Metamorpho-sis (1st Song of the Kylie Warren Saga)
Part 2 of 3
by Jennifer Sue

Everyday is a transformation
Everyday is a new sensation
Alteration, modification
An incarnation, celebration
Everyday is a new equation
Everyday is a revelation
Information, anticipation
Onto another destination
Metamorphosis
Whatever this is
Whatever I'm going through
(Hillary Duff - Metamorphosis)
*****

As he slowly became aware of his body and surroundings, Kyle felt stiffness, pain and a parched throat. His brain seemed more than a bit foggy and disoriented but at the same time his astral mind remembered everything that had occurred and melded with his corporeal mind to bring order to the chaos. It was time to begin his plot to change his life. A low moan escaped his lips as he tried to flex his body only to discover he was strapped down.

"It's okay, Kyle," his mother comforted as she placed a hand on his arm. "Everything is all right. Just relax and let yourself wake up slowly."

Kyle sighed and forced his eyes to flutter open to see his mother's drawn face full of concern. Behind her he saw his father and brother, both equally concerned. Slowly he tried to wet his lips.

Seeing this his mother retrieved a cup and put a straw in his mouth. "Take small sips," she cautioned.

After several sips, he again wet his lips. Then to everyone's shock he smiled! Kyle actually smiled! No one in his family could remember the last time Kyle had smiled.

"Thank you, mommy," Kyle politely whispered in a soft girlish manner. "Am I going to be crippled?"

Dave, Laura, and DJ were stunned. It had been years since Kyle spoke that much or with any emotion.

Summoning his past stoicism he was able to stifle a cynical laugh at their reaction. "What's wrong," he sniffed feigning sissy terror. "Did they cut my leg off?"

"No sweety, no," Laura responded snapping out of her shock. "Your leg is healing a lot faster than the doctor's expected."

Looking perplexed and still scared, Kyle replied. "But it just happened! How do they know it's healing fast?"

"Oh Kyle, I'm sorry," Laura answered. "You were so badly injured the doctors thought it would be best if they kept you sedated so you could heal better. You were hurt ten days ago."

"Ten days!" Kyle exclaimed. "Wow, I really must have been hurt bad. How bad was I hurt?"

Dr. Alterson and Melissa Waters had just entered the room as Kyle asked that question.

"It's good to see you awake, Kyle. I'm Dr. Alterson. I'm going to be your family psychologist so we can help you get better."

"I've been looking forward to meeting you, Kyle. I'm Melissa Waters from the county child welfare office. I'm your case manager."

"I really must be messed up if I need a shrink and child welfare," Kyle whimpered as he cowered into the bed.

"It's nothing that can't be fixed," Melissa answered confidently. The frightened boy in bed was certainly nothing like the dour boy she’d been expecting. She went on to explain his physical injuries, including his concussion. Then she told him they were concerned about his mental well being because he'd ignored his injuries and had no friends.

"Yeah, I know I was really messed up in my head," Kyle sighed with apparent shame. "I hated my life and couldn't do anything about it so I just shut my emotions down."

Dr. Alterson spoke up. "Why did you hate your life?"

"Daddy will get mad at me if I tell," Kyle bit his lower lip and cowered.

Dave drew in his breath. The evidence of Kyle’s quite sadness and determination was clearly revealed in the films he’d watched with Dr. Alterson and Melissa Waters. Their insistence Kyle had been mentally abused greatly unsettled him. He had not wanted to believe he’d been unwittingly been abusing his son. Dave loved both his sons and had done what he thought was his best to raise them to be tough and determined in all they did. Now the shrinks were insisting the expectations and demands he put on the boys were accepted and well received for DJ but had been horribly wrong for Kyle. Everything he’d seen and heard since Kyle had awakened seemed to prove he had been horribly wrong in how he’d treated his youngest son.

"Kyle, I'm sorry you feel that way," Dave said determined to do all he could to correct his mistakes and attempt to make it up to his son. "I never meant to hurt you and apologize for any harm I've done. It's okay to tell us why you hate your life. I promise not to get mad at you and you have these two and your mother to back up that I'll keep that promise."

Because he perused all his medical charts while in astral form, Kyle knew all about the findings and concerns of Melissa Waters and Dr. Alterson and how they had backed his father into a corner. He also knew the professionals thought his father was honestly oblivious to the hurt he'd caused and that his mother had been too weak to resist or stop the hurt.

"But daddy, you always say a real man never apologizes," Kyle whined.

Everyone glared at Dave. "Kyle, I was wrong," Dave replied with embarrassment. "I've been a dumb stubborn jock and I'm ashamed to admit it took your being almost killed to open my eyes. A real man can and will apologize. An ignorant stubborn macho man won't. Thanks to Ms Waters and Dr. Alterson, I've learned how wrong I've been. Your mother tried for years to tell me I was hurting you but I couldn't see it and blew her concerns off. Now I've got to make it up to you and your mom. You're my son and I love you. I'll do all I can to help you."

Kyle was pleasantly surprised by his father’s confession and not sure how to react. To gain time to think he hung his head and summoned Jennifer Sue's girlishness to begin to cry.

With his past history, the fact Kyle was showing emotions and talking had surprised everyone. Calling his parents mommy and daddy was also a major change. The tears that so freely ran down his cheeks totally befuddled them. All were concerned the head trauma had effected his personality and worried there might be serious consequences.

Laura hugged Kyle as best she could until the tears stopped. "Kyle, please tell us what's wrong, she begged.

“I can’t,” Kyle softly sobbed.

“Yes you can,” Dr. Alterson reassured him. “You’re safe here.”

“If I tell you what’s wrong, you wouldn’t believe me and I’d get in trouble,” Kyle whimpered.

“Kyle, you won’t get in trouble and we will believe you,” Dr. Alterson tried to calm him.

"Well... okay... but daddy... please don't get angry," Kyle sniffled and cowered into his mother.

"I promised I won't and I stand by that promise," Dave reassured the trembling boy. "You're my son and I want to help you."

"But that's the problem, daddy," Kyle squeaked. "I'm not your son."

That frightened but obviously certain declaration clearly puzzled everyone but before they could respond Kyle went on.

"I hate sports," he sobbed pouring everything he had into his gut wrenching confession that was all too true. "I always tried as hard as I could and I know I did really well, but I hated it all the time. The more you made me do it, the more I hated it and the more I stopped being a person. I became an android like Data from Star Trek so it wouldn't hurt as much inside my head. You never let me play with stuffed animals or dolls. You insisted I play those nasty video games where you kill stuff all the time. I hated it all and I hated you for making me do those things! That's why I never talked to anyone and never made any friends, I hated being with boys and you wouldn't let me be friends with girls. But the worst thing is that I'm not your son!”

“Of course you’re my son,” Dave declared. “I’m sorry for pushing you like I did and promise not to do it any more.”

“You don’t understand,” Kyle wailed. “I’m NOT your son... I’ve never been your son! You tried and tried to make me be your son but you could never succeed because I'm your daughter!”

Everyone was clearly stunned by this unexpected declaration.

“I just got a birth defect that makes me look like a dumb boy,” Kyle exclaimed. “I hate looking like a boy and having everyone believing I’m a boy! I was to afraid to say anything and didn’t even know what to say. Besides, no one ever listened to me when I tried to say anything. You don't have any idea how many times I thought about killing myself! I was too scared though. I kept hoping I'd get killed playing some sport. When I saw my foot almost ripped off, I laughed because I thought I was dying and would finally be free!"

Tears were freely flowing down Laura's cheeks as she hugged Kyle. DJ just nodded his head as he remembered Kyle changing into an emotionless android. Dave was the most shocked. While he was aware of the transgendered, he had never believed it was a genuine condition but thought it was just some contrived terminology for being a gay crossdresser. He simply didn't believe it was possible. Now here it was being thrown in his face by Kyle. It had to be a real medical issue since Kyle had never been exposed to the concept of transsexuality. His initial impulse was to scold the boy but he'd promised to help his son... child... and had no idea how he could do so.

For Melissa Waters and Dr. Alterson, Kyle's heartfelt confession made all the strange misshaped puzzle pieces that was Kyle's existence fall into place. Being a super repressed frustrated angry transsexual certainly explained virtually all of Kyle's issues.

"Kyle, everything will work out," Dr. Alterson comforted. "I can appreciate your frustration. When no one would listen to you, you shut down. Turning off your emotions is a common way to deal with big issues. But it doesn't make the problems go away, it only postpones them and makes it even more difficult to solve. Frankly, I'm amazed you were able to keep it together for as long as you did. Unfortunately, now that it's out in the open, the pressure you've been keeping inside has now been dropped on your parents. The fact they didn't listen to you is not your fault. Now they have to deal with the consequences. It won't be much easier for them than it's been for you. They have promised to help you but they need to learn what it means to have a child born one gender who feels like the opposite gender."

"That brings up another matter," Dr. Alterson said. "Kyle, while I believe you feel like a girl trapped in a boy's body, by law I'm not allowed to make such a diagnosis based solely on your word. There are tests, physical and mental, to confirm your self-diagnosis. The official diagnosis for the condition you’ve described is Gender Dysphoria which simply means there are issues between your physical and mental genders. A person with Gender Dysphoria is called a transsexual. Before we can begin treatment we need to prove you are a transsexual and discover what type of transsexual you are. A transsexual may be satisfied by dressing and behaving as their mental gender while keeping their birth gender. Others need HRT, hormone replacement therapy, and/or surgery to physically change sex. This is called SRS, sexual reassignment surgery. They basically remove your birth gender organs and use them to create sexual organs that look like your mental gender. There are also many transsexuals who are content falling somewhere between the extremes. We need to see where you fit into the diagnosis."

"If we can officially diagnose Gender Dysphoria, then we can move ahead with making changes in your life," Dr. Alterson continued. "This can be a legal name change to give you a girl's name and even allowing you to attend school as a girl. This doesn't mean you can't experiment with dressing as a girl at home and even in public once you feel confident in a girlish identity. To do any of this we need your parents cooperation and understanding. All of you need to learn about Gender Dysphoria so you can handle the issues. It won't be easy because many people are bigoted and don't even try to understand. They'll tease and torment you and possibly assault you. Being transgendered is not easy, but it's a challenge you must take if you want to be a whole person, the person you are in your soul."

"You won't be going through this alone," Melissa Waters added. "We'll help you find information and support groups and will teach you how to educate people you meet in your day to day life. You'll also have the support of the County Child Welfare Department."

"Kyle, we'll do this," Laura assured him as she held him close and stroked his hair. "We'll learn how to deal with this together, as a family." With that said she looked at Dave and DJ for their agreement.

"Being a girl when you're really a boy sounds freaky," DJ nodded. "But I'll do all I can to help Kyle. After all, it'll be easier to explain Kyle is a girl than it's been trying to explain why he's been so nasty and quiet."

"Of course I'll cooperate," Dave assured her. "I can't promise I won't screw up because I'm set in my ways. But if everyone helps me by pointing out when I'm being an ass, I'll change and become the father Kyle deserves. Kyle, I'm sorry I've messed up things so badly and ask that you be patient with me while I adjust to the person you are inside. I'm actually looking forward to watching my daughter grow up."

"Daddy...," Kyle whispered nervously while pulling up Jennifer Sue’s emotions. "Can... can I have a hug?"

Tears filled Dave's eyes as, for the first time, he saw a frightened emotional little girl who only slightly resembled his tough stoic son. "Of course," Dave replied hoarsely as he stepped to the bed to awkwardly hug his new found daughter.

Even DJ hugged his new sister as, for the first time in years, the whole family smiled together. Dr. Alterson and Melissa Waters smiled at the scene, sure this family was on the road to reconciliation and recovery.

After about half an hour it became evident Kyle was growing tired so after tucking him into bed, the family left. For the first time in years Kyle smiled as he slipped into dreamland.

As his conscious mind slipped into sleep mode, he felt his astral self stir and rise. With a happiness he hadn't felt in ages, he squealed in sheer delight as he flew about the room with wild abandon. For the first time he felt as if he was actually in charge of his life. Absorbing Jennifer Sue's memories made the prospect of becoming a girl desirable, especially since he did genuinely detest being a boy. With the knowledge he'd gained from his research he felt confident he could easily fudge the psychological tests they'd give him to "prove" he was transgendered. The wisdom he'd gained from James would make sure his answers weren't too perfect which would raise red flags.

The only fly in the ointment was the treatments and surgery he'd have to endure to physically become a girl. Then an idea hit him. In his research he'd learned that some people were born intersexed. That had to be what the physical tests they intended to give him would investigate. Could he make himself become intersexed?

With a mere thought he found himself in the massive computer system of John Hopkins University. Some astral tentacles flowed through searching for all data on intersexed humans while others researched fetal development concentrating on the gonadal development. Soon he had tendrils in the systems of research hospitals and universities around the world. Based on what he discovered, he sent other tendrils out to find and absorb stem cell research. The mass of data he found and studied was interesting. Effortlessly he merged all the information into a workable fusion.

A few weeks after fertilization, the initial appearance of the human fetal genitalia is basically feminine: a pair of "urogenital folds" with a small protuberance in the middle and the urethra behind the protuberance. In typical fetal development, the presence of the SRY gene causes the fetal gonads to become testes; the absence of it allows the gonads to continue to develop into ovaries. Thereafter, the development of the internal reproductive organs and the external genitalia is determined by hormones produced by fetal gonads (ovaries or testes) and the cells' response to them.

If the fetus has testes and if the testes produce testosterone and if the cells of the genitals respond to the testosterone, the outer urogenital folds swell and fuse in the midline to produce the scrotum; the protuberance grows larger and straighter to form the penis; the inner urogenital swellings swell, wrap around the penis, and fuse in the midline to form the penile urethra. If testosterone is not present, normal female development continues, with the development of a perineal urethra and the formation of a uterus, clitoris and vagina. The Má¼llerian ducts, which are paired ducts of the embryo which empty into the cloaca and which develop into the upper vagina, cervix, uterus and oviducts; in the male they disappear except for the vestigial vagina masculina and the appendix testis.

Kyle jumped back into his body and examined his genitals in such great detail that any researcher would be jealous. As he assimilated the knowledge he gathered, he realized he might be able to make himself intersexed!

With growing excitement he found stem cells in his testicles. Carefully he nudged them out of place and into the blood stream and followed them until they reached the location in his abdomen where ovaries would be if he'd been born female. Carefully he planted them in place and stimulated them with the natural estrogen in his body. Using the techniques he'd developed in repairing the damaged areas in his lung, brain and ankle, he super-charged the development and growth of his suddenly nascent ovaries. Using the same techniques, he took more stem cells and began to grow fallopian tubes, a uterus, cervix, and a vagina.

One last task was too tweak the sexual chromosomes in his cells by duplicating his ‘X’ chromosome so he’d be ‘XXY’. He began with his blood cells and went on to the rest of his cells.

By the time he was ready to wake up the next morning, he was no longer just a boy. Even though his new female genitalia was still budding, Kyle was truly intersexed.

As he felt his body waking, Kyle set his body up to continue speed growing his new female organs as he decided to try another experiment. Instead of simply letting his astral self slip back into his conscious body, he only placed a tendril in his brain.

Instead of the usual gradual return to consciousness as he physically woke up, Kyle was instantly awake. With his eyes closed he could see about the room through his astral eyes. It really seemed strange. Then he opened his eyes. The room seemed to spin as a massive sensation of vertigo wracked his physical body. His astral self swirled about the room as if in the vortex of a tornado. At first he thought he was going to get sick, but quickly his astral self shut down it's vision. With that, the vertigo vanished.

After a few moments to re-center himself, Kyle analyzed his situation. His astral self was not a separate entity, it was simply a complex bit of multi-tasking. This was accomplished by using his "executive control" processes, his mental CEO. Centered in his brain's prefrontal cortex and other key neural regions such as the parietal cortex which he had preciously enhanced, these interrelated cognitive processes enabled him to establish priorities among tasks and allocate his mind's resources to them. For each aspect of performance, perceiving, thinking and acting, Kyle had developed specific powerful mental resources. Now that his physical conscious self and astral self were synthesized together, all the pieces quickly fell into place.

Slowly he opened his astral eyes. The vertigo returned for a brief instant, but he was able to segregate the dual vision and control both. It was really weird to lie in bed looking through his physical eyes while his astral eyes moved about the room. To his amazement, he could see his ghost-like astral self, still clad in the jogging suit he'd created when he first discovered his astral body was naked. With a smile he decided to see what he'd look like as a girl by creating one of Jennifer Sue's playful outfits on his astral body.

Floating above the foot of the bed, the jogging suit morphed into pink denim bib shortalls with a matching pink cotton T-shirt with lace trim about the cuffs and neck. Pink crew socks and sneakers adorned his feet. Then his hair morphed, creating a fringe of slightly curled bangs just above his eyes as the rest grew longer, gathered into bouncy twin ponytails at the sides of his head with a neat part right down the center of his head. Damn, he looked cute! Without changing his body one bit, he made a most acceptable girl.

As he admired his girlish self, he realized she needed a name. His research showed him that having a girl's name was one of the integral parts of being transgendered. It only took a moment of thought before he decided on Kylie, the girlish version of his boy name.

At that point an aide entered the room with a tray of food. Kyle realized he was starving and his astral self settled down to allow him to pay full attention to the aide. The aide placed the tray on the over the bed table as a nurse entered to assist Kyle into a sitting position. When the covers were removed from the dishes Kyle was a bit disappointed to see scrambled eggs and oatmeal.

"I'm sorry, Kyle," the nurse apologized as she saw his expression. "Your stomach isn't ready for solid food. If you eat everything today and have no digestive issues, we can put you back on solid food tomorrow."

"Okay," Kyle nodded utilizing James' wisdom to understand the reason for soft food. "If I do all right with this, at lunch can I have larger servings? I'm starving!"

"I'll see what I can do," the nurse smiled. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better. The entire staff was really concerned for you. If you're doing well, they'll soon transfer you out of ICU to the pediatric ward. Then you'll have company and access to a TV."

"Okay, thanks," Kyle replied as he picked up his spoon.

While he ate, he watched astral Kylie do cartwheels and somersaults as she danced about the room. Jennifer Sue's dance lessons proved accessible to him.

As he ate he realized he was not just operating on multiple levels, he was now simultaneously functioning on dozens of levels. As he ate and enjoyed the taste and texture of his food, some astral tentacles were still in the computers around the world mining data. Other portions of his mind were assimilating and correlating the influx of data. His astral body was still dancing and giggling in girlish glee. From his research he realized he had somehow made a massive cognitive leap in his mental capabilities, even able to directly access electronic technology. Normal multi-tasking might involve chewing gum while riding a bike, pedaling and steering to a destination and looking out for potential trouble while listening to an I-pod.

Now he was far beyond that level of multi-tasking. As he delved into the reasons he was able to do so much, he realized his mental id, or if you prefer, soul, had expanded from the confines of his physical brain into an ethereal astral dimension. The fact he had enhanced the function and abilities of his physical brain certainly helped. The realization his new capabilities were inextricably linked to his astral being caused him some concern.

Already he knew that in astral form his essence had mingled first with James Wilson and then with Jennifer Sue Charles. While the exchange with James had been brief, it had been enough to absorb the man's intellect. The longer contact with Jennifer Sue had created a mutual exchange of intellect. The fact they both passed over meant there was no danger from them. But what if he met someone who was not dying... someone like him... or something else entirely? Obviously there had to be some sort of actual existence in the astral dimension or he wouldn't be able to feel things and absorb information. This knowledge made him understand he had to find someway of protecting his astral self.

This made him think of his favorite book, The Lord Of The Rings, when Pippin found the Orb of Orthanc and was so drawn to it he peeped inside and saw the evil eye of Sauron. The mere memory of that evilness made Kyle shiver. Was there such an evil in the astral realm he roamed? How could he resist such evilness? Pippin was a good hobbit yet he was almost sucked into the evil.

With a building dread he felt he'd gathered enough information from the medical archives and needed to research whatever was available about the astral realm. Accordingly he moved his astral tendrils out through the internet to search for any knowledge of astral bodies and ethereal projection. The amount of information was staggering. Much of it came from religious and mystical legend and lore. A good portion also came from fantasy and science fiction such as Tolkien. Another massive amount came from the gaming worlds. Still more came from people who claimed to be psychics and such. A few were from physicists who theorized parallel and or alternate universes were be part of string theory. While nothing could be proved, some seemed to reflect portions of what he'd experienced.

Due to his experiences, he felt that his ethereal actions occurred on what most people called the astral plane of existence which was tied directly into earthly reality. He'd seen James Wilson and Jennifer Sue ascend from the astral/earthly nexus to something obviously better and at a much higher level which he considered to be heaven. By extrapolation that meant there had to be a lower plane known as hell. As some of the theories espoused, ghosts had to be astral beings who had lost their physical bodies but had not ascended or descended. That also meant demons could be real too and might be roaming the astral plane looking for a way to make trouble.

This in turn led him to believe that exorcisms did indeed cast demons out of earthly hosts. Most people were familiar with religious exorcisms. But many exorcisms were performed by those whose beliefs were outside the Judeo-Christian-Islamic beliefs. Druids and white witches cast out demons as did some psychics. The best form of defense against demons would be an unshakeable belief system that was based on goodness, faith, hope, life and love. As he searched for information on exorcisms he realized each at least somewhat documented successful exorcism had basic similarities. His astral experiences watching ascensions gave him an unshakeable belief that there had to be some sort of positive higher power of goodness.

After examining all possibilities to see which would best suit and protect him, he settled on an ancient Druidic belief, best represented by the Celtic Five Fold Symbol. Consisting of five equal sized circles, four circles overlap with the outer edge of all four touching a single center point while the fifth circle is centered on that center point and overlaps the other four circles.

The first fold represents the compass direction EAST, the element AIR, the season of SPRING, represents HOME & WEALTH, the tenet of VITALITY OF LIFE and the ritual of MOBILIZING.

The second fold represents the compass direction SOUTH, the element FIRE, the season of SUMMER, represents CREATIVITY & ART, the tenet of CLARITY OF LIGHT and the ritual of TRANSFORMING.

The third fold represents the compass direction WEST, the element WATER, the season of FALL, represents LEARNING & CHRONICLING, the tenet of GROWTH OF LOVE and the ritual of PURIFYING.

The fourth fold represents the compass direction NORTH, the element EARTH, the season of WINTER, represents VINDICATION & HONOR, the tenet of ORDER IN LOVE and the ritual of STABILIZING.

The fifth fold represents the CENTER of the compass, the element ETHER, between the seasons TRANSITION, represents ASCENSION & SPIRITUALITY, the tenet of BALANCE IN ALL and the ritual of TRANSCENDING.

Obviously, what he’d experienced in the astral plane matched almost perfectly with the meanings attributed to the Celtic Five Fold Symbol. Quickly he began to assimilate into his astral form. It felt weird, almost as if he was slipping on a suit of invulnerable armor. He could even feel all his astral tendrils becoming surrounded by the warm, comforting green glow of the Druidic derived Celtic Five Fold Symbol. The green glow signified thriving life, which, he realized, was his unassailable astral armor that would keep any and all demons and evil well away from him.

*****

After demolishing the breakfast, Kyle decided to check out the monitoring equipment in his room. Kyle was a bit surprised to see a tentacle emerge from Kylie to slip inside the first piece. Able to see what she saw, he was amazed as other tendrils popped out into the internet and computers to not only discover what each part of the machine did but how it did it and how it was made. Once established in their search, the visible manifestation of the tendrils faded away while the contacts remained.

By lunch, Kyle was famished. The massive self-healing he'd instigated combined with his efforts to grow female organs sapped his body's energy stores. Realizing he was in effect cannibalizing himself, he shut down the enhanced healing but continued the enhanced growth of his new female organs.

The nurse who watched him eat his lunch was surprised he ate the bland soft food with such relish. Usually people who came off enforced comas were groggy, had little appetite and slept most of the day, but this child was wide awake, hungry and perky.

When he finished, Kyle smiled at her. "I ate everything and feel okay. Is there anyway I can get seconds?"

"Let me check with the doctor," the nurse replied as she removed the tray. "I'll do what I can."

It was only a few minutes later three doctors entered the room. Kyle recognized them as some of the doctors who had originally worked on him when he'd been medi-vacced to the hospital. "Good morning," Kyle cheerily greeted them.

"Good morning," the surprised doctor's chorused back. Like the nurse, they were surprised to discover Kyle was awake and quite alert.

"I'm Doctor Proctor, your orthopedic surgeon. This is Doctor Walsh, your neurologist, and Doctor Lance, your pulmonologist," Dr. Proctor introduced the trio. "We were involved in your initial surgery and have been working on your case since. Frankly, your recovery has amazed us. We've never seen anyone come back so quickly from the terrible injuries you suffered. Now the nurses tell us you've eaten all your breakfast and lunch and have asked for more. That's also amazing this soon after emerging from a coma. We need to examine you to see how you're progressing before we decide if you're well enough to have more food."

"Let's get started," Kyle smiled. "I'm really hungry. I think my body is healing so well it's using up all my energy reserves and I need to replenish them."

The doctors smiled at the childish deduction knowing that couldn't be the case. Surrounding Kyle, the neurologist began to check his eyes as the pulmonologist checked his blood oxygen. The orthopedist with the assistance of a nurse, began unwrapping the ankle.

As the doctors were examining him, Kyle realized the doctors were stunned by the healing that had occurred. There was no evidence of brain damage. Lung function was above average, and the ankle looked as if the injury had occurred well over almost two months ago, not a week and a half.

Without consciously thinking, Kyle had Kylie tentatively slip an astral hand inside Dr. Proctor's head. The tingling she felt was like that of his previous astral contact with people but it was all one way. She was receiving but not sending. With the knowledge she'd gained coupled with examining the workings of her own brain, she was able to locate and read his thoughts and emotions. There was great confusion and mystification about how the healing he saw had occurred. In all his years of medical practice experience he'd never seen nor heard of such a miraculous healing and he wanted to know why.

This scared Kyle as he realized he'd rushed his healing too much. A quick check of the other doctors revealed similar concerns. At first Kyle considered trying to tweak their minds to not worry about the rapid healing but realized that would not be right and could jeopardize his astral armor. Reading their thoughts was one thing, trying to change their thoughts was quite a different matter and could have unforseen consequences. It would be better to let his healing resume a normal pace and only tweak it if something wasn't healing in the right way. In the mean time, it'd be best to play innocent and pursue his quest to complete his transformation to being intersex.

As the doctors were finishing up, Kyle looked at them hopefully. "So, am I healing okay?"

"Yes, Kyle, you're healing much faster than any of us hoped," Dr. Proctor replied smiling at the boy. "Our only concern is that you're healing too fast."

Kyle looked confused. "How can that be bad?"

"We're not sure if it is bad," Dr. Proctor replied. "We've just never seen anyone heal as rapidly as you've done."

"Then I might be right about my body using up it's energy to heal me," Kyle smiled innocently. "So can I have more food?"

The doctors chuckled. "I don't see why we can't," Dr. Lance said. "It'll still have to be soft food. Just make sure you don't eat so much you make yourself sick."

"I'll make sure of that," Kyle declared solemnly. "I hate barfing."

The doctors chuckled again. Dr. Proctor told the nurse to get Kyle another tray of food and left.

Kyle settled back and waited as Kylie followed the doctors and listened in on their discussion. They ordered extensive blood work to see if they could determine why he was healing so rapidly. They also ordered another full body CAT scan and MRI as well to compare it to the scans done when he was admitted so they could see the differences.

This knowledge concerned Kyle. The CAT scan and MRI would reveal the scaring on his brain had disappeared and that he now had female organs. Once more he realized every change he made would have consequences. The safest solution he could think of at this point was to somehow damage or destroy the previous scans so they could not compare the new to the old. He'd have to search out all copies of the original scans, whether electronic or hard, and ruin them. But if he did that, wouldn’t it raise more questions about his rapid recovery?

The nurse brought in a tray of food. With a smile he thanked her and began to eat, this time being cautious by eating in a dainty girlish manner. The nurse smiled to see he was not attacking the food as he’d done earlier.

After a bit of deep thought, Kyle decided to fabricate trace evidence indicating a fake conspiracy. While destroying all evidence of his earlier scans, he’d leave enough circumstantial evidence to make conspiracy conscious people assume some secret group had treated Kyle with an experimental drug that caused his rapid healing.

It proved easy to disrupt the electronically stored data by creating a powerful magnetic force in the ether and using a pin sized opening between astral and earth to scramble just the areas holding his scans in electronic storage. This would make it look like someone had intentionally erased his scans. It proved more difficult to disrupt the hard copies and printed summaries. Finally he settled on 'sending' an e-mail from the staff of Nuclear Medicine to the staff of the doctors who had the hard copies requesting the copies be sent back to the Nuclear Medicine Department for re-evaluation. Another e-mail was sent to the Hospital records department asking them to send all copies of Kyle’s recent tests and scans back to Nuclear Medicine Department for re-revaluation. Then he sent an e-mail to the Nuclear Medicine staff supposedly from the head of Nuclear Medicine to shred all the hard copies they were returning. The e-mails came from a staff terminal used by more than one person using passwords of recently terminated employees who had not been deleted from the system. No one investigating would be able to trace who actually sent the messages.

It would be a mystery as to who coordinated everything since the perpetrator would need unencumbered secret access the hospital’s Nuclear Medicine department. It would appear as if someone had tried an unapproved and possibly dangerous treatment that accounted for Kyle’s miraculous recovery and then had destroyed the pre-treatment scans to help conceal their identity and destroy evidence of his miraculous discovery. All scans and x-rays along with their written reports that documented proof of the seriousness of his injuries, would be gone. Any investigation that might be launched would simply turn up dead ends. While not a great plan, at least it seemed to be an effective one and did accomplish his goal. It also did not require him to tamper with anyone’s mind.

After doing all he could to destroy the evidence Kyle kept an astral eye peeled in the ECU halls to forewarn him of anyone coming to see him so he could probe their minds and greet them in the most effective personality mode to foster his emergent genger dysphoria. Dr. Alterson and Melissa Waters came into Kyle's room just after he'd finished lunch. Kyle smiled and reached out for hugs which they readily gave him.

Once the hugs were exchanged Kyle smiled perkily. "So how soon do we start the tests to prove I'm a girl?"

"As soon as you're transfered to a regular room in the pediatric ward," Dr. Alterson smiled. "All these machines will stay here and you'll be off the IVs. Then we can start giving you the psychological exams. We're coordinating with your other doctors to get copies of the x-rays, MRIs, CAT scans and blood tests you'll be recieving this afternoon."

"A nurse was in just before lunch and took six tubes of blood," Kyle replied. Then he stage whispered, "I think they only needed three so she must be a vampire."

The women laughed along with Kyle.

After a few more minutes of discussion, a nurse and an aid came in with a gurney to transport Kyle for his tests. Kyle maintained a girlish chatter as they removed the multiple monitoring sensors from his body, stopped the IV drip but left the trap in his arm. Then they transferred him from the bed and wheeled him through the halls to the nuclear department.

As all the tests were being being run, Kyle left an astral tentacle to follow the route of each to make sure he hadn't missed any of the previous tests to make sure they were all deleted.

When Kyle's family visited him that evening, they were pleased to learn Kyle was going to be transferred out of ICU into the pediatric ward the next morning. Not only that, he would be allowed to go on to regular meals! They were pleasantly surprised to see Kyle smile broadly and and hold out his arms for hugs as he began talking up a storm the moment they entered the room. They still hadn't adapted to his seemingly instantaneous personality change.

Kyle used his astral tentacles to read the thoughts and feelings of his family in order to tailor his appearance for the maximum girlish impact on each. Using every bit of girlish cunning and charm that he could summon from Jennifer Sue, he prattled about redecorating his bedroom, getting some dolls, going shopping for some cute new clothes, getting his ears pierced, his hair styled, getting a proper manicure and pedicure, and on and on, barely pausing to take a breath.

DJ shook his head in wonderment. The silent morose tough little brother he’d had for the last few years was no where in sight. Even though he knew it was Kyle in the bed, he felt as if he were looking at an excited babbling girl. Any doubt he’d had that Kyle hadn’t been serious about being a girl vanished. This is not to say he understood how that could be, but he had no doubts that his brother was now his sister.

Laura was simply so delighted to have her youngest child back she didn’t even question the instantaneous gender change. Besides, like most mothers, she had always wanted a daughter and readily agreed to consider all Kyle's requests if the official diagnosis proved he was a girl.

Dave had the hardest time accepting his new daughter. Even though he saw and heard a gabby girl, he couldn’t understand how his tough stoic son could have harbored this girl inside him. The past day he’d struggled with the concept that his son was suddenly his daughter. The idea seemed impossible and no matter how he tried to make some sense of it, no explanation seemed viable. Yet the child before him, once his son, now undoubtably appeared to be an irrepressible verbose girl. As he watched her he began to understand that no matter how impossible it seemed, she had replaced his son and it was his responsibility to see she grew into a strong adult.

After they left, Kyle smiled. Behaving like a girly girl was most certainly more fun than his past unhappy life as a boy. The fact the tests would show he was physically intersexed would make the personality change and his past stoic monk like life even more understandable.

Kyle's outlying tentacles followed the tests and he was right there when the stunning results were revealed. The chromosome test revealed he was intersexed with an XXY result. The CAT scans and the MRIs revealed he had a complete, although slightly immature for his age, female reproductive system and that his male organs also were complete. The studies of his brain showed no scarring. His ribs and lung seemed to have completely healed, and his ankle looked as it the horrific injury had occurred over two months before, not just two weeks ago. Tomorrow promised to be an interesting day.

After a hearty breakfast, Kyle was transferred to the pediatric department as promised. Before he left the ICU, he gave all the nurses thank you hugs for taking care of him. The girlish action did not go unnoticed. In Pediatrics, he was placed in a room by himself. When he questioned why, he was told the doctors had ordered him to be kept alone. Probing the minds of the ward staff revealed they were as clueless as he was about why this was done.

Popping astral searches out, he instantly located each doctor and probed their minds. They were stunned by the speed of healing and his obvious physically intersexed nature. They were perturbed about why they had not noticed his intersexed condition on the original studies. When they tried to compare the new tests with the old, they became extremely concerned when they’d discovered all his initial scans and tests had been deleted or destroyed.

The doctor in charge of Nuclear Medicine was quite perplexed when he investigated what had happened to the original results. Meeting with doctors Proctor, Walsh, and Lance, they compared the results of their investigations into what had happened to the original tests. It became quite evident that someone had intentionally deleted not only the tests themselves, but also the summaries of the tests. That the perpetrator had done so from within the Nuclear Medicine Department told them this was a well coordinated erasure effort. As Kyle had hoped, they assumed the mysterious perpetrator had given some super drug to Kyle in an unsanctioned experiment. They realized the numerous previously broken and cracked bones were barely evident in the new results. The massive damage to his chest was barely evident. The rapid healing of his shattered ankle was mind boggling. Of most concern was that the scarring on his brain had disappeared. Yet none of these miraculous recoveries could be proved since all evidence of the previous scans had been destroyed. Obviously some powerful organization had to be responsible for all that had happened and they didn't want it known. Knowing how conspiracy theories flourished and what could happen if they pushed the investigation further, they decided discretion was the better part of valor. Of course, that decision was made easier with a slight astral push from the tendrils Kyle had reading their thoughts. He hadn't planted the idea and fear in them, he just tweaked it up several notches.

While Kyle was astrally doing all this, Laura came into his new room. "Good morning, sweetheart." she greeted him with a hug.

"Good morning, mommy," Kyle replied with a girlish lilt as he eagerly returned the hug.

Laura was delighted with her reborn child. The years of anguished worry about Kyle were banished by his greeting.

“Mommy, I’m a little scared. The nurses don’t know why I’m in a room by myself. The doctors told me I’d be able to be with other kids once I was in the Pediatric Ward,” Kyle said after their hug. “Mommy, is there something wrong with me?”

“Oh no, Kyle,” Laura reassured him. “If there was something wrong they wouldn’t have moved you here. I don’t know why you’re alone but I promise to find out.”

“Okay,” Kyle replied softly. “It’s just with all that’s happened I get scared. I mean, I did almost die.”

“Yes you did,” Laura soothed. “But you’re out of danger now.”

“Okay,” Kyle smiled. “Mommy, will you take me shopping for some girls’ clothes once I’m better?”

“If Dr. Alterson gives us the okay, of course,” Laura smiled.

The rest of the morning sped by as Laura got to know her youngest child. She was amazed by Kyle’s open girlish emotion.

Kyle girlishly but voraciously attacked his lunch, the first solid food he’d had since before the accident. Even though he hated being a boy it took all his strength to restrain his all too boyish desire to scarf down the food. It was only by tapping Jennifer Sue that he was able to maintain a modicum of girlish control.

Shortly after lunch, Doctors Proctor, Walsh, Lance, and Alterson entered the room with Melissa Waters. It was clear they were upset about something. Quickly they assured Kyle and Laura that Kyle was doing well, explaining they were upset that there had been some sort of mistake which resulted in the destruction of all the records of his initial tests and scans.

“What we found in the scans and tests we did yesterday stunned us in a good way,” Dr. Proctor explained. “Kyle, your injuries have healed faster than any of us has ever seen. It looks as if your injuries occurred eight weeks ago instead of two.”

“I’m not complaining,” Laura declared. “But how is that possible?”

“To be honest, we have no idea,” Dr. Lance replied. “Without the initial tests and scans, we have nothing to compare and thus have no proof showing how serious Kyle was injured. All we have is our memories of what we saw but without the actual results, we can discover little or nothing.”

“The tests and scans we just did have also shown that your feelings of being a girl are justified,” Dr. Alterson added with a smile. "You are a boy but you're also a girl."

Laura looked as perplexed by that statement.

“YES,” exclaimed Kyle. “I KNEW I was a girl!”

"And you’re also a boy, Kyle. Most people have either an XX or XY chromosome pattern," Dr. Alterson explained upon seeing Laura’s and Kyle’s confusion. "Females are XX and males are XY. In your case, Kyle, you have a third chromosome. Your pattern is XXY, meaning you are both female and male. This is not all that unusual, about one in a thousand people have three sex chromosomes. Most people with this generally have one sex predominant with some ambiguity in the appearance of their sexual organs. What is unusual is that you have complete sexual duality. This means you have all the male sex organs and all the female sex organs. The hormone levels in your body are also mixed. Children before puberty have a mix of male and female hormones with their chromosomal hormones slightly predominant. Most children at your age are just starting puberty, the time of life when their chromosomal hormones start to become fully dominant which causes their bodies to develop into men or women. Your male and female hormonal levels are elevated at normal age appropriate levels for both male and female with the female being minimally higher."

"So I'm a girl and a boy," Kyle stated as if making sure he understood. "And I'm entering puberty as a boy and a girl."

"It's a lot more complicated but basically you're right," Dr. Alterson said.

"It can't be anymore complicated than the way I've been," Kyle replied honestly. "So if I feel like a girl, can't I just get the boy bits cut off and be a girl?"

"It's possible, but I strongly recommend against doing that," Dr. Alterson declared. "I know you feel like a girl, but it's possible you might later decide you really want to be a boy. Knowing you're physically intersexed, I don't see any problems why we couldn't let you start experimenting with being a girl. If you like it, we can give you medication to shut down the testosterone which will shut down male puberty but allow it to be restarted at a later date."

"I understand," Kyle said. "Except I don't want to experiment with being a girl. I want to actually live like a girl full time starting as soon as possible."

"That might not be a good idea," Dr. Alterson responded. "Showing up at school as a girl could create a lot of problems."

"It won't be any worse than what I've been experiencing," Kyle declared. "If I go back to school as a boy, no one will trust me to be any different than I've been in the past. If I show up as a girl, it'll be easier to show how I've changed. I know some people will try to be stupid, but since I really am a girl, they'll settle down. If they don't, they weren't worth being friends anyway. I need to make a clean break with my past, and being the girl I am will be the most effective way. Besides, yesterday you told me the County Children's Services would support me. Were you lying?"

"No Kyle, we weren't lying," Melissa Waters reassured him. "But Dr. Alterson is right, going back as a girl could create unnecessary issues."

Kyle shook his head and looked at them as if they were stupid. "Do you really think those problems wouldn't be worse if I return as a boy and then change into a girl?"

Dr. Alterson and Ms Walters exchanged dumbfounded looks.

"Kyle makes a good point," Dr. Proctor smiled.

"It's my life," Kyle stated firmly. "I hated being a boy and now that I know I'm really a girl, even if I'm still really a boy too, I'm going to be a girl. From now on, my name is Kylie!"

The conviction and finality in Kylie's voice left no doubt she was quite serious and determined to be the girl she felt herself to be.

“Kyle... Kylie, it’s not quite that easy,” Dr. Alterson countered. “We’ll still need the results of the psychological tests to convince the powers that be. If you’re feeling up to it, I’ll start the tests later this afternoon.”

“I’m ready now,” Kylie exclaimed.

“Take it easy, Kylie,” Dr. Proctor chuckled. “You’ll be here for at least another week. We need to monitor your healing and start you on physical therapy. Dr. Alterson will have to schedule the psyche tests around your therapy sessions.”

“Okay,” Kylie agreed. “But I want everyone to call me Kylie and to treat me like a girl.”

“I’ll put a note on your file,” Dr. Alterson promised. “But don’t get obstinate if someone calls you Kyle.”

Kylie nodded her head then yawned.

“Kylie, maybe you’d better take a brief nap before you begin Dr. Alterson’s tests,” Dr. Proctor smiled.

Kylie smiled and nodded agreement. “Can I have hugs,” Kylie asked sweetly.

Everyone smiled and lined up to hug the cute girl.

Laura was the last to hug Kylie. Tears of joy filled their eyes as they hugged. “Princess, you were right. I apologize for ever doubting you.”

“It’s okay, mommy,” Kylie smiled. “I was afraid to push the issue and daddy was just... being daddy. Now he’ll understand!”

“If he doesn’t, he’ll be sorry,” Laura promised. “Now, you get some rest. I’ll be back with your daddy and DJ after supper.”

After another hug, Laura left.

Kylie settled smugly back. Again she’d had her astral tentacles in each person’s mind so knew how to best present herself. She also tweaked up their thoughts about accepting her girlishness.

Then she began to giggle. She had quite literally turned herself into a girl! Jennifer Sue’s memories and emotions had easily overwhelmed his pitiful boyishness. Kylie was fully aware just how drastically she’d changed and had no regrets. There was virtually nothing about her boyhood she liked or wanted to retain. He’d hated his life and all things macho that seemed aimed at crushing his spirit. He’d survived by becoming vicious and a loner. Of course, those things had forced him into creating his mental hideaway that led to his ability to travel astrally. While he’d opened up a bit with his conscious astral escapades, his encounter with James Wilson had done nothing to increase his appreciation of being a male. What he’d learned from Jennifer Sue gave him hope and led to his plan to become Kylie. That made her wonder what he’d have done if he hadn’t encountered Jennifer Sue. Those were dark thoughts not appropriate to delve into.

Kylie knew she wanted to be a girl and would encourage her feminine puberty. What she was far less sure about was what to do about her male organs. While she didn't want to be a boy, what she'd discovered in her research made her wonder if keeping them might be worth while. Being dual sexed seemed like an exciting option. It would be ideal if she could keep her male bits functional while suppressing all other male secondary sexual characteristics. She'd have to do more research to see how she could let her female side grow without inhibiting her male organs as well as how she could make her male organs functional without impacting her feminine development.

Dr. Alterson returned with a binder and video camera, explaining she needed to video tape the verbal psyche testing for later review and evidence for any who might question the manner in which the test was given. Kylie readily agreed and after setting up the camera to record them, she hung a sign on the door asking not to be disturbed and took a seat by Kylie’s bed.

As she was setting things up, Kylie astrally identified the test. Sending out searches she found the test and how the results would be interpreted to determine gender orientation. With astral probes firmly in place in the various web sites and monitoring Dr. Alterson, she was ready for the test by the time Dr. Alterson was finished setting up. After instructing Kylie to answer the questions by giving her initial reaction, not thought out answers, the test began.

Even though she'd instructed Kylie not to think about the answers, Dr. Alterson was amazed that Kylie actually took little time to think about her responses to the questions and scenarios. The open, rapid responses showed the answers were instinctual gut reactions. This meant the answers were honest and not thought out which would reveal her true gender.

Dr. Alterson was amazed by the test results. Even without going to the matrix to determine the degree of femininity verses masculinity in the responses, she knew from experience that Kylie would score extremely high on the feminine scale and extremely low on the masculine scale. In her years of experience she had never seen anyone respond so consistently feminine. She was glad she'd video recorded the session because most fellow psychologists would not believe the results.

Dr. Alterson smiled at Kylie once the test was completed. "I'll have to do an official scoring, but I feel confident you'll score very high on the female side and quite low on the male side. I no longer have any professional doubts that mentally you are a girl. Of course, I still need to score this test before I can put that in writing, but when I come in to see you tomorrow, I feel confident I'll be able to do so. I will put a note in your file of my preliminary opinion to reinforce my request everyone treat you as a girl."

"Thank you, Dr. Alterson," Kylie smiled sweetly as she held out her arms for a hug. As the doctor left, Kylie smiled to herself. Hugs were really nice and felt wonderful. It seemed as if other people also liked hugs. Being a girl was really nice!

When supper arrived, the aide smiled and addressed Kylie as a girl. Since Kylie had shut down most of her sped up healing her body was no longer demanding replacement energy in the form of food. As she ate her meal, she did so in a sedate manner, fully chewing and savoring each bite. The amount she picked up with her utensils was also smaller which made it easier to handle so nothing was spilled.

Her family arrived while she ate, they stood silently at the door watching her for a few minutes noting the girlish manner in which she ate. Of course, Kylie knew they were there as she still maintained astral surveillance of the hallway.

Kylie learned that as her family ate a quick supper, Laura informed Dave and DJ that the physical tests had revealed that Kyle was intersexed, truly both male and female and that she insisted that since she really was girl that everyone should call her Kylie. The thoughts of the family were mixed and made them uncertain about how to handle the situation. That is until they stood by door looking into Kylie's room.

The news that Kyle was intersexed surprised DJ who had never heard that such a thing was possible. However, they were talking about his weird little brother so anything was possible. At least it'd make telling his buddies that Kyle was really a girl true. Of course, although he tried not to let it get to him, it did bother him quite a bit that it was his little sister that beat him at the video games and outplayed him on the sports fields. Yet as he stood watching her, he understood Kylie would no longer be competing against him in sports or video games.

Dave was dazed upon learning Kylie was intersexed as he'd heard of hermaphrodites but always assumed they were freaks. To learn that his youngest was intersexed simply blew his mind. Dave stood behind DJ in silent awe as they watched Kylie eat. His youngest son was eating like a dainty girl... but then she was a girl. It really struck deep into his very being that the way he’d unwittingly treated Kyle had indeed been abusive.

Laura smiled, anticipating doing mother daughter things once Kylie fully recovered.

Once their thoughts were all positive, Kylie 'noticed' her family at the door. Swallowing her food she squealed with girlish delight and reached out for hugs which they all gave her. The hug made DJ feel more secure that Kylie would give him no more competition, made Dave realize at an even deeper level that Kylie was his daughter, and simply made Laura happy.

They told Kylie to finish her meal as they talked. Laura explained the doctors said Kylie would be in the hospital for another week and that if her physical therapy went well she'd be able to go home and return to school.

With that Kylie looked at DJ. "DJ, tomorrow morning, could you please stop in my home room and tell Mrs. Wentzel I'm doing better and would like to begin making up the work I've missed. If she can get some of it together by the end of the day, could you please bring it in?"

"Sure, Kylie," DJ smiled feeling better that there was finally something he could do for his sibling.

Thanks, big bro," Kylie giggled. "You can tell them I'm getting better and may be able to return in a week or so. I guess it'd be best if you don't tell them I'm girl yet," she added with a hint of sadness. Then she looked at everyone and smiled broadly. "Dr. Alterson gave me a big psychologic test this afternoon. She said she had to score it to make it official, but said that she no longer had any doubts that in her professional opinion I'm a girl.”

“Well, since you’re a girl,” Dave began almost tongue in cheek. “I guess I better repaint your bedroom before you come home. Do you have a color preference?”

“Oh thank you, daddy,” Kylie exclaimed. “I do have a color scheme in mind. I’d like the walls a soft pink, the trim a glossy bright lavender, the ceiling a glossy bright pink, and a soft lavender rug. Can I get new furniture too? Pretty please?” She recalled how Jennifer Sue’s bedroom was decorated and liked it’s total femininity, thus had decided to redo her bedroom in a similar manner when the chance arose. It just came up a lot quicker than she’d thought.

DJ laughed as Dave’s mouth dropped open. Even though they had previously mentioned the possibility of repainting Kylie’s bedroom, this evening’s question about repainting the bedroom had been made in semi jest. He’d never expected Kylie to already have a color scheme in mind.

“I’ll pick up some color samples tomorrow for you to make selections,” Laura chirped happily.

Dave narrowed his eyes and looked at DJ. “You won’t be laughing when you’re helping me pull all the furniture out of Kylie’s room, sanding and painting the trim, repainting the walls and ceiling, and tearing out the carpeting.”

DJ’s laughter trailed off as he realized what he was facing.

Dave broke into a grin. “It’ll give us a chance to do some guy stuff together while the women folk dither. Come on, let’s go down to the hospital restaurant. Shakes for everyone, I think Kylie would like a strawberry milkshake.”

“Mmmmm,” Kylie smiled. “That sounds yummy!”

DJ smiled as he stood up to follow his father. “I have a very strong idea our life is going to be quite interesting with Kylie around.”

Beside the restaurant was the hospital gift shop. DJ hesitated at the display window. Dave came back to join him seeing that DJ was looking at the stuffed animals. "Stuffed animals?"

"Yeah," DJ answered. "I remember when Kyle was a real small he had a stuffed cat that he carried everywhere. Now that I think about it, he started to change when you ripped it apart threw it out saying he was too big for such a sissy thing."

Dave was shocked. Kyle was three when he'd destroyed the tattered stuffed cat he called Puddy. The toddler was inconsolable for over a week and lost his joy of life. Now that DJ brought it up that was about the time Kyle started shutting down his emotions. Damn, Kyle knew he was a girl way back then! "You're right," he admitted. "I was so stupid. Let's go in. I'll pick out a cat to replace Puddy. You pick something else you think Kylie might like."

Dave finally selected a plush Calico cat that looked like Puddy. DJ selected a caterpillar that you could turn inside out to reveal a beautiful butterfly. "That's a good choice," Dave told DJ. "It symbolizes Kylie's emergence."

DJ smiled and nodded. Dave paid for the gifts and told DJ to stay while the clerk gift wrapped them so he could go next door to get the milkshakes. "The way Kylie reacted to the idea of having a shake," Dave chuckled. "I don't think she could hold out too long waiting."

Laura and Kylie were still jabbering away when the guys returned. Kylie knew they had gotten her gifts but held back from probing their minds further as she wanted to be surprised. Dave carried the shakes while DJ tried to hide the gifts from Kylie's view. Kylie let him deceive her as she eagerly accepted the strawberry milkshake from her dad as DJ placed the wrapped gifts on the floor. The conversation was a bit stilted as they enjoyed their treats.

Once everyone was finished with their shakes, Dave nodded to DJ. "Kylie, DJ had a wonderful idea while we went for the shakes."

DJ smiled broadly as he squatted down and picked up the gifts to lay on Kylie's lap.

Kylie squealed with delight and girlishly clasped her hands at her throat as DJ pointed out the surprise he'd selected. "Open this one first. I picked it out especially for you."

Kylie smiled broadly as she carefully opened the wrapping paper being careful not to tear the paper. Before she opened the box, she carefully folded the paper and put it on her bed table.

"Shesh," DJ whined but smiled. "She's already doing things like a silly girl."

Kylie playfully stuck her tongue out at him. Then she opened the box. "Oh it's a cute fuzzy caterpillar," she exclaimed as she picked it up and rubbed it against her cheek.

"It turns inside out," DJ smiled pleased she liked his gift.

Kylie took a moment to examine the caterpillar and determined how to invert the stuffed toy. As she did so, the colorful butterfly emerged. "Oh DJ, it's so adorable! Thank you, big bro!"

"When I saw it I thought of you," DJ said. "Kyle was the caterpillar, you're the butterfly, lil' sis!"

Kylie's eyes filled with tears of joy as she reached out to DJ for a hug. DJ hugged her as she sobbed, unsure why she was crying. He looked toward his dad for help.

"It's one of life's mysteries," Dave replied with a shrug. "You'll have to get used to females crying when they're happy."

After releasing DJ, Kylie sniffed back her tears of joy and hugged the butterfly to her chest, grinning happily. "I love it DJ! My first stuffed animal!"

"Not quite," DJ said mysteriously. "Open dad's gift."

Perplexed, Kylie looked at her father who smiled. "It's sort of an apology. I hope you can forgive me for what I did to you nine years ago."

Laura was as confused as Kylie while DJ grinned like a Cheshire Cat. Kylie put the butterfly by her pillow and began to open the remaining gift, being as careful with the wrapping as she was with that of DJ's gift. When she opened the box she froze with mouth agape and longing eyes for several seconds.

"Puddy...," gasped softly as her eyes filled with tears. "Daddy... you found Puddy!"

"It's not your old Puddy," Dave cautioned more than a bit worried about her reaction.

Kylie gingerly reached in and daintily lifted the calico cat from it's box. She held it out and turned it about. "I know it's not the same but it is PUDDY. My PUDDY! Oh daddy, it's the bestest gift ever," she squealed with delight as she crushed the stuffed cat to her chest and twisted her body back and forth as she fiercely hugged Puddy. Tears freely flowed down her cheeks.

Laura bit her lips and blinked back tears as she saw the gift and Kylie's reaction. She stepped to Dave and gave him a loving hug.

Hugging Puddy to her with one arm, Kylie reached her other arm out to her father for a big thank you hug.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly as the family began to bond in their new dynamics. Kylie never left go of Puddy.

For the first time in years, cuddled with Puddy, Kylie fell asleep quickly with a contented smile upon her face.

While her physical body rested, Kylie decided today had been the best day she could remember. She decided that instead of probing people's minds, she'd simply monitor their moods. By doing that with her dad and DJ, their gifts had been genuine delightful surprises. Knowing everything in advance took the adventure out of life. Of course, there would be occasions when knowing other's thoughts could be helpful, but it could also lead to misuse and abuse. The only exception would be if she sensed anger or hard determination that might endanger her or someone else.

*****

Dr. Alterson spent the evening scoring the test she'd given Kylie. The results were almost unbelievable. Dr. Alterson scored Kylie at the 92nd percentile on the scale for females and at the 7th percentile on the scale for males. The taciturn boy who dominated the school records and interviews was barely evident. It seemed as if Kyle had simply died on the football field and a sweet dainty girl appeared out of nowhere to take his place. Fortunately she had no idea how close to the truth her conjecture really was.

Dr. Alterson called a colleague to ask if he could watch the video and score the test tomorrow before she saw Kylie again. Realizing Dr. Alterson wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, the doctor agreed.

The next morning the man dove into the task. The doctor didn't know anything about Kylie except what he saw in the film. He too was amazed by the rapid, by what he assumed to be the girl's open and clearly honest responses. His scoring was close to Dr. Alterson's results, scoring at the 91st percentile for females and at the 5th percentile for males. The experienced doctor had no idea why Dr. Alterson wanted him to score the test.

When he brought his results to Dr. Alterson he was shocked to read Kyle's history. The child he saw on the test video couldn't be the same as the boy portrayed in Dr. Alterson's case study. Then Dr. Alterson showed him the video of the football game. The tough Spartan like boy on the screen was physically recognizable as the girl in the test video. The horrific injuries Kyle had silently endured were mind boggling. That the recalcitrant boy had awakened from his coma as the bubbly girl she now appeared to be was simply remarkable. He was surprised to learn that Kylie was a true intersexed person but felt as Dr. Alterson did, the XXY status could be the only logical explanation for Kylie's seeming instantaneous appearance once the iron facade Kyle had erected was destroyed on the football field.

*****

The remainder of Kylie’s hospital stay flew by. Instead of a normal cast, she was fitted with a custom made strap on brace that allowed the wound to breathe and could be easily removed for cleaning her injury. There was a hard shiny plastic molded shell that snapped around the braces to protect her ankle while she was crutching and out in public. Physical therapy sessions each morning and afternoon were physically trying. None of the therapists could believe Kylie had been so seriously injured and healed so rapidly. They all admired the plucky girl as she valiantly bore the pain as she worked to restore function to her shattered leg. By the end of the week, she was able to easily move about on crutches.

The few remaining psychological tests simply reinforced the findings of the initial test. The family had two joint evening counseling sessions with Dr. Alterson where the new family relationships and respect flourished.

During the little free time she had, Kylie went to the pediatric common room where she met other children. It was difficult for her to overcome her former reticence and be friendly. Fortunately she was once more able to tap into Jennifer Sue’s experiences to be congenial. She practiced being open, friendly, smiling, giggling and playing with other children. She found it really wasn’t difficult and was quite exhilarating.

One thing Kylie discovered was that by restricting her astral intrusion into other’s minds while simultaneously keeping constant protective astral monitoring about her physical body, her ability to sense other’s moods developed into the ability to see a person’s aura. Auras were not just a single color, it was more like a rainbow of multiple colors. One stripe allowed her to almost instantly tell if a person was good, bad, or where they fell between the two extremes. Another stripe allowed her to sense a person’s underlying outlook on life. One stripe revealed the person’s current mental state. Another stripe represented their physical health. Yet another stripe revealed a person’s ambition and drive. Another stripe denoted a person’s interpersonal abilities. In her astral roaming of the hospital, she could tell if a person was dying as their vitality aura greyed. When she saw a dying person in astral form she avoided contact and scurried away, not sure if her interaction was a good thing or not. Her two encounters had been beneficial, but she felt she’d been lucky.

Even though Kylie had documented proof she was a intersexed, she understood some people would still be bigoted and might possibly attempt some sort of physical attack. She tapped into James Charles’ military experience in hand to hand combat and merged it with Jennifer Sue’s dance ability. Then she searched the internet for martial arts tutorials to meld into her absorbed skills. Using her astral body, she practiced and perfected multiple martial arts techniques. She just hoped she’d be able to translate it from her astral form to her physical body.

Kylie also used her astral tentacles to search the internet sites of local stores for furniture styles, cost and availability to furnish her new bedroom. The style she selected was white wicker. She mentally 'book-marked' the site then hit Wal-Mart's site to select a basic wardrobe that she felt would suit her new girlishness. When her family came in that evening, after exchanging small talk and getting her school work from DJ, she turned on all her girlish charms.

"I really could use a laptop computer for a lot of these assignments," Kylie said. "The computer DJ and I share is in his room and, no offense DJ, but he's using it most of the time so I was hardly been able to get on it. I never complained because that's the way I was then. Now I'm going to want to be online a lot more and using it for school work. Having my own computer would prevent any issues from developing over who is using the computer."

"She's right dad," DJ acknowledged. "Next year Kylie will need a computer for school assignments and I'm sure my assignments won't go down. I think getting Kylie a new laptop would save us from fighting."

“Please, daddy pretty please," Kylie coquettishly asked.

Dave nodded his head. "I'll pick one up tonight on the way home and mom can bring it in tomorrow."

Laura smiled and winked at Kylie. A girl for less than a week and she had her daddy wrapped around her pinky.

The next day she logged onto the sites and e-mailed her selections to her parent's computer so her parents could get her new furniture for her soon to be painted bedroom and her mom could pick up the basic wardrobe she selected.

With a smile of satisfaction she once more began to astrally roam the hospital.