12 Decision time

I booked us a session for the following Saturday at the local spa and arranged for the laser on my face and for body waxing for both of us, along with some oil massage treatments, It was not cheap but Carol assured me that it would be worth it, and it gave me a chance to let her have a bit of a treat in return for all she had done to me.

The rest of the week went very much as planned. On the Friday Sir Charles and his consortium started buying up all the shares in Future Entertainment that they could and it didn’t take long for the grapevine to realise what was happening and the share value went up by almost half. On Sir Charles’ advice I sold on a high and when there was a bit of a dip after the initial rush I bought back in again. Not exactly life-changing but I banked about £6000 and still had the shares, not bad for a weeks work. It meant that I did not feel so bad about the cost of the coming weekend at the Spa.

Determined to get our money’s-worth of all the facilities at the spa as well as the extra treatments paid for, we arrived early just after they opened and I booked us in at reception.

“ Oh, i am so sorry, whoever took the booking has one of you down as transgender, which is obviously not the case, I will have to reallocate your locker area to the female rooms.”

Blushing deeply I told her “That is me and since it is not obvious to you, it won’t be to anyone else
so please just allocate me to the female area, I can’t very well go in the mens changing area like this can I? ”

“ I suppose you are right of course, but I would never have guessed. All I ask is that you are discreet, I don’t want any complaints from other clients.”

“I can assure you, the only people that needs to know, and will know, are whoever are doing the body and bikini waxing and other treatments on me.”

We went to get changed and with the breast forms, and the fact I was now tucking my male parts, in my swimsuit I did not look much different to the other women around the pool where we went to relax with a herbal tea before I was called in for my laser treatment by Becky, the young beautician who was to carry it out.

“ This should be a lot easier and quicker than I was expecting, you don’t have that much to do, I should have time to do your chest and shoulders as well if you want. It was all virtually painless and after a heavy application of a special moisturiser and thanking Becky for being gentle and professional with me, I rejoined Carol, By then all the others had gone off for whatever treatments they were getting so we decided to use the pool for a while as a gentle exercise before getting into the hot tub until it was time for the bit we were both not looking forward to, the waxing.

“ Are you both happy with me doing you together, obviously you will be seeing each other nude at times.” asked Julie, who was a lot pleasanter and younger than we expected, we had thought that it would be a sadistic old battle-axe who enjoyed inflicting pain.

“ Won’t be the first time,” I quipped, “besides there is not that much difference between us now,” which relaxed the tension and brought a smile to her face.”

Without going into detail, it is enough to say that the waxing was not the most enjoyable part of the day, but Julie did a thorough job, the only time she was a bit taken aback was when she did my upper legs and bikini area, it was impossible to stay completely tucked.

We had a light lunch, like most spas it was healthy and vegetarian but it was tasty and did its job, but it was not something I would choose regularly.

The afternoon was the pleasantest part of the day, body massage with essential oils with soothing background music to help us relax, followed by a seaweed face mask, then relaxing around the pool reading magazines and drinking all sorts of vegetable smoothies, before a professional makeover to end the day.

I had never understood the fascination of women with spa days when Mum and Liz went off for the occasional one, but when we left after the day of pampering I must admit that I felt calm and relaxed and extremely feminine.

Since we were all made-up we decided to get dressed up and go out for the night for a decent meal, and gave Helen a call to invite her along so she could see what she had led me to. I put on the ivory silk dress which showed off my newly smoothed and de-fuzzed arms and shoulders, with the matching shoes ,and Carol did my hair in a french braid. I looked a really sophisticated lady about town.

“ You two are looking well, particularly you Dani, I love that dress on you, it suits you. What have you been up to since I last saw you.?

I told her the whole story about the presentation with Sir Charles, moving into Carol’s flat permanently, how we enjoyed ourselves going around Canterbury , and what we had done at the spa.

“ What Dani didn’t tell you is that when we were at her old flat she flirted terribly with the boy next door, she has really learned how to turn on the charm.”

‘That’s not fair, just because I was nice to him and gave him a quick kiss for helping us, Carol is making a big thing of it.”

“ How did you feel at the spa was there any bother with you being transgender”

“ I keep telling Carol and I will say the same to you, I am not transgender, you know how I got into this and why I am doing it! There was no bother really, not even when I was having the body wax, obviously the therapists knew about me but they just got on with their job and chatted away just like they would do with any other woman.”

“ I have a question for you Dani. When you see a woman what do you notice about her first, what would attract you?” asked Helen with a serious look on her face.

“ A pleasant face and a nice smile is a good start.”

“ Keep going.”

“Her figure, her hair, her legs, how she is dressed.”

“ Specifically what do you mean by figure?”

“ Breasts obviously, they are very noticeable features.”

“ Most women would probably put them in a similar order, except how she is dressed would be further up the list. You are now quite natural now with your makeup, your hair is always well groomed you are getting excellent dress sense, you have a shapely pair of legs particularly now you have been waxed, what you haven’t got right yet is the breasts. The forms you have are quite good, but they still do not look as natural as they should. Over the next two years while you are Danielle you will be in situations like at the spa today or when you need your cleavage to be a bit more exposed, where the forms will not be adequate. Have you thought about getting real ones of your own.?”

“ That’s a bit drastic, I never intended to go that far, besides I am not sure that I want to dose myself with hormones, as there could be other side effects..”

“I understand that , but you could consider surgical augmentation, implants, which could be removed if and when your situation changes. At first they looked even more artificial than your forms, but modern ones look and move much more natural. I know some people that have had it done and they are delighted with the result. If you go through our company doctor he can make the arrangements for you, and the company will be billed, it will all get lost in the company accounts as medical care.”

“ As I said that sounds a bit drastic, even though I am living full-time and working as a woman, I think that is well beyond what I had planned, I need to look into it and have a long think.”

The other thing to think about, and again the company’s doctor can sort it for you, is to get a gender recognition certificate, so you can get your driving licence changed to show you as female with a new photo, meaning you can start using your car again instead of getting taxis and trains everywhere.”

“ I am getting all worked up here, can we change the subject, I promise that I will think about it.”

Helen’s suggestions had my mind buzzing and I did not really enjoy the rest of what should have been a night for celebrations. Later in bed I tossed and turned for most of the night, I couldn’t get the questions out of my thoughts.

Over the next few days, the thought of breast implants was never far from my mind. On one hand Helen was right it would make me even more convincing and natural as a woman, which I had committed to for the next two years. On the other hand it seemed a major step into accepting that this was really a long-term lifestyle change, not just to help my career. However I decided to discuss it with the company’s doctor.

“ Miss Jenkins, you have been very open with me, I assure you that our conversation will be kept confidential. Whether you want to do this is up to you, it is a cosmetic procedure, not really a health matter. As your friend has said, implants are a fairly benign procedure and can be reversed without any major after-effects. You will be uncomfortable for a while but there should be no major problems, you are young and your skin is still very flexible.The only caution I will give is that although the physical effects can be easily reversed, it may be harder to deal with the psychological and emotional side. If you want to go ahead I can refer you to a cosmetic surgeon who can go into all the details and choices with you.”

“I would like you to arrange it please, if I am making this commitment I should do it completely.”

“ While we are here would you also like me to prepare a Gender Recognition Certificate for you, which may help you to deal with any legal documents, like driving licence and passport. Just like the augmentation procedures, this is all reversible and can be changed back in the future if you change your mind?”

“ Yes please, the sooner I am officially classed as female the easier it will be for my mind to accept it.”

Now that I had made the commitments , I was able to concentrate on my job and the rest of my life again, i felt that a cloud had lifted from my head. I called Helen to apologise for snapping at her when she had suggested it and told her that I had made the decision to go ahead, and was now just waiting for the appointment with the surgeon.

“ That’s really good, once you get used to the idea, and to the physical changes, you will soon not even notice and the breasts will became just another part of your body. You really amaze me, you know, how easily you have come to terms with all the changes in your life, you are a really strong person Danielle.”

While all this was going on I had almost forgotten about my investment in FE, and was shocked when I checked in to my account. Following the official announcement of the major investment by Sir Charles and his team, and the confirmation that the major stars had signed contracts on the new drama with options for further series, the shares had almost doubled and were now just bubbling along at the top of their price range. I discussed it with Sir Charles who advised me that he thought there was still a bit more growth to come but that the major change was now over and that if I had any other investment opportunities in mind that it was a good time to sell up and take my money out. Some of the other projects I was working on promised similar gains, so I was able to sell my shares, pay Sir Charles back his loan and still have enough in my trading account for further investments.

I was now beginning to be comfortable with my new life, I was accepted by my friends and colleagues as a woman and was making a name for myself in the industry, as well as beginning to set myself up financially. The only major thing left on the books was my breast augmentation operation, and it was soon confirmed that I was to have a consultation on Thursday, subject to which I would be ‘under the knife’ on the following Friday.

To be continued.