Polly Merman

by Prudence Walker Chapter 04 Chapter 05

They looked at each other with an expression that said 'Men,' then winked at each other, before following Ted in their search. Beth smiled to herself, as she considered herself on the other side, and could see the fun in putting down Ted and including him into the class as 'Men.'

They made their way carefully through the remaining debris. They managed to follow the path the polymers had taken on what remained of the corridor walls, most of which were reduced to waist height. The first find was made at the junction near the kitchen, where the stream from vat 1 had met the mix from vats 2 and 3. Ted had discovered a tray of cups on the floor that had been covered by a fallen ceiling tile. Several of the cups were still upright and were filled with a thick grey liquid. Jenna was ecstatic with the find and carefully transferred the contents to a sterile sample bottle she had brought with her.

"A pity more of it wasn't found, Beth commiserated. "It makes a great hair remover," she went on. "The hair on my body still hasn't regrown."

"Let's check every inch of the floor," Jenna agreed.

Beth was carefully removing debris from the floor, when she spotted a broken pipe jutting out of the floor. It was a 2 inch yellow PVC pipe that led somewhere down to the lower level. The break was only a few inches above floor level and would have been covered by the polymer on its way past. Beth's call brought the others scrambling over, to look at her find. The pipe appeared empty, which meant the other end was open and had drained away any fluid in it, or that there was a container that was connected to it that was large enough to hold whatever had poured into the pipe.

Beth was trying to recall what the pipe was used for, as the bright yellow colour was distinctive. She was sure it was a vent pipe from the vat system and was used to test the pressure release safety valves that had been originally installed. It was supposed to run into a catchment container, which would accept a portion of the overflow from the vats until the pressure normalized. She wasn't sure if it was still intact, as the newer system of electronic control of the excess pressures had replaced it, some years before.

Jenna stayed by the pipe, banging on it with a piece of metal bar, while Ted and Beth went below to search out the pipe, hopefully locating it in the near darkness by the tapping noise from above.

Jenna was hoping something would be found, as she tapped away. A yell, some minutes later, had her running down to meet the others, to see what they had found.

"Jenna, we found it, the pipe still runs into a container, now all we need to do is see if there is anything in it." Beth shouted happily.

The container was fairly big and there seemed to be a pump leading from the bottom. It led to a waste dump pipe that led to the surface for disposal by tanker. Not wanting to be seen pumping stuff out of the building, Ted left to get some clean drums that they could manage on their own. Beth and Jenna managed to uncouple the fittings that led up out of the building, so they could pump directly into the drums.

Finding that the power was off, Beth went and found the breakers that had been shut off after the explosion. Turning them back on, they waited for Ted's return.

A rumbling noise heralded Ted's return. Three plastic drums preceded his arrival, as they tumbled down the stairs. Ted had got them from a storage area on the ground floor. He reported that apart from the posted guard there was nobody around. This was good news, as they wouldn't want to attract attention when they brought the drums upstairs. They got to work and started the pump. It groaned at first and then tripped the breakers as the long unused pump tried to spin. Resetting the breakers, they held their breath as they tried again. The pump groaned, then went silent, apart from a low whirr as it started to spin. Fluid started to gurgle out into the drum and they watched the level rise through the translucent sides of the drum. As the seconds ticked past and the levels rose, Jenna started to dance a jig and went and hugged the other two. The drum was nearly full before the pump started squealing in protest, as it ran dry and the fluid dribbled to a halt.

"Well that's more than I'd hoped for," Jenna said, shutting the pump off.

"What will we do with it now? We can't just put in the car and drive off," Beth asked. "Not with a guard there."

Jenna got out some labels from a pocket in her biohazard suit. Slapping them on the now sealed drum, they announced the contents as being hazardous.

"We take the drum and store it in the dangerous goods room, next to the loading dock on the surface level. Ted you can get the company van that we use for transporting our supplies and load the drum and take it out to my lab. Just remember to peel off the labels and put on these ones." Jenna explained, handing Ted some labels with experimental test sample printed on them.

"Jenna who's DNA are you going to use for Shelly's template?" Beth asked inquiringly.

"Mine," was the terse reply.

"Do you think that's wise?" Ted questioned, as he started to man handle the drum to the stairs.

"Well Shelly is family and even as my brother had similar features as myself. Now as Shelly, she looks even closer to me in appearance. I figured as a copy of me, all she needs to do is dye her hair and wear it differently, to seem similar, but not identical."

"Yeah, women have more choices when it comes to how they want to appear," Beth agreed, having already found that out.

"What about the hair removal properties, how will you work that?" Beth asked, as Ted went to find a hand truck to lift the drum up the stairs.

Well if I seed the polymer with a blood sample from myself I could rub the liquid over my skin with no effects, as the DNA will be the same as mine. The same will apply to Shelly as she will soon be me, DNA wise anyway."

"Will Shelly go long with this? To actually become you?" Beth questioned, cautiously.

"Sure she will, she often confessed to wishing she was me. Now she will really get that chance." Jenna started get emotional and tears threatened to flow.

"I can see this will be one of those moments that will mark the turning point in your lives as sisters," prompted Beth, giving Jenna a hug.

They started up the stairs to see Ted coming down with a hand truck. Declining their offers of help, he told then to go home and he'd sort the drum removal. Ted did say he'd call Beth for her lunch date. This brought a big smile to Jenna's face, as she overheard Ted's offer.

"Dating already?" Jenna giggled, looking at Beth as they trudged up the stairs.

"It's just lunch… and maybe dinner," blushed Beth, trying to act nonchalant.

"Sure it is," pressed Jenna, nudging Beth in the ribs with a friendly elbow.

"Oh darn, I forgot I came with Ted, I'll have to wait till he's finished." Beth grumbled, more to herself than anybody.

"Nonsense, you can ride with me," Jenna laughed. "Where do you want to go?" she asked pleasantly.

"Well… I'm not exactly dressed to go anywhere, but home," sighed Beth.

Jenna looked at Beth as they started walking to her car. "Honey you look fine to me, unless you're thinking of going into the Ritz for lunch. Then you'd need to wriggle that butt," she added with a wink.

Beth laughed, feeling a wonderful sense of the bond between her and Jenna. It was a strange thing; Colin had felt a similar bond between himself and Ted, although not nearly as strong. Beth supposed that was because men, even close friends as Colin and Ted had been, never really allowed their emotions to flow free. Sadly it wasn't that men were incapable of it, more of what society said was proper behaviour. Women on the other hand were allowed to show their emotions and were not stilted by those same rules that governed men's acceptable behaviour.

Jenna stopped by the guard and said that Ted would be storing a drum of suspected biohazard in with the dangerous goods, until he could get the van and remove it to the lab for analysis.

Beth and Jenna departed then, diving into town, where they spent several hours shopping. Beth was getting more comfortable being amid the fripperies and silken garments that filled the aisles of the local Victoria Secrets store. Jenna was making sure Beth wasn't shy about touching the intimate under things, and urged her to at least try some of them on. Beth, although dressed fairly casual in her opinion, was still conscious of the many looks she was getting from the men she passed. She asked Jenna if this was a normal occurrence.

"Honey with your figure, you could be wearing a sack and still turn heads," she laughed. "That's one of the things that comes with the territory, if you're stacked. You can do two things; either embrace it, and use it to your advantage, or deny it, and always be in fear of attracting the wrong kind of attention."

"It is kind of uplifting, seeing men make such fools of themselves over me," Beth giggled, striking a sexy pose, she thrust her hip out and stuck her chest forward, while putting one hand behind her head touching her hair and the other was planted firmly on her outthrust hip.

"Hey! Stop that, you hussy. You're learning 'Woman' way too fast," Jenna admonished, with a pout. "Those poor harmless men don't deserve such torture," she added, before dissolving into laughter and grabbing Beth in a hug.

Beth wondered what others in the shop must think of two women laughing and hugging each other, but apart from the occasional glance and smiles, no one seemed bothered much. Women must be more tolerant of the open displays of affection they had displayed, she thought to herself.

A cell phone buzzed in Beth's purse, alerting them to Ted having completed the task of transferring the drum to Jenna's lab. They agreed to meet at a local park to discuss the next steps. As it was approaching lunchtime, Ted said he'd spring for lunch. Ted arrived just after the girls had found an unoccupied bench with seats. He had three large paper bags proudly proclaiming they were from Donna's Diner, a local and widely popular eating establishment.

Looking in the bags, the girl's saw a huge fresh crispy bread roll, filled with generous amounts chicken and ham along with lettuce tomato and mayo. Styrofoam cups filled with hot coffee completed the fare. Beth thought she could manage to eat all her roll, but found her stomach filled up a lot quicker in this body. Reluctant to waste the fine food, she wrapped what remained up for later. Jenna did the same, thanking Ted for the meal.

Sipping their coffees, conversation turned serious on how best to proceed. Plans for Shelly were reasonably straight forward, and they planned to do it as soon as possible. The debate on whether to tell anyone about the properties of the polymer raged back and forth.

It finally boiled down to this. If it was revealed about the DNA conversion properties of the polymer, not only would the government get involved to try and prevent wholesale identity swapping. No doubt the FBI may figure out that Beth might not be who they thought she was which may open the 'spy' can of worms again. More research needed to be done on the polymer, would it change a person into a child if a child's DNA was used, or would it just change a person into what the child would have looked like at the age of the person receiving the child's DNA. As Jenna and Shelly were fraternal twins this wouldn't be a problem. If a sample came from deceased person, and the subject reverted to aged person, the repercussions would be horrendous.

One thing Jenna mentioned was, the possibility of whether a person be changed twice, if a different DNA was tried after the first one.

"Why? In case someone didn't like the change and wanted something new," an angry Ted asked.

"Well… that or reverting back to their original body," Jenna answered, looking pointedly at Beth.

"Oh, of course, sorry, I'm being insensitive. It just burned me, to think someone would turn down the chance of a life time and reject a body they had selected." Ted never mentioned the icy feeling clutching his heart; if Beth found out she could go back the being Colin and decided to do so.

Beth touched his arm to show she hadn't taken offence. She thought about the possibilities of gaining her old body back and the problems it would cause.

"Ted… even if it was possible, I don't think I'd go back to being Colin. I like this body and the way it makes me feel." 'There, I've said it,' Beth thought to herself, feeling a sense of relief from her admission.

They agreed for now, that until further tests were done, only Shelly's DNA replacement and the depilatory effect, would be tested on Jenna and then her sister after the conversion.

Deciding to leave, Jenna excused herself, saying she had to get back to Cathy before the babysitter charged double time. She suggested with a sneaky wink, that Beth loved shopping, and that maybe Ted could accompany her.

Seeing the hint as a golden opportunity to have some time alone with Beth, Ted suggested to Beth that they try the new mall that had been opened in the city and spend some time browsing.

With Beth's agreement, an hour later saw them walking through the main doors of the Rexton Plaza. This was a very different experience having a man accompanying her. Beth took Ted's hand as a sort of security blanket against being hassled by all the single men that were cruising the mall looking for a possible date. The gentle squeeze from Ted, felt good, as they negotiated the throng of people bustling around. She let Ted take the lead, content to be moved around at the whim of another.

Surprisingly, Ted took her to several shops that piqued her interest. One was a boutique that dealt in perfumes, something she would never have thought Ted would be comfortable in. She allowed herself to be doused, sprayed, and dabbed with all manner of scents. She kept asking Ted, his opinion on each new product as if his approval was essential before buying.

Several hundred dollars poorer, but smellier, they wandered though one of those shops that sells handcrafts. There were scented soaps and hand made beeswax candles and all manner of knick-knacks in wood and leather. Ted bought her some lilac scented soap and a long handled wooden back scrubber for in the bath. Beth said thank you and wondered if she should tell him about the sudden image in her mind of having Ted scrub her back, instead of using the brush.

These desires of having Ted in her life as a sexual partner were becoming more frequent as time went by. Beth wasn't repulsed by the idea anymore, her doubts about her sexuality having slowly disappeared as time went on. The issue of sex with a man had gone from "no way...never," to "okay I'm a woman, I wonder what it will be like." She accepted that sex was inevitable; it was just a matter of time and who with. Ted was the obvious choice, and she liked the way he was treating her with kid gloves. When she was ready and the time was right, she wanted to be the one in control.

Moving on, they left to go look in a jeweller's shop. Beth, finding herself looking at earrings, was startled when Ted offered to buy her a pair. As a sort of coming out kind of present, he'd said. Beth intrigued by the offer, said okay, and started looking at the range of very expensive diamond earrings. Taking a quick sidelong glance at Ted, through the cover of her hair, she grinned inwardly as she saw him blanch at the prices displayed. She decided to see what would happen as she admired the pendant earrings worth several thousand dollars.

"I like these, what do you think?"

"Yes they are nice," he agreed, swallowing quickly.

Beth was impressed that he hadn't tried to dissuade her from wanting them. That told her much about Ted and only confirmed what she'd always known about him when they were just buddies. She let him off the hook and reached for some nice gold hoops that were about an inch and a half diameter.

"I like these better, Ted." She decided, handing him the box they sat in. They looked at rings and necklaces and Beth bought a simple yet elegant gold chain. She was surprised at the weight but loved how it sank into her cleavage, as it made her even more aware of her breasts as the chain slid against them with every move.

Paying for their goods, they decided...well Beth decided to get something for dinner. One supermarket later saw one shopping cart full of groceries and meat. Beth had told Ted she wanted to cook dinner for them both. Ted didn't demure as it just extended their time together.

Back at Beth's, Ted helped put away the groceries while Beth started the meal. Because of the time, she decided against vegetables and a roast as was originally planned and decided to make spaghetti bolognaise, a meal she excelled at. Getting Ted to open a bottle of red wine, she started to cook. Ted came in and sat on the kitchen stool, marvelling at her bustling about. He could see she needed no help in the kitchen, even though he had offered. She did get him to pour out some red wine, which she sipped while cooking the sauce. A cup of the red wine was poured into the sauce, which Ted thought was a waste. He changed his mind later though, when it came time to eat.

"This has got to be the best spaghetti bolognaise I've tasted," he got out between mouthfuls.

Beth laughed. 'Thank my mom for that. She taught me how to cook. Said everyone needs to know how not just the women."

"She was a wise woman, I would have liked to have met her," Ted said, chasing one errant strand of spaghetti around his plate.

"Still is, although meeting her might be difficult."

"Your mom is still alive; I had assumed your parents were dead. In all the years we have been together you never mentioned them. I never asked because I didn't want to bring up bad memories," Ted gasped in surprise.

"Oh both my mom and dad are alive," was Beth's reluctant reply.

"Where are they then, why did they leave you? And what would they say if they could see you now?"

"Well... it's a long story." Beth started, moving into the lounge to get more comfortable.

"Go on, I like long stories," Ted insisted, as he followed her, sitting next to her.

"My parents had a religious experience one night on a road trip..." Beth paused, waiting for the laugh that was sure to follow.

"Huh? They saw God or something," Ted grinned. His grin faded, as he saw a tear start to leak from her eye. "Hey! Kiddo, I didn't mean to make a joke of it," he offered, taking hold of her hand. "You're being serious, aren't you? Oh boy."

"Sorry, it's just me; I've had to live with this for years unable to tell anyone for fear of ridicule. They were driving through Arizona and their car just suddenly died in the middle of a deserted stretch of road. It was late at night, as they were planning of sharing the driving and drive straight through. They said they saw a bright white light next, then nothing, till they woke up and found themselves in the car driving several hundred miles further on. All they recall is some, in their words, 'god like' creatures."

"Wow far out," was Ted's flabbergasted reply. "So where are your parents now?"

"After that, they decided to seek out information on various esoteric religions from all over the world. They get money for their research from all sorts of weird cults and organizations that live on this stuff," Beth sniffled.

"That's kind of neat I suppose, it beats the old, 'my parents died in a car crash,'" Ted smiled. I wonder what they would do if they came back and saw you like this?" Ted speculated.

Beth snorted, and then giggled, "Probably think nothing of it. I can hear them now. 'Oh my son's a girl, well let me tell you something weird, when we saw God you should have seen…'" Beth responded, mimicking her mom's voice.

"Probably blame it on divine intervention," Ted laughed. "Do you think it happened as they say, or just think it was aliens? It does seem to fit the classic encounter that you hear about," he asked.

"Well part of me wants to believe, that way, I would know they aren't crazy and that means a lot. I still love them even though they are not part of my life any more. Whatever it was they saw, it had a profound impact on all of our lives," Beth sighed.

"So you are handy in the kitchen then and able to cook lots of stuff?" Ted asked, changing the subject.

"You bet, wait till you taste my spicy meatloaf or my sausage casserole, you won't want to leave," boasted Beth, not realizing till she said it. How that had sounded.

"Stop! I'm drooling already, and I just ate," laughed Ted, patting his stomach. "I'll hold you to that invite, but don't blame me if you can't get me to leave," he grinned.

Beth laughed, happy that the awkward moment had passed in the humour of the situation. It had sounded like she had invited him to come live with her, while not as repugnant as the idea would have been a few days ago; she still didn't want to commit to such a bold move.

Later that night, after Ted had said his goodbyes, she lay in bed and started exploring her body in a sexual way. She knew her breasts had become more sensitive and was easily turned on as she rubbed her nipples, but she hadn't really investigated the full potential of her new vagina, other than what was necessary for personal hygiene after going to the toilet.

As she gently explored the folds of her new sex and felt the fleshy knob of her clitoris, she felt the slow build up of sensations that threatened to overwhelm her mind in wave of bliss. Her first orgasm surprised her as did the second and third. Being multi orgasmic was heaven and didn't require much effort to achieve. She lay, sated, too blissed out to bother cleaning herself, eventually falling into a sleep that was filled with dreams.

Waking without the comforting weight of Maggie on her, made her feel sad that she was alone in the house and had no excuse to talk about how she felt in general. Even a knowing another pair of ears is listening made her feel not as foolish as talking to herself. Whether or not those ears understood a word, meant little. After a shower and deciding what to wear, she ate breakfast. Next she went to the computer to waste a little time on the net. Looking in Outlook Express, she saw there were no messages, but then a thought entered her head. 'Did Beth have another personal mailing address, using Yahoo or Hotmail?' She searched through the usual detritus that accumulates around the computer. When she'd searched for Beth's bank accounts, she'd just pushed most of the papers near the computer to one side. If she was anything like Colin was with a computer, there should be a book with all the passwords in it. Just when she despaired of finding it amongst the jumble of printer read outs, she found it. Inside were her two email accounts and passwords, along with a host of other passwords for sites dealing with books and catalogues. Entering the passwords, Beth sat back and watched as the respective inboxes started filling up.

Beth had evidently used one mailing address for her personal mail while the other was for business. Beth deleted most of the mail as junk, but one in her personal made her think, before deleting it. It was just one of those spam emails advertising, "Grow a bigger penis." Yeah right! Too late, I'd like to see that, Beth smirked. Maybe Ted would be interested, she'd never seen nor been interested in seeing Ted's penis, but now...hmm. With the prospects of seeing it, looming closer, the advert took on a whole new meaning.

They were still a few personal emails left, and Beth had to push herself to read them. Reading mail sent to a person now deceased, didn't seem right, but eventually reason took hold. According to the world, Beth was still very much alive. One was just a friend asking her about going out night clubbing, to which Beth gave a short reply asking for a rain check. The other one was scary. It was from a guy called Martin Quinn, who seemed to think Beth owed him money. In his email it implied that she had ordered him to kill her parents for the insurance. If she didn't give him half of it, he would call the cops and the insurance companies who would start tearing into her to get the money back and indicted for conspiracy to commit murder.

Beth sat back with tears in her eyes, 'damn it! I've just got myself comfortable about living Beth's life and now this crap comes up.' She thought angrily. She tried to think if it was likely that was any shred of truth to the accusation. Beth was sure her predecessor didn't have anything to do with the deaths of her parents. Hurriedly, she rang Ted.

"Ted? I need you to come over right away, it's an emergency," she called to the sleepy Ted.

"Okay, I'll be ten minutes," mumbled Ted, trying to get awake. He didn't know what the matter was, but she sounded upset, and that was enough to galvanize him into action.

"What's up?" Was Ted's first question, as he entered Beth's home.

Beth just dragged him to the computer and clicked on the email, too emotional to speak, lest she burst into tears. Ted read the email and cursed. He turned to Beth to see her crying. He stood up and gathered her into his arms, letting her release the flood of tears she had been barely holding back. Ted was angry beyond belief, to have some scum bag prey on women like this was unacceptable. He wished he could get hold of the guy and show him what he thought about it.

"I… I …I just started feeling good about being Beth and this comes up," sobbed Beth, feeling glad of the strong arms around her. "What am I to do?'

"Look Beth wasn't involved in this. That much I do know. She was broken up by her parent's death; remember I was still dating her then." Ted answered her, comfortingly. "This scum is hoping you will cough up the money just to stop a messy investigation. This smacks of someone close to Beth doing this, someone who knows her email address and enough details of your parent's death to make it seem like he was there."

"I don't understand why now, it's been six months since their deaths, why so long before threatening me?'

"I don't know, unless he wasn't in a position to do so, or he just found out," Ted wondered.

"Out of the country perhaps and just got back?" Suggested Beth, trying to help.

"Could be… or in the country, but just got out," said Ted, as a light bulb flashed.

"You mean in jail?" Beth answered, catching where Ted was coming from.

"Martin Quinn… hmm the name rings a bell. Damn! I hate it when you know you should be able to remember something, but it eludes you," Ted cursed.

They started planning, Ted said to search the computer for any records of Martin Quinn in either the addresses, or in the deleted email message bin. Ted went looking though Beth's old address book and phone number listing, to see what he could find.

It was Beth that found the first trace of the guy. In an old deleted email that was still stored in a backup file, were the clues that Martin was an old boyfriend that Beth had been seeing long before Ted. It seemed that Martin was into various illegal activities and that Beth had found out and had broken off their relationship. Martin had not taken to being dumped; apparently he would lose 'face' in front of his 'friends.' Beth had reported his activities to the police in an attempt to get him off her back. The email rambled on about how if he went away, she would regret it and would pay dearly. This was dated about a month before Beth's parents were killed. It looked like their deaths may not have been an accident after all. Did Martin contract their death while in prison? It wasn't unheard of, and might explain how he knew how they died.

Bringing the email from the backup files, they tried replying to see what address came up. The one shown was the same as the one shown on the recent email. Ted, using some fancy typing on the keyboard, managed to narrow the source of the email to a local service provider, which meant Martin was in the same area as Beth. This was more of a concern than the email, because neither Beth nor Ted knew what Martin looked like. Ted rang Jenna to tell her the news, and to warn her not to do anything about Shelly until the matter was resolved, no need to have additional secrets if the police were to get involved. Jenna suggested calling a friend of hers, who was a detective in the police. Maybe he could make some discrete inquiries and could find out about Martin and provide a mug shot if he had been sent away.

"There's no way I'm letting the bastard win on this," growled a determined and angry Beth.

"Let's do it then," agreed Ted. "I don't think it's safe here for you, what if he comes here face to face? You can stay at my place if you want...separate bedrooms of course," he added hurriedly.

Beth was reluctant to leave, especially to end up at Ted's place. Not that she didn't trust Ted, it was more it being a matter of, could trust herself? While Ted was talking to Jenna, about Beth's safety, it prompted Jenna to offer her own home for Beth to stay at. She had a spare guest room that would suit her needs, plus it had the advantage of saving using Beth's car to get to work as Jenna could take her.

Agreeing, Beth started to pack some clothes and essentials for an extended stay at Jenna's. Ted helped her, commenting on the amount of great clothes she had. Beth just grinned, as she teased Ted with some of her frillies when she moved them from her drawers to the suitcases.

"You know these feel wonderful on your skin," she winked, wafting a filmy nightgown past his nose. " You should try it sometime, she giggled.

"Hmmm, I don't have the right body shape to do it justice, not like yours,"

"Well... we can fix that, can't we," laughed Beth, enjoying teasing Ted. "Just a small application of polymer, and you could be exactly like me," she suggested, grinning widely.

"She then threw a baby doll nightie over Ted's head, muffling his reply.

"I'd rather see you in it than myself, and thanks, but no thanks on the offer. I think the world couldn't take having two such lovely sights as you."

Beth blushed and continued packing, thanking Ted for being complimentary.

"Only the truth Beth, only the truth." Ted answered, brushing her thanks off.

Beth was glad in some ways that she was going to stay at Jenna's. Ted's compliments filled her with feelings she wasn't used to as a man. Being told she was beautiful had embarrassed her at first, now they made her feel good. She felt in some way obligated to reply in same, but she wasn't sure if telling Ted, she liked his looks wouldn't make him want to take things a little bit further. Staying at Ted's would be like leaving a lit candle in a pool of petrol. They would get consumed by each other, leaving nothing, but ashes, something Beth didn't want to see happen. She wanted more time to come to terms with her newfound femininity before jumping into bed with a man. She wanted to explore the feelings she felt for Ted, before she committed herself to a relationship that might see them eventually living together as…dare she say it? "Man and wife."

At Jenna's, some time later, Ted helped Beth lug the suitcases into the spare room where she would be staying. Cathleen had welcomed Beth on her arrival, by hugging her leg and giggling. Beth picked up the little girl and carried her along as Jenna took charge and started emptying the cases and hanging her clothes up. Jenna told Beth about her conversation she had with the detective she had called.

"Martin was put away on a minor charge of soliciting to procure, after the case against him was bungled and the evidence of his drug dealing that they had gathered, was deemed inadmissible. He got away with it and only served 6 months. The detective was very interested in Martin's threat. He's looking into the possibility that there was more to your parent's death, I mean Beth's parents, than was first thought."

"He doesn't think Beth had anything to do with the death of her parents?" Beth asked worriedly.

"No, he pulled up the files on Martin, while we were talking and it seems stand over tactics and bullying are his forte, according to the detective. He did say not to contact him either on the phone or email. Let him sweat it out, and hope he gets careless." Jenna reassured her.

"I was thinking about your concerns about me using my DNA for Shelly," Jenna said in an attempt to change the subject. With things as they are, we can't take the risk of being caught out. I've decided on calling in an expert."

"Is that wise?" asked Ted sternly. "Having another know about Beth is just asking for trouble," his anger concerning the risk of exposure for Beth, showing clearly in his tone. "I know you're only trying to give Shelly a true chance of happiness, but I don't want Beth's safety jeopardized, just to achieve that." Ted continued, heatedly.

Beth placed a hand on Ted's arm to calm him down, his concern for her safety, giving her a warm feeling inside. He was like a knight of old defending his princess; well that's what it felt like to Beth.

"Ted, calm down, let Jenna explain. I'm sure she's thought this though," Beth offered a calming voice.

"Sorry Beth, I just saw another threat to your happiness and that upset me," he offered contritely. He looked at Jenna and motioned for her to go ahead.

"Sara Briton is a friend of mine. She's a geneticist of some note; a true artist when it comes to what she does best, DNA manipulation. We were flat mates when we were going for our degrees," Jenna offered as explanation. "I've kept in touch with her and she should be able to help us."

"For what, exactly?" Beth queried.

"Well in my excitement at getting the clean polymer, I was just thinking of the easiest way to help Shelly, but as you rightly pointed out, a clone of myself could bring us all down. Now I have thought about it, I decided that Shelly deserves to be the woman she should have been if she had be born one."

"Go on," urged Beth, starting to see where this was heading.

If Sara can change Shelly's DNA from XY to XX though genetic chopping and changing, then Shelly would become the woman she should have been, along with her own unique traits that set her apart from me."

"She can be trusted? What about Beth's identity?" asked Ted, still sounding a bit concerned.

"I don't see that she needs to know about Beth, we can just say we discovered this polymer and its unique properties. Not that Sara would need a bribe, but we can offer her a sample for her own use for her continued silence."

"Don't tell me she has a transgendered brother like Shelly," scoffed Ted.

"No, but she has a daughter that has a crippling disease, that could be cured if the genetic flaw that gave her daughter Down's Syndrome could be corrected and used with the polymer."

"Heavy!" Ted exclaimed. "Sorry to hear that, but maybe this will work out well…for all of us."

That evening, after Ted had left, having stayed for dinner, Beth talked to Jenna about her growing feelings towards Ted. Jenna told her to search her heart and allow what she found to grow. Don't deny that you have feelings for Ted was Jenna's advice. She also told Beth to allow her feelings to show so Ted wouldn't get discouraged. Beth saw the wisdom in Jenna's advice and promised to follow it.

Maggie was glad to see Beth again and took every opportunity to show it when Cathleen wasn't playing with her. Now that Cathleen was in bed, Maggie promptly jumped up onto Beth's shoulder. She was leaning back on the couch relaxing, when the playful kitten snuggled under the hair at the back of Beth's head, batting at it occasionally with a sleepy paw. Jenna and Richard laughed at the kitten's antics and Jenna offered to extricate the kitten from her locks.

"No, leave her be, it's kind of nice having a warm vibrating neck support," Beth giggled, as the kitten purred her agreement.

The evening passed quickly and bathroom arrangements were made before Beth left for bed. Sleep was a slow in coming, as her mind was filled with thoughts of the day's events and Martin's threats along with the ever-present danger of being exposed as a fraud. This was always a possibility while the police were being involved.

Several days later, Beth accessed her email to find another message from Martin. This brought her back to the harsh reality that things were not as smooth as the last few days living at Jenna's had been. The email stated that unless she contacted him, he would take further action. Beth had shown this to both Ted and Jenna, who had contacted the detective who was looking into the situation. He in turn, advised them not to reply, just let Martin make the first move. Beth tried to put the threats of Martin out of her mind and concentrate on living and enjoying her new life.

One thing Beth noticed was although her hips didn't seem any wider than after the initial moulding, her hip bones had widened, as they took on the physical structure typical to women. Jenna told her they would force her to walk differently now, with more of a swivel. Beth went to look in a long mirror in Jenna's bedroom, walking up and down to see if she could see how her gait had changed. She had stripped to bra and panties to get the best effect, noticing that the waistband of the panties swayed seductively up and down, like a boat rocking gently as her hips moved in a definitely feminine manner. She thought she looked hot, so hot, she was in fact turning herself on. She may be female, but there were enough of Colin's lecherous thoughts circulating, that she couldn't help getting aroused. Beth barely managed to stop her narcissist adoration of her body before she needed a change of panties. It took most of her control to stop her fingers moving down to her crotch to scratch the itch that was growing there.

Ted had noticed Beth's gait changing from a slightly masculine one to that a sexier feminine one. When he mentioned it to Jenna and was told the reason, he wanted to do a few more tests. He told the girl's now that Beth was complete inside and out, it was important to see if the other benefits of the polymer were still in effect. He wanted to know if Beth was still invulnerable to blows of a rapid nature. After the news of Martin's latest email, Ted decided to test Beth that night. After another fabulous meal, Jenna drove Beth to Ted's place.

One of the first tests was Beth's resistance to being stabbed. Jenna was concerned about what would happen if the ability of the polymer to protect Beth had disappeared when Ted attempted to test that.

"We don't want to end up taking Beth to casualty with a stab wound, just because you were too hasty," Jenna declared, putting her foot down, when Ted produced a sharp looking knife.

"Sorry, you're absolutely right." Ted agreed, shamefacedly.

They decided a pin would serve just as well, and selected Beth's left arm as the first target. Half expecting the pin to penetrate her skin, Beth flinched, as the pin was jabbed at her arm. She sighed in relief as the pin failed to penetrate at all. Beth said she felt the pull on her skin as it dented but there was no pain. Encouraged by this, Ted advanced the stakes. First, against Jenna's continued protest that it wasn't necessary, Ted took up the knife and tried to stab Beth in the stomach.

A sharp ping sound resulted as the knife blade snapped, and Ted was left nursing a sore wrist.

"Owwwh! That hurt," exclaimed Ted, holding his wrist carefully. "It was like stabbing a concrete wall."

"That will teach you," uttered Jenna, pleased that Ted's rather brutal testing method has resulted in some pain for him.

"Hey! We needed to know this okay?" said Ted peeved at the no sympathy being shown. "What if Martin got his hands on Beth and tried this, at least we know she has a fighting chance now," he finished sulkily.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking of that," apologized Jenna, moving to check Ted's wrist.

She offered to bandage it, but Ted said it was okay, just a little sore. Ted's next test seemed even more gruesome, although Beth kept reassuring Jenna that she felt no pain. Ted had got another knife and pressed it slowly into Beth's chest. It slowly sank in as Ted just maintained enough pressure on the handle. Finally it was buried deep in Beth's chest with no apparent harm. Releasing it made Beth look like an exhibit in one of those horror wax museums. The knife sticking out of her chest, wobbled as she breathed, she could bend over feeling no restriction in her movements. Jenna had had enough and was about to remove the knife, when Ted stopped her.

"Look, wait," he begged, as he pointed.

Jenna saw that the knife was being forced out from within as Beth's body rejected the foreign body in its attempt to reform Beth's body to its default form. Seeing the knife oozing out and eventually clattering to the floor was almost too much for Jenna, as she went to sit down. Ted offered everyone a drink, which was gratefully accepted. They sat, sipping their drinks, discussing what to do next.

Ted was intrigued by the way Beth's skin became like steel under impact.

"I'll bet you could withstand being shot at," he mused out loud.

"Ted! You are not going to shoot her just to test your theory," Jenna retorted adamantly.

Ted looked up in surprise, "oh I don't need to do that, if she can withstand the knife point at the pressure I applied, she can stand a bullet."

"But a bullet is faster and has more energy behind it," offered Beth, deciding to make her point.

"True but a bullet has a much greater surface area at impact than a knife point. Its resistance is infinitesimal, compared with a bullet." Ted replied. It's pressure times cross sectional area we are talking about, remember I put my full strength against you, without so much as a scratch."

"Well I think we know what we need to, is there anything else?" asked Jenna, still somewhat shocked from the knife test.

"I wonder if Beth can use that ability another way?" Ted murmured, more to himself than to the others.

"What way?" asked Beth wonderingly.

"I was thinking if you were to hit something with your fist, for example, you shouldn't feel the impact, because of the skin resisting the impact, but the energy would still be transferred. Like having you hand act like a hammer." Ted shrugged. "Do you want to try it?"

Beth thought about it for a moment, before agreeing. Knowing she was safe from knife attack made her feel much happier, so finding out if she could fight back with her fists despite a smaller more vulnerable physique was logical.

They trooped out into Ted's backyard. In the wan light coming from the small garden lights Ted had turned on, they saw a low retaining wall made of cement blocks. It was part of a division in the garden and had seen better days. Ted proposed, that Beth attempt to hit the wall with her fist, using all of her strength.

Beth looked at the wall for a moment, pretending it was Martin standing there, before lashing out with her closed fist. Her scream of "bastard," as she swung, startled the others. What happened next, left them amazed. Her fist on hitting the wall, didn't stop, but went through, catching Beth off balance, as the blocks exploded into rubble. Ted looked at the wall, hardly believing his eyes; the block Beth had hit was gone. Shattered into bits. The surrounding blocks had cracked and the section of wall near the impact was leaning outwards away from Beth.

"Wow! Did I do that?" gasped a shocked Beth. "I didn't even feel it."

"Did you ever," was Ted's equally shocked response.

"My god, it's wonder woman, or super girl," squealed Jenna, as she hopped up and down in excitement. "We need to buy you a cape and a super heroine costume," she added laughing.

"All your energy focused together with a fist of steel, it's better than a Din Mac." Ted grinned?

"Din Mac?" chorused the others in puzzlement.

"It's a martial arts technique, more commonly know as death touch." Explained Ted. "I think we can safely say Beth will be pretty hard to hurt. But she can definitely hurt others if need be."

Still pretty hyped up over her fight with the poor defenceless wall, Beth was in a giggly mood, which made Ted and Jenna smile to each other. They both knew Beth was feeling down about the impending Martin issue. These tests had just given Beth a much needed morale boost. As time was getting on, they decided that was enough, and soon Beth was being driven back to Jenna's place after she had kissed Ted on the cheek in thanks.

"Feeling better now?"

"Yes Jenna I am, "replied a happy Beth.

"I think you like Ted more than you let on," smiled Jenna, glancing at Beth sidelong.

"Do you think Ted has nice eyes?" murmured Beth, only half hearing Jenna's comment.

"More importantly, do you?" Jenna replied neatly side stepping the question.

"Oh yes, I feel like I could stare at them all day," blushed Beth, suddenly realizing what she had admitted to. " I mean..."

"No need to explain to me girl, I think the same thing with Richards eyes, grinned Jenna, reaching one hand out to pat Beth reassuringly on the knee. "None at all." Inside, Jenna was happy, Beth was beginning to see Ted in a romantic light, which was how it should be, 'she thought to herself'.

When Jenna brought Beth home from work the next day, an unfamiliar car was in the driveway. Beth was nervous, seeing it there and wondering what danger it might hold. She was surprised by Jenna's reactions when she spotted it.

"Yippee!" she screamed, as she rushed out of the car and raced inside.

"Harrumph," grumped Beth, feeling a little put out at being left out of the loop and abandoned in the car.

Whoever it was, obviously Jenna knew them and hadn't thought to reassure Beth, or tell her who it was. Beth, in a fit of pique, decided to wait, to see how long it took before some one noticed she hadn't come inside. She was just starting to fume, when Jenna poked her head out the door to see what was holding up Beth. She waved at Beth, trying to get her attention, but Beth deliberately looked away, feeling tears prickling under her lids, as her emotions threatened to get the better of her.

Jenna came over, sensing something was wrong. She opened Beth's door and asked Beth what was wrong.

"I was scared… and then you… left alone…" Beth tried to explain, before she burst out sobbing as her mixed up feelings of abandonment and turmoil flooded out in a paroxysm of emotion.

"Oh you poor dear, I'm so sorry… I wasn't thinking," Jenna apologized, tears filling her own eyes as she held the sobbing Beth to her chest and stroked her hair as if she was a little girl. The tableau held for a few minutes as Beth released her bottled up emotions and Jenna continued to murmur quiet reassurances.

"Hey Sis! Who's your friend?" A throaty but feminine sounding voice interrupted the two embraced women.

Jenna pulled back, raising Beth's chin with her fingers so she could look into her eyes. "Beth, Shelly my sister is here, that's her car. I haven't seen her for six months and I got over excited and forgot how it might look having a strange car in the driveway. Can you forgive me?"

Beth reached out a hand, nodding, still too emotionally worked up to speak coherently. She felt foolish for being childish and getting worked up over nothing. Although it felt like a big deal at the time, she realized she had let things build up to a dangerous level where any little thing was liable to spark off an emotional storm. Beth allowed Jenna to help her up out of the car to meet her sister Shelly.

Standing halfway between the house and the car was a tall strawberry blonde woman in casual dress. She hadn't approached too close, once she had realized, her sister and the other woman were dealing with some emotional outpouring. That was something she was very familiar with, as she and her sister had weathered many of those during her transitioning period. She could see the dark haired woman, was trying to recompose herself, although her smudged makeup and panda eyes remained a mute reminder of the intensity of her outburst.

Looking at Shelly more critically, Beth could see a few small signs of her original masculine features. The slightly too large hands and feet plus, the slight bulge of her Adams apple, might not be obvious to someone in the street, but knowing she used to be a man, helped Beth notice the subtle differences. She had a nice shape, although her hips might have been a little narrow. Obviously hormones can only go so far to pad them out, but with her height it seemed to work. At least the first look said woman, and the second, Beth decided, as Shelly smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm Shelly, in case my forgetful sister didn't tell you," she smiled and stuck her tongue out at Jenna, who was about to protest.

"Beth... Beth Winslow," she replied, liking this lanky woman already. "Nice to meet you at last, Jenna has told me about you," Beth added with an answering smile.

Jenna was quietly sputtering in the background, trying to get a word in, before she decided to just stick her own tongue back out at her sister, which made Shelly smile all the more.

"Did she tell you... all about me?" She asked pleasantly, as if the answer mattered little.

"Um.... yes," Beth answered, not sure if it was rude to be checking her out so carefully.

Shelly laughed, seeming to take that in her stride. She did a little twirl so Beth could see all of her. Beth blushed, embarrassed, although she did take the opportunity to check out Shelly's derrière, (which was cute by the way).

Beth walked closer to shake Shelly's hand, but was instead hugged tight. Beth could smell a light feminine perfume on Shelly and made a mental note to ask her later, what it was. Another set of arms came round the pair as Jenna snuggled in.

"Room for another in here?" she asked quietly. Her answer was unspoken, as Beth and Shelly broke one set of arms to include Jenna in a three-way hug.

They broke apart and headed inside, Beth pulled Jenna aside to apologize for her childish tantrum, saying she didn't know what came over her. Jenna pooh poohed the apology, saying, everyone gets one of those days. Jenna's eyes opened wide in realization, when she said that. A look of wonder and joy filled her eyes as she told Beth to get her face repaired, while she went and got something.

Beth was wondering what had caused that look in Jenna's eyes, while she went to fix her face in her bedroom. Jenna came in and dropped a packet on the bed as Beth had made some headway on the ruined makeup.

"What's that?" she asked, not seeing the label from where she was sitting.

"Oh, just something for the visitor that's coming," was the evasive answer.

"A present?"

"Not exactly, it's for your monthly visitor," Jenna replied waiting anxiously for the outburst.

"My monthly visitor? Oh, you mean my period, Oh crap you mean..." stuttered an ashen Beth, as the idea of bleeding like a stuck pig entered her mind.

"Crap? Hmmm, close but it's the other hole, you know," Jenna smiled, trying to make light of the situation. "You realize this means you're fully a woman now, everything's working as it should be. You should be happy that you're not a 'something' in between, anymore."

"Oh that's not the reason for the curse; it's just its timing, what with everything else happening right now." Beth explained. "Is that why I am feeling rather emotional now, I mean more than usual?"

"Yes it is, but I'm sure you'll handle it when it arrives. At least you have me here to help; do you know how to use tampons? Or would you rather I go and buy some pads?"

"I'm sure tampons will be okay, Beth replied, blushing at the topic of conversation. "Is there a special method to using them?" Beth asked, deciding to be open and willing to listen to advice. "I'm kind of new at all this," she laughed, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Jenna was pleased Beth was being open on the subject of feminine hygiene; it couldn't be easy for an ex man to ask for help. It showed how far Beth had come in accepting being a woman. A funny thought came into her head, which made her giggle.

"Hey this must be hilarious for you," Beth said wryly, "you get to see a guy go through a period."

"That wasn't what I was giggling about, but you're right. A great many women would love to see their boyfriends or husbands deal with a period, aren't I lucky?" she laughed, hugging Beth to show she wasn't being mean. " What I was thinking of, was with your new acceptance of being a woman, I was guessing that you'd even get out a map if you got lost driving."

It took several seconds while Beth sorted out what Jenna had meant, before she burst out laughing hysterically. She nearly fell off the seat she was sitting on as tears rolled down her cheeks ruining her make up again. Shelly came bursting in to see what was going on, and was puzzled by seeing more tears from Beth, 'at least these are happy tears,' she thought. She was further puzzled by Beth as she accepted Jenna's assistance in redoing her makeup, as that brought back similar scenes in her own first attempts.

"Shelly, we have to talk, I'm afraid we have been keeping a big secret from you. Let's go into the lounge were we can tell Richard at the same time. There's no way we can hope to keep this quiet now Beth, we need to lay all our cards on the table, okay?" Jenna pleaded looking at Beth's concerned expression. Beth nodded and stood, feeling a bit like the lamb being led to slaughter.

Shelly was stunned, 'big secret? Was Jenna a lesbian and having an affair with Beth? It couldn't be the other. A quick thought that Beth was like her, a transsexual, had flashed across her mind when she saw Jenna helping with Beth's makeup. It had sparked that idea for a second, before being dismissed. No way. Beth was all women, that was for sure.' She followed then out into the lounge where the others were already sitting waiting for her.

"Richard darling, and Shelly, what we are going to tell you must be kept secret at all costs. Before I start, I'm going to tell you something... Beth is having her first period, which is why she may get rather emotional while we tell you her story. Bear that in mind and remember she is just as real a woman as I am. Jenna stated seriously.

Shelly was even more confused although Richard hadn't picked up on the lie. Beth couldn't just be having her first period, not at the age she was. She wondered why her dear sister was starting with such an obvious lie.

Jenna started to speak, telling them the unbelievable tale of Colin's transformation into Beth. Beth added her part to the story as time went on. Both Richard and Shelly were stunned beyond belief as the tale unfolded. Both Jenna and Beth sat back and waited for their reactions when they were done.

"There's more to this than your telling," Shelly said astutely.

Jenna grinned at her sister. "You were always able to tell when I was hiding something, even more so since..." she left the rest unsaid. " There is more, but for now I want to hear your questions or opinions. Does what we've said change the way you perceive Beth?"

"Not a bit, she is welcome in this house and I'll endeavour to assist in any way I can," Richard stated emphatically.

Jenna hugged her husband, and kissed him on the cheek. "Just for that, I'll think I'll keep you," she giggled.

"Beth's is having her period? Oh boy, I envy you...you lucky sod. That was one of my dreams before I even started on this road." Shelly sniffed, crying out her frustration. "Welcome to the other side of the fence, sister," she added hugging Beth for all she was worth.

"Oomph! Not so hard honey, even with these air bags, you'll do me damage with that hug," gasped out Beth, looking down at her breasts that were being flattened. "Besides I'd trade you the periods, for that lovely hair of yours."

"Done," Shelly, squealed, tearing off her wig and arranging it on the head of a gob smacked Beth.

Shelly's hair was still blonde but cut short in a Bob, that while still feminine, changed her whole look.

"Shelly! What did you do to your lovely hair?" gasped Jenna. "You cut it off...why?"

Um... you aren't the only one with a secret sis," Shelly replied shame facedly. "I lost the hair from chemo, I had cancer," she whispered into the stunned silence of the room.

"SHELLY!!!!" Screamed Jenna, rushing over to grab hold of her sister, tears flooding out in a torrent, as she sobbed against Shelly's chest.

To be continued in Chapter 6

Since 06/14/04