Emma's Growth Spurt, Chapter 29, (First Bit)

Hey ya'll!  Here's the first bit of Chapter 29!  I'll be updating it periodically over the next few days until it's done, which will be sometime next week.  When it's all finished, I'll indicate it in the title to this post by amending it to say: "Complete."  Enjoy! <3 <3 

Chapter 29

Just for fun, Emma was scrolling through images of platform boots on her makeshift tablet as she lounged comfortably on her bed.  She loved how she could lay back and spread both of her legs completely out against the plush mattress without even having to worry about her feet or toes hanging uncomfortably off the edge of the bed.  She sighed out pleasantly as she turned to glance at the afternoon sunlight, which was creeping up the snow-capped mountains through the open-air hanger close to her bed.  Dr. Jeltzin had even hinted that an outdoor hike up the mountains was in the cards.  Emma chuckled to herself; she had been so excited about the prospect that she had “whooped” out, causing a giant glass pitcher of orange juice to shatter on the food cart that was being wheeled in by four assistants.  Her excitement had drenched all four of them in an orange juice shower.

“Hey!” Dr. Jeltzin had yelled in mock-indignation, “Where’s my girl gonna get her folate and potassium!?  She just totally crushed that workout, and then you guys wheel in here and start breaking stuff??”

Emma had giggled in response, putting her hands over her mouth, partially in humor, partially in embarrassment at having caused the mess.  But her trainer had a way of diffusing tension.  She liked Dr. Jeltzin; he was funny and intense, and didn’t seem to take himself, or anything other than her workouts, that seriously.

She turned back to her tablet, continuing to scroll through pictures of all manner of tall platform heels.  Dr. Bolton (Alison, as Emma knew her now) had extracted from Emma that she had once had special boots made for her, and special clothes as well, and that these things had made Emma feel, at least temporarily, at home in herself.  Of course, that was then, and this was now, and Emma knew that she didn’t need tailor-made clothes or special boots to make her feel comfortable in her own skin.  She was feeling better than ever about herself, either before or after her growth spurt had started.  But her mentioning the special clothes had led to Alison proposing that they bring in Miss Bissett again, to fashion Emma some special garments, just for fun.  Emma had loved the idea, and was eagerly, almost nervously excited to reunite with the sweet, friendly French lady.  Alison had wondered whether or not bringing in someone from Emma’s “past life” would set her off, or make her feel a certain negative way, but Emma had brushed these concerns aside.

“Miss Bissett was just…kinda off to the side, anyway,” she had told Alison.  “She wasn’t like…family or anything.”

Periodically, Emma had flashes of her parents go through her mind, and maybe, just maybe, she was starting to feel a little bit like she missed them.  Or at least, that she might like to talk to them.  She had even asked Alison, two days before, if her parents were ok.

“Oh yes they’re fine,” Alison had replied, matter-of-factly, “They’re back living in your old house, with…well, with the other two.”  That had put an end to that conversation.

‘Huh, I wonder…’ thought Emma, back in the present, scrolling through the platform heels, ‘These gladiator-strap ones…mmmmm yeahhh…those look sexy.  I wonder if they could make those for me?’

There wasn’t any single moment that Emma recalled hearing the sound for the first time — the little squeaking had apparently been going on for a bit, and it was only after a couple minutes that she became gradually aware of the noise and looked up from her tablet, staring left in the direction of the sound.  That same tiny boy, whoever he was, was still standing there, except now he was only 10 yards away from her bed.  Emma narrowed her eyes and peered down at him to get a better look, and she could see that his little mouth was moving up at her.

“Are you…are you trying to talk to me?” Emma asked after a few seconds.  She saw that the little guy was nodding his head vigorously, even as he took a few quick steps backward, apparently because he was overwhelmed at having been directly addressed.

“Hey, well…come closer, ok?” Emma said, making a beckoning motion with her hand towards him.  “I can barely even hear you way over there.”

She watched curiously as the little man appeared to stutter-step a bit, before finally working up the courage to set forth, closing the gap between them.  Emma’s eyes followed him steadily as he approached, and as he neared the bed, she could see that his face was blushing a bright red.

‘Oh man,’ she thought to herself, ‘This little guy’s really scared of me…or something.’

“Are you lost?” she asked out loud, once the man was standing right next to the bed.  Emma had rearranged herself on the mattress so that she was sitting cross-legged and arching her back forward so that she was looking straight down on top of him.

The man shook his head, blinking up at her rapidly.  Emma turned her head sideways as she kept staring at him.  She was trying to get a read on him, but it was difficult.  He definitely looked nervous…or was it excited?  Both?  Or was he just afraid?  She really couldn’t tell.  In any case, she still assumed that he was one of the scientist’s sons, maybe a teenager or something, and that he had gone through the wrong door by mistake.

“Here, let’s get you up here,” Emma said suddenly, reaching down and wrapping her hand easily all the way around the little guy’s waist.  She wasn’t even thinking that this might freak him out even more — all she wanted to do was have a normal conversation, and the only way to do that was to get him up on the bed, where she could see and hear him clearly.  Emma saw his eyes go wide as she whooshed him up onto the bed, and she reminded herself that she needed to be careful when picking people up, so as not to give them whiplash.  As an unspoken rule, she didn’t really pick up any of the scientists who worked with her, but she had gotten to a point of comfort with Dr. Jeltzin where she sometimes put him on her shoulder after a workout, as she looked out at the mountains.  Alison had sat in her hand a few times, during some of the more poignant moments of her talk therapy.  But for the most part, Emma maintained a respectful distance between herself and the others.

This little guy, though, whoever he was, just seemed different, and it was the most natural thing in the world for Emma to just pick him up and deposit him down on her bedsheets, right in front of her cross-legged pose.  Even with Emma sitting like this, the top of his head barely even came up to her nipples, which were exposed to the open air.  She was wearing one of her fuzzy white robes, which had gotten a little tighter and smaller on her in recent weeks, but it still fit her quite well.  She usually kept it open, exposing her entire naked front to the air.  Emma didn’t think anything of it at all — at this point, the idea of public nudity didn’t even figure in her mind anymore.

“So,” Emma said, resting her elbows on her knees and making a triangular tower with her forearms, leaning her chin forward on her hands, “What’s up, little guy?  Where are you from?  You said you’re not lost?”

“N-no…no I-I’m…I’m not l-lost!” squeaked the little man, again shaking his head vigorously.  Emma felt her eyebrows crease a little together as a little spasm of a chuckle went through her.  This tiny man certainly seemed nervous.  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it must be because he had never seen anything like her before, but still…there was something unexplained about his reaction.  If he had been so nervous, why had he approached her in the first place?

“Heheh, uhh…it’s ok,” Emma breathed down on him, her head rising and falling a little as she talked with her chin in her hands.  She made a point to smile at him.  “I’m not gonna hurt you.  I just wanna help you, umm…you know…help you out.”

She blinked patiently down at him for a few moments, and she saw that he was trying to answer.  He had opened his mouth a few times, but each time, it closed again.  Emma suddenly realized that she hadn’t even asked the basic question:

“Hey! Uh, what’s your name?”

“A-Aiden!” the man answered, his eyes seeming to brighten up even more than they had been before.

“Aiiii-den…” repeated Emma.  “Well alright Aiden — my name’s Emma.”

“I…I know,” Aiden said quickly.

“You know?” Emma asked, tilting her head curiously down at him.  “How do you know?  Ohhhhh…haha, ok, I knew it — you’re the son of someone who works here, right?  Huh?  No?”

She could see that Aiden was shaking his head.

“N-no…no I…I kind of…you know, work here, uh…too,” Aiden stammered, getting even redder in the face.

“Oh you do?” asked Emma.  “Huh, well I’ve never seen you before.  You work in the kitchen or something?”

“N-no…” stuttered Aiden.  Emma could tell that he seemed to be working his way up to something, so she just stopped talking and waited patiently for him to speak.  Her eyes scanned his little body up and down.  He looked even smaller than most of the other ones, even though it was hard for her to tell, being so much bigger than all of them.  Dr. Clinebell was the tallest, and Dr. Jeltzin was the biggest, but this guy…Emma wondered whether he was actually even smaller than Alison.

“Y-you’re so beautiful!” Aiden suddenly sputtered, his little chest heaving with the effort of the exaltation.  Emma blinked, taken aback.