A dying man is given a second chance. This story is a fan fiction that takes place in the Whateley Universe.

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When I opened my eyes, I was immediately wide awake and full of energy. A single glance at the alarm clock beside the bed told me that it was too early to be this damn awake, but it was too late to do anything about it now. I sat up in bed, realizing that between this morning and yesterday, I’d woken up too early and too easily. I wondered if part of my new powers was that I didn’t need as much sleep as before, then figured that give it a week or so and I’d know for sure.

I hopped out of bed and went to get dressed in some of the clothes that Melanie had left for me. These were actually Kaylie’s old clothes, which Melanie had pulled out of the attic for me. To both my annoyance and amusement, the clothes Kaylie had worn when she was ten were a little too big for me, so I was having to wear her clothes from when she was nine.

“I can’t believe I’m wearing my granddaughter’s hand-me-downs,” I muttered with a chuckle as I put them on. And then, perhaps to be ironic, I grabbed a t-shirt that read ‘Girl Power’ across the front in sparkly letters. I was pretty sure that Melanie had been messing with me a little when she’d left that shirt.

A minute later, I left my bedroom and found that I was up before anyone else. Since I didn’t want to wake everyone else in the house, I tried to be quiet as I looked for something to do. I quickly settled on grabbing a couple eggs from the fridge, then I began to practice picking them up, moving them from one hand to another, and setting them back down. Though I was already getting better at controlling my new strength, as proven by the fact that I’d only broken a couple things since I’d arrived yesterday, it wasn’t good enough. I didn’t want to break anything, and more importantly, I didn’t want to risk hurting anyone.

I broke a couple eggs at first, but then I quickly got the feel for them and just how much pressure they could take. Before long, I really had the hang of handling the eggs without breaking them, though I continued with the practice for a bit longer.

While I was playing around with the eggs, I felt bored and was looking for something else to do. My attention turned to the computer, which was sitting in the corner. Rich was always going on about how great computers were, about how you could use one to find out just about anything you wanted to know. Melanie had tried getting me to use a computer too, though she went on more about how you could buy just about anything you wanted online, without ever having to actually go to a store. Even Kaylie had tried getting me to use a computer, though her reasons had more to do with games and keeping up with her friends. I’d never had much use for a computer, though the truth was, I’d actually been a bit intimidated by them. I didn’t really understand how that kind of thing worked, not like with a car where I could take a look under the engine myself.

For perhaps the first time ever, I was seriously thinking about getting onto their computer and fiddling with it. After coming that close to dying and then getting a second chance, I’d already decided that I wanted to take advantage of it. I wanted to be open to trying new things. And considering the way the world was going, learning how to use a computer seemed like a good place to start. However, I was still just a little intimidated and unsure of where to even begin.

Then I noticed the short bookshelf next to the computer desk, and more specifically, the books it contained. A couple of them were on computers, so I reached down and grabbed one titled, “Computers for dummies.” That seemed like a good place to start.

I finished reading through the entire book in less than five minutes, and when I was done, I could clearly remember every bit of information in it. And even more importantly, I could actually understand it as well. It was becoming pretty clear that being an exemplar hadn’t just given me a photographic memory and let me read faster. I was actually understanding what I read a hell of a lot easier as well. Being a mutant hadn’t just made me stronger, it had also made me smarter. The very idea both excited and scared the hell out of me at the same time.

I’d never considered myself an especially smart man and I’d never been very good at learning things from books. For my entire life, I’d always found that the best way to learn something was to just do it. Don’t bother reading about it, get your hands dirty and figure it out for yourself.

I’d taken pride in that and even felt a bit of contempt for those educated idiots, people who had an expensive education, but had learned absolutely everything they knew from books. I had absolutely nothing against a good education, and I’d taken a great deal of pride in putting Rich through college so he could get one. What I did have a problem with were the people who assumed that because they’d read a few books, they knew everything, when they actually had the common sense of a hubcap.

For several minutes, I stared at the book I’d just read, feeling a strange sense of delight in being able to learn something new so easily. But at the same time, I dreaded what it meant for me and who I actually was. My entire body had been changed in ways that I’d never imagined, but I’d comforted myself with the knowledge that I was still the same me inside. Now, that was no longer true. This exemplar mental package was changing the way my mind worked, the way I learned things and probably even the way I thought. I wanted to read more…to learn more…but I was afraid that I’d lose myself…maybe even end up like one of those educated idiots.

I felt a strong temptation to just turn around and walk away from the computer, to just forget all about that and the whole speed reading thing. After all, I could just stick to what I knew and was comfortable with. I could pretend that everything was still exactly the same way it used to be, that I was the same person I used to be. But at the same time, I knew that was utter crap. I could no more pretend that I was the old ‘Big Al’ than Rachael could pretend she was a normal baseline human without blood on her hands. Reality was what it was, and I’d never been one to hide from that.

“I promised myself that I was going to take advantage of this second chance,” I said aloud, feeling foolish for having these doubts now. Besides, being able to learn something and refusing to do so just out of stubbornness would have been pretty damn stupid.

With that, I turned on the computer and began to play around with what I’d just learned. After all, learning something from a book might be fine and dandy, but I still wanted to get my hands dirty and figure some things out for myself as well. Maybe that part of me would never change.

I was on the internet, playing around with this Google thing that I’d heard so much about when Melanie got up and found me. She stood back and watched me for a minute without saying a word, then she finally cleared her throat to announce her presence, as though I hadn’t already noticed her. “Wow, Dad,” she said, “I never thought I’d see the day you’d be online…”

“Things change,” I told her with a chuckle. “I figured it was time to expand my horizons a bit.”

Mark came stumbling in, muttering, “Coffee…” He still looked half asleep, making me chuckle faintly at just how awake I felt.

“I already started a pot,” I said, though I’d gotten distracted by the computer before I’d had a chance to have a cup.

Mark muttered a, “Thanks,” before shuffling in for the coffee. When he came back out of the kitchen with a cup in hand, he said, “I think I can get used to you living here…”

When the girls were up, Kaylie came over to see what I was doing and began telling me about various games I should try. I just stepped away from the computer and let her have it, then I stood back and watched as she checked her e-mail and some other websites where she apparently talked to her friends. I watched carefully, trying to get a better idea of what she was doing.

Then Melanie called out from the kitchen, “Hey, what happened to all the eggs?” I took that as a sign that it was time for me to duck out of sight for awhile.

After breakfast was over, Mark took off for work while I went to go take a shower. However, one look at the tub was enough to make me change my mind. I hadn’t taken a bath since I was a kid, partly because men took showers instead of baths, and partly because most tubs were just too small for me to use like that. However, neither of those reasons held true anymore. Technically, I was a little girl, which meant that it was perfectly acceptable for me to take a bath instead of a shower. Hell, I could even get away with taking a bubble bath. And of course, with my new compact size, the tub actually looked pretty big to me, more than large enough.

I filled the tub, holding back on the bubble bath for now, then I climbed in and out a contented sigh. I no longer had the aching old muscles that needed to relax, but this still felt pretty damn good. For several minutes, I just enjoyed soaking in the hot water, absently wondering if maybe I should have used the bubble bath. After all, I was a kid again so I might as well take advantage of that. Then I finally got around to washing up.

At my current age, there wasn’t really a lot of physical difference between boys and girls, other than the obvious. The fact is, my body was still too young to have developed any curves, so there wasn’t really much point to exploring my new body. I’d already checked out my new equipment while going to the bathroom, and the idea of exploring it further was actually pretty creepy. I let out a sigh, thinking about how weird things were that even seeing myself naked made me feel like some kind of sick pervert.

“Maybe I’ll feel differently by the time my hormones finally kick in,” I told myself as I climbed out of the tub. Then I shuddered faintly, deciding that going through puberty again as a girl was not something I was looking forward to. At least I’d have plenty of time to get used to the idea first.

I dried myself off, finding that my wet hair was a soaking mess that was probably going to take quite some time to dry. I did my best with that, then wrapped the towel around my waist the way I usually did, only to pause and look down, remembering that I was a girl now. I might not have anything worth covering yet, but it was a habit I should probably get into. With that, I went and wrapped the towel around myself a little higher than before so that now it covered my chest as well.

When I left the bathroom a minute later, Melanie saw me and tried to hold back a laugh. “Your hair,” she finally said, giving me a faint look of disapproval. “You’ve raised two girls, so I would have thought you’d have picked up something about how to manage long hair…”

“I’m not exactly used to this whole girl thing yet,” I admitted self-consciously.

Kimberly and Kaylie began giggling, then Kaylie leaned over and whispered something to her sister. A few seconds later, the two of them ran off, still giggling. They were obviously up to something, but Melanie gently ushered me back into the bathroom and pulled a brush and hair dryer out of one of the drawers.

“Come on Dad,” my daughter told me with a shake of her head. “It looks like I’m going to have to give you some lessons in basic hair care…”

I nodded at that, appreciating the effort and knowing that there were a lot of things I was going to have to learn. Sure, I lived in a house with three women at one time, but admittedly, there were a lot of things I hadn’t paid attention to. Then again, I’d never expected to have to know how to take care of long hair.

“It’s so soft and smooth,” Melanie said with a jealous tone in her voice as she brushed my hair. “I wish I had hair like this…”

I smiled at that, remembering how my hair had been thinning quite a bit over the last few years, even before I got sick. It felt kind of nice to have hair again after that, even if this was overcompensating a bit.

Melanie nodded at that, then let out a sigh. “You know what I miss. I miss that machine Rachael made that would dry our hair in fifteen seconds… Now that was an invention worth building.”

“I remember that thing,” responded with a chuckle. “Every once in awhile it would hiccup and make your hair change color too… I wonder whatever happened to that thing…”

Melanie spent about half an hour brushing my hair and drying it, and as awkward as this was having my daughter brush my hair, there was also something oddly soothing about it as well. I could see why Meg had always looked at this kind of thing as mother/daughter bonding time.

“I’ve never spent so much time drying my hair in my life,” I jokingly complained once we were done.

“You’d better get used to it,” Melanie responded with an amused smile. “At least if you want to keep your hair anywhere near that long. And if you cut off that beautiful hair, I’ll be very disappointed.”

I ran a hand through my hair, feeling an odd sort of pride in it, similar to what I used to feel for my beard. “I think I’ll keep it for now, though maybe a bit of a trim or something…”

With that, I went back to my room so I could get dressed again, only to find that the two boxes of clothes were missing. And in the middle of the bed, there was a powder blue dress, one that I vaguely remembered Kaylie wearing. I heard some giggling from out in the hallway, right before the girls ran off.

Melanie poked her head in, saw the dress and then chuckled. “Well,” she told me with a look of clear amusement. “You did say you wanted to try new things.”

“Me and my big mouth,” I responded wryly.

“I’ll go see if I can find where they hid the other clothes,” Melanie told me with another chuckle.

I nodded at that, though I stared at the dress and began to laugh at their little joke. Well, if the girls wanted to mess with me, I was just going to have to show them that it wasn’t that easy. While Melanie went to find the rest of the clothes, I put on the dress, feeling a little self-conscious as I did so. However, once I had it on, I looked down at myself and had to admit that with my new body, it probably looked pretty damn cute on me. I couldn’t resist spinning around and twirling the dress either.

As I stood there, my mind went back to when Rachael and Melanie had been little and wore dresses like this. I’d actually been thinking about those days quite a lot recently, or at least, I’d been thinking about them all the time when I was in that hospital bed. The girls had still been kids, sweet and innocent, well before Rachael had manifested as a mutant and began to have her problems. Meg had still been with me, and as a family, we’d been happy. Those had been some of the best days of my life.

A thought suddenly occurred to me, or at least several things came together in my mind in a flash of clarity. Dr. Franklin and Pinnacle had both told me about exemplars and how a person’s subconscious mind seemed to strongly influence their BIT. I’d been thinking about my girls quite a bit, both my daughters and my granddaughters, because those girls had been present during nearly all the happiest times of my life. In a flash of understanding, I realized why I must have turned into a little girl. My subconscious mind must have locked onto the image of a little girl, perhaps as some kind of symbol for my happiness.

“That’s where my BIT came from,” I said, feeling a little shaky. Of course, I didn’t have any kind of proof, but from what Pinnacle and the doc had told me, I was pretty damn sure that was it.

I was a bit shocked to realize that at some level, I’d actually had a hand in turning myself into a girl. Sure, Rachael’s cure was responsible for turning me into a mutant, but I’d made my own BIT…and I was going to have to live with it. Whether I liked it or not, this was what I looked like now and only time and age could change that.

Then as I thought about it, I actually felt a strange sense of amusement. After all, if I was right, then it seemed that I was only a little girl because my subconscious mind was trying to make me happy again, in a sort of odd and twisted way. It was the only thing I could think of that really made sense, and it sort of felt right.

“I found your clothes,” Melanie said as she stepped back into the room, only to stop and stare at me in surprise. “Are you all right, Dad?”

“I’m fine,” I told her with a smile, gesturing down at myself and asking, “What do you think?”

Melanie blinked at that, then responded, “It looks nice on you but…” She shook her head then said, “I’m just surprised you’d wear something like that.”

I shrugged in response. “I always said that girls should dress like girls.”

“Oh, I remember,” Melanie responded with a chuckle and a gleam of amusement in her eyes. “I was actually going to remind you about that once you settled in a bit more…”

“Sorry I ruined your fun,” I told her with a chuckle of my own, knowing where her daughters got their mischievious streak.

Melanie stared at me for a moment, then admitted, “I’m just surprised at how well you’re taking this…”

“I don’t have a lot of choice,” I pointed out with a shrug, trying to act as though my new body didn’t bother me at all. “I always said that if you have a problem, either fix it or learn to deal with it. And I can’t exactly change back, even if I did want to.” I shuddered at the sudden thought of waking back up in the hospital bed and discovering this whole thing had just been some sort of dream. To be given this second chance and then have it snatched away…that would be the real nightmare. “This is pretty damn weird, but it sure ain’t the end of the world. In fact, for me, it’s the start of a whole new one.”

“Now I’m almost jealous,” Melanie told me with a chuckle.

After this, I went to find Kimberly and Kaylie, who were actually waiting in the hall to see if they could catch a glimpse of me in a dress. Kimberly was wearing a frilly dress of her own and both girls squealed in delight when they saw me.

“Now then,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and staring at Kaylie. “You’re not dressed right young lady.”

Kaylie’s eyes went wide as she realized what I meant, then started to protest. However, Melanie told her daughter, “You were the one who brought up wearing dresses, so fair is fair…” Then she turned to look down at me and commented, “I’ve been looking for an excuse to see her dressed up again…”

“Yeah, get a dress,” Kimberly cheerfully told her sister, who practically pouted as she went back to her room. Then Kimberly looked and me and said, “You look really pretty…”

“You too sweetheart,” I told her with a grin.

Then to entertain Kimberly, I created a new ribbon for her, which had already become her favorite magic trick. At the rate I’ve been creating these things, the house would probably get full of them in no time if it wasn’t for the fact that they just vanished after about a day. I’d discovered that yesterday when all my oldest ribbons started to disappear. After a few seconds, I decided to impress Kimberly further by creating a larger ribbon, one that was four inches across and eight feet long.

“Wow,” Kimberly immediately exclaimed, grabbing the ribbon with an almost manic gleam in her eyes. “It’s huge…”

A short time later, Kaylie came out of her room, reluctantly wearing a dress. However, I noticed that she had a necklace on with a small skull on it as well as a pin of a skull with a bow tie. I chuckled at the image and she stuck her tongue out in response.

Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I played around with the girls for awhile, still amazed that I could play with my granddaughters like this. I was getting to know them in a way that I never could have before, and I was actually having a lot of fun doing it. Several times, I was pretty sure that they even forgot who I really was, at least until they had to call out, “Grandmpa…” I had to admit, I didn’t look anything like a grandpa, so it got a little awkward.

Eventually Melanie came in to check on us and found us playing a game of tug-o-war. I was holding one end of the giant ribbon, using a single hand and making a show of yawning. The girls were both grabbing hold of the other end and were pulling as hard as they could, though they couldn’t budge me.

“Just how strong are you?” Melanie asked me curiously.

I gave her a faint smile, then admitted, “Honestly, I don’t have a clue. I know I’m a lot stronger than I used to be, but that’s about it.” Then I shrugged and told her, “I’ll find out more tomorrow when I get tested.”

Melanie looked vaguely worried for a moment, probably because I was playing with her daughters and we didn’t even know what I was capable of. That thought sobered me up as I realized that she had to be thinking about Rachael, and how her powers and mutation had seemed harmless at first. I was being extremely careful with Kimberly and Kaylie, but I was still dangerous.

At that moment, my good mood crashed and all I could think of was how I might accidentally hurt the girls. That was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. Maybe I should leave, find someplace else to live until I had better control of my powers.

“Dad?” Melanie asked, giving me a worried look. “Are you okay?”

“Just worried,” I told her honestly. “I don’t want to do anything to put you or the girls in danger…”

“You won’t,” Melanie insisted, giving me a look that suggested she didn’t doubt that one bit. “I know you’ve got these weird new powers, but I’ve seen how careful you are with them and I know you wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”

I was still feeling depressed, but Melanie bent down and gave me a hug. It was warm and comforting, and very strange getting a motherly hug from my own daughter. However, it did make me smile and brought my mood back up again.

“Thank you,” I told her. Then I smiled faintly and held out my hand, deciding to show her another trick that I’d discovered with my power last night. Instead of a ribbon, I formed a large silk scarf, which was technically pretty close to being a ribbon. “Here you go,” I said, presenting the scarf with a flourish. “It should only last a day though.”

Melanie accepted the scarf and then ran her hands over it, saying, “It’s so soft and smooth… It feels like silk, but I don’t think it is…”

“I’m not sure what it is,” I admitted. “Hopefully, I’ll find out more about it tomorrow.” Then I paused and mused, “I’ll also have to figure out a codename…”

“Supergirl,” Kimberly exclaimed excitedly.

“She can’t be Supergirl,” Kaylie told her sister in a smug tone.

“Super Duper Girl,” Kimberly offered next, stating this with a serious look on her face that suggested she really thought this was a good name.

“I don’t think so,” I responded with a chuckle.

“Mighty Mite?” Melanie offered with a faint smirk of amusement. “Maybe Power Princess…or Tiny Titan…”

“Yeah,” Kimberly agreed cheerfully. “Power Princess…”

I shook my head at that, “No…not quite what I was looking for.” And of course, there was no way I was going to call myself ‘Princess’ anything.

“How about…the Crusher?” Kaylie offered with a grin. “Or Lady Lethal…”

I shook my head at that, thinking that those names were getting worse and worse. Those names actually sounded like something a villain would use, and I definitely had no intention of following the same path as Rachael.

“How about Havoc Girl?” Kaylie suggested

This time Melanie gave her a flat look and simply stated, “No.”

A few more names were passed around, though I still hadn’t decided on anything. I wasn’t looking for one of those names that made me sound like a badass. I didn’t want a name that would make people be afraid of me or think of me as a possible threat. That kind of thing might be looking for trouble.

“Ribbon Girl,” Kimberly said. “Because you make pretty ribbons…”

“Well, that name certainly is less threatening,” I admitted with a smile.

Then Melanie pointed out, “Dad, I was just thinking about how awkward it will be calling you that when we’re out in public…”

“Yeah,” Kaylie responded with a smirk. “People are really gonna stare when I call you Grandpa.”

I nodded thoughtfully at that, seeing that they had a point. My hair and eye color were already guaranteed to get me attention whenever I was in public, so I imagined that having people call me ‘Dad’ and ‘Grandpa’ when I looked like this was abound to draw even more. I let out a sigh.

“I guess I need a new name to use too,” I said, giving Melanie a wry smile and adding, “I don’t exactly look like an Al anymore.” I thought about it for a moment, then asked, “How about Alice?”

“Lame,” Kaylie blurted out. “I mean, it’s really old fashioned…”

“I am an old fashioned kind of guy,” I reminded her. “Girl.”

“How about Alyss?” Kaylie suggested, then spelled it out.

After thinking about it for a moment, I mused, “Alyss…” My first thought had been to turn that name down, but I actually kind of liked it. “Alyss it is.”

Kaylie grinned at that, obviously proud at having picked out my new name. “You need a middle name too,” she insisted.

“Megan,” I said quietly, thinking of the woman who must have been a saint to put up with someone like me for all those years. Even though she’d been gone for so long, I still missed her a great deal. My eyes started to mist a little as I announced my new name, “Alyss Megan Morgan.”

“I like it,” Melanie told me, looking as though her own eyes were starting to mist up. She gave me an approving smile.

“You have the same middle name as me,” Kimberly blurted out.

“So I do,” I responded, looking to my youngest granddaughter and smiling. “We were both named after a very special woman.”