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Reluctantly, I release Mommy’s nipple and nod. “I was just thinking how I was so worried about you being upset that I don’t need you. But I do need you. Maybe not the way the other Littles need their Mommies and Daddies, but I still need you.”

“That makes us very happy to hear.” Settling behind me once again, Daddy slides his arms around me and squeezes. “Because we need you too.”

“You do?”

“Mmhmm,” Mommy agrees, rubbing her nose against mine again until I dissolve into laughter once more. “We need those sweet Little girl giggles.”

“And we need the way your whole face lights up when we come to get you out of your crib in the morning.”

“We need your sassy mouth, especially when it gives us a reason to spank you.”

Daddy tightens his hold on me. “But most of all, we just need you, angel. Everything else is just window dressing. As long as we have you, we have everything we need, right here.”

Wrapped up in my Daddy’s arms, I take Mommy's other breast into my mouth. And as I drink my fill, trapped between the Mommy and Daddy of my dreams, I realize that I actually believe them.

Epilogue

Kerry

“Kerry Addison Sterling, if we are even one minute late getting on that plane, I am going to spank your bare bottom in front of everyone when we get there!”

Mommy’s threat spurs me into action and I rush around my nursery, putting away all my toys. By the time she steps into the room, everything is back where it belongs and I’m rewarded with a warm smile.

“Good girl. Come on, Daddy is waiting for us at the car.”

“Wait! I need Steve!”

Turning, I hurry over to my crib and pluck my favorite otter from the group that sleeps with me every night. Daddy tried to restrict me to one stuffie at first, but over time the pile has grown larger and larger. And even though he sighs and shakes his head every night, he never makes me put any of them back.

Clutching Steve to my chest, I skip back over to Mommy and take her hand. “Ready!”

“I see. Are you going to be a responsible otter mommy and keep track of Steve or do you need me to hold him for you?”

It’s a fair ask on both sides. The last time Steve came with us on vacation, I accidentally left him at the Empire State Building and I was inconsolable until Daddy went and got him. So I give her question serious consideration as we make our way down to the car where Daddy is waiting for us, his attention glued to his watch. “Um, maybe you could help me watch him? Just in case I get excited and forget?”

“That’s a very responsible answer,” Mommy says solemnly as she helps me into the backseat of the car. She and Daddy join me, sandwiching me between them—my favorite place to be.

“Steve is coming with us?” Shutting the door behind him, Daddy raises both brows at the stuffed otter clutched in my arms.

I hold Steve tighter. “Mommy said I could.”

“It’s okay, angel, I'm not mad,” Daddy assures me, adding a kiss to the top of my head. “Just surprised. But if you want to bring him along, we’re happy to have him.”

“Oh, good. He should probably stay with you during the flight since the whole family is coming and I’ll be super busy.”

Mommy gives Steve a little boop on the nose. “Steve is welcome in the cockpit with us any time.”

Luckily for me, the drive to the airport takes almost no time at all and we actually arrive a few minutes early. Not as early as Daddy likes to be, but early enough I don’t have to worry about getting spanked in front of everyone like Mommy threatened.

“All right, angel, we need to go do our pre-flight check,” Mommy says once our bags have been stowed. “Do you want me to take Steve now?”

Pouting only a little, I slowly hand over my best friend in the whole wide world—except Solene, of course—and nod. “Be good for Grammy and Pop-Pop,” I tell Steve as Mommy tucks him into the crook of her elbow.

“You don’t worry about us,” she says with a wink. “We know exactly how to keep naughty little otters in line.”

They both kiss me goodbye, and I turn to smooth out the fluffy skirt of my new uniform. After my first few flights with Mommy and Daddy, Uncle Max had Solene make me a whole new set of “Little” uniforms because the transition between “work Kerry” and “home Kerry” was getting to be too much.

Now, I get to be Little even when I’m working, and everyone seems happier for it.