Kateri kissed his cheek. "Ok... I'll give you a hint. We'll be a couple... we'll both be wearing pants, but I will playing the 'male' role..."

"Kat!"

She didn't stop. She just went on. "... I have everything we'll need to make us both look perfect... Your character is a mischievous cutie from Baghdad and mine is a handsome NASA astronaut."

William gaped at Kateri. "You can't seriously expect me to dress up as Jeannie from that TV show that you watch!?"

Kateri's grin became not just playful, but lustful as well. "Why not? I'll be dressing up as Major Nelson." William opened his mouth to complain, but Kateri's kiss silenced him. "But you won't have to call me 'Major Nelson' all day. You can just call me 'Master.'"

William was shocked. She couldn't be serious, could she?

"Ready to go?" Angela appeared in the doorway, her car keys in her hand.

William just stared at Kateri in shock.

Angela looked from her brother to his girlfriend and asked, "What's going on?"

Kateri pulled her coat up her arms. "I just told Billy about this week's costume."

"Cool," Angela was intrigued. "Which one did you choose?"

"'I Dream of Jeannie,'" Kateri confirmed. "I'm picking up the costumes today, so I'll be over this evening to make sure that everything fits Billy correctly." She walked over to her boyfriend and kissed his forehead. "You are going to look so good! I just hope that I'll be able to keep my hands off of you while we're at your mom's house."

Then she turned and winked at Angela. "I'll see you in a few hours," and she headed for the elevators.

"Ready to go?" Angela asked her brother.

"Angie... did you know what Kat was planning?" William was near panicked at the thought of having to wear the harem girl costume that had been featured in the classic TV show.

Angela smiled. "I knew that she liked those fancy costumes we saw at the shop and that if she rented one, the men's costumes were way too big for you, but that's all. Why?"

"Why!? Why!?" William looked around the office. There were still plenty of people around and he didn't want to cause a scene, but he was really concerned about this situation. He ran his hands through his hair as he felt fear choking him.

"Ok, ok, Willy, calm down." Angela put her hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "This is just for fun, Willy. It's not a big deal. Look, look... I'll prove it to you. Come with me."

His sister led him out into 'The Pit,' the area where the ping pong, foosball and air hockey tables were all set up, and she guided him to a young, good looking, bronze skinned guy who was bouncing a ball on the ping ping table while looking at his phone.

"Bruce," she said to the young man, "what are you doing for a costume on Friday?"

The man looked up and smiled. "Hi, Angie. Bill. Friday? Well, I was trying to keep it a bit of a secret, but I know word has gotten around, so... I'm going as Shakira. My wife got me everything I need to dress up like Shakira did in the 'Hips Don't Lie' video. The red tee shirt with the white flowers on it, the tiered skirt, the wig... the whole thing. It's going to be a riot! How about you guys?"

"Well, I'm coming as Supergirl," Angela explained, "but Bill is still trying to make up his mind. Let me ask you, Bruce, if Bill and Kat came as a couple, but reversed the sexes so she was the guy, you know what I mean, that wouldn't be a big deal, would it?"

Bruce looked at William. "So you'd be dressed as the girl? Bill, that would be awesome. Let me tell you, we all have been wondering who you really were since you got here. I mean, you just cloister yourself away in your office all day and don't talk to anyone. Last Friday... well, let's just say that you stole the show and leave it at that, ok? Honest to God, Bill, you have been the talk of this office all week. If you can pull off another great couples costume, but throw that kind of a twist into it... you will own this place, my man!" Bruce held up his hand for a 'high five' which confused William for a moment, but he did, eventually, return it.

"Are we discussing costumes?" They all turned to see Tess, who was buttoning up her coat on the way to the elevator.

"We are," Angela answered for the group. "Do you think that anyone would make fun of Bill if he came dressed as a female character? Like, would people would tease him?"

Tess let out a little laugh. "Honestly, Bill, you'd be the hit of the office. Everyone was pleasantly surprised that you joined in last week. If you jump in with both feet this week, they'll all love you for it. If you're taking a poll, I vote 'yes,' you should do it." Then she seemed to think of something. "Oh, by the way, did Lorraine mention to you that a representative from Bunker Hill Investments is going to be at the meeting tomorrow?"

William shook his head. "No. Is that a problem?"

Tess made a show of thinking for a moment. "Not so much a problem as a concern. They're big investors and I think Lorraine would like them to be more involved with Firefly. They'll probably have a lot of questions for all of us, so the meeting may be a little longer than we anticipated. Typically, they invest in construction and big return projects, so we're just a little blip on their radar, but they do represent nearly eighty two percent of our financial backing, so Lorraine wants to be sure that we can answer any questions that come up."

"Ok. I'll make sure that I'm ready for it." William nodded. "Thanks for the heads-up."

She looked at her watch. "Gotta run, guys. See you tomorrow. Bill, thanks for going through those numbers with me again, today. I'm sure that will be a big help, now that Bunker Hill is coming. Night all!"

Bruce excused himself, too and as William and Angela went back to William's office to grab his coat, Angela asked, "Do you want me to see if anyone else is around and we can ask them, too?"

William shook his head. "No. I guess I was just making a mountain out of a molehill. Sorry."
 

As they drove through downtown, Angela asked her brother, "So... are you going to wear what Kat gets you?"

William sighed and shrugged. "I guess so. I mean, if Bruce and Tess are right, then maybe it's not such a big deal, BUT I'm going to ask Kat if next week we can do something that lets me wear pants."

"You will be wearing pants, Willy, and you wore pants last week, too."

"You know what I mean. I want to wear MEN'S pants. I'm thinking, maybe... Pirates of the Caribbean or something."

Angela nodded. "So, you want to be Elizabeth Swan?"

"Ha ha," William rolled his eyes. "No. I'm thinking I could be Jack Sparrow and Kat could be Elizabeth."

Angela began to say something flippant, but William interrupted. "OOOOOOOORRRRR... if she doesn't want to be Elizabeth, she could be Barbosa or even Davy Jones, something like that."

His sister nodded. "That seems fair, I guess. I bet Kat will be happy with that deal."

After a moment or two of just the sound of the radio, William asked, "When Bruce said I 'stole the show' last Friday... do you think that's true? I mean... do you think I... fit in with the rest of the office after that?"

Angel smiled. Her brother had always been that odd, geeky kid who hid in his room, or, as she had seen over the last few days, hid in his office. She could tell that he wanted to be friends with his coworkers, he just didn't know how. "Look, Willy... I've only been there a few days, but I have talked to people in the break room and stuff and when I tell them that I'm 'Bill's sister,' the reaction is usually, 'Oh, that guy in accounting?' or 'That guy who sang with Kat?' I get the impression that you haven't gone out of your way to be friends with anyone. If you really do want to make friends and fit in, then I'd recommend that you take a chance and show them that you can be a fun guy who enjoys working with them."

William nodded. "Ok. Then... I guess I'm all in then. Whatever it takes to make Kat happy and to make some friends."

Angela had to make two stops on the way home, so by the time they got there, Kateri's car was already in the driveway at their mother's house. The idea that his mother was telling Kateri embarrassing stories about his childhood scared William so much that he was out of the car before Angela had even moved the shift to the park position.

In the house, he found his mother oohing and ahhing over a pile of sheer pink material. "Oh, this is adorable!" She was gushing. "Look at all the detail in these pieces. I'm telling you, Kateri, he is going to be an absolutely beautiful Jeannie in this."

At that moment, she noticed that William was standing to the side of the room staring. She smiled and said, "Willy, come on in, honey, and see what Kateri has brought for you to wear. It's just beautiful!"

Just then, Angela entered and hung William's satchel on his shoulder. "Here, Willy. You jumped out of the car in such a rush that you forgot your bag." She looked to see what was happening across the room and hurried across to her mother and Kateri. "You got it!? Let's see it! Willy, come on over and see!"

William followed his sister across the room. His enthusiasm did not match hers, though. Especially when his mother held the see through harem pants up against him and said, "Look! They'll fit perfectly! Willy, you must try them on right now."

William wanted to just be that fun guy at the office, but this was a big step and he was a bit scared to take it. He took the pants in his hand and said, "I don't know, mom. I mean... these are pretty transparent. I'd be showing less skin in a mini dress."

"No you won't," Kateri said with way too much glee. Then she let out a, "Ta da!" as she produced two folded pieces of flesh colored material.

"What are those?" William asked, trying to make heads or tails of the items.

"A leotard and tights!" Kat smiled as she shook them loose to show them to William.

"See, you put on your bra and panties, then the tights and leotard, then the costume. Yeah, people will see through the harem pants, but they'll only see the tights, the leotard will cover your belly, so that open space between your boobs and your pants will look like skin, but it'll only be the flesh toned leotard. Cool, right?" Kateri was beaming with delight as she explained everything to William. "This is how we used to do it when I took dance class as a girl. You'll look like the actress from the TV show, but you'll be fully dressed and nice and warm."

"That's a great idea, Kat," Angela agreed. "I was a little concerned about being chilly in my Supergirl costume, but now I'm thinking that I should pick up some flesh colored tights for myself. You'll like them, Willy. They're very comfortable and nice and warm, too."

Now, it was his mother's turn to chime in. "That's very true, Willy. In fact, I've heard that a lot of construction workers and policemen - you know, men who work outside, in the cold - I've heard that a lot of them wear tights in the winter because they're more comfortable and warmer than thermal underwear. Once you have them on, you won't even notice that they're there."

William thought back to his conversation with Bruce and Tess about how much they'd enjoyed having him getting involved in last week's activities and he wanted to be someone that they liked having as part of the team, and he really did want to please Kateri, but... he really did not want to be embarrassed. So, he chose his words carefully. "Ok, Kat, look... I'll try everything on and we'll see how it looks, ok? If I don't look like and idiot, then I'll wear it, but if I do look like an idiot, then... promise me that you won't make me wear it, ok?"

"Sure, Billy," Kateri smiled, "but I know that you'll look amazing." She reached into her bags and took out yet another flesh colored piece of clothing. "Here, go put these on first, then come out and I'll get you dressed."

William caught the item, which turned out to be a pair of very small, very stretchy panties. "What are these?"

"They're control panties, of course," His sister laughed. "Women wear them to control their bellies, but cross dressers wear them to control..." she laughed, "... their little Willies."

William shook his head. "Very funny. I'll be right back."

He stepped into the downstairs lavatory and a few minutes later he stepped back out again wearing just the stretchy panties and a white tee shirt.

"Perfect!" Kateri clapped her hands. "You'll probably need to tuck Little Willy a bit, but we won't worry about that tonight. Sit here on the couch and I'll teach you how to put on your tights."

William took the proffered tights and sat, then his eyes nearly bugged out of his head as Kateri raised her skirt and pulled down her pantyhose. She sat next to him, took off her shoes and removed the hose completely. Then bunched up the left leg all the way to the toe. "Just do what I do and never pull too hard or you'll put runs in your tights."

William followed Kateri's lead and in a few moments he was standing and setting the waistband of the tights around his middle.

"Comfy, right?" Kateri asked.

William could not deny that the soft material clinging to his legs and abdomen was not only comfortable, but rather exciting, but rather than explain all that, he said, "I guess."

The women knew better though. They knew that he was enjoying himself.

"Ok, now step into this," Kateri said as she held open the leotard.

William stepped into it and Kat pulled it up tight to his crotch before having him put his arms through the thin, clear plastic straps and settling the garment onto his shoulders. He looked down and noticed that the front of the leotard was gathered between the breasts in order to properly cup a woman's bust. He pointed at that area and said, "I guess I'll need some tissues or something to stuff these?"

"Not at all," Kateri hustled over to her bags and pulled out a very pretty box that resembled a jewelry box and opened it. Inside were two very lifelike breasts. They were shaped and articulated just perfectly. They looked so real that you might have even believed that a woman had just taken them off and forgotten to take them with her. "Aren't they beautiful? Let me find the adhesive and we'll see how they look on you."

While she searched her packages, William's mother admired how her son looked in the tights and leotards. She ran her hands along the soft material and sighed. "Oh, I wanted both of you to take dance classes when you were little. I loved dancing so much as a girl. Just putting on the leotard and knowing that I was going to be with all the other girls was so exciting."

Angela cocked her head to the side in thought and said, "Mom, I can't remember a single time in all of my life that you ever suggested that either of us should take dance classes."

Her mother sighed, again. "Because I couldn't afford them, Angie. I remember what my parents spent on dance costumes, tap shoes, ballet slippers, competition trips, classes and everything else and I knew that I could never come up with all of that money. Being a single mom is tough, honey. I did what I could. You had soccer, volleyball and girl's basketball to keep you busy. I could afford that and you were always a bit of a jock, anyway. Willy, though... you were always locked up in your room with your books and computers... honestly, I think you would have really benefitted from taking dance classes."

That remark really surprised William. "Mom, why would I have wanted to take dance classes? I'm a boy, for crying out loud."

His mother shrugged. "Lots of boys take dance classes, Willy. I think you would have liked it and... well... looking at you dressed like this... it's like I finally have the little ballerina I always wanted."

Before William could form a response to that remark, Kateri blurted out, "Son of a bitch! I didn't buy the adhesive. Argh! What are we going to do, now? I ordered those off of the internet. I could never get the adhesive delivered in time for Friday." She grunted some more, but then a thought struck her. "I wonder if the costume shop has anything that will hold it?"

Angela said, "It's going to have to be a lot stronger than the stuff you used on his mustache, last week. That was falling off all day. You don't want a boob falling off and plopping onto the table during a meeting."

Kateri did chuckle at that, then started fishing around in the bags she'd brought in. "Where's my phone?" She muttered. "I don't know what time they close down at the costume shop. Maybe I can run over and see what they have."

"Don't worry," William's mother said, as she took the breasts and walked towards the kitchen, "I have just the thing."

Angela scowled and called after her mother. "Why on earth would you have breast form adhesive?"

Her mother called back from the kitchen. "Remember when I went on that church retreat last summer? Well, I roomed with Claire O'Mara and she had a mastectomy a few years back. She wore a fake breast when she went swimming and I saw what she used. I have the same thing. I'll be right back."

"Excellent!" Kateri said, happy to be back on schedule. "Here, put on the pants, babe." She held the pants open and he stepped in. They were built like fancy sweat pants. There was an elastic waistband that was covered by the deep red velvet at the top of the pants. Then they bloused out into see through puffs of sheer nylon before being drawn back into his ankles by elastic cuffs.

"And now the shoes!" Kateri giggled as she slipped the very elaborately decorated, satin, kitten heeled pumps onto his feet. The silk was dyed pink to match the harem pants, but the opening where his foot slipped in had two bands of silver sparkles surrounding it, another row of the silver sparkles outlined the bottom of the satin show, and the toe area was beautifully embroidered with sparkling silver thread, creating exotic flowers where he normally just saw the leather tip of his shoes.

"Oh, Willy," Angela gushed, "those are so cute! I don't know about the guys at the office, but the women are going to be all over you on Friday."

Kateri laughed. "Yeah. You'd better watch out for that, Billy. When all those women are telling you how cute you are, remember who made you that cute. I'm your Major Nelson, Jeannie. Don't forget that."

"Yes, Master," William smirked.

"I could get used to that," Kateri laughed.

"Ok, I've applied the adhesive to the breasts," William's mother called from the kitchen. "Pull down his leotard top and have him lay on the couch so we can get them on evenly."

William shrugged the straps down his arms, folded the leotard top down below his chest and laid down as his mother entered, a breast in each hand. She handed one breast to Angela to hold, then she took a long, serious look at her son's flat chest. Then she nodded and carefully placed the right breast on William.

"Hold that in place," she instructed her daughter as she took the left breast, made a few judgements about its placement, then carefully placed that one on him as well. "Hold that one, too," she said as she stepped out of the way.

"For how long?" Angela asked.

Her mother shrugged. "The can says fifteen seconds, but why don't you hold them in place for a minute or so."

"Ok," Angela smiled down at her brother. "You know, when I woke up this morning, I never expected that I'd spend the evening groping my little brother's perky, C cup breasts."

"I'm not you're little..." William began, but then something else occurred to him. "Did you say these are C cup breasts?"

Angela smiled even more broadly. "That's what the box says, Willy."

"And what size cup are you?"

"I'm a B, Billy. Just think, my little brother has bigger boobs than I do."

"Well, if my boobs are bigger than yours," William teased, "then maybe that makes you the LITTLE sister."

Angela's jaw dropped as she laughed. "Oh, my God! I can't believe you're finally getting into the spirit of things!" She released her hold on the silicon breasts and gave them a gentle prodding. "I think you're ready. Stand up and see how they feel."

With his sister's help, William stood. "Wow. They do pull a little."

"That's why we wear bras, Billy," Kateri smiled. "Unfortunately, this costume won't allow you to wear a real supportive bra, but even the top of the leotard will help. Here, let me help you get that back on."

Kateri gently raised the top back up William's arms, then positioned his new breasts in the garment's cups. "Huh," she mused, "they're warm when I touch them. I didn't expect them to feel so real." When the breasts were positioned correctly, she asked, "Does that help at all?"

"Yeah, I guess," William nodded. "They're pulling less, but it's still weird to have them there."

"I bet. Now, let's get the rest of the costume on." Kateri slid a bikini style top up his arms and positioned it over William's breasts. The top was made of the same material as the harem pants, but had a flesh-toned lining. It also had a little tassel hanging between his breasts and another just like it hanging below the bikini top. Then the tiny, red velvet, bolero jacket was run up his arm, covering his shoulders and offering a little protection from side-boob exposure.

The final touch, at least for that Wednesday evening, was the wig. It was a single piece that contained the blonde wig, the little red velvet fez with the blonde ponytail popping out of the top and a pink 'veil' that hung in a casual swag below the wearer's chin.

As Kateri brushed out the wig, Angela tucked William's hair into a wig cap. Eventually, Kateri fitted the wig onto his head and stepped back to judge the whole costume.

"Wow..." she said, honestly impressed. "I mean... wow! Billy, we haven't even done your makeup and... wow! You look soooooo good."

"Yeah?" William asked, feeling a little odd, standing in a very feminine costume and having his girlfriend and sister examine him. "Angie? What do you think?"

Angela's eyebrows raised as she shook her head and smiled. "Honestly, Willy... you look... amazing. You're going to blow everyone away."

Just then, the doorbell rang and William's mother hustled through the room. "That'll be the pizza. It was getting late, so I ordered some from Rovezzi's"

She paid the delivery man and took two boxes of pizza from him. As she headed into the kitchen, she said, "Come on, everyone, let's have some supper. Willy, go grab your robe to cover up that beautiful costume. After we have something to eat, we'll get you out of all that, but Rovezzi's pizza is best when it's good and hot."

"Ok," William nodded. He went up the stairs as quickly as he could, but the odd sensation of the breasts bouncing did slow him down a bit. When he reached his room, he went to his open closet door and pulled his robe off of the hook on the back of it. When he closed the closet door, he came face to face with the person in the mirror that was mounted on the front of the door. Of course, that had happened every time he'd opened that door since they'd moved to that house a decade or more earlier, but the thing that stopped William in his tracks was the fact that the person reflected in the mirror wasn't him. It was a woman. A fairly pretty woman in a very sexy harem girl outfit. "Holy cow," he whispered. "Holy freaking cow."

He ran his fingers over the soft material and marveled at the feelings, and was only a bit troubled by the fact that he felt himself becoming aroused. Why wouldn't he be, after all? I mean, when a guy sees a woman dressed like this with breasts this perfect, he's going to get aroused, right? That's just how guys are built.

He ran his fingers along the curves of the fake breasts and became even more excited. Without even a thought as to how proper it might be, his hand traveled down to the front of his harem pants and began to rub himself through the harem pants, the leotard, the tights, and the control panties. Everything was tight and contained, but just touching it was sending him into an erotic haze.

He thought about what it might be like to be dressed this way and to be with Kat in her bedroom. To have her touch him through these soft, sexy materials. To have her kissing his neck and nibbling his ears. To have her take him. To have her...

"Ahem..." came from the doorway.

William blinked and realized what he was doing. His hands snapped to his sides and his face blushed as he sputtered, "Angie... I... I was... I was just..."

"Yeah, yeah," his sister shook her head. "I know exactly what you were 'just,' but listen, girly girl, your mother and your girlfriend are directly below you and will hear you if you start moaning, and it may be a bit embarrassing if you have to explain why your panties are all gooey when you take them off. So, let's just go down and have some pizza before things get out of hand... so to speak."

William nodded, still embarrassed, and slid his arms into the robe. He started out of the door, but stopped and turned back to Angela and said, "Umm... listen, Angie, you won't... you know... you won't tell mom or Kat about what I was... I mean... what you saw... will you?"

Angela smiled. "Look, Willy, I may not be the most experienced girl in the world, but I know that guys are wired through their penises, so I'm not surprised that you got overly excited. Hell, if I suddenly had C cup boobs, I'd probably be pretty worked up myself."

When she didn't say anything more, William had to ask again. "So...?"

"Your dirty little secret is safe with me, little sister."

William blinked and nodded, nervously, as he tied the belt of his robe around himself. "Thanks, Angie."

"Let's just eat, Willy."
 

"Oh, my God, I've never had pizza this good before," Kateri was saying through a half filled mouth. "Where is this place?"

"Over on Plantation Street," William's mother was explaining. "Past the hospital, near Franklin."

"It's just wonderful!" Kateri continued to compliment.

"Ah! Here are my girls!" Their mother teased as the siblings entered the kitchen. "Come on and eat."

Besides the pizza, their mother had opened a bottle of red wine to accompany the food. William took just a very small portion of wine, then took a piece of pizza, placed it on a plate, then took a knife and fork out of a drawer and began to cut off his slice.

"Have you seen how my anal retentive brother eats his pizza before?" Angela asked Kateri.

Kateri smiled and reached over to touch William's forearm. "I think it's charming. I need that kind of neatness in my life." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, which was adorned with a tiny spit curl from the blonde wig. "You're a treasure, my pretty boy."

"He's always been a pretty boy," his mother said, without any thought that it might offend. "I always thought that Willy would have made a beautiful girl. I would have loved to have had a daughter who was into books and sewing and cooking..."

"Hey, I'm right here, mom!" Angela said, sounding comically insulted.

Her mother smiled back at her daughter's silliness. "You know what I mean, Angie. I tried to get you interested in things like that, but you were always a tomboy. A pretty tomboy, but a tomboy nonetheless."

Angela smiled and looked at Kateri. "Guilty as charged. Until my boobs came in, I was the toughest kid in the neighborhood. She'd try to put me in a dress and I'd scream bloody murder. I don't think I even realized that I was girl until I was sixteen."

"Not me," Kateri wiped her lips on a paper napkin. "I've always been obsessed with pretty things. Flowers, clothes, lace, silk... you name it. The girlier, the better. I didn't even look at a video game until I went to art school."

The conversation went on like this for over an hour. William said very little, as usual, and the women chatted and chatted and got to know each other. The pizza and the wine flowed until Kateri noticed that it was nearly nine o'clock.

"Geez, look at the time! I need to get home and shower soon. Come on, Billy, let's get you out of your pretty clothes."

It only took a few minutes for William to strip down to the control panties. Kateri retrieved his tighty whities from the lavatory and made no pretense of privacy as she lowered his panties and ran his boy undies back up his legs, leaving William standing in the middle of the living room in his drawers and his faux breasts.

"Here you go," His mother said, handing Kateri a bottle of nail polish remover and cotton balls. "Just dab that on his breasts and they should come right off."

Kateri smiled and grabbed a cotton ball and soaked it with acetone and she began applying it to the edges of the fake breasts. "I bet you'll miss these, won't you?" She teased.

William chuckled. "They are impressive, I'll say that. I just never thought I'd see anything like that on my chest."

Kateri laughed as she worked on the edge. "Huh," she muttered.

"What? Is there a problem?" William asked.

"No," Kateri kept working, "it's just that the breast isn't coming loose."

"What?" William was suddenly very concerned. "What do mean? They're not coming off?"

"Relax, babe," she said without making eye contact. She worked some more. "I should have made SOME progress by now, but..." she called out to the kitchen. "Umm... are you sure that this adhesive comes off with nail polish remover?"

Angela and her mother came in to see what the problem was. "That's how Claire took her's off. Isn't working?"

Kateri stood straight and looked at the breasts. "No. It's not working at all."

"Hmm," William's mother said, thoughtfully as she picked up a cotton ball and soaked it with the remover. "Let me try."

She worked for several minutes, but there was no change at all.

When the breasts remained in place, Angela said, "I'll check the adhesive bottle. Where is it, mom?"

"In the pantry, next to the big mixer," Her mother said, still trying to make some progress.

"They will come off, right?" William asked, very concerned.

"Of course they will, Willy," his mother said, shaking her head, but Kateri was not as sure.

"Mom, you didn't use this, did you?" Angela asked as she came back into the living room with a tall, black spray can.

"Yes, that's it," she nodded. "What does it say about removing it?"

Angela read the can, then looked at Kateri and grimaced. She handed the can to William's girlfriend who gasped.

"This isn't breast adhesive," Kateri said as calmly as she could.

"What?" William's mother turned and took the van. "I don't understand. The can looks the same as the adhesive that Claire used."

"Mom," Angela was getting excited, "this is the adhesive I was given to attach the sports team's medallions to the walls in my high school as part of that community service project I did in my senior year. This is permanent, industrial adhesive! You're not even supposed to get this on your fingers! This didn't just adhere the breasts to Willy, it actually bonded them to his skin!"

Her mother looked at her as if she couldn't conceive of what the girl was saying. "So, how do we get them off?"

"That's the point, mom! We can't get them off! They're 'PERMANENTLY' bonded to him. You just gave your son C cup breasts, mom!"

The thud of William's unconscious body hitting the floor was the only thing that stopped Angela from screaming at her mother.
 

They called the police, who told them to call the fire department, who told them to call poison control, who told them to call the hospital who told them to call the manufacturer who's voicemail told them to call back after nine A.M. Eastern Standard Time to talk to a representative. William's mother even called her friend Claire who, although very confused by the question, assured that she had never attached her prosthetic breast with 'Goodman's Industrial Grade Permanent Spray Adhesive' and that she had no idea how to remove a prosthetic breast that had been attached using that substance.

William had been sitting on the couch, his head in his hands, growing more scared, more frustrated and more angry by the minute. Defeated, his mother sat opposite him in a wing backed chair and said, "I guess you'll just have to call in sick tomorrow, Willy. We can call the manufacturer at nine and find out how to get those off."

"If," he corrected his mother. "If we can get them off. There is no guarantee that there is a way to remove them."

"Oh, I'm sure that..." his mother began, but William cut her off.

"And I can't call in sick tomorrow, mom. I'm not a cashier at Walmart. I am the accountant - THE ONLY ACCOUNTANT - for a multimillion dollar business and I have what is probably the biggest meeting of my career at eleven thirty tomorrow morning!" Suddenly he was standing and his voice was increasing in volume. "This is the dumbest, most ridiculous thing you have ever done, mother! Your entire life has been a series of careless, thoughtless, stupid decisions that have always been the wrong goddamned decisions!"

"Hey, come on now, babe," Kateri tried to calm him, but he wouldn't listen.

"No! You don't know what it's like to grow up in a house with a mother that may or may not be home on any given night, Kat. All her little stories about not having the perfect life... All of that is directed at me because, somehow, I am responsible for being conceived in her sophomore year of college and because of that, SHE never finished, SHE never had any breaks, SHE never could find a man that wasn't scared off by her two bastard children."

"Willy, stop," Angela took his hand in hers, but he pulled it loose and went right on.

"Well, that wasn't my fault! That was her fault! Your fault, mom! And this is your fault too! I was hoping to get the heck out of here soon, to put down a deposit on a condo in that new development over off of Salisbury Street next month, mom! Now, I'll be lucky if I still have a job twenty four hours from now! How could you be so stupid? Look at me, mom! Look at me! You weren't even asked to help, but you volunteered to be responsible for one little thing. One tiny, little thing, but just like every other aspect of your life, you screwed this up to! Well, thanks a whole hell of a lot mom! Just... thanks!"

His mother kept her eyes down and stared at the carpet, uncertain of what she could possibly say to calm her son down or rectify the situation.

William shook his head in disgust. Then an idea struck him. "Angie! Do you still have that Exacto knife kit?"

His sister looked up and shrugged. "Maybe. Why?"

"Go see if you can find it. Maybe I can cut these things off."

"No!" Kateri finally had had enough. "Just stop all of this, Billy. Now, I know that you're angry and that because of that, you're lashing out at your mother, but come on, babe... do you really think your mother intended to attach boobs to your chest permanently? And if the silicone is bonded to your chest, then I don't think that hacking at them with a razor knife is a safe idea. No. What we'll have to do is just go to bed, get some sleep and in the morning we'll go to work a little early so no one sees you and call the manufacturer when they open at nine. They'll tell us what to use as a solvent and either Angie or I will run out and get it. We'll get the breasts off safely and without having you stab yourself and you can go to your meeting. Then, everything will be ok. Alright?"

William shook his head. "What if we can't get them off? How will I deal with the meeting then?"

Kateri thought for a moment. "Well... we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it. If worse comes to worse then maybe you could just participate using Zoom or something. You know, like Lorraine could say, 'Our accountant is not on site today, but he's joining us remotely.' That might work, right?"

William shrugged and shook his head. He had no response. His adrenaline was still running far too high to think straight. He was in no mood to see a positive outcome right now.

"Willy, it's getting late," Angela said. "I know how upset you are, but we all need to get some sleep. Please, just calm down. We'll be able to think more clearly in the morning. I think that Kat's plan is the best one we have right now."

William remained silent.

Kateri hugged him and whispered, "Come on, babe. I'll stay the night, ok? Let's just get to bed. I'll sleep with you. You've already said some things that you can't take back. Let's not make it any worse."

She guided William towards the stairs. Angela stood and looked at her mother. "Are you coming to bed, mom?"

Her mother shook her head. "No, Angie. I think I'll just sit here for a few minutes. I have a lot to think about."

Angela looked at William and opened her eyes wide, then indicated her mother. He took a deep breath and told Kateri to go ahead up and get ready. Then he shook his head and walked back to the couch and sat down.

The two sat there in silence until finally his mother said, "I didn't mean for this to happen, Willy."

"I know, mom, but it did happen and now I have to deal with it. I'm just so tired of having to deal with problems that you create for me."

She shook her head. "I don't mean just that, Willy. Not just the breasts. I mean... this... this hatred of me that you have. I didn't mean for that to happen. I really wanted to be a good mother, I just... didn't know how."

William exhaled and shook his head again. "I never said that I hate you, mom."

"Willy, people who love each other don't treat each other like we do. I don't know why I couldn't love you two more, but... some people are just not good at it, Willy, and I am terrible at it. I hear myself say demeaning things to you, things about your height and appearance, and I hate myself for it, but I do it anyway, and I don't know why. I do the same thing to Angie, but... hell, I've done it to everyone my whole life."

"Mom..." William really did not want to have this conversation, but it seemed like he'd started it, so he needed to continue. "I was... I am... very upset about..." he motioned to his newly acquired bust, "...this... and I just lost my temper. Look... I know that you love me in your own way, that you love Angela like that, too... I never doubted that. I just got really mad and I said things I shouldn't have said. I'm sorry. Please... can we just forget about it and go to bed?"

She looked at him with red rimmed eyes. "Willy... everything you said is true. I've always blamed you and Angie for how hard things always were. Willy... Willy, I... I've always wanted the best for us, but I could never figure out how to do it and... Jesus, I hate to say this, Willy, but I have to clear the air... You've always been so... aloof. So... independent, Willy. Like you never needed me. Like... when you were a toddler. I'd hug you, and you'd squirm away. I may not have known how to give love, Willy, but when I tried... you never seemed to know how to take it, either. I hated that... and I hated how much you looked like your father... and I hated how much smarter than me you were, even as a child... but I tried, Willy, I tried so, so hard to love you. I even thought I did. At least... I thought that you believed I did."

"Mom..."

"Let me finish, Willy. What you just said... all of it... It's all true. I've done terrible things to everyone I've ever been close to. Your father, Angie's father, my sisters, my parents... everyone. I've treated you and Angie as if you were burdens instead of letting you in to my..." she was suddenly sobbing, "... heart. I was a terrible daughter, a terrible sister, then I was a terrible mother and now... my God, Willy, I may have maimed your chest and I was trying to act as if it was no big deal so no one would blame me. What the hell kind of a person am I, Willy?" By this point, she could not hold back everything that she'd kept locked up for so long and she buried her face in her hands and just wept.

William's skin tingled. He didn't know why, but he was feeling so many emotions that his skin was actually tingling with them. The worst part of it all though was that his mother was crying and he had caused it. He'd said things so terrible that he'd mad his mother actually cry.

And he didn't know what to do about it.

He looked about to see if maybe, just maybe, Angie or Kat were nearby and could offer advice, but he was alone with his mother and needed to do something now. He rose and stood by his mother, then he knelt in front of her and raised her head so that he could slip his shoulder under her head, then pull her close to rest her head on his shoulder.

"I don't hate you, mom. I love both you and Angie as much as any son or brother could possibly love his family. I mean that, mom, but this whole... breast thing just has me crazy. Can you forgive me for saying what I said?"

His mother looked up shook her head. "There's nothing to forgive, Willy. Everything you said was true."

"No, it wasn't, mom. I have no right to judge you and I'm sorry that I did. I know that you didn't use the wrong glue on purpose. It was just... a accident."

"A stupid, stupid accident, Willy."

"Yes, but a accident nonetheless. You didn't do it on purpose and I was an ass for thinking that you did. Now... come on. Let's stand up."

William stood and helped his mother to her feet, his naked breasts bouncing with the movement. "Hug me." He requested once they were both standing. He was shorter than his mother, so now his head was resting on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Willy. I'm so sorry." That was the first time that William ever heard his mother say those words and it made him feel... good, in an odd way, but even more than that, he felt... closer to his mother than he'd ever felt. "I failed. I failed you and Angie and me. I failed everyone."

"Mom," William said, quietly, "I know that you haven't had it easy and that being alone with two kids was a challenge. It wasn't easy for Angie and me, either, but we always knew that you loved us, mom. Even if you doubted it, we knew that you loved us and we don't doubt it now, either."

His mother sniffled back her tears and nodded. "I'm trying to do better, Willy. I really am. I mean, I've been going to church and AA for five years now. I promise, I'm trying to do better."

William loosened his hug and moved back a little so that he could see his mother's tear covered face. "I know, mom. So am I." He smiled a little as he wiped away some of her tears. "We're ok, right?"

She forced a smile, too, as she nodded. "We're better than ok, Willy."she looked at her son's soft face. "We're pretty good, I think."

"And you'll go to bed, now, mom, right? I mean... you're usually ok to just have one glass of wine, but..."

She touched his cheek and smiled. "Willy... the bottle is empty. I only had one small glass, as usual. Wine was never my problem and there's no more alcohol in the house. You can trust me. I'll go to bed and go to sleep. I promise."

"Ok," he kissed her cheek. "I think I should try to get some sleep"

As he stepped away, his mother let out a small laugh. "Those breasts are impressive, Willy. If you'd been born a girl, you never would have gotten breasts that big from me."

William nodded. "I think Angie is actually jealous."

"To tell you the truth, so am I."
 

William got very little sleep that night. His normal anxiety about the upcoming meeting would have made him restless under the best circumstances, but the breasts made it difficult to get comfortable. If he rolled onto a side, the breasts pulled uncomfortably on his chest, sleeping on his stomach was out of the question and he was unused to sleeping on his back.

Kateri was up before six, so the two of them dressed quietly and headed to Kateri's house. The breasts made any of William's dress shirts unwearable, so he wore his normal suit pants and dress shoes, but took his dress shirt, jacket and tie with him and he covered himself with an old, normally loose fitting, sweat shirt, which was kind of tight that morning, to cover his breasts. Even his winter coat was snug when he zipped it up.

He sent his mother and sister a text telling them that they'd left early so Kateri could shower and change and that they were planning on getting to the office by 8:30 so that William could sneak into his office unnoticed.

Before they left Kateri's house, she pulled a box out of her closet and dug through a supply of brown polo shirts, until pulling out one and holding it up to William to check the fit. "What size shirt do you usually wear?" She asked.

"Men's extra small of boy's large. Why?"

"Try this one on," she handed him the shirt. Unlike most of William's polo shirts, this one was made of a silky, moister wicking material and it also had the Firefly logo on the left breast. William removed his old sweat shirt and pulled the shirt over his head. Kateri nodded. "That's a woman's small. It looks better than the sweat shirt."

William shrugged at the shirt. He was fine with it, but hoped to be wearing his dress shirt in a few hours. "Why do you have a box of Firefly shirts in your closet?"

Kateri closed the box and returned it to the closet. "They're from a team building event a few years ago. I was in charge of getting them made and we ended up with more than we needed. I didn't throw them out because I figured that we'd needed them someday. Turns out I was right." She looked him over carefully. The garment was made for a woman's shape and nicely conformed to the shape of his plump breasts and narrow belly and hips. 'It looks nice on you," she let out a little giggle, "but you could use a bra. You're a wee bit nipple-y, young lady."

William looked at his chest and grimaced. Kateri was correct, the nipples on his breasts were noticeably protruding through the shiny fabric.

"Come on, let's get going," Kateri put her arm around him and led him towards the door. "I'll treat you to a scrumptious breakfast at MickeyD' s drive through on the way."
 

"Wow, you guys are in early," Firefly's ever friendly receptionist, Raquel bubbled as Kateri and William entered the company's lobby at eight twenty. The twenty-something girl was busying herself at the reception area snack table, replenishing the K-cups and energy bars. "I'm usually alone here until a few minutes before nine. Today, it's like Grand Central Station around here."

Kateri stopped in her tracks. "Really? Why? Who's here already?"

Raquel was surprised by the question, but always happy to chat. "Oh, well, Lorraine was already in when I got here, but Tess and a few women from her department came in about ten minutes ago, and that new intern, Angela, just showed up."

Kateri let out a long breath. She'd hoped to have William in his office before anyone got there, but there was no way to get to William's office without passing Lorraine's.

"I guess everyone is a little anxious about that meeting today," Raquel continued, undeterred by the fact that no one else was contributing to the conversation. She looked at Kateri and William with her usual big, supportive smile. "I guess it's a big day."

"I guess," Kateri plastered on a big smile and she ushered William towards The Pit.

"Keep your coat zipped up. I thought we'd beat Lorraine into the office today," Kateri whispered as they passed the game tables.

"Let's just pass her door as normally as possible and maybe she won't look up." William offered.

When they passed the CEO's door, no one was in the office. They both let out a sigh of relief just as a voice called from the conference room, "Bill, I'm glad you're here early. Come on in and go through these figures with Tess and me one more time."

When they turned to look, Lorraine had already turned her back to them and reentered the conference room.

William took a deep breath. "Well, so much for stealth. Here goes nothing."

"Hey, guys," Angela said, a bit solemnly. "I brought you coffee. It's in Willy's office.

Kateri rolled her eyes. "It'll have to wait. Billy's been called into the conference room. Come on. You and I will go in for support."

They all entered the room quietly. William went in about ten feet while the women waited by the door.

"Ok, great," Lorraine was talking a mile a minute without looking up, "Bill, these projections that you worked out with Tess are excellent, but they focus on moderate sales figures. Where are the figures that you guys had that mirrored the sales from the previous edition of the game? I think those figures are more encouraging for the investors and since we have a rep from BHI coming in today, I'd like to be as positive..."

Lorraine looked up at that point and saw William's worried expression and then noticed that Kateri and Angela were standing in the doorway with equally worried faces.

"Bill?" She asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

William was still searching for the correct words to explain this ridiculous situation to his boss.

When he said nothing, Lorraine looked to the doorway. "Kat? Is there something I can help you with?"

Kateri found herself in the same situation as William, unable to find her voice.

"Well?" Lorraine was in a rush to get back to her prep for the meeting.

"Take off your coat, Willy," Angela finally said.

William sighed and unzipped the coat, pulling it from his shoulders.

"Oh, shit!" Tess laughed as she covered her mouth. "Bill! What the hell?"

Lorraine just stared, slack jawed, for at least twenty seconds, then sat back in her chair. "What, exactly is going on, Bill? Is this a joke of some kind? Because if it is than you picked a hell of day to suddenly develop a sense of humor."

William gave them a synopsis of the events of the previous evening.

Kateri took over, "We're calling the manufacturer at nine to find out how to get them off. Hopefully, we'll have them off in plenty of time for the meeting."

"And if you don't?" Lorraine seemed more angry than Kateri had expected.

"Well... we were thinking that, maybe, Bill could participate remotely on Zoom."

Lorraine tossed the papers she was holding onto the conference table and shook her head. "I don't like that idea. There's always a delay and too much distance between the person asking the question and the person on Zoom. If one of the investors, especially the Bunker Hill rep, asks a question, I'd rather that you were in the room so that you can look them in the eye and give them an honest answer that they feel comfortable with." She glanced at Angela. "What about you, Angie? Are you capable of answering questions at the meeting?"

Angela went pale as she looked around the room. "Oh, no, ma'm, I don't think I am. Not yet. I'm sorry."

Lorraine rubbed her forehead and looked at the table. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph," she muttered. "I don't believe this."

"Whatever we do," Tess said, seemingly still amused by William's predicament, "we need to get Bill a bra, because it's not cold in here, but Bill's nipples are feeling a chill."

"Shut up, Tess and let me think." Lorraine said as she sighed.

Tess seemed to be in no way offended by Lorraine's harsh words and went right on staring at William and shaking her head.

With more sighs and head shakes, Lorraine went into business mode and looked for a solution. "Ok, I want you in the room, that's a given, but I don't want you there looking like that. No offense, Bill, but you look ridiculous. Like a guy with boobs. That would be too distracting. So - if we CAN get the boobs off, then we're good and it's business as usual."

"Yes," Bill said, hopefully.

"And if not?" Lorraine looked at Tess. "Ideas?"

"Well..." Tess looked at William and considered things. "We could say that Bill is transitioning. You know, like he'd been on hormones and got great results quicker than expected. Chances are, the next time that BHI sent a rep, it wouldn't be the same person and by then Bill would be flat chested again."

Lorraine shook her head in disgust. "So, what, he just grew breasts over night and came to an important meeting dressed like that?"

"Maybe they won't even ask," Kateri offered. "I mean, it's not that unusual to see someone who really is transitioning nowadays, right? And it'd be rude to ask... right?"

"They'll ask," Lorraine interrupted. "Bunker Hill doesn't like the toys we have in The Pit, for crying out loud. If they see Bill looking like that, they will definitely ask about it. They are a bunch of old money assholes who will have very firm, very old fashioned opinions about sexual identity, but we can't afford to have them pull their money out of Firefly."

They were quiet for a moment, until Angela spoke with a lot of uncertainty. "He could... or... we could get him..."

"Just say it, Angie," Lorraine instructed.

"A dress..." she said to silence. "We could, you know, dress him up like, well, us, and he could just be, well... just another girl who works here."

Lorraine looked at Angela, then at William and the at Tess. "Well? You're the fashion maven. Could he pass as a women?"

Tess looked at William and considered his size, body shape and face. "It's possible, I guess."

"You're not seriously considering..." William started to protest, but Lorraine held up her hand.

"Bill, according to your story, you're planning on coming to work as a woman tomorrow, anyway, and this is a pretty tenuous position that you put us in, so I don't really want to hear about it. Even if you come across as boyish and you're dressed in a dress or suit and wearing makeup, then they'll just assume that you're a boyish girl, and honestly, I don't think that it would take much to make you pretty." Suddenly, she raised her voice and shouted, "Raquel!"

Seconds later, the girl was in the conference room. "Yes, Lorraine?"

"Raquel, call down to the salon on the first floor and see if Dhaveed is available. If he is, connect him to the phone in here."

"Yes, ma'm" the girl smiled and hurried away.

Kateri spoke when Raquel was gone. "Look, Lorraine, I'm not sure that this is a great idea..."

"Then let's hope that you get those things off of him," Lorraine said without emotion as the phone rang and she picked up the receiver. "Hello?... Ahh, Dhaveed, thank you for taking my call. We may have an emergency here... No, no, not me... See, well, long story short, one of my male employees finds himself in an odd position and I may need for you to do something with his hair and makeup... Yes, that's the point. I'd want him to pass as a woman... No, he's actually rather tiny..." She glanced at her watch. "We'll know in ten minutes or so, but he'd have to be ready to go for a meeting at eleven thirty. I'd like him ready earlier than that if possible... Dhaveed, you are an angel, my dear! Yes, yes, thank you. I'll let you know either way."

She hung up the phone and looked around the room. "Dhaveed is on standby and he is the best stylist I know. Now," she looked at her watch again, "I believe it is nine o'clock. Give me the number. I'll make the call the manufacturer and put it speaker so you can hear."

Kateri handed Lorraine a piece of paper with the number written on it. The numbers were punched and the phone rang several times before someone picked it up.

"Good morning. Goodman Industrial Adhesives. How may I direct your call?"

"Yes, good morning. I need some information regarding one of your adhesives. One of my employees used the product and now has a... foreign substance stuck to his skin and we need to know how to remove it."

"Oh, dear," the person on the other end sounded concerned. "Please hang on for Mister Randolph."

A little light classical music played before someone picked up. "Good morning. This is Frank Randolph. How can I assist you?"

"Good morning, Frank. My name is Lorraine and we're having a problem here. One of my employees used your permanent adhesive last night and accidentally attached something to his skin. How can we get that off of him."

The man grunted before he spoke. "Well, Lorraine, that depends on the material he bonded to himself and where on his body the item is attached."

"Well," Lorraine shook her head as she realized she'd have to explain. "You see, my employee was trying on a costume that would require him to wear artificial breasts, and..."

"So there are two silicone breasts on his chest, then, right," Frank cut to the chase.

"That is correct."

"Honest to God," the man said with disgust. "Ok, Lorraine, so you'll need to use our medium solvent. Once silicone is attached, it's difficult to get off. Our gentle solvent will get the product off of your fingers if you just have a residue, but it won't touch something like this, and our maximum strength solvent will burn his skin, so take your time and keep working the solvent under the breasts. It'll take a few hours, but it'll come off."

"Thank you, Frank. And can we pick that up at Home Depot, then?"

Suddenly, Frank seemed confused. "Well... no, of course not. You need a chemical use permit to use any of our products. Doesn't your business have one?"

"No, Frank. We make video games."

"Where did the original can of adhesive come from, then?"

When Lorraine could not answer that, Angela leaned forward and spoke. "Umm, I'm not sure where the can originally came from, but we used it in a public service project when I was in high school. It just ended up in my mother's closet."

"God Almighty," Frank was suddenly very irritated. "Look, Lorraine, you are going to have to find a company that uses our products, then hope that they are willing to help your guy out. This is a gross misuse of our product and use by an unlicensed person is very problematic."

Lorraine looked at the three of them with a bit of disgust. "I understand, Frank, and I do apologize. How can I find a nearby company that might be able to assist us?"

"According to my phone, you're calling from the 508 area code. That's Massachusetts, right? I'll have my assistant fax you a copy of our customers in your area. Look for it this afternoon."

"Fax it? Couldn't you just email it to me now?"

"Sorry," Frank said. "Emails aren't secure enough. Just give your fax number and I'll get there in a few hours."

Lorraine gave him their fax number, thanked him and hung up. "Raquel!" The girl was there in seconds. "Call Dhaveed and tell him you'll be down there in five minutes with Bill." Then she turned and looked at Angela. "Do you know Bill's sizes?"

"Umm, yeah, I do. I got them when I went with Kat to get his costume for last week."

"Good," she turned to Tess. "You take Angie over to the mall on Rt 20. There's a Talbot's, a J Crew, a Nordstrom's... you should be able to find everything you need there. And Tess - make sure he looks at least as good as a woman as he does as a man. Now, go."

Everyone started to go, including Kateri, but Lorraine stopped her. "Kat, I need you here."

"Oh," Kateri looked at William who was following Raquel out the door. "I was going to go downstairs with Billy."

"I need you to set up the meeting with me. That's usually Raquel's job, but obviously, she's otherwise engaged."

"But, I... Billy's going to be pretty confused by what they're taking about down there. He's never been to a salon before."

"You know what they say, Kat - What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. He'll be fine. Besides, you and I need to talk. First thing, though, let's get the troops together and explain all of this to them. We don't want someone seeing Bill and saying something stupid."
 

"Oh, well this is a nice surprise!" Dhaveed said as he spread an apron across William. "When Lorraine said that she was sending down a man, I was worried. You're still a boy, though. How old are you, sweetie?"

"Twenty four," William replied, petrified of what was going to happen.

"Really," Dhaveed was a very flamboyant man of middle eastern heritage who was obviously wearing makeup and had beautifully sculpted his eyebrows. William had never really encountered a man who took such pains to look good. "I'd have guessed much younger, but that's not why we're here, right? So, we need to send you back upstairs looking like a well groomed female executive, right? Well, you are already cute as a button, so this will be easy. Luckily, you have enough hair to work with. Let's get that hair washed and colored, then we'll figure out the rest."

"Colored?" William asked, even more scared than before. "What color?"

Dhaveed laughed. "Don't worry, honey, nothing drastic. I'm picturing you with something cute and sassy. I think we'll just be lightening you up a bit and adding a few gold highlights, maybe a little red, too. Trust me, girl, you will love it. There's a reason that people say I'm the best."
 

"Hi, Tess!" The saleswoman welcomed them into the large department store's women's department. "It's nine thirty on a work day. Pretty unusual time to see you out shopping."

"It's an emergency, Sue," Tess replied. "This is Angie and we're looking to get a nice, simple suit for a colleague of ours. Long story short, she's a small, thin girl with almost no hips or butt and we need her looking great for a meeting at 11:30. She need everything - Suit, top, shoes, stocking, bra, panties - everything."

"Oh, so the clock's ticking. Follow me. Pants or skirt?"

"She'd prefer pants," Angela said.

"But there's less to worry about with a skirt," Tess said. "Let's go with a skirt, Sue."

"Great, what size?"

Angela ran down the list of sizes she knew. "I know she has a C cup breast, but I'm not sure of her band size."

"That's ok," Sue said. "I can make an educated guess with what you've given me. I take it this girl is fairly short, too, right? So, let's start in petites and see what we have. What does she do at your office?"

"She's an accountant." Tess said, looking at the multitude of selections.

"An accountant," the saleswoman mused. "So nothing garish. Something sensible that says 'trustworthy.' Something dark, maybe. Black or navy blue. Ooh, look at this. It's royal blue but very classy. Nice lapels with a pretty stitching, one button front, hip length hem on the jacket and the pencil skirt comes to just above the knee. We have the skirt in a straight pencil style or a tight, hobble style with a slit in the front. The skirt and jacket are lined in a gold silk and breathe really well. I have the same suit in charcoal and it's one of my favorites."

"Wow, that's perfect, Sue. Don't you think, Angie?" Tess touched the expensive material.

'It's beautiful," Angela agreed.

"You're a miracle worker, Sue. How about a top?"

"Well," Sue considered the suit for a moment. "You say she's a C cup, so she's a little girl with a lot going on. Let's stay away from anything too form fitting." She walked along a row of blouses, the stopped and grabbed something. "This would be perfect. A nice, loose fitting shell. It's sleeveless and has this lovely little key hole opening in the front with a little pearl button in the center of the neck. Perfect, right?"

The soft yellow top was perfect. It would be modest, but kind of sexy on William's contoured chest. It was very, very sheer, but had a silk camisole that was designed to go with it.

"I love it. Do you think that little pearl button is enough decoration or should we get her a necklace?" Tess asked, shocking Angela with her rapid fire approach to getting what was needed.

"When we go to shoes, we'll stop in jewelry. Something simple around the neck might be nice, but if she has pearls to wear as earrings, that would work."

Tess took out her phone and dialed as Sue said, "Let's look at lingerie. We'll get her a nice bra and panty set and when I wear a suit like this, I prefer a nice, comfortable, full length slip under it. Even though the dress has a lining, it just kind of completes the look and feel of the suit."
 

"Hello?" Raquel said into her phone. "Ok. Ok. Ok, Tess. Yes, I'll tell him." She disconnected the call.

"Tell me what?" William asked.

"Not you," Raquel looked to the hairdresser. "Dhaveed, we have an issue. Bill will be wearing a skirt suit and his top will be sleeveless. Can you do his legs and pits?"

"No problem at all," Dhaveed grinned. "He looked at William. Once I get the color in, I'll just use some Nair on your arms, legs and pits. No big deal, honey. Trust me, you'll like it."

"I doubt it," William muttered under his breath.

"Ellie!" Dhaveed called across the salon and a young woman came running. "Look at his fingers, baby. Terrible, right? He's going to need some nails. Nothing long, maybe just past the fingers. A deep color that he can wear everyday to work in an office. A deep red, maybe. We'll do his toes, too, just in case they get him open toed shoes."

"What are we doing here," Ellie asked in a nonjudgmental tone. "Drag queen? Costume party? What?"

"No, he's going full 'girl next door' for a few days. I'll fill you in later. Make sure he can still use his fingers though. I'll have his hair color ready in five minutes, then you can work on him while the color sets."
 

"A folder at every seat, an empty glass for water and a pen above the folder and make sure that each pen works and that our logo is well printed on it. Every now and then there's a smudge from the printers." Lorraine was pointing at each item and giving Kateri very specific instructions.

Kateri shook her head in amazement. She was an artist, for crying out loud, and a damned good one. Now, she was expected to do Raquel's job. To be a receptionist. "Look, Lorraine, I'm willing to help out and all, but I'm an artist, not a receptionist and..."

"You're an artist in a department of fourteen artists, Kat, and you're not even my best artist, and you made my accountant, who is a department of ONE, look like a side show exhibit on a day when I need him to shine. So, would this artist like to do the job of a receptionist for a few hours or would this artist like to become the assistant to the receptionist on a full time basis?"

Kat's stomach became a big knot all of a sudden. "Yeah, I get that, Lorraine, and I apologize, but why don't I go down stairs with Billy and send Raquel back up. She knows how to do all of this."

Lorraine looked at her employee and shook her head. "Look, Kat, I have no problem with employees dating, but it doesn't take a genius to see that you are turned on by getting Bill into women's clothing. That suit and those shoes he wore last week? Come on, you got into that, didn't you? And now, you're dressing him up as woman for Friday? This is a game to you Kat. It's a game of 'How Girly Can I Make My Boyfriend,' and I need that game to stay at home unless we're doing a costume day. Bill is getting a make over in order to make him presentable, not to get you excited. Understood? So let Dhaveed do whatever he needs to do and you can pretend that Bill is your girlfriend afterwards."

Kat was horrified and embarrassed by what Lorraine had said - mostly because a lot of it was true. She tried to explain that Lorraine was wrong, but Lorraine just waved her off. "Honestly, Kat, what you two do is between you two and one hundred percent cool with me, as long as it stays out of the office, but right now... Get the conference room ready or pack up your desk, because I have too much at stake today to have any more conversations about this."

Kateri nodded and headed towards the conference room as quickly as she could.
 

"Thanks, Tess," Raquel said as she disconnected the call and looked at Dhaveed. "A royal blue skirt and jacket and a yellow shell. The shell has a teardrop opening at the neckline with a little pearl button."

"Perfect," Dhaveed smiled. "That will help us coordinate his makeup better. Now, that pearl button... I think we can tie that in, too."

"How?" Raquel asked.

Dhaveed winked. "You'll see."
 

"A simple, classic, black pump goes with everything," Sue said, holding the shoe as if she was a spokesmodel. "Since she's a little girl, you might want to consider a taller heel."

"I wouldn't go too high," Angela said. "She doesn't have a lot of experience with high heels."

"These are beautifully made," Sue pointed out. "They are very easy on the feet and walking in them is a breeze."

Tess looked at the shoe. "I like them, but Angie's right. Let's stick to a simple two inch heel."

"I think that's everything," Angela said, looking at the clothing that Sue had assembled for them.

"I think you're right," Tess agreed. "Can you just charge this to Firefly, Sue?"

"You got it," the saleswoman smiled. "Let me bag these and you can be on your way." She walked away.

"That was fun," Tess smiled. "I've never shopped for a guy before at all and I certainly never shopped got a skirt suit for a guy. He's going to look adorable in this, Angie."

"I really hope this works, Tess. Willy is really sensitive about being embarrassed. He has to look good or we're never going to get him into that conference room."

"Angie, I know Dhaveed and if he says that Bill is going to look great, then he's going to look great."
 

"Ok, Kat, the room looks great. You've done a great job setting it up."

"Thank you, Lorraine," Kateri pushed her hair back from her face and tried to appreciate all the work that she'd done, hauling materials and cases of water and pastries into the conference room. "I'll just go back to my desk, then."

Lorraine stopped her. "Not just yet, Kat. I need you to cover reception until Raquel gets back."

If she didn't have a mortgage and a car payment, that would have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Kateri. But she did have those payments and lots more, so she just nodded and made to head to reception.

"Kat," Lorraine stopped her. "Thank you. You did very good work here and Raquel should be back up pretty soon. I apologize if I was harsh earlier, but... well, to tell you the truth, you and Bill really ticked me off this morning."

Kateri nodded. "Yeah. I figured that out. Look, Lorraine, I love my job, but it is only a job and I don't ever want to have to discuss whatever Bill and I do outside of this office again. That's just between me and him."

Lorraine nodded. "Let's make a deal. If you never bring Bill into work with fake boobs glued to his chest again, then I will never ask you about your personal life again. Does that sound fair?"

Kateri smirked and nodded. "Deal. I'll be in reception if you need me."
 

"Where is he?" Angela asked Dhaveed as she and Tess entered the salon carrying everything they'd purchased.

"In the back room," Dhaveed smiled, devilishly. "I think that our new baby girl got a little overwhelmed when she saw herself. I brought her outback before she lost control out here."

Angela looked towards the door to the back room. "Oh... well... thank you, Dhaveed. I guess I should go get him dressed." She added the bag that Tess was carrying to her pile and headed in that direction, but Dhaveed stopped her with a question.

"Are you the sister?"

Angela stopped and nodded.

"Well, sweetie, I should warn you... there is no 'he' back there. I took all of the 'he' out of that little girl and I'm not sure that it's ever coming back. Be gentle."

The look of confusion that passed over Angela's face made Dhaveed smile. "Just go back there, honey. You'll see what I mean."

The back room was a combination break room, storeroom, kitchenette with a small lavatory attached. Probably due to the fact the business specialized in creating beauty, an inordinate about of wall space in the back room was dedicated to a large, floor to ceiling mirror so that employees could check their appearance before heading out into the salon.

"Oh... excuse me. I was looking for..." Andrea said, as she entered the back room and found a small woman with golden blonde hair and red highlights, cut into an adorable little pixieish hairdo with asymmetrical bangs, spiked shaped 'sideburns' hanging near her ears, each of which was adorned with a small, faux pearl, pierced earring, and an asymmetrical undercut in the rear of the woman's hair gave the impression that this was a perfectly made doll rather than an actual woman. The woman's well sculpted, not overly thin, eyebrows had been shaded to match her hair and her makeup was... extraordinary. Plump, deep red, wet, velvety lips, plump, shaded cheeks, youthful, wide eyes with delicate lashes and just enough color on her eyelids to make anyone, man or woman, take note.

In short, she was a beautiful jewel of woman.

A couple of things were odd about her, though. First was that she was wearing a brown polo shirt with the Firefly logo on her, impressive, left breast. Second was that she was not wearing any pants or a skirt, but rather a pair of men's, white BVD briefs.

As Angela processed all of these things, she also noticed that the woman was crying.

And, something about her looked familiar.

"Willy?" She said, when she finally found her voice. "Willy? Is that you?"

The woman nodded, and then shook. It was a bit of a quiver at first, but then, as she tried to speak, the quiver grew to full blown shaking. She nodded, then gasped through her tears, "Yeah. Yeah, it's me. Or... it was me. Look at me, Angie. I'm gone. I'm not William any more. I'm... I'm not sure who or what I am, but..."

Finally able to move, Angela laid down her packages and ran to hold her brother. As he cried into her shoulder, she tried to calm him "It's ok, Willy. It's just some makeup and hair dye. Your hair will grow out. Don't worry. It'll be ok. Just calm down so we can get you dressed and let's just get through today. Come on, now, Willy. Breathe. Just breathe."

William took deep breaths and tried to calm down. "I can't go up there, Angie. They'll all laugh. I'll be humiliated. Angie, I can't do this."

"Hey, hey, hey, come on, now." Angela soothed. "Willy, everyone at Firefly knows that you had to do this and that you are doing it for them. It's true, Willy. Tess talked to Lorraine and Lorraine told everyone that you needed to do this in order to keep the investors from pulling out. No one will laugh, Willy. Everyone will be very grateful. I promise."

It took a moment, but eventually, William lifted his head from his sister's shoulders and took a breath. "Really? You don't think they'll laugh at me?"

"No, Willy, no, they won't. Everyone understands and everyone is behind you. Honest."

He stepped away from his sister and thought for a moment, catching his reflection in the mirror again. "This is crazy." He muttered.

"But necessary," Angela said, supportively. "Just for today, Willy."

"That's not what I mean," William shook his head. "Look at me. I look ten times better like this than I ever did before. I thought I was a man, but I look better as a woman. I'm not even sure who I am, anymore."

"Hey!" Angela said with more force than he expected. "Look at that girl in the mirror. You know who that is. That girl is my older brother William and he is the smartest man I know. And right now, he's the prettiest girl in my family - me included." Then her voice softened a bit, "Although we do look a lot alike when you wear makeup. Hmm. Maybe I should have Dhaveed do my hair and makeup just like yours."

William let out one tired laugh and cracked just a small smile. "Thanks, Ang. What time is it?"

"Five to eleven."

"I guess I should get dressed, then."

"Atta girl!" Angela smiled and kissed his cheek. "Come on. I'll help you."
 
 
To Be Continued...

He stepped away from his sister and thought for a moment, catching his reflection in the mirror again. "This is crazy," he muttered.

"But necessary," Angela said, supportively. "Just for today, Willy."

"That's not what I mean," William shook his head. "Look at me. I look ten times better like this than I ever did before. I thought I was a man, but I look better as a woman. I'm not even sure who I am, anymore."

"Hey!" Angela said with more force than he expected. "Look at that girl in the mirror. You know who that is. That girl is my older brother Willy and he is the smartest man I know. And right now, he's the prettiest girl in my family – me included," Then her voice softened a bit, "Although we do look a lot alike when you wear makeup. Hmm. Maybe I should have Dhaveed do my hair and makeup just like yours."

William let out one tired laugh and cracked just a small smile. "Thanks, Ang. What time is it?"

"Five to eleven."

"I guess I should get dressed, then."

"Atta girl!" Angela smiled and kissed his cheek. "Come on. I’ll help you."
 

The silky panties fit perfectly. William tucked as best he could because the skirt was going to be a narrow fit and he wanted to be sure that nothing showed. The bra matched the panties and provided a welcome feeling of support to the breasts that had been tugging on William’s chest all day. The elastic top silk stockings that they’d bought him felt very erotic on William’s denuded legs. The slip was a gloriously smooth item that made William feel absolutely lovely. The skirt was a very alien garment, with its rear clasp and zipper, but the silk lining added to the slip’s feeling of elegance. The camisole and shell felt lovely on his shoulders, but hung oddly loose from his breasts, but the silky material brushed against the material of the slip when he moved and that was exotic, too. He needed help with the tiny clasp on the necklace, but the very light weight chain with the tiny, yellow topaz stone at the end was also a new and odd feeling. Finally, the jacket with its silk lining felt just as elegant and exciting as the rest of the clothing.

"I’ve never worn anything that felt like this before," William said, running his hands along the soft material of his new skirt and feeling the layers of silkiness below. "It’s kind of weird."

"Good weird?" her sister asked.

He shrugged. "Umm... nice... weird, I guess. They feel really nice."

"Now that you’re dressed, are you ready to see yourself in the mirror, again?" Angela asked.

William nodded, then moved to the floor to ceiling mirror. "Whoa," he whispered. "This is too much for me, Angie. Too much. I can’t believe this. I don’t look anything like a guy."

Angela smiled and put her arm around his shoulders. "Willy, you’re just feeling exactly the same way that every girl feels the first time that she gets dressed up like a grown up. It’s a rush, isn’t it?" she kissed his newly coiffed hair and looked at the two of them in the mirror. "Now, look at how great you look, Willy. As far as anyone upstairs is concerned, you’ll just be a cute girl who happens to be a brilliant accountant. I’ll be sitting right next to you the whole time, so you’ll never be alone. Ok?"

William nodded and forced a smile. "Ok. Thanks, Angie."

Dhaveed took a moment to fix what damage William had done to his eyes by crying, and then the four of them, Angela, Tess, Raquel and William, headed to the elevator to go upstairs.

"We’ll be there in less than two minutes," Tess said into her phone as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor. "Honest to God, Lorraine, you won’t believe it. He’s absolutely perfect. Ok. The elevator is here. We’ll be right up," They all stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. "Lorraine says that no investors have arrived yet, so we should have a few minutes to get our paperwork together and still get to the conference room with some time to spare."

William inhaled and let it out slowly as he prepped himself. "Ok," he took hold of the railing at the rear of the elevator car and shook his head. "This has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever done."

"You’ll be fine, Willy. No one will see anything but a cute woman," Angela smiled. She was actually pretty sure that William could go pretty much anywhere looking like he did and no one would suspect a thing.

Tess turned to the back of the car and glanced at William with an encouraging smile. She turned back to the front of the car, then back to William and this time she outright stared at him as if seeing how he looked for the first time. "You really do look great, Bill. Better than I could have imagined. I know that this is a really messed up day for you, but... you’re gonna do great. You know the numbers backwards and forwards. Just relax and you’ll knock ‘Em dead."

"She’s right," Raquel said as the bell rang to indicate that they’d reached the fifth floor. "You look really, really pretty, Bill."

"Show time." Tess bounced on the balls of her feet as the doors opened.
 

After Tess called her from the lobby, Lorraine hurried to the reception area to meet the elevator. Her heart had been beating quickly since she’d first seen William with those ludicrous breasts attached to his chest earlier that morning. Today’s meeting needed to go well and in order for that to happen, she needed William in the conference room to discuss the numbers with the investors. All this foolishness of dressing William like a woman had to work, it just had to, but... she had her doubts. Yes, he was small and slender, and yes, his voice wasn’t particularly masculine, and yes, he had a ‘cute,’ rather than ‘handsome,’ face, BUT there was more to being a woman than just clothes and makeup. He’d have to really act like a woman. Could he? She had no idea.

"They’re on their way up, Kat," Lorraine said as she entered the reception area. "Come on. Let’s go meet them in the lobby."

Kateri was anxious to see how her boyfriend looked after his makeover, but she was also relieved to be giving up her post at the reception desk. She fell in step beside her boss and said, "Do you think this will work?"

"I hope the hell it does." Lorraine shook her head and looked as if she’d tasted something sour. She glanced at Kateri. "I’ve been walking around the office today looking at everyone and thinking ‘She looks like a woman, but would she look like a man if she wore a suit?’ and wondering if it’s even possible to just throw a guy into a woman’s suit and expect him to actually look like a woman. You, Tess and I are probably the tallest women in the office and I’m pretty sure that none of us would fool anyone if we tried to put on a suit and pretend to be guys."

"I wouldn’t know where to start," Kateri laughed nervously, "but Billy is... different."

"Are you telling me that your boyfriend is a closet sissy?" Lorraine asked with no sense of trying to be funny.

Kateri smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no. Not at all. Billy is... sensitive, but not like that. I’ve noticed that, when he enters a room, he always examines everyone. At first I couldn’t figure out why, but eventually I did. He’s looking to see if he’s the smallest adult in the room, and frequently he is."

"That bothers him?" Lorraine seemed surprised. "I’d have thought he’d be used to that by now."

"I don’t think a guy ever gets used to that. No guy wants to be the shortest, or the fattest, or the baldest guy in the room. Unless they are the tallest or the best looking, they just want to blend in."

"Huh." None of this had ever really occurred to Lorraine.

The bell rang, announcing the arrival of the elevator. "Here we go," Lorraine said, preparing herself for the worst. "Jesus, this had better work."

The doors open to reveal three women, Tess, Angela and Raquel, standing side by side. "Well?" Lorraine asked, impatiently. "Where is he?"

"He?" Tess said, pretending to be confused. "He who?"

"Don’t be cute, Tess. The clock is ticking and I’m about to have a heart attack. Where is Bill?"

"Oh, BILL?" Tess teased some more. "Well, there’s no BILL here, but let me introduce you the new girl in Accounting – Billie."

With that, the three women stepped out of the elevator to reveal William to his boss and girlfriend.

"Holy shit," Kateri let out with all the control of a Tourette’s patient. Her hand flew to her mouth both to cover her astounded smile and to keep herself from swearing in front of her boss again.

"I agree," Lorraine stared in disbelief. "Holy shit."

Kateri couldn’t contain it any more. "HOLY SHIT, BILL... BILLIE...YOU LOOK... HOLY SHIT, BABY!!! HOLY SHIT!!! She ran into the car and hugged him tightly. "Oh, my God, you look amazing!!! I’m so proud of you!!!"

The doors began to close, causing Kateri to grunt out an, "Oops," and she guided William out of the car.

"Let me take a look at you," Lorraine said, placing a hand on each of William’s shoulders. "I... I am amazed, Bill. You look... just... well, you look better put together than almost any other woman in the office," she made a show of dramatically placing her hands on her heart. "Oh, I can breathe again. Thank you for doing this, Bill."

Bill gave her a sad smile and a shrug. "I just hope it works."

"Looking at you right now, Bill, and I think it will." Lorraine looked at everyone, smiled broadly and let out a loud ‘whew.’ "Come on. Let’s call the troops together and let them meet the new girl."

"Umm," Kateri interrupted. "Lorraine. Maybe it would be best if you gathered them before Bill is in there. Remember what we were just talking about? Having them all assembled first, might make things easier."

"Oh... sure... good idea, Kat." She looked at the others. "Come on. Let’s give Kat and Billie a moment while we get everyone together," Then she looked at Kateri. "One minute, ok? Tic tock. Remember?"

The others walked away leaving William and Kateri staring at each other.

"Well?" William asked. "Do I look ok?"

"Oh, baby, baby, baby," Kateri shook her head, "you are so far beyond ok it’s not even funny. I could eat you up, right here and now."

"Yeah?" William blushed.

"Are you ok? Dressed like that, I mean?"

He shrugged. "The clothes aren’t bad. Kinda nice, actually. It was really the hair and makeup that freaked me out."

"I get that, babe. First time looking pretty and all."

He shook his head. "That’s only part of it. It just made me feel... it’s hard to describe. Like I was..."

"Guys, guys," Raquel came hurrying back into the reception area. "Lorraine has everyone assembled and she says you need to come now, before anyone else gets here."

Kateri nodded, then touched William’s soft cheek. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "We’ll sit down and have a long talk later. Ok?"

William nodded. Talking would be good. He had a lot of feelings to sort out.

"Guys," Raquel encouraged. "Please. We need to get this done."

Kateri smiled and took William’s small hand in hers, laced her fingers through his, kissed the back of it, admiring his nails, and said, "You’re on, sweetie. Big smile."

There was some quiet chatter going on in a the Pit. "Ok, here they are, now," Lorraine said, as Kateri and William entered. "As you know, we are in a very difficult situation, today, and one of our own has stepped up and taken a bullet for the team. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present our newest addition to The Firefly family... Billie, come on over and say hello."

There was an audible gasp from some of the staff. Then there was silence as everyone tried to get their heads around the fact that this pretty, cute, really, little woman was that weird, bookish, little guy in accounting.

William felt a wave of uncomfortable heat pass across him as he held up a hand and waved. "Umm... Hi, everyone."

"Wow!" One of the women artists let out without thinking. Everyone turned to look at her for a moment. The woman smiled at everyone else and said, "What? Are you kidding me? If we put a transformation like that into a game, no one would believe it! Bill... well... Billie... you look great! Congratulations!"

She began applauding. For a few seconds, it was just her clapping, but then everyone joined in. Some hooted and whistled. Their were shouts of "Well, alright!" and "Great job!" and "I can’t believe that’s him."

After the applause had gone on for forty five seconds or more, Lorraine held up her hands and asked for quiet. "Alright, everyone, please quiet down for a moment. Come on, we have a big meeting in just a few minutes. Please listen," The room quieted down and she continued. "Thanks. Now, for the remainder of the day, or at least as long as the investors are here, I need you all on your best behavior. Work the way you always do and feel free to use The Pit, but make sure that you are putting your best foot forward, ok? And as for this young lady," she indicated William, "well... just act as if this is the way that Billie always looks," she put her arm around his shoulders and smiled. "You may recall that, less than a year ago, we were on the brink of bankruptcy before a, very talented, accountant showed up and solved that problem for us. Now, today, that same accountant has stepped up and gone much further than the extra mile to come through for all of us. So, one more time, let’s have a round of applause for Billie, and then... let’s get back to work."

Everyone applauded again, and then headed back to their work. Many employees, all female, stepped forward to tell William how beautiful he looked. They hugged him and touched him. Touched his clothes and hair. Some even offered a supportive kiss on his cheek. It was like nothing William had ever experienced before.

Lorraine looked at Kateri as Kateri watched her boyfriend being congratulated and fawned over by the group of women.

"Kat," Lorraine said, quietly. "I need you to get back to the Art Department and get to work."

Kateri nodded. "In a second. Just let me wish him luck."

"Ok, but make it quick. She needs to get her head in the game."

"He," Kateri corrected her boss.

"Nope," Lorraine shook her head. "I don’t think so."

Kateri looked at her boss for a moment, then back at William. He certainly did not look like a man at the moment. She still found him incredibly attractive – maybe even in a more erotic way than before, but...

"Kat. Now or never. We have work to do," Lorraine roused her from her thoughts.

Kateri nodded, then stepped up to her beautiful, dainty boyfriend and hugged him. "You’re going to do great, babe," she said as she squeezed him a little tighter. "I, ummm... I have to get going. We..." for some reason, she felt a tear forming in her eye, "... we have a final play through for the new game today, so I’ll be tied up all afternoon," she released him and looked at him with a sense of confused longing. Did she long for him because he was the man she loved, or did she long for him because he was a little guy in a skirt. She really didn’t know.

William blinked as he tried to decipher her expression. "Kat? Are you ok?"

She forced a broad, bright smile. "Am I ok? Baby, why would I not be ok? I have the most beautiful boyfriend on the planet. Baby, I’m the happiest girl in the world." She touched his soft cheek again. "Good luck, baby. I’ll see you after work."

She turned and hustled away. As she passed her boss, Lorraine heard Kateri let out a quiet sniffle as she picked up her pace.

Lorraine checked the time on her phone. "Ok, girls," she said to Tess, Angela and William, "it’s eleven fifteen. Go put on your game faces and let’s make a great presentation, ok?"

Angela nodded, then took William’s hand and led him back to his office. "I brought your satchel with me, Willy. You left it at home and I figured you might need your laptop and your notes."

William couldn’t even remember leaving the house that morning, it seemed so long ago. So much had happened since then. Thank God that Angela had thought to bring his bag, though. There was nothing in it that he didn’t know by heart, but it would be good to have it handy if he got stressed or confused.

"Also, I sent mom a picture of you. She couldn’t believe it. She said that I should warn you to stay away from the men in the office."

William just shook his head and laughed. "Typical advice from mom, I guess."

When they entered the office, Angela picked up the very masculine looking briefcase and shook her head. "I’ll carry this for you, Willy. It’s not fancy enough for someone who looks like you do."

William nodded. He didn’t fully understand what she meant, but a part of him did wish that he had something prettier in which to carry his computer.

‘Oh, one more thing," Angela said, turning her back to him and pulling two small bottles out of her own pocketbook. She held them up to show her brother. "Lavender or vanilla?"

William blinked. "Lavender or vanilla what? I don’t get it?"

"Here. Sniff." She held each bottle near his nose and he sampled their scent. "A girl like you would definitely be wearing perfume. I can’t afford something as fancy as a girl like you would wear, but you need a little something. Which do you prefer?"

William sniffed again. "The vanilla, I guess."

Angela smiled. "I would have gone with the lavender, but vanilla’s a nice, fresh smell," she spritzed a little on his wrists and then a little on his neck. Then she smiled down at him. "Smells pretty, right?"

William inhaled. "It does. Thank you."

Angela smiled. "You know, Willy... you are the smartest guy I ever met. When you look at numbers, your whole face changes. It’s like... like you go into a trance or something. Some people are great painters, or dancers or musicians, but you... you’re like an artist with numbers."

William looked up at her, a bit confused by her words. He loved his sister and knew she loved him, but this was... odd. "Angie... I’m just good at my job."

Angela smiled. "Yeah. That’s my point. You’ve been through a lot today, but don’t let it get in your head. Remember that no one knows how to do your job better than you. Ok? When they ask you any questions, just be yourself and answer the questions. Don’t be nervous. Be you, ok?"

Now he got it. She was giving him a pep talk. That was kind of sweet. He smiled. "Thanks, Angie."

"Hey, girls," Tess said from the doorway, "it’s time. Ready?"

"All set," William nodded and they exited the office, William first, with Angela following, carrying his bag.

"Do I smell vanilla perfume?" Tess smiled, looking at William.

"Just a little." He smiled back. "Angie’s idea."

"It suits you." Tess smiled at him and then at Angela. "It must be nice to suddenly have a sister, Angie."

"It’s the best," Angela said. "She’s the best."
 

They were the first three into the conference room. Angela told them both to sit and she’d grab coffee for all of them. William and Tess moved to the far end of the table, near the presentation screen. Tess sat first, followed by William.

"Oh, no, Billie, not like that." Tess laughed and stood again. "Stand up," William did. "Now, watch," she spoke as she demonstrated, "when you sit, you need to do so slowly, smoothing everything under you as go. Then, sit no further than halfway back in the seat, cross your legs at the knee, keep your back straight and rest your hands on the table, or on your knees. To be a well poised woman, pretend there is a marionette’s string running up your spine and coming out here, at the crown of your head. Your head is light and animated, your neck and back are straight and upright and your shoulders arms and hands flow delicately from your spine. Now, you do it."

This all seemed awfully involved just for the act of sitting, but Tess was one of the most fashionably beautiful and elegant women William had ever seen, so maybe she knew what she was talking about. So, William took it seriously and did as she instructed. He expected it to feel silly, but it didn’t. It felt appropriate for the way he was dressed. All of his clothing seemed to ride effortlessly along the silken slip and felt like they settled perfectly when he sat as regally as his tutor had.

"Excellent!" Tess proclaimed and squeezed his wrist approvingly.

"Well, done, Willy," Angela complimented as well, as she placed two mugs of coffee on the conference table and one on a side table near the chair behind William where she would be sitting. As Angela sat, she spoke to Tess. "It sounds as if you’ve given that speech before."

"Every girl in my department has heard that speech at least once," she laughed. "My parents sent me to a pretty snotty boarding school when I was in high school. Every Tuesday night was ‘Deportment Class For Proper Young Ladies.’ If I am ever invited to dinner at Downton Abbey, I will fit right in," Tess looked down the hallway and said, "Looks like most of them are here. Here comes Lorraine and there’s a parade of people behind her."

William took a deep breath and hoped that he might be able to get through the meeting without having to say much. Angela patted his shoulder and whispered, "You’ll do great."

A group of fifteen investors, some with an assistant accompanying them, entered the conference room. Many of them seemed to know each other and there was a lot of chatting and polite laughter. Pictures of children and grandchildren were shared as coffee was poured and pastries were plated.

"Are we all ready?" Lorraine whispered to Tess and William, who both confirmed that they were all set to start.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lorraine called in a loud voice. "If we could take our seats, we’d like to get things started. Just take a seat anywhere."

Everyone finished their conversations and headed to their seats. The last two to sit were an older woman in a very lovely pantsuit and a tall, handsome, thirty-five-ish-maybe-forty-ish man with impeccably coiffed dark hair and a goatee. "Here, Jan," the man flashed a confident, brilliant white smile as he pulled a chair for the woman, "take this seat. You’ll see better. I’ll sit down front."

The woman thanked the man and took the seat. He helped her settle close to the table, then moved forward and pulled out the seat next to William.

"Well, look at this," the man said in a quiet, flirtatious voice as he sat and pulled in his own chair, "I’m the last one seated and I still got to sit next to the prettiest girl in the room."

William looked beyond the man to see who was sitting there and saw another prosperous looking man. Then he glanced at the man who was speaking and realized that the remark had been aimed at William. William smiled politely and was surprised to feel very flattered by the remark.

Lorraine began speaking. "Welcome, everyone. It is very nice to have you here today so that we can all share the success that your support of Firefly has achieved. We are about to release our seventh game and, judging by the success of our previous six, we expect that..."

William was focusing on her speech when he felt the man next to him lean forward and whisper, "Shane Harris," and then a hand appeared in William’s field of vision.

Confused, William looked at the hand, then at the man’s face and whispered back, "I’m sorry, what?"

"Shane Harris," the man whispered. "And you are?"

William was surprised by the man’s lack of attention to the matter at hand. "Oh, sorry... Billie. I’m Billie." He turned his attention back to Lorraine.

"Is that vanilla I smell," the man continued without concern for Lorraine’s presentation.

William was really thrown off of his game by the question. He had no idea why the man was talking to him, but he did find the attention oddly flattering. He nodded and smiled a smile that, unintentionally, said, ‘how nice of you to ask.’ "Yes, it is." Again, he turned towards Lorraine.

"Who are you with?" Shane Harris persisted, still in a whisper.

William turned and looked at him again. "I’m sorry?"

"Who are you with?" he asked again. "What firm do you represent?"

"Oh." William finally understood. "I work here, at Firefly. I’m the accountant."

"THE accountant?" Shane chuckled quietly. "Not AN accountant, but THE accountant. How did someone so young and so pretty and someone who smells so good become THE accountant at a company like this?"

Baffled as to how to answer that question, William was relieved when Angela leaned forward with some papers in her hand and pointed to a column of figures. William excused himself and to look at the paperwork.

"What are you doing?" Angela whispered, pretending to ask about the numbers. "That guy is flirting with you. Focus on the meeting, Willy, and stop flirting back. That’s not why you went through all of this."

William knew that he needed to keep focused, but the idea that he had been flirting was absurd. "I wasn’t flirting, Angie. I was just being polite."

"Oh, yeah. Being polite. Smiling, blushing, giggling like a little girl... you were flirting whether you knew it or not. Remember, little sister, you’re a girl now and that makes you fair game for players like him. Maybe you were just being friendly, but he’s wondering what kind of panties you’re wearing. Now, ignore him, turn your chair, just a little bit towards Tess’ so that he thinks you’re working, pay attention to the meeting and do what you came to do."

His sister – his younger sister who was here as his intern – was actually chastising him right here in front of everyone. He couldn’t believe it. She was right though. He had a job to do. So, he shifted his chair and focused on the meeting. Within a few minutes, Lorraine had finished speaking and introduced Tess to talk about marketing.

"Good morning," Tess began with a dazzling smile and her typical, effervescent charm. "The whole team here at Firefly is very excited about this release. The storyline is original, the characters are interesting and beautifully rendered by our team of artists and programmers, the original music is by a team of musicians who have won multiple awards for their work on other games as well as movies and TV shows, and our pre-release orders are much higher than those of any other game we’ve ever produced. Now, we have a three pronged approach to marketing this product and we feel that if we focus our available financial resources on new and innovative ways, we can maximize awareness of the product and motivate our customer base to spend their hard earned, entertainment dollars on the latest Firefly contribution. Now, let me walk you through phase one of the marketing plan..."

Tess went on with her well planned and structured presentation for the next half an hour. She was engaging and entertaining, never boring the investors and informing them without over explaining or condescending to them. She referred to the paperwork in front of them and the slides that she was presenting on the oversized screen behind her. The people in attendance nodded, took notes, highlighted important sections and occasionally interacted with their assistants.

She did very well with the numbers, too. She usually referred to just the ‘best’ projections, but they were still reasonable and most likely achievable numbers.

When her presentation was complete, she offered the meeting up to questions. Most questions were focused on sales projections, not on actual accounting and William began to think that his input may not be needed at all, which was fine with him, but did make all the preparations he’d suffered through seem a bit pointless.

Then, just as William thought he was going to get out of the meeting without having to speak, Shane Harris asked, "Looking at these numbers, I am a little baffled by the fact that we are only seeing your best projections. Isn’t that a little disingenuous? I mean, we’ve been in a financial decline most of this last year and this is not an inexpensive game. We’re all investing in this product, I think we need to understand the risks that we and our clients face if Firefly doesn’t reach these sales figures."

"Well, you could tell that Tess was not thrilled with the man’s tone, "I admit I did focus on ‘best scenario’ projections, but we did make it clear that we had projections that took lower sales into account."

"Would you share those with us?" The man sounded a bit smug and that bothered William a great deal. "My investors do not typically back projects like this. Bunker Hill Investors is a very large company and we usually focus on very profitable companies – hospitals, casinos, sports venues... big return investments. I’m going to be honest, we are not as confident in this company as we would like to be. Video games are a fickled consumer item and BHI isn’t one hundred percent sure that we should continue our investment in this company."

Lorraine rose up from her chair looking a bit pale. "Mr Harris, I assure you that this game is going to do well. The consumer buzz around it is much higher than even we expected. Perhaps we should discuss this AFTER the meeting in my office."

"No, here is fine," he said, almost laughing. "Look, Lorraine, every person in here knows that BHI is your company’s biggest investor. If we go, everyone is losing money. Now, look, a few years ago, Kurt Schilling... remember Kurt? Local hero? Red Sox pitcher? Blood flowing out of his sock in game six of the playoffs – a true local hero, right? He could do no wrong, right? Then Kurt retires and starts a video game company. Who’s not going to support Kurt? No one, right? Everyone loves Kurt. But then what happens? It all goes to pot. The once great man is broke and his investors are on the hook for millions. Well, BHI isn’t interested in having to go to its investors and explain that their portfolio is in danger because some kid in Indiana didn’t have the hundred bucks to buy a video game."

The air had been sucked out of the room. All the enthusiasm and goodwill that Tess had created had just been destroyed by this grinning viper.

"Mr Harris," Lorraine was upset, "Kurt Schilling was a ball player, not a game designer. We know what we’re doing, and what we are doing has been making your investors and every other investor in this room, a reasonable profit for the last few years. There is no reason for you to not have faith..."

William sat and listened to his boss, knowing that she was not taking the right tact with this man. He was getting exactly the reaction that he wanted: Hysteria. Lorraine was brilliant at what she did, but she was about to inadvertently destroy her own company by behaving like a ‘typical woman’ at this meeting.

He didn’t know why. He hadn’t thought about doing it. He just did. He stood, buttoned the one button on his pretty, silk, royal blue jacket and stepped to the front of the table, next to Tess and he started speaking, interrupting his boss.

"If I may... Would everyone please turn to page fourteen of your paperwork and, Tess, could you call up slide twenty seven? Thank you. Now, if everyone will look at this spreadsheet. I direct you to row 7, column C. This is the place where start to see a profit..." William was in his accounting zone, pointing out the nuances of his math, guiding everyone through the complexities of the risks and benefits of Tess’ marketing plan and adding his analysis of every aspect of it. Everyone in the room was a bit shocked that this pretty little woman had suddenly taken over and turned the meeting from a bloodbath to an informative, positive presentation. Everyone, that is, except for Angela who’d seen William in ‘the zone’ before as he helped her with her homework or explained investments to her uninterested mother. This was where William’s brain thrived – in the numbers.

After about ten minutes of explaining, William turned to everyone present and smiled. "Whew. Is it hot in here?" That brought a small laugh from everyone. "Any questions?"

Several investors asked if William could send them a printed version of the in-depth summary he’d just finished, which he was very willing to provide, but, of course, Shane Harris had more to say.

"Well, that was a very impressive presentation, but my concerns weren’t really addresses, were they? What if the game doesn’t sell?"

"The game will sell, Mr Harris." William smiled far too sweetly for a man. "The reason games don’t sell are well recorded. Subpar graphics or a boring game. The graphics in this game are amazing and the game is downright addictive."

Harris was about to say something, but William spoke before he could. "You know, we’ve just been discussing numbers. I think you should see the game. Angela, would you please go over to the test floor and ask Jorge if he could join us and bring a laptop with the game on it? Thank you."

As Angela hurried to get the game expert, William explained the game’s premises and goals, which all seemed a bit silly out of context, but when Jorge showed up with his gaming laptop and plugged it into the screen, the was an audible sound from those assembled that indicated that they were very impressed by the look of just the entry point.

"Ok," William explained, "We start in the ready-room where we receive our orders. Then we assemble our individual weapon stash, I’ll take these weapons and you can see that Jorge is picking his. Now, we’re ready to head out into the playing area, but wait a moment. Jorge, can you pause this, please."

Jorge stopped the program and William put down his controller. "I was only kidding before," William smiled, "but it is a little warm in here," he took off his suit coat, revealing the loose hanging, very feminine, sleeveless yellow shell beneath. His thin, pale, smooth arms looked lovely against the pretty top. Angela looked at her brother, then noticed that Shane Harris was paying an awful lot of attention to the newly revealed skin as well. "Ok, Jorge. I’m ready."

The game began in earnest with William and Jorge working as a team to get through the opening scene of the game. They were only a few minutes into the program when they were caught in a trap. Jorge, who knew the game well, explained how to get through the ambush, but William, who’d only had an hour or two of experience on this game was caught by surprise and his avatar was killed.

"Oh, no!" he shouted, completely wrapped up in the game. Then he looked at the investors with a huge smile on his face. "Well, that’s it for me. Would anyone like to try it? Mr Harris?"

Everyone shook their head, but Harris spoke. "I don’t think I need to embarrass myself in front of everyone, Billie. Video games aren’t really my thing. I am impressed, though. I don’t know if it was the quality of the game or your pretty smile, but you have definitely won me over. BHI will continue to provide support to Firefly."

That received a round of applause from the other investors.

Lorraine breathed easily for the first time in a half an hour and stood, a look of relief and satisfaction on her face. "Well, thank you Tess and Billie for a wonderful presentation. If there are no further questions, I think we have taken up quite enough of your time for one day. Thank you, everyone, and remember that I am always available to respond to any questions or concerns. My contact information is on page one of your packets. Thank you, and have a great day."

Goodbyes were said, handshakes were exchanged and the room began to empty. The last to leave was Shane Harris, who waited to speak to Lorraine. "Well, I have to say, you ladies gave quite a presentation today," Then he looked at William. "And you, young lady, whether you know it or not, saved the day. Honestly, before this meeting, my intentions were to pull BHI’s investments in this company. It just doesn’t fit into our portfolio very well, but after hearing your numbers and seeing the joy on that pretty face when you played that game... well, let me just say that BHI and Firefly are going to be partners for a long, long time."

He shook hands with Lorraine and Tess, then offered his hand to William. When William accepted the hand shake, Harris covered William’s right hand with his left and held it longer than expected. "Billie? Very cute name. I like a smart girl who smells like vanilla. Tell me, Billie... if I were to invite you to lunch, would you accept that invitation?"

William was very surprised, but smiled at the compliments. "Actually, Mr Harris, if you were to ask, I would have to decline your invitation. As flattered as I am, I am in a relationship."

Harris nodded. "He’s a lucky guy. Well, it’s been an experience, ladies. Thank you and... congratulations."

They all watched at Shane Harris left the conference room and disappeared down the hallway before Lorraine spoke. She looked at William and smiled. "Alright, Billie, come here and give me a hug!" William thought she was kidding, so he just stood there and smiled, which prompted Lorraine to push past Tess and wrap her arms around her accountant. "Billie, you were on fire! Honest to God, I don’t think I’ve heard you say as much in the whole time that you’ve worked here as I heard you say today!"

"That’s the truth!" Tess laughed as she took William from Lorraine and hugged him as well. "And what you said, Billie, and the way you said it! I thought for sure that Harris was going to walk out the door and you just charmed him into sticking with us. I’m blown away by what you did."

"Me too," Lorraine agreed. "What were you thinking, Billie? I’ve never seen you take over a meeting like that."

"I wasn’t thinking at all," William admitted. "I just felt like I had to do something, so... I did. Everything just felt right."

"Well, you were wonderful." Lorraine shook her head in amazement. "Ok. Tess, you and I have to have a quick chat about the release. Billie, you’ve had a long day, already. Why don’t you go have some lunch and you can take a breath and relax for the remainder of the day. Whew! I’m exhausted."

"Me, too!" Tess was laughing. "You must be as well, Billie."

"Actually," William gathered his papers together, "I’m kind of energized. I’ve never really felt like this before," he closed his satchel and his smile was broad and unselfconscious. "I wouldn’t mind doing all of that again."

The women smiled at his enthusiasm and the change that they saw in him. He’d always been the reserved, odd looking little guy huddled in his office. Now... there was almost no similarity between that quiet, little man and this confident, petite woman.

He took a deep breath and smiled at them and left the conference room. Angela was right behind him, grabbing his discarded silk suit coat on the way.

When Angela caught up with her brother, she couldn’t help but tell him how impressed she’d been. "Willy, honey, you were great! You saved the whole meeting! The whole company! Willy, you were amazing!"

"I felt amazing," William agreed. "I’ve never been in a meeting in which I felt comfortable before. I would always say what I needed to say in the past, yeah, but just now... it was like I was a new person! I felt confident and alive! It was amazing!"

Angela was about to point out that he actually was a new person today, but they ran into three of the girls from marketing walking towards the exit. "Hey, Billie," one of the girls stopped and smiled at the brother and sister, "you were great in there! Congrats and thank you for keeping us alive!"

"Yeah, thanks, Billie," another girl said, rubbing William’s exposed upper arm.

"Hey," the third girl was pulling on her winter coat, "we’re just running across to Montrose to get a quick lunch. Want to join us?"

To be honest, William had never been invited to join anyone from the office to do anything, with the exception of being with Kateri, and he had initiated that relationship by asking her out first, but his typical response to any invitation to socialize was always to politely decline, and that’s what he was about to do, but before he could open his mouth, Angela accepted for them.

"Oh, we’d love to!" she bubbled at the women, all three of whom she’d spoken to and gotten to know in the break room.

"Well, why don’t you..." William was starting to say to his sister, but she ignored him and continued speaking.

"We just need to grab our stuff and use the ladies room before we go. Why don’t you go on ahead and get a table. We’ll meet you there in a few minutes."

"Great!" The third girl smiled as she buttoned her coat. "See you there!"

As Angela guided William to his office, he protested to her about including him in the luncheon. After all, he had a lot to do.

"No you don’t," his sister said emphatically. "Lorraine essentially gave you the afternoon off and you told me yourself that you wanted to make friends at work. Now, let’s go make friends with those girls."

"But, I’ll be the only guy there," he insisted.

"Oh, please," his sister scoffed. "Listen, Willy, this is little clutch purse from The Kate Spade Company. I bought it for you to go with your adorable Albert Nipon skirt suit that’s in a very cute royal blue silk material, your cute, little, sleeveless, yellow silk shell from The House of Halston and your perky little Christian Louboutin pumps, which I hope you find comfortable because those shoes cost more than I paid for my books last semester. Your hair and makeup were done by your boss’ hairdresser and we are headed to the ladies’ room before we leave, just to make sure that our makeup doesn’t need a touch up before joining the girls for lunch. Trust me, Willy. You will not be ‘the only guy’ there. It’ll just be us girls and you, little sister, will be the cutest one, by far. Now, let’s go make some friends."
 

Kateri was worried. She’d never intended to have her boyfriend end up with breasts adhered to his chest, but all of it still felt like it was, at least in part, her fault. She’d pushed him too far, and now he looked nothing like the man she fell in love with. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t still love him, it’s just that things were... different... a lot different. When she saw him in that beautiful suit, she couldn’t believe how good he looked. He was adorable, but not in the way that her Billy had always been adorable to her.

She had a lot of questions and she was trying to match each question with an answer. Finally, in order to organize her thoughts, she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote everything out.

Do I love Billy?
Yes. Of course I love Billy.

Do I prefer him looking like a guy or a girl?
He’s a cute guy, but an awfully pretty girl.

Does this make me a lesbian?
Probably not. I’m not interested in a girl’s nether regions

Did I push him too far?
Probably. He didn’t want to dress up and I pushed him

Should I back off?
Yes. He’s probably angry about being embarrassed

Will he forgive me?
I hope so. I really love him.

Is Lorraine going to fire me?
I’m not sure. She was really mad.

Should I formally apologize?
No. I apologized already. Writing a letter? No.

By the time she was done, Kateri had filled her paper with more than forty questions and answers. This just sucked. Yesterday, she had a good job with no complications, a great boyfriend who seemed to love her and prospects for a happy life and a great career. Now, she felt uncertain about the future of either her job or her relationship. If Lorraine just let things go back to normal, then her income and career were alright, but what if Billy didn’t forgive her. That would break her heart. She wanted that relationship to grow and become something more. If he dumped her, then could she continue to even work with him? She really wasn’t sure she could stand to see him if he didn’t love her.

God, what a mess!

"Hey, did you hear about the meeting?" Jorge said to another employee as he passed the desk at which Kateri was working, just to the side of The Pit. Her ears pricked at the prospect of hearing anything about Billy. Could he possibly pull off something as far fetched as this stupid scheme? "That little guy, Billie, you know, the guy in the skirt this morning? That f-ing little dude rocked that f-ing meeting, man. I guess it was all falling to pieces, but he took over and saved the whole company. That little dude is the bomb, man. You should have seen him go in there. They loved him. I think one dude even had a boner for him."

Wait! What?
 

"And I said, ‘Put those away, honey. You’re not using that on me, tonight.’ And he’s like, ‘But baby. All the guys I work with use these on their girlfriends. It’s just a harmless game.’ So, I said, ‘Then let me use them on you. See if you like being handcuffed to the bed all night.’ Honest to God, men can be such jerks in bed! Why can’t they just enjoy being with us? No, it’s got to be sex and it’s got to get kinkier ever time. Oh, Billie, you’re so lucky to not have to deal with men. You and Kat are like a perfect couple. Maybe that’s how the world should be: A strong, handsome woman and a little, beautiful man. If only, huh?"

William was overwhelmed by the amount and variety of conversation going on around him and all of them seemed to include him. Fashion, sex, relationships, children, pets, shopping, houses, house shopping, his head was spinning, but it was just so wonderful to be included that he just grinned and offered a joke or an opinion whenever he could.

He looked to Angela to see if she was as confused as he was by everything being said at once, but she was fully engaged with everyone simultaneously. It was amazing how these women interacted with each other so effortlessly. Was that a genetic trait of some kind? The ability to carry on five different conversations without any problem understanding what was being said? It was amazing!

"So, are you and Kat serious, then, Billie?" the one named Linda asked.

"I really don’t know for sure." William shrugged. "I mean, I’d like to make things serious, but we’ve only dated a few months."

"OMG!" the one named Valerie said, far too loudly. "Do you think that Kat is going to propose?"

William blinked. "Shouldn’t I be the one who proposes?"

"Why? Doesn’t the guy usually propose?" Valerie shrugged.

"Yeah, but I’m the guy," William explained.

"Yeah, but are going to be ‘the guy’ forever?" The one called Peggy asked.

"How do you mean?" William smiled.

"I mean," Peggy’s smile was friendly and open. She meant no offense, "look at yourself, Billie. You look beautiful as a woman. Why on earth would you ever want to go back to looking like a guy?"

"Well..." William processed the question for a moment. "... because I am a guy."

"And a girl," Peggy nodded. "Look at yourself, Billie. You make a great girl. I mean, we’ve all worked with you for a few months, now, and I always thought you were pretty uptight and self conscious. But at today’s meeting, I didn’t see that at all. What I saw was a woman who was confident about what she knew and how she looked. Tell me I’m wrong."

William had to take a moment to think through all of that. She was definitely right that he felt more confident at today’s meeting than he ever had before. Why was that? Was it the clothes? The ‘disguise’ aspect of cross dressing? It didn’t matter right now. What he needed to do right now was just deny that he was better as a girl than a man.

"I..." he began, but a voice came from behind him.

"I thought I smelled vanilla," the deep voice said. William turned to see Shane Harris grinning from ear to ear. "Look at this – five beautiful women out to lunch together. Shane Harris, Ladies," he said by way of introduction, which of course was not necessary since all of them had been at the meeting. He glanced at Angela and nodded. "Now, you, young lady, were a big help to Ms Billie here at the meeting, but let me ask – Are you two sisters?"

Angela extended a hand to him. "We are. I’m Angela. I’m interning at Firefly."

"Interning!? My, my, a college girl. Well, that’s just wonderful," he shook her hand, then held it far too long, smiling hungrily in a way only a man in a position of power can smile at a beautiful woman in a lower position. "Young and eager, I guess, hmm?"

William stood and took his sister’s hand from Harris and smiled sweetly as he said, "It was nice to see you again, Mr Harris. I do hope that you had a good lunch and that we’ll see you at the next investors’ meeting."

Harris smiled a wolffish smile and winked. "Oh, you will, Ms Billie. I don’t suppose I could impose on you to share your phone number with me? That way we won’t have to wait until the next meeting to get together, again."

"Again, Mr Harris," William smirked, "I am in a serious relationship. I thank you, but I am not interested."

He smiled and nodded. "Understood, Billie," he inhaled deeply and shook his head. "Ahh... I do like the smell of vanilla," he looked at the table of women, "Ladies," Then he winked at William. "Billie," he turned and walked away.

William sat and shook his head. When he looked up at his sister and colleagues, they were staring at him with shocked expressions.

"Willy," Angela said in a whisper, "you just stood up to Firefly’s biggest investor."

William nodded. "I didn’t like the way he was talking to you. I certainly didn’t like the way that he was touching you."

"Yeah, but..." Valerie looked to be sure that Harris had left the area, "...Billie... that took some guts. Is that how you would normally have handled that situation?"

"No, it’s not," Angela answered for him.

"Sure it is." William shook his head.

"No, Willie, it’s not," Angela insisted. "You don’t even like to talk to waiters, Willy. In a normal situation, you would have just sat there and gotten steamed up, but not done anything about it. Willy... these breasts and your clothes... it’s like they’re a superhero suit or something. You’re a whole different person like this. A pretty amazing one, too."

"See," Peggy pointed at him, "I told you! You’re a nice guy, but you’re and amazing woman. You should wear a skirt to work everyday. Besides the fact that you seem empowered by wearing them, I’m jealous about how good your legs look in skirts."

"I know, it’s just not fair that a guy should have legs like that!" Linda said, a bit louder than she should have, but no one seemed to take notice.

A waiter arrived and placed a bottle of Moet & Chandon on the table, and began to place glasses in front of each of them. "Excuse me," Valerie tried to stop him, "we didn’t order champagne."

The waiter smiled. "Compliments of the handsome gentleman who just left. He also asked me to inform you all that your lunches have been paid for and that you should all have dessert as well. Shall I open the bottle for you?"

"Should we accept this?" William asked. "I mean... is this appropriate?"

"Did the gentleman pay with a personal card or his corporate card?" Linda asked.

"Ummm... I believe it was a corporate card, Miss," the waiter smiled and waited to be told if he should open the bottle or not.

Linda laughed. "Screw it. Open the bottle. If BHI is paying, let’s enjoy ourselves."

When the waiter had poured the bubbly wine and left the table, Peggy held up her glass. "To Billie."

"To Billie," they all responded, holding their glasses aloft as well.

Peggy finished her toast. "Apparently, the best piece of ass at the table."

They all burst into laughter then sipped the wine and ate their lunch.
 

When they made it back to the office, William and all the girls were enjoying their conversation, and there was a lot of laughing and giggling going on. William was laughing as he turned out of the hallway and into his office with Angela right behind him. He was very surprised to find Kateri sitting at his desk.

"Hi," he grinned. "Using my desk?"

Kateri didn’t return his smile, though. "Actually, I was waiting for you. Where have you been?"

"We went out with the girls for lunch after the meeting," Angela offered.

Kateri nodded. "I hear that the meeting went well, then?"

"Oh, it went great," Angela continued. "Honestly, Kat, you should have seen Willy. He was great. There was this guy, Shane Harris, from BHI, and he was like, ‘We’re pulling out of this company unless blah, blah, blah,’ and Willy took over the whole meeting and saved the day. You should have seen him."

"Shane Harris?" Kateri nodded. "I heard he had ‘a boner’ for our little Princess."

William could see that Kateri was angry, but couldn’t tell why. "That’s a little crass, Kat. Isn’t it?"

"He sure did!" Angela laughed. Her narrative and lack filtering was partially due to having a little champagne at lunch and partially due to a very real sense of pride she felt for her brother. "That creep was trying to get..."

"That’s plenty, Angie," William stopped her, or at least tried to.

"What?" Angela laughed. "I was just going to tell Kat how you took that jerk down a few pegs when he tried to come on to you at the restaurant."

"Oh, so you had lunch with him?" Kateri crossed her arms and leaned back in the desk chair.

"No, he just... bothered us at the restaurant," William explained, putting his little clutch purse on his desk. "Why are you upset with me."

"Should I leave?" Angela asked, suddenly feeling like a third wheel. William didn’t answer because he didn’t know what the issue was and Kateri didn’t answer because she was copping an attitude with William. "I’ll just..." Angela shrugged and left the office, closing the door behind her.

"So..." Kateri said, with a lot of attitude, "you’re a girl for a day and you’re flirting with a guy? What’s going on?"

William’s face showed nothing but confusion as he explained. "Kat... I was a girl for less than an hour and that asshole started coming on to me. What? Is that my fault? Either they did too good a job of making me look like a girl, or that guy was just horny and came on to me because I was wearing a skirt. Regardless, I told him I was in a relationship. I thought that was the end of it, but he tried it again at the restaurant. To tell you the truth, the only reason I even talked to him at the restaurant at all was because he was coming on to Angie. And if having him flirt with me gave me the heebee jeebees, seeing him touching Angie made me nauseated! Is that all that you’re upset about?"

Kateri took a breath and relaxed her shoulders just a bit. "Billy... I’m worried about... us."

"Us?" Now William was concerned. "Why?" He pulled a chair from the table on the side of his office to the front of the desk and sat, smoothing his skirt, crossing his legs at the knees and sitting upright in the manner that Tess had instructed him. The fact that he did all of that with any effort did not go unnoticed by Kateri.

"Look, Billy, when I saw you looking like this this morning, part of me was elated that you were going to be able to pull off the meeting, but... a part of me was heartbroken because... as much as I have enjoyed playing feminization games with you... I didn’t see my boyfriend stepping off the elevator. I saw a woman. Even Lorraine made a remark that made me think that maybe I’d lost the Billy that I loved."

William felt a lump form in his throat. "Kat... I... I thought you wanted me to do this. That’s why I did it in the first place. If it’s upsetting you to have me looking like this, I’ll go put my suit pants and that polo shirt you gave me back on right now. Seriously, Kat. I can wash my face and wet down my hair and look like myself again in ten minutes."

Kateri shook her head. "Billy... when they guy came on to you... how did you feel?"

"How did I feel? I felt...a little creeped out, I guess. Maybe a little gross. He’s a pretty sleazy guy."

"Not flattered at all?"

He considered that for a moment. "Well, maybe just a little, but not as flattered as I felt when you told be I looked pretty. Kat... you’re a beautiful woman. You don’t know what it’s like to be... well, maybe not ugly, but... unexceptional. Unworthy of even being noticed. Just a part of the background. That’s what my whole life has been – Until today. Suddenly, today, people thought I looked nice. Even I couldn’t believe how nice I looked. It was... really scary at first, but then it became... empowering. Angie said it was like I put on a superhero suit and I think that’s kind of right. I’ve been ignored by everyone, except you, for my whole life, Kat, and I didn’t even realized how much I hated it until I was suddenly attractive and people noticed me – even if it isn’t how I always dreamed of being attractive."

He stopped for a moment to consider what needed to be said.

"Kat... I know that we’ve only been together a short time, but I am in love you. Like, really, really in love with you. I would do anything for you. I put on panties and a camisole FOR YOU, Kat. Just because you asked me to. The thing is... I liked it. Kind of a lot, actually. But, Kat, if you don’t like it, I’ll take it all off and never wear any of it again. I just want to be with you."

Kateri looked at her beautiful boyfriend and, within seconds, her eyes went from angry to wet with tears. "That’s all I want, too, Billy, but... what are we going to do? I mean... do you like this? Are you staying this way?"

William shrugged. "I haven’t really had time to think about it. What do you want?"

She wiped a tear from her eye. "I don’t know, Billy. I just know I want you."

"I am going to assume that this is a work related conversation," Lorraine said as she entered the office. "We did discuss this earlier, Kat, did we not?"

Kateri nodded. "I just needed to use Billy’s computer and he was telling me about the meeting."

Lorraine nodded, but was unconvinced. She turned to William and handed him some papers. "Here is the fax from the adhesive company, Billie. I looked at the list to see if I might know anyone from the Chamber of Commerce who could help you out, but there is no business close to us, at all. The closest I could find is in Albany, New York at the other end of The Pike. Give them a call and see if they’ll help you out and just let me know if you need time off to deal with it."

William nodded. "Ok. Thank you."

Lorraine looked at both of them, sensing the tension and assuming that it was due to William’s makeover. It didn’t matter, though, she needed to look after the best interests of the company, not be a relationship councilor to these two. So, she made it clear that she was grateful for William’s help and left the room.

William and Kateri stared at each other, neither knowing quite what to say.

"Aren’t you going to call those companies?" Kateri finally broke the silence after more than a minute of silence.

William shook his head. "No. Not until we talk."

Kateri nodded and then stood. "Ok. Let’s go to my place after work and figure this out, ok?" she headed for the door, but stopped and kissed William’s cheek. "I really do love you, Billy."

"I know," William nodded. "I love you, too, Kat. I really do."
 

Kateri was putting on her coat to head home when Angela and Tess came by her work area to talk.

"Hey," Tess said with a friendly smile. "Tough day, huh?"

Kateri nodded. "You don’t know the half of it. Lorraine came down really hard on me for all of this... Billy is like a whole different person all of a sudden... I heard people talking about Billy flirting with a man at the meeting... I confront him about it and he acts like I’m out of my mind... I don’t know if I’m the good guy or the bad guy any more... Yeah... it’s been a tough day."

"Kat, Willy didn’t..." Angela began to defend her brother, but Kateri waved her off.

"I know and I was foolish to think he had, but like I said, it’s been a tough day."

"Look, Kat," Tess smiled, sympathetically, "I don’t know Billie any better than anyone else around here, but anyone can see that he’s crazy about you. Try not to over react to all of this, ok?"

"He’s had a tough day, too, Kat," Angela added. "He may have... won the day, I guess, but he never would have done this if my mom hadn’t used that glue on him. He didn’t wake up yesterday trying to figure out how to trick us into dressing him up like a girl."

Kateri nodded. "I know, I know, I know. I just... I just don’t really know exactly how I feel about this. I mean... yeah, we did play around with a little dress up the other night and it was my idea to do the "I Dream of Jeannie" thing because he looked cute last week, but when I saw him today... guys... he’s not cute anymore. He’s... he’s... Christ, he’s prettier than me. And the worst part of all of this is... I really like him this way, but I am so freaking jealous, too, and I don’t know why."

Tess nodded. "Sounds like you have to do some thinking, Kat. You need to figure out if you love him enough to let him explore this new part of himself?"

‘Yeah," Kateri sighed. "Yeah. I know."

"Can I ask something without upsetting you?" Angela asked. Kateri just nodded. "Why are you upset? I mean... last night you had Willy dressed up like a harem girl and we were all having fun with it – well, you and me and mom were having fun with it. Willy was stressed out and only doing it to make you happy. Now, today, Willy seems to have become what you wanted him to be and now he’s happy about it and you’re freaking out. So... why are you upset?"

Kateri blinked her eyes, causing the tears that had been developing in them to run down her cheeks. "I don’t know," she sounded defeated. "It was a game, I guess. Now... I don’t know. Maybe I just pushed him too far."
 

William rode to Kateri’s house without much chit-chat. Kateri made a meal for them of white rice and microwaved frozen vegetables. They sat at the table, eating their food and talking about nothing until the food was gone, the dishes were loaded in the washer and there was nothing else to do, but to sit at the table face their problems.

"So..." Kateri said, uncertainly. "...about tomorrow... Do you still want to do the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ thing?"

William waited a moment before a answered. "Kat... I never WANTED to do ‘The Dream of Jeannie’ thing at all, but I agreed to do it because YOU wanted to do it. I will do it, though, because I agreed to and because, after today, I kind of feel like I need to show everyone that I’m not embarrassed by what happened."

Kateri nodded. "And... are you embarrassed by what happened?"

He crossed his arms and considered that. "This morning... I was... devastated, Kat. I couldn’t believe that I was in that situation and I couldn’t imagine how I was going to face everyone. Then, at the salon, I wanted to just crawl away and die. It took every bit of courage I had to stay in that chair and not just cry from the embarrassment I was feeling."

"I’m sorry," Kateri said sadly.

William considered the events of the day for a moment before continuing. "But then... That guy at the meeting... you know, Shane Harris? Well, as annoying as he was... he noticed me. No one ever noticed me before."

"And you liked his attention?"

"No... not HIS attention, per se, but... THE attention. I liked that someone, anyone noticed me. I looked around and I could see that other people, men and women, were acknowledging me. Like, the way I looked was... I don’t know... impressive or something. And that... it gave me the confidence to do what I did. I never felt that confident before and I liked it, Kat. Can you still accept me if I feel that way when I look like this?"

"So, do you plan to stay like this forever, then?"

"To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I need to think about it and talk everything over with you before I make a decision."

"I see." Kateri stood and pushed her chair in. "So, would you like to know how I feel?"

William nodded.

"Well... I think you look beautiful like this, Billy, I truly do, and... well, I’ve thought a lot about how I behaved today – the jealousy and, well, everything, and I’m sorry, babe. I was really being an ass. I guess I felt a little guilty, then Lorraine came down really hard on me and I felt bad about that, too, and then, when I heard about how someone was hitting on you, a guy, no less... I guess it all just sort of got to me, you know? So, regarding how I feel about the way you’re dressed right now... I think I need to know how you feel about it first."

"I like it and I’d like to, maybe, explore it some more," William confessed without hesitation.

"Then, as long as I am not forcing this on to you... I love it, Billy." Without warning she took a step, bent low and grabbed William’s cheeks, planting a firm, warm kiss on his lips. "I really do."

William stood and took her hand. "Good. Then let’s go to bed."

Taken aback by his sudden change of topic and forceful behavior, Kateri balked. "Wait, Billy... are you sure?"

William looked at her and smiled. "Kat... the other night, you put me into silky undies for the first time and I could barely control myself, I was so excited by how it felt. I’ve been in layers and layers of silky clothes all day today. Feeling pretty, tasting lipstick and smelling perfume. I have wanted nothing more than to feel you touching me through these clothes since I put them on. Please... let’s go to bed."

Kateri smiled like a cat who just realized that she’d been given permission to devour a mouse. "Ooh, you’re horny little girl, are you? Well, come with me. I have something to share with you."

They nearly ran to the bedroom, where Kat stripped William to his very pretty slip. Then she had him take off his shoes and jump on the bed, keeping his bra, panties, slip and thigh high, elastic top stockings on.

"Wow, you’re so smooth, now. I didn’t realized they’d removed your body hair. I like it. I like the perfume, too," she purred, running her hands all over his body. "Hop up on the bed, baby, while I get something."

William climbed onto the bed and laid in the center, watching as Kateri rummaged through her night stand.

"What are you looking for?" William asked.

"My little friend," Kateri smiled at him and raised and lowered her eyebrows comically. "Here," she said, exhibiting a pink, silicone cylinder that narrowed to a small, round head at the tip.

"And, what is that?" William was playfully curious.

"It’s my dildo, Billy." She pushed a button on the cylinder and small head vibrated and moved in erratic circles. She pushed the button again and it sped up. She pushed another button and it stopped. "My vibrator. Every girl’s best friend. This one is named Frank and if you want to be a girl, you should get to know Frank."

"Frank?" William paled a bit as he looked at the appliance. "You mean, you use Frank... down there?"

She nodded and smiled. "Sure. Don’t act all surprised, Billy. Every girl has a ‘Frank’ of her own. Trust me. Boys have it easy, late at night, when they have urges. It’s more complicated, being a girl. We have to use a little technology based assistance."

William could see that – the difference between an ‘inny’ and an ‘outy’ was obvious, but... "But I’m here with you, now, so... why do you need to use Frank on yourself right now?"

She sat on the side of the bed, the vibrator in one hand and a blue tube of what appeared to be hand cream, but was labeled ‘KY Glide’ in the other. "It’s not for me, Billy. It’s for you. Girls need to know what it’s like to be penetrated when making love. It is an amazing feeling, honey, and I think you’ll really enjoy it."

"So..." William gulped, "that would go... into my..." He blinked and considered it. He hadn’t really ever considered doing anything like this, but taking risks had really paid off well, today.

Kateri giggled. "Into your little bottom, yes, but I’ll lube you up before it goes in."

Not wanting to sound too naïve, but dealing with a mixture of fear and curiosity, he had to ask. "Will that even fit up there?"

That made his girlfriend laugh. "Of course it will, Billy. Lots of men put things much bigger than this into themselves, including other men."

"Yeah, but I’m not gay."

"I am aware, Billy, but you still have a prostate and I’ve read that men can reach a very satisfying orgasm through anal intercourse. I’m not going to force you to try it, baby, but I was thinking that, since you said you’ve been excited all day, this might be a way to relieve that excitement, then we can do it the regular way and you can just relax and enjoy it. And besides, you’ve been a girl all day. I thought you might want to go all the way and be the girl in bed. It’s up to you, though. I think you’ll enjoy it, but if you aren’t ready to try it, we can just put it away for now and we can use it another time if you want – OR – Frank can just be my friend."

He looked at the device. It looked innocuous enough, and... why was he even debating this? Now that he’d found out about this technique, of course he wanted to try it. "Ok," he whispered in a husky voice, "but... will it hurt?"

Kateri thought back to her first experience of being penetrated anally and she spoke gently. "You’ll feel kind of... full... as it enters, but once it’s in... It’ll feel amazing," she smiled at his face as he stared at the tool. "Ready?" He nodded. She kissed his lips and instructed, "Roll over on your tummy."

William rolled over and felt Kateri raise his slip and pull the back of his panties down to expose his entry point.

"Now, just relax and let me get you nice and slick in there." Kateri’s warm, lubricated fingers began to spread the KY around his rear. Little by little, she entered into him, deeper and deeper. Just a few months earlier, he had experienced his first prostate exam at a doctor’s office and had not enjoyed it one bit, but Kateri’s touch was soft and gentle and loving and nice. He was just a little embarrassed when he unconsciously allowed some feminine mews to escape his lips when her finger sank deep enough to surprise and excite him. Finally, she slowed and then stopped her ministrations.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

The gentle shape of the device slid in smoothly at first, but then it grew and grew as he began to feel full, back there, just as she had explained, but then the fullness grew and grew until he felt as if he may tear apart. He wanted to say, ‘stop,’ but he could only let out a strangled groan as his the fullness grew wide and a sense of panic built within him.

It was too much! It needed to be pulled out of him before it cut him in two!

His voice didn’t work, he couldn’t speak. All that came out was gasps and groans.

He tried to pull away from it, but the mattress blocked him from the front.

He tried to wiggle to the right and then to the left, but Kateri just seemed to interpret that as excitement and moved device deeper.

He was feverish with fear and excitement and felt himself losing consciousness from the pain. His breath was shallow and his vision was fading into darkness from the edges. The darkness clouded in further and further.

Then something odd happened within him. Something had let go and let the vibrated pass. The pressure lessened and then... oh, God, what was that!? Something had been touched deep inside of him. Something... exiting.

He couldn’t breathe any deeper than short, sharp gasps that made high, squeaky, excited sounds in this throat.

Why didn’t that sensation deep within him continue? The device needed to move. To touch that spot again!

He wiggled his bottom and it helped. The spot was being touched again if he wiggled just right, but then...

"Are you ready to become a woman, little girl?" Kateri whispered in his ear.

William raised himself onto his elbows and looked over his shoulders at the love of his life. The most powerful being he knew at that moment. The person who was controlling his bliss. His face was drenched in sweat and he gasped as he spoke. "Yes. Please. Make me your woman."

Kateri stayed close to his face so that she could look directly into his eyes as she pressed the button that made the head of the vibrator vibrate and rotate.

William’s eyes opened wide with the sensation, then they rolled to the back of his head as his body convulsed in orgasmic ecstasy. His back arched and his mewing grunts became high pitched, girlish screams as he clawed at the sheets and pillows, flailing, shaking, thrusting, anything to increase and prolong the glorious feelings deep at the very core of his being.

Eventually, he began to thrust his body against the mattress as if it had a vagina he could somehow enter with his manhood, which was still encased by the front of his feminine silk panties and the silk and lace slip he wore.

Kateri smiled as she watched him. She didn’t know if he’d actually ejaculate, but he knew that he was experiencing the most amazing orgasm of his life and that made her happy.

They’d both had a long, troubling day and both had had their doubts about whether or not having William become this perfect imitation of womanhood was the right thing to do, but now both of them knew that it was. William needed to find his way and Kateri would be there to help him, but they both knew that the suits and ties and feeble attempts to present himself as a man were gone forever. Billie was here to stay.

And in the morning, Billie would be the sexiest genie that Kateri had ever seen and she knew that he’d enjoy that, too.

She stopped the vibrator’s motor and let William collapse in exhaustion onto the mattress.

"See," she whispered as she kissed the slender bra and slip straps on his narrow, bare shoulders, "I told you you’d like it. You’re my girl... now and forever. I love you, Billie. I love you so much."

"I love you, too," he turned so that he could kiss her. His dark red lipstick leaving traces of color on her soft pink. "Can we...?"

His eyes were desperate with lust.

"Can we... do it together, now?" he asked in a nearly childlike tone.

"Oh, my goodness," Kateri laughed and kissed him again. "You’re like a little rabbit, aren’t you?"

She removed the dildo from his rear and pushed him onto his back. "Which reminds me," she giggled, "Frank has a little rabbit friend, too, and if you’re a good girl, maybe, someday, I’ll show you how it works as well."
 
 
To Be Continued...

She stopped the vibrator's motor and let William collapse in exhaustion onto the mattress.

"See," she whispered as she kissed the slender bra and slip straps on his narrow, bare shoulders, "I told you you'd like it. You're my girl... now and forever. I love you, Billie. I love you so much."

"I love you, too." He turned so that he could kiss her. His dark red lipstick leaving traces of color on her soft pink. "Can we...?"

His eyes were desperate with lust.

"Can we... do it together, now?" He asked in a nearly childlike tone.

"Oh, my goodness," Kateri laughed and kissed him again. "You're like a little rabbit, aren't you?"

She removed the dildo from his rear and pushed him onto his back. "Which reminds me," she giggled, "Frank has a little rabbit friend, too, and if you're a good girl, maybe, someday, I'll show you how it works as well."
 

The leotard, tights and harem girl outfit felt very different on William's soft, hairless skin than it had just thirty six hours earlier. It was even more elegant feeling than he could imagine.

"What if I need to go to the bathroom?" William asked, considering the amount of effort such an undertaking would require.

"You go to the ladies' room and take a seat, baby. Why?" Kateri thought the question was a bit silly.

"No, I mean... with all of this stuff on, I was just thinking, I'd have to take off everything except my bra just to pee."

"Welcome to womanhood, my dear," Kateri chuckled as she pulled a piece of paper with the image of the actress Barbara Eden in her 'I Dream Of Jeannie' costume from the printer. "Women have to deal with one impractical layer of clothing after another all the time. If you need help, either Angie or I can help you. Believe me, there is nothing unusual about a couple of women being in the same bathroom stall with one helping the other with her clothes so that she can use the lav. Last year, a friend of mine got married and it took three of us to hold up all of her skirts so that she could pee. You should have seen us. It was pretty hilarious."

William shook his head. "That's crazy."

"That's fashion, babydoll. Now, come take a seat and let me get your makeup done. Then I'll pin your wig on and I can get get dressed. Then we can grab a cup of coffee or something on the way to work."

William sat.

Kateri began by putting a small piece of scotch tape near the outside of each of his eyes.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"Here. Look at the picture of Jeannie. See how she has that shadow next to her eyes. That's called a 'cat's eye.' Her's is pretty subtle, but it is there. The tape will give me a nice, sharp edge. It's just a little trick I learned taking theater classes in college."

Kateri continued working for the next few minutes with only a few words passing between them, and those were all instructions. "Close your eyes." "Look up." "Open your mouth." "Rub your lips together." "Pucker up."

Finally, she put the brushes down and picked up a very small case. "Ok, this is a little tricky because I never put these onto someone else before." She opened the case, reveling a selection of false eye lashes. Kateri thought for a moment, then took a tweezer and lifted one false lash and applied some eye lash adhesive to it. She then shook the eye lash for a few moments. "It's best to let the glue set up before applying it."

After about half a minute, she said, "Ok. Look down, but don't completely close your eyes."

William followed her instruction and felt the lash being placed very gently on his left eye. "Well, that was actually fairly easy," Kateri smiled and admired her handy work. "One more to go." She repeated the process. "Blink a few times. Feel ok?"

"They feel fine," William said. "I can hardly tell that they're there."

"Great. Let me grab the wig and some hairpins and you'll be done."

Fifteen minutes later, William and Kateri were standing before a mirror looking at their reflections. What they saw was a rather too girlish looking Air Force officer with a name tag that read 'Maj. Nelson,' and very convincing version of Jeannie in her sheer pink outfit.

"Well? What do you think?" Kateri bubbled. "Does the sight of a handsome man in uniform make your heart beat faster?"

William smiled and his face seemed to glow with feminine beauty. "Well, the sight of this particular man does. He's awfully pretty."

"Pretty, huh?" Kateri smirked. "I wasn't really going for 'pretty,' but I'll take it for now. You know what's funny? Your voice is actually pretty high for a guy. I never really noticed it before, but I guess I kind of expected your voice to be a give away and it's not. It's actually in a similar range to a lot of women that I know."

"Thanks, I guess," William said, as he looked at the reflection of the two of them in the mirror. It was really amazing how little he resembled himself like this - in fact, he really didn't resemble a man in any way. The fake breasts still attached to his chest gave him curves above and the blousy design of the harem pants implied curves down below.

"Oh, boy. It's getting late." Kateri suddenly took note of the time. "We'd better get moving if we're going to grab some coffee on the way."
 

When they arrived at the office, there was a feeling of celebration amongst the staff. The new game was hitting the market in less than a week, the prerelease buzz was very positive and, since yesterday's meeting, the company was confident about its financial foundations.

"Oh, my God, look at you two!" Raquel clapped as they entered reception. "Who are you, though? A soldier and a her girl?" Raquel was dressed in a generic medieval princess' dress.

'No," Kateri laughed as she explained the characters. "You must have seen 'I Dream of Jeannie,' right?"

Raquel smiled a friendly smile and shook her head. "Nope. Must be before my time."

"Well, yeah, of course it is, but it's iconic. Seriously, you've never seen it?"

"Sorry," Raquel shrugged.

"Oh, look, it's Jeannie and Major Nelson," Tess said as she entered in an amazing costume, looking just like Glinda the Good Witch of the North from 'The Wizard of Oz.'

"See," Kateri said to Raquel, "everyone knows the show."

The receptionist smiled at Tess. "I never heard of it."

Tess patted them girl's back. "Don't feel bad. They told me about their costumes yesterday. You all look great, though!"

"You too," William smiled. "I've never seen such a pretty Glinda."

"Oh, aren't you the sweetest thing?" Tess laughed. "Good God, Billie, you're almost spilling out of that top." She smiled and looked at Kateri. "You are very lucky fellow, Major Nelson. A very, very lucky fellow."

"Wait," William looked at Kateri with a serious expression on his face, "is that sexual harassment? Have I just been harassed?"

The reception area got very quiet for a few seconds until William started to laugh. "Kidding. I'm just kidding."

They all relaxed and let out little, nervous laughs. "Well, alright, then," Tess smiled. "The quiet accountant has developed a sense of humor."

"Hey, guys!" They were greeted by Bruce in his Shakira costume. He looked pretty silly with his broader shoulders and hard jawline, but he was having a good time. "Geez, Bill, you look great! Are you comfortable dressed that way?"

William shrugged. "Sure, I guess. It kind of feels like I'm wearing pajamas."

Bruce laughed. "No. I mean, after our conversation on Wednesday, I thought you were a little nervous about dressing like a girl. I meant, are you comfortable dressing like a woman for costume day."

"Well, after yesterday, what difference could it possibly make today?" William seemed surprised by the question.

"Yeah, but yesterday was a..." Bruce began to explain his question further, but decided it wasn't worth it. "Never mind. You look awesome. Oh, and look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Supergirl!" Bruce said as he looked past William to the entrance. Then, almost as if he was speaking to himself, Bruce whispered, "Wow. Looking good, Supergirl."

When he turned to see what Bruce meant, William saw his younger sister enter in her Supergirl costume - but she didn't look like his kid sister. She didn't look like a kid at all. She looked like a woman. A strong, beautiful, intelligent woman, and William realized for the first time, just how womanly she had become. He knew that she wasn't a child any more, but a part of him still viewed Angela as a high school girl. A 'woman to be,' in a way. He just never really thought of her as a fully formed woman - but there was no denying it now. The form fitting top and skater skirt bottom of the costume's dress combined with the knee high, high heeled boots left very little doubt that his younger sister had fully grown up.

That was when he truly realized that this internship of hers wasn't a joke. It was the start of a new phase of her adulthood and it was time that he stopped thinking of her presence in his office as a bit of an annoyance and started to help her to actually learn the ins and outs of his profession. Suddenly, this realization created a strange, new sorority within him - sorority in the truest sense. He and Angie were now sisters and he needed to be there for her to help in any way he could.

"Well, well, well," Bruce said, a bit too brightly for a married man, "if it isn't Kara Danvers arriving to work at KatCo Magazine. Good morning, Ms Danvers."

Angela stopped and spread her legs to shoulder width and placed a fist on each of her hips. "No, citizen, I believe you are mistaken. My friend Kara Danvers wears glasses and sometimes has bangs. I am Supergirl, younger - and far sexier - cousin of Superman."

Everyone in the group laughed at that.

"Billie, do you have a minute?" An out of breath Lorraine was moving swiftly towards her office, taking off her coat as she hustled past.

"Sure." William fell into step beside her. "You're not in costume. Is there a problem."

They entered her office and Lorraine dropped her coat and pocketbook onto a chair, then hurried behind her desk. "No, nothing's wrong. I just have a couple of unexpected meetings this morning, so I have to dress like a grown up lady for a few hours before I can join in the fun. The reason I called you in though is because of the impromptu report you gave the investors yesterday. You said that you'd email a copy of it to everyone. Have you done that?"

"Yes. When I returned from lunch yesterday. I CCed you on it, too."

"I thought you had." She opened her MacBook and stared at the screen for a few moments. "Here it is. Good, I didn't delete it. Ok... what I need you to do right now is just very quickly walk me through the highlights of this report. And Billie... keep it simple. Remember - I'm a gamer, not an accountant."

William smiled at that. "Ok. Why don't you print it out and I can highlight the important parts."

When the report was printed out, William pulled up a chair and went to work, explaining the important parts of the report and highlighting the numbers Lorraine would need to reference in a discussion of the games projected profits. It took about fifteen minutes to go through it once, then have Lorraine explain everything back to him so that he was sure that she could handle the numbers.

When they had completed their work, Lorraine shook her head. "You are a miracle, Billie. Thank God I found you."

William blushed at the complement. "I'm glad you feel that way," he smiled. "I really have grown to like it here."

That made his boss smile, too. "Two more things, Billie. I know you haven't gotten in touch with any of those companies who have the adhesive solvent, yet, but something occurred to me." She grabbed her phone, scrolled through it for a moment, then wrote on a Post-It Note, handing it to William. "This is a friend of mine. She's a plastic surgeon here in town. I happened to run into her last night and I mentioned your predicament. She said to give her a call. She's concerned that the solvent may burn your skin. She thinks she may be able to help you."

William looked at the name and number and felt a little pang of sadness at the thought of going back to his old self, but he knew that having these things adhered to him couldn't be healthy in the long term.

"Thank you, Lorraine. I'll give her a call." He had no where to put the note, so he just held it and waited for Lorraine to move on to the second thing she wanted to talk about.

"Billie... I'm not sure how you feel about the situation you're currently in, but... I've seen a change in you that is... remarkable... and, to tell you the truth, very impressive. I hope that it continues when you go back to being plain old Bill."

There is was - Plain Old Bill. Was that really who he was? Plain Old Bill? He'd been that for too long.

"I hope so, too," he whispered in a voice far sadder than Lorraine had expected.

"Bill... I... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know that I admire the work you do for us. You really are invaluable here. I was just saying that... well... you seem to be more outgoing as Billie. That's all. I truly meant it as a compliment."

William nodded. "I know. Let me know if you need anything else."
 

"You're doing great, Angie," William complimented his sister as he reviewed an accounting task he'd given her. It wasn't a huge task and not overly complicated, but it was intricate enough that William expected it to have been a bigger challenge for her than it was. "Your methodology is correct, you've laid out your spreadsheet in a logical and decipherable manner and, most importantly, your numbers are all correct. I am impressed. You've only been here a week and you've caught on to the process like an old pro. Good work."

"Whoa," Angela made a show of being amazed. "Are you complimenting me? What's going on? A week ago, you were furious that I was here, now you're being supportive? Why are you being nice to me?"

He stood and hugged his sister. She was naturally three inches taller than him, but with her in heels and him in flats, he only reached her shoulder. "I am. I'm sorry about last week. I was a territorial, petty ass and I should have been nicer. You're doing great, though, Angie, and I want to help you in any way that I can."

"Cool," said a slightly confused, but very happy Angela as she returned his hug.

"Excuse me," Raquel said from the doorway, "I don't mean to interrupt, but Lorraine asked me to tell everyone that she's reserved the Walnut Room at the country club for this afternoon and, Billie, she told me to ask you to join her for lunch across the street at Montrose."

William looked up, more than surprised. "Now!? But I'm dressed like this."

"That's what she said," Raquel confirmed. "She went over about twenty minutes ago. She just called and told me to have you come right over for lunch."

William looked at his fairly short, men's (actually boys') jacket. It wouldn't cover the costume at all. "I... I can't go to Montrose. I'll look crazy dressed like this."

"No you won't," Raquel brushed his concerns aside with the wave of a hand. "You look great as a woman."

"Thanks," William shook his head at her, "but I was referring to the harem girl outfit. I'll look insane, going into a business-person's restaurant dressed like this. It's not like anyone else will be wearing a costume. It'll just be me."

"Here. Wear my coat," Angela grabbed her knee length, wool coat and held it open for him. This will cover you to your shins."

"Yeah, but the wig! The veil! The fez! That will all be showing!"

"I can see that you're upset about this, Billie," Raquel shrugged, "but Lorraine wants you over there ASAP, so I'd get moving if I were you."

"I've got to see Kateri before I go," William said, settling the oversized coat onto his little shoulders. "She has my wallet. I may need money."

"Here," His sister fished in her wallet for a second and produced a plastic card, "take my debit card. If you need money, just use it. Don't go crazy, though. There's only eighty two dollars and seventy one cents in my account right now." She tucked the card into one of the coat pockets and took William's hand, leading him towards the elevator.

"This stupid," William muttered. "Absolutely stupid."

"Agreed," Angela acknowledged, "but necessary. For some reason, Lorraine wants you there. She knows how you're dressed, so she must need you pretty badly." The elevator door opened. Angela kissed William's cheek and said, "Ok, Willy, you look fine. Some people may notice, but I'm sure that they'll understand that it's just a costume. Now, go on. Hold your head up and be Billie. I'll be right here cheering you on."

"Great," William rolled his eyes as the doors began to close. "How about I stay here and you go over there dressed as Supergirl."

The doors closed before he heard her reply.

The restaurant was crowded with local business people as William entered. The hostess was a very well dressed woman in her early sixties who was looking down at a table plan. When she finally looked up and saw William, a huge smiled spread across her face. "Oh, my goodness. It's Jeannie! What's the occasion, dear?"

William was a bit embarrassed just to be acknowledged as being in a costume, but relieved that she at least knew who he was dressed as. "It's a team building thing. I'm sorry. I didn't expect to have to come over here today and I don't have anything else to wear."

The woman reached out and patted William's upper arm. "No problem, my love. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for my boss - Lorraine - from Firefly - across the street. She called the office and called me over."

The woman's smile had not subsided one bit. "Of course, my dear. Follow me."

She led William through the crowded dinning room. Gratefully, most people barely noticed him and those who did seemed pleasantly amused. As they approached a round bench with a round table in the rear corner, the hostess announce, "Excuse me, Lorraine, but this lovely little girl is looking for her master. I told her to just 'blink' herself back here to your table, but she insisted on coming in as if she was a mere mortal."

Lorraine looked up, a bit confused, but then saw William. "Oh, Billie, good, come sit. Thanks, Ellen."

William sat next to Lorraine and looked across the table at another woman, approximately the same age as Lorraine, dressed extremely professionally. "Billie, this is Dr. Joan Davis, the plastic surgeon I told you about this morning. I didn't expect to run into her again so quickly, but she was here and I don't expect my business guests to be here for a bit, yet, so I thought this was the perfect time to get you two together - Joan, this is Billie. Billie, Joan."

"Hi," William nodded, feeling very on the spot.

The doctor spoke as if she was already well onto a conversation with William. "So, you're breasts are not actually 'permanently' attached to your chest. Your skin is constantly shedding, so eventually the skin will shed enough and the breasts will loosen. That could take a year or more, though, and I believe that the surgical glue solvent we use will allow us to remove those from your chest without burning your skin the way the industrial solvent may. I would suggest that we don't do anything for a couple of weeks, though - give the glue a bit of time to loosen up on the edges. My estimate is that, once a nurse starts working, she could have those off of you within four to six hours. It'd be a long day, but it's probably the safest course of action."

"Oh," William nodded, a bit shocked that this was actually the topic of conversation in such a public place.

"Call my office and my girl will set up an appointment for you."

"Ok," William nodded, again.

"Would you mind opening your coat so I can see the problem?"

William looked around, not wanting to really expose his costume in this room.

"Here, let me help you," Lorraine said as she began unbuttoning the oversized buttons on Angela's coat, then began pulling the front open.

The doctor nodded. "Impressive size on your body. Now, we need to discuss the implant size. We could do those within a day or so of removing the fake ones if it's important to maintain this look for you."

"W...What?" William couldn't get his head around the doctor's words.

The doctor remained cold and calculating as she looked at William's overall appearance. "Obviously, this is a cultivated appearance, Billie. If you want to move forward with implants, I can accommodate that. Hormones, etc, will require some work with a psychiatrist, of course, but it's not unusual for a patient who is living as a woman to begin with implants. Since Lorraine and I have a close friendship and it appears that you are an important part of her business, then I can certainly help you out with that."

William felt a wave of hot fear and nervousness pass over him. Implants? As in living as a woman for the rest of his life? Did he want that? Was that even a possibility? What would Kateri think? Was this something he should even be considering? He was really fascinated with this new experience, but all of this had been an accident. Did he really want to be Billie for the rest of his life?

When he didn't respond, Lorraine spoke, "Of course that is a decision you will have to make for yourself, Billie, but I think you know where I stand on the matter - From my point of view, you're just a little better at being Billie than you are at being Bill. You're a great accountant either way, but you are more of a force to be reckoned with as Billie. I think your new persona gives you a real edge. But that's just my two cents. You'll need to talk to your girlfriend and family about this."

'Girlfriend?" The doctor shifted her attention from William to Lorraine. She gave her friend a questioning look, then returned her attention to William. "Now, that is surprising. It's not unusual for a trans-woman to have lesbian desires, but looking at the effort I'm seeing in the perfect eyebrows and skin tone, not to mention the sound of your voice and your basic demeanor, and I would have guessed that you would have a boyfriend. That's not a judgement, mind you, just an observation."

"To tell you the truth," Lorraine took over as if William wasn't even there, "when Bill and Kateri started dating, I think everyone in the office was shocked. He was not dressing like this at the time, but I kind of assumed that he was into guys, just based on his general demeanor. Let me assure you, though, Kateri is no guy. She is a very nicely put together woman and nearly every guy at Firefly had hit on her before she chose Billie, here."

The doctor nodded. "So, is this Kateri the dominant personality in your relationship?"

William was rendered speechless by the conversation going on about him. He tried to speak, but he just could not muster the intellect to form a sentence.

"Well," Lorraine laughed, "Kat is dressed as an Air Force pilot and Billie is dressed as her genie who lives in a bottle and has to refer to the pilot as 'master,' so you draw your own conclusions." Both women chuckled at that.

William wanted to say that his relationship with Kateri was no one else's business. He wanted to say that there was no dominant personality, that they were equals. He wanted to say that they had a partnership. He wanted to say that they loved each other and that no one could come between them.

But instead, someone else approached the table and spoke.

"Well, I only expected one beautiful female companion for lunch, but it appears that I have three. Oh, and look at my little Vanilla Bean is dressed as my own little harem girl! I do like that look for you, Billie."

William was horrified as the ground continued to open up underneath him. He could barely breathe and the sound of Lorraine introducing Dr Davis to Shane Harris was dim and distant. Then, through a haze, he watched as Harris shook hands with the doctor, then with Lorraine. He heard Harris' lecherous tone as he flattered the women with one sexist compliment after another and these successful business women blushed and smiled back at his little remarks about their dresses, their breasts, their makeup. Cute little double entendres about their need for his companionship that just poured from him as naturally as breathing.

Then, William watched as Harris, seemingly in slow motion, bent low towards him and kissed his cheek.

That was enough to bring William back to his senses.

He pushed Harris away from him with as much force as he could muster. "GET OFF OF ME!" William shouted much louder than he meant to, but that didn't matter. The idea of this pig of a man kissing him was too much. "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN, MR HARRIS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

Harris continued to smile, but looked nervously around the dinning room. "Sor-ree, baby."

Oblivious to the attention he was drawing, William's voice remained loud. "I am not your 'baby,' Mr Harris. As far as you are concerned, I am just the accountant at Firefly - nothing else." Then he stood and pushed past Harris. He stopped and turned to the women. "Lorraine, I would appreciate it if we could have a few words in your office this afternoon. Doctor, thank you, I will call your office and make an appointment." Then he looked at Shane Harris. "Mr Harris, I hope that the next time we meet, you are better behaved."

He turned to leave, but Harris grabbed the arm of his coat. "Oh, come on now, honey. I was just flirting a little. I didn't mean anything by the 'baby' or 'Vanilla Bean' stuff. Come on, now, sit down and let's have lunch."

"Let go of me!" William shouted, but Harris' grip didn't lessen, so William pulled his arm free of the coat, did the same with the other arm, then headed to the exit with as much dignity as a beautiful man in an 'I Dream of Jeannie' costume could muster.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart. Stop being that way and come back," Harris called after him, Angela's coat hanging limply in his hand. Harris looked at the two men sitting at the table next to him and shook his head. "Must be her time of the month, I guess," he said, causing both men to nod and let out commiserating chuckles.

William didn't look back, though, nor did he look to the right or to the left. His tunnel vision was so focused on the exit door that he barely noticed when a large, red headed man stepped in front of him, completely blocking his exit.

"Now, just hold up, lass, hold up. What's going on here?" The hefty man said, as he gently but firmly stopped William's exit.

"Nothing. Please, just let me leave."

"Not without your coat, lass. Wait here." The man's Scottish burr had been somewhat tempered from years of living in The States, but was still a very noticeable part of his speech. "Jaimie," the man said to a younger employee, "stay with her whist I sort this out."

"Yes, Uncle Mal," the man in his mid twenties replied as he took his place beside William.

The big, red headed man headed to the rear of the dinning room with a swagger that made it clear that he did not appreciate having to be a part of the current happenings in his restaurant. As he approached Harris, Harris just shook his head in disgust at the behavior that had just been exhibited by the girl in the harem costume.

"What are you gonna do with a girl like that?" Harris half laughed as he spoke. "Impetuous little thing, isn't she..." he tried to continue, but the big man's glare stopped him. There was anger and foreboding in those eyes and it shut Harris up immediately.

"This isn't a barroom, laddie, this is a respectable restaurant for the business people in this area. If you want to harass and upset women far too young for you to be approaching in this crass manner, than I suggest that you try the bar at Applebee's or TGI Fridays. I understand that's where these kinds of things go on, but when you're in MY restaurant, you shall show everyone the respect they deserve. Am I making myself abundantly clear, laddie?" The big man seemed to grow as he spoke and there was no question that his face grew ruddier and his jaw set more firmly as he finished.

"Now, just a minute," Harris could not help but try to stand up for himself, but Lorraine cut him off.

"I do apologize for my business associate here, Mr Montrose, and for the hysterics of my employee. I assure you that Mr Harris will abide by your restaurant's code of behavior and that I shall be dealing with my employee when I get back to the office."

"Your employee," the restaurant owner continued, "is blameless in this matter, Miss. I saw the entire event. Your associate here is entirely at fault. And further more, he's standing here holding the lass' coat, expecting her to walk back to your office in the cold in just that wee costume of hers. You're not much of gentleman, are you, Mr Associate? It's not my place to say so, of course, Lorraine, but I would be much more selective of my associates, if I were you. A man who'd treat a young lass like that isn't someone you can trust." The restauranteur's eyes narrowed as he leaned a bit closer to Harris. "In fact, a man who'd treat a woman like that isn't much of a man at all."

"Alright, now, just hold on a minute..." Harris began, but Mr Montrose cut him off.

"I am afraid, Miss, that if your associate would care to continue to remain in my establishment, then he will need to gather up that coat in his hand, fold it neatly over his arm, walk it to the front of the dinning room, return it to the lass and apologize to her."

"What!?" Harris had never been spoken to in this manner in his entire life - not in his private elementary school, in his private prep school, in his private Ivy League college or in his job with his uncle's company. Never had anyone spoken to him with anything close to the contempt that this man was exhibiting.

"Mr Montrose..." Lorraine began.

"I'm afraid this is not something that is up for discussion, Miss. Either he does or he leaves."

Harris looked about him at every face in the dining room and each one was looking back at him, waiting for him to do something. Even his two compatriots who had laughed at his joke a few moments earlier, looked ashamed and expectant. "Oh, for Christ's sake," Harris muttered as he gathered up Angela's coat and folded it over his arm.

He began to storm towards William, but the owner stopped him. "Politely."

Harris huffed and straightened up before walking to the exit where William waited.

"Here, you forgot your coat," he grumbled. "I'm sorry if I upset you." His eyes betrayed the sentiment, though. They were filled with anger. "Please accept my apologies."

William went to take the coat from Harris, but the twenty-something man who'd been charged with watching over William took the coat from the offending man and shook it open, holding it so William could slide his arms into it.

William kept his lips pursed through the whole process, which frustrated Harris to no end.

'Well, I tried," Harris shrugged and turned to find Malcom Montrose standing just behind him. "You saw. I tried. Happy?"

Montrose shook his head and turned to the hostess. "Wanda, I'm going to walk this young lady back to her office. Keep your eye on this gentleman's party. If he so much as coughs too loud, have the waiters escort him from the premises. Are you all set, Miss?"

William finished buttoning Angela's coat. "Yes, I am, but there is no need to walk me back, Mr Montrose. I'll be fine. Thank you."

"Nonsense," the big Scotsman was not to be deterred. "I'll make sure that you get back safely."

Unable to dissuade the man, William turned and walked out the door with the restauranteur walking closely behind. Mr Montrose stepped forward to offer William a hand as he stepped over a small river of slush in the gutter. Then he stepped into traffic, holding up his hands to stop the oncoming cars and escorted William across the road.

They had not said a word to each other as they entered the lobby and crossed to the elevators. When the doors opened, Mr Montrose put his hand into the opening to keep the doors open. "After you."

William stepped into the elevator, then smiled as politely as he could. "Thank you, very much, Mr Montrose. I do appreciate your help, but I can make it from here."

Montrose stepped into the elevator car and shook his head. "That's quite alright, young lady. I don't mind. You've been through a lot. I just want to be sure you make it back to your office safely."

As the elevator rose, Malcom asked, "Are you going to be ok, lass?"

"I'll be fine," William smiled. "Thank you, very much, for walking me back. That's very... chivalrous of you."

Montrose snickered at that. "Just good business." Then, as if something had just occurred to him, the man asked, "Did you have a chance to eat your lunch?"

"No, sir, but I don't think I was really there to eat lunch. My boss called me over. I was just there to see her."

The doors opened and they stepped out into the foyer. "Would you like something? I can have Jaimie bring over something for you."

William smiled and laid his little hand on the man's forearm. "That's very nice of you, but I'm fine. Thank you for all of the kindness you've shown me. I truly appreciate it."

Mr Montrose took that hand in his, raised it to his lips and kissed it. "My pleasure, Lass. Don't be a stranger." Then he turned and returned to the elevator, smiling once more before the doors closed. "Have faith, lassie. Not all men are pigs." The doors closed.

'No kidding,' William thought. 'I was never that way to a woman.'

"Hey, how did it go?" Angela asked as William hung her coat back up on a hanger.

William shook his head as he sat behind his desk. "Not well, Angie. Not well. First, Lorraine introduced me to a doctor who wants to give me breast implants, then that guy Harris showed up and it got really ugly. The owner of the restaurant was so upset by Harris' behavior that he walked me back here to be sure I was alright."

Angela was suddenly very concerned and hit him with a battery of questions. "What did Harris do? Did he touch you? What did Lorraine do? Did you hit Harris? Why was the owner upset? Did you cry? Are you ok? Have you told Kateri about this? Was Lorraine mad at you when you left?"

He assured his sister that he was fine and that he hadn't cried, nor hit Harris, but was leaving when the owner intervened. He also told her that he thought that Lorraine was pretty mad at him when he left, so he didn't know what she would say when she returned.

"It's twelve thirty, ladies," Tess smiled as she looked into his office. "Time to relax and do some team building games." Then she looked at the faces of the two siblings and asked, "What happened in here?"
 

It was nearly 2:00 before Loraine returned from lunch. There was a Lego assembling competition going on at the office at that time as part of the team building games. Kateri and William were on a team with Angela and all the girls from advertising, while Tess was running the event. At William's request, no one had told Kateri about what had happened. William wanted her to enjoy as much of the day as she could. He wasn't at all sure how the afternoon would end. He'd kept one eye on the entrance throughout the afternoon, though, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Lorraine went straight to her office, looking not at all pleased. William saw her disappear, then, almost immediately, Raquel glanced at her cell phone, then looked at William, then at the boss' office. William didn't wait to be told. He nodded at Raquel, then said to his team, "I'll be right back," and headed off to face the music.

"Where's he going?" Kateri asked.

Angela just shrugged in response.

"You wanted to see me?" William asked as he entered the office.

"Close the door." Loraine didn't even glance in his direction, but instead fussed with hanging up her coat. This wasn't good.

"Take a seat," she said, again without looking at him, but instead pouring herself a finger of scotch from a bottle in a cupboard behind her desk.

Finally, she sat, took a sip of her drink, placed her glass on a coaster on her desk, crossed her legs, folded her arms across herself, leaned back just a little in her desk chair and stared at him for at least twenty seconds before saying, "Well?"

"Well, what?" William refused to just be apologetic.

"I'm not playing games, right now, Bill. You are important to this company, but without Bunker Hill's backing, we are out of business. Because of your behavior, we almost lost that backing. Just because you're important doesn't mean you can't be replaced, so... What do you have to say for yourself?"

William thought for a moment and then said, "If you're expecting me to apologize and ask for forgiveness, Loraine, then you might just as well go right ahead and fire me, because I am not going to kowtow to you in this instance. I did nothing wrong."

"Nothing wrong?" Loraine was losing her cool. She'd had a tough couple of hours at Montrose and she was looking more for an opportunity to take out her frustration on someone than to be rational. "You nearly destroyed my company, Bill!"

"Why did you call me over there?" William asked, as cool as a cucumber.

Loraine wasn't pleased that he remained unfazed by her anger. "I called you over as a favor to you, Bill. I introduced you to a friend of mine who can help you. I was being a good friend."

William nodded. "You invited me into a very public place to discuss a very private matter with a total stranger while you sat there and listened. Is that how good friends behave?"

His boss scoffed at that. "Oh, please. You've got silicon tits stuck to your chest. Is that really a private matter?"

"Where did the discussion about implants come from, Loraine?" William knew he held the moral high ground here, and he chose to take advantage of it. "That's a pretty personal decision for anyone, especially for a guy, and here I was in a restaurant, surrounded by strangers, a doctor I didn't know and my boss, feeling a lot of pressure to make what could be the most important decision of my life! How do you think that made me feel?"

"Alright, that's on me," Loraine admitted, but her attitude didn't change. "I should have handled that differently, but the real issue is the scene you made with Shane Harris. Within thirty seconds of his arrival, you turned into a spoilt little girl. Screaming and ranting at a man YOU KNEW was important to this company. How could you have been so... so... reckless... so careless... so... so selfish?"

"Selfish!?" Now William crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, imitating his boss' posture. "I was being selfish? You KNEW how uncomfortable that man made me yesterday, you KNEW how he approached me and the girls at lunch after our meeting, you KNEW how I was dressed today, and yet you dragged me over there, in this very exposed costume, to use me as bait for that shark. How dare you call me selfish."

He knew he was in a dangerous position, now, but he was too invested in maintaining his high ground to care about being fired.

"'How dare I...?'" Loraine smirked at his bravery. "Before you say anything that may get you fired without a letter of reference, Billie, you should remember that I am your boss. Watch your tongue, little girl, or you may find yourself pounding the pavement before the day's over."

She sat forward and leaned her elbows on her desk. "Also, my dear, you need to take a good look at yourself before attacking me for using you as bait. Two days ago, you were a nondescript little pleb who kept his nose in his laptop all day. Since yesterday, you have been a sexy, little piece of ass that happens to be attracting the attention of not just the representative of my biggest investor, but of most of the men and probably half of the women in this office. As an accountant, Billie, you are an asset to this company, but as a sexy little piece of meat, you are almost invaluable."

William was almost too shocked to breathe, let alone speak.

"I know that you're new to womanhood, sweetie, but if this is where you plan on staying, then get used to being treated like a piece of tail. Every woman does it and every man behaves just like Shane did today when he's attracted to a woman. I've been the bait a million times, Billie, and I will be again, I'm sure, but a woman uses that situation to use her advantage. I thought you understood that."

He shook his head slowly and took a deep breath. "Wow. I had no idea how much you hated yourself."

"What?"

William spoke quietly, with pity in his voice. "I've been a man my whole life. I've been in locker rooms and hung out with guys and, yeah, some are pigs, but most aren't. Most respect women and themselves enough to display manners to each other, even if they're feeling an attraction. Sure, they might say things in private that aren't as polite as they maybe should be, but most men are pretty decent. Shane Harris is crude, obnoxious, privileged piece of crap who has no respect for women. You knew that and you knew that I had almost no experience and you ASSUMED that I would just go along with it. Well... surprise. I am not a big fan of William, Loraine, but he's a pretty good guy, all in all. I really like, Billie, though and I respect her way too much to sacrifice her for any reason - and I certainly would never sacrifice her - me - to a worthless jackass like that."

Loraine looked at her accountant, shocked by his words.

"You know," he continued, "I never understood how a man could be recorded saying 'They love it when you grab them by the pussy' and then go on to be supported by women, but now I'm beginning to understand. Loraine - you are a beautiful, successful, intelligent, wealthy woman and you are willing to sacrifice all of that - to let a rich asshole like that treat you like a piece of garbage - just to get ahead. I know that it's an uneven playing field and that men have it easier than women in a business like this, but come on... are you truly proud of how you behave when you're dealing with people like Harris? Are you proud of using me to entice him? Did you expect me to flirt with him? To be his date? To service him?"

Loraine just stared.

William stood and indicated his body, clad in a diaphanous pink harem costume. "This is all new to me, yes, but I worship women, Loraine. I don't put women on a pedestal - I envy them. I envy everything about them. Everything. Now, I'm just confused. I used to respect you, but now I've seen a side of you that I can't understand. That I will never understand. You are smarter, more successful, and a thousand times more respected by your community than him, but that isn't enough. You had to debase yourself and make him feel like a big man in order to get what you wanted. That's just wrong. I don't know how I'm going to live the rest of my life, but I know for sure that I will never debase this body just to get ahead."

Loraine remained quite.

William nodded and read the situation. "Ok. I'll... I'll go clean out my desk. I really did enjoy working here. Thank you for the opportunity and I hope that your anger with me doesn't influence how you'll treat Angela or Kat in the future." He headed for the office door.

"Wait," Loraine finally spoke in a quiet voice. She waited for a moment or two as she thought. "Billie... sit... please."

William sat and looked at Loraine, who appeared to be considering her next move. Not a word was spoken for nearly a minute. Then a cheer arose from out in the pit. Someone had won the Lego challenge. Loraine looked towards the sound and thought some more.

Finally, still looking to the sounds of excitement, she said, "Do you know how many people work here?"

"One hundred and sixty seven," William replied. Of course he knew. He did the payroll every week.

"Do you know how many are male?"

He thought for a moment. "Sixteen," he said.

"That's one hundred and fifty one women." She thought for a moment. "Do you have any idea how many times Tess and I have dressed a certain way, or unbuttoned a few extra buttons, or laughed at insulting, sexist remarks just to be sure that we had the attention of a male client or investor? Do you know how many of times I've walked male clients through the pit when I knew that it was filled with pretty young women?"

William assumed that the question was rhetorical, but he shook his head anyway.

Loraine continued to stare off towards the sound. Finally, she snapped back to reality. "Aw, fuck it," she mumbled as she grabbed her cell phone and pressed a contact. Then she put the phone on speaker and set it on her desk.

"Bunker Hill Investments," the voice on the phone said, cheerily.

"Good afternoon," Loraine said, still not looking at William. "This is Loraine Brewer over at Firefly Games. We do a good deal of business with you. Tell me, who is the highest ranking female employee at Bunker Hill?"

"Well, as far as employees go, our HR director is a woman, but we do have one female partner - Ms Cramer."

"Is Ms Cramer in?"

"Yes, ma'm."

"Then, can I please speak to Ms Cramer?"

"Of course. Please hold while I transfer you."

Some of Pachelbel's chamber music played as she waited.

"This is Renee Cramer. How may I help you?" A new voice asked.

Loraine sighed. "Good afternoon, Ms Cramer. Loraine Brewer from Firefly Games here."

"Oh, yes, Loraine. I know of Firefly. How can I help you?"

Loraine shook her head as if she couldn't believe that she was about to do what she was about to do. "Well, I do hate to bother you, but I really felt like I needed to talk to a woman about this issue. It involves one of your representatives. A Mr Shane Harris. Are you familiar with Mr Harris?"

The woman on the phone let out a long, frustrated sigh. "I am, yes, and I am really hoping that this call does not involve any misconduct on his part."

"In fact it does," Loraine nodded to the phone. "I have met with Mr Harris twice over the last two days and on both occasions he has made inappropriate remarks to one of my employees and to me. In fact, he was so inappropriate today that he was nearly removed from the restaurant in which we were meeting."

"I see..."

"Now, I hate to say this, Ms Cramer, because Firefly really does need Bunker Hill's backing, but there comes a point where this kind of behavior becomes intolerable. I'm afraid that we have gone well past that point, now, and I am afraid that, if our further relationship with BHI is going to require that we continue to interact with Mr Harris, then I am afraid that we will have no choice but to look elsewhere for a business partner. I know that we're small potatoes for your company, but I will not end another work day feeling cheap and dirty because I allowed a man like that to make me and my girls feel 'less than.'"

There was another sigh on the other end of the phone. "Ms Brewer... Loraine... Yes, Firefly is a very small investment for BHI, but it is one that we want to maintain and, to be very honest, yours is one of the few woman-owned companies in our portfolios and, as such, is worth a bit more in public relations than you might think. Now, regarding Mr Harris - Shane has been warned about this kind of behavior before. I apologize that you had to deal with his nonsense, but I promise, he will no longer be representing BHI."

"I do appreciate that, Ms Cramer, but I would hesitate to call this kind of behavior nonsense. My employee was very upset by him and even had to be accompanied back to our offices by the restaurant's owner."

"I understand, Loraine. A poor choice of words on my part. Thank you for contacting me. I assure you, I will deal with this immediately."

They said their goodbyes, ended the call and Loraine looked back towards the pit. She thought for a few more moments before saying, "You were a good guy, Billie, but you're an even better woman. An even better woman than I." She sniffled in a way that made William think that she might have actually been close to crying. "You are right... I was wrong... and I am sorry."

She finally looked him in the eye. "Are we good?"

William stood. "We're good. Thank you."

He turned to leave, but Loraine stopped him once more. "Billie... If you had been with me, at Montrose, as Bill, and Harris had shown up and behaved that way towards another female employee... would you have confronted me this way about it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe if it was Kateri or Angie, but..." He shrugged again. "I guess I didn't really know how it felt until it happened to me and... I didn't like it."

Loraine nodded. "No. I never did, either, but I just put up with it. No more, though." She stood and came around her desk, surprising William with a hug. "Like I said, Billie... you were a good guy, but you are a really amazing woman." She released him from her hug and stepped back. "Get in touch with Joan about getting those fake breasts off. If you decide that you want to remain a woman, though, just know that I'll support you one hundred percent. Well, I'll support you either way, but I'd hate to say goodbye to the amazing girl in front of me."

He smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Loraine." He couldn't think of anything else to say, though, so he just turned and walked back towards the pit.

Once he'd left, Loraine let out a huge breath. "Good God, almighty," she muttered to the walls, "I must be out of my mind." She returned to her desk and picked up her glass, held it up in a toast in the direction of the pit. "To you, girls," she said, quietly, then sipped the liquor. She closed her eyes as she enjoyed the burn on her throat. Then, a round of applause from the pit caused her to open her eyes and smile. She held up her glass once more. "Sisterhood."
 

"Wow... that's a big decision, Billy. Is this something you want to do?" Kateri asked as they drove home from the country club. The evening events had mostly consisted of dinner and dancing. William had spent most of it either with Kateri or the girls from Marketing. He was finding that he really enjoyed being with them. Kateri tended to talk to the artists and game designers that she worked with. Many of the artists were women, but most of the game designers were men. They all seemed solely focused on the games. William preferred to talk about anything other than work and the girls from marketing tended to talk about relationships, clothes, family, dating, etc.

"I don't know, Kat. I mean, I never really thought about it until that doctor mentioned it. Now, I can't stop thinking about it. There's an awful lot I like about presenting as a woman. I feel... confident in a way I never did before. It's kind of like I accidentally found the real me." William tried to be as open with his feelings as he could, but he was concerned that Kateri might think he was weird. Still, he had to be honest. "How would you feel if I did get implants. Is that something that you'd like? Or even something you could live with?"

Kateri let out a long breath. "Whew, Billy, that's a lot to think about. I mean, I love playing this game, but doing it full time... for real, I mean... that's... that's not a game anymore, you know?"

He nodded. "So you wouldn't like it, then?"

"I didn't say that. I just haven't had the time to think about it, yet. Regardless, though, it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is what you want. Is this what you want? To be a woman?"

"No, no, no, no, no. I don't want to BE a woman, Kat. I can't imagine not having my... you know. Besides, I want to be with you. The way we've been the last couple of weeks. As a man and woman."

"So... is it just the soft clothes that you like?"

William shook his head. "I'll admit that I really do like the clothes, sure. I mean, who wouldn't? Compared to my usual clothes, women's clothes are amazing! I've worn a suit nearly every day of my life as an adult, but the suit I wore yesterday was heavenly compared to every other one that I ever wore before. I do like that, but... it's like I'm a whole different person when I'm dressed as a women. Kat, you should have heard me with Loraine before. Honestly, it wasn't even me speaking. I never could have said those things as 'plain old Bill,' but as Billie, I couldn't stop myself. Heck, Kat, even just talking about this with you wouldn't be possible for Bill. I can't explain it, but it... they... these clothes... even this silly costume... it's freeing for me. I feel free... like I'm in my real skin, for the first time in my life. I'm afraid to say that this is how I want to live, but I'm afraid to give it up, too."

Kateri reached over and patted his thigh. "I think I get it, babe. Look... think about it over the weekend. We'll talk about it and you can talk to Angie and your mom, too. Then, on Monday, go see that doctor and talk to her. I'll go with you if you want me too. Then... then you can make up your mind. Ok?"

He nodded.

"I do have to admit, though," Kateri squeezed his thigh, "you are a sexy, little thing when your dressed up like this. I could get used to having a girlfriend like you around." Her hand slid up his silky thigh to where his legs met and his manhood was tucked safely away. "I could definitely get used to it."
 

"This girl, Kateri," Angela's mother stirred her coffee as she sat at the breakfast table with her daughter, "Willy must be very smitten with her. She seems nice enough, I guess, but this business of staying at her place night after night... that's not at all like my Willy."

Angela chuckled at that. "I think little Willy is having a hard time thinking straight, lately. He's pretty smitten with Kat, and he should be. She's beautiful, talented, has a good job... what's not to like, right?"

Her mother nodded. "Maybe. I just hope that my little Willy isn't only thinking with his little Willy, if you know what I mean."

Angela smiled. "Mom... I know it's hard to believe, but Willy is a really important guy at Firefly. He's smarter than almost anyone there. You know... you know how irritated you used to get with him when we'd play board games and he'd never count the spaces when he moved his pieces? He just knew where six or eight spaces away always was. Or how, when he's playing Solitaire, you can ask him how he's doing and he can tell you his odds of winning after each time he deals out the next three cards? All that kind of behavior that can be really annoying to us - that's what makes him great at his job. He doesn't just think about numbers, he sees them. They come alive for him. I'll never be as good at his job as he is, but I'm learning a lot from him. You'd be proud if you could see him in action."

Just then, Angela's text alert on her phone sounded. She looked at it. "Willy's on his way home. He says that he and Kat are going shopping for clothes for him to wear to work this week and I'm invited to go with them if I want."

"That's nice," her mother nodded and sipped from her coffee mug. "Are you going?"

Angela shrugged. "I'd like to, but I don't want to be a third wheel."

"Angie, he wouldn't have invited you if he didn't want you to go with them. My guess is that he wants you to come along to make sure that he doesn't end up dressed up like some Dresden doll by that girl."

"That's enough, mom," Angela could sense her mother's self righteousness rising. She'd never understood how a woman who had struggled so hard to get through life could be so sanctimonious and judgmental of everyone else. Even after the huge blowout she'd had that week with William, she was still sitting in judgement of his relationship with Kateri. "Now, you've met Kat. You know she's a nice person. You know that she loves Willy and he loves her, so there is nothing else to be said about it. If you do have anything else to say about it, then please... keep it to yourself."

Her mother was about to respond when they heard the front door open.

"We're in the kitchen!" Angela called, then more quietly to her mother, she said, "Keep it to yourself."

Her mother rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her coffee.

When William entered the kitchen with Kateri a few steps behind, both mother and daughter could not stifle their giggles at his apparel. His hair looked lovely and he was wearing very attractive, well executed, daytime makeup, but he was wearing an oversized, baby blue, woolen pea-coat with his tights-clad legs protruding below and his pink, Jeannie costume slippers on his feet.

"You look like you're wearing your big sister's coat," his mother giggled. "It's miles too big."

"I'm his big sister, mom, and that coat would be miles too big on me, too," Angela laughed. "Why didn't you wear your own coat?"

William opened the coat to reveal his attire beneath, which consisted of just his flesh toned leotard and tights. "Because I don't have anything else to wear. I tried some of Kat's clothes, but they're all way too big. I thought that, maybe, you might have something that is closer to my size. I need something to wear out shopping."

Angela smiled sweetly. "Aww, how sweet. I always wanted a little sister to share my clothes with." She stood and headed to the hallway, grabbing William's hand on the way. "Come on, sis. We'll find something."

"I'll wait down here, babe," Kateri giggled at Angela's enthusiasm. She went to the table and took the seat that Angela had just vacated. "So, how are you doing, today?"

William's mother smiled. "Kateri... you seem like a real nice girl and I'm very happy that Willy found someone to be with, but I am curious... how far do you intend to push my son into femininity? I mean the costume stuff was cute, but that person I just saw come in with you... that wasn't my son. That was a woman."

Kateri sensed a pending attack and decided that, when dealing with a woman that William described as a good person, but a bit unstable, the best defense was a strong offense, so she smiled and said, "Yes, well, there would have been no need for Billy to look like that if you hadn't adhered those breasts to his chest the way that you did. He is awfully attractive, though, don't you think?"

"An attractive woman, yes, but... well, this may be a bit coarse, but... are you a lesbian?"

Kateri laughed at the question, partially out of surprise and partially at the absurdity of her boyfriend's mother asking her if she was a lesbian. "I beg your pardon? I'm dating your SON, for crying out loud! Why would you ask if I am a lesbian?"

"Well... Last week, when you were dressed as Sonny and Cher, Willy looked more like he was wearing Hillary Clinton's suit than Sonny Bono's. This week, you have him dressed like a teenaged boy's wet dream straight out of 'The Arabian Nights.' I seem to sense a pattern here."

Kateri crossed her arms and looked across the table. "Look... if you hadn't saddled him with those breasts, Billy would be dressed in his usual, Saturday morning tan slacks and loafers. I had absolutely nothing to do with the makeover and his need to look female until this can all be sorted out. The responsibility for that lays partially at your feet and partially at our boss', but I will admit that I do like him this way. When I touch him and he's wearing something soft and silky, smells like flowers and vanilla and his kisses taste like lipstick, yeah, that's pretty exciting, but I wouldn't be attracted to it unless I knew that it was Billy that I was kissing. He's a smart, cute guy who happens to also be a smart, sexy, really attractive girl and I find that very exciting. Now, as far as frank conversations go, I hope that you've enjoyed this one because, I have to tell you, this kind of conversation will never, ever, ever happen between us again. Your relationship with your son is your business and my relationship with my boyfriend is mine. Ok? I think that, if we can respect each other's boundaries, then we can be friends. How does that sound?"

William's mother looked at the younger woman, wide eyed. "I don't think that you realize that your relationship with my son is, in fact, interfering with my relationship with him."

"How so?"

"Well, I don't think Willy has slept away from home more than five times in his whole life until this week. He comes in here today, after two nights at your house, and he's unrecognizable."

"And the blame for that lays on two people - as I have said. I wanted to play a few games. You and Loraine Brewer made this a full time thing."

"A full time thing!?" This surprised his mother. "What exactly do you mean by 'a full time thing?'"

Before Kateri could answer, Angela's voice spoke in an angry, somewhat loud whisper. "What the Hell is going on down here!? We can hear you fighting upstairs. Do you think this is easy for Willy? For crying out loud, mom, what did you say?"

"Me!?" Her mother acted shocked. "Why would you assume that I said something to set this all off?"

"Because I know you, mom, and I know that you can make any situation about you in a heartbeat. Before they even got here, I told you to keep your opinions to yourself. Willy has to figure all of this out for himself and the last thing he needs is two of the people he loves the most fighting over him and making him feel self conscious. So, stop it, right now."

Her mother's expression was one of pretend shock. "Well, I never would have expected you to turn on me..."

"Enough." Angela's stage whisper was very firm, and oddly, much more protective and maternal than her mother's tone. "Now, look - Willy is in a bind and until those things come off of him, it's up to us to help him. I found him a nice dress hanging in the back of my closet. It's not new, but it's pretty and will fit him. I can't find any nice shoes for him, but I found some of those jelly ballet flats that I used to wear all the time that will be fine to get to the mall, as long as he doesn't have to walk through any snow or slush."

"Oh, lord," her mother shook her head. "What clothes could you possible own that would fit Willy. You're at least two sizes bigger than him. Maybe three."

"Like I said, it's not new." Angela checked to be sure that William was out of earshot. "It's that nice yellow dress I got in sophomore year of high school. The one with the square neckline, three quarter sleeves and the tiered skirt. Remember it?"

"You're dressing your older brother in a dress you wore when you were fifteen and taking him out in public like that!?" Her mother said with a lot of indignation.

"Yes, mom, because that's the only dress I have that will fit him. Actually, it's a little long on him. It's supposed to come to mid thigh, but it reaches all the way to his knees - but who cares? It's a cute dress that looks nice on him, so there's no need to tell him that I was so young when I wore it."

"Isn't it awfully tight in the bust?" Her mother asked. "You were pretty flat back then."

She just would not stop, would she? Always finding a way to dig a little deeper into her children. "It's a fit and flare style, mom. The top is stretchy. Now, just be supportive. Here he comes."

When Angela saw her older brother with his pixie-ish hairstyle, plucked brows, his dyed hair, his ample bust and the youthful dress, her heart skipped a beat at how cute her new little sister looked.

When his mother saw William, she was struck by how much he looked like Angela did at the age she'd worn that dress. Bigger breasts, of course, and the makeup was too grownup, which had been a constant battle with Angela at that age, anyway, but the similarities were remarkable.

When Kateri saw him, her heart nearly burst with love and affection. The previous day, William had asked if she could live with him having breasts permanently implanted in his chest. At the time, it had all seemed too abstract to really imagine. After all, he had been dressed in a fantasy costume. The illusion of him as Jeannie was too playful for her to her even consider that it could be real. But now... now it was very real. William didn't look at all mannish or even boyish. He looked girlish and womanly all at once, but she still knew that he was a man underneath all that girlish exterior. A man she wanted to be with. To take him as her... what?... As her husband?... No... as her wife? Yes. Her wife. Her beautiful, soft, sweet smelling, little wife who's hair would always smell of vanilla and who's kisses would always taste like lipstick.

Could she live with him this way?

The real question had become: Could she live with him any other way?
 
 
To Be Continued...

When Angela saw her older brother with his pixie-ish hairstyle, plucked brows, his dyed hair, his ample bust and the youthful dress, her heart skipped a beat at how cute her new little sister looked.

When his mother saw William, she was struck by how much he looked like Angela did at the age she'd worn that dress. Bigger breasts, of course, and the makeup was too grownup, which had been a constant battle with Angela at that age, anyway, but the similarities were remarkable.

When Kateri saw him, her heart nearly burst with love and affection. The previous day, William had asked if she could live with him having breasts permanently implanted in his chest. At the time, it had all seemed too abstract to really imagine. After all, he had been dressed in a fantasy costume. The illusion of him as Jeannie was too playful for her to her even consider that it could be real. But now... now it was very real. William didn't look at all mannish or even boyish. He looked girlish and womanly all at once, but she still knew that he was a man underneath all that girlish exterior. A man she wanted to be with. To take him as her... what?... As her husband?... No... as her wife? Yes. Her wife. Her beautiful, soft, sweet smelling, little wife who's hair would always smell of vanilla and who's kisses would always taste like lipstick.

Could she live with him this way?

The real question had become: Could she live with him any other way?
 

William had never really enjoyed shopping. On rare occasions, when he found something in the men's department that fit well, it was never stylish. The feelings of defeat, embarrassment and even shame that went with him into the boys' department could be overwhelming. Buying a suit for work that he knew was meant for child to wear out to dinner with his grandmother was always demoralizing. He'd tried going to an actual tailor once, but that was worse. The man kept calling across the shop to his assistant and saying things like, "Bring me a boy's jacket. These are too long, find a boy's pant with a twenty five inch rise." It was even more embarrassing than looking through the department store racks in the boys' department with every one knowing that this 'fully grown' man was never going to wear adult sizes.

Shopping for dresses was a whole different experience, though. First off, nearly everything fit him. They started in a store that specialized in petites, but even in the regular stores, he could easily find clothing that fit him well. Typically, in the past, he'd try on a few things and buy the first thing that fit and looked reasonably stylish. This time, he tried on dozens and dozens of dresses and they all fit him beautifully. He had choices and it was wonderful!

Well, in fact, some of the more shape-revealing styles did reveal his lack of hips, but early in the day, at the recommendation of his sister and girlfriend, he bought a panty that had pads in the hips and butt. It was a slightly odd thing to consider wearing, but once on, it was perfectly comfortable and made a world of difference when wearing the sleeker styles.

The oddest thing was that he realized that he actually had a style of women's clothing that he preferred to wear. He hadn't really considered it before, but Kateri was a 'comfy top with jeans or a loose skit' woman, while Angela was a 'college girl next door' kind of woman. William found that he preferred dresses that Angela and Kateri referred to as 'flouncy and fussy.' They chided him that the dresses he chose, although pretty, looked as if they were for someone ten years older than him, but he insisted that he loved how they looked. In the end, the women agreed that he had established his own look and that he'd look amazing in everything that he chose.

He did concede to buying several non-work dresses from the juniors' department to wear around the house in the evenings or on weekends. Dresses that would be perfect for a casual dinner or a date to a movie.

In spite of his typical spendthrift nature, when they were finally headed home, William had bought himself twenty three dresses, most from discount
stores, but very stylish, four pairs of shoes, a dozen pairs of panties, five bras, six pairs of pantyhose, two long winter coats a pair of gloves, four purses, three scarves and two hats.

He didn't just buy clothing, though. He also bought dozens of earrings, some necklaces, a tiny, gold watch, some rings and makeup - lots of makeup and hair care products. He even sat at the makeup counter and had the clerk give him a tutorial. "You're wearing too much, angel," the woman cooed as she cleaned his face with a Baby Wipe. "You're covering up your beautiful, young skin and not showing off those big eyes and apple cheeks. Let's see if we can help you find a more youthful look. I guarantee that the boys at school will flip when they see how you look after I'm through with you."

The woman's remarks didn't bother William in the least. This woman had assumed he was a high school girl and that was fine! Most days, people assumed that he was a middle school boy. He was fine with this promotion of three or four years.

In truth, he much preferred the youthful look he was tutored in at the store than the more mature look that Kateri had done for him that morning. His eyes looked wide and clear this way his cheeks really did shine like apples. The pinkish-red lipstick she recommended seemed to make his smile wider and more sincere.

Kateri had whispered to Angela that this look combined with his taste in dresses would look odd, but she was wrong. The combination of older clothes and younger makeup resulted in the perfect look. "You know who's style he's starting to emulate?" Kateri whispered to Angela. When Angela said no, Kateri whispered, "Tess. He's looking more and more like Tess as he develops his tastes. Very professional, but very sexy and young. I can
live with this."

It was obvious to both Kateri and Angela that William had no intention of ever returning to his male self, though. No one would be spending this kind of money on clothes if it was just for a few weeks of a disguise.

Once William's wallet was open, he kept the money flowing by buying Angela and Kateri several things to thank them for helping. He enjoyed looking for clothes for them almost as much as looking at clothes for himself.

When dinner time came around, William asked Kateri to drive them to a little Irish-pub-style restaurant on the edge of town. When they arrived, he went directly to the receptionist and said, "Good evening, I have a reservation for The Luke Kelly Vestibule."

The woman in charge checked her notes. "Billie? Yes. We're all set up for you. Follow me."

Along the edge of the restaurant's main dinning area were five smaller rooms of varying sizes, each named for an Irish musician or poet and each with a door that could close for private conversations. They walked past the William Butler Yeats Room which held twenty or so people, the Van Morrison Room that held about a dozen people and stopped at the Luke Kelly Vestibule, a small room with only six seats in it. William had called earlier in the day and reserved the small meeting room in order to be able to speak frankly and openly with two of the three most important women in his life.

"Hi, ladies," the cheery waitress smiled. "Can I start you with some drinks or appetizers today?"

They ordered some Shillelagh Sticks, which was what the restaurant called flaky pastries stuffed with corned beef, and three glasses of Moscato.

"Great!" The waitress smiled. "I'll be back with those in a few minutes."

When she left the alcove, Angela closed the door, then turned to face her brother. "So? This all seems pretty important and well planned. What's up?"

William pursed his lips and made eye contact with both women then nodded a few times before starting to speak.

"Ok, so... there are really only three people who I need to talk to about this before I make a decision - the two of you and mom. I really need you
guys to be honest with me about this, ok? I really need to know what you think. Ok?"

Both women nodded. Each had an inkling about what he was about to say, but they waited patiently while he organized his thoughts.

"Alright..." he took a deep breath and nodded a few more times before he got to his point. "So, a week ago I never would have been thinking about this, but... Geez, this is hard to put into words.... See, presenting as a woman has really changed me, and I mean that sincerely. It's made me think differently. To see myself differently. I know that this sounds a pretty damned weird, but... I really like Billie a lot more than I like Bill or Willy or whatever name I used before. God, you both must think I'm nuts."

"Not at all, babe," Kateri put her arm around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. "I've seen how you behave as Billie and I get it."

"How I behave?" William asked, a bit concerned that she was criticizing him as being to 'swishy,' or something like that. "How do I behave?"

"Well..." Kateri sputtered, surprised that he wanted an explanation.

"I can answer that," Angela said. "You smile more freely. You speak to others with more interest in what they have to say. You have more confidence in everything you do and you are more empathic and... sweet, I guess, than you've ever been before. Willy, I love you with all my heart,
but you've never - never ever - not once in your entire life paid me compliment like you did the other day when you looked at my accounting work. Willy, honey, I will support any decision that you make, but if you decide to go back to being a guy and you don't bring a whole lot of lessons you've learned from wearing panties with you, then you will have wasted a big opportunity."

William nodded.

"She's right, babe," Kateri squeezed his shoulders again. "Everything that Angie said is true, and beyond that, you have this aura of confidence about you as a woman that you never had before. I'm with Angie. I'll support any decision you make, as long as you and I are together, but being Billie has taught you an awful lot."

William smiled. "Thanks, guys. So... what if I didn't go back to being a guy, but began living as a woman full time? Do you think I could do it? Do you think it's a good idea? Do you think people will accept it?"

"I think you could do it better than either of us do it," Kateri laughed.

"And who cares what other people think?" Angel shrugged.

"I do," William said seriously. "Life as a little guy is really tough. If becoming a little woman is even tougher, then I'm not sure if I can do it."

"Well," Kateri looked to Angela for support, "as far as work is concerned, I think that everyone is already on board with it. I've even had people come up to me to tell me how great you are this way."

"That's true, and you told me yourself that Lorraine said that she would hate to lose Billie. That says a lot, doesn't it?" Angela reinforced what Kateri had said.

"What about mom, though?" William asked as the door opened and the waitress entered with appetizers and wine.

"Excuse me, ladies," she smiled. She placed the food and beverages on the table. "Do you know what you'd like for your meals?"

Both women realized that they hadn't even opened the menus, but William spoke before they could. "We will have three pecan chicken salads, thanks."

"Excellent," the waitress smiled and gathered the menus.

Kateri and Angela smiled at each other, silently passing a message to each other that here was another example of Billie making a decision that Willy or Bill never would have made for everyone. AND IT WAS A GREAT CHOICE!

When the door closed again, William asked, "What do you think mom will say?"

"About what?" Angela asked. "About staying female or going back to being male, because she will have plenty to say about either. You know that's the truth. I think it's a great idea to tell her, one way or the other, but definitely DO NOT ASK HER! Don't give her any more power over you than necessary."

William chuckled at the truth of that statement. "Thanks, but... neither of you have answered the most important question I asked. Do you think it's a good idea?"

"That's a big question," Kateri said while letting out a big breath.

"And not one that we should answer, Willy," Angela said. "Look, I know I'm a bit younger than you guys, but because of that, I've probably known more people who have discovered that they are trans than either of you. At least six kids in my high school class transitioned while we were in school and I have four college friends who have transitioned, too. Some of them are guys now and some are girls, without question, they're all glad that they did it. Just be sure it's what YOU want, Willy. That's all that matters."

Kateri smiled and laid her head on William's. "Boy, you have a smart little sister," she chuckled. "I couldn't possibly give you a better answer. Whatever you want is the right answer, babe."

William nodded. "I think that Billie is here to stay, then."

"That's great, Willy," Angela put a Shillelagh Stick on her appetizer plate. "Oops," she put a hand on her mouth. "I probably shouldn't call you 'Willy' anymore, should I?"

"I think it's fine," William smiled. "It would sound funny if you called me anything else."

Angela stood and walked around the table and embraced William in a big hug. "You know I love you, right?"

"I do, and I love you, too," he returned the hug as best as he could from his seated position.

"Good," Angela walked back to her seat. "And let's just remember - 'Little' is a measure of size, not age. You will always be my 'little sister.' Come to think of it - I've been a sister a lot longer than you have, too. So that kind of makes you the 'younger sister,' too."

William nodded. "Now - about mom."

"Just tell her," Kateri said, a bit frustrated by the woman. "Like Angie said, as far as your mom is concerned, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't."

Both siblings laughed as they cut up their appetizers. "Spoken like someone who has not had to live with her for their entire lives," Angie said.

Kateri shook her head in disgust. She just didn't understand that woman, nor the way that William and Angela dealt with her.

"I do have an idea," William said. "Kat, do you think we could invite mom over to your house for an early supper tomorrow?"

Kateri nodded. "Sure, but I'm not much of a cook. Rice and vegetables with a little protein is about all I can offer."

"Don't worry," William said. "I'll make everything."

Kateri took a double take at her beautiful little partner. "Seriously? You cook?"

William nodded. "I cook pretty well, actually."

"Like a chef," Angela threw in.

"Holy cow!" Kateri smiled. "I'm getting a partner who cooks!? God, if you do housekeeping, too, then it'll be just like I have a wife!"

William just looked at her and smiled.

"Seriously?" Kateri asked Angela. "He does housework?"

Angela wiped her lips. "Let me put it this way: Have you ever heard the word 'retentive?'"
 

Kateri's kitchen wasn't particularly well stocked for a cook of William's expertise, so he decided to keep things simple. Roasted chicken, with stuffing, gravy, corn bread, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans. Not exactly a fancy meal, but it was one of his mother's favorites, so it seemed apropos.

"Oh, everything smells good!" His mother said from the entrance.

"It's all William's work." Kateri smiled, taking the coats from Angela and her mother.

"Oh, so you don't cook?" His mother asked, with a great deal of snark.

"Neither do you, mom," Angela pointed out. "Have a seat and have some dip. I'll get you a Diet Coke."

"I'd prefer wine."

"I bet you would," Angela said without looking back. "You know the deal, mom. You can have one glass of white wine with our meal and that's it. Here. Here's a can of Diet Coke. I'll go see if Willy needs any help."

Kateri sat to chat with their mother while Angela went into the kitchen to check on her brother. She kissed his cheek and rubbed his back. "Need any help?"

William was pulling his full length apron off and shook his head. "Everything is plated and ready to go. I just need to change. Can you help me with that?"

Angela was a bit surprised to see William wearing the same dress she'd given him to wear yesterday. "Sure. I'd love to."

When the entered the bedroom, Kateri noticed a dress hanging by the door that was absolutely beautiful. A soft, baby blue, crepe polyester with a scoop neck, zipper up the back, sleeveless top and what was referred to as an 'illusion' hem line, which means that the material at the bottom of the A-line skirt was very sheer in two narrow bands, making the whole dress appear to float.

"Whoa!" Angela said as she took the dress down and held it in front of herself. "Where did this come from?"

William smiled as he took off Angela's old dress and checked his makeup in the mirror. He was wearing a short, white, lace covered slip which Angela could not recall him purchasing yesterday, either. "The Calvin Klein outlet store opened at ten this morning. I took Kat's car to go grocery shopping, then I went there and got this for next to nothing."

"It's beautiful," Angela mused, looking into the mirror, holding the dress in front of herself. "I wish it'd fit me so I could borrow it."

She swayed back and forth for a moment while William strapped on the three inch high heeled sandals he was pairing with the dress. They were very simple - beige leather with a narrow strap that crossed his foot just behind his toes, a three inch back that sat against the back of his heel and a tiny strap that encircled his legs just above his ankle.

Angela gasped. "Oh, my God! Those are gorgeous. They won't fit me..."

Then something occurred to Angela. "Did you say that DROVE to the stores!?"

William smiled and nodded as he took the dress from Angela and pulled down the zipper.

"Now, THAT is the strangest thing I have heard in the last two weeks."

William laughed as he stepped into the dress, worked the top up his arms, the turned and offered the zipper to his sister. She gently ran it up it's track and straightened the dress for him.

"Willy... you almost look like a bride in that. I can't believe that my brother could possibly be so beautiful."

He hugged her and checked his look in the mirror. "Do I look ok?"

Angela just nodded.

"Ok," he sighed. "Wish me luck."

William and Angela placed the serving plates and bowls on Kateri's small dinning room table, then they called their mother and Kateri in for dinner.

"Willy!" His mother said in a surprised voice when she caught sigh of him.

"I agree!" Kateri agreed, then she gave him a soft hug and a peck on the cheek, before moving to her seat. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"What do you think, Mom?" William asked.

"I'm not quite sure what to think, Willy. To be perfectly honest, my head is spinning at the sight of you."

"I think we should assume that was a compliment," Angela said. "Mom, come sit here, between me and Willy."

Everyone sat and William began by picking up the meat platter. "Mom? Do you want some chicken?"

The procedure continued around the table until everyone had meat, potatoes, two vegetables, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and a homemade corn bread on their plate.

Conversation dipped while everyone ate. Most of the talk was about the food or Angela or Kateri telling stories about their girlhood and throughout it all, William's mother would catch glances of her beautiful, feminine son and shake her head to indicate her disapproval. William saw each gesture, but acted as if he did not. He'd just smile.

When the meal was done, William stood to clear the table and Angela helped. "I was going to make a fancy desert, but I ran out of time. I did make some gingerbread, though." He placed dessert dishes with a small square of the cake in front of each person, then put a big dollop of home made whipped cream on top of each. Then he poured coffee for everyone and
sat himself.

His mother had eaten just about half of her dessert when she put down her fork and said, "This is all lovely, Willy, but are we just going to ignore the elephant in the room?"

William put down his fork and smiled at his mother. "In fact, mom, there are several elephants in the room today and, yes, it is time that we addressed them."

Kateri reached over and took William's hand.

"Well?" His mother looked around at the others.

William nodded. "Well, mom, the first thing we need to discuss is that Kat has asked me to move in here with her and I'm going to do it."

His mother shook her head in a judgmental expression. "Willy, Willy, Willy... haven't you learned anything from the mistakes you watched me make? This is just not right, Willy. Wait a year or so and figure all of this out, honey. Don't just throw away your life on the first girl who has sex with you."

"Now, just a minute...!" Kateri was livid, but Angela cut her off.

"Stop it, mom. You're attacking for no reason at all. Willy is an adult and can make his own decisions."

William stayed calm and held up his arm to stop everyone from speaking. "Mom... I'm not asking for your blessing or even your understanding. I am moving in with Kat and that is the end of that discussion."

"Like hell it is," his mother crossed her arms and looked around. "Willy, I don't know what kind of perverted game you and this girl are playing..."

"Enough, mom," William tried to interrupt, but his mother ignored him.

"... at, but this is all very unnatural. Willy, come with me to my church and talk to the pastor. He was talking about people living in sin, just the other day..."

"Enough!" William shouted, much louder than he'd intended, and loud enough to get her to stop. "Mom, I don't know what Bible they read at that church of yours, but living together in love is not a sin, so just stop and let me continue."

"Oh, so you're an expert in Biblical interpretation, now," His mother scowled, ready for a battle. "Tell me, Willy, how many times have you read The Bible?"

"Twice, mom. I read The New American Edition in college for a course and I read The King James Version on my own. And I suspect that is two times more than you have read it, but that isn't what I need to talk about."

She folded her arms and waited. "Well? What do you need to say?"

William took a deep, steadying breath in and let it out. "Mom... I found a doctor who can remove these breasts..."

"Oh, thank God," his mother shook her head.

"... and I have decided that, when she removes the fake breasts, I'm going to have her implant permenant silicon breast implants."

His mother's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Mom... I have given this a lot of thought and I have decided that I am going to continue to present as a woman. Now, I'd like for you to understand that this is something that I need to do and that I am serious that I intend to present as woman fir the rest of my life, but if you decide that you can't live me this way, then I want you to know that I will still love you."

His mother turned to Kateri and said, "This is your doing, isn't it? You get some kind of sick pleasure out of getting boys to cut off their dicks and get them to grow tits. How many boys have you done this to? What happens to them after you're done with them?"

Kateri started to speak, but Angela interrupted, "Mom, that is enough! This is Willy's decision. He asked us what we thought of it. Kat never suggested making this permanent at all. So, just stop your accusations and tell Willy that you'll love him, no matter what."

Her mother was seething inside. "William, if this is about our fight the other night, then you don't need to mutilate your body to prove a point..."

"Mom, you need to stop talking and listen," William said firmly. "Right now, I am only talking about breast implants. I am not talking about removing my penis. Mom, I am a whole different person since Thursday. You haven't seen it, but at work, I have confidence that I've never had before and I am able to express myself better than I have ever done before."

"Just because you're dressed like a sissy?" His mother remained on the attack.

"Because I found who I really am, mom. THIS is who I am. I am Billie - Not William, or Willy or Bill. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"This is absolutely ridiculous," his mother muttered under her breath. "You've all gone crazy, you know that, right? William, please, please, please come see Pastor Sam with me. He will straighten you out, honey, I promise. Just come with me to talk to him."

William stood with an elegant, nearly regal poise. "Mother... look at me. Except for the fake breasts, this is how I look, now. Do you see a man in
front you, mom? Do you?"

"A man in a dress is still a man, Willy," she shook her head.

"I was never a man, mom. I was a little guy who is nobody paid any attention to. Now... now I'm getting attention from my colleagues. And before you say it, when I say attention, I don't mean because of the dresses. I am getting the respect of my peers that I never got before. Not only that, I like myself better this way, mom. I'm not going back to being a being a nobody who wears little boys' suits to work. Look at me, mom, and tell me that I am a man in a dress."

His mother ran her tongue over her teeth as she thought. "Willy... please... just come and see Pastor Sam for one meeting..."

"Ok, that's enough," Angela stood and took her mother by the arm. "Come on, mom. Let's go. Willy went to all this trouble to make it clear that he is doing the right thing and you are being a complete bitch about it. Willy, I'm sorry. Come on, mom. You've said enough, tonight."

"No, wait," William said, as he walked to the counter and took the full length apron he'd worn before and put it back on to protect his beautiful, blue dress. "Angie and Kat, why don't you go and watch some TV while mom and I do the dishes."

All three women were confused. "Really?" Kateri asked.

William nodded and pulled a half apron from the drawer handing it to his mother. "Really. Come on, mom. Let's do the dishes. Ladies - there are plenty of snacks in the other room. Please give mom and me some privacy." He started to fill the sink with water, squirted in some detergent and slid a pair of yellow, Latex gloves onto his hands. "I'll wash. You dry, ok?"

His mother shook her head as she picked up a dish towel and shook it open.

William loaded the dishes into the sink and, in a very casual voice, she said, "So, that man who took you to the concert the other day... Mr Cronin, right?... are you still seeing him?

A little confused by the topic being discussed, his mother said, "Umm... well, yes, in fact I am. We went to dinner and a movie yesterday."

"What's he like?"

His mother thought for a moment, then smiled. "He's very handsome. Dark hair with a little silver on the temples - very distinguished. He's successful, too. He has a vending machine business, which is a much more lucrative business than I would have expected. He's got a lovely condo down on the lake and a big boat."

"Wow! He's sounds wonderful. Having a boat must be fun."

"I imagine it is. Of course, since we've started dating, it's been wrapped in white plastic and parked in his driveway, but I'm looking forward to being out on the lake this summer."

William smiled as he cleaned the dishes in the sink. "He sounds great, mom. I'm glad that you're happy."

"Thank you, Willy," she smiled, then thought for a few moments. "You know, Willy... I really am happy that you've found Kateri."

William shook his head and breathed out a quiet laugh.

His mother saw that he he didn't believe her. She looked towards the living room and then spoke more quietly. "Willy... honey... maybe... maybe I am a little defensive about you. You were my first baby, Willy. I only want the best for you, honey... for you to be happy. That's all."

William stopped washing the dishes for a moment and looked down into the suds. "Mom... Kat makes me happy. So, why can't you just leave well enough alone and let us be happy together."

Still in a near whisper, she said, "Willy... I just don't want you to ruin your life the way that I ruined mine."

"By having me, you mean?"

"Well, no, honey, but... I had you when I was twenty years old and then I had no one around to help me raise you. Learn from my mistakes, Willy. Don't repeat them."

"Mom," he sighed at the stupidity of what he was about to say. "Despite how I look and how I am choosing to continue to look, there is absolutely zero-chance that I am EVER going to get pregnant, and if Kat should become pregnant, then that's something we will deal with together."

"Sure, that's what you say now, but a baby is a big responsibility - both emotionally and financially. You're still so young..."

"And successful, mom. And successful. You never seem to remember that. Mom, I do your taxes. I know EXACTLY how much you make every year and I make four times more than your best year, ever. I also know that you have a two mortgages on that house, but you probably don't realize that I have
been paying those myself for the past eight months. You just thought that you were ending up with extra in your account all of a sudden and didn't bother to even check your bank statement to figure out why."

"You... you have been paying the mortgage?"

"Yes, mom, and I will continue to, even after I move out because I don't think you can get by well enough on what you make. Mom, I was making twice what you make when I was working as a freelance. Kat and I both make well over six figures and would not have to struggle financially if we did have an unexpected pregnancy."

His mother stared at him, her mouth agape. She had no idea he was making so much or helping so generously.

"So that's our financial situation. Now, let's talk about the morality of us living together. Mom... Kat and I have talked and we are very sure of our feelings for each other. I love her and she loves me. That is all we need. I'm not religious. She's not religious. So, there is no reason for us to seek a blessing from a church. We do plan on having a civil marriage at some point, but not immediately. When that day comes, you'll be the first to know, but it'll only be to make our commitment legal for the sake of insurance, finances and things like that."

"Oh, Willy, it just breaks my heart..."

"Enough, mom. You know that I am a believer, but I've only gone to church a few times in my life and each time I've gone, the message I've gotten is that 'God is love' - not a weapon to swing at others to make them see things your way."

A few tears glistened in his mother's eyes. He didn't want to turn this into another blow out like they'd had the other night, so he softened a bit. "Mom... I love Kat and I want to be with her, but I love you, too, and I don't want to have to remove you from my life because you've decided to be that self righteous person you sometimes like to be."

She nodded and sniffled. "Ok... alright... but... what about... the clothes?"

"What about them?"

"Willy, please... now who's being self righteous? You're a man, Willy. It's one thing to wear a dress for a costume or for some bedtime shenanigans, but Willy... come on. You're talking about mutilating your body and for what? For some sex games? To titillate your girlfriend? Willy, stop and think. If you do this, it will impact every single aspect of your life. It will..."

William held a yellow gloved hand to stop her flow of words. He took a breath and looked up and into his mother's eyes. "Mom... please listen carefully. I want you to understand what I'm going to tell you."

"Ok," she put down her dish cloth and waited.

"I can't remember the first time I ever saw you, mom, but I know that I have always loved you. And one of my earliest memories is of going into your hospital room and holding Angie in my arms and feeling a whole new love burst forth in my heart. I knew immediately that I loved my sister and I never thought I'd feel that kind of... explosion... in my heart again. Then, a few months ago, I met Kat and it all happened again. Something inside me opened up and I felt a whole new kind of love for her."

His mother nodded.

"Here's the thing though, mom... At no time in my whole life have I ever felt anything but ambivalence about myself. Sometimes, when I did a good job on something, I felt a little pride, but that would fade and sometimes, especially when I looked in a mirror, or when I was in a social situation... I didn't even feel ambivalence. I felt... embarrassment... or disgust... or loathing."

"Oh, Willy, please... Please don't say that."

"I'm not saying it to be melodramatic, mom. I'm saying it because it's the truth, but here's the thing - On Thursday, for the first time in my life, I met a version of me that I actually loved. A version of me who doesn't just fit in, but who feels comfortable. Who is capable of speaking my mind. Who can be open and honest about my feelings. Mom... until Thursday, when I became Billie, I was pretending. I'm not pretending anymore. This is me, mom. This is how I'm meant to be."

His mother nodded and took in the vision that was her son. She breathed a deep sigh and seemed to almost reset her emotions. "You are... very beautiful, Willy. I guess I never really expected that a boy could look this good in a dress. Especially my little boy."

William smiled. "Thank you, mom."

"Willy, I'm... I'm sorry. I guess I never realized how hard things were for you." She placed her cool palm on his cheek and shook her head in wonder. "You'll always be my beautiful baby boy, Willy. No matter how pretty you look as a woman."

William leaned his head onto her hand in a warm, little hug. "That will never change, mom."

"I'm glad," she whispered. "Look, baby, maybe I should go have a chat with Kateri. She probably thinks I'm a monster."

William nodded. "I'm not going to argue with you. That's kind of how you were presenting yourself."

She nodded and let out a small laugh. "I'll send Angie in to help you finish." She kissed his forehead. "I do love you, Willy. I'm just not very good at it."

"You're doing great, mom."

He returned to washing dishes and within a few moments, a very confused Angela appeared beside him. As she grabbed the dish cloth, she asked, "What did you say to her?"

William glanced at her and his red lipsticked lips smiled. "I let her tell me how wrong I was, then I told her that Billie was here to stay. Then I told her I loved her and didn't want to lose her. Everything else was just to explain those two things."

"Wow," Angela shook her head and began drying the dishes in the strainer. "And she's ok with everything?"

"For now," William shrugged. "I'm sure that, just like with her sobriety, she will have a relapse into her high-and-mighty-ness every now and then,
but just like we do when she relapses on her recovery, we'll be there to get her back on track."

Angela shook her head in wonder at her brother's patience. "Kids shouldn't have to be their parent's emotional crutches, Willy."

He dried his gloves and removed them. Laid them over the faucet-neck and kissed his sister's cheek. "Yes, they should, Angie. That's exactly what mom need from us. I can't ask her to be there for me if I'm not going to be there for her, too."

"Huh," Angela said as she dried. "I always heard that THE PARENTS were always supposed to be there for their kids."

William hugged his younger, but definitely bigger, sister and laid his head on her shoulder. "And she always will be, Angie. It's just always going to take her a little longer."
 

When William arrived at work on Monday, dressed in a dress that looked as if it were a blouse and skirt, with a black top with medium sized, white polka dots, a sloppy bow that tied loosely at his neck, half-length sleeves that blossomed into flouncy little ruffles at the end with a knee-length, flared, black velvet skirt below, the only notice that was taken by his coworkers involved compliments and oohs and ahhs from his female colleagues.

The elegant, four inch heeled, black leather, pointy toed pumps that he wore with them got nearly as much praise as the dress and they succeeded in not only making him feel elegant, but brought him up to the same height as many of his female compatriots. Not all, but at least some.

Before he even made it into his office, he'd had a half dozen conversations about the dress, the shoes, the makeup, the hair... it was a whole new world of collegial chatter that he really enjoyed. They'd compliment him, he'd compliment them... it was a lovely way to start the day, but soon he was back in the office he now shared with Angela and going over both his work and hers.

"This is almost right," he was telling Angela as he was going over her work.

"Almost?" Angela sighed. "You know better than anyone that accounting is about getting it right, Willy. Either it's right or it's wrong. There is no in between."

William smiled at her typical accounting student response. That kind of thinking was always being drilled into students by the professors. "It's right as far as it goes." He pointed to the column headings. "You neglected one very important aspect of accounting when you're budgeting for a meeting."

Angela blinked. "No I didn't. Look - Materials, printing costs..." she went on and on through her headers. "...what could I have missed?"

"When we went into the meeting last week, you told Tess and me to go into the room and you'd get us something. What did you get?"

"I got..." she concentrated for a moment. "Snacks. I got you snacks."

"And coffee. Those cost money, too, Angie, so you need to include that cost into your budget."

Angela laughed and shook her head in disbelief. "What did the snacks cost, Willy? Seventy or eighty dollars? That doesn't come out of petty cash?"

"It shouldn't. We need to account for every penny, Angie, and if the meeting is going to provide its guests snacks, then that cost should be associated with meeting costs and not petty cash. Every penny that we can account for is important. When I got here, this company was on the verge of bankruptcy, but through good accounting, it's back on firm ground."

"And thanks to GREAT accounting, your brother found out that our old accountant was robbing us blind," Tess said from the door. She smiled as she looked William up and down. "Well, well, well, well, well. It looks like the new girl has some pretty amazing taste in clothing. Classic, pretty, feminine, professional and sexy as hell. Girl, you are doing right!"

William chuckled and blushed a little. "Really? I look ok?"

"You look HOT, my dear, but I'm sure that Kat and Angie have told you that already."

"We did," Angela said with a smirk, "but your stamp of approval is what he's going for. Kat and I were making fun of him when we went shopping. His taste was so different from ours, but then we realized that he was modeling his choices after how you dress."

William looked at his sister with a look of disbelief. "You actually said that to each other!?"

"Oh, come on, Willy, it was obvious after awhile. Kat said that, if you were going to dress like anyone, Tess was the best choice." Angela smiled and bubbled at his embarrassment. "Well... I'll call around for prices on
pastries and redo this budget." She turned and started searching the internet for nearby bakeries.

"I'm not sure I'd wear heels that are quite that high, though," Tess shook her head. "They are gorgeous, but I'm already unusually tall for a woman, and I don't think my calves could stretch that far."

He looked down at his feet and smiled. "They are a little tiring, but I feel so tall! I really like them."

"Well, you are killing it, but I'm actually here because Lorraine wants you and me to meet her in the conference room, right now. So, grab your laptop and let's go."

When they reached the conference room, Lorraine had the entire, huge conference table covered in printouts. "Oh, good, you're both here."

"What's all this mess?" Tess asked, sounding very concerned about the amount of work ahead of her.

"This," Lorraine huffed and shook her head, "is every bit of data that either of you have ever given me regarding the roll out of the new game. I need it narrowed down to under ten pages for the overview I'll be sending to every investor and stockholder. So... how do we take all of this and reduce it to ten pages or less."

William began to puruse the paperwork, while Tess just folded her arms and shook her head, letting her frustration show. "Why didn't you just ask for a summery from both of us, Lorraine? It could take us hours to go through all of this paperwork and we have..."

"Here,"William interrupted. "This all you need. These three pages tell the whole story."

Tess sighed a laugh at William's efficiency. "Or... we could just let the new girl take care of it and it will be solved in less than two minutes."

Lorraine smiled and took the papers from William. "Please, ladies, have a seat. Tess, could you just close the door first? Thanks."

When they were all seated, Lorraine spoke. "So... Billie... we need to get a few things straight around here."

William was sitting with his knees crossed, the black velvet skirt of his dress hanging prettily over his thighs and knees. He cleared his throat. "Umm, Lorraine, I believe we had a conversation about what I would and wouldn't be willing to discuss. How I choose to live my life is my business..."

Lorraine held up her hand to stop him. "Billie. I want to talk about your department, not your wardrobe. So, if I may continue?"

"Oh," William sat a bit straighter. "I'm sorry. I misunderstood. Please continue."

Lorraine chuckled at his formality. "Well, thank you, very much." She glanced at Tess who was smiling broadly. "Billie... If last week taught us anything it is that we cannot afford to be in a position of having just one person in the Accounting Department. You are very, very good at what you do, but if you are not available when we need you, then we have a big problem."

William nodded.

"So, in order to ensure that we are never in that position again, we need to make some changes to your department."

"What kind of changes?" William asked.

"More personnel, for starters," Tess interjected. William looked at her and she continued to talk. "Look, Billie, when Lorraine and I started Firefly, it was just the two of us. Lorraine designed the prototype games and I was on the phone finding ways to promote her ideas. Very quickly, we realized that we needed to share our responsibilities with other, capable people. Now, we both know how difficult it is to divvy up the jobs so that others can do the work while you retain the responsibility of running your aspect of the office, but it's time that you face facts and become, not just an accountant, but a manager."

"You'll still be our chief accountant, Billie, but you will be hiring a staff that you will train to do the grunt work. You will delegate and monitor their work and, most importantly, make sure that you have a second, or even a third, in charge who can be on call if you are not available for any reason." Lorraine added.

When William remained quiet, Tess asked, "Do you think you can do this?"

William took in a deep breath. "If I said I'd rather not, then what would happen? Would I lose my job?"

"No," Lorraine said, emphatically. "We would, however, have to hire at least one other accountant who would have to act as your supervisor and would also hire other accountants to divest your responsibilities to a larger department."

"Obviously, you are our first choice as department head," Tess assured him, "but we need to make sure that we never have a situation in which you are incapacitated, for any reason, and the accounting department can't function."

William looked at his skirt and ran his fingers through the plush material as he thought. "So... if I do manage the department, how would it be configured and can I hire Angela as one of the accountants?"

Lorraine smiled. "I like Angela, Billie, and I think she is a stabilizing personality for you, so, yes, she can be one of your hires - BUT - she is
still very young and inexperienced. So, if you do hire her, then I need you to consider that she is actually not a fully functioning accountant, yet. I am happy to hire her at an entry salary so you can train her, but remember that she needs to be closely supervised for a good long while."

"Understood. Thank you," he nodded.

"And remember," Tess pointed out, "if she would prefer to work in Marketing, I would love to have her work with me."

"That's great," he nodded, again. "Thank you both. I know I was a bit of a jerk when she showed up, but... it's different now."

"You're sisters, now," Tess reached over and petted his knee. "Being a sister is different, Billie. You need each other more."

He sighed and smiled. "That's the truth. I need everyone more than before. Angie, Kat, you guys... even my mother."

Both women laughed at that.

"I bet that relationship has gotten more complicated lately, huh?" Tess laughed.

William shook his head. "My relationship with my mother has always been complicated."

"They all are," Tess nodded.

"So..." he sighed, "...can I start out with Angie and a couple of other people who I know who are talented and trustworthy?"

"So, three plus you?" Lorraine asked.

William nodded. "I can design oversight areas for each of them and have them submit their work to me to monitor. Is that good?"

"That's perfect," Lorraine agreed.

William thought for a moment. "Where would they work? My office is big enough for me, but it's a bit crowded already, with just Angie working with me."

"We've considered that," Lorraine smiled, "and we've made arrangements to lease the remainder of the space on this floor. It is being renovated, as
we speak, to create new space for both Accounting and Marketing. Both you and Tess will have larger offices, nearly as big as mine, and each member
of your staff will have a desk in a more open area, and you'll both have a conference room for your own department meetings. Not as big as this one, but big enough for department meetings. What do you think?"

William was gobsmacked. "Wow! That's... that's amazing. That sound great."

Lorraine's smile disappeared as she nodded. "There is one more, very important thing that we need to discuss, though, Billie."

"Oh?"

"Yes. See, Billie... up until now, it's always been Tess and me and then everyone else. Some of these people who work here have been with us since the beginning and, those who take on more responsibility are compensated accordingly, as I am sure you know."

"The thing is, though," Tess took over, "those people aren't considered managers or supervisors. Even though the company has grown substantially, Lorraine and I are the only actual department heads."

"Until now," Lorraine added. "The problem is though, Billie, you've only been an employed here for a few months and my first inclination was to moderate your pay accordingly."

William nodded. "I understand. Honestly, I am very happy with my current pay."

"Well, you shouldn't be," Tess laughed. "Billie, I know what you make and I know that, without you, this company wouldn't even be here, today. If you are going to be a supervisor as well as an accountant, then you need to be properly compensated."

Lorraine grunted in frustration. "I don't know what you did this weekend, Billie, but I spent the weekend arguing this point with Tess and she was relentless."

"Only because I am right." Tess said with conviction.

"Well..." Lorraine shook her head, "right or wrong, she won. So," she slid some paperwork in front of William, "in order to compensate you for being the head of accounting, this is what we'd like to offer you as a yearly salary."

He looked at the employment agreement. It was all pretty standard, until he reached the salary section. He stopped and read it several times before he was able to process the offer. He looked at Lorraine first and then at Tess before he said, "Are you serious? This is... a lot of money. It's more than three times what I'm making now."

The women nodded and Tess said, "Billie... you saved us from going under and, well... look at what you've done for us since last week. We put you through hell on Thursday and you didn't just put up with it, you became a powerhouse. Our own little accounting spitfire, who has really good taste
in clothing."

William laughed at that. "Kat and Angie said I was picking out frumpy clothes."

Tess cleared her throat. "Yes, well, we've seen their idea of fashion, haven't we? If you'd like me to take you shopping sometime, Billie, just let me know."
 

"Billie?" The nurse asked. "This way, please. Dr. Davis will see you, now."

William rose and headed to the door, followed by Kateri. The nurse stopped them and said, "It's usually just the patient who sees the doctor. Are you family?"

"She's my wife," William said, without missing a beat.

The nurse nodded. "Ok, but if the doctor asks you to leave, please don't be offended."

Rather than an examination room, they were shown into a lovely, paneled office with an elaborately carved, grossly oversized desk.

"Please take a seat. The doctor will be right in," the nurse said, laying a medical folder on the doctor's desk and leaving.

"Are you nervous?" Kateri asked as she squeezed his hand.

"A little, I guess. I mean... it is a big thing, right?"

"It is, babe. No doubt about it."

At that moment, the office door swung open and the rather stern, but still quite beautiful, Dr Davis entered the office. "Good afternoon, ladies. I am sorry if I kept you waiting." She took a quick glance at the paperwork in the folder as she sat behind the desk. "Oh, of course, Billie. I'm sorry. It's been a long day and I haven't had a moment to look at my calendar. Besides, the last time I saw you, you had on a blonde wig and looked like a genie from an old TV show."

She smiled at William, then looked at Kateri. "I'm sorry." She extended her hand. "Joan Davis. And you are?"

Before Kateri could respond, William said, "Kateri is my partner, Dr. Davis and I want her here to hear what is discussed."

"Of course," the doctor nodded. "So - Let me take a quick look at your breasts and I can give you a better idea of a timeline as to when they can be safely removed. Just untie the bow at your neck. I should be able to see what I need to see from there."

The doctor prodded and pulled on the prosthetics and finally proclaimed, "The adhesive is still very well well bonded to your skin, but that bond will lessen over time. I'd say that by mid March or so, we should be able to get them off. Until then, I'm afraid that you'll need to continue to present as a women, but, I must say, for someone who, just a few days ago, acted as if I was insulting you when I asked about implants, you seem to have adapted well to your new... persona."

William smirked at the doctor's strange bedside manner. "Yes, doctor, but... I think you may have been a bit more insightful than I thought. When we spoke on Friday, I had not considered for a moment that I would want remain as a woman, but... I guess... I guess you... kindled the idea of staying this way and, well..." William took a deep breath. He'd only ever said this to people he loved. Saying it out loud to a stranger was much harder. "I have found that I am much happier... this way. I would like to discuss the possibilities of staying this way."

The doctor sat back and folded her arms. "Billie. Typically, that kind of surgery would not occur until the patient had been living as a woman and monitored by a psychologist for at least a year. Now, as I told you, I may waive that waiting period as a favor to you because you mean a lot to Lorraine, HOWEVER, I cannot even consider that if the best description of
what you want from me is 'staying this way.' What, exactly, would you like from me?"

William understood her need for him to confirm his desire, so he took a deep breath and said, "Dr, Davis... I have decided that I would like to continue to present as a woman, and to that end, I would like for you to implant breasts of approximately this size and shape into my chest. Is this something that you can do for me?"

The doctor smiled and nodded. "Yes, Billie, I can help you with that."
 

"Oh, my God! Look at you!" Raquel squealed on Friday morning as she looked up from the 'coffee and' table she was stocking in the pit. "You got to be the girl, this week!" Raquel was dressed as Dolly Parton's well endowed character in the movie '9 to 5.'

Kateri smiled at her colleague, her icy-blue gown flowing around her body. "I did. Bill got to pick our costumes this week and he said he wanted me to be beautiful for a change."

"Oh, that's so sweet. You guys make a great couple." Kateri looked at the amazing gown Kateri wore. The tight, silver-blue, flattering bodice that led down to the straight, split front skirt, with the long, long train behind it. The very sheer, white sleeves with the dark blue coloring near her fingers, fading into white by her elbows. The long, braided, platinum
blonde wig that flowed down her back, giving her a Scandinavian look. "So, if you're Elsa, then Billie must be dressed as... wait... Elsa doesn't have a love interest." She gasped. "Don't tell me she came as Anna?"

Kateri laughed at Raquel's choice of pronouns and nodded. "SHE did."

"Oh, I have to see this! Where is she?"

"In her office." Kateri smiled broadly as Raquel hustled away in her tight skirt to see William's costume. She hadn't thought about it before, but it did make sense that she would have to rethink William's pronouns. Did that make him her girlfriend, now? She'd never considered having a romantic girlfriend before, but it seemed like that was what she had, now.

"Where is she?" Raquel asked as she burst into William's office, surprising Angela, who was dressed as a 1920s flapper.

"Who?" Angela yipped.

"Billie! I heard she's dressed as Princess Anna. I just saw Kat dressed as Elsa and she looked great. Where's Billie?"

Oh?" Angela laughed. "When you said 'she' you confused me. Umm, 'she's' in with Tess and Lorraine. She should be back... oh, here she is now?"

Raquel let out an audible gasp when she saw William enter wearing a very well made replica of the dress that Princess Anna wore to her sister's coronation in the film, 'Frozen.' She took him in, from his head to his toes. A strawberry blonde wig, with the one streak of white, perfectly quaffed into a braided updo, lead to the beautifully madeup face, his long, thin neck with the black ribbon necklace that held a royal emblem on it, his bare, cream colored, little shoulders, the tiny, blue satin sleeves that hung loosely on his biceps, the one inch gold edging that outlined the curved top and arrow-head shaped bottom of the black velvet bodice with the Scandinavian design embroidered into the velvet field and then... and then... the skirt. That beautiful, iconic skirt. The floor length, wide skirt made of recessed, blue satin panels alternating with the more forward constructed green panels with the bright, embroidered traditional designs. The amazing skirt just touched the floor, obscuring the tiny, kitten heeled matching, embroidered slippers beneath, but Raquel imagined them, anyway.

"Oh, Billie," she gushed as she touched the expensive material of the skirt, "you look like a real life princess. Anna is my favorite Disney Princess and I LOVE 'Frozen,' so much. And this dress, Billie... it's so beautiful. Oh, my goodness..." she touched the skirt and felt the material beneath. "Are you wearing a petticoat?"

"He's wearing two," Angela giggled. "He's adorable, isn't he?"

"Adorable doesn't come close to describing how she looks." Raquel put both of her hands on her cheeks and shook her head. "Oh, Angie, it must be so wonderful to have such a pretty brother. My brothers are great, but... they're big guys. They could never pull off anything like this. Maybe, they could pull off the mother from 'Hairspray,' or something like that, but never Elsa or Anna."

"It is pretty cool," Angela smiled. "I do admit that this costume did surprise me. Seeing him on a dress is one thing, but a gown like this and with the petticoats... that's pretty special."

William finally let out a breath and smiled. "Well, I admit that I never expected this, either, but - in for a penny, right?"

"See, I just finished telling her that she was born to be a beautiful woman," Tess said as she entered the office. She handed William a folder. "You forgot this file, Billie." She touched his hair and shook her head. "I do wish that every man could look like this from time to time, but there is always a place for tall, dark and handsome, too."

"See, I was never able to pull that off," William smiled as he passed by Angela and Raquel and moved to the far side of his desk. He smoothed his skirts as he sat in his desk chair and was surprised to see the three women watching him. "Did I do it right?"

"Perfectly," Angela said with a smile.

"Like a pro," Raquel said. Then she said, "I need to go."

As she left, Tess said, "You did it like you were born to be a princess, Billie. We're all very proud of you." Tess turned and left, too.

"Proud of me?" William laughed as he booted up his computer. "That seems like an odd thing to say."

Angela sat at her desk and looked at him. "We all are proud of you, Willy. I mean, for me it's like you really are my little sister, but I think that all the women here look at you as if you are a little niece or a cousin who is growing into womanhood. How many women around here have complimented you or offered fashion, hair or makeup advice to you this week?"

"Most of them," he shrugged. "Before last Thursday, I don't think most of them even knew who I was."

"See. You're they're project, now. Get used to it, Willy. They'd all love to have a feminine boy to dress up like a doll, but most men wouldn't stand for it. They're all living vicariously through your progression into womanhood. It's really cool for us to see, Willy. Really cool."
 

That Friday evening's team building party was a whirlwind of fun for William. This time, Lorraine had booked the after-work party at a local function hall that typically catered to weddings and other large functions. There was, as usual, a DJ who played dance music and provided opportunities for karaoke performances. The highlights of the night included Kateri's terrible, but very fun, performance of 'Let It Go,' and William and Kateri's equally subpar, but enjoyable performance of 'Frozen's' duet, 'Love is an Open Door.'

It was pretty early on in the evening that William noticed that his younger sister was sitting with a young man named Eric who worked as a game designer at Firefly. Not only were they sitting at the same table and dancing with each other, but Eric was dressed in a 1920s gangster costume to match Angela's flapper costume.

"Has Angie said anything to you about dating that guy, Eric, from Game Design?" William asked Kateri as he kept his eye on the younger couple.

Kateri glanced at them, then smiled at William. "No, but I did overhear Eric telling one of the other guys that he thought that Angie was hot."

"Hot?" William sat a bit straighter. "Is he a good guy? Should I be worried about Angie's safety?"

Kateri laughed at that. "Billie. Angie's not a child. She can take care of herself."

At that moment, Angela stood, kissed Eric and headed to the ladies' room.

"I'm just going to talk to her," William said as he stood.

"Billie," Kateri tried to stop her boyfriend from leaving, but he was already headed to the lobby to intercept Angela.

Angela was almost to the lavatory door when William caught up with her. "Hey, Angie. Can we talk for minute?"

Angela smiled at her pretty, little brother. "Sure, Willy. What's up?"

William looked back through the doors into the function room where he had a clear shot to Eric. "Umm... I was just noticing that you and Eric came as a couple tonight. Are you guys seeing each other?"

"Aww, you're trying to be my big brother. How sweet," Angela smiled and touched his cheek. "Don't worry, Willy. I can handle myself and Eric's a nice guy."

William smiled at his sister's tease. "Ange... I'm just trying to be a good brother... or sister... of whatever. Is this something serious or what?"

"We went out for drinks after work on Wednesday, Willy. That's all. This is... kind of... our second date. I, not going to sleep with him or anything, at least not for a while. We're just having a good time together and getting to know each other. Ok?"

William looked from his sister to the young designer and he smiled. "Ok. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just being a little over protective." He looked at the man in the fedora and the wide lapeled suit. "He is very cute, Angie.
Congratulations."

"Cute!? Did you just call him CUTE!?" Angela laughed. "Oh, my God, Willy, those petticoats are affecting your brain." She kissed his forehead, then
looked at her date, again. "He is a bit of a stud, though, isn't he? I really like him."

William leaned his head on her shoulder. "That's great, Angie."
 

The sex that night was as exciting and experimental as they'd been enjoying all week. The costumes and the petticoats had kept them both excited and longing for each other all day. Kateri took the lead in bed and they both fell asleep satisfied and exhausted.

Saturday was a day of relaxation. William made eggs Benedict for breakfast and they cuddled on the couch watching old, romantic movies until, around four o'clock, they both received a text from Angela inviting them to join Angie and Eric for dinner at a very popular restaurant. Eric's parents ran the place and they could get reservations when no one else could.

Excited by the prospect of a great meal, they both put on nice dresses and did themselves up beautifully for a special night. William wore a black dress he'd gotten at a discount at Nordstrom Rack. It was a Jersey style, very plain, buttoned-polo-shirt-style collar, three quarter sleeves and an A-line skirt that just touched his knees. It was comfortable and stylish without being flashy. Kateri's dress was a spaghetti strap affair that clung to her curves like it was painted on. She looked astounding in it.

The restaurant was crowded and a little noisy, but Eric turned out to be a very gregarious and interesting dinner companion. He had a deep knowledge of books and movies and was up to date on current events. The dinner conversation was affable and interesting and amusing, and the food was absolutely delicious.

Their conversation continued into dessert and beyond. In fact, they didn't leave the restaurant until at least an hour after the dessert was all consumed.

"I am so stuffed," William grunted from the passenger seat of Kateri's car. "I don't think I've ever enjoyed a meal as much."

"I know," Kateri laughed. "It was delicious, though, wasn't it? And Eric is a nice guy, too. I think that they make a really sweet couple."

"They do," William agreed. "Angie seems happy. That's all that matters, I guess. I wonder what my mother will dislike about him when she meets him."

"I'm sure she'll love him."

William laughed out loud, as Kateri pulled into the driveway at her house. "Have you learned nothing about my mother?"

She put the car in 'park' and both of them exited the car, giggling.

"She's going to love him, eventually, just like she's going to love me, some day." Kateri put her arm around William's shoulders. "I mean... I love you and you love me, so eventually your mom is going to love me, too."

Kateri dug into her pocketbook and pulled out her keys, inserting the correct key into the door handle, turning it and opening the door.

"She's going to have to love you, because I'm completely smitten with you and I'm..." William stopped talking and both he and Kateri stared in shock at the mess in front of them. In the light of the one lamp that they'd left on, they could see that the quaint little house was filled with litter and debris. Cabinets were opened and knocked over, glass was shattered, furniture broken and splintered on the floor.

"Oh, God," Kateri gasped. "Someone broke in. We've been robbed."

For a moment, they both stood in shock in the doorway, then, slowly, they both stepped into the mess. "This is crazy," William whispered. "We should call the police."

Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut.

"No need to call the police," a dark shape that had been hiding behind the door spoke. Both William and Kateri were too shocked to say anything, but the shape spoke again. "So, you're a lesbo, huh?" It laughed. They could smell the liquor on his breath. "That explains a lot."

"Who are you?" Kateri demanded, but her voice was shaky with fear. "What do you want."

"Ask your little bitch girlfriend," the voice said, angrily. "Because of her, I lost my job. My really cushy job. I really liked that job. But she made a big deal out of a little flirting and now I have to move into a more affordable place. Return my car to the dealership. Sell my boat. Now... she's going to pay for being a big mouthed cunt who couldn't mind her own business."

"Shane Harris?" William asked, more confused than frightened.

"That asshole from Bunker Hill Investors?" Kateri asked, as the figure moved into the light from the one working lamp in the room.

Harris laughed. "Did you just call me an asshole, bitch? You have no idea how big an asshole I can be."

"You're drunk," Kateri said. "Just leave now and we won't say anything to the police. Just go."

"No chance." He pointed at William. "She ruined my life. Now, I'm going to ruin hers." He grabbed William by his hair and pulled him close. "But first - maybe we can find some good use for that big mouth of yours."
 
 
To Be Continued!!!

Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut.

"No need to call the police," a dark shape that had been hiding behind the door spoke. Both William and Kateri were too shocked to say anything, but the shape spoke again. "So, you're a lesbo, huh?" It laughed. They could smell the liquor on its breath. "That explains a lot."

"Who are you?" Kateri demanded, but her voice was shaky with fear. "What do you want."

"Ask your little bitch girlfriend," the voice said, angrily. "Because of her, I lost my job. My really cushy job. I really liked that job. But she made a big deal out of a little flirting and now I have to move into a more affordable place. Return my car to the dealership. Sell my boat. Now... she's going to pay for being a big mouthed cunt who couldn't mind her own business."

"Shane Harris?" William asked, more confused than frightened.

"That asshole from Bunker Hill Investors?" Kateri asked, as the figure moved into the light from the one working lamp in the room.

Harris laughed. "Did you just call me an asshole, bitch? You have no idea how big an asshole I can be."

"You're drunk," Kateri said. "Just leave now and we won't say anything to the police. Just go."

"No chance." He pointed at William. "She ruined my life. Now, I'm going to ruin hers." He grabbed William by his hair and pulled him close. "But first - maybe we can find some good use for that big mouth of yours."
 

Kateri ran at Harris, her arms raised, ready to attack, but Harris used his free hand to back hand her across the face, knocking her to the floor. Before she could stand again, Harris grabbed a hammer he must have set down at some point and held it high over his head.

"Down, girl!" He shouted, stopping Kateri. "If you want me to beat you or this one to death with this hammer, then go ahead and try to attack me, again."

Kateri looked at the anger in his eyes and knew he wasn't bluffing. He was angry and drunk enough to kill William without a second thought. "Don't hurt her," Kateri muttered. "Please... don't hurt her."

William, for his part, had been pushed to his knees, his hair being painfully pulled by Harris, who now yanked William's head back so he looked up into his face. "Listen to me, you self righteous bitch. You couldn't keep your mouth shut, so I'm going to fill that noisy hole of yours with my cock. Then, if you do a good job on that, I'll fill up another hole for you, too."

"Never," William said with as much force as he could muster.

Harris yanked his hair again, much more painfully than before. "You'll do it, bitch, or I'll kill your dyke girlfriend. Won't that be nice? Watching your girlfriend's brains splattering all of the walls? And then I'll still make you suck my cock."

William looked up into the insane eyes of his attacker and knew that he meant every word.

"Ok. Ok. Alright. I'll do it," William said, the fear in his voice obvious. "But, please, let her go. I'll do whatever you want, just let her go."

Harris smiled. "I like it when you beg, bitch. You look so much sexier on your knees, begging. But she's not going anywhere and neither are you until you learn your place."

"I know my place, honestly..." William tried to negotiate with the crazy man, but he just pulled his hair all the harder.

"No you don't!" he screamed into William's face. "All you uppity cunts are the same. Thinking you have the right to take jobs and money away from hard working men like me. Women are only good for two things - Taking care of men in the kitchen and taking care of men in the bedroom. Maybe, after your belly is full of my jiz you'll understand that. If that's not enough, I'll fill up other parts of you, too."

As a small guy in a public school, William had experienced fear before. He'd been beaten up pretty badly at least a dozen times in his four year high school career. This was different, though. This wasn't a bruise that would heal in a few days. Harris wanted to change him. To make him something he'd never even considered he could be before. He wanted to make William a victim. A rape victim.

"Look, Mr Harris," Kateri called said from the couch, trying to save William from what Harris had planned, or at least buy some time in the hopes of coming up with some kind of a plan of defense, or escape. While she spoke, she surreptitiously started the video camera app on her phone and placed it on the end table next to her, pointed towards the spot where Harris held William. She hoped that she had them in frame, but even if she didn't, she'd record his voice, so that even if she and William ended up dead, whoever found their bodies would have a recording of the event to convict Harris of his hateful acts. "What's your plan here? Rape us? Then what? You get your job back? I doubt it. You'll go to jail, more likely."

"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed at her, raising high the hammer in his left hand, again. "I swear to God, if you don't shut your fucking mouth and keep it shut, I will shut you up myself."

"No, no, no!" William raised his hands in panic. "Please, Shane, please. Don't, please. I'm ready to learn my lesson, just, please, don't hurt her. Let's just get this over with and you can go. Please."

Shane Harris smiled an intoxicated, triumphant smile. "See. That's how a good girl behaves. Now, lower my pants and do what God put you on earth to do."

William's shaky hands began undoing Harris' belt, but Harris stopped him with another hard pull on William's hair. "And behave yourself, little girl, or it'll be the last thing you'll ever do."

William readjusted himself to kneel a bit taller and sit back on his heels. His hands still trembled as he reached for the belt buckle, again. He undid the belt, then unbuttoned the front of Harris' jeans and lowered his zipper.

"That's a good girl," Harris cooed, as if speaking to a child. "Pull them down, now, baby."

Reluctantly, but fearful of what might happen to Kateri if he didn't do as he was told, William lowered, Harris' jeans to his knees, then pulled his boxers down to the same level, allowing Harris' penis to spring forward, nearly erect.

William looked at the offending appendage and felt nausea rising within him.

"Take it," Harris grunted, excited by anger and lust.

William hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to gasp it and run his hand along its girth. Maybe, if he touched it, Harris might ejaculate quickly and go on his way.

"It's big, huh?" Harris gloated.

William declined to answer.

"Trust me, it is, but since you're a dyke, you probably don't have any experience with one, do you? Believe me, lezzie, it's big."

In fact, it wasn't that impressive. It was probably slightly larger than average, but nothing worth bragging about. William's own penis was probably, in proportion, just as big and he'd never felt the need to advertise that.

"Is this the first time you ever touched a cock, cunt?" Harris' ugly voice asked, pushing William's head closer.

"No," William shook his head, then shocked Harris by saying, "I've touched my own a million times."

As William had hoped, that confused Harris for a few seconds. As Harris tried to process what the cute little woman he had forced to her knees had just said, William took advantage of the moment, lunged forward and opened his mouth and bit down hard on Harris' inner thigh.

"AHH!!!" Harris screamed in shock and pain as he raised the hammer high in order to bring it down on William's head, but that didn't happen. In one movement, William pulled hard at the knee high waist of Harris' jeans and slammed the side of his head into Harris' groin, causing the intruder to scream, lose his balance and fall backwards, slamming his head against the front wall of the living room.

Not wasting the opportunity, Kateri jumped up and grabbed a broken leg from the shattered coffee table in front of her and, as Harris tried to stand back up, she swung the wooden cudgel as hard as she could and it slammed into the side of Harris' head. At the same moment, William found his footing and, once again, yanked on Harris' jean waist. This time, with the momentum of Kateri's swing and the unbalancing impact of William's pull, Harris fell straight backward, but this time, his head missed the wall and crashed through the triple panel front window of Kateri's cottage, creating a shattering noise on the street, outside.

William grabbed Kateri's hand and his purse and they both ran out the door, where they ran into Kateri's middle aged neighbor who was running up her sidewalk path.

"Kat!" The fit man shouted as he approached. "Are you ok? What's going on? I was just getting out of my car and I heard..."

Kateri grabbed the man as she passed and pulled him after her. "Frank! Don't go in there! A guy tried to attack us. Come on, we have to go."

The man glanced back at the broken window, then ran with Kateri and William. "Come on into my place. We'll call the police."

He hurried them across the street and into his home. "Sit down, ladies," he said in a rush, then he looked back through the door's windows to see if they were being followed. Beyond the light post near the end of the driveway, things got darker quickly, but he didn't see anyone coming towards his house. He did think that he may have some movement near Kateri's front door, but that was all.

"Yes, my friend and I were attacked in our home," William was saying into his phone. "He tried to rape me and threatened to kill us both. No, we got out and we are in a neighbor's house, now. I don't know. We knocked him down and ran out. He may still be there, I don't know. No, I don't know if he was conscious when we left. We knocked him down and ran." He gave them the address and disconnected the call.

The neighbor, Frank, looked at his guests and asked, "Are you ok?"

Kateri nodded. "I'm ok. Billy? Are you ok?"

William looked at her, then at Frank. He nodded and said, "I'm ok," but as he spoke the tears of fear and rage rose in his eyes. He wiped the tears from his cheek, but managed to control himself enough to keep the sobs at bay. "I can't believe he did that. He was going to rape me. For what? For sticking up for myself and the women I work with!? What the hell is wrong with him!?"

"So you know this guy?" Frank asked.

William shook his head. "Not well. He worked for a company that does business with the company we work for. I met him a few of times and he was a creep each time. My boss complained about him and, I guess, he got fired."

"Wow. What a Jackass," Frank shook his head in disbelief. Then, as if remembering that he was being a poor host, he said, "Can I get either of you something to drink? Water? Soda? Wine? Something stronger?"

"Water would be great, thank you," William said as blue lights started flashing through the blinds.

Frank went to the kitchen as Kateri stood and peaked out the blinds. "The police are here. They're in my house, looking around."

Frank reappeared with two bottles of Avian water. "What's happening out there?" He handed William a bottle, then walked over to where Kateri stood peeking out.

"There's three cars and five or six police officers." She took the offered bottle of water. "Thank you."

"Nothing like this has ever happened in this neighborhood before," Frank said, just trying to keep the conversation going. "Maybe I should go talk to them and let them know you two are safe."

A moment later, red flashing lights appeared as well.

Frank turned to William and said, "Looks like the guy needs some medical attention. I guess that means it's safe for me to go talk to them. I'll be right back." He walked out the door.

"Great," William shook his head. "If we hurt him too badly, he'll probably sue us. This is never going to end."

Kateri returned to the couch and put her arm around William's shoulders. "No, I don't think so. I mean, he broke into my house. He knocked me down and was about to rape you. Even with a lot of money and a good lawyer, I don't think he can get out of this. He's going to jail for sure, Billie. I'm sure of it."

"A trial... great. Now, the world will hear all about poor Shane Harris and 'His Tragic Obsession With The Transvestite Accountant.' Won't my mother and her church friends just love that?"

They sat on the couch, sipped their water and said very little for what seemed like hours, but was, in fact, only about forty five minutes, before Frank returned with a woman in a warm coat who introduced herself as Detective Reyes. She opened a notebook, set her phone to record and asked William and Kateri to tell their story, which they did as well as they could.

"So, you both returned home and this... Mr Harris... had broken into your home?"

Kateri nodded. "Yes."

"And neither of you had invited him to come over this evening?"

"No, of course not!" Kateri said.

"Why? Is that what he told you?" William asked, disgusted that Harris was trying to wriggle out of this.

"Mr Harris didn't tell us anything," the detective said, matter of factly. "Mr Harris is dead. When you pushed him through the window, his neck was sliced through by the shattered glass. He'd bled out before we even got here."

"What!" Both Kateri and William gasped in shock.

The detective nodded. "That's right. So this is either a self-defense case, a man slaughter case, or possibly, a murder case, and until we get this sorted out, I'm afraid that both of you will need to accompany me to the station. So please stand." She opened the door. "Jacobs, please drive these ladies to the station."

"Wait! What? What are you talking about!?" William stood and looked up into the detective's face. "That asshole broke into Kat's house, tried to rape me and threatened to kill us both! He pushed me to my knees and was planning on putting his dick in my mouth and then threatened to take me AND Kat in other ways. Are you seriously accusing us of intentionally killing him!?"

"Someone has died, ma'm," the detective said in a serious tone. "I apologize for the inconvenience, but until we get this straightened out, you will both be guests of the city. Jacobs, take the women downtown, please."

"This is ridiculous..." William started to rage, but the detective held up a finger and interrupted.

"Miss, you can go with Officer Jacob's as our guest, or we can take you out of this house in handcuffs. It's your choice."

"Come on, babe," Kateri walked up behind William and rubbed his back. "Let's just go and explain everything. We didn't do anything wrong."

"I know that and so do you, but they're not listening to us, Kat! How can they even suggest..."

"Babe. Take a breath and let's just go."

William's rage had made him red in the face and he knew that he had no choice, but it still took him a few deep breaths to get a handle on himself and get enough control to say, "Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Let's go, then."

"Listen, Kat," Frank said, "I'll make sure that your house is ok when they're done. I'll put some plywood over the window and lock everything up."

"Thanks, Frank. I appreciate it." Kateri smiled at the man.

"Oh, and, hey," Frank stopped them from leaving, "should I call your lawyer for you?"

William and Kateri looked at each other. Then Kateri said, "I don't have a lawyer. I used one that the bank recommended when I bought the house, but I don't think she does criminal law work."

"Ok," Frank assured her. "My brother-in-law is lawyer and he does a little of everything. I'll call him and ask him to go to the station."

"Is that necessary?" Kateri asked Detective Reyes.

"I think it's probably a good idea," she responded.
 

When they arrived at the station, Officer Jacobs ushered them into an interview room. "How long will we have to wait?" William asked, as politely as he could.

"Until the detective arrives," Jacobs said dismissively as he pulled the door closed.

They sat there, holding each other's hands and waited in silence, each afraid that the police might be recording any conversation. It didn't matter, though. Both were thinking the same thing. They'd accidentally killed a man. Yes, they'd intended to hurt him and make their escape, but neither had expected things to have turned as serious as they had.

William had the added concern of his true sex. Would he have to reveal to the police that he was actually a man and how would that play out? If they put him in a cell with other men while he looked like this, he knew how that would go and he was petrified that his night would actually end in being raped after all.

The door opened and a balding man with a red face and a grey fringe of hair entered. "Kateri?" He asked.

"Yes." Kateri answered, nervously.

The man extended his hand as he took a seat opposite them. "Al Matin," he said in a hurry. "I'm Frank's sister's husband. I'm very sorry about what happened earlier this evening. Now, if you could let me know what happened..."

The couple told their story quickly and succinctly, not being over elaborate or dramatic.

Just as they finished, the door opened again and Detective Reyes entered with a handsome man in his thirties.

"Attorney Al Martin," Al introduced himself.

"Detective Reyes. This is Assistant District Attorney Flanders."

Al nodded towards the man. "We've met."

When everyone was seated, William and Kateri were asked to once again retell the tale of their harrowing evening, this time for the ADA. When they were done, Flanders nodded and looked at Al. "You do understand that, until our preliminary investigation is over, your clients will need to remain in custody."

"That's absurd!" Al said, shocked. "They were attacked in their own home. You can't possibly think that this is anything other than self defense! They returned from dinner and were attacked. They defended themselves and the attacker was accidentally killed in the process. You have to let them go."

"No, I don't," Flanders was very superior. "So far, we have not found any indication that the departed broke into the house. We do know, from your own client's statement, that he was disliked by both of your clients and, you may not be aware of this, but one of your clients recently took on an alias and has been living as a woman, when, in fact, she is a man."

Al gave the two very natural looking woman a look of shock. "Is this true? Is one of you living under an assumed name?"

"Not really," William stared at the ADA. "Yes, my name is William and I have been living as a woman for about ten days, but my 'Alias' is just a normal nickname. I know dozens of men named William who call themselves 'Billy.' I'm not trying to hide anything."

"I'm sure," Flanders condescended. "Nevertheless - Assumed identity, previous encounters with the deceased, no sign of breaking and entering and a dead body. Neither of you is leaving for the time being."

"You can't just hold them..." Al started to say, but Flanders interrupted.

"In fact, I can. Your clients are going to be guests of The Commonwealth until we make a decision as to whether or not to charge them. As you know, we can hold them for up to seventy two hours without charging them. So, make yourselves at home, 'girls.' You're going to be here a while."

Just as the detective and ADA were walking out the door, Kateri shouted, "Wait! I just remember! My phone! My phone was on the end table by the couch. I turned on the video camera. I don't know if I got the fight into the picture, but you can at least hear what was being said. I'm sure of it."

Reyes looked at Flanders and raised her eyes. Both of them knew that video like this, video that was meant to exonerate people, frequently led to the conviction of those very people. Were these two foolish enough to have staged this whole thing and then recorded it? Quite possibly!

"Jacobs," Reyes called into the room beyond. "Find out if they found a phone near the couch. If they did, have it brought here."

"Wait," Al said. "Maybe I should see that video first." He knew as well as Reyes and Flanders that video could be misleading.

"If the video actually exists," Flanders scoffed, "then I think it would be best if we watched it all together. Unless, of course, there is something that you don't want us to see."

Al looked at Kateri with a warning look, but she shook it off. "No. We have nothing to hide. We'll watch it together."

It was more than an hour later when Flanders and Reyes returned carrying an official looking, Ziplock baggie with writing on it and Kateri's phone within. Reyes passed out latex gloves to everyone saying, "Forensics has pulled the prints from the phone, but even so, one touches it except Kateri and she only touches with gloves on. Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded.

Kateri removed the phone from the baggie and typed in her password using a stylus provided by Detective Reyes. It opened to the camera app and she turned it so that everyone could see before she pressed play.

Had she taken the time to look at the picture and adjust to properly capture the scene, she could not have done a better job of framing Harris as he stood above William, pulling his hair and holding the hammer. As they watched, the scene they'd experienced a few hours earlier replayed before their eyes.

Kateri could be heard off camera. "What's your plan here? Rape us? Then what? You get your job back? I doubt it. You'll go to jail, more likely."

"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed at her, raising high the hammer in his left hand, again. "I swear to God, if you don't shut your fucking mouth and keep it shut, I will shut you up myself."

"No, no, no!" William raised his hands in panic..."

It went on until William bit Harris and knocked him down. Then Kateri appeared in the screen as she tried to help William to his feet, but stopped to wallop Harris with the table leg, just as William pulled the man's pant legs again. What they hadn't seen before, though, was Harris' head breaking through the window and his attempts to free himself as blood gushed from his neck. Both Williams and Kateri paled as they watched the man's life drain from him.

"Well?" Al Martin asked as the recording was finally stopped. "Are my clients free to go?"

Reyes deferred to The ADA, who thought for a moment or two before speaking. "You can go... but don't leave town until the case is officially closed."

"Thank you," Al said as he stood and looked at his clients. "Ladies. I'd be happy to drive you wherever you'd like to go, but I doubt that you'll want to go back to your house until it's been cleaned."

"We'll go to my mother's house," William said, as he and Kateri stood and made ready to go.

They were nearly to the door when the ADA said, quietly to the detective, but still loud enough to be heard, "Too bad, really. That little one would probably have enjoyed a couple of nights in the holding tank with a bunch of men."

William, who was behind Al and in front of Kateri, stopped, shocked at the words of the court officer. He turned to confront the man, but Kateri tried to intervene. "He's just a moron, baby. Let's just go."

"No!" William would not leave that remark alone. He turned and returned to the table, leaning over it so that he was as close to Flanders as possible.

"Is this how you treat the people of this city, Mr Flanders? Are you somehow better than everyone else because you have a moderately well paying, politically appointed job? Does that somehow give you the right to be dismissive of other people's pain and suffering? To imply to an attempted rape victim that they might enjoy being raped? Are you really so small and filthy a man, Mr Flanders?"

Even Reyes, who had initially smiled at Flanders' remark saw the cruelty in it now and straightened up in her seat and spoke. "Oh, hey, look, I'm sorry you heard that. Mr Flanders is not really the kind of guy who..."

William turned his fury towards her. "Oh, don't give me that 'locker room talk' bullshit. This is as much your fault as it is his. Assholes like Harris and you two perpetuate this kind of violence by making light of it and dismissing it by saying 'the victim had it coming' in one way or another."

Both Flanders and Reyes were taken aback by William's passionate words. "Right now, I'm going to go to my mother's house, take a shower to wash all the filth of the last six hours off of me, try to stop shaking, get a little sleep, then I'm calling the police station and the District Attorney's Office to find out how I can file complaints against both of you jackasses. You don't have to like me, Detective Reyes and ADA Flanders, but you will at least show me the common decency due to every person in this community."

"Listen..." Flanders started, but William could not be stopped.

"No, you listen to me. I know what you saw at that scene - you saw a filthy-rich dead guy and immediately assumed that the women who'd been there had murdered him for his money. Then, when you found out that I had a dick, you knew what you had on your hands - A crazy little fairy in a dress. Well, I've got news for you two. This crazy little fairy respects women and people like me enough to stand up to Shane Harris, Detective Reyes and ADA Flanders, even if you all are better connected and more powerful than I am. Now, I'm leaving and I hope to never lay eyes on either of you worthless excuses for human beings again!"

William turned and pushed his way out the door, followed by Kateri, leaving Al standing by the door, smiling. "Detective Reyes. Mr Flanders. Always a pleasure."
 

They arrived at William's mother's house just as his mother was leaving for Sunday morning services. When she saw the rumpled condition of William and Kateri, even she became alarmed and asked what had happened.

William explained as quickly as he could and asked if they could stay for a few hours to shower and get some sleep. Al assured everyone that he would have the police retrieve Kateri's purse and he'd inquire about getting some clothing for them. He also said that he knew of a cleaning service that specialized in crime scenes who he'd call and arrange for them to clean Kateri's house as soon as the police allowed it to be done.

"It may take a few days longer than normal," Al confided. "The police and the District Attorney's Office don't like being threatened."

"Neither do I," William muttered. "Thank you for all your help."

Al nodded. "Look... I know the DA pretty well. I'll give him a call and tell him what a jackass his guy was. Maybe he can help us get you guys back into your house quicker, too, but for now... try to get a little rest."

William and Kateri went upstairs where they ran into Angela who was just getting dressed. After a brief summary of the night's events and some loving and supportive hugs, Angela told them to get out of their clothes and shower. She'd bring them something to sleep in and, while they slept, wash their clothes for them.

"Thanks, Angie," Kateri said, exhausted. "A shower and some sleep sound great."

So, Kateri headed into the bathroom to shower and William headed into his room to undress. Moments later, Angela knocked on his door and found him sitting on the bed in just his bra and panties, his forehead in his hands.

"Hey," Angela said quietly as she entered. "Are you ok?"

Without looking up, William shook his head from side to side. "No. I'm not. Not at all."

She sat next to him and pulled him close. "Oh, come on, now, Willy. You didn't mean to hurt him..."

William made a strange, guttural sound that could have been a groan or a sad laugh, but it stopped Angela.

"Angie... I wish that he hadn't died, but he created that situation. I was just trying to make sure that he didn't hurt Kat. That's not what is getting to me."

Suddenly, Angela became aware that her brother was trembling under her arm. "What is it then?"

"Angie..." he gasped as he formed his words. "I've never been that scared in my life and I was petrified that he was going to... penetrate me. I mean... what if he had?'

"But he didn't."

"I know, but he could have, Angie! My God, I never thought I'd ever feel that way! I didn't just feel vulnerable, I felt... defeated... like... like... he was about to take everything that made me ME away from me!" Now, his trembling was joined by sobs. "What kind of a person does that to another human being?"

"An asshole, Willy," she squeezed him tighter.

"I swear to God, Angie, I am going to spend the rest of my life making sure that I... that you... that Kat... that mom... that every other woman I know... never... never feels like I did last night."
 

When they woke in the mid-afternoon, after only a few hours of sleep, Al had called William's phone and left several messages. He'd spoken to the DA and no charges would be filed against either of them, he'd spoken to Kateri's insurance company and secured a cleaning company to clean the house and a carpenter to replace the window and casings. Kateri's house should be cleaned and ready for them to move back in by Tuesday evening. They could, however, enter the house to get some clothes and personal items, if they needed to.

As they sat in bed and listened to the messages, both wearing nightgowns provided by Angela, a tear rolled down Kateri's face. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back into that house, Billy.'

William took her hand in his. "Don't say that, Kat. You love that place. Don't let Harris take it from us."

She squeezed his hand. "I did, but..." she breathed deeply and let out a long, sad sigh. "I guess it'll take awhile to get past this, huh?"

William leaned his head on her shoulder. "I guess, but... we'll do it together."

Kat smiled. "We will." She leaned into him as well. "I don't think I can go in there until it's cleaned, though. Let's get something to eat, then go pick up a few things to get through the next few days. Maybe we could book a room at a nice hotel for a couple of days."

"Ok," William nodded. "I'm sure we could stay here, though, if you wanted."

Kat snickered. "I think we have enough on our plate right now, babe. We don't need to add the inevitable arguments with your mother. I think we need to just be together for a bit."

While Kateri dressed, William called her neighbor, Frank, and asked if he could go into the house and get Kateri's purse for them. He explained the legal situation to him and Frank not only agreed to get their purses, but to bring them to William's mother's house so that they wouldn't need to deal with even seeing the house until it had been returned to its normal state. He also said he'd have his son drive Kateri's car over so they'd have that as well.

By dinner time, they'd gone shopping, purchased enough clothes for a few days of work, some makeup and checked into a nice hotel downtown. At seven that evening, two chicken salads were delivered to the room and by seven forty five, they were in bed, exhausted.

Just as he was drifting off, William sensed a slight shaking from the other side of the bed. He listened to hear if Kateri was getting up, but just the gentle shaking continued.

William rolled over saw that his girlfriend was shaking and the shaking was becoming worse, nearly to the point of convulsing .

"Kat? Kat? Are you ok?"

"I... I don't know, Billy. I... I can't stop shaking!" She was obviously having a hard time speaking, too.

He wrapped his arms around her and tried to hold her, but she shook on.

Not knowing what else to do, he reached for the switch to turn on the bedside lamp. Almost immediately, Kateri's spasms stopped and she was able to calm down. Her breathing was still labored, but she was calming down.

"Are you ok?" William was very concerned. The last twenty four hours had been a torrent of emotions. He wasn't sure he could deal with having to have Kateri rushed to the hospital.

"I think so." She was still breathing heavily and her skin was shining with sweat.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I... as soon as the lights went out, I was back in the house last night and that guy was there." She shook head. "God, I must be going crazy."

William spooned in beside her. "No. You're not crazy. I think it's just how trauma works. We can sleep with the lights on."

She shook her head. "No. It's too bright. I'll just turn on the light in the bathroom and leave that door open a little."

"I'll get it." William climbed out of bed and turned on the bathroom light, then closed the door until it was about eight inches open. "How's that?"

Kateri nodded. "I think I'll be ok like that."

It was a fitful night for both of them.
 

"What the hell are you two doing here!?" Loraine said in a shocked voice as she saw William and Kateri enter the offices. They were both dressed well, Kat in a new pair of tight fitting jeans and a simple top, William in a simple, dark blue shirt dress he'd found on sale, but both looked tired.

"Where else would we be?" Kateri asked, genuinely confused by her boss' question.

"In bed, or at least someplace else, recovering. Why on earth would either of come in today?"

"Because working is normal and normal is what we need right now," William said as he headed towards his office.

"How did you know what happened?" Kateri asked, realizing that the story on the news had not mentioned their names.

"Angie has been here for a while. She came in early to do something or other in accounting because she assumed that Billie wouldn't be here today. I think she just wanted to be sure that I knew that she could cover for Billie. To tell you the truth, I'm shocked that you are here. I can't believe that Harris took things so far, Kat. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," Kateri nodded. "You should have been there Saturday night. We couldn't believe he was there, either."

Loraine shook her head. "Look, Kat, I know I've said a few harsh things to you lately, but... whatever you need... ok? If you need some time off or any help - you know, financially, or anything - just let me know. We're all here for you."

Kateri gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Loraine. Just... please... don't treat us like victims. Ok?"

"Of course," Loraine nodded. "In that case... get your lazy ass in there and get some work done."

Kateri laughed at that. "Thanks."
 

The work week seemed endless, but at least Kateri and William felt safe among their coworkers. Eventually, all of them learned of the harrowing evening the couple had experienced, but the people at Firefly were all nice enough to offer support, while still giving them the space they needed to heal and find their way back to normality.

It was finally Thursday that Kateri felt up to going back to her house.

"Look, before we go in," William said as they sat in the car in the driveway, "I am making a really nice salary, now. So, if you never want to go in there again, that's fine. We can afford to buy a new place."

"Thanks, babe," Kateri nodded. William could tell that her unease had been rising the whole time they'd been driving to the house. Then she let out a little laugh. "I wonder what the market value would be on a little craftsman style house with nice woodwork, renovated kitchen and the ghost of a dead intruder."

"It wouldn't matter," William said in all seriousness. "If you don't want to go in, you don't have to."

They sat and stared at the house for what felt like ten minutes until Kateri let out a big sigh and said, "Well... let's get this over with."

As they walked to the front door, they looked at the window that had been broken in the confrontation. The carpenter had done an excellent job and there was no sign that any confrontation had taken place.

They found the inside to be much the same. They knew that Harris had bled out right there by the front window, but there was no blood damage evident on the wall or the floor. The inexpensive rug from IKEA that had been in the living room had been thrown out. So had the broken coffee table, the wall mounted TV that Harris had shattered and a curio cabinet and the Hummel statuette's that it had contained, which Kateri had seen shattered on the floor the previous Saturday. All of those things were gone. Other than that, though, everything looked ok.

"No so bad, I guess," Kateri said at last, as she completed her inspection. "I guess the two most important things are still here and safe."

"What things are those?" William asked, looking around.

"You and me, babe. We're still here and we're still ok. That's all that matters." She put her arm around his shoulders. "What do you think? Can we move back in and be happy here?"

"We can," William smiled and hugged her. "Kat, I could be happy anywhere, as long as we're together."

"Hey! Can I come in?" Angela's voice came from the front door.

"Of course," Kateri called back. "We're in the kitchen."

When Angela entered, she was looking around and inspecting the house for signs of the attack. "Everything looks ok," she said, relieved. "Are you guys ok to stay here?"

"Yeah," Kateri nodded. "Yeah. I think we'll be alright."

Angela smiled. "Good. Umm... hey... I know that this has been a hard week and you haven't had the time to think about the last Fantasy Friday, so... come into the living room. I got something for both of you."

When they entered, they found two costume boxes on the couch. One marked 'Kat' and the other 'Willy.'

"Oh, Geez, Angie," William shook his head, "I don't know if we're up to dressing up tomorrow."

"Oh, come on," Angela sounded like a spoilt child, which, in many ways, she was, especially when she was dealing with her brother, who tended to always give in to her. "At least look at them."

"Alright," Kateri agreed, "but if Billy isn't up to it, then that's that. Ok?"

"Sure, sure," Angela agreed, readily. "Here. Stand by your box. When I count to three, pull off the top and see what I picked out for you."

William smiled at his sister's enthusiasm. No matter what was in the boxes, he already knew they'd be wearing it to work the next day.

"All set?" Angela asked.

"All set," Kateri and William responded

"Ok. One. Two. THREE!"

They pulled off the lids and saw the iconic costumes inside.

"Oh, wow!" Kateri shouted. "This is awesome!"

William looked at the layer after layer of gold material in his box and laughed. "You are hilarious, you know that?"

"Oh, come on, Willy!" Angela was immediately in brat mode again. "You'll wear it, won't you?"

"Of course I will," he chortled. He shook his head. "Remember back to just last month, when I was a normal, macho guy?" He asked, joking.

"No," both women replied in unison with no hint of humor in their voices.

"No, I suppose I don't, either." He kissed his sister's cheek. "Thanks, Angie. It's a great choice."
 

Being the last day of the February Fantasy Fridays celebrations, everyone at the office had gone a bit over the top. Several other men wore women's clothing, but none seemed to be as campy as they'd been at the beginning of the month. It seemed as if William's total conversion to a feminine ideal had inspired them to try their best as well. A couple, actually looked pretty good.

"Attention, everyone," Loraine said in a loud voice, as the staff assembled for lunch. "I just wanted to make a couple of announcements, today. First, starting Monday, our office space is being enlarged substantially. By the time we come back in on Monday, this wall will have been torn down and Firefly will occupy ALL of this floor. That means more work space for everyone and I know that is good news for a lot of you who have been pretty crowded for a long time."

There was a round of applause for this news.

"Secondly, as you know, there have always only been two partners here at Firefly - Tess and me. Well, for a lot of reasons, we have decided to elevate one more employee to the level of partner. I hope that you will join me in congratulating Billie - our new partner and head of accounting."

There was some applause, but there was also some confused muttering as music blared through the office PA system. As sound began to fill the area, the crowd applauded at the sight of Kateri entering from the right side of the room with a fur suit, a well made headpiece and a blue jacket, while William appeared from the left in the gold, sleeveless gown with the tiered, elaborate, multi-petticoated skirt. Just as Angela Lansbury's voice sang, "Tale as old as time..." they met in the middle of the pit and Kateri bowed as William curtsied deeply. Then she took him in her arms and they recreated the beautifully romantic dance from 'Beauty and The Beast.'

A few peopled 'Aww-ed' at the romantic moment, but most began applauding at how the couple had managed to own the moment.

They didn't continue dancing past the first verse, of course. Besides the fact that they would have been demanding a lot of time and attention from the colleagues who had been so good to them all week, but in the animated film, the couple doesn't dance for all that long. Instead, Kateri and William stopped and repeated the courtly bow and deep, feminine curtsy, which once again inspired some applause and the music faded out.

Laughing, Loraine said, "Well, that's not going to be easy to follow, but, as I was saying, Billie is now a partner along with Tess and me and I hope that you will all show her the same respect that you show to Tess and me."

"Better yet," Tess called from the side of the room, "show her a lot more than you show us!"

That elicited a big laugh from the staff.

Many colleagues came over to congratulate William, and many of the women came over just to touch the dress and wax rhapsodic about how they'd grown up longing to wear Belle's dress. They actually seemed almost envious of the small man's ability to look like such a perfect little princess in the gown.

For her part, Kateri moved to the side of the crowd, happy to see William smiling. It had been a long, long week, filled with emotional highs and low. This was nice and strangely normal - a bunch of nerdy people enjoying themselves, dressed in cosplay costumes and showering praise and affection on a quiet man in a gold ball gown. The head piece was hot, though, so she did pull that off as she poured herself a drink of soda and watched the goings on.

"Are you ok?" Tess said quietly to Kateri.

A little surprised that Tess had snuck up on her, Kateri smiled. "Yeah, I think we're both doing ok, now."

"I'm glad," Tess nodded. "You guys are a nice couple. I've been thinking about you all week. I hope that everything works out for you."

"That's nice," Kateri smiled. "Thanks, Tess."

They both stood in silence, watching William. God, he was just so adorable - accepting all the attention from the other women and enjoying the flattery. He was almost like a bride showing off her dress on her wedding day.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Tess whispered.

"Sure."

"The dresses, the makeup, the perfume and jewelry... are you enjoying it?"

Kateri thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess, but... it's Billy that I really enjoy. He's not like anyone I've ever been with before. He's smart and sweet and thoughtful... he's just... wonderful."

Tess nodded. "That's great. I'm glad you're happy."

After another moment or too, Tess whispered once more, "I know this is probably none of my business, but... what's it like to be with a man who's... well... who's got soft skin, and soft hair and smells of perfume? I'm used to my husband smelling of shaving cream and sweat. It must be nice to be with someone as concerned with beauty as you are."

Tess thought for a moment, then a broad smile formed on her lips. "Honestly? It's amazing. I've gotten to love the way he feels - his soft skin in soft clothes." She stared at her little beauty for a few seconds, then admitted, "And looking at him dressed like that... I can't wait to get him alone tonight and feel those petticoats underneath me. Honestly... there's nothing like it, Tess."
 

 
 
Author's Addendum: I'm going to take a little break from this story, but I will return to William and Kateri's story soon. I hope you've enjoyed it to this point. There is more to come. ~Clara.
 
Status - Hiatus