The Exchange,

Chapter 19
The exchange part 19

Chapter Description: A choice that effects everyone is made.

She was back in her office, just as she had feared. Standing in the middle of the room, dressed in her business suit. She stood there knowing she was in a dream, yet knowing it was more than that, knowing it was something bigger, something far more important. The office door was open, the eyes, the teeth, they were already there. The eyes glaring at her, penetrating her soul. She felt her breath catch in her throat as it spoke to her. This time round, she could understand.

"You need to leave! NOW!"

Sandra’s eyes shot open, the dream instantly disappeared from her memory. She knew she had had a nightmare but she couldn’t remember what it had been about. She suddenly started coughing and she tried to sit up only to realise she was still swaddled in the shawl and she had actually been set down in some sort of wicker bassinet. There was a hood pulled up and over, very much like an old fashion pram. The sides were too high for her to see over the edge. She squirmed as she continued to cough.

"What have we here?"

She heard a deep African male voice ask. Suddenly a beak stuck itself over the edge of the bassinet and sniffled at Sandra. She saw it was a large black Gliph, its golden tawny eyes stared down lovingly at Sandy and Sandy instantly desperately wanted to bring her hand up to touch his beak. Her swaddled condition prevented this.

This Gliph was much bigger than the one in the forest the other day, whereas the young one had been about Labrador sized, this one was more like full grown German shepherd size. She guessed this one must be an adult. On its back, between its large folded black feathered wings, sat Lyce. He looked happy but concerned as the Gliph laid down and let him slide off its back. Sandra had stopped coughing by this point.

Lyce looked over the side of the Bassinet and Sandy grinned up at him

"Hey Lyce, lemme out" She asked hopefully.

Lyce looked at the Gliph and then looked back worriedly at Sandy. He shook his head. He felt like he was betraying her but whilst Sandy had been asleep Kim had told him not to disturb the baby.

"Sandy. I’m not allowed. Kim told me no. I don’t wanna make her mad, Becky made her mad earlier and yoo know what Kim did? She spanked Becky. Like proper spanked. I don’t wanna be on the receiving end of that."

Sandy felt her heart sink, and she squirmed in the bassinet, but she was stuck fast. She didn’t want to spend the entire day like this. She was already feeling bored.

"Sandy..."

Lyce said, his voice a hushed whisper.

"...Why don’t you just cry. Yoo know cry loads until you get your way. That is what babies do after all right? Eventually Kim has gotta cave in"

He said with a smirk. Sandy blushed. She had never cried on purpose before, she wasn’t even sure she could do it. But it did sound like a good plan. The Gliph watched Sandy with interest and she felt herself blushing more at its watchful gaze.

"Where is Kim?"

She asked Lyce. Lyce smiled sheepishly.

"Kim and Becky went to feed the Quents. She left Alessi here to babysit me and keep an eye on you."

Lyce jumped up and ruffled some of the fur around the Gliph’s neck. The Gliph sighed.

"I wish he wouldn’t do that. It messes up my fur terribly"

The Gliph complained, and Sandy giggled, causing Lyce to stop.

"What’s so funny?"

he asked confused by her sudden giggling. Thinking it had been something he had said.

"Alessi doesn’t like you ruffling him like that. It messes up his fur" She said gently.

The Ears of the Gliph pricked up at Sandra’s words and he cocked his head to one side. Lyce simply looked at his hand which was still buried deep in the gliphs fluffy fur and he gently withdrew it, carefully flattening the thick black fur back down.

"...Err....how do you know what he likes?"

he said, looking at his hand and the Gliph, then back at Sandra confused.

"Cause I can understand him."

She said, feeling embarrassed. She sounded crazy saying something like that. Lyce’s eyes widened, was Sandra telling the truth? Why couldn’t he talk to the animals? Obviously he knew she was a ranger, the warden call thing she had done a few days ago had been all over the news, but no-one had actually explained what a ranger did. He wondered if he could be a ranger.

The gliph had stuck its beak back into the bassinet, sniffing Sandra’s mousy brown hair

"So you’re like mistress? You can understand me? Most intriguing. Mistress said you were special but I did not realise you had abilities. It’s unheard of to see young children able to use such techniques."

The deep African voice of the Gliph spoke admiringly to her and she nodded up at those beautiful golden eyes.

"Can you get me out of here?"

She asked the Gliph hopefully. The Gliph clicked his beak for a moment or two.

"I shall not go against my mistress’s wishes. She asked me to watch over you two chicks and that is what I shall endeavour to do. I have, however, contacted mistress to alert her to the fact that you are now awake and will be requiring her attention."

Sandra felt her heart grow heavy, she wanted out of the shawl but equally she wasn’t sure she was ready for more of Kims intense caring. The Gliph’s eyes sparkled with amusment.

"I think your friend here though has an interesting theory about crying. If you wanted out, I would hazard that, that may be a good option."

There was noise suddenly in the room and both Lyce and Alessi disappeared from Sandra’s view as they moved away from the bassinet. Sandra could hear Kim’s voice and Becky. There was a thud thud thudding noise and suddenly Becky was peering in over the top of the bassinet.

"She’s awake, she’s awake! We can pway now peease!"

Becky jumped up and down and Sandra felt the bassinet sway quite drastically. She let out a small whimper, worried that Becky might accidentally pull the whole thing down. She thought about that involuntary whimper and tried to concentrate on it. If she was going to start crying, now would certainly be the right time for it. But she felt odd deliberately crying. She felt like she was attention seeking, she felt like her faking would be easily spotted, but most importantly she felt like a little baby. She had tried so hard to act as adult as possible in her current condition so deliberately crying felt like she was betraying herself, felt like she was allowing herself to become the infant she appeared to be.

She started out with a couple of embarrassed whimpers and gradually made them louder, until she was actually properly wailing. Kim suddenly appeared and plucked Sandra up. Sandra stopped crying for a second, amazed that the technique had gotten her out of the bassinet so quickly. But resumed her wailing quickly. She noticed Kim was now wearing a pair of tight denim jeans and a large checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Large brown suede riding boots came up to her knees. It was a far cry from the skin hugging snake skin halter neck dress she had been wearing earlier. Sandra had only ever seen Kim wear skirts and flattering outfits so to see her in something dressed down made me look more natural. Kim held Sandra up and looked at her with a concerned expression.

"What’s wrong sweetheart?"

Lyce took the opportunity to answer for Sandra.

"Sandy wants to pway, but she cant cause she’s all wrapped up"

He said helpfully. Kim glared at Lyce but then Alessi spoke.

"The chick speaks the truth, Mistress. The baby did say she wanted out of her bindings"

The Gliphs head was lowered submissively as he communicated with Kim. Kim stroked behind Alessi’s ears, and a large cat like purr rumbled from his chest, his green tongue hung limp between his sharp beak as he panted happily at the attention.

"So you communicated with her Alessi? I was wondering if she was able to. How very interesting. I knew she was a ranger like me, but wasn’t aware of how advanced her abilities had progressed. Thank you friend."

Lyce listened confused by the half a conversation he heard Kim speak. He felt a little jealousy creep in, that he wasn’t able to talk to the Gliph also.

Kim unfolded the shawl wrapped tightly around Sandra and Sandra instantly stopped crying as she finally had the ability to move again. She shivered though only being in her nappy and booties. She also noticed now that she could move around that she was wet. She looked down at her sagging nappy sadly, she hadn’t even realised she had wet herself, she noticed Lyce, Alessi, Becky and Kim all looking at her.

"Aww has someone gone peepee in her diapee?"

Kim gushed over at Sandy. Sandy blushed.

"Mummy mummy! I don’t need diapers any more. I’m a big girl. I AM!"

Becky pulled up her little skirt to show her mummy her butterfly patterned childrens pants proudly. She showed Lyce, Alessi and Sandra too, not feeling any embarrassment because she hadn’t learnt shame yet.

Sandra noticed that Lyce was blushing. She wondered if he was blushing on her behalf , or because he had just seen Becky’s pants or if he had also had an accident. She wasn’t planning on bringing his potty training to Kim’s attention though.

Kim patted Becky on the head and smiled then placed Sandra over her shoulder and walked back to Beckys room, calling over to Alessi.

"Look after Becky and Lyce. I just need to get the little one changed, i’ll be back in a second"

Sandra watched helplessly as she was carried back into Becky’s room and placed back down on the changing mat, she was strapped down within moments and Kim went to the cupboard and pulled out a set of light purple corduroy overalls and t-shirt set with bears all over them. The bottom of the overalls had feet sewn in. Kim was soon back over at the changing table, humming soothingly as she got Sandra changed into a fresh cloth nappy and into the clothes. Sandra tried to stay as still as possible to get the whole thing over with quickly. Soon she was dressed. The clothes were a little too big, the overall shoulder straps kept slipping down, but Sandra was thankful for something to cover up with.

"There! All done. Who’s a pretty baby?"

Kim cooed happily at Sandra as she held the baby at arms length to survey her handy work.

"Your mommy should be back sooner rather than later, so I better put this back on you."

Kim said as she cradled Sandra and fished around in her pocket only to produce the purple bracelet. Sandra tried to hide her little hand, not wanting to be restricted when she had so much she wanted to talk to Alessi about, but Kim quietly chuckled and after a few missed attempts managed to snare Sandras hand long enough to click the bracelet back into place.

"Now remember, don’t tell your mommy I took that off, or we’ll both be in trubble. Yes we will! Yes we will"

Suddenly Kim up-ended Sandra and blew on her tummy as she dangled Sandra upside down. Sandra burst into hysterical ticklish laughter and squirmed to get away but she was held fast.

Becky, Lyce and Alessi came running at the loud giggling and Becky ran right into the room and started giggling too, tugging on her mummys trousers wanting to play the game too. Switching Sandy to one arm, Kim scooped Becky up with the other and with uncharacteristic love for her daughter she smothered her in kisses, causing Becky to squeal in delight happy her mommy was giving her such positive attention.. Lyce chuckled from the doorway, unaware that Alessi too was laughing.

Catching her breath and placing Becky back on her feet, Kim felt like such a different person when looking after Sandy. She felt uplifted and alive even looking after Becky seemed less of a chore. Kim pulled Becky’s quilt from her bed and spread it on the floor. She gently lowered Sandy onto the quilt and then stood and collected the blocks, a wooden jigsaw and some other basic toys from the shelves to lay them out around the baby girl.

"There, now you can play."

She said gently to Sandra then Kim turned her attention to Becky.

"Play GENTLY with her, understand?"

Becky shied away for a moment as her mothers warning got through. But she soon returned to her boisterous self and nodded in acknowledgement. Kim then pointed at Lyce.

"You as well Lycian, she’s only little so you have to be gentle"

Lyce nodded as Becky had done, not wishing to incur Kim’s wrath. He knew how to play with Sandy, he had done it before, and she wasn’t quite as breakable as Kim seemed to think. Kim walked to the door and stroked Alessi.

"Let me know if they misbehave Alessi." She then left.

Lyce looked at Alessi and then at Sandra. He was eager to know more about how Sandy’s powers worked and he shuffled up to Sandy.

"What does Alessi talk like? I mean does he speak like yoo and me?"

Sandra looked up from the large wooden jigsaw she had been attempting and nodded.

"Yeah he just sounds like a normal person. He has a really deep voice though."

Alessi had padded over to the three children and was sitting close by, occasionally he would unfurl his wings slightly and fold them back in, as if trying to get them in a comfortable position.

"Can you ask him what he eats?"

Lyce asked, his eyes shining with feverish anticipation. Sandra sighed.

"He can understand you himself, but I can’t understand him any more. This bracelet kinda stops me being able to hear animals"

She said sadly as she waved her arm up in the air to expose the purple bracelet.

"...Oh!" Lyce said as he looked at the bracelet feeling his eagerness deflate.

Becky was actually being fairly quiet and helping Sandy with the chunky jigsaw puzzle. Sandy kept picking up pieces and then Becky kept taking them off of her and putting them in the right place. The puzzle was simple enough but Sandy just wasn’t really getting a chance to actually put a piece in, still it seemed to be keeping Becky content and Sandy was thankful for that. She didn’t want Becky getting fussy. It was odd that she felt like she was babysitting Becky to a certain extent, what with Becky being mentally that of a child, yet older physically, while both her and Lyce still had their adult brains in tact, and Sandy clearly was much younger in body.

Suddenly the Gliph, who had been watching the children play with calm interest, sat bolt upright, alert, and looked towards the doorway. Sandra and Lyce both noticed this and they looked towards the doorway too. Kim quickly appeared in the doorway, chatting animatedly as she walked into the room and a couple of seconds later it was apparent who Kim was talking to as both Arlie and Anya walked in after her, both smiling happily.

Lyce scrambled to his feet and hurled himself at Arlie, hugging Arlie’s legs. Arlie chuckled and easily picked Lyce up. Sandra too had pushed herself to her feet and was toddling excitedly and unstably towards her mummy, she managed seven successful steps before her mummy reached her and whisked her up into her arms. Anya praised Sandy all the while.

"Who’s a big girl, walking all this way. Mummy is very proud. Yes she is! YES SHE IS!"

Sandra squealed happily snuggling her head into her mummy’s neck and grabbing up fistfuls of Anya’s wavy brown hair. Sandra allowed her babyish urges to completely swamp her adult self and just allowed herself to feel elated in being back in her mummy’s company.

Kim stood there watching the display of affection, feeling a cold knot of envy form in the pit of her stomach. She clenched her fists momentarily then calmed herself. She had to be clever, she had a plan. It would just take a little time. She plastered a smile on her face.

"Both kids were an absolute delight to look after. Anya, I dressed Sandy in that outfit I had meant to give you earlier, it’s yours to keep."

Anya pulled Sandy away from her chest and held her up to see the purple corduroy outfit, she grinned at Kim

"It’s adorable Kim, she’ll grow into it, thank you!"

She returned Sandy to her chest and hugged her baby tightly.

It was Arlie that spoke next, having placed Lyce onto his shoulders.

"Well thanks Kim, we really appreciate you looking after the pair of them, we should really get going though, we have a lot we need to do and discuss"

He said with a mischievous grin.

"Yes Yes." Kim said with her fixed smile in place "Really any time at all."

She moved over to where Sandys changing bag was and gathered it up, handing the strap to Anya who slung the bag over her free shoulder. The three adults headed out of Beckys room and towards the front door. The Gliph and Becky followed up behind. Becky was starting to cry.

"Don’ go! Pway more. I’m bein’ good!"

She said sulkily and Kim grabbed Becky up settling the little girl into her arms.

"Don’t cry Rebecca, Sandy and Lycian will be back to play some time soon i’m sure"

This seemed to cheer Becky up a little and she rubbed away her crocodile tears. Anya nodded.

"I’m sure Sandy would love to come play again Becky"

Becky was grinning now and Anya laughed as the front door opened. Arlie, Anya, Lyce and Sandy piled out.

"Thanks once again Kim, speak to you later"

Anya said with a final wave as the two adults with their young charges headed back to Anya’s quarters.

Kim watched them leave, she knew what she was going to do now and she had to do it sooner rather than later.

Arlie and Anya walked in silence side by side back to the quarters. They had so much to tell their children once they got back. So much had been decided without their input. Anya’s heart raced. What would other people on the ship think of her. Arlie and Anya had already gone to the council to outline their plan. The council had accepted their proposal. It wouldn’t be long before the whole ship would be in a buzz about it all. Was she rushing in to things? In all honesty she probably was. She was being impulsive which was not like her at all,

Sandy looked at her mummy with a puzzled expression. Anya seemed very distant all of a sudden, like she was worried about something.

Arlie arrived at Anyas front door first and the door swooshed open. He removed Lyce from his shoulders and lowered the boy gently to his feet as Anya entered the quarters too and the door swooshed closed behind them. Anya dumped the changing bag, complete with dragon and new blanket down beside the pile of shoes at the front door then she handed Sandy to Arlie who took the baby, looking a little surprised at suddenly having the infant handed to him.

"Look after her and I will get everyone a drink."

Anya said heading down the hall and out of sight before Arlie could really protest. Arlie could tell Anya was agitated. He had to confess he himself felt a bit out of control by recent events.

After admitting his love for Anya earlier, things had finally clicked into place. The only thing hindering their new budding relationship was Anyas guilt. She felt guilt for leaving Blake and then replacing him so soon. Arlie admired her for that. After everything that scum bag had done to his own daughter Anya still saw good in Blake.

Anya had told him that she was worried that Arlie would just end up being a rebound relationship, but he had asked her to just give it a shot, had told her they would take it one day at a time and if things looked like they weren’t going to work out then they would back off before any serious damage was done and remain friends. She seemed to accept this idea eventually and it had been agreed. They would become partners. They would raise Lyce and Sandy together as a proper family. A family had never been created before with two exchange students, which was why the Council had been so eager to accept the proposal. It had then been decided that Arlie and Lyce were to move into Anya’s apartment, hers already being bigger of the quarters.

Arlie absently rocked Sandy up and down in his arms as he walked through the hallway and into the living room. Lyce had scrambled over to Sandys changing bag and pulled her dragon and new blanket out. He knew she liked her dragon and wouldn’t want to be without it, he carried the items carefully walking behind Arlie as he headed into the lounge and sat down. Lyce gave Sandy’s dragon to her then pulled himself up on the sofa beside Arlie. Arlie shifted Sandy onto his right knee and pulled Lyce onto his left knee so both children now sat on his lap.

Anya came back into the room, holding three plastic bottles of orange looking juice by their necks in one hand and a baby bottle full of the same liquid in her other hand. She gently passed one of the bottles to Lyce and one to Arlie. Both eagerly taking gulps from the plastic bottles. The juice was good, it tasted like fizzy mango. She then gathered Sandy from Arlies lap and sat down beside Arlie. Arlie looked expectantly at his new partner.

"Are you going to tell them or should I?"

Arlie asked nervously. Anya smiled.

"okay, I’ll tell them."

She shifted her position so that she was angled facing Arlie and Lyce. Sandy looked up from her position on her mummys lap.

"Lyce, Sandy, Me and Arlie have come to a really important decision, it effects you both, and we know that you’ll come to terms with this eventually..."

Sandy looked up at her mummy, her heart beating wildly, she felt anxious not knowing what was going on. She hated not being in control, as an adult everything had been within her power, she was the one who called the shots. Now everything from what she ate to what she wore was determined for her. It wasn’t right. She wished her mummy would just cut to the chase and let them know what this was all about.

"Me, and Arlie, we’ve decided to become a couple. That means you will be brother and sister, and from today onwards we’ll all be living in the same quarters."

Sandy and Lyce both looked shocked. Neither one of them could have predicted that. They looked at one another then back up at Anya. Both stunned into silence.

Anya smiled at them nervously, expecting questions. She flapped her hands up in the air.

"That’s it really. So instead of having one pair of eyes watching you, you’ll have two pairs, so you’ll be even less likely to get into mischief"

She chuckled at the children’s shocked expressions.

"Is that okay?"

She didn’t know what she would do if they objected. It was out of their control, the choice had been made and the deal sealed with the exchange council.

Both children nodded in shock.

"Where am I gonna sweep?" Lyce finally piped up. "Wat about all of my stuff?"

Arlie ruffled lyce’s hair.

"I’m going to go back to the apartment and collect some of our stuff up this evening, as for sleeping arrangements, that should already be sorted."

Arlie said cryptically. Anya suddenly gasped.

"I had forgotten about that!"

Sandra noted the excitement in her voice and Anya jumped to her feet, still holding Sandra in one of her arms.

"Lyce come here, you’ll be surprised"

She said eagerly waving her free arm to indicated Lyce to follow her. Lyce slid down off his daddys lap and carefully placed his bottle of juice on the nearby table then followed Anya, Arlie was walking behind Lyce as the whole new family headed for Sandra’s nursery.

Anya pushed open the door and at first everything looked just as normal as before, but then Sandy pointed over at a new door. That hadn’t been there before. Anya saw what Sandy was pointing at and crossed the nursery in a few easy steps, she opened the door to reveal a boy’s room.

"Ah there we go. I knew it’d be around here somewhere!"

Anya said with glee. Sandy was astounded.

"But...how?"

She asked feeling amazed and confused like someone had just performed the best magic trick she would ever see. Arlie had only heard Sandra baby babble but Anya understood.

"As you know we’re on a ship called Alexander and everyone on board has their own quarters.....how do I explain this...Do you know of nano technology? Small robots, microscopic in size? The ship is built on similar technology, it recognises where we are on board due to our chip, it recognises who we are partnered with and how much space we need to comfortably live, it then rearranges its shape to provide that space. We registered with the Exchange Council today that Arlie and Lyce were going to be living here, as a result the ship has metamorphosed to create a room for Lyce to live in, his room back at Arlies apartment will be swallowed by the ship to free up that space. The ship expands and contracts to suit the number of people we have on board. Because Arlie is chief engineer on board it has been agreed that he will still continue to keep his one bedroom quarters that is close to engineering, just in case he has to do particularly long shifts, but Lyce from here on in shall live full time here. And Arlie will too as much as possible"

Anya brushed some loose hair from her eyes, she grinned, a bright happy smile. She felt so nervous and yet full of positive optimism, as she tried to wrack her brain to think of anything she had missed out.

Lyce had edged past Anya as she stood in the doorway to look at his new room. His bed was higher than his previous one it had a little ladder to climb up to get into the bed, the bed had a guard rail on it and at the end of the bed was a slide, so lyce could either climb back down the ladder to get down or use the slide. Under the bed was made to look like a small cave.

"WHOA!"

Lyce grinned. It was way better than the bed back at Arlie’s place. He scaled the ladder quickly and settled himself on the bed, then crawled to the slide and threw himself head first down it. Sandy watched him scramble up, she smiled at his eagerness, feeling a little sad that she didn’t have that kind of dexterity, she looked back over her mummys shoulder towards her room, it was boring in comparison. Nothing to play on like in Lyce’s room.

The two adults watched Lyce careen around his room for a bit and then after a while headed back to the lounge. Lyce had followed and the whole family quickly settled into a new routine with Arlie keeping Lyce and Sandy occupied whilst Anya made dinner.

The day was quickly drawing to an end. After dinner Arlie returned to the old apartment to pick up some odds and ends. Anya sat nursing Sandy while Lyce played on the floor and watched cartoons. Compared to the chaos that had been the last few days it seemed that the last few hours had become an island of welcome serenity.

Anya stroked Sandy as her freshly fed baby dozed in her arms. Lyce too had fallen asleep, his playing had ceased and he was laying flat across the carpet, fingers in his mouth drooling slightly as he slept. He looked just as vulnerable as Sandy, Anya wondered if Lyce would benefit from a pacifier instead of sucking on his fingers. She made a mental note to get him one later tomorrow. Arlie came back into the room carrying a box.

"Hey, i’m...." he noticed the two children asleep and he dropped his voice a level. "...back."

He laid the box down and stooped to gently pick Lyce up from the floor. chuckling quietly as his boy snuggled into Arlies chest, he mumbled something incoherent in his sleep and fell back into a deeper one.

"Guess it’s been a busy day for everyone concerned."

Arlie said. Anya stood cradling Sandy. She felt at peace when she held Sandy like this. She headed for the nursery, laying the sleeping Sandy on her changing table Anya stripped the baby of her outfit and wet nappy then put her in a clean thick cloth nappy and a white onesie, snapping the poppers in the crotch closed Anya then settled her baby down in her cot.

Arlie had followed watching Anya work. He knew he loved Anya and he couldn’t believe he had finally taken that step and confessed his love. He couldn’t believe it had gone the way he had hoped. He almost expected himself to wake up from this brilliant dream.

Once Sandy was in her cot, Arlie continued to Lyce’s room stripped his son of his clothing and wet nappy and dressed him in a clean disposable nappy and t-shirt with dinosaurs on it. He tucked his son into his bed and retreated to the doorway, Lyce’s bed and Sandra’s cot were lined up so both kids would be able to see one another. Anya had turned on the night light in Sandra’s nursery. It glowed reassuringly into Lyce’s room too. The whole quiet scene was perfect and Arlie felt a tingle travel his spine. He felt so incredibly lucky right at this moment. Looking at the two sleeping children.

Anya walked to where Arlie was, she leant in and gave him a peck on the cheek. He grinned.

"What was that for." he whispered.

She shrugged.

"For always being in my life, for better or worse. You were always there Arlie, Always. I just never realised how much you meant to me. I took you for granted. Assumed you would always be here for me."

She smiled, he returned the smile and leaned in to her, embracing her. She allowed herself to be held. Feeling his warmth.

"I WILL always be here." he said quietly as he leant in closer and kissed her. Hand in hand, they headed to their bedroom.