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Sarah's house was only about a block away, but in girl form, Nikki felt safer driving than walking. She parked the car on the street and grabbed her stuff.

She locked her door and heard another car driving up the street. She quickly ran up the driveway and ducked down behind Sarah's dad's SUV. She peered over the top and sighed with relief as she saw a police car drive by. Nikki straightened and went to Sarah's front door.

"Finally!" Sarah answered the door. "Come on up. Did you bring any snacks?"

Nikki held out a bag full of chips and other goodies. "T.J. here?"

"Yes, come on." Sarah pulled Nikki up the stairs to her room.

"What did I miss at school?" Nikki demanded as soon as Sarah's bedroom door was closed. "Did Landon ask about me?"

T.J. snickered. "Wow, you've got it bad."

"I do not." Nikki felt her face heat up. She looked to Sarah. "Did he notice I was gone?"

Sarah joined T.J.'s laughter. "Yes, he was just curious as to why you didn't show up for band. Mr. Hill was upset. Apparently you had better show up next week or you may lose your solos and perhaps your chair."

"Aaaah! This whole morphing thing is going to kill me." Nikki swore. "Landon doesn't know yet does he?"

"That you are a gendermorph? No." Sarah shook her head. "At least I don't think he does. If someone has told him, he hasn't let on."

Nikki let out a deep breath and felt her shoulders relax slightly. "I'm starving. What do we have to eat?"

The three girls put on some movies and talked about school as they munched and helped each other with their facials. Nikki's nails had already been done by her sister so she spent most of the time munching on food soothed by the other two girls chattering.

Her mind was still a whirl. That car driving slowly by earlier was weighing heavily. She couldn't see who was in the car. I could have been Lil' Foot or it could have just been someone lost. She didn't know, but it was scary. Did Lil' Foot have the resources to track her down by her car? Then there was the fact that Officer Estrada wanted her to spy on Lil' Foot's party. School was stressful enough; add being a gendermorph to that and it was doubly so. Pile on witnessing a known drug dealer shooting a co-worker then threatening your life, and she was surprised that she wasn't morphing every few hours.

"Hello, Earth to Nikki." Sarah was waving a hand in front of her face. "Oh welcome back." She added as Nikki blinked her unfocused eyes.

"What?" Nikki asked.

"Are you okay?" T.J. asked. "You are starting to freak us out. You aren't having a seizure or something are you?"

"No." Nikki forced a smile.

"Good, cuz I've heard about people flopping around and trying to swallow their tongues and stuff. Although it would be interesting to see, I don't want to have to deal with my friend doing it. I mean how do you do mouth to mouth on a person who is thrashing around and shaking and stuff?"

"You don't do mouth to mouth on a person seizing, dummy." Sarah snickered. Her voice turned serious. "Nikki, are you sure you are okay? You've been staring off into space and chowing down like never before."

"Morphing makes you extremely hungry." Nikki defended.

"You're still freaking over the shooting, aren't you." T.J. stated. "I know I would be. I'd be freaked out for days, especially if the shooter saw who I was--"

Sarah slapped T.J. on the shoulder. "Stop it you moron. Tonight was to get her mind off of what happened, not dwell on it."

T.J. rubbed her shoulder and looked at Sarah hurt. "I was just saying that it's alright to be freaking out still."

Nikki looked at her phone. "You know, I should start heading home." She stated. "My mom wants me home by midnight, and I don't want to be the one to suck the life out of your guys night."

"Don't be stupid." Sarah admonished. "You aren't the downer. If anyone here is a downer, it's T.J. Sarah quickly swung a pillow and hit T.J. in the face.

"You bitch!" T.J. shrieked. She threw her body to the side to avoid another blow and grabbed her own pillow.

Sarah's next swing caught Nikki across the back of the head.

"Now you are asking for it!" Nikki leapt up with the nearest pillow at hand.

* * *

Nikki waved to T.J. as she started up her car and waved back.

"You want me to go with you?" Sarah asked coming out of the front door?"

"No. I think I can make it down the block by myself." Nikki smiled even though her heart was hammering in her chest. One down side to being a girl was being scared a lot.

Her father told her that girls tend to be more cautious because they are scared more often than boys. He had said it was partially the hormones and partially because of some kind of wiring of the brain thing. She usually started to zone out once his lectures got too technical.

Nikki got into her car and started it up. Sarah waved to her as she pulled away. Nikki let out a long breath and took two deep ones and tried to settle her heart as she drove the very short distance to her driveway.

Once she turned off the car, she looked down both ways of the street before quickly getting out, locking it and running to the front door.

"You have a good night?" Her dad greeted from the kitchen.

"Yes." She forced a smile. Her hands felt clammy and she prayed that her forehead wasn't beaded with perspiration or that her face wasn't too white.

"I should be going to bed. I have to work tomorrow." She excused herself quickly and went to her room.

"Relax." She told herself. "Relax."

She set her purse down on her vanity, slipping out her cell and plugging it in to charge. She then grabbed a brush and began to brush the hair spray out of her hair, relaxing the curl as she did so.

A knock sounded at her door scaring her.

"Yes?" She asked turning to the door.

"I thought these might help you to relax." Her father held out some candles. "You still look pretty wound up. If you morph many more times in the next few days, you'll go into a morpher's coma.

"Thanks daddy." Nikki retrieved the candles. "I am tired, but I think I'll be okay."

"If you morph tonight, I'll keep you home." He warned. "If you morph again after that this week, I'll take you in."

Nikki swallowed. He meant taking her to the hospital. She had heard of gendermorphs who were put on sedatives and kept for observation so that their body didn't go into a morpher's coma. She didn't want to miss any more school or chances with Landon. She couldn't. She needed to get this stress under control.

"You understand?" her father asked.

"Yes Daddy. Thank you for the candles." she dismissed him.

She set the candles around the room and decided to take a shower before going to bed.

The hot water quickly melted away the surface stress. Her mind began to wander a bit. Could Lil' Foot have been in that car? If it was him, was he just casing her place looking for Nick, or was he up to something even more sinister. Then there was that police car. The police car was only a few minutes behind the large slow car. Could a cop be trying to tail the bigger car? If a cop was tailing Lil' Foot, wouldn't they do it in an undercover car instead of a marked car? What if it was Officer Estrada? Wait, why would Officer Estrada be in a marked car and why would he be tailing the other car? Was he checking up on her? Making sure she was safe? He had her cell number, why didn't he just call?

"You going to take all night in there?" Alicia called waking Nikki from her thoughts.

"I'll be right out." Nikki called. She hoped her sister didn't need to take a shower. Almost all of the hot water was gone. She quickly dried off. Nikki had been in her feminine form for most of the evening, but it still felt strange having the weight of breasts on her chest. She slipped into her robe and freed the bathroom for her sister.

The warm glow of candles filled the room. Nikki pulled on a night gown and lay down on her bed.

"I can't morph tonight." She instructed her body, as if that would do any good. I don't want to be treated for Morpher's coma.

The ailment that Gendermorphs suffered was very infrequent, but there were a number of Gender morphs who it happened to every year. Weeks and even months could be lost if a Gender morph slipped into the affliction.

The sweet smell of vanilla and lavender perfumed the air. Nikki blew out the candles and went back to bed.

"Please wake up on the right side of the bed." She thought.

* * *

Nikki heard the faint sound of a car start to grow louder as it approached. She turned behind her to see the lights of an older large car slowly making its way her direction. The shape of the lights seemed familiar. Her chest tightened as she realized that they were Lil' Foot's car. He and his body guards had found her.

Nikki looked for a place to hide, but the street she was on was flat, featureless; the cars all in their garages, the trees too young to hide behind. Would he recognize Nick? Or would he just assume that she was a young woman walking home?

Her fluttering heart spurred her feet to start into a quicker pace. She tried to slow down to act casual, but the threat of Lil' Foot recognizing her, was too much. It was irrational she knew, but she couldn't help it. The reflections of the street lights were clearer as the car approached. Nikki quickly glanced back and could make out at least two and possibly three dark shapes in the car.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply through her nose and slowly out her mouth to calm herself down.

The car pulled closer and someone in the passenger side stuck his head out the window.

"Hey sweetheart, do you know a Nick that lives in this neighborhood?"

"Um, No." Nikki heard Nick's deep voice come out of her mouth.

The guy in the car looked confused.

Nikki tried again. "Sorry, I don't." but again her voice betrayed her. Her mind raced. Could a gendermorph transition while still awake, let alone conscious?
The car slowly passed by.

"I think that was a dude." she heard.

"She kind of looks like the guy." another voice sounded.

The car stopped two driveways ahead and allowed two large guys out.

Nikki didn't know if it was her being scared or what, but she felt very different. She looked down to see that she no longer had her feminine form. She was Nick wearing a dress.

"Holy Shit!" he bellowed.

"There's his car. It's him." Nick heard the voice call. He looked to where the guy was pointing and saw his blue bug parked right next to him with the door open. It hadn't been there a second ago had it?

"Crap!" Nick jumped into his car and tried to shut the door but one of the no-neck muscles, wrenched it from his grasp and grabbed him.

"Dude's been dressing like a girl to avoid us." The muscle head snickered.

Lil' Foot stepped out of the car and came approached. "You tricky little bastard." Lil' Foot swore. "He's a gendermorph." he explained to the body guard. He turned to Nick, "You knew I was looking for you the whole time."

Nick gulped hard. Two things kept flashing though his mind. How was it possible to morph while being awake, let alone so quickly and two, was Lil' Foot going to kill him?

Lil' Foot looked to the large guy that held Nick by the back of his blouse and nodded before turning away. Nick was lifted off of his feet and thrown to the ground. He barely had enough time to get his arm out to cushion his landing. His head still struck the cement causing a shock of pain. Next he felt what must have been a size thirteen shoe colliding with his kidneys.

"This is for hiding from us." two more kicks were landed then a large hand grabbed a hand full of his blouse and picked him up. "This is for dressing like a freaking girl." The other hand in the form of a fist slammed against the side of his face causing his teeth to rattle.

Stars swam before his eyes. Nick didn't know which was up and which was down. The pain in his head gave way to feel cold pavement against his hands and face. He dared to open his eyes and looked up, expecting to see another boot or fist coming at him. Instead he looked up to see Lil' Foot.

"You need to be careful walking alone at night." The drug dealer commented. "shadows play tricks on you and you think you see things that aren't really there or you might trip over a twig and stumble into a tree trunk." Lil' Foot held his gaze for a long moment.

All Nick could do was to nod.

Lil' Foot nodded back and returned to the car followed by his muscle.

Nick took a deep breath and let it out.

Nikki waved good bye to her father and carefully stepped down off of the porch. It had been a while since she had worn such high heels.

She looked up as the sound of a car slowly cruising through the neighbor hood came towards her house. Something was familiar about the shape of the head lights and silhouette of the car. Bright flashes of light erupted from the passenger side windows, loud cracks quickly followed suit.
Nikki found herself flying backwards as three sharp pains ripped through her chest and arm. She struck her head against the house as she landed on the cold cement of the porch.

Breathing was like inhaling fire. It seemed that she couldn't get enough air to fill her lungs. Her mind swam trying to grasp what had just happened. Was she just shot? She gasped for air. She tried to inhale, why couldn't she breathe. Colors swirled before her eyes, colors that faded to black.

At the sound of her alarm, Nikki sat straight up in bed and gasped. Afraid of what she might see, she slowly looked down and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Not only had she awaken up on the right side of the bed, she had no bullet holes or blood on her chest.

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Nikki pulled her robe on and slipped down to the bathroom for a quick rinse. She had to get the smell of nightmare sweat off of her. Her heart quickened as she thought over the horrible dreams. She had to do something. She had to get past this whole Lil' Foot thing and get on with her life.

Nikki nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her mother's voice, "Your blouse and skirt are clean."

"Thanks mom."

Nikki slipped out of her robe, blotted herself dry and pulled on some panties and wiggled into her bra before slipping her smooth legs into some nylons. She always loved the way they felt as they slid over her skin. A few hours from now however, she would be cursing their discomfort.

Nikki stepped into her black pencil skirt and pulled it up over her hips and pulled the zipper close before sitting down at her vanity and starting on her makeup. It took her several tries to apply some eyeliner due to her finger's shaking. A little eye shadow, a little mascara, a touch of lip gloss and she dried her hair with the dryer. She slipped the silky white blouse over her shoulders and fumbled only a little with the backwards buttons. She tucked her blouse into her skirt, slid a narrow belt around her waist and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Wow." She commented to herself.

"You know I hate you, right?" Alicia's voice came from her door.

Nikki's heart jumped. She spun around and looked at her little sister in confusion.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "That makes me hate you even more." she sighed.

"What did I do?" Nikki asked.

"You make it look so easy."

Nikki continued looking blankly at her little sister.

"You look great." Alicia finally attempted to explain. "Sometimes you are such a natural at being a girl, and look so good that bio-girls like me get jealous and hate you for it."

Finally understanding, Nikki smiled and charged her sister, wrapping her up in a big hug. "Thank you." She whispered. Flashes of warmth spread through her body.

Nikki released her little sister and the two smiled at one another.

"I've got something for you." Alicia suddenly ran to her room.

Nikki shrugged and went to her closet where she slipped into her three inch pumps. She turned to leave when Alicia came running back in. "These will look good with that." She held out some earrings.

"Those are perfect." Nikki nodded. She went to her vanity and quickly put them on and turned and smiled at her sister.

Alicia smiled back. "Yep. I hate you." She turned and walked down stairs.

Nikki stood and stared in the mirror at herself. It was still hard believing that the pretty young woman in the mirror was herself.

"Don't you look nice." her father greeted as she entered the kitchen.

"Thank you daddy." Nikki placed a kiss upon his cheek.

"Eggs?" he asked.

Nikki nodded. "Any bacon or leftovers from last night?"

Her father smiled. "Get your coffee, I'll see what I can whip up.

* * *

Nikki's heart jumped in her throat as she saw the blue and red flashing lights behind her car. She quickly glanced down at her speedometer and saw that she was under the speed limit. Did she not come to a complete stop at the last intersection?

She pulled over and parked in the next available parking lot. Confused, she quickly ran through her mind all that she might have done wrong while driving to work.

"Hello, Nikki."

Nikki looked up to see Officer Estrada smiling down at her. "Officer Estrada?" She questioned. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. This was just a way to talk to you without bringing too much attention to us."

Nikki looked past the officer at all of the cars slowing down to look at them. Officer Estrada looked over his shoulder following her gaze. "All they will see is someone getting pulled over."

"What do you want to talk to me about?" She asked.

"Have you given any thought to our conversation the other day?"

Nikki nodded. "I'm scared, Sir." She admitted. I think Lil' Foot was casing my house the other night. A car looking a lot like his slowed down as came down my street last night."

"Why would Lil' Foot be trying to case your house?" Officer Estrada took off his sunglasses and looked at Nikki. "He only hired you to play the piano at his party, right?"

Nikki gulped. She had slipped up and told the Officer more than she had wanted. In her mind she was screaming at herself. "Shut up!" she yelled inside her head. She had to do something so that her nerves weren't so frazzled. She was constantly looking over her shoulder and having nightmares.

Nikki realized that there had been a long pause in their conversation as Officer Estrada was waiting for her to answer.

"Well, he is a known drug dealer who would be naturally be suspicious of everything, right?" She licked her lips and tried not to blink or look away as she spoke to Officer Estrada. "If I was a drug dealer, I'd want to know about who I was hiring, even if it was a pianist for a party."

Officer Estrada thought about that for a moment. "Okay, I'll go along with that." he nodded.

"I was just hoping that if I do this for you that you could maybe have police watching over my house?"

"I could definitely do that if you were to work with me." Officer Estrada nodded.

"If I feel like I'm in a dangerous situation, I get to quit, right?"

"Yes." the officer replied. "You may not need to, we'll have surveillance on you at all times."

"How can you do that and not tip him off?" She asked. "Everyone watches cop shows, even drug dealers."

"We have our ways, Nikki." he replied. "You are going to work now, I take it."

Nikki nodded. "I'm going to be late if I sit here too much longer."

"I'd like you to please come down to the police station Monday to fill out some paper work and get fitted for a wire."

"No wires." Nikki demanded.

"We've got to get something to record him."

"I'm not wearing a wire." Nikki avowed. "I've seen cop shows too."

Estrada finally nodded. "Okay, but you still need to come down to the station to talk. Just call me when you get there, I'll escort you in."

"Anything else?" Nikki asked.

"We'll talk Monday."

"Can I go?"

Officer Estrada nodded and went back to his car.

Nikki took a deep breath. Police surveillance for her family's house. At least she could breathe a little easier. Maybe even sleep without a nightmare.

"How are you feeling today?" Mrs. York inquired.

"I had nightmares last night, but I'm doing and feeling better." Nikki smiled.

"We are looking to have a busy day." The manager smiled. "I hope you are well enough to help soothe some frantic shoppers."

Nikki smiled. "Shouldn't be a problem."

Mrs. York smiled a dismissal.

Erika's pumps clicked on the tile floor as she made her way to the female locker room.

She went to the large vanity and began freshening her lip gloss and checking her hair.

"I thought I saw you come out of York's office." Darlene greeted. "You feeling better?"

Nikki finished rubbing her lips together and popped them open. "Yes. Other than a few nightmares, I got some much needed sleep."

"Did you hear about Vic?" Darlene practically gushed with gossip.

"No." Nikki tossed her short hair.

"A girlfriend of a guy I once dated said that Witness Protection came to the hospital and whisked him out of there. They basically made him disappear."

"Forever?" Nikki asked.

"Who knows." Darlene shrugged. She gave Nikki a body check. "You look nice today. very well put together, did you do that?" She asked.

Nikki nodded.

"Wow, good job."

"Thanks." Nikki didn't know what else to say. "I should be getting out there before York comes in here looking for me."

"Have a good day." Darlene called after her.

Nikki took a seat at the piano and began her shift by playing some Bach. Before she knew it, her eyes were closed as she became engrossed with the music.

When she came to the end of the song, she waited for the last note to fade away before starting the next song. Instead, she heard clapping. She opened her eyes to see several people around the store smiling at her as they applauded.

Nikki turned a darker shade of pink, but smiled at her fans.

"Wow. No wonder you are Mr. Hill's favorite student."

Nikki turned around to see Landon smiling down at her. Her heart jumped in her throat and then beat like mad as she took in the site of the transplant. Golden blonde curly hair touched the shoulders of a royal blue shirt that matched his eyes. His tanned skin contrasted nicely with his white smile.

"Hi." She managed not to stutter. "Landon. What are you doing here?"

Landon looked around "This is a mall isn't it?"

Nikki could feel her cheeks warm. "Yes."

"I was just doing some shopping and heard your playing." He smiled. "Being a bit of a music nerd, I thought I'd come see who it was who was creating such beautiful sounds. I arrived to see my nemesis from band class."

"I'm not your nemesis." Nikki couldn't decide whether to be shocked or flattered.

"I'll never be able to play the sax anywhere as good as you just played the piano, and that is just one of the instruments you play."

Nikki saw Mrs. York looking her direction. "This is my job, I need to get back to it before my boss gets pissed."

"Mind if I listen?" Landon pleaded.

"You are in a mall. Everyone is free to listen."

Landon moved around towards the piano as Nikki centered herself and began playing another song. "Do you play?" She asked once she was a few bars into the music, settling the notes into her mind.

"Nothing better than Chop Sticks."

Nikki couldn't help but giggle.

"Missed you in school yesterday." Landon stated.

"I wasn't feeling well." Nikki lied. "I'm sure Mr. Hill was a bit miffed.

"I spent all of band class, lost." Landon sighed.

"I'll make it up to you." Nikki said.

"How about tonight?" Landon asked.

What about tonight?" Nikki was losing the music in her head. She was starting to fumble with the notes. Fortunately none but a musician would be able to tell the difference.

"I hear this town has a hockey team."

Nikki nodded. "The Ice Knights."

"I love hockey and wanted to check them out. Will you come to the game with me?"

Nikki's fingers stopped. the abrupt stop in the music got her many looks from shoppers, but all she saw was Landon, nervously biting his lower lip and looking at her with his gorgeous eyes. The most beautiful, most popular, newest guy who could have just about any girl in school was asking her to the hockey game. She had better say something before he thought she was a complete moron.

"I'd like that.... I think it would be fun." She managed to get out. She couldn't believe what she had just heard come out of her mouth. She loved hockey. She was a big fan of the Ice knights and went to as many games as she could, and what she tells this wonderful surfer from out of town was 'I'd like that... that would be fun'?

"Great!" Landon flashed his white teeth. Should I pick you up? or would you rather meet at the game?"

"Would you mind if we met at the game?" She asked.

Landon shook his golden hair. "Not at all. I'll meet you out in front of Will Call."

"That would be great." Nikki beamed up at the gorgeous guy. "I need to get back to work before I get fired." She started to play again.

"See you." Landon walked off.

She had a date with the most sought after guy in school and he didn't know that she was a gendermorph. Her mind began to whirl. What was she to wear? What if someone tells him what she really is?

"Landon asked me." She muttered to herself as she played on.