Mike walked through his front door, happy to be home and not have to deal with the circus going on at the hospital. Luckily the patient had been transferred to a research hospital so he was somebody else's problem now. 

"Hey Mr. Reynolds! Welcome back! Maggie is already asleep." Said Jessica. The babysitter was a neighbor girl who had recently graduated from highschool but hadn't gone away for school yet. Mike had always felt bad for the girl, being a bit overweight and still having braces. She seemed to have perpetual bad luck and always seemed to be tripping over something. 

"Hey Jessica, thank you so much, here's your money, and a bit extra because I'm home late." Mike said, handing over a wad of cash. 

"No, thank you Mr. Reynolds. Maggie is sweet, and it's not like I have anything better to do." She said with a laugh before grabbing her things and saying goodbye. 

Mike poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat in front of the TV, waiting for his wife to come home. After about an hour, he heard her walk in the door. 

"Hey honey, how was your day? Mine was wild." Mike said, getting up to greet her. 

"No talk." Sarah said as she startled Mike by throwing herself at him. 

"Yes Ma'am" Mike said, picking her up and carrying her off to the bedroom. 

______________

“Dad! It's time to play!” Maggie said, shaking her fathers leg while he was making breakfast. Sarah had left for work already, so he was on Dad duty during his day off. And with Maggie, it was always play time.

“Ok ok, but we need to eat breakfast. Here, take your oatmeal and go sit down.” Mike said as he handed his daughter her breakfast.

“But I’m not hungry!” She said, but taking the bowl and walking over to the table.

“Well if you don't eat now, you'll get hungry later and we'll have to stop playing to eat. If we eat now, we'll have plenty of energy to play!” Mike said, trying to convince her.

“Fine.” She said, as she grumpily ate.

“Now what are we gon—” Mike started to say before being hit with a violent coughing attack. 

“You okay daddy?” Maggie said.

“Yeah, I don't know what that was about but I’m fine.” Mike said as he wiped the tears from his eyes that came out while coughing.

A wave of vertigo hit him as he looked around. He couldn’t process what he was seeing. Everything around him was so huge. It looked like the world had tripled in size. He realized he was just wearing his now oversized shirt, as his pants were too large to stay on him. 

“Daddy! You're small!” Maggie said from behind him.

Mike turned with apprehension to see his 3’ 4”  daughter, now towering over him. He must have been close to 2 feet tall if his estimate was right.

“Maggie, we have to find daddys phone.” Mike said, realizing he must have caught what his patient had the day before. Which means he only had a limited amount of time before he shrank again. And if he was smaller than the man had been during his first shrinking episode, he didn't like what the implications were for his next bout. 

“But I wanna play dolls!”  Maggie said. “And I’m bigger, so now I’m in charge.”

Mike walked away from her, trying to check which counter he had put his phone, but he would have to climb up onto a chair to reach that high. But before he could start climbing, Maggie grabbed the back of his shirt, stopping him.

“Maggie, let go, I have to find my phone.” Mike said, trying to rationalize with his now larger daughter.

“I'm in charge now. You said I have to listen to people like Jessica because they are bigger. But now I’m bigger, so you have to listen to me!” She said, using his previous arguments against him.

“Maggie, this isn't playtime, it's serious.” Mike said, trying to pull away from her, but her grip was too strong.

“No, time to play.” She said as she grabbed his arm and began dragging him away.

Mike was shocked by how strong she was. He didn't think he would be able to break free from her without hurting her, which isn't something he wanted to do. 

“Ok, we can play for a little bit, but then you have to help me find my phone. Deal?” Mike said.

“Yay! Deal!” Maggies said as they walked to her room where her doll house was. 

Mike was just barely taller than her dollhouse, which was a mansion for the 2 inch tall dolls she had for them. He was handed a male doll by his daughter as she grabbed several more for herself.

“Now you play the daddy, and I'll play the mommy and the baby.” She said.

Mike went along with her and started to roleplay a typical day for the dolls, which included playing with their pet unicorn and the baby learning how to fly. 

The two played for a few hours before Maggie's stomach began to growl.

“Looks like someone is hungry. How about we take a break, get some food, and find Daddys phone?” Mike said, hoping she was ready to help him. 

“Okay!” Maggie said, springing to her feet. “Race you!” She said as she took off.

Mike laughed as he ran to catch up, but his short legs put him at a disadvantage. When he got to the kitchen, he saw that Maggie had climbed onto the counter, and was waving his phone.

“You found it! Good job!” Mike said, glad he'd finally be able to call for help. 

“Catch!” Maggie said with a giggle as she tossed his phone overhand at him, but her aim was way off and it sailed across the room, crashing into the hard floor.

“Maggie! No!” Mike said, running over to check his phone. His heart sank as he saw the screen was completely cracked and unusable. “Why did you do that! Now it's broken!”

“You didn’t catch it!” Maggie said, defensively.

“Maggie,you can't be doing things li–” Mike started to scold his daughter, but another coughing fit hit him.