I would like to thank Anyport for his permission to write this sequel to his story, The Transformation, and use the characters he created. I would like to thank Tigger for allowing me to include a guest appearance by his character, "Aunt" Jane Thompson. I would especially like to thank Steve Zink for editing such a very long story for me.

This story was written to stand on its own. If you would like to read Anyport's story first; it's available both on Fictionmania and StorySite.

While there is some strong language in this story, there are no explicit sex scenes and all the characters are adults. However, if you are under eighteen or offended by transgendered material, don't read this story. This story may be posted on any free site.
(This story is set in the Vaingirls universe)

 

I'm Baaack!

by Jezzi Belle Stewart
TRNRT1@AOL.COM  ©2002, Turn Right Productions

 

Part 1

 

PROLOGUE:

Ross Thorn, aka Nick Mitchell, paced back and forth in his office high up in the Hancock Building. He glanced out the corner windows. North you could see out over Chicago's North Side to almost as far as Wilmette, and east out over the lake almost to Michigan. It was a perfect spring day in May, and he took brief pleasure in the obvious rebirth going on all around below him. Then he stopped in front of the full length mirror on the back of his closed office door. 'Damndamndamndamndamn!' he thought. "DAMN!" That one was out loud. Staring back at him, framed in gold, was a 5' 9" woman. Sure, she was a flat chested woman with short hair in what should have been a masculine style, wearing men's clothing from the skin out, but she looked like a woman, a very cute young woman, trying to look like a boy in her daddy's ill fitting clothes.

It had been almost a year and a half since Ross had last taken the hormones, but he now had to admit that the changes that had occurred to his body were not reversing. He had had the breast implants removed, but despite no additional hormones his own breasts had continued growing, stopping at a B cup that was, had he cared to admit it, perfect for "Rose's" slender frame. Several plastic surgeons had advised him that the changes made to his face and vocal cords would be extremely difficult to reverse, and might leave part of his face paralyzed or his voice gone. No matter how hard he exercised he could not build muscle bulk, but simply looked like a well toned and quite shapely young woman. Steroids would definitely make him look like a body builder, he'd been told, but a definitely female one.

Rose was in great shape; Ross was a mess, and standing in front of his office mirror, he finally had to admit that. After more than a year of trying to be Ross again, Ross, looking in the mirror, finally surrendered. He was Rose, and she was always going to be Rose. And at that point Ross experienced, finally, his epiphany: He LIKED being Rose. He abdicated.

It was spring, a time of rebirth, it was the new millennium, and SHE WAS FREE! "Look out everybody, Momma's back in town!" And the first thing Rose, aka Nikki Mitchell, thought was, 'I've got to get the hell out of these frumpy uncomfortable MEN'S clothes!' She quickly stripped naked, noting while looking in the mirror that Ross was not entirely gone; although the equipment hadn't worked for quite awhile, it was still there. She would have to decide rather quickly what she wanted to do about that. The little bit of Ross that was still in her mind cringed.

As part of Ross's unsuccessful struggle to get back to being Ross, there were no female clothes in the office, but there was a somewhat unisex sweatsuit. Rose left her breasts bound for the time being, till she could get a decent bra and put it on. She would have to go shopping, but she needed to sit down with a cup of coffee and regroup first; her long delayed recognition of her female self did not in the least, she reflected, affect her plans for Louise and Edwina. She refused to think of them as Lou and Ed, that was too painful. She poured herself a cup of coffee from the coffee maker in the corner, and settled into her chair behind her desk. 'Amazing,' she thought, looking at her chintz curtained office through newly disillusioned eyes, 'how feminine this is. Poor Ross, after being me, he couldn't create a macho office even when he tried.' She settled back, and let her mind roll back four years to when she had been Ross, and had not yet become Rose.

Chapter 1: Memories of the way we were

Ross had been so happy to get the job at Transformation Systems, doing the kind of computer work he really liked and getting paid much more for it than he had at his old job. More than the job, though, he was happy to have found such good friends - and lovers - as Louise Edwards, the company M.D., and her secretary, Edwina Porter. Ross had had lovers before, forceful women who had taken the shy, somewhat effeminate young man under their wings, but Lou and Ed were different, real friends, or so he'd thought.

In retrospect, Rose could see how, starting with the "your-jocky-shorts-were-destroyed-by-the-washing-machine-why-don't-you-wear-a-pair-of-my-panties" bit and the "I-want-you-to-take-these-'vitamins'-to-increase-your-love making-stamina" bit, the two had gradually led a naive Ross to greater and greater degrees of feminization. But the panties HAD felt good, and the "vitamins" HAD made him feel good, and it HAD all been such good fun and good sex, that he had gone meekly to the slaughter and become a she, one of them: The three girlfriends!

Ha!

And everything was reversible, right?

Ha!

And then there was Dr. Adkins. He should have been suspicious of her right from the start. When he had gone to her, on Lou's recommendation, wondering what was happening with his suddenly sensitive chest and nipples, Lou had told him the results, saying the doctor had called her. No reputable doctor would discuss an adult's case with another person without the patient's permission. But Lou had been his friend; he had trusted Lou. Lou wouldn't steer him wrong, would she?

Ha!

He recalled the night they had playfully cajoled him into having his nails done, and had then wanted to make him up and he had finally rebelled. They had played the "We're-so-sorry-we-didn't-mean-to-hurt-you-we-were-just-having-a-bit-of-fun" card so well that he had felt like the lowest of the low, spoiling a fun night for his friends. So of course he had gone along with it, like he had gone along with everything else, because they were his very best friends and it was all for a bit of fun and sex.

Ha!

And before he knew it, he was a she in all but the strict biological sense. And "she", Rose, was loving it, being the girlfriend to and of such wonderful, kind, loving, beautiful ladies as Lou and Ed.

Ha!

Real time Rose realized she was sitting bolt upright in her chair with a white-knuckle grip on its arms. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths - but not too many; she wanted to keep the burn, hold on to the anger. Her "friends". Lou and Ed. Her fun, best friends, Lou and Ed, became Louise and Edwina, the betrayers, the destroyers of Ross's soul on a Friday evening in December, the evening of THE DINNER PARTY - she thought of it in capitals - when she'd finally been told the truth. The tears ran down her cheeks; damn, she'd loved those girls!

She had been eagerly anticipating the dinner. Lou and Ed had been telling her for the past week that they had a special surprise for her, and she couldn't for the life of her decide what it could be. Maybe a promotion at work to a job where she'd finally be allowed access to the company's main data base. (She could have hacked in anytime, but had respected her "friends" wishes and not done so.) Maybe a beach vacation, just the three of them; she'd seen Ed looking at scenes of sand on her computer screen at work. Maybe even the company springing for breast implants for her! It felt so good when her nipples were nibbled upon and her small breasts caressed, what would it feel like to have full womanly breasts caressed, full womanly nipples nibbled upon? *Ummmmmmm, yummy!* She'd have to make a token protest, of course, but if her two very best friends in the world insisted, then, damn, she'd be the best woman a man could be! It had certainly been fun so far. And, of course, she'd been constantly assured that if she didn't like it, everything was reversible; breast implants would just be a little more difficult.

(Back in the office, Real time Rose's knuckles got whiter. Ha!)

THE FRIDAY had been a day of happy firsts. She had gone shopping and found the perfect to-die-for LBD at her favorite designer, Jacques Pennae, (Lou and Ed kidded her about her attempt to upgrade J.C. Penney) along with undies, hose, and accessories to match. Then, without prompting from Lou or Ed, she ventured for the first time into a beauty spa and asked for "the works". Four hours later, massaged, waxed, nailed, flawlessly made up, new permed honey blonde hair in an updo with tendrils down around her neck and ears, fully accessorized in rhinestones and black, a glittering, happy Rose floated out of the salon on cloud nine just in time to catch a cab and make it to Trader Vic's in the Hilton on time.

Lou and Ed had gushed over her, couldn't praise her enough, and she basked in it. She returned the compliments as the two ladies were no slouches themselves. (Real time Rose knew that they had immediately upped the price they were going to ask for her by several hundred thousand.) They told Rose they would reveal the surprise after dinner, and they went in to eat.

The first surprise was when they saw Dr. Adkins seated at the bar, as dressed to the nines as they were. She had her cell phone to her ear. When she saw the three, she waved, snapped the phone shut and, replacing it in her purse, came over to join them. She made a fuss over how beautiful Rose looked and asked who she was. Rose giggled, but Ross wanted to run and hide when Ed let the cat out of the bag, stage whispering to her, "Why, Joan, don't you recognize our friend Ross, the one you treated for breast growth - only she's Rose tonight?"

As Ross gasped and turned to run, Joan put her hand on her arm and immediately put her at ease, putting Rose back in charge. "Ross? No, no. I don't see Ross at all; you could never be a Ross. Who are you, really? You're lovely! Your friends are just putting me on, right?"

Rose could not stay mad at Ed, nor stay panicky, and she began to feel good about the compliment. Shyly, she said, "They're right, Dr. Adkins..."

"Call me Joan."

"They're right, Joan, underneath all this I AM Ross, but I certainly don't feel like Ross tonight. Tonight, please call me Rose."

Joan smiled and shook her head. "My, my, my. Well, Rose it is, then, and a very lovely Rose, at that." She linked her arm with Rose's and began heading to the dining room. She spoke over her shoulder to Lou and Ed, "Shame on you two. Not telling me about this lovely creature, and then trying to embarrass her." Ed got an appropriate hangdog look on her face. "Well, that was my colleague that I was supposed to have dinner with on the phone. Her little girl is sick, and she can't make it. So, I am officially joining you three for dinner. Right, Rose?"

Rose had laughed, breaking the tension, "Come, Doctor; you can protect me from these two wanton divas!" Everyone was giggling as the waiter led them to their table. (Real time Rose shook her head. Any one of the three could have won an Oscar for their performance that evening.)

Rose just couldn't believe it the way the staff fussed over them. They had been led to what Lou informed them was THE table, the table usually reserved for those-who-want-to-be-seen. Multiple men in tuxedos appeared to pull out the chairs and seat all the women at once. 'Cloth napkins!' thought Rose who, as Ross, would never have eaten in a place as fancy as this. They ate and chatted and giggled like long time girlfriends throughout the meal. It seemed to Rose like there was a new drink at her elbow every few minutes, and she began to feel her inhibitions leaving her; it was a very pleasant glow.

As they were finishing their desert, Rose noticed Joan looking over toward the bar; suddenly, she smiled and waved, and a handsome Arabic version of Tom Cruise, dressed in a flawlessly fitted tuxedo, smiled back. He got up, and gave his hand to the tall, exotic, raven haired Arabic beauty dressed in a floor length purple sequin gown seated next to him, and both made their way over to Rose's table. "Joan!" he exclaimed, giving her a 1000 watt smile. "Louise and Edwina!" in flawless boarding school English. He turned the smile on them. Then he looked at Rose. "And who is this lovely lady?" Before anyone could say anything, he reached over, picked up Rose's hand from where it had been resting on the table, and half lifting it, half bending himself from the waist up, kissed it. "Adain Ben Hariesh, most blessed of mortals to be in your presence," he introduced himself.

While Rose blushed fifty different shades of red, Joan laughed. "Adain, you old scoundrel, you never change! How do you put up with him, Salielah?"

Salielah shrugged her bare shoulders. "There are compensations... But enough! Adain, you are embarrassing the poor girl. Do not mind him, my dear," she said to Rose. "He is really just a big teddy bear who thinks he is God's gift to women."

As Rose showed no inclination to open the conversation, Lou stepped in. "This is our friend, Rose. She works with us at Transformation Systems. This is really her first night out in the big city." She winked at Rose, who still seemed to be having difficulty dealing with the physical presence of the handsome older man standing behind her.

"Will you two join us? asked Ed, and, when Adain and Salielah nodded their assent, added, "But you sit between Rose and Adain, Salielah. I do believe he's got the poor girl quite flustered."

Before Salielah could move, though, Adain moved between her and Rose. "What! Do you think I am an ogre who goes around scaring little girls? What kind of a man would I be if I did not try to put sweet Rose here at ease?" He picked up Rose's left hand from the table and cupped it between his larger ones. "I do not scare you, Rose, do I? Please do not say I scare you. Please, may I sit by you.?"

Rose was finding that her feelings of fear were being replaced by nice, warm feelings. Ross, for, of course, it was still Ross under it all, thought, 'I suppose this is how any beautiful woman feels when she's been complimented. I suppose this guy must be a gentleman; he seems to be on the best of terms with Lou and Ed. Let's try all this girl equipment.' So it was Rose who spoke. "Why, Mr. Ben Hariesh," she cooed in her best little girl voice, "I suppose you are a bit intimidating to me, you are...sooo big!" She batted her eyelashes at him, lowered her eyes to his mid-regions, and raised them again to see his eyes widen in surprise. Then she grinned.

Lou and Ed's mouths dropped open, and then they burst into laughter. Salielah clapped. "Bravo, bravo! Adain, my dear, you may just have met your match!"

Joan watched the exchange silently, and a slight smile played across her lips. "Yes, Adain, I do believe you have." And turning to Rose, she added, "Yes, indeed. Bravo, Rose. Yes, indeed."

Turning to Salielah, Rose commented, "Your husband IS very handsome, Mrs. Ben Hariesh. I imagine you must go everywhere with him to beat ladies like me off with a stick."

Salielah laughed. "Call me Salielah, dear, and this 'God's Gift' here is NOT my husband. While I admit he IS handsome and can be quite charming, I don't think I could take the constant struggle of worrying about young ladies such as yourself. No, I am his sister, and what you might call, at least for tonight, his social secretary. He has been conducting business here, and it is my job to make sure that all work and no play don't make him a dull boy."

"No chance of that, Mrs....Salielah," said Rose, smiling. "I doubt that he is EVER dull!"

'Wow!' thought Rose. 'This is fun, fooling everyone!' She removed her left hand from his and placed it on his right sleeve, giving a light pressure to let him know it was okay to sit. She marveled at how her bright red nails shimmered against the black of his tuxedo jacket. A little electric thrill ran through her. 'WOW!'

"If you two will quit discussing me as if I were a slab of meat," said Adain, accepting Rose's hint and sliding into the seat next to her, "I would like to inform you, young lady, that Mr. Ben Hariesh is my father. You must call me Adain." He turned to Salielah. "Salielah, my dear, make a note for me to suitably reward my dear friends Louise and Edwina for bringing this lovely Rose to my attention."

(Real time Rose remembered how big the grins on Lou's and Ed's faces had been during that exchange - as if a student had suddenly and unexpectedly performed far beyond expectations. "Suitably rewarded" for sure! They must have upped her price another $500,000 at that point.)

Suddenly, there was a ringing from Louise's purse. She pulled out her cell phone: "Hello" She signaled all to be quiet, and listened for about a minute. "Does it have to be now? We're engaged in the middle of something of a celebration right now...Yes, I suppose we could come...All right...Yes, we'll be right over." She snapped the phone closed. "That was one of our clients. His system has just had a major meltdown, and he wants us to fix it...yesterday. I'm afraid we have to leave." She and Ed got up to leave. When Rose started to rise also, she gently pushed her back into her chair. "You're enjoying yourself, honey. You stay here and have your fun evening. Joan will bring you home. Won't you, love?"

Joan laughed. "Of course." And to Rose, she said, "Salielah and I will make sure that this big lug remains a perfect gentleman!"

Pretending to be offended, Adain drew himself up straight in his chair. "Of course! As I always am with a charming and beautiful woman. I will treat Rose as if she was a part of my...family." The pause, and the frown Joan gave Adain because of it, passed completely over Rose's head.

"But, what about my surprise?" she replied to Ed and Lou.

"Don't worry, honey," said Lou, placing her hand on Rose's shoulder. "You'll find out before the evening is over. You'll enjoy it; just trust us, honey."

"Okay," said Rose, "I'll see you two later."

"Yes...later," said Ed, grinning.

Rose watched her two best friends in the world leave the restaurant. The thought never entered her head that she would never see the two again. "Aren't they great!" she exclaimed to the three others left at the table.

"Oh, yes," replied Adain, "great." There was a big smile on his face.

Several more drinks and much flirting later, a thoroughly buzzed and very happy Rose announced that she thought she'd better go home now. The next half hour was a blur in her memory, as Joan and Salielah took her to the ladies' room, then helped her on with her wrap and guided her out of the restaurant. There was a big Mercedes limousine at the curb, so she imagined Adain must have called for it while she was in the ladies' room. The driver helped Joan in first, then Rose, who remembered she should adjust her skirt so as not to show too much thigh, but then deliberately didn't do it to give Adain a good show. Salielah and, finally, Adain followed. The door was closed and Rose found herself between Joan and Adain. Her mind was floating, and Ross was totally lost at sea; SHE felt safe and secure, sandwiched between them. She snuggled in close to Adain, and was drifting off to sleep as the driver's door slammed. But just before the limo started forward, she felt a prick in her left shoulder.

She looked over at Joan, who was putting away a hypodermic needle. Joan then changed places with Salielah so that she was in the jump seat facing Rose. Rose felt the effects of the alcohol leaving her mind. Within a few moments, she - no, he, because Ross had come back - knew he was stone cold sober, a boy in a dress snuggled against another man. He tried to move away, but found that he could only barely blink or move his fingertips. "Whatthehell!" Slurred, but in Ross's voice.

"Ah, ROSS." Joan emphasized his male name. Her whole demeanor had changed. No longer the friendly doctor, she now seemed to be sneering at him. "I see you are fully with us. Having some difficulty moving? We thought it best that you be chemically restrained while I informed you of the surprise that Lou and Ed and I have for you. Physical restraints are so nasty, and might leave marks. Your surprise wouldn't like that. Confused, dear?" At a gesture from her, Salielah reached out and slightly moved his head so he was looking at Adain, who was smiling a very predatory smile; the gentleman, apparently, was gone. "Haven't figured it out yet, sweets? Adain is your surprise. You, or rather Rose, belong to him now. Yes. Belong. I'm going to explain the reality facing you, Ross - and this is the last time you will hear anyone use that name in regard to you - and then you will have a nice rest. When Rose regains her senses, she will have to decide whether to do what must be done the easy or the hard way. But first, let me tell you a bit about me."

After "whatthehell!" had run through his mind about a thousand times, and the fact that things were drastically wrong had run through another thousand, Ross's logical computer geek persona had decided to listen; after all, that was all there was that he could do. Rose was gone now, and, oddly, although he felt scared and angry, the predominant emotion was acute embarrassment that he, a man, was sitting here, in this predicament, looking for all the world like a pretty young lovestruck girl.

Chapter 2: Bitches Are Made, Not Born

Joan continued. "I was the brightest student in my class all through high school. I knew it, and I didn't try to hide it, like the Barbie wannabe cheerleaders did, to impress the boys. The boys didn't like that. The fact that I was pretty, I quickly found, hindered rather than helped my academic career, because it was hard for men to take me seriously. My male teachers patronized me, and the boys all seemed to take my intellect as a challenge: 'Let's see if we can shag the uppity bitch; take her down a peg! Har har.'

"In my senior year, they succeeded. Six of the football 'heroes' caught me alone one night and gang raped me. They took some pictures that made it seem as if I was going along voluntarily, threatening to beat me bloody if I didn't pose 'nice'. They pushed me out of the car onto my front lawn when they were finished, and left me. I managed to get in the house without waking my parents, took an hour and a half shower, and went to bed. My parents were good people, and didn't deserve the hoopla that would ensue if I tried to assert the truth, so I never told them. The next week I graduated. The week after, I left for college. My parents died in a car accident two months later, and it was ten years before I returned to that town. When I did, it was for revenge.

"By that time, I was both a plastic surgeon and a psychiatrist - told you, I was bright - and had, by chance, come upon a way to take revenge on those boys, now men, who had raped me.

"I grew up in a white bread world, and was pretty naive when I went away to school. The Internet changed that. When I first discovered the world wide web, I was in heaven; I took to all that available information like a duck to water. I spent hours upon hours surfing the net, discovering that there were things stranger than I had ever dreamed possible out there. The semester I discovered the net was the only semester my GPA was less than 4.0! One site I discovered gave me my idea for revenge. There were sites advertising for 'special' brides to be married to men with 'special tastes' - shemale brides for gay men who found it necessary to appear fully heterosexual. In many cases, the shemale brides were voluntary shemales who willingly agreed to the union, but as I visited the chat rooms for these sites and became somewhat known, hints were dropped that some 'special men' either wanted their shemale brides unwilling, or were looking for special talents in their brides, and didn't care whether the brides were willing or unwilling, as long as they were or could be made to be pretty and cooperative. These 'special men' were willing to pay large sums to procure their desired brides.

"On another site, I met Louise and Edwina. You don't know what Transformation Systems really does, do you, dear? They never let you into the mainframe, did they? No need to answer." She chuckled, knowing he couldn't speak or move to give any kind of an answer. "They feminize men, dear, men just like you. At the time I met them, they were only doing it for willing men, crossdressers and transsexuals who wanted to be feminized, and were willing to pay for it. They were making fairly decent money, but definitely wanted more, lots more. A plan began to form in my mind. I wanted revenge, and what more fitting revenge for those super macho assholes than to be feminized and sold to some 'special men' to be their sex slaves!

"When I told Lou and Ed of my plan, and the amount the 'special men' were willing to pay, they agreed to help. I would act as the agent, finding the 'special men' clients, and then do any surgical or psychiatric work necessary on the potential bride. Lou and Ed would find the young man and do the feminizing short of surgery. You do realize I'm condensing this, don't you, ROSE, sweetie? This was all infinitely more complicated than it seems in the telling. Anyway, I did some research and found that of the six men who raped me, one was dead; he was the lucky one. Of the other five, two were currently living outside the US and out of my grasp, at least for the moment. However, the remaining three were all still living in my home town. Let me tell you what happened to them:

"Bill had taken over the dry cleaning business his father had started, and apparently was doing quite well financially. He was still his high school height of 6'2", but had gained quite bit of weight and was balding. He was cheating on his wife with a mistress he kept in the apartment above the dry cleaning shop. I found a client who wanted a large shemale who knew how to dry clean things. You don't want to know why. You don't believe me? Believe me. The clients are out there, and the net makes finding them possible. This man lived in an Islamic country in the Middle East - the same one Adain comes from, actually - and thus began my Middle East connection.

"Lou and Ed approached the mistress. Upon the payment of a rather large sum, she agreed to help them. You may have met her. Nancy? Transformation Systems' receptionist? Anyway, Bill was cajoled into dressing as a girl 'Just for Nancy, honey, pretty please?'"

'Nancy? Cute, funny, nice Nancy?!'

"Yadda yadda yadda, incriminating photos taken, yadda yadda, yadda, 'vitamins' given, yadda yadda yadda - the upshot was, within a few months, Bill was a quite unwilling 'Little Sissy Billie'. He wasn't pretty - we don't get many like you, Rose - but, then, the client didn't care. We let his wife discover 'her' with a gay male friend of Nancy's before we made her disappear into my clinic. Since Billie decided to be difficult, I froze her vocal cords. Her new master liked that. As far as I know, she's still in the client's harem. We made $3,000,000, a million apiece.

"George actually made quite a cute woman, and liked it. Couldn't have that. When I got her from Lou and Ed, I made some adjustments to his metabolism that insured that she would always have problems with her weight and body hair. Gave her a harelip and huge GGG breasts with ultrasensitive shot glass sized nipples. The client liked those breasts and nipples, but it ensured that poor Titerecta - cute name, huh? - would always have back problems. She was so pretty and happy when she came to me, but she just broke down and cried when she looked in the mirror for the first time after the surgery. Then I told her who I was. It was sweet! Couldn't charge as much for her, though. Oh, well.

"We were actually reluctant to tackle Stan. Stan was 6'5", weighed close to four hundred pounds, all muscle, and was mean as a polecat in heat. Lou got Ed to seduce him, though, and she found out in the intimacy of the bedroom that Stan had a glass jaw, so to speak; he couldn't stand to be tickled. I know it sounds funny, hon, but tickling can rapidly turn to intense pain if a person is sensitive to it. Ed gave him a Mickey Finn one night, and I came in and implanted a little gizmo in his back that, upon activation, would simulate the feeling of being tickled. Oh, my, he did not like that! But, of course, he eventually succumbed. We kept control of dear Stella, and she's still making us money. She works as a hooker at the Whip and Cuff 'Gentleman's Club' up on Fargo in Rogers Park. She'd probably eventually have enjoyed it if we had let her play the domme, but she's always the submissive. We give the man who buys her services the tickle control. We only lease her to the smallest, wimpiest men, men she knows she could pound into the ground under normal circumstances. Drives her crazy, and the men pay us VERY well.

"What are you thinking, dear Rose? That I'm a total bitch?"

'YES!'

"Well, honey, you really don't have to worry, as long as you're a good girl. I finished with revenge several years ago. When I got enough money, I went after the two slimers overseas; got them, too. You don't want to know. Yes, revenge is a thing of the past, and I'm in it strictly for the money now. Lou and Ed were never in it for revenge, only for the money. And for a bit of fun. And, my did they have fun with you, Rose, sweetie. You should have been a fly on the wall when they told me about your 'progress' and their love making sessions with you. They really quite enjoyed you, you know; you were so innocent and so willing, and so pretty, and just so GOOD in bed.

"Oh, don't look so pissed and glum; I know you'd look pissed and glum if you could look any way at all!

"I really took what they were telling me with a grain of salt until I saw you tonight. You are absolutely beautiful. You've outdone all our expectations, you know. They told me you'd gone to the salon all on your own, dear; now admit it: Would Ross have done that? Admit it, sweetheart, you LOVE being Rose!"

(Real time Rose again clutched the arms of her chair. She HAD loved being Rose, but she'd loved being Rose FOR her two best friends Ed and Lou! And she hadn't disliked being Ross.)

"And if you'll just give it a chance, your life can be beautiful, just like you. We've sold you to Adain. That's a fact. We were in despair of finding someone to meet his requirements, a man who could be an absolutely gorgeous and absolutely convincing woman, a woman with a bubbly, fun personality, but who also possessed a keen intellect and advanced computer skills. And a woman who enjoyed the hell out of sex! Then you walked in to apply for the job at Transformations Systems. When Lou saw thin, 5'9", delicately featured Ross, he was a goner. She saw major dollar signs. Four and one half million for you, Rose. Small potatoes for Adain's daddy, but quite satisfactory for us."

'$4,5000,000!'

"Now, in about an hour, you'll drift off to sleep. When you wake up, you'll be on my operating table, and I'll ask for your decision - whether you'll be a voluntarily submissive and cooperative companion for Adain, or whether we will have to persuade you to become cooperative. Either way, Adain will own you. He can be exactly the charming gentleman he was tonight, but you should know that in his country he is the head of the secret police, 'unt he haz veys auf making tzou talk' if you get all uncooperative on him, if you get my drift. Salielah will be your trainer. Lou and Ed have done the rough work, but she will fine tune you so that you are exactly the woman Adain wants. She can do this as your teacher, girlfriend, and confidant, or she can be a dominatrix that makes Ilsa Koch look like Mother Theresa. And me? I, my dear, can be the best friend your girlie self ever had with the knife, or I can...well, you've heard about Bill, George, and Stan. Adain might like you with GGG cup breasts, but oh, Rose, the brassieres they make in that size are not the pretty lacy things you wear now!

"So, think about it. Think hard. Ross is dead. Rose's life can either be pleasant or it can be hell. You will be in my hands to do whatever I want with, and then in Salielah and Adain's hands to do whatever they want with you. What we will all do with or to you depends on the decision you make when you awake on my operating table. And don't think about lying; I'll know. And don't think about escape. I will implant a device somewhat like the one I implanted in Stan in your back; Adain and Salielah will have the controls. Think hard, Rose."

Adain stared into Rose's eyes. "Yes, think hard, my sweet Rose. I can think of many ways to have pleasure from you, lovely one, not all of them pleasurable to you in return. But I would rather you came to me willingly; I think you and I would both like that best. The way things went tonight was not our first plan scenario. I was simply to observe you from the bar. If you had appeared satisfactory, Salielah would have signaled Lou and Ed, you would eventually have passed out, and you would have awakened changed by Dr. Adkins' knife to my physical specifications and with the device implanted, on my private plane. Salielah would begin training you, and none of these explanations would ever have taken place. But you were so beautiful I could not believe you were not a real woman. I had to meet you. And then you charmed me, Rose. I would be honored if you would accept your fate gracefully, and come to me of your own free will."

Salielah turned Rose's head so she, in her turn, could look into Rose's eyes. "I can treat you like ROSS, like a sissy boy in dresses. I can be ROSS'S worst nightmare in black leather. Have no doubt, I can MAKE Ross submit, and I'd enjoy it. He wouldn't. But ROSE, ah, that's a different matter. ROSE I quite like, so pretty and bubbly and full of fun. Should you elect to become ROSE, and you want to, I know it, I just know we could become best girlfriends." She smiled. "Poor Adain won't have a chance when we gang up on him; we'll have him wrapped around our little fingers in no time. Please, please, accept and be Rose!"

Adain laughed and took Rose's hand. "Yes! I think I could enjoy that, being wrapped around your little finger. It would have to be your right hand, Rose, as I am already wrapped around Salielah's left little finger. Come, Rose; be Rose!"

Joan broke in. "We will leave you to your thoughts now. We all like Rose. Ross?" She shrugged. "Think well, dear." With that, the three moved to the front of the limo's passenger compartment, leaving Rose/Ross alone in the back seat with her thoughts.

Chapter 3: If Life Hands You Lemons...

Ross and Rose conducted an internal debate.

Ross had passed through confusion rather quickly, and he wasn't quite sure why. Slavery still existing. He being manipulated and feminized into it - supposedly for life. Extreme betrayal by two people he had thought his dearest friends. These things should have sent him gibbering over the edge. Partly, he supposed, it was the disciplined thought processes he had learned in order to deal with computers that had saved him. Partly the drug Joan had given him; she had wanted him stone cold sober. Mostly, right now he was mad as hell at everyone, but especially at Lou and Ed. He was mad, certainly, at Adain and Salielah for accepting the buying and selling of human beings, but they were from a different culture, one in which, perhaps, in their own eyes, they were doing nothing wrong or unusual. He was madder at Joan; she was evil, pure and simple. Being willing to do to him what she had done, and was about to do was worse than revenge, it was clear, conscious evil - George Thourgood's version of "Bad to the Bone" started playing in the background of his mind; "b-b-b-badddd..." - but at least he wasn't emotionally involved with Joan, hadn't met her except once before tonight, and he realized he could understand at least one part of Joan: He wanted revenge; his very soul screamed out for it. Revenge on Lou and Ed. He had really loved them, still did, and the hurt of so callous a betrayal of that love hurt like a mortal open wound, heartstrings scrapped raw. He would remember a good time they all had seemed to share, and then realize it had all been an act on their part. They had "enjoyed" him, Joan had said, not loved, or even liked, but "enjoyed"! Ross didn't know for sure what he would do about Adain, Salielah, or Joan, but about Lou...Louisa and Edwina, he was sure. Payback would be a bitch, or he would die trying!

Payback would be a bitch, or she would die trying. In that much, Rose thoroughly agreed with Ross. Rose pondered more on what to tell Joan when she awoke on the operating table. That was a decision SHE would make; SHE, not the male Ross, would bear the consequences. She was sure that no matter in what form, Rose would be there. Beautiful or even more beautiful than she was now, or disfigured with a harelip and GGG cup breasts or worse, it would be her; Adain and Salielah were not about to let Ross come back. She knew Ross wanted to fight, to lay on that table and spit up into Joan's face and tell her to go to the coldest depths of Hell. MEN! That wouldn't get them anywhere except to a thwarted dominatrix's dungeon! No, better to comply, she HAD liked Adain, and the thought of sex with him, even shemale sex, was not entirely revolting.

When a horrified Ross tried to regain control, she thrust him way into a back room of her mind. She thought at him, 'Let me handle this for now; it's gonna be a lot harder to get rid of GGG cups when we get out of this than it will be to get rid of normal D cups. Your turn will come.' She closed and locked the door. All Rose now, she focused her thoughts on before the abduction, on how much she had enjoyed the evening with Adain, and on how she had thought she could really get to be good girlfriends with Salielah. She knew she had to be absolutely convincing for Joan.

Rose came up out of the fog disoriented, but it quickly passed. The unique smell of a hospital and the feel of cold metal underneath her, left no doubt that everything she had experienced had been real. She opened her eyes and saw Joan looking down at her. Before Joan could speak, she did. "Can you bring Adain to me? And release my arms?"

Somewhat taken aback, Joan looked at her carefully, attempting to read her body language for any hint of incipient violence. Tentatively satisfied, she nodded, released Rose's arms, and stepped back. She picked up the control device for the pain inducing implant, and debated whether to let Rose see it or not. Not, she decided; seeing it might color Rose's actions.

Within a few seconds, Adain appeared. Before he could say anything, Rose reached out her arms to him. He bent down and she pulled him into an embrace, fiercely kissing him full on the lips, driving her tongue deep into his mouth. There was a moments hesitation, and then Adain returned the embrace with vigor, stretching out the moment. At last he pulled back and was replaced by a smiling Joan squirting the air out of a hypodermic. "Good girl!" she said, plunging the needle home in Rose's shoulder. Then the lights went out.

(Real time Rose thought about how much she hated hypodermic needles!)

Upon awakening from whatever surgery had been performed, Rose instinctively felt first HIS crotch - was it still? - Yes! And then both hands moved to cup breasts that she was sure were there; would she need Michael Jordan hands? NO! Thank God, they were normal size, probably the D cups that Joan had mentioned. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and had the first normal sleep she'd had since the surgery.

Rose's bladder woke her next. Though in somewhat of a mental fog, it was a good, normal kind of just awakening mental fog. She realized they must have removed the catheter and it was now up to her to get herself to the bathroom. She rolled over - nothing appeared to be restraining her or connected to her - and opened her eyes to see Salielah, dressed casually in jeans and a pink T-shirt with "Princess" in feminine script on it, sitting by her bedside. "Bathroom...potty!" she croaked...in soprano!

Salielah got up. There was a smile on her face as she reached to help Rose. "Well, sleepyhead, back among the living finally, I see. You've been asleep so long that Adain wanted to wake you up. While you did look so peaceful and lovely, though, I made him agree to wait till you had awakened normally and we had a chance to make you really presentable. Let's get you into the bathroom, hon."

"Mirror!" Rose croaked in her new soprano voice.

"Just like a woman," commented a smiling Salielah, as she helped a very shaky, naked, Rose.

As a bathed and squeaky clean Rose emerged from the bathtub, she was descended upon by a bevy of beautiful beauticians. (Real time Rose reflected that she had tried thinking that ten times fast, and failed miserably.) She was subjected to several hours of what seemed to her to be painful pummeling, painting, and pulling, but she thought she looked pleasingly pretty when it was done. (Real time Rose wondered whether alliteration had been a by-product of the drugs.) She looked gorgeous, and quickly realized that if she didn't do anything dramatically stupid, Adain WAS wrapped around her little finger.

Chapter 4: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Thus began a two year period of her life.

Adain proved to be a skillful and considerate lover, and would give her anything she asked for, often anticipating her wishes before she herself was aware of them. She knew she was in Adain's home, somewhere in Turkey, but she never did find out exactly where. After awhile, it didn't seem to matter. Salielah ascertained quickly that Rose was committed to accepting her new life, and DID become her good girlfriend. She quickly ceded to Rose the financial management of Adain's household, and Rose was able to use Ross's considerable computer skills to make Adain even richer, learning a lot about his businesses in the process. She also began teaching computer skills to Adain, who was woefully ignorant, and to Salielah, who was only marginally more proficient.

There were many fun times. (Real time Rose remembered fondly the practical jokes she and Salielah had played on Adain. She chuckled.) One time they had found Adain sleeping in a chair. This particular chair had been in Adain's family for generations, and was called "The Maiden's Chair" because the back contained a carving of a young girl in medieval dress, and the legs had been carved to resemble four similarly dressed young women. They had bound him securely to the chair, and when he awoke, they teased him that if he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in "The Maiden's Chair", he must truly want to be a maiden. They gave him a complete makeover, and only released him when he agreed to be their serving girl for the weekend. Adainya, or Dainie, as she was immediately nicknamed, had turned out gorgeous, surprising both of them, she remembered. Turnabout had been fun, and Adain had been a good sport, seeing the irony in the situation. It was at that point that she realized that she no longer had any desire for revenge against either of them - that in fact, she was very fond of both of them.

What had puzzled her the most as time went on was that Adain and Salielah's behavior at the infamous (in her mind) Friday dinner and since she had awakened following Dr. Adkin's surgery was at complete odds with their abominable behavior in the limo. Other than her own purchase, she had found no evidence, electronic or otherwise, that either was involved in any way with transgendered slavery. She decided to talk with the two. She needed to find out the truth before she became any more emotionally involved with them. She set the stage with a dinner consisting of the favorites of the two, followed by drinks in Adain's plush and very complete library. She had made sure to ask Salielah's advice on what to wear. While explaining to them that she wanted a special night to thank them for making her a part of their lives, she was amazed to discover about herself that this was at least partly true. Hopefully, they would both be in a friendly and open mood and might let their guards down and actually tell her the truth.

In accordance with Salielah's advice, Rose was all in virginal white, her blonde hair unbound and cascading around her shoulders; she knew she was irresistible. Once seated in the library's comfortable chairs - Adain had made a show of making sure his was NOT the Maiden's Chair! - drinks in hand, she had explained that she was very happy with them both, and had no desire to regain Ross's former life - not quite a lie, as she had not consulted the Ross part of her securely buried in her brain. She simply expressed a curiosity to know what had led to their selection of her as Adain's "special friend"; she deliberately did not use the terms fiancee or future bride. Adain and Salielah alternated telling the story:

Adain and Salielah, while not blood brother and sister, had been raised as such. They loved each other deeply, but had no sexual desires toward each other. Adain preferred boys - well, girls actually, girls like Rose, girls with something extra. His father, however, was a very traditional Muslim, and would have quite literally disowned and probably killed him if he had found out. Therefore, a central pattern of Adain and Salielah's lives was set; they became co-conspirators to both find Adain pleasure and keep his father from finding out. This was made a little easier as Salielah was a lesbian, and her girlfriends could pose as Adain's. Given their geographic location, finding partners for Adain was difficult, and affairs during his teen years had been few and far between. Then, a year before Rose's arrival, when Adain was thirty and Salielah twenty-nine, two things had happened. Adain's father died, and Salielah discovered the Internet.

Adain became fabulously wealthy, and could use that wealth openly to find the kind of special girl he had only been able to dream about up till now. Salielah fell in love with computers and the Internet, and from the Internet, she found what Adain was looking for, a site that was, to the best of their knowledge, a shemale matchmaking service. Shemales looking for "husbands" were matched, for a fee - a very large fee sometimes, but that didn't bother Adain now - with potential husbands who wanted brides with "something extra". Adain and Salielah had quickly gotten in touch with Dr. Adkins, who ran the company, and she had supplied them with the pictures and profiles of five eager and willing, so she said, potential "wives" for Adain.

Included among the five had been Rose, sponsored by Louise and Edwina. Rose had caught Adain's eye as the prettiest of the five, but the clincher was when Salielah had approved; for her, Rose's advertised computer expertise did the trick. After rather lengthy negotiations, the Friday night meeting and exchange had been arranged. The final decision and price had been left open, to be decided after the meeting. Adain had been smitten with Rose, he said, from the moment he saw her, and the activities at the restaurant had confirmed that he must have her. The price was steep, but Louise and Edwina had told him that most of the money was to keep Rose's mother in a private nursing home, so he agreed. Privately, he believed her worth the cost.

At that point, Rose had asked him about the "evil Adain" and the scenario in the limo, confessing to him that she had been scared to death, and that only after months of being with him with no repeat of that kind of behavior did she let down her guard to fully enjoy him out of - dare she say it - love, rather than fear. Why had he and Salielah done it, if they believed her a willing fiancee?

Both Adain and Salielah had expressed surprise and, in concerned tones full of potential anger, had asked if that had not been the case. Had she been forced in any way? Not wanting to reveal at this point the true nature of her situation, Rose simply repeated how glad she was to be there with both of them. Neither realized that she had not actually answered their question. Adain told her that Dr. Adkins, Louise, and Edwina had told him that this "little scene" was just to be an act for her benefit. "Dear Rose has had this fantasy of being forcibly abducted by a handsome powerful man for years, Adain, dear. Let's indulge her by acting out this little scenario to satisfy that fantasy," Dr. Adkins had told them.

"It will be our going away present to her," Louisa had added.

Dr. Adkins had added that there should be no repeat of such a fantasy unless Adain requested it. Adain assured her that he would not do so, not being inclined that way, unless she, Rose, requested it. He said he had assured Dr. Adkins that, having found a treasure like Rose, he intended to treat her with gentleness and devotion as an equal part of their household. Salielah added that she had assured Dr. Adkins that she felt the same way. Rose had realized that they were saying this to her at that time as much as they were talking about the past.

Rose believed them; even Ross did. While Rose had maintained a calm outer demeanor, again assuring them of her happiness with them, inwardly both she and Ross were furious. Adain and Salielah had thought the whole scene in the limo to be a fantasy scenario for her benefit, one that she wanted, when in reality it had been specifically designed to make a thoroughly shocked, disoriented, and definitely unwilling Rose become a willing and eager participant in her own sale! How the three bitches must have laughed at how they had manipulated Adain and Salielah, two genuinely nice people, into terrorizing her. How they must have taken sadistic pleasure at her terror! Ross burned for revenge. Rose was torn, for she knew she would have to leave Adain and Salielah to achieve that revenge. She decided to keep Ross locked up in his mental dungeon for the time being while she made up her mind. Time went on, and more and more Rose forgot about revenge. Ross didn't.

Rose paid very little attention to the passage of time, except as it applied to the running of Adain and Salielah's household. She was very well satisfied with her life, and looked forward to the future with contentment.

Ross, tucked away in his mental prison, kept very good track of the time. Thus it was that he knew that it was two and one half years since he had started working for Edwina and Louise at Transformation Systems when HIS TURN came.

In all that time, Rose had not left Adain's estate. She had had no need or desire to do so. All shopping, whether for the estate or for herself, was done over the Internet, and, after the first month or so, there was a steady stream of guests to keep her from being lonely. She had also made many friends with whom she kept in contact by email. On THE DAY, Rose was doing the cooking of the evening meal herself. One of her online friends had supplied her with the recipe for a dish that combined several of both Adain and Salielah's favorite foods, and she wanted to surprise them with it. As she was chopping carrots, a sequence of events Rube Goldberg would have been proud of was set in motion:

An off center knife (1) stroke sent a carrot slice (2) bullet fast at Salome, the cat.

Hit in the ear, Salome (3) shrieked and clawed Mustafa, the dog.

Mustafa (4) leaped up and ran barking through the kitchen, hitting the broom leaning against the wall.

The broom (5) fell, the handle hitting the sauce pan hanging from the overhead rack above the center console where Rose was working.

The sauce pan (6) hit the small frying pan.

The small frying pan (7) hit the medium frying pan.

The medium frying pan (8) hit the large frying pan (9a), which, being poorly secured, fell to the counter top causing Rose (10, of course) to scream and jump and carrot pieces to fall to the floor.

Rose came down on the carrot pieces (11), lost her footing, and fell to the floor (12).

As she fell, she tried to grab the counter top (13), grabbing instead the handle of another large frying pan (9b), pulling it off the counter top.

The falling frying pan hit Rose on the side of her head (14), causing her to scream again, and then lose consciousness.

(Real time Rose remembered only vague pieces of what happened next. Adain carrying her, placing her in the back seat of a car. The car jouncing over what she imagined must have been very bad roads, and then finally several loud cracking sounds and the feeling of the car falling. Somehow, her door must have opened and she fallen out, because the first clear memory was the shock of ice cold water hitting him. Yes, him, because that memory was Ross's.)

As he figured it out later, the shock of hitting the ice cold water, added to the concussion from the frying pan, must have weakened Rose's control of his mental dungeon enough for him to break out. And once out, he was NOT going back in. It was Rose who now got to be the unheard voice. As he struggled in the water, he wasn't afraid. His one thought was of one of his favorite action hero's favorite phrases: "I'm Baaack!" Then he, too, passed out.

Ross awoke to the antiseptic smell of a hospital. He was in a bed, and a large Arabian looking nurse or nun, he couldn't tell which, was sitting in a chair by his bedside. She noticed him looking at her. "You're awake, ma'am...or would you prefer 'sir'," she said - surprisingly, in perfect English.

To which Ross replied the non sequitur, but perfectly understandable, "Bathroom!"

The nurse turned out to be quite talkative. While she was helping him clean up and get Rose-presentable, she told him that he was in the Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Istanbul. She... The nurse finally settled on the feminine, which Ross could understand, but didn't find very comforting. ...She had been found wrapped in a dirty blanket on the back kitchen step by the second shift cooks. There was no evidence of who left her there. The blanket had already been burned. The clothes she had been wearing had been cleaned and were either hanging in the room's closet or folded in the bedside table's one drawer. She had been bruised black and blue, and there was evidence of a blow to the head, she had told him, but she was not permanently damaged. Ross surmised that the car must have been on a bridge when it collapsed, sending the car and him into a river. Someone must have gotten him out and brought him here - someone who didn't want to be known. He was aware of Rose clamoring to find out if Adain and Salielah were all right, but he ignored her mental voice, as there was nothing he could do to find out at that moment.

The nurse put him back to bed in a clean hospital gown. Telling him to rest, as the doctor would be around in a couple of hours to examine her and ask her some questions, she left to take care of her other patients.

As soon as she left, Ross carefully sat up, swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. The process was painful, but not unendurable. He needed to be well away from the hospital before the doctor would arrive with questions he'd rather not answer. He reached over and opened the bedside table drawer, and found his bra. He was annoyed that it was "his" bra, but recognized the necessity of staying in character as Rose for the time being. Quickly, he found the hidden seam in the left cup and removed the very clean US fifty dollar bill and two singles that Rose always carried there. (Real time Rose remembered having thoughts about "laundered" money.) He dressed in Rose's underwear and hose, and walked to the closet. Hanging there was the yellow sun dress and even the apron that Rose had been wearing in Adain's kitchen (*MY kitchen!* came the quickly suppressed thought from incarcerated Rose.) They were somewhat the worse for wear, but still usable, and in Istanbul they would be considered a rich lady's outfit. Unfortunately, there were no shoes, so he would have to make do with the thin-soled hospital slippers he found.

After dressing, the actual departure was almost too easy. He simply walked out - out of the room, off the floor, and out of the hospital. No one even noticed him, let alone tried to stop him.

Ross hailed a cab. He was disgusted when the greasy looking driver leered at his chest, but his one word command, "Walgreens!" was obeyed. He hoped Istanbul had a Walgreens. It did, and it looked just like any Walgreens in Topeka or Cincinnati. He told the cab driver to wait, giving him one of the singles in advance and showing him the other. The cab driver almost tried to grovel and hug Ross's knees. Thank God for the good old American dollar! "Thanks, pretty lady!" he said over and over, which reminded Ross once again that while inwardly he, Ross, was back in charge, outwardly he WAS the image of Rose, a pretty lady, indeed.

As such, he reluctantly added a purse and a tube of "Cherry Tomato Red" lipstick to the comb, brush, toothpaste and toothbrush he had already picked up. Only after he'd put it in his basket did he realize that that was Rose's favorite color only because Lou and Ed had liked it on her so much; he almost put it back, but in a definitely Ross decision, thought one lipstick was as good as any other. (Imprisoned Rose cringed. *MEN!*) This Walgreens had a rack of cheap shoes, and he found a pair of white unisex sneakers in his size. Since the hose were pretty beat up, he added a pair of white sockies to his bag. He picked up several pens and some plain stationery as well, and several candy bars.

When he checked out, he was able to get some Turkish stamps from the cashier. She knew English, and assured him that three of the stamps would get a letter to the USA. Initially she had balked at cashing the fifty dollar bill, and had called over her manager, who had taken it back to the safe and returned with change. Ross was surprised to see that he still had forty-four dollars left. Once again, he thanked God for the good old American dollar. He rejoined the cab driver, who gallantly, but while never taking his eyes of Ro...Rose's breasts, opened the back car door. At the last minute, Ross remembered to enter the car Rose style, sitting sideways into the seat, smoothing his dress under him as he did so, and then swiveling his legs in. "Library!" he said.

Surprisingly, the library , while old, also looked American, solid red brick with columns, a Carnegie library mysteriously transported to Turkey. He paid the cab driver, who belatedly introduced himself as Mustafa. He was mystified by Ross's laugh as he remembered Mustafa, Adain's dog, who had been instrumental in the events that led to his present situation.

Rose's *ADAIN!* reminded Ross of his mission, and he quickly went inside the library. He was delighted. He had worried whether it would have what he needed, but despite its outward antique appearance, the library proved to be state of the art modern inside, with complete computer and Internet facilities available. The librarian even spoke English, and was happy to chat with someone else who did. After several minutes of small talk necessary to get the librarian firmly on his side, Ross was able to get the information he needed. Seated at the computer, he finally was able to ignore his appearance, and he felt more like his old self than he had in a long while.

He quickly logged on and inserted the passwords to allow him entry into Adain's database. It was with relief that both Ross and Rose noted that both Adain and Salielah were still alive and apparently well. It also became apparent that they had been frantically and increasingly desperately searching for any trace of Rose, and were beginning to reluctantly and sadly accept the fact that she was most likely dead. It was with great difficulty that Ross was able to suppress Rose's frantic pleas to contact Adain and Salielah and let them know she was all right. She wanted them to come and get her. She wanted to go HOME! That didn't fit Ross's plans, although he felt bad about their - and Rose's - grief. He wanted HIS life back (he thought.) and he wanted REVENGE!

Because of Rose's knowledge of Adain's finances, he was quickly able to give instructions to Adain's bankers to make available a large sum of American money to a young lady who would access their Istanbul branch ATM machine later that afternoon. While the young lady would have no identification, she would be able to give the machine the password "Lady be gone"; Ross thought that appropriate. Since the person contacting them had only been able to do so because of an intimate knowledge of Adain's systems, the bank's computers had no trouble agreeing to this admittedly unusual transaction. As he was about to log off from the bank, he had another thought. Putting Adain's bank on hold, he plugged in a URL he hadn't accessed for over three years.

He knew Lou and Ed had certainly wiped out any trace of him in the US, including his stateside bank accounts, but it had occurred to him that he had never mentioned the Caymen Islands account that he had set up to avoid paying US taxes. He had done that before he took the job at Transformation Systems. He entered his password; sure enough, it was still there. There wasn't much in it, but he would remedy that right now. Switching back to Adain's bank, he authorized a transfer of three million dollars. A lot, but a drop in the bucket to Adain. Before finally logging off, he made sure that all the computers involved would forget all about things once he withdrew the money from the ATM machine.

He purchased an airline ticket, first class (why not?!), for Rose to Chicago the next evening, and he made reservations for Rose at the Mart Holiday Inn under the assumed name of Nikki Mitchell, using a cash transfer in place of a credit card. He knew he would need some kind of picture ID to actually board the airplane, and was thankful that Rose had urged Adain to have one made for her "just in case". She had never used it, but now he was able to access another part of Adain's database and arrange for a duplicate to be made. Calling over the nice English speaking librarian, he was able to chat her into allowing Rose to have it delivered to her at the library the next day. Focusing back on the computer, he again made sure that all the computers would forget all about the duplicate ID and airline ticket, once the ID had been sent out and the plane had been boarded. He was sure, despite what Rose had taught them, that neither Adain nor Salielah would notice anything amiss.

God, it had felt good to practice his trade again!

He logged off. From the friendly librarian, he was able to get the name and address of a nice but nondescript hotel in which to spend the night. The librarian was concerned about a nice young lady like Rose going off by herself, but Ross, with some difficulty, was able to put her fears to rest. He left the library to find the faithful, and greedy, Mustafa still waiting for Rose. He took her to the ATM machine of Adain's bank, and then to the hotel. With a smile and a wink and a ten dollar bill - probably a week's wages to him - Rose ensured that he would pick her up tomorrow in time to get to the library to pick up her ID, and then to the Istanbul airport. She told him that if he remained silent about her, there would be a hundred dollar bonus for him when he dropped her off at the airport.

Once in the hotel and checked in, Ross visited the gift shop. He bought a carry-on bag, a nightshirt that said "Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - Fun City, whatever you call it" on it in English, a pair of black slacks, a pink blouse with ruffles at collar and cuffs, a pair of black flats, several bracelets, a necklace and some earrings. The blouse and jewelry were way over the top feminine for "I'm baaack!" Ross, even though he had to look like Rose for awhile, but he felt a little sorry for Rose, and hoped the girlie items would make her feel a bit better.

He took his new things up to his room, washed out his undies using shampoo, and hung them over the shower curtain rod to dry. As he looked at the bra and panties and hose, he thought, 'Not much longer!' He ran a bath, and as he was soaking, he ordered a dinner from room service - a real man's dinner of steak and potatoes and beer! How he had missed beer! Clean and dried with his/Rose's hair presentable (he'd decided to put off a haircut till Chicago) he sat down to eat and was chagrined to find that a) he couldn't stand the taste of beer now, and b) he could only eat about a quarter of the steak and potatoes. He began to realize that getting back to the physical Ross would not be an easy matter. He shrugged. 'Plenty of time now,' he thought, got into bed, and slept the best sleep HE'D had in a long, long time.

The next day didn't go quite as Ross had planned. In the morning, things started out okay. He dressed in his new clothes, stuffed the nightshirt and his remaining snacks in the carry-on bag, grabbed his purse and was about to leave. He threw the sun dress in the wastebasket, never intending to wear it again, but had second thoughts: No use leaving evidence of Rose's presence around; he stuffed it into the carry-on, also. When he stepped onto the street, he found Mustafa waiting for him. Mustafa was smiling with the smile of a man who is about to come into a large sum of money; he complimented Rose on how pretty she looked, which somewhat annoyed Ross.

He took Ross to the library, where complications ensued. His librarian friend, whose name was Gabrielle, had Rose's new ID for him, but took one look at "her" and pronounced "her" unfit to go out in public. "Whatever were you thinking this morning, dear? You look quite as disheveled today as you did yesterday, despite your nice new clothes! Now, we can't let you go off to America looking like something the cat dragged in, can we? I have this beautician friend..."

It was easier, he told himself, to go along rather than argue, and he did have the time. An hour later, a much more Rose Ross left Gabrielle's friend's salon, impeccably made up with his hair, very much her hair, put up into an elegant French twist. Ross was cringing inwardly; it certainly was proving hard to ditch Rose! He now also had another tube of lipstick - "Crimson and Clover" - in his purse, along with the "Cherry Tomato Red" tube that he had bought at Walgreens; it was what Gabrielle's friend had used, and she insisted "Rose" keep it for touch ups. Rose, in her mental cell, smiled: 'One tube, enough, indeed!' Neither Gabrielle nor her friend was willing to take a penny. It turned out they were both originally Chicago girls, and were more than happy to help another Windy City girl, clearly in distress, get back home looking good!

Two hundred dollars poorer, he left a VERY happy Mustafa at the airport, swearing eternal silence - "American girl? What American girl?"

The flight was anticlimactic, and that evening "Nikki Mitchell" checked into the Mart Holiday Inn. The next day "Nick Mitchell" got his hair cut, bought some real (mens') clothes, and bought the best laptop computer money could buy. As Ross, he withdrew two million from his Caymen Island account, and set up an account at First Chicago for Nikki with five hundred thousand in it, and an account at the Bank of Lincolnwood with one and a half million in it for Nick. By Internet he rented his office/apartment in the Hancock building. He moved in a week later, after some of his shadier Internet friends had made some ID documents for Nick and Nikki. He began his doomed year and a half long quest to regain his lost manhood.

(Back in the present, Real time Rose became just Rose again. She got up from Ross's, now her, chair, went over to Ross's, now her, desk, and sat at Ross's, now her, computer. It was time to deep six Ross, Nick, and Nikki, and come out again and once and for all as Rose. First - 'Typical female...finally!' she thought joyously - she would go SHOPPING! Then she'd meet with "The Group". Finally, she'd do what she had wanted to do so often but couldn't because she was trying to be Ross, email Adain and Salielah. God, she missed them! She hoped they would forgive and help her. She needed Adain and Salielah, because it was payback time, and she had a plan.)

Chapter 5a: Stand by Me

Rose knew, of course, where Transformation Systems had been located, and where Lou and Ed both had lived. A trip to the phone book and yellow pages had shown all were still where they had been, and also discovered Joan's apartment in the Sears Tower, and where her clinic was located and what hospitals she used as need arose. Ross hadn't spent the last year only on the ultimately fruitless search for his lost manhood. Revenge had been the number two priority; now it was number one. And getting revenge meant first getting information. Early on, Ross had begun interviewing private investigators, and quite by chance had found a gem.

When Ross had first arrived in Chicago, it had, of course, been as Nikki Mitchell, female. He realized that his transition back to himself, Ross, aka Nick Mitchell, would have to be managed carefully. He did not want to draw any undo attention to him/herself that might alert the bad guys that he was around, or alert Adain and Salielah that Rose was alive. He had remembered one particular incident that had occurred in Lou's apartment.

Ed had come storming in, angry and waving a brochure; she stopped in front of the table where Ross and Lou were sitting. This had been around the time when Ross was about half way to Rose. He had looked at the time about as androgynous as he did as Nick/Nikki. Ed threw the brochure down on the table. "Damn goody two shoes amateurs!" she had exclaimed. "They wouldn't go for it, Lou!" She was obviously angry about whoever had generated the brochure.

"Damn! More work for us, then!!" Lou then turned to Ross. "Ross, honey, would you mind cleaning up in here? Ed and I have to go out for a bit."

"Sure."

"Thanks, honey. We'll bring you back a treat!" And the two women were gone, leaving the offending brochure on the kitchen table.

Alone, Ross had picked up the brochure. On the cover was a gold lipstick tube topped by bright red lipstick; it was in a gold rimmed oval, which was flanked by the letters "V" and "G" in feminine script. Underneath, also in very feminine script was the word "Vaingirls" with the subscript, "Make your feminine dreams come true!" Inside was a picture of a gorgeous raven haired young woman, more text, and some before and after pics that made Ross realize that Vaingirls was a place that changed men into women. 'Buncha sissies,' he had thought, not yet realizing that that was exactly what was being done to him. He had left the brochure on the table, and promptly forgot about it.

He had remembered Vaingirls later, and the dominant memory was that there was probably no love lost between Vaingirls and Transformation Systems. Back in Chicago, he had thought that maybe Vaingirls was just what he needed; if they could transform, maybe they could help untransform, and a company that Lou and Ed hated couldn't be all bad. He decided to check Vaingirls out.

The home of Vaingirls was an older building designed in sort of a Victorian era meets Art Deco style. It was located, appropriately, on North Halsted Street in Boystown. The entrance was a double red door. Running above it along the second floor was a balcony with a wrought iron railing; the railing ran into a semi-spiral iron staircase leading down to the sidewalk. A three foot metal shield on the balcony railing contained the Vaingirls lipstick logo. "Vaingirls" in the same feminine script as in the brochure was on the wall to the left of the red double doors in foot high letters, and the logo was on each of the doors.

On the day that Ross decided to approach Vaingirls, he had to admit that, while androgynous, he still looked more like Rose than Ross. He looked in the mirror and tried to decide whether to put the effort into looking what at best would be androgynous, or just to go as Nikki Mitchell. And then in a flash of what he would later be chagrined to admit was probably womens' intuition, he just KNEW he should go as Rose, no disguise. An hour later, wearing a zebra pattern suit, white pumps, and full Rose hair and makeup, he was reaching for the handle of the the right red door to Vaingirls when the left door opened violently and an extremely attractive 5'9" raven haired woman strode out, spun to her left, and slammed right into him. As he went down on his butt, he noted that the woman was wearing the exact same zebra pattern suit he was, the same white pumps, and while her hair was black and his was blonde, the style was amazingly similar. They could, he noted, be twins, one of whom had dyed her hair so that people could tell them apart.

The "other twin" reached to help him up. As she pulled him up, she got her first good look. "Oh, I am so sorry, I should have wa...ohmygawd!"

Which was echoed by Ross's, "Ohmygawd!"

Both women, for that is what they appeared to each other, stepped back to get a good look at each other. The black haired one spoke first, holding out her hand. "Well, I guess here's where we either shake hands or scratch each other's eyes out. I'll opt for the handshake. You?"

Ross smiled, and took her hand in a feminine handshake. "Me, too. Wow, what do you think are the odds on this? Where did you get yours?" He gestured, indicating her suit. "I'm Ross." 'Whoopsi!' he thought, as soon as he said it.

"Burlington Coat Factory." Then, "Ross?" The other woman leaned back with a frown. She slowly looked him up and down. "You are very, very good, honey. I never would have known. But don't you have a femme name?" But then there was dawning recognition in her eyes, and Ross could only watch helplessly. "OHMYGAWD!" she exclaimed. You're ROSE!" She reached out and grabbed Ross and started pulling him into the store. "You get your butt in here, young lady! I have GOT to talk to you, and I don't think you want that out here in the middle of Halsted Street!" A stunned Ross could only allow himself to be dragged inside.

Once inside, the dark haired woman finally introduced herself, all the while pulling Ross along toward the back of the shop. " I'm Joyce, Joyce Hall, and I own this place and design most of the clothes we sell. As you probably already know, since you were obviously intending to come inside when we...met, our primary business here is helping men get in touch with their feminine side. I know you must have a lot of questions, but come here with me to the back room, where we can take a load off and talk." She pulled Ross into what was obviously the beauty parlor portion of Vaingirls, and indicating one of the styling chairs, said, "Sit!" which Ross did, automatically smoothing his skirt under him as he did so. "Coffee?" Ross managed to nod yes.

She picked up the carafe from the coffee maker and poured into two identical black mugs with the Vaingirls' lipstick logo on them. Hers had "Joyce" written on it in very feminine script. Ross noted that there were approximately twenty similar mugs with girls' names on them hanging from a rack over the coffee maker. His mug had no name on it, just a blank space where the name would go. If he eventually acquired one, he thought, he couldn't very well have "Ross" put on it. 'Not that I'd want a Vaingirls mug, of course,' he rather too quickly mentally added.

First taking a long swig of her coffee, Joyce continued, "Girl, do you KNOW, do you have any IDEA, how much commotion your disappearance has caused? Adain Ben Hariesh is a VERY influential and VERY determined man. Everyone tells him you're dead, but he keeps on looking for you. He has run INTERPOL and the FBI ragged, searching for you. Your picture has been all over the world on the Internet ever since you disappeared, and the reward he's offering for information about you is going to make me a VERY rich woman!

At that, Ross began to panic, and started to rise from the chair preparatory to an escape attempt. Joyce reached out and placed her hand on his arm, and for some reason, he immediately calmed. "IF I choose to tell him anything, that is," she said very firmly. "My guess is that you're very very good at disguise, and at covering your tracks. My guess is that this is the first time you've actually looked like Rose since you disappeared. My guess is that since you ID'd yourself as Ross, that that is who you are, inside, at the moment, and that goes along with what little I know about Rose/Ross. Let me fill you in, and then you can either choose to go, or stay and talk further. In either case, I will not communicate with either Adain or Salielah without your permission."

"Please! Is he...is Adain...all right? Salielah? How does he look? I HATED to leave the way I did..." That, of course, was Rose talking. Her concern for Adain and Salielah had allowed her to break through Ross's control momentarily.

"From what little I have seen and heard," said Joyce, leaning forward and putting her hand lightly on Rose's thigh in a feminine gesture of sympathy (she knew that had been Rose speaking), "they are both distraught over the thought of losing you. I think, my dear, you are well loved by those two."

At that, Rose broke down sobbing, and Joyce got up, came around her chair, and hugged her from behind. After a few minutes, the figure in the chair straightened, and Joyce believed she could actually see Ross regaining control. "Thank you," he said. "You know that was Rose, don't you? And you know that even though I look like her at the moment, I'm not; I'm Ross. Or...oh, hell, sometimes I don't know who the hell I am at any given moment. Anyway, I certainly don't feel about them the way she does, but I don't hate them anymore, in fact, I'm rather fond of them. They were very good to Rose, loved her, even, and I believe their feelings were genuine. No," he went on bitterly, "my hate is reserved for others."

"Louise Edwards, Edwina Porter, and Dr. Joan Adkins?"

"Yes. The two women who at one point I thought were my best friends in the whole world, and their pet doctor," he answered, surprised. "But how did you know?"

Joyce sighed, and settled back in her chair. "Let me tell you a story."

Chapter 5b: Fractured Fairy Tale

"My mother died when I was four, and I grew up in a testosterone fueled household where my dad treated me just as he did my five brothers; I was one of the boys. While to the best of my knowledge, none of my brothers nor my father were physically abusive to women, they certainly considered them inferior, and treated them like dirt. And the worst was my youngest brother, George. George was smaller than my dad or my four other brothers, with more delicate features; I guess he, like myself, took after our mother. I guess he was meaner than the rest to compensate for that, especially after the other four were gone.

"Puberty hit when I was twelve, and by fourteen, I was having to work very hard to still appear one of the boys. It was obvious that I couldn't keep it up much longer." Here Joyce smiled. "Big butt, narrow waist, big boobs do NOT equal 'boy'!" (She didn't notice Ross look down at "his" own curvaceous figure and wince.) "Anyway, I was on the verge of running away - the only thing stopping me was that it was December and cold out - when I began to notice changes, good changes, in my brother George. He stopped swearing, he was helping with the housework, and, most amazing of all, he was being nice, almost differential, to me. I determined to find out why.

"When I did, I was shocked. He was being blackmailed by some of the members of the cheerleading squad, because he had behaved so atrociously toward them. They had set him up, and then taken pictures that indicated he was a transvestite or, even worse, a child molester. They were slowly turning him into a swishy sissy boy that no girl in the school would want to go out with. At first I thought 'All right! He's finally getting what he deserves!' But you know what? George wasn't whining about it and adopting a sullen or defiant attitude. He was acting like he deserved it, which he did, and, ironically, 'taking it like a man', taking responsibility for his own actions. I decided that I liked the changes in his behavior, and that I would try to work with the cheerleaders, but in such a way as to make this a positive feminine experience for George. The only way I could see to do that was to get George to become not a sissy boy, but a woman, temporarily, anyway. To make a long story short, the plan worked; my brother George became my gorgeous sister Georgieann. Today, he can be either one, although when/if you two meet, you'll probably meet my brother G.A., the lawyer.

"In the process of all this, I developed a philosophy and a goal, that I still adhere to today. I believe that pure testosterone is evil. It results in men like my father and brothers and worse - Nazi Germany, for example. I believe that femininity is a positive force that should be embraced to some degree by all people, and that almost any man cannot help but become a better man if he experiences his feminine side in a positive manner. Some men do this without ever having to put on a dress or wear makeup - the influence of their mothers or sisters, I believe - some men experience it by voluntarily putting on a dress and makeup, the crossdressers and transvestites, and some men, like my brother, need the firm hand of a woman to guide them into experiencing it, whether they desire it or not. If, however, my brother had been left to the tender mercies of his cheerleader tormentors, without my intervention, I believe he would have been miserable for life. The difference? They were out for revenge, and I was out to help my brother; they were out to punish, I was out to rehabilitate.

"I knew that I could not stay at home pretending to be a boy any longer, and I knew that once George came out as Georgie, he couldn't stay; Dad would have killed him. SO, we headed here to Chicago, and I, with Georgie Ann's help - I was only fourteen, after all - started Vaingirls to help men experience their feminine sides in a positive, nurturing or rehabilitative manner."

She leaned forward and placed her hand on his thigh again. "Rose...Ross, please believe me. We care about our clients, voluntary or involuntary. We won't take an involuntary client until we've investigated and determined for ourselves that we really can help him by making him become her temporarily. While we do use humiliation sometimes, we don't use it vindictively or for our own pleasure. We try to weed out the ones who WANT to be humiliated. I'm not condemning them, it's just that there are other places for them. Whatever we do, we do with the goal of creating a better person, whether that PERSON chooses to stay a woman, go back to being a man, or, like my brother, goes back and forth between the two. While we do - greatly - enjoy making money, we are not in this to make a huge fortune; we even give 'scholarships' if needed. DAMNIT, we HELP people! We DON'T take advantage of them for money or our own sadistic desires! Louise, Edwina, and Joan do.

"Vaingirls has been here for fifteen years; in that time, we have built a reputation both in the so called normal community, and in the TG community. Just two years ago, we had a father whom we had helped fourteen years ago bring in his eighteen-year-old son. Anyway, about three years ago, I was approached by Edwina Porter. She explained that part of the work her employer's company, Transformation Systems, did, transforming troubled young men into women to allow them to experience their feminine sides, was very similar to what we were doing here at Vaingirls. She explained that they were getting overloaded, and that her employer, Ms. Edwards, would like to meet with me in regard to a possible merger.

"I smelled a rat immediately; it didn't seem to me that a company like Transformation Systems, nominally a computer software business, could be in the feminization business without at least some hint of that leaking out. I agreed to a meeting the next week, and called my lawyer brother G.A. - Georgie Ann, remember? He put me in touch with a top flight private investigator right here in Chicago, Barbara Dahal." Joyce held up her hand in a "stop" motion, as Ross opened his mouth and started to say something. "Don't even THINK that. NOBODY calls her THAT, even in private, if they value their lives! She'll find out.

"I met with Barbara. She looks just like her unnamable namesake, by the way. She says it's a curse. She said she tried to make herself look different, but it was too much trouble. Now she dresses the part, and dares anyone to mention it!" Joyce chuckled at the memory, and then got serious again. "You'll meet her, I hope. She agreed to look into Transformation Systems for me.

"Two months later, she presented me with a detailed report. On the side, Louise and Edwina were running a feminization service, supplying beautiful shemales with special talents, mostly, but not all, sexual, for Dr. Joan Adkins' shemale slave auction. They were using their company - Edwina is actually a silent partner, even though she appears as Louise's secretary - as a recruitment device; the recruits of course, did not know they were being recruited. I was appalled. This went against everything in which I believed. SLAVERY, for God's sake! It was also, of course, highly illegal. I mentioned that, but Barbara informed me that Dr. Adkins was extremely clever, and seemed to have kept what she did within the letter of the law. Ross, do you remember signing any papers while you were with Louise and Edwina? Think about it; I bet you did, and I bet it was under circumstances where you signed without reading what you were signing, right? You see, Ross, Barbara also found out that you were Lou and Ed's current project. On Barbara and G.A.'s advice, when Edwina called me to confirm my next meeting with Louise, I told her I couldn't make it, and that I didn't think a merger would be good for me right now, pleading my desire to make it on my own. I tried to leave the door open for a future meeting, but Ed got mad and stormed out.

"Barbara and I were trying to develop a plan to save you and put those three away for a long, long time, but you were sold before we could do anything. So, as far as we can tell, there have been three other men involuntarily feminized by Lou and Ed and sold into slavery since you, and we don't know how many others contributed to Joan's little auctions by other feminizing agents. That's where we are currently. We still don't have enough to go to the police, but we're hoping for a breakthrough; I think I should just go ahead and shoot the FUCKERS!" Joyce slammed her fists down on the coffee table in frustration.

This time it was Ross who put his hand on Joyce's thigh in a calming gesture of sympathy. It was a very feminine thing to do; Ross didn't really realize yet how much of Rose had been internalized, and almost impossible to unlearn. "That would be too good for them, Joyce," he said. "They have got to be punished. Look at me. I don't know whether I CAN go back to being me or not. That's why I came here today, to see if you could help me get back to me. I was present when Ed and Lou had an angry discussion about you - it must have been right after you refused to meet with Louise - and I figured anyone they disliked might be able and willing to help me. It's not that I really disliked being Rose, no, not at all. I would have stayed Rose forever for them; they were my best friends, and I loved them! I would have stayed Rose forever for Adain, and for Salielah, too, except that..." And here Ross told Joyce of his unintended escape. "So, you see, I had to give me the chance to be me again, and I have..." he leaned forward with quiet intensity "...to get these guys. How about we join forces?"

The woman who had been to all intents and purposes a male for ten years while growing up and the man who still looked very much like a woman looked into each others' eyes. At the same time, they both reached out and gripped each other's hands in a very testosterone driven handshake.

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The next week, Ross got to meet the other Vaingirls, Bethany, Elizabeth, and Jessica, as well as Jessica's dad, Steve, Joyce's former client; he was 6'5" tall, and weighed two hundred, fifty pounds, all muscle. Until he showed Ross a picture of "Stephanie", Ross just couldn't believe that he could have made a convincing Vaingirl. Seeing that picture, Ross's opinion of Joyce as a miracle worker was a thousand percent reinforced. Jessica must have taken after "her" mother, as she was 5'5" tall and one hundred, fifteen pounds, at most. All three transgendered Vaingirls were utterly believable, gorgeous women. Bethany, a slender 5'7" brunette, who was Vaingirl's makeup and nails expert, was perfectly happy as a full time T-girl, while red headed Elizabeth, the oldest (Joyce had admitted that both Elizabeth and Bethany were older than her, "But don't tell them that, dear.") was planning to have sexual reassignment surgery next year; she was a genius with hair, and at a statuesque six feet, towered over her 5'7" fiancee, Stewart. Jessica, a blonde Marilyn Monroe double, could sell iceboxes to Eskimos - particularly if they were male - and was an excellent seamstress; even though she was the youngest of the girls; she ran the boutique end of Vaingirls. She hadn't decided yet, but, while originally an unwilling participant in the Vaingirls program, she admitted she was now having a ball, and loved everything about being a girl: "Especially a girl without periods, hon!" she had related, giggling, to Ross.

He also met Barbara Dahal, and immediately fell in total awe of her. She DID look just like Barbie, but he was VERY careful to call her at first Ms. Dahal, and later Barbara, and to NOT stare at her chest. In appearance, she reminded him of the girls who always walked into Philip Marlowe's office at the start of every novel - 'She moved around my desk like Jello on springs; every swivel of her hips made me feel like I'd just got off the Tilt-A-Whirl.' But in personality,character, and ability, she reminded him of Marlowe himself. He soon came to the conclusion that he would trust this woman to guard his back anytime. He also decided that he would be VERY careful not to make her mad at him!

He met G.A., and liked him in spite of his being a lawyer, but he had not had an opportunity yet to meet Georgieann.

It was the consensus of them all that he get on with the job of trying to resurrect himself, and leave the investigation of "The Bad Guys" to them.

That's what he had done, receiving periodic reports, the last of which had been two months ago, while he was still Ross. Now, Rose placed a call to Joyce. Luckily, G.A. and Steve were in town, and Barbara was free, so she was able to arrange a meeting for the next morning. She had spoken to Joyce in Ross's voice, deciding to surprise The Group with her decision to be Rose. 'I'm going to buy the frilliest, femininest clothes I can find!' she thought, not caring at all that "femininest" wasn't a real word. As she grabbed her wallet and headed for the office door, she thought ahead: 'I'm gonna knock their socks off!' She clenched her fist, raised and cocked her arm, and swiftly brought it down. 'YES!'

 

 

 

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© 2002 by Jezzi. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.