Lauren knocked on Camila's classroom door before walking it.

"Let's go," Camila said, scrambling to her feet and grabbing her backpack.

"How was her day?" Lauren asked Miss Epseley who had been sitting next to Camila at her desk.

"We did some good work today, didn't we, Milz," Miss Epseley said with a soft smile.

"Let's go," Camila groaned, tugging at Lauren's arm.

"Hang on," Lauren said, taking Camila's hand in hers. "I wanted to talk to you about Camila's homework, I'm not sure it's suited to her abilities," she explained, choosing her words carefully.

"I think you should talk to Mrs. Williams about it," Miss Epseley said, nodding towards the teacher at her desk.

"Camz, can you go wait outside for me?" Lauren asked, bending down to Camila's height.

"But we were gonna go t-,"

"Okay, okay, let's go," Lauren conceded, straightening up. "I'll drop you an email," Lauren said, smiling politely at Mrs. Williams before following Camila out of the classroom.

"I can't wait," Camila said, bouncing excitedly.

"Your mum really never took you to get a training bra?" Lauren asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she followed Camila out of the school building.

"I don't see her much, even when she is here," Camila shrugged. "It's mostly just baby-sitters."

Lauren didn't reply, but she couldn't help but feel a bit saddened by Camila's words.

"Doll, would it be okay if we go grab a coffee with my friend after the shopping?" Lauren asked, watching as Camila skipped along the pavement. Since she was spending every moment she wasn't at work watching Camila, she hadn't really been able to keep up any of her social engagements.

"Can I also have coffee?" Camila asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I don't think you need any more energy, love," Lauren laughed.

"I'm an adult," Camila insisted, crossing her arms.

"Okay, okay, if you really want a coffee you can have one, but I know that they have really good hot chocolate, and I did bring your bumblebee cup with us just in case," Lauren replied. Of course, there was no way she was going to let Camila drink any coffee, but she knew the most effective thing to would be to let Camila think she had a choice.

"I'd rather have chocolate milk," Camila said thoughtfully, grabbing Lauren's hand before climbing up onto the border of a garden and balancing carefully as she walked down it.

"Thought so," Lauren smiled. "Okay, so, gameplan, when we get there should we go change you first in the bathroom or do you want to wait till we get to the coffee shop?"

"Don't need a change," Camila lied, jumping off of the border and back onto the pavement as it came to an end.

"Even if you're not wet, wouldn't you like to change out of your uniform?" Lauren asked, having already anticipated Camila's reluctancy. 

"What did you bring?" Camila asked.

"Your denim dungarees and yellow top," Lauren recalled. "Your diaper bag is in the car." 

In all honesty, she had had fun picking out Camila's clothes for her.

"I don't need to," Camila decided. "Can I sit in the front?" she asked as they came up to Lauren's car.

"I don't think so," Lauren said, laughing at Camila's cheekiness. "Your Mummy gave me your carseat so let's get you strapped in.

"But I'm too old for a car seat," Camila whined, stamping her foot.

"Not with the amount you move around," Lauren countered, quickly strapping Camila in before they could argue any further about it. "Should we play some music?"

"Taylor Swift!" Camila shouted excitedly.

"Indoor voice, please," Lauren said, biting back a smile at Camila's overenergetic ways.

Much to Lauren's surprise, Camila was fairly quiet the entire drive to the mall.

"Are you okay, sweets?" Lauren asked as she pulled into the parking lot. 

Camila nodded, trying to unbuckle her carseat straps.

"Hang on, I'll do it," Lauren said, getting out of the car and walking around to the back seat door. "Out we get, princess," she said, lifting Camila out of her carseat.

"Lauren?" Camila whispered as Lauren grabbed Camila's diaper bag from the backseat.

"What's up, bubs?" Lauren asked, crouching down in front of Camila.

"I'm wet," she whispered tentatively, blushing and fixing her gaze on the ground.

"That's okay, doll," Lauren reassured her. "Thank you for telling me, let's go get you changed now and then we'll do the shopping."

"No, really wet," Camila mumbled, a hot tear rolling down her cheek.

"Hey, no tears," Lauren said gently. "You've been a really big girl to tell me," she praised. "Can you lift up your skirt for me?"

Camila nodded, lifting the hem of her skirt up slightly.

Laureen pushed it up further, pressing her hand against the cuff to see how wet it was.

"Can I change you here, love?" Lauren asked upon realising Camila's pull-up was already leaking. She assumed she had been wet after school and then had another accident in the car.

"There are people here," Camila protested.

"No one will see," Lauren promised. "I don't want you to have to walk through the mall in this."

"Okay," Camila whispered tearfully.

"Have you thought about what colour bra you want to get?" Lauren asked, trying to distract Camila as she lay her dow on her changing mat on the grassy area behind the car.

"Something super grown up-and lacey," Camila giggled, already feeling better at thinking about the exciting activity of getting her first bra.

"Hey, we're getting training bra, missy," Lauren chuckled, wiping Camila down. "This pull-up really didn't hold up very well, did it?" Lauren sighed, wrapping up the drenched material. "I think we need to get you some new protection too," she said.

Camila didn't reply, lifting her lips and letting Lauren slip the fresh pull-up onto her hips before pulling down her skirt.

"You are such a brave girl," Lauren praised, helping Camila to her feet and putting away the changing mat.

"Don't wanna talk about it," Camila muttered, her cheeks flushed red.

"Alright, love," Lauren said, squirting some hand sanitiser onto her hands before closing the car door.

"I'm nervous," Camila admitted as they walked into the mall.

"That's okay," Lauren said, reaching for Camila's hand. "This is the store," she said as they came to the Victoria's secret. "It's mostly grown-up stuff in the front but there's a special section at the back where they have the Pink stuff, that's their brand for younger customers," Lauren explained.

"Okay," Camila said before letting Lauren lead her in.

"What type do you wear?" Camila asked curiously, trailing her hand along the various items of lingerie.

"Uh, something like this, usually," Lauren said, showing Camila a black push-up bra. "But I'm not sure that's the right one for you," she quickly added, placing her hands on Camila's shoulders and steering her away from the more adult section and towards the 'Pink' collection.

"Hi, can I help you with anything?" A friendly lady asked, approaching Lauren and Camila.

"We're buying Camila her first bra," Lauren explained with a smile, ruffiling Camila's hair, much to her annoyance.

"Right, well should we get you measured then, Camila?" she asked, offering Camila a warm smile. "You just need to put your arms out to the side while I put this tape around you."

Camila glanced up at Lauren for approval, waiting for her to nod before putting her arms out.

"I want one of these," Camila said, pointing to the push-up ones that Lauren had pointed out.

"Uh, I don't think we've got that in your size," the lady said with a sympathetic size. "You'd be a 28AAA, and we don't carry that size in our padded bras, but we have our training bras over here that might be more appropriate."

"That's what we were going to look at anyway," Lauren said as they followed the lady to the shelf holding neatly stacked training bras.

"These are for kids," Camila pouted. "I want the other one."

"No, doll, we're looking over here," Lauren said, silently hoping there wouldn't be a tantrum. "Come on, there are so many different colours," Lauren tried to encourage her.

"What about this one?" the store lady asked, holding up a grey triangle-cut training bra. 

"How about we try it on?" Lauren suggested, noticing how quiet Camila had gotten.

"I can show you where the changing rooms are," the lady offered.

"Is it okay if I go in with her? She needs some help changing," Lauren explained in a slightly hushed tone.

"That's absolutely fine," she said, showing them to the dressing rooms which were luckily quite spacious.

"This is exciting," Lauren smiled, trying to get Camila excited. "Arms up."

"I wanted a real one," Camila whined.  

"I know, bubs, but we came here for a training bra, didn't we," Lauren said as she helped Camila out of her schoolshirt.

"How does it look?" Camila asked as Lauren pulled the small bit of material over her head.

"Very grown up," Laurne promsied. "But, more importantly, how does it feel?"

"Odd," Camila admitted.

"It's bound to at first, but let's put your school shirt back on and see how it looks under it," she suggested. "It definitely makes your uniform look a bit better," she commented once she had gotten Camila's shirt back on, noticing how Camila's budding chest was no longer apparent through her clothing.

"Can I have a grown-up one too?" Camila asked, not paying any attention to the training bra.

"No, sweets, you can't," Lauren sighed.

"But I want one," Camila whined, evidently getting quite cranky.

"Mila, I think this one is a good idea so I'm gonna go buy it and then we can go straigtht to the coffee shop," Lauren said after she had finished changing Camila into her yellow top and dungarees. 

"No, I want the big girl one," Camila whined, tears starting to slip down her cheeks.

"Okay, come on, now," Lauren sighed, standing up. "Let's get going."

She paid for the training bra with a very cranky Camila by her side before the two of them made their out of the mall and down the road to the coffee shop.

"Lauren!" A tall girl exclaimed, pulling the older girl into a hug.

"NO!" Camila shouted, pushing Dinah away from Lauren.

"I'm so sorry," Lauren apologised. "Mila, behave, please," Lauren said firmly. 

"That's okay," Dinah dsmissed. "Hi, Camila, I'm Dinah."

"I am so in need of a coffee," Lauren laughed as they joined the queue. 

"Why don't you go sit down, I know your order," Dinah suggested, able to tell that Lauren was struggling to control the cranky little girl.

"Thanks," Lauren said gratefully. "Can you also get this one a hot chocolate but can you make sure it's warm, not hot."

"Sure," Dinah nodded.

"Oh, Camz," Lauren sighed as Camila burst into tears the moment they sat down at the sofa at the back. "Come here, love," she said, pulling Camila into her lap. "I know you're disappointed, and I'm sorry if I got your hopes up, but we got what you're ready for and that's a really good step in the right direction."

"B-b-but I wanted a big g-girl one," Camila sobbed, curling up in Lauren's lap and resting her head on her chest.

"Shh, it's okay," Lauren soothed. "We're gonna have some chocolate milk in your bumble-bee cup now and then we need to go pick some stuff up from the store and then we'll go home."

"Okay," Camila said quietly, fidgeting with a strand of Lauren's hair like she had before.

"Here we go," Dinah said, sitting down and placing three drinks on the table.

"I'm just getting out your bottle," Lauren said as she reached into Camila's diaper bag for the special sippycup.  

She poured half of the hot chocolate into the yellow sippycup before screwing it shut and handing Camila the bottle, knowing her milk would keep her busy for at least the next fifteen minutes.

"I feel like I've barely seen you, Lo," Dinah said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I've been babysitting a lot," Lauren explaining, nodding towards Camila who was no contently sipping her drink.

"I know, but I miss you," Dinah said dramatically.

"Babe, it's been like four days since I last saw you," Lauren pointed out with a chuckle.

"Still miss you," Dinah shrugged. "You're my girlfriend."

"What?" Camila asked, shifting in Lauren's lap and looking up at her.

"Uh, yeah, Dinah's my girlfriend, doll," Lauren explained, shooting Dinah a pointed look for having let the information slip out of her mouth.

"NO!" Camila shouted, throwing her sippycup onto the floor aggressively.

"Excuse me, Camila, we don't throw things," Lauren snapped, swatting her thigh sharply which only caused Camila to cry louder. "Dinah, I'm gonna go outside for a minute," Lauren said, standing up with a very distraught Camila in her arms and carrying her out of the coffee shop.

"Down," Camila sobbed, wriggling in Lauren's arms.

"Mila, deep breaths," Lauren said, not putting Camila down but instead bouncing her in her arms as she walked up and down the pavement. "There you go," she hummed as Camila started to quieten down. 

"Hey," Dinah's voice came, and Lauren turned around to see her girlfriend standind behind her holding both of their coffees and Camila's diaper bag.

"I'm sorry," Lauren sighed. "I really wanted to spend some time with you, but I think Camila's just really tired."

"How old is she?" Dinah asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"We'll talk about this later," Lauren said, reaching over for her coffee and the bag.

"Okay, it was great seeing you," Dinah said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Dinah, I'm sorry," Lauren said, pressing a brief quick on her girlfriend's lips.

"I know," Dinah sighed. "I'll call you tonight," she said before turning around.

"Shh, baby," Lauren soothed, rubbing Camila's back. "We're gonna to the supermarket and then we'll get you home for a nap," she said gently, putting Camila down and handing her her sippycup. Although Camila didn't normally take naps, she was starting to think it was going to be an important thing to incorporate into her routing.

"Okay," Camila said quietly, reaching up for Lauren's hand and using her other hand to drink her hot chocolate.

"Do you want to sit in the trolley, sweetheart?" Lauren asked as they walked into the supermarket.

"No, I want you to hold me," Camila mumbled, reaching up for Lauren.

"Doll, I can't hold you right now because I need my hands to put stuff in the trolley," Lauren explained, deciding it wasn't a good time to explain that she was really too old to be carried, especially in public. "But I can put you in the trolley."

"Okay," Camila agreed quietly, trying to climb into the trolley herself.

"Up we get," Lauren said, lifting Camila up into the fold out metal seat normally used for toddlers. 

"What do we need?" Camila asked around the mouth of her sippycup.

"Hmm, we need something for dinner and we were going to look for some better protection for you," Lauren explained. 

"Chocolate!" Camila exclaimed, bouncing up and down as though she wasn't tired anymore. 

"We can get some chocolate for dessert, how about something a bit healthier for dinner, maybe chicken?" Lauren suggested as they walked down the aisle.

"Yuck," Camila said, dramatically throwing her head back.

"Okay, my little drama queen," Lauren laughed.

"I want saussages," Camila decided, pointing at a kids ready meal of saussages, mashed potatoes and carrots.

"Okay, let's go find some saussages," Lauren said, pushing the trolley down to the meat section.

"No, those ones!" Camila practically shouted.

"Love, that's for little kids," Lauren tried to explain. "It might not be enough food for you."

"I want that one with the smiley flower," Camila whined.

"Okay, fine," Lauren conceded, grabbing the kids meal. Camila's appetite wasn't that great anyway, so she figured it would be fine. She grabbed an adult ready meal of chicken and broccoli for hereself before walking down to the shelves at the back.

"Now what?" Camila asked, swinging her legs.

"You know how your pull-up leaked this afternoon? I was thinking we need to get you something a bit thicker that holds more, it's not the first time you've leaked," Lauren said, scanning the shelves with her eyes.

Camila didn't reply, blushing profusely. 

"We could also get you some potty-training underwear while we're here," Lauren said, mostly thinking outloud at this point. "Look, love, these ones have Sofia on them," Lauren smiled, holding up a packet of diapers with the princess printed on the front of them.

"But they're diapers, it's for babies," Camila whined, trying to push the packet out of Lauren's hands.

"You don't have to wear them all the time, only at school and night," Lauren said. "Look at this," she said, picking up some training underwear with butterflies on them.

"What's that for?" Camila asked curiously.

"Well, I was thinking that wearing big-girl panties would help you with your potty training, but with these ones if you do have an accident it won't get quite so wet," she explained. 

"Can I wear them when we get back?" Camila asked excitedly.

 "I'm not sure, sweets," Lauren said, moving to the check-out. "You're really tired, I don't want you to get upset if you have a little blip."

"I won't!" Camila promised, although she wasn't so sure of that herself.

"I'll think about it, but let's just get home for now," Lauren said, lifting Camila out of the trolley.

"Okay," the smaller girl hummed before skipping ahead of Lauren.

***