Part 18 - Possibilities and Preparations

I - The Morning After

Amanda woke the next morning and stretched. A quick sniff of the air told her Christie was already up and had programmed coffee - as usual, but still greatly appreciated nonetheless. Amanda wasn't sure which was the better 'waker-upper,' the first sip or the first smell of coffee in the morning. She simply relished both.

Except for the surprising visit with Valerie last night, Amanda had a wonderful day yesterday. She'd gotten through everything at work and had enjoyed a wonderful luncheon get-together with Renee. Admittedly even the revelation of her extraordinary social life to her daughter had been far more straightforward than she'd feared. In fact, she had concluded she was glad that she'd been able to come out to Christie and not to Charlie. Boys could be strange about some things, as her experience with her son in the 'Charlie Time Line' had taught her. Girls were just so much more resilient when it came to relationship issues. Even though Charlie was still there, lurking in the back of Christie's pretty head, her daughter mainly was all girl now. Well, except maybe when she tried to get dressed up.

Fifteen minutes later, showered, dressed and ready for the new day, Amanda headed down to the kitchen for her coffee. As she poured the first cup, she looked outside, expecting to see Christie finishing up her morning exercise regimen, only she wasn't out in her usual spot. Curious, Amanda went around to look out the patio doors and saw her daughter. She was seated in the lotus position, facing the rising sun. Usually, Christie would be hurrying inside to shower and get ready for breakfast by now. Concerned, Amanda slipped out the patio door and went over to stand in front of her girl. She didn't speak, unsure of the correct way to wake someone so deep in meditation. Should she shake her? What?

Amanda was about to go inside and call Papa Kim for answers when Christie's eyes blinked open. "You're blocking my sunlight, Mom."

"Oh, pardon me, but I just now realized I didn't know how to snap you out of your trance - safely anyway."

Christie laughed. "I'm not really unconscious when I meditate, so you don't have to worry about me going all 'fight or flight' on you. A light tap on the shoulder should work and will be safe enough. What's up?"

"You weren't where I expected you to be, and you weren't doing what I expected you to be doing, so I got concerned. Why aren't you doing your exercises?"

"Finished them almost an hour ago. I even got in two Tai Chi long forms, too."

Suddenly all maternal concern, Amanda pounced at that. "When did you get up?? Are you all right? Did you have trouble sleeping after your weird day yesterday? Any bad dreams?!?"

"Once I managed to sleep, I slept fine, and no, I didn't have any bad dreams. Then I woke up at about four o'clock, and well. . . . Let's just say I couldn't get back to sleep. Let me shower, and I'll tell you about it over coffee and breakfast, okay?"

~-~

Thoroughly frustrated and wanting answers, Amanda waited impatiently for Christie's return. She tried to distract herself by pouring coffee, cutting fruit and dishing up yogurt, but that was too quickly finished. So when her daughter, all fresh and sweet from her shower, walked back into the kitchen, Amanda pounced! "What TOOK you so long, and what the heck do you mean you slept fine but couldn't fall asleep and then woke before the birds!? You got some 'splainin' to do here, girl!"

"Mom, chill! And I didn't take any longer than usual. In fact, I skipped shampoo and conditioner because I wanted to get back down and talk to you."

"Well, whatever you want to discuss can wait, young lady! What was your problem falling and staying asleep!?"

Amanda took a threatening step towards her daughter when Christie shook her head and smiled wryly. "Well, if you really want to know, Mom, my problems were at least part YOUR fault."

"MY FAULT!?!?"

Now Christie giggled. Her Mom was really spun up. This was out of character for the typically calm, in-control woman. "Yes, Your fault! At least, in part. After all, you were the one who threw out that line. . .what was it? Oh, yeah. 'Emma Peel-esque .'I'd never even HEARD of any Emma Peel who wore catsuits, and it bugged me, okay? So I pulled out my handy-dandy smartphone, and by the power of Google, I found THIS . . .

Christie offered her Mother the smartphone with a full-screen image on the display.

Now Amanda managed to smile. "Yes, that would definitely keep me awake at night. Really sexy snake, too." She then began to quickly enter her own search into the phone.

"Sexy SNAKE?? Mom, EWWW!!"

"What? I like snakes. But, since we were talking about Emma Peel and leather catsuits. THIS is more along the lines of which I was thinking . . ." Amanda handed Christie the phone with a different image displayed, crossed her arms and smirked. "Almost seems modest, eh, Missy?"

Christie stared at the picture for a few moments and then realized. "Somebody made a kid's model kit of her? REALLY?"

"Oh, come on now. Emma Peel is much better covered than Wonder Woman or Supergirl. They had model kits, too; I guarantee those were targeted at the younger male demographic."

Christie took her seat at the breakfast bar, staring at the picture. "Well, I found what I found, and I'm not sure that finding your picture would have helped as I was already . . .disturbed from our discussion of your, umm . . .relationships, I guess? Add in my long-distance threesome with Valerie and Daniel? Well, let's just say I remembered my second birds and the bees session with you and needed some female system maintenance before I could sleep."

If anything, Amanda's smirk grew more expansive, and she sang, "Let your fingers do the walking da di da da." And then laughed out loud as her daughter flushed bright red. "I assume your . . .adjustments helped? You did get to sleep?"

Still blushing, Christie managed a small smile. "Eventually. It was a little weird, which was in keeping with the rest of my yesterday, but afterward? I was sort of annoyed. At what I couldn't quite figure out then, although I have a theory now after this morning."

"Oh, something you learned during your meditation?" Amanda asked, very intense and interested now.

"Some of it came to me then. However, my first real clue was after I woke in the grips of one bodacious orgasm! At first, I just put it down to a girl's version of a wet dream and a result of all the agitation from yesterday and last night coming out."

"Girls do have sexy dreams, Christie. I think we discussed this during B&B2, The Femme Side discussion."

"And that's what I thought until I got this, oh, I don't know, feeling? Sense? It felt like when I was a kid after someone pranked me and said, 'nyah nyah .' Still feeling pretty glowy, I think I replied - sort of 'Okay, bring it on!'"

"That doesn't sound like something to lose sleep over. You were probably half awake - half asleep and still experiencing whatever dream started your motor running."

Christie's smile dimmed, and she turned serious. "Except I wasn't asleep or dreaming. Especially when I started getting these nebulous feelings of surprise, annoyance and maybe even fear. Mom, they were like the glimpses I get on a dreaming precog when I'm not focused and meditating. Anyway, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up, did a heavier than normal morning workout, and then meditated focused on the sunrise."

"Okay," Amanda said thoughtfully. "From your demeanor, I'd say you learned something. What?"

"It's the link with Valerie. Now that we're both aware of it, it seems to be getting stronger. Last night? When I jilled off? Evidently, she sensed it through the link. The annoyance I felt? That was Val trying to get back to sleep. Near as I can tell without talking to her? She probably woke up a little before four AM by a nurse or some such person and needed to relieve her own stress afterward. The 'nyah nyah' was her thinking about our shared orgasm and wondering if it had happened again. She sensed my response, which caused her surprise-fear reaction I felt."

Amanda took a fortifying sip of coffee as she considered the possibilities of Christie's theory. Had anyone who was not immediate family ever had such a window into her family's sorcerous affairs? Not that she could think of. Another issue for her Mom to research the family records. "And you think it is getting stronger? This link?"

"I think so. I think it's like learning any new skill. The more you do it, the better you get. In our case, I think our brains optimize whatever neural pathways we use."

"What? You can read each other's minds? Telepathy??!"

Christie thought for a moment and then shook her head. "No, nothing that clear. At least, not yet. It's more like what I always imagined empathy to be when I read a fantasy novel. Sensations, emotions, feelings? Those seem to come across. The stronger, the more clearly, too, so, well, SEX!!"

"Oh, of course, sex. The more primal the response is, the more easily it seems to transfer. Remember you felt annoyance and fear."

"Yup, and that brings up the big question. How much do we tell Val about us and about our powers? If this thing eventually becomes almost telepathic, keeping secrets from her is gonna be kind of hard, ya know?"

"Even about Charlie, dear?"

"Oh god, I don't even want to think about having this link, not even THIS strong as Charlie! Can you imagine 'sharing' intimate moments with a non-participant? Crap, we'd have to schedule our interludes on a shared Google calendar, so we didn't distract each other at a critical moment - like driving!"

That caused Amanda's smirk to return. "Mmmm, and if just getting kissed sets her off, that could be a real distraction, particularly to someone with male plumbing."

"Okay, that does it! If I go back to being Charlie, Val and I HAVE to be a couple. Sorry, Daniel!"

"If you go back to Charlie? I don't think you will have any problem performing the transformation this weekend. You're far more powerful than I was at the same point, and I did it easily."

"Mom, one of the biggest personal insights I've gained in this trial is that I am a healer. Not that Christie's a healer or even that Charlie is a healer. I. AM. A. HEALER. I can't do anything else. I'm pretty sure that Christie is and will be a healer. I'm not sure about Charlie. If he's not, I will change back to Christie to fulfill what I've come to accept as my destiny."

"You know what your Grandmother found in our history, right? No male sorcerers in our family line possessed the healing talent. And then there's the problem of your Christie back story. We actually know very little about such double transformations. However, we do know that the longer you wait to accomplish the second change, the more your timeline deviates."

"I'll know within moments of completing the transformation to Charlie, Mom," Christie replied, her voice entirely sure. "My precognition is pretty clear on that. Unfortunately, I just can't see what the answer will be."

"Well, that's frustrating. So back to our immediate problem. What do we tell Valerie and when? You know her better than I do, Christie. What're your thoughts?"

"One of the things I was doing in that trance was trying to see beyond the day after my birthday, and I can't make heads or tails of any of it. What I see is incomplete and nebulous. I don't even know if the link survives the transition, but Murphy says it will. I don't see how I can withhold anything or try to mislead her. Eventually, she'll know everything if our link stays in place and keeps getting stronger. The best solution I can come up with is just to trust her now and get her on my side."

"I agree," Amanda replied immediately, and Christie sighed in relief. "So when?"

"My birthday's Sunday, and I'll be attempting the transformation that night. I'd like to tell her before I try that, and I'll need you there for shielding. So, Saturday afternoon?"

"Day after tomorrow? That works for me, but maybe you should talk to Valerie today and let her know why we're not doing it right away. After getting kicked out of her room last night, she'll probably expect us back this evening to finish the story."

"I will. Val will be okay with waiting once I tell her why. God, this is all happening so fast all of a sudden."

Amanda finished her coffee, grimacing that it had gotten cold on her, then glanced at the clock. "And speaking of sudden, we've been talking past my normal departure time. Think about how you want to handle things with Valerie. I'll call you before lunch so we can check in." She rose and hurried out to her car. "Love you!"

"Love you, too, Mom. Don't Speed!"

Christie started to take care of the breakfast dishes when another question hit her. "My Mom thinks snakes are sexy?!? Is she actually serious, or was she just messing with me? SNAKES, for God's sake."

~-~

Photo Credits

Emma Peel, Queen of Sin: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d4/d1/87/d4d187a7fd8c6956d3f8dc688...

Emma Peel Aurora Model Kit: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c2/6c/92/c26c92153c17186e5ba59e1da... Peel Aurora Model Kit Box