Synopsis:

Scott was on his way west to meet up with his friends to start a new life in L A. What he came across in the desert after his car broke down would change him forever. He wondered if his friends would recognise him once they finally met again. He didn’t think this was what his friend’s intended when they said, "start a new life."

Chapter Fifty-Eight

"I thought all children were masters of chaos," Sara said, voicing both her and Jenna's thoughts.

Kim grinned at that, before becoming serious, as she explained.

"I don't want to bore you with chaos theory, let's go for something simple. You both know about Murphy's Law?" Here, Kim waited as the two nodded their heads.

"Whatever can go wrong, will?" Offered Jenna, filling in the pause.

"Something like that, there are other variations of it," Kim affirmed. "Just imagine if you could change the odds, so that everything went wrong in the worse possible way. You could disrupt everything. You were lucky you didn't get a power cut, or the hot water pipes burst, when Cathleen used her gift."

"That's pretty frightening," Jenna gasped, thinking of other possibilities. The last thing she wanted, was to be in fear of her own child.

"Don't worry, I think once you tell her, she won't do anything to hurt you or us," Kim explained, trying to calm Jenna's fears.

"What if she can't control them?' asked Sara, looking for some alternatives.

"We could use the glasses to help give her control," offered Kim.

Sara nodded. "This could make a very effective weapon," she mused.

"That is correct, and one which might help in the fight against the Nemesis. If Cathleen can project the chaos effect in a beam, it could disable the way they move though space and even prevent them using their primary energy source." Kim finished.

They sat there, digesting the news, until Julie interrupted their thoughts, when she came up and asked if they were going to test Jenna's powers now.

"Sure," Kim answered, after getting an affirmative nod from Jenna.

Kim put Jenna though a series of tests till lunch, before resuming afterwards. Progressing, a step at a time, Jenna could form the Nozone, as they'd named it, and walk out of it, into real time. Eventually, she could form bubbles of Nozone, without being inside it. One of the tests used a torch with new batteries in it, which was turned on and then enclosed in a small bubble of the Nozone. As the table and the torch on it vanished, everyone waited while the minutes ticked past. When the bubble was collapsed, the torch was out, having flattened the batteries, even though it had only been about 5 minutes in real time.

Kim wondered whether once Jenna and Richard managed to form a nexus of their own, if others could manipulate the spheres of Nozone with TK powers, once the different Nexi having that power were combined with them.

Kim called a halt to the testing, which pleased Jenna, as she was feeling wrung out. Luckily the evening meal had already been organised by Amelia, so everyone sat outside on the balcony, watching food cook on the large BBQ. Both girls chased the pets in and out of the house, laughing and giggling as they waited for the food to arrive. Jenna looked at Sara, swapping the same look, as they watched Maggie and Cathleen play.

Cathleen had been spoken to, about her gift, during lunch, and had promised not to affect anything around the homes. Until they knew the extent of her powers, Cathleen had to refrain from using it, until she could be tested and trained. Kim had used the glasses, hypnotising Cathleen, to help her understand and control her gift.

Several days passed, until Kim was satisfied that both Jenna and Cathleen could develop their gifts without outside help. The morning Kim left to over see more global matters, Sara promptly shanghaied, all the Hitch family for a trip to the dressmakers.

Richard had been surprised at the news about having a proper wedding, even more so, when he heard what he'd be wearing. Although Richard hadn't refused to be a bride, he thought that there was no way he could carry it off.

"Look at me," he'd urged. "I'm not exactly dainty. Even if you were to change me into a female, I'm afraid of messing things up with my clumsy attempts at being ladylike."

Jenna and Sara winked at each other, knowing the battle was nearly won. The built in instincts, which the Shelke had incorporated into these bodies would take care of all the former male mannerisms. Both of them knew just how effective those instincts were.

After Richard had selected a suitable female body from the laptop, Rachel, Richard's fem name was reluctantly ready to go. Rachel looked in the mirror before leaving, to double check that her new body hadn't reverted to Richard's while she wasn't looking, and making him look like some hideous drag queen.

Richard had done what others had, selecting a twin of the one they loved. Rachel was the spitting image of Jenna, except for one thing, her hair. Whereas Jenna had strawberry blonde locks, Rachel was brunette, giving them an almost, good twin, evil twin look. Not that anyone would believe that, given how cute Rachel looked.

Jenna was impressed. Not only by Richard's choice of body, have (they said imitation is a severeness form of flattery). But by picking out a hair colour that suited her and a means of telling them apart.

"I may have to try being brunette," laughed Jenna, checking Rachel out from all sides.

"Come on, next you'll be swapping clothes and makeup," sighed Sara, pretending to be impatiently waiting.

Jenna turned and winked at her, knowing the gentle ribbing was to help Rachel feel at home in her temporary body.

"Do I need more makeup?' asked Rachel worriedly, fearing her appearance wasn't up to scratch.

"You're fine as you are," Sara and Jenna said in unison, before swapping grins again.

With a last look in the mirror to fluff up her hair, Rachel turned to go. She couldn't see how feminine and natural, her actions seemed, but Sara and Jenna did. Sara gave surreptitious thumbs up to Jenna, as they flanked their newest addition to the oestrogen club, and escorted her to the car.

Cathleen and Maggie were already bouncing around inside, having given their pets into Julie's care, for the day. The three ladies were hardly enough to curb the two excitable children, as they made their way into town.

If the staff of the shop saw something odd in the way Sara kept bringing in more twins as either brides or bridesmaids, they kept their thoughts to themselves. They surrounded the Hitches, first with tape measures, and then with stylebooks, before showing them their selection of gowns they had in stock.

Jenna just revelled in the attention, as did Cathleen, when they fussed over her. Poor Rachel didn't know where to turn, as she was moved like a store dummy to get her measurements. Once they'd established that her size was the same as her 'twin sister,' then from then on, whatever Jenna looked at, was also presented to Rachel. All Rachel's experience about wedding dresses, was that, they were white and long, with either veils or and trains, and were supposed to look beautiful.

Most of the names of the styles and materials just went over her head, as she nodded at first one thing then another, as the questions threatened to overwhelm her. Jenna rescued her, before Rachel went under for the third time, pulling her into a changing booth with a pair of gowns.

"Phew! Is it like this all the time?" gasped Rachel, as she clutched at Jenna nervously.

"Only when there are gorgeous girls around," laughed Jenna, starting to disrobe.

"Well you qualify for that award," Rachel grinned, watching her love in just panties and bra.

"Hey! You have the same body as me, so kindly drool on yourself, before I get all damp," chided Jenna with a grin.

"I'm already damp," admitted Rachel, blushingly, feeling suddenly warm and moist down below.

"Here, put this on, you'll love it," promised Jenna, handing her a gown.

"Wow! It's heavier than I thought," she exclaimed, hefting its weight with one arm.

"It's lined, and there's a lot of material in that one, here, let me help you get it on," offered Jenna, turning and facing her, still clad in only her underwear.

"I know something else I'd like to get on with," chuckled Rachel, as she started to get undressed.

"Later, if you're a good girl," smirked Jenna, knowing what she meant.

"For what I want to do, I don't want to be a girl, good or otherwise" growled Rachel, eyeing Jenna's scantily clad form hungrily, and snatching a quick kiss.

"Don't start anything you can't finish," Jenna grinned wickedly, kissing her love back with fervour.

Only the fact that they were in a public shop with just a curtain dividing them from decency and discovery and that 'he' was now a temporary 'she,' stopped Rachel from ravishing the juicy morsel that was Jenna.

Jenna soon had Rachel in the gown, buttoning up the multitude of tiny pearl buttons, which drew the gown tight against her body. One thing Rachel knew was that without help, she was stuck in the gown until someone helped her out of it.

Then it was Jenna's turn, and Rachel fastened the buttons on her gown in turn. 'Being encased in this beautiful white gown did strange things to the senses,' thought Rachel, as she stood side by side with Jenna, looking into the mirror.

Running her hands from her bodice to her waist, Rachel felt a sense of wonder, knowing that the beautiful creature in the mirror was none other than him-herself? Rachel wasn't sure that looking like Jenna, albeit with dark hair, was a good idea. Seeing someone you loved, being reflected from a mirror was one thing, knowing that the reflection was yourself was another kettle of fish. Rachel had conflicting feelings. She wanted to ravish her reflection, seeing it was her wife's image there. Knowing that it was her/himself, made it feel like a kind of narcissism, which sent shivers running though her body.

"Hey! Are you two okay in there?" asked Sara from just outside, having felt the conflicting feelings emanating from Rachel.

'Um, sure, it's just a shock seeing myself like this,' answered Rachel, shaking her thoughts back to the present.

"Come on, let us see you," urged Sara, feeling that a little encouragement wouldn't go astray.

Jenna pulled Rachel out of the booth, disregarding any reluctance on Rachel's part.

"No more primping in the mirror, you look ravishing." Jenna urged, not knowing the effect her words had on her beloved.

'Was I primping?' Thought a stunned Rachel, trying to see herself from Jenna's POV. Thinking back, she realised that her actions might have been mistaken for primping, as she'd adjusted her dress and twisted about to look at herself from all angles.

Sara gawped at the sight of the twin brides. She was too blown away by their look to say anything. Her expression brought a smile to Jenna's face, knowing the impact of seeing two identical women, (apart from the hair) in identical gowns. Rachel blushed, which didn't detract from her beauty, as she felt herself come under scrutiny in such a feminine dress.

When the expected laughs didn't come, and the compliments began to flow from Sara and the staff, Rachel began to feel less uncomfortable, being in a wedding gown. As she paraded back and forth, she realised she could pull this off. This helped her to relax and join in with the general conversation, although when told 'her husband to be,' would be overwhelmed, only Jenna was near enough to hear the, "he is, he is," that Rachel muttered under her breath.

"I am, I am," Jenna confided, having moved close enough to whisper in her ear, then giggling at the blush that again suffused Rachel's face.

Being encased in this subtle prison of satins and silks that clung to the body from neck to waist, before sweeping outward in a cascade of skirts, made Rachel feel kind of liberated. She no longer felt in control, heck she couldn't even get out of the dress without help. The long skirts that grazed the floor at the front, and pooled in a wide swath at the back, made walking, even slowly, an exercise in caution. The toes of her shoes barely made an appearance, as she shuffled along carefully.

For the first time in his-her life, Rachel let go the macho role of being self-reliant. Of, 'I'm okay. I can do it.' Being able to take a passive role and accept help, whether it was just to adjust the skirts, or help her sit down, made her feel feminine and helped relax her into this strange new role. Rachel thought she heard a few last male thoughts crying out in despair at this sacrilege of surrender. She knew then why being female was so seductive. She giggled to herself as she threw a mental lifeline back to her old thoughts. 'You'll be back.'

Cathleen looking cute in her new outfit gave Rachel a big hug, before heading to the skirts of her mother.

Rachel blushed, after hearing Cathleen's whispered words. "You look beautiful daddy."

Once the wedding gowns were selected, it was time to leave. The bridesmaid's dresses they were going to wear for Sara's and Julie's wedding had to be made from the measurements taken, which meant another trip into town, for final fittings.

Sara took them out to lunch, with Richard still in Rachel mode, where Rachel was given a pass mark for her initiation into; "going to the ladies together," test.

The next day, Jenna announced that she and Richard had managed to form a nexus the night before. Whether it was due to the closeness of the bond formed while Richard was in Rachel mode or not, might never be known, but Jenna was sure it was the trigger event for what happened later that night.

Sara was elated at the news; she was pleased that now tests could performed at joining the three couples into a unity, to advance further, their skills at combining their individual talents into a cohesive force.

Far to the north, Tyrone and Carolyn were coming to a decision that would affect their future.

To be continued.

  

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 © 2005 by Prudence Walker. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of the copyright holder.