"Darius? Do you have anything for the group this week?"

I glanced up from the floor. There was a really interesting dust bunny that I'd been following for the previous fifteen minutes as it was pushed around by the occasional gusts from the oscillating fan five feet away. It was definitely more interesting than hearing about how everyone was coping with their life.

"Not really."

Everyone groaned. There was even an "I told ya." in there somewhere. I think it was from the pink-haired dyke in the purple jeans -- Jesse something.

The moderator, 'Call me Jim', turned his clipboard and sat it on his legs.

"Darius, as you've probably already seen, everyone else has contributed something over the last month. How about we make a compromise?"

I was my turn to groan, but at least I wasn't a pansy about it. I frowned instead.

"Tell us how you found out about being intersexed. You don't have to say anything else. Just the facts."

A casual glance to the effeminate boy directly across from me and his nonchalant shrug kind of made me give in. Sam was the only other person that hated going to these things. He was a little on the gay side, sort of. I couldn't figure him out. It was like he acted like a girl, but then again he acted like a guy. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about half the time--don't ask me.

Straining my neck to the side, I heard a little pop, and the tiniest fraction of stress left my body. "I play defensive line for the varsity team. Long story short, I got hammered in the back with an illegal block. They took me to the hospital to do an MRI on my lower spine and found out that I had ovaries as well as my other junk. The end."

Sam looked at me with a pretty good amount of surprise. "Nothing else, just the ovaries?"

I nodded.

"Just like me?"

I shrugged.

Sam's seemingly depressed attitude disappeared. He sat up looking really interested. "Did they say anything else?"

I glanced at 'Call me Jim' and I could see the triumph in his eyes. He'd schooled himself to look passive, but I know the sort -- fucker.

"They did tests and said there wasn't any hormone imbalance. They looked fully functional, but they didn't function if that makes sense. Don't ask me. I'm not a doctor."

"That's it?" Jesse-pink-haired-dyke said. "You got fucking…"

"Jesse, we've talked about the cursing," warned 'Call me Jim'.

She gave him an annoyed but compliant smirk. "You got ovaries and that's it? They haven't done anything to you?"

I shook my head while she rolled her eyes.

"I got a clit the size of small dick and you got nothing?"

This time 'Call me Jim' ignored her. "Thank you for participating, Darius. Let's go ahead and call it a night, everyone. Thanks for coming out and supporting each other. Don't forget about partnering up in the parking lot. Safety first."

As always, after every meeting, I grabbed a Coke for the road. If my dad was paying fifty dollars a session for a bunch of losers to sit around and whine, I was going to get something out of the experience. Caffeine sounded just about right. Ladies and gentlemen the world's most expensive Coca-Cola.

It was in a big ice tub. High class, huh? I wiped off the excess water from the outside of the bottle and then dried my hands on my jeans.

"Hey."

It was Sam again. I almost rolled my eyes. I did not need a kindred soul to share my feelings with, thanks. "Hey."

He looked uncomfortable, a little fidgety and uncertain. "Sorry, I really don't mean to bug you."

I shrugged. What the hell. I could spare a couple of minutes. It's not like I had anything better to do. "It's okay. What's up?"

Sam exhaled a breath in relief. Glancing back at the retreating members of the group he caught my eye again. "Did you want to go get a coffee or something?"

My eyes shot open. Holy crap. "Uh, dude. I'm not gay."

His right hand almost slammed into his nose as he face-palmed himself. "That didn't come out right. I wasn't asking you out. I wanted to talk to you about…" After he dropped his hand I could tell how embarrassed he was. "I mean, I had some questions. If you wouldn't mind. My treat."

I looked at the Coke. Ah, what the hell. Tossing it back in the tub, I nodded at the door. "Alright."

I let him drive since he actually had a car. I had to take the bus, earlier. Mass transportation sucks. Starbucks was his venue of choice, which I didn't mind in the least. Not being able to afford the expensive stuff very often, I enjoyed it when I could.

Armed with a latte, I loaded it up with sugar and joined Sam at one of the tiny tables they had that looked like it was supposed to be a chessboard, but it really wasn't since they never had any chess pieces to along with it. If you've ever been in a Starbucks then you know what I'm talking about.

A sip and a wince at my scalded tongue brought my attention back up to the semi-effeminate guy sitting across from me. He dressed well, and he was small-boned. Maybe that's the reason I thought he was kind of gay.

"Thanks for doing this. I know you're a private person."

I nodded and sipped again. "So what's up?"

That's when I noticed that he'd chosen that particular table for its seclusion from everyone else. He looked around me to make sure nobody could hear him.

"Has anything weird happened to you recently?"

I blinked and then squinted. "Weird?"

Sam sighed and shook his head. I guess he could tell by the look on my face that I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about and something weird actually meant significant, like I would automatically know what he was speaking about.

"Nevermind."

"No, really. You got me curious."

Sam partook of his own drink and then measured me with his eyes.

He let it go at that. I leaned back in the flimsy chair, hearing it squeak against my weight. I'm not fat. I'm just really big-boned. "What do you mean by weird?"

Taking another glance around me, he looked down at my drink that I'd sat on the table. Setting his hand on the table, he cupped it in a semi-circle and before I knew it, my coffee slid across the table and into his grasp.

Okay, at first I almost freaked, but I'm not really the kind of guy that squeals like a girl. Instead, I immediately looked under the table. I had no idea what I was looking for, perhaps something to explain how he just did the magic trick. Nothing. Not even used gum.

Letting my face contort with obvious concentration, I soon gave up trying to figure it out. "How'd you do it?"

"That's what I mean by weird. I have no idea. I can just make things happen. I thought it might have something to do with the ovaries. Since you're the only other one…"

I held my hand up to cut him off. "Tell me again how having ovaries is supposed to be connected to magic tricks?'

He shook his head and looked irritated. "It's not a magic trick." He stood up and spun around in a three-sixty. "Look no strings wires or magnets. And anyway, that's your coffee, not mine."

"Uh-huh." I don't know how he did it, but I wasn't buying the act.

He saw a group of teens walk in. "I'll prove it. See those guys?"

I turned and saw two guys and three girls enter, making their way to the counter. "Yeah."

"Pick one, it doesn't matter who, and I'll do something."

I looked back at him and grinned. "Alright." Taking another look at the group I chose the knockout blond with the pink and white sundress. "Her, the blonde."

With a nod, he looked like he was concentrating on the girl. I just looked back to see the lack of show. The air conditioning vent about halfway between us and the girl blew a gust of air out that sounded more like a gale-force wind. Before I knew it, the girl's dress spread wide and lifted up, baring the fact she was going commando to the world. A second later the wind drew back and her dress settled.

Spinning back around, I had a shit-eating grin on my face. "That was awe…" Then I realized what I was saying and my eyes widened. "Whoa. How'd you do that?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. I just looked at her and wanted something to happen."

I looked back at the girl. Her face was bright red and one of the guys that came in with her was letting someone behind the counter have a piece of his mind.

"Why did you think this had anything to do with our condition?"

He cradled his coffee with a defeated look on his face. "It's the only thing in my life that is just as weird as my being able to make things happen. I thought…"

I nodded in understanding. "That they might be connected, and if I was able to do it too then you'd be right." It was an off the wall way of thinking, but I got where he was coming from. Now, I had to make up some excuse to bail. Being around a circus freak wasn't an ideal way to spend my off hours. "Well, sorry for that and all, but nothing weird's happened to me."

The chair made a scraping noise as I backed it up and stood. "Thanks for the coffee."

He gave me an incredulous look. "You're leaving already? What about…"

"Dude," I gave him a decently sympathetic look. "What do you want me to do?" I didn't really expect an answer.

Sam deflated and just looked at me like he was hurt or something. I've seen the look before. Girls normally used it to guilt trip me into doing something stupid which I always got busted for. "I don't know."

I sighed. "Look, I don't know what to tell you. I…" Something didn't seem right. As I was looking at him, a big red circle was welling up on his left cheek. It looked kind of like a rash. "Uh, dude. Did you get into some poison ivy or something?"

"What?"

"Your face." I halfheartedly gestured to his cheek.

Sam raised a hand up and his fingers danced right on top of the rash. He abruptly stood up, and for a second didn't look too good.

"You okay? You need to puke?" I grabbed his arm and immediately led him to the restroom. I may not be the most emotionally sensitive guy in the world, but I knew what was right, and leaving someone to pass out or yak in the middle of a Starbucks was bad juju that would eventually come back to haunt me. Some dude was leaving right when we went in.

"Is he gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Do I look like a doctor? Get the fuck out, man." Some people ask the stupidest questions.

Leading Sam over to the sink, I turned on the cold water. "Splash some on your face, maybe it'll help." He looked like he had the energy to maybe do it once before he braced himself on the edge of the sink.

"Darius, I don't feel so good."

His face was pale, except for the red spot. "Maybe we ought to get you to the hospital." I got a weak nod in return. "Can you walk?"

Sam looked unsure. "I dunno," his words slurred.

Grabbing the doorknob, I held the way clear. He didn't even make it three steps before folding in on himself. Catching him before his hit the ground wasn't too hard. He probably weighed less than most of the girls I'd dated. The thing was that he was hot, I mean heat-hot, and not in a feverish way.

The door swung shut as I moved forward to lay him on the floor. It was clean enough. Well, I tried to lay him on the floor, except his arms wrapped around me and he convulsed.

"We're too late," I heard a girl's voice from behind. "Seal the place off and get everyone out. Ray, get them to bring the SUV up to the door. This is going to have to be done fast. Lara, grab a blanket."

I looked back and there was a girl standing at the door wearing dark green pants and a black tank top. She approached and knelt down. "How's he doing, Darius?"

Right when I was about to ask who the hell she was, I heard the tell-tale sound of bones breaking. I know exactly what they sound like, because I've broken a few of my own. Football, what can I say? The girl's face winced a little, but she didn't seem overly worried.

"This is all part of it. Don't worry, he'll be fine."

That's when I'd had just about enough. "Don't worry? Man, who the hell are you? What's happening to Sam"

The door opened and some girl with freaky red hair was standing there with a thick wool blanket. "Everyone's out. Ray has the truck ready."

The commando girl nodded. "I need to get the security camera fixed. Take them to the truck." She turned to me. "Darius, I know you don't know me, but you've really got to trust me. Take Sam and go where Lara tells you. We'll take care of him and you."

"Me?"

Her face hardened with determination. "You have to go now, Darius. GO!"

Maybe it was being yelled at for years by my coaches, but when someone raises their voice to me, it's almost an ingrained reacted to follow orders. I was up in a flash, Sam was cradled in my arms, and he was beginning to thrash. The redhead threw the blanket over him and led the way out.

Starbucks was deserted and I saw a gigantic black SUV up on the sidewalk maybe a foot away from the front door. Right before I reached it I almost dropped him. "What's happening?"

"We'll explain later. Right now we need you get you two out of here. Hurry, get in," she snapped.

Two others were inside: an older guy in the drivers seat and a squaw-looking girl riding shotgun. Surprisingly enough there was plenty of room inside. It looked like someone had removed one of the bench seats leaving only one in the back.

"Lay him down on the floor and back up," the squaw told me.

I tried, I actually did, but it was like Sam's arms were locked around me. "He won't let go."

She grimaced. "Fine, try to make him as comfortable as possible."

"He's burning up. I mean really hot."

"It's okay. It's normal," said the redhead. "It'll pass in a minute."

"Normal? Are you freaking kidding me?"

The sound of squealing tires made me look up. I saw several official looking cars and SUV's clearly marked with Department of Health on the sides. That pretty much sent my mind into near panic mode. I'd seen way too many movies where some funky zombie virus started just like this. I tried dropping Sam so I could get the hell out of there, but it was no use.

"Okay, we're clear." Commando girl was back along with some guy with green hair. They got in and shut the doors. "Hit it." She looked me over. "You can't put him down, can you?"

I shook my head and she smiled. "Well, it looks like someone else gets to feel my pain for once."

"Hey!" the squaw protested.

Commando girl grinned and reached into a pocket at her thigh and withdrew a wallet of sorts, that's when Sam went limp in my arms.

"Good, you can lay her down now."

"Sam's a guy," I nearly growled for some reason. When I set him down, the blanket fell away and I nearly crapped myself. Instead of the willowy effeminate guy with short cropped brown hair, there was a blonde girl in his place. Her hair was long, like well past her shoulders, and most of the equipment was present as well. I mean her breasts.

"Not anymore." Looking away from who I thought was Sam, Commando girl held out some official looking ID. "My name's Kristyn Keys. We're with the Department of Homeland Security, and we're here to help."

I got the lowdown when they loaded us up on some sort of private jet. Keys was part of some organization that went around collecting intersexed teens that had superpowers. Yeah, I didn't believe it either. That was until she did this thing with her hands, making little blue and white lightning bolts crackle between her fingers.

The red head, Lara, she was some sort of tracker, and the squaw, her name was Liz. She took away the sunburn that Sam left me with even with my seriously dark skin. Yeah, he… she was that hot. All of them had some sort of power except the older guy. It was unreal.

"You're saying that this is going to happen to me?"

Keys nodded while looking kind of solemn. "It's happened to us all. There's no stopping it. We didn't have a choice and neither do you."

I glanced out of the plane window, seeing the blanket of white clouds. "Dad's going to kill me."

"That's kind of been taken away too." When I looked back at her with an obvious question on my face, she answered it without my asking. "In a little less than two days, you're not going to look anything like you do now. Everything changes." She looked over at the cot across the isle that held the newly feminized Sam. "Even your fingerprints will be different. There's no way to prove who you actually were."

I didn't know what to make of that. "What are you saying?"

The fingers of her right hand started rubbing against each other. "It means as of this afternoon, in the eyes of everyone that has ever known you, you're dead."

I tensed. The smell of ozone hit the air and her hand lit up. "You seem like a nice guy. Please don't make me Taser you. It's the big guys that sometimes pee themselves."

Gripping the armrest, I squeezed.

"Darius, we have no idea what your power is going to be." The smell of ozone backed away. "If I had changed at home, in front of my father, he'd be dead right now and my house would have burned down. Do you want to take that chance?"

The thought of Dad being electrocuted to death didn't sit well with me. "No."

"Good, neither do I. It's why we do things like this. After a few months, when we make sure that you have your powers under control and are comfortable, we'll allow you to see him again." She smiled a little. "I saw my dad last weekend for the third time since my change. It took him a little while, but he's moving on."

I really didn't give a crap about her dad. This was my life she was screwing around with. "So I can go back after."

She shook her head. "And what are you going to tell him? Hey Dad, I'm a girl now and I have these neat powers, look! He'll never believe you, and on the off chance that he would, you'll be in constant danger."

Dread settled in my stomach. "Why?"

"There's another faction out there that is kidnapping people like us and using them to kill others. A few months ago we stopped them from taking over the government." At the first sign of my disbelieving face she added one more. "Last month they tried kidnapping a billionaire to get him to sign over his company to them." With that revelation, she stood and gave me a penetrating look. "Think about it, Darius. Do you want to spend your life just like every other cog in the wheel, doing nothing worthwhile, or do you want to make a difference? We're going to be landing in about fifteen minutes. Sam will be awake in about an hour. I'm sure she'd like to see a familiar face. Wouldn't you?"

Another girl, Danielle met us at the place where we'd be staying. She was short and pretty curvy, looking like she was one of my cousins, actually. She was supposed to show me my room and give me the lowdown while they got Sam settled in.

The room was basic. A square, with a big desk under the window, bunk beds, two dressers, a closet. It was Spartan, but workable. Definitely bigger than my room at home.

"We can go by wardrobe and pick you up a few things until your transition."

I was looking out of the window to see empty rolling plains as far as the eye could see, so you can probably figure out I was guessing how she knew I inwardly flinched.

"Kris didn't explain things very well, did she?"

I turned around and I could see the compassion on her face. "What's your super power?"

"I'm an Empath, and we call them talents. It's one of the reasons they gave me the job of helping the new ones through the first week."

I raised my eyebrows. "You're like Counselor Troi?"

Her eyes lit up with mirth. "Star Trek fan? Yes, I'm exactly like her, but shorter, and I don't do nude weddings."

There was something about Danielle. She made things a little easier. Definitely not right by any means, but she made things bearable. "Keys explained things fine. I prefer the direct approach."

She nodded. "We're sorry that it has to be this way, but we are dealing with the government and regardless about what they say, they don't really help much."

Giving my watch a glance, I noted the time. "She said I could go down and check on Sam?"

"Sure, come on. I'll show you where the infirmary is."

All along the dormitory hallway, I noted name plates next to each door. Some indicated one name while others had two. There was one thing that stood out: there were a lot of names. "How many people do you got here?"

She looked like she was counting internally. "I think you and Sam will make a forty-two. I know it sounds like a lot, but by this time next year we're probably looking at closer to three or four hundred, maybe more."

"That many?" I nearly had to stop to let it be absorbed, but Danielle kept on walking. How do you guys keep this a secret? I mean nobody notices missing teens everywhere?"

She shrugged. "It's explained in different ways. Sometimes there are runaways, diseases, gang violence, you name it and it's been used. If all else fails or if the father's have a rough time of it we send in people to help them along."

The thought of someone screwing with my dad sent my temper simmering. Danielle stopped and turned to me. "Don't worry, Darius. That's only as a last resort and they actually help. They'll take away some of the pain or help out financially, whatever is needed. Even though we may seem like tyrants at times, we take care of our own."

That made me feel the tiniest fraction better. "Dad'll probably move back to Boston near his sister."

She nodded as we entered the stairwell and started down from the third floor. "If he does, then we'll arrange a good job for him, usually better than the previous one."

"You can do that?"

She smiled wide. "That's easy. We have connections all over, Darius."

When we reached the bottom floor, we crossed over into another building and down one floor into the first sub-level.

"Dr. Litchburg," Danielle called out to a guy in a white lab coat with at stethoscope hanging out of his pocket. "This is Darius he's a friend of our newest."

I got nodded at. "It's not often that we have Genies that know each other from the outside world."

"Genies?"

The doctor smiled with a touch of embarrassment. "Sorry it's my own warped sense of humor. Technically, you and others like you have been genetically altered through no fault of your own or your parents. However you all possess powers that mentioned in fantasy stories. Take Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. There's a lamp with a genie…" He stopped when he realized he was rambling. "Gene:Genies. It's juvenile and obscure, I know."

I gave him an appeasing smile. "So what's up with Sam?"

Dr. Litchburg looked at me, puzzled. "Oh, sorry, my patient."

Danielle stepped in and offered an explanation. "It's standard procedure to have us change our names after transition. It helps establish a new identity and eases us into accepting the change. Since Sam hasn't woken we can't ask her what she wants to be called."

Looking at her serene oval face surrounded by the dark blonde hair, I thought about it for a few moments. "She kind of looks like a Rachel."

Danielle looked at her. "I can kind of see that. I was thinking more of Becca, but we've already got two of those and they annoy each other."

Thinking about that, I frowned and backed up. Before I knew it, someone had put a stool behind me.

"Darius, look at me."

Danielle was standing in front of me, staring intensely. "You're going to be fine. All of us have gone through this and come out on the other side better than before." A sense of peace flowed through me, empowerment, and contentment. "What you're feeling right now is how I actually feel at the moment. It's part of my power that I can let others feel what I feel. Do I seem panicked or scared?"

I shook my head.

"How about disgusted or regretful?"

I shook my head again. "No."

"It's because I'm not," she said with a comforting smile. "Just like you, I was a guy. Now I couldn't imagine being anything but a girl. It just wouldn't be right."

"Danielle." Dr. Litchburg interrupted. "It's time."

Sam really spazzed out. She was under sedation when I left. It wasn't like I could blame her at all. I came into this thing with my eyes pretty much open and I was still nervous as hell. It's one thing to see something like this in a book or a movie, but to actually know, for a fact that in two days I was going to spontaneously change sex was… well, let's just say that I may have had to excuse myself once or twice over the course of the day to let my stomach stage a minor revolt in homage to the porcelain god.

It wasn't until the next morning that I got to see her again. This time she was actually up and about.

"Hey," she said, kind of demurely. Her head was ducked down with her near honey blonde hair curtaining her face. It was more of a dark honey that had been sitting around for too long. Blinking at my observation, I pushed that thought over to the corner. She used to be a dude and there I was thinking about how nice her hair was.

"Hey." I looked to the side, seeing the doctor sitting at a desk about ten feet away going through a file and making notes or something. "Guess you were right."

She looked up at me with confusion on her face. "About what?"

I rolled my hand in the air. "The whole, something's weird and I may be a part of it too, thing."

Sam's lips worried themselves for a moment. "This is going to happen to you too?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess. That Kristyn girl said so anyway."

She looked over at the doctor and frowned. "I'm sick of this bed. Do you know when we can get out of here?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I grasped the restraint bar on the side of the bed that kept patients from falling out. "Hey, Doc."

He looked up from his file.

"Any chance we can find out when Sam can blow this place?"

His eyebrows raised a little. "I've already alerted Miss Marks. She should be on her way to begin your orientation and tour of the facilities."

I thanked him with a nod and smiled back at Sam. "There, she'll be here in a minute." Shuffling to the side, so I could have something to occupy myself from trying to check Sam out, I leaned against a countertop. She turned her head, following my movement and I actually got to see her face.

It was kind of oval-shaped with a triangular nose, and she had this bottom lip that was bigger than the top that gave her a natural pouty look that was making me uncomfortable in all the wrong places considering her original gender. That and her eyes made me look at the door, hoping that Danielle girl would hurry up. They were green and bright, her eyes. It was a really light green and they made me want to stare.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look uncomfortable."

I tried to play it off. "Yeah, the whole situation is pretty fucked up… oh sorry, I mean messed up."

The door chose that moment to open. I couldn't have been more relieved. Dani walked in, holding an armful of clothes and wearing a large smile on her face. "Great, you're here too, Darius. Hi, Sam."

Both of us kept somewhat quiet and just short-waved at her.

"I brought you some temporary clothes until we have a chance to get down to wardrobe."

Sam looked eager at that. "Thanks. I really hate hospital gowns."

After handing them to her, Dani reached under the bed and released the security bar, letting it slide forward and down, out of the way. "Darius, would you mind giving Sam a hand to the bathroom so she can change?"

I shrugged and Sam held up a hand. "I'm fine."

A knowing look came over Dani's face. "Have you been out of bed yet?" Sam shook her head. "Then trust me. You have a whole new body that you need to treat like it's on training wheels for about thirty minutes or so until you get used to it."

Instead of arguing, I held out my hand to Sam and she reluctantly took it. I didn't know if it was a pride thing or what. She didn't meet my eyes as she scooted to the edge and tried to hold the back of the gown closed.

"I won't look." Her head turned up to me with concern and hopeful eyes. I could swear that I saw apprehension on her face. "I may be a jock, but I'm not a sleaze, Sam."

She relaxed. "Thanks."

When I saw the gown bunching up to reveal more leg than she was comfortable with, I closed my eyes. Of course, I still couldn't scrub the mental picture of two tanned, perfectly formed thighs from my memory, but I could at least act like I was trying.

"Okay. I'm decent."

Reopening my eyes, I switched my grip so that I could hold her right hand in my right and have my left behind her in case...

She took a step right then and I was glad I planned ahead. My left hand shot out and I grabbed her up, right around her waist. "You okay?"

Sam caught her breath. "Uh, yeah, sorry." Looking at Dani she nodded her thanks. "You were right."

An amused shrug was returned.

Once I dropped Sam off at the bathroom with assurances from her that she was cool, I closed the door. Dani motioned me over.

"I need to ask you something that's going to sound personal, but there's a reason for it, okay?"

I nodded.

"Do you feel different about Sam?"

I stiffened. "Uh..."

"I mean do you care for her more than you think you should, like a sister or a daughter, something like that?"

Sister? Definitely not. "No."

She gazed at me curiously. "I should warn you, with my empathy talent, I'm like a human lie detector. Unless you have complete control of your emotions then I can tell..."

"I'm not lying. I don't look at her as a daughter, or a sister." I didn't, and I was confident of that, lie detector or not.

Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah, but you're hiding something."

"That's my business."

A few moments went by and the bathroom door opened to reveal Sam standing there in a blue yoga outfit, looking...

"Everything okay?" asked Dani.

She nodded in return.

"Alright. We'll stop by wardrobe first thing and get you some real clothes. Darius, why don't you come along and see what happens. That way you'll know what to expect."

"Yeah."

We didn't have far to go at all, just down the same hallway to a gigantic warehouse that looked like someone tried to stuff every clothing shop in the mall inside. That wasn't including the makeup department that filled the front portion. My eyes tracked over the racks of nail polish and perfumes, and, ugh, feminine things.

"You weren't kidding when you said that we'd be girls all the way?" I asked hoping it was all a prank as I stared at the boxes of tampons and sanitary pads.

Dani giggled. "Yep, the whole shebang. Twenty-four days after your transition, you'll be getting your first period."

Finding a chair beside a pair of changing rooms, I sat down and tried not to look ill while Dani showed Sam the clothes. I must have been in a daze, because before I knew it, Sam was entering the room.

"It sucks, Darius, I won't lie to you about that, but everything else is wonderful." I frowned at her. "There has to be a downside to all the good things."

I snorted. "All I see are downsides, sister."

She considered me for a moment and then held out her hand. "Hold my hand."

Taking a quick look to see if she was screwing around with me, I followed her request. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them with a disappointed look on her face. She shrugged. "I'm a Pre-Cog as well." At the confused look on my face, she explained. "It means I get snippets of the future sometimes. But nothing happened with you."

That sent a shiver down my spine. "Does that mean I'm dead in the future or something?"

Dani smiled. "It doesn't mean anything. It's a secondary talent I possess. They're always iffy, control-wise."

"Secondary?"

She nodded. "Some times we get them, sometimes we don't. I think Kris told me it was like forty or so percent wind up with secondary talents and out of those, about fifteen percent have anything useful. So the odds aren't that great."

"How do I look?"

I was distracted by what Dani was telling me so much that I missed Sam coming out of the dressing room. I nearly fell out of the chair. She was standing there in a schoolgirl outfit and looking like... whoa. Definitely not a sister.

Dani was sporting a big grin out of the corner of my eye and I was gobsmacked. "You look great, Sam," she said. "Which leads me to my next topic." Looking at her watch, her lips twisted to the side. "It's a little early for lunch, but it would fairly private. Feeling hungry?"

"I could eat," I said as I tried like hell to take my eyes off of Sam. She just nodded and fidgeted a little, tugging at the hemline of her skirt.

I got another look from Dani. "Would you mind giving her an arm to lean on. The heels take a little getting used to."

I didn't even think twice about it and crooked my elbow out. Sam stared at it for a moment and her green eyes flicked to me with a very small smile. "Thanks," she said before slipping a hand through the space at my elbow and letting her hand rest on my forearm.

We made our way up a flight of stairs where Sam gripped both the railing and my arm like she was riding a rollercoaster. I couldn't help admiring how, even though she was tan, how our skin colors contrasted. Don't get me wrong. I've dated white chicks before. Actually I prefer them. Black chicks, generally, are too much drama. Plus, white chick have a thing about the stereotype about black guys. Not that it isn't true where I'm concerned, but still.

I grew up in a mixed family. Mom was black, Dad white. Maybe it was my upbringing but I've never really cared one way or the other about color. It was just interesting to see her hand on my skin and it gave me other questions about how she would look pressed up against me, skin to skin.

Down another hallway and through the dormitories again and we reached the a large cafeteria where I grabbed a tray and started piling on whatever Sam wanted as well as a few choices of my own. I escorted her to the table Dani picked out and then went back for our drinks.

When I returned, Sam was a little red in the cheeks and I noticed she had her legs crossed very feminine-like.

"Thank you, Darius," she said as I set her drink in front of her. "For everything."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. You can help me tomorrow."

Her mouth widened into a bright grin. "Count on it."

Even though there were six chairs around the table, I sat right next to her instead of leaving a chair in-between like I normally would if I was sitting with a guy. Dani gave me a knowing smile which made me pause for a second to realize what I was doing. Before I even thought to move over a chair to give Sam a little room to breath, Dani stopped me.

"Stay where you're at until I have a chance to say something."

I swallowed and looked at Sam, who nodded her ascent.

Dani held her hands out to the tray. "Go ahead. This is semi-long story."

We both had poboys. I had two and Sam had a half of one. What could I say, I play football. I had a giant appetite.

"When Kristyn came to the Center and went through her transition, nobody had ever been in the vicinity of anyone else that was in the middle of the change as it was going on. The doctors always took precautions, standing behind Plexiglas shields or if the person was a danger during transition like Kris was, then they did it in the bunker we have for special cases."

I nodded in understanding. "She said something about how she would have blown up her house if you guys hadn't done your thing."

Dani agreed. "Very true." She sipped at her soda. "Anyway, Kristyn's first assignment was bringing in a boy, you'll meet her later. She had her transition in the infirmary, and was really scared throughout the process. They kept contact with their hands because Kris wouldn't leave her even for her own safety."

Sam interrupted. "That was the same girl that picked us up?"

Dani nodded. "Something happened between them at that time. Nobody knows what, but several guesses have been made."

Sam couldn't help herself. "What does this have to do with us?"

I had stopped eating when Dani had gotten to the contact portion of the story. "You grabbed onto me in the middle of yours. We were in contact until you passed out."

Her head snapped around to me. "What's that mean?"

Dani shrugged. "That's what I want to find out. Has anything changed between you two? We know you were in the same counseling group; that's how we found you."

"We barely knew each other," confirmed Sam. "Now I'm..." She wouldn't say anymore. I looked at her and watched as her head ducked and her hair curtained her face again.

"Liz, bonded with Kris somehow. She considers Kris her mom, and vice versa. Even though they're the same age. They're mother and daughter."

I pointed at Dani with understanding. "That's what you meant earlier."

"Yeah. So...?"

Setting my elbow on the table, I palmed my face and rubbed my eyes. "I wasn't lying. I don't think of her like a mother or daughter. But there's something there."

"A connection," confirmed Sam with a subdued voice.

"If you two want to pursue this on your own then I understand, but we have some very capable psychiatrists here that can help."

"What? Help break it?" I asked.

Dani shook her head. "We don't know if it's even possible. You two are the only others that this has happened to. Kris and Liz didn't even want to try. They like it."

Silence dropped over the table while everyone considered what they were going to say next. I was the lucky one to speak up first. "This thing might go away when I go though my thing?"

Dani's mouth dropped open a little. "Um, good question. I don't know."

With that in mind I set my hand on Sam's. "How about we not worry on anything until then."

She looked up at me and nodded. Her face was red again, but from her look, I was thinking it was embarrassment and not anger. Maybe we were thinking along the same lines. It was obvious to me what had changed. Before all of this happened, I wanted to distance myself from the male version of Sam, and now I was attracted as hell to her.

"That's a good idea," replied Dani. "No use worrying about it until then."

A collective breath was taken and we resumed our meal, though with a little less vigor than before.

"Okay, second topic."

I nearly groaned, but paid attention.

"You two need to think about new names."

I blinked, totally caught off guard. "Oh." I guessed there wouldn't be many girls named Darius. Glancing at Sam I shrugged. "Sam can be a girl's name too."

"Samantha," she said, agreeing with me.

"I don't know. They normally like to have something different from your original. Let me ask Kris."

I watched as Dani pulled an iPhone off of a holster on her hip and sent a text message.

"How about you, Darius?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"That's okay. You have a little time, and there's a database full of names on your computer in your room."

Her phone beeped and she checked the message. "Kris says it's cool, just as long as the middle and last name are totally different."

Sam looked thoughtful. "I'll think about it."

We finished up lunch. I wasn't able to eat half of the second sandwich. I hated throwing it away. Being raised, not so well off, I was taught not to waste things, but considering the news I'd received and the last couple of days events, I brushed it aside.

"Let's go back down and get you a working wardrobe, Samantha," said Dani.

I pulled Sam's chair out for her and gave her a hand up. Receiving a smile and a soft thank you, I placed her hand back on my arm in its previous position. "I'm sure we can handle it, Dani, unless we're not supposed to be down there alone."

She considered us for a moment. "Okay. Just remember you two have an appointment with Kris at two o'clock. That leaves you a little over two and a half hours."

Our walk back to the underground warehouse was met with silence. I couldn't think of anything to say and I was sure Sam was in the same boat.

We walked the aisles and picked up four more outfits for her school clothes and then spent about thirty minutes acquiring some regular clothes. Neither of us had any idea when we'd actually be able to wear them, so it was kept to a minimum: a couple of jeans, shorts, tee shirts, and underwear. Oh, and regular shoes.

After putting setting aside most of the clothes for pick, like Dani instructed, I watched as Sam shopped for toiletries. She paused when she got to the tampons. I saw her shoulders drop, but she picked up a box anyway. I was amazed at her resiliency. Spending as much time kneeling at the toilet, being sick to my stomach, I couldn't figure out where she got the strength to move on, accepting what had happened.

I thought, perhaps, it was a brave front she was putting on. I mean it wasn't like she was bouncing off the rafters screaming with joy or anything.

Sam looked over her shoulder at me and smiled a little. "Sorry, I'm taking so long."

I shook my head. "Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

The sides of her mouth turned up again. Once she turned back to the perfume display and sniffed a couple of samples she said something to me that got me off of thinking about figuring her out.

"How are you holding up?"

I shrugged. I don't know why I did, since she wasn't looking toward me at the moment. "Okay, I guess."

Finally deciding on a bottle she spritzed some on her wrists and rubbed it along side her neck before putting the bottle with her other supplies. "I'm lucky in a way," she said.

"How so?" I stood and slowly made my way over to her as she'd moved on to the makeup and shook her head at the display.

She glanced at me and then back at the racks. "I didn't have any warning. Just, bam, and I wake up as a girl. You've got to be thinking about this all of the time."

I snorted softly. "Trying not to, actually." When I got the disbelieving glare, I explained. "I'm kind of a live in the moment type of guy. Growing up, I knew how young my mom died and I knew that the same thing could happen to my dad or even me. So, I take each day at a time and try to make it as fun and meaningful as I can."

She pursed her lips. "That's very mature for a..."

"Black guy?" It wasn't an angry retort, just a simple statement of fact.

"I was going to go for sixteen year old, but whatever."

I immediately felt like shit. "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. I'm just..."

"It's okay. We're both on edge." She gave me a playful glance. "Besides, I like black guys."

I knew it! Sam was gay. I knew it the second I saw him at the first meeting.

Her eyebrow arched at my face. "I'm bisexual, I'm not gay."

I blinked. "How did you..."

She waved me off. "Don't worry, I can't read your mind. I've just seen that look a hundred times before. Nobody can figure me out, so they assume."

That make me feel even more like crap. "Look, I'm..."

"Don't worry about it. It happens." She looked down at herself. "Well, probably not anymore. So, consider it a send off. Now I can be a socially acceptable bisexual, only without a dick."

That shut me up.

"Can you give me a hand with some of this. I want to make sure I have this in case they send my stuff to the wrong room." At that, her face screwed up. "I don't even know which room I'll be in."

"You want to room with me?" No, I had no idea where that came from. "I mean, by tomorrow night, I'm supposed to be a... well, I won't be me anymore." Seeing the look on her face, I almost rescinded my offer. "If you don't want to, I'd understand. I mean, I'm still a guy."

"I'd like that," she said very simply.

We found a couple of bags that we could tote her stuff in and I escorted her to my, our room.

"It's not much to look at," she said as she entered behind me.

"Yeah." After setting her bags on the dresser I wasn't using, I noted the time. Twelve-fifty. That left a little over an hour until the meeting.

I helped Sam hang the clothes and let her handle the underwear portion while I unpacked the toiletries.

"Which bunk... oh, you already have the bottom."

"We can switch if you want. It was just easier last night."

She shook her head and kicked off her heels before climbing the ladder at the end of the bunk and making her bed. When she leaned over, I kind of froze up. Her skirt rode up exposed a long line of leg. It was long enough to cover her butt. Still, the look of them sent my thoughts to areas were they shouldn't be going, especially with a new roommate.

Finally making a decision that I should get my mind on something else, I went to my side of the desk and turned the computer on. Browsing the files, I found the database that Dani told me about and started sifting through names, not knowing what I was looking for.

It was the hand on my shoulder, that and the scent of musky perfume that alerted me to Sam's presence behind me.

"Find anything?" she asked.

Another hand joined the other shoulder and her thumbs started to knead lightly right under my neck. Just when I thought I was getting soft, I was right back to hard as a rock.

"Uh, not really. It's kind of hard to come up with a name when I don't even know what I'll look like."

"Yeah, I mean it would be really bad to pick a name like Tiffany and wind up looking like an Alice."

I chuckled. "Neither of which I would ever pick."

"Aww, I think you'd make a cute Tiffany."

Sam's hands moved up to stroke my neck, digging ever so lightly along either side of the spine. I thought my jeans were going to burst apart from the pressure I was putting on them.

"Are you okay, Darius? You seem kind of tense."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I may not be able to make it to the meeting in fifty minutes because I'll be a walking hardon, but I'd be fine eventually.

Her hands fell away and she walked around to sit on the side of the desk, crossing her legs. I couldn't help but stare.

"Sorry," she said. "I think it's this bond thing. I can't seem to really concentrate on anything but you at the moment. I didn't even realize I was touching you so much."

I looked away, trying to will myself to calm down. "Yeah, me too."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

She laughed in a self-deprecating way. "I've been a girl for one day and I feel like a slut."

"What?" I looked up. Her eyes were welling with unshed tears. "Why?"

Sam wiped at her face. "Because I want nothing more than to jump you right now and you probably think I'm a freak. I was a guy yesterday and you'll be a girl tomorrow. I just can't catch a break with this bond thing."

I cut her off before she said anymore, because I was out of the chair and in front of her before I knew it myself. She was startled at my fast movement, but looked up at me with need in her eyes. Cupping her face I moved in and kissed her lips. They were hot and soft. Her bottom lip tasted exactly as I'd imagined.

Sam's legs drew me in, wrapping around my thighs and locking behind while her hands dug under my tee shirt and her nails found purchase in my ribs.

"I need to stop by the bathroom," said Sam as she closed her dresser drawer after grabbing a new pair of panties. I think it was me that destroyed the pair she was wearing before.

"I can walk you there." Tugging my shirt down, I tucked it in my jeans.

Two steps later and she was pressing into me, her free hand snaking around and squeezing my butt. "I'll be fine. I just want to freshen up a little. I don't think it would be good to go to a meeting smelling like sex."

Five minutes later I met her at the entrance to the girls communal bathroom. Sam looked amazing once again with a faint smell of soap wafting in the air. Her skin glowed and she looked genuinely happy when she took my hand and we made our way to the administrative offices.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded and then seeing my face, she tried to figure out what I was talking about.

"The sheets were a little, uh," I stammered. "The change made you a virgin?"

Sam's face colored slightly. "Yeah. Don't worry. It was a good kind of hurt. I'm just a little sore, but it's nice, you know?"

"Not really, but I'll take your word for it."

"Good, you should, because I want to make sure you aren't scared off for tonight."

Maybe I was just being a guy. I hadn't thought of the implications of actually spending the night with Sam as a guy and a girl normally would. Being sixteen, while I had often fantasized about going to bed and waking up next to someone, I never thought about it as a foregone conclusion before I graduated high school.

We arrived at the office and were motioned to the left and told where Kristyn's office was. She was there, typing away at her computer when I knocked on the doorframe.

"Hey you two, come on in and take a seat."

I was distracted a little, watching Sam smooth her skirt out and cross her legs. While I had only quenched my desires twenty minutes earlier, I was still preoccupied by her presence.

Kristyn smiled at both of us. "Samantha, Dani tells me that you're adjusting well so far. Any troubles I should know about or ways I can make things easier for you?"

"Not that I know of. Everything's fitting together just fine."

I held myself back from snorting at the double entendre.

"Good, good." She laced her fingers together and set them o her desk. "Darius, if given the chance to control your transition, would you want to?"

My mind went blank. "What? I thought that I couldn't..."

She waved me off. "Sorry, I said that wrong. You're right. Regardless of what you do, tomorrow, you will be female. What I meant to say was, would you like to control certain aspects of it?"

"I don't understand." She wasn't making any sense.

"From what we've seen, when we change, it involves our collective genetic heritage. Basically it means, if there was someone in your family that was Mongolian, Caucasian, Arabic, whatever, then you could wind up looking like them."

My eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Take me for instance. I came from an Irish and Scottish family. White as white could be, strawberry blonde hair and... well, you get the picture. Apparently there was someone in my family tree that was Southern European."

"So you look like them now," I confirmed.

She shrugged. "Probably not exactly like them, but it wouldn't be wrong to say that I could be their daughter."

"My dad was white."

Kristyn nodded. "Then you could be too. I just wanted to warn you ahead of time. It doesn't always happen, but most of the time there is a drastic change. There are even some of us that have different color hair, like unusual, not a color nature intended. My boyfriend has lime green hair."

Sam leaned in at this point. "What are you getting at? That Darius could be Chinese with pink hair or something tomorrow?"

Kristyn smiled. "That's exactly what I'm saying." At my startled reaction she went on. "There are some that have had some success in controlling certain aspects through self-suggestion. Hair color, height, sometimes skin color, but it's not a really reliable thing."

I jumped on that. "What do I have to do?"

"It's simple enough. Just gather a picture in your head about what you want to look like, but keep it simple, like what I mentioned before. Natural hair color if you want, height, larger or smaller breasts, things like that. You won't have to worry about looking good. I don't think I've seen a case of someone not looking above average in the looks department. At the least, you look very cute if not more, so keep it as simple as you can. If race is an issue then I highly suggest concentrating completely on that. Nothing else seems to work."

I shook my head. "It's not a big thing with me. But I don't want to have gigantic boobs or anything, or weird hair."

From the look she gave me, Kristyn understood. "Good, I wouldn't suggest it either, but it's your body. We had a guy that was a little, um, lets just say that he went for the full figured look. Didn't turn out too well. She's has constant back pain and has to wear a corset or tight back support."

"What happened?" asked Sam.

Kristyn shrugged. "She wanted an hourglass figure and concentrated too much on a thin waist and really large breasts. She's not freakish or anything but the human back muscles aren't really made to support such a shape. Normally, full figured girls are full figured, meaning they have more of everything. There's a reason they're heavier than people like me for instance. Just something to think about."

It was more like something to not think about.

By the time we were done, I was on brain-fry overload. We found out about how we changed and why. There were people out there that would like nothing better than to get a hold of us and do really bad things. However, all we had to concentrate on, for the time being, was our school work and our training. Protection would come from those that were already trained. As long as we were at the Center, we were relatively safe.

We came to find out a little more about Sam's talent. It was Telekinesis, that was something she could actually control for the most part.

Me, they still had no clue about. They just knew that around four-thirty the next day, I'd be in the bunker. Kristyn said it was only because they had no idea if I would have a dangerous transition or not, so it was better to err on the safe side.

Armed with two smart phones, we left to end our day as we wanted. The next day would start our actual testing to find out what kind of work we would be suitable for.

Sam and I walked, hand in hand, to the cafeteria for dinner. The line through the ala carte was about twenty people deep. When we stopped and waited, Sam slid her hand up my arm to lay on my bicep while she took hold of my hand with her other one. Resting her head on my shoulder she sighed. "I'm tired."

"When we get through with dinner we can go back to the room and get some sleep," I offered.

I watched as she smiled. "I have other plans that you might not want to miss out on. Plus we still have to find you a name, and settle on what you want to look like."

I scanned the growing crowd in the seating area and found the girl Kristyn was talking about earlier. She had electric-blue hair that fell to her waist and the body described to us was not an exaggeration. I don't know if it was the matching blue corset she was wearing that pushed her breasts up and out or that was what she actually looked like that, but it was near-on freakish. They were gigantic, and her waist was virtually non existent. I could definitely touch my fingers together around her middle if I grabbed hold. She was still very pretty, but it was in a overly exotic way. Like maybe she'd pushed the edge on the wrong side of the tracks.

"Yeah."

We'd taken a table by ourselves for a little privacy, ate, and went back to the room.

Sam was curled up in my lap while I sat in the chair sifting through the names. I barely noticed her weight. Her breath was nice and even on my neck lulling me into a sense of calm as she brushed her hand back and forth on my close cropped hair.

"What do you think about Sydney?"

Her lips touched against my neck. "It's cute, but edgy."

I nodded once. "Sydney Decorte."

"No middle name?" she asked. "You could pick an A name and be S-A-D. Or a Y name and be SYD which is also short for Sydney."

"Nah. My mom only had two names. She used her maiden name as her middle when she married my dad."

Sam kissed my neck again. "It's nice that you still think about her."

Typing with one hand, I sent off the name I chose to Kristyn and then put the computer on hibernate.

I could feel Sam's smile more than see it. "Does this mean that you're done?" she asked.

"I don't think I could concentrate on anything else with you doing that thing you're doing with your hand."

Her teeth scraped against my jaw, teasingly while she gripped me a little tighter between my legs. "Do you remember how to use it?"

The sun woke me up before the alarm did. Sam was draped across me. More of her body was actually on top of mine that was on the bed. It was the downside of sleeping in bunk beds. At the moment I didn't mind at all. I was still almost twice her size and she felt really nice up against me. We stayed up half the night and pleased each other over and over again. I knew one of the reasons was that we'd probably never have a chance like that again.

The clock on the wall above the desk read six-forty-five. In nine hours I wouldn't be me anymore.

My eyes burned at that thought. I swallowed the grief, not wanting to disturb Sam. I'd be strong for her. She was so delicate and she depended on me.

"What are you thinking about?" she said with a sleepy smile on her face. Her hands roamed my body and one of them rested in a very happy place.

"You."

"You're sweet, but I'd still be doing this even if you didn't say things like that."

I chuckled and watched as she bounced a little with my chest. "I'm serious. I was thinking about you."

Sam raised up and sat over my hipbones. I was poking her slightly in the back. She didn't have much room for fear of hitting her head on the bottom of her bunk. Her hands were steady on my wrists which were now by my head while she loomed over me. "What's going on in your head?"

I sighed. "I just wish I didn't have to change. You deserve a real guy."

Her lips twisted to the side, then she bent down to kiss me. "I have a real guy, right now. I can feel him poking me in the butt." We both grinned. "But I want a real woman too, and you'll be that for me as well. We can't do anything about it, Darius. The change will come and we'll deal with it."

"But what about..."

"What?" she gazed at me with intense curiosity.

"Sex." There. I said it. I was facing one of the worst things, the base fear that almost all men hold, the loss of something that is very important to them.

She reached behind her and took a hold. "You mean this?"

I nodded. Raising up a little, she slid down my length and sighed with contentment. "I'll admit, I'll miss it, but there are things..." Opening her eyes she looked at me. "You've seen porn haven't you?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Good." Sam smiled. "Then you won't be surprised when I use the words dildo or strap on." I rolled my eyes. "They aren't exactly the same, but they're a really good substitute. "You won't ever have to worry about pleasing me or receiving pleasure yourself, Darius."

I didn't say anything to that, so she pressed on.

"Now." She turned and looked at the clock. "We have another hour and a half before we have to start getting ready. So, are we going to spend that in angst or are you going to send Darius Junior out with a bang? Your choice."

I shrugged. I'm a guy, for now at least.

Sam left the room with a slight limp, but with a very pleased smile on her face. After checking her schedule, she was somewhat horrified to find out that she was having a complete physical workup which included a pelvic exam. I remember one of my girlfriends complaining about having to go through one in order to get on the pill. She told me, in excruciating detail, about the experience. Her reasoning was that if she had to go through it so we could have sex, then, by proxy, I would too.

The thing was, girls are really supposed to be clean for those things. Since it was partly my fault too, I made a trip to wardrobe and picked up a couple of disposable douches for her. It was the least I could do. At least I didn't have to go through a register for a price check nightmare or something.

She gave me a long kiss and disappeared soon after.

I gathered up the bed sheets and went to take my own shower. When I was done fresh and clean, I stopped by the cafeteria and grabbed a soda and couple of energy bars since we'd missed breakfast. Testing was first for me with a Dr. Tipps. I recognized the ASVAB which is suppose to tell you what you're good at, job wise, in the military. After that was a barrage of psychological profile tests, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Sam showed up when I started getting into those. I nearly fell off my stool when I saw her. Her hair was cut to her mid-back and styled. She was wearing makeup, not too much, but it brought out her eyes even more than before and her fingernails were a dark glossy red. I received a glowing smile before she had to sit down in front of me and to the side. It was the worst possible place she could be. All I saw was her long smooth legs and the heels she was wearing.

"Darius?" Dr. Tipps pointed to my test and I had to avert my gaze, so I could finish.

We broke for lunch a few minutes before twelve. The second we made it out of the classroom door, I told her exactly what I thought of her makeover. "Sam, you look, wow."

Her cheeks reddened a bit. "Thank you. The girl at the salon talked me into it and even gave me a few lessons. I'll need to go down to wardrobe and pick up some of the things I'll need if you want me to keep wearing it."

Raising her hand to my lips, I kissed it. "You look great, don't get me wrong, but you don't have to do this for me."

She totally ignored me. "Doctor Litchburg was surprised that I wasn't a virgin." Her face was glowing red at that point.

I cringed a little for her. "Sorry."

She shrugged. "He wanted to put me on the pill, but I already told him that won't be a problem after today." I felt her squeeze my hand. "Either way, he's made sure to up our appointment for you and me for the sex education class. Sorry, I had to rat you out for deflowering me."

I sighed. "I'm guessing you already told him that they taught that in junior high."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but this is one is supposed to actually teach us something other than this is a penis and this is a vagina. Apparently we have to get up in front of the class and they rate our performance."

I think I choked on my own spit at that moment. "What?"

"I'm kidding." She enjoyed my reaction a little too much. "He said that they go over the different erogenous zones for your new gender and how to please your new body. Everything a sixteen year old would normally know, which if we're any indication of what the average teen knows, then we're in for one hell of a class."

We split a sandwich and each had a salad for lunch. Halfway through, an Asian girl stopped by the table with her tray. "Hey guys." She looked really hopeful for some reason. "Mind if I sit?"

I held out a hand to the chair opposite Sam and I. "I'm Darius, soon to be someone else tonight, and this is Samantha."

"Van. It's nice to meet you. You must be the newbies for the week."

A nod was my answer while I sipped at my root beer.

"I'm a Pyrokinetic, only a level two though, so no need to worry."

I blinked. "Pyro? You mean fire?"

She nodded and snapped her fingers. When her thumb came up, a little flame was flickering at the tip. Something drew my eyes to sharpen on the flame. I watched as it moved back and forth, slower and slower each time until something inside me clicked.

Before I knew it I was floating above the table. I started to say something, but I looked down and saw that I was still there, or I should say my body was still there, and it was slumped over my tray. Sam jumped up and I watched as it looked like she was screaming, but I couldn't hear anything she was saying.

This time I did say something, or I tried to at least, but nothing came out. I could feel my lips moving but no sound was being made. Kristyn was there a few seconds later. She pointed her finger at a few people. The squaw girl that was in the SUV when we originally got picked up put her hand on my forehead and closed her eyes. She got a weird look on her face and shook her head.

Some guy pushed his way thorough the crowd forming and held his hand out at me. Without any effort my body lifted off the chair and into a flat position four feet off the ground, floating there like I was laying on an invisible stretcher. The crowd parted way and Sam grabbed a hold of my hand and walked with me. Tears were running down her face.

I trailed along behind them, I don't know how. We made it to the infirmary where the doctor started pressing these white pasties things to my head and chest.

The doctor tried to get Sam out of the way, but she screamed at him and Kristyn said something to make him back off. All along I wished I could hear what the hell they were saying. I wanted to tell Sam I was fine, I just wasn't in my body at the moment.

Concentrating for all it was worth, I pushed myself closer toward her, until I was almost touching the ground. Reaching out I touched her hand. I was disappointed that it passed straight through, but it did get a reaction out of her. Sam's eyes widened and I saw her mouth my name. Trying again, I touched her and held my hand directly in line with hers. That's when I noticed that I didn't dwarf her like I normally did. My hand was barely bigger than hers, and it had longer nails on it.

The ramifications of what that mean finally sifted its way into my brain and I looked down at my chest to see what I was expecting. What ever type of ghost body I was currently inhabiting, it was clear that it was female. I didn't notice when we lost connection of our hands but I damn sure noticed it when Sam stepped backward into me.

For a split second I heard sound and my vision doubled up, like I was looking down and up at the same time. The vertigo made me dizzy.

When I finally got my bearings I saw Sam reaching out like she was searching for me. Kristyn had a weird look on her face and the doctor looked like he thought everyone was crazy. Trying something purely on guesswork, I got behind Sam and stepped into her.

"Darius!"

I'm here!

"Oh my god! Darius, you're okay?"

Uh, sort of. What happened.

"Samantha?" Kristyn asked, somewhat warily.

She waved her hands in front of her face. "Darius is here. I can hear him now. You can't hear him?"

Kristyn shook her head.

I only think you can hear me at the moment, Sam. I'm inside you, sort of.

"He says he's inside me."

Sort of.

"Oh, sort of," she relayed. "Darius, what happened."

I don't know. One second I was watching Van's fire trick and the next I was floating above the table.

"Wait a sec... floating?"

Yeah, it's really weird, Sam. It's like I'm a ghost or something, and I can only hear things when I'm inside you. I haven't been about to understand anything until I tried this.

She relayed the message to Kristyn who considered everything for a moment.

"Look, Darius. You need to see if you can merge back with your body. Doc says you're stable, but with virtually no brain activity, just the autonomic system. It keeps you breathing and your heart beating. We don't know what kind of affect this is having on you so you need to return now until we can learn more." She turned to the door. "Liz call Sean Hunter and Lili Kirkland. I need then here ASAP."

What do I do?

When Kristyn got my message she set her jaw, looking very determined. "I'm playing this by ear, Darius. Tell me exactly what you did to enter Sam."

I relayed the entire thing from the moment I tried to touch Sam's hand. She nodded while listening. "Okay, are you actually a part of Sam now or are you just standing inside her. Man that sounds weird."

I tried to move my hand up to look at it, but nothing happened. Putting more effort into I couldn't budge.

I'm a part of you. I can't move. Oh shit!

"He's stuck. He can't move," Sam nearly said in a panic.

The infirmary door opened and Sam shot a look over her shoulder. A guy and girl entered with the Liz behind them. The guy stopped and stared at me.

"Whoa," he said.

"Sean, what are you seeing?" Demanded Kristyn.

"Uh," he tilted his head to the side like he was trying to figure something out. "It looks like she's... possessed?"

He didn't sound too sure of himself.

"It's like something else is inside of her, that's not supposed to be there."

"Darius, Sam, look at me," said Kristyn. "Darius, I need you to will yourself out of Samantha's body and back into your own. You have to concentrate and make it happen. You got in so that means you can get out, right?"

I guess.

"He thinks so."

Kristyn shook her head. "No, that's not good enough. You can and will do this. There is no failure where this is concerned, Darius. Now. Do it."

If I had lips I would have licked them. Sam, hold my hand. Maybe it'll be easier with contact.

"Okay."

She took my hand again hand held on tight, and I concentrated like I was about to punch through the offensive line and make that quarterback my bitch. Except the quarterback was my body. Mentally I took a breath and surged forward. There was resistance, but it felt like I was walking through taffy instead of a brick wall. It stretched, hanging on to every inch of me and I struggled with it, but I knew I was making progress. Every inch was less and less of a struggle until at last I broke free and fell face forward into... me.

"Sydney?"

Something in my head was telling me that Sam was calling me, but she was using the name I chose for when I became a girl. I groaned.

"Can you hear me, honey?"

I was successful in nodding my head, but it wasn't something I really wanted to be doing at the moment.

"It's eleven o'clock, baby. You've already gone through your transition. You're a girl now."

Kristyn's voice sounded on the other side of the bed. "It looks like you've got everything well in hand, Samantha. I'll leave it with you."

"Thanks Kris. For everything."

I blinked my eyes open and saw Sam hovering above me. Her eyes were puffy and red. "You been crying?" I rasped. I tried to clear my voice because it sounded just like a... girl's.

She held a water bottle up to my lips where I took a large mouthful and swallowed. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Thinking back, I had perfect recall of the time I was out of my body. "Falling out of you and back into me."

Sam nodded. The doctor said your brain activity went right back to normal at that exact moment. You were unconscious and missed your transition. Kristyn said that you'll be out of it for tonight. It happens when you're not awake. I don't know why."

Breath in and calming myself, I asked. "How do I look?"

She smiled and brushed my hair back. "Gorgeous, of course. That Sean guy said that he could see you when you finally came out of me and that you look exactly the same as you do now."

My eyebrows raised. "So I had the spirit of a girl all along?"

Leaning forward, Sam kissed me gently. "In a manner of speaking, yes. It's not really your spirit, but everything that makes you, you. Your mind, soul, spirit, everything that isn't your body is what was floating around. Sean described it like Spirit Diving."

I gave her and uncertain look. "Great. Kristyn is like Zeus throwing around lightning bolts, you get to move things with your mind, Dani can help people, and I can Spirit Dive. What use is that?"

Sam looked at me wistfully and shook her head. "Well, for one thing. Once you get all trained up, you can be the world's most effective spy, scout, whatever. how many people can pass through solid objects? Past any security system in the world, undetected?"

"Okay," I raised my hand to hold her off. "I surrender." I froze and looked at my skin. "I'm white."

Sam grinned at me. "Yes you are, very white as a matter of fact. Want a mirror?"

"Uh..."

She retreated without anymore comment from me. Turning my hand back and forth I was amazed at how much I had changed. There was barely any hair on my arm and it was easily half as small than I was used to. I would have explored further, but Sam returned holding a hand-sized mirror out to me.

"Here you go." She pulled it back at the last second and peered at me seriously. "Sydney, I want you to know something first. Okay?"

I nodded.

"Nothing has changed. I still very much want us to continue with us. Very much," she stressed.

I didn't say anything in reply. The truth was, I didn't know what to say. Taking hold of the mirror I looked at myself for the first time as a girl. The first thing that popped out was my hair. It was a dark red, auburn-colored and long. My eyes had changed from brown to light blue, not quite gray, and the lashes were at least twice as long as my old ones. I looked at the oval shape of my face and the natural purse of my lips. I didn't have anything to say about my nose, because it was average and on the small side, much different from my old one. Sam was right; I was gorgeous.

I couldn't get over how white I was. It was like I'd never seen the sun, almost translucent, but not enough for those freaky blue veins to show up underneath the skin, the complete opposite of my dark complexion from before.

"Hot, right?"

With a slight nod, I answered. "I've seen pictures of my mom, and she don't look nothing like this, my dad either."

She grinned again. "Wait till you get a load of your body. I helped Liz get your snazzy hospital gown on. You're all legs. If you got shorter it wasn't by much."

Sam seemed excited, and I didn't know what I was. I was there when she changed. While I didn't witness the whole process, I knew I had picked up her male body and a little while later he was a she. Rationally, I knew what was going to happen, but I was still in shock at it actually occurring to me.

My eyes burned as I looked at my face, and I could see them watering up.

"Oh, Sydney," said Sam with much compassion in her voice. "Don't worry, honey. I felt the same way." She took the mirror from me and set it on a table beside the bed. Within a few seconds she was beside me trying to take me in her arms. "It'll be okay. I'll be right here. We'll get through this.

The following morning I woke up to find my head was laying on Sam's breasts and she held me in a comforting embrace.

"Hey," she whispered.

I rubbed at my nose and pulled back. Auburn hair fell across my eyes that I had to brush away. "Hey." I was embarrassed at my semi-breakdown the night before and I felt my face heat up. My previously dark skin wouldn't be able to hide that anymore.

Sam looked at me and a soft smile appeared on her lips. "You don't have to feel bad, Sydney. Girls cry. I cried. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

It was like she was reading my mind again. Clearing my throat, I looked around.

"Dani dropped off some clothes and I asked if I could help you out by myself this morning. We're supposed to text her once you get changed and sorted out."

I nodded. Trying to think of anything to get my mind in working order, I concentrated on the basics: clothing, and... and... okay, clothing. I was more out of it than I thought.

"You feel up to going to wardrobe?"

I nodded, not really trusting myself to say any more.

Sam slid off the bed and looked for the release for the security bar. She held her hands out for me, opening and closing them a few times, a signal for me to get a move on. Moving the covers to the side, I got my first view of my much thinner and longer legs. They were just as white as my face and also just as smooth. My feet were long and thin, nothing like before.

Sitting up, Sam helped me slide to the floor.

"I was right. If you are any shorter it's maybe an inch."

My knees felt a little week, and my balance was completely off. Leaning against the bed until I composed myself I ran a single hand over the side of my hips. They were a lot higher than before. I was mostly torso and gigantic thighs as a guy. now it looked like I was indeed all legs with a smaller torso. How any of that was possible, in such span of time, I had no idea.

"Ready?"

I nodded, and she held me like I held her when escorted her to the bathroom previously. Bracing myself against the sink, I waited until Sam returned with the yoga outfit.

"We went with green to match your hair and seeing as it's not too girlie..."

I just nodded. "It's fine."

"Did you need some help or did you want to do it for yourself."

Trying to be as stoic as possible, I was about to say I could handle it, but I really wanted her there, near me so I could draw strength from her. It was at that moment I understood why she was so clingy. It really helped to have someone that I trusted and that could understand to hold my hand. "Stay."

She nodded and then sniffed. "Okay." Sam's fingers went to work on the two ties that barely held the gown together. "Here we go. Lift up a little."

Following her instructions, she slid the gown off of my arms and I got to see my new body in the mirror over the sink. "Jesus."

"Yeah, you're freaking hot."

My chest wasn't that big and my breasts were perfectly proportional. My waist turned in and then flared again at my hips. Sam's hands followed the curves and rested on the tops of my legs from behind. "Do you want to look for a little more or get dressed?"

I caught her eyes in the mirror. "Do you mind?"

She shook her head and I could see her cheeks had gone a little red. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm enjoying the view."

I have to say something that I never thought I'd say in a million years. I liked wearing the school uniform, even the heels. It was totally different from guys clothes, well, obviously. But the bra supported my breasts so they didn't tug or sway unnecessarily, and the skirt made my legs feel really nice and cool. It was much better than wearing scratchy jeans. The heels pumped up my height where I didn't feel any shorter than before. Even thought they were two inches, I didn't have much of a problem adjusting to the difference.

We collected a few more uniforms and some casual clothes. Sam was surprised when I told her that I wanted the shorter skirts and softer cotton shorts instead of jeans, but she didn't make a big deal about it.

Nothing much else happened out of the ordinary while we were getting settled, except for one change in the room. The bunks were gone and in their place was a single, double-sized bed. That brought a smile to my face.

"I had Dani ask if they would switch it out. They do it on occasion for couples."

I looked up at her. "Is that what we are now?"

Sam gave me a single nod. "Yep, you're my girlfriend and I'm yours. I've already put the word out so the other lesbians keep their grubby paws to themselves."

I stared at her for a few stunned seconds. "I'm a lesbian."

She giggled and raised up to kiss me, lightly. "We'll get some rainbow colored things later. Maybe some earrings or a belt."

Pulling Sam into a hug, I noticed how perfectly she fit under my chin and how soft she felt against my new body. Was it totally ideal? No, I still wished none of it had happened in the first place. However I had something I didn't have before: someone to share everything with.

End

Author's Note: This is a complete short story in itself. I'm introducing a couple of new characters that will play a part in the next Center story of mine. I just wanted to get you familiar with them.
Pic Credit: Sarah M.