~

A woman sat alone in a dark room. She was resting her chin on a table, while staring blankly into the distance. Her jet-black hair framed a face that was showing an eerily neutral expression, drawing into question if she was aware of her surroundings in any capacity. Her once striking green eyes were now swirling pits of darkness, and below them was a series of lines and wrinkles that showcased both the woman’s age and the tremendous amount of stress she had been under. This woman is Laura Bentley, age 57, and she was dead inside.

Suddenly, a rustling in the distance snapped her out of her melancholic haze, and she regained her awareness. Still keeping her chin on the table, she turned her eyes in the direction of the noise - which had transformed into a rhythmic thumping - the staircase. Although it was too dark to see the finer details, Laura could make out the vague shadow of a person as they reached the bottom of the stairs and began to make their way closer. A moment later, a clicking noise was accompanied by a flash of light. After wincing and adjusting her eyes in the face of the sudden brightness, Laura was faced with her 17 year old daughter, Jennifer.

Despite her youth, Jennifer’s face was hardly any more expressive than her mother’s. Her own striking green eyes were sunken and lifeless, and her mouth had flattened into an unbreakable straight line. Her long black hair, the occasional stray jutting out, reached down to her stomach. Laura’s eyes softened a bit in the presence of her daughter, and she began to speak in an extremely soft tone.

“Hey, honey,” she said, barely more than a whisper. Any louder, and the raspiness of her abused vocal cords would have become apparent.

“Hey,” Jennifer replied, her voice neither high nor low pitched. She herself was battling traces of raspiness, but she was too tired to care.

“How are you doing?” her mother asked, to which she shrugged.

“It’s almost six,” she replied, ignoring the question. “Should probably eat something.”

“Oh, is it?” Laura asked, finally raising her head to look at a nearby clock.

“Yeah. Time flies when you’re doing nothing in a dark room,” Jennifer replied flatly, causing Laura to let out a small, sad chuckle.

“Anyway. We need to eat. It’s important,” she continued. At that, a memory pierced Laura’s memory. A memory that had been non-stop replaying in her mind for what felt like forever.

“Are you… eating okay?”

“Not really, everything they have is pretty gross.”

At that, she teared up and brought one hand to her mouth. Jennifer slightly narrowed her eyes in concern, wondering what she had said this time.

“I never told you…” Laura whispered, her eyes widening in horror and shame.

“Huh?” Jennifer asked exasperatedly. At this point, she was fairly used to her mother randomly tearing up and saying strange things. With that being said, it still annoyed her.

“I never told you what I said to him…” Laura continued, each word piercing her heart like a javelin.

“What? Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, okay? Can we please not do this again?” Jennifer replied frustratedly, causing Laura to put her arms on the table and lower her head once more. Soon, her face was completely hidden as the remainder of that terrible memory played out in her mind.

“My card is over there. Order whatever,” came her slightly muffled voice, carrying an ocean of darkness. Jennifer let out a deep sigh.

“Fine. Pizza it is,” she muttered. “Also, that senator called me earlier today.”

Laura’s head shot upwards.

“What?!” she exclaimed. “Senator Day? The one who reopened…?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer replied plainly.

“H-How did she know your…? W-Why didn’t you tell me? What did she say?” Laura asked, thoroughly shocked.

“She wanted to apologize personally for what happened to Brian. She said that she was touched by my video. She said that she was going to do everything in her power to find out why and how Brian was framed, as well as punish everyone who was responsible,” Jennifer answered, her face and tone ever unchanging. Laura’s eyes softened somewhat.

“Oh, good…” she said softly. “That’s, um… t-that’s very nice.”

Her voice slightly broke at the end, and Jennifer immediately understood why. She was upset that Senator Day hadn’t wanted to speak with her as well.

“I’m sorry,” Jennifer murmured, lowering her eyes. “I threw you under the bus in my video yesterday. You’re already getting a lot of hate, and I made it worse. I just… I needed to say something, and I was just saying what came to mind, and-“

“Jennifer, stop that,” Laura chided. “I’m glad you made that video. People needed to know that you always believed in him. And as for me… you were just telling the truth. I… I deserve everything that’s happening to me.”

With that, her eyes darkened once more and she lowered her chin back down onto the table. Jennifer’s eyes slightly softened in sympathy, but she quickly adopted a troubled expression as she remembered something else.

“Oh, and she also told me… she told me to keep an eye on the news,” she started. “She told me it was really important, like some big announcement is coming. She wouldn’t tell me what it is, and she sounded kinda weird about it. Like… apologetic, almost.”

“Oh?” Laura asked, narrowing her eyes. “Well, it must be important. Go turn the television on, so we don’t miss anything.”

“Right,” Jennifer affirmed, before moving to grab the credit card. Once it was in hand, she pulled out her phone and began to make her way into the living room. Just before she left, though, her mother spoke up.

“Oh, honey,” she called out, causing Jennifer to pause and turn back towards her.

“Did you take your medication today?” she asked concernedly, to which Jennifer groaned.

“Oh, come on…” she whined. “I really don’t like it. It makes my head all… fuzzy. I don’t need it. I’m not going to get bad again, I promise.”

“I know you don’t like it, but you have to,” Laura replied earnestly. “You’re under a lot of stress right now, probably the most since Brian’s arrest. You can’t promise that it won’t make things worse again, so we have to be cautious, okay? Please take it.”

After a small silence, Jennifer closed her eyes and let out a resigned sigh.

“Fine, I’ll do it after dinner,” she grumbled.

“Thank you, honey. I know it’s hard,” Laura replied appreciatively, before remembering something else. “Oh, don’t forget that your birthday is in a few days, too. Think about what you want, okay?”

Jennifer’s eyes widened slightly in realization. After a moment of contemplation, though, her face fell. The energy in her body evaporated, and tears formed in her eyes.

“I… I just want my brother back,” she whispered, trying not to break down. Laura opened her mouth to try and comfort her, but no words came out. She felt just as broken as her daughter, but she knew that she was in no position to say anything about her son. A dreadful silence overtook the room, and Laura took a moment to reflect on just how damaged her family was. She then took a moment to reflect on how most of it was her fault, and it made her want to crawl into a hole.

Jennifer recovered from her brief lapse in stoicism, and finally made her way into the living room. Laura was alone once more, kept company only by her unbearable feelings of guilt and shame.

~

Some time had passed. Jennifer ordered pizza, and ate in front of the television. Laura was in no condition to eat, so she simply put some in the fridge for later. Afterwards, Jennifer continued to watch the news intently, soaking up every small development of the investigation into why her brother, Brian Bentley, had been framed for the murder of a child. 

One day prior, in a development that threw the country into chaos, Brian’s innocence had been proven to the world. He was mercilessly persecuted, thrown in jail, then “re-sentenced” to death via the Shrink Penalty, and none of it was deserved. Nobody knew how to react in the face of such a shocking and heartbreaking revelation, and serious questions were being raised about the state of the country’s criminal justice system as a result. 

Jennifer, having believed in his innocence the entire time, was obviously happy that the truth was finally uncovered. However, that happiness was immediately undone by the fact that she had never stated so publicly, and her brother had died believing she hated him. Her brother, the person who she loved more than anything in the universe, had died an unimaginably gruesome death at the hands of a sadistic psychopath, believing that his baby sister had given up on him. Every time that thought reentered her mind, an overwhelming flood of guilt obliterated her heart all over again. She was kept lucid only by her equally overwhelming anger- an anger that was intensified by the words of the newsman she was watching.

“The Silver Strip is still refusing to release the details of Brian Bentley’s execution, including the name of his Chevalier. This is despite their promise to cooperate with the investigation, leading some to question if-”

“I’ll kill her,” Jennifer growled, her face darkening in pure hatred. At that moment, her green eyes might as well have been crimson.

“Whoever touched you, I’ll kill her,” she whispered, clenching her fists as she began to tremble with rage. “I’ll kill her… whoever h-hurt you… I’ll…”

Suddenly, her anger transformed into a deep, refined sadness, and she buried her face in her hands.

“What am I saying…” she whimpered. “I hurt you, too… I’m so sorry, Bean… I’m so sorry…”

At that, her mind shut down as she began to silently cry. She lost count of how many times she had cried in the last 48 hours, but she knew that it rivalled the time when Brian was first convicted. She was completely, absolutely, utterly, and overwhelmingly devastated. She silently called out for her brother to comfort her, but she knew that it was impossible. Even if it was, she knew that she didn’t deserve it.

Her mother wasn’t any better. Unlike Jennifer, whose crime was not speaking up, Laura Bentley’s crime was that she never stopped speaking up. Over and over, repeatedly and repeatedly, time and time again, she publicly distanced herself from her convicted son, using the harshest of language. It was impossible for Brian not to have heard about it in prison, but she knew that it didn’t even matter. She had made her views very clear the first and only time she visited him in prison. 

Unlike publicly, where she could hide behind the excuse that she was only doing it to protect herself and her daughter, her words to Brian in prison were motivated only by spite and cruelty. Her dreams were haunted by the memory of her son being dragged away screaming, begging her to believe him. Once she realized he was telling the truth, her soul was ravished by guilt. There were no words to describe how monstrous she felt. However, despite the fact that she could hardly carry a lucid thought without tearing up, a single line kept replaying in her mind. At this point, it had probably echoed throughout her consciousness thousands of times.

He needed his mother, she thought.

He was alone, and scared. He needed his mother. He needed me.

At that, just like her daughter, her mind shut down as she began to quietly cry. The house was overtaken by silence once more. The only inhabitants were a broken sister and a broken mother, as they were repeatedly destroyed by the knowledge that they failed the one person who had needed them the most.

~

However…

“MOM!!!” Jennifer screamed, suddenly cutting through the silence. Laura’s mind was shocked into awareness, and she instinctively rose from her seated position and sprinted out of the room. Reaching the living room, she saw that Jennifer was hysterically crying as she held both hands to her mouth. Her eyes were wider than Laura had ever seen them.

“What is it?!” she exclaimed. Jennifer saw her, and frantically pointed at the television. She was too emotional to form any actual words. Laura hurriedly turned her gaze to the television, and what she saw stopped her heart.

On one side of the screen was a news anchor, his eyes wild as he hurriedly read from a set of papers in front of him. On the other side was a still image of a man, although Laura was too focused on the bottom third of the screen to notice. There, plastered in humongous letters that would draw the attention of anybody, were four simple words. Four simple words that completely changed the world.

BRIAN BENTLEY IS ALIVE

~

Laura was completely frozen. She was intensely scrutinizing every word, every letter, every pixel on the television in front of her, desperately trying to make sure that her eyes weren’t deceiving her, or she wasn’t misinterpreting what she was seeing. She was too shocked to move, as her brain had imploded in the face of such an unexpected development.

Jennifer, on the other hand, felt like she was about to go insane. Her consciousness was being pulled in too many directions at once, although the primary direction was complete confusion. As such, all she could do was continue to hysterically cry, as her brain tried to make sense of what she was reading. However, a moment later, the screen changed. What Jennifer was then faced with instantly shocked her into silence. She felt like her heart was about to explode.

“Bean…”

There, on the screen, was Brian Bentley. It looked like a recorded video that the news was replaying, as he was clearly being filmed while standing on some unfamiliar terrain. Jennifer took in his features, and she quickly realized that this was not the loving dork of a brother that she was used to. His messy black hair was slightly longer than she remembered, and his striking green eyes were steeled over. His expression was completely serious, not allowing a single hint of emotion to shine through. He was slightly pale, but surprisingly fit. Jennifer remembered her brother as skinny and awkward, but the young man she was met with was toned and muscular. Although he was clothed, wearing a green shirt and black pants, it was clear to anyone watching that he took good care of himself. However, there was something off about his appearance. Jennifer couldn’t quite make out what it was, but something about the way he was being filmed in relation to his surroundings made him look a little odd. Jennifer was much too shocked to care, though. Before she could completely adjust to his new appearance, he began to speak.

“Hello,” he said plainly, his voice neither high nor low pitched. Regardless, it caused both Jennifer and Laura to flinch, as it was their first time hearing it in over three years.

“My name is Brian Bentley,” he continued, “and, um…”

He spread his arms.

“I’m an innocent man.”

By this point, nearly everybody in the country was watching him speak. They were hanging onto every word, although nobody more so than his mother and sister. Still he continued.

“This wasn’t recorded a long time ago, by the way,” he said. “This was filmed today. As in, one day after my innocence was proven to the world. So yes, I’m alive. Like, actually alive. I was ‘re-sentenced’ and all, and I was sent to a Chevalier, but, well… it didn’t take. Surprise.”

Jennifer drew one hand to her mouth again, as silent tears continued to stream down her face. Laura was still completely frozen, but she soon began to tremble.

“Thanks for proving my innocence, by the way!” Brian said sarcastically, conveying through his tone that he was not happy. 

“I’m not immune to the irony that I was sentenced only two days after being arrested, and it only took two days of real investigation to clear my name. But oh well, the past is the past. That’s not what I’m here to talk about,” he continued, letting out a huff of annoyance. At that, the camera slightly shifted, as if the person holding it was preparing to do something.

“I might not have died, but I didn’t get off scot-free,” he said, before nodding in the direction of the camera. Suddenly, the camera pulled away, giving a wider view of Brian’s surroundings. Both Jennifer and Laura gasped in horror.

Brian was standing on what looked like an enormous kitchen counter, and he was surrounded by a few items. One was a quarter, one was a banana, and one was a pencil. However, in comparison to him, they were gigantic. The quarter was nearly the same size as him, and the other two items appeared comically large. However, everyone watching immediately knew the truth. Those items weren’t large. Brian was small.

“I’m one-inch tall,” he said casually, before vaguely gesturing to the items around him. “Like I said, I definitely got the SP. Although the ‘dead’ part might not have taken, the ‘shrink’ part most certainly did. That’s what I’m here to talk about, people.”

He took a breath.

“I’m now permanently one-inch tall for a crime that I didn’t commit. There was absolutely no evidence that justified my ‘re-sentencing,’ because there was never any evidence to begin with. I was only given the Shrink Penalty because the public, as in you all, wanted it, and because it would have prevented me from ever being able to tell my story. Well, it didn’t work. You all know the truth, now. Of course, the benefit of knowing my truth is that it leads you right into the next truth, as well. And, that truth is…”

He gestured for the camera to come a little closer, which it then did. His face was as cold as ice.

“It’s time for the Shrink Penalty to end,” he said firmly. “It’s a broken, corrupt system, and I am living evidence of that fact. It happened to me, which means it can happen again. Most likely, it’s happened an unthinkable amount of times already.”

He paused, letting that thought hang in the air.

“The Shrink Penalty is the worst punishment imaginable,” he said softly. “You’ve all read the stories of what Chevaliers do to convicts. I can personally tell you that those stories are just the tip of the iceberg. We only accept such a cruel system because we believe it is perfect. Well, it isn’t. It just isn’t. As such, it can’t be allowed to exist. Even if it’s too late for me, I can at least make sure that there will never be another me in the future. To that end, I need your help. I don’t want your guilt, I don’t want your pity, and I don’t want your apologies. This is how you can make it up to me- by helping to bring down the system that failed me. And… that’s pretty much it. For now. I know you have questions, so you’ll be hearing from me again soon. Until next time.”

Just like that, he was done. The entire country was dead silent. However, before the video ended, Brian’s eyes slightly widened in realization.

“Oh, and if you’re wondering about my clothes, they’re homemade.”

Then, with a wink, he was gone, his visage replaced by a stunned newsman. He started to talk, but Laura Bentley did not hear a single word. The world around her was a blur, and she felt like she was going to collapse. However, after a moment, a vague noise got through to her. Looking to her left, what she saw instantly snapped her out of it. It was Jennifer. She had resumed her hysterical crying, holding her head in her hands as she hyperventilated. She looked completely overwhelmed, like she had no idea what to do or what to think. Once again, her mind was being pulled in too many directions simultaneously. 

She was unbelievably happy, as her brother was alive.

She was unbelievably horrified, as her brother was the size of a bug.

She was unbelievably hurt, as her brother had not reached out to her yet.

As such, she simply continued to cry, her young brain not being able to sort through her conflicting emotions. Eventually, her legs gave out, and she fell backwards onto the couch. Laura sat down next to her, and leaned over to wrap her up in a firm embrace. This was all she could manage to do, as she herself was barely keeping it together. Jennifer’s crying mixed with the noise of the television, creating a disjointed cacophony of noise that perfectly aligned with their shattered mental states. Just like that, they were living in a brand new world.

Brian Bentley was innocent. Brian Bentley was alive. And now, everybody knew. Nothing was ever going to be the same.

~

“Brian? Allie? Can I come in?” asked Elizabeth Dawson, age 47, while lightly knocking on a bedroom door. On the other side, she could just barely hear a few hushed voices, along with a faint rustling noise. After a few moments, the rustling stopped and a voice called out to her.

“Yes, come in!” came the response, to which Elizabeth let out a small sigh and opened the door. Inside, she found that the curtains were drawn, and the overhead light was set to a dim brightness. It was a relatively empty room, all things considered, with very few personal items. The only item of note was what looked like a small pet carrier, which was perched on the nightstand next to the bed. A bed, by the way, that looked completely undone, and served as the only trace of messiness in the otherwise spotless bedroom. Elizabeth took note of this with a slightly raised eyebrow, before turning her attention to the woman standing next to it.

There, looking somewhat frazzled, was Allison Starr, age 23. Her medium-long auburn hair was hanging freely, with quite a few strays jutting out. Her face carried a neutral expression, but her dark brown eyes held a spark of nervous energy, indicating that there was something else going on beneath the surface. She was wearing a simple gray shirt, along with a pair of jeans - both of which looked wrinkled and uneven, as if hastily thrown on. Elizabeth began to question her strange behavior, but she was abruptly stopped.

“Don’t talk too loudly, Brian’s resting,” Allison said softly, pointing to the pet carrier. On closer inspection, Elizabeth noticed that there was a small blanket draped over it, not allowing any visibility into the inside. Elizabeth lowered her tone.

“Is he okay?” she asked concernedly, causing Allison to nod reassuringly.

“Small headache, but it’s getting better. He just needs to lie in the dark for a little while longer,” she answered, adopting a small smile. Elizabeth lightly frowned in response, before remembering what she was there to talk about.

“I see,” she murmured, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Listen, though, I just got an update. Senator Day is going to show up at six, so we have four hours. However, her security is going to arrive half an hour prior to ‘secure the area’ or whatever, so we need to be ready for them. Got it?”

Allison nodded, before her expression slightly darkened.

“They’re not, um… they’re not gonna want to mess with Brian, are they?” she asked nervously.

“No no no, honey, I made sure of that. Cassandra assured me that they’re simply going to inspect the house and the surrounding area, not any of us,” Elizabeth replied reassuringly. Allison let out a small sigh of relief.

“Good, good,” she breathed, before realizing something. “Cassandra, huh? You’re on a first-name basis with a senator?”

Elizabeth adopted a sly grin.

“Friends in high places, Allie, friends in high places,” she replied teasingly. “Seriously, though, we have become a little familiar over the past month. Despite how she appears on TV, she’s actually pretty friendly.”

Allison nodded appreciatively, unable to prevent a small swirling in her stomach due to the fact that they would be dining with such an important person.

“Also, she won’t tell me what, but apparently she’s bringing something very expensive for dinner,” Elizabeth continued, just a little nervously. Allison immediately perked up in response.

“What, like… lobster, or something?” she asked, to which Elizabeth shrugged.

“Beats me, Allie. Something tells me, though, that if a senator calls it extremely expensive, then it’s probably going to be something insane. I tried to tell her that it wasn’t necessary, but she said it was the least she could do after what happened to Brian. We’d best prepare ourselves,” she answered, causing Allison to lightly gulp.

“I-I see…” she muttered. “Well, I’ll try not to embarrass mySELF!”

Suddenly, she let out a small yelp as what looked like an enormous shiver radiated throughout her body. She quickly bit her tongue and returned to her original posture, although now with red cheeks. 

“Everything okay?” Elizabeth asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“Y-Yep, fine! Just a weird cramp!” she hurriedly replied, before lowering her voice again.

“A-Anyway, I’m sure Brian heard all of that, but I’ll make sure that we’re ready. We should just let him rest for now,” she continued. Elizabeth let an awkward silence hang in the air for a moment, before letting out a small sigh.

“Sounds good,” she said, casting one more suspicious glance at Allison before finally exiting the room and closing the door. Allison heard the rhythmic thumping of Elizabeth descending the stairs, and she let out an enormous sigh of relief. After a moment, her expression hardened as she roughly cast her shirt off and into a corner. Now clad in just her bra, she began to pull her breasts away from each other. Doing so eventually revealed something very peculiar that was wedged in-between them:

A tiny person.

A one-inch tall person, to be precise. A one-inch tall person that was completely naked, showing off his toned and muscular physique, with his arms crossed. Most importantly, a one-inch tall person with messy black hair and striking green eyes - eyes that were showing an extremely smug expression. This was Brian Bentley, age 21, and Allison was very mad at him.

“You little asshole!” she hissed. “Why would you do that in the middle of a sentence?! Are you trying to get us found out?!”

“Allie, please,” Brian soothed, reaching over and lightly patting her skin a few times. “Elizabeth is smarter than either of us, she probably knew the moment she opened the door.”

Allison huffed in annoyance.

“I mean, yeah, but it was still extremely embarrassing! You’re just asking to be smushed, you squirt,” she said, briefly pressing her breasts together for good measure. Once he was exposed again, Brian let out an evil chuckle.

“Everything according to plan,” he replied slyly. “Like a moth to the-”

Suddenly, he yelped in surprise as Allison pushed him deeper into her cleavage with her index finger, cutting off his mischievous machinations.

“Shut it,” she said playfully, finally dropping her annoyed persona as her arousal returned. She then removed her pants and crawled back into bed, ready to continue playing with her tiny boyfriend.

~

Some time had passed, and they were resting on the bed while Brian recovered from their previous activity. He was panting heavily, and Allison was gazing at him tenderly. As she had learned over the previous few days, her favorite part of their sexual escapades was simply watching him catch his breath afterwards, as he basked in the post-orgasm endorphins. She herself had not experienced one, so her satisfaction was purely fueled by the knowledge that she had once again blown her boyfriend’s mind with an entirely new experience.

“Have fun?” she asked smugly, knowing full well what the answer was.

“That was absolutely insane,” Brian replied, still somewhat winded. “Keep this up, and I’m not going to want to return to normal size.”

“Sounds about right,” Allison sighed contentedly, before leaning in to give him a big kiss. “You know, I’m starting to worry that you might be enjoying this a bit too much,” she continued. “I mean, you couldn’t even wait until tonight to try that out.”

Brian shot her a skeptical look.

“I don’t think you have anyone to blame for that but yourself, lady,” he said. “I was perfectly fine with going about the rest of my life thinking I was asexual, but you just had to go and awaken my sexuality, didn’t you?”

“I suppose…” Allison grumbled.

“Have you ever heard the expression ‘you break it, you buy it?’”

“I get your point!”

“There is one thing I’m worried about, though,” Brian said, turning on his side to face her more fully.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Well… everything we’ve done so far has been purely for my benefit. I feel like I haven’t done anything for you yet,” he elaborated, adopting a somewhat guilty expression. Allison narrowed her eyes.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve been getting all the enjoyment in the world out of this, Brian. I absolutely love that I’m the one who gets to introduce you to all this. And besides, I’ve always loved spoiling you,” she replied, reaching out and gently stroking his cheek with her finger. He smiled in response, although his face was still troubled.

“I’m glad to hear that, but still. Can’t we do something that you enjoy, too?” he asked. 

“Like what?” Allison replied, not quite sure what he was getting at.

“Well, uh… remember how, on my ‘birthday,’ you told me about some of the stuff that turns you on? What if we did something related to that?” he asked nervously. Allison’s eyes widened as the memory flashed through her mind, and she instantly turned beet-red.

“Are you crazy?!” she exclaimed, before quickly lowering her voice. “Sorry. Seriously, though, no way! Right after I told you those things, you had a nervous breakdown!”

“I did? I have no memory of that…” Brian replied, jokingly putting one finger on his chin.

“Don’t joke about that, doofus!” Allison chided, reaching up and gently jostling him around with her finger. “There’s no way we’re doing that kind of play after what happened to you in prison. Not being in control is obviously an issue for you, so I’m not about to trigger something again just so I can have some fun.”

“Allie, there’s a big difference between not being in control and not consenting. If I had control issues, I wouldn’t be able to stand being small. What happened then was just me remembering what happened all at once, so I’m not worried about something like that happening again as long as we’re careful. If that’s what turns you on, then there’s nothing wrong with that, and I’d be willing to give it a try,” he explained. Allison’s eyes softened at his kind words, and her heart melted. Brian wasn’t done, though.

“Also, think about it this way,” he said. “I’m a blank canvas right now, sexually. Since every experience is my first, and I never developed any preferences or kinks when I was younger, you could probably give me any kink you wanted right now.”

Allison giggled.

“Is that how that works?” she asked, with a big smile. Brian shrugged.

“I dunno, you’re the college graduate,” he replied. “If you got me off every day while wearing nothing but bunny ears, though, I think it’s pretty likely that I’d eventually develop an attraction to bunny girls.”

He paused for a moment.

“…please don’t give me a bunny girl kink,” he said sheepishly, causing Allison to giggle once more.

“What’s wrong with bunny girls?” she asked teasingly. “I think I might have to stop by the costume shop pretty soon.”

Brian groaned in frustration, holding his head in his hands.

“Let’s put all that aside for a moment,” Allison continued, thoroughly enjoying his reactions. “Thank you for being such a sweetheart, but can’t we just focus on you for a little while? This is only your third day of being sexual, baby. Wouldn’t you prefer to just spend some time exploring, and discover those preferences naturally? You really don’t need to worry about me, I’m having a lot of fun with this.”

Brian stared at her for a few moments, before closing his eyes and sighing in defeat.

“Fine…” he grumbled. Allison smiled victoriously, before leaning in to give him another kiss.

“We should probably head downstairs and talk to Elizabeth,” she said softly, after a minute of peaceful silence. “Now that your ‘headache’ is gone, of course.”

Brian snickered at their deviousness, despite knowing that Elizabeth probably hadn’t fallen for it.

“You don’t actually have a headache, right? Have those been any better?” she asked concernedly. Indeed, Brian had been grappling with chronic headaches over the previous month.

“I don’t have one now, but they’re still pretty frequent. Maybe one every couple days or so,” he answered, causing his girlfriend to frown sympathetically.

“Damn,” she muttered, “I was hoping those would go away after we got back together.”

“Me too, but I don’t think it works that way,” Brian sighed. “The nightmares seem to be getting better, though. I haven’t had one in three days.”

“Now that I am definitely happy to hear,” Allison replied, perking up a bit. “I’ll take every win we can get. Anyway, let’s get your clothes back on, mister.”

With that, they started to make themselves presentable. It was time to prepare for the arrival of their very special guest.

~

Peering out the window next to the front door, Elizabeth saw a few black vans pull up to her house. Despite herself, her heart quickened a bit in nervousness.

“Alright, I think her secret service is here. There’s nothing to worry about, we just have to stay out of their way and let them do what they have to do,” she said, trying to reassure Allison and Brian. Turning around, she saw that Allison was visibly frightened, so she shot her a comforting smile. Her smile vanished when she glanced down at Brian, though.

He was sitting in Allison’s palm, with his arms draped over her thumb. What concerned Elizabeth, however, was his expression. Or rather, his lack of one. His face was eerily neutral, which she had learned was an indication of his stress level. The more robotic he looked, the greater amount of stress. Judging by his face at that moment, then, he was very stressed. Elizabeth motioned for Allison to look down at him, and she quickly gained the same concerns.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Elizabeth asked kindly. “Like I said, they’re not going to bother you. They just need to look around.”

Her voice snapped Brian out of it, and he started to explain himself.

“Sorry, it’s just, um… for some reason, the thought of being in a crowded room is really stressing me out,” he said. Allison thought for a moment, before she realized something.

“Do you… do you think…?”

“Allison,” Elizabeth scolded, before lightly shaking her head. They had both come to the same conclusion - it was because of Brian’s assault in prison. However, Elizabeth knew that it was not the right time to bring it up. Allison quickly realized her mistake, and changed her tune.

“Don’t worry, Brian, I can keep you covered in my hand the whole time. You won’t see them,” she assured. Brian fidgeted, and reached up to scratch his neck.

“I guess,” he muttered, obviously not satisfied with that solution. After another moment of consideration, Allison came up with a better idea.

“Say… how would you like to come outside with me?” she asked, causing both Brian and Elizabeth’s eyes to dart towards her in surprise.

“Outside?” Brian repeated, to which Allison softly nodded.

“Yeah, we can wait outside while they look around. Maybe we can go check out Elizabeth’s garden. That sounds nice, right?” she elaborated, looking down at him with a gentle smile. Elizabeth smiled widely at her kind idea, thoroughly impressed. 

“That sounds lovely, Allie,” she praised. “My flowers are blooming right now, so you both can go take a look and see what a great gardener I am. I’ll come out and let you know when they’re done.”

Brian’s heart softened at their suggestion, as he came to the saddening realization that he hadn’t seen a single flower in over three years. Trying not to get emotional, he simply nodded and smiled. Allison beamed, and carefully moved her free hand over her other one, completely concealing her tiny boyfriend within a curtain of her fingers. With that, she began to move outside. Elizabeth came with her, and explained to the approaching men what they were going to do. Allison walked around the side of the house to Elizabeth’s flower garden, and carefully knelt down in front of it. Once she was secure, and she checked which direction the wind was blowing from, she finally exposed Brian to the outside world. 

After wincing from the sudden brightness, Brian took in the sweet, crisp, early evening air. The last few times he had been outside were when he was being secretly transported, first away from the Silver Strip and then to Elizabeth’s house, so he hadn’t been able to appreciate the experience. Now, though, he was able to soak it all in. The fresh air wrapped around him like a refreshing blanket, and the sound of leaves rustling and birds chirping was like music to his ears. Most notable of all, though, was the smell of flowers. Finally turning to look at the source, Brian’s heart was instantly flooded with pure emotion.

As Elizabeth had said, her flowers were in full bloom. Brian was able to take in every small detail of the enormous flowers in front of him, and his consciousness was overtaken by the vibrant mix of reds, blues, yellows, and whites that made up Elizabeth’s flower garden. It was as if he was seeing color again for the first time, as he had seen nothing but a depressing collection of grays, blacks, and oranges for three years straight. It brought to the forefront just how bleak his life had been for so long, and the simple beauty of flowers was all it took to make him emotional. Allison noticed this, and softly smiled at his reaction.

“They’re pretty, aren’t they?” she asked quietly.  Unable to speak just yet, Brian simply nodded.

“Try looking at the sky, baby,” she suggested,  turning her gaze upwards. Brian did the same, and was once again blown away. Although he had certainly spent time outside while in prison, he realized that he had not once attempted to look at the sky. His eyes were always turned downwards, trying to just avoid any and all attention. Now, though, he was able to see once again just how blue the sky was, and just how eternal.

“You know what I like about the sky?” Allison asked, somewhat entranced. “No matter who you are - no matter how big, or how small - the sky is equally massive.”

She reached upwards to the sky with her free arm, as if to grab it.

“It’s always outside our reach, and it always reminds us that there’s something out there that’s beyond us. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Brian’s eyes drifted away from the sky, and towards Allison.

“Yeah,” he whispered. 

“Beautiful.”

~

“Alright, she’s here,” Elizabeth declared, causing Allison and Brian to straighten their posture in preparation. In light of the fact that they were dining with a senator, both Allison and Elizabeth were dressed in formal attire. Allison was wearing a slightly short-cut navy dress, while Elizabeth was wearing a white blouse along with black dress pants. Brian had made sure to inform both ladies of how lovely they looked, especially as it was his first time seeing Allison in a dress. Brian, lacking anything that could be called “formal,” had simply opted to go for an all-black ensemble of clothing. He was currently standing in Allison’s palm, doing his best to make himself look respectable. Allison was doing the same, and their efforts only increased once Elizabeth opened the door to greet their visitor.

Before Elizabeth could say a word, she was suddenly thrusted a carrying box of some sort.

“Would you mind taking that, Lizzy? I’ve kinda got my hands full, here,” came an unseen voice from outside the door. Elizabeth received the box, just a little stunned, and backed up a bit to make room for their guest. Allison and Brian exchanged a confused glance.

“Lizzy?” he mouthed, to which Allison shrugged.

“Thanks a bunch. Now, where are they?” the voice continued, before the figure it belonged to came flying into the house. With virtually no fanfare, they were suddenly faced with Senator Cassandra Day, age 56.

As they had seen on TV, she had short-cut brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, which always seemed to be in some variant of a furrowed position. Her wrinkled skin was a clear indication of her age, but she otherwise looked quite youthful. Her short stature, along with her slightly heavyset frame, gave her the appearance of a busy-beaver as she hurried inside the room with a determined look on her face. Compared to the stern, no-nonsense persona she adopted in public, this was quite a surprise to all three of them. This was further accentuated by her surprisingly casual choice of clothing - a plain sweater and jeans. She was holding a bottle of wine, along with what looked like a collection of files, which she promptly set on a nearby table before scanning the room. Once she caught sight of Allison, along with the one-inch man she was holding, her face lit up.

“There they are,” she gushed, before drawing closer. Quickly remembering that this was indeed a senator, Allison and Brian adopted a formal smile as they stood up straight.

“Allison Starr, I take it?” Cassandra asked, extending one hand towards her.

“Y-Yes, ma’am, it’s very nice to meet you,” Allison replied stiffly, reaching forward to shake her hand. Cassandra nodded with a bright smile, before turning her attention to the tiny man in her hand.

“Brian Bentley,” she said, her face not betraying even a hint of astonishment at his size.

“What gave it away?” Brian replied, his own face not betraying even a hint of nervousness at the giant woman in front of him. Cassandra held one hand to her chest as she let out a hearty chuckle.

“Your dashing good looks, of course,” she answered, causing Brian to smile slightly wider. Allison was once again impressed by Brian’s ability to stay calm during stressful situations, while Elizabeth let out a small, exasperated sigh at their banter.

“It is very, very nice to meet you, Brian,” Cassandra continued. “I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I was to learn that you were alive, even if I learned it a little later than I would have preferred,”

“Yes, and I apologize for that,” Brian replied, lowering his head slightly. “I hope you can forgive me for being overly-cautious.”

“Of course I can, after what you’ve been through,” she responded, her face darkening immensely. “Please, allow me to offer my sincerest apologies over everything that has happened to you. I can’t even… I can’t even begin to imagine…”

“Please, Senator Day, that isn’t necessary,” Brian interjected softly. “After everything you’ve done for me, there’s no need to apologize. I don’t even know how to start thanking you for working so hard on my behalf, not even knowing that I was alive. My name is cleared because of you, and I am so unbelievably grateful. Thank you.”

Cassandra beamed at his kind words.

“I was only doing what was right, darling,” she replied. “But listen, I’ll stop apologizing and you can stop thanking me - on one condition.”

“What is it?” Brian questioned.

“You call me ‘Cassandra,’” she answered with a wink, to which Brian smiled once again.

“Sure thing, Cassandra,” Brian replied.

“I would also accept ‘Auntie Cass,’” she continued, holding one hand to her cheek as she blushed. Elizabeth, still in the background, rolled her eyes. Allison, on the other hand, was simply in awe at their fast-paced conversation. She hadn’t been able to get a single word in.

“On that note, perhaps we should get dinner started,” Elizabeth said, finally stepping forward. “Seeing as how we’ve breezed right over the ‘introductions’ and ‘small-talk’ phases of the evening.”

“Quite so, quite so!” Cassandra replied chipperly, before slightly frowning. “By the way, I seem to be slightly underdressed.”

“Well, that’s because we thought we were having dinner with a senator,” Elizabeth said quietly, to which Cassandra waved her hand dismissively.

“Oh please, Lizzy, lighten up,” she scolded. “There’s no need to stress the poor kids, we’re just having a nice meal together.”

“Speaking of which, what’s this expensive item that you were so excited about?” Elizabeth asked.

“Ah, yes! It’s in that carrier you’re holding,” Cassandra answered, which drew all the eyes in the room towards it. “That, my friends, is dry-aged, A5 Wagyu beef. In other words, some of the greatest steaks you will ever taste.”

Allison’s eyes widened in overwhelming shock, while Elizabeth stared at her in disbelief. Brian, on the other hand, had no clue what she was talking about.

“Dear lord,” Elizabeth sighed. “Do I even want to know how much these steaks cost?”

“Nope!” Cassandra replied jovially. “Anyway, let’s get them going. If you ladies are too scared, I can cook a mean steak. Brian, darling, how do you like your meat?”

“Uh… cooked?” he answered unsuredly, which drew three sets of questioning eyes.

“What? My mom never let us eat expensive stuff,” he muttered, looking down at Allison’s palm. Cassandra’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“I swear, that woman is losing more and more points with me every single day,” she huffed. “Alright, then, it’ll be fine. Believe me, it’s impossible to make this meat taste bad. Let’s eat first, and then we can talk about the serious stuff.”

With that, they all began to move towards the kitchen. At one point, Brian quietly asked Allison to look up the price of the steaks, and he nearly had a stroke. Suffice it to say, it was one of the greatest meals of their lives.

~

“So, how did my video do?” asked Brian, referring to his video from the day prior in which he announced to the world that he was not only alive, but one-inch tall.

“Oh, it was perfect. You hit on all the right points, and it generated the exact kind of reactions that I was hoping for. Spectacular job,” Cassandra praised.

“Although the improvised quip about your clothes at the end was a little unexpected…” Elizabeth muttered, to which Brian shrugged.

“Come on, it was funny,” he replied. “Besides, I wanted to show the people that I’m in good spirits about the whole thing.”

“And that’s a good strategy, but be sure not to overdo it,” Cassandra interjected. “Don’t forget that we need peoples’ sympathy, so we need to occasionally remind them how hard this has been for you.”

“Roger. As long as I don’t have to get too ‘woe is me’ about the whole thing, then I’ll be fine,” Brian replied firmly. “So, what’s the next step? Should I make another video soon, or what?”

“Well, let’s let your first video sit for another few days or so, and let people have a chance to process the information. We want to spread out any and all developments in your case, so as to maintain a constant level of public interest. If we throw it all out there at once, people will stop caring more quickly,” she explained. “After that, we can either do another video or a televised interview. We’ll see what happens.”

“Man… this is like a weird, intense game of chess,” Allison sighed, appreciating just how deliberate and calculated their moves had to be. Even Brian’s persona had to be carefully crafted.

“That’s politics, my dear,” Cassandra replied. “Are you okay with an interview at some point, Brian?”

“I think so, as long as Allie is with me,” he answered, causing his girlfriend to smile widely. “What’s our long-term goal, though? How do we take down the SP?”

“That’s the important question, isn’t it?” Cassandra responded. “Since the SP was adopted nationally, this means that we have to go through the legislature to get rid of it. In general, a law is repealed by introducing a new law.”

“As the only person in this room who was not a political science major, can someone explain to me how that works?” Brian sheepishly asked, causing all three women to giggle.

“Basically, someone in either house of Congress introduces a bill. In this case, that person would be Cassandra,” Elizabeth explained. “After her bill goes to a committee, the Senate will then debate and vote on it. If a majority votes for it, the bill moves over to the House of Representatives for the same thing. If it gets a majority in both houses, it finally goes to the president, who could choose to veto it.”

“Uh-huh. Do we know if the president is on board with this?” Brian asked, turning to Cassandra.

“Oh, he’s definitely on our side here. You might actually be getting a call from him pretty soon,” she said with a wink. Brian and Allison’s hearts skipped a beat.

“S-Seriously?” Brian stammered. “Alright then… one more thing, I suppose.”

“I love your attitude, darling,” Cassandra said chipperly. “Anyway, that’s the process. Hopefully, the public will be able to pressure the necessary people into voting in our favor. They were certainly able to pressure them into convicting you, after all. If it all goes our way, then no more Shrink Penalty.”

Brian let out an enormous sigh.

“Easy as one, two, three,” he mumbled. Cassandra chuckled, before turning serious.

“Now, Lizzy seems to have let slip the fact that the shrinking isn’t permanent,” she said, her tone suddenly as cold as ice. “Which is a state secret, might I add.”

She shot a stern glance at Elizabeth, who averted her eyes.

“You all could get in serious trouble if you tell that to anybody else, so listen to me when I tell you to keep it to yourselves. Am I clear?” she continued. All of a sudden, they were faced with Senator Day, the stern figure who they were used to seeing on television. In the face of her intense gaze, they all deflated.

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Good. Now, there’s a lot of political nonsense surrounding why we keep it a secret, but a big part of it has to do with the SP. If we repeal it, then there’s a good chance that we can then reveal the truth. And hence, restore Brian to normal,” she continued, returning to her normal tone. At that, everybody in the room perked up.

“Boy, that would be swell,” Brian said dryly. “How long do you think it would be before that could hypothetically happen?”

Cassandra’s face darkened slightly.

“Well, here’s the bad news. I honestly have no idea. Brian, it will take time to repeal the SP. That’s why we need to space out any new videos or interviews, to keep interest high throughout the process. I can certainly try to rush the votes, but we could easily be looking at a month or two before something happens. After that, we’re in uncharted waters. We need to be patient, okay?” she said softly. Brian slightly deflated in disappointment, but quickly got himself together.

“Got it. I was under the impression that I was never going to return to normal, anyway, so I can wait. Thanks to Allie and Elizabeth, being small isn’t so bad,” he replied. Both Allison and Elizabeth’s hearts melted at his kind words, and Cassandra smiled adoringly.

“I can tell. You’re very lucky to have them in your life. And of course, we wouldn’t even be here right now if it wasn’t for Allison,” she replied. Allison suddenly grew incredibly nervous as the focus of the conversation abruptly shifted to her.

“You did an incredibly brave thing, young lady,” Cassandra praised.

“O-Oh, no, it was just the right thing to do,” she said, awkwardly trying to deflect the compliment.

“No no no, I can safely say that you are one of the bravest people I have ever met. I can’t even begin to imagine the level of courage it must have taken to do what you did, and your decision has led to all of this. Well done,” she continued, not letting Allison off so easy.

“Yep, she’s pretty amazing,” Brian cut in.

“That’s for sure,” Elizabeth added. “I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Facing three sets of adoring eyes, Allison turned beet-red. Unable to handle the onslaught of praise, her brain imploded.

“Thank you…” she mumbled, causing all three of them to crack up.

“Anyway, I think that about covers everything I wanted to say. To recap, let’s let people sit with your video for a little while longer, and I’ll contact you in a few days to go over our next move. Sound good?” Cassandra asked, getting back on track. Allison, Elizabeth, and Brian all nodded in unison, and just like that had a plan for the future. The campaign to take down the Shrink Penalty had officially begun.

~

Some time had passed, and all four of them had simply been chatting for a while. Cassandra was eager to learn any and all details about Brian’s time with Allison and Elizabeth, and they in turn wanted to know about what had happened when Brian’s case was reopened.

“Don’t worry, Brian, we’re going to find out who was behind your conviction. However, it embarasses me to admit that a majority of what happened to you was most likely fueled by public outrage,” Cassandra said sheepishly. “After it was reported that you were arrested, people immediately started directing their rage towards you. The only person who saw what truly happened was the officer that arrested you, and he was clearly too blinded by his anger to care.”

Her face darkened in anger as the footage of Brian being brutally assaulted replayed in her mind. 

“Two days was not enough time to go about investigating your case properly, and it would have been too embarrassing for the people spearheading the campaign against you to admit that they were wrong. As for who those people were, I promise that we’ll find them.”

“So, you’re saying that the conspiracy against me was created just so a couple politicians wouldn’t face a PR disaster?” Brian asked incredulously. Cassandra deflated in shame.

“There’s a lot wrong with our criminal justice system, Brian,” she said quietly. “People are so comfortable with cruelty, and the people in charge care less about justice and more so with marketability. It didn’t get this way overnight, but it is where we are. I’m hoping that we can use what happened to you as a catalyst for some real, positive change. I hope I can count on your support.”

Brian let out a deep sigh, while Allison and Elizabeth looked on concernedly.

“I’ll be honest,” he started. “I really don’t care about any of that.”

All three women were slightly taken aback.

“As far as I’m concerned, the world abandoned me. They all can go to hell. What I want is to return to normal, and live my life with the people I care about. If it takes me being a political prop to get there, then fine. I’ll do whatever I need to do. I just want to live in peace,” he continued. Allison’s eyes softened, and she began to tenderly stroke his back with her finger. Cassandra nodded.

“You’ve earned that desire,” she said. “If you work with me, then I’ll do everything in my power to get you there. Deal?”

Brian extended his fist outwards.

“Deal,” he said. Cassandra reached out with her finger, and tapped his fist. Just like that, an alliance was formed. 

“Speaking of the people you care about, there was one thing I wanted to ask you about, Brian,” Cassandra said, to which Brian made a questioning noise.

“I know it’s not exactly my business, but are you planning on reaching out to your sister soon?” she continued, adopting a gentle tone. The room went silent, and Allison and Elizabeth nervously turned their eyes towards him. They saw that he had an extremely troubled look on his face.

“…did you call her yesterday, like I asked?” he asked quietly, turning his eyes downwards.

“I did, but I’m sure she would have preferred to hear from you instead,” Cassandra replied softly.

“How did she sound?” Brian asked, ignoring her comment.

“To be frank, horrible,” she answered. “She was as quiet as a mouse, and she hardly even reacted when I told her who I was. She’s really going through a tough time.”

Brian sighed deeply, burying his face in his hands.

“I just wanted to make sure she didn’t miss it…” came his slightly muffled voice.

“When do you think you’ll want to reach out to her, sweetie?” Elizabeth asked gently. This was something both she and Allison had been wondering, but were too afraid to ask.

“I understand why you haven’t yet, since we’ve been so busy with the video and everything, but now might be a good time,” Cassandra added.

“Can’t we… can’t we wait until I’m normal-sized?” Brian asked quietly. “It would be embarrassing for her to see me like this…”

Allison raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve never been embarrassed about your size before,” she said. Brian looked up at her.

“That’s because none of you knew me before I was shrunken. Jen has an expectation of me, and I feel like I would let her down,” he explained. 

“I don’t know, Brian, I think she would just be overjoyed to see her big brother again,” Allison replied.

“Indeed. Also, like I said, it could be months before a chance for you to become normal again appears. Even then, it really isn’t guaranteed. I hate to say it, but you need to be prepared for the possibility that you will never regain your size,” Cassandra added.

“You should at least call her, honey. You can work up to an in-person visit, if that’s what you want, but it wouldn’t be fair to completely leave her in the dark. Not after what she said in her video,” Elizabeth said. Surrounded on all fronts, Brian sighed in resignation.

“Fine. I’ll call her tomorrow,” he said, causing all three women to smile widely.

“That’s a good choice, darling. I bet she’s dying to hear from you,” Cassandra replied. “On that note, I should probably take my leave. It sounds like tomorrow is going to be a big day for you, so you need to get your rest.”

With that, they all rose and prepared to make their goodbyes. Cassandra once again reiterated how nice it was to meet them, and promised to do everything in her power to see justice done. After a few hugs, and another finger-fistbump, she was gone. Team Bentley had gained another ally, and they had successfully created a plan for the future.

Next on the agenda: a sibling reunion.

~~~

“Hello, and welcome to the 7:00 news. Let’s start once again with the biggest story of the day, the potentially final update to the trial of Brian Bentley, the man who murdered Timmy Osment, ‘America’s Little Brother.’ As we reported yesterday, Brian Bentley was sent to the ‘Silver Strip’ Chevalier facility today, and we can confirm that Brian Bentley, 21, is now dead, executed by a Chevalier. As per policy, the ‘Silver Strip’ will not release the details of which specific Chev got him, or the details of his execution, but we can only hope that he got exactly what he deserved. Now, we have interviews with the family members of Brian Bentley, and what they have to say about today’s events…”

Jennifer fell to her side on the couch. She felt completely numb, and her world was suddenly devoid of all color. 

Her brother was dead.

All at once, a million memories replayed in her mind. Memories of her brother holding her while she cried, always knowing just what to say. Memories of her brother reading her to sleep, his soft voice putting her mind at ease. Memories of her brother fighting with their mom on her behalf, just trying to make her express any amount of love. Memories of her brother celebrating with her when she aced yet another test, always making her feel like her efforts were appreciated. Memories of her brother being the one person who showed her complete, true, and unconditional love.

Her brother was dead.

Tortured to death at the hands of a sadistic psychopath.

For a crime she knew he didn’t commit.

Believing that she had given up on him.

Jennifer had nothing left. Her universe no longer contained him, which basically meant her universe was now empty. As such, she didn’t cry. She simply laid there in silence, a neutral look on her face.

Her brother was dead.

Suddenly, she realized that the person on the television was no longer a middle-aged newsman, but a middle-aged woman with jet-black hair and striking green eyes. It was her mother, Laura Bentley, and she looked to be standing right outside their house while talking to a reporter. Jennifer’s awareness rebooted just in time to make out what she was saying.

“…time and time again. That man stopped being my son the day he decided to become a criminal. I feel no differently about today than I would any other day. Please stop harassing me.”

With that, Laura turned away from the reporter and made her way inside the house. Just as the camera cut away, Jennifer heard the opening of her front door. A minute later, she was faced with the woman who she had just seen on TV. Laura sensed how deeply distraught her daughter was, and softened her approach. Jennifer, on the other hand, sparked to life as a wave of anger overtook her consciousness.

“Why?” she asked quietly, but with an undeniable ocean of rage. Laura let out a sigh.

“You know why. If I didn’t, we’d just get targeted again. If we can just get through this, they’ll leave us alone forever,” she replied firmly.

“‘Get through this?’” Jennifer repeated. “H-He’s… he’s dead! My brother is dead! Isn’t it good enough for you that he’s dead?! Did you really have to throw him away one last time?!”

The tears that she had failed to find earlier were now flooding down her cheeks as she began to explode. Laura teared up as well.

“Do you think I’m happy about this?” she whispered. “Do you think I’m happy about how broken my family is? I’m not, Jennifer. Every day, I’m wondering what I should have done differently. Every day, I can’t help but think that… if I had been a better m… then he wouldn’t have…”

“HE DIDN’T DO IT!” Jennifer screamed. Laura closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh, as a tear raced down her face.

“No matter what you think of him, and no matter what you think of me… everything I’ve done since he was arrested was to protect us. Can’t you understand that?! Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve said, it was all to pro… protect…”

She trailed off. Suddenly, a few lines echoed in her head.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child.”

“You deserve to be fucking squished like a bug for what you did.”

“Age requirement be damned, I would even do it myself.”

She found herself unable to continue. She knew that those words were not meant to protect anything. Those words were meant to destroy. But Jennifer didn’t know about those words, so she had to keep up the act.

“What?!” Jennifer exclaimed. Laura snapped out of it.

“A-Anyway, If I even show the slightest hint of sympathy for him, they’ll tear us apart. You won’t have a future anymore, and I can’t let that happen. I just want to preserve what’s left of my family, and that’s you. Go ahead and hate me, but you are my only priority, Jennifer.”

Jennifer’s eyes softened a bit. Her anger dissipated, and was replaced by a tidal wave of grief. All the energy in her body evaporated, and she completely deflated.

“M-My brother is dead…” she whimpered, before collapsing into anguished sobs. Laura approached and wrapped her up in a firm embrace.

“He’s dead… my brother is dead… my brother is… he’s dead…” she wailed, over and over and over again. All Laura could do was continue to hold her close, wishing with all her might that things had turned out differently.

~~~

“Allie…” Brian muttered, while wringing his hands. They were alone in Allison’s bedroom, preparing to make an extremely important phone call. Elizabeth had left to give them some privacy, and was anxiously waiting in the living room. Allison could see how visibly nervous Brian was, and began to pet his back with her finger.

“What are you so nervous about?” she softly asked. “Aren’t you excited to talk to her again? Isn’t her video the reason you decided to go public in the first place?”

“Yeah, but… I just don’t know what to say to her. She probably blames herself for what happened, and I know she feels really guilty about not speaking up on my behalf. I don’t want to lie and say that I knew she believed in me, so… I don’t know,” he replied, letting out a dejected sigh. Allison pondered for a moment, wondering how best to reassure him. She was an only child, and was in no position to offer advice. However, she still had to try.

“Brian, you’re her big brother. You love her, and she loves you. I think, once you start, you’ll know exactly what to say. I believe in you,” she said firmly. Brian looked up at her, and his eyes softened in appreciation. That was what he needed to hear, and he steeled his resolve.

“Okay. Make the call,” he said, his heart quickening in anticipation. Allison nodded, and began to punch in the number that Brian had told her. As they had learned when Brian asked Cassandra to call her, the number still worked. Taking a deep breath, she hit “call.” She then turned it to speaker phone and lowered it to the bed, until the microphone was resting right next to her tiny boyfriend. After a brief silence, a rhythmic beeping indicated that the call was going through. The noise seemed to go on forever, and Brian started to wonder if she wasn’t going to pick up. Just as he began to debate whether or not they should leave a message, the beeping stopped.

“Hello?” came a barely audible voice from the phone. Instantly, a wave of emotion overtook Brian’s consciousness, and he drew one hand to his mouth as he began to tear up. 

It was Jennifer. For the first time in over three years, he was hearing his little sister’s voice.

Brian found himself at an overwhelming loss for words. Despite Allison’s earlier assurance, he truly had no idea what to say. Thousands of potential responses flashed through his mind, but he was unable to decide on any of them. A silence hung in the air for a few moments, and eventually the voice spoke up again.

“Is someone there?” she asked, just a little louder. Now that she wasn’t essentially just whispering, Brian was able to take note of just how tired she sounded. At that, a spark of brotherly concern reigned in his emotions, and he finally decided to speak.

“Hey, Jen,” he said, barely more than a whisper. The silence returned, but this time not because of him. He could not make out a single hint of noise on the other end of the call, as if the person there had even stopped breathing. After a small eternity, she responded. This time, her voice was even quieter, and carried a shakiness that suggested she was afraid of even daring to speak the words aloud.

“W-Who… who is this…?” she asked. 

“Listen to my voice, Jen. It’s me,” Brian replied, keeping his voice as steady as possible. His heart was being shredded, but he was determined not to let it show. After a few moments, he could make out a few vague noises coming from the phone. He quickly realized that they were the noises of someone crying.

“Bean…?” she weakly asked, as if barely able to force the word out of her mouth.

Brian’s tears returned, and he had to fight with his entire soul not to let out a sobbing gasp. Allison noticed this, and once again began to physically comfort him. She didn’t dare speak a single word, but she wanted to remind him that he wasn’t alone.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he replied. “It’s been a while.”

“Oh my god…” Jennifer whispered, almost unable to speak. “I t-thought… I thought you were dead… I thought I’d lost you…”

A few tears finally raced down Brian’s face, and he closed his eyes. At that moment, though, Allison’s earlier prediction came true. Now that he had started, he knew exactly what to say.

“I promised, Jen. I promised that I would find my way back to you,” he said softly. “I’m just… I’m sorry that it took so long.”

At that, Jennifer couldn’t take it anymore, and she instantly broke down into loud sobs. It was a primal outburst of pure emotion, in a chaotic mix of sadness, relief, regret, and a multitude of other feelings that were obliterating her heart. Brian was also crying, but unlike his sister was keeping it completely quiet. Through her own tears, Allison could see that he was trying to act strong for his little sister. After a few moments, Brian began to make out some words.

“I’m so sorry…” Jennifer sobbed. “I missed y-you so much… I’m s-so sorry…”

“Shhh…” Brian soothed. “It’s okay, Jen. I’m here. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise. I love you, y-you know that? I love you so, so much.”

“I-I love you too,” Jennifer choked out. “I’m so sorry I didn’t say so… I love you, Bean… I love you more than anything…”

Just like that, brother and sister were reunited.

~

Jennifer eventually calmed down to where they could have a normal conversation. All she had been able to say so far was how sorry she was, how much she missed him, and how much she loved him.

“A-Are you… are you okay?” she finally asked. Brian couldn’t help but smile at her concern.

“I’m doing a lot better now,” he answered. He could almost hear her widening smile.

“What about you? You doing okay?” he asked.

“I feel like my heart is about to explode,” Jennifer replied with a sniffle.

“Me too, Jen,” Brian replied.

“I’m doing okay, though… I’m just so happy to hear from you,” she continued, her tone darkening a bit at the end. Brian immediately understood why.

“I’m so sorry for making you wait,” Brian replied quietly. “There’s been a lot going on since my innocence was proven. There are a lot of moving parts, and they all move extremely quickly. Please forgive me.”

“O-Of course I forgive you!” Jennifer exclaimed, causing Brian to slightly flinch.

“Uh, good,” he awkwardly replied. “Get this, Jen. I had dinner with a senator last night. Your big brother has friends in high places, huh?”

“Senator Day?” Jennifer asked.

“Yep. She’s really been helping me out. I understand she called you two days ago, right?” he replied.

“Yeah…” Jennifer muttered, before realizing something. “Wait, was that because of you? Is that how she knew my number? Is that why she told me to keep an eye on the news?”

Brian was a bit stunned by her immediate understanding.

“Yeah, it was,” he replied. “I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t miss my video.”

“Bean, everybody in the country was watching your video within a minute of it starting. There’s no way in hell I would have missed it. Why did you really ask her to call?”

After a few moments, Brian sighed.

“Fine, I just wanted her to see how you were doing,” he said sheepishly.

“And what did she tell you?” Jennifer asked cautiously. Brian debated for a moment on how best to word it.

“She said… she said that you were going through a tough time,” he answered. Jennifer was silent for a moment.

“Yeah…” she whispered. Brian decided to change the subject.

“Jen, I’m really sorry you had to find out that way. I know it must have been an enormous shock, and… I don’t even know what to say,” he said quietly.

“Bean, I said I forgive you,” Jennifer replied firmly. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’ve been through…”

She trailed off. Brian quickly suspected why.

“Jen, just ask the question,” he said. After a few moments of awkward silence, she spoke up in an extremely small voice.

“Are you… are you really…?”

“Yeah, I’m ‘fun-sized,’” Brian replied dryly.

“Oh my god… I’m so sorry…” Jennifer whispered.

“It’s not so bad. Anyway, enough about me,” Brian replied, hurriedly steering the conversation away from his least favorite topic. “I saw your video, too.”

Jennifer went completely silent. Brian imagined that she had suddenly turned bright red in embarrassment.

“O-Oh…” she squeaked. 

“Yeah, I really appreciated it. I especially loved the part where you told everybody what an amazing brother I am,” he continued. He could practically hear the sound of Jennifer cringing out of her skin. After a moment of letting her stew in it, though, his tone darkened immensely.

“However, I absolutely hated the part where you said that you failed me,” he said lowly. “Jen, it wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid, and there was nothing you could have done.”

Once again, Jennifer turned dead silent. At the sound of those words, all of the guilt she had been carrying for three years came flooding back.

“N-No…” she eventually whimpered, indicating that she was crying again.

“Jen, listen to me,” Brian said firmly, but he was quickly cut off.

“N… No!” she exclaimed. “I should have spoken up! You were innocent, and I knew it! I promise, I always knew it! You deserved to know that, Bean! You deserved to know that! I was a coward, and I did fail you! I’m so sorry…”

Soon, Brian could only hear the sounds of her crying. He knew that she was only going to keep spiraling if he didn’t do something, but he had no idea what to say. However, after a moment, he knew just what to do.

“Jenny-bean,” he said quietly. Instantly, she stopped crying. That was something that only Brian was allowed to call her, and as such she had not heard it in over three years. The sound of it stunned her into silence, and gave Brian a chance to speak.

“Jenny-bean, you were only fourteen, and the people behind my conviction were extremely powerful. Speaking out would have only made you a target. Nothing more,” he continued. “That voice in your head? The one saying that the world would have hated you, and I probably wouldn’t have even heard about it? I can’t tell you how glad I am that you listened to it, because that voice was absolutely right.”

“But… even if there was a chance…” Jennifer weakly said, in a feeble attempt at resistance.

“Then I would have learned that my baby sister painted a target on her back and put her future at risk because of me. You think that would have made me happy? Jen, keeping quiet kept you safe. That’s all I’ve ever cared about. You did exactly what I would have told you to do, okay? You did not fail me,” he countered. His voice was as soft as a feather, but the conviction in his voice was undeniable. However, it wasn’t quite enough.

“You were alone, Bean,” Jennifer whispered, trying not to break down again. “Don’t you understand? You were alone, and I could have helped you. Y-You… you didn’t deserve to be alone…”

Brian grit his teeth in frustration. After a second, he closed his eyes and let out a resigned sigh. At that moment, he decided that his desire to comfort her outweighed his desire to completely tell the truth. He shot a glance at Allison, conveying what he was going to do, and she responded with a sympathetic smile.

“Jenny-bean, you were with me the whole time,” he quietly lied. “What makes you think I ever gave up on you?”

“…really?” Jennifer softly asked. Brian closed his eyes again and looked up at the ceiling. Truthfully, he had given up. His mother’s cruel words to him in prison had broken his soul, and thoroughly convinced him that nobody would ever believe him. However, he decided that Jennifer didn’t need to live with that knowledge. At least not right away.

“Really,” he said, his tone not betraying the lie. “Regardless, we shouldn’t focus on the past. I’m alive, my innocence has been proven, and everything is going to be okay. That’s all that matters.”

“But… you’re small…” Jennifer replied hesitantly. Once again, Brian lamented the fact that he had to lie to his sister. Cassandra’s warning from the previous day echoed through his mind, reminding him that he absolutely couldn’t divulge the fact that the shrinking could be undone. Still, he had to try and reassure her.

“Jen, I’ve been small for nearly two months now. I’ve gotten pretty used to it, and it’s not as bad as it sounds. I have some amazing people taking care of me,” he said reassuringly, flashing a warm smile at Allison. However, that smile vanished when he sensed a change in his sister’s tone.

“Who?” she asked lowly. 

“Come again?” Brian replied, a little confused.

“Who’s taking care of you?” she elaborated, an odd spark in her voice. “For that matter, where are you? When can I come see you? I need to see you.”

Brian was slightly taken aback by her sudden barrage of questions, and he exchanged a nervous glance with Allison.

“About that, Jen…” he started, trying to frame it as gently as possible. “I think we should hold off on an in-person visit for a little while…”

“What?!” Jennifer exclaimed, once again causing her brother to flinch. “No way, Bean! I need to see you! I need to make sure you’re okay!”

“I’m okay, sis, I promise,” Brian assured, somewhat intimidated by her anger. “And besides, you don’t want to see me like this. I’m all small and weird.”

“Like fuck I don’t!” Jennifer replied angrily. However, she quickly dropped the anger and adopted a pleading tone.

“Bean, I promise I won’t be weird about your size. I literally couldn’t care less, I just need to see you. I thought you were dead, and we haven’t seen each other for over three years. You seriously expect me to be okay with waiting even longer?!”

“Jen, please. They shipped me to Los Angeles, we’re an entire state apart. It would be a drag for you to-”

“Literally who cares!” Jennifer interrupted. “I’d drive 100 miles every day to make sure you’re okay. You seriously think I wouldn’t come visit you just because you’re not nearby?!”

“I mean, I guess not, but… aren’t you in school? I can’t expect you to put your life on hold just to come and see me. Why don’t we just wait a bit-”

“I graduated early!” Jennifer interrupted yet again. “I’m doing a gap year, so I have nothing going on!”

Brian was stunned into silence for a moment.

“You graduated early?” he asked incredulously. Jennifer suddenly turned bashful.

“Uh, yeah…” she mumbled. Brian’s face lit up as he felt a swelling of pride in his heart.

“Jen, that’s amazing! My sister the super-genius,” he praised. On the other side of the call, Jennifer adopted an extremely emotional smile as she realized that it was the first time in years that her brother praised her for something. Before she could bask in the feeling for very long, though, Brian spoke up again as he realized something.

“Wait, does that mean I missed your graduation?” he asked, suddenly deflating in disappointment. Jennifer did the same as she came to the same realization.

“Oh, I guess…” she replied sadly. A somber silence hung in the air for a moment.

“It really has been so long, hasn’t it?” Brian said, barely more than a whisper.

“Yeah…” Jennifer replied, matching his tone. “That’s why I need to see you, Bean. Please.”

Brian thought for a few long moments, before closing his eyes in resignation. 

“Fine, Jen. You can see me,” he said softly. Jennifer was silent for a moment, but he could tell that she was absolutely beaming.

“Tell me where you are, I’ll come right now,” she quickly said.

“Slow down, sister, at least give me a day to prepare myself,” Brian replied. “Look, I also wanted to wish you a happy early birthday. Why don’t you come and visit tomorrow? We can call it my birthday present to you.”

“…you remembered,” Jennifer whispered, slightly overcome with emotion.

“Of course I did,” Brian replied dismissively. “My sister is turning eighteen, how could I forget that? Listen, I’ll send you the address. This is top-secret stuff, though, so tell nobody.”

“Got it,” Jennifer replied firmly.

“Take the time between today and tomorrow to figure out how you’re going to get here. If you need some help, I can probably get Cass- er, Senator Day to organize something. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Brian continued.

“Okay. I can’t wait. I love you so much, Bean. I can’t wait to see you,” Jennifer responded.

“I love you too, Jenny-bean. I’m looking forward to it. Just… don’t be too shocked by my size, okay? It’s kinda embarrassing…”

“I promise, I won’t be weird about it. Probably,” she replied, just a little teasingly. She could hear Brian sigh through the phone, and she smiled widely. After a moment, though, her face fell. She realized that she needed to ask him something really important.

“Um…” she started, suddenly extremely nervous. “Do you… do you want to talk to Mom…?”

Brian’s expression darkened. Suddenly, he was about as robotic as he had ever been. Jennifer couldn’t see it, but the following silence told her everything she needed to know. Allison, on the other hand, grew extremely concerned. She knew that his mother was the absolute sorest of subjects, and thus had been too afraid to ask him about her beforehand. So, she simply watched on with great anticipation as both she and Jennifer waited for an answer. After a small eternity, Brian spoke. His answer was simple, and his tone was flat. However, it carried all the emotion in the universe.

“No.”

“…okay,” Jennifer whispered, knowing better than to push it. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bean. I love you.”

Brian snapped out of his haze, and returned to a normal tone.

“I love you, too. See you tomorrow.”

With that, finally, they hung up. Once Allison pulled the phone away, Brian flopped over on his back and let out a colossal sigh. Allison laid down on her side, so her face was right next to him. She reached over and began to rub his cheek, and he leaned into the comforting sensation.

“You did so good, baby,” she said softly. “I can’t imagine how hard that was. I’m so proud of you.”

“Yeah,” Brian sighed, looking vacantly at the ceiling. A few emotions were competing for control of his heart, but none were winning out. All he wanted to do was just lay in silence, so that’s what he did. Allison scooted closer and nuzzled him to her cheek, and for a few minutes just rested in comfortable silence. 

Brian and Jennifer were reunited. However, he knew that the hardest part was yet to come. Next on the agenda: an in-person visit.

~

“Elizabeth, promise me that you won’t cry.”

“I promise, sweetie, I won’t cry. Not even a little.”

“You sure about that? Because you already look like you’re one sad song away from bawling.”

“Okay, I might cry a little, but can you really blame me?”

Brian, Allison, and Elizabeth were in the living room, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Brian’s sister, Jennifer. This was going to be their first time seeing each other in three years, and Elizabeth was already struggling not to get emotional. Allison, having already heard their emotional reunion on the phone, was slightly more mentally prepared. As such, she was primarily worried about Brian, who she knew was incredibly nervous.

Their whole life, Brian had been Jennifer’s rock. Having grown up with a negligent and callous mother, he had taken responsibility for his sister’s health, safety, and happiness. She had really come to depend on him before his arrest, and he knew that she viewed him with the absolute highest amount of love and respect. Due to this, he was unbelievably nervous about letting her see his current one-inch size. Although he typically didn’t care, he was well-aware of how vulnerable and fragile he was, and for the first time ever was feeling pretty embarrassed by that fact. Regardless, he knew that it would be unfair to make Jennifer wait, so he was doing his best to push it down.

“It’s gonna be okay, baby,” Allison said softly, sensing his distress. They knew that Jennifer was going to arrive any second, so his anxiety was peaking.

“Do you think it would be weird if I gave her a hug?” Elizabeth asked hesitantly. “I’m going to ask if I can give her a hug.”

“Listen, Jen always gets a little nervous around new people, and she’s already probably pretty stressed about my size and everything, so go easy on her,” Brian warned. Elizabeth nodded firmly.

“Got it,” she replied, before lowering her voice. “I still might ask, though…”

“Also, for the love of god, don’t bring up any of the bad shit that has happened to me recently. Cathy’s discovery, the session, either of my breakdowns, nothing. I don’t want to worry her any more than she already is, so let’s try to keep the conversation light,” he continued. Both women nodded in affirmation.

“Always the big brother, huh?” Allison replied appreciatively, gently rustling his hair with her finger. Brian shrugged.

“She’s just a kid, and this has been an extremely stressful few days for her,” he replied. “Also, Allie, there’s a good chance that she’ll attack you if she learns that you tortured me.”

“The scary part is that I know you’re being serious…” she muttered. “No mention of the session. Got it.”

Elizabeth, who had been eagerly looking out the front window, suddenly began to flap her free hand in nervous excitement.

“A car just pulled up! I think she’s here!” she exclaimed, causing Brian to stiffen in fear. However, after a moment, Elizabeth noticed something strange.

There are two people in the car… she thought. Who is…?

Suddenly, she realized who the second person likely was, and her eyes widened in shock. That shock was quickly accompanied by a growing level of rage. Making a judgement call, she decided that Brian didn’t need to know. He was already stressed enough. So, she dropped the anger and kept her eyes on the car. To her overwhelming relief, only one person exited and began to run towards the house.

Suddenly, before Elizabeth even had any time to take in the appearance of their visitor, a frantic knocking noise radiated throughout the living room. Brian looked up at Allison with nervous eyes, clearly looking for reassurance. As such, she flashed him the warmest smile she could muster and gently hugged him to her chest. It worked, and Brian was able to reign in his fear. Sharing a quick glance with Elizabeth, he motioned for her to go ahead. Elizabeth opened the door. There, standing outside with an extremely anxious expression, was Jennifer Bentley.

Keeping in line with her family’s genetics, she had jet-black hair and striking green eyes. Her hair, long and straight, reached down to her stomach. She was somewhat pale and quite thin, which combined with her short stature of 5’5 to give her an overall mousey and reserved appearance. Her taste in clothing was very simple, owing in part to her family never having enough money to spend on the latest trends. As such, she was dressed in a plain black t-shirt and jean shorts, along with a simple set of sneakers. After taking a moment to process the appearance of the cute, young thing in front of her, Elizabeth began to speak.

“Hello, Jennifer,” she started warmly. “It is so nice to finally meet you. Thank you for coming all this way.”

Jennifer looked Elizabeth up and down for a moment, as if sizing up the beautiful, mature woman in front of her.

“Yeah,” she replied, with just the smallest amount of suspicious apprehension. “Are you… Elizabeth? The one who sent me the address?”

“That’s right, honey, my name is Elizabeth Dawson. I’m a friend of your brother’s,” Elizabeth answered. At the mention of her brother, Jennifer’s eyes widened in anticipation, indicating that she wanted to see him.

“Now, he’s right inside, but I just want to remind you that he’s a little nervous about his size, so try not to be too shocked,” Elizabeth continued, with a gentle smile. “No matter how small, he’s still your brother, and he still loves you.”

“I know that, and I promised him that I won’t be weird about it. I just need to see him,” Jennifer replied earnestly. Elizabeth nodded.

“Of course. Please, come in,” she replied, before backing up to make room. 

Jennifer quickly made her way inside, before scanning the room. Her eyes were quickly drawn to the somewhat tall woman standing in the middle of the room with auburn hair, and she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. After a moment, her gaze drifted down to the woman’s slightly outstretched hand, and her heart stopped. Suddenly, it was as if she was seeing color again for the first time, and her universe no longer felt so empty.

Her brother was alive.

~

Brian was standing in Allison’s palm, doing his best to act natural. On the inside, however, he was freaking out.

She’s so big… he thought, fighting back wave after wave of embarrassment.

How the fuck is she so big?! Has everybody always been this big?!

Indeed, it was as if he was seeing a giant person for the very first time. Memories of his cute, baby sister flashed through his mind, and he was barely able to reconcile them with the enormous woman in front of him. However, Brian was a master in suppressing his true feelings. As such, still respecting his position as the older brother, his outward appearance was completely serene. He simply let Jennifer absorb his new look for a few moments, while he adopted a soft smile.

“Hey, Jen,” he eventually said. The sound of his voice, slightly quieter than normal due to his size, sent a wave of pure emotion flowing throughout his sister’s entire body. 

He’s so small… she thought. Memories of her strong, caring older brother flashed through her mind, and she was barely able to reconcile them with the tiny, fragile person in front of her. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t stop a small acknowledgement from escaping her lips.

“Oh my god…” she whispered. Brian frowned.

“Jen, you said you weren’t going to be weird,” he warned, which caused her to snap out of it.

“I-I’m not!” she hurriedly replied. “I’m not being weird at all. Not even a little. Not weird.”

Brian narrowed his eyes in mock-suspicion, before slowly nodding.

“Good…” he muttered, before taking a moment to truly take in her appearance. Although he had already seen it, both through a picture and her video, seeing her in person was another thing. He was amazed at just how older she looked after only three years, and he couldn’t help but be saddened at the fact that he missed so much of her development. 

After a moment, though, he came up with an idea. He made a show of looking her up and down, before letting out a huff.

“Wow. You’ve sure gotten bigger since I saw you last,” he said dryly, shaking his head in faux-amazement.  Jennifer immediately turned bright red in embarrassment, thoroughly caught off guard by the unexpected joke. Allison stopped herself from laughing out loud, while Elizabeth closed her eyes with a small sigh.

“B-Bean!” Jennifer cried. “You said not to be weird! Now you’re making dad jokes?!”

“I said you can’t be weird about my size, Jenny-bean,” Brian replied. “I’ve the right to make as many jokes as I want.”

Jennifer groaned in frustration, holding her head in her hands. After a moment, though, she raised her head. Despite herself, she was smiling. Brian’s plan had worked, and he had broken the ice. His nerves were fading by the second, and he quickly came to the realization that, no matter how big, she was still his baby sister.

“I’m so glad to see you, Jen,” he said softly. Jennifer’s eyes softened, and she struggled not to tear up. 

“I’m glad to see you, too, Bean,” she replied, matching his tone. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“On that note, why don’t we all go sit down?” Elizabeth gently cut in, placing a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “We can do some proper introductions.”

Jennifer snapped out of her hyperfocused haze, and quickly remembered that there were two strangers in the room with her. She whipped her head towards Elizabeth’s hand, before looking back towards her brother. Then, she noticed something that made her feel a little odd.

He was being held.

Not only was he incredibly tiny, but her brother was standing on someone’s palm. Her eyes darted upwards at the person it belonged to, seeing that it was the tall woman from earlier. A quick pang of nervous energy shot throughout her body as she came to the realization that her brother’s life was being held in the hands of a stranger.

“Who are you?” she quickly asked, ignoring Elizabeth’s suggestion. Allison took note of the suspicious and slightly defensive tone in her voice, quickly understanding why she might be suspicious of her. So, she adopted a warm and comforting smile as she prepared to introduce herself. Before she could, though, her tiny boyfriend came to her rescue.

“Jen, this is Allison Starr,” he said warmly, adopting a huge smile. “This is the woman who saved my life.”

Jennifer’s eyes widened in shock, and her gaze darted between Allison and Brian a few times as she processed the information. 

“Wh- What?” she stammered. Although she was intensely curious about how Brian had survived, she hadn’t expected to be presented with the information so soon.

“Yep. She’s the reason I’m alive. In other words, she’s basically the best,” Brian continued proudly. Allison slightly blushed at his straightforward praise.

“Brian…” she quietly chided, giving him a soft poke. She then looked at Jennifer, who clearly was still a little stunned.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Jennifer. Brian has told me a lot about you,” she said, resuming her smile. She then extended her hand towards her. After a moment, Jennifer reached out and softly shook it.

“H-How…?” Jennifer quietly asked. Brian exchanged a nervous glance with Allison, knowing that they needed to frame this next part carefully.

“Well… I was his Chevalier,” Allison said, her heart quickening in nervousness.

Jennifer’s heart stopped. Her world turned fuzzy.

“Yeah, but she-” Brian started, but he was immediately cut off.

“You were his Chev?” Jennifer asked lowly. Suddenly, her expression darkened immensely, and her green eyes might as well have become crimson. 

Jennifer’s anger over what happened to Brian had been given a nameless face through his Chevalier. She could never prove that there was a conspiracy against him, and thus had no clue who was actually responsible for hurting him. However, once she learned of his ‘death’ via the SP, she knew exactly who she could blame:

The person who had tortured him.

Since then, every time the thought of her brother being tortured to death reentered her mind, her hatred for the sadistic psychopath that did it only increased. Several times, she truly felt like she would kill them, should they ever meet. Now, that person was right in front of her, and her one-track anger momentarily stripped her of her rationality.

“You tortured my brother?” she asked quietly, her voice dripping with hatred. She clenched her fists with rage as she began to tremble, and everybody in the room got extremely nervous. However, an unexpectedly stern voice cut through the tense silence.

“Jennifer!” Brian barked, about as loud and authoritative as Allison or Elizabeth had ever heard him. Jennifer immediately snapped out of it, and looked to him with wide eyes.

“She did not torture me. She saved my life,” he started, calmly and slowly. “I was sent to her, but she realized my innocence and decided to smuggle me out. This entire time, she has been keeping me safe, and even quit being a Chev to take care of me. If it wasn’t for her, then I would be dead, my innocence would have never been proven, and we would not be talking right now. Allison is not your enemy. Got it?”

Jennifer was looking down at the ground, clearly ashamed. Allison was impressed that he was able to diffuse her so effectively, once again appreciating the power of an older sibling - even an inch-tall one.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Jennifer muttered, before looking back up at him. She saw that he was motioning upwards with his eyes, and she quickly understood what he was saying. She then stood up straight and turned to Allison.

“I’m sorry for getting angry, Allison. I literally can’t express how grateful I am to you for saving my brother’s life. Thank you so much,” she said firmly, slightly lowering her head at the end.

“I-It’s totally fine, I would have been angry too,” Allison hurriedly replied. “You’re very welcome, Jennifer. It was the right thing to do.”

Jennifer looked back up at her and smiled appreciatively. However, the sight of her brother being held still made her feel a little anxious.

“Um… I know this is a little sudden,” she started, before taking a deep breath. “Bean, would it be okay if I held you?”

Brian’s heart sped up at the unexpected question, and Allison and Elizabeth exchanged a nervous glance.

“Jen…” Brian muttered, clearly expressing his discomfort.

“Please? I’ll be so careful. I just want to… I just need to know that you’re safe,” she replied earnestly.

“I am safe, Jen. Allie and Elizabeth would never hurt me,” Brian said. Jennifer’s nose crinkled a bit at “Allie,” but she decided to let it go for now.

“I need to know that you’re safe with me,” she continued, placing one hand on her chest. “Please, Bean. Just for a second.”

After a moment, Brian let out a small sigh. Just like he had power over her, she had power over him. He could hardly ever say “no” to his little sister.

“Fine,” he replied. Jennifer beamed, before fidgeting a bit with her hands. Brian looked up at Allison, who had a slightly concerned look in her eye, and flashed her a reassuring smile. At that, she hesitantly extended her arm towards the teenage girl in front of her. Jennifer extended her own arm until her upturned palm was right next to Allison’s. Taking another moment to push down his anxiety and embarrassment, Brian made the small jump from his girlfriend’s hand to his sister’s.

Oh my god… Jennifer thought, this time able to keep it in her head. She didn’t even know how to describe the whirlwind of emotions that she was feeling at that moment, as her own brother sat down in the palm of her hand. Scared, loving, possessive, amazed, bewildered, there was no end to the cacophony of sensations coursing through her mind. However, one feeling particularly stood out: 

Protective.

Her whole life, Brian had been the one taking care of her. It was only after he was gone did she realize just how much she had come to need him, and start to feel guilty at the fact that she had not done very much in return. Now, though…

I can take care of him… she thought, as if in a trance. She instinctively curled her fingers around him a bit and held him closer to her chest. All of a sudden, everything was right with the world. Her brother was back with her, where he belonged. He was alive, he was safe, and she could keep it that way. Nobody was going to take him away from her ever again.

“Alright, Jenny-bean, that’s enough,” Brian softly said, breaking her out of her trance. He himself was just about as embarrassed as he had ever been, and simply couldn’t take it anymore. Being held in the palm of his little sister’s hand was a little too much for his brotherly pride to take. Allison reached out her hand, ready to take him back. Jennifer saw the approaching hand, and instinctively took a step back. However, a questioning glance from Brian snapped her out of it, and she reluctantly allowed her brother to jump back in Allison’s palm.

“Well, great,” Brian sighed. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, why don’t we go sit down?”

He flashed a bashful smile at Allison, who sensed his embarrassment and was gazing at him with a sympathetic eye. Elizabeth, just a little concerned by the look in Jennifer’s eye while she was holding him, internally sighed in relief.

“Great idea, Brian,” she chimed in, before once again placing a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder and guiding her in the direction of the sofa.

“While we’re at it - Elizabeth, could you go grab that thing?” Brian asked with a wink.

“Oh, yes, of course!” Elizabeth happily exclaimed. “Why don’t you have a seat right there, sweetie, and I’ll be right back.”

With that, she hurried off into the kitchen while Jennifer sat down on the couch. Allison sat down on a chair opposite the couch, before crossing her legs and lowering the hand holding Brian into her lap. Brian sat down in her palm, placing his hands on the soft skin for support. Jennifer watched him intently, still adjusting to his new appearance. While Brian took a moment to get his heart rate under control, Allison struggled to think of something to say, and an awkward silence overtook the room. Luckily, it didn’t last long, as Elizabeth quickly reentered the room with a small, pink box in her hand. It had a tiny red ribbon on top, clueing Jennifer into what it was.

“Happy birthday, Jen,” Brian said, adopting a huge smile. Allison and Elizabeth followed suit, and Jennifer turned red as she was handed the box.

“I-I thought this visit was my birthday present,” she stammered, to which Brian chuckled.

“Well, you’re getting two presents, because I’m just nice like that,” he replied jokingly. “No, though, this is just a small thing, and it’s from all three of us.”

“Go ahead and open it, sweetie,” Elizabeth said excitedly. Jennifer hesitantly opened the box, and what she saw instantly made her smile.

It was a cupcake. A small, red cupcake with white frosting, and two candles on top that spelled out “18.” Jennifer looked back up at them, a huge smile on her face.

“Is this red velvet?” she asked. Brian nodded.

“You know it, sister,” he replied. “Elizabeth baked it.”

Jennifer turned to Elizabeth.

“Really?” she asked appreciatively.

“I did, but your brother helped,” Elizabeth answered with a wink. Brian let out a sarcastic laugh.

“Damn right I did,” he huffed. “I sprinkled an entire miniscule fist’s worth of sugar into the batter, so it basically would have been ruined without me.”

Jennifer giggled, holding one hand to her mouth.

“Thank you both so much,” she said, placing a teasing emphasis on “both.” 

“My pleasure,” Elizabeth replied chipperly.

“You heard her. I can tell you, Jen, that Elizabeth’s red velvet cake tastes amazing,” Brian added. Jennifer cocked her head in confusion.

“You’ve tasted it before?” she asked, causing Brian to nod.

“A little over a month ago, we had a bit of a birthday celebration of my own,” he answered. “It wasn’t my actual birthday, of course, but these lovely ladies thought it might be nice to catch up on the birthdays I missed while in prison. It was super nice of them.”

A couple guilty looks were exchanged as they remembered what had happened the night of that party, but nobody was about to bring that up. Not noticing this, Jennifer’s face lit up.

“Aww, that is so sweet!” she gushed, before her face fell a little. “I wish I had been there, though…”

Brian’s expression darkened a bit, as did Allison’s and Elizabeth’s.

“I know. I wish you’d been there, too,” he said softly.

“Then why wasn’t I?” Jennifer asked, looking down at the floor. Brian let out a small sigh, as he had been wondering when it was going to come up.

“Jen, I’m sorry for not telling you I was alive. You have to understand, though, anybody who knew about me was in serious danger. If I was found out, then I most certainly would have died, and everybody who knew would have gone to jail. I didn’t want to expose you to that kind of risk,” he explained fervently.

“But… I wouldn’t have told anybody,” she replied, looking back up at him. “You have to know that, right? I never would have let anybody find out.”

“Not even Mom?” Brian asked, his tone suddenly deadly serious. Jennifer was stunned into silence for a moment.

“Mom…? What do you mean?” she asked.

“How would you have kept it a secret from her? What would you tell her when you wanted to come and visit me? How would you be able to hide our phone calls? Our house is pretty small, with thin walls. I’m sure you’d have started to act differently, so what would she think of that? That’s what I mean, Jen,” Brian continued, keeping his tone steady.

“Well… I, um…” Jennifer muttered, not knowing an answer. “Do you… do you really think she would have told the police if she found out?”

“Absolutely,” Brian replied instantly, his face darkening even more. Allison began to softly pet his back with her finger, while Elizabeth looked down at the floor. Jennifer furrowed her brow.

“No… no, I don’t think she would have,” she replied, to which Brian raised an eyebrow. Jennifer thought for a moment, before coming to an important decision.

“Bean, I think you should meet with her.”

~

Jennifer felt a shiver run down her spine. The moment the words left her mouth, her brother practically became a different person. His expression, which was already quite dark, suddenly disappeared entirely. His eyes lost any trace of a spark, becoming swirling pits of darkness. All of a sudden, her loving dork of a brother named Brian was gone. In his place was the infamous robot child murderer named Brian Bentley, and Jennifer was somewhat regretting her previous statement. Around her, Allison and Elizabeth exchanged an extremely nervous glance. After a few long moments of unbelievably uncomfortable silence, Allison decided to act.

“Brian,” she murmured, tenderly caressing his cheek with her finger. Her soft voice and gentle touch snapped him out of his robotic haze, and Brian returned to his previous expression. He shot a grateful smile at his girlfriend, which Jennifer took note of with an odd look. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, and turned back to his sister with a soft expression.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jen,” he gently said. “I think it’s a little too late for me and her.”

Elizabeth let out a small nod of agreement, while Allison took on a sympathetic but troubled expression. 

“I… I understand why you might feel that way…” Jennifer started, struggling to find the right words. She could tell just how sensitive a subject this was, based on his previous reaction, but was nonetheless firm in her conviction. Before she could continue, though, Brian spoke up again.

“Has she asked to see me?” he asked quietly, drawing one knee up and hugging it to his chest. 

“She’s done everything but say the words,” Jennifer answered. “Bean, she’s really going through a tough time right now. Really, ever since that bodycam footage was released, but especially once they found the real killer… I’ve never seen her this upset. She can’t sleep, she barely eats, and she just spends all day staring blankly into the distance.”

“I’m having a hard time feeling sympathetic,” Brian replied dryly, his expression ever unchanging.

“It got worse once you released your video,” Jennifer continued, ignoring his comment. “She’s just barely keeping it together. I know that she just wants a chance to apologize, even if she’s refusing to come out and say it. Once I told her that you had called me…”

“You didn’t bring her here, did you?” Brian asked, suddenly stiffening in fear. “Jennifer, please tell me that you didn’t bring her here. You can’t spring something like that on me.”

“She didn’t, Brian,” Elizabeth cut in. “She came here alone.”

Jennifer shot her a questioning glance, and saw that her eyes were deadly serious. With a small shake of her head, Elizabeth’s message became clear:

Don’t tell him.

“I-I was afraid of leaving the state by myself, so she came with me to L.A.,” Jennifer nervously explained. “Also, we’ve been constantly getting harassed by reporters since your video came out, so it made sense to go somewhere else for a while. Senator Day put us up in a nice hotel, but… but no, she isn’t here now…”

Although she hated lying to her brother, she could tell just how deeply distressed he was at the possibility. Suddenly feeling extremely guilty, she decided to follow Elizabeth's advice. Brian closed his eyes and let out a deep, relieved sigh. 

“Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk about this,” Elizabeth softly continued. “This is a pretty difficult subject for your brother, sweetie, as I'm sure you can imagine. Besides, today’s your birthday, right? Wouldn’t you rather save the hard stuff for another day?”

“I agree,” Allison added. “Your 18th is supposed to be special. God, I can’t believe mine was half a decade ago… when the hell did I get so old?”

“Don’t you even go there, Allie,” Elizabeth replied sternly. “If 23 is old, then I’m a corpse, and I’m way too young to be a corpse.”

Brian finally cheered up a bit at their banter, letting out a small chuckle as his expression brightened. Jennifer, however, was having the exact opposite reaction.

“Can I talk with my brother in private, please?” she asked, just a little angrily. “I really don’t want to be rude, but this is family business.”

For some reason, their casual banter - as well as the fact that it was cheering Brian up - was getting on her nerves. Allison and Elizabeth turned to her with surprised and slightly defensive eyes, before looking back at Brian. They saw that he had a conflicted expression on his face. The thought of being alone with her made him a little anxious, but he understood where she was coming from. In her mind, after all, they were strangers. Coming to a decision, he let out a small sigh.

“Fine, we can talk in private,” he said, causing Jennifer to smile widely. Allison and Elizabeth slightly frowned in concern, and Brian flashed them a few reassuring looks. First, though, he needed to make something clear.

“But Jen, listen to me,” he firmly continued, “I consider these two family. I know it will take time for them to earn your trust, but at least know that I literally trust them with my life, and I highly value their opinions. They mean everything to me.”

Allison and Elizabeth’s hearts melted, and they both struggled against the urge to shower him in kisses. Jennifer adopted a slightly sour expression for a moment, but quickly returned to normal with a firm nod.

“Allie, can you take me to my room? We can talk there, and I can show Jen my stuff,” Brian asked, looking up at his giant girlfriend. Allison nodded with a bright smile, before rising from her chair. After feeling the slightest twinge of disappointment at the fact that she would not be the one carrying Brian, Jennifer rose from her seated position as well. Elizabeth stayed seated, a faraway look on her face.

“Alright, Jennifer, follow me,” Allison said chipperly, before making her way towards the stairs. Jennifer followed suit, and Elizabeth was soon alone in the living room. Now that she no longer had to keep up the act, her head whipped in the direction of the front door as her eyes darkened in anger. She stayed like that for a minute, in deep contemplation over what to do next. Eventually, a rhythmic thumping indicated that someone was coming back down the stairs, and Allison soon rejoined her. She flopped over on the couch and let out an enormous sigh.

“Man, this is some heavy stuff…” she breathed, fully reclining into the sofa. “She seems pretty suspicious of us, but I suppose that’s natural. I hope their talk goes well, I’m really proud of Brian for agreeing to talk with her in private. He’s really come a long way, although I guess he doesn’t really have any reason to be afraid of her to begin with. She did get pretty scary for a moment there, though. I’m glad Brian was able to get through to her. One thing’s for sure, I’m never telling her about the session. I understand why Brian doesn’t want to meet with his mom, but I think it might actually be a good idea. What do you think, Elizabeth?”

Finished with her stream-of-consciousness style assessment of the meeting so far, Allison turned to her former mentor with inquisitive eyes. She saw that Elizabeth was staring at the front door, an odd look on her face. After a moment, she turned to Allison.

“Brian’s mom is in the car outside,” she said plainly. Allison was instantly shocked out of her reclined position.

“Wait, what?” she hurriedly asked. Elizabeth nodded.

“I didn’t want Brian to know, since he’s stressed enough, but I saw that there were two people in the car. The look in Jennifer’s eye confirmed it- she brought her mother along,” she continued.

“Oh, shit…” Allison whispered, looking down at the floor.

“She really shouldn’t have done that. Brian told her our address in confidence, that’s a huge violation of his trust,” Elizabeth continued, trying not to get angry.

“Yeah… like I said, I think it might be a good idea for them to meet, but certainly not today. That’s something that Brian needs time to prepare himself for,” Allison added. 

“I don't think they should meet at all…” Elizabeth replied quietly. “After everything she did to him… I don’t see how a meeting would do anything but cause Brian more pain. Especially while he’s small.”

Although Allison disagreed, she didn’t push it. She didn't want to get into an argument, so she decided to change the topic a bit.

“So, what should we do now? Jennifer seems to be keeping it a secret, but what if she changes her mind upstairs? I’m scared that Brian will start to panic if he learns that his mother is right outside,” she asked concernedly. Elizabeth thought for a few long moments, before her face hardened.

“We’ll just have to hope that he doesn’t,” she answered, before finally rising from her seated position. “Go wait upstairs, be ready to help him if something goes wrong. I have to admit, Jennifer’s behavior is concerning me a little. I think we need to keep a close eye on her. As for me…”

With that, she began walking towards the door.

“What are you doing?” Allison nervously asked. Elizabeth turned her head back, and Allison saw that her eyes were colder than she had ever seen them.

“Making myself clear.”

~

“So, all said and done, I can function without assistance for the most part in this room. It got annoying asking for help all the time, plus it gives me the option to just chill by myself occasionally,” Brian explained. He had just finished showing Jennifer his collection of 3D-printed objects and appliances, and she was appreciatively soaking up every detail.

“Wow. That’s amazing!” she replied, a big smile on her face. “And you designed all this?”

“For the most part, yeah. I obviously couldn’t operate the printer myself, though, so that had to come from them. It was Allie’s idea to even buy a 3D printer in the first place, so I can’t take all the credit,” he replied. Jennifer nodded in response, before her expression darkened a bit.

“So, what’s the deal with her?” she asked quietly, to which Brian raised an eyebrow.

“Who?” he asked.

“Allison. You seem really comfortable in her hands, she was able to calm you down quickly, and you call her ‘Allie,’” Jennifer elaborated, slightly lowering her tone in suspicion. 

“Ah, I see,” Brian replied, with a small knowing nod. “Well, no time like the present. I’m in a relationship with her. She’s my girlfriend.”

Jennifer’s eyes widened in shock, and she leaned forward a bit from her seated position on the bed. Brian, incidentally, was sitting in one of his tiny chairs on the nearby table.

“She’s your girlfriend?” Jennifer repeated incredulously, a few conflicting emotions tugging at her heart.

“Is that so unbelievable?” Brian asked slowly, narrowing his eyes in mock-anger.

“Bean, come on,” Jennifer replied with a small laugh. “I’ve always said, any girl should be so lucky. I’m just surprised, is all. You’re small, and you’re in a relationship with the woman who saved your life?”

“I know where you’re going with that, and don’t worry,” Brian assured. “Both she and I are well-aware of the potentially dangerous power dynamic we have, and she’s extremely cautious. Hell, she worries way more than I do about it, and I promise that she isn’t taking advantage of me. This isn’t just a gratitude thing, I truly love her.”

Jennifer adopted a small, relieved smile, although her face was still troubled.

“That’s good, but… does she know you’re asexual? I know you’ve always been hesitant about pursuing a relationship because of that…” she reluctantly replied. Brian smiled appreciatively at his sister’s concern.

“We’ve been down that road, too. And, um… turns out I’m not actually asexual,” he sheepishly responded. “I’m what’s called ‘demisexual,’ which means I only feel attracted to people I’ve formed an emotional bond with. Maybe I would have learned that if I’d actually tried to form an emotional bond with someone before, but oh well. Allie has changed my life in so many ways. I can’t tell you how happy she makes me.”

As he continued, his eyes were positively sparkling, indicating just how honest he was being. Jennifer was truly glad that someone was making her brother so happy, although she was more than a little jealous that it wasn’t her. A pang of her earlier protectiveness tugged at her heart, but she pushed it down.

“I see,” she replied, before her eyes slightly widened. “Wait, does that mean you two are having…?”

“And this is the point where I stop talking about sex with my sister,” Brian firmly interrupted. Jennifer quickly turned bright red as she realized what she had been about to ask, and hurriedly nodded in embarrassed agreement. 

“A-Anyway, about Mom…” she stammered. “Like I was saying, I really think you should give her a chance to apologize.”

Brian let out a small sigh, as the conversation moved back to one of his least favorite topics.

“I’m surprised at you, Jen,” he replied. “After how she treated us, you’re sticking up for her this much?”

“Well, that kind of is my other point,” Jennifer said softly. “She’s really changed, Bean.”

Brian raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?” he asked skeptically, to which Jennifer nodded.

“After you were convicted… well, it was more after…”

Her face darkened as an unpleasant memory flashed through her mind.

“A-Anyway, she started acting like a real mom. She started to take care of me, and she’s like a totally different person now.”

Brian’e eyes softened. 

“That makes me so happy to hear, Jenny-bean,” he said, before his gaze hardened over again. “But that doesn’t change what she did to me. I’m truly, truly happy that she finally got her act together for you, but I just don’t want her in my life anymore. I can’t look past everything that she said and did.”

“I know, it was really bad, but she truly does feel guilty about it!” Jennifer replied earnestly, to which Brian lightly scoffed.

“It’s easy to feel bad about stuff like that after the fact, Jen,” he said dryly. “What she said to me, though… that isn’t the kind of stuff that you can take back. With no hesitation, she threw me away. She didn’t believe me for even a fraction of a second. She really messed me up.”

“I know, I know…” Jennifer muttered. “But… do you know that she was at least partly doing it so people wouldn’t target us?”

Brian narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“Doing what? What are you talking about?” he asked, to which Jennifer cocked her head.

“You know… saying stuff about you on TV,” she answered, lowering her voice and looking down at the ground. Brian’s confusion only increased.

“That? Jen, that’s not what I’m upset at her for,” he replied. Jennifer looked back up at him.

“It’s not?” she asked, now quite confused herself.

“I mean, it definitely hurt my feelings, but I was fine with it as long as it kept you safe. Although, seeing her say that she didn’t care about my death did screw me up a bit…” he answered, lowering his tone as the memory of that incident replayed in his mind.

“Oh, no… I’m so sorry you saw that, Bean…” Jennifer said softly. “But… if it isn’t the TV stuff, then what are you mad at her about?”

Suddenly, Brian gained a creeping suspicion. He stared into his sister’s green eyes for a moment, searching them for a particular piece of knowledge. Eventually, he came to a conclusion.

She doesn’t know.

~

Elizabeth made her way towards the car parked outside her house, a fierce and determined look on her face. Through the slightly tinted windows, she could see a seated figure in the car, who turned their head once they noticed her approaching. Elizabeth moved around to the driver’s side of the car, just as the person behind the wheel exited the vehicle. Just like that, Elizabeth was faced with one of the people she despised more than anyone in the world: Laura Bentley, Brian’s mother.

Elizabeth was about ten years younger than Laura, but nobody would have been able to tell by looking at them. Laura’s tired, disheveled appearance suggested an older age than she actually was, which was only accentuated by the numerous stress-induced lines and wrinkles on her face. Elizabeth walked right up to her and looked her in the eye - an easy task, since they were roughly the same height.

“Hello…?” Laura nervously greeted, taking note of the somewhat aggressive expression of the unfamiliar woman in front of her. The sound of her voice reminded Elizabeth of all the times she had condemned her son on national television, and her rage only increased. However, respecting the fact that they were on a public street, she kept her tone low.

“What are you doing here?” she asked quietly, but with an undeniable ocean of malice. Laura couldn’t help but be slightly intimidated.

“What…? I’m here with my daughter,” she replied.

“Did you ask to come along?” Elizabeth asked lowly.

 “No,” Laura answered firmly. “She insisted, and I couldn’t say no.”

“Bullshit. You’re her mother, you could’ve said no,” Elizabeth replied. “Why are you here?”

Laura paused for a moment, seeing in Elizabeth’s gaze that she wasn’t playing around. She let out a small sigh.

“I’m here because… well, I was hoping to speak with someone,” she answered, turning her eyes downwards. Elizabeth’s anger reached new heights, and she was only barely able to keep it contained.

“How dare you…” she whispered. “What makes you think you have any right to speak with him?”

Laura’s eyes shot back upwards, now with a spark of anger.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” she asked defensively, finding her conviction. Elizabeth took a step forward.

“I’m someone who’s had to watch your son rebuild his happiness from the ground up,” she growled, now slightly trembling with emotion.

“I’m someone who’s had to help your son overcome his complete and thorough distrust of the world,” she continued. Laura’s self-righteous anger dissipated, and was replaced with overwhelming guilt.

“I’m someone who had to listen to a sweet young man tell me that his own mother threatened to kill him,” Elizabeth whispered, as angry tears formed in her eyes. Laura’s eyes widened in shock.

“That’s who I am. I’m someone who knows just how much you emotionally destroyed your son, and I want to know just what the fuck you think you’re doing here!”

“You know about what I said…?” Laura asked, barely more than a whisper.

“That’s right. And judging by the fact that your daughter is currently pleading your case, I’m assuming she doesn’t?” Elizabeth replied accusingly. Laura shook her head.

“How could you possibly think it’s okay to be here right now?” Elizabeth asked incredulously. “Brian invited Jennifer. Not you. Jennifer doesn’t know any better, but you know exactly what you did. Do you have any idea how upset Brian would be if he knew you were outside right now? In what universe is your being here acceptable?!”

“I just want to tell him… I just need him to know how sorry I am,” Laura whispered, once again looking down at the ground.

“And is that for his benefit, or for yours?” Elizabeth asked angrily. Laura looked back up with a confused expression.

“Do you want to tell him that so he will feel better, or because it will make you feel better?” Elizabeth elaborated.

“What…? Him, of course!” Laura exclaimed. Elizabeth’s expression somehow darkened even more.

“You are so full of shit,” she breathed. “If you want him to feel better, then you need to respect his wishes. He does not want to see you right now, got it? Now, that very well might change in the future - Jennifer might convince him, he might change his mind on his own - but absolutely nothing happens unless he asks for it. That is the absolute barest of minimums you owe him after the completely fucking disgusting things you said to him. Am I clear?”

Despite the fact that Elizabeth was younger than her, Laura felt as ashamed and intimidated as if she was a young girl talking to a stern teacher, and she completely deflated.

“You’re right. I understand,” she whispered. However, Elizabeth was not done.

“Also, let me make this clear as someone who loves your son,” she said firmly. “Despite the fact that you have done nothing to earn it, he might still feel some trace amount of obligation to you as his mother. But you need to understand - I feel no such obligation.”

She took a step forward, until Laura could almost feel the heat coming from her enraged words.

“If you try to take advantage of him, if you even come close to hurting him again, I will destroy you. You are a disgrace to every parent who has ever lost a child, and I refuse to let you damage that precious boy any more than you already have. He is under my protection, got it? Now, the next time Jennifer asks you to ride along uninvited, you tell her ‘no,’” she said, slowly and fiercely. The message came through, and all Laura could do was let out a small, intimidated nod. With that, Elizabeth turned away with a huff and stormed back towards her house. Just like that, she had marked her territory.

~

Of course she didn’t tell her… Brian thought, finding yet another reason to be angry with his mother. He sat in silence for a moment, wondering how best to answer Jennifer’s question. He knew that revealing what their mother had said to him in prison would likely destroy Jennifer’s relationship with her, which he really didn’t want to do. Despite his hatred, he was genuinely glad that they had reconciled. As such, he decided to sidestep the issue.

“I’m just mad at her for everything, Jenny-bean,” he said softly. “She’s failed me so many times throughout my life, and I eventually hit a breaking point. It’s hard for me to even think of her as my mother, especially considering all the times on TV that she said I was no longer her son. Regardless of how guilty she is, I just think meeting with her would be too painful for me. That’s all it is.”

Jennifer frowned, clearly a little upset.

“Bean…” she whined, no longer trying to convince him with logic. Brian narrowed his eyes in mock-suspicion.

“Could it be…?” he teasingly whispered. “Could it be that you only want me to meet with her so you won’t have to deal with her guilty breakdowns anymore? Could it be that my little sister is being totally selfish?”

“Wha- no!!” Jennifer cried defensively. Brian let out a long, inquisitive hum, demonstrating his skepticism. After a moment, Jennifer slightly deflated.

“Well… it is a little exhausting…” she muttered.

“Alright, it was nice seeing you,” Brian declared, standing up as if to see her out.

“No no no no no!” Jennifer laughed. “That’s only a super small part of it. Promise.”

Brian sat back down with a heavy sigh.

“Alright, I’ll think about it,” he replied. “Like Elizabeth said, today’s your birthday. No decisions need to be made today.”

Jennifer felt a fresh wave of guilt at the fact that she had almost ambushed him with a visit, feeling very grateful that Elizabeth had stopped her.

“R-Right,” she said. 

“But Jen, please promise me something,” Brian continued, his eyes becoming serious. “Please promise me that you’ll respect my choice if I decide not to meet with her. At the end of the day, this is my decision.”

Jennifer furrowed her brow.

“Okay, I promise…” she muttered. “Just… please make a decision soon. I’m really worried about her, and I bet even a quick meeting would make a huge difference. It would mean a lot to me.”

“Alright, alright, quit your peer-pressuring,” Brian sighed. “One day back, and you’re already trying to work me. Unbelievable.”

Jennifer giggled.

“Well, it is my birthday,” she replied teasingly. 

~

The rest of Jennifer’s visit passed without incident. They spent the time catching up - Brian asking about Jennifer’s academic accomplishments, and Jennifer asking about Brian’s time since being rescued. Although Jennifer was certainly still wary of them, she quickly learned that Allison and Elizabeth were genuinely good people who tremendously cared about her brother. Elizabeth was more than a little frustrated with her, but she pushed it down for Brian’s sake. With that being said, she did pull Jennifer away at one point to give her a gentle scolding.

“Brian gave you our address in confidence, sweetheart,” she said softly, one hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “As you saw, he would have been really upset if he found out that she was right outside the house. I know you had good intentions, but your brother needs time to prepare himself for that kind of thing. Your mom really hurt him, and that’s not the type of hurt that goes away easily. Try to be a little more considerate, okay?”

Jennifer nodded guiltily. Elizabeth practically radiated “authority figure,” and Jennifer already hated the thought of disappointing her. Immediately, she knew that Elizabeth was not a woman to be messed with.

“You’re right. I’m really sorry,” she replied quietly. “I guess… Mom is going through such a hard time, and it’s been over a month now. I just really want things to get better between them.”

“Of course you do, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Elizabeth said reassuringly. “However, that kind of thing won’t happen if you try to force it. Brian is the one who was wronged, which means he has to be the one to approach her. Until then, all you need to do is support him. Can you do that, honey?”

Jennifer nodded firmly, a determined spark in her eyes. Elizabeth smiled warmly in response.

“That’s a good girl. I can tell, Brian is really lucky to have you as a sister,” she praised. Jennifer couldn’t help but turn a little red.

“No no, I’m the lucky one…” she murmured. At that, Elizabeth moved in to give her a quick hug, before guiding her back out to the living room.

Eventually, it was time for her to leave. Apparently, Cassandra had set up a dinner reservation at a fancy restaurant for Jennifer and Laura. Although Brian, Allison, and Elizabeth were all confused as to why Cassandra would go out of her way to treat them, they quickly suspected that it was intended to give Brian a break from his family, as Jennifer most certainly would have wanted to stay for dinner otherwise. However, this restaurant was supposedly too good of an opportunity to pass up. Once again, they were appreciative of Cassandra’s calculative nature.

“We’ll talk soon, Jenny-bean,” Brian said, perched in Allison’s hand. Jennifer was standing in front of the door, an extremely troubled look on her face.

“I don’t wanna go…” she whined, fidgeting in frustration.

“Just go and have a nice birthday dinner, honey,” Elizabeth chuckled. 

“That’s right, I’m honestly so jealous that you get to eat there,” Allison added with a pout. After a second, Jennifer let out an annoyed groan as she finally opened the door to leave. With a couple final waves, and the occasional longing gaze, Jennifer was gone. Brian immediately flopped over on his back, hugging Allison’s thumb to his chest like a pillow. He was completely exhausted, and his two gigantic guardians were not far behind. Allison trotted over to the sofa and sat down with a heavy sigh, and Elizabeth followed suit a moment later. 

“You did so good, sweetheart,” Elizabeth murmured, gently stroking Brian’s hair as he rested in Allison’s palm.

“Yeah, for real. I could tell that it was really difficult for you at a couple points. I’m so proud of you,” Allison added. Brian softly nodded as he closed his eyes.

“Thanks. It was hard,” he admitted. “It got easier, but seeing her so big really freaked me out. I’m glad she came over, though. It was really nice seeing her.”

“I’m glad, honey. I loved finally getting to meet her,” Elizabeth replied, before lowering her voice. “Even if she was a little pushy at a few points…”

Brian snickered.

“Yeah, she can be like that sometimes. I apologize if she acted hostile at any point, I’m sure she wasn’t intending to be hurtful,” he said.

“It’s fine, it makes sense that she’d be wary of us,” Allison replied.

“Indeed. Hopefully, with time, her nerves will fade,” Elizabeth added. 

Brian nodded once again, before reaching up and lightly rubbing his forehead. Noticing this, Elizabeth frowned.

“Do you have a headache, Brian?” she asked, to which he let out a small sigh.

“Little bit,” he mumbled.

“I can’t say I’m surprised, this has been a stressful day for you,” Elizabeth crooned in sympathy. “Why don’t you go lay down for a while, sweetie. Allie and I can whip up something special for dinner.”

Brian shot them a thumbs-up, and Allison subsequently rose from the sofa and began to head upstairs. For the rest of the evening, they simply tried to relax as they all grappled with the events of the day. In the blink of an eye, it was time for bed. However, before the day could end, one final conversation needed to happen.

~

“Allie, what the fuck am I gonna do about my mom?” Brian groaned, holding his head in his hands. He was currently flopped over on Allison’s pillow, and she was resting her head right next to him. Now that they were alone, he was going on a bit of a rant.

“Jen doesn’t even know about what Mom said to me in prison. She doesn’t fucking know! So, in her mind, meeting with Mom isn’t a huge deal since what she said on TV was at least partially just to protect them. How am I then supposed to tell her ‘no, Jenny-bean, I actually don’t want anything to do with her because she threatened to squish me like a bug!’ God, this fucking sucks,” he continued. All Allison could do was just lay there and gently caress his side while he let it all out.

“Do you want my opinion?” she asked softly, to which Brian nodded vigorously. 

“I actually think a meeting isn’t the worst idea,” she continued. Brian looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Really? Even after what she said to me?” he asked incredulously. Allison softly nodded.

“Now, I’m not saying you’re under any obligation to forgive her, but I don’t think it’s crazy to allow her one meeting. She is your mother, after all, and you only get the one.”

“I feel like she stopped being my mother when she directly told me that she was no longer my mother. You know, right before she said I deserved the Shrink Penalty,” Brian replied dryly.

“Well, from what it sounds like, she genuinely regrets those words, right? It even sounds like she’s turned over a bit of a new leaf regarding her motherly duties,” Allison said.

“Yeah, and that’s great and all, but that doesn’t change what she did to me,” Brian responded.

“No, but I do think it deserves some consideration. Don’t you think you should at least give her a chance?” she asked.

“I’ve given her plenty of chances,” Brian replied, darkening his tone. “I don’t think she deserves another one just because she’s related to me. She threatened to kill me, Allie! Family member or not, why should I have to hear out someone who at one point wanted me dead?”

Allison let out a small, sympathetic sigh.

“I understand, and I’m really not trying to pressure you,” she said, resuming her petting. “You know I’ll support whatever decision you make, baby. Just, here’s what it sounds like to me: it sounds like she recognizes that she hurt you. It sounds like the guilt is eating her alive, and all she wants is a chance to apologize. It sounds like she’s made a genuine effort to change, and wants to reconnect with you. That isn’t something that everybody gets, and I just think that it wouldn’t be the worst idea to take advantage of it. Who knows, you might even feel better afterwards. You could get some stuff off your chest, maybe try to get a little closure.”

Brian was staring up at the ceiling, a contemplative look on his face.

“And it would make Jen really happy…” he muttered.

“And it would make Jen really happy,” Allison repeated. After a few long moments, Brian finally closed his eyes as he came to a decision.

“Alright. I can do a quick meeting with her tomorrow,” he said quietly. “However, I make no guarantees that it will go well.”

Allison smiled a little wider.

“I think that’s a good choice, baby,” she replied. “And you know that I’ll be right there with you.”

Brian looked back at her with all the love in the world.

“Always,” he said. Allison leaned forward and gave him a tender kiss, which he gladly reciprocated. However, after a moment, Brian developed a slightly mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“One condition, though,” he said slyly. Allison made a questioning noise.

“I’ll do it, but you have to be the one to tell Elizabeth. Also, you have to say that you talked me into it.”

Allison’s expression dropped off a cliff.

“You can’t be serious,” she whispered. “Brian, she might actually kill me.”

“These are my demands,” Brian declared stoically. 

“Oh my god, you are the actual worst, Bentley,” Allison breathed, before sighing in defeat. “Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll probably get yelled at, but I’ll do it. I’m serious about this.”

“Well, that’s that, then,” Brian huffed. “I guess I’m going to meet with my mother.”

“I guess so, baby,” Allison replied, scooting closer and pressing him to her cheek.

“You know, I feel like it might actually go pretty well.”

She couldn’t have been more wrong. Next on the agenda: a meeting with Laura Bentley.

~

It was almost time for Brian’s meeting with his mother. Jennifer and Laura were minutes away from arriving, and everybody was feeling anxious. Allison was pacing in the living room, wondering if she had made a mistake in talking Brian into it. Elizabeth was sitting on the couch, resting her head on her fist with a dark expression. She was not only incredibly anxious on Brian’s behalf, she was also quite angry that he had been talked into a meeting in the first place. As such, she was giving Allison a very mild case of the cold shoulder while she focused her attention on Brian. He was currently sitting on the armrest of the couch, with a surprisingly peaceful look on his face. Whereas one might expect him to be the most anxious of them all, considering what his mother had done to him, his head was relatively clear. Elizabeth, seeing this, decided that she needed to check in with him.

“Brian, can I talk to you in private for a moment?” she asked. Allison stopped her pacing to shoot her a surprised glance, but she was ignored. Brian snapped out of his mild haze and turned to Elizabeth. After taking a second to process her request, he nodded. Elizabeth adopted a small smile as she held her hand out and beckoned him into her palm. Once he was secure, she made her way upstairs and into her bedroom. It was time for a chat.

“What’s up?” Brian asked quietly, as Elizabeth sat down on the bed. She was holding him close to her stomach, as if afraid to put him down. Her motherly instincts were screaming in concern, and it was taking all her willpower not to just cuddle him to her chest and run far away, to where that awful woman could never hurt him again. However, that not being a realistic option, she had to settle for this instead.

“I just want to check in, sweetie, and make sure you still want to go through with this,” she said, while lovingly stroking his back. Brian’s eyes softened in appreciation, and he leaned into the comforting sensation.

“I want to go through with this. It’ll make Jen happy, Allie thinks it’s a good idea, and it’ll hopefully make Mom easier to deal with,” he replied. Elizabeth furrowed her brow.

“Honey, I’m not asking what they think, or what they want. I’m asking if you want to go through with this, because your opinion is the only one that matters here. This is your decision, and there’s nothing wrong with backing out now. I’m of the firm position that you were unfairly pressured into this meeting, so I just need you to know that you do not have to go through with this if you don’t want to,” she earnestly continued. Brian nodded firmly.

“Thank you, Elizabeth. I do know that, but I’m fine with hearing her out,” he said, placing one hand on her nearby thumb. “I’m actually feeling pretty calm about it, all things considered. I was more nervous to see Jennifer yesterday, so I’m taking that as a good sign.”

Elizabeth smiled in response, although she herself took his calmness as a horrible sign. She was worried that he was simply bottling up his true feelings, but she decided not to press him on it. With that being said, she still needed to make something clear.

“Okay. If that’s your decision, I support that. Let me just say this, then,” she said, leaning in a little closer. “You go in there, say what you need to say, and hear what you need to hear. But if at any point you decide that talking to her is too difficult, or you change your mind about wanting to see her, just let me know and I’ll get you out of there. Even if it’s in the middle of a sentence - you shoot me one glance, and I’ll take you away, no questions asked. Although I wish this meeting wasn’t happening, I need you to know that I’ve got your back. As long as I’m around, that woman is never going to get away with hurting you ever again. Okay?”

Brian smiled widely, feeling unbelievably grateful that he had Elizabeth in his life.

“Okay. If it gets too hard, I’ll let you know. Thank you, Elizabeth,” he softly replied. Elizabeth nodded, before lifting her hand up to her face so she could look him in the eyes.

“You don’t owe her a thing, Brian,” she whispered. “She wasn’t there when you needed her the most, and you don’t owe her a single thing. I hope you know that.”

Despite himself, Brian got a little emotional at her sincere words. Quickly wiping his eyes, he turned back to her with a soft smile.

“Why are you so nice to me?” he asked quietly. Elizabeth smiled warmly, before leaning in to give him a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

“Because I love you,” she replied. “What other reason do I need?”

Trying not to tear up again, all Brian could do was gratefully nod. After a moment, he closed his eyes and let out a determined huff.

“Alright. I’m ready,” he declared. With that, Elizabeth rose from the bed and moved towards the door. Just before she reached the handle, though, Brian spoke up again.

“One quick thing, though,” he said, to which Elizabeth made a questioning noise.

“Even though you probably really want to, please try not to punch her. My sister will be right there.”

Elizabeth made an exaggerated noise of disapproval.

“Oh, come on,” she jokingly whined. “Not even a little slap? I could ask Allie to distract Jennifer, she won’t even notice it.”

Brian firmly shook his head.

“Sorry, can’t take the risk. Please refrain from any assaulting, counselor,” he replied, to which Elizabeth huffed in annoyance.

“Whatever you say, mister,” she grumbled, before they both broke out in big smiles. Just like that, it was time for the meeting.

~

The doorbell rang. Allison instantly stiffened in fear, and Elizabeth turned in the direction of the door with a stern expression. They had decided to conduct the meeting in the dining room, and Allison was seated at the dining table with her hands neatly folded in front of her. Sitting directly in front of them was Brian, who was staring straight ahead with a blank look on his face. Taking a moment to push down her nerves, Elizabeth rose and made her way out the room and towards the door, ready to greet their visitors. In the distance, the sound of the door opening was accompanied by a few voices. Although they couldn’t quite make out the words, Allison and Brian could recognize the tones. They heard a relatively warm and welcoming tone for a few moments, before it changed into a much colder and more formal one. After that, they could make out the rhythmic thumping of approaching footsteps, and Allison felt like she was going to throw up. However, in part due to her Chevalier training, she was able to keep up a relatively neutral outwards appearance. Brian, on the other hand, had no idea how to even describe what he was feeling, and his face remained completely blank.

Elizabeth reappeared in the doorway, looking to Brian with concerned eyes. Sensing her gaze, Brian turned towards her and gave a small nod. With that, she entered the room before beckoning their visitors inside. Jennifer practically flew into the room, scanning the table until she spotted her brother. Her face lit up in excitement and relief, and she adopted a huge smile as she waved at him excitedly. Brian was able to muster a small smile in response, and he waved back. However, his smile vanished as the remaining person slowly made their way inside the room. It was a middle-aged woman with jet-black hair and striking green eyes. Her expression was one of unbearable anxiety and concern, and she was practically trembling as she turned her eyes in the same direction as her daughter. She first noticed Allison, who was looking at her with a small, nervous smile. However, her gaze quickly drifted down to her neatly folded hands, as well as what was sitting in front of them. Their eyes met. Just like that, for the first time in over three years, Brian was faced with his mother.

~

Laura’s heart was being continuously obliterated, over and over and over. She didn’t even know how to describe, let alone process, what was going on inside her as she locked eyes with her one-inch tall son. He was sitting down, with one knee drawn up. His arm was resting over the crest of his knee, which left only the top half of his face visible. However, that’s all she needed to see. He inherited the color of his hair from her, and the messiness from his father. Her side of the family was known for the exceptionally green hue of their eyes, and Brian’s were now staring at her with the intensity of a thousand suns. However, aside from that, she could tell that his expression was eerily neutral. Despite telling herself beforehand that she wasn’t going to make him uncomfortable by reacting too strongly to his size, she couldn’t help but bring one hand to her chest as her bottom lip began to tremble. Seeing this, Jennifer decided to act.

“Mom, why don’t we go sit down,” she softly suggested, grabbing her mother’s arm and moving in the direction of the dining table. Laura followed her lead, feeling like she was walking through mud. She soon found herself on the opposite side of the table, shakily pulling the chair out before sitting down. It was a good thing, too, as she genuinely wasn’t sure how much longer she would have been able to stay on her feet. Jennifer sat a couple chairs down, so both of her relatives were in clear view. Elizabeth, fighting back wave after wave of destructive emotions, silently moved closer to Allison and Brian, until she was standing at the corner of the table with her arms crossed. Laura was scared to even look at her after her fierce warning from the day prior, only able to shoot her the occasional nervous glance. As such, she primarily kept her attention on Brian, whose face was still completely unreadable. Eventually, once it seemed like everybody was settled, she decided to speak.

“Um…” she started, unable to suppress the shakiness in her voice. “T-Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Brian. I can’t… I can’t tell you how…”

Suddenly, she teared up, holding one hand to her mouth. Even though she had practiced her words dozens of times, she simply couldn’t get them out.

“I don’t even know what to say…” she whispered, as a tear raced down her cheek. Jennifer reached over and rubbed her mom’s arm for a moment, which allowed her to get her emotions in check.

“I know I don’t deserve to say this, but… I’m so happy you’re alive, Brian…” she said, still keeping her tone low. Elizabeth felt a fresh wave of anger, while Allison’s eyes slightly softened. Brian, on the other hand, was completely unchanged. An extremely uncomfortable silence overtook the room while they waited to see if he would respond. Eventually, Jennifer spoke up.

“U-Um, Mom, this is Allison Starr,” she stammered, motioning to Allison. She figured that Brian simply needed time to get his thoughts together, so she decided to direct the conversation elsewhere for a bit. Allison was briefly stunned by this unexpected shift, but she quickly suspected what Jennifer was trying to do. Finally breaking away from her son, Laura turned her teary eyes towards the woman sitting behind him.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Allison,” she said quietly, with a soft smile. 

“Uh, yeah, you too,” Allison awkwardly replied. She was hoping for a positive ending to this meeting, and as such tried to adopt a moderately friendly exterior. 

“I hope it’s okay, but my daughter already told me a bit about you,” Laura continued.

“She did?” Allison asked. She shot Jennifer a questioning glance, who shrugged in response.

“She did. She told me that you were Brian’s Chevalier, and that you saved his life,” Laura answered.

“Y-Yep, that was me,” Allison replied, turning a little red. Laura widened her smile, and her eyes softened in overwhelming gratitude.

“I don’t know how to begin thanking you,” she whispered, trying not to tear up again. “I can’t… it would be impossible for me to list all the ways in which I’ve failed my children.”

She turned her eyes downwards as her unbearable guilt began to drown her heart all over again.

“I’ve been given more chances than I deserve, and I’ve squandered every last one of them. When I learned the truth about what happened… I realized just how precious those chances were. I realized that I would never get another chance, and that I would never be able to try and fix the greatest mistake of my life. But, because of you, I feel like I’ve been given another chance. I know it isn’t one that I deserve, but… thank you, Allison. Thank you for saving my son.”

“I’m not your son.”

A cold, emotionless voice stopped Laura in her tracks. All four women turned their eyes towards the source, and saw that Brian was now standing. Although his expression was still blank, his eyes were absolutely enraged. It was as if they were on fire, and what once was green might as well have been crimson.

“What…?” Laura whispered, a creeping sense of dread overtaking her consciousness.

“I’m not your son,” Brian repeated, his low voice carrying an ocean of darkness. His entire world was fuzzy, and all he could perceive through his clouded perception was the face of his mother. The face of the woman who broke his soul. Brian forgot where he was, what he was doing, and who he was with. Without thinking, he continued.

“You told me I wasn’t your son. Not just on TV… you told me that I was no longer your son. You told me that I was no longer your son because I decided to murder a child. I didn’t murder a child, but you didn’t believe me. I asked you to help me… you said I was disgusting. You said I murdered a child. A defenseless child. I begged you to stop saying those words. I was crying. I begged you to believe me. You said…”

By this point, his voice was reduced to an angry strained whisper.

“You said I deserved the Shrink Penalty…” he whispered, now slightly trembling. “You said I deserved to be squished like a bug for what I did… you said that you would do it yourself… you said that to me, and then you just left…”

Jennifer was looking back between Brian and Laura, an expression of complete confusion on her face. She had no clue what he was talking about, but she could tell by the look on her mother’s face that he wasn’t lying. Before anybody could speak, Brian kept going.

“Do you know how many nightmares I’ve had in the last three years…?” he muttered, turning his eyes downwards. “Do you know how many times I’ve woken up screaming, begging for somebody to help me? Do you know how many times I’ve dreamt of you doing exactly what you said you were willing to do to me? So many fucking times… so many… fucking… times…”

He looked back up at her. There were now tears in his eyes.

“You didn’t have to come that day,” he said. “You didn’t have to visit me in prison. You didn’t have to say those things. You really didn’t have to. You could have just stayed home. That way… even a tiny, infinitesimal part of my soul could have believed that you hadn’t given up on me. That maybe someone was forcing you not to talk. That maybe something was preventing you from being able to help me. It could have given me just the smallest ember of comfort while I was locked away forever. But no… that wasn’t… that wasn’t good enough for you, was it? You just had to make sure that I knew… t-that I was completely alone…”

He stopped, and took a shaky breath. He was obviously barely keeping it together. Just when it seemed like he was about to collapse, though, he exploded.

“Why did you have to say those things?!” he screamed. “Why couldn’t you have just left me alone?! Why wasn’t it good enough that I was being thrown in jail for the rest of my life with the entire fucking world hating me?! Why did you have to come and personally rip my heart out, too?! Why did you have to leave me with the knowledge that my own mother hated me so much that she was willing to kill me?! Why did you have to tell me that Jen didn’t even want to see me?! Why was it so important to you that my soul was so completely and thoroughly broken?! WHY?!”

He finally paused, holding his head in his hands as he hyperventilated. Angry tears were racing down his flushed cheeks, and his teeth were clenched so tight it looked like they were about to shatter. Everybody in the room was completely stunned by his unexpected anger, except for Elizabeth. Elizabeth was simply staring at Brian with a soft, sad expression, her eyes carrying an entire universe of concerned sympathy. Her earlier suspicion that he had been bottling up his feelings was now confirmed, and it was shattering her heart. She knew that his anger needed to run its course before she could act, but now that he was seemingly done she began to move closer so she could take him somewhere else. However, Brian was not done, and his next statement stunned even Elizabeth into dormancy.

“I tried to kill myself.”

He looked back at his mother. His eyes were more enraged than she had ever seen them, and his quiet, soft words were dripping with hatred.

“That night, after you came to visit me, I realized how hopeless everything was. Nobody believed me. Nobody was ever going to see the evidence. I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison as the most hated man in the country. My mother wanted to kill me, and my sister didn’t even want to see me. I was going to be completely alone, forever. So I tried to kill myself. But I didn’t know how. I tried to hang myself using my bedsheets, but I didn’t know how to tie a noose. I tried to slam my head into the wall and fracture my skull, but I kept chickening out. I tried to slit my wrists, but I couldn’t find anything sharp. I eventually managed to bite down on my tongue hard enough, but a guard noticed what was going on before I could bleed for very long. You have no idea how badly everybody reacted to me trying to take the ‘easy way out.’ You have no idea what they did to me. Do you… do you fucking understand?! Do you understand what you did to me?! Do you understand how you made me feel?! You made me want to kill myself!!!”

The floodgates having been opened, three years of unbearable rage continued to explode out of him like a nuclear bomb. Despite his size, the weight of his words made everyone feel like he was the tallest one in the room.

“You were supposed to be my mother! You were supposed to tell me that everything was going to be alright! You were supposed to make me feel better! I needed you! I was alone and scared, and I needed my mother!! I fucking needed you!! Why couldn’t you just get it right for once in your fucking life?! I was fucking beaten, I was fucking tortured, I was fucking raped, and I was COMPLETELY alone!! I had NOTHING!! NOBODY!! Not a single day went by where I didn’t want to die, and to just stop feeling! Not ONE day! And now I’m here, one inch tall, and you come in and have the audacity to call me your son?! You’re a fucking MONSTER!! Everything bad in my life is because of you, don’t you realize that?! I never want to see you again!! I fucking hate you!! Fuck you! Fuck you!! FUCK YOU!!!”

Suddenly, a soft touch from behind stopped Brian’s frantic screaming. He instantly turned towards the source with frenzied eyes. He looked completely wild, as if every wall of inhibition had been obliterated by his overwhelming rage. He saw that an enormous finger was resting on his miniscule shoulder, and he turned his crazed eyes upwards to see who it belonged to. There, standing over him like a guardian angel, was Elizabeth. Despite the borderline-feral behavior of the one-inch man in front of her, her face was completely serene. She was gazing at him with tender eyes and a gentle smile, exuding an aura of overwhelmingly soft comfort.

“That’s enough, Brian,” she said quietly, keeping her tone as soft and light as a feather. 

“That’s enough.”

Her soothing words miraculously reached Brian’s consciousness, and his anger dissipated. It was as if everything that had just happened suddenly crashed down on him at once, and he fell to his knees. His tears of frantic rage transformed into tears of quiet sorrow, and his shoulders began to lightly shake as he looked down at the table in shame.

Elizabeth reached forward, and gently took Brian in her palms. Once he sensed that he was concealed behind her upturned fingers, he collapsed onto his side. Elizabeth curled her fingers around him and protectively held him closer to her chest. She knew that she simply needed to get him away from that room, so she began to turn away. Before leaving, though, she glanced at Allison while conveying with her eyes what she was going to do. Allison was completely pale, and she looked like she herself was one second away from breaking down. However, she sensed Elizabeth’s intent and managed to weakly nod. With that, Elizabeth finally exited the room, carefully and lovingly cradling the crying man within her grasp.

“B-Bean…” Jennifer weakly called out, standing up and extending her arm towards him. However, he was gone before she could say another word. Her voice was the last thing Brian heard as he was carried away, along with the sound of Laura collapsing into violent and hysterical tears.

~

Elizabeth was sitting on her bed, a gentle smile on her face, as she cuddled Brian close to her chest. He had been crying into her sweater for the last ten minutes, and was showing no signs of slowing down. Seeing the face of his mother had been more painful than he could have possibly imagined, and his following meltdown had completely shattered his mental state. Elizabeth knew that he simply needed to be held and comforted while three years of pent up emotions finally rose to the surface, so that’s exactly what she did. Cradling him with one hand and gently petting his back with her other, she allowed him to let it all out while she provided him with the tender affection that he had been cheated out of for so long. Cooing and murmuring the occasional words of soft comfort at him, she had never been more committed to her self-imposed role as his much-needed motherly figure. Brian, having long lost the mental strength to muster any feeble attempts at resistance, fully accepted Elizabeth’s attention as he wept into her chest like a child.

Elizabeth felt bad for leaving Allison with Laura and Jennifer, who likely were experiencing their own forms of a breakdown, but she knew that her work with Brian was more important. He simply had not been ready for such a meeting, and the consequences were immediate and devastating. Elizabeth had stood opposed to Allison and Jennifer on this matter, and she had never been more unhappy about being able to say “I told you so.” While pondering how they were feeling at that moment, she suddenly heard a small and unsteady voice.

“I’m so embarrassed…” Brian whispered, occasionally interrupted by a sniffle or sobbing gasp. Elizabeth frowned in concern, before lifting her hand a little closer to her face.

“Why, honey?” she softly asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Brian weakly shook his head, unable to make eye contact.

“I s-shouldn’t have met with her… I shouldn’t have said all that s-stuff…”

He began to cry slightly harder as he recalled everything that he had screamed at her. 

“N-Now Jen knows…” he whimpered. “She knows what Mom said… she knows that I thought she h-hated me… she knows that I was r… that I tried t-to…”

“Shhh… don’t worry about any of that right now…” Elizabeth soothed, wiping a tear away with her thumb. “You were pressured into that meeting, sweetheart. It’s not your fault, nobody should have expected you to react any differently. Frankly, I should have put my foot down and stopped the meeting from happening in the first place.”

“No… it’s my fault… everything is my fault!” Brian cried, before burying his face in his hands as he grit his teeth in anger. Elizabeth’s heart was being absolutely obliterated, but she was somehow able to keep her emotions in check. She lifted her hand even higher, until her face was right at his level. She then began to speak in a firm, but comforting tone.

“Look at me,” she instructed. Brian weakly shook his head, still buried in his hands. 

“Brian, look at me,” she repeated, bringing her other hand up and gently teasing his chin upwards with her index finger. Brian complied this time, reluctantly pulling his hands away and looking his enormous guardian in the eye. Her dark brown eyes were fierce and determined, but also radiating an overwhelmingly soft aura of reassuring comfort. Without even speaking, her gaze alone imprinted a message directly onto his soul, which was only accentuated by her following words.

“This was not your fault,” she declared. Her tone made it clear: this was not an opinion, this was not a suggestion - this was a pure statement of undeniable fact, and anything less than listening to her was entirely unacceptable. Still, she continued.

“None of this was your fault, you hear me? Not what happened to Timmy, not what your mother said, not a single thing that has happened in the last three years. Not a single thing. You did nothing wrong. You have been through so much, but I promise you that none of it was your fault, okay? Absolutely none of it. Do you understand?”

After a few moments, Brian weakly nodded. Elizabeth’s eyes softened, and she resumed her petting on his back. Eventually, Brian spoke up again.

“She made me feel so alone…” he whispered tearfully. “She made me feel so worthless… every time I see her face, it just makes me feel alone all over again…”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Elizabeth breathed, unable to prevent a few tears of her own from forming. She lowered her hand, and once again hugged him to her chest. She could feel him lean into her sweater, as well as his tiny fists grabbing handfuls of the fabric as his shoulders continued to shake. It was her best approximation of a hug, and she hoped it was enough.

“You’re not alone,” she continued. “I’ve got you, and I’ll keep you safe. You’re never going to be alone again. I’m here for you, always. I’m not going anywhere, I promise. She’s not going to hurt you ever again.”

“But… she’s s-still here…” Brian said, his voice slightly muffled. Elizabeth lightly shushed him.

“It’s just you and me right now, sweetheart. Don’t think about anything else. My door is locked, so nobody is going to bother us in here,” she replied reassuringly. Although she couldn’t see it, she could just barely feel him nod once again as he resumed crying into her sweater.

“There, there, honey…” she cooed, hugging him a little tighter. “It’s okay… Everything is going to be alright… I’ve got you… I’ve got you… You’re safe…”

Ever so slowly, her warm touch and even warmer words started to slow Brian’s tears.

“Okay… okay… okay…”

~

Some time had passed. Brian was no longer crying, although he was still tightly hugging Elizabeth’s chest. His eyes shut tight, he was just allowing himself to be fully surrounded by her warmth while he calmed himself down. She was still on her bed, now leaning against the backboard while she continued her efforts to physically soothe him. Feeling his tiny little body pressed so closely to her chest made her heart positively melt, and she would have been perfectly fine with staying like that for the rest of her life. Brian had never felt more like her baby, and she was truly grateful that he trusted her enough to be so vulnerable in front of her. Eventually, though, she heard the distinct noise of a door opening and closing. She perked up, wondering if Laura and Jennifer had finally left. Despite her intense desire to nuzzle Brian for the rest of eternity, she decided that she had to see what the deal was. First, though, she needed to make sure that he would be okay by himself.

“Brian, did you hear that? I think that was the door,” she whispered, while gingerly pulling him away from her chest. Once he was in view, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. Elizabeth saw that his eyes were extremely red, and the nonstop tears had turned his whole face somewhat raw. Her eyes softened in concern, and she started to think of what she could do to help clean him up. While she pondered this, Brian weakly nodded in response to her question.

“If you’re okay by yourself for a few minutes, I’d like to go check with Allie and see what’s going on. Is that okay, sweetie?” she asked. After a brief hesitation, Brian nodded once again. Elizabeth smiled warmly, and brought him up to her face to give him a soft kiss on his side.

“That’s a good boy,” she said adoringly. “I’ll be right back, honey. I’ll bring back some stuff that’ll make you feel better, too.”

With that, she turned and gently lowered Brian to the bed, right next to where she was sitting. She pulled the covers back a bit and slipped him under, until he was sitting with his legs covered and his back resting against the pillow. Once she confirmed that he was comfortable, she rose from the bed and made her way out, shooting him one last loving glance before exiting the room. 

~

Elizabeth hurried into the dining room, looking around as she went to see if Laura and Jennifer were gone. Quickly checking the living room before entering the dining room, she was extremely relieved to see that they were indeed gone, and the only one left was Allison. Allison was still sitting at the dining table, looking unbelievably sad, with her head resting in her hands. 

“Are they gone?” Elizabeth asked. Allison flinched a bit at the unexpected voice, and she snapped out of her melancholic haze. She turned to Elizabeth and gave her a small nod. Elizabeth closed her eyes and sighed in relief. She then began to move towards the kitchen, while motioning for Allison to follow. She complied, and soon found herself at the edge of the kitchen while Elizabeth began to rummage around.

“What happened after I took him?” she softly asked, while grabbing a tray. Allison cleared her throat, and began to speak in a small voice.

“His mom cried… a lot,” she answered. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone cry that hard. Coming from me, that’s really saying something.”

Elizabeth nodded, before filling up a small bowl with water and grabbing a towel from a nearby drawer.

“And Jennifer?” she asked.

“Jennifer just… sat there,” Allison replied, frowning a bit at the memory. “She was just silently staring into the distance. She looked a little overwhelmed, to be honest.”

“Can’t say I blame her,” Elizabeth muttered. “That was a lot for her to find out all at once.”

“Yeah… eventually, she just stood up, grabbed her mom’s arm, and dragged her out the door. Laura was still a mess, so I’m assuming Jennifer was the one who drove the car away,” Allison continued. Elizabeth shot her a questioning glance, before turning back and opening the cabinet where they kept all of Brian’s 3D-printed utensils.

“I see. Well, I’m glad they’re gone. It’ll be easier for Brian to calm down, now,” she said. Allison nodded guiltily, before looking down at the floor.

“Is he, um… how is he doing?” she asked nervously. Elizabeth let out a small sigh.

“About as well as could be expected,” she answered flatly. “He was not ready for that meeting, Allie. His anger was too raw, too overwhelming. We should have at least waited to find out if he will be able to regain his size before considering a meeting. Now, the part that makes me mad is that he completely understood this. He knew that it would be too painful, and he had absolutely no desire to meet with her.”

She turned back to Allison, who was still looking down at the floor in shame.

“Jennifer I can understand, she didn’t have all the information. What I don’t understand is why you, knowing exactly what she said to him and how it made him feel, still thought it was a good idea to hear her out. Why are you so eager for them to reconcile?” she asked sternly. Allison weakly shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know what I was expecting. I think… I think I’ll bring it up at my next therapy session.”

“I think that’s a good call,” Elizabeth replied. “By the way, has Brian been any more receptive to the idea of therapy?”

“Not really, he’s still pretty reluctant,” Allison answered. “I guess I can understand why he wouldn’t want to be alone with a stranger while small, but I just know that it would really help him.”

“I see. Well, it won’t help him if we try to force him into it. Maybe he’ll be more open to it after what happened today. Until then, we can just occasionally try to nudge him in the right direction,” Elizabeth responded. She finally finished rummaging around, and soon had a collection of items on a tray, ready to be brought back to her room. Sensing that she was about to leave, Allison spoke up.

“Does he want to see me?” she asked quietly, somewhat afraid of the answer.

“I think you should hold off on that for a bit. Just give him some time to calm down,” Elizabeth replied. Allison closed her eyes, and sadly hung her head.

“He must be so mad at me…” she whispered. Suddenly, she felt Elizabeth’s hand on her shoulder.

“He’s not mad at you, honey. He’s just embarrassed,” Elizabeth replied reassuringly. “He’s really upset that he lost control like that in front of you and Jennifer, despite the fact that he really isn’t to blame. He’ll be fine if you give him some space.”

Allison looked back up at her and nodded.

“Okay… I’m just so worried about him, though,” she said. “I mean, I guess it isn’t that surprising, but I had no idea that he actually tried to…”

“Allie, don’t worry,” Elizabeth said firmly. She then grabbed her tray, stood up straight, and adopted a warm smile.

“Leave this to me.”

~

“Alright, honey, I’m back,” Elizabeth breathed, before setting the tray down on the edge of the bed. Brian regarded it with curious eyes, before turning back to Elizabeth as she closed the bedroom door. Turning around, she saw that he still looked incredibly sad. His eyes were still quite red, and completely sunken. He was borderline slumped over on the bed, and his arms were hanging limply at his sides. Elizabeth frowned in sympathy as she made her way over to him. She then kneeled down by the bed, so her face was roughly at his level.

“Laura and Jennifer left, so don’t worry about that anymore. I’m sure Jennifer understands that you just need some time to recover, so you really don’t need to worry about her either. Do you want to talk to Allie?” she asked, already knowing the answer. After a moment, he shook his head. 

“That’s okay. We can keep it just you and me for a while. I’ll never pass up an opportunity to spend time with my favorite sweetheart,” Elizabeth replied softly, before pulling the tray closer.

“Like I promised, I brought you some stuff to make you feel better,” she continued, while grabbing an incredibly tiny cup and filling it with water from the bowl.

“Here’s some nice, cool water, honey. It’ll help your throat, so have a sip of that.”

She handed the cup to Brian, who received it with a nod. While he took a few shaky sips, Elizabeth grabbed a small towel and dipped a corner in the water bowl. After squeezing the excess water out, she brought the damp towel a little closer to Brian’s face. He shot her a questioning glance, but he was gently shushed.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I just want to clean you up a bit,” she soothed. After a brief hesitation, Brian nodded once again. Elizabeth smiled warmly, and began to gently dab his face with the towel. With precision and skill that should have been impossible for such a large creature, Elizabeth continued to wipe away his dried tears with the damp end, before drying him off with another corner. Once she was done, aside from his reddened eyes, Brian’s face looked a lot cleaner.

“That’s better,” Elizabeth sighed, while lovingly brushing his hair out of his eyes. “Is the water helping?”

Brian nodded. He hadn’t said one word since Elizabeth returned, only occasionally nodding in affirmation. He knew what she was doing - she was babying him, no doubt about it. However, he had never felt more starved for motherly love in his entire life, and thus found it physically impossible to muster the will to resist. Besides, he’d be lying if he said that it didn’t feel very nice.

“Good, good…” she cooed. “Anything else I can get for you, sweetheart? Some food, maybe?”

Brian shook his head. After a small silence, he finally spoke.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his raspy voice illustrating the extent of his abused vocal cords. Elizabeth’s eyes softened, and she tenderly stroked his cheek with her finger.

“You’re such a sweet boy,” she replied softly. “You’re kind, considerate, smart, funny, and unbelievably strong. You deserve so much better. Any mother should be so lucky to have such a wonderful son. That woman clearly didn’t know what she had.”

Brian turned quiet for a moment. 

“She wasn’t always like that,” he whispered, to which Elizabeth made a questioning noise. After a small hesitance, Brian began to share one of his most treasured memories.

“It was before Jen, so I must have been four,” he started. “I was running around, and I accidentally knocked a flower pot onto the floor. The flowers were on the floor, dirt was everywhere, and there were a bunch of ceramic shards just waiting for someone to step on them. My mom ran over to check on me, and that’s what happened. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I ever heard an adult curse, and unfortunately it was directed right at me.”

Elizabeth frowned slightly.

She cursed at a four-year old? Over an accident? she thought, not wanting to interrupt him. Not seeing her frown, he continued.

“After all the bleeding, crying, scolding and everything, I asked her a question. I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure anymore. I asked her if she still loved me.”

He adopted a small, wistful smile as he recalled what happened next.

“She said ‘forever and for always. The day I stop loving you is the day you stop being my son.’”

His expression darkened.

“I asked her when that day would happen, and she said ‘never.’”

His next words broke Elizabeth’s heart.

“She was lying.”

Elizabeth stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. Eventually, she held out her hand, quietly asking permission to hold him. Brian nodded, and she took him in her palm. Once he was secure, she held him close to her chest. She could feel him hug her sweater, and it made her want to cry. Keeping him secure, she then sat down on the bed.

“I’m so sorry, my sweetheart…” she whispered. “Love is the only requirement to be a parent. It’s all you need, and it really isn’t hard. It sounds like she knew this at one point, but completely lost her way…”

She hugged Brian a little tighter.

“With my own son…” she started, trying not to get emotional. “I gave birth to him, I held him in my arms, I rocked him to sleep, and I raised him to the best of my ability. But, you know… that wasn’t what made me his mother.”

She pulled him away, and looked him in the eyes.

“What made me his mother was the unconditional and undying love I carry for him in my heart. Everything else was a result of that love, and it was all I needed to know that he was my boy. It’s the kind of love that is supposed to be forever and for always. The moment someone gives up that love, they lose the right to call themselves a parent,” she said earnestly. She then softened her tone, and gazed down at him tenderly.

“Brian, I am so sorry that your mother ever forgot this. I am so, so sorry that she put you through so much pain, born out of nothing but pure cruelty. Nobody, and I mean nobody, could blame you for not wanting to see her again. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t ever forgive her. You very well might, one day. Maybe you’ll make peace with what happened, and maybe you’ll even form a desire to let her back into your life. Or maybe you won’t, and that’s completely fine, too. What it does mean, though, is that you’re the only one who gets to decide. Because, the moment she threw away that love, she also threw away any claims she had to you as your mother. If she wants to make peace with what she said, then her first step is to realize and accept that fact. She needs to come to terms with the fact that the only person who gets a say is you. If she has a problem with that, then she can take it up with me.”

Brian listened silently as she spoke, wave after wave of emotion washing over him. It was everything that he needed to hear at that moment, and he was completely reassured all the way down to his soul. Finally, he smiled. It was a smile of overwhelming gratitude and love, and he had never been more thankful to have Elizabeth in his life. At that moment, he came to an extremely important decision.

“Elizabeth, can I ask you a question?” he asked quietly.

“Of course,” she replied. After a brief hesitation, Brian steeled his spine and opened his heart. He knew what needed to be done.

“Would you be my mom?”

~

Elizabeth’s heart stopped. Suddenly, her aura of calm reassurance vanished, and was replaced by one of pure shock. It took a few moments for the question to even fully register, but once it did she immediately got emotional.

“What…?” she whispered. Brian looked down at her palm as he developed a small blush.

“I know you’ve already kinda taken on that role, so maybe it won’t mean much…” he said quietly. “I just… I need you to know how grateful I am for everything you do for me. Aside from a few fleeting memories, I’ve never known what it feels like to have a mom. I’ve never even known what it really feels like to have a guardian, since I always took on that role for Jen. But… you make me feel like how I always thought having a mom would make me feel. You make me feel like I can talk to you about anything. You make me feel like I always have someone who’s looking out for me. No matter what happens, you make me feel comforted and reassured. You make me feel loved.”

By this point, he was crying again. However, these were not tears of sorrow. He looked back up at Elizabeth, who was holding one hand to her mouth.

“I’m really lucky to have you in my life. You’re a better mom than she ever was. So, um… would you be my mom?”

Elizabeth immediately started crying. It was taking everything she had to keep her hand steady. It would be impossible to describe just how happy she was at that moment, and she could hardly stand it. She wanted to jump for joy, smother him in kisses, hug him forever, and a multitude of other things to convey to him just how much she loved him. For now, though, all she needed to do was answer his question.

“Yes,” she whispered, before finally hugging him to her chest. After a small eternity, she pulled him away. He had a huge, emotional smile on his face, which Elizabeth quickly reciprocated.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too,” he replied.

Just like that, for the first time ever, Brian truly knew what it felt like to have a mom. Everything was perfect.

~

Later that evening, Brian was finally ready to speak with Allison again. It was around dinner time, so everybody figured that the best plan of action was just to eat, relax, and save the hard stuff for another day. Allison was sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for Elizabeth to come back with her tiny boyfriend. Although Elizabeth had assured her that Brian was not mad at her, she couldn’t help but be a little nervous. She was responsible for talking him into the disastrous meeting with his mother, after all, for reasons she didn’t entirely understand. However, once Elizabeth finally returned, her nervousness was quickly replaced by confusion.

Elizabeth was positively beaming, and her eyes were sparkling. Her expression was one of overwhelming joy, and Allison wasn’t sure if she had ever seen her so happy before. Brian, conversely, looked somewhat embarrassed as he sat on Elizabeth’s palm. His eyes were pointed downwards, and his cheeks carried the slightest hint of a blush. Since Allison had expected the mood to be pretty somber after the events of the day, she was more than a little befuddled. Elizabeth practically skipped into the room, before stopping a few feet away from the couch.

“…what?” Allison asked, looking back and forth between them. Brian blushed a little harder, and Elizabeth somehow smiled even wider.

“Can I tell her?” she asked Brian chipperly. Still looking down, he fidgeted a bit. 

“Oh, come on, I have to tell her,” she continued, gently rustling his hair with her finger.

“Tell me what…?” Allison asked unsuredly. After a moment, Brian sighed and nodded in affirmation. 

“Brian asked me to be his mom!” Elizabeth exclaimed. Brian instantly looked towards her in mortification, now completely blushing. His eyes were begging her not to embarrass him, but she was having none of it. Allison’s confusion only increased.

“He… what?” she questioned, to which Elizabeth nodded vigorously.

“Brian asked me to be his mom. He said just the absolute sweetest things about how I make him feel loved and reassured, and how grateful he is, and how I’m a better mom than his ‘real’ mother, and he then asked me to be his mom! He’s just the cutest, most wonderful little precious sweetheart in the whole world, and I love him so much, and-”

“It isn’t a big deal…” Brian muttered, practically cringing out of his skin.

“Like hell it isn’t!” Elizabeth cried playfully. “If I’m your mom now, then you have to get used to a few things. One: I’m going to tell people how wonderful you are at every opportunity. Two: I will expect at least two hugs and two kisses a day, although I will eventually bump that number up to six. Three-”

“Elizabeth!” Brian whined, clearly embarrassed out of his mind.

“Oh, that’s another thing,” she replied. “From now on, I will only respond to ‘Mom.’ No more of this ‘Elizabeth’ nonsense.”

“What?! Oh, come on, that’s way too sudden…” he said, burying his face in his hands. Elizabeth let out a resigned sigh.

“Fine, fine, we can compromise,” she said teasingly. “I would be willing to accept ‘Mommy’ instead.”

Brian looked towards Allison, a pleading look in his eye. She was still a little stunned by this unexpected development, and as such had been watching their display with a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

“Allie, please help me,” he begged. “She’s gone mad. She’s actually lost her mind.”

Elizabeth dramatically gasped.

“Young man, is that any way to talk to your mother?” she scolded. Unable to stand it anymore, Brian looked up at the ceiling and cried out in anguish.

“Fuck, I take it back, I take it back!” he shouted. “I don’t want you as my mom, I’ll just go without one!”

“Nope, not gonna happen,” Elizabeth replied jovially. “It’s too late to take it back, so you’re stuck with me. You’re officially my darling little boy now, to love and cuddle and spoil and cherish for the rest of eternity. I’m never letting you go, cutie-pie.”

Brian deflated, and looked back down at her palm in defeat.

“I hate everything…” he mumbled.

“That’s my good boy,” Elizabeth cooed, before leaning in to give him a big, fat smooch on the top of his head. She then turned back to Allison, looking completely pleased with herself. Allison stared at her in silence for a moment, before suddenly cracking up with barely-repressed giggles. This did little to soothe Brian’s embarrassment.

“Well, isn’t that just the sweetest thing,” she said teasingly.

“I hate you…” said Brian, just barely audibly. At that, Elizabeth decided to finally cut him some slack.

“Alright, smoochiekinz,” she started. Not that much slack.

“I’m going to go and start dinner, and I’ll make it extra special just for you. You just stay here and relax for a while, okay?”

She turned to Allison.

“You take good care of my snuggle-bunches, you hear?” she said sternly. Still smiling widely, Allison nodded as she extended her hand. With a quick nonverbal confirmation of permission, Elizabeth gently plucked him up and transferred him to his girlfriend’s hand, before bouncing away towards the kitchen while humming a soft tune. Once she was gone, Brian flopped over on his back.

“I think I’ve made a terrible decision,” he muttered, as Allison reclined into the couch while stroking his hair.

“Oh, I think you’ve made an absolutely wonderful decision,” she replied. “I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen Elizabeth that happy.”

“She sure seemed to get quite a bit of enjoyment out of embarrassing me right down to my soul,” Brian said, slightly cringing at the memory. Allison giggled once more.

“Well, that’s what moms do,” she replied chipperly. “Sounds like she’s already adapting quite nicely.”

Brian groaned in annoyance, but he was lightly shushed as Allison continued to physically soothe him. Eventually, she spoke up again.

“I don’t think you could have picked a better mom,” she said quietly. “She loves you, and you could really use one.”

Brian finally dropped his embarrassment, and smiled warmly.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I love her, too. Thank you so much for persuading me to meet with her, back then.”

Allison smiled in response, but her smile quickly faded once she remembered that she had also persuaded him to meet with his mother. At that, she decided it was time to apologize.

“Listen, Brian, about today…” she started. Before she could continue, though, a stern voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Allie, don’t even go there,” Brian said. “What happened today was not your fault. Despite what Elizabeth might believe, I’m a big boy who can make his own decisions. Yes, you and Jen influenced me, but I’m the one who chose to meet with her.”

Allison’s eyes softened, although her expression was still troubled.

“Thank you for saying that…” she said softly. “I still feel bad, though. I don’t know what I was thinking. I saw your breakdown after the session, I should have known that meeting with her would be too painful. I’m really sorry.”

“Forgiven. We can all share some of the blame for what happened today, okay? There’s no need to stress ourselves trying to decide who fucked up the most,” he replied.

Allison smiled in relief.

“Sounds good,” she whispered. Brian nodded, and closed his eyes as he rested in her palm. After a moment, though, his face fell.

“I’m really worried about Jen…” he said. “I mean, I’m embarrassed that I lost control like that, but I’m really fucking worried about her. That was too much for her to find out at once. Not only what Mom said, but that I lied to her… you said that she just sat there silently after Elizabeth took me away?”

Allison nodded.

“Yeah, then she eventually got up and dragged Laura out the door. It was a little unsettling, to be honest,” she answered. Brian groaned, and brought both hands up to his face.

“Oh, god…” he mumbled. “Maybe I should call her. Try to explain why I lied.”

“Oh, I’m sure that can wait until tomorrow,” Allison said reassuringly. “She’s a considerate girl, I have no doubt that she’ll understand if you need to recover after what happened.”

“Yeah, maybe…” he replied, obviously still conflicted.

“Well, no matter what, let’s just eat first. You can decide after.” Allison suggested, to which Brian nodded. After a few moments, she suddenly realized something.

“By the way, if Elizabeth adopts you, are you going to become Brian Dawson?” she asked teasingly. Brian’s eyes shot open.

“Oh, shit…” he whispered, before slightly frowning. “Not sure how I feel about that. I kinda like the alliteration thing I have going on right now with ‘Brian Bentley.’”

Allison giggled.

“I like it, too. Sounds like a comic book name,” she replied, causing Brian to grin.

“Right? Dawson isn’t bad, though. I actually wouldn’t mind having your last name, Allie,” he said. “‘Brian Starr.’ Not bad. It’d be better than ‘Allison Bentley’ or ‘Allison Dawson,’ at least.”

“Oh, those aren’t that bad. Could always do a hyphen, too,” she replied. “Allison Dawson-Starr. Brian Bentley-Starr. Those are pretty good, right?”

Brian nodded thoughtfully.

“True, true. Well, just something to keep in mind, I guess, in case we ever get m-”

He stopped, realizing what he was about to say. Allison did the same, and they both quickly turned beet-red. An extremely awkward silence overtook the room for a moment, as they both struggled to think of something to say. After a moment, Brian pushed down his anxiety and decided to finish his thought.

“In case we ever get m-married,” he continued firmly, unable to look his girlfriend in the eye. Suddenly, Allison felt like the happiest girl in the world. She adopted an enormous, dumb grin, although her cheeks were still extremely red.

“R-Right,” she stammered. Brian nodded, and rolled over so his back was facing her. He simply couldn’t stand to look at her through his embarrassment. Not wanting to punish him for saying such a sweet thing, Allison graciously reached over and turned the television on while they waited for dinner. With that being said, she suddenly found it extremely hard to focus.

~

After dinner, all three of them were relaxing in the living room. Allison and Brian were watching the news, seeing how his big reveal was affecting the country. Cassandra’s bill to take down the Shrink Penalty was currently working its way through a Senate committee, and would likely be put on the legislative calendar for the debate and vote pretty soon. As such, the only indication of success they had access to so far was public opinion, which was quite promising. The Shrink Penalty usually polled around 60% approval, with that number typically increasing whenever a particularly gruesome crime is reported on. More than enough to keep it around, but not quite enough to completely erase the ongoing controversy created by several political and humanitarian groups. As a result of the double-reveal of Brian’s innocence and his shrunken status, though, the SP approval rating was currently at an abysmal 15%. The overwhelming outcry from the public was putting considerable pressure on their representatives to act accordingly, and Cassandra was hoping that the pressure would last until the actual votes would take place. If so, then there was an extremely good chance that the votes would go their way.

However, the danger with a sensational event is that the public interest will eventually fade, and their advocacy will lose its effect. The Pro-SP interest groups will be constant in their efforts to keep it around, while the media interest in Anti-SP rhetoric will eventually fade. According to Cassandra, longevity is exponentially more important than intensity when it comes to politics. Hence, her plan to spread out any and all developments, videos, or interviews surrounding Brian’s case. They were currently waiting for the go-ahead on a new video, which would likely occur in the next couple of days. Until then, all they could do was sit back, relax, and watch the chaos. Or, in Elizabeth’s case, do research into adult adoptions.

“Apparently, the only people that need to consent are the person being adopted and the person doing the adoption, so Laura wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it,” she explained with a triumphant grin.

“Mm-hmm,” Brian mumbled, not really listening. 

“So, I guess I just need to request the paperwork from the local court, and we can take it from there! Oh, I’m so excited,’ she continued, practically vibrating in her chair. Allison couldn't help but giggle at her excitement, and even Brian adopted a small grin. Despite his outward embarrassment, he was actually quite excited himself. At that moment, though, he realized a potential issue.

“Oh, shit,” he said, causing both women to shoot him a questioning glance. He turned around in Allison’s palm so he could face them more fully.

“Future lawyer and former lawyer,” he started, gesturing to Allison and Elizabeth, “am I legally dead, still? Do I have to do something to come back to life?”

Both women were stunned into silence, as this was something they surprisingly hadn’t considered.

“That’s a… good question, Brian…” Elizabeth replied, furrowing her brow in contemplation. “I can’t say resurrection was exactly my legal area of expertise…”

“Yeah, I must have, uh… skipped that day in class, or something,” Allison awkwardly added. Brian raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I’ll definitely find out the answer to that, honey,” Elizabeth continued with a nod. “Wouldn’t want some legal nonsense to prevent me from being able to adopt my precious baby boy.”

Brian closed his eyes with a grimace.

“I cannot express to you how much I hate that…” he muttered, causing Elizabeth to beam.

“And that’s exactly why I’m going to keep doing it,” she replied chipperly. “You’ve got a lot to learn about what it's like to have a mother, young man, and I intend to give you a thorough education.”

“Fantastic,” Brian sighed as he reclined into Allison’s hand, who was sporting an enormous grin as a result of Elizabeth’s teasing. Aside from her general happiness surrounding their current situation, she absolutely loved just how much all three of them had come to feel like a family lately. At that moment, she would have been just fine with things staying as they were for the rest of her life. However, a sudden knock at the door quickly interrupted that fantasy, and everybody turned to the door with worried eyes.

“Oh god, this never goes well,” Brian said nervously. Indeed, his encounter with Cathy had given him a mild fear of unexpected visitors.

“It’ll be fine, I’m sure it’s nothing,” Elizabeth assured.

“Saying that is practically guaranteeing that it won’t be nothing,” Brian countered.

“Regardless, I’ll go turn them away. Allie, why don’t you just keep Brian hidden in your hands for a moment,” she suggested. Allison nodded, and carefully moved her free hand over her other one, until her tiny boyfriend was completely concealed within a curtain of her fingers.

Elizabeth rose from her chair and placed her laptop on a nearby table, before making her way towards the door. Taking a moment to adopt a poker face, she just barely opened it to see who was on the other side. Who she was met with shocked her into silence.

It was Jennifer.

~

“Jennifer…?” Elizabeth asked. She opened the door the rest of the way so she could get a good look at her. She was standing outside the door, looking completely miserable. Once she heard Elizabeth’s voice, her face fell even more.

“I know I shouldn’t be here…” she said quietly. “But… I don’t have anywhere else to go…”

Elizabeth’s face twisted in concern, and she looked back towards the living room. She saw that Allison was standing by the couch, looking very concerned. Brian was uncovered in her hand, looking even more concerned. He nodded at Elizabeth, giving her permission to invite his sister inside.

“Please, honey, come in,” Elizabeth said, backing up to make room for her. Jennifer nodded, and sheepishly made her way inside. She cast a quick glance at Allison, and an even quicker glance at her brother, before looking down at the floor. Elizabeth closed the door, and moved so she could face her.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on? Why aren’t you at the hotel?” she asked concernedly. Jennifer’s expression darkened in anger, and small tears formed in her eyes.

“I just… I can’t even look at her anymore…” she whispered. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here.”

With that, she began to turn towards the door, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“No no no, it’s completely fine,” Elizabeth said reassuringly. “I’m glad you came here, I’d rather that than you trying to find some place to sleep on your own. Have you eaten yet, honey?”

After a small hesitance, Jennifer shook her head. Elizabeth smiled sympathetically, and began to guide her towards the living room. Jennifer was avoiding eye contact with Allison and Brian, as she was extremely embarrassed about showing up unexpectedly. Nonetheless, they could all sense her distress and were determined to make her feel welcome. After all, she was family.

“Alright, you have a seat right there and warm up. I’ll go heat up some food for you, okay?” Elizabeth said. Once again, Jennifer nodded. 

“Thank you,” she replied quietly. With that, Elizabeth made her way towards the kitchen, leaving Jennifer with her brother and his girlfriend. A small, awkward silence overtook the room while they struggled to think of something to say. Eventually, Brian decided to speak up.

“Hey, Jen,” he said softly. Jennifer slightly grimaced at the sound of his voice, still looking down at the floor.

“What’s going on?” he asked. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if trying to find the right words.

“Earlier, I wanted to get her out of the house…” she started. “I thought it would help you, but… I just can’t stand to be around her anymore… I had to leave…”

“Does she know where you are?” Allison gently asked. “We wouldn’t want her to contact the police, trying to find you.”

“She knows…” Jennifer answered, to which Brian and Allison sighed in relief.

“Good, good… well, don’t worry about it. You’re always welcome here,” Allison assured. Jennifer nodded gratefully, before drawing her knees up to the couch and burying her face in them. Allison and Brian exchanged a nervous glance, before silently agreeing to just let her be for a little while. She was clearly too upset to have a real conversation. So, Allison turned the TV back on at a low volume and let her rest while they waited for Elizabeth to be done in the kitchen. 

Eventually, Elizabeth spoke up in the distance.

“Jennifer, your food is ready,” she said. Jennifer removed her face from her knees and rose from the couch, before making her way towards the dining room. On the way, though, she couldn’t help but notice Elizabeth’s opened laptop on a nearby table. A single word caught her eye, and caused her heart to speed up.

Adoption…?

~

After Jennifer ate, all four of them were back in the living room. Elizabeth was sitting next to Jennifer on the couch, rubbing her shoulder. Brian and Allison were sitting in a chair opposite the couch, looking at her with concerned eyes. Brian was hardly able to bear seeing her so upset, so he decided to try clearing the air.

“Jen, I’m really sorry about everything that happened today,” he said softly. Jennifer’s eyes widened, and shot up towards him. Brian was having a hard time making eye contact, but if he had he would have noticed the incredulous look on her face. Still, he continued.

“I can’t even imagine how upset you are right now, and I feel horrible about it. That was the worst possible way for you to find out about everything, and I’m sorry for not being able to control myself. I’m sorry for not telling you about what she said, and I’m really sorry for lying about having faith that you believed me. Please forgive me,” he continued, lowering his head. After a small silence, Jennifer began to speak in a dark tone.

“Seriously?” she said lowly. “You’re apologizing to me?”

Brian looked back up at her with a confused expression, while Allison and Elizabeth exchanged a nervous glance.

“After everything you’ve been through, you’re more concerned with my feelings?” she continued, trying not to get angry. Brian’s confusion increased, and he cocked his head.

“Of course I am,” he replied unsuredly. “You’re my sister.”

“That’s right, I’m your sister,” she said earnestly. “I’m your family. So why weren’t you honest about how bad things were? Why are you so insistent on comforting me over every little thing, even if it’s at your expense? Why won’t you let me help you?!”

“Jen, everything that happened to me… that isn’t your burden to carry,” Brian replied. “I know it was wrong to lie, but I didn’t want you to beat yourself up any more about something that wasn’t your fault. It isn’t your responsibility, you’re just a ki-”

“I’m not just a kid!” Jennifer interrupted, clenching her fists in anger. “I’m not some delicate thing that needs to be sheltered at all times. I deserve to know the truth, even if it carries the risk of making me feel bad. And you know why? Because it’s nothing compared to what you’ve been through.”

She took a breath, trying and failing to stop tears from forming in her eyes.

“All that stuff happened to you… how am I supposed to hear all of that and let you apologize? How am I supposed to let you feel bad because of something that happened to me? Don’t you understand, Bean?! You didn’t do anything wrong! You didn’t do anything wrong, and all that terrible stuff happened to you anyway! Mom said those fucking disgusting things, and you tried to k-kill yourself! She made you think that you were completely alone! She fucking lied and said that I didn’t want to see you! You said that you were beaten, you were r…”

She trailed off, unable to force herself to say it. Angry tears were now streaming down her face.

“You’re my brother, and I’m your sister. Nobody in the whole world knows you better than I do, because I’m your family!! After what Mom said, I’m the only family you have left! We’ve always been together, and I love you more than anything in the entire universe. So… stop fucking lying to me! Stop telling me that everything is okay, when fucking nothing is okay! Stop acting like you didn’t go through three years of literal torture for something you didn’t do! Stop acting like my problems are the only ones that matter! Stop acting like my feelings are the only ones that count! Stop acting like you don’t need help! Our whole lives, you’ve been the one taking care of me. But now… you’re the one who needs help, so let me take care of you! Just tell me how hard it was! Tell me how it made you feel! Tell me everything, stop apologizing, and let me comfort you!!”

With that, she was done. She was angry, she was crying, but she was done. Silence overtook the room, only interrupted by the occasional sniffle or heavy breath. Allison and Elizabeth were anxiously moving their eyes between Brian and Jennifer, waiting to see what would happen next. Brian was looking down at Allison’s hand, in heavy contemplation. Eventually, with a small sigh, he came to a decision. He decided to give his sister what she wanted, and be honest.

“It was really hard,” he said quietly. Jennifer stopped crying, and looked back up at him with wide eyes.

“It was really hard, Jen. What Mom said… it broke me. After that day, I didn’t smile even once for three years. I was fully convinced that nobody in the whole world believed me, and that nobody ever would. Even after Allie saved my life, it took a long time for me to completely accept that she believed me. In prison, I had nothing. Back then, if it had been up to me… I wouldn’t be here right now. I would be dead. I was in so much pain that when I got ‘re-sentenced’ to death, I was relieved. I was relieved because, even if it was going to end in the worst way imaginable, everything would finally be over. For three years, that’s all I wanted - for everything to stop. It was really, really hard.”

Everybody in the room was gazing at him with sympathetic eyes, but nobody more so than his sister. Her heart was being obliterated by a mixture of overwhelming sympathy for him, unbearable anger at the world, and the no-longer restrained protectiveness she had felt when she first held him. Suddenly, as far as she was concerned, the only two people in the world were her and her brother. Nobody else mattered, and her one goal in life was making sure that he was never in pain ever again. 

Silently, she held out her arms towards him. Brian looked up at Allison and nodded, to which she reached out her arm and allowed Jennifer to take him in her palms. Having him back in her hands sent a wave of relief throughout her whole body, and she held him close to her chest. She then drew her knees onto the couch, until her brother was almost completely surrounded by her body. She began to stroke his hair with her free hand, while speaking down to him in a gentle tone.

“I’m so sorry…” she whispered. “But don’t worry… I’m here now… I’m here… I’ll take care of you… I won’t let anybody hurt you… I’m here…”

Although Brian was a little embarrassed, he allowed Jennifer to comfort him while he sat in her palm. Allison and Elizabeth were watching them with small smiles, although Elizabeth couldn’t help but once again feel a touch of concern at Jennifer’s behavior. She reminded herself to keep a close eye on her, albeit starting the next day. For now, she was simply glad that Brian had at least one family member on his side.

Eventually, Jennifer decided that she had comforted him enough, and removed her knees from the couch. Brian was once again uncovered, looking somewhat self-conscious but in no way unhappy. Letting Jennifer in felt nicer than he had anticipated, and he was truly grateful to have such a caring sister. With that being said, he was ready to return to his girlfriend’s hand. He flashed her a soft smile, which she reciprocated while extending her arm. Rather than reaching out to meet it, though, Jennifer simply lowered her hand into her lap. Brian shot her a questioning glance, and he was met with a warm smile. Apparently, Jennifer wasn’t quite ready to let him go.

Despite his reservations, Brian knew that she was just trying to be kind, so he reluctantly decided not to protest. He looked across at Allison, and to his side at Elizabeth, and shot them both reassuring nods. Allison retracted her arm with a small frown, while Elizabeth looked on with concerned eyes. Regardless, they accepted his decision and said nothing. With that, they all decided to get in a final hour or two of relaxing before it was time for bed. The entire time, Jennifer never stopped smiling.

~

The next early morning, Elizabeth was alone in her living room. A cup of coffee in her hand, she was watching the news at a low volume, taking in the newest developments of Brian’s case. Brian, Allison, and Jennifer were all still asleep, which she took note of with a small sigh.

Kids… she thought, before slightly frowning. 

Or… maybe I’m just old?

She quickly shook her head in denial, unable to accept such a horrifying concept.

Nope, definitely not. They’re just babies, obviously.

Resolving herself to this idea, she turned her attention back to the news. 

Before she could settle in completely, though, her phone chirped. Raising an eyebrow, Elizabeth picked it up to see who had texted her. Once she saw who it was, as well as what the message contained, her eyes widened in shock. Careful not to spill her coffee, she hurriedly placed her cup on the coffee table before rushing in the direction of the stairs. It was time to wake up, as they had a visitor incoming.

~

Quietly opening Allison’s bedroom door, Elizabeth made her way inside. Moving closer to the bed, she saw that Allison was sleeping peacefully, rolled onto her side with a small smile on her face. Her hands were drawn close to her chest, with one draped over the other. Once Elizabeth saw why, her heart absolutely melted. There, nestled in her former student’s hands, was Brian. He was cuddled up against Allison’s fingers, with her top hand acting as a living blanket. He looked completely peaceful, as if his girlfriend’s loving hands were protecting him even in his dreams. It was just about the cutest thing Elizabeth had ever seen, and she struggled against the urge to run and grab her phone to take a picture.

Although Brian had slept in Elizabeth’s room during the month where he and Allison were broken up, albeit in his pet carrier, he had resumed sleeping in Allison’s room once they rekindled their relationship. A fact that Elizabeth was definitely not upset about, and obviously completely fine with, mind you. With Jennifer now in the house, and presumably staying there for a little while, Brian now had three women who desperately wanted him to sleep in their room at night. 

Jennifer - his sister.

Elizabeth - his soon-to-be adoptive mother.

Allison - his girlfriend.

However, despite Elizabeth’s silent disappointment, and Jennifer’s extremely not-silent disappointment, they knew that Allison was first in line. That’s not to say that Brian could never sleep in their rooms - a fact that they were both banking on - but for the most part he was most comfortable in the soft, caring hands of the person he loved the most. And, of course, Elizabeth knew that his recently awakened sexuality had quite a bit to do with it, as well. Although she naturally had concerns, given his sexual history, she took them at their word that they were both being extremely careful, and having lots of fun with it. With that assurance, she simply hoped for the best and otherwise tried not to think about it.

After taking another moment to lovingly gaze at the adorable couple in front of her, she decided that it was time to do what she came there to do.

“Allie…” she whispered, softly placing one hand on her arm. “Time to wake up, honey…”

After a few moments of gentle nudging, Allison slowly opened her eyes. Once her consciousness had sufficiently rebooted, she quickly checked to make sure that Brian was still in her hands. Seeing that he was, she then turned her eyes towards the person that had woken her up.

“Elizabeth…?” she murmured, slightly narrowing her eyes sleepily. Elizabeth smiled warmly in response, before continuing to speak in a quiet tone.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but we all need to get up,” she said.

“Why…?” Allison asked, resting her head back on the pillow.

“Don’t freak out, but Cassandra is going to be here in half an hour,” Elizabeth answered softly. 

Allison’s sleepiness was instantly obliterated, and her eyes widened in shock. She wanted to jump out of the bed, but she quickly remembered that she was hauling precious cargo. Elizabeth took note of her expression, and once again smiled reassuringly.

“Yeah. We need to be ready, okay? So, I’ll leave you to wake the little one, and I’ll go get Jennifer,” she continued, to which Allison nodded firmly.

“Thanks, honey. Let’s try to be downstairs within the next ten minutes.”

With that, Elizabeth quietly exited the bedroom, and headed towards the one Jennifer was sleeping in. It was the room containing all of Brian’s stuff, by the way, as it was the only unoccupied bedroom left in the house. She had been more than a little disappointed to learn that Brian didn’t actually sleep in that room, but she eventually gave up on trying to persuade him. For the moment.

~

Once more, everybody in the Dawson household was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Senator Cassandra Day. However, unlike the previous time, the only one feeling truly nervous was Jennifer. After all, this was the senator who proved her brother’s innocence, and this was to be their first real meeting. As such, Brian had agreed to let Jennifer hold him in an attempt to help calm her down. It had mostly worked, although she couldn’t stop herself from continuously petting her brother’s hair in anxiety. It felt nice, though, so he didn’t complain.

Soon enough, a knock on the door echoed throughout the house. Elizabeth then opened it, and warmly beckoned their visitor inside. Once more, Cassandra hurried into the room with a determined look on her face, before her eyes came to rest on the three figures in the living room. Her face immediately lit up, especially once she caught sight of the black-haired teenager who was staring at her with a terrified expression. 

As opposed to her last visit, Cassandra was dressed in a way that was quite befitting of a senator. Her short-cut brown hair was neat and meticulous, not even a strand out of place. Her dark blue power suit likely cost more than Allison’s car, and gave her the visage of a strong, no-nonsense politician, as was consistent with her public persona. Even knowing the friendly, slightly goofy demeanor that lurked within her, Brian and Allison couldn’t help but stand up a little straighter. Jennifer, on the other hand, had been stiff as a board from the start. Noticing this, Cassandra adopted a warm, elated smile as she made her way towards the trio. She decided to start with the person she was meeting with for the first time.

“Hello, Jennifer,” she started, extending one hand towards her. “It is so nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Y-Yes, Senator, i-it’s really nice to meet you too,” Jennifer awkwardly replied, shakily extending her free hand to meet Cassandra’s.

“Please, darling, call me Cassandra,” she replied earnestly, while moving her hand to Jennifer’s shoulder.

“She would also accept ‘Auntie Cass,’” Brian cut in, looking up at his sister with a wink. Cassandra retracted her hand while letting out a hearty chuckle, before turning her attention to the one-inch man in Jennifer’s palm.

“That’s absolutely right, Brian,” she replied chipperly. “I’m so happy to see you again. I’m also so happy to see that you’ve reconnected with your sister, that takes a huge weight off my mind.”

Brian smiled in response, to which Cassandra gently reached out and tousled his hair. She then turned her eyes to Allison.

“Hello again, Allison. It was so nice meeting you a few days ago, and I’m really glad to see you again,” she said. Allison couldn’t help but lightly blush, and she adopted a bashful smile.

“Likewise, Cassandra. Thank you for making the time to see us,” she replied shyly. Suddenly, a voice cut in from behind them.

“What am I, chopped liver?” asked Elizabeth dryly, moving from the door to Cassandra’s side. Cassandra turned to her with a big grin.

“Of course not, Lizzy!” she chirped. “I’m always happy to see my best friend!”

Surprisingly, even Elizabeth developed a small blush at her kind words.

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating… we haven’t known each other for that long…” she muttered.

“True, but believe me when I tell you that, for a senator, genuine friends are difficult to find. I consider myself truly lucky to know all of you,” she replied earnestly, causing everybody to smile in response.

“Well, thanks,” Elizabeth said softly. “I know I speak for everybody when I say the feeling is mutual, Cassandra. Now, shall we all sit down?”

“Quite so, quite so!” Cassandra replied, before beginning to move in the direction of the sofa. Before she could, though, an extremely nervous voice spoke up.

“U-Um...!” Jennifer started, finding her conviction. Cassandra turned to her with an inquisitive expression.

“Yes, Jennifer?” she asked. Trying not to get emotional, Jennifer continued.

“T-Thank you for… thank you for everything you’ve done!” she exclaimed, lowering her head slightly.

“Thank you for proving my brother’s innocence! Thank you for working so hard on his behalf! Thank you for bringing me to L.A., and thank you for the super nice hotel! U-Um, thank you also for setting up that reservation on my birthday, that was genuinely the best food I’ve ever had, and, um… thank you, for… t-thank you!”

Finished with her grateful outburst, she kept her head lowered. After a moment, she could feel the slightest of sensations on her palm, and she saw that her brother was rubbing it tenderly. This gave her the confidence to look back up at Cassandra, who she saw had adopted yet another warm smile.

“It was my complete and absolute pleasure, darling,” she gently replied. “I was only doing what was right, and it has all been worth it. On the contrary, I want to thank you for being so strong in the face of such adversity. You and your brother are truly amazing people.”

Jennifer teared up slightly, and all she could do was gratefully nod in response. With that, the five of them finally made their way to the couch. The three women sat on the couch while Jennifer took a seat in one of the nearby chairs, raising her knees onto it before drawing her hands closer to her chest. She was quickly learning that the only time her heart was truly at ease was when she was holding her brother close to it, and was even more quickly becoming addicted to the feeling. As such, she posessively cradled him in her palm, positively dreading the moment when she would have to let him go. Once everybody else was settled, it was time to continue.

~

“So, Brian, what have you been up to these past few days?” Cassandra asked warmly. Brian reclined a bit in Jennifer’s palm, placing his hands on her soft skin for support.

“Well, let’s see. The day after you came over, I called Jen, like I said I would. It was tough, but it went really well. Right?” he asked, looking up at his sister. Jennifer nodded vigorously in response, slightly jostling him around in her palm unintentionally. 

“Of course, Jen then pressured me into letting her come visit,” he continued, shooting her a teasing grin. Cassandra adopted a small grin of her own, while Jennifer blushed heavily.

“B-Bean…” she muttered in embarrassment, giving him a soft poke with her free hand.

“I see, I see,” Cassandra replied jovially. “Well, I don’t think anyone can blame her. The next day was her birthday, right? I bet that was the greatest gift you could have ever given.”

“Yeah,” Jennifer added, gazing down at her brother lovingly.

“Yeah, I’m really something,” Brian replied dryly, deflecting the praise. “Anyway, that also went really well. Truly, reuniting with Jen was something that I never thought would happen. Even if my size makes it a bit difficult, I’m unbelievably grateful that we’re able to be together again. My sister means everything to me, Cassandra. Thank you again for making this happen.”

Slightly overcome with emotion, Jennifer pressed Brian into her chest in some form of a hug. She wanted to kiss him, but hadn’t quite built up the courage to try yet. Especially in front of a senator.

“I love you, Bean…” she whispered. Brian gave her skin a few comforting pats in response, while everybody in the room looked on warmly.

“Well, that’s wonderful,” Cassandra replied softly. “Seeing you two together makes everything worth it. I’m so happy for you both.”

Jennifer released Brian from her makeshift embrace, but still kept him close to her chest. He was still getting used to being small around his sister, but he was much more comfortable with it now, as compared to their initial meeting. Although Allison and Elizabeth were much more skilled at keeping their hands stable, he had to admit that there was something comforting about being held by his little sister. So, he simply accepted her affection with a small smile. However, that smile quickly vanished as he realized what needed to be brought up next.

“The next day, though… well, I decided to meet up with my mom,” he continued, his tone and expression darkening. Everybody else in the room soon followed, as Cassandra adopted a concerned expression.

“I see,” she softly replied. “I thought that might happen, since she also came to Los Angeles. How did that go?”

“Horribly,” Brian sighed, looking down at Jennifer’s palm. “I really shouldn’t have done it, I wasn’t ready. I was dumb.”

“I-It wasn’t your fault, Bean!” Jennifer suddenly exclaimed. Before she could continue, Brian spoke up.

“It was my fault,” he firmly replied, looking back up at her. He made sure to shoot Allison and Elizabeth a quick glance as well, conveying that his message was also directed at them.

“Regardless of who influenced me, it was ultimately my decision. I knew the risks, and I made a bad call. That’s all it was.”

Jennifer frowned in response, but decided not to push it. Brian then turned back to Cassandra.

"Just so you know, there’s no chance of reconciliation between her and I. I hope that doesn’t cause any issues for our campaign, but it just isn’t going to happen. As far as I’m concerned, she isn’t my mother anymore,” he said sternly. Cassandra shot him a small, sad nod.

“I understand,” she replied quietly. “If you don’t mind me asking, is it because of everything she said about you while you were incarcerated?”

Brian shook his head.

“No, that’s not it. I really don’t want to get into it again, but she came to visit me in prison a few days after the murder. She said some things to me that I can’t forgive,” he answered, before turning to Elizabeth. “I don’t mind if you tell Cassandra about it sometime, just not right now. Okay?”

“You got it, sweetheart,” she replied. She exchanged a glance with Cassandra, who then turned back to Brian with a gentle smile.

“Okay, that sounds good. I can tell it’s a very difficult subject for you, so thank you in advance for sharing it with me,” she said gratefully.

“No problem. Anyway, that was yesterday, so here we are,” he replied. 

Elizabeth quickly realized that he had left out their conversation, in which she decided to adopt him. Her eyes slightly lit up as she prepared to speak, but she immediately sensed the intense gaze of a microscopic pair of green eyes. Turning her own eyes to meet them, she saw that Brian was staring at her with a firm expression. He just barely shook his head, before discretely pointing up at his sister. Elizabeth quickly understood what he was saying.

Don’t tell her about the adoption yet.

He knew that it was going to be a hard, emotional discussion when she found out, so he wanted to save it for a moment when they were alone. Understanding this, Elizabeth shot him a small nod. Despite their barely noticeable silent conversation, Cassandra - ever the observationist - took note of it with a raised eyebrow, and decided to ask Elizabeth about it later on. For now, though, she opted to move on.

“Well, it sounds like you’ve had a busy few days,” she said, to which Brian nodded in agreement.

“I definitely have. Anyway, are you here because it’s time to make the next video? I assume you wouldn’t make the time unless it was important,” he asked. Cassandra’s eyes slightly lit up as she remembered why she was there.

“Right, right, thanks for reminding me,” she replied. “I actually don’t have long, so I should get to the point. By the way, sorry for showing up so early, and with so little warning. My bill to take down the SP has been proceeding nicely, but everything has been quite hectic for me.”

“It’s fine, we all know that you’re a very busy person,” Brian assured, which his three companions nodded to in agreement.

“Besides, it isn’t that early…” Elizabeth muttered, still clinging to her earlier assertion regarding her age. Cassandra lightly scoffed, knowing all too well what she was getting at.

“Anyway, the bill is almost ready to be put on the legislative calendar. Due to the intense public pressure for swift action, the debate will likely happen within the next week or two. The vote would then happen pretty soon after. You all still with me?” she asked, flashing all four of them quick glances. Brian, Allison and Elizabeth all firmly nodded, while Jennifer let out a small, shaky nod. In the presence of such high-level political talk, she couldn’t help but be slightly intimidated.

“In terms of the vote, how do you think we’re doing right now? Has the public pressure been working like we hoped?” Brian asked.

“Well, it’s truly hard to say,” Cassandra answered with a sigh. “For the vote, we need a simple majority. That’s at least 51 senators. It’s important to understand, though, that the Shrink Penalty is a popular concept. Politicians who want to appear tough on crime, which is all of them, often use their support for the SP as a way to emphasize that. So, even though the average poll numbers for the SP say something like 60% approval, that number is significantly higher within the actual legislature. That’s why we need not only public pressure, but intense and prolonged public pressure.”

“I see…” Brian muttered, furrowing his brow. Allison and Elizabeth adopted similarly contemplative expressions, while Jennifer simply looked concerned.

“I hate to say this, but we’re also fighting against interest groups,” Cassandra continued, darkening her tone. “This is hardly a secret, but money matters in politics. Sometimes, the will of their constituents is not nearly as important to a legislator as it should be. Sometimes, the only voice that they’re actually listening to is the voice of the person with the checkbook. As you all know, I’m not one of those people. My guess is that’s one of the reasons why you initially reached out to me. However, I’m certainly in the minority. There are some people with a high personal motivation to keep the SP around, and they’re using their money to try and make sure that the vote goes their way.”

“There are Shrink Penalty interest groups…?” Jennifer asked nervously.

“I’m afraid so. The SP is a for-profit system, and a pretty lucrative one at that. So, everybody who is benefiting from that - the Chevs, the people running the facilities, and so on - obviously don’t want to give it up. If we’re successful, and the SP is repealed, a lot of people are going to be out of a job,’ she explained. 

At that, Allison’s expression darkened as she lowered her head in shame. Cassandra noticed this, and decided to speak up.

“Allison, I understand that you’re probably feeling guilty about being a Chev, right?” she asked, causing Allison’s eyes to shoot up at her in surprise.

“It’s only natural. Knowing what we know about the system, I can’t even begin to imagine the guilt that must be eating you up inside about profiting from it,” she continued. Allison nodded guiltily, to which Elizabeth reached over and placed an arm around her shoulder.

“I need you to understand, though: you do not need to feel guilty,” Cassandra said firmly, her eyes deadly serious. “I hope it’s okay, but Elizabeth filled me in on a few of the details surrounding why you became a Chevalier. You were in a horrible situation, darling, and it wasn’t your fault.“

Jennifer looked down at Brian with an inquisitive expression. Looking up at her, he mouthed the word “later.” Still, Cassandra continued.

“Your decision to save Brian took so much courage, and very well could lead to the dismantling of the system entirely, which as far as I’m concerned clears you of all blame. I hope you know that,” she said.

“That’s absolutely right, honey,” Elizabeth softly added.

“You heard ‘em,” Brian cut in. Looking back up at all of them, Allison eventually adopted a small smile.

“Thank you,” she whispered, reassured right down to her soul. With that, it was time to move on.

“So, basically, we’re up against some powerful people,” Brian continued, getting back on topic. 

“That’s right,” Cassandra replied. “Which is why we need the public pressure to be overwhelming. More importantly than that, though, we need it to be prolonged.”

“Right. Which is why we’re spacing out any videos or interviews. To that end, I assume it’s time for the next one? Since the debate is coming up?” Brian asked, to which Cassandra adopted a small frown.

“Well, yes, but also no,” she answered, which elicited four confused expressions.

“I actually was planning on waiting until the debate was officially scheduled, but… I think that we have to do it now,” she continued, clearly troubled.

“Well… why’s that?” Brian hesitantly asked.

“Don’t panic, but we actually have a bit of a problem,” Cassandra said, trying to sound reassuring. “It’s the reason why I’m here today, and why I was so sudden.”

With that, she reached down to her bag and pulled out a small folder. She then handed it to Elizabeth, who was sitting to her left on the couch. Leaning over so Allison could see as well, she opened the folder.

Instantly, Allison went pale. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes in overwhelming confusion, before her expression darkened immensely.

“H-How… where did you…?” Allison squeaked, sounding absolutely terrified. Brian’s alarm bells started to ring, and he stood up in his sister’s palm.

“What is it?” he asked concernedly. Pulling it away from Allison’s trembling hands, Elizabeth placed the open folder on the coffee table, sliding it over so Brian and Jennifer could see. What they saw stopped their hearts, and caused Jennifer’s vision to become clouded with rage. There, inside the folder, was a document.

The document was simple- it listed three things, and contained a picture. The picture was of a downtrodden young man, with messy black hair and striking green eyes- eyes that were showing an eerily neutral expression. The three things were as follows:

NAME: Brian Bentley

CRIME: Murder of Timothy Osment

METHOD OF EXECUTION: Swallowed Alive

~~~

“For me to smuggle you out of here, I need to do two things. I need to hide you so nobody will see you, which should be easy enough since you’re… well, you know. I could put you in my bag, but I’d rather have you closer, so I can tell if you fall out or need help. I don’t know how I could do that. That’s problem one,” Allison said to Brian, the tiny man seated at the opposite end of the metal table.

“Problem two is that the facility needs to think you’re dead. I’ve only ever stomped… what I usually do leaves visible evidence that it happened. I’ve been told they don’t really care about that, though, they just need the description and my signature. There aren’t any cameras in here… so…”

Brian narrowed his eyes as his gigantic would-be-executioner trailed off, wondering what was going on inside of that strange, ginormous brain of hers. After a moment, she continued.

“So, basically… I just need to think of a method of execution that… doesn’t… leave a body,” she said, each word fitting into her mind like pieces of a puzzle. Her eyes then widened in realization, as she remembered a certain scene from the previous day. Brian’s heart started to speed up a bit, although his neutral expression made it impossible to tell. 

Allison turned to him.

“I have an idea. You’re not going to like it.”

Brian simply raised an eyebrow, still committed to his earlier insistence that he would not speak unless she came up with a plan of action. Despite his hopeful heart, he was still far from actually believing that his Chevalier of all people would be the first one to realize his innocence, and not to mention risk her freedom to help him escape. As such, if this was all an elaborate ruse to torture him, he refused to make it any easier for her.

Seeing that he was waiting for more details, Allison decided to just show him. She sat back down at the table and opened a cabinet above her legs, before pulling out a document. Grabbing a nearby pen, she wrote down a few things and held it up for Brian to see. 

The document was simple- it listed three things, and contained a picture. The picture was of a downtrodden young man, with messy black hair and striking green eyes- eyes that were showing an eerily neutral expression. The three things were as follows:

NAME: Brian Bentley

CRIME: Murder of Timothy Osment

METHOD OF EXECUTION: Swallowed Alive

At the bottom was Allison’s signature. This was Brian’s Shrink Penalty document, which contained the details of his SPAR session, as well as who his Chevalier was. Seeing what was written next to “Method of Execution,” Brian’s heart fell off a cliff. He positively deflated, and all of the hope that he was carrying instantly vanished. Suddenly, he was just as depressed and suicidal as he had ever been, and he finally decided to speak up.

“Seriously?” he sadly whispered, turning his eyes to the cold, metal surface that he was seated on. Hearing his tone, Allison grew concerned.

“This was your plan?” he continued. “You wanted me to trust you, just so I would willingly let you eat me? That was seriously the point of all this?”

“Wha- no no no no no!” Allison hurriedly replied, understanding what he was getting at. Hearing her frantic tone, Brian looked back up at her, albeit still with dejected eyes.

“I don’t want to actually swallow you, that’s just what I want the facility to believe, since it would explain why there wasn’t a body! I swear, that’s not my plan for smuggling you out, it’s just to trick the facility!”

Brian’s eyes softened a bit, and the faintest glimmer of hope returned to his heart. He was still extremely wary, but her genuine tone did reassure him a bit.

“Okay… well, how are you going to smuggle me out, then?” he hesitantly asked. Allison closed her eyes and sighed in relief. Then, she grimaced as her cheeks turned extremely red. She looked more embarrassed than Brian would have thought was possible of a Chevalier, and she kept her eyes closed as she began to respond.

“I-I basically just have to… to put you somewhere… on my b-body…” she explained, completely mortified, as she started to fidget. Then, she let out a resigned sigh and began to unbutton her shirt. Brian was perplexed.

“I know I said that you weren’t going to like this, but I promise that it will be even worse for me.”

~~~

“What is this?!” Jennifer angrily asked, snatching the document up with her free hand. A primal anger flared up inside her as she inspected it, which only intensified once she read the “Method of Execution.” Shooting an intense glare at Allison, she waited for an explanation. However, seeing that Allison was much too confused and nervous to calmly reply, Cassandra decided to speak up on her behalf.

“That is Brian’s SP document, Jennifer, which contains the details of his ‘execution,’” she gently explained, before reaching out and taking it from Jennifer’s angry grasp. She then put it back in the folder, not wanting it to serve as a distraction. Undeterred, Jennifer kept her angry eyes on the woman whose signature was underneath the words “swallowed alive.”

“Did you swallow my brother?” she asked quietly. “Is that how you smuggled him out?!”

“N-No, Jen, she didn’t,” Brian replied reassuringly, pushing down one of her protectively-raised fingers so he could better see everybody. Jennifer had brought her free hand closer to him once Cassandra had taken the document, in an almost unconscious attempt to prevent anybody else from being able to take him from her. It seemed she was taking to her newly-permitted protective role a little too strongly, and he made a mental note to talk to her about it later on.

“Since the facility needed to think that I was dead, she had to think of a method of execution that doesn’t leave a body. That isn’t how she actually smuggled me out,” he continued. Jennifer’s eyes softened a bit, and she relaxed from her defensive posture. Allison flashed him a small smile, once again appreciating his ability to soothe his sister. 

“A pretty clever solution, I might add,” Cassandra said, having already heard the tale several days prior.  

“I can’t exactly take all the credit,” Allison muttered, before returning to the issue at hand.

“Um, Cassandra, where did you get that? And why did you say that it’s a problem?” she asked nervously.

“Well, let’s take a step back, and make sure we’re all on the same page first,” Cassandra replied, seeing that everybody seemed to be somewhat scattered.

“As you all know, my people have been in contact with the ‘Silver Strip’ Chevalier facility since Brian’s innocence was proven, making sure that they cooperate with our investigation. They’ve naturally agreed, seeing as how their reputation is in the gutter right now. However, they’ve continuously refused to provide any information regarding the details of his execution or his Chev. They weren’t legally obligated to do so, of course, but it did seem odd given their agreement to help. As of today, though, I understand why,” she continued.

“Why?” Elizabeth asked, who had been silently listening up to that point. Seeing the words “swallowed alive” next to Brian’s heartbreaking mugshot had unexpectedly rattled her, but the feeling quickly faded once she remembered the actual details of his escape. Turning her game face back on, she had resumed rubbing her former student’s shoulder reassuringly. 

“There are two reasons,” Cassandra answered. “The first is that this document serves as the only hard evidence of his execution, as well as who his Chevalier was.”

“Wait, really?” Brian asked. “That’s it? No digital records, no backup copies?”

“I’m afraid not. They say that it’s in the interest of confidentiality and protecting the identities of Chevaliers, but a part of me wonders if it isn’t plain incompetence…” she replied, lowering her tone at the end.

“Okay… why didn’t they hand it over, then? What’s the second reason?” he asked.

“Because they didn’t have it,” came the response, stunning everybody into silence.

“W-What?!” Allison eventually exclaimed, leaning forward in disbelief.

“They didn’t have it?” Brian repeated. “What does that mean?”

Cassandra reclined into the couch and let out a sigh, adopting a somewhat annoyed expression as she started to explain.

“A few hours ago, my office received a package. It contained this document, a letter, and a phone number. According to the letter, the author was somehow able to steal the document from the Silver Strip’s records before Brian’s innocence was proven, and has apparently been holding onto it for some time now. So, when my people started asking the facility for information, they realized that their only relevant document was missing. Hence their ‘refusal’ to provide it. Bunch of incompetent morons,” she said frustratedly.

“They lost it?” Allison whispered angrily. “That document could literally get me killed, and they lost it?!”

“Yeah, seriously!” Brian added. “People don’t know yet that Allie saved my life, so if they found out that she was my Chev…”

“Don’t worry, I’m equally as angry with their carelessness,” Cassandra assured. “To be fair, though, most people probably already know that your Chev is the one who rescued you, Brian.”

“Wait, what?” Brian and Allison said simultaneously. Cassandra cocked her head in response.

“Well, think about it. You said in your video that you were indeed sent to a Chevalier, but you obviously didn’t die. Who else could have possibly smuggled you out?” she explained.

“O-Oh, I see,” Brian replied, while Allison nodded thoughtfully.

“With that being said, we definitely want to be the ones who control the release of information,” Cassandra continued. “Which is why this… theft, is so concerning.”

“Did the author of the letter identify themselves? Do we know who they are?” Elizabeth asked concernedly, to which Cassandra nodded.

“Yes, they left their first name. Judging by the contents of the letter, and their supposed reason for sending me the document, it seems like it might be a familiar one to you all.”

“What is it?” Allison asked.

“The letter was signed, ‘Cathy.’”

~

“C-Cathy?” Allison repeated, completely shocked. “She… she did it?”

“Of course,” Elizabeth sighed, closing her eyes in anger. Brian sat back down in his sister’s palm as an unexpected wave of fear washed over him, the memories of her torture flashing through his mind. Jennifer, sensing his fear, curled her fingers around him protectively and lifted him closer to her face.

“Bean, what’s wrong?” she whispered, before turning to Allison once more.

“Who is Cathy?” she asked sharply, subtly moving Brian closer to her body, as if to shield him. Allison and Elizabeth shared an extremely nervous and uncomfortable glance, while Cassandra looked on with studious eyes. Brian got his fear under control and looked up at his sister, although everybody could still sense his discomfort.

“She’s, um… well, she’s…” he started, unsure how to word it. Despite his promise to be more open with Jennifer, he still was extremely hesitant to talk about what Cathy did to him - especially the parts regarding Allison’s involvement. However, Elizabeth quickly came to his rescue.

“It’s okay, sweetie, I’ll explain” she said, turning towards Cassandra and Jennifer. Brian closed his eyes and let out a small sigh of relief, as did Allison.

“Her name is Catherine Gates, and she’s also a Chevalier. When Allie was at the Silver Strip, they were coworkers. Cathy was the only other person present at the facility when she had her session with Brian, so she’s the only one who personally knows who Brian’s Chev was,” she explained. Cassandra nodded in response.

“I see. That certainly explains a few things,” she replied. “So, she knew that Allison was his Chevalier. Why would she go out of her way to steal the document, though? Remember, this apparently happened before his innocence was proven, so I don’t see any logical reason for her to do such a thing. Perhaps you know where I’m going with this, Lizzy.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth sighed. “She knew that Brian was alive.”

“What?!” Jennifer exclaimed. “She knew that my brother was alive?! A Chev?! How?!”

“Jenny-bean, please don’t get angry,” Brian said softly, shooting her a pleading glance. At that, Jennifer remembered that she was in the presence of both her brother and a senator, and she hurriedly reigned in her outward anger.

“R-Right, I’m sorry. I’ll be quiet,” she replied sheepishly, causing Brian to give her palm a few comforting pats.

“It’s fine, darling, it only shows how much you love your brother,” Cassandra assured. “I would like to hear how she found out, though, if you don’t mind.”

“U-Um… before that, could you tell me why she sent you the document? You said that she gave a reason in the letter…” Allison said, to which Cassandra nodded.

“Yes, of course. She said… well, she said it was a peace offering,” she answered.

“A peace offering?” Elizabeth replied skeptically, reclining into the couch and crossing her arms. Once more, Cassandra nodded.

“I’ll be sure to get you a copy of the letter soon, once my people are done looking at it, but yes. To quote the letter, she said that she is ‘really really really really really sorry’ about ‘that one thing,’ and it seems like getting us this document is some sort of… reparation, in her mind,” she explained. Brian and Allison were staring at each other dumbfoundedly, not really sure what to do with that information. Elizabeth had adopted an annoyed expression, while Jennifer was trying extremely hard not to get angry again.

“What… what did she do to him?” she asked softly, the faintest quiver in her tone betraying her emotions.

“Jen… would it be easier if you left the room for a little while? Maybe we should talk about this later, in private,” Brian gently suggested, not wanting to upset her. Jennifer closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before looking down at him with a small, sympathetic smile.

“No, I’ll be okay, I promise. Thank you for thinking about my feelings, but… like we talked about - if something happened to you, then I need to know about it,” she replied.

“Okay. Just know that… we did the best we could, and everything turned out alright,” Brian responded, to which Jennifer nodded. With that, Brian turned back towards Cassandra, ready to start explaining. However, Allison spoke up first.

“Cathy was an extremely enthusiastic Chev,” she began. Brian shot her a questioning glance, and her following look conveyed her message clearly:

My fault, my responsibility.

“She loves being a Chev, and was always very… passionate about the torture element of the job,” she continued. “She’s even the one who gave me the inspiration for the ‘swallowed alive’ thing, since that was one of her favorite methods of execution. She wanted to be Brian’s Chevalier very badly, and was extremely disappointed when I was the one who got him instead. About a week after I rescued him, she ended up unexpectedly showing up at my apartment one evening. Due to a series of ill-timed events, but mostly my own carelessness, she ended up finding him.”

“I see,” Cassandra muttered, bringing one hand to her chin in contemplation. 

“When she did, I acted like Allie had only smuggled me out to keep torturing me, not rescue me,” Brian cut in, causing Cassandra to raise an eyebrow.

“And she believed that?” she asked, an odd spark in her voice. Brian shrugged.

“I was convincing. We both were,” he replied dryly.

“I see. So, she found you, but believed that Allison had only smuggled you out to keep torturing you. Got it. What happened next? Why did she feel the need to make a peace offering?” she asked. Brian sighed, and reached out to comfortingly grasp Jennifer’s nearby thumb.

“S-She tortured him,” Allison whispered, unable to look Jennifer in the eye. Jennifer’s anger spiked, but the faintest of sensations on her thumb allowed her to keep it in check. Still, she couldn’t help but develop a small scowl.

“She blackmailed me. She threatened to tell someone about what I did if I didn’t let her have a session with him,” Allison continued. Admitting this to one of Brian’s family members felt worse than she could have imagined. Both Brian and Elizabeth were gazing at her sympathetically, silently begging her to leave out a certain detail. However, Allison’s guilt-ridden mind had other plans.

“And… and… I-I had to-”

“Sabotage the session,” Brian interrupted, unwilling to let her do that to herself. Cassandra and Jennifer both looked to him with surprised eyes.

“She convinced Cathy to make it a ten-minute session, as opposed to the usual sixty. Then, she actually cut it off after only seven minutes, and even ordered a cab ahead of time to get her out of the apartment right away. She also made it so Cathy couldn’t kill or permanently injure me, which really limited what she could actually do to hurt me. I was completely fine afterwards, and everything turned out okay. We did what we had to do, and I never blamed Allie for it,” he continued earnestly, looking up at his sister. Jennifer’s angry eyes softened in the face of his candid defense, and her anger slightly dissipated. Letting out a small sigh, she looked back at Allison.

“Allison?” she called out, to which Allison nervously made eye contact.

“…thank you,” she muttered, deciding to give her a break. A collective weight was lifted from everybody’s shoulders, and Allison couldn’t help but smile in relief.

“However,” Jennifer continued, “I don’t care if this ‘Cathy’ feels bad about it - I’ll rip her face off if she comes near my brother again.”

This statement, delivered as casually as if she was stating that the sky was blue, couldn’t help but send a small shiver reverberating throughout the room.

“Jen…” Brian sighed, wondering when his sister became so violent.

“Well, I can’t say I blame you,” Cassandra replied with a shrug, before turning back to Allison. “It sounds like you did the best you could in an extremely difficult situation, and everything turned out alright. Still... I’m very sorry that you both had to go through that.”

“Thank you,” they both replied. 

“I’m sorry too…” Jennifer whispered, subtly clenching and unclenching her free fist in anger. Suddenly, her burning rage had finally been given a real target. Someone had enjoyed torturing her brother, and she knew exactly who it was. With this new knowledge, her brain began to tune out the conversation as she developed a small glaze in her eyes. All that flowed through her mind were images of a giant, smiling woman and a tiny, screaming Brian, and her hatred exponentially increased with each new image.

Then, the scenes began to change. Brian’s shrunken visage started to melt away, and was slowly replaced by a tiny, screaming form of the giant woman. Her enormous, smiling-self was then replaced by a girl with jet-black hair and striking green eyes - eyes that were showing a fierce expression. Just like that, Jennifer was imagining personally torturing Cathy. Although she didn’t yet know what Cathy looked like, the tiny figure in her imagination was too small for that to matter. All that mattered was that this bug of a woman made her beloved brother suffer, and now it was her turn.

Noting the physical sensation of holding her tiny brother in the palm of her hand, she incorporated it into her scenarios. She imagined what it would feel like to completely dominate such a helpless figure, to utterly obliterate them with her overwhelming strength. She could pull limbs off as easily as she would pluck a blade of grass; the most excruciating experiences imaginable for them would come as easily to her as blinking. 

I would give her exactly what she deserves for hurting my adorable brother… she thought.

And so it continued in her mind. While the others continued to discuss Cathy, what happened after the session, and what their next moves were, all Jennifer could do was silently imagine the cruelest scenes of shrunken torture she could muster, teaching Cathy the true meaning of reparation. Without even realizing it, she had developed the smallest hint of a smile. However, everybody else was too distracted to notice.

~

“…and that’s it. We haven’t heard from her since,” Allison said, wrapping up the story of Cathy’s discovery and ultimate promise to keep quiet. Jennifer was too distracted by her fantasies to really care about what was being said, but Cassandra was listening intently with an extremely confused look on her face. The room turned silent as she took a moment to process everything she had just learned.

“She just… kept it a secret? Why would she do that?” she muttered, furrowing her brow in deep contemplation.

“That’s a good question,” Elizabeth sighed. “I’m afraid it’s still a bit of a mystery. Allie wanted to believe that Cathy was simply looking out for her, but… I don’t buy it. Considering what we know about how Chevaliers are chosen, and what type of… profile they tend to be…”

“Lizzie…” Cassandra warned, a quick glare indicating that she was once again touching on sensitive information. Elizabeth made a small squeak of realization, before falling silent.

“Allison, do you happen to know if Cathy was recommended to be a Chevalier, like you were?” Cassandra asked, a soft smile quickly wiping away any traces of the previous look on her face.

“I don’t… I don’t know, really,” Allison replied, after taking a moment to try and remember anything that Cathy had told her during her time at the Silver Strip.

“Well, actually… she did tell me that she actively sought the job out, so maybe she found someone who had the influence to recommend her? Has something like that ever happened before?” she asked, perking up a bit as the possibility entered her mind. Cassandra hummed in contemplation for a moment.

“Hmm… I suppose it’s possible. You said she’s drop-dead gorgeous, right?” she asked, to which Allison nodded firmly. Cassandra hung her head slightly and let out a small sigh.

“Yeah, it’s definitely possible,” she muttered, thinking of how vulnerable some of her colleagues were, both male and female, to the persuasive charms of a pretty lady.

“Why do you ask, though? If she was recommended?” Allison inquired.

“I’m just thinking of any potential factors that could have influenced her decision to keep quiet, that’s all,” Cassandra hurriedly replied. “Seeing as how we don’t seem to have any theories.”

“I never said we don’t have any theories,” Elizabeth cut in. “I can tell you my best guess for why she did it, if you want.”

“Please, do tell,” Cassandra replied, clearly amused by Elizabeth’s eagerness to share her thoughts. Allison looked down at the floor, knowing what was coming next. Brian, on the other hand, was looking up at his sister with a curious eye. Sensing his gaze, Jennifer snapped out of fantasyland and looked down at her brother. He waved at her with a small smile, clearly wondering what she was thinking about. Jennifer quietly giggled and waved back, deciding to herself that she would never tell him.

“Basically, I think it was self-preservation,” Elizabeth continued. “I think that Cathy was afraid to rat because she had committed the same crime, and Allie might have retaliated against her. If she was seriously that addicted to the torture part of the job, then I don’t see her just giving up her own convicts, so maybe-”

“What?”

Elizabeth was stopped by a sudden interruption. Looking up, she saw that Cassandra was staring right into her soul, a fierce expression in her eyes.

“…what?” Elizabeth replied, while everyone else looked on with curious eyes.

“You said Cathy committed the same crime. What crime are you referring to?” Cassandra continued, slowly and carefully. Elizabeth, Allison and Brian all shared a moment of embarrassment as they remembered a certain detail they had forgotten to mention in their prior conversations with Cassandra.

“During the session with Brian, Cathy told me that she had also smuggled out convicts. Well, more like heavily implied,” Allison cut in, as Cassandra shifted her gaze over to her.

“D-Do you have any proof of this?” she quickly asked, clearly struggling to stay composed. 

“I… no, I don’t,” Allison quietly replied, looking down at the floor.

“For a time, we had actually considered trying to find proof ourselves,” Elizabeth added. “You know, by poking around her house or something. We thought it could have been helpful in the event that Cathy became an issue while we were trying to prove Brian’s innocence. However…”

“I don’t actually know where Cathy lives…” Allison said, her tone darkening even more. “I mean, I tried pretty hard not to get friendly with my coworkers, so I’m sure I never asked, but… she never told me. Maybe we weren’t as close as I thought.”

“In any case, that idea went nowhere. We just had to hope that Cathy would keep her promise. And, well… to her credit, she did. However, I have no idea why she would have stolen Brian’s SP document like that. Call me crazy, but I’m not exactly willing to give that woman the benefit of the doubt,” Elizabeth continued, subtly clenching and unclenching her fist in anger. As they were talking, Cassandra had been staring off into the distance, an extremely troubled look on her face.

“Allison, I’ve been wondering about something,” she softly said. “Would you say that it was easy to smuggle Brian out of the Silver Strip?”

“E-Easy?” Allison repeated, confused by the unexpected question.

“I don’t mean philosophically,” Cassandra elaborated. “I’m fully aware how difficult of a decision it was. I mean in a literal sense, was it easy to smuggle him out? Were there any cameras in the facility? Some kind of inspection before you left the building? Anything like that?”

“Well… no, not really,” Allison answered. “The rooms where sessions happen don’t have cameras, and we were free to leave the building as we pleased, so… I just had to, well, hide him, and that was it. I suppose it wasn’t the most difficult thing in the world, no…”

“Okay, next question,” Cassandra said, narrowing her eyes as she got to the point.

“In the Silver Strip, was there anything stopping Chevaliers from smuggling out convicts whenever they wanted?”

Silence overtook the room as the question hung in the air. All eyes were on Allison as she genuinely struggled to think of an answer. Eventually, she spoke in an extremely unsure voice.

“It’s… illegal? And the consequences are pretty severe?” she hesitantly answered, to which Cassandra shook her head.

“Darling, consequences won’t matter to a criminal if they think they aren’t going to get caught. That’s why the SP hasn’t magically lowered crime rates, you know this,” she replied.

“Y-Yeah, I guess…” Allison said, fidgeting in her seat. Cassandra sensed that she was making everybody uncomfortable, and decided to change her tune. She could tell that she had already gotten all the available information on the subject.

“Putting that aside for a moment,” she started, “what I want to know is this, Allison: is Cathy a threat to us? Do you take her at her word that getting us this document was an act of friendship?”

Allison thought carefully for a moment, before closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh.

“I don’t know.”

“I see. Well, I suppose I’ll just have to give her a call and see what she wants. Allison, would you be open to talking with her at some point? If she’s trying to make amends, she might be more willing to talk to you,” Cassandra continued. Allison frowned in response, a few conflicting emotions tugging at her insides.

“I suppose,” she eventually answered quietly.

“Thank you, darling. And, um… supposing she wants to speak with Brian at some poin-”

“No.”

“No.”

“No.”

Allison, Elizabeth, and Jennifer all immediately spoke up in protest, firmly expressing their displeasure. Undeterred, Cassandra looked to the one-inch man awkwardly sitting in his sister’s palm, sheepishly scratching his neck.

“Brian?” she asked, ignoring the soft scowls she was receiving.

“Yeah, Cathy kinda scares me, so…” Brian quietly replied, implying that he agreed with the decision of his gargantuan guardians.

“Very well,” Cassandra replied, shooting him a brisk nod as she decided to move on.

“Regardless of Cathy’s intent, the fact remains that an unpredictable figure potentially has access to Brian’s SP document,” she continued. “We can’t assume that she sent us the document without having made copies. So, with that in mind, it’s best that we get ahead of this and release the information ourselves. I think it’s time for Allison to introduce herself to the world.”

~

“W-Wait, hold on…” Brian said, standing up in Jennifer’s palm as his heart sped up in nervousness. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Isn’t it too soon?”

“It’s certainly sooner than I’m sure we all expected, darling, but we’ve been put in a difficult situation. We have to be the ones in control of all pieces on the playing field, we simply have to. So, our next video should introduce Allison, her status as a former Chevalier, and the story of how she saved you,” Cassandra replied, before turning to the girl in question. “How do you feel about that, Allison? Are you ready to go public?”

Allison was staring at her with wide eyes, clearly surprised by this unexpected development. However, after taking a moment to process, she adopted a firm expression as she came to a decision.

“I’m ready. I’m fine with people knowing what I did,” she answered, her voice unwavering. Elizabeth adopted a small, prideful smile at her former student’s confidence, while Cassandra beamed in response. Jennifer’s eyes were indifferent, but the same couldn’t be said for her brother.

“Hold on!” he exclaimed, waving his arms a bit in protest.

“What are you afraid of, Brian?” Cassandra asked in response, cutting to the heart of the issue. Brian was taken slightly aback at her directness, but quickly composed himself.

“Like we were just talking about, smuggling me out was a crime. A serious one. Going public means putting Allie in danger, because it would mean admitting to everybody that she committed that crime,” he calmly explained. Allison’s eyes softened in appreciation, wishing that she was the one holding him at that moment. However, she was holding back her possessive side for Jennifer’s sake, and simply flashed him a warm smile in response. Cassandra was slightly surprised by Brian’s concern, and couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle.

“Darling, nobody is going to prosecute her for saving you,” she said dismissively. “Your story has captured the heart of the whole country, and you think somebody would be stupid enough to try and punish the girl who saved your life? The only person in three years who did the right thing? That would be inviting the ire of an entire nation, Brian, nobody is going to do that.”

“That’s exactly what I told him,” Elizabeth added. “However, Brian has never really been convinced.”

“Because it isn’t guaranteed,” Brian earnestly replied. “That isn’t a tangible, legal layer of protection, it’s only assumed. Isn’t there anything you can do, Cassandra? As a senator?”

Cassandra softly shook her head.

“I’m afraid that’s a bit beyond me, Brian. I’ll tell you what, though…”

With that, she rose from the couch and moved closer to Brian and Jennifer, before kneeling in front of them. Jennifer felt herself tensing up as Cassandra leaned in towards her brother, while Brian simply stared at her with a concerned look on his face.

“I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to keep Allison safe. I’ll have my people keep an ear out for any rumblings of those who would take action against her, and I’ll make sure it’s swiftly dealt with. I’ll also work the press as often as I can, making sure everybody knows just how brave and amazing she is. I promise, darling. No harm will come to her,” she continued, slowly but firmly. She then turned to Allison and gave her a wink, to which she smiled widely. Looking back at Brian, Cassandra saw that his eyes were turned downwards, and he let out a sigh of defeat.

“…okay,” he mumbled, choosing to trust her and push down his anxiety. Everybody in the room beamed victoriously in response, save for Jennifer who still looked uninterested. As far as she was concerned, if it didn’t directly involve her brother then it didn’t require her attention.

“Excellent,” Cassandra said as she sat back down at the couch. However, her face quickly turned serious as she decided to bring up another point.

“That isn’t to say people won’t criticize you, though,” she said, turning to face Allison. “Being a public figure means opening yourself up to scrutiny. It also means telling everybody that you were a Chevalier. Retired or not, working against the system or not, people will criticize you for having executed convicts and profiting from it. Especially now that the SP is so unpopular. Is that something you can handle?”

“Whatever they say about me, it can’t be worse than what I already tell myself,” Allison replied dryly. “But… yes, I can take it. I’m in therapy, and I have a very good support system. I’ll be fine, I want to do this for Brian.”

Brian and Allison shared a tender glance, before both looking to an extremely-pleased looking Cassandra.

“Well, that’s that,” she replied chipperly. “It’s time to start making our next video.”

“Same process as last time?” Brian asked, finally sitting back down in his sister’s hand.

“That’s right, Brian. Now, if at all possible I’d like for you all to finish the video today so we can release it tomorrow. In a little bit, Allison, I’m going to have my head speechwriter give you a call. I want you to tell her the entire story of how you rescued Brian, with no details spared. She’s then going to help you turn that into a script, just like last time. Like before, we want it to be concise, easily digestible, and emphasize the right rhetorical points. I would hope that we can film it by this evening, so we can do a final check and send it out tomorrow morning. Does that all sound doable?”

“It’ll be fine, I’m good at memorizing scripts,” Allison replied, nodding a few times as she psyched herself up.

“I’m assuming that I’ll be in the video as well,” Brian said, to which Cassandra nodded.

“Yes, of course. People want to see you right now, Brian, so your presence will guarantee that the video is seen by everybody. You can also help emphasize the points that we’re trying to make, making sure to keep the SP at the front of everybody’s minds,” Cassandra answered. “Also, do some preliminary thinking about how you want to appear in the video together. Allison, it might be better for you to hold him, or even have him on your shoulder while you’re talking. Anything to keep the public’s interest.”

Brian and Allison shared a glance with each other, before Cassandra remembered one more thing.

“Also…” she started, an odd tone in her voice. “Not in this video, but… are you two prepared to go public with your relationship as well?”

The couple in question both turned red, as they hadn’t considered that yet. Elizabeth couldn’t help but grin at their embarrassment, while Jennifer’s expression subtly soured in annoyance.

“People love an unconventional love story,” Cassandra continued, trying to reassure them. “Trust me, it’ll play extremely well in the press. Plus, it’ll be another added layer of security for Allison. Nobody is going to go after Brian Bentley’s girlfriend.”

“F-Fine,” Brian stammered, looking down in embarrassment. Cassandra then turned to Allison, who was burying her head in her hands to hide her crimson cheeks. Unable to speak, she simply nodded a few times to signal her permission. 

“Great…” Jennifer muttered, gently petting her brother’s back as she rolled her eyes.

Just like that, a plan was formed. It was time to get to work.

~

After a few more details were confirmed, and a final round of thank-yous and goodbyes were shared, it was time for the senator to leave. However, there was something she needed to discuss with Elizabeth first, and had thus asked to speak with her outside for a moment. That left Brian, Jennifer, and Allison together in the living room, mulling over everything that had just happened. Wanting to break the awkward silence, Brian looked up at his sister from his spot in her palm.

“What’d you think of Cassandra, Jen?” he asked, giving her a small smile. Jennifer looked down at him and gave him a small smile back.

“She’s nice. Nicer than how she seems on TV,” she answered, causing Brian to nod appreciatively.

“Yeah, no kidding. She’s actually pretty easy to talk to, we’re very lucky to have her on our side,” he replied, eliciting a few nods of agreement. Brian then looked across at his girlfriend.

“Allie, are you sure you’re okay with going public? Despite everything, I’m still worried about people coming after you…” he asked, clearly troubled. Allison flashed him a warm smile.

“I’m okay, I promise. I won’t lie and say that I’m not nervous at all, but Cassandra promised to look out for me. Cathy has put us in a difficult spot, and I’m fine with doing whatever Cassandra thinks is best,” she replied.

“Cathy…” Brian muttered, a small shiver running down his spine. 

“Yeah, I know…” Allison responded, feeling the same shiver while Jennifer scowled.

“Anyway, get ready to be a super-celebrity, Allie. It’s a lot of pressure,” Brian continued, pushing back any memories relating to that blonde-headed sadist.

“You seem to be handling it pretty well,” Jennifer added, letting out a soft giggle. Brian adopted a small grin, before reaching up and rubbing his forehead with his fist.

“Well, this is my second time being a super-celebrity, dear sister. And compared to the first time, this has been a piece of cake,” he replied dryly, slightly wincing as he continued to rub his forehead.

“Bean…” Jennifer sighed, while Allison took note of his expression and grew concerned.

“Baby, what’s wrong? Do you have another headache?” she asked, leaning forward a bit in concern. Jennifer immediately went on high-alert, and moved her hand forward so she could see her brother more clearly. She didn’t even fully process that Allison had called him “baby.”

“Another headache? Is everything okay, Bean?” she hurriedly asked, to which Brian waved his hand dismissively.

“It isn’t a big deal, Jen. For the past month or so I’ve had a bit of a problem with headaches, that’s all. I can feel one coming on right now, but it isn’t very bad,” he answered. Allison frowned in sympathy, while Jennifer grew even more concerned.

“Well, d-do you know what’s causing them? Why would that just randomly start?” she continued, struggling to keep her hand steady as she got more upset.

“Jenny-bean…” Brian soothed, urging his sister to calm down. “It’s probably just stress related. It started during an… especially stressful period, and it hasn’t really calmed down since.”

Allison looked down at the floor, remembering the “stressful period” that Brian was referring to. Even though they had long since reconciled, the memory of Brian’s second breakdown at her hands still caused her intense guilt.

“Actually…” Brian said, looking back at Allison. “Allie, now that it isn’t, like, illegal, do you think I should go to a doctor? Maybe they could figure out a way for me to take pain meds.”

“Oh yeah, good point,” Allison replied appreciatively, before adopting a small frown. “Although, I can’t say I love the idea of some doctor poking and prodding you all over…”

“Yeah, that’s your jo-” Brian started to joke, but quickly cut himself off as he remembered whose palm he was sitting in. Allison stifled a few giggles, sheepishly glancing away from the miffed-looking sister who was glaring at her. Jennifer continued her annoyed gaze for a moment, before awkwardly changing the subject.

“A-Anyway, what do you need right now, Bean? What can I do to help your headache?” she asked. Brian quickly shook off his embarrassment and looked back up at her.

“I think I just need to lie down in the dark for a while. If it continues to get worse, I’ve found that wrapping an ice chip in a small chunk of paper towel helps. For now, though, I just need to rest,” he answered, to which Jennifer nodded.

“Do you want me to keep you company?” Allison asked, a hopeful smile on her face. Before Brian could respond, though, a small huff tore through the silence.

“I’ll keep my brother company, you need to talk with Senator Day’s speechwriter person for the video thing,” Jennifer firmly replied, before abruptly standing up and heading for the stairs. Before he was completely out of sight, though, Brian was able to shoot Allison a single glance, his message clear:

I’ll talk to her.

~

“Then, she… she said that he deserved to… well, that he deserved to be s-squished like a… like a bug. She said that she… would do it to him herself. And then she just… left. She left him all alone, knowing that his own mother wanted him to die. She also lied and told him that Jennifer wanted nothing to do with him, when Jennifer was actually the only person who still believed in him. That monster destroyed him, Cassandra. She wanted to make him feel as worthless and alone as she possibly could, and it worked. After that… h-he told me that he didn’t smile even once for three years…”

“Oh my God…” Cassandra whispered, absolutely horrified at the story she had just been told. Her eyes were wide and filled with tears, while her left hand covered her mouth in shock. Right outside the house, she and Elizabeth were having a private chat that Cassandra had requested before leaving. There were several things she wanted to talk about, but the first was an explanation as to why Brian was so opposed to reconciliation with his mother. Although she had expected it to be bad, the truth disturbed her beyond words.

“Oh my God…” she repeated, in an extremely rare situation of being lost for words.

“I-I don’t… how could…?” she stammered, trying not to completely burst into tears.

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth quietly replied, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. No matter how many times she thought about what Laura Bentley did to Brian, it still caused her intense emotional pain. Especially now that she considered herself Brian’s mom, and knew that there was no scenario on the planet in which she could possibly speak to him like that. In her mind, that awful woman had assaulted her child. She could never forgive someone for hurting her child.

“That boy is a miracle,” Cassandra eventually said, after the shock wore off. “How could someone possibly come back from something like that, mentally? How is he not a total mess?”

“There’s a lot going on inside of him that we simply can’t see,” Elizabeth sadly replied, looking down at the ground. “He’s unbelievably good at hiding it, but… it’s there. And sometimes, it’s too much for him to contain. That’s what happened when Laura came to see him.”

“And that’s another thing,” Cassandra said angrily, taking a step closer and lowering her voice.

“Why the hell was she allowed anywhere near him? Were you seriously okay with that?” she asked quietly, unable to completely hide the judgmental anger in her voice. Elizabeth closed her eyes and held up one hand to stop her, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“Of course I wasn’t,” she replied. “That was the last thing in the world that I wanted for him, and I tried very hard to convince him not to go through with it. A big part of me thinks that I should have just put my foot down and called the whole thing off myself. It’s just… he was ‘convinced’ into letting her meet with him, and it was ultimately his decision. He assured me that he wanted to go through with it.”

Cassandra frowned, and narrowed her eyes in confusion.

“Jennifer? Is that why she said what she did when he brought up the meeting?” she asked, to which Elizabeth nodded.

“Jennifer… and Allie, too,” she replied lowly. Seeing the incredulous expression in the senator’s eye, she continued.

“Jennifer didn’t know about what happened when Laura came to visit him, so she was under the impression that the worst thing Laura did was protect her and Jennifer from the media by publicly distancing themselves from him. Now that she knows… Jennifer wants nothing to do with her mother. And as for Allie, she did it for reasons that I can’t even…”

She stopped, taking a moment to get her anger under control.

“Anyway, they were both misguided. Brian couldn’t have been expected to react any differently than he did. Laura Bentley needs to stay away from him for the foreseeable future.”

“Yes, of course…” Cassandra muttered, processing everything she had just heard. “I wasn’t going to push the issue regardless, but I completely agree that it would be in his best interest to keep them apart. I have to know, though… was she, well, apologetic?”

“Very,” Elizabeth answered firmly. “According to Jennifer, the realization of what she did has completely destroyed her. The things Brian said to her during their meeting can’t have helped. And… I don’t know how she and Jennifer are going to be in the long-term, but for the time being they’re in an extremely rough spot. As callous as it is to say, Laura Bentley is completely alone.”

“I see, I see… well, at least she won’t cause any issues for us. The best thing she can do for us is lay low, not add any unexpected branches to our public narrative. Perhaps the time to reflect will do her good,” Cassandra replied.

“Perhaps, but my only concern is that she leaves Brian alone. Give him time to heal, and enjoy his time in the spotlight. And as for Jennifer and Laura, I’ll leave it up to them. Jennifer just clearly needs time to process, and come to terms with what happened. I’m happy to give her the space to do that, if she so desires, but we’ll see,” Elizabeth explained, to which Cassandra shook her head sadly.

“Poor girl…” she murmured. “I can’t imagine what must be going through her head. To get her brother back, but only an inch tall for what she assumes is the rest of his life. Then to find out that her own mother did such a horrendous thing, and didn’t tell her? She probably feels like she doesn’t have a mother anymore… and Brian has almost certainly felt that way for three years now…”

At that, despite the depressing tone the conversation had taken, a small spark of realization caused Elizabeth’s eyes to light up.

“Well, about that,” she started, perking up instantly. “If there was anything good to come out of Laura and Brian’s meeting, it was this: he asked me to be his mom.”

Cassandra practically flinched, completely caught off guard.

“H-He what?” she asked, totally flustered as her mind went a million miles an hour.

“He asked me to adopt him, isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? Now, I have to admit that I’ve been acting like his mother for a while now, and I wasn’t planning on stopping for the rest of eternity, but… to hear it from him, to have it be official, to be able to call myself his mom and know that nobody can say otherwise, it’s… it’s like a dream. I love that boy with my entire being, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make him happy. I swear, when he asked me to be his mom, I physically couldn’t stop crying!” Elizabeth continued, with one of the purest expressions of joy Cassandra had ever seen. However, this did not make her feel the way that Elizabeth was expecting. In fact, when Elizabeth looked back up at her friend to see her reaction, she saw that Cassandra looked severely troubled.

“Cassandra? What’s wrong…?” Elizabeth hesitantly asked. After a few long moments of uncomfortable silence, the senator grimaced and reluctantly made eye contact.

“You’re going to hate me,” she said in a small voice. Elizabeth’s heart fell off a cliff, and she instantly stiffened with nervousness.

“Oh God, what is it?” she asked, her former expression of joy now one of dread.

“Could I… could I ask you to hold off on adopting Brian…? Just for a little while?” Cassandra nervously continued, finding the words incredibly difficult to get out. Elizabeth felt like she had been struck by a bolt of lightning, and for the very first time felt a spark of anger towards her powerful friend.

“Why… why on earth would I do that?!” she replied defensively, causing Cassandra to frown in awkward discomfort. However, she quickly composed herself, took a breath, and turned on “senator” mode.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” she began firmly. “If we want to repeal the SP, and get Brian back to his normal size, we have to make sure that the national conversation is going exactly the way we want it, at all times. Right now, our focus is on creating sympathy for Brian, and more importantly hatred for the Shrink Penalty. The only thing we want people talking about right now is how horrible the SP is, and how Brian should never have gone through what he did. That means Brian can’t do anything that could be interpreted in a negative light, and that extends to the actions of those around him.”

“Are you saying that people would react negatively to me adopting him? To Brian having a mother who loves him?” Elizabeth asked incredulously, standing with her arms crossed.

“It isn’t guaranteed, but it is possible,” Cassandra gently replied. “Perhaps there are those who would view it as heartless towards Laura, and criticize you both for kicking a woman while she was down.”

Elizabeth couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Heartless? Towards her?” Elizabeth asked, practically hissing. “After what she-”

“The world doesn’t know what she did,” Cassandra interrupted. “Right now, all anybody knows is that Laura Bentley publicly distanced herself from Brian, and like Jennifer they could very well come to the conclusion that her doing so was purely to protect herself and her daughter. Right now, while the emotions are still high, Laura is receiving nothing but hate. However, as time passes and people calm down, they might just start to feel a bit of sympathy for her. Her actions could easily be spun as the actions of a scared mother, and your actions could thus be criticized as heartless.”

“That’s complete nonsense!” Elizabeth exclaimed, struggling to keep her voice down. “For one thing, that wasn’t why she said all those things on television, she did so because those were her genuine thoughts! And even if it was purely in the interest of protecting Jennifer, that doesn’t completely exonerate her from all blame! Imagine how her repeated public statements made Brian feel in prison, being reminded over and over of how his own mother felt about him. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if hearing about it caused him to have flashbacks to their meeting! A-And for that matter, why are we so concerned about Laura Bentley to begin with? Who cares how she’s perceived, she’s a monster who hurt my Brian! He needs a mother, and that’s what I can be for him! I need to do it, Cassandra, and now you’re asking me not to because of the woman who made it necessary?!”

“Okay, okay,” Cassandra soothed, stepping forward and putting a hand on her upset friend’s shoulder. She knew that she needed to calm Elizabeth down, before they drew the attention of anybody else in the vicinity.

“Let’s think about this for a second,” she continued. “You adopt Brian, the news gets out immediately, and we now have two options. The first is that we tell the world what Laura really did to Brian, and why he wants nothing to do with her. Lizzy, I’m not exaggerating when I say that doing so might put her life in danger. I can guarantee you that she would become public enemy number one in this country, and she would practically need to go into hiding to protect herself. Do you honestly think that it would be right for us to put her in danger like that?”

After a small hesitation, Elizabeth softly shook her head. Despite her intense hatred towards Laura Bentley, she didn’t think she deserved death.

“Our other option is letting things stay the way they are, and suddenly people are debating the ethics of what Laura did to ‘protect’ herself and her daughter, and odds are that a good percentage of them will end up critical of Brian’s decision,” Cassandra continued.

“Is that really so bad?” Elizabeth asked, calming down and composing herself. Now, it was Cassandra’s turn to get slightly angry.

“Yes it is, because we don’t have time for a national debate about ethics right now!” she exclaimed, raising her voice for the first time since they had met.

“Regardless of if we told the public what really happened or not, suddenly the conversation will no longer be about the SP and shutting it down, it’ll be about you and Laura Bentley! People won’t be pressuring their representatives to vote in favor of my SP bill, they’ll be too busy talking about the Bentley family drama! And who’s to say how Laura herself would react to the news? Maybe she would start talking to the press, drawing even more attention away from the one thing that everybody needs to be talking about for this to work. I can also assure you that the interest groups working against us would love this development, and use all their power to shift the national spotlight away from the SP and towards your adoption. We are running a national campaign, Lizzy! We are running a national campaign that will only succeed if we are the only ones controlling what the public thinks, and when they think it. That is the only thing that matters, and your adoption could have the potential to ruin everything!”

Cassandra closed her eyes and took a deep breath, getting herself under control. Elizabeth simply stood there in silence, both intimidated and saddened by what she was hearing. Opening her eyes, Cassandra returned to a more gentle tone.

“So, with all that being said, we have a third option. We wait until the SP is repealed, and go from there. I think you’re absolutely right, Lizzy - that boy needs a mom, and you’re the best person for the job. Having it be official will be a wonderful thing, something you both can cherish for the rest of your lives. I’m only saying that it can wait, just for a little while. Like you said, you’ve basically been his mom for a long time now. A little slip of paper isn’t going to change that. The best thing we can do for Brian is stick to the plan, and make sure that nothing unexpected gets in our way. Do you understand?”

Elizabeth was silent for a few long moments, before finally lowering her head and sighing.

“Fine,” she mumbled. “I’ll explain it to him. But when the time comes, you better see to it personally that the adoption goes through. That boy will be mine, one way or the other.”

Finally, Cassandra smiled, glad that they understood each other.

“Of course, you have my word,” she said, before her eyes softened a bit. “And… I apologize for raising my voice. You aren’t doing anything wrong, it’s just… this is all very stressful, Lizzy. This whole campaign. I’m trying to manage the public, the SP interest groups, and I’m still the one in charge of finding out why Brian was framed to begin with, and punishing those responsible. On top of that, I now have this ‘Cathy’ to worry about, and I should probably pay a visit to Laura as well, to make sure that she understands the situation, and… it’s a lot. I’m only one person…”

“You may be one person, but you are not alone,” Elizabeth said reassuringly, taking a step forward. “I can’t imagine the kind of pressure you must be under, but please know that we are all happy to help you in any way we can. I trust Allie to deal with Cathy, and if you wanted I could be the one to contact Laura.”

Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

“You’re volunteering to talk to that woman?” she asked skeptically, to which Elizabeth sighed.

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, but if it would free you up to work on other important things then yes. We have a sort of… understanding, so I know she would at least listen to me. Maybe I just won’t mention the adoption, for now,” she replied, winking at the end. Cassandra beamed, feeling an immense surge of appreciation for her friend.

“That would be a big help,’ she said softly, just a little embarrassed. “I’ll get you her number. Just make sure that she continues to lay low, and doesn’t say a single thing to the press. She can stay in that hotel room for as long as she and Jennifer are in the area.”

“You got it,” Elizabeth chirped, glad to be of assistance.

“Alright, I think that covers it,” Cassandra continued. “I’m gonna let my speechwriter know what the deal is, so she can prepare to help Allison. I’m also going to contact Cathy personally, find out what she wants before getting her in contact with Allison.”

“Sounds good,” Elizabeth replied, “please let us know if there is anything we can do to help.”

“Well, there is one last thing…” Cassandra said, a small, sly grin developing on her face. “I’ve been working on a… surprise, for Brian, and it should be ready within the next couple days. I could use your input, though, to make sure that it goes perfectly.”

“Cassandra…” Elizabeth responded cautiously. “What, exactly, are you planning…?”

Her question was simply met with an even wider grin.

~

Jennifer rushed into Brian’s room, closing the door behind her. She made sure to turn the overhead light off, keeping the room only dimly lit by the hints of sunlight behind the covered window. Fixating her full attention on the small mass in her hand, she made her way over to the bed before sitting down and flashing a concerned look to the tiny man in her grasp. The tiny man, in turn, flashed her a slightly exasperated one.

“What can I do to help, Bean? I’ll do anything,” she asked her brother eagerly, almost unconsciously stroking his miniscule back with one of her thumbs.

“You’ll do anything?” Brian asked her back, raising an eyebrow in mock-surprise.

“Anything,” she instantly repeated.

“Anything in the whole wide world~?” he countered, drawing out the last word.

“Anything in the whole wide world,” she repeated once again, completely serious.

“Alright, here’s what you can do to help,” Brian replied, adopting a somewhat serious expression of his own. 

“You can take a deep breath, Jenny-bean, and stop worrying so much,” he said softly, flashing a small smile at his gigantic sister.

“W-What?” she quickly replied, caught off-guard.

“I’m worried about you, Jen,” Brian continued. “You’ve been through so much these past couple weeks, and I think you’re trying to bottle it up for my sake.”

After a moment, Jennifer softly shook her head and tried to put on a reassuring smile.

“I’m fine, Bean, you don’t need to worry about me,” she said quietly, to which Brian frowned.

“I’m always going to worry about you, but that’s besides the point,” he replied. “Jennifer, you’re not fine. It’s physically impossible for you to be fine. I know you’re not fine because I’m not fine, and I’ve had a lot longer to adjust than you.”

“I… I know that a lot has happened… but I’m telling the truth. I’m just so happy that we get to be together again, that’s the only thing that matters to me,” Jennifer said, placing her free hand over her heart. However, Brian wasn’t buying it.

“Is that so…” he replied skeptically. “So, for instance, you’re not at all angry that Mom lied to you for so long?”

Jennifer’s expression instantly darkened, and her soft smile vanished.

“And you’re not at all taking that anger out on Allie and Elizabeth a bit? You’re not being a little hard on them?” Brian continued, gently rubbing the enormous hand underneath him.

“That’s different,” Jennifer firmly replied, looking away in anger. “I’m only reacting appropriately to the news that you were allowed to be hurt by the people who were supposed to protect you.”

“Jen, you know that everything turned out okay, and they are doing the best they can. I’m still here, aren’t I? After everything they’ve done for me, don’t you think they deserve the benefit of the doubt?”

Jennifer’s scowl deepened, and she let out a small huff.

“You said that I could take care of you…” she mumbled.

“No, I said that I would be more honest with you,” Brian corrected. “And I want to do that, Jen. But you have to help me out. If I feel like you’re going to react with fire and brimstone every time I give you a piece of bad news, all that does is make me less willing to do so. I can’t trust you with the truth if I feel like you can’t handle it, especially at a time when you have so much going on in your head.”

At that, the enormous teenager’s face finally softened, and she looked back towards her brother with sad eyes. Seeing that he had finally gotten through to her, Brian decided that it was time to be her big brother.

“You know, one of the reasons I didn’t want you to know about what Mom did was because… well, because I didn’t want to destroy your relationship with her,” he said softly, causing Jennifer’s face to twist in confusion.

“Despite my anger towards her, I was really glad that you and her were on good terms. I was glad to hear that you had a mother. I didn’t want to take that away from you,” he continued, turning his eyes downwards. Jennifer’s heart could hardly take it.

“You didn’t take anything away from me… I never had it in the first place,” she whispered, trying to keep her hands from shaking. “She knew how I felt about everything. She knew how much you meant to me. At the same time, she knew what she had done to you. She knew what… w-what she had told you about me. The l-lies… that I didn’t b-believe y…”

She stopped, unable to go on lest she explode.

“She knew all that, and still allowed me to love her. To think that she had done everything in the interest of… protecting us. It was all a lie. I can’t… I refuse to live under a lie. She’s not my mother. She never was,” she slowly continued, her gaze hardening over. Brian was staring at her with the most sympathetic eyes in the universe. For a few long seconds, he couldn’t even bring himself to say anything. Eventually, though, he spoke.

“...and you tell me not to worry about you?” he weakly replied, letting out a small chuckle. Jennifer did not respond, only breaking eye contact to look down at the bed.

“Jenny-bean, I’m going to ask you something. It’s really important that you tell me the truth,” Brian continued, adopting a firm tone. Jennifer looked back up at him with a curious eye. What she saw was that her tiny brother was staring directly into her soul, a look of pure and utter concern on his face. After a moment, he continued.

“Are you okay?” he gently asked, an entire ocean of familial love contained within the words. They slammed into Jennifer and practically made her flinch, making her feel like she was going to collapse. A part of her wanted to burst into tears and beg her brother for comfort, another part of her wanted to deny it altogether. But she remembered Brian’s earnest plea to tell him the truth, and fighting back tears she began to open her mouth. Just at that moment, though, she noticed something about her brother. While he awaited her response, he was absentmindedly rubbing his forehead, the smallest grimace visible on his miniscule face. At that, she instantly remembered why they were there, and a fresh wave of concern drowned out her other feelings. So, she simply flashed Brian a small, wistful smile in response.

“...I’ll get back to you on that,” she whispered. Before Brian could reply, she stood from the bed.

“Bean, you’re not feeling good. Let’s get you taken care of before we talk about this stuff,” she firmly continued. After a moment, Brian let out a small sigh, his will to resist being destroyed by his admittedly worsening headache.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “This isn’t over, though.”

“Fine, fine,” Jennifer soothed. “Now, where should I put you?”

“Just on the bed is fine, under the covers and with the light off. I’ll rest for a while, and if it doesn’t get better then we can try some ice,” Brian explained, pointing to the spot on the bed where he usually rested. Jennifer nodded, and gently reached over to pull back the bedsheets.

“Is it okay if I lay next to you?” she asked sweetly. “That way you can just let me know if you need anything.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Brian replied, rolling his eyes. Jennifer giggled in response. Feeling emboldened, she decided to try one last thing. It was something she had been too nervous to do up to this point, but something she felt she had to do nonetheless.

Without warning, Brian noticed that his field of view was quickly being overtaken by his enormous sister’s approaching face. Realizing what was coming, he inwardly sighed and closed his eyes. A moment later, Jennifer’s soft and slightly damp lips fluttered against his forehead, in a sensation hardly more impactful than the flap of a butterfly’s wing. Jennifer gave him the quickest of pecks on the forehead, a gesture filled to the brim with bubbly affection and sisterly care. Pulling her head back, she flashed her now-miffed brother a self-satisfied smile.

“Bean, I love you,” she declared triumphantly. Brian, after a moment, developed the smallest smile as he decided to give her a break.

“Love you too, Jen,” he replied, before leaning over and gently kissing her nearby thumb. Jennifer wanted to squeal in delight, but decided to keep it to herself. With that, she finally relinquished Brian from her grasp as she gently set him down on the bed. There was a brief moment of hesitation when she began to pull her hand away, almost feeling like it was being magnetically drawn back towards him, but she managed it nonetheless. Brian settled in on the bed, while Jennifer made her way around and laid down on the opposite side. They exchanged a quick glance before Brian closed his eyes, while Jennifer gazed at his peaceful face. As silence overtook the room and stillness overtook her head, she suddenly found herself thinking about what Brian had said earlier.

“Are you okay?” echoed his tiny voice. Closing her eyes and softly shaking her head, Jennifer tried to banish the question from her mind, as well as everything else she had been thinking about in the previous 24 hours. As far as she was concerned, she was on the clock. So, with that, she simply kept her attention on her tiny brother, and did her very best not to think about the raging thunderstorm inside her heart.

~

Later that day, everyone was on edge. It was time to film the video in which Allison would be revealed to the world, as well as the story of how Brian Bentley had survived the Shrink Penalty. Allison was sitting at the kitchen counter, her back to a wall as her hands lay neatly folded in front of her. She was dressed in a very formal white blouse, with her medium-long auburn hair hanging freely, yet brushed to one side. The reason for this was simple:

The most famous man in the country was sitting on her shoulder.

Indeed, they had agreed to appear in the video together this way, both to reinforce Brian’s new size and draw attention to his gargantuan guardian. Both their faces were steely and professional, as they tried to keep their nerves contained within. Sensing Allison’s distress, Brian reached over and stroked her nearby neck, to which she gratefully closed her eyes and leaned against him a bit. It was a barely noticeable gesture for either of them, but more than enough to remind them that they were a team, and everything was going to be okay.

Across the counter, Elizabeth was nervously holding her phone as she prepared to record them. Since she didn’t need to be on camera, she had no reservations about allowing her nerves to shine through on her face. This was mixed with a hint of sadness, which had not left her complexion since her earlier talk with Cassandra. Behind her, Jennifer paced across the room, keeping her anxious eyes on Brian. After a quick confirmation that the duo was ready, Elizabeth steeled her nerves and started to record. A moment later, exactly as scripted, Allison opened her mouth and began to speak. With these words, she was opening herself up to the scrutiny of an entire country.

“Hello. My name is Allison Starr.”