"It's okay, I promise," Lauren said gently, leading the sobbing girl upstairs.

She had somehow let Camila convince her to let her wear her new training underwear to school instead of a pull-up, and, to say the least, it had ended disastrously.

"It's not your fault, Mila," Lauren promised, rolling out the changing mat and lying Camila down on it.

She peeled off the messy underwear, sighing as Camila only started to cry harder.

"Hush," she soothed, wiping Camila down as quickly as possible. She hesitantly reached for one of the new Sofia the First diapers, lifting Camila's bottom in the air and sliding the padded material underneath her. "I'll go make you a special bottle of milk after this," Lauren said as she shook some powder on before pulling up the front of the diaper.

"Everyone saw," Camila whimpered, reaching up for Lauren.

"I know," Lauren said sympathetically, lifting Camila into her arms and patting her back rhythmically. 

"I don't want to go back," Camila whimpered.

"You don't have to, not today, at least," Lauren promised. "Should we take off your uniform?"

Camila nodded, reaching her arms up.

"This too," Camila said, tugging at her new training bra.

"Do you want to wear your onesie?" Lauren suggested, reaching for Camila's fluffy dragon onesie.

Camila nodded, climbing onto Lauren's lap in just her diaper.

"Feels funny," Camila whined, patting the front of the thick diaper.

"It's a bit thicker than what you're used to," Lauren explained, wrapping her arms around Camila's waist in hopes that the skin-to-skin contact would comfort her. "But it'll keep you nice and dry for much longer."

"Okay," Camila mumbled, letting Lauren work her soft furry onesie on her.

"Did you eat lunch at school?" Lauren asked, putting Camila down and standing up.

"No, but I'm not hungry," Camila shrugged. "I want-,"

"You want chocolate milk," Lauren interrupted with a chuckle. "I can get you some, but we need to figure out what we're going to do because I need to get back to school for my afternoon classes."

"You said I don't need to go back," Camila pouted.

"You don't, but I do," Lauren sighed as she led Camila down the stairs. "So, either I can drop you at Dinah's and you need to be really good for her or you can come sit at my desk until the end of the school day."

"I can stay on my own," Camila insisted, watching as Lauren's hand took down the baby bottle that they saved for especially bad days.

"No, love, which one are we gonna do?" Lauren asked, handing Camila the bottle of chocolate milk.

"Can I stay with you?" Camila asked quietly.

"Of course you can," Lauren said, leaning against the counter. "But you need to stay in your diaper, okay? No more wearing your training underwear to school."

"I know," Camila whined, embarrassed by the conversation.

"I know we just got you changed, but I don't think you'd want to wear your onesie to school," Lauren said, watching as Camila chewed tentatively on the teat of her bottle.

"Can you hold me?" Camila asked.

"Uh, should we just go get you dressed?" Lauren asked. She didn't want to confuse Camila or indulge her childish ways by treating Camila younger than she was.

"No," Camila whimpered, reaching out for Lauren.

"Okay, okay," Lauren conceded, picking Camila up. The little girl immediately curled up, fitting her body around Lauren's and resting her cheek on her shoulder, just like a toddler might. She possessively wrapped her legs around Lauren's waist, wanting to be held for as long as possible. "Monkey, can you go pick out your clothes for me?" Lauren asked, crouching down to put Camila down on the floor.

"Okay," Camila said before scampering up the stairs.

Forty five minutes later, Lauren was pulling a chair up to her desk for Camila while her students filed into the classroom.

"You need to be a really good girl for me and sit in your seat while I'm teaching," Lauren instructed. "You don't need to do your homework if you want me to help you with it later, I've brought your colouring book too."

"Colouring," Camila decided, watching as Lauren set out all of her colouring pens in front of her.

"Can everyone please settle down and take out Orwell's '1984'," Lauren instructed, moving to write the date on the whiteboard. "Today we're going to be looking at a character sketch of Julia, can someone identify the defining...,"

Camila tuned Lauren out. She was focussing on her colouring; she was colouring in a rocket. She wasn't even in Lauren's classroom anymore, she was dancing among the stars, sliding down the rings of Saturn and cartwheeling around the atmosphere.

"Camila?" Lauren's voice pulled her back to reality. "I told you that you need to sit down, didn't I," Lauren said, taking Camila's hand and leading her back to her seat. "I can't have you running around my classroom while I'm trying to teach."

"Nooo," Camila whined, pulling away from Lauren.

"Hey, shh, we need to sit down now," Lauren sighed. 

"I'm done," a student called out, straightening up and pushing her piece of paper away from her.

"Hannah, seeing as you've finished your work could please walk Camila to classroom 10M?" Lauren asked, realising she couldn't babysit and teach at the same time. 

"I don't wanna," Camila whined.

"Then sit at my desk," Lauren snapped.

"But it's boring," Camila said dramatically.

"She can sit with me," Hannah offered with a shrug. She liked kids and it didn't seem like she had much work left to do anyway.

"Okay," Lauren sighed. "Thank you, Hannah, Mila, you need to be really good for Hannah," she warned before ushering Camila towards the back of the classroom before starting to walk around and help the students who were struggling with the work.

Much to her surprise, Camila didn't bother her until the end of the class.

"Thank you, Hannah," Lauren said as the students left the classroom. 

"Stay," Camila pouted, clinging onto Hannah's arm.

"Camz, she has to go to her next class," Lauren tried to explain.

"I have PE, she can come," Hannah offered, standing up and swinging her backpack on.

"Yes!" Camila shouted excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Um, no, not this time, doll," Lauren said, even though the little girl clearly had loads of energy. "I think we should let Hannah get on with her school day."

"I wanna stay with you," Camila complained, having gotten attached very quickly to the older student. 

"Hannah, you can go," Lauren said, nodded to her discretely.

"Uh, okay," Hannah said, giving Camila a small wave before leaving the classroom.

"How are you feeling, love? I still have another class to teach," Lauren said, walking back to her desk. "But we can go to the playground for five minutes if you want a little run-around."

"Running, running, running!" Camila said enthusiastically, jumping up and down. 

"Right, let's go then," she said, leading Camila out of her classroom and out to the sports field. She spent the next five minutes messaging Dinah while Camila burned off some energy. 

"Did you see how high I jumped?" Camila asked as she skipped alongside Lauren back to the classroom.

"Yes, I did," Lauren promised. "The class I have next are doing a test so we'll need to be really quiet but I can help you with your homework."

"Okay," Camila hummed. 

"Books away, no talking please," Lauren said as she walked around her classroom, placing the test papers face down on each and every desk. "Camila, let's start with this history work," Lauren said in a hushed tone as she sat down at her desk.

"Okay," Camila said, setting to work on her essay. Only five minutes later, her concentration had lapsed and she was far more concerned with going on a secret mission to Mars where she could save the cute little aliens from a space monster!

"Camila, come on," Lauren sighed, glancing at Camila who had crawled under her desk.

"I'm on Mars!" Camila giggled.

"Shh, there's a test going on," Lauren reminded her, pulling Camila onto her lap and moving her schoolwork closer. "That's a really good introduction, do you think you can keep going?"

Camila nodded, resting her head on the desk and continuing with her essay.

Twenty minutes later, Camila had finished her essay and was still on Lauren's lap, now doing some colouring in instead. 

"Babe, one sec," Lauren said, lifting Camila off of her lap before walking over to the desk of a girl named Maddie, who had discrete hot tears slipping down her cheek. "Maddie, are you okay?" she asked quietly, bending down in front of her desk. 

It wasn't uncommon for students to get a bit upset during tests and Lauren was used to dealing with it, but it was hard to focus on Camila and Maddie at the same time. Thankfully, the bell rung and everyone put their pens down.

"Can you stay back for a moment?" she asked, waiting for Maddie to nod before starting to collect the finished test papers. 

"Lauren, done?" Camila asked, running towards the older girl.

"One second, love, can you go pack up your bag?" Lauren asked, trying to distract Camila so she could talk to Maddie.

"No, I want you to do it," Camila whined, trying to drag Lauren back to her desk.

"Mila," Lauren warned in a stern tone. "Go pack your bag up," she said, watching Camila sulk off before turning her attention to the teary girl. "What's going on?" she asked gently.

"I...I studied s-so much but-," she choked out, still crying.

"Don't cry!" Camila exclaimed, running over to hug the upset girl when she realised she was upset.

"It's just one test," Lauren said, placing her hands on Camila's shoulders. "Why don't you go home and do some more revision tonight and tomorrow at lunch you can rewrite the test?"

"Okay," Maddie nodded, standing up and grabbing her backpack. "Thanks, Miss Jauregui," she said quietly before quickly walking out of the classroom.

"Up?" Camila asked, reaching up for Lauren.

"We need to pack your bag," Lauren reminded her, walking back to her desk.

"Do you have my sippy?" Camila asked, reaching for Lauren's handbag.

"I have your baby bottle because that's what you had your milk in, love, but you finished your chocolate milk," Lauren said, shaking the empty bottle in the air.

"Gimme," Camila whined, snatching the bottle from Lauren's grip and pushing the teat into her mouth.

"That'll give you a tummy-ache," Lauren sighed, crossing her arms. She decided against seeing Camila for her slightly bratty behaviour seeing as she had already had a bad morning and had been well-behaved all afternoon.

"Nuh-uh," Camila mumbled, sucking contently on the empty bottle.

"Hey, I said no," Lauren said, trying to pull the bottle out of Camila's mouth, eventually managing to take it away.

Camila pouted, sticking her thumb into her mouth as Lauren packed her bag up for her.

"You did really well to finish your history essay," Lauren praised, looking the work over. "Please don't suck your thumb."

Camila instantly burst into tears the moment Lauren pulled her thumb out of her mouth. 

"Shh, sweetheart," Lauren tried to soothe, this time picking Camila up when she reached up for her. "Camila, no," Lauren said when the little girl started to suck on Lauren's shoulder to soothe herself. 

She bounced Camila on her hip for the next fifteen minutes until she had finally quietened down a little bit. On the one hand, she knew the logical solution was to get Camila a pacifier, but on the other, she didn't want to embarrass her by giving her such a childish object.

"I think we need to get you home," Lauren said, putting Camila down despite her whines of protest. "Shh, I know, I know."

"Can I have chocolate milk when we get home?" Camila asked as Lauren led her out of the classroom, carrying her bag for her.

"You can have regular milk, you know the rules," Lauren said.

"Can we watch Sofia?"

"No, we're going to take a nap and you can watch Sofia after dinner if you're good," Lauren said, not saying anything as Camila put the bottle teat back in her mouth. "Doll, do you think we need to get you a pacifier?" She asked softly.

"Are you also going to take a nap?" Camila asked, ignoring the question.

"No, love, I need to do some work but I'll stay with you until you fall asleep," she reassured her.

"Can you lie down with me?" Camila asked.

"I don't think I'd fit in your crib," Lauren chuckled. 

They were still having the same conversation ten minutes later when they got home.

"Tell you what, I'll stay right next to you until you're fast asleep," Lauren promised.

"Okay," Camila said, following Lauren in.

"Do you need a diaper change?" Lauren asked softly, knowing it embarrassed Camila. 

The smaller girl simply shrugged, blushing slightly.

"Okay, can you go lie down on your changing mat while I make you a bottle?" Lauren asked, taking her shyness as a yes.

The older girl walked into the kitchen and set to work rinsing out the baby bottle before pouring in some plain milk and placing the whole bottle in the microwave. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through a few emails before putting it down and retrieving the bottle and jogging upstairs.

"Good girl, Mila," she praised warmly when she found Camila lying down quietly on her mat when she got to her room. "Hang on, I'll give it to you once you're in bed," she said when Camila tried to reach for the bottle. 

She untaped Camila's diaper, folding it up and placing it to the side. 

"Do you want a diaper or a pull-up?" she asked, wanting to give Camila a choice. 

"I don't know," Camila mumbled, rubbing her eye sleepily.

"Okay, let's do a pull-up then, you're only going to have a short nap," Lauren decided, helping Camila into a pull-up. She reached down and carefully lifted Camila into her crib before going to dim the lights.

"LoLo?" Camila asked worriedly.

"Shh, I'm right here," Lauren reassured her, walking back to the crib and shaking the bottle in her hand. She reached down and gently pressed the teat against Camila's lips, waiting for her to hungrily accept it and start suckling.

When Camila didn't take the bottle into her own hands, she decided to hold it to her mouth for her.

"Should we sing a song?" she asked as Camila looked up into her eyes. "Okay," she said when the little girl nodded.

"But you'll never be alone

I'll be with you from dusk till dawn

I'll be with you from dusk till dawn

Baby I'm right here

I'll hold you when things go wrong

I'll be with you from dusk till dawn, with you from dusk till dawn

Baby I'm right here..."