~

“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.”