Gallery » G.I. Blues

G.I. Blues

by BobH

For John Geddes this five day furlough could not have come soon enough. Six days from now he and his unit would be shipping out to become part of a peace-keeping force for Uncle Sam and the training schedule had been punishing enough that he was badly in need of some r'n'r. Of course, a day of that furlough spent travelling each way meant only three days actually spent at home, but he would take whatever he could get. After five years in uniform, John had somehow managed to rise to the rank of Sergeant which, while it would have been a disappointment to the father who expected him to be an officer, still showed a faith in his leadership skills that John knew was unwarranted. He felt like a fraud, convinced he would be found out if his unit ever got to see any real action.

He glanced out the window at the Massachusetts countryside beyond. As the train carrying him home had travelled north so the familiar sights of the beginnings of a New England spring, more and more apparent with every mile it covered, had been a sure sign he was nearing home. John had always viewed it as the start of a period of rebirth and renewal, something he sometimes felt he needed himself. Not long to go now. Just a few more miles and the train would be pulling into Cedar Junction, the small town where John was born and raised.

"So, there anyone waiting for you back home, Sarge?" asked his travelling companion, Corporal Bob Tuttle, "A childhood sweetheart, maybe?"

"No such luck," replied John, smiling ruefully at the man seated the other side of the small table, "There'll just be my gray-haired old mother."

"There ever been anyone you was sweet on back there?" pressed Tuttle. Their Sarge's sex life was a matter of some speculation among his men, he knew, since he never seemed to chase women and seldom even visited whores when they went into the town near their base. Since it wasn't a good idea to have them thinking he might be gay, he threw them a bone every now and then.

"Well, there was Laurie Ellison..." he said, giving a deliberately wistful smile, voice carefully trailing off. Of course, he didn't mention he hadn't seen her since they were both thirteen. And they hadn't exactly been childhood sweethearts.

Laurie Ellison. John was six when she and her family moved into the house next door to his. Their houses were at the end of a long lane, a good two miles away from their next nearest neighbors so it was only natural that John and Laurie had quickly become playmates and best friends. Laurie had been a tomboy, far more adventurous and ready to get into mischief than the quieter, more studious and solitary child John had been. If his parents had any misgivings about their son's best friend being a girl these were soon alleviated by the change she wrought in him over the next few years, as he joined her in fishing expeditions to the creek, climbing trees in the nearby woods, riding their bikes for miles on 'expeditions' and other outdoor activities young boys were expected to take an interest in. She could talk him into doing pretty much anything, something no-one else had really managed before or since. Laurie was always the taller of the two of them, the one who inevitably initiated any mischief, and she could be fiercely protective of her friend. There were a couple of times at school when larger boys tried to pick on John, but Laurie quickly sorted them out. She was a surprisingly good fighter. And if anyone tried to make fun of him for being such good friends with a girl John would just stare at them as if they were crazy. He never really thought of her as a girl. She was just Laurie. He suspected she thought of herself the same way. At thirteen his parents sent him away to camp for the summer. When he got back, shortly before her family were due to move away, her father having got a job in another state, he saw her just once and their friendship ended. He never knew why; she wouldn't see him again and wouldn't explain. And then the family were gone. He hadn't seen her since.

"We're coming into your station," said Tuttle, rousing him from his reverie.

As the train pulled into Cedar Junction, John Geddes put on his cap, shouldered his kit bag, and stuck his hand out.

"See you in three, Tuttle." he said.

"Sure thing, Sarge," replied Tuttle, shaking his hand. "I'll be on the noon train to meet you on the way back from Boston."

Stepping down from the train onto the small, almost deserted platform, it took John a second or two to spot his mother. She had been sitting in the waiting room and now came out to greet her son.

"It's good to see you, Johnny." she said, as they hugged.

"And you, Mom." he replied.

He stowed his kit bag in the back of the family station-wagon, the same car his mother had been driving since before he entered the service, before his father had died, and his mother drove them back to the family home. She looked frailer than when he had last seen her, John thought, but then something seemed to go out of her when her husband died and it had never come back. He had described her to Tuttle as "my gray-haired old mother" and that's what she was these days, a little old lady. Seventy now, she was already in her forties when John was born, so perhaps it wasn't too unusual, but she had aged visibly in the five years he'd been in the Army.

"There's someone waiting inside to see you," she said, as they pulled up to the house.

"Who?"

"You'll see," she said, smiling mysteriously.

The house looked just as John remembered it, possibly even somewhat improved. Unlike many elderly widows, John's mother was very well off, the result of wise property investments by John's father and a substantial insurance pay-out when he died, and so could afford to hire people to do all the upkeep on the property. When they met, Sara Petrouski was a beautician with her own small hair and beauty salon and John's father was a former Master Sergeant fresh out of the Army, ten years her senior and with few obvious prospects. And yet, they had prospered. Ben Geddes had discovered a hitherto unsuspected talent for real estate and a second mortgage on the beauty salon had provided enough seed money to get them up and running.

When his mother opened the door of their house, John was assailed by familiar sights and smells. Inside, standing in the doorway to the parlour, was a pretty young woman whom he didn't recognize at first. She was tall, though not as tall as him, and had on a short, sleeveless pink dress, pale pink panty-hose, matching two inch heels, large gold-hoop earrings, slender gold bracelets on both wrists, and well-done though slightly heavy make-up. None of this would have identified her, but that long red hair and that familiar smile certainly did.

"Laurie?" he said, not quite believing it.

"In the flesh," she laughed, coming over and giving him a big hug. He put his arms around her and returned the hug, feeling slightly unreal.

"I don't believe it," he said looking down at her grinning face, "It's been eleven years."

"I know," she said, "but better late than never, I hope."

"Yes, of course, it's just this is a bit of a shock. I mean, how...?"

"I bumped into her in town at a jewelry stall in the handicrafts section of the market yesterday," said his mother. "Laurie had just got in."

"Yes," said Laurie, "I figured it was past time I came back and looked you up."

"Well, you look great," said John, "though nothing like the tomboy I remember. What have you been doing these past years?"

"Living in Pittsburgh, mostly. Growing up, attending college, earning a living as a free-lance designer of websites for small businesses, stuff like that. Mom died four years ago, Dad about eighteen months back"

"I'm sorry to hear that." said John.

"Yeah, me too about your Dad. Anyway, I didn't have any reason to stay in Pittsburgh anymore, so the time seemed right to come back to Cedar Junction, look up old friends. The years we lived here were the happiest of my life."

"Me, too" said John, giving her another hug. They continued to gaze at each other, both smiling. John had never connected with another human being the way he had with Laurie and even now, after all these years and the changes both had been through, he realized that he still felt that connection.

"I told Laurie she could stay with us while she gets sorted out," said his mother. "It's not as if there isn't plenty of room in this old house, after all, and I could certainly use the company."

"Great!", said John. "That will give us plenty of time to catch up."

The conversation continued over dinner, a roast ham with all the trimmings, followed by pumpkin pie - always one of the meals his mother did best - with Laurie filling them in on life in Pittsburgh. John told them scurrilous anecdotes concerning various members of his platoon, which had both women laughing, though a couple of the stories made his mother blush.

After dinner they talked for hours, finding the easy fluency with each other they always had. It was almost like they were picking up again where they left off, as if the past eleven years hadn't happened. The one subject they didn't touch on was just what had occurred during their final meeting all those years ago, just what John had done to upset Laurie. He still had no idea, was still naturally curious, but he didn't want to press her on the issue. Better to just let sleeping dogs lie for now. All that mattered was she was back. Lying in bed that night, pondering the events of the day, John could not help smiling. Laurie returning was just about the best thing that could have happened.

John was up at the crack of dawn the next morning, the legacy of five years of early starts in the Army. It was a warm, bright spring day and he threw his bedroom window open, breathing deeply of the fresh, earthy breeze blowing from the nearby woods. This was one of those mornings it was great to be alive. As early as he was getting up, John was surprised to see Laurie already at the breakfast counter when he got there, munching on a bowl of cereal and reading the morning newspaper.

"Morning, sleepyhead." she grinned.

"Sleepyhead?" he replied. "Do you know how early it is? Most normal people, that is those not brainwashed into early rising by a sadistic military, are not only still in bed but are gonna be so for several more hours."

"Yeah, well, you should remember I was always an early riser. It felt like I spent half my childhood waiting for you to get your sorry ass out of the sack so we could go off and have some fun," she said. "Speaking of which, this is far too beautiful a morning to waste in sitting around the house. Hurry up and get some food down your neck, and let's get going."

"You have something in mind?"

"Don't I always?"

That was certainly true. There had never been a dull moment in John's childhood when Laurie was around. While John quickly breakfasted on a bowl of cereal and a cup of black coffee, Laurie made up some sandwiches using the ham left over from the night before, and filled a vacuum flask with the coffee still in the pot. By the time she was done, John had finished eating so they set off, pausing only to retrieve a pair of fishing rods from the broom cupboard in the hallway. These had belonged to John and his father, but they hadn't seen use since John was a teenager.

"Shooter's Lake?" said John.

"Of course," said Laurie, taking his hand.

As they made their way over to the woods, walking hand in hand, John couldn't help noticing how pretty Laurie was. She was wearing a short, patterned summer dress, and sandals but, despite foregoing hosiery, had still taken the time to put on her make-up. He had never imagined the tomboyish Laurie he had known as a child would grow up to be this feminine young woman, but he was glad that she had.

They paused briefly on the ground where Laurie's childhood home had once stood.

"I heard it'd burned down," she said, wistfully, walking the blackened foundations, "but it's still weird seeing it like this. It just feels so wrong, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. But then it never felt right to me again after you moved away. The family who bought it, the Petersons, were nice enough but they had no kids my age and I just never really connected with them. The fire happened while I was away at boot camp - a lightning strike. Fortunately, the Petersons had already moved on by that point and it was vacant, but it still seemed like I'd lost an important link with my past. It was Mom who it affected the most, though. This was only a few weeks after Dad died and it left her more isolated than ever. Anyway, enough moping; let's get on to the lake."

Despite its name, Shooter's Lake was actually little more than a large pond. It lay in a clearing about twenty minutes walk in from the edge of the woods and had been the site of many an adventure of their shared childhood. The fishing was also pretty good, and they soon settled into what had always been their traditional positions at the side of the pond, and cast their lines out.

"Think we'll catch anything?" asked John.

"Maybe, maybe not. We were never the best anglers in the world, not like Billy Jordan. Remember how he'd never come here without taking home at least half a dozen large fish? Whatever happened to Billy, anyway?"

"Played college football for a while, but never had the talent to take it any further. Ended up marrying Tanya French and having three kids. He runs a car dealership in town, last I heard."

"Huh," she said. "Never would've expected that of Billy. I guess few of us ever achieve our childhood dreams, or even our full potential. You were going to be an artist, I seem to recall."

"Yeah, well, Dad had other ideas, and I doubt if I was really cut out for life in a garret, anyway."

"So the Army was your father's idea?"

"What do you think?" said John. "Master Sergeant Ben Geddes expected his son to follow in his footsteps in serving his country. He was a hard man to resist."

"You always were too easily led, Johnny," she said, seriously, "whether it was him doing the leading or me; though it was only right and proper for you to follow me, of course."

"Of course," he said, dryly.

"So how on earth did you ever make Sarge, anyway?"

"Beats me. I think my CO, Captain Wagner, saw potential in me that maybe just isn't there."

Laurie said nothing to that, just eyeing him thoughtfully.

Later, they picnicked on the ham sandwiches and coffee Laurie had brought along. By the time the afternoon was well along, they had only caught one small fish between them, so Laurie suggested a new course of action.

"Remember what else we used to do here?" she grinned.

Quickly undressing, she dived into the pond, naked. John had not been skinny-dipping since they were kids together, but he didn't need a second invitation. He swiftly disrobed and jumped into the pool, causing an enormous splash.

"Huh," said Laurie. "I thought you'd have learned to dive by now. Guess some things never change."

They splashed around like children, laughing and playing, but they weren't children anymore. Laurie swam up to John and wrapped her legs around his torso, pressing her body against his.

"Y'know," she said, "now that we're all grown up an' all, there are other games we could play."

With that she pressed her mouth against his, slipping her tongue between his lips. John was caught off guard, but quickly recovered, returning her kiss with a fervor that surprised him. He hadn't been thinking of Laurie like that, and now he couldn't think why not. They clambered onto the bank, still kissing and made love there and then, the water steaming off their skin in both the heat of the sun and the heat of their passion.

"Well, that was unexpected," said John later, as they lay side by side, on the blanket they had brought along to have their picnic on.

"You know me," smiled Laurie. "Always been impulsive. So you think your mother will have any problem with us sharing a bed while you're here?"

"No, not at all. I think she'll be happy to see me with someone, to tell you the truth, and delighted it's you. She worries that I've never had a relationship of any consequence and that I rarely even date."

"You too, huh? My parents used to give me a lot of grief about the same thing. Oh, there were occasional lovers, but there's never been anyone serious."

They both paused then, realizing what they had said. They had only just had sex for the first time and now they were talking as if this could be the start of a serious relationship. Was that possible, John wondered? Should they already be talking in those terms? He didn't know. What he did know was that just the thought of such a relationship with Laurie gave him a wonderfully warm feeling. Perhaps they were both being affected by memories of what each had admitted were the happiest days of their lives, but if so then John figured there were far worse reasons. Still, time enough to worry about that later. For now it was enough just to enjoy being together.

When the sun slipped behind newly-arrived clouds it turned chilly, so they decided to call it a day, gathered up their stuff and headed back to the house.

"So, did you two have a nice time?" asked Sara Geddes, when they got back.

"Absolutely wonderful, Mrs. Geddes," said Laurie, "we really connected."

Catching the mischievous grin she flashed John, and the way he flushed, Sara raised an eyebrow. John saw this and flushed even more. He knew just how shrewd his mother was when it came to her son, and how he had never succeeded in keeping anything from her.

"Don't forget that Stacey Pollard is dropping by later," she said.

"Stacey Pollard?" said Laurie, "What's that about?"

"Geez, in all the excitement of seeing you again I almost forgot. It's been five years since our class graduated, so Stacey has organized our first high school reunion. It's tomorrow night. She's coming over tonight to brief me on what they're planning, see if I have any special requirements, and like that. You have to come with me."

"I left Cedar Junction when I was thirteen. I never graduated from that high school."

"No," said John, "but if you'd stayed you would have. You'll know most of those there and, anyway, you'll be along as my date."

"Date?" said his mother, pricking up her ears.

"Yes," said Laurie, sliding her arm through John's, "we've been getting along really, really well."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" beamed Sara Geddes. "You two make a lovely couple!"

"Well, I certainly think so." said Laurie.

John blushed a bit more at all this, but he didn't disagree.

Their evening meal was a fairly lavish affair. Living alone, Sara Geddes rarely bothered to cook anything elaborate, but with guests under her roof she went to town, spending all day cooking up some of John's favorite foods. They ate well, and were all feeling replete when the doorbell rang. It was Stacey Pollard. Sara showed her in.

"Stacey!" said John, rising to greet her, "you're looking really well." They exchanged a brief hug.

"Well I should," she grinned. "I just got confirmation today that I'm pregnant. Jeff was over the moon when I told him."

"Wow, congratulations!" said John.

"Yes, congratulations Stacey." said Laurie, joining them.

Stacey looked puzzled at first, then the light dawned.

"Laurie?" she said. "Laurie Ellison? Is that really you? Wow, you've changed!"

"So everyone keeps telling me," she laughed, as they exchanged a hug. "So Stacey Hinkmeyer is now Mrs. Jeffrey Pollard. I don't think I remember him."

"Oh, you wouldn't. His family moved here just over a year after yours left. So how've you been? What have you been doing?"

"I've been fine, and what I've mainly been doing is catching up with this big hunk here. He sure grew up handsome, didn't he?"

"Can't disagree with you there," said Stacey, laughing at John's obvious embarrassment. "And you turned out real pretty yourself. You were always such a tomboy, I never imagined I'd ever see you looking this feminine."

"People change," shrugged Laurie. "So will this be your first kid?"

"Yes. Jeff and I would like more, but I've a way to go before I catch up to Tanya Jordan. She got the good news today as well. She and Billy are now expecting their fourth child."

"Four children," said Laurie, thoughtfully, "that's a good number."

"I've made tea for you," said Sara, depositing a tray containing cups and a pot of same on the coffee table.

John, Laurie, and Stacey sat around for another half an hour, catching up on old friends with Laurie having most of the questions as to who was now with whom, and who was doing what, until Stacey stood up, handed them each an envelope, and announced:

"Well, I really have to go now. There are still several more people I need to see. I'm looking forward to seeing you both at the reunion tomorrow night."

When she had gone they checked the envelopes, which contained a questionnaire and name badges to be filled in, a list of all those confirmed as attending, an itinerary, and the like.

"This could be fun," said Laurie.

"Yeah," said John, grinning, "but there's fun, and then there's fun."

"I think we're going to turn in now, Mrs. Geddes," said Laurie, catching his drift.

"OK," she replied, making no comment on the fact it was still only ten o'clock, "I'll see you both in the morning."

They went upstairs to Laurie's room, laughing, kissing, and undressing each other as they went. Naked, they toppled onto the bed.

"Owww!" said Laurie.

"What?" said John, suddenly concerned. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, it's just there's something under the covers poking into me," said Laurie, "and I think I know what is."

She reached under the covers and pulled out an odd- looking medallion, which she dropped over her head with a flourish.

"Your mother bought this for me when we bumped into each other," she explained. "I was admiring it and she insisted on buying it for me as a gift. Rather thoughtful of her considering she hadn't seen me in eleven years. Anyway, enough about the medallion...."

She pulled John against her, pressing her lips against his.

"Hey," he said, pulling away, "what was that? It felt like a shock."

"Probably just static," said Laurie. "Now c'mere."

They ground their bodies together, kissing and fondling each other. John grabbed Laurie's firm, round buttocks, pulling her against him and...

"What the...?" he said, pulling away from her.

"What?" said Laurie. "What's up?"

John was losing his erection, something that had never happened to him with a woman before. He looked up from his shrinking member to say something else, but the words died in his throat. Laurie's face was changing. It wasn't a major change yet, but he could still see it. Her face was becoming more angular, her jawline more prominent, and the red of her hair seemed to be fading towards...brown? Then he felt hair tickling the base of his neck, something impossible with his regulation military cut, and he knew she wasn't the only one changing. They pulled away from each other, both with a shocked look on their faces, seeing they were the same height now as they passed each other in growth, she on the way up and he on the way down.

"Oh fuck." whispered John, as he brought hands grown slender and more fine boned to his chest, gingerly touching what were clearly the beginning of female breasts. Another look at Laurie, at her shortening brown hair, narrowing hips, broadening shoulders, and shrinking breasts, and he knew what was happening.

"We...we're turning into each other!" he said, his voice now high and feminine.

They watched transfixed as each transformed into the other, unable to speak, barely able to breathe. John glanced down at his now fully formed breasts, at the long red hair falling about his shoulders, but he couldn't bring himself to examine his groin until it was over, despite being acutely aware of the changes occurring down there. It was bad enough seeing Laurie grow male genitalia, watching as her soft, feminine form morphed into the hard, muscular body he saw in the mirror every morning. Within half an hour it was over, the final tremors as their innards settled into new configurations, as blood groups switched and DNA finished rewriting itself, slowed and stopped.

"Oh, wow!" breathed Laurie. "That was one hell of a ride."

"This is impossible." said John, as he stood in front of a mirror that gave a lie to that statement, examining his now female body in disbelief.

"It has to be the medallion," said Laurie, holding it to the light and examining it from all angles, "that tingle we felt when we both came into contact with it."

"That's right," said John, suddenly hopeful. He came over and touched the medallion she still held. There was no tingle. He took it from Laurie and studied it, observing the figure of an angel or maybe a fairy on the face and what could be writing of some sort on the obverse. All in all it looked fairly tacky, hardly the sort of artefact one would imagine capable of such powerful magic as this. Heck, until half an hour ago John thought magic only belonged in stories for children.

"It's not working," he said. "Why isn't it working?"

Laurie had pulled out her laptop, plugged it into the phone socket on the wall, and was now sitting cross- legged on the bed, typing away.

"What are you doing?" asked John.

"I'm doing a websearch on magic medallions. As a general rule, no matter how specialized or obscure a subject, someone somewhere will have put up a webpage about it. I'm hoping the same is true of that medallion."

After a few seconds, Laurie said: "A-ha!"

"What is it? Have you found it?"

"Yep. Look at this."

On the screen was a sketch someone had done that seemed to be of Laurie's medallion. The text beneath read:

THE MEDALLION OF ZULO.

A powerful mystical artefact, the Medallion of Zulo possesses the ability to alter a person's form. If two people touch it at the same moment, they will transform into exact copies of each other down to the smallest detail. If a person wearing it touches something once worn by another to the medallion, they will also transform into a copy of that person. Once someone has transformed, it will be 12 hours before the medallion will work on them again.

Though there are reports of the Medallion of Zulo and accounts of those affected by it going back many years, most experts regard it as an urban myth and give the stories of those claiming to have encountered it about as much credence as tales of abduction by flying saucer. The drawing above is based on the most common descriptions of those who claim to have encountered it.

"These are some urban myths," said John, cupping his breasts in his hands. He had regarded Laurie's breasts as perfectly proportioned for her body. Now that he was the one inhabiting that body they felt huge.

"So we're stuck like this for twelve hours?" he said, licking his lips nervously. "Thank God it's not permanent."

Laurie had put her laptop away and now stood staring down at him thoughtfully. She lifted his chin and looked into the pretty face that had so recently been her own.

"Do you realize what a great opportunity this is?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You must have wondered what sex is like from the other side; I know I have. Now we can find out." she grinned.

"Whoa, I'm not sure I'm ready for....wh..what are you doing?"

"Just caressing you," grinned Laurie, gently fondling his breasts and caressing his now curvaceous butt. "Feels nice, doesn't it?"

It did. It felt very nice. John knew he should say something, but when the hand fondling his breasts moved down over his stomach and began slowly stroking his vagina, speech became a difficult concept. John felt his resolve loosening. As he opened his mouth to weakly protest, Laurie kissed him softly, brushing his lips with hers. Almost involuntarily, John slid his slender arms around Laurie's neck, surprised to find himself turning that touching of lips into a full-blooded kiss, and feeling a rush of pleasure as Laurie's strong arms pulled him to her, crushing his slim, yielding form against her hard, well- muscled body. Some small part of John's brain was shouting that he shouldn't be doing this as he let Laurie pick him up and lower him onto the bed, but he ignored it, giving himself over entirely to the needs and desires of his now female body.

Lying on his back, legs apart with Laurie between them and about to enter him, her erect penis in her hand and already brushing the lips of his vagina, John watched her pause and give him a concerned look. They shared a moment of utter clarity then, clear thought briefly displacing bodily desire. Understanding passed between them and he nodded, consciously assenting to her penetration, gasping as she gently but firmly eased herself into him. He felt satisfyingly filled, moaning in pleasure as she began to thrust in and out, delighted by how skillfully she altered the force and rhythm of her thrusting, experiencing the fabled female multiple orgasm for the first time. It was like a rolling wave of pleasure and he surfed it for all it was worth, shouting in pleasure as it crested at the exact same moment Laurie came, filling him with her seed.

When Laurie rolled off him they both lay there sweaty and panting, both overcome by the experience. Though he had just had sex with a man, John could not think of the experience as being in any way gay. The idea of having sex with a man as a man still turned him off, but having it as a woman didn't trigger that same reaction. Also, regardless of what they now looked like, it was still him and Laurie. In fact the more he thought about it the more he realized, to his great surprise, that there was only one question that really mattered to him.

"Laurie?" he said, as she lazily pulled him to her and kissed the top of his head, "There's something I need to know."

"What's that, hon?"

"How long do you think it'll be before you're ready to do that to me again?"

In all, during a marathon lovemaking session that lasted well into the early hours of the morning, she managed it five times. John was impressed. Lying in her arms, nestled up against her and feeling very content, John thought ruefully, shortly before sleep claimed him, that he could not have managed that feat himself. It seemed that Laurie had more stamina in his body than he did.

When they woke, five hours later, there were still another two hours before they could switch back. Laurie started playing with his vagina, getting him wetter and wetter, until John could stand it no more pulling her on top of him and demanding to be fucked. They had sex twice more, then lay there entwined, sated and happy.

"I just realized something," chuckled John. "That makes it seven times I've had sex with you as a woman when I've still only done it with you once as a man."

"Well, either way it's still you and me, which is what really matters," said Laurie.

"Yeah," said John. "It is."

They looked at each other then, both knowing what they were saying but neither yet ready to state it outright. Instead, Laurie pulled John to her and they gently kissed.

"It's probably just as well we'll be switching back soon," said John, pulling away, "because I think it would be awfully easy to get used to this."

"About that," said Laurie, "I think we should stay switched until the end of today."

"What? Why?"

"Think about it. Yes, we've used this opportunity to see what sex is like from the other side, which was an amazing experience, but we haven't used it to see what it's like being the opposite sex out in the world. I want to see what it feels like to walk down the street as a man, to interact with people who think I'm the man I appear to be. And the high school reunion is just about the perfect place to do that."

"I don't know," said John, dubiously. "It's one thing being like this in front of each other but I'm not sure I want to go out in public wearing make-up and a dress. I'd feel like some sort of transvestite."

"You shouldn't. You'd be a woman dressed as a woman, and any looks you get will be ones of appreciation, trust me. Sex is only part of seeing what it's like to be the opposite gender. Not going out in public would mean we hadn't taken full advantage of this situation."

They argued back and forth for a while but, eventually, Laurie talked him into it. As a child, she had always been able to talk him into almost anything, and she had not lost that ability. It helped that John knew she was right, that his reluctance was due more to stage fright than to any sort of reasoned objection.

"Now that's decided," said Laurie, "we need to get you dressed as soon as we've both showered off."

The shower was brief, invigorating, and shared. They soaped each other all over, which would have led to another bout of sex had their self-control been even slightly less than it was.

From her closet, Laurie selected a simple short-sleeved spring dress and a matching pair of pumps with two inch heels. John was surprised to see Laurie's wardrobe didn't contain a single pair of trousers.

"No," said Laurie, when he pointed this out. "After a childhood spent almost entirely in Levi's, I guess I went to the opposite extreme. OK, you'll find bras, panties, and panty-hose in the drawers by the bed."

Under Laurie's instruction, John dressed himself in these items, then stepped into the dress, Laurie pulling it up and fastening the buttons on the back for him. Feeling decidedly odd, John did a twirl in front of the mirror. He looked exactly like the pretty girl he now was, he knew, realizing his fears about looking like a man in drag had been ridiculous. He walked up and down carefully, finding the shoes the most difficult part of this to deal with.

"I think I'd prefer to wear those sandals you had on yesterday," he said.

"I'm sure you would," she replied, "but you're going to be wearing three inch heels to the reunion tonight and you need to get in some practice today. Those are only two inch heels. Consider them your training wheels."

"Three inch heels?" said John, dubiously.

"Of course. In fact, let's show you what you'll be wearing."

Laurie pulled out a hanger with the garment concealed by a paper sheath. Underneath was a sheer silver-gray silk gown, low cut with spaghetti-straps, that was both simple and extremely elegant. Also on the hangar what looked to John to be some kind of large flower made of the same silk, and a matching purse.

"I can't wear that," he said, aghast. "It'll cling to me like a second skin and show too much cleavage."

"Don't chicken out on me now," said Laurie. "Believe me, this is the right thing to wear. Everyone is going to be done up to the nines and you don't want to let yourself down - or me, come to that - by looking in any way frumpy. You may not know it, but you'll be in a contest with the other women present to see who can look the most glamorous, and the competition will be cut-throat. Now let's go downstairs and get brunch. Your mother will be thinking we've died up here."

In fact Sara Geddes merely greeted them with a knowing smile when they arrived in the kitchen.

"Did you sleep well, dears?" she asked, innocently.

"We got all the sleep we needed, Mom," said Laurie, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Sara joined them at the breakfast counter, and over coffee and pancakes they discussed the reunion.

"Do you still have all that stuff from the salon?" asked Laurie.

"Of course," said Sara. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Laurie just showed me this great looking gown she's going to be wearing tonight," said Laurie, "and I was wondering if you'd do her hair and make-up. You used to be a pro at this and it would give you a chance to use your skills again."

"I'd love to," said Sara, her face lighting up, "if that's what Laurie wants."

"That would be great!" said John with a mixture of trepidation at the thought of having all that done to him, and relief that he wouldn't have to struggle to do it himself, "I'm sure you'll do a much, much better job than I could."

"That'll keep you ladies occupied the rest of the day," said Laurie, getting to her feet. "So, if it's OK, Mom, I'll make myself scarce while you do all that girl stuff. If I can borrow the station-wagon, I'll go into town, pick up groceries, see how the place has changed, and like that."

"OK, Johnny," said Sara.

"Wait a minute," said John. "The reunion doesn't start 'til eight and it's only just coming up to noon now."

"Yeah, and you'll need all that time for Mom to give you the full works, trust me." said Laurie.

"Have fun," she called out as she scooped up the car keys and headed for the front door. Sara gave her a curious look, then turned and surveyed her transformed son thoughtfully.

"Well, Laurie," she said, "the first thing I need is for you to help me dig out all my gear and then we'll start by figuring out exactly what needs doing and what we can accomplish in the time we have. You're a pretty girl, but I'll make you look gorgeous."

John had no idea what some of the things they pulled out of storage were, and was a bit worried by some of the things he did recognize. Once they were set up, Sara began by carefully exfoliating and buffing arms, legs and any part of John that would be showing. A precise and careful reshaping of his eyebrows felt more like a form of torture than pampering, though the deep cleansing of his pores through steaming and hot towels somewhat made up for this. John had expected to get to the hair and make-up part of the process immediately, but the amount of preparation needed before this surprised him. He assumed the creams Sara massaged into his face were some sort of skin conditioner, but this was only a guess on his part. After almost three hours of this, Sara declared him ready for the next stage. This began with him putting on the shoes and dress he would be wearing that evening and Sara studying him critically, making him turn this way and that. She explained she needed to see this in order to decide how best to do his hair and to figure out make-up that both matched his natural coloring and complemented the gown. John was impressed. He had never seen his mother as the professional and artist she had been, seen the obvious pride she took in her skill. It was clearly something she missed, and he wondered why she had given it up so completely.

Laurie returned an hour or so before they were leaving for the reunion, showered, dressed carefully in John's uniform, and waited in the main parlour for her date. Though she had told John his mother would need all that time to get him ready she hadn't really believed it, but it looked like she did. Laurie hoped the end result was worth the wait. It was.

When John entered the room, a beaming Sara behind him, Laurie's jaw dropped.

"You look like a movie star," she said, in wonderment. In all the time that had been her body she had never known it could look like this.

Dressed in the gown, his hair up and the silken flower pinned into it just behind his left ear, his make-up immaculate, John was wearing long gold earrings, a simple gold necklace and thin gold bracelet. He smiled at Laurie's reaction, pleased in spite of himself. If he was going to do this then, as Laurie had said, it was best to go all out and do it right.

"The jewelry is mine," said Sara, joining them, "but I don't wear it anymore and it goes beautifully with that dress, so I'm lending it to her for tonight."

"Shall we?" said Laurie, offering John her arm. He took it and they headed out to the car.

At the high school, they signed in at the reception table, and Laurie attached the badges they had filled out earlier, pinning her own on to the lapel of her army uniform and securing John's around the strap of his dress in order not to damage the silk. John got complemented on his ensemble by several of the women present, who mostly seemed friendly enough and not as bitchy as he had feared they might, and admiring glances from many of the men. He still felt self-conscious, however. The dress was so thin and silky that he felt almost naked, half-convinced everyone could see the garter-belt, stockings and thong he was wearing underneath. Laurie had convinced him he didn't need a bra that his breasts were firm enough to get away without one, but he had not appreciated how prominent his nipples would look.

Laurie got them both a glass of punch from the punch bowl and they mingled, catching up with old friends, some of whom John had seen as recently as his last furlough, none of whom Laurie had seen in eleven years. When he found himself alone with a group of women at one point, John was alarmed at just how intimate the conversation became, learning things about several old friends he had never known before, and some of which he wished he still didn't.

When the dancing started John sat out the faster numbers, convinced that his inexperience with high heels would inevitably lead to an embarrassing tumble. The slow numbers were a different matter. With Laurie leading, her arms about his waist, John felt oddly safe and protected, and not a little aroused. So much so that at the end of one number what was meant as a simple end of dance brushing of lips turned into something rather more passionate. For a few seconds it was as if they were the only people in the room. Cheers and whistles from their friends quickly reminded them they weren't. Smiling and blushing, they made their way back to their table. They were seated with Billy and Tanya Jordan, and Jeff and Stacey Pollard. As they sat down, Stacey leaned over to John.

"I think we should go to the ladies room," she chuckled, "Your lipstick needs repairing after that."

Flushing again, John got to his feet and, with Stacey and Tanya, headed for the bathroom. Inside, they fished their make-up out of their purses and started in on repair and touch up work.

"So," said Tanya, pouting at her reflection, "how serious is it between you and Johnny?"

"Yeah, spill all the details," said Stacey.

"I...don't know," admitted John, carefully applying fresh lipstick. "I mean, I only got back a few days ago but we clicked immediately, and it's just like it was when we were children. No, that's not true. It's actually better now."

"Looked like love to me," grinned Stacey. "John and I dated for a little while before he joined up, and he sure never kissed me like that!"

"I...I think it might be," he said. "It seems insane to be saying this so soon after we met again but I think maybe we are in love."

"Oh, it would be so wonderful if you and John were a couple," said Stacey, giving him a hug. "He's a great guy and it's about time he had someone to share his life with."

"Yeah," agreed Tanya, making it a group hug, "that would be so cool."

At the end of the evening, as they walked back to the car arm in arm, Laurie asked:

"Did you have a good time?"

"I had a wonderful time," laughed John. "I was as nervous as hell beforehand but, as always when you talk me into things, this was a lot of fun. No-one suspected we weren't who we appeared to be, but the faint fear they might added an exciting edge to things."

Laurie spun him round then, surprising him by planting a kiss on his painted lips. The kiss lasted more than a minute. When, breathless, John pulled away, he surprised himself by blurting out:

"I love you."

"And I love you, my darling," Laurie replied without hesitation, pulling him into another long embrace. So there it was; out in the open now. On the drive back to the house, John was almost giddy with happiness. The bodyswitch had been a lot more enjoyable and exciting than he would have imagined such a thing could be, but he was ready to switch back now and eager to make love with Laurie in their own bodies.

At the house, John undressed, took off his make-up, and rejoined Laurie in her room wearing only the Medallion of Zulo.

"Ready to switch back?" he asked.

"Shortly," said Laurie. "Rather than switch like we did last time, with both of us touching the medallion, I want to try out its other trick, the ability to turn you into whoever last wore an item of clothing."

"Here," she said, handing John his uniform jacket, "touch this to the medallion. If it works it'll be cool us being twins for a few minutes."

"As long as you don't get any ideas about guy-on-guy action," said John. "I'm not into that."

"Neither am I," said Laurie, "so don't worry about it."

John touched the jacket to the medallion and instantly felt the familiar tingle.

"It's working," he grinned, "I can feel it!"

He watched in the mirror as his red hair began to return to its normal brown, as the lines of his face started to shift...then something happened. Those changes, changes that had barely begun, reversed themselves then stopped.

"What...what happened," he said, in a small, stunned voice. "Why won't it change me back?"

He turned to Laurie, holding out the medallion.

"Here, you try it," he said, panic evident in his voice. "Maybe it'll work on you."

"Hang on there," said Laurie, holding up her hands and backing away from him. "If it won't work on you we dare not try it on me."

"Why not?"

"Think for a minute. If it does work on me we'll have two Lauries and no John, and one of us would have to stay hidden for the next twelve hours. Also, Sergeant John Geddes has to be on the noon train on Monday."

"You mean, if we can't switch back, you'll take my place in the Army?" said John, taken aback.

"I'll pretty much have to," said Laurie, "but it hasn't come to that yet. First, we need to find out what's happened. Hand me my laptop."

Laurie quickly got online and did another websearch on the medallion.

"We got all our information on the medallion from the first website we found," said Laurie, "which may have been a mistake. Let's see what another has to say on the subject. Ah, here we go."

THE MEDALLION OF ZULO.

A powerful mystical artefact whose exact origins are shrouded in mystery, the Medallion of Zulo allegedly possesses the ability to alter a person's form. If two people touch it at the same moment, they will be changed into exact copies of each other down to the smallest detail. If a person wearing it touches something once worn by another to the medallion, they will also be changed into a copy of that person. Once someone has changed, it will be twelve hours before the medallion will work on them again. Being pregnant or menstruating blocks the medallion's abilities.

Though there are reports of the Medallion of Zulo and accounts of those affected by it going back to at least Victorian times, most experts regard it as an urban myth and do not give much credence to the stories of those claiming to have encountered it.

"So...I'm pregnant?" said John, in a small voice. Motherhood was not something he had ever planned on experiencing.

"I guess so. Oh Johnny, I'm so sorry." said Lauren. "Damn whoever wrote that first webpage we visited. That was a pretty important factor to leave out."

"Wait a minute," said John. "Out at the lake, you told me you were on the pill, so how could I get pregnant? When I got this body I should have got that protection."

"I'm sure you did, but no contraceptive method is a hundred percent effective. You just got unlucky." said Laurie putting an arm around his shoulders. "Looks like I have to stay as you for now."

"A mother; I'm going to be a mother!"

The idea of abortion briefly occurred to John, but he quickly dismissed it. Even if he did have one there was no guarantee he would then be able to change back. If the stories that got told about magic had any truth in them it often had a sting in the tail. For all he knew he would be able to regain his body after giving birth, but terminating the pregnancy could trap him in this one for ever. No, abortion was just too risky without being sure there were no mystical consequences. Then there was Laurie. He meant it when he told her he loved her, and he realized he did want to have a baby with her. He just didn't want to be the one who had to carry it to term.

Laurie stood up, paced over to the door then turned to face John, a serious expression on her face.

"I think we both feel the same way about the other," she said, "like we've found a part of ourselves that had been missing for years?"

John nodded. That was exactly how he felt.

"And we've declared our love for each other?"

John nodded again. Where was Laurie going with this?

"Then since I'm currently the guy I guess I'm the one that gets to do this," she said, and believe me this isn't just because you're pregnant."

She produced a small box, opened it, and got down on one knee. Inside the box was a ring set with a single diamond.

"Will you marry me?" asked Laurie.

John was taken aback.

"Where did you get a ring?" he asked, saying the first thing that popped into his head.

"What? Oh, it was my mother's. Well will you?" said Laurie, "Will you marry me?"

"Of course I will," John said, smiling, "but not until after we can switch back and you get to be the bride."

"Of course," said Laurie.

They kissed, and climbed into bed. There was no sex this night - John was too freaked out at his condition to even contemplate it - but they cuddled a lot and both soon drifted into deep, if fitful slumber.

They woke early on Sunday morning and just lay there for a while, John nestled in close to Laurie, her strong arms around him, saying little. John hadn't slept too well as he struggled to come to terms with what lay ahead for him but now, in the light of day, he knew he had reached a grudging acceptance of his condition. When they did get up, and John was confronted with Laurie's wardrobe, he once again found himself wishing she owned some trousers. On Laurie's advice he chose a simple skirt and blouse to wear.

"Now do your make-up," she said.

"What? But why?"

"Because I wouldn't dream of being seen in public without make-up," Laurie sighed, "and for the next nine months, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, you're me. I need you to keep up appearances. Please promise me you will. I'd hate to get my life back only to find you'd given me a reputation as a slob."

"OK, OK. If I'm having your child, I suppose I can do that, too," said John. "I was paying attention when Mom did my make-up yesterday and I think I grasped the basic principles and techniques. It's just going to take practice."

Laurie's room had been the guest room and as such it had a dressing table. John sat at this now and carefully applied the lessons he had learned the previous day. He played it safe by keeping it simple and managed a passable job.

At breakfast, John was alert for any sign his mother suspected something, but there were none. After the meal, they gave her the big news.

"You're getting married? Oh that's wonderful news!" said Sara Geddes, genuinely delighted.

"You don't think it's too sudden?" said John.

"No, I don't" she replied. "You may only have met again two days ago, but you've known each other since you were children. You were virtually childhood sweethearts, and now you've found each other again."

"There's more," said Laurie.

"More?"

"Yeah," said John. "I'm pregnant."

"Are you sure?" said Sara.

"Pretty sure," said John. "I'll get a proper test at the clinic to confirm it, though. Looks like you're going to be a grandmother."

"Just like you always wanted," said Laurie. "Hey, no tears, now."

"It's just, I was beginning to think this wouldn't happen before I died. I'm so happy for you both."

John and Laurie spent the rest of the day absorbing as much as they could of the information they would need to live the other's life. John briefed Laurie on his army duties, showed such photos of his platoon as he possessed and had her memorize who each was. He told her all the anecdotes she would be expected to recall, then quizzed her on them. For her part, Laurie showed him how to care for long hair - something she had had since childhood - gave him tips on how to act in a variety of public situations he had yet to encounter as a female, and showed him the rudiments of HTML.

"Fortunately, I cleared all my outstanding contracts before coming to Cedar Junction," she explained, "but there's always follow up, and good word of mouth usually leads to more work. It's not a big one-person business, but it provided enough for me to live on and I hope you can keep it going for me until I get back. There's a pile of books in the corner which should fill you in on the more complicated stuff and also on the legal and tax stuff for small businesses that you'll need to get familiar with. It will seem daunting at first, but learning all that should keep you from getting too bored during the pregnancy. Now, have you put the medallion somewhere safe?"

"Yes," said John. "It's in a cigar box under that loose floorboard in my old bedroom; where I used to hide things as a kid. And it's staying there, untouched, until you get back."

Knowing it would be their last time together in quite some time they made love again that night. It was both gentler and more bittersweet than their earlier, vigorous rutting, but perhaps more emotionally satisfying.

The next day, just before they were about to set off for the railroad station, and while Sara was getting the car from the garage, John almost lost it.

"I'm not sure I can do this by myself," he said, tears welling up. "I wish you could stay and see this through with me."

"I've got to go honey," replied Laurie, putting her hands on his narrow shoulders, "Your unit's shipping out and we can't have you going AWOL, not now. Please don't cry. You'll get your body back, after you have the baby. In the meantime your mother will be there to help you through this."

The drive to the station was a sombre affair. They arrived at mere minutes before the train itself pulled in to the platform.

"Hey, Sarge!" yelled Bob Tuttle, climbing down from a carriage, "Over here!"

The other three went over to him and Laurie did the introductions.

"This is my mother."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Geddes," said Tuttle, shaking her hand.

"And this is Laurie Ellison, my fiancée," said Laurie, indicating John.

"Fiancée?" said Tuttle, eyes going wide, "Why you old dog, Sarge. I guess this means congratulations are in order."

He took John's hand and kissed it.

"I'm, really pleased for you both, Laurie," he said. "The Sarge is a great guy."

"All aboard!" shouted the guard.

"We've got to go," said Laurie.

"Not before I do this, " said John, throwing his arms around her, pressing his body against hers, and giving her a long, passionate kiss. The kiss was as much for Tuttle's benefit as for Laurie's - John saw no point in missing an opportunity to improve his reputation in this area - and from the look on Tuttle's face it had the desired effect.

It was only afterwards, on the drive back to the house, that John realized he had unconsciously selected exactly the same outfit for the departure that Laurie had been wearing when he had first seen her at the house a few days earlier. Her last sight of him was thus the same as his first sight of her. He did not want to think too hard about what this might mean, about what sort of message his subconscious might be sending him.

"Thank you for letting me continue to stay at your house now that John and I are engaged, Mrs. Geddes," said John. "With everything that's happening, I wasn't looking forward to having to hunt for an apartment, too."

"Nonsense, dear," said Sara Geddes. "I wouldn't hear of my future daughter-in-law staying anywhere else. And since you'll be my daughter-in-law it doesn't sound right you calling me Mrs. Geddes; you should call me 'Mom'."

"OK," said John, relieved to have one area where he could so easily slip-up removed, "'Mom' it is."

The following week passed a lot more quickly and was a lot busier than John could have imagined. He and Sara cleared out a small bedroom that had been used as a storeroom for years and began converting it into a nursery. John put aside an hour or two every day to grapple with the mysteries of website design and the requirements of running a one-person business, and also signed up for pre-natal classes at the local women's clinic where, to his surprise and pleasure he found he would be in the same group as Stacey and Tanya. Naturally, a proper examination confirmed he was indeed pregnant, and a slim volume entitled 'Your Pregnancy and You' became a must-read book that John read through twice the first day he had it. He was pleased to discover he wouldn't start looking pregnant until the end of the first trimester and that morning sickness shouldn't kick in for another six weeks or so. He wasn't looking forward to that at all. One thing that particularly pleased him was how having him around seemed to have breathed new life into his mother. It was as if having a pregnant soon-to-be-daughter-in-law to fuss over has given her life new purpose. After the rigors of puberty and adolescence, John was never again really as close to his mother as he had been as a child but now, in all this time they were spending together, they were growing close once more. One of the things they bonded over was beauty care. John realized early on that though he was passable when it came to haircare and make-up, he could be a lot better. Since he needed to deal with both for most of the next year, he figured he needed to get more proficient in them. When he broached the subject with Sara, she was only too delighted to help him.

"You're really, really good at this," said John, as she taught him the rudiments of foundation and shading, "a real artist. Why did you give it up?"

"I wanted to spend what time I could with Ben in his declining years," she said, "so after Johnny joined the military I sold my shop. Then Ben died in less than a year and I was left at a loose end. I'd sold out to a national chain, and even with my skills they weren't really interested in hiring someone past retirement age. Old people don't fit in with the image of the industry, you see, which is all about youth and beauty. They couldn't come right out and say that, of course, but that's what it was."

With his natural artistic ability, ability he now suspected he must have inherited from his mother, John was a quick study and soon became became not merely proficient at hair styling and make-up but very skilful. And having acquired such skills, what had been a chore became something he started to enjoy.

As those first few weeks passed, John gradually got used to seeing Laurie's face every time he looked in a mirror, to dressing and living as a woman. It soon came to feel natural. He had discovered Laurie's dildo early on but it wasn't until three weeks in that he started to play with it. When he did, it was inevitably memories of Laurie in his body making love to his now female self that got him wet, imagining it was her thrusting into him that brought him to orgasm. During those same weeks, John got to be good friends with Stacey and Tanya and they took to meeting at each other's homes three or four times a week for coffee mornings, or going on shopping trips. He found himself falling into this routine surprisingly easily, and even the intimacy of female conversation no longer seemed as shocking as it had. Then there were the weekly letters from Laurie to look forward to, which were necessarily circumspect due both to the realities of being on active duty meaning any letter could be subject to review by a military censor, and to them knowing some letters would be shared with Sara:

Dear Laurie,

Well, it's been a few weeks now and we're pretty well established. As you'll know from press reports, there are those happy to see us and those who aren't - which is about par for a peace-keeping mission. If all goes to plan we shouldn't see any actual action as our presence alone should be enough to ensure the various factions behave themselves. We shall see.

I've become pretty good friends with Bob Tuttle, Captain Wagner is a CO who really earns your respect, and the rest of the platoon are mostly as fine a bunch of guys as you could hope to meet. Tuttle has been telling them all about the Sarge's beautiful fiancée, of course, and so, naturally, they're all curious to see what you look like. I must be the only soldier in the entire army who doesn't carry a photo of his sweetheart, so could you send me one, honey?

I'm missing you more than I can say, and though being out here doing my bit for our country is giving me a great sense of satisfaction, I'd still prefer to be there with you during your pregnancy. I'm looking forward to being with you and our baby more than I can say.

Please give my love to Mom, and I hope it's not too long before we're together again.

I love you,

Johnny

A photograph was something they hadn't thought of because, of course, if they wanted to see their loved one all they had to do currently was look in a mirror. Still, Sgt. John Geddes should have a photo of Laurie Ellison, so John would have to get one. At first, he thought about finding a photo in Laurie's stuff and sending that along, but that didn't feel right. Sending her a photo of herself wouldn't mean as much as sending a new photo of him, even though they would appear to be photos of the same woman to anyone else. The important thing was that Laurie would know otherwise. He made the mistake of mentioning the photo the next time he saw Stacey and Tanya.

"Oh cool," said Stacey. "Tanya's a pretty decent photographer, so we should be able to get some good shots of you all dolled up and looking glamorous for your man. In your bathing suit would be best, I think."

"Hey, I was just thinking of a head and shoulders picture," protested John.

"Oh, don't be silly," said Tanya. "We can do a head and shoulders shot too, but you really need to get some good pictures before your pregnancy starts to show and while you've still got that girlish figure. You won't look so taut when you've had your kid, trust me. After having three, I know all about that."

So it was that John found himself in heels and a very skimpy bikini, adopting a variety of cheesecake poses while Tanya snapped away and Stacey called encouragement from the sidelines. It should have left him mortified, and would have only a few weeks earlier, but he was able to laugh along with his friends and get into the spirit of the thing. And Laurie certainly appreciated the pictures.

Dear Laurie,

Wow. Those were some pictures you sent. I showed the guys the head and shoulders shot - they were all suitably impressed and said what a lucky guy I am - but no one but me gets to see the other pictures. You looked great, just gorgeous, and sexy as hell. I miss you more than ever.

John glowed with pleasure when he read these words. Some small part of him felt that being complemented on how sexy a woman he was should disturb him, but he ignored it. What did disturb him was a bit near the end of the letter where Laurie wrote:

As you'll have heard, the situation on the ground has recently deteriorated here. Our compound has come under mortar attack on a couple of occasions now and we've increased the number of armed patrols we've been mounting in the areas controlled by the faction the brass think are behind these. The situation is getting tense, but our spirits remain high.

Six weeks into his pregnancy, almost to the day, John experienced his first bout of morning sickness. When he went down to breakfast that morning, Sara was suitably sympathetic.

"Yes," she said, "that's one of the more unpleasant parts of the process, but it's also the first point where I really felt pregnant. Still, I've got a surprise for you today that should help cheer you up."

"Oh?" said John. "And what might that be?"

"You'll see." said Sara, smiling mysteriously.

Afterwards, Sara drove them both to the local mall and led John straight to a store that specialized in bridal gowns.

"Uhh, isn't a bit early to be thinking about this?" he said. "The wedding won't be until after the baby arrives."

"Yes, but this will be the last time for months you'll be thin enough to try on wedding dresses and decide which one you want to wear on your big day." said Sara.

By the time that day arrived they would be back in their own bodies, and John wasn't at all sure he should be picking out a dress for Laurie. On the other hand, his mother was clearly having the time of her life lately, treating him as the daughter she had never had and getting to do all those mother-daughter things she had missed out on. If this was what she wanted then he was content to parade up and down in the various gowns and defer to her taste when it came to choosing one. As soon as they had told her they were getting married, she had insisted on paying for everything, and he was happy that playing the role of mother-of-the-bride was giving her so much pleasure. Eventually, they had a dress picked out and reserved, with a final fitting and alterations arranged for after the birth.

"There, didn't I say I'd cheer you up?"

"Yes," said John, and it had been kind of fun. "You certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself, too."

"Well, I always wanted a daughter but what with my age then and the complications I had giving birth to John, the doctors advised against me getting pregnant again. Getting close to you these past few weeks, doing things together like this, is the most fun I've had in years."

As the weeks wore on and John entered his second trimester, the morning sickness went away but his breasts grew extremely sensitive, his midriff finally started showing the beginnings of a 'bump', and he began developing weird food cravings. Standing naked in front of a full-length mirror, eating a liverwurst and peanut butter sandwich while running the slender fingers of his other hand over his belly, John reflected on how fully acclimatized to this body he now was. It had long since ceased feeling weird to look in a mirror and see a woman reflected back. The weight of breasts on his chest, the swaying of his womanly hips and ass as he moved, now felt so normal that he rarely even noticed them anymore. Remembering what it felt like to have a male body took some effort. They say you can get used to anything, and John knew that he was now completely used to this body. It no longer felt at all alien; it felt natural and, well, right. He suspected that by the time he got his own body back it would feel really peculiar at first and take quite some time to get comfortable in again. Still, that was a worry for the future.

With the coming of late-summer, the heat became sufficiently oppressive that John was glad he was no further along. Being seven or eight months pregnant in these conditions would be uncomfortable as hell. He was now proficient at website design and, having dug through the various directories on her laptop and studied her particular design preferences and subtle HTML quirks, could emulate Laurie's style well enough to start offering follow-up work to her clients. This had gone reasonably well, and they seemed happy with the work John was doing. He had a way to go yet to get the work coming in back to the levels Laurie had managed, but he was proud that he was keeping her business a going concern.

Another project John had started in a desultory fashion during his first trimester and which he worked at off and on up through his second, was the nursery. First there had been the work of just clearing all the old junk from the room, then the cleaning and scraping off of old wallpaper and flaking paint, followed by repainting and putting up new paper. Amniocentesis and ultrasound pictures had told John his baby would be a girl so pink was a major component of the design scheme. The crib was a family heirloom, a finely crafted piece that John's grandfather - a cabinet maker - had fabricated and which both John and his mother had slept in as babies. John spent hours repairing the chipped varnish and repolishing until the crib looked as good as when Grandpa Petrouski had made it all those years ago.

It was near the end of his second trimester that John got what was perhaps the biggest shock of his pregnancy. It started with Sara calling him downstairs.

"Come quickly, Laurie!" she urged. "You have to see this!"

It was a TV report on the peace-keeping mission. The news announcer was saying a US Army unit had been pinned down by enemy fire during an ambush while out on patrol. It was Laurie's unit. Despite being hugely outnumbered and losing the officer in charge of the patrol, a lieutenant, the unit had managed to hold out until reinforcements could arrive to relieve them. The TV news crew had been there when the choppers carrying the unit had returned to the US Army compound and grabbed one of the soldiers briefly before he was whisked away. It was Bob Tuttle. He had a blood-soaked bandage tied around his head.

"It was amazing," he said. "After the Lieutenant bought it our Sergeant, John Geddes, took charge. He took out a machine-gun nest single-handedly, inspired us to almost super-human effort when we thought we were going to buy the farm, and was totally fearless in the face of overwhelming odds. Every last goddamn one of us owes him our lives, pardon my French."

It was at this point that the TV camera was blocked and Tuttle was ushered away.

"What about John?" said Sara. "They didn't say if he was OK."

Her face was gray with worry and John felt his stomach do a flip flop as well. Then the phone rang. Sara picked up the receiver. She listened for a second, then her face broke into a smile.

"Oh, thank God!" she said, handing the receiver to him. "It's John. He's alright."

"Honey?" said the voice on the end of the line, "Is that you?"

"Yes, darling," replied John. "We just saw the news report and we were terrified something might have happened to you."

"Yeah, I thought that might happen," said Laurie. "As soon as I realized that TV report was going to go out I demanded they let me ring you. They weren't going to let me at first, not until after the debriefing, but Captain Wagner went to bat for me, explaining that seeing that report and fearing the worst wouldn't be a good thing for my pregnant fiancée to go through. So here I am, and I'm fine. I came through without a scratch, which is more than can be said for Bob Tuttle. And of course Lieutenant Fodder bought it. Poor bastard had only been assigned to us yesterday, fresh out of West Point. So how are you doing, baby?"

"Over the moon at hearing your voice and knowing you're safe. And I'm very, very proud of you." said John.

"Yeah, well, it's nothing you wouldn't have done," said Laurie, sounding pleased but embarrassed.

"Don't you believe it. I doubt if I have the leadership skills to inspire and lead the men the way you did." said John. "That takes something special. I'm very impressed. I expect you'll get a medal for this."

"They're talking about that already. Something else they're talking about that means a lot more is sending us back to the States." said Laurie. "Looks like I might be there for the birth of our daughter after all."

"That would be wonderful," said John, surprised at just how excited he was by the news.

"That it would," agreed Laurie. "Listen, I have to go now. They said they'd give me a couple of minutes phone time but they need me to go to debriefing now. Love you."

"And I love you."

As John put the receiver down, Sara let out a long sigh.

"You realize," she said, "that by tomorrow we're going to have reporters camped outside? That corporal, the one we met at the railroad station, gave Johnny's full name. It won't take the press long to find us."

The first reporters arrived around noon the following day Two hours before this, another car had turned up and disgorged three men in army uniforms.

"I'm Major Paul Hart," explained the one in charge, "and these are Lieutenants Nixon and Stevens. We're from the US Army's press office. We expect the press to get here within the next two or three hours and, if you'll let me, I'm here help you deal with them. I have a lot of experience liaising with the press and I can help make things run smoother and be a lot more pleasant than they might otherwise be."

"We're fine with that," said John, after he and Sara exchanged a nod.

"Good. While Nixon and Stevens are establishing a perimeter we can go over the kinds of questions the press will ask and you can polish the answers you want to give."

This was either smooth PR on the part of the army, or an attempt at news management. Since he trusted the army, John chose to believe it was the former. Major Hart was handsome and personable, something that excited no reaction in John at all. Despite now being female and attracting male attention, it was still only Laurie - male or female - who did it for him. Hart was good at his job, however, and had them briefed and feeling confident about meeting the press by the time the reporters started arriving.

"Sergeant Geddes' heroism is a big story," he told them as he led them out to meet the press, "and everyone is interested in knowing more about him and his background. As the two most important people in his life, it naturally follows they're interested in you."

Nixon and Stevens had established a line in the road outside and were keeping the reporters behind this, for which John was grateful. He had seen what could happen when the press descended en masse on an unprepared household. Lawn churned up, photographers snapping away through the windows, phone constantly ringing and a non-stop hammering on the door. Organizing a formal meeting with the press like this was a better way of dealing with the situation.

"How do you feel about Sergeant Geddes' heroism?" shouted one reporter.

"We're very proud of him," said Sara. "His father was a soldier, too, and I think he'd have been very, very proud of him as well."

"How about you, Laurie?" asked a female TV reporter. "How does it feel to be the fiancée of a national hero?"

"I'm proud of John, of course," said John, one hand on his distended belly, "but I'm far happier he was unhurt and will be coming home to me and our baby."

"When are you getting hitched, Laurie?" asked one.

"After our baby is born," said John. "How soon after depends on Uncle Sam, of course, but as soon as the Army gives my fiancée the time off, I'm good to go."

There were more questions, of course, but they were mostly in the same vein. Any that strayed too close to military matters were expertly fielded by Major Hart, who had a superficially easy-going manner but who didn't give away one iota more than he intended to. John could see why he held the position he did. After the press conference, he congratulated the two women.

"You handled that extremely well," he said, approvingly. "I'm sure there'll be some follow-up, but I think we've mostly given the press what they wanted for now. Don't be surprised to see Sergeant Geddes' face everywhere over the next few weeks, though."

And it was. It beamed at them from the TV and from the covers of magazines and newspapers. John was particularly taken with the posed photo on the cover of Newsweek. Taken by the famous fashion and portrait photographer Janice Cochran, it made Laurie look like a Hollywood leading man. The caption read: "Sergeant John Geddes: An American Hero." As it turned out, that caption was no longer entirely accurate.

"'Lieutenant'?" said John, disbelievingly, when Laurie rang him with the news.

"That's right, hon," she said. "They're calling it a battlefield commission, saying the leadership skills I displayed under fire were exemplary and that I deserved it. Of course, I still have to go on a crash course at a military academy."

"How long for?" asked John.

"Five months," said Laurie. "If all goes well, I should be allowed a break in the middle to be there for the birth of our baby."

John sighed. He had hoped to see Laurie before then, but this was too big an opportunity not to be seized. It looked like Ben Geddes' son was going to make officer after all.

John continued to see Tanya and Stacey several times a week. All three were now in their final trimesters, their large bellies swathed in maternity wear. Save for Laurie, there had never been anyone he had been closer friends with. This was a revelation that gave him pause. He wouldn't change those friendships for any amount of money, but what did it mean that, man or woman, he found it easier to be close friends with women than with men?

This third trimester, the home stretch, was the most uncomfortable of the whole pregnancy and John found himself wishing it would speed up. The one bright spot in the whole period was when, in due course, Tanya gave birth to a boy and Stacey to a girl. John got to coo over them and, for the first time, feel almost overwhelming maternal feelings. These surprised him a lot. Not every woman gets to feel them strongly, some hardly at all, so for someone born a man to experience them like that was completely unexpected.

With Tanya and Stacey having had their babies, John suddenly felt oddly alone and isolated. Up 'til now, morning sickness aside, he had found pregnancy surprisingly enjoyable, the carrying of new life an almost spiritual experience. The first time he felt the baby kick inside him had been a wonderful moment. Now he just wanted it to be over, and the sooner the better. It seemed to go on forever but, eventually, the big day arrived.

"What time's John supposed to get here?" asked John, impatiently.

"Not for another couple of hours yet," said Sara. "Though that's only if the train gets in on time. With all this snow it could easily be delayed."

"God, I hope not," said John, "The last thing I...oooh."

"What is it, Laurie?" asked Sara. "Are you OK?"

"Not really," said John, oddly calm. "I think my water just broke."

"Oh," said Sara, momentarily taken aback. "Right then. I'd better phone the hospital and let them know I'm bringing you in. I'll leave a message for John, too."

After having done so, Sara grabbed the long-packed hospital bag near the door and helped John out to the car. The last thing either wanted was for him to slip in the icy conditions. Sara took the drive to the hospital slowly and carefully, while John counted the time between contractions and fretted.

"What if I have my baby in the car?" asked John. He sounded worried.

"It's been known to happen," said Sara, "but that would be a pretty quick labor. I think it's far more likely you'll be at the hospital for several hours before you reach that stage."

They got to the hospital without incident, and John was helped into a wheelchair then wheeled to the maternity ward, where a nurse examined him.

"Two centimeters dilation," she sniffed. "You've a-ways to go yet before we need to start worrying, Ms. Ellison."

Now that the big day was here, now that this was finally it, John was filled with trepidation. Over the next few hours he found himself obsessively tracking the times between contractions while keeping up a nervous non-stop conversation with Sara, none of which he was ever later able to recall. All too soon, it was showtime. The contractions were coming faster and faster as the nurses helped John onto the birthing stirrups.

"Here we go," said the midwife. "Now just relax and do exactly as I say."

With Sara holding his hand, John did as they asked, pushing when required and pausing when it wasn't. He wished desperately that Laurie was there.

"OK," said the midwife. "I can see the crown. Everything's looking good."

The door to the room opened, and someone entered. It was Laurie. She looked flushed, as if she had been running, but John didn't care. Despite being exhausted, he managed a large smile. Everything was going to be alright now. Sara moved aside and Laurie knelt down by John, taking his hand and kissing him gently on the forehead.

"Hi, honey," she said.

"Hi yourself," said John. "You almost didn't make it."

"OK, I need you to start pushing again," said the midwife.

John did, and in a few minutes he was rewarded with a small slapping sound as their baby was smacked on the bottom, and the wonderful sound as she started to bawl. She was quickly cleaned, wrapped in a blanket, and given to Laurie, who carried her over to John.

"Welcome to the world, Emma Kay Geddes," he said, cradling his daughter to his breast, "I'm your mother, this handsome fellow is your father, the lady next to him is your grandma, and we all love you very much."

It was wonderful having Laurie back, but she was only here for two days and John was in the hospital for both of those. Still, they spent all that time together, there was a lot of kissing and cuddling, and they were both thoroughly enchanted by their daughter.

"Next full leave is in two months," said Laurie, on the final day. "That's straight after I go to Washington and get presented with a medal by the President himself. After that, we can finally get married. I booked the church with Mom this morning, and she's already in action lining up caterers, getting invitations printed up, and all that. I can hardly wait."

"Neither can I," said John. "And I'll be there to see you receive your medal. You earned it and we're all really proud of you."

After they had said their good-byes, shared a final lingering kiss, and Laurie had gone, John stared into space wistfully, thinking about what they had discussed...and what they hadn't.

Over the next few weeks, John lost himself in his role as the mother of a newborn baby, in what seemed an endless round of diaper changing and breast feeding. He loved every second of it. The other thing that occupied him in those moments Emma wasn't demanding his attention was getting his figure back in time for Laurie's medal presentation. It was a tough exercise regimen but he was determined to look his best for her.

Come the day of the presentation, and John was relieved to discover it would be held indoors. Washington was no place to be outdoors for too long in winter. As impressive as the presentation proved to be, and as proud of her as he was, John wanted more than anything to spend some time alone with Laurie. As soon as they judged it was polite to do so, they slipped away from the reception that followed the presentation and went back to the hotel room John had been provided with. No sooner were they inside than they were in each other's arms and kissing passionately, tearing each others clothes off as they did so.

"Whoa," said Laurie when she saw the lingerie John was wearing.

"Do you like it?" said John, posing prettily and pouting at her.

"Very much. You look utterly stunning."

"The best 'Victoria's Secret' had to offer," giggled John. "I was going for elegantly sexy with a touch of wanton slut."

"You succeeded," said Laurie, appreciatively. "Well, young lady, I think it's time I had my way with you."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

They did not get much sleep that night.

The next day, they took the train back to Cedar Junction. Sara met them at the station, Emma in the back of the station wagon. Laurie held her all the way back to the house. It had been too long since she had last seen her daughter.

A few hours later, back at the house, John was in the rocking chair, contentedly rocking Emma to sleep, when Laurie entered the nursery in her full Lieutenant's uniform. John's stomach lurched when he saw what she was holding. It was the Medallion of Zulo.

"Hard to believe it's been eleven months, isn't it?" she said, eyeing him levelly.

"Yes," said John, his throat suddenly dry. Why did a moment he had once looked forward to now fill him with such dread?

Laurie knelt down beside him and took his free hand.

"It's time to change back," she said, "But only if you want to."

"Wh..what?" said John. Then, throat dryer than ever, he asked:

"Do you want to?"

"Only if you do," she admitted. "For years, ever since I left Cedar Junction, I felt like I was drifting through life, that I hadn't found my place or my purpose. Now I feel like I have. These past months, being Sergeant John Geddes, have been the most fulfilling of my life. It's like I'm finally where I was always meant to be. Male or female, I love you and I want to marry you, but I think we're a better fit this way round."

"Oh God, you've no idea how happy I am to hear you say that," said John, "I feel the same way. I was scared at first, but I think I'm happier now that I've ever been. Being like this, being Emma's mother, feels so natural, so right. For a long time I think I was scared to admit it to myself, scared that changing back would be too much to bear if I did. You're right. We are better this way right round, like maybe this is how we were always meant to be."

"Then I'll get rid of the medallion," said John, giving a huge sigh of relief. "We've had it long enough anyway and I think it's its fate to move on now. First, though, there's something I need to do to put the seal on this."

"What are you doing?" queried John, as she gently removed his engagement ring.

"Laurie Jane Ellison," she said, getting down on one knee, "mother of my child, ruler of my heart - will you be my wife?"

That's right. When asked by Laurie last time, John thought he would be the groom.

"Of course," said John. "And I even have my wedding dress already picked out."

The following day, Laurie dropped the medallion into a collection box outside a thrift shop. It soon fell into the hands of Frank Jensen, a recently-released felon who used it to...but that's another story.

The next few days, spending time with their daughter, making love for the first time in what they now knew were to be their bodies for the rest of their lives, were a very special time for John. Everything seemed new and exciting, and his life felt in balance in a way it never had before. There was only one thing wrong with it, one thing he had to do something about. He got his opportunity one afternoon, when he was alone in the kitchen with Sara.

"Mom, there's something I have to tell you," he said.

"This sounds serious," she said, noting the expression on his face. "There's nothing wrong is there?"

"What? Oh no, no. In fact things couldn't be less wrong. It's just there's something you need to know, something so fantastic you might think I've lost my marbles when I tell you."

"You're going to tell me that you somehow switched bodies and that you're really John, aren't you?" she said.

"How could you possibly know that?" he gasped. "How long have you known?"

"Oh, honey," she said, coming over and hugging him, "I noticed you were both acting odd on the day you got engaged. You made a few slips, and your mannerisms were off. I knew something was up, but I wasn't sure what. As time went by, I figured out what it must be, but it was just too incredible. Spending so much of these past months together, growing really close, did you truly think I wouldn't know my own child? I didn't mention anything before because, whatever had caused this miracle, you seemed so happy, more content than I'd ever seen you before, and I knew you'd let me in on what had happened eventually. So how did this happen?"

He told her everything.

"That's some story," she said, when he had finished. "So this is how you want to stay, now?"

John nodded.

"You don't mind, do you?" he said. In reply, she held out her arms and John came to her, grateful for the hug. He felt liberated. Telling his mother was like a huge weight had been lifted from him. Finally, everything was out in the open.

"I wanted a son and a daughter, and now you've been both," said Sara. "And you've given me a grandchild, though not in the way either of us ever expected, I'm sure." They both laughed.

"So do I carry on calling you Laurie?" she asked, more serious now.

"Of course. The name, the identity, goes with the body and I've got sort of used to it now. Anyway, I'll kinda be getting my old name back soon when I become Mrs. John Geddes."

"Yes, that's going to be a bit odd. I'm the groom's mother, but I'm also really the mother of the bride. Oh well, I'm sure we'll manage."

And manage they did. On the big day, John came down the aisle on the arm of Laurie's CO, Captain Wagner, who stood in for the father of the bride and led him to the altar where Laurie, newly promoted and resplendent in her best Lieutenant's uniform, awaited her bride. John had been torn between asking Tanya Jordan or Stacey Pollard to be his Maid of Honor since both had become such close, dear friends. In the end he decided on Stacey, who had meant more to him before he became a woman. He wondered what she would think if he told her friend, the young mother and bride-to-be, used to be a man she had dated? The thought made him smile, but there was no way he would ever tell her, of course. Bob Tuttle, newly promoted to Sergeant and bearing a fresh scar over his right eye, was the best man. Other members of the platoon formed an honor guard outside the church as Laurie and John emerged, rice showering down on them. They say that for a girl her wedding day is the biggest day of her life, but for John it was the second biggest. The biggest was when the Medallion of Zulo changed the course of that life, something for which he would be eternally grateful.

* * * * * * *

Sitting at the table in the restaurant in her crisp new Captain's uniform, waiting for her wife, Laurie smiled as she remembered their wedding, five years ago this very day. Their honeymoon had been necessarily short, their move to married quarters in Washington DC coming soon after. Her bravery during the peace-keeping mission had been the end of Laurie's frontline service, the Army considering the confident, and articulate young officer with the movie-star good looks far too valuable a PR asset to risk losing in combat. Under the command of Major Paul Hart, she soon became the poster boy for the military, the handsome hero staring down from every recruiting poster and the knowledgeable and witty spokesperson wheeled out for innumerable media appearances. There had even been an approach or two from Hollywood, something Laurie found hilarious. No, she was happy in the military and, having done five years in PR, was now being reassigned to a town in Connecticut and the headquarters of a major weapons manufacturer. She would be the Army's liaison with the manufacturer, charged with ensuring their specifications and quality control requirements were being met. It was a demanding and responsible job, one she was itching to get stuck into. It was also as near to a nine-to-five job as you could expect in the military and should enable the family to put down some roots and become part of the community.

A few months after their wedding, Sara Geddes had passed away. John and Laurie were both devastated by her loss, but for John there was something else.

"I'm so glad the medallion came into our lives," he had said. "The months I spent getting close to her again, being the daughter she had always wanted, were precious beyond words, something we wouldn't have had without it. I think she died happy, seeing me married and giving her a grandchild, and I'm so grateful."

So was Laurie. Her life had turned out better than she ever imagined it could, thanks to the medallion. She remembered how empty her life had been, how she knew something was wrong without ever being entirely sure what. She had tried having relationships with men and with women, but they were unsatisfying and never worked out. Something just wasn't right. Her life turned around the day she found the medallion on that beach. Unhappy and staring out to sea, nursing dark thoughts about ending it all, her eye was caught by the glint of sunlight off something in the sand, something newly uncovered by the retreating tide. Curious, she investigated. It was a medallion, one she recognized immediately.

"The Medallion of Zulo!" she gasped, aloud.

Few people would have known what they had found, but Laurie had developed a dark, somewhat morbid interest in the occult since leaving Cedar Junction and had read widely on the subject. She had come across a reference to the medallion, accompanied by a sketch that had enabled her to recognize it now, in a book by Loretta Stark, a writer on occult matters who had enjoyed popular success in the 1960s and 1970s. Back at her apartment, she tested the medallion using an item of clothing left behind by Don, a former boyfriend. The medallion proved to be the genuine item and she found herself transformed into an exact copy of him. After the initial shock and elation came the inevitable bout of masturbation as she tried out her new 'equipment'. She enjoyed this; she enjoyed it a lot. So much so, in fact, that she decided her new body needed a full work out. Fortunately, Don had left behind enough clothing for her to get fully attired. With the advantage of knowing from the other side what did and didn't work for men when picking up women, she soon lured another woman back to the apartment for sex. It was the best she had ever had.

The discovery that she preferred sex as a man was a revelation and finally made sense of things she had felt her whole life. Back when they were children, she always took the lead and John was always the follower. She was always the hero and, though for some reason she knew not to tell him this, he was always the damsel who needed rescuing, her princess. He was something else, too. Thinking back on those times, the happiest of her life, from her new perspective she realized he was her soulmate, that no one else had ever made her as happy. You weren't supposed to meet the love of your life at six, the person it's your destiny to be with, but she had. The only problem was that she still wanted him to be her princess, and she was reasonably sure he would not immediately jump at the idea. And so she hatched her plan. Laurie had never worn make-up or dresses, never had any time for any of that girly stuff, but she wanted a wife who did, one who was very feminine. So she bought an all new, all-feminine wardrobe, had her eyebrows plucked and shaped for the first time in her life, learned the basics of make-up, and practiced walking in heels until she was reasonably proficient. When she pulled the switch, she would insist that John 'keep up appearances', hoping he would get used to dressing that way, that over time it would grow to feel natural and enjoyable to him.

Having learned when John was next on leave, and that it would coincide with the local high school reunion, Laurie made sure to be in Cedar Junction and to 'bump into' Sara Geddes. She had previously slipped the guy running that jewelry stall in the market ten bucks to 'sell' her the medallion when Sara came by since she wanted it to appear she had only just found it. In the event, Sara was so delighted to see Laurie that she insisted on buying it for her as a present. Laurie was happy to accede, being careful to hold the medallion only by its chain throughout the transaction. Knowing she only had three days to seduce John, switch bodies, and get him pregnant, Laurie moved fast. She had never been on the pill - those in her purse were just for show - and during their first bout of lovemaking, when she was still female, had worn a contraceptive cervical cap since getting pregnant would ruin everything and she knew this was the time of the month she was most fertile. This was discarded before she pulled the switch. After the switch, she had sex with John as often as she was able in order to maximize the chances of him getting pregnant. Ultimately, it would be a matter of fate, but she gave it her best shot. Her relief when it was time to change back and it became clear John was pregnant was overwhelming. She had succeeded.

Her time in the Army on the peace-keeping mission had proven unexpectedly rewarding. Laurie was a natural leader, something she had never previously suspected, and had acted boldly, decisively, and almost unthinkingly when her platoon was pinned down. Her instinctive actions and her bravery had saved a lot of lives. Had John been there instead of her, he and his platoon would almost certainly all now be dead. Spending all those months on active duty, losing herself in the army life, it would have been easy for Laurie to lose sight of what must be going on in John's life, but she never did.

Seeing him again in Cedar Junction, for the first time in many months, was wonderful. She loved him and she had missed him, but more than this she knew as soon as she saw him that what she had hoped for had come to pass. She could see he had become the pretty, naturally feminine woman she longed for him to be. After the birth, when she offered to switch them back as promised, she knew he would refuse, and he had. Her plan had totally succeeded. She and John were now together, the way she wanted them to be. It was at that moment, however, that she had an attack of conscience. She couldn't go through with it. Not like this.

"Honey," she said, hands on his shoulders, staring into that pretty face. "There's something I have to tell you. You may never want to see me again after I tell you, but if we hope to have a happy life together there can't be any secrets between us."

"Yes?" he said, staring at her expectantly. Laurie took a deep breath. She knew she could be about to lose everything.

"Us switching bodies and you getting pregnant was no accident. I planned it that way right from the start. I love you more than words can say, and I wanted us to be husband and wife, but I needed you to be the wife."

John stared at her seriously for a moment, then broke into a huge smile.

"I know," he said, "but thank you so much for being honest. That was really important to me."

"How could you have known?" said Laurie, non-plussed.

"Because you got careless. When you created that first website, the one with no mention of the effect pregnancy has on the operation of the medallion, you did it by taking the second page you went to and just altering a few words. But not enough. It struck me at the time that the two were very similarly worded, but I didn't think anymore about it until I was teaching myself HTML. I practiced by taking existing sites and altering text, table values and the like, and that's when I remembered. It took me a few hours searching through your laptop, but eventually I stumbled across an early version of the amended page you'd worked on. You didn't cover your tracks as well as you thought you had. I knew immediately what this had to mean. At first I was furious with you, but the discovery came when I was already in my third trimester and starting to come to terms with the fact that I loved being a woman and wasn't at all sure I ever wanted to change back. This was when I finally acknowledged to myself I was no longer someone playing a role. No, I'd truly become what I appeared to be: a woman.

After much soul-searching I realized that, despite your deception, I still loved you and I still wanted to marry you. I just wasn't sure what having a secret like this at its heart would do to our relationship. I feigned surprise when you said you wanted us to stay as we were, but I was desperately hoping you were going to be truthful with me. Now that it's out in the open, now that you've unburdened yourself, I think everything is going to be alright. But there's still one thing you've never told me."

"Why I stopped speaking to you just before my family moved away?" said Laurie.

"Yes," said John. "You hurt me then, and I've never known why."

"I never meant to hurt you," said Laurie, "but I know I did and it's one of the deepest regrets of my life."

"It's OK," said John, taking her hands in his, "but I have to know why."

"Because I was a confused and unhappy little girl," said Laurie. "We were thirteen years old, and at that age you can experience growth spurts over very short periods of time. When you went away to summer camp you were still shorter than me, but not when you got back. And while you were away, I developed, too. I grew breasts, and it freaked me out. I didn't understand why then, but I was desperate to see my best friend again, to know that everything would still be alright. Only it wasn't. When you got back, everything had changed. For the first time in our lives, you were taller than me. And though you tried not to, you couldn't stop staring at my breasts. It felt like such a betrayal, like the natural order had been destroyed and everything had suddenly been turned upside down. I'd always been your protector, and you'd always been my princess - yes, I really did think of you like that - and I knew things could never be that way again. I couldn't talk to you; I could barely even breathe. I ran back to my house, locked myself in my room and did something I'd never done before - I cried myself to sleep. I think I knew on some level, even then, that we were supposed to be together, but it seemed to me that something had gone terribly wrong. It was years before I figured out what, not until I found the Medallion of Zulo, in fact."

"I understand," said John, patting her hand sympathetically. "In those years you were gone, I knew that something important was missing from my life without ever consciously acknowledging it was you. Now I can't understand how I could have been so blind. And thanks to the medallion everything is finally how it should be. I think we're going to have a very happy marriage."

And so it had proved. Sitting here today, five years later, the man who was now Captain John Geddes, knew that she - no, he - was truly blessed. A year into their marriage his wife had given birth to twins - a boy and a girl - and now the handsome captain, his glamorous wife, and their beautiful children were the ideal family. He was pulled out of his reverie by Laurie's arrival at their table. She was wearing a very familiar sheer silver-gray silk gown, low cut with spaghetti-straps, that was both simple and extremely elegant. In her hair was a large flower made of the same silk. He smiled as he got to his feet and kissed her cheek, taking care not to muss her make-up.

"I approve of the outfit," he smiled.

"You should," she laughed. "I haven't worn it since that high school reunion, my first date with you as a woman, but it just seemed right to wear it tonight. And I have some wonderful news, darling."

"Oh?" he said, pulling her chair out for her, "And what might that be?"

"I've just got the results from the clinic. I'm pregnant again."

Captain John Geddes could not have been happier at the news. He always thought four was a good number.

The End

Authors note: This story was inspired by femur's Lovingly Modified Romance Comic covers, specifically af054.jpg. This was the one I originally intended to write first but, for various reasons, I'm only getting to it now.

© 2002 by BobH

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