Chapter 13

Sandra disappeared on her hunt for the doctor and Lisa jumped on us for information.

“Tell me, tell me, tell me!” Lisa exclaimed.

“Let's get back to the waiting room, I only want to say it once,” I told her.

She hurried me to the room where everyone was waiting, even Aaron was sitting in one corner.

“Alright, we have the head injury and the groin injury. The head injury is a combination of concussion with mild swelling that has resulted in a coma but should naturally resolve, and facial trauma. The nose is badly broken which will require surgery and there is significant bruising. The biggest issue is the groin damage. It is severe and I think they have decided that the only recourse is sexual reassignment surgery. That is still under debate as is how it is going to be paid for.”

“I will pay for it.” Both Aaron and Lisa said at the same time.

“SRS? They are going to make Drew into a girl?” Bonny asked.

“The damage was extensive so there is no possibility of Drew remaining a functioning male,” I answered trying to remain as clinical as possible when all I really wanted to do was curl up and cry.

“Poor Drew,” Chloe said sadly.

“No, not poor Drew,” Sarah said fiercely. “If we treat it that way it will be depressing for him and us. Drew will make a wonderful girl and we need to help him transition. Teach him all the good things about being female.”

“This is my fault, anything he needs, I will pay for,” Aaron said and left to presumably sort that out.

“I feel responsible, you left him in my care, but I'm not going to argue about Aaron paying,” Lisa said. “I've decided, I am going to stay to help Drew as much as I can. Damon can bunk with Aaron and I will rejoin the tour later.”

Bonny and Chloe went to speak to their boyfriends and then came back. “Is there room in your RV for us?” Bonny asked Lisa. “I wouldn't feel right continuing without helping.”

“Well, right now there is nothing we can do. The three of us are going to set up a rotation so there is always one of us close by. If you give us your numbers, we will update you with anything we find,” I told everyone.

“You will need to move your RV's tomorrow. I will organise your new location and hire a car you can use to go back and forth to the hospital,” Trish told us. “I will be continuing with the tour, but I will help organise the logistics whenever you need me to.”

“Thanks, Trish,” I responded.

I stayed behind while everyone went back to the venue. Sarah and Ellie didn't want to go, they agreed with the idea of a rotation and I won rock paper scissors. Likewise, eight hours later, I didn't want to leave.

The next three days passed in a horrific blur. I slept poorly and when I was awake I struggled to concentrate. I rarely went to hospital alone, Bonny, Chloe or Lisa would usually accompany me. Sandra had to return home the next day, but arranged with the hospital to give me, Ellie or Sarah any updates and she was available when necessary. The surgery was carried out first thing the next morning and included both SRS and the nose job. Both went well, but Drew remained in a coma. Further images showed the cranial pressure had gone down, which meant they weren't worried about brain damage and expected him or her I now have to say, to wake up naturally.

Much of her face was bandaged, partially for the nose job and partially to help compression reduce the swelling. Her groin was originally bandaged, but at some point when I wasn't present, they were removed, leaving a catheter in. Periodically a nurse would usher us out so that they could do dilations. Dilations I found out was a way of preventing Drew's new vagina from closing up. She would need to have a medically appropriate dildo inserted regularly which was called dilation. Aaron was true to his word and arranged for the best care. Drew was in a private room and the care, I have to say, was excellent.

On the second day an older couple arrived and introduced themselves. They were Aaron's parents. Aaron had confessed his part in the whole affair and they felt strongly that he needed to be held accountable and since he was temporarily unavailable because of the tour, they, as his parents, were taking on his responsibility. They admitted that Aaron was behind Drew's missing clothes and what had been said to upset Drew was pure spitefulness.

They were in contact with Sandra, willing to take on Drew as a foster child or even adopt her. There was a fair amount of red tape involved as Drew was British. Sandra as a judge and her husband as a lawyer were going to help with all that.

Drew had managed to scratch at least one of his attackers. The police had taken the DNA evidence and the tour, under Trish's management required all employee's to give a DNA sample. Three roadies refused and were now under police investigation. The police were hoping that Drew would be able to identify his attackers when he awoke.

On the third day, I felt Drew squeeze my hand and look about briefly before dropping off again. I told everyone and a couple of hours later, when Drew properly awoke, Sarah and Ellie were with me.

Drew smiled at us and then seemed to wince. The nurse called the doctor and gave Drew sips of water. The doctor checked her over without the full examination and called the police in. The last thing Drew remembered was Bonny doing her makeup. So not much help, but the doctor said that was relatively normal and she could remember more later.

Once the police were gone, the doctor had to explain to Drew what had happened. She took it all in with a calm passive face, nodding appropriately to say she understood. It was only when the doctor had left and we gave her a group cuddle that she broke down crying. The doctor recommended three further days in hospital. The catheter was removed and Drew needed to show that she was able to walk around and use the toilet on her own. She was in pain, but refused further pain relief. Drew has something against pain killers. As I suspected it was the idea that she couldn't have children that upset her the most.

Drew admitted that she would need some time to come to terms with it all, but wanted to look to the future, and in that vein wanted to be called Gabi. Privately she admitted that she had very fond associations with being Gabi. She asked how I came up with the name and I admitted that it was from a story I had read where a boy called Drew found out that he was intersexed and was really a girl. Gaby was the name that boy chose with her transformation. I then had to reveal my thoughts about her being transgender and the questionnaire that I had done. I think that might have helped as Gabi said maybe it was fate and meant to be.

Drew had lost his family, had most of his possessions stolen and ended up being assaulted. Gabi on the other hand, had made wonderful friendly connections, fallen in love and was constantly being supported and looked after. I can't believe she was the first to say she was in love. I couldn't help asking who she was in love with and she told us all, with the sweetest smile that never belonged on a boy, that she loved all of us. I was the next to admit the same, but Sarah and Ellie were close behind.

Lisa, Bonny and Chloe all cheered her up and promised to help introduce her to womanhood. Mia was both a blessing and a curse. Gabi couldn't help fussing over her, but Mia also reminded her of what she couldn't have.

We introduced Gabi to Aaron's parents, Derek and Susan. They promised to help Gabi with the adult responsibilities that she shouldn't have to deal with, and be there if she ever needed them. Gabi agreed to their offer, so, with the help of Sandra her adoption was in process. They would sort out the mess of Gabi's inheritance, they just needed to know whether Gabi wanted to remain in the states or return to Britain. Gabi decided that she had nothing in Britain to return to, so Derek would organise all the possessions in the houses to be boxed up and stored to be gone through at a later date. All properties would be sold and mortgages paid off. There would be some money from the travel insurance, but not a significant sum. That would go into an account for day to day expenses and the rest would be invested. At some point Gabi was going to have to decide about her university place, but since she was having a gap year there was no rush to it.

The bandages came off her face and it looked a mess. Two black eyes, a bruise on the right cheek and the whole nose area was black and blue. There was facial hair, but we were told to not shave it, to make permanent removal easier. The nose was also too tender to even attempt makeup. Drew was able to move about without too much pain, so the hospital was ready to discharge her. We had to make some plans.

We met as a group to decide what we were going to do next. Derek and Susan offered Gabi a place to stay, but she wanted to stay with us. Lisa, Chloe and Bonny needed to get back on the tour as they were missing their fellas. Gabi asked if we could go back to the tour as well, then she would have all her friends around her. She still wanted to go to the memorial that was scheduled in two weeks, so we decided that we would mostly follow the tour, with a diversion to New York to be there for the memorial.

Medically speaking Gabi would need a check up in about a month, but she had the dilations that needed to be done every day and was now on female hormones. We also would be working on permanent hair removal, which could be done at any of the locations if we booked in advance. We phoned Trish and she helped us work out a route to join the tour and organised a driver for Lisa's RV. She initially booked some hair removal sessions, but phoned back later and told us that Aaron was hiring a beauty therapist to accompany the tour. Gabi had wanted discreet locations because she was frightened of going out in public looking battered and bruised, with obvious facial hair. This way it could all be done in private.

The beauty therapist would be tasked with hair removal, makeup tutoring and hair styling. In addition there would be a voice therapist who would teach Gabi to sound female. Aaron had offered to hire a psychologist to give Gabi sessions, but Gabi was happy speaking on the phone with Ellie's mother. Aaron also promised that if Gabi wanted any more feminising surgery he would pay for it.