Okay. So I really shouldn't be making another story when, in all honesty, the only story I've finished aside from Bleeding Hearts and my oneshots is…nada. But…I don't know, it's hard to resist. Really, really hard to resist. Especially when my mind's been nagging at me to write this.

I think I'll concentrate first on Dance With Me, Ma Cherie. Or wait, maybe A Rose's Thorns? No, Queen of the World Diaries sounds better at the moment…but so does Bleeding Hearts : The Revised Edition. As well as all the others…

Eh. I'll get back to my updating problem later. For now, here's the story.

***

SUMMARY

"Daddy…?"

Ian knew he was done for. Really, truly done for.

And then she cried.

***

The annual tour of the poisons gallery was one that the Kabras could never miss. The promise of new toxins, weapons that could incapacitate, vials of substances that had a million purposes and would serve well in their conquest dazzled them both. Even now, when Ian was 25 and Natalie was 22, they still made sure to be there.

After all, the poisons gallery itself was located in Lucian headquarters and spearheaded by their father long ago. It only made sense, as Branch Leaders of the clan, to grace the event with their presence.

"What is this?" Ian asked, idly picking up a clear vial that contained a silver liquid streaked with purple.

"It is a new toxin currently under development, sir," the head scientist was quick to answer.

"And what does it do?"

"We're not sure yet…it seems to result in anti-growth spurt…"

"Anit-growth spurt?" Ian frowned. "Does that mean we stay forever in our present forms?"

"Does that mean youth?" Natalie asked, removing her sunglasses to look at the man.

"Well, not entirely. It is unfinished as of the moment and we haven't been able to test it right now."

"Let me see that." Natalie moved to snatch it from her brother but Ian responded by holding it above her.

"It's dangerous. We don't know what it can do."

"We'll know now!" she snapped. "Have it tested!" Her hands scrambled for the clear bottle, managing to grasp it in her hand.

Crack.

Suddenly, the bottle broke, and the siblings watched aghast as the glass shattered and the liquid poured.

Natalie shielded her face from the shards. Ian watched as the liquid fell on his sister, everyone else waiting with bated breath to see what would happen.

The substance coated the top of her head and nothing seemed forthcoming.

"My hair…is…is wet!" she spluttered.

Poof.

And then a four-year-old Natalie, dragged down by her twenty-year-old body's clothes, appeared out of the puff of purple smoke.

Ian gulped. Oh no.

***

A little later, Ian found himself in his office, setting down his sister on a velvet red chair. He turned to the flustered scientists who had concocted Toxin # 780, otherwise known as the Baby Formula. No, not milk, but literally turning adults to babies.

"So you're saying that it all depends on their age at that moment? Whatever the outcome would be?" Ian said, keeping a watchful eye on his sister who had refused diapers and normal onesies in favor of designer baby clothing. Well, it was Natalie, no matter the appearance.

"Y-yes. If she had been any younger than 18, she would be a newborn. As it is, we're glad she is just four years old."

"And none of you thought to inform me of this?"

"I-I did, sir."

"You said it was anti-growth spurt! Never in my life did I imagine it was to make adults into babies!"

"Well, if you'd poured the liquid on a baby, he or she would have become an adult," one of them mumbled.

Ian closed his eyes in frustration. "When will she be back to normal?"

"That-that depends. That's why it was marked as 'unfinished'. We haven't gotten around to specifying a certain time limit as to the effects."

"You do under---"

"WAAAHHHH!!!" Natalie cried, cutting off Ian's sentence. Alarmed, the scientists moved into one compressed circle, thinking that it would shield them from a temperamental little girl's wrath as Ian rushed over to where his sister sat.

"What's wrong?" he asked, picking her up and raising her to eye level.

"I want Pra-Pra clut…" Natalie wailed.

Ian looked at her, confused. "Did you mean, Prada clutch?" he guessed.

The teary-eyed girl nodded.

"Do you want a new one?"

Natalie shook her head vigorously. Though her mind knew that she shouldn't be crying, and she could formulate words --- in fact, she had retained her intelligence even in this form --- still her body would not allow her to act on her thoughts and instead acted by the instincts of a toddler.

She pointed helplessly at the bag that sat on Ian's desk, lower lip trembling.

"Hold on," Ian said, trying to decide whether to bring her along or put her down and get the object. Natalie hit his head impatiently.

"Ow," he gasped. He carried her, albeit awkwardly, and opened the clutch. "What do you want?"

"Put down."

"Huh?"

"I believe she wants you to put her down," the head scientist offered then shirked away when Natalie shot him a venomous glare.

Ian did so, getting more frustrated. He had no experience whatsoever dealing with kids and he couldn't be expected to take care of one right now!

Natalie's pudgy fingers rummaged through her purse and barely brought up her BlackBerry.

"Call Mummy," she ordered her brother, pushing the phone to him.

Ian started to refuse, saying, "I don't really think --- "

"Now!" Natalie ordered. Though her voice was younger, Ian could see the signs of a full-blown tantrum. With a sigh, he dialed his mother.

"Natalie?"

"Mother, it's me."

"Ian. Is anything the problem? Is the tour done?"

"We're in…a bit of a pickle."

"Care to elaborate?"

Ian decided to hurry it along, as Natalie's hand on his tightened each second and her lips pursed.

"Something happened to Natalie."

"And that is…?"

Ian put the phone in front of his sister.

"M-Mummy?"

"Natalie? Is that you?" Isabelle was clearly bewildered to hear her daughter speaking in a voice she wasn't expecting her daughter to have.

Natalie was trying to control her emotions. She bit her lip. But she couldn't do a thing to stop what happened next.

The waterworks burst and she began to bawl.

"Natalie? Natalie! Cease that at once!"

Ian picked up the BlackBerry and his sister, trying to soothe Natalie and speak to his mother at the same time.

"An accident happened. You see…" And Ian related the tale.

"Ian, we will be there. Take care of your sister. Be her babysitter for the day while we resolve this."

"I---"

The other line went dead.

Ian looked at the huddled scientists. "Get out now and wait for my mother and father."

They gladly complied, shuffling out of the door nervously.

Ian looked at the little girl in his arms. "Ice cream?"

Natalie scowled.

***

Not much, really. Well, I'll debate with myself now over continuing this as well as other fanfics.

Adieu.