Colliding Lives

The traffic had been awful all day. A journey of only 140 miles had taken six hours. The one saving grace was the booking at a roadside hotel that would give me a night's rest before the second 140 miles I had to do tomorrow. The staff at the hotel knew me from regular family visits.

“Hello John. Off to see the family again? There have been collisions in the heavy rain and vehicles have aquaplaned into each other. We have heard ambulance sirens every few hours as some other poor traveller was carted off to the nearest A&E to be patched up. Only once, thank God, was the vehicle going up the hard shoulder one of those vans with no windows that said Ambulance in black writing without the red and yellow chevrons of an emergency vehicle.”

The restaurant at the hotel was crowded even though I was eating early, but I managed to find a table set for one, and then served myself from a well provisioned buffet. My novel kept me from looking too closely at the other guests, but snatches of conversation did penetrate my self-imposed isolation. There was a litany of woes about the weather and the driving conditions.

There was nothing to do once night had fallen and I had eaten everything I needed, so I went back to the room with every intention of watching a film on the television and then getting a reasonably early night.

Just as I was thinking about turning in there was a knock on the bedroom door. I went and opened it with some trepidation.

Beyond was one of the Reception Staff with a young woman of perhaps 25. At this stage I really didn't have much interest in her, but the Receptionist was talking and I made every effort to concentrate on what he was saying.

“John there has been a major incident about ten miles north of here and the motorway is closed in both directions, and will be until tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

“That sound dreadful, I hope no one has been killed, but what is that to do with me?”

“The Police cannot turn hundreds of articulated lorries on the dual carriageway and have asked that we accommodate as many people in the local hotels as we can, because otherwise they will just have to sit in their cars overnight. There are five double rooms here with only one occupant. We have managed to accommodate a second man to share the rooms with an existing male occupant, but you are the last hope for this young woman. May she share this room with you?”

“I think it is more to the point whether she is prepared to spend the night with a man who must be twice or possibly three times her age?”

“Faced with the alternative, I would happily share a room with anyone your age or older.” she replied with a pleasing lilt to her voice.

“Then I really do not see how I can turn you down. I have no idea how easily we will share a double bed, but I am prepared to give it a try if you are game.”

“Thank you. We will give it our best shot, and if it really doesn't work for some reason then I will go and sit in my car for the rest of the night.”

The Receptionist left them to it with a sigh of relief.

“As you know, my name is John, and you are?”

“I am Lauren. The travel today has been quite awful. I can only hope it is better tomorrow. I have a long way to go.”

“We both do.”

“Can I make myself a cup of tea?”

“Of course. Help yourself. Have you eaten?”

“Yes. I ate at a Service Area a couple of hours ago.”

“What is making you do such long journeys?”

“Work. I am a solicitor and have to visit various wealthy clients who prefer me to visit them rather than them coming to my chambers.”

John looked at Lauren really for the first time. She was about 5ft 5in he thought, with auburn hair that may well have come from a bottle because there was a thin line of dark brown along her central parting. The bangs helped to frame her elfin face. Her brown eyes were oval, suggesting an interesting heritage.They were protected by rimless glasses.

She was dressed in a mid-blue trouser suit and darker blue heels that were about three inches, not more. The blouse under the suit was also blue but the neck was open and showed some attractive cleavage.

“So what about you, John.”

“I am just a retired grandfather travelling to see his daughter and two grandchildren. My wife died several years ago and I make the journey every couple of months to see the family.”

“I am sorry to hear of you loss. I have never married, but have turned down a few proposals. Sometimes I have regretted that, but not often. Being a solicitor can take up one's whole life. You have to work very hard to build up a reputation, and then you have to work even harder to keep it intact.”

“So how are we going to work out how to share a double bed?”

It isn't an eight foot bed, so we cannot put a pillow down the middle, so it will be a matter of trust I think.”

“I have just a pair of shorts and the Tee shirt to sleep in. What about you?”

“I travel light. I just have a rather skimpy nightie. I regret that it is largely transparent and doesn't reach much beyond my waist.”

“I may be more than double your age, but I doubt if I will regret that it is largely transparent. I hope I will be allowed to enjoy the view.”

“I may allow you that. It is, after all you that have agreed to let me sleep here.”

“Seeing you yawning, I suspect that you are as tired as I am.”

“Yes it has been exhausting and frustrating. Shall I go in the bathroom first?”

Yes, by all means.”

Lauren unpacked the diaphanous garment and apologised again for the scant nature of it.

“Think nothing of it.”

She soon returned after carrying out her ablutions. John noticed that her pubic hair was her natural colour. Much darker than her head hair.

“You are certainly very attractive in that outfit. If you want to, please do a twirl.”

“Lauren did a twirl, and the hem of the nightie rode up even more.

“Very pretty. You are beautiful. I shall have to work hard to stop you being too attractive for this old man.”

Lauren came round to John's side of the bed. Thank you for the comments. You are not unattractive in your own right. I like older men who have some gravitas about them … but perhaps you need to use the bathroom now as I am very weary.”

“Yes, of course. I was getting distracted. It is not every day that I have close contact with attractive young women.”

In fact John and Lauren did sleep very easily and it was daybreak when they both woke up.

John spoke as soon as Lauren had woken “I did sleep very well, but I had a funny dream that seemed to take all night to complete.”

“I also had a dream.”

“What was your dream about, if that is not too personal.”

“It is a rather strange dream, but it involves you, so I suppose that you should know about it.”

“I drifted off to sleep and after a few minutes it seemed as if my nightie had disappeared. I was laying on my back when a woman came across to my side of the bed and I found out that I had all the male equipment. My breasts and vagina had disappeared. I made love to this woman and I ejaculated into her when we both climaxed.”

“That is very strange because I also had a similar dream. My night clothes seemed to disappear and I felt much younger, and I felt as if I had breasts and a vagina. A man was in bed with me and we made love. He came in me and I was glad he did that. I am not sure why.”

“Do you think we shared the dream and may actually have swapped our bodies in our dream state?
I have never heard of anything like that.”

Lauren stretched down and found some dry encrustation between her legs. I think this body had sex last night, whoever was experiencing it. It is a good thing I am on the pill.”

“Do you feel that you made love last night?”

“I don't know. Perhaps we did. I am not sure.”

Lauren sat up.

“Do you realize that your nightie has disappeared?”

Lauren clasped one arm over her bosom.

“I think it is a bit late for modesty now.”

She laughed. “Yes I suppose it is.” and uncovered her breasts.

“How can we explore what actually happened last night when we were asleep?”

“Are you sore, at all? In my dream we certainly got very physical.”

“I think I am a bit sore down there, but I am not sure.”

“I can feel your nightie. It is screwed up down by my feet.”

“I can ask how it got there, but I don't really expect an answer.”

“I haven't got an answer.”

“I have a strange memory of a strawberry flavour in my mouth at one point. I wonder why?”

“I smelled strawberries when you came to bed last night. Do you use a strawberry scented intimate deodorant?”

“Why, yes, I do, but why did I smell it so strongly?”

“You would do, if I was you and you were me, and you were licking me down there.”

“That is seriously weird. How can I have done that on myself?”

“You didn't if we swapped bodies for a few minutes.”

“I cannot believe that that happened. No one has ever reported it before as far as I am aware.”

“That doesn't mean anything. It might be happening all the time, but everyone experiencing it would believe the rest of the World would think that they were quite mad.”

“I must say that it was a beautiful experience to have you thrusting into me. Totally different to me being the man making love. My wife could never explain what she felt, and when our two daughters had been born she really lost interest. If what I felt in my dream was what a woman actually feels, then I don't see why older women should be reluctant sexual partners .”

“I am still fertile of course, so my body was still receptive. A woman who has been through the change doesn't have the potential to have more babies, so loses interest.”

“I suppose that is true. Are you saying that your body would not enjoy sex if you were older?

“Certainly that is the case for many women who complain to the Police of sexual assault or rape in marriage. I have been the solicitor in several such cases.”

“I have always thought that that was rather sad. I would have thought that there was a freedom for women to be able to have intimate partners without concern of conceiving a child.”

“That is a man's perspective. It is the risk, albeit a small one that the pill will not work, or the condom will split and another child will be on the way. That is the real excitement. Without that risk, the whole business is just messy and leaves a wet patch on the sheet where the wife sleeps.”

“So where does this experience leave us? We can just put it down to experience and go our separate ways or we can try to find out more about it.”

“I enjoyed having a man's body even for a short time, and I think you enjoyed using my body as well. I don't think we can just leave it as a one off experience not to be repeated, and we go our separate ways. It has the potential to be exciting.”

“I agree with you. But we don't have time before we have to be out of this hotel room to have another sleep and I don't really feel sleepy anyway.”

“May I touch you intimately?”

“Yes, as long as I can do the same.”

Nothing is happening, except that touching you makes me excited again. You are still you.”

“It is the same for me. I like touching you down there, but it doesn't make us swap bodies.”

“The dawn is coming up and I need a shower. I must smell after the night.”

“I assure you that your smell is just like a woman's normal smell after waking up. Nothing unpleasant. Just a sort of homely smell.”

“I still need a shower. You may not mind the smell, but I don't like it.”

“Then please shower first.”

Lauren got up an walked over to recover the screwed up nightie. “That has had a hard time overnight.” She smoothed it out put it away in her case.

“Where did my shorts end up.” John asked?

“They are on my side on the floor with your Tee shirt.”

“We obviously shed our clothes at some point, but I have no idea when”

The shower was running and John was left to his own thoughts.”

“I think we have to keep in touch. I will write my contact details down and hope that Lauren will do the same. I don't know where this can go, or will go, but it is probably important.”

Lauren was also thinking while she showered.

“I think we have to keep in touch. I will write my contact details down and hope that John will do the same. I don't know where this can go, or will go, but it is probably important.”

After John had come out of the bathroom, they both said simultaneously.

“I have written down my contact details for you. Please do keep in touch. We have to explore this more.”

They both laughed at saying the same thing simultaneously.

“That is seriously weird.”

“I think we should meet at a hotel I know about half way between our houses. It is on the M4 near Reading.”

“I know. I have just booked it.”

“How did you know that I would agree, or haven't got other things booked for that weekend.”

“This is even more weird. I think you know what I am thinking before I say it.”

“What are you thinking now?”

“I am thinking that my pill has failed and I am pregnant.”

“I know. I can feel it too. Please do not be too worried, there are ways out of this if needed, and I am quite capable of supporting you financially if you really are pregnant. If you want to take the 'Morning After Pill' just to be sure, then I would support you in that.”

“I know, but it makes it even more important to meet up next weekend.”

“Agreed, but do keep in touch by phone or electronically as the days pass.”

“Do you realise it is only hours since we met and now that we are sitting in a hotel room completely comfortable, talking about spending next weekend together in the hope of sharing a body swapping experience again.”

“I agree, but we will have to be adaptable.”

“I wonder if that is not going to be an understatement.”

“Let's go and have breakfast. I need to be on the way to my daughter’s, and your client awaits. Do please bring the same nightie next weekend. It may be important. I remember feeling the gauzy fabric rubbing my nipples and making them erect.”

Lauren looked at John with raised eyebrows and her mouth fell half open.

“Did I really say that? He said.

“What are we getting ourselves into?”

It was difficult to switch off from such a revelation, but John played with his granddaughters, and made polite conversation with his daughter and son-in-law. They could see he was distracted by something, but respected the fact that he didn't want to talk about it.

Lauren found the drive up to see her client troubling. The previous night's events interfered with her concentration whilst driving, but she got to the house soon enough and without making any stupid driving mistakes.

She was able to concentrate on her elderly client's affairs for the hour and a bit she shared with the old lady, and was then back on the road where she arrived home later that day.

The opportunity to take the 'Morning After Pill' slipped away. She could not be pregnant. She took her prescribed pill routinely. She had done for nearly a decade.

She texted John to see how things were going, and got a simple message back saying that all was well and signed by 'The Distraction.' She smiled at the reference. He was certainly that!

When they were both home, they were able to talk on the phone without being overheard. Neither had had any out of body experiences since.

As the weekend meeting approached, Lauren got increasingly uneasy. She contacted John to say that she still had not had a period. Could it mean that she actually was pregnant?

How early could one take a home pregnancy test? She found that it was already possible five days after her expected period, so she went to a pharmacy some distance away from her home and bought one of the early test kits, and the result was positive!

It was still a day before she was due to meet John in Reading, but she rang him in a panic and they met on the Saturday morning instead of later, but both had their overnight bag ready for the hotel.

They met in the hotel restaurant for a slightly late lunch.

“What am I to do? I have a very demanding job and need to establish my career better. I cannot go off having babies just at a critical time.”

“You … no we; have choices.” he replied.

“I may not be in the first flush of youth, but I have been a parent for many years. If you want to have a termination I will support you, but if the child is born, then we can live together and co-parent. You can go back to work as soon as your maternity leave period is over. We could also approach one of my two daughters to see if they would want to have an informal foster of the baby.”

“Don't forget that we are here for a reason. The possibility of a pregnancy does not alter the fact that something very strange happened in that hotel room a week ago.”

“We will try to reconstruct events even though it is not the same hotel of course.”

Lauren did not feel able to drink alcohol that evening just in case the pregnancy was real, so they went to their shared room earlier than they normally would have done.

“Are you tired yet?”

Lauren said that she did not feel particularly tired but would welcome the opportunity to dress in something a bit less constricting.”

“Are you meaning that you are going to change into that diaphanous nightie?”

“I was thinking of it. It is the reason why we are here, after all.”

“Are you going to change in the bathroom, or here?”

“I don't know. I changed in the bathroom last time, but gave you a display afterwards, as I remember.”

“I remember it very well. I suggest that you do as you please. We both had showers before going to bed so I suggest that we do the same.”

Lauren simply took off her clothes and walked naked into the bathroom and the shower was soon running.

John tried to concentrate on the novel he was reading, but failed miserably with Lauren so available next door.

The door opened and there was a gush of steam that came into the bedroom. “Your turn she said as the tiny nightie was added, that covered very little, and enhanced a lot.

John soon emerged with an equally large blast of water vapour from the shower.

The same Tee shirt and shorts were more of a covering but not much more. His arousal was obvious.

“Are you happy with us having sex together if that is what this condition seems to demand?”

“I think that is what we are here for.” was Lauren's reply. It would seem that any harm that could be done, has already been done. I shall enjoy the sex for what it is, and if there are any strange events then that is also why we are here.”

John leant over and snuggled with Lauren. They slipped over into kissing mode for some minutes, and both commented that they seemed too tired to take things any further and it was soon morning as far as they were concerned. Their clothes were scattered around the room and Lauren was asleep with one leg over John's and his hand was firmly over Lauren's right breast.

Lauren felt herself.“I have dry semen on my labia. I don't think that it is possible that these two bodies did not have sex last night when we were asleep. I say these two bodies because I have no memory of it other than a dream of being a man and making love to a pretty girl”

“I knew that the girl I was making love to was already pregnant, so there was no problem of climaxing inside her.”

“I had the same dream as I had before. I was in a woman's body and was pleased to be able to offer the man my body for the night. I also knew I was pregnant and was pleased to be so.

“I would like to try to make love whilst we are awake and see if anything happens. It seems to me that the tiredness overcame us. We were not tired before.”

“I need a shower if we are going to make love again.”

“Might I suggest that we don't. It might alter something.”

“OK, but I am a bit manky down below.”

“I think that is all part and parcel of a sexual relationship.”

John stretched down and massaged Lauren until she was fully aroused.

They lay together and explored each other's sensitive areas, but there was no sign of any sort of mind exchange or forced sleep.

Lauren stretched out languidly.

“I enjoyed that, but it does tell us something about our exchange.”

“Firstly, you have extra sensitive nipples for a man and secondly your skin looks younger than it did last week, and your hair is a little thicker I think.”

“I cannot see any difference in you. You look just as youthful and pretty as you did last week.”

“Thankyou for the compliment. I think I ought to show worry lines because of my … no, our, possible pregnancy even though I was taking the pill.”

“Have you stopped taking it now?”

“Yes, the advice is if you have a positive test result, you should stop taking it until you have a period or have a confirmation test.”

“So, we have breakfast, and then go our separate ways. Is that the idea?”

“I think that is all we can do for now. You have a business to run.”

“Would you like to come to my house next weekend?”

“How would you explain me?”

“I wouldn't need to. I would not expect anyone to visit for those two days, and I live on my own, as I am sure you realise after my widowhood.”

I am available if you would like to spend the day together. You are an attractive companion. There are plenty of things open on a weekend near me.”

“I think I would like to have a walk on the Downs.”

“A bit of the South Downs long distance trail is not far from my home. Are you up to five or ten miles and a pub lunch somewhere?”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Do you have walking boots?”

“I always carry them in the car.”

“Then that is a plan and we can think about the options for us.”

Lauren left soon afterwards, and John travelled back separately from the hotel with many thoughts.

During the following week, John took photographs of himself in the long mirror in his bedroom, both dressed and undressed. He was surprised to see that his hair was thickening up and his skin looked more youthful. He found that he didn’t need to shave quite so often, and the hair he did have to shave was more downy and less bristly.

He wondered whether to send any of the photographs to Lauren, but decided against it.
The days seemed to drag for John, but each time he phoned Lauren, she was very busy working into the late evening. He felt that he was being an imposition on the time of his younger companion.

Eventually the weekend arrived and Lauren drove up to his front door, and they embraced as old friends.

John took her small weekend case out of her car and put it in his bedroom with its King size bed.

Lauren had used the facilities after her drive and was ready for the ham salad that John had prepared.

After the first course they had exhausted all the topics in the News for that week and they fell to discussing their two families. Lauren was clearly anxious. “I cannot use the definitive pregnancy test until tomorrow morning. It is difficult to wait.

“I must say that I think you are looking well, John. I think you are looking as if your skin is a little smoother and your neck looks younger. The more I look, the more obvious the changes are.

“I have a little surprise for you. I have been taking photographs of myself every morning in my long mirror both clothed and bare. I noticed the changes only two days after we last met, so I have five pairs of photographs to show you. I decided that I wouldn’t trouble you with them until we met.”

John stretched over and opened a drawer in his sideboard and drew out A4 prints of the photos. They were dated and she looked through them with increasing incredulity.

“You must have shed ten years in only five days. The last of these photos is of a man in his late fifties, rather than late sixties. I am also concerned about these pigmenting patches over your nipples. They look awfully like areolae, and your penis and testicles seem less prominent somehow. I think there is also a change in what I will politely call, your derrière. Your buttocks are more prominent and rounded”

“I notice that you keep scratching your chest. Does it itch?”

“Yes, I have these little hard nodules that have formed under my nipples. The skin there has become darker and the tissue is a little bit raised.”

“Let me look.”

John opened his shirt.

“If I was any judge, I would say that those are breast buds such as you would have on a teenage girl.”

“I cannot be getting gynaecomastia at my age. It doesn't make sense.”

“Whether it makes sense or not, your skin is looking less wrinkled and your grey hair has some darker roots.”

“Do you feel any different?”

“I don't know. Apart from the itching I haven't had to take any Paracetamol for my arthritic knees recently.”

“Doesn't that strike you as odd?”

“I suppose it does. Perhaps I should see my doctor for a routine consultation. I don't think this counts as an emergency.”

“Very well, but please don't leave it too long.”

After lunch John drove Lauren and to a car park he knew and they walked for some distance along the top of the chalk hills of the South Downs Way listening to birds singing, and watching clouds appear, scud across the sky, then dip below the horizon.

“So what shall we talk about?”

“Us, of course. I am concerned about the changes in you, and of course, my pregnancy. I am also aware that we share thoughts, although not at all when we are widely separated.”

“I seem to be aware of your pregnancy in a sort of general sense if you can understand that, almost as if it were me that was pregnant, however stupid that might sound.”

“I don’t think it does sound stupid. I am sure many fathers feel invested in their partner’s pregnancy.”

“I think it is more than that. I know that a small number of men go through a phantom pregnancy. I wonder if it is almost like that, but even more so, if that is possible.”

“I think we should wait until after a confirmatory pregnancy test, then get the pregnancy confirmed by your GP before doing anything much. If it is confirmed, then we have to decide whether you want a termination or not. Please note that I am not giving an opinion here. I have an opinion, but I am just outlining the options at the moment.”

John continued “If the pregnancy is confirmed, and you or we, decide that it should carry on to term, then how do we want to organise our lives?”

“The first option is for us to remain friends, but you bring up the child yourself, and I give you maintenance every month and make provision for you and the child in my Will.”

“The second option is for us to remain close and maybe set up home together, or even marry, which would give you more security for the future.

Lauren replied “I haven't given much thought to the longer term. I don't want a termination unless there were something wrong with the baby. I would carry on being friends as a matter of course. You would be the baby's father after all. Setting up home together is an option, but not an easy one. I am 34 years old and you are nearly 68. It is a big age gap, but you do look young for your age, and seem to be looking younger each time I see you.”

“If this pregnancy exists, I think we should discuss how to tell our relatives. I have thought of both my daughters. The one who lives in Durham, should be fine when she is in front of us, but might have a few strong opinions when we are out of earshot. My other daughter lives in Dorset in the South. I don't see her as much because she is unmarried and has no children, and rarely seems to have time for her old dad.”

“What about your parents, Lauren?”

“I am distanced from my parents, but they would say they don't think it is possible for you to have fathered a child with me, and I must have had a relationship with another, younger man and I am trying to fob the child off on you. They will also say that we should have a termination, as children of much older fathers are prone to several debilitating conditions.”

“All of that is true, although there is a contradiction in those two statements. Many friends will also say that a termination is the only option because I will never see the child reach maturity.”

“I am not convinced of that. I think you may surprise us all.”

“Do you have any brothers and sisters?”

“I have one brother. He doesn’t live far from here. I wonder if he could be a sort of intermediary with my parents. I really do not want to continue the rift with them, but they have strong opinions about marriage and children. They do not approve of me being on the Pill and having brief relationships with both men and women.”

At the end of the walk, they sank into John’s comfortable sofa and the rest of the day drifted by with a streamed RomCom film that they had both seen before. It was a relaxing time with them physically close, and if there were any anxieties about their situation which became confined to their mental background while the inevitable romance on the screen blossomed.

John had left a stew bubbling away in the slow cooker since that morning an the wonderful aroma of a beef joint, combined with parsnips, carrots, potatoes and various herbs dragged them out of their seats and to the table.

The night followed the regular pattern of mirror dreams, but provided a good night’s rest.

Anxiety followed as the test confirmed the pregnancy. They snuggled back under the duvet.

“Although it may make problems for us, I don’t want this baby aborted. No child deserves that unless there is a very good reason.”

“Will you accept the small risk of having an amniocentesis done considering my age?”

“I will take the doctor’s advice, but if it is recommended then, yes.”

“I know you have to leave tonight to get some work done over Sunday to prepare for Monday, but what do you need to be able to work here?”

“I just need to be prepared. Most of the documents I needs are sent as data files, and I need normal word processing software. If I transfer the documents to a memory stick, then I can do the work on any Windows 11 based computer.”

When you come next weekend, please do that. It would be much nicer to have you here for longer. I have a reasonably up to date laptop you can use and a fast Internet connection.

I can bring my own laptop, and yes I would like to spend longer. I feel very at home here.

After dinner they both changed into brushed cotton lounging suits, and snuggled up and listened to a classical concert together on the radio. As ten o’clock came and went, they headed for bed. Neither knew what would happen during the night and as it happened they slept the night and nothing seemed to have happened in their sleep.

“I suppose it is like any couple, the body doesn’t need intercourse night after night after night.”

In the morning the night seemed to have affected John’s skin. It was less wrinkled and seemed plumper. There was a thin deposit of body hair on his side of the bed.

“A little job for the vacuum cleaner I think!”

As they walked another section of the South Downs Way their thoughts drifted back to their situation.

“I don’t understand how you can be experiencing all these changes towards womanhood if you have the karyotype for a man. You should have a chromosome analysis done to see if there are any anomalies.”

“That is good point. If I am XY then the changes are even more strange, but I cannot be XX as I would always have been a woman or girl.”

“I think you should have it done privately. I am no geneticist, but I did do A level biology and the only thing that occurs to me is some sort of genetic chimera, like 46,XX/XY mosaicism where some of your cells are male and others are female, and at this time in your life, the female cells are becoming dominant … but even that does not explain the age regression. I suspect that age is determined by the functioning of the mitochondria in your cells rather than the nucleus. It is all very confusing, but also very wonderful.

After lunch in a local pub they drove back to John’s house and it was a sad parting.
“I hope you will consider moving here when your lease runs out.”

“That is three months away, but I am very comfortable here, and I will need the support when the baby is born.

John was deep in thought after Lauren had left for London. He thought of how he would feed Lauren the following weekend and where they would visit. No one would know him at a local restaurant, but he was sure that Lauren wouldn't drink if she was sure she was pregnant, but he booked a table there anyway.”

He made a list for each meal that they would share, and made sure he could do a large Supermarket shop mid-week.

He wished that his chest was not so itchy. He looked at it in the bathroom mirror and there was a definite swelling there, and a little blush of colour about 5cm across.

He put it out of his mind until he felt that his trousers were getting tight.

“I haven't been eating too much.” He said to himself, then he looked in the mirror again and saw that his waist was normal but his hips seemed to have expanded a bit, making his waist seem more obvious. He tried to look at his backside in the mirror but couldn’t turn round far enough to see properly.

There was a mirror on the wall, so he moved the Cheval mirror over so he could stand between the two. Looking at his back, it was clear that his rear view was that of an older woman, of perhaps fifty. Or at least that is what it seems to him.

I mustn't overthink this, but it looks suspiciously as if I am becoming feminine, and am going through some sort of age regression. I think it is time to see what the Internet has to say about old men having these sort of symptoms, but John found nothing that covered his condition.

Next he signed on to his doctor's surgery website and was faced with a triage questionnaire to establish if he needed an appointment or not. How can I list the features of developing womanhood in a man of nearly 70. They will think I am in need of a psychiatrist rather than a medical doctor.

The only option was a check up with a private clinic who didn't use a triage system, so John booked for the following Wednesday for a full check up.

When John phoned Lauren the following evening he asked about her and found that she was feeling queasy in the mornings, and had been sick once. She also had tenderness in her breasts. John explained about his trousers no longer fitting, and the fact that he had made an appointment for a full check up at a private clinic.

When Wednesday came he attended what looked like an office suite. He was faced with a nurse who took a full medical history and then what seemed to be innumerable vials of blood were removed and were sent off to the technical laboratory in another part of the building.

He was given a full body scan as well.

When he eventually saw a doctor, the results were just a screen of data that seemed to be unintelligible to him.

The doctor looked over his glasses, then back at the screen. Eventually he said “These results are from a woman of about 50 years of age. You are clearly not a woman, and your notes say that you are not 50 years of age. These results must have been substituted for another patient's.”

“The reason I came to you today is because I have been having symptoms that indicate that your test results are not wrong. I don't know what is happening to me, but my body does not look like a 68 year old man any more. I appear to be transforming into an older woman in her fifties.”

“I think I need to examine you if that is the case. Normally we regard the biochemical tests as being the most important in identifying disease, but if you would undress behind that screen and put on the dressing gown, I will examine you. I will ask a nurse to be here as well, to act as as a chaperone.

The nurse came in and they both looked at John without the dressing gown.

“You clearly have some feminine features, and these features are not those of a woman of 60+, but more likely a young teenager. Your breast development is obvious but they are not breasts of any adult woman. Your hair distribution is male, but is becoming feminine, and your hips are widening. You are 68, but your skin is not that age at all.”

The doctor asked the nurse her opinion.

“I have never heard of anyone regressing physically, but we can see from the test results, that John has very high levels of female developmental hormones. We haven't given a rectal examination or looked between his legs.

The doctor put on gloves and gave John a rectal examination.

“I have examined many men and their prostate gland is roughly spherical and about the size of a walnut. Yours is much more the elongated shape of a teenage uterus, though not dissimilar in size to a prostate”

“There are no signs of female external genitalia, but with what can only be described as a womb, I would expect external genitalia to develop soon.”

“Do you know if you are able to maintain an erection or ejaculate?”

“I am able to do so at the moment, but it does seem to be more of an effort now.”

“ That is nothing unusual for a man of 68, but I gauge that your interest in sex is still there?”

John thought, not unreasonably, that this was not the right time to talk about having sex in a dream as if he was a woman … with a younger woman, who appeared to be a man with a functioning phallus.

“I will send all these results to your family doctor who will not believe a word of them and will want them all to be done again. I don't blame her I would do the same thing.”

It was easier to get the attention of John's family doctor once the results had been sent. They gave him an appointment for a fortnight's time, and it wasn't a telephone appointment. It was a seen-in-the-flesh appointment that was becoming a rarity.

When John phoned Lauren he gave a brief account of what had been discovered.

“I think there is a question about your gender now.” she said. Your skin looks more youthful and your grey hair is darkening. Your general outline seems to be getting more female by the day if the photographs you are taking in the Cheval mirror is anything to go by. I wonder if these changes may affect the way we decide to go with regard to the baby.

Thursday was uneventful and Friday was taken up with making John's home as attractive as he could make for Lauren’s visit. He assumed that they would sleep in his double bed to give their bodies a chance to experience the dream-like sex they had been having. He also dusted and hoovered as if it had never been done before.

He was anxious as the time for Lauren's arrival approached. He desperately wanted Lauren to feel that his house could be their home together.

Lauren drove up five minutes before she was expected, and climbed nimbly out of her car and into John's arms.

She stood back after a few moments and exclaimed how much John had changed.
“We will need to get you some new clothes. None of those fit and you really need a good bra for your bust. You must be a C cup at least, possibly a D and that growth is in no more than two weeks.”

John picked up Lauren's weekend case. “This is heavy, he said.”

“It is not all thin nighties. It has my laptop in as well.”

As soon as they were inside Lauren urged John to strip off and show her how he had changed in only a week.

“Your skin is plumper and you have more elasticity in it from extra collagen. Your hips would be normal on any woman and yes, you definitely need a bra to be comfortable, and those jogging bottoms really don't cover anything very well.”

“I think we need a shopping trip tomorrow to get some suitable clothes that fit you. I think a couple of tops that match the colours of you bra and knickers, then either a couple of skirts or women's jeans.”

“Can't I order then online. I am embarrassed to go into a women's clothes shop.”

“We can get most of the things online, but I don't expect to go out to this restaurant tomorrow night with you in a shapeless Tee shirt, no bra and old trainers and with a pair of trousers that are held together at the waist with a safety pin. You need to be measured properly for garments to fit. You may need to be measured again in a week's time but there is no reason why you have to look like a sack of potatoes in between.”

“I also need to do something with your hair. The new hair is growing at a phenomenal rate, but it still has lots of grey.”

“We will get some hair dye in your natural shade tomorrow and I will dye your hair in the afternoon after we get back from shopping.”

Both of them were tired after the week, and were anxious to find out how their bodies would react overnight.

They were used to each other's contours by now, but Lauren was very forward exploring John's new curves and she thought that she could feel the beginnings of labial folds developing.

In the morning Lauren knew that they had been intimate, but there was no dried sperm between her legs or on the sheets. John also knew that his female self had been made love in his sleep, but Lauren’s male self had not had any sort of emission.”

“They discussed the lack of any sort of emission and decided that it was just one artefact of the changes that were taking place in John's body.”

Saturday morning was the time of the great reveal. The two tests agreed that Lauren was indeed pregnant, as they had both accepted previously.

Lauren took out her phone. We need to continue to record the changes that are taking place. Please repeat the images taken in front of the Cheval mirror but I will use my phone to photograph between your legs. John was little embarrassed by this, but agreed reluctantly.

As soon as the test results were known, they headed out to the clothes shops before the crowds got there. Lauren took John to a slightly up-market women’s clothes shop where there would be a woman versed in the art of sizing foundation garments. The shop provided a service for older women who wanted serviceable clothes rather than pretty garments for young things.

Lauren explained to the older sales woman what they needed and how embarrassed John was. She was surprised, but measured John as if he were just another of her elderly clients who wanted to look heir best as they aged.

In less that an hour, John had a pair of blue jeans, a simple knee length skirt in a mid blue fabric and two long sleeved tops with a high neck, and a new pair of trainers in a sparkly pastel blue. He had to agree that his 36D boobs really needed the bras to keep them under control, and was much more comfortable wearing one of them.

As they left the shop, John seemed much more comfortable and confident in what he was wearing. He did not dream previously that he would now be happy walking around the town in a woman's top, with a knee length skirt over girl boxers, and trainers.

A trip to a pharmacy provided dark brown hair dye, and Lauren set to work on John's hair as soon as they returned with their purchases.

John's hair was growing almost daily under the effects of the super-abundant hormones and they booked John into a hairdresser who did home visits and would do John's hair in private, but the changes in John’s body were happening so fast that he thought that meeting his daughters was inevitable sooner rather than later, or neither of them would recognise him.

The visit to the restaurant was calming, and the food was excellent. Both John and Lauren had a portion of paté with some truffle infused into it, and Melba toast, followed by a baked trout with baby new potatoes and mixed al dente vegetables. They shared a chocolate mousse for desert with a spoon each.

When they returned from the restaurant, they had some anxiety, but sleep didn’t elude them as it does with many folk faced with a dilemma.

“I don’t know why we bother with night wear. Whatever we wear just gets discarded.”

“I agree. I wonder if it will make any difference if we sleep naked. I used to many years ago, but being a parent makes one change these habits.”

In the morning they both knew that they had been intimate, although neither seemed to have been able to climax.

Lauren had to return to her home for work on Monday morning, and John had to give his thoughts over to how to discuss everything that needed to be discussed with the doctor on Wednesday. The appointment was only for ten minutes. He would need to give just an outline, and leave it up to the doctor to ask the questions.

He went out on Monday to buy some moisturising skin cream, a different shampoo and some depilatory. He found it difficult to stop scratching and was getting sore as a result. It was a new experience visiting the aisle in the pharmacy that dealt with women’s intimate areas, but dressed as he was, no one even noticed him. Even his Seniors Bus Pass with its old image caused no consternation or accusations of fraud.

There was definitely a pair of ridges between his legs when he applied the soothing balm to that area. His scratching earlier had made it sore, so he was determined to stop that. It was embarrassing and the old maxim of scratching encouraging more scratching, held true.

Wednesday came sooner than he had thought possible. He had slept very well on the three days since Lauren had gone home. Several new articles of clothing had arrived mail order once he had known his sizes, and now he could choose a simple outfit that suited his height and shape. The wrap around skirt was knee length and had a large kilt pin to hold it closed. It also had a simple but effective leather belt to allow adjustments to be made. His legs were now smooth and he was wearing socks that did not show above the top of his new trainers. His blouse was white, and matched the quite substantial bra that held his breasts in order. He had a gold chain that had been his late wife’s and with his androgynous coat that almost did up at the front, he was ready to confront the doctor with his new persona.

He only had to wait for ten minutes before his name appeared on the display board asking him to go to one of the twelve consulting rooms.

The doctor, a woman in her forties was typing at her computer when he knocked and was asked to come in.

“Please sit down” she said, again not looking at him, but at the data on the screen.”

“I don’t believe these results from the clinic. They are the results I would expect for a teenage girl.”

… then she looked up.

“However extraordinary those bloods appear, you look as if you are responding to those very high hormone levels exactly as I would have predicted. Are you are taking any sort of hormone to suppress your male characteristics?”

“No, this is as much of a shock to me as it is to you, it would seem.”

“When did you first notice these changes?”

“About 20 days ago.”

“Before this you had the body of an elderly man of 68 years. Now you look like a forty year old woman.”

“How did you get the clothes to match your new shape?”

“A mixture of guidance from a woman I know, plus the assistance of a helpful fitter at the shop for mature ladies in town, then some extra purchases online.”

“I think you have done extraordinarily well for someone who has only been exposed to such things for such a short time, but I need to examine you of course.”

“I would offer you a chaperone for an intimate examination, but I don’t know which gender would be best to provide that.”

“I am not concerned about having a chaperone.”

John was guided behind a screen where he undressed and lay on disposable paper from a roll that protected the leather of the couch.

The doctor reappeared with rubber gloves, and gave him a rectal examination.

“Your prostate or more accurately, your uterus is now the size and shape I would expect for a mature woman who has not had any children. Your hips are the typical shape for a woman and would provide a birth canal had it been needed when you were younger. You say that your men’s jeans no longer fit as you are a more curved shape and wider hips. You are in a skirt today, and it seems to fit very well.”

“Yes, the clothes I bought with Lauren’s help are a good fit and I feel remarkably comfortable going out and about in them. No one pays me the slightest notice, any more than they did a month ago.”

“I can see a mark in your groin and there seem to be two ridges where the outer labia are forming and I could almost pry them apart. I will not do that. It is better to leave things to nature.”

“I have a huge amount of itching there and I have to use an anti-itch version of a moisturiser to stop me going mad with wanting to scratch inappropriately.”

“I can believe that. What about your new breasts. The skin had either grown very fast, or has stretched. I think the former. Your breasts feel normal to me for a woman of about forty. There are no lumps or any feature that might indicate a cancer or anything like that.”

“I would like you to get dressed temporarily and if you don’t mind, please wait in the waiting room or go for a walk until the normal surgery is finished at noon. I would then like two more colleagues to examine you. I don’t know what to advise, but at least we can get a consensus of opinions.”

“I have a bit of shopping to do, but will come back in 30 minutes.”

The Doctor, who was called May, sent out an urgent memo to two senior colleagues in the practice. One was taking a surgery at another branch surgery, but both appeared as requested.

May rang for John to come to the largest of the consulting rooms, and he was invited once more to undress behind a screen.

The three doctors donned surgical gloves and he was prodded and poked for some minutes.

“This is beyond my experience. We know from the tests that John’s body is producing huge amounts of female sex hormones, and his body is reacting by regressing and feminising. I think it will be a matter of days before he has a fully functioning vagina and a womb. Whether it will be functional, considering his chronological age is impossible to say.”

May spoke to her colleagues privately, then spoke to John.

“We are sure you are not being harmed. There is no treatment that is possible for regression like this, and the results of the hormonal analysis carried out by the clinic show that you could end up as a normal woman capable of having a family.”

“I am sure that if we could work out what has happened to you, then it ought to be bottled and would earn a fortune.” she said with a laugh.

“What do you want us to do. We can send you to the nearest teaching hospital where you will be examined in minute detail, but that will be largely so that an article can be written in a learned journal. I don’t think there is any treatment they can provide any more than we can. I think it is remarkable how well you are accommodating to these changes, but I would like to see you each week from now on until the changes have stopped. At that point you will need to consider changing your status with officialdom, but you might like to become Jo or something similar from now on. Being called John does seem to be singularly inappropriate.”

John (now Jo) went home unnoticed and decided to talk to his/her daughters.

She ate a light lunch then sat at the computer to draft an email to her two daughters.

Hello both,

I am emailing you to make you aware of some changes in my life. Large changes that we will need to discuss face to face in the near future. Let me say straight away, that I am very healthy and am even less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than I was a month ago. That was when I last came up to Durham.

I have had a full health check recently and am being seen by my family doctor every week at present because of some hormonal anomalies that have shown up.

I am not taking any medication and there is no need for me to do so.

I have taken several photographs of me dressed and also undressed. These were taken on a Monday morning for the last four Mondays. I have sent the eight pictures as a zipped file that can only be opened with a password. That password is my postcode written all in lower case without any space in the middle.

I have sent the photos in this way because I know that your email addresses may be compromised and I don’t want these images to be seen by your children, Sue.

Please arrange between you when you can both visit here for a day or overnight. There is much more to tell, but those facts are even more unbelievable than what the photos show. That will have to wait until we can meet.

If you can come during this weekend or next, then you will meet a new friend I have called Lauren. She is being very involved with the events that have been happening to me, or to be more accurate, to us both.

I don’t feel comfortable talking on the phone, but will be very happy to discuss everything when we meet.

Love to you both,

Dad

With the click of a mouse, the deed was done.

Jo waited for the flack that would follow, but the fact that she wasn’t prepared to discuss it over the phone did mean that the two women would discuss the images ad nausiam over their phones, but would come as soon as they could.

In fact both women arrived on the Friday evening, fairly late, but Jo had been forewarned and had made up the beds in what had been their old rooms as girls.

Lauren arrived rather earlier and she and Jo had a pleasant meal together before the late night that would undoubtedly follow. Jo had cooked a piece of brisket in her slow cooker. If either of her daughters came home hungry, then there would be substantial left overs for them to have.

Jo had dressed with care, but as she now looked more like 35 than 40 and the clothes she had were clearly for a more mature woman than she appeared to be. Her figure had not changed very much during the week, but she now had a vagina and an unblemished hymen.

The hairdresser had done a very good job on creating a more feminine style to Jo’s quite short hair. When it was moussed and backcombed it looked entirely feminine.

The squeal of tires announced that Di had arrived from the South Coast. Hers was the shorter journey. As it happened she had been able to pick up Sue from the station so both arrived at the same time.

The two women brought overnight cases and the first minutes were taken up with bluster and introductions.

Jo opened a bottle of wine and offered her two daughters a glass. Soon they were sitting, glass in hand waiting for an explanation.

Jo said that the story had two parts and she would have to do the second part first, as it was more obvious.

She then recounted the changes that were taking place in her, and the fact that she was baffling to the doctors, but as all the changes appeared to be beneficial, and that she was taking the changes in her stride, that there was no medical intervention needed.

Both daughters wanted to see her close up in her clothes. They apologised and asked if they could see her naked.

“We would not have asked Dad to see him naked, but we hope you will be more relaxed about that with us now you are effectively one of us.”

“I will go and get undressed, then come out in my dressing gown. For some reason I don’t like you seeing me getting undressed, but it is ok after I have done it.”

“That is fair enough. Your sitting room is not overlooked. Are you happy to be naked in here?”

“Yes, that is fine.”

The two women started questioning Lauren as soon as Jo had left the room.

“How do you fit into this? We have never heard of you previously.”

“Please wait. I am very much a part of Part 1 of this story. I will be happy to explain when you have seen the transition of your father and have accepted that.”

Jo returned with a rather old and tatty dressing gown tied rather inadequately over her bosom, but slipped it off as soon as she was in the centre of the room.

“That is better she said, that garment was not made for someone of my current shape.”

Both women looked and touched and prodded just a bit. They asked if they could see between her legs and Jo sat on the sofa and obligingly opened her legs.

“I think I can answer for both of us that we believe that you look half the age you appeared to be a month ago, and in every way you appear as female as any one of of us here.”

“So what about Lauren. How does she fit in here.”

“I think I can best describe exactly that.” and Lauren described her side of the story.

“I was driving up the motorway to see one of my clients. She is an elderly lady who likes to see a female solicitor. She pays me to drive two hundred miles to her home and then back again.”

“On this occasion there was this most awful accident where a lorry shed its load of tree trunks and then a series of cars aquaplaned into each other. The motorway was closed for some hours until heavy lifting equipment had been brought in to shift the wood and the wrecks.”

“The police tried to find vacancies in available hotels for all the drivers trapped by the closure, and I was sent to the hotel where John was staying. There were apparently five rooms that were doubles which were only occupied by one person. In every case that single person was a man.”

The hotel staff thought it was unsafe to ask me to share with any younger men, so my four companions were encouraged to share a double room. John was thought to be past any sort of hanky-panky and when I was taken to his room and the hotel staff explained the problem, I thought that this was my best option. How bad could it be staying one night with an elderly man?”

“So we had a brief chat an decided that the bed wasn’t big enough to put pillows down the middle, and we needed to be sensible and share under those challenging circumstances.”

“When I am travelling to see clients I travel light, and apart from a change of clothes, I wear very skimpy night clothes. John was interested in me baring almost all, but we settled down together and slept the whole night, or so we thought.”

“In the morning it was clear that at some point, we had both undressed and had had sex. During that episode we both thought that we were occupying the other person’s body. I had penetrated John lustily it seemed, and he had been the recipient of my semen.”

“This was clearly very odd, and we dismissed it as fantasy even though the dried deposit between my legs was a bit of a giveaway.”

“Having experienced such a totally unexpected, even fantastic experience, we decided to meet up again at a hotel near Reading the following Saturday. The same thing happened and each one of us thought they were having sex as their opposite, even though we were both firmly asleep.”

“All this time I was on the Pill and thought that I couldn’t conceive.

“After this second event, we both felt deeply that I was pregnant, but I still believed that the Pill would protect me. An early pregnancy test disabused me of that. That clearly said that I was pregnant.”

“John was on his own during the week, but took pictures of himself to show the changes in him that were already obvious.”

“The rest you know. We are in a quandary about this. John has accepted his feminisation that is combined with him shedding years. The doctors have no solution, and no suitable treatment. She now calls herself Jo, and is acquiring a suitable wardrobe that fits her new shape. The question about the pregnancy is another one that we are yet to resolve. I could apply for a termination, but I am very reluctant to destroy a life unnecessarily. With Jo getting so much younger, it would be perfectly possible for me to maintain my legal practice if she was a stay-at-home Mum to the baby. While you are here, please feel free to offer us any advice you feel you can offer.”

“I think we need to think this through as a family. Do you, Lauren and Jo (Dad) want to co-habit as a lesbian couple and bring up this baby?”

“I am unsure that the process that is affecting me has finished. I am going to the surgery every week and my measurements are taken and bloods tested. Certainly the rate of change is less than it was. I really do not want to be more heavily busted than I am now, and my figure is very suitable for a woman in her forties, and to the outside world we could easily co-habit as a lesbian couple.”

“I have a strong attachment to Lauren. We have shared so much in four weeks, and are becoming empathetic towards each other. I don’t know about loving her, and wanting to marry again, but if it is essential to our lifestyle, then I would do it to support her, and the child.”

“What about you Lauren, do you want to have a permanent relationship with Jo. I don’t even know if you had any lesbian tendencies before you two met?”

“I have had short relationships with both women and men. The fact that I was on the Pill tells you that I didn’t have a celibate life. Jo has a lot of interests in common with me, and the dream sex is amazing. I don’t know what it would be like to make love as two lesbians. Maybe we will try that out. On the whole I would come and live here and share the childcare with Jo. She has pensions and savings, so doesn’t need to work, though what they will say when she is still hale and hearty when she is 120 years old is anyone’s guess. If the best course of action to protect the baby is for us to marry, then I would not have any objection.”

“This is fairly extraordinary. No one has ever had this happen to them before as far as we can establish. We don’t want to become specimens to the medical fraternity, particularly as there is no treatment, and I am sure that being thirty-something is a considerable improvement over being sixty-eight and in declining health, and as we all can assert, being a woman is far from bad.”

“If the age regression continues, it could be that Jo will have periods and might be able to conceive. She has been told that her insides are those of a woman in her thirties at present.”

Jo continued “No one knows how far this regression will continue. I have only had female genitalia for a week, and the last traces of my male organs disappeared only three days ago. No one knows if I will have a normal monthly cycle but the ultrasound scan has shown that I have a uterus and two ovaries with Fallopian tubes. My ovaries and adrenal glands are pumping out hormones at the moment that are driving these changes so I don’t see why we should not have extra children if that is what we decide.”

“Are you saying that in this dream state, that Lauren would have a penis and testicles and would fertilise you as you did to her?”

“We just don’t know.”

“What I do know is that it is near 1am, and I need some sleep. Your rooms are made up and I shall be happy to cook you a nice breakfast when we have all had time to sleep on these ideas.”

“Do you and Lauren sleep together now?”

“Yes, we have done since we met. Does that surprise you?”

“No not really, but it just takes a bit of getting used to.”

Sue stretched over and gave Lauren a sisterly kiss on the cheek.

“Welcome to the family. I cannot think of you as my step-mother but I will enjoy having you as a new sister and friend.”

Di stood and embraced Lauren firmly and kissed her on the cheek as well.

“I also welcome you to the family. I think we are in the middle of something that we cannot avoid or really understand. I think it is probably inevitable that you will marry. This new regressive Jo is a revelation. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Sue, this is so unusual that I would like us to sleep together as we did as children. I feel very uncertain about the future and your warm body next to mine would be a comfort.”

“I am happy to do that. It would comfort me as well. Just let me clean my teeth and I will join you, but I do hope that Jo and Lauren will not keep us awake with their shenanigans. They will be asleep, and we will be kept awake!”

“No loud shenanigans, I promise.” as Jo gave her two daughters a good night kiss.

Jo and Lauren both had very short nighties now and were able to snuggle down in their bed. They slept soundly and the two nighties were discarded on the floor in the morning. There was a little blood on the sheets on Jo’s side of the bed and she was sore. A quick self-examination showed that Jo’s hymen was well and truly ruptured.

Lauren said “I think the normal comment on these occasions is “You are a woman now.”

“That is one question answered, I think. Another is …”

“ … Can a phantom penis and testicles impregnate a man of 68, who has regressed and transitioned to be a woman of 30-ish?”

“ … There you go again, you know what I am going to say before I say it.”

“Sorry, does it irritate you?”

“No, it is just a surprise when I know, that you know what I am going to say. Is there any point in saying it?”

“Yes. It is nice talking, particularly about intimate things. The fact that we can sense the other’s thoughts is almost a bonus. It gives an extra layer of meaning to what is being said, and emotional overtone as it were.”

“I know what you mean. It is not quite being able to see your thoughts, but it gives a veracity and sincerity to what one is saying.”

“ Now to answer your question. I don’t know if you can get pregnant by a phantom phallus, but I guess we are going to find out. We cannot control what we do in our sleep. Do you fancy motherhood?”

“With you beside me I think I could fancy almost anything, including motherhood.”

Jo and Lauren snuggled down under the duvet together until the alarm rang at 7am.

End of Part 1

The morning happened as it always does.

Jo took the photographs of herself and then showered in her ensuite. Lauren followed, and both women were soon dressed and preparing breakfast before Sue emerged. She apologised because she was dressed in a pair of pyjamas with hearts on and “I Love you Mummy emblazoned on the back”.

“A present from Billy, my younger son..

“Think nothing of it. He is a charmer. I always look forward to seeing him when I visit.”

“That is, of course, something, that we must discuss. I miss them both already, and it is less than a month since my last visit.”

“Can I use your shower, Jo? Di is in the family bathroom.”

“Yes, of course. You will find shampoo more suited to female skin in there now.”

Both daughters emerged to the smell of bacon and eggs, cereal and toast.

“That is good. I haven’t had anyone cook me breakfast for years. It is always me that has to cook it!”

“Jo, you are looking even more youthful now than last night.”

“I think that is more to do with the time. I don’t think anyone looks their best at 1am!”

“OK, point taken.”

“You didn’t wake us overnight.”

“I am glad we didn’t, but these mysterious sex acts continued. The remains of my new hymen are arranged as a frill round my vagina now.”

“That all sounds very permanent.”

Over breakfast the four women began the discussion of what to do now.
Sue started. “You asked for our opinions.”

“I have thought about it as I drifted off to sleep, and again this morning.”

“Although you have known each other for only a month, you seem very compatible and now that the age gap seems to be disappearing, you should make a good couple. When your documentation is sorted out Dad (or is that Mum), I will be very happy to attend your wedding. Whether I can think of you as a father and grandfather from now on is more of a problem. It may be difficult to re-introduce you to Hugh and our two children. I think will be very confusing for the children at least.”

“I have also been thinking. My situation is simpler than Sue’s. I have no extended network of family. I have never found it terribly easy to keep our father/daughter relationship going, even though we were very close when I was little. I think I will find it much easier now you are effectively a woman. I loved my mother dearly and was very sad when she died. I don’t know if you can ever replace her, but I think we will get on better as mother/daughter than as father/daughter. I know you will not be ‘my’ mother, but you will be somebody’s mother figure however you and Lauren organise your lives.”

“That is sweet of both of you, I do really need your support. I feel very comfortable in my new form with me on my own, or with Lauren. I also have to interact with the rest of Society. Looking like a woman is only the first part of being regarded as such.”

“I am sure we can help if Lauren is busy with work. You seem to have got walking off pat, and she has guided you to some sensible purchases for a woman in her forties. If you continue to regress, then you will regard the clothes you have as being rather dated and will need something more youthful.”

“Lauren, how do you dress when you are not dressed for work.”

“Much as you see me now. Jeans and a top with a sweat shirt if it is cold. I am not really into dresses and skirts unless it is for something formal.”

“I think we should have another little adventure with Jo’s credit card. I think she needs to be remeasured and get a new outfit or two. What sort of style would you like Jo?”

“I have never had the chance to wear pretty clothes. I rather fancy tiered skirts and off the shoulder peasant blouses with a fair bit of cleavage showing.”

“Is that what remains of the man in you, or do you really want that very feminine look?”

“I really like the idea of having perhaps a pair of boots with a bit of a heel, then a pretty dress in a light weight silky fabric and an underskirt or two.”

“Who would have thought you would have wanted to be so feminine. We are used to jeans and a top, and you want the opposite!”

“It is all to do with how short a time I have been Jo. I want to be girly and frivolous just once in my life.”

“I think the three of us can find you some skirts to swirl in and some boots to match, but you will need to be re-measured.”

“Sue, you are used to measuring women. Can you give us the raw data to go out and shop?”

“What were you last week?”

“Size 7 shoe, waist 32, hips and bust 36 with a D cup.”

“That is some figure for Lauren to hug.”

“Lets see what you are now.”

Jo stripped off without any reticence now.

Still 36 bust, and still with the D cup. Waist nearer to 30” and the hips about 36”. That is a dress size 12 here.”

Once Jo had got dressed again they gathered round Jo’s computer and looked at the clothes catalogues for various major retailers.

“That is a pretty dress and is available in a 12.”

“It is too pale for your colouring and hair. You need something in a stronger colour like russet or cerise, or a moss green. In fact I think moss green really would suit you with saffron accessories.”

Jo turned back to the catalogue index, looking at women’s dresses in green. One dress sprang out.

“That would be absolutely brilliant on you. The colour is just so, and the fabric is light as you wanted. It come with its own underskirt and would be calf length on you. It would look wonderful with some calf length boots.”

“Has the store got that in the right colour way in a size 12?”

“Yes it has and we can put the dress on hold until they open this morning and can get in to see it.”

“Do that. I really like that dress.”

The four spent the time until 9am looking through the online catalogue for stores they could reach easily. Sue and Di got dressed and the four women drove off to ‘do’ the shops.

The first shop was a large department store where the dress she had chosen was available. A shop assistant brought it out in a tissue lined box. Jo fell in love with it at first sight.

Lauren and Jo were the only two who could fit into the changing cubicle, so Di and Sue went looking for accessories and came back with a chain belt, a delicate necklace in tungsten and a pair of matching earrings.

“The piercing of Jo’s ears was achieved as a matter of course, and various sets of underthings were added to the boxes of purchases.”

More prosaic items followed. Jeans, trainers and more underwear. Two blouses and a Tee-shirt bundle in assorted colours.

When the four women were returning home with clothes that dented Jo’s credit card, she complained about an ache in her lower abdomen.

“Do you have any tampons, Sue asked?”

Jo hadn’t thought of tampons, but Lauren was driving and as a small mini-mart came into view she stopped the car and Di ran into the shop to buy a pack of tampons of light and regular with applicators.

“We didn’t measure that part of you, so I had to get two different absorbencies.”

“I think Jo will need super from what I have seen.” Lauren commented, so Di ran back into the mini-mart and bought a packet of super as well.”

They were soon home, and Lauren had to show Jo how to use the applicator and what to do with the coloured string.

“I hope we aren’t overcome with lust overnight with you in this condition.”

“I hope so too. I need a hot water bottle on my tummy to feel more comfortable.”

Sue commented “Join the club, Jo. I have had period pains since I was a teenager.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“No, Mum would have thought that it was not appropriate for you to know. I can hear her say “That is women’s business”. in her most stentorian tone”

Sue and Di would have to go on Sunday morning, so it was decided that they would go out for a meal at a local brasserie that evening. Lauren helped Jo with some basic makeup and did her hair, and the four women were at the restaurant within the hour.

No one noticed them, or commented, at least in their earshot. Sue thought that with the makeup on, Jo had shed even more years, and now Lauren and Jo looked very similar in age.

Obviously the conversation was largely about the future for Jo and Lauren.

“I think you should stay with the same documentation until after the baby is born. It will save comments about parentage as no one will believe that you can be the sixty-eight year old father. After that, get as much help as you can to get your documents changed.”

“That makes sense. We could live together perfectly happily as long as I don’t need a passport or drivers licence to prove my identity. That is, as long as Lauren, agrees.”

“You can also attend the birth as a friend, and then have your male name put on the birth certificate.”

“What about you Lauren? What do you want to happen. This is not all about our father.”

“The fact that Jo, looks in all respects like a woman is not of any concern. I know she wants to be a good parent to the baby, and maybe have a baby of her own, but I am unsure how I feel about us both being mothers.”

“I don’t think that should be too much of a concern. I had my two close together and they have grown up as close siblings. If you had a child each, Jo could feed them both, to allow Lauren to work.”

“That is turning me into a real mother figure with two running taps.”

“There is nothing wrong with being a mother. You can be a mother to two almost as easily as one.”

“We have told you that we think alike, so we get a sense of each other’s thinking and tend to say and think the same thing!”

“Yes, you told us last night. I am not sure I believed it completely.”

“I have had a thought, and I can see it in Jo’s face that she has had it also.”

“Jo nodded.”

“I am convinced that this will be Jo’s only period until her baby has been born.”

“Our two babies will be born about a month apart.”

“You cannot know that.”

“I know it is against all common sense. One cannot know it, but we just do. You can see if we are correct in ten months time.”

After an uneventful night and a good breakfast, and clearing up, the decision was made, Di would leave during the morning to drive home, and Sue would travel back to Durham with Jo. They would share the driving and be home during the evening after about four or five hours. The boys would be in bed, then there could be a discussion with Hugh, Sue’s husband as to how to introduce the new Jo, to the boys.

Jo dressed comfortably in jeans, trainers and a new top. The new bras were comfortable. Her sanitary protection was packed away in her overnight case with changes of clothes. She only had to get back for the doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, then arrange the meeting with Lauren’s brother at the weekend.

Lauren locked up the house and was the last to leave in the morning, with a heavy legal case load to think about during the new week.

She thought about the practicalities of working from Jo’s house and calculated that it would take a commute of about an hour to get to work each day. Certainly a practical proposition. Moving offices to the edge of London would reduce the commute to thirty minutes which was even better.

She had a sort of warm fuzzy feeling after making those decisions. Jo approved, she thought.

The journey round the M25, and then up the A1 and A1(M) were tedious, but at least Jo and Sue could maintain an average speed of 60mph. They stopped at a Service Area to recharge the battery on Jo’s electric car about half way, then were parking on Sue’s drive by 8pm.

Hugh had been forewarned in a quite lengthy phone call from the Service Area and felt able to give Jo a hug when they arrived. He stepped back and just nodded his head as if to say. “I don’t believe it, but must believe it.”

Hugh had eaten with the boys, but Sue settled down with him and a glass of wine to recount the story of the transition to Jo, and his meeting with Lauren.

Sue and Jo ate from a plate on their laps, and Sue was able to fill in some of the gaps in Jo’s story to satisfy an amazed Hugh.

“So it is a school day tomorrow. I think it would be better if Jo was not around when we have to get the boys up and dressed and off to school and pre-school. It is always a rush then we can have the late afternoon and evening to introduce you, Jo.”

“That makes sense to me. I will get a cup of tea before you get them up, and the guest room has its own en suite shower so I can make myself scarce until the children are safely at school. I am half way through a novel on my Kindle, so it will not be a hardship.”

Hugh left for work soon after the boys left for school, and Jo and Sue could have a breakfast chat tête-à-tête.

“We never really got round to talking about how you really feel about this rapid change in your body.”

“This is the strange thing. It feels entirely normal. I don’t want to be some specimen that is prodded about by doctors. As long as the changes are benign or beneficial, then being female is just a state of mind. I was never an alpha male charging about my own bit of urban jungle creating mayhem. Neither did I have any great yearnings to be female. I think I would have wanted to be fully female if there had been the choice. I wouldn’t have wanted surgery to create the illusion of womanhood, but I know that that is a compulsion amongst many men who transition.”

“You come across to me as any other woman. Perhaps there needs to be some refinement of your mannerisms, but I recognise those as having been part of your persona as my father. I am not sure that any unfamiliar woman you met now would see anything strange at all.”

“How do you feel about Lauren?”

“There is a real bond there. When we were driving back she was going over in her head about moving in with me, and commuting to her office in London. It would take about an hour. She thought that that was a reasonable commute, but then thought of moving her office to one of the outer boroughs which would mean only a half hour’s commute. I thought about that and sent her a feeling of approval. She responded.”

“You did that while you were both driving?”

“Yes, we must have been only a mile or two apart on the motorway so communication was easy. It is not possible when I am at home and she is in her flat or in her office in London.”

“Do you really feel that when you are both asleep and in that dream state that she will be able to give you a baby?”

“I don’t know, but she has broken my hymen easily.”

“How do you feel about her?”

“I don’t see any sort of future without her beside me.”

“Well that is conclusive, if nothing else is.”

“How about her pregnancy? How do you feel about that?”

“I feel very positive about it. I was daunted by the idea when I felt my age. Sixty-eight is not an age to become a parent, but now my body says I am thirty-something I am looking forward to it.”

“If you can sense Lauren, can you sense the foetus?”

“No. I don’t know if that is Not at All, or not just, ‘Not yet’.

“How do we explain to the children?”

I think it will be easier with Billy. He is only four and will accept you without a problem. You will just be the same, but different.

“Giles does know that spontaneous changes of gender are not common. I think we may have to use a little subterfuge where we say that you wanted to change gender, rather than it happening without you knowing it was going to happen.”

“I think he will see enough of Grandpa in you to accept the transition as one of those things that can happen. If he says anything at school, I am sure they will repeat that it is something that can happen and will accept that you have chosen to go through gender reassignment, and since they will not meet you, there will be no problem.”

“OK” we agree on that.

“What about Lauren’s parents. They seem very set in their ways, very conservative ways if her account is correct.”

“She is going to invite her brother over for the day next weekend. He only lives half an hour away from me.”

“She is hoping that he will be able to act as some sort of intermediary with her parents.”

“What does he do?”

“He is a couple of years younger than her, twenty-four, I believe, and recently qualified as a quantity surveyor after doing a maths degree and then a year of professional training. He is single but has his own bedsitter flat in south London.”

“Well I hope all goes well. It is going to be a difficult path to tread if her parents are bitterly opposed to your union.”

“Is there anything I can help with while we have some time to ourselves. Billy does not come home until 1:15pm.”

“I think I would like to go through a catalogue online. I know the sort of clothes I like and I have my sizes sorted for the time being, but have no sportswear or swimwear. I need help with those. I am attracted to bikinis that show rather a lot, but I am not sure that that isn’t my old male persona showing through where women dressed in as little as possible is the ideal.”

“Where do you think you will be going in your bikini or one piece?”

“I suppose we are a bit limited with Lauren’s pregnancy, but I would like a holiday away somewhere warm before her bulge shows too much.”

“I think you need to get what you will feel comfortable in, but also what Lauren will feel comfortable seeing you in.”

“I haven’t really got any idea of Lauren’s opinion. I have not seen her in swimwear. I think she would look good in a fairly skimpy suit. She has a good figure and a moderate bust so most styles would suit her. I have a significant bosom and need something that will give more support.”

“What colour?”

“I am tempted to go for white.”

“That is fairly daring as the cloth can become transparent.”

“Perhaps the moss green that suits my colouring, or the saffron that looks good on me then.”

“Lets look online.”

“After half an hour they had whittled the bikinis down to two designs, and both were available in Moss green and a Saffron colour. They were quite modest, with a larger than average cup for the bra element.”

“Shall we order the saffron one to be delivered to the local store for you to go and try on. I am sure you know the routine of wearing knickers to try on intimate clothes, and not to remove the adhesive strip that goes between your legs.”

“Yes I know that from seeing you girls getting bikinis or other swimsuits. I was asked my opinion after you had bought them!”

“Very true, we were not going to give you the opportunity to disapprove.”

“What else are you going to need?”

“Once my size is assured, then I will get some semi formal shorts and some running kit.”

After a sandwich lunch, Sue and Jo went to fetch Billy from Nursery at the pre-school. He came into his mother’s arms and just acknowledged Jo with a disinterested nod.

“Hello Grandpa he said without any reluctance.” then he looked again and just seemed to accept that Grandpa looked different but was really still the same Grandpa.”

Sue, shrugged.

Later that afternoon Sue went to fetch Giles from school on her own while Jo kept an eye on Billy.

“When we get home you will find Grandpa looking after Billy. Grandpa looks different. Much more like me than he did.”

“Is Grandpa a woman now?” Giles said in a totally accepting fashion.

“Yes, Grandpa has changed and now looks very much like a woman. She calls herself Jo, instead of John.”

“Giles was silent for a minute or two. Is she now Grandma, rather than Grandpa?”

“You can call her either. If you remember Grandma who used to be married to Grandpa John, then it might be better to keep Grandma as a name for her, but you could call Grandpa John, Grandma Jo now if you like.”

Giles was reluctant to come out from his mother’s skirts when they got back to the house, but Jo offered to read with him, and that soon overtook any reticence, and he happily sat on her lap as he had done with John to be read to.

Jo and Hugh put the boys to bed while Sue prepared a meal for them all.

Over a glass of wine and a savoury mince, with mash and carrots, they discussed the day.

The boys had been accepting and Hugh didn’t seem to have any problems with Jo’s change of status. He queried some of the questions about the mental and sexual bond between Lauren and Jo, but he couldn’t really disagree with the obvious changes in Jo’s body and apparent age.

Jo did lots of motherly things with Sue during Monday, but had to return to her home early on Tuesday morning. Various garments would be delivered by post later in the day, including the bikini that she and Sue had chosen.

I must start to dispose of my male clothes she thought. I don’t know if I can keep my thick socks and my walking boots. I have a unisex waterproof Cagoule that might still fit.

I must say that I like one of my suits. The pale blue one. I wonder if I took it into a seamstress that she might be able to make it fit me?

At this point Jo was driving round the M25 London Orbital Motorway.

“While you are thinking about formal clothes, think about what we might get married in.”

“Lauren … is that a proposal?”

“I think it is. I have been thinking of nothing else since we parted two days ago.”

“Lauren, perhaps you need to wear a suit, and I will wear a dress.”

“That is what I have been thinking.”

“That is an awful lot of thinking when you are supposed to be at work.”

“I know, but it is fun.”

“I think I will be moving out of range in a minute. Is there any more news?”

“No nothing that I cannot say over the phone when you get home … only that I love you.”

“… and I love you too.”

It was not clear to Jo if Lauren had sensed Jo’s last message, but there was now an empty space in her mind that Lauren had occupied moments before.

Shortly after her return a large package arrived by post containing new clothes. A ribbed jumper was the most bulky, then a long sleeved blouse and a couple of strappy tops for the warmer weather. Jo had a yearning for tops that were subtly revealing, and had to control how revealing she could actually let herself be.

Next there was a pair of tailored shorts and two pairs of pumps. One pair in a rusty red and the other in her favourite saffron. Each was tried on before being put away carefully.

Jo still had to wear pads but her first period was reaching its end. She was tempted to try on the bikini, but there wasn’t room in the bottom for a pad. She decided to wait until after her examination at the doctor’s the following day before trying that on.

Lauren rang that evening. She had sensed Jo’s last message and they talked at length about the implications of their devotion to each other.

Wednesday dawned with Jo choosing her outfit with care. There wasn’t a need to dress with care to go to the doctor’s surgery, but she wanted to be regarded as successful as a woman by the doctor.

The practice phlebotomist had arranged to see Jo first, and the inevitable vials of blood were drawn out to be sent off for analysis.

A few minutes later she was called into the doctor’s consulting room and asked how things had been during the week.

“I have felt very well. My body shape seems to have changed very little and my hair growth on my head is less than it was, but I have had my first period. It was not a pleasant experience, but I am sure I will get used to it. I will have to, it will be normal for me from now on.”

“The questions I need to answer is whether your hormonal levels in your blood have returned to a normal for a woman of 30-ish who has just finished her period, or if we can expect more changes. I think we also need to look at your bone density now that your regression and transition seemed to be past their dramatic stage.”

“I will send you for a bone density scan. The appointment will not be immediate I regret to say.”

“I have noticed that the arthritis I had in my knees has disappeared.”

“That may be due to the fact that you have lost about fifteen kilos of weight in the transition. That is a lot less wear and tear on your knees, but please be aware that being lighter also means that your bones will adapt by becoming less strong. You need to exercise regularly to maintain your bones and joints.”

The doctor asked to look in Jo’s mouth.

“I wondered if your teeth had reflected your bodily changes. The shape of the dental arcade is different in men and women. I would say that there has been some change, but your dental arcade is not that of a typical woman yet. I also note that whilst you would have had very good teeth for a sixty-eight year old. I think you need to visit a dentist and see what may be done. Your teeth do not change once you get your adult teeth and yours do show a substantial amount of wear.”

“The blood tests I have ordered for today should show your bone strength but if there is any danger of you becoming pregnant then I would recommend having lots of dairy products in your diet to maintain your calcium levels. I don’t know what has happened to the bone mass you have lost. I suspect that you have wee’d it out. It will need to be replaced if the bone density scan shows the beginnings of osteoporosis. You know that it is quite common in older women, but it also occurs in older men.”

“Is there anything that you need to ask?”

“Do I need to take an iron supplement after having had a period?”

“If you have a healthy diet, then no, but if you want to be vegetarian or vegan then a supplement may be needed.”

“What about exercise. I intend to get back to the gym with suitable aerobic exercises, and a bit of street running. I am reluctant to get a personal trainer, as the fewer people who know about me the better.”

“I think you could have a session with a physiotherapist for advice about exercise. Chartered physiotherapists are governed by rules about confidentiality. Not all Personal Trainers are enrolled in an organisation that guarantees confidentiality.”

“Shall I see you again next week?”

“Unless there is a change in your measurements, I think a telephone appointment will be enough. I can give you the results of the blood tests and we can discuss the implications of those results. You will not have had the bone density scan by then.”

Jo left with a telephone appointment on a card, and went to have lunch in a local Italian Restaurant, before making her way home.

The next consideration was Lauren’s usual visit at the weekend, but this was special because Lauren’s brother Malcolm was visiting for Saturday.

Jo made a list of the menu she would like to provide for her two guests. She thought it was possible that they would get down to some serious discussions and it might end up with Malcolm staying in her spare room overnight.

Thursday and Friday came and went without incident. The novel on her Kindle was finished and a new one started. The garden received a bit of attention, but the trimming of a large hedge proved to be too exhausting.

I will need some help with the larger shrubs, she thought. Then thought that she might have to rethink the garden if it needed to provide a play area for one or more young children. Looking around she saw the bright yellow of Laburnum flowers. That will need to go. The little shiny seeds are very poisonous, then she saw the Angels Trumpets growing from where they flowered last year. They are also poisonous, she thought.

Later she started to go through her old clothes and made bundles of trousers, shirts, jumpers and so on. They all looked very old and dated and she was happy to bundle them up and take them down to a charity shop just before they closed.

The workers in the shop made the understandable mistake of assuming that the clothes were from a deceased father or even grandfather, and offered their condolences. Jo just said “Thank you”. There was no need to elaborate.

Friday night saw Lauren return at about 9pm. She had already eaten before arriving. After a less than chaste embrace, they relaxed in front of the TV for a couple of hours before going to bed.

They slept very well and woke at 7:30 when the alarm went off. Both had had their usual dream but there was no dried semen anywhere to be seen.

They lay in bed for a few minutes and chatted.

“How can I become pregnant before my next period is due? We both felt that that was a certainty, but even with the strange events that have affected our lives, it would seem impossible.”

“There is only one way that I can think of.”

“Pray do tell. As I said, it seems impossible to me.”

“I want you to wait and meet Malcolm. You know Malcolm is my brother, but he is also my twin. You also know that I have been on the pill for ten years, but what I haven’t said is that all my sexual partners have been women, except one.”

“Are you telling me that Malcolm and you have an incestuous relationship.”

“It is primarily why our parents are so strict. When I was thirteen and Malcolm was eleven, our parents found us in bed together with Malcolm inside me.”

“I was the older child so I was blamed. Malcolm became the apple of their eye as the one they protected from harm.”

“In the last thirteen years we have continued our relationship on the quiet, away from prying eyes, but we both know that having a baby with one’s fraternal twin might be a disaster.”

“How do I fit into this couple. I wonder if I have been taken advantage of.”

“Absolutely not. I am in love with you with every fibre of my being, but I cannot deny that Malcolm and I have had a very different and totally separate relationship for over a decade.”

“Malcolm is a charismatic figure. He could have had relationships with any number of women. He only wants a relationship that I can provide.”

“I think I must refer judgement over Malcolm until I see him and you together, but I assume that you think that I will be so smitten with Malcolm that he will be the father of my child.”

“That is the one way that it would be possible.”

“I know that I have the body of a woman of thirty or so, but jumping into bed with the first man I see is not what would be expected of me.”

“You know the instant attraction there was between us. I think the same attraction will be present with Malcolm. His personality is magnetic and he will find you irresistible.”

“I cannot really believe that there is a man who will be so amazing that we will have a ménage à trois on first meeting.”

“All I can say is, please wait and see.”

“I will of course.”

Lauren got up, and used the bathroom before getting dressed. Unlike her normal wear, Lauren wore a rather short skirt and seemed to forget to put any knickers on.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Jo commented.

“It is a bit of a story, but I don’t wear them whenever Malcolm and I meet.”

“Is that for easy access.”

“Strangely no. It is a sort of code when we cannot say something revealing or intimate because we are in public.”

“However, here he may give my buttocks a squeeze when we kiss on his arrival. It is what he normally does.”

“Will what he normally does, be normal when he is visiting my home for the first time?”

“Probably. He already knows that we are lovers.”

“Does that mean that he will assume that because you and I are lovers, that he will be able to join in?”

“I don’t think so. It will be a question that has to be answered sometime today.”

“Should I wear a short skirt with no knickers?”

“No. Wear a short skirt by all means, you have attractive legs, but neither I or he would expect you to comply with our little code.”

“I am intrigued to meet this man who is almost your alter ego. A few minutes ago I thought that I would be repelled by this revelation, but I think it has some strange attraction for me.”

“I will go and shower and I must say that I have a strange feeling, almost a compulsion to match your outfit just for the devilment of it.”

Jo emerged from the shower to see Lauren do up the waist band of a very short skirt that she hadn’t seen before. The hem just covered her mons, and the bottom of her buttocks were plainly visible.

“That is about as short a skirt as it is possible to have.”

“I told you it was short!” she said with a wicked grin.

“I cannot compete with that.”

“You didn’t mention that you also go bra-less!”

“That is optional. I would not recommend that to you.”

“That pale pink colour suits you.”

“Thank you. I do like pink.”

Breakfast was beckoning and both women had toast and marmalade with coffee.

“When do you expect Malcolm to arrive?”

“I asked him to be here by about 10am.”

“Then we have about an hour.”

“We will have a sandwich lunch. I have some sliced artisan bread and lots of cold meats and some sliced cheese. I hope that will fill a male appetite.”

“It will certainly fill one appetite, but I cannot vouch for the other.”

“You are making this brother of yours out to be a challenge with an insatiable need for sex.”

“It is not far from the truth.”

“How does he deal with his needs when you are apart?”

“That is the strange thing. He has very little need for any sort of sex in my absence.”

“Yes, that is really strange. Do you feel odd that you are the trigger for such a temperamental switch.”

“I have got used to it over the years. We are both aware of this proclivity in us, but particularly in him, so we stay at least ten miles apart and then can lead perfectly normal lives.”

“Isn’t it rather dangerous to invite him here when there is such strong chemistry between you?”

“It might be, but we need each other, and there are sometimes that the phone and eMails just are not enough.”

Jo laughed. “I don’t quite know how I will fit into this maelstrom of licentiousness.”

“I have never heard it called that before, but it will be interesting to see how my pregnancy affects our behaviour.”

“I think we will find out soon enough. That is his car drawing up in front of the door.”

Malcolm was clearly in his mid twenties with flowing blond hair held back by a black band. He had a youthful quite rosy complexion and a Tee shirt that outlined muscles that showed many hours spent in a gym. His shorts, were, well … short, and he was clearly commando as soon as he got out. If Lauren was revealing in her dress, he was more so.

Malcolm kissed his sister on the lips for several seconds. This was not the chaste kiss of a brother on a sister. This was the full-on kiss of an accomplished lover.

Lauren stood with her legs slightly apart and Malcolm did explore his sister’s buttocks and what was between in those moments.

It seems like half a lifetime that Jo waited for that embrace to reach its conclusion, but it was perhaps only ten seconds.

Lauren patted her skirt more or less into place and introduced Jo.

Malcolm took her hand and kissed it gently, but there was meaning there than Jo could not avoid. There was a tremulousness in her with such a simple act.

“Welcome” she forced herself to say.

Malcolm was guided into the sitting room and Jo busied herself with brewing coffee for all of them.

Lauren had already taken a plate of biscuits into the room and both she and Malcolm had taken one.

Lauren and Malcolm sat beside each other on the sofa and Jo sat opposite.

It was obvious to Lauren and Malcolm that Jo had nothing on under skirt, but neither commented on it.

“We are here to discuss our relationship and how to bring our parents on board with my pregnancy.”

“You are going to need to fill me in with what has gone on so far.” Malcolm commented.

Jo started repeating the tale she had described so frequently in the past. When Jo had finished Lauren gave her side to the story, and then Jo finished with explaining about her family and the medical situation.

Immediately afterwards, Jo got up to finish the final preparations for lunch and called them through in five minutes or so.

There was not much talk whilst they were eating, but Malcolm was interested in Jo’s house and the area where she lived. He had a clear vision about how it could be adapted for small children although never having had any, it was difficult to see where his knowledge was coming from.

As the meal progressed, Lauren and Malcolm were clearly getting fidgety.

“Are you uncomfortable with being in such close proximity to each other?”

Malcolm was forthright.

“I feel very odd. I have feelings towards Lauren that are much weaker than normal. I assume that this is something to do with her affection for you, Jo … or it may be her pregnancy.”

“My feeling of urgency is more directed at you. I cannot say why, and I cannot ask you to reciprocate as we have only just met.”

“I can see that you are uncomfortable, going commando in short shorts is a bit of a giveaway.”

Malcolm looked down and his arousal was indeed obvious.

“You must know that your arousal has affected me also. There was clearly something between you and Lauren and now between the three of us.

“I have never felt this way before for any woman except for Lauren. It is a hunger that defines me at the moment.

“What do you feel Lauren?”

“I feel involved, but not with the intensity I have felt previously, I look for gentle intimacy rather than raw sex.”

The inevitable happened as it surely must, and Jo, Malcolm and Lauren basked in the afterglow. Jo and Lauren knew that Lauren’s prediction had been fulfilled.

Malcom picked up the thought.

“Do I sense that something has changed?”

“Yes, you do. Lauren predicted that I would only have one period before my first child was born. That meant that I had to conceive in the three weeks after she made the comment. I think both of you have no doubt that that has just happened.”

Malcolm had a worried face.

“I am not in a financial position to support a child. I have only had a full time job for a year. How come you have trapped me into this.”

“There is no trap, and no expectation of money. The bond we share made this inevitable. You were not in a position to follow what has happened to us both, but you are now part of this extended family whether you like it or not. We have both embraced the inevitable and have made the best of it. I did not wish for any of the changes that have taken place in me, but when looking back they have all been beneficial and I am enjoying the new status quo enormously.”

“All we ask is that you work towards a reconciliation with mum and dad. I would not want them to be deprived of either of their grandchildren.”

“That is certainly something I can work on.”

“Have you thought of inviting them here to meet you, Jo?”

“No … Lauren thought they would not reply, let alone come.”

“I think you may be wrong. Things have changed a lot since you last had any contact Lauren. Mum, in particular, is very sad to have lost contact.”

“I will try to write to them. I think phoning would be too difficult.”

“Yes, good idea. Say that I visited you both and have found you both very happy.”

“Do you feel something Jo?” Lauren asked?

“Yes, I think Malcolm is in our mental network.”

“Do you feel anything, Malcolm?”

“Yes. It is weird. I have a sense of what it is like to have been made love to and also what it is like for both of you being pregnant.”

“It is quite extraordinary to be able to feel as if I am a man and a woman at the same time.”

“Wonderful as well as extraordinary”

End of Part 2

Malcolm had to leave after an early dinner. As he drove away the two women lost the sense of his presence in their minds.

That evening Lauren wrote to her parents, but with her mother particularly in mind.

She was understandably reluctant to make the letter too long. She explained about finding her true love without being explicit, and also being pregnant. She outlined the success of her legal business and how she expected to be able to work from home with the help of her partner once the baby was born, again without being explicit. Finally she said that Malcolm had visited and had found her and her partner very happy about the pregnancy, and they would love to re-establish their relationship with Lauren’s parents.

Jo and Lauren walked down to the post box that evening hand in hand and both held the envelope as it dropped into the box, and after a quick look round had a less than chaste kiss.

Jo laughed. “We should have written SWALK on the back of the envelope.”

“Why, what does it mean?”

You are too young to know. During the war there were various abbreviations that servicemen put on their letters home. One was SWALK. It was one of the few that was not very explicit. It meant ‘Sealed with a loving kiss’. Another one was NORWICH.”
“What did that mean?”

It meant ‘Knickers off ready when I come home.”

“Nothing new there, then. We do that all the time.” Lauren laughed.

Lauren looked down.

“Perhaps we had better put some on if we are coming out with such short skirts. I can see more than I should. Your skirt is even shorter than mine. I will leave it to you imagination as to what I can see from the back!”

“I remember years ago that dry cleaners would clean miniskirts by the inch from waist band to hem. I think the minimum in the late 60’s was something like two old pence per inch. Never thought it would apply to me!”

“It doesn’t. The cleaners charge per skirt now, and even more for a long evening skirt.”

“I was just thinking about your clothes. You wanted that tiered skirt and boots, and that is fine, but you also wanted the off the shoulder gypsy blouse. That isn’t going to go with any of your bras that have straps. You could go braless in that top, but I don’t recommend it. I think you need a strapless bra or one of the ones with transparent plastic straps. You could also go the whole hog and get a low back bra with quarter cups. That is also called a shelf bra and forces your boobs up, and doesn’t even cover your nipples.”

“I think it depends upon who is going to see me!”

“Lets have a look at the options on the Net. We can get one or more delivered by tomorrow.”

“Your blouse is saffron coloured so we need to look for a similar colour.”

“Show me those different types.”

“First of all I am going to show you a self adhesive bra. They are really not for you with your cup size. Then there is the strapless bra. They look as if they are not going to be very supportive, and they are generally low restraint garments. Then there is the ordinary bra with transparent straps. That might be the best bet for you. Even the low back bra, that is really for ball gowns and wedding dresses is not needed here as the blouse is enclosed. My recommendation is that we are left with the ordinary bra with transparent straps and the shelf bra that is more exciting, but more exposing.”

“The blouse has a décolletage and just covers my nipples. I don’t think an ordinary bra, even with transparent straps will hack it. I think it has to be the shelf that pushes me up and leave it to the elastic neck line to cover my nipples.”

“That is really being adventurous. I am not sure I would be so daring. Where are you going to wear this outfit?”

“I am planning that we will have a holiday together somewhere before our bumps get too big.”

“You are going to have a problem with your passport.”

“It is still warm in Jersey or Guernsey when I am thinking we might go.”

“A month from now?”

“You know that I would like that. You can sense my thoughts.”

“Can you get the time off?”

“With a month’s warning it can be done by working all the hours I can, in the meantime.”

“I don’t want to put pressure on you Lauren. It is easy for me. After all I am retired.”

“Don’t book anything yet. I need to look at my diary and see what can be done. It may just be too much for me at this time, because I shall need to think about giving birth in less than eight months and not being able to do much around that time.”

“We will give it a miss. It doesn’t matter. It was a nice idea but if it causes more stress than it relieves then it is pointless.”

“I am sorry but I think we both need to think of ourselves over the next few months.”

“I have been thinking about the letter to my Mum and Dad. I know it will not be collected from the letter box until tomorrow morning, but it is times like these that one needs one’s Mum. I haven’t thought about it before, but it is important to me.”

“I look forward to meeting them. Like you, I hope they respond to your letter.”

Just as they were snuggling down on Jo’s sofa Lauren’s phone rang.

She whispered. “It is my parents’ home number.”

“Then answer it before they ring off!”

“Hello, Mum.”

Lauren was beginning to cry.

“Malcolm just rang you?”

“Yes, I am pregnant by my partner, Jo.”

“Yes, I am keeping well.”

“I am at my Jo’s home at the moment.”

“I would love to see you, and Dad as well.”

“Would you like to come to the flat in London, or meet here.”

“I can email or text you the address and we will look forward to you joining us for lunch next Saturday. Do you want to drive or come by train, because I can pick you up at our local station.”

“OK, let me know which train you will be on and I can collect you.”

“I have sent you a letter, but it will not get to you until Wednesday. We can share all the news and gossip when we meet.”

“I miss you. Love you Mum.”

“Bye.”

Lauren dried her tears.

“You got the gist of that.”

“Yes, of course. We will entertain them here and explain as much as we need to explain.”

“Yes, I can lay some ground work with them concerning us in the twenty minute journey on the way back from the station.”

“No wearing the gypsy outfit next Saturday. I may love you dressed like that in a skirt that swirls provocatively, and a blouse that barely contains your bosom, but my Dad is an elderly man who is set in his ways.”

“Remember that I was the same, but things can change even for elderly men.”

“You will need to be absolutely charming to him to win him over.”

“I can do charming and can even flirt if needed.”

“I think the flirting will need to wait until another day. It would not be a good idea.”

“What are your parents’ names?”

“Flora and Bill, or William if you prefer.”

“What do they like to eat?”

“Oh … meat, preferably lamb and two veg, and a steamed pudding and custard.”

“That is very conservative, but we are trying to win them over so I will do a Best End of Neck casserole, with all the trimmings and a sticky toffee pudding and custard.”

“My my, you can do all that?”

“Yes, I have had to learn how to cook since my late wife, Elaine, died, but she taught me lots whilst she was ill.”

“You must miss her.”

“Yes, inevitably, but she is more in the background now that I have met you.”

“Are you tired after the day?

Jo smiled “ I think I could be a little tired.”

“… then lets have a lazy time in bed and watch a film snuggled up together.”

“Will you get an early pregnancy test kit during the week?”

“Yes, I can do that.”

“We can do the test before Flora and Bill arrive, but I don’t have any doubt as to the result.”

“No, neither do I, but I think Malcolm may have some hopes.”

“Yes, he really isn’t geared up to potential fatherhood.”

“He will shape up.”

“Shall we make a home for him here?”

“I think a garden room with an office for you both would mean that neither of us would have to commute routinely.”

“Is that something that you would consider, after all it is your house.”

“I was thinking the same way. There is a large garden and it would be an attractive view from your shared office. Would the two of you be able to pay for the office building. I reckon it would be between £20,000 and £25,000.”

“It would be business expense, so I am sure it could be arranged between us. We will have to try the idea out on Malcolm.”

“The only problem would be the fact that we would never be wearing knickers!”

“Is that a problem?”

“I suppose not.”

“If Malcolm came to work here, would he also live here, and how would that fit?”

“I enjoyed his company, and our time in bed together. I think we would just get a larger bed and throw away all the nighties.”

“Now that is an idea.”

“What do we do when the children come along, Jo?”

“Now there you are being a spoilsport. We will have to have ankle length flannelette nighties when that happens.”

“I think that is going a bit far, Lauren. A thigh length night shirt is quite enough covering up.”

“They will have to unbutton down the front.”

“Why?”

“Night time breast feeds.”

“Ah!”

End of part 3

After Malcolm’s positive phone call to his parents, he gave an hour for the telephone call between Lauren and their parents to take place, then he phoned Jo’s landline.

“What happened with the call, Jo?”

“Lauren and Flora are still on the phone. Lauren is in tears.”

“Hold on, I think they have finished. Do you want to talk to your sister?”

“No, I think she needs some time to sort things out in her mind.”

“Do you want to come to lunch with your parents next Saturday?”

“I would like that.”

“Lauren is going to pick them up at the station, then make it a bit clearer about Lauren’s and my relationship on the journey back, so it is not too much of a shock.”

“That is a good idea. It will be dad that has to embrace the whole idea of having a new daughter, who used to be a etc., etc., etc.”

“I will have the result of the pregnancy test when you arrive here for lunch. Lauren and I have no real doubts about the result, but there has to be proof.”

“I don’t know when your parents are likely to leave, but we have some ideas about the three of us which we could explain after they have gone … assuming you can stay, of course.”

“I have also been having thoughts about that.”

“If you want to share explain what are your thoughts have been.”

“Assuming that the pregnancy test is positive, then I could move in with you two and share the parenting of both children. Lauren and I could build a garden room/office in your large garden, divide it into two work spaces and work from there.”

“The relationship between you and your sister never ceases to amaze me. That is exactly the idea that we have been toying with.”

“How do you feel about having your home ‘taken over by us, and the children?”

“A house like this needs more than one resident, and should have children to make it fully a home. I think the plan has real potential but the style of garden room and things like Internet and electrical connections needs sorting out. Do you want a WC or kitchenette out there for instance?”

If we wanted plumbing then that would need the building to get planning permission and to satisfy Building regulations.”

“Isn’t that your strength?”

“I am not an architect, but I could draw up simple plans that would satisfy the Planners.”

“Lauren thinks that with both of you living here, and there being no rent or taxes to pay, that with both your businesses in profit, they you could afford to pay for the new building.”

“I have no doubt about it.”

“In view of the time scale, with about eight months before the first birth; can you get something into planning soon.”

“I will need to visit you to sort out whether the power cables go, and the water main and soil stack is. It wasn’t my main concern when I visited earlier.”

“I am sure that is true. When do you want to do that?”

“How does Monday morning suit.”

“Monday morning is good. Say 10am ?”

“I will see you then, but that will be a working visit.”

“Does that mean that I wear knickers?”

“Exactly.”

“Do you have any doubts about this plan, Jo.”

“No, after the three of us formed a sort of mental link or bond, it was almost inevitable.”

“I am glad you think that way. I agree completely.”

“Does your plan also involve buying a bigger bed?”

“Now, there is an idea.” Malcolm said with a chuckle, and rang off.

Lauren had finished her call with her parents and had been listening to the one-sided conversation that Jo had been having with Malcolm.

“Form what I heard, the cat is out of the bag. What has been decided?”

“Malcolm is coming here on Monday to look at where the services run in order to submit plans for a building for you two, with two offices, a loo with disability fittings for clients, and kitchenette. That will need planning permission to be given by the local authority and time is of the essence there, of course.”

“He will do a good job, and can call on various tradesmen to do the work promptly and to a high standard. Doing the project management himself will cut costs.”

“All you have to do is decide how big a space you need, and what colour you want the walls to be painted.”

“Will either of you need secretarial or reception staff?”

“Not yet, but we could share a secretary/receptionist in the future.”

“Where will they work?”

“That is the sort of thing that we need to discuss with Malcolm.”

“It would probably be a good idea to let him know a rough idea before Monday’s visit. He says he will only be here for 30 minutes.”

“OK, will do.”

As the evening wore on the Jo and Lauren sank into a thoughtful silence. The future held so much promise, but also Jo’s transition should have set some alarm bells ringing with them. Little did they know it, but information from the local surgery was already surfacing into the media in exchange for a wadge of cash. No one knew Jo’s identity yet, but the established fact that a 68 year old man had transformed spontaneously into a thirty-ish woman was bound to create news on an international scale. Had they known that that woman was pregnant within a couple of months of the transformation, then the media would have been whipped into a frenzy.

A bubble was building round the small town where Jo lived. The hairdresser was identified and the shop where Jo was measured had camera crews camped outside. Various sleuths examined records to look for older men living on their own, who could be the ‘culprit’. Medics and scientists of the more unscrupulous sort were sharpening scalpels metaphorically to find out what had caused the transformation and to then sell it at a huge profit.

Before Jo and Lauren had even thought of going to bed, the front door burst in and masked men grabbed both women stuck a needle in their arms, and as Jo and Lauren collapsed and were bundled into a van with its rear windows blacked out.

Had the women been aware, they would have seen that the inside of the van was equipped as an ambulance and as two of the men removed their outer dark garments, white uniforms of nurses appeared.

The van was already moving as the nurses looked over their collapsed patients. The remaining men turned off the lights and closed the front door as well as its damaged state would allow.

Malcolm was getting ready for bed, totally unaware of the predicament of his sister and lover. The fact that he didn’t hear from either of them during Sunday was no surprise. It was only at 10am on Monday morning when he arrived and saw the damaged front door, open the door and finding the women gone, and called the police.

He had the presence of mind to grab the mobiles of each of the women that were resting on a sideboard, and was able to write down the contact details for Jo’s daughters before having to surrender them to the Police.

The news reporters were still camped out in the village interviewing each other when the news broke of the abductions.

The crews dispersed to regroup at the local Police headquarters, but there was nothing to report except that a Police Superintendent came out to issue a statement that gave no new information.

Malcolm contacted his parents who were shocked by the revelations, and then he contacted Sue and Di who had already put two and two together and were preparing to travel back to the family home to see what could be done.

The Police had sealed off the house as a crime scene. Sue, Di and Malcolm gave their fingerprints to help exclude them from the search but it was clear that the gang that had seized the women were professionals and had left no trace of themselves except for the tyre tracks of their vehicles. Even there the tyres were new and a common make.

The Police told Malcolm to expect a ransom demand, but amongst themselves they thought that the two women would not be ransomed. They would be used to extract whatever data could be extracted to make a profit and then they would be killed and buried to stop anyone else getting the information.

Jo and Lauren woke up in a surgically clean room each strapped to a bed. They had been catheterised and a nose tube inserted to feed them. They had a light cellular blanket over them, but had been undressed. They were both sore as specimens of blood, saliva, cerebrospinal spinal fluid and various tissues had been removed before they had been allowed to wake up.

“Where are we?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, but the equipment has Cyrillic writing on it. I think that may mean that we are in central or eastern Europe somewhere.”

“Do you know what happened to us.”

“No more than you do, I suspect. I heard the front door forcibly open with a crash, and masked men rushed in; then a prick in my arm and oblivion until now.”

Lauren sobbed.

“What has happened to us?”

“I would guess that we have been captured to find out how and why we have changed.”

“I haven’t changed.” she wept.

“Our captors may not have known which one of us was which.”

“I hope someone can find us.”

“I don’t think anyone would notice until Malcolm visited on Monday morning.”

“That is a long time.”

“What can we do?”

“At the moment, nothing. Just gather what information we can.”

“At that moment, there was the sound of a key turning in a lock, and a severe white coated woman nurse came in and looked at the two women.”

“Where are we?” Lauren asked plaintively, but the woman didn’t answer.

She carried out whatever observations were needed and left without a word.

The next visitor was an elderly man about an hour later.

“Where are we? Please speak to us.”

The man spoke in broken English with a strong Eastern European accent.

“You are here in this medical facility helping us with our research.”

“When your babies are born, they will be brought up as honoured citizens of this glorious republic. At that point you will be unimportant and whether you survive will depend on how well you have cooperated for the next few months.”

“When can we be untied and get up?”

“There are more samples to be taken, but you will be allowed up soon, but this is a secure facility and you will have neither clothes, nor money nor phones, or documents. It is not recommended that you try to escape. It would mean certain death.”

The couple just lay on their beds with little hope.

Jo thought about Malcolm and then started to think very hard about Malcolm. Eventually she thought that she received a whisper of recognition of her thought.

“Lauren. I a thinking hard about a certain person. Can you try to think about them as well?”

Lauren screwed up her face and the two women seems to direct a thought out to Malcolm.

His face seemed to drift in and out of vision.

“Where are you?” his face seemed to say, but it was really only a thought.

“We are in some sort of medical facility in Eastern Europe. We are being experimented on.”

“Michael had a small compass built into his phone. He moved back and forth until the signal was strongest.”

“I have the Police and Foreign Office here. Your signal is strongest at 85 degrees East of North. If you are on that line then that would give us a direction, but not a distance.”

“Can you see out?”

“No there are no windows.”

“Ask them what the time is. If we know their time zone then we can get a number of hours they are ahead of Greenwich and that will give us a fairly inaccurate distance, but is better than nothing.”

“I can see a digital clock. It says 13:04.”

“That means that you are three hours ahead of London.”

“My Foreign office friends have already pinned down where you are. It is a well known medical facility in a less than friendly republic.”
“Can you see a room number anywhere?

“Yes, all the doors are numbered. This one is 5270.”

“That means you are on the research floor 5 of the facility. There are seven floors in total.”

“There is a garrison nearby, but my friends here think that it may be possible to recover you both in a matter of a couple of days. Please stay calm. Do as they say, and encourage them to release you from the restraints if possible.”

Lauren had stopped sobbing. She had listened to Malcolm’s thoughts and said nothing aloud to Jo.

“She thought some calming thoughts that were left unspoken.”

Military Intelligence in London was planning a recovery flight with team of Royal Marines. It would be a quick in and quick out, with a maximum of damage so that the two women’s bodies would never be discovered amongst the military and medical personnel based there.

Two days later a transport aircraft landed in Poland and the team of Marines went into hiding. A stealth helicopter was delivered from a secret base somewhere in Europe and on a moonless night the team flew across the border and landed almost silently near the facility. One part of the team placed charges at numerous points on the buildings so they would collapse. A team of six breached the security cordon, killing as needed and went to room 5270.

A shot from a silenced pistol and the door lock gave way.

In seconds the women had been disconnected from their tubes and wrapped in their one cellular blanket, were carried bodily out to the helicopter and away.

Large explosions followed their departure.

No one had spoken during the event, but the Marines carried their shoulder flashes to identify them.

They had been on the ground for thirteen minutes, and in less than an hour were back over the border.

The officer in charge spoke only once to confirm their names, then gave them some overalls that covered their nakedness and gave each of some nutrient rich jell in a sachet like baby food but bigger.

The helicopter emptied them onto the tarmac and immediately took off again to return to whatever secret hiding place it used.

The Royal Marines, returned to the transport plane that had delivered them. Its engines were already running, and it took off immediately and was landing back at a military airport in the UK an a hour and half later.

Malcolm, his parents and Sue and Di met the two women off the flight to many hugs and kisses.
“It is not the way we would have wanted to meet Lauren’s partner for the first time. but the outcome of this venture could have been so much worse. We are delighted to meet you Jo. We have heard the story from Malcolm. It is unparallelled but we shall be delighted to meet you in a more leisurely fashion when possible.”

The team of Commandos dispersed quickly back to their base, but the officer remained and was duly thanked for putting the lives of his men at risk. He accepted a kiss from both women on his cheek as part of their thanks.

“There will be repercussions from this, but the Foreign Office are used to dealing with delinquent governments. We just hope that the samples of body fluids from you both are worthless to them.”

“We must take you to the safe house that has been prepared. Your captors will be seething that they have lost you, and the Press will be seething because they cannot interview you yet.”

“Say goodbye to your relatives. We need to get you to a safe house for the time being and you will be debriefed there.”

Malcolm gave each woman their mobile phone that he had collected, but the officer removed them and transferred the SIM onto a much more bulky old fashioned looking phone, and gave the now SIMless phones back to Malcolm.

“These chunky phones have software in them that cannot be traced, and there is a scrambler built in to turn whatever is overheard into garbage.”

Two armoured vehicles drove up, and both women got into the first one. There was a driver and two heavily armed servicemen in the front of each vehicle.

“Sorry, one of you needs to be in each vehicle for security, but you will be going to the same safe house, but by a different route. You will have a full medical inspection when you reach your destination.”

Jo changed vehicle and they were off. A woman officer of the Royal Medical Corps sat with each woman and gave what proved to be a comprehensive psychiatric profiling to show whether the stress of the abduction had caused serious trauma.

They arrived at about 1am at a small military base somewhere in the Midlands. The women were examined medically and the health of their babies was checked. They were allowed to shower and sleep.

They found women’s army uniforms at the foot of their beds in the morning and proved to be the right sizes. Apart form lacking any sort of insignia they could have been normal uniforms.

After breakfast, the interrogation started. Reports from the private clinic and Jo’s doctor were obtained under subpoena. The police report and Malcolm’s interview under Police caution were also available, as were reports from the military team that rescued them.

Sue and Di had been interviewed but couldn’t add much to the fat file that was on the desk of the suited man and woman who were to conduct the debrief. Photographs had been taken of the room where Jo and Lauren had been kept.

Lauren and Jo were interviewed separately and confirmed the account from their first meeting to the present day.

After several hours of exhaustive questioning, the pair of interviewers visibly relaxed. Jo and Lauren were brought in together.

“What will happen to us?” was their first question.

“You will achieve a very temporary fame with the media, then you will become old news.”

“You aren’t going to use us as specimens and dissect us.”

“There is no point. We know that chimeras are produced many times each year here and in the rest of the World. You meeting was the concatenation of several exceedingly rare events. It is unlikely to reoccur in our lifetimes. No government or private company can create something from a fluke meeting of two people who are, themselves rarities. Your babies are created from single copies of genetic material and the chimera that caused your change of gender Jo, will not show up in your son.”

“We want you to remain below the radar as it were. In this envelope are replacement documents for you, Jo. Drivers Licence, Passport, Debit Card and so on.”

“Thank you”, Jo said with some surprise.

“What happens with my pensions?”

“Your pensions are infinitesimal in the great scheme of things in Government expenditure. They will continue, but if (or when) you return to work they will stop and restart when your new birth certificate says you are 67.”

“What age am I thought to be now?”

We have decided that you will be 32 and your birthday will be on the day you two met. It seemed better than just choosing a random date.

“We also want you to remain below the radar, Lauren. Acceptance of this next document is voluntary. It is a marriage certificate. If you accept it then you will be deemed to have been legally married at a Register Office near where you live today. The official forms will be placed in the files there. You just need to sign in the places shown.”

Your two families have had your front door replaced and there is a small celebration that will be set out for your arrival. They have been getting to know one another for the last few days.

Transport has been laid on to get you home, but you still have the potential to be nine day wonders. Get the Press bit done as soon as you can.

“We suggest that you allow yourselves to be interviewed by a small group of reporters. You do not know who abducted you, or the team that released you except that they were Royal Marines. You will end up on about page four of the newspapers with a couple of inches of copy, and then the World will move on. You have been told perfectly correctly that your change of gender, Jo, is the result of an extremely rare genetic event combined with a unique chance meeting, and there is no chance of it being duplicated. We have several geneticists who can back up that statement."

The News the following day showed a medical facility in Eastern Europe after it had suffered a major explosion. The News programme used satellite footage and stated that it was believed that some military ordnance from a nearby barracks had exploded spontaneously. There was believed to have been a substantial loss of life and the British Prime Minister had sent the Government’s regrets to the President of that country.

The two Ambassadors were withdrawn for consultation, but little was achieved apart from some table thumping. The status quo was soon restored.

Jo and Lauren were not at all convinced that the result of their meeting was as simple as was made out. No one had explained how the three of them communicated by intellect alone. The authorities seemed blind to the fact that their prison was identified by that means, but Jo and Lauren were just glad to be away from public scrutiny and at home with their extended families.

The interview with the Press was as predicted. The two women had little to add to the Press announcements made by the Government. The geneticists corroborated their story and everyone issued a sigh that the wealthy and famous would not be able to rejuvenate themselves and live for ever.

No one at that point would have known that Jo’s body cells had been cloned and after many failures a foreign Government Laboratory had five late stage foetuses that had been implanted into willing female technicians.

What Jo’s doppelgängers would be able to do was a matter of conjecture, but the two women were mercifully unaware of their existence.