"...You are going to be going thru much of what most transgenders go thru in what they call their ‘transition’. That is the time when they start to live their lives as a woman. It usually is done for a year or two before they have sexual reassignment surgery.” he said as he continued to write on the form the LT had given him. “Sue, that is to say Doctor Jones, is one of the best in the world in helping with transitions. And besides, she can help you get new I.D. since I don’t think anyone would believe that you are Gabe anymore....”

I kept my appointment with Doctor Smith like LT had suggested. The doc asked me a bunch of questions, some hard some easy, but all intended to trigger an emotional response in me. All in all he quizzed me for over 2 hours before he finally got up and walked over to his desk.

“Well officer, I don’t see any reason you can’t return to duty. There is one thing you do need to do before you can go back to work.” he told me as he wrote something on the paper in front of him.

“What’s that Doc?” I asked not really sure I wanted to go thru anymore just to be a cop.

“This is a referral to a colleague of mine.” he said as he handed me a slip of paper. “She deals with transgender issues and I think it would be a good idea if you talked with her. Both from a psychological standpoint and from an emotional one.”

“Doc, you don’t get it.” I said as I mashed the paper in my hand. “I never asked for this to happen.”

“Calm down Gabe. I know you never showed a transgender tendency before. I was simply pointing out that she can help with counseling you in your new life. I know our lab boys are working on replicating the formula that did this to you, but you need to accept that at least for right now, you are a woman. You are going to be going thru much of what most transgenders go thru in what they call their ‘transition’. That is the time when they start to live their lives as a woman. It usually is done for a year or two before they have sexual reassignment surgery.” he said as he continued to write on the form the LT had given him. “Sue, that is to say Doctor Jones, is one of the best in the world in helping with transitions. And besides, she can help you get new I.D. since I don’t think anyone would believe that you are Gabe anymore.” he told me looking up. “Have you given any thought to a new name?”

“Uh, no, that is one of the things I hadn’t even given a brain cell to over the past few days doc.” I said as I sunk back into my chair.

“Ok, I’ll have Tracy make an appointment for you and you sit down with Sarah, and think of some names that you might want to go by.” he said as he handed the form to me. “Then after you get your new papers, take this with them, and I’ll call your Lieutenant and tell him that you can go back to work.” he told me as he showed me out to the receptionist and told her to set an appointment for me with Doctor Jones.

I drove back home and sat on the couch trying to think of what was going to happen when I did go back. What would the guys say? How would all those people I’d met on my beat react to me becoming a woman all the sudden? What if? What would happen? My mind started racing as I just looked out the window to the woods that ran along the side of the house. I hadn’t even noticed that Sarah and Patrick had come in when I felt a gentle hand on my leg. I looked and saw Sarah smiling back at me.

“Penny for your thoughts Gabe?” she asked.

“Gabe’s dead Sarah.” I said in a cold voice.

“Don’t say that.” she said to me as she pulled me into a hug.

“I’m serious. Do I LOOK like a Gabe to you?” I asked.

“Well no, more like a Gabrielle.” she told me with a giggle.

“I’m being serious here. The doc says I can’t go back to work until I get new ID saying that I’m a woman. And I need a woman’s name to go on them.”

“Oh.” she said as she started to blush. “Well why not Gabrielle?”

“What, and have everyone call me Gabby?” I shot back. “Um... no thanks.”

“We could call you Kelly.” she said with a giggle. “Oh, wait, that one’s taken.”

“Would you be serious?” I asked her as I pulled out the wadded up slip the doc had given me for a referral.

“What’s this?” she asked me.

“The doc want’s me to go see some transgender expert tomorrow.”

“That might be a good idea dear.” she told me. “Maybe she could help you adjust to being a woman now.”

“What the fuck? Is the whole world against me?” I asked as I started to cry.

“No dear, we’re just looking at this from a realists perspective.”

“The lab is working on making another dose of the formula that changed you so you can change back, but you need to understand that it’s a long shot that they can do it.” she put her hand under my chin and lifted it up so I would look at her face. “All I’m saying is listen to this woman. Give her a chance to help you. I know you don’t want to be this way, and you were perfectly happy being a man before, but your life isn’t over. Worst case scenario, you still have me and Patrick. What more do you need?”

“You’re right. I have to be strong about this. I can’t let my emotions cloud my judgment. You’re right. The doctors at the hospital said I was in perfect health. So that means I can be around all that much longer for you and the baby.” I said as I pulled her tight into a hug.

“Good now you go relax while I make dinner.” she told me

“Actually can I borrow some of your workout gear? I really feel the need to go lift.”

“Sure, but I doubt my sports bras will fit over those melons of your’s hun.” she said to me with a giggle.

I just gave her the bird and searched for anything to wear. I found a one piece swimsuit that was able to stretch over my breasts, and put on that academy shirt I’d slept in, and the soccer shorts. I found a pair of her running shoes were the only things that really fit me well, and headed down to the basement to go use our home gym.

The first mistake I made was loading the pin on the universal bench press to my old weight of 400 pounds. I almost popped a vein when I tried to lift that. I lowered it to 200 and found it a challenge but not impossible. I found that all my old weights were about cut in half. And as much as it felt good to get a sweat on, I started to feel down that most of my strength was gone. I went up to dinner when I heard Sarah call me, and she could tell I was in the dumps again.

“What’s wrong hun?” she asked as she put a steak on my plate.

“I was just given a taste in reality. I can only lift about half of what I used to be able to.” I told her.

“Is that all? Come with me.” she said as she took my hand and lead me into the bathroom. “Ok, up on the scale sexy.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s time I gave you a math lesson.”

I got on the scale and read that I now weighed only 115 pounds. This came as a bit of a shock to me since I had been flirting with 300 before all this happened. Sarah wrote it down and then pulled out a calculator.

“Ok, and you were what 290 last week?” she asked.

“Um, yeah.” I nodded back, and like I said all my lifts are exactly half of what they were.

“Ok, so at 290 you could bench 400, and at 115 you can still do 200. Right?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t see...” she cut me off.

“Ok, so you weigh 40% of what you used to, and lift 50% of what you used to. That means you’re 8% stronger then you used to be.” she told me.

“Huh? How can that be?” I asked.

“Ok, that means that if you scaled this body up to your former size. That you’d be 8% stronger then you were before. Which makes sense, since studies show that women have 8% greater muscle density then men do.” she told me beaming with pride.

“Well thanks for the science lesson Mrs. Wizard.” I said with a giggle. “But I still don’t get it.”

“You dolt. It means that even though you’re not lifting as much compared to what you used to. Pound for pound, this body is actually stronger.”

Finally I got what she was saying. It was like when I did those weight lifting contests in college. They factor in your weight against what you lift to determine your points for the lift. And the lighter guys have a bit of an advantage. Since they weigh less, if they can hang with the bigger guys then they can win. I hugged Sarah tight and we went back to eat before the meal got cold.

We talked a lot about what I should change my name to. She liked Gabrielle, but I still wasn’t all that hot on being called Gabby. But since I couldn’t think of anything else, I guess I’ll have to trust my wife on this.

I kept my appointment with Doctor Jones and she is really a sweet lady. She set me up with a few people who could help me loose my masculine walk and mannerisms. Granted it will take a lot of work to undo 30 years of man, but if it means living a normal life with my wife and kid, I’ll do it. She also set me up with a lawyer to get my name changed. That part would take about a month so all I could do was work out, that is when I’m not spending time with my wife and new baby.