Resting on her knees as softly and, more importantly, as quietly as possible, Stephanie found herself in a losing battle against the continuously widening smile on her face. Leaning in closer and closer to the floor, her eyes locked greedily upon the cloth flap that separated her from another victory. She had already canvassed the rest of the house, leaving the underside of the living room recliner as the last possible haven for her diminutive target.

Reaching a hand forward, the tip of Stephanie's tongue protruded from the corner of her mouth in playful anticipation. Gingerly, her fingertips came into contact with the bottom of that flap, her nails resting on the carpeted floor. One quick motion, and then that flap would soon be replaced with her adorable little treasure at her fingertips.

The flap went up, and Stephanie's smile went down.

There was nothing there.

Confused and more than a bit annoyed, her other hand shot forward and underneath the chair. She began to cautiously feel around the star-like protrusions that made up the recliner's base, on the off chance that Will was lying prone behind one of them, and as such out of her sight. Her searching digits found nothing, however, and Stephanie's cheeks puffed in frustration as she withdrew her hand and rose to her feet.

They puffed further as her eyes found the clock. She only had 5 minutes left if she wanted to win, but...

Giving her right heel a sharp tap against the floor, she promptly pivoted and began to move. Her eyes busily scanned the floor around her, their purpose both predatory and cautious in nature. Stephanie began to mentally retrace her steps even as she walked into the kitchen, checking off each potential hiding spot she had searched in her combing of the house. She knew that she hadn't missed one, of course - she had this down to a science at this point. But where was Will? Had she overlooked him at some point?

She shook her head. That couldn't be it.

"No luck yet, sweetie?" a melodious voice asked as Stephanie padded into the kitchen, her eyes still at work down on the floor, checking every nook and cranny they came across. Pausing for a moment in her increasingly futile search, Stephanie looked up to her mother as she turned to face her from her position at the counter. Her hair was tied into a tight bun, as it often was when she cooking or baking, and Stephanie lazily noted the pocketed apron she wore over her shirt and jeans, as well as the mixer in her hand.

"No," Stephanie pouted, biting her lower lip.

"Looks like he finally got you," her mother stated with a grin.

"Not yet!" Stephanie retorted, continuing to wrack her brain. What was she missing? Where could he be? She had never lost at this before...

"Hm. Well, I think time's on his side right now," the parent informed, her grin growing wider.

"I'll find him!" Stephanie stated simply as she moved through the kitchen and into the hallway.

"Mmmhmm," her mother sounded from behind her. "And I'll be right here when you need me to get him for you. Hope you're ready for cartoons, sweetie," she finished with an eager giggle, and soon the whir of the mixer could be heard.

Stephanie wasn't going to lose. She couldn't. Turning into her room from the hallway, her eyes immediately began to scan around the floor once again. Her nightstand, the legs of her bed, under her chest of drawers...Will liked hiding under all of them. He liked hiding under some other things, too. She knew all of his favorite spots, and she knew she had checked all of them. Knew she didn't have time to double check all of them.

She couldn't help but ball her fists up and frown. She wasn't supposed to lose at this. She wasn't.

Grunting, she started to slowly march from her room, eyes still going. Maybe she really had lost for once. Her mom certainly seemed to think so...even sounded happy about it! Very happy! Stephanie knew that her Mommy typically rooted for Will just because she won so much, but...

The whirring of the mixer suddenly cut out, and Stephanie found herself perking up, even if just a little. Her Mommy always let her lick the batter from the beaters when she baked a cake, and-

Stephanie paused midstride, and the smile began to return to her face. Mommy was baking, wasn't she?

And since when did she wear an apron when doing so? And with how happy and assured of her daughter's oncoming loss she had seemed...

Stephanie began to walk once again, quickening her pace. She really didn't have long. Entering the kitchen, she immediately found her mom pouring the mixture into a pan.

"Mommy," she started, trying to keep the eagerness out of her voice and making an effort to suppress her smile, "can I lick the beater?" She made sure to put some extra sweetness into the request.

"Sure, sweetie," her mother answered, her voice still peppered with that same perkiness from a moment before. "Give up, then?"

Stephanie didn't answer as she moved in next to her mother, her eyes focused on the twin beaters and the treat they offered. Only for a moment though. As she reached a hand toward the mixer, she shifted her gaze to the right, to her mother's apron. More precisely, to the large, open pocket that adorned its front.

Her mother didn't have time to react as the hand that had been moving toward the mixer suddenly changed course, deftly slipping into the opening of the apron's pocket. Stephanie could feel her mother shudder and freeze, and couldn't resist looking up at her face. Her pretty eyes were wide, and her mouth was somewhat agape. Stephanie held that gaze, her lips pursed and straight.

Until she felt a familiar little form at her fingertips, a form that was resting at the bottom of the pocket, that began to squirm as her fingers wrapped around it.

Then she gave her mother the widest smile she could manage, eliciting the largest sigh she had ever heard as the older woman's chest heaved above her.

"Told ya I'd find'im!" Stephanie declared happily, turning her attention to the little boy currently trapped in her fingers as she removed him from the apron's pocket. Slowly removing her fingers from him, making sure to keep her palm level and steady, she she eagerly took in his mop of dark hair, his frustrated little face. A form even smaller than Daddy's. Even more fragile and in need of her.

William. Her precious little brother. The wonderful little treasure she would do just about anything for.

"I win again!" she informed him confidently, still showing off her teeth. A pouting look took over the little boy's face, and Stephanie had to giggle.

"Sorry, honey," their mother apologized from above them. "I thought we could get her this time."

"Nope!" Stephanie nearly sang. "And that means soccer!"

"You couldn't let him watch his cartoons, Stephanie?" the mother asked, tone pitying. Sure she could, Stephanie thought. But...

"Nope!" she replied again, pivoting and beginning to slowly walk away from her parent, making sure to keep Will nice and comfortable in her palm. "I win and that means I get the TV! That's the rules!"

"So what about the batter?" her mother asked, though Stephanie figured she already knew the answer.

"Don't care!" she informed before exiting into the living room, still looking down at her little sibling as it sat right where he should be, where he was safest. "Got what I want!"

"I dun wanna watch soccer..." Will told her as she came to the couch and turned to hop on. "It's boring!"

Stephanie tilted her head, pursed her lips. Kept smiling.

"Nuh-uh!," she answered, reaching for the remote and switching to ESPN. "Soccer's so fun, Will! You just need to give it a chance!"

"And besides," she continued slyly, "doesn't matter how boring you think it is. It's what we're watching.

The little boy blew her a raspberry from her hand, and Stephanie had to giggle. She brought the index finger of her free hand up to his little form, and promptly pressed it into his tummy as she laid down, lightly tickling the small child with the soft battering ram of her fingertip. He began to shake with laughter, eliciting an adoring coo from Stephanie. He really was so cute. And she'd turn to cartoons for him eventually, just as she always did. Even if he liked to forget about that part.

Bringing her occupied hand over to her own tummy, Stephanie gave it a tender tilt to allow her sibling to roll off her hand and onto the fabric of her pink shirt. He promptly resumed his prone position again, earning another giggle that shook him up and down with her belly. For now, though, they'd watch soccer.

"Stephie?" his little voice soon called out, after he had gotten settled comfortably onto her stomach. It was soft and quiet, and Stephanie had only just heard it over the TV.

"Hm?"

"Why do I always gotta lose when we play hide n' seek?"

Stephanie turned her head, saw him sitting Indian-style on his resting place now. His little face looked rather sad.

That wasn't gonna do.

"Well," she started, bringing a hand over to him again. Slowly, she started to softly stroke his his back. She knew he liked that. "It's 'cause you're the little brother..."

"But why's that mean I gotta lose?"

"Lemme finish!" she exclaimed, shifting her stroking finger into a pincer grip that ended with her little brother being lifted between her thumb and forefinger. She brought him over to her face, dangling him just a few inches above it as she gave him the softest smile she could manage. "You're the little brother, and I'm the big sister. And being big sister means there's some things I just do."

Still smiling as he looked at her in confusion, she adjusted her grip on the little boy to support him with her other fingers before bringing him down closer to her face, eventually hugging his little body into her cheek in an affectionate hug. She giggled again as she felt his little nose return her gesture with a nuzzle, and soon lifted him away to look at him once again.

"And one of those things, little Will," she continued with soft adoration, "is that I'll always find you."

********

Stephanie groaned as the towering form of her warden appeared above her, eyes fixated on her as she lie in her bed. One look at that face high in the sky told her what her day was about to be like. Those pitying brown eyes, that sad frown....She'd be getting whatever her session was for this week, and then the woman would insist on another of those talks.

The fingers of her right hand continued to press and knead into the small form held within their grip, in the same way they had been compulsively doing all morning. She didn't like those talks. They were just such a huge waste of time...nothing could come from talking about nothing. Of trying to assign things to such pointless little creatures.

No, Stephanie thought, as Claire began to crouch down before her cell, the little form occupying the attention of her active digits suddenly becoming enclosed in their grip, there was no need for any of that. It was why she greatly preferred the presence of the little training doll that had occupied her attentions to that of any actual Beta. There was no pressure, there. No demands. No one felt the need to assign things to a little doll, and that was as it should be. Things were better, without doing that.

Better, without assigning them thoughts.

Better, without assigning them feelings.

There was nothing to worry about, then. Nothing to regret.