✅ The Baby Makers

26. Feed the Children

This chapter is dedicated to Jordan, with many thanks for supporting me on Patreon again. I hope you enjoy it! And everyone else, say thanks to Jordan for getting you one more chapter than you would otherwise have seen.

Thank you!

It didn't take long for Mama Nat to get back with food. Stacie didn't know how long it took, because she didn't think to look at the clock and even if she had she wouldn't have known how to read it. The two girls spent most of the time looking at each other and then lapsing into fits of giggles as they tried to guess what the other might be thinking. At least, that was Stacie's guess. She just knew that when she looked at Cass, she tried to imagine what was on her friend's mind and she always started laughing; and when Cass was laughing Stacie couldn't help joining in.

When the food came she practically jumped out of her seat, only to find that she was still trapped in the high chair with a pale pink tray table holding her in place, and a strap between her legs to stop her slipping out. She couldn't charge across the room and grab her dinner, and she couldn't even hug Nat to show how happy she was. But it didn't matter, because it wasn't long before the bowl was right in front of her.

"Are you still big enough to eat by yourself?" Phil asked. Stacie didn't even have time to think of an answer before he carried on: "Because as you get littler, you'll find that you don't know how to eat grown up food. You'll be really proud of even managing to eat solid food, and it will seem like everything you try is an exciting new flavour."

"I can eat!" she cheered, and reached for her dinner. But her hands were shrinking again as she watched, and she stopped just before grabbing a handful of sauce. She could see Phil's hands around the bowl, ready to pull it out of reach," but that wasn't what made her stop. And it wasn't the meal either, because she was really excited to find out what it tasted like. The little bowl was filled with an orangey-red sauce with some little green bits floating in it, and tiny little pieces of pasta too. There were even bean-sized pieces of some meat in the sauce, and when she leaned over the table the smell was enough to make her want to try it.

No, the reason she had stopped is because she'd glanced to her left for a moment, and seen Cass getting ready for her dinner. Mama Nat had already put a bib around the little girl's neck. Cass was banging on her table with a pink plastic spoon, making a weird twanging noise, but Nat had a spoon as well. It looked like she was going to feed the baby, doing everything for her, and Stacie couldn't help wondering how that would feel. To be so helpless, such a good baby that you couldn't even eat on your own.

She put her hands down on the table and giggled. She couldn't think of the right words to ask Phil, so instead she looked up at him and opened her mouth.

"Good girl!" he said. "You're so cute, and such a good baby. Do you want me to feed you, so that you don't make a mess?" Stacie fought against the urge to laugh with pride when he understood her, but she knew that she had to give a response. So she started nodding, trying not to move her mouth too much while she did so. Her eyes jumped back and forth between the two grown-ups, not sure what was going to happen next, but excited by everything happening around her.

She saw Cass's dinner looked like some kind of brown paste. It was supposed to be chicken, but as Mama Nat raised the spoon there was only one type of stuff on the fork and it wasn't chicken-shaped. It was just mush; obviously baby food. Did that meen Cass was littler than Stacie now? She didn't know, but she was sure that her dinner had little bits in. Peas, and little bits of pasta, and even little scraps of shredded meat. That was something a big girl could eat, and she felt so proud of that even when she was wondering if she should try to be more of a baby to impress Phil.

Then the spoon was coming closer, and she opened her mouth extra wide. Phil put it inside, and she could feel a little pressure on her tongue, as well as a strong flavour that she couldn't quite recognise.

"Close?" he said after a couple of seconds. Stacie thought for a moment, and then shut her mouth. As Phil pulled the spoon away, her senses were filled with the flavour of the wonderful meal. It was so intense that she couldn't think for a moment, and she found herself closing her eyes so she could focus completely on enjoying what she was eating. But after a few seconds she swallowed, and that taste was all gone.

She couldn't wait for the next bite. She'd never imagined that having someone feed her could be so much fun. She waited just a moment, watching the spoon already hovering again in front of her eyes. She wondered what she had to do. Did she have to do something good before Phil would give her more food?

Stacie stole a glance sideways again, to where Cass was having her dinner. She'd already had more than one spoonful, that much was clear. There was more than that spread across her bid, and splattered on her face. As Stacie watched, she saw that Mama Nat offered her a spoonful of whatever the chicken stuff was, but Cass turned her head away at the last minute and it just ended up on her cheek. But Nat didn't make the baby wait for the next bite, she just returned the spoon to the bowl and picked up another blob of baby food.

Then Stacie was looking back at Phil. He was still holding the spoon there, with a whole bit of pasta in it, but it wasn't coming any closer.

"Do you want your din dins?" he asked, and Stacie just nodded. "It's delicious, isn't it? This is special sauce with leeks and beans and sausage meat in it. Really good. Do you like it?" She nodded again, wondering when he was going to let her eat. Until he answered without needing her to ask the question: "Come on, Stacie. Can you be a big girl and open your mouth for me? The train's coming, you need to–"

Stacie finally realised what she'd done wrong, and opened her mouth as wide as she could. She jerked her head to the side a little without meaning to, so some of the sauce dribbled down her face, but she didn't mind.

"Good girl," Phil crooned. "Now, close? Isn't that good?" Stacie didn't even nod, because she was too busy enjoying the tasty stuff. She was sure dinner would take a long time like this, but she really didn't mind. This was the most fun she'd ever had eating, and she knew that it would be great however long it took. She glanced again in Cass's direction, and saw her best friend giggling back at her. They were behaving so differently, one eager to eat as much as she could and the other refusing to eat just to enjoy the struggle, but both girls had never realised that mealtimes could be so much fun.