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Chapter 8 Shopping-and-Truth

Arriving at school, I don't see many people staring at me, even if they noticed my shaved tail. That is until we enter Mr Mathew's class. Christine and I sit down in our normal assigned seats, and everyone but her that sit around me scoot their desks away from me a bit. All I can do before class starts is glare daggers at them.

Math class goes by without incident until the end of period tone sounds, as we're putting our things away Mr. Mathew walks up to us.

"I'm guessing Diane was involved with your shaved tail?" Closing my backpack and hefting it to one shoulder I look over to him.

'Yea, she shaved it yesterday, because I wouldn't agree to something she wants.' Mr. Mathew sighs as Christine stands, shoulders her own backpack and waits behind me.

"That explains a few things actually. Her pack is spreading a rumor that you have a mite infestation. Just try to hang in there, and if you need someone to talk to, I'll be here for you two." He looks over at the clock then back at us.

"You two better get going or you'll be late for your next class." Mr. Mathew steps out of our way and I give him a smile in thanks. Wish I had a teacher like him last time through High-School.

Making haste, Christine and I head to Ms. Alice's class, where we're again forced to sit at that nearly broken table with rickety chairs. Tuning out her normal ranting, we wait for her class to end by doing Mr. Mathew's homework.

Our classmates behave the same way in Mr. Mason's History class as they did in Mr. Mathew's. Scooting away from where I am sitting as soon as I take my assigned seat. It's not annoying, I've experienced worse. Yet, for some reason it's making me feel strange. Like I did something wrong and I'm losing something important?

Glancing over to Christine shows her ears half folded in annoyance and her tail broadcasting her mood through it's twitching. When I'm called up to write something on the board, many of the Bio-Morphs I pass lean away from me. Ether Mr. Mason either doesn't notice it, or doesn't care as he does nothing about it.

Lunch is next, and we just ignore the line into the cafeteria, instead we head straight for our normal table. Only for the few other Bio-morphs here, who mostly sit at the far end, to get up and head to other tables. None of them near this one.

For some odd reason this brings up the same feeling as earlier, except now I feel a slight sense of dread with it? Why? I don't know them, and because of the sheer noise level, I've barely even noticed them being here. Since it drowns out any conversation outside of someone sitting directly next or in front of you.

Christine latches onto my arm as we sit down, answering the question I was going to ask her before I had a chance to. I think she feels it to, but why do I feel like this in the first place?

Thankful for small favors, it seems Dad was able to do his job as a parent, I neither see nor smell Diane here. Giving me a chance to mull over what's happening as Christine and I eat the lovely turkey sandwiches Mother made for Christine and me.

I've noticed I've become far more desiring of such things, I don't know if it was because we were denied meat more often than not in the jobless center. Or if it has to do with being a Bio-Morph and being a bit more carnivorous than a human.

The bad news is lunch period ends faster than I wanted it too, so Christine and I have to part ways for a couple of hours. Something I find I'm extremely reluctant to do after what has been happening this morning.

I fear that the next time I see her, she'll have a shaved tail and be hysterical, but on top of that. Knowing she's leaving strangely makes me feel utterly alone when it never did before today.

'You can let go Jackie. I'll be fine, I'm sure Diane isn't going to go after me.' Hesitantly I let go of Christine. With a smile to me, we go our separate ways. Her to Science, and me to Gym.

I didn't notice this earlier, but as I head to gym, the crowd, or at least the Bio-morphs in it. Seem to more eagerly disperse in front of me. It ticks me as 'wrong' somehow, bringing up the same feelings as before.

It also starts to make me a bit angry they're acting like this over a simple rumor.

'What happened to your tail!' Someone says a little too loud for my liking upon entering the small breed female Bio-Morph locker room. Sigh, looking of I see it was the Mouse girl. She's part of Diane's pack.

Apparently, she seems to have been waiting for me as she's standing at the lockers closest to the door, not where I normally see her. Rolling my eyes I head through the locker room, and past my still broken locker. A locker that now has some lipstick graffiti on it.

'Do you have mites? Fleas? I bet its mites.' The moment she says this, my anger flares up. No! Reacting to it is what she wants, I try to shut her out as I head for Ms. Henderson's office.

Just stay calm and they'll get bored.

'My baby brother had mites, they didn't shave him like that. It looks more like mange.' Great, she has the rest of the class is joining in. They're looking in the aisle I'm from both ends. The girls I'm walking towards though quickly get out of my way and make no attempt to politely hide it.

'Must've been bad to shave it all the way to that fat ass of hers' My ass isn't fat! Yes, I know it's a bit wider than non pleasure model female Bio-morphs, but it's not fat!

'I wonder what she uses her tail for to have caught something like that? God, I hope it's not contagious, I don't want my cute tail shaved.' The glare I give the small red wolf girl does nothing to stop her from returning it. Nor the others from doing the same as I grab the door handle to Ms. Henderson's office and yanking it open.

Followed by slamming it shut harder than I should've.

Between gossiping and getting Ms. Henderson angry about them crowding around her office, the other girls seem not to want the latter more than continue doing the former. So they go back to what they were doing as soon as the door closes. I throw my backpack onto one of the office chairs with more force than I thought I could.

I don't know why this is pissing me off, or how earlier it was making me feel loneliness and dread. Still, this clouds my senses to the point that when I feel a hand gently touch shoulder, I whip my head around and let out a barking growl before I can stop myself.

Ms. Henderson doesn't even flinch as I droop my ears in instant regret, showing aggression like this to a teacher is even less tolerated here than doing it to a fellow student. To her credit, she only gives me a calm smile in return.

'Oh my god! I'm sorry Ms. Henderson, I didn't know it was you! Please don't report this, I know aggressive body language is prohibited, especially to teachers.' Ms. Henderson quiets my hasty apology by putting a finger onto my muzzle.

'Talk later. Change to gym clothes now.' Yea, I need to do that, don't I?

Sighing I head over to my backpack and change from my school uniform to the gym one. Then I follow Ms. Henderson out of her office, through the back doors of the locker room, and down the hall until we're outside.

She does her normal attendance check and sends the rest of the class off on laps again. While I walk with her to the bleachers, so I can do my stretches.

We both check to see if the rest of the class is far enough away, so they can't eavesdrop as we go through the gate for the track. Then we walk side by side to the bleachers.

'Is something wrong Jackie, not acting like self?' Ms Henderson sits down on the first row of bleachers while I work through the stretches she showed me yesterday.

I'm eagerly waiting for the week or so to pass til this stops causing aches and pains in my leg.

'To be honest, I don't know. Just been in a bad mood this morning ever since arriving at school.' She motions with her hand for me to continue while I hold my leg out despite it's protests on being held there.

'I don't know why, but people I don't even know or care about have been avoiding me. Moving away from me in class when I sit down at my assigned seat. Then at lunch the few others that sit at the same table as I do, even though they're on the opposite end, just get up and leave. Making me feel, dread and loneliness for some reason. It never bothered me before, yet it does now. On top of that, on the way here, Bio-Morphs gave me a wider berth than usual in the hallway.' Letting out a sigh or relief as I'm allowed to lower my leg, I rub my sore muscles.

Then I follow Ms. Henderson up a few levels to a higher spot, so the class doesn't overhear what we're talking about as they pass by on the track.

'Then, there's what happened in the locker room. Again, I don't know why it hit me so hard when before I could easily ignore such actions.' Sitting down I continue to massage the scar tissue around the bullet wound.

'What puzzles me the most is that normally Christine is the clingy one, today I was so reluctant to let her go at the end of lunch.' Ms. Henderson's smile and her silence unnerves me, it's a caring smile but feels like one you give to someone who didn't know any better.

'Not just lupine instincts you pick up from conversion. Human female ones too. Yes humans have instincts, west stupid, keep dumb blank slate idea despite all evidence to contrary. Ironically maybe lupine pack instinct feed into human one.' Tilting my head in confusion Ms. Henderson lets out a giggle or two.

'Tell me Jackie what school teach last time you were this age?' Twitching my ear a bit I trudge through those old memories.

'That Males and Females were equal, the only differences you see were cultural and a properly taught girl would be just as capable as a guy in anything. As you know we didn't have co-ed locker rooms, but the physical education classes themselves were co-ed. But it was about this same time everyone, me included, started to see that what we were told wasn't true.' Ms Henderson nods once.

'No talk of instincts? Desires? Urge to act a certain way?' Yea I think she's doing what she did earlier, leading me to the answer. So I go along with it.

'No, we had a 'keep it in your pants' kind of sex ed if that's what you're talking about. Along with some talk about being attracted to the same sex or even both, that's about it.' I do not know why she's giggling, what's so funny about that?

'Sorry, find funny how west flies from extreme to extreme. They also ignore obvious too. Good thing you are in better system now, get proper education now. Other than grade school sex ed. But can summarize parts you don't know, considering you've been laid already.' Ms. Henderson pauses for a moment as my ears blush a bit.

'Tell me, what part is science class at now? Was evolution taught last time you take class?' Forcing them to stay forward rather than fold back against my head in embarrassment to hide my blush.

'We're on gene inheritance, cell mitosis, and asexual organisms. If they follow the same curriculum, we'll move on to photosynthesis and fungi. To be honest I don't recall any of my science teachers talking about evolution other than it exists last time I was in High School.' I stare her as I see Ms Henderson face-paw for the first time.

I have to stifle a giggle, it's a funny sight.

'Stupid backward religious puritanical!..' And then she seems to switch to the Chinese dialect of the tongue making it hard to understand what she's saying other than she's displeased. That, and it takes her a while to calm down.

'Okay, do know basic of it, right? Fittest for environment survive, right?' Nodding once. That was more or less how it explained last time I had High-School science.

'Evolutionary Psychology. Part of evolution, basic idea since genes influence behavior, behavior that help organism survive get passed on via corresponding genes. It also means that each of the two genders in organisms will have different instincts for survival, because sexual dimorphism. Understand?' I motion with my hand for her to continue. It's not that hard to follow, not all behavior can be learned.

'Take that as yes. Well, remember how ancient human lived?' Nodding again.

'And know that females, like you are now, thirty percent weaker to males by average, yes?' I'm starting to know what a bobble-head feels like, but Ms Henderson seems to be on a roll. I feel like it would be like rudely interrupting her if I talked.

'If female follow male survival method, female worse chance to survive. Weaker mean taking risk in hunting worse, spear might not go deep enough to kill, arrow not hit mark. Can't run fast enough to get away from angry prey. In turn female with lower want of risk survive better, gene's passed on more often.' Mrs. Henderson pauses.

'Think back on how act since became female, take more or less risk?' Wouldn't there be more than just pure strength involved in hunting? To be fair, it is a major part unless you're using traps.

My ears droop to the sides as I think back on what I did since I was converted, the risks. Then I recall the ones I did before being converted. My ears flip straight up a moment later.

'I, wow, I did take fewer risks. I could've confronted that pack in the building undergoing renovations, the one I got the computer parts from. After all, we were all slaves, they might've just let me go. Instead, I ran to the safest option, hiding in my container. I could've posted my cry for help to multiple Usenets, but that would've increased my risk of being caught due to the time it would take. So I stuck to only posting on one. Instead of running from that farmer, Christine and I could've confronted him. It would've been more risky because he was stronger and armed, but we had the numerical advantage, and he seemed drunk. Instead, we chose the safest option and ran.' Looking over at Ms Henderson she smiles at me, then gently reaches over to pat my head.

'See you understand now. Risk aversion female human instinct, cloud unawares thinking. Just because it instinct, not mean it, um, what western saying, hard as stone?' Shaking my head I correct her.

'The saying is 'written in stone'. As stone was at one time believed to be permanent and unchanging. So to say it was written in stone was to say the fact was unchangeable.' Ms. Henderson tilts her head a bit at this, then shrugs.

'What mean to say is that can overcome instinct, but need know it there to begin with. So can catch self thinking with it instead of think rationally.' My neck is going to ache with the amount of nodding I've been doing.

My slowly twitching tail goes still, while my ears perk up again.

'You're trying to tell me what I felt today was an instinct? Something that only women have?' Ms Henderson grins from ear to ear, showing her buck teeth.

To be honest, those squirrel buck teeth, with wolf canines makes her smile a bit unnerving. Like a cute fluffy monster.

'No. Both have instinct to form social group. Only, females evolved to depend on group solely for survival. Single man can survive on own, hunt on own, defend self, by self. Single woman less able to. Especially when woman in question is pregnant or has children to care for. Ostracization for men mean only need look elsewhere for group, for women it mean death to most of those ejected.' I can see the logic in what she's saying, but.

'I already have a pack. I don't care about anyone else here in this class, nor any of the others. I also have you and Mr. Mathew as friends, not to mention mom, Patrick, and his parents. So, I don't see how that affects me to be honest.' Ms. Henderson shakes her head and then points to the class rounding one of the corners on the track.

'Recall that you said you not want be outcast in school again? That while boring, you now used to playing gossip game with other females of age group? Spend limited resource, your allowance, on something simply so can fit in instead of what may want?' My protest dies in my throat as I realize she's not technically wrong.

'Well, yes I did those things. I didn't like it, but I hated being an outcast more.' This time Ms. Henderson nods.

'Now outcast again, but not cause same feeling back then as now, right?' Letting out a long sigh I nod, again.

'That feeling is social instinct. You may not know others of same age, may know a little, but not care as friend about them. In female social group though, all peers important. Must stay at least friendly with others. Because one woman not able fend off hungry predator, but group of many women give any but boldest predator, or ironically wolf pack pause.' What if some of them hate each other? Wouldn't they just, turn a blind eye as a predator took them out?

Yet, the moment I think of that, I realize that even if they do, in such a situation letting a predator in would still be bad for them. The actions of said predator would be an unknown, they might attack someone else, or go for their own kids instead.

My tail and ears droop a bit at the ramifications of this.

'So I was acting dumb and instinctual earlier by letting them get to me?' Ms. Henderson suddenly moves a bit closer, and gives me a side hug causing me to eep.

'No. Not dumb, Only act as new nature intended. That feeling to encourage conformity to keep group unity, so can survive. It not needed anymore, in modern society being ostracized not lead to death but gene's not know this. Keep in mind next time feel that pull, that bad feeling when others avoid you, snub you.' Returning the side hug, I look out at the class running laps, then turn my attention back to Ms. Henderson.

'What I felt, it came over me so fast I don't think I can ignore it.' Ms. Henderson sighs and shakes her head.

'Never said ignore, can't ignore! Can tell self, this not make sense, lets not act on it. Won't lie, Diane is bitch doing this, will be hard as instinct can be strong. You smart young woman, knowing what it is may win you half of battle.' I swear I heard something similar to that last part a long time ago, but I can't seem to place it.

Letting go of her I look around the bleachers before settling on watching the rest of the class jog laps.

'I think that might be easier said than done Ms. Henderson. This is all new to me and is repeatedly catching me off guard. Same with the stuff urging me to protect Christine. Telling me that a proper Alpha should. I even considered invading her privacy on the pretense of that.' Ms. Henderson stretches her arms and tail, then checks her watch.

'I Understand, not live with these instincts all of life, just got year ago. Be here for you if have any question, know your mom only have human perspective, but need Bio-morph one too.' Everyone else in the class are starting to congregate in their normal groups at the bottom of the bleachers. Looks like they're doing cool down stretches, so I guess that means the period is almost over.

Speaking of questions though, there's one I can't ask Mom about because she's human..

Wow, that feels wrong to even think of her like that..

'Thank you Ms. Henderson, I mean it.' Pausing for a second. 'I do have one question though, if it's not too personal to ask.' She motions for me to continue with her hand like I did mine earlier.

'When I asked Alpha, the Alpha female back at Mauri's, she only said it depends on the person. Back then I had my first, um, heat blocked chemically. When I asked the guy who helped me forge my documents in the hospital about the same thing, I was told that the same chemical was banned here. So how do female Bio-Morphs deal with it' Ms. Henderson's ear twitches a little, along with her tail, she seems ammused.

'Personal, yes. But understand need to know as it Bio-morph thing, and your mom won't have answer. First, take it since ask about it such a manner know basics yes?' She stands, I join her a moment later, but we stay where we're at. Not yet ready to head down and join the rest of the class.

'Yea. It's from the lupine part of genome. For wolves, it makes conception seasonal so pups are always born in the spring when food is most plentiful and their chance of survival is at its highest.' She gather's her things while I stretch my arms and tail.

'This Alpha lady correct, it different between individuals. But baseline is all have increased desire, libido. Some more than others. Will be blunt and tell truth, my first heat was harsh. Constant arousal, any male seen was fair game. No toy or finger enough to satisfy, even if reach climax. Hard to sleep, or concentrate on anything else, that week was hell.' My ears fold back as my tail tucks between my legs, what she described is 'exactly' what I fear will happen to me.

Becoming a sex crazed maniac, for days at a time. Ms Henderson to her credit, smiles, and pats my head. Allowing me to calm my tail and ears.

'You asked, but have good news. Following year, heat was milder. Still had increased desire, wanted chase any male. Everything else that happened year before either not happen, or became manageable. Learn why months later, first heat always rough on every female, natural, or converted. Worse on those who had it suppressed before. Not lie, mean your fist heat will be bad. Will help with school admin to get week off, will need it.' She laughs as I let out a whine in response.

With all her class materials in her hands, she heads down the stairs and off the bleachers. Following closely behind her, I force my ears and tail to stay in their normal positions.

'Some tips to help. Since have larger family now, get them to keep eye on you. They will need to make you eat and drink, both hard to remember to do. I had neighbor who did this for me. Best if only females in family do this though. Not enough time to tell my story, but you can, will jump on any guy for relief in such state. Poor sleep may cause hallucinations too. Not have them, but heard of one lady who did.' I'm starting to think I should take my chances with the so called banned heat blocker.

Apparently the look on my face causes Ms. Henderson to giggle as we join the rest of the class, sighing I continue to force my ears and tail to show that I'm okay and not scared and embarrassed to the rest of the class.

Last thing I want to do is give them more ammo.

With nothing else to talk about that can be said in front of the rest of the class, we silently follow them up and back into the school, then onto the locker room.

I'm about to enter Ms. Henderson's office to change into my normal uniform when she gently touches my shoulder again.

'Today rather warm, know not do much, only stretch. Should go rinse fur off before changing into school uniform just in case. Otherwise, risk reprimand by admin for improper care.' Only then does she allow me into her office to ditch the gym uniform.

Undressing completely, I nervously hold my bust up with one arm while using the other to leave her office and head for the showers. It is a square room similar to but better kept than the one in Mauri's. A couple of pillars in the middle, tiled from floor to ceiling with shower heads and knobs jutting out of the walls at various intervals.

Just as I had expected, the instant I'm spotted by the other girls they immediately move. Switching shower-heads, and even walls to put as much space between me and them as I walk by.

That feeling from earlier wells up in the pit of my stomach, as well as some anger. Now recognizing what they are, I push them both down. It's a choice between this or controlling my ears and tail, so I let them both display my mood, so I can keep my wits about me. My ears droop and fold back against my head, while my tail curls up between my legs.

Glancing around, many of my classmates refuse to make eye contact with me, and as I walk up to an unused shower-head, a few of them glare daggers at me like I shouldn't even be here. Ignoring that, I turn on the water and get to rinsing my fur while running my hands through it.

Shutting off the water, I head for the industrial fur dryer I passed on the way into the showers. Only to be stopped by the mouse girl, of course, and the red-wolf girl from earlier. Both are already completely dry.

'To make sure none of us catch what you have, Jackie, you're going to have to wait till everyone else is done showering and drying off before you can use the dryer.' Rolling my eyes at this I just try going around them, but they move and block the way again.

Fine! I stand there, fur completely soaked while glaring daggers at them as I wait, others in the class are allowed to pass. They don't make eye contact as I look at them.

As promised, the moment the last girl leaves, they quickly get out of my way, running to their lockers.

I try to dry myself as fast as I can, knowing this shit didn't leave me much time to get to Mr. Davidson's science class. So with fur only slightly damp I charge into Ms. Henderson's office and launch myself into the school uniform.

'Messaged Mr. Davidson that you may be late, but still hurry.' Smoothing out my blouse and skirt just enough to not get into trouble, I fling my backpack onto a shoulder.

'That's the plan. See you tomorrow.' Exiting her office I dash through the locker room and out into the hallway. If it wasn't for it being considered against the rules, and the fact it would make me flash my underwear at everyone I pass. I would've dropped to all fours and dashed through the halls and around the straggler students.

So I have to resort to jogging through the halls, one arm holding onto the strap of my backpack, the other under my bust supporting my bra, which is 'not' built for this level of activity. Half way there, my skirt shifts, and it starts painfully pinching the base of my tail, correction, make that the entire uniform isn't designed for jogging or running.

Why can't I wear a god-damn pair of pants!!

Arriving at Mr. Davidson's class with a minute and a half to spare, I fix the tail hole, and a slipped bra strap before throwing the door open. Of course, I'm the last one here, and Diane is in her seat behind mine, shit eating grin plastered on her muzzle, she 'knows' why I'm late. The second my ass touches the seat the tone signaling the start of the period plays.

At least I don't have to deal with talking to her, and no one has time to move their desks away from me, so I guess that's couple of pluses in the win column.

I'll take what I can get today.

Possibly due to Ms. Henderson's message, Mr. Davidson does not even acknowledge I was mere seconds away from being tardy to his class, he only dives right into today's material a second later.

Like always I have to feign paying attention even though I know all this already. Last time through the science class we spent months on gene inheritance and cell mitosis. Looking back at that with what Ms. Henderson said I can see that was to both avoid talking about evolution, and to cover the giant gap in the curriculum that it caused.

We seem to be moving faster through the same material, so maybe he'll cover it soon? Don't know why but the prospect of going through new material has me excited.

It 'is' school, and school's supposed to be boring, right?

Once class ends, I try to get out of the room before Diane, to minimize the chances of her thug beta's grabbing me again. I also take a different and roundabout route to Home-room than normal to throw them off too.

As I enter the classroom I expect to see Christine in the corner with a shaved tail, possibly with the teacher trying to keep her calm. Thankfully I get the normal pouncing and hug from her as soon as I enter.

She was left alone, so I guess Dad could actually be a parent for once. Maybe he has changed?

Like normal, she calms down after I let her rub her muzzle under my chin submissively. We walk over and sit at our normal spot, then use the class to finish what homework we have left.

Other than Ms. Alice's of course.

Home-room ends, and with it school for the day, so we head home, making sure to take a different exit than yesterday and avoiding the main hall. Last thing we need is to be caught by Ms. Alice and dragged to 'detention' again. From there it's a casual walk from the school to the station and a short wait till we can get onto the light rail tram.

Getting off the light rail station at our neighborhood, I decide to break the silence between us.

'I had an interesting discussion with Ms Henderson over a few things.' Christine tilts her head at me while we casually walk down the sidewalk side by side.

'About what Jackie?' I scratch an itch behind my ear, Christine slows down a little to stay next to me.

'Well, I was feeling angry, then dreadfully lonely by about lunchtime due to what everyone was doing.' She huffs, nearly a bark, out of anger at mentioning this. She had to have been feeling the same emotions.

'All our hard work, and one word from Diane made us social outcasts, again! Sorry, continue.' Tell me about it, all that work playing gossip and now nothing to show for it.

Well, at least I don't need to fake being interested in it anymore, right?

'I had enough of it by the time I enter the locker room. Not only was the class avoiding me, but they were gossiping right in front of me where they knew I could hear them. Led by that mouse girl whose part of Diane's pack. None of them talked about the real reason, only if it was mites or the mange.' Sighing, I put my hands behind my head as we cross a street.

'They got to me somehow and made me angry. Saying I did something gross considering it's shaved all the way to my fat ass, their words not mine. Walking by them I slammed Ms. Henderson's door shut when I went into her office. I flat out growled at her when she touched my shoulder to get my attention.' Lowering my arms and holding them under my bust, Christine glances at me with a shocked expression.

'You said you were used to being teased and bullied, so why?' Stopping in front of the second cross street on our way home, I gently reach out and take Christine's hand.

We wait for a car to go by before walking across.

'I asked Ms. Henderson the same thing, said it was because of evolutionary psychology. I've never heard of it before, but she explained it as how genes affect behavior, and since behaviors can determine survival, they in turn effect how genes are passed on.' Glancing over at her, Christine's ear twitches as we cross the street. Once across, and our home is within sight I let go of her hand.

'Said I inherited not only lupine instincts, but human female ones too as they supposedly have different survival mechanisms than the ones I had as a guy.' Christine lets out a small huff and I can't tell if it's an annoyed huff or angry one.

'Sounds like bullshit to me, no offense Al- I mean sis. I went to a better school than you did and while they did teach Evolution, they said nothing about this Evolutionary Psychology thing.' Upon reaching the driveway and the front steps, she slows and starts walking behind me. Only because the stairs to the front door are only wide enough for one person.

'Well we both went to school in the states, Ms. Henderson thinks there was some sort of religious aversion to the subject considering she cursed upon hearing I wasn't taught evolution.' Unlocking and opening the front door, Christine waits for me to enter first. Like always, I shed my school shoes for slippers upon entering. Christine only takes hers off at the door.

'You went to public school, I went to private school. Unlike public schools, they teach actual subjects and don't bend over backwards to appease parent's feelings. Besides, what did Ms. Henderson 'claim'' Okay the tone of voice Christine used more or less tells me she doesn't believe it. Ms. Henderson hasn't lied to me yet though. 'You had in the way of female instincts?' Leading the way up to my room, and once inside with the door locked. I shed my school uniform in exchange for proper clothing.

Christine keeps her uniform on for the moment.

'Well, Ms. Henderson pointed out the obvious, we're weaker than men. Not just due to our smaller size now but in general.' Christine nods at this.

'Yea, everyone knows that's true except for a few nut-jobs. Anyway, continue.' Sitting down on the computer chair I switch on my computer. Then watch as Christine flops onto my bed, stuffing a pillow under her belly.

'Anyway, she claimed that this makes it more dangerous for females to seek risky situations. Those that did, were unlikely to reproduce, thus there's an instinct to be more risk adverse than men. Pointing out how I should go over how I initially tried to escape, and how we fared getting here once we did escape. Then to compare it to how I remembered taking risks before being converted. I realized she was right, I took fewer risks than what I could've done.' I expected Christine to voice her protest at this, I don't expect the few moments of silence after I'm done talking. So I swivel the chair around I see Christine has her head down and her tail is lashing wildly about.

'Something wrong Christine?' Reaching out to touch her.

'No Alpha Jackie! Nothing's wrong, as your beta, I must-' Stopping her right there by abandoning the chair and pulling her head into my lap as I sit on the bed next to her.

Having completely forgotten that her P.I.D. makes it hard to have differing opinions from mine, I foolishly carried on this conversation. I'm most likely going to regret doing this, but I see no other way to get her to stop than to give her an order that it's okay for her and I not to see eye to eye on everything.

Sitting straighter, making my body language say I'm in charge. I look down and meet her gaze.

'As your Alpha, I order you that it is okay for you as my Beta to have differing opinions from me. As well as permission to be able to voice them on any subject we may talk about.' Christine's tail instantly goes still, and she lets out several huffing breaths. Christine's breathing calms and as she moves to sit up, I make no attempt to stop her.

Ears forward, she looks at me.

'That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Genes can't quantify risk! They can't tell the difference between taking a risk that will make you late for an appointment, or a risk that will cost you your ability to be free. Only experience and making wrong choices can.' Speaking of which I think this shows I made the right choice in ordering her to be able to speak her mind. Other than that, I just shrug.

'I guess, but wouldn't be more of a better safe than sorry kinda thing? You know, like how you could take a chance if that snake in front of you is venomous, just a brightly colored to mimic being venomous, or you can just leave it alone.' Actually, maybe I should look it up? Moving back over to my computer chair I bring up the web browser. Christine's instantly sitting at her spot at the edge of my bed to watch.

'Well according this online encyclopedia it's a real thing.' I point to the article I brought up and Christine huffs in an annoyed tone.

'I don't act like this article claims. I've done plenty of risky things both before and after being converted, you know that.' Yea I do. Still, there's a line between less and more risk.

'Of course I do. I just don't think it's risk or no risk situation, it may be more of an undue kind of risk thing Christine.' Frankly I think the subject is a bit over my head education wise. I can only grasp parts of the article, the rest have words and terms I don't know.

'My statement still stands Jackie, how could genes determine stuff like that?' I don't have an answer for that, and thankfully, I don't have to. Seems because I didn't open the email from her dad last night, the school social website decides now would be a good time to pop-up a notification window that there's an unread email.

Also I hear Flint returning home, I ignore it. Christine doesn't even notice it as she's vibrating on the spot to know what's in the email.

'Oh! Open it! That has to be dad's reply!' I already know it is, I saw the address last night. Christine is in a better mood today, so..

Switching the tab over to the school's social website I load the email client, then click on the email in question. Christine instantly attempts to nudge me over, so she can sit on the chair at the same time. I relent and just give her the chair while I sit on the spot she was on my bed.

[It would be an understatement to say that I'm relieved you're alive Ashley. I had thought you had died on the streets, or wherever you ran off too. I'm not a fool, I realize that now you may be beyond apologies, regardless. I have to give you one because when all is said and done, you're still my own flesh and blood.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I distanced myself from you and was more interested in my career. You who unconditionally loved me even for how badly I treated you. I'm sorry I didn't see that you were only acting out just to get my attention.

I now realize how much of a monster I was, when you ran away a part of me was happy about that because I didn't have to worry about your antics hurting my career. A shallow and callous thought I will pay for, for the rest of my life.

I apologize for that, even though you didn't know it till now.

What hurts most of all right now was that I realized what I lost, what I threw away. It wasn't long after the accident, after your mother died, that they stopped visiting me.

My colleagues and so called 'friends', after the first visit to say how sorry they were over what happened. They just stopped answering my calls when the press moved on to the next story. I was no longer news worthy, I was no longer viable, my career over with the removal of my arm and part of a leg to save my life.

If I had been nicer to you, acted as a father should have, you would've been there for me. Sitting by my bedside to comfort me. You weren't because I had thrown you away.

As I said, you may think I'm beyond apologies, beyond forgiveness.

I just, want to one simple request. I want to see my daughter's face again, I can barely remember it. I understand that you don't have the funds for travel, not to mention you wouldn't want to accept my money for anything like that from me for obvious reasons, so how about this?

I'll should be up near where you're staying at in a week or two. There's a retirement house your mother and I bought their that I have to deal with, as well as some other legal issues with the local bank too.

We can meet over a lunch or dinner, you can say your peace to me. If you want to have nothing to with me, then we can go our separate ways.

I hope to hear from you.]

Christine as still as a statue as I watch her read over the email, not a tail twitch, or an ear flick. Silently she wipes tears from her eyes followed by a few silent sobs.

Instantly I'm by her side.

'Are you okay? Do you need a moment alone? I can go downstairs if you want sis.' Patting her head gently Christine's ears splay a bit as she leans into my touch.

'He. He wants to see me. I don't know what to feel about that.' Grabbing her tail, Christine brings it onto her lap, combing through it with her hands like it's the most important thing in the world.

I know the motion, the same thing seems to calm me down too.

'What were you expecting him to say? That he didn't want to hear from you?' Christine nods, letting out a long and low whine.

'I didn't luck out like you did with keeping your human molars Jackie. How will he react to seeing me like this? How can I prove to him I'm his daughter and not some freak?' Shrugging my shoulders, I'm pretty much as clueless as she is. I let her reach up and gently remove my hand from her head.

Christine stands a moment later, then paces back and forth in my room. Frankly, I feel sorry for her. I did indeed luck out that my human molars stayed put, and the people who converted me didn't pull them. They were close to doing so if I recall correctly..

It was the only evidence I gad to convince Mother that I was once her son. Christine's ears perk up, and she stops, then faces me.

'Sis, Jackie, there's one thing that I might be able to use, but I don't know if conversion left it alone.' Tilting my head I look back at her, I'm about to ask what it is, but she seems to be taking her skirt and underwear off?

'What. What Are you doing?' I mean I don't mind her taking her clothes off, nothing I haven't seen before. Or have myself. Still, Christine sighs frustratingly, and I bet she's rolling her eyes too, even though I can't see them.

'Last time I was in High school, I got a tramp stamp. A raven put just a bit above where my tail is now. I did it to piss off Mom and Dad, so they would pay attention to me. They hated it, and I wasn't to into the tattoo scene, but they never forced me to remove it either. Maybe, just maybe it's still there?' Going over to her, I kneel and part the surrounding fur on her lower back and tail base. Despite this her tail does slowly wag in my face.

'There's some faint lines of something, it doesn't even look like a raven. I don't think it would be enough to count as a tattoo, even an abstract one. Sure, we could shave the area to get a better look, but that's a large area and you saw how everyone at school reacted to my tail.' Taking a step back I watch Christine slowly pull up her underwear and then her skirt.

Never knew someone could do such a mundane task so dejectedly.

The defeated sigh Christine lets out nearly breaks my heart as I follow her to my bed. She flops onto it, and curls up into a ball. Sitting down next to her I gently pet her head and neck in long strokes.

'I have nothing to prove to Dad I'm Ashley. Nothing to prove I can still be his daughter.' Hearing her lightly sob those does what her sigh didn't, it breaks my heart in a way I've never felt before.

I don't want to see her hurt. It compels me to do what ever it takes to eliminate what's causing her to hurt, so her pain can stop. At the same time it wants me to pull her close, comfort her, and make her feel better.

The rational side of me wants me to push the latter feeling to the side and deal with the problem at hand, we need proof. It loses the fight as Christine lets out a pathetic whine that is the closest thing we can do to crying. Pulling Christine's head and shoulders into my lap, I hold her close to my chest. Comforting her, nuzzling her head and petting her. I lick her face like I would be removing the tears she would be shedding, if we could cry.

'I won't lie Christine, it won't be easy to convince him.' Only speaking when I feel satisfied that she's calmed down enough to understand it.

'I have nothing physical I can use to prove it Alpha-Jackie.' Calling me by my pack title earns her another round of me petting her head.

'Physical proof isn't the only thing we could use Christine.' She's my sister now and my Beta, so. 'If he demands proof conversion is possible, I'll show him mine.' Christine rolls over and looks up at me.

'What do you mean by physical proof is not the only thing we can use Jackie? Please don't put yourself in danger for my sake either..' Scratching an itch on my tail I smile at her.

A loving smile.

'You told me you did things to get into trouble just to get attention from them. Considering their position in the public limelight, I'm sure most of those incidents never saw the light of day outside of your family.' I pet her slowly down the back of her head some more.

'You also knew his private email address, one he doesn't give out to everyone. Do you know anything else of his that he wouldn't just tell anyone? I know it's a little cliche, like you're trying to prove your the real Ashley while an exact physical clone stands next to you. It's all we have to work with, so we have to make the best of it.' The sound of the front door opening and closing echo's up here, and based on the time, it must be Mom and the others.

Sighing at the fact this impromptu bonding session has to end, I help Christine up and straighten her fur.

'Not to mention Christine, sis, if it helps you reconnect with your father. I'm more than willing to take such a huge risk. Why? I know you would do the same for me.' Christine moves to vigorously rub her muzzle under my chin once before standing and stretching with renewed vigor.

She hops back onto the computer chair and quickly types a reply to her dad, then heads out of my room. It's still her week to cook dinner with Mom, and in doing so it Leaves me alone in here with my thoughts as my only companion.

I know for wild wolves, packs are their family's more or less. The Alpha female and Alpha male were the parents, Beta's were their kids, lower ranked wolves were cousins or what not. Maybe they carried that over when they made the Bio-Morph genome? I'm her Alpha female, she's my beta.

I now know for certain what I felt was maternal, what I would feel if I say, my own child was hurting. Was this what Alpha felt for me? I put my hand on my lower belly and just look down.

I can have children now, is this what I'll feel when I care for them? Is this what Mom feels when she does so for me?

Sighing out loud I stand and stretch before plopping down in front of my computer, then I bring up a few things to read or look through to entertain myself till dinner is ready. Anything to focus on other than that line of thought. It's too soon I think to wonder about having kids and what not.

I'm called down to dinner soon afterwards, luckily, I'm not the last one here. So I am able to give Patrick a hug and a lick on the cheek before we all sit down to a pasta dinner.

"So I heard that Christine emailed her biological father." Mom looks over at me, and I look back at her. Mom's voice nor her body language indicates she's angry over this. So maybe she's okay with it? I hope so at least.

'Yea. I watched as she wrote it, she took great care to not to tell him everything up front.' Passing along one of the plates of food earns me the now normal and forgettable angry glare from Flint.

"What about when you two see him? Christine said he's going to be up here in a week or two at most and you can't hide the truth in person." I look over at Christine, but mom cuts me off before I can bring her in on the discussion.

"I already heard Christine's reasoning." Mom takes a sip of her drink. "Before you say it, no, I'm not angry. Just curious as to why you think it's a good idea to risk yourselves like this. Especially after one of your teachers found out your real story on her own." Sighing I put down my fork, place my hands in my lap, and make sure to make eye contact in the human way. The non aggressive way.

'Because I feel it's unfair for me to be able to reconnect with Dad and not her. I know you're going to have to tell Dad the truth sooner than expected. Especially since her father has been abandoned by the entire establishment he spent years trying to be a part of, shattering his worldview. He seems to need her as much as she needs him. Even then, I think he may have just as much to lose as we do if he says his own daughter is a Bio-Morph now. So I feel even if he doesn't take that information well, he won't blow our cover.' Through every word I have to force my ears to stay up, they want to droop and fold back submissively. Mom's my Alpha female and I must respect her.

Mom only nods a single time through everything I said and I can't help worrying about it.

"I understand you feeling it's unfair, but to be honest. This seems to be more of a decision based on emotions Jackie rather than fact. He's a pro Bio-Morph slavery politician, ex or otherwise. Sure, he's had a falling out from the system, lost his wife, and from what Christine said, regrets every single thing he did to push her away. There's a chance he could decide use her, and you as tokens to get back into the system." Christine's ears go flat back for a moment, as to mine before we both force them back up.

Mom, our Alpha female demands respect, we shouldn't show aggressiveness to her. She has a right to her own opinion.

'He won't do that! Dad seems so sincere in his email. We've decided to meet him in a local restaurant for a meal when he's up here to deal with the local bank.' Mom just puts her hands up defensively while shrugging.

"Just stating a possibility you two. I'm not happy about you two doing this without asking me first. I've made myself clear I don't want to lose either of you and this has a risk of that happening, however slight." Mom places her hands on the table on either side of her plate for a moment. Then picks up her fork and eats some of her dinner.

'So, is this a yes or a no on me seeing dad?' Christine eagerly watches mom for her answer.

"It's not like I can say no after you've emailed him and agreed to meet him. I just want you two be extremely careful as you do so. Watch each other's backs, stay in public places, don't get into his car or van. That sort of thing." The room fills with the sound of Christine's tail hitting her chair, I have to stifle a giggle at this.

Mom's answer also signals the end of any further conversation about it during dinner, everyone else eats in peace or with small talk. Christine and I excuse ourselves once we clean our plates and head upstairs, not before I give Patrick another lick on the cheek though.

Both to see him, my future Alpha male blush, and to get that disgusted reaction out of Flint. God he's so predictable to get a reaction out of.

'So, do you want to sleep in my room again Christine, or in yours?' Pausing a moment after opening my bedroom door.

'Unless you have other plans tonight Jackie, I would like to sleep with you again. It feels, right somehow.' Smiling, I move aside to let her in, then I gather my things for my shower.

She takes hers after I return from mine.

We sit on my bed, watching some random video I found online while we brush each other's fur. It's something I can't help leaning into it, enjoying the calming sensations it causes on my skin.

'Mom's wrong, I don't think Dad would do that, I believe what he wrote in his email.' Yea, I think he's telling the truth too, but Mom has a point too.

'It's because Mom cares for us. I understand that she doesn't want to lose us and it is risky telling your dad the truth, but, I think things will work out rather than go badly.' Seriously, how's kidnapping us help the political career of Christine's dad?

'Well yea, I understand her position. I just don't think it's that risky that I want to see my dad and.. I'll go by myself if I have to.' I'm kinda proud of Christine, she's not normally this assertive.

'You won't be alone in this. I'm going with you, even if I have to dress up like a doll for it.' Christine laughs out loud while putting down her brush.

'I'm going to hold you to that Jackie. More than likely it will be a higher class place. Meaning fancy dresses, makeup, heels, purses, jewelry and perfume. The whole nine yards, so to speak, of girly girl fashion.' Oh, right. Crap, I can't back out after agreeing to it, can I?

Laying down onto my back I raise my hand up and point to the ceiling.

'You have a strong point Christine, and I would be a bad sister if I backed now out because of that. Despite how I hate dresses, and how purses are too gaudy. Not to mention I'm never getting my ears pierced.' Christine giggles up a storm as she gets up and shuts everything off, leaving only the night stand light.

Then joins me on the bed, I lay my tail onto her.

'What about Patrick, Jackie? I'm sure he'll enjoy seeing you dressed up with how 'tight' his pants looked before the dinner we had with your Father.' There go my ears, burning hot at that memory. Not to mention what else it does to my body. Folding my ears down to hide them, I also cross my legs and roll over to face Christine.

'Pleasant unintended consequence Christine, pleasant unintended consequences.' She glares at me with a mischievous vulpine grin.

'Ha! Tomboy Jackie 'likes' dressing girly, as long as it's for her boyfriend, and future Alpha Male!' Groaning, I try to bury my head into my bed as Christine playfully pokes me in my lower ribs.

I gently swat her hand to get her to stop.

'Christine, I do not!' I swat her hand gently again. 'Besides, how can we wear high-heels? Those force human women to walk on their toes! We already do with our digitgrade legs.' We have yet another round of Christine poking me gently while I swat the hands she pokes me with.

Sudenly she stops this playful game, before bursting out laughing causing me to tilt my head a bit.

'Oh my god! You're right Jackie! Shoes like that would be giant stilettos! With eight inch or longer pin point heels and a tiny sole in the front. We'd literally be walking on needle points while wearing them.' Christine's laughing dies down a bit.

'Stiletto's were hard enough to walk in before, I bet a stiff breeze would knock us over!' Can't help it, the mental image she paints is hilarious! I giggle up a storm, then out right laugh.

'I feel that way with dresses and skirts Christine, that a stiff breeze would get caught in them and blow me over. Not to mention I feel like I'm in my underwear while in public too.' Christine rolls her eyes at me.

She loves dresses, and I don't. She'll just have to accept it.

'Wait till it gets warmer Jackie. You'll like how they allow a lot of airflow. Honestly, I never did understand how guys could stand pants in the summer. Especially the ones who wear long pants.' Upon her finishing speaking, I boop her nose. Which Christine returns instantly, A moment later we settle down with Christine being the little spoon to my big spoon as I drape an arm over her side.

'It never bothered me before, but this will be my first summer with a fur coat. So I'll reserve judgment, it won't make me like them if you're correct though.' I feel Christine wince at my mention of summer.

'That season wasn't fun back at Mauri's. Some of the container's air conditioners didn't work. The ones that did, were too weak to keep them cool during the day on the one day we had off per week.' I'm not surprised. I'm just glad I no longer need to live in one of those things.

Alpha and Mauri, I still worry about them, I hope they're alright.

I only hug her a bit in response to that, choosing not to reply and letting the conversation end. A few minutes later I reach over and switch off the nightstand light. Falling asleep in the darkness soon after.

The next day, and most of the next week is uneventful, we go to our classes, do our normal routine's. Just with having to deal with the rumors I may have mites. Even Alice does her routine rants as Christine and I sit at that rickety table every day.

A bright side to how gym class treats me now, is that I'm not early enough to Mr. Davidson's science class to have time for Diane to talk with me. Making the fact that she's sitting behind me bearable.

Except for Friday after school, since it rained most of the day, Flint's practice was canceled. He also has friends who own an electric car, so he was able to get home before us. In contrast, Christine and I had to take the light rail because we can't drive my car til tomorrow. Despite that, I'm still glad I actually have a car. It makes me a normal teenager I guess, something that I wasn't last time through.

What has me curious though is I've noticed Flint's American football team more often than not practices by running in the halls like we saw earlier, so why cancel it?

Why not just have them run through the halls for yet another day?

"I hope the both of you took off your shoes before coming inside, I don't want to be blamed for tracking mud in when it was a couple of animals." You think mud on your shoes is bad? Try fur, it took me more time than I wanted to get it off the fur on my legs after gym class.

'Humans are animals too Flint.' Not hiding the bit of venom in my voice as I switch out the muddied school shoes for my normal indoor slippers. Christine growls in response to Flint's comment as she just sheds hers. Being careful to place them on the mat and not the floor.

"Says the mite infested 'dog'." Flint wants a reaction, I know this, but I'm pissed off before I could think of this. Stopping in front of the entryway to the living room my tail angrily lashes about as I glare at him.

In the past few days a thin fuzz of fur has regrown over it, giving me hope that in a few more days it will be back to its normal fluffy self.

'I don't have mites!' Balling my fists at my sides. 'If I did you would've been the first to know since you live here!' Flint flips me off, in retaliation, I bare my teeth.

Interestingly enough, this has become the Bio-morph equivalent.

"Everyone on the school social media website thinks you do, who am I to question it?" That is what I expected he would say. All caused by Diane most likely as well.

'Just because everyone says that, doesn't make it true and you know it!' Growling back at him as I stomp my way upstairs after Christine. By the time I reach my bedroom Christine's already logged into my computer and is reading an email.

Grumbling incoherently, I work on exchanging my school uniform for some actual clothing as Christine swivels the chair around to look at me.

'You've never snapped like that to Flint before. I thought you were used to this kind of teasing Jackie?' Lobbing the balled up mess of blouse and skirt in the general direction of the hamper, I go through my dresser and then closet for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

'I don't know either. He mentioned Diane's mite rumor, and suddenly I was angry before I could even think about it. Maybe it's a combination of being an outcast again and what Ms. Henderson told me about the other day.' What I do know is its good to be in actual clothing as I plop down back first onto my bed, letting my tail hang over the edge with my feet.

'I still think what she said is bullshit Jackie.' Christine swivels the chair back around to face the screen. 'So what do you want to do this weekend?' Rolling over onto my belly, I stick a pillow under me and look at Christine and the email she's reading.

'Enjoy wearing actual clothes for two days at least.' Christine lets out a geckering laugh and I just roll my eyes.

'Unless Mom wants you to go with her to talk to your father Jackie, in which case I get to doll you up earlier than I expected.' I just reply by sticking out my tongue at her.

I had forgotten that Mom was going to go over to Anthony's to tell him the truth about me. Ms Henderson finding out on her own, and Christine wanting to reconnect with her own father forced her hand in this.

To be honest, I think it is a good idea for her to do so before he somehow finds out on his own after mother slips up.

'What are you reading Christine?' She turns and grins at me for a second, I know she knows I want to change the subject.

'Dad replied with the name and location of the place we'll meet for a meal, lunch is out because the lawyer had to reschedule for a slot a week earlier than he expected, so we'll do a dinner a week from this Saturday. You're not going to like the place though.' My head tilts to the side a bit.

'It's a high class restaurant in the downtown area. Valet, dress code, reservation only, the whole nine yards of high class. Thankfully, dad only needs our names to set the reservations, no addresses or id photo's.' Oh, great, I know what's coming before I can see the mischievous grin form on Christine's face.

'That means my school skirt and a blouse won't be enough to meet the code?' Beating Christine to the punch doesn't diminish her grin.

'Nope! In fact, neither of us have anything close to meet the dress code. For young women like us that means; a one piece dress ankle to knee-length, solid colors or conservative prints. No more than a three inch v or curve cut out for the bust. High heels, no flat shoes or sneakers. Makeup and perfume are required for women. If you wear jewelry it must be conservative, no large chains or giant earrings, they must also be of real precious metals and real gems. Purses are to be kept small, no large handbags. Hair and fur must be well washed and conservatively styled, no Mohawks.' Glancing over to my closet, I glare at the purse laying on the floor where I tossed it after coming home from the hospital. Then back over at Christine.

'Not surprised. That sounds like you're typical high class restaurant. The only problem is I doubt we can afford the several thousand dollars it will take to meet their dress code.' I'm worried, that grin of hers still hasn't gone away. What does Christine have planed for me other than the obvious?

'Dress codes for girls are 'guidelines' my tomboy sister, we can meet it without breaking the bank so to speak. Which of course means, you and I are going shopping this weekend!' I just stare at her for a moment or two.

I knew it was coming, but that doesn't diminish the fact that I'd rather not go shopping like some stereotypical teenage girl.

'No. I'm not going clothes shopping. I can just give you or Mom my measurements and either of you can get me what I need from the store or online.' Rolling over onto my back I stare up at the ceiling.

I wouldn't mind going to the electronics store though, as for clothes. I don't care, as long as they fit and are not too gaudy like that one vixen shirt Christine loves. In this case I will have to tolerate wearing a dress, a small price to pay to help Christine.

A moment later Christine's head blocks my view of the stucco ceiling as she looks down at me.

'Nope, you're going to have to come with me to the mall Jackie. I don't know if it's like this for guys clothing, but size measurements are 'also' guidelines for women's clothing. A size twenty waist for one dress maker may be a size nineteen or twenty-one for another. So if we order it online, chances are they won't fit, and then we'll have nothing to wear.' Christine moves out of the way as I sit up to face her.

'Are you serious? Then why do they have sizes at all if they're not going to adhere to a standard? Why even buy anything from a company that does that?' Christine shakes her head before removing her blouse, tossing it to me with the label on the outside.

'That says it's a size ten women's blouse, but the rest of my blouses are size thirteen to fifteen along with my shirts. It was like this last time I went to school and it's because girls tease each other on their clothes sizes. Jackie, I think you can understand what keeps happening because of this.' It is indeed a size ten blouse from what's printed on the label. Handing it back to her I nod once.

'Larger 'sized' clothes start to sell less, so the companies lower the size number to make it sell better.' Christine accepts her blouse back and puts it back on, Doesn't tuck into the skirt though.

'So that's why you have to go dress shopping with me Jackie. We can only find what will fit on you by trying it on first.' Letting out a small huff I idly pet the fuzz on my tail to calm myself.

'I'm sure you're going to enjoy every minute of playing doll with me right?' This gets Christine giggling like the school girl she is.

'Yup! I bet by the end of it you'll have enjoyed it as well, or at least a part of it. Your tomboy card is still safe Jackie. The dress will only be for that one evening when we go see my dad, and possibly an occasional use after that. You'll still be able to wear jeans, play with your computer and sit like you are right now the rest of the time.' Tilting my head I look down at myself before shrugging, I'm sitting like I normally have for most of my life.

'Nope, I'll hate every second of it Christine.' Using a joking tone of voice before continuing. 'Seriously though, I'll be spending time with you, so I will at least enjoy that. It is something sisters would do and since we've only been sisters for a couple of months now, I think we have make up for some lost time, right?' This earns me a pouncing hug from Christine, one I lovingly return.

Eventually she lets go, siting back down on the computer chair.

'I'm still nervous on how the meeting with dad will go Jackie, so it is reassuring to know you'll support me while we're there.' Why wouldn't I? We're sisters now and I'm not going to give that up.

Mom and the others of course unknowingly choose this moment to return, cutting our conversation short. Giving me another hug, Christine then heads down to help Mom with dinner tonight.

Next week will be my turn again, I'd be lying if I say I wasn't sort of looking forward to it.

Laying back down on my back I stare up at the ceiling. Speaking of dad's, I wonder how mine will take being told the truth. As far as he knows, I'm dead and Jackie is an adopted child. Well other than being angry.

Even if it was for a good cause, it's not like we can just tell everyone here we're escaped slaves! I'm under no illusions that Bio-morphs risk being ferried against their will back across the border and back into slavery.

Sniffing the air I let out a loud whine, shit, we're having burgers tonight. Not that I don't like them, it's that with this large nose of mine the air just becomes saturated with the scent of them being cooked 'well' before they're ready.

God, its making me hungrier than I normally would be right now. I think this may be from the part of me that's now lupine. Hmm, speaking of which, I wonder what they'd do if I go down there and just give mom that wide-eyed smiling begging look?

Would they let me have a bite to eat before dinner proper? The mental image makes me giggle a little.

Luckily though making burgers is quicker than most of the other dinners we've had, so I'm called downstairs by Christine in short order. It's still longer than I would've liked with how the whole house now smells of delicious cooked meat, and will for a few more hours.

I do have to wipe my muzzle on a napkin once I sit down due to how delicious they smell.

Mom and Christine made enough so everyone can have two, around the plate containing the patties are sides and anything we want to put on them. No bacon though sadly.

Mother doesn't seem to share the view that bacon goes with everything.

'So, Mom, you're going to go talk to dad tomorrow and tell him the truth?' Deciding to break the silence, and have something to focus on rather than Flint's angry stares. I do notice Christine glaring at him as he cuts into the two patties he grabbed to check for fur.

"Yes, but I'll try to do it in a nice and tactful manner. If the opportunity doesn't present it's self, I'll wait till later. Just blurting it out would cause him to react badly considering our history together." I understand that, what I don't understand is why Mom is loading her dinner up with more veggies than meat.

Both Christine and I load ours up with cheese and put a few pieces of lettuce and tomatoes, we then fill our plate with fries.

'I hope Anthony doesn't tell Diane. She treats me bad enough already, I don't know how she'll react to knowing I actually am Anthony's son, well, daughter now, you know what I mean..' Mom shrugs, then reaches over to gently place some onions, some more lettuce, and what looks like cucumber onto my plate without me asking for them.

"I know you're more carnivorous than before, but that doesn't mean you can skip veggies entirely, same goes for you Christine." I let out an exaggerated sigh while Christine actually whines.

She then grabs from the center of the table the same stuff Mom put on my plate. Taking a bite of my now more veggified burger, I try to hide a wince at how badly said cucumber clashes with the delicious juicy meat.

"I'll make sure he doesn't, but Xin also deserves to know too since she married him, and can be considered your step-mother now Jackie. Also, stop wincing, cucumbers aren't that bad." That may be so, but they have NO place on a burger!

Granted, saying that will earn me a boop on the nose.

'Um, mom?' Christine speaks up and Mom looks over at her.

"Yes dear, what is it?" Mom puts her burger down and looking over at Christine.

'Since we're going to go see my dad, and he's invited us to a high class restaurant, we're going to need something nicer to wear than what's in our current wardrobes. We're going to need a bit more than what you've given us before for our allowance to get some dresses and things.' To Christine's credit, she does give Mom that wide-eyed cute puppy look.

I don't think she needed to do it though, considering the smiling grin plastered on Mother's face. Mostly because she knows she'll get to see me dressed up again, like a proper daughter.

"I'll give you one of my credit cards Christine, and set it so you can spend no more than a couple thousand on it. That should give you enough Money to get what you need and have fun with Jackie." Christine nods and smiles at her and then gives me the same mischievous vulpine grin from earlier.

Huffing once, I work on eating my other burger. Trying to ignore the added taste of the extra veggies.

"I would like to see what Jackie will look like dressed up in whatever the two of you get. Considering how well she turned out for the dinner that one Saturday." Patrick joins our conversation, and I almost swallow down the wrong pipe at what he said. Not to mention my ears suddenly heat up as I blush deeply. He liked how I looked..

Glancing over to Patrick he grins back at me that seems gotcha, as well as actually meaning what he said.

"Thank you, Patrick. I'd like to see how you two look in whatever dresses you'll get tomorrow as well." Mom cleans her face as I roll my eyes a bit. There goes any hope of just using what we'll get just for meeting Christine's father. Then keeping it in the back of my closset.

'Okay. I'll make sure Jackie gets something really nice to wear.' Working on my fries I watch as Christine now finishes her burgers.

'Do I have any say in the matter?' Pointing a fry at all three of them, ignoring the snickering sounds from the Tanners, or Flint's 'I don't want to be here' look.

"Nope." Mom's first. 'Nope, you relented to being my doll for the trip. So I get to choose!' Christine adds. I look over at Patrick, who just casually takes the fry out of my hand and plops it into his mouth, chewing it, he then swallows.

"Sorry, but I'm going to side with your mother and sister. Besides, you said you like being female, and I think you should own at least one nice dress, mainly because I like seeing you in them once in a while." Sighing at being out voted, especially by Patrick no less, I relent to the idea by lowering my ears a bit.

Not that I don't agree that 'I' like how he likes how I look in them, but because he stole my french fry! That demands some retribution on my part! It's my food after all.

Hmm, that gives me an idea.

Picking up another fry, I plop it into my mouth, acting like I'm going to chew and swallow. Then I lean over to Patrick, using the knowledge on how to kiss him that I learned that one night we slept together. I tilt my head and plant my lips onto his, then before he can protest I push said half chewed fry into his mouth. My longer tongue makes it a quick task.

Breaking contact with him I sit back down with a shit eating grin on my muzzle as he sits there utterly confused and not even the slightest bit disgusted from what I did.

Everyone except Flint breaks out in laughter, he just shoves his plate forward and quickly abandons the table, stomping up to his room by the sound of it. For some reason that just makes me even more amused I pissed him off.

Dinner discussion shifts to school and how we're being treated, before; Patrick, his parents, and Mom move onto a topic that doesn't involve Christine and me. Finishing off my fries I ask to be excused, resulting in Christine quickly stuffing the last few fries on her plate into her mouth, causing some chuckles from Mom.

Christine follows me up too my room, I do have to tilt an ear in the direction of Flint's room down the hall. It sounds like he's talking to someone either on the phone or over the internet.

The closed door and the music he's playing makes it nearly impossible to make out exactly what he's saying. Something about an event coming up a week from this Monday, and money? Shrugging I open my bedroom door, leting Christine in before closing it.

Waking up my computer I listen as Christine sheds her clothing and prepares to the normal evening shower. Browsing the web a bit while waiting for her to finish, then I take my turn in the shower. I'm starting to love the full body drier, the feeling of warmth just enveloping you is actually kind of addictive.

When I get back Christine has a map up on the monitor and is looking at the location of the restaurant that we'll be meeting her dad in a weeks time.

'Anxious?' Plopping myself down on the edge of the bed while letting my tail hang to the side, Christine joins me with brushes in her hand for us to do our normal grooming routine.

'Yea. Waiting till next week will be hard, but at least tomorrow I can occupy myself with helping you Jackie.' I start brushing her back as she works on her own front.

'I wouldn't call being your dress up doll helping Christine.' I can feel Christine relax under my long brush strokes down her back.

'You have no fashion sense Jackie. No offense, I understand why, most guy's don't have one and don't bother to learn. The ones that do are either gay or were like, my father. Worried about what every bit of clothing spoke about his power and position to anyone who saw him.' Rolling my eyes I finish up Christine's back, we then switch places and I feel like just sprawling out at the sensation of that brush strokes going down back.

I have to focus on doing my front and the conversation otherwise I'll just flop over and loll my tongue out in contentment.

'I don't see anything wrong with that. Who cares what I wear as long as it's clean and to any required dress code, if there is one.' Christine gently bops the back of my head with the brush.

I will not admit to letting out a small yip from that.

'Of course there's something wrong with that Jackie. Us girls are judged a lot more by how we look than guys are. So consider tomorrow your first lesson in fashion so you can learn to dress yourself properly.' Letting out a playful huff at her reply I watch as Christine moves to allow me to brush her tail.

The fur on my tail is not yet long enough to brush.

'I can dress myself just fine Christine, you're the one who may need some help. You like that tacky t-shirt with the sequenced 'VIXEN' on it after all.' Christine rolls her eyes at me with a short huff.

'It's a cute shirt, and accurate. We're vulpine breed Bio-morphs, and female vulpine's are called vixens. Not to mention the purple does distract from the clashing patterns of my fur.' Chuckling a little, I shake my head.

'Well considering how bad it looks I think it would distract anyone who saw it.' Christine play shoves me to the side while giggling.

'What's this? Some fashion sense from the tomboy? I'll make a girly girl out of you yet Jackie.' With Christine's tail finished I gently toss the brush onto my nightstand before getting up and shutting things off. Leaving the computer on because of no school tomorrow.

I just shut off the monitor, rejoining Christine on the bed she curls up and I move to curl around her as best I can. Sleep claiming both of us soon after.

Waking up without an alarm is something I'm learning to appreciate again after nearly a year of doing it in some form or another. I wake up before Christine does, so I just lay here and wait till she does as to not disturb her.

It doesn't last long as the smell of bacon makes its way up here. Needless to say, we're both up and on our way downstairs once we make sure we are decently dressed.

Only Mother, Patrick and one of the elder Tanners are waiting for us at the dinning table. Because of this I'm able to walk up to Patrick and give him a small lick on the cheek before sitting down without any harassment. He pats me on the head in return once I'm in my seat.

Breakfast today is pancakes and bacon. I try to take a decent amount of bacon only to be stopped by Mother, grumbling I try to be happy with the half a dozen or so strips that she allows me to have this morning.

Christine does offer me some of her pile of bacon, but I politely refuse as I am not going to abuse my position as her alpha just to get more food.

No matter if it's that delicious mix of protein and fat called bacon.

"Okay here's the credit card you two can use, I've added both of you to the list of who can use it, and limited the amount to two thousand dollars." Mom sternly looks at both of us, but why me? I'm even more frugal with money that she is?

"This doesn't mean the both of you should go 'spend' two thousand dollars. Please try to spend as little as you can." Mom places the credit card on the table and slides it over to us, Christine beats me to picking it up though.

'Mom, you know I'm as averse to spending such a large amount of money as you are.' Mom nods but with a knowing smile as Christine pockets it.

'You know little of women's fashion Jackie. While I doubt we'll spend the full two thousand, we'll be lucky to find something that will fit us and look nice enough to fit the dress code for under one hundred.' I nearly cough out a piece of bacon at that amount. Patrick looks over to me to see if I need and help.

Holding my hand up to stop him I pick up the glass of water and drink some of it till I feel better.

'One hundred dollars for a simple dress??!' Both Christine and Mom nod once as I stare at them.

'If we're lucky Jackie. We're most likely going to have to spend a few hundred each on dresses to meet the code, if we can find something on the bargain rack.' Christine repeats herself.

"Yea I know, it's a lot to pay for a few yards of fabric, some thread and a small zipper among other things. At the same time, I do have to agree, you need at least one good dress so you can use it for special events like this. If it's also conservative enough, it can also use it in job interviews once you graduate." I look over at Patrick for some help, and he shrugs in response.

"It's the same as getting a suit I guess Jackie, and they're just as expensive if not more so compared to a dress. Just one of the things I had to pay for when we moved up here. I hated spending that amount of money too but I have had to use it more than once. So I guess it's worth it?" Sigh, they do have a point.

That's just a lot of money, and I can think of much better things to spend it on rather than a rarely used piece of clothing.

Pushing my plate forward with a sigh I look over at Christine who stuffs the last bit of a pancake into her mouth before doing the same. I'm going to have to talk to her about this, I can wait for her to finish..

'I guess we'll get going then Mom. I'm betting it will take us awhile to find something good enough and not break the bank.' Mom nods once then ohs before sliding me my car keys across the table.

"Starting today for the next week you will be able to drive such an old car. Remember, most of the other cars on the road are automated, so that means you'll have to be extra careful driving." Yea, this is something that I was looking forward to, due to my license plate number it's now my week to use and old internal combustion engine car.

Picking up the keys, I pocket them, then I give Patrick a hug. Walking around the table, I give Mom a hug before heading upstairs to get my wallet and id.

Christine follows me upstairs and to get hers from her own room. She then waits for me at the top of the stairs before following me down, and then out to my car.

Plopping down into the driver's seat, I lean over and unlock the passenger side door for Christine. As she gets in, I buckle up and start the car. It may look beaten-up on the outside but Patrick's work on the engine makes itself clear as it starts smoothly on the first try.

'Wow, this looks worse on the inside.' Glancing over at Christine as she buckles in, I wait till it clicks before backing up out of the driveway.

'Patrick promises he'll restore it for me. He's already got the engine running perfectly as you can see. Besides, it's been sitting here since before they let me out of the hospital and you never looked at it?' I'm still learning to drive, I'm also not foolish enough to think I'm better than I actually am. So I take great pains to keep my eyes on the road and not look over at Christine despite the urge to do so.

Especially when she starts playing with buttons and knobs in the surrounding cabin.

'I never paid too much attention to it because I thought it was something he was doing as a side job. Wow; the air-con doesn't work, the radio doesn't, even the windows don't work, I thought that would be something he'd need to fix since cars like this don't have manual controls?' Slowing the car to a stop while I wait my turn to exit the neighborhood. I look over at Christine now that its safe.

'Check under the arm rest on the door, Patrick jury-rigged a manual system till he can source a new motor and belts. For the rest of the electronics in here, I'll have to help him with that. Soldering is not his strong suit.' A second later Christine lowers her window enough to get some fresh air, reaching down I do the same on my side.

Traffic then clears enough and the lights change allowing me to turn onto the main thoroughfare.

'Why would you two go through all that trouble? I read somewhere they're going to completely ban this kind of car in a few years.' Shrugging is all I can manage, turns out Mom's advice was on the ball. There are a 'lot' of automated cares out, and they create a hazard in their own right requiring extra attention to detail.

I've found in my short lessons on driving other human or Bio-Morph drivers are easier to anticipate what they'll do, if they drive properly that is. The automated cars though seem to do what they want, when they want, as long as there's space to do so.

Only when we reach another light do I look over to Christine as we wait for it to change.

'Because if we can restore it to, um, I think the rule is eighty-five percent to ninety percent stock. Due to its age being from close to the turn of the century, it can be registered as a 'vintage' car. Vintage cars are exempt from that ban, and he claims in the end we'd have spent only a fraction of the cost of even a low end electric and self driving car.' Christine tilts her head at this.

'But the time you would have to spend to fix it is enormous.' I politely cut her off by raising my hand.

'Is a fraction of the time I'd have to spend working somewhere to even PAY for a low end electric car. Not to mention, I know how they cut costs to make low end electronics. Believe me, you don't want to ride or drive in anything like that.' Christine goes silent as she realizes the conversation can only take place when we're stopped.

She drums her fingers on the armrest till we're stopped at the signal to turn into the mall parking-lot.

'How bad could they be?' Looking back at her I frown.

'Old electrolytic caps that dry out in a few years causing failure, chips that were salvaged from other devices and are of unknown quality, bad or poor soldering work that may or may not fail in a few years. Those are the main things that can go wrong off the top of my head.' Christine silently goes 'oh' as we wait for the light to allow us into the parking lot of the mall.

'On the one hand It does make me glad they're being reused. Mainly because I hate seeing good things go to waste. On the other, I don't like that they don't tell people of this. When I fixed things, I made sure I told the people I sold them to that I used salvaged parts, so I couldn't say how long they'll last. Only that I'd be more than willing to fix it again at a later date if it did break down again.' The light changes and I take the turn into the parking lot.

'Jackie, you're making me feel bad about throwing out old electronic toys when I was younger because I was bored with them.' Shrugging as I hunt for an empty space, and, for some reason the term 'hunt' feels apt with how I am driving about to find one. I am careful though but it still kinda ticks something primal in me.

'Don't feel bad Christine, I'm sure you didn't know better back then. Not to mention people like me were most likely digging them out of the trash for spare parts... Ahah! No! That's mine!' Granted I could've let the other car have that empty space, but I saw it first! So dibs?

Pulling in quickly, I put the car in park and roll-up my window, Christine does the same with hers. I let her get out of the car first then reach over to lock the door.

Once I'm out I lock my door as with the keys.

'And the electric locks don't work either, do they Jackie?' Letting out a huff I shrug at her.

'It's on the list Christine, for now things can be manually locked.' Looking around, we're about in the middle of the parking lot, I wish I could've found a closer spot but this 'is' a weekend. So it's going to be packed with other teens and what not.

'Anyway, I'm guessing you have a store or two in mind for us to visit? Lets just get those out of the way first thing. Then I can go browse the electronics store or something.' Christine giggles and silently mutters tomboy at me.

'I have a few in mind Jackie, The dresses come first, then the Lingerie shop. Depending on the dress we may need something that won't show through the dress fabric. Out of curiosity, we'll also hit the shoe place, our little discussion the other night has me wondering if there are such things as high heels for Bio-Morphs.' I just stare at her with my jaw only a bit open for second, then I shake my head before leading the way down the parking lot to mall.

Thankfully, few people are out here right now to overhear us.

'Why not just go all out and hit the jewelry and cosmetics store?!' Taking on an exacerbated but playful tone as I know Christine means no harm.

'Because we only have a two thousand dollar budget and a warning to not spend all of it either. Besides, if you think clothes are super expensive Jackie, cosmetics are even worse. As for jewelry, we'd hit our limit just getting half-way decent bracelets and earrings for each of us.' Can't help it, I cringe. Something so superfluous, yet costing so much.

When we reach the door, Christine opens it for me, so I don't strain my leg. I give her a thankful smile in return.

'So do you know where the store is Christine, or are we going to just walk around till we find it?' The sheer noise inside the building forces me to fold my ears back. To say it's busy is an understatement.

Yet compared to school it's down right spacious with how much room there is everyone.

'Yup, follow me Jackie. Saw the place when I went with mother to get your wardrobe.' Letting her lead gives me an odd and not a good feeling, but I just ignore it.

She knows where she's going and I don't, considering these crowds, I'd get us lost in no time otherwise. Last thing I want to have happen is us get separated and lost, god knows what her P.I.D. would do.

We go down the hall and into the main hub of the mall, then down a walkway. We pass the electronics anchor store, and the Bio-Morph specialty shop. Surprisingly it's also past the food court. On the other side sits a cull-de-sac of shops the just bleed a high end of high atmosphere.

In a mall filled with shops that will sell you mostly the same products as you can get at a big box store, just with a couple dollar or more mark-up.

A pleasant fountain and kids play area fills the center, and I can instantly tell 'which' store Christine is taking me too. Mannequins adorn display cases on either side of the entrance, all female shaped, all well-defined, endowed, and all wearing expensive looking outfits of various styles from various cultures.

Christine leads me straight too it, and as she does, I idly notice that Bio-Morphs are the extreme minority in the play area. All but three are human children of various ages.

'Here we go Jackie. We should be able to find a couple of dresses for a decent amount that would satisfy that place's dress code on their discount rack.' Christine points out as I stop at the threshold. She stops a few steps ahead of me and looks back.

I would've never stepped foot in such a store before being converted, and I still feel like I shouldn't now. Even though I need to, so I can help Christine out it still feels a forbidden place.

Christine silently and gently takes my hand and leads me inside the store. The distant hum of all the noise from all the people in the mall lessens once we enter. Replaced with some generic sounding music being pumped in through the ceiling mounted speaker system. I don't know, which is better to be honest.

I also notice that all the workers here are human women and suddenly I feel uncomfortable for some reason at this. Christine seems to ignore it as we head to what amounts to their discount section.

'Is this a human only story Christine?' Quietly whispering to her as she stops in front of several racks of dresses. Each of various sizes and styles. Christine just turns around and shrugs.

'Last time I was here it didn't look that way. They seem to be a mix, some of their dresses are for Bio-morphs, others are for humans. Anyway, start looking through the rack here and see if you find something you like okay?' Letting out a small sigh I join her in looking through the clothing rack, only to stop as Christine takes one dress off and makes a motion for me to face her.

Obliging, she holds the dress up by the hanger against my shoulders and looks me up and down. It's a v-neck dress, blue and purple with an even amount of both. It feels like it's possibly made of silk. There's a slit up one side of the skirt, seems to be there to simply allow leg movement because the rest looks rather constricting.

'Hmm we can make a dark color work, but normal blue and dark purple doesn't seem to go with your platinum fur Jackie.' I'm a bit clueless about what she just said since the dress does look like it will work.

'I, don't think I understand what you're saying Christine. While I'm not a fan of how it looks, it does seem to check all the boxes for the dress code that I can recall.' Christine giggles for a short while before putting the dress back.

'As I said Jackie, you have no fashion sense. While dark colors 'can' go with your platinum fur coloration and pattern, mainly your darker splotches that look more silvery. It's best if we find one in a complementary color to the most of your fur.' Tilting my head a little, complementary colors? They're just colors.

Christine starts rummaging through the rack like she's on a hunt, her tail swishing back and forth till it stops, she pulls out a Pastel Pink dress gently presses it against me like the last one.

'This for instance, light or pastel pink is a complementary color.' She giggles as look down at the frill filled dress, I just gently shove it away. Christine in response, rolls her eyes and places it back on the rack.

'No. Pink.' Calmly sating the obvious, causing Christine to giggle again.

'Tomboy!' Christine mutters and returns to rummaging. This time for a lot longer than a moment ago. I think she just grabbed the pink one to get a playful rise out of me.

Looking around I'm amazed we haven't drawn much attention if any at all from either the other women in here. Nor the one or two unlucky men I now notice that have been dragged in here. None of the staff seem to be even interested in us either, too busy doing other things.

Frankly I can sympathize with the guys here, looking bored and confused, if not a bit embarrassed. I hear Christine stop rummaging, looking back at her I see she had three dresses in her hands.

A light blue country-girl looking dress. The top has straps with a square bust section that fits the dress code for not showing too much cleavage. The skirt part starts at about the waist changing it to look like a formal dress as it billows out a bit.

The second one is similar to the first dress she pulled out, only in a light shade of green, almost pastel. Is there a pastel green? The skirt part is a little longer though as it goes down to the first ankle.

And the last dress, it's a several shades of light purple. I have no clue on the names, only the top part is a v-neck strapless design with the edges a shade of grayish purple, leaving my shoulders and back bare. The dress part starts at the hips, just under a folded and pinched in waist area. It flows down to what would be my first set of ankles.

It's not as billowy as the blue one, but less tight than the light green one and is made of a darker shade of light purple. Then there is the trim around the edge of the hem of the dress and some kind of faux belt around the waist that is a shade in between the two.

This looks like a total pain to even put on or move in to be honest. Yet, I've been looking at this one dress longer than the other two.

'Heh, I think I know the one you like the most Jackie.' Christine's sing-song voice grabs my attention away from the dress before I watch her put the other two back on the rack.

Folding my ears back to hide the blush from my embarrassment she starts giggling.

'I've not seen a dress like this before is all.' Christine stops giggling and calmly pushes the dress into my arms. It's actually a bit heavier than I expected, and on closer inspection it's because of what's inside the top of it to keep its shape due to not having any straps.

'Suuure.' Christine grins. 'It's not like all the celebs twenty or so years ago were wearing the same style. Anyway, I'll have you try it on in a minute, just need to find something for myself to wear now that we've got the tomboy sorted out.' Gently folding the dress over I hold it in one arm while watching Christine figuratively dive back into the rack, looking through the dozens of dresses of various styles that are on display.

My eyes wander again while I wait, and I start to pay more attention to the others in the store. There seems to be a group of women over by what looks like wedding dresses. A woman going through a rack of more revealing cocktail dresses a few shoulder-high isles down, with her boyfriend? Husband? In tow.

It takes me a moment to understand his expression as we lock eyes, then I realize he's bored and utterly nervous with a bit of terror to fill in the gaps. He goes back to looking at his phone a moment later.

I can relate, this isn't my thing either, and while I am a bit bored too, and a little embarrassed with some nervousness to boot. If I was still male, I'd be terrified as well.

Being female, even I wouldn't know the answer to the 'does this make me look fat' question that every guy dreads from their girlfriend. The one thing I hope is that Christine won't pull the same question on me, or if she does, its in jest because of who I was.

'This looks good.' Looking back over at Christine I see she's found a dress similar to the light green one. Only in some shades of gray even I admit looks good against her gray fox patterned fur.

'If you say so Christine.' She rolls her eyes at me, and then gently takes my hand leading me to the back of the store. According to the sign, this is where the fitting rooms are. I knew this was coming, but it doesn't make it any better.

After all, as Christine said, women's clothing sizes mean little when it comes to dresses. So everything must be tested by putting it on before buying. Luckily for me, we seem to be the only ones here.

As for the room itself, it's kinda set up like a locker room to be honest. There's a set of electronic lockers to one side with a large sign 'please put your valuables in a locker, the store is not responsible for lost or stolen items.'. Then behind that are benches with stalls lining the walls.

The lockers end up being our first stop, looking at the rates per minute though, Christine and I look at each other, silently deciding to stuff our valuables into the same locker to save some money.

Once we do, we get a small ticket with our unlock code, and a note saying have this scanned before leaving, along with the rate per minute as a reminder.

From there, we head into the changing room proper. Each stall has a flimsy looking door about six to seven feet tall starting from the floor and leaving a foot or so gap up top. On each is a sign warning anyone that the stalls are under camera surveillance, though not actively monitored unless there's a theft reported.

'Hmm. How about you go first Jackie.' Blinking I glance back at her after looking around, after all this is all new to me. I mean I know the concept, I've just never been in a changing room before.

'So I just.' I point to the stall in front of me. 'Go into one of these stalls and change into the dress and walk out?' Christine nods with a smile.

'And I'll judge to see how it looks on you Jackie.' Obviously..

'What about how it feels to wear Christine?' She only giggles at this.

'That's secondary, after all sometimes suffering for good fashion makes it look better on you Jackie.' I don't see how that makes any sense, but I do nod in agreement to going first.

With the dress slung over my arm, I walk over to the nearest stall. Once inside I close the door and lock it, the sound of a flimsy lock echos in the small room. Directly in front of me is a small bare plastic bench, the wall above it has a warning saying this store will prosecute theft to the fullest extent of the law.

Along with another reminder the stall's being recorded. Not that the black dome on the ceiling is any indication.

Hooks line the walls to either side of me, obviously for the clothing you'd be taking off. Glancing behind me shows the inside of the door is a full length mirror.

A mirror that's showing me a flattering view of my own rear end and tail. Sighing with a small smile due to that, I hang the dress up and remove my current clothing minus my underwear.

Hanging them up on the hooks next to the dress, I pick it up, and remove it from its hanger. Easier said than done as it's strapless dress, and the hanger is some weird convoluted contraption of clips and hooks I've never seen before.

Only to come to a realization, I have no clue how to put this on! Yea, in hindsight I should've asked before agreeing to go first.

'Um Christine?' Waiting for her response as my tail swishes idly. It comes in the form of her somehow pulling herself up and sticking her head over the top of the door.

'Yes my dear sister?' She grins at me. Okay, I giggle at the mental image of her hanging there with her feet dangling. Only twice though, no more than that!

'I don't know how to put a dress like this on. I mean, if it was the one you got for example, I think I'm supposed to put it on like a shirt and pull it down, but this?' I hold it up while shrugging my shoulders.

Christine lets out a barking laugh that just makes me feel more embarrassed, until she notices my ears folding back and stops.

'Sorry al- I mean Jackie. Well, for that kind of dress there should be a tiny zipper behind a small flap of fabric on the back of it. Fully unzip that, step into the dress like a pair of pants. Then gently pull it up till it's snug on your hips before reaching behind yourself to zip it back up. It may sound easier to do than it actually is though. If so, you can unlock the door and I'll help you with it.' With a small thud, she gets down off the door. Huh, so she was hanging on to the top, I guess the doors are sturdier than they look.

Looking it over I do find an absolutely tiny zipper in the back, under a thick flap of fabric. It unzips all the way down to about an inch above the tail hole and the front of the dress flops forward having lost a bit of the structural rigidity keeping it up.

Shrugging, I step into it like Christine said, and find as I pull it up, it's not as easy as pants are to put on. For one thing the tail hole isn't as big of a target, which makes it harder to thread mine into.

Secondly, while the dress seems to 'fit' me in the general sense. The fabric doesn't have much 'give' compared to anything else I've worn. So I have to wiggle my hips side to side to pull it up.

The padded waist digs into my sides, making it uncomfortable, and hard to move my arms back to grab the microscopic zipper. Only I can't seem to grasp it. It slips through my claws.

So I turn to try to use the mirror, only to make things harder for myself, now I have to think on how to move right arm instead of the left. Bending over doesn't seem to help, in fact it makes it worse as the sides don't come together.

It isn't long before I realize I'm turning around in circles trying to grab it the zipper with my claws. Sighing with an underlying whine I reach over and unlock the door.

'Christine, can you zip it up for me, I can't reach it.' She opens the door a moment later, and just starts giggling loudly, and doesn't stop! That is until I give her a dagger filled stare, but in a way that shows I don't actually mean it.

'Okay, okay! Just, um.' Christine stifles a giggle. 'Turn around.' Doing so, I force my tail to go still as I feel Christine reach around me to grab the front of the dress from behind.

With one hand on the belly portion of the dress, she lifts the front part up and pushes it against my belly. I feel her other hand on the zipper, as she pulls it up. The whole top of the dress tightens, squeezing my upper body from the waist up. Making it feel like it may be too small for me.

'It's a bit.. Tight Christine.' With her hands on my hips, she gets me to turn around, so I can face her.

'That's normal for a dress in this style. Normally dresses are held up by the shoulders rather than the waist, a strapless dress like this has to be tight and a bit rigid.' Christine goes quiet for a second.

'Hmm hold on.' Without warning, she reaches into my bust, I let out a small yip as she grabs my breasts and bra, then moves them up a bit.

Christine removes her hands and looks down at my waist. It's loosened up a small bit. Still, I tilt my head, the cups of the dress seem to be lifting up my bust now. Making them look bigger than they normally are. They're big enough already, I don't think it's a good thing for a dress to do this.

I'm about to ask about it, but Christine beats me to it.

'You weren't all the way into the cups Jackie, mainly because of the strap bra you're wearing. A dress like this is designed for a strapless bra or for someone to wear no bra at all. That mean's we're going to have to make a stop at the lingerie shop after all if you get this one.' She smiles for a bit then continues.

'Okay so, how does it feel first? Keep in mind, I said it's going to be tight, but are their any parts that feel unreasonably so? Is it digging into skin anywhere?' Twitching my tail nervously, I glance down at myself, then shrug.

'As far as I can tell it's not.' Christine nods once.

'Take a deep breath Jackie. Does it restrict your breathing?' Opening my mouth I inhale deeply, hold it, and then let it go.

'How much is too much?' As soon as the words leave my mouth Christine goes about examining the upper part of the dress, from my waist to just under my bust on the front. She then moves behind me and examines and then examines where the fabric ends in between my shoulder blades on the back.

She seems to take longer on the back then the front, before suddenly feeling the top part loosen up slightly as I hear another zipper being used. Did she just unzip the back?

Her hands grab my hips to keep me in place the second I try to turn to look in the mirror.

'I didn't unzip it Jackie. There were some small zippers on the back to adjust the fit. Not surprising considering.. Well, it's normal for this kind of dress.' What was she about to say?

Christine moves to stand in front of me and opens her mouth before I can ask about what she almost said.

'Alright, it fits good standing still but, we need to know how it feels while you move! Let's take a small lap around the changing area okay?' Christine gently grabs my hand, and before I can object to this, leads me out of the stall. My ears go flat at the feeling of the fabric rubbing along my legs and hips.

The way the dress is shaped around my hips, waist and ass, I'm forced to walk a bit like how I did in front of football teams to rile up the male human coach. Otherwise, the fabric feels like it's about to bunch up uncomfortably or pull my fur.

I fall into a rhythm walking like this as Christine leads me around the benches. Though to be honest, I think if I did this long enough my legs and hips would become sore.

'It pinches my tail a little.' I speak up as we stop walking, Christine moves to take a look.

'That looks like it can be fixed by Mom.' Moving back in front of me she smiles. 'So, how do you like it? Or should we keep looking?' Looking myself over for a moment or two I shrug.

'To be honest, I think this will be good enough since it looks alright and fits the dress code. Now, what were you going to say earlier Christine? Not surprising considering what?' Christine's ears droop, her eyes seem to go unfocused slightly and her tail goes still, sigh, I did it again.

I prodded her P.I.D. again without realizing it.

'It wasn't an order Christine, I just want to know.' Closing the distance I give her a small hug. Harder than it sounds in this dress considering what it's doing with my bust, but I manage.

Christine seems better once I let go.

'I didn't want to tell you the price considering how you acted earlier this morning Alpha-Jackie. It's still a great deal but I thought you'd reject it simply for the cost. If you want, I can go see if the other ones are still over there, even though I think this was the best of the three.' Sigh, to be honest, there's a tag attached to the waist of the dress that I didn't even bother to check.

I should've, but I didn't, so there's no way I should fault Christine for this. Reaching down, I flip it open.

'Three Hundred and Fifty dollars! Marked down from Six hundred, but holy HELL that's an insane amount of money to spend on a piece of clothing Christine. With tax that would get it into the four hundred range and eat up nearly a quarter of the limit mother gave us!' Shit! Christine winces and her tail instantly goes between her legs and her head lowers submissively.

Pulling her into a hug again I hold her and rock her back and forth a little.

"Is everything okay in here Miss?" One of the employees walking into the changing area, drawn by my outburst. That right now, I immensely regret doing. I feel her eyes move from me to Christine.

'We're fine. My sister has P.I.D. She reacted badly to my surprise at the cost of this lovely dress of yours.' She has what I think is a concerned look on her face, then it changes to a smile. Idly I consider that I recognized it this quickly as a sign I'm getting better at reading human faces again.

The saleswoman walks up, then professionally kneels to look at the tag on the dress I'm in before scanning it with a small wrist mounted scanner.

"Yea this one was on the discount rack because these shades of purple don't seem to match with many Bio-Morph's fur coloration's. Though if I may say Miss?" She smiles up at me.

'Jackie Stradder, this is my sister,Christine Stradder.' The saleswoman nods her head slightly.

"Ms. Stradder, if I may, I think it looks good on you." Standing, she takes out a roll of stickers, then places one of them on the outside of the tag.

"How about this Ms Stradder, I'll ask the cashier to drop off another fifty dollars from the dress if you get one for your sister. For them to do that though, I need you to tell them to scan my associate sticker okay?" Got to admit, she's a slick saleswoman using what I said like that.

I'm sure she wants to help as well, but she's also got to do her job. Selling these overpriced garments to get her commission to pay her own bills.

What can I say? We were going to get a dress for Christine anyway while we were here, and that fifty off of mine would more or less make the cost on the tag, the cost of the dress with tax at the register.

'That sounds like a good deal to me considering my sister has already picked out a dress for herself.' Nodding to the neatly folded one on the bench. The saleswoman walks over and attaches a sticker to the price tag of that one.

"If it's not too personal of a question Ms. Stradder, what brings you two here today?" Letting go of Christine, I help her sit down on the bench next to the dress she chose.

'We were invited to dinner at a restaurant that actually has a dress code. So wee didn't have anything that would be able to meet it.' The saleswoman smiles at me again.

"We'll you came to the right place! I'm sure those dresses will meet or exceed it their dress code. I also recommend Latta's Lingerie across the way for you Ms. Stradder. You may need more support than that dress can provide since not just any bra matches with it. Anyway, if you need any help, I'll be over there." She points to a clothes rack half-way across the store, which looks like it's filled with professional looking dresses and a few dress suits.

"Counting inventory, so please have a nice day and I hope you knock those lucky guy's dead with how you look." My ears fold to hide a small blush at the implication of that as the saleswoman leaves.

We're not getting them for a date, but neither did I correct her or tell her otherwise. It also doesn't stop my imagination showing me walking up to Patrick wearing this dress either.

Christine looks like she's about to say something to me but I hold up a finger.

'I'll keep the dress Christine. I just won't let mother take the burden of the whole cost of it.' This makes Christine smile and wag her tail a little. 'I'm going to go and change back into my street clothes now.' Heading back over to the stall, I lock the door behind me.

Annoyingly, getting out of this dress ends up being easier than getting in it in the first place. So it only takes me a few minutes to remove it, carefully folding it up, and placing it on the bench. It 'is' technically a six hundred dollar dress despite the discounts, so I'm going to treat it 'very' well.

After rubbing the base of my tail from how the dress dug into there, I throw on my street clothes, carefully pick up the dress and exit the stall.

Whatever funk my outburst put Christine in, she seems to be out of it now as she's grinning happily. As I exit the stall, she picks up the one she chose and heads right in behind me. Taking a seat on the bench, I sit and wait for her to try it on.

While waiting, I start to lament the fact that I don't have a phone to occupy myself with. Nothing in this room is entertaining to look at, there's not even a T.V. playing some random station.

Nor a clock either. I don't know how long it's been since Christine went in. Only it's been long enough the human woman with her boyfriend/husband is now in here. She has a stack of dresses in her arms too.

The poor guy finds a spot on the bench in front of the stall the women went into and pokes his nose back into his phone.

Hearing the lock click open in front of me, and the door swing open. I glance up and see Christine strut out of the changing stall wearing the dress she chose. In the better light here, it seems to be more of a bunch of shades of slate gray and similar tones rather than a solid color.

I make a mental note to not mention to her that a good portion of the dress is the same shade of gray popular for computer cases years ago.

'I like how that looks on you Christine.' She smiles at me, then twirls around once in response.

'Sorry it took a long time Jackie, I had to make it look just right.' Shrugging a bit in response, Christine just shakes her head. She then does the same lap around the room I did before coming to a stop in front of me.

'I think I'll go with this one. Mother will need to widen the tail hole on both of our dresses, but everything else seems okay otherwise.' Good! That means we can get out of here.

Without another word Christine goes back into the stall, a few minutes later she comes back out in her street clothes. Her dress neatly folded in her hands.

Getting up I follow her to the lockers where we retrieve our belongings, then to the register. Just in time too, that group of women that were at the wedding dresses? All of them, talking to each other as loud as they could enter the fitting room with a pile of dresses in their hands.

Luckily there's no one else in line at the checkout, so the human woman at the register gets right to work. First the proper bar-codes, then the saleswoman's bar code, followed by the one on the slip of paper for our use of the locker.

It appears the deal with the saleswoman was kept. My dress is now only three hundred dollars, Christine's is a cheaper, but still damn expensive at one hundred and seventy-five. Bringing our total to four hundred and seventy-five dollars for just the dresses before tax. My ears fold back and I wince when the locker fee and tax is added, which brings the total to six hundred dollars.

Christine hands Mom's credit card over, and for a moment my tail lashes about worried that it'll reject it. It doesn't. It accepts it with, but with one issue. Christine and I have to show the Cashier our id's.

Upon asking about this, it's due to the guest system with the credit card. Our names and id numbers have to match to be allowed to use it without Mother being present.

We're each handed a fancy paper bag with a braided twine handle containing our dresses and their hanger's, she then hands Christine the receipt and Mom's credit card back.

I let out a sigh once we're outside the store, my tail stops nervously twitching.

'For a moment there Christine, I was worried the card would be rejected due to the amount.' Christine by contrast is smiling, her ears up and fully forward, and her tail slowly and happily wagging.

A part of me is at least glad she's enjoying this.

'Nothing to worry about Jackie, the guest system has been around since 'I' was twelve. Besides, we still have about fourteen hundred dollars left!' She points to one of the nearby store.

'First we need to follow the saleswoman's advice. You need a bra that can be used with the dress you chose. After that, we can look at some shoes?' Shrugging, I idly look around.

'Might as well. I know what it feels like to move around with these things not wearing one. I also don't think it would be a good idea to go bra-less when our goal is to meet your father Christine.' This causes a giggling fit from Christine.

Letting out a sigh I shake my head upon realizing what I implied.

'My tomboy sister knows the power of the boob!' Sighing, I gently bop Christine's head. Only causing her to giggle more for a bit.

'That's not what I meant Christine!' Blocking a playful boop from Christine. 'Lets just get this over with, I don't want to stay there longer than I need to.' Christine shakes her head at me with a smirk as we head over to Latta's Lingerie.

'Certified Tomboy,' Christine quips near the entrance.

'Damn proud of it.' Returning it as I follow her inside.

It didn't take long to get what we needed, just had to get the attention of another saleswoman. Show her the dress, and tell her my bust measurements. She kindly pointed us to the right rack with a few choices for a compatible bra.

Despite the hospital's gross invasion of privacy in measuring me while I was unconscious, I'm glad I didn't have to do a bra fitting because of it. Christine has enough ammo to attack my tomboy card as is.

With much prodding from Christine, I ended up choosing a strapless bra made in the same shade of purple as the dress. Shockingly adding another hundred dollars to what we've spent. I carefully place it in the same bag as the dress making a note to treat it as well as the dress.

Leaving Latta's Lingerie, we head for the shoe store, the same one Patrick took me too last time I was here.

'The shoes better not be more than a couple hundred dollars together. Mom did say not to spend it all if we could help it.' Glancing over to Christine, I lead the way to the shoe store.

'We'll be fine Jackie, we've only spent a little over a quarter of the two thousand limit. There's a 'lot' of headroom left.' Yea, and that's what I'm afraid of. Before Christine went to the streets she wanted for nothing monetarily.

Meanwhile, since a young age I had to make every penny count. Just two years ago, having two thousand dollars to spend would've been unthinkable, and Christine is willing to toss around hundreds like pennies.

It makes me feel worse about spending so much on what accounts to a few pounds of cloth.

'Mother said we shouldn't spend it all Christine.' Repeating myself while leading her inside the shoe store.

'I know! You have to admit she didn't say how much we should leave either.' Christine huffs, telling me to not push the point further. 'Admit it though, you're having some fun today. Right Jackie?' Thinking it over for a moment as we stand just inside the store. My ears and tail lower themselves for a second. Raising them back up a moment later I turn and smile at Christine.

'I won't lie. I'm enjoying spending time with you even though I'm finding shopping a bit boring over all. So I guess shopping is not exactly my thing, but, with you, it's not bad per se.' Christine's tail wags while she looks at me like a happy puppy.

'I'll make a girl out of you yet Jackie.' Letting out a playful huff In response, I look around for the dress shoe section. Once there I shuffle a bit on my feet because they feel cold for some reason.

'Of course I'm a girl! Otherwise, I couldn't be your sister Christine.' Playfully sticking my tongue out at her, She makes a yipping laugh like sound.

'No you're a tomboy, a girl is completely different Jackie.' Christine looks back at me with a playful vulpine grin.

I let Christine go ahead of me as we walk down the waist high isles of shoes, along the way I glance down at my own pair. My feet kinda still feel cold and did my shoes always have those scuff marks?

Shaking my head a little I catch up to where Christine is kneeling looking through shoe boxes.

'Wow, they 'do' make high heels for Bio-morphs, look!' Christine pulls out one of the shoes out of the box. Instead of the thicker heel portion at the back like my sneaker like ones. It tapers down to a point that looks like I could use it as a weapon if I was desperate.

Or playing a feme-fatal movie star.

'Can we even walk with those?' I look down astonished at it as Christine shrugs, then puts it back into the shoe box.

'Well, it looks kinda like walking barefoot, I guess.' That's not helping. If it wasn't for the fact that even 'I' know that tennis shoes don't go well with a fancy dress I wouldn't even consider getting fancy shoes.

Simply thinking of walking barefoot still scares me, and that cold feeling in my feet. It's like the feeling of walking on sub-zero pavement and biting cold metal. Shuffling back and forth on my feet I try to ease the sensation, only to be forced to sit down on one of the nearby stools.

Sighing I watch as Christine goes through the stacks of shoe-boxes, setting aside some that match both our shoe sizes. All the while that feeling in my feet persists. Idly looking over my shoes, part of me knows their in good condition, and that they're going to last a long time still. Yet, every scuff, every creased part of the faux leather irks me greatly.

Making me think I need a new pair, that this one isn't good enough to wear anymore. I can't shake that thought, no matter how hard I try, because the more I do. The more I feel the pain of being barefoot in a South Dakota winter.

Ignoring Christine, I get up and wander over to the location of the women's sneakers. I guess we can spare a few hundred dollars for a few new pairs. Looking through the stacks I find pair after pair that catch my interest, setting them to the side until I feel someone gently place their hand on my shoulder.

'Sis... Jackie?' Turning to look back at her, only now do I now noticing the dozens of shoe-boxes piled up next to me. I've emptied the isle without even realizing it.

Strength flees from my legs as I slump down against the shelving before looking back up at Christine.

'I, I may have a problem Christine.' Without a word or a sound, Christine sits next to me and drapes her arm over my shoulder.

'Patrick told me about the incident you had last time, but I completely forgot about it till now.' Following her gaze to the pile and then back to me.

'Tell me about it Jackie, in your own words.' If I was only smaller, I could curl up and hide myself in the shelving. My embarrassment at being seen like this is that intense.

'Patrick, he thinks it's some kind of coping mechanism for what we went through. Being barefoot reminds me of Mauri's, and on bad days, I can still feel how it felt to walk on that frozen pavement and sub-zero temp steel walkway.' I look at that pile again, then back at Christine.

'Having shoes on all the time seemed to stop it, or at least I thought it did at that time.' Christine gives me a reassuring hug and a loving smile.

'And what Patrick got you that day wasn't enough anymore when we came in here, was it Jackie?' I silently nod once.

'My feet started to feel cold and painful while you were looking, so I sat down. Then my attention wandered and I looked over here. Followed by looking at my own shoes.' Taking a second glance at them, I see they don't look too bad. A few tiny scuff marks that look smaller than they did before, only a single wrinkle in the faux leather. Practically brand-new.

Christine's hand gently takes my muzzle and lifts my head to look away from my shoes.

'As much as an obsession on having a lot of shoes is a girly girl thing, and believe me I had a large collection myself once. This...' Christine sweeps her hand over the pile I made.

'This isn't that, I think Patrick, your, our, Alpha Male is right.' The thought of her thinking Patrick is our pack's Alpha male for some reason makes me feel warm and happy inside.

I mean sure, I consider him as such as well as my boyfriend, but to have my sister and beta consider it as well? That's something else entirely.

Christine lets me go and starts to put the pile of shoe boxes back onto the shelving. For a split-second, before I violently squash it down, a desire to stop her arises rears its ugly head.

Not before Christine seems to see something on my face, causing her to freeze, then her tail dips between her legs as she starts to nervously shake before continuing.

'Alpha-Jackie!' My own ears droop as far as they can, and my tail stills from its idle swishing. That momentary look triggered Christine's P.I.D. and it pains me greatly that it did.

'I, I have my own problems, ones that I'm dealing with right now. It's screaming at me to stop putting these away and help you carry them out of the store as it is your desire my Alpha-female.' My mood sours further as the sheer amount of authority I have over Christine makes itself known. If she didn't have as strong of a will, that momentary look would've forced her to comply.

I can't risk it, I look away. Only for her to gently grab my muzzle, forcing me to look inter her eyes while her hands tremble.

'The only reason why I'm not doing that is because my desire to protect my Alpha-female is stronger! Alpha-Jackie, to let you have these, would only feed this coping mechanism for a scar I think we both carry. After I put these away, we'll go home. I'll ask mother to get the shoes we need as our presence is not needed to make sure they fit.' Nodding slowly, she lets go.

I watch as Christine puts the rest of the shoe-boxes neatly away, then helps me up onto my feet. From there Christine leads me out of the store, after apologizing to the cashier for the scene, then out of the mall. Only stopping once we're half-way to my car.

'Do you feel like you can drive right now Jackie? I don't mind waiting if you're not, it's not that bad out today and some sun could do us both good.' Sighing, I walk past her, leading the rest of the way there. Unlocking the drivers side door, I get in and unlock the passenger side door for Christine.

As she gets in I toss the bag with my dress and other clothes into the back seat, Christine follows suit before closing the door.

'I'll be fine.' Glancing at her as I start the car, pull out of the parking spot, and start our trip home.

To be honest I don't know if I will be. Twice so far this problem has bitten me in the ass. Twice I lost control of myself, last time I was there with Patrick, this time I did so again when Christine and I went in.

I don't want to have a third time.

The silence weighs heavy in the car as I drive us home. Dammit! I was at least having fun being with Christine before I freaked out like some mentally ill person. Christine's hand touches my shoulder gently as I try to focus on the road, mostly.

I have no clue why I'm acting like this. Why I can't stand my feet being uncovered? Thinking about Patrick's thought that this is a coping mechanism doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not a shrink.

While it was fucking annoying, walking in that snow, or on the cold metal back at Marui's, it wasn't even the worst part of being there.

The whole idea of being used as pleasure dolls was! How you felt as your body reacted to stimulation when you didn't want it too, and because of that how pleasurable such a terrible act felt.

I feel as messed up in my head right now as the whole idea of a borderline brothel sounds to a sane person. If I'm honest with myself, I would think I would have issues with 'other' things than my feet. Like being intimate.

I return Christine's gesture only when we are stopped at a red light. The last thing I need is to be pulled over by a police officer. After all, with my luck today they'd probably cite me for not having both hands on the wheel. Or would it be paws on the wheel?

It doesn't happen, and I don't even see a single police car the rest of the way home. The only thing odd is an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway. Another fully electric model, and most likely self driving like mother's.

So as to not block whomever is here, I park my car just off the street for now.

'I Wonder whose car that it is?' Glancing over at Christine as if she knows, only to get a shrug in response.

'Do you want me to take everything inside Jackie?' Shaking my head I unbuckle, then twist myself back a little to reach the shopping bag. With it in hand I exit the car, Christine does the same. Walking around, I manually lock my car from the outside before heading to the front door with Christine in tow.

Only to stop and sniff the air as I reach the steps, it couldn't be.

'I think it's Dad, but mom said she'd be meeting him at his place, not the other way around.' Christine tilts her head, then sniffs the air a bit.

'It smells like him.' Chances are he didn't take it well and I'm not in the mood to handle it after what happened. Looking at Christine, then back at the door, I reluctantly open the front door.

I move to the side once inside, letting Christine inside as she closes the door behind her. Exchange my tennis shoes with slippers I remind myself, Dad first, then I can deal with this later.

Even if I don't want to right now.

"Jackie? Christine? Is that you?" Both Christine and I stop and look in the direction of the living room upon hearing Mom.

'Yea it's us. I take it you told Dad the truth?' Glancing at Christine for a second, before looking in the direction of the living room again.

'I'll take your stuff upstairs for you Jackie.' Silently I hand my bag over to her, then watch her head for the stairs. Letting out a small sigh, I make my way to the living-room, stopping at the entrance.

Mom's sitting on the couch in some casual clothing while Anthony, Dad, sitting on the chair. He's wearing a nicer set of business clothes, but not a suit. Mom pats a spot on the couch next to herself, she wants me to sit next to her. Eh, might as well.

I try to hide the natural feminine hip sway for some reason, only to fall back into it by the time I reach the couch. Why? I don't know, I just felt like trying upon seeing my father and knowing I'm the son he thought dead, now in a body of by all accounts a gorgeous sixteen-year old Bio-morph vixen.

Maybe it was that gaze of his? What looks like a hurt but questioning and hopeful look on his face.

'Mom told you, you know the truth now?' Looking at him, Anthony frowns slightly. It takes me a moment to notice it, but I am glad I'm getting better at seeing these subtle clues that once came so naturally to me before.

Back when I was human...

"Yes, Maria, your mother did." Sighing, and runs a hand through his hair. "I understand why you had to lie to me, for several years Xin and I had to be careful, for her sake, for Diane's sake. Doesn't make me feel any less hurt or angry because you lied to me after I told you and Maria everything." I feel my ears lower, but not fold against my head as I try hard to keep looking at him and not look away in shame.

Why do I feel hurt at this? He left us! Everything till now was just him trying to make up for a mistake because he thought it caused me to commit suicide!

And suddenly 'I' feel bad because 'he's' angry?

'Then why...' Anthony, dad, cuts me off by holding up his hand and one finger.

"Because, while I heard Maria's side of the story, I want to hear yours." He pauses. "I need to hear yours." He takes calming breath and rub his eyes, is, is he crying?

"I need to know how much of my son is still in there. I've heard the stories of those who are sold to places like Marui's, your adoptive sister. Ashley, or is it Christine now? Showed signs of that during that dinner that made me a little curious. I kept my mouth shut though." Dad levels his gaze at me and I can do nothing but look away now as something instinctual is poked in me.

I look at Mom, my Alpha-Female, she sadly smiles and nods. I didn't want it, and I still am angry at him for what he did, but before I knew it. What I am now had already slotted Anthony into the part of my mind saying 'He's your Alpha-Male, respect him!'

Fidgeting, my tail tries to tuck between my legs through the couch and my ears droop further, fighting back a pathetic whine I force myself to make eye contact with him.

Then I start talking, and I can't seem to stop.

I tell him 'everything'. From my last day as a human male, to how I woke up when I was pulled from the conversion tank. How I started to build up the dam of denial from the moment the medical team there shoved a swab up my freshly minted vagina onto my crivex. To how I acted to that wolf bio-morph in the cage across from me. The same one who did nothing but try to help me. I still wonder what happened to him.

Everything that I remembered from my poorly thought out dash for the door, to being dragged through the facility and being tossed into the container I would spend nearly half a year in was fair game.

By this time I'm looking away from him again, but I can hear the sounds of the chair creaking as he moves in it.

How I relished that last bit of human food I would have for a long while when the driver gave me a burger from a fast food chain. To my introduction to Mauri's and it's name sake. The Alpha-Male of that pack, who forced me to submit to his authority.

To me the thought of how he did it now somehow feels, natural? Normal? But, I can hear Mom gasp and Dad tense in his seat as I tell them how I was lifted off my feet by my shoulders before he gently bites down on my neck with his jaws.

Then I start talking about my introduction to Alpha, the Alpha-Female, how I was 'taught' the ropes of being a slave by her. My first few communal grooming sessions after work. Then, I continued onto the point where I was finally put on the menu and sold to customers as an option, along with being added to the private party list.

Not stopping as I describe the feeling of having your body respond to something you don't want it to, but it does anyway. How it starts to feel good even though nothing is good about the situation you're in. Also, how at the time, each time I was groped, grabbed, fingered and rubbed, it kept building that damn dam of denial brick solid brick because I refused to believe I was female now.

And how I couldn't stop noticing how others were treated the same way, only they seemed to accept it, a few even enjoyed it from the look in their eyes.

My escape attempt too, I tell him about that as well. I try to be a bit less technical than I should, I don't know how much he knows about electronics and I don't want to explain it to him. Only I tried, and failed, simply because no one believed my post on the Usenet I went too. Dad just stands and stares at us.

"I had no idea..." I can't look back at him, just for the moment all I can do bury my face against Mom. Then place my muzzle under her chin as I feel such a overwhelming desire to cry.

Yet, I can't because I lack human tear ducts.

"God fucking dammit!" Mom and I look over to Anthony, he's leaning against the wall, forearm up and his head gently hitting said forearm. But with enough force to cause things attached to the wall to shake a bit.

"Anthony, what's wrong?" Mom gently holds me closer, I just let out a small whine as I try to regain control.

"Maria. Early December last year I had to go to a trade show for grocery retailers. It was held in South Dakota, and even though the U.S. is a Bio-morph slave country. Chains like mine who operate in non slave countries only still had to attend to stay competitive. You know the deal, meet and greet others in the industry, talk about new tech, try to make a side business of selling it. All that boring but necessary corporate shit. It was being held near where I now suspect my 'son' was being treated like a prostitute. To make matters worse, I turned down what could've been a decent import deal for my chain, simply because they wanted to discuss it at a local restaurant. That in retrospect now suspiciously sounds like Mauri's." WHAT?!

Bolting out of Mom's hands I just sit there, jaw hanging open, staring at my father.

'You were only a few miles away. Only a few miles down the road when I was nearly fucking raped by sixteen!' Anthony instantly freezes as I yell that out.

"What?!" Dad stares at me with the look of what I think is surprise on his face.

'At Mauri's. They gave us numbers instead of names. Mine was twenty, Christine's was twelve, a male named sixteen thought he was going to be promoted to Alpha-Male that day. He heard he was considered a candidate if Mauri, the current Alpha-Male, left. He wanted me to be his Alpha-Female, and wanted to... Well, more or less cement it with intercourse.' Slumping back into the couch a little, I force myself to keep eye contact with Dad.

'It was right after I learned my Usenet Post was ignored, because I violently threw the keyboard I smuggled away it broke making a lot of noise. I didn't hear anyone approaching my container. So Sixteen entered, demanding I submit to him as the newly promoted Alpha-Male. All the while my denial of what I was caused an internal struggle, one between me and my new instincts. Long story short, there was a fight between us, I tried to get away but I ended up submitting to those instincts, and when I came down from the adrenaline and arousal high. There was no way I could continue to be in denial about what I was.' Crossing my legs I nervously rub my hands together on my lap, yet again my tail tries to go between my legs.

"Did he, get what he wanted?" Dad sounds angry, why? A bit ago he was wondering if I was even still his son?

'No, Alpha pulled him off at the last second before he could enter me. Then she beat the shit out of him! He was then sold off a few days later.' Anthony relaxes and returns to the chair. Using his hand to tells me that I should continue, so I do.

I feel mom go still when I talk about how Alpha helped me, how I started to consider her my second Mom so to speak. Glancing at her shows she doesn't look angry about it, but not sad either. Determined maybe?

Some stuff I do leave out, like the first time I pleasured myself as a woman. I do go on about how my life there continued, how I accepted who I had become, and how I had tried to put who I was into the past, memories and all. Mom still doesn't seem to like that, even though this is her second time hearing this.

The only thing I didn't want to tell her before was how I felt about Alpha, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Not after the shock of seeing me like this.

Finally I get to the turning point, my actual escape. All because Patrick and his employers chose to go to the restaurant I was sold to for dinner that night. It still humbles me on the sheer luck that had to go right that day for this to happen.

From there it's all about how they helped me escape. The fateful ride up to want was left of the safe house near the border, then I showed dad the scar on my leg, telling him the truth on how I got it instead of the lie.

Both though shared a kernel of truth, I was shot by a nut-job who hated Bio-morphs. Only the shooter in what actually happened was killed by Christine.

That does seem to make dad look in the direction of the stairs.

'She's not dangerous dad. It was her P.I.D. that caused her to do it, and she's in more control of it now than she was back then.' He seems to relax and looks back at me, so I continue with the rest.

I give him my account of how Christine and I made it to Canada, though I do admit I may not remember many details near the end because I was suffering from the infection in the bullet wound.

Stopping my recount at the point I woke up in the hospital as silence falls upon the living room. I can feel dad's eyes on me again as he looks me over, I work up the courage to look back at him again.

I don't know what he's thinking, not because his face is blank. It's because I'm having a hard time placing the look on his face right now. That damn issue that I've had since I was converted is rearing its ugly head again right when I don't need it too.

Will he bolt like last time? I'm a different Jack compared to the one he left behind, yet, that little kid with unconditional love is still in here. Under years of loneliness and anger, he rests, is that what Dad is looking for? Any sign of the small son he abandoned is in this vixen's body sitting in front of him?

Did he not just hear me more or less say as much during all that? Even though I am still a bit angry at him for leaving the first time I have sort of forgiven him.

If he leaves again I'm not going to do so this time.

My ears droop again. I realize I don't want him to leave! Not when he's so close, not after all the years in the jobless center where the little boy that was me cried and wished for his return.

He quietly stands up, this is it, he's going to run and leave us again, leave me again.

Next thing I know, he's standing in front of me, gently taking my hand from my lap, pulling me to my feet with extreme care. My head barely reaches his lower chest as I'm suddenly pulled into a tight hug.

I can hear his heartbeat as the side of my head rests against him, it's slower than mine, slower than I remember it being. His arms gently hold me by my shoulders and back. I, I remember now how I used to love hugging him.

I was so small back then, and he was so big. He still kinda is due to how small a Bio-morph like me is.

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you were who you said you were. Son or Daughter, you're still Jack even if you call yourself Jackie now." I want to cry, god-damn it! Why don't we have normal tear ducts!

Instead I just latch onto Anthony, my father, my hands gripping his back as I rub my face and muzzle against his lower chest fervently while I feel my tail wag a mile a minute.

I want to hold onto him, I don't want to let go, but I feel one of his hands leave my back. He gently grabs my head and coaxes me to stop what I'm doing and look up at him.

Well at least he's crying...

"Glad to see you still act like this. You used to latch onto me when you were little too, but, I am going to need you to let go. Your claws are going through my shirt into my back." Oh! Slowly letting go, I find that indeed I was being a bit clingier than I thought.

He lets me go as I look up at him. Ears forward and tail still wagging wildly.

'Sorry, I just, feared you would walk out on us again and well...' Trailing off, he pats my head and surprises me by rubbing my ears, causing me to lean into his hand involuntarily.

If it wasn't, I would still do so.

"Not anymore. I promise I won't walk out on you two even though I can't exactly remarry Maria to prove it." Looking over to Mom, she nods. I turn my attention back to Dad.

'Because you also love Xin and Diane.' Anthony smiles. Then he surprises me by kneeling enough, so he's a bit taller than I am, and holds his chin out. I'm rubbing my muzzle underneath his chin before I even have a say in the matter, it just feels, right.

I smell traces of Xin's and Diane's scents as I know I'm adding my own. Showing my submission to my parental Alpha-Male, my father for them to see, well smell. He steps back while standing up and smiles.

"You didn't have to do that Anthony, Xin and I suspect Diane especially are not going to react well to scenting Jackie." Pointing out the obvious Mom, though to be honest, I don't care.

Anthony was my dad first and I'm ecstatic to have him back!

"This may surprise you Maria, but Xin already suspected something was up with the both of you. She may have a problem with being assertive, but Xin's smart as hell." He sighs.

"As for Diane, I'm going to try to keep it from her till she graduates. From what I can tell she already doesn't like the fact even before this Jackie and Christine are her step sisters. I don't think she'll take the news well that Jackie is actually biologically related to me while she's just adopted. Besides, there is one more thing I want to know from my new daughter." Anthony takes another step back and smiles at me.

Tilting my head a bit I still look at him even though my tail hasn't stopped wagging. I told him everything appropriate outside of some private things that frankly even one's parents shouldn't know, even if they do.

I'm about to ask what it is but Dad beats me to it.

"What's your relationship with your best friend Patrick, Jackie?" My tail instantly goes still, followed by the feeling of my ears heating up as I blush, folding them to try to hide it is useless. It's already too late, he's seen them turn red.

Dad's chuckling, and mom's giggling most likely at my reaction to Dad's question.

Sigh, I'm going to have to answer this, aren't I? Their laughter dies down but mom is still smiling at me while Dad's still calmly looking at me, wanting an answer.

'He's my boyfriend.' Meekly replying hoping neither of them hears it.

"What's that? I didn't hear you?" Dad has a playful tone in his voice, similar to what Mom has when she's teasing me. This is embarrassing but I can't be mad at him...

Oh the hell with it!

'Patrick is my boyfriend and I already had sex with him once!' Blurting it out I let my tail go between my legs. My ears burn more and I can't directly look at him or Mom without it getting worse.

From what I recall, no father likes their daughter having sex, I doubt he'll be any different.

"That's what I figured." Wait, what!? Fighting back some of my embarrassment I force myself to look at my father.

"Jackie, my new darling daughter. Look at me, I'm in my sixties. I married both your mother and Xin. I raised a natural born daughter to a little older than your new age. I've seen every sign, signal, and hint of body language of the women in my life that I know and love to know the signs when they're infatuated. You, my lost son turned daughter, showed 'every' single one of them. From the moment you mentioned Patrick rescuing you, to how you didn't want to leave him as you ran, to how he was there when you woke up." For some reason I lose all strength in my legs and fall backwards onto the couch.

I don't know what to say, I wasn't even paying attention to that.

'Dad, are you mad at me?' Speaking softly after I find my voice again. He shakes his head as mother drapes an arm over my shoulders and hugs me.

"No, no I am not. You may be sixteen legally, but I believe Maria now in her saying your the same mid twenty-something jack that was converted. Also, from what she's told me about how you and Patrick grew up together and the friendship you forged, frankly I would be surprised if it didn't go this direction after you became female." My ears burn again and I'm forced to look away for a moment.

How did this turn form telling him who I actually am, to questions about my love life?

"I think that's enough. Anthony, Jackie accepts herself as being female, but she isn't used. She's only been one for about a year now for goodness sake. Topics of this nature still embarrass her even when she talks to me about them." Thank you mom!

Mother lets go of me, stands and then to my surprise helps me up to my feet. I don't resist but I do have to fight my tail from staying between my legs.

"With the unpleasant stuff done, and still most of the afternoon left. I think the both of you have some father 'daughter' bonding to do." She lets go of my hand. "There's something I need to do downstairs, something you reminded me of Jackie, but feel free to stay to at least dinner Anthony." Giving me a quick hug mom smiles and heads to the basement stairs.

I wonder what she needs to do down there, and why I'm not allowed down there either. Those are questions for later though. Dad is more important.

Looking back at him, he gives a slight shrug and a smile.

"I have about twenty years to make up for. I doubt I'll be able to do so in a few hours, but, I'll try." You don't have to think that way dad, you can't change the past, but we can start anew. He continues before I could speak up.

"You mentioned you got into electronics Jackie, how about we talk about that?" That is... About as good of a subject as any I guess.

"Alright. Follow me, we can talk in my room and you can meet my sister and Beta, Christine." With a smile he reaches for my hand, and I let him take it. I take him upstairs and to my room.

To his credit he doesn't even make a single joke about the lack of girly décor in here.

The conversation may be a bit one sided after that, from me to him, as he sits on my bed next to Christine. Except that afternoon will be forever etched into my memory as one the best ones I've ever had.