Mika groaned as the alarm blared in her ear. She slapped it and yawned, looking around the room. She was tucked in comfortably in a king sized bed like her old one, except that it was in the center of an unfamiliar room. It was much larger than her old room, or Crystal’s for that matter.

“Mmm... Morning sexy butt,” Crystal whispered as she leaned up to kiss Mika. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Another bad dream?”

“Yeah,” Mika answered as she rubbed her head, half-lying. As sleep wore away to her waking reality the feeling of wrongness, of deja vu, quickly faded. It was as if this was always her bedroom that she shared with Crystal,in the house their mothers had bought years ago. “It’s gone now,” she said with a smile and kissed Crystal back.

“No Hanky panky.” Angela giggled as she walked by the half open door to the girls room.

Mika groaned. “Love you too Mom,” she giggled out as she slid out of bed and into a pair of blue bunny slippers. She only got a step away before she stopped again. “Oh. Sorry Crys. These are yours,” she said, tossing the floppy, fuzzy slippers at Crystal.

“Yours are over here,” Crystal said from the other side of the bed, tossing Mika her pink bunny slippers. “Today’s your therapist day innit?” she asked. Mika bobbed her head.

“I kind of dread it because she already knows about the incidents yesterday by now.”

Crystal nodded, “Want me to go with you again?” she smiled as she put her slippers on.

“That would be awesome,” Mika said as she hugged Crystal. “You want the bathroom first? I can steal Moms’ bathroom to pee.”

“No its fine, I just need to take a quick shower, you can go while i'm in the shower.” Crystal giggled.

“Ok girls, this time lets try tossing Mika in the air, shes lighter than Chelsea.”

Mika looked a little uneasy. She had been off her game all day and even nearly walked into her open locker door at lunch. Crystal frowned. “Hey, you up for this?” she asked. Mika nodded.

“Yeah I’m good,” she half-lied. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something to those weird dreams lately.

She had done aerials dozens of times before, so it wasn’t as if this was challenging territory. As she was vaulted up though, she could swear she saw Luci up in an empty part of the bleachers watching her. “Eep!” she squealed, losing her balance.

“Ohcrap!” she yelped as she felt herself falling.

Coach Derrick raced to catch Mika, but a little too late. She managed to break Mika’s fall somewhat, but they both tumbled to the ground. “Are you okay?” Coach asked, disregarding her own minor aches as she set Mika down, the others - including the spirit squad, racing over to gather around and check on her.

“My right ankle,” Mika groaned. Coach carefully removed Mika’s shoe and then her sock. “Try not to move,” she said as she examined her ankle. It was slightly bruised, and just a little bit swollen, but otherwise appeared fine. Coach Sprigs, the volleyball coach and health teacher came racing over with Lindsey just behind her as Crystal knelt behind her.

“I’m so sorry Mika,” Crystal said, almost in tears.

“It’s not your fault Crys. I got distracted,” she said, giggling a little as she squeezed Crystal’s hand. “I should’ve listened to you.”

“Is she okay?” Coach Sprigs called. “Lindsey told me what happened. Let me see,” she said, as the girls spread out to let her through.

“I don’t think it’s broken,” Coach Derrick answered, and Mika nodded.

“It feels like I sprained it,” she answered.

“Let’s get you to the nurse just in case. I think you’re done with practice for today though,” Coach Sprigs answered. “What happened anyway?”

“I just lost my balance,” Mika answered with a sigh. “It’s been one of those days. I’ll talk to my therapist about it this afternoon,” she added, and cracked a small smile, knowing Doctor Holmesmade house calls on occasion.

“It’s not the first time I’ve had to come out to a patient's house.”

“Hey, at least I’ve got witnesses who can say I’m not faking it.” She laughed a little, and then groaned. “Ooh, wish I was faking it.”

Doctor Holmes smiled, “I can see you’re not faking it hon.”

Mika giggled a little. “I’m joking. But since you’re here,” she said, motioning to the nearby chair, “Please, make yourself comfortable. I figured you’d want to talk about the incidents yesterday.”

“Sounds more like you want to talk about it?” the doctor asked with a knowing smile as she sat down.

“Actually, it went really smoothly, they got in trouble, without incident.” Mika smiled.

Doctor Holems nodded. “Yes, I’ve read the incident reports, and though because of doctor-patient confidentiality I can’t say much, I also received a first-hand account,” she added, trying not to grin.

“Well if they say I did something I didn’t.” Mika giggled, “I ignored them actually.”

“Oh, nothing like that,” she said with a laugh. “Just one of my other regulars who’s decided she’s ready to spread her wings, as well. I’m actually more concerned about why you fell.”

“Oh I had this weird dream last night, and it was sort of bugging me all day, it wasn’t a bad dream, it was just odd.” Mika stated.

“It’s not the first time,” Crystal added quietly. “Last week I ended up sleeping on the trundle because she kept kicking me,” she giggled a little.

“They aren’t nightmare, I promise, just weird dreams like if I made different choices in my life kinda dreams.” Mika sighed.

“Ah,” Doctor Holmes replied. “Dreams can be a window into your soul. With your father’s heart attack so fresh in your mind it might just be that you’re wishing you had started school as Mika sooner, or that his death just bothered you more than you thought?”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Mika said. “In my last dream, it wasn’t a heart attack. I... I think it was a car accident. He was driving to see Mom, to talk about my birthday, and some jerk ran him off the road.” She trailed off. “I think you’re right. I think I’m feeling some displaced guilt , like I didn’t try hard enough to reach him, and now that he’s gone I never will.”

“But you have to remember, Mika,” she answered in a soothing tone, “You aren’t responsible for your father. It’s the other way around. As a parent, it should have been his responsibility to make you feel adequate and whole - loved, in a word.”

“I do feel loved though,” Mika answered. “I love my Moms. Without them I never would’ve had the courage to transition. My only regret is that I did wait so long to start school as Mika, especially since practically everybody who matters already knew I was a girl anyway.”

“The boobs helped with that,” Crystal teased softly, causing Mika and Doctor Holmes to laugh.

“I think these are Crystal’s favorite part of me.” Mika teased back as she cupped her medium A cup breasts.

Crystal stood and walked around behind the sofa where Mika had her ankle propped up, and leaned over to hug and kiss her cheek. “You know I love you regardless of what you look like,” she said, nuzzling her cheek.

“I’m glad your relationship is still strong,” Doctor Holmes said with a smile. “I know I expressed concern in the past, but I believe my concerns were unfounded.”

“Thank you doc, I know we grew up together like sisters, but well for some reason we are more than that.” Mika blushed.

Crystal nodded. “I know you were worried about codependency issues, but even though we do do a lot together, we have our own lives too. Like Mika still doesn’t get why I love shopping, so I usually go alone while she’s hanging out with Linds or whatever,” she giggled.

Crystal was actually thinking about going to college to become a therapist, herself. She found psychology fascinating, in part to these sessions. It wasn’t that Doctor Holmes had actually said she had codependency concerns, but Crystal figured it out for herself.

“Sometimes however, she does manage to drag me shopping.” Mika sighed, “I really can’t stand it.”

“Me either,” Doctor Holmes laughed. “I’m a utility shopper. It drives my daughter crazy,” she teased.

“I know why we girls do it, it’s a way to bond with friends, it’s just I can’t stand, standing around looking at things all day.”

Doctor Holmes smiled, “You would be surprised how many girls and even women actually don’t like to shop.”

“I guess,” Crystal mused after a moment, “When it comes down to it, I don’t really enjoy it either. I mean, I hate going alone. I just enjoy spending time with my friends, and once in awhile finding something cute is a nice bonus,” she giggled.

“That’s the only reason you guys can drag me out shopping sometimes, is because I do enjoy spending time with my friends.” Mika smiled at Crystal.

“Maybe we should start doing other stuff together - like all of us? We don’t all hang out together nearly as much as we did before you and I joined the cheer squad. What’d we do before shopping?” she teased.

Mika giggled, “All sorts of things, but.. “ she blushed, “Some of them are not appropriate to talk about around adults.” she teased.

Crystal laughed. “I meant we as in all of us, jeez,” she teased back. “Besides girl scouts I mean.”

“We used to do a lot of things together as a group, like that time we bugged mom to take us to the zoo and hung there all day?”

“I believe you’ve talked about going bowling as well,” Doctor Holmes added.

“And roller skating and ice skating. “ Mika giggled.

“Oh God yes!” Crystal squeaked. “That’s how we met Lindsey! Oh we so have to go skating again when your ankle’s better Mika!”

Mika giggled and nodded, “Lins is the queen of the Ice by the way.”

“I think the only reason she doesn’t skate professionally is because of the skimpy outfits,” Crystal laughed. “But I think we’ve had a huge breakthrough today,” she giggled out.

“I know how it can be,” Doctor Holmes replied. “Sometimes the social pressure to be or act a certain way - even among your friends, can make it hard to break out if you’re not having fun. I’d bet anything though that your friends all feel the same way. It’s easy to get into a routine. Normally this is the part where I’d suggest trying something different, but you’ve already beat me to it,” she teased as she stood.

Mika took Crystal’s hand, pulling herself up off the sofa. She limped over to Doctor Holmes and hugged her. “Thanks so much Doc. I always enjoy our talks, but this time especially.”

“Me too,” Crystal added. “And thanks for stopping by to check on Mika too.”

“My pleasure girls,” Doctor Holmes replied with a chuckle. “Now lay back down again before your mother sees you up on that ankle,” she teased. “I’ll see you next session.”