Chapter Text
"Elsie my love, are you awake?" Grant gently rubbed his wives back, she yawned sleepily as she rolled over in bed.
She faced her husband and giggled.
"I'm awake but I'm exhausted." She grumbled, adjusting her bonnet sleepily.
"I have a surprise for you" Grant grinned from ear to ear.
Elsie gasped, "Really? A surprise for me?" She giggled again.
"Yes my dear, follow me." He got up and waited for her to follow.
She stretched her arms to the sky, yawned once more and then followed shortly after him.
He lead her out into the hallway and then handed her a bandana to cover her eyes as a blindfold.
Elsie smiled and put it over her eyes, Grant lead her into the kitchen so she didn't stumble over anything.
"How big of a present is this that I need to be blindfolded?" She asked as he finally brought her into the Kitchen.
"We stopped- can I take it off now?" Elsie double checked.
"Yes lovely." She could hear the smile in his voice as she took the blindfold off revealing what was in front of her.
In front of her on the computer was a bunch of code and a set of VR type headsets.
"Wait- what's this a video game or something?" Elsie chuckled, confused as to what this gift was actually for.
"Here, put this on." Grant handed a headset to her, it was big and would cover her eyes and some of her face.
She had never seen technology like this before, it had the C & A logo on the side and was a bright yellow colour.
"What is this?" She investigated the headset.
"Just trust me and put it on." Grant plugged both headsets into the computer
"Well, alright." She placed the headset onto her head and as soon as Grant plugged it in it felt as if they shifted realities.
"Wait- where are we?" Elsie felt a bit disorientated, she was rubbing her head, then she looked down at her hands.
They weren't attached to her body and they were... gloved now?
Grant came to her side and rubbed her back, look up." He urged her to do so.
She looked up and saw a crib in front of her in what looked like a child's room.
And then lying in the crib was a small child... Elsie gasped, she could feel the tears filling up in her eyes.
"Oh my gosh... Grant I-" She slowly approached the crib, the child was swaddled in a blanket with little bees all over it, his eyes were huge, one was blue and the other was green.
Instead of a normal human head he was kind of made out of teeth... like those teeth chattering toys you'd get as a kid that wound up, however his eyes were inside his mouth.
"Hello baby!" Elsie smiled warmly as she scooped up the little baby burrito.
He looked up at her and cooed like any normal baby would do, even though he didn't look like an average child he was still the cutest thing ever.
"Come here Grant." Elsie stared into his eyes as she turned towards him, rocking their new digital child.
Grant approached her and chuckled as he came face to face with his new son.
"He is a boy because I know how much you really wanted a baby boy... so what should we name him?" Grant asked, he knew how badly she had wanted a child.
And now her dream had finally come true.
"Well... he is made up of teeth... what about... Caine?" Elsie chuckled, it was stupid but it worked.
"I think that's a great name." Grant agreed as he gestured for Elsie to pass the child over to him for a moment.
He gently rocked baby Caine in his arms, now he knew how it felt to officially be a father.
"So this place- we can come here and leave at any time?" Elsie observed her surroundings, baby Caine started falling asleep a little.
"Yup! And we can even communicate and care for him outside this digital world." Grant explained.
"Does he... age like a normal child?" Elsie genuinely didn't know, this was all new for her.
For both of them really.
"No he doesn't, in about 2 months he will be 2 years old." Grant explained.
"Ohhh ok." Elsie nodded.
"But he is practically immortal so..." Grant shrugged and then laughed.
Caine laughed back at him.
"Aww he's so happy!" Elsie exclaimed.
"What time is it here anyways?" Elsie realized she didn't even know what time it was right now, she had no perception of time here.
"It's..." Grant looked over at the little Circus shaped clock in Caines room.
"7pm." Grant observed.
"Looks like it's this little guys bedtime!" Elsie looked down at her son who was currently fighting sleep.
"I think he needs a bath and a diaper change!" Grant plugged his nose as he smelt his diaper.
He may not be a human but he still was a baby after all!
Elsie rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll change him- don't be so dramatic!" She gestured for him to return her son to her.
He did so and she nearly almost puked as he did.
"Oh gosh- what did you eat?" Elsie exclaimed at Caine, Grant laughed hysterically.
"Cmon, this ways the washroom." Grant urged her to follow him, he lead her to the bathroom connected to Caines room.
It was small and consisted of a small bath tub, a small sink and mirror and a little cabinet with some basic baby items as well as a changing table.
It was sun and moon themed, the mirror had a sun and moon on the top and bottom and the walls had a big mural of the outside of the Circus on the sinks side, the other side was just painted blue.
The rug by the sink was yellow and there were many different accents and that connected to the sun and moon theme.
"This is adorable Grant! Did you design all this?" Elsie asked as she placed Caine onto the changing table.
"Well yeah... me and some programmers from C & A." Caine explained.
"Hellooo baby, don't worry I'll get you cleaned up." Elsie spoke calmly to baby Caine as she changed him out of his clothes.
Underneath his clothes his body was a transparent texture, considering he was an AI and all.
She took off his dirty diaper and placed him into a little baby tub chair they had sitting inside the actual tub so she could lay him back and wash him off easily.
She turned on the taps and started up the tub, Grant handed her some wash cloths and some soap.
"Thank you." She thanked as she took them and started to gently clean him off.
Caine started to whine, for some reason he didn't like the bath.
"Oh darling, shhh it's alright." She tried to reassure Caine as she gently cleaned his face.
"I have some rubber duckies somewhere in here..." Grant searched the bathroom cabinets till he found some.
He found a blue and yellow ducky and started squeezing them causing them to squeak.
Caine stopped melting down immediately and started laughing uncontrollably.
Grant chuckled as he continuously squeezed the ducks, he just loved it!
Not too long after she finished up the bath and gently wrapped him up into a towel, the hood had a small sun and moon logo on it.
Caine snuggled up to his mother, she laid him back down onto the changing table and found fresh clean diapers underneath the tables.
"Oh wait I have some new pyjamas for him too." Grant spoke up as he ran off it Caines room to grab them.
He returned with a one piece pj set with bees all over it.
Clearly Grant knew his wife's love for bugs and clearly added that into the game.
Especially her love for bees.
"Oh my gosh, those are so cutteee!" She awed at them and grabbed them from his gloved hands to change Caine into.
"Look Caine, Bees!" She explained as she put him into them.
Caine kept getting sleepier and sleepier, it was almost bedtime.
Elsie picked him up and rocked him before bringing him into the other room.
She laid him down in his crib and grabbed the bottle that was on his bedside him.
She fed it to him and he drank it, satisfied.
"Good boy." Elsie smiled down at him, Grant turned off the lamp on the other table beside his crib and Caine finished his bottle.
Elsie set it aside and patted his back to make sure he was properly burped.
Then he dozed off and Elsie and Grant exchanged warm glances.
They left the room holding hands and turned off the main lights.
"Now how do we leave?" Elsie asked curiously, Grant pointed to somewhere in the distance at the other end of the tent.
"We go out the exit door at the bottom, cmon." He gestured for her to follow.
She took his hand and he lead her down some stairs until they reached where he thought he placed the door but... it wasn't there?
"That's strange... I specifically coded that the door would be right here?" Grant gestured to the floor in-front of them.
"Are you sure?" Elsie asked.
"I don't know but maybe I'm mistaken?" Grant started looking around the Circus.
But after searching for a while they realized the exit was gone.
"How could it just disappear like that?" Elsie couldn't even believe that was at all possible.
"I don't know but... I hate to say it but..."
"We are trapped here."