kitchen. “Thank god that’s over,” he said to himself. With the leftovers taken care of, he made his way back into the living room “Would have been really awkward trying to explain that situati…”
Tod stopped in his tracks after passing the entryway. There, sitting on the couch, was Sarah. But it wasn’t the Sarah he had left there just a minute ago. This Sarah was sitting there in nothing but a pair of panties, and the mischievous smile on her face. Where once sat an adorable pink shirt with a blue flower on it, now was her cute, little tummy and exposed chest for all to see.
He couldn’t help but just stare at her for a moment. Not only had she removed her shirt since he left the room, but it was nowhere to be seen. So either she hid it in the couch somewhere, or a black hole momentarily appeared in the room and devoured her shirt, and nothing else, before going away. “Sarah, where’s your shirt.”
“I don’t know,” she said with the kind of mischievous smile a small child could muster
“Sarah?” She said nothing. She just continued to smile at him. With a sigh, he walked over to the couch, and scanned it. Sure enough, stuffed in the cushion behind her, he could see a bit of pink cloth sticking out. “So you’re not going to tell me where you put your shirt?”
“No.”
Tod shook his head before reaching down and picking her up. He positioned her so he could hold her up with one arm under her rump. “Well if you won’t tell me where the shirt is…” He cut himself off as he reached down to grab the hidden garment. “I guess I’ll have to find it myself.” He held the shirt up to show it to her. “Well would you look at that. I found it.” Sarah just giggled at him. “Are you going to put it back on?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“No.”
“It’s either this, or we go put on your jammies.”
“No.”
“Okay, jammies it is.” He carried Sarah upstairs, and into her room. After placing her on the bed, he tossed her shirt into the hamper before moving over to the dresser. “Okay, where are your fresh jammies.” He went from drawer to drawer trying to find the elusive garment. “Pants and skirts. Underwear and socks. Shirts and ja, oh. Jammies, right there.”
He reached in and grabbed a random pair. A small, pink gown with Cinderella, Aurora, and Rapunzel on it. “Disney, why am I not surprised. Okay, squirt. Time t…” When he turned around, the bed was empty. He could hear the pitter patter of little feet running down the hall, though. “Sarah?!”
“You’ll never catch me, Jamminator 5000!”
“Jamminator? What the hell?” he said under his breath before realising he had a child to catch. “Sarah, get back here!” With nightgown in tow, he took off after the hyperactive child. After exiting the room, he looked from side to side. That’s when he heard the thumping and laughing going down the stairs. “Of course she’s going to make this difficult.”
By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, all was quiet. He couldn’t hear either her foot steps, or her taunting giggles. She had officially ghosted him.
Or, at least, she would have if her butt wasn’t hanging out from behind the curtains.
With all those fruits surrounded by white, her tushy looked like a frilly bowl full of fruits and cream. He couldn’t help but snicker at her failed attempt at hiding. “Oh no! Sarah just disappeared! Where ever did she go!” If it wasn’t obvious enough already, she started giggling to herself, which just made her butt wiggle from side to side. “I hope I find her soon! Jessie will be really peeved if I don’t!” He started creeping up behind her as stealthily as he could.
Sarah giggled to herself. “I’m invisible,” she said as quietly as she could.
“You may be, but your big, bubbly butt sure isn’t.”
Sarah squeaked as she felt two hands grab her around the waist. “Nooooo! Don’t do it Jamminator!” Even though she was thrashing about and pleading with him, she had the biggest smile on her face. She was having so much fun.
“You will be clothed if it’s the last thing I do,” Tod said as he did his best to hold her with one arm and dress her with the other. She eventually got out of his hold and made it to the floor, but the fight continued. Tod was determined to make this little girl decent.
It took a couple minutes of fighting, squirming, wrestling, and squealing giggles, but he was eventually able to get the gown on properly. Once she was dressed, she did calm down quite a bit. “Awww, the Jamminator got me,” she said with a giggle.
Tod smirked triumphantly, getting into character. “That’s right! Now you’ll be warm and cozy all night! You’ll never escape it now! Mwah ha ha ha!” He struck what he hoped was a menacing pose, somewhat diminished by him kneeling.
Sarah decided to test the might of the terrible Jamminator and pulled at the bottom of her gown, lifting it until the bottom of her panties were visible, all the while the tip of her tongue stuck out in a giggling smile.
“Don’t even think about it!” Tod’s arms shot for the gown, grabbing hold and firmly yanking it back down, a note of panic in his voice. Whether he was breaking character or staying firmly in his role is a question that could be debated for years.
Sarah for her part didn’t seem terribly interested in that however, nor much of anything. She was still smiling, but she had to fight back a bit of a yawn. It seems after fleeing through the house, and wrestling with him for the last five minutes drained her of a good majority of her energy. He doubted she’d last too much longer, so he suggested they watch another movie to help calm the situation down.
“You up for watching some Aladdin?” he asked as he pulled the case from the shelf.
“Uh-huh,” Sarah said as she nodded her head before picking herself off the floor and climbing onto the couch.
Tod moved to the couch after placing the disk in the player, and sat down next to Sarah. She leaned up against him as he hit the play button. She definitely seemed to be running on fumes at this point. If she had the energy, she probably would have been hopping from cushion to cushion, if not straight up climbing him like a jungle gym. He had to admit, it was kinda nice having her this calm. It’ll be much easier to pay attention to the movie when he’s not constantly needing to make sure Sarah’s not going to hurt herself.
The movie was going perfectly. There was only the occasional interruption from Sarah, and most of the time that was just a yawn. Not that she was alone. Tod had to wake up early that day, so he wasn’t exactly feeling high energy, either. To make himself more comfortable, he decided to lie down on the couch, lifting Sarah up and placing her down in front of him. It wasn’t much longer before she, too was lying down.
That’s when it happened.
Tod’s favorite song in the movie. ‘I Can Show You the World’ was always a song he caught himself singing or humming to himself after watching the movie. He also couldn’t help but quietly sing as Aladdin and Jasmine serenaded each other.
Though as he was about to figure out, he wasn’t the only one who was feeling something from the song. As he quietly sang along, he could feel Sarah slowly bob her head back and forth against his chest. It got slower and slower as the song continued. By the time the song ended, she was barely moving. She let out another yawn as she continued to try to fight a losing battle. Knowing she was about ready to go, Tod figured he’d put an end to the game.
Despite the fact that the movie had moved on, Tod continued to hum the song. He pulled her up the couch a little bit so he could more easily hug her as he serenaded her to sleep. He didn’t even make it half way through before she finally succumbed to her fight.
Tod lightly brushed the hair from her face as she snoozed. “Kinda funny how, not too long ago, you were an entity of pure energy,” he whispered. “Now look at you. Sound asleep, and as quiet a bu...” He had to stop to fight back a yawn of his own. “Something tells me I won’t be too far behind you.”
He didn’t know how right he was. Maybe about 20 minutes went by before Tod, too, was dancing in the land of dreams.
***
“...d?”
Tod stirred on the couch for a moment before zonking out again.
“...od.”
“Mmmmmmnno school mommy. Tammie will pants me again. I don’t want her seeing my Sonic undies.”
Jessie snickered to herself as she placed her bag down on the coffee table. “‘Sonic undies,’ huh? I wasn’t aware you were a fan.” With another giggle, she walked up to the couch and poked Tod in the head. “Time to wake up.”
Tod cracked an eye open and, peering around for a moment before it finally fell on Jessie. “Jessie? What are you doing home? Shouldn’t you be at your...thing?” Having just woke up, Tod’s brain was still half asleep.
“It’s already 5:30, you dork. I just got off.”
Tod just laid there and let that run around his mind. “...Really?”
“Yes, really.” She took a look down to where Sarah was sleeping, and chuckled. “And you’re lucky I’m an understanding girl, or I might think something’s going on, here.”
“Huh?” With another chuckle, Jessie pointed down at her little sister. In her sleep, she had shimmied back down on the couch. Due to the movement, her nightgown had ridden up to around her upper belly, and her rump was nestled in around his crotch. “Oh jeeze. This must look terrible.”
“Oh, please. It’s you and Sarah. I’d be more afraid that something had happened if she wasn’t clinging to you,” she said as she lifted her sister off the couch.
“I’m just happy there weren't any witnesses for most of the night. She spent more time in her underwear than I care to admit.”
“Most of the night?”
“She maaaay have answered the door for the pizza guy after her pants had fallen down. By the way, those pants got stretched out really badly and no longer fit her.”
“Oh God. Oh well, should be fixable, I think. Did she make you play Jamminator, too?”
Tod, who was now sitting up, looked at her with a questioning gaze. “Is Jamminator a regular thing for her?”
“At least once a week. Where did she hide this time? Behind the couch? Or was it the pantry, again?”
“Behind the curtains.”
“Ooh, a new spot. She’s starting to think outside the box.”
“It was kinda obvious with her butt sticking out like it was.”
“The one fatal flaw with most of her hiding spots. Her butt is her greatest foe. I’m going to go take her up to bed. Why don’t you go make some coffee. If I remember right, you got classes this morning.”
“Yea. Yea I do.”
Tod let out a yawn as he stood there waiting for the coffee to fill the pot. He was used to the Keurig his parents had gotten him for his birthday the previous year, but this standard coffee pot was all Jessie and Lisa had. “So archaic.”
“Well not all of us are lucky enough to get a Keurig gifted to us.” Tod turned his head to see Jessie walking up to him. She was no longer wearing her scrubs, but instead a T-shirt with a phoenix on it that she used as a bed shirt. The neck hole was big enough that it hung over one of her shoulders, revealing that she wasn’t wearing a bra. She wasn’t wearing any pants, showing her striped green and light blue panties to him. He just smiled before turning back to the pot. Maybe a year or two ago seeing Jessie in her underwear would have had him blushing, and apologizing profusely. Now, after 4 years together, he’s seen her like this more times than he can count. “I’m just surprised Lisa hasn’t bought one. She drinks more coffee than both of us combined.”
“Given how big her allowance is, I agree with you completely.”
“Her allowance actually isn’t as big as you’d think. And besides, if her grades start to slip, so does the number on those checks. Mommy and daddy Baker may be loaded, but they make sure she earns what she gets. They wanted to make sure she didn’t grow up to be a rich, spoiled brat.”
“Smart people.” He smiled when the coffee machine finally stopped. He grabbed two mugs and poured a cup for both him and Jessie. “Thank you, our lord and savior, for this life giving nectar.”
“I’ll drink to that.” They toasted each other before turning to the kitchen window to watch the sunrise.
