What Happens In Vegas
{{#ifeq: | | {{#ifeq: Star Raccoon | |
{{#ifeq: StarRaccoon | ||
Author: StarRaccoon
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{{#ifeq: StarRaccoon | |
Author: Star Raccoon |
Author: Star Raccoon
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{{#ifeq: Star Raccoon | |
{{#ifeq: StarRaccoon | | Authors: ' |
Authors: StarRaccoon
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{{#ifeq: StarRaccoon | |
Authors: Star Raccoon |
Author: Star Raccoon
}}
}}
}} {{#if:| — see also [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}
1.
Las Vegas was the most logical place for a wizard bar. Or a whole resort, really, since the day magic returned to the world. Sam hit the resort first. He figured that by staying downtown he'd save on the exorbitant price of actually staying at the Dream. There was only so much you could do at the Dream, though, without renting a room to sleep in. The Witching Hour nightclub wasn't open yet, he'd seen his share of gift shops, and the glamoured decorations on the slot machines didn't make them any luckier. So Sam sat down at one of the blackjack tables and worked up the nerve to ask a question. "Where do the local magic-users go?"
The dealer looked him over with a wary eye. The employees were on guard against someone who had even a trace of the gift, like Sam; he might conjure extra aces or something. The dealer said, "For what? Gaming? Supplies?"
Sam shrugged, not really certain. "Just to meet people."
The dealer's rabbit ears perked up. Sam tried to figure out whether he'd gotten them accidentally. Only some of the workers here had been changed, and there was no clear theme. It was too early in magic Vegas' history for someone to try deliberately having everyone be wolves or something. "Well, sir, you might try the Unreachable Flask, a couple miles east on Tropicana. The mages at UNLV hang out there."
"College crowd?" Sam looked at his cards, hit, and busted.
"They're friendly enough. Just don't go if you can't control yourself after a few drinks. There's enough firepower there to turn you into a newt if you get out of line. Your bet, sir?"
Sam hurried through another few hands and found he was up forty dollars. He grinned and tipped the dealer, then stood up.
"Thank you sir. But if you do go... Don't make a fool of yourself. Us locals like having a place where people don't act like tourists."
2.
So Sam caught a taxi to get east of the Strip, just as the sun set. The casinos began to glow in their own colors and styles. The newly refitted pyramid of Luxor hovered just above the ground, its black glass sides sending a beam of light into the sky. Sam stared out of the windows and only gradually noticed that there was a city beyond the Strip. A college stadium, apartment buildings, and a bar that didn't float or burn with green flames or change its shape. As far as Sam could tell it was a pre-magic establishment, or one that didn't want to advertise much. By Vegas standards anyway. A blinking neon sign showed a hand reaching for a flask.
He walked inside and grinned. "Nice place." The bar was only a little smoky and the people, varied. A cheer went up from a pool table where some guys in silly robes were playing without sticks, just pointing at the cue ball to make it move. The bartender was a fur-covered fox woman who juggled bottles while balancing one between her pointed ears. Sam tried not to step on a gnome running underfoot. A fairy swerved past his head and chased the gnome, calling, "Hey!"
Sam hesitated in the doorway. The bartender gave him a smile and said, "Don't be shy!" He started moving again and looked for a free table. There was one across the room... and near a distraction.
Sam had admitted to his friends that the furry types, people who'd been transformed and gone part-animal, could be pretty attractive. Here was a great example, one that made him duck into the seat and hide his blush behind a menu. A few tables away was a dim corner where a raccoon-woman sat. Sometimes this kind of change was just ears and a tail on an otherwise human body, but she'd gone all the way and was somehow cuter for it. Black round nose, whiskers, a fur-masked face, and the hint of a ringed tail dangling beside her. Sam could hardly pay attention to the menu. When the waiter showed up, he picked a sandwich at random.
The waiter said, "New in town? Haven't seen you before."
"Just visiting."
"Really? I can tell you've got the gift. This town's a great place to study it."
"I'll keep it in mind," Sam said, though really he couldn't do much. Supernatural first aid, as part of an ambulance crew. It wasn't exactly mighty wizardry.
The waiter nodded and walked off, but when he brought Sam his drink he added, "She's single, by the way."
Sam had to take a few sips before he could even think about going to talk to the coongirl. When he walked over to her he forgot what he was going to say. "Uh. Sam! Hi. I'm Sam."
"Rena. Not to be confused with Reno. What's up?"
Sam coughed into one fist. "I was just looking around. A dealer at the Dream said this was a place where the locals hang out."
"Really? It's odd to have anyone send a tourist here. Guess you've got the gift, or you're persuasive. Have a seat?"
Sam blushed, grabbed his drink, and slid into the booth with the coongirl. Then he noticed something. She didn't show it much above the table, but those curves weren't just raccoonish pudge. The woman was around halfway through pregnancy.
"Disappointed?" said Rena, giving him a grin.
Sam collected his thoughts. The truth was -- "I'm here to relax and sightsee, not so much to carouse. I can always go to one of the showgirl places later." He'd faintly been hoping to take someone back to his hotel room, but he wasn't half charming enough. Best to enjoy some friendly conversation with her instead.
"Are you a magic user?" Rena asked.
"A little." He told her about using the art alongside regular medicine to stop bleeding and dull pain. "Just to get people into the hands of someone more competent."
"Nice. I'm working on my thesis at UNLV. I'll get one of the first ever masters' degrees on magery."
"If I may ask..."
"The raccoon thing? Lab accident. I like it though, ever since learning a flea repellant spell to go with the fur." She stretched out, grunted faintly, and rested her hands on the nearly hidden curve of her belly. "As for this, it was an unrelated kind of lab accident. I'm not with that creep anymore, but I'm stuck with the consequences."
"Sorry to hear it."
She gave a fragile smile. "No you're not. You're happy I'm single."
Sam looked down into his glass. "How about if I promise not to hit on you? I'm fine with just talking shop, if it'll make you feel better. Or I can leave."
She sighed. "No, stay. It's just frustrating, is all. I'm sure I'll fall instantly in love with the kid like everyone assures me. I'm not feeling it so far, what with all the pressure to finish my degree before I'm occupied with being a single parent."
"Must be tough." Sam was glad for the distraction when the waiter came back and brought Rena a burger, a gigantic basket of fries, and extra pickles. He grinned.
"Oh, hush," Rena said, smiling through a muzzle full of pickles. "I liked them already and I'm allowed to do stupid stereotypical things when I'm not teaching freshman biology."
"I didn't say anything."
They ate, and talked about magic and life in the city. Rena seemed to be working up to saying something. "Say... did you know there's such a thing as a temporary transformation? It's my thesis topic. Has a lot of implications for medicine."
"I didn't know it was possible. You get hit with a poorly made spell or just raw power or bad luck, and you end up as an animal or a tree or a statue."
Rena pointed at him with a french fry. "That's with a bad spell. If you do it right it's a lot easier to control. Any interest in being a test subject?"
Sam blinked and felt his skin go clammy. "Deliberately? Isn't that dangerous?"
"It's safe if you limit the duration. You could even end up healthier than before, with the way the spell restores you to your stored body pattern at the end." She giggled at something. "Among other things it wipes out any hangover you might have."
Sam looked at her fur, listened to the flick of her tail against the booth. "I hadn't considered going furry myself. I do like the look, though. And some people are paying for just the illusion of it here, or for dreams about it. Is that what this is?"
"Nope. True physical change."
"And what kind of form would you have in mind?"
"The easiest one to do: a copy of the caster's form. So... raccoon girl."
They sat there blushing at each other for a minute. Sam sputtered something. Rena scratched one of her ears and said, "Okay, uh... I've been wanting to test out my techniques outside of the college's formal system. You seem like you might enjoy it. We'd get to hang out tomorrow, and you wouldn't need to worry about hitting on me. Twenty-four hours of getting to be something different, for free. Interested?"
Still feeling in shock, Sam said, "In being a coongirl."
Her ears drooped. "Forget I said anything."
"No, no. It's just surprising. I..." Sam thought about his plans for tomorrow: just cruising the casinos, maybe splurging for one of the Dream's imaginary vacations. Why not have a magical experience for real, for free, even if it meant some really weird things? "I'd like to try it."
Rena perked up instantly. "Great! If you're willing, hold out your hands."
Sam hesitated, then put his hands on the table, next to the fries. He told himself it was harmless fun. Rena reached out and took his hands in both of hers, letting him feel the warmth of them and the faint press of claws. Then came the rush that magic always gave him, flowing from her through his whole body like hot water. There was no chanting, no glow, just the coongirl's reassuring touch. "Is that all?" he said. "It must not have worked."
Rena squeezed his hands before letting go. "Oh, I'm pretty sure it worked. It just takes a while to kick in, usually after a night's sleep. We should meet up tomorrow whenever you're awake and done panicking."
"Panicking? Should I?"
"No, but you can guess what to expect, and a guy might have trouble adjusting." Rena clinked their drinks together. "Don't worry. It'll be a little adventure for you. And you know the tourism slogan, right? What happens in Vegas, stays here."
Sam fretted about how tomorrow would go, but it was the best dinner he'd had in a long time. Rena knew more theory than he did, and loved hearing about his work in practical medicine. There was no need to make a date out of their friendly meal. When it was time to go, he offered her a hand up and she stood, giving him a fresh look at that strange body -- one starting to blossom into motherhood.
"Thanks for a wonderful evening," he said.
3.
The dreams were stranger than the kind you could buy. He was running through a forest, pursued; he was trying on his outfit for a high school prom and hardly noticed it was a dress; he was brushing out someone's tail and feeling like it was attached to him. Sam woke up panting and sweaty. It was too hot under all these covers! He threw off the blanket and the thin sheet and tried to get that third covering off of him too... Instead he felt his fingers rippling over soft fur.
He woke up instantly, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. He was thinking, "This is that day. I agreed to be a raccoon lady today." Slowly he looked down at himself, taking deep breaths, and felt around. Gray fur covered most of the curve of his breasts. His hands were fuzzy and ended in little claws. Sam poked at his face and found the muzzle in the middle of his vision. When he talked, it was with someone else's voice. None of this body was part of him! He shuddered and stood up slowly. He felt nauseous at the thought of everything being so wrong. But he forced himself to calm down, to tell himself: "I agreed to this. It's supposed to be fun. Just for a day." A few more deep breaths. After a while he started to get used to how each breath felt in this new body, how it made his breasts heave slightly. "I can cope with this. Half the people alive do it every day."
He picked up the phone with a smaller hand than he was used to, cleared his throat, and called Rena. "I'm done panicking."
A giggle. "Oh, wow, it worked. How about I pick you up in half an hour for breakfast? My treat."
Sam said, "In public?"
"Well, yeah! You're not going to hide all day, are you?"
Sam decided not to shower this morning, since he had no idea how long it'd take to dry out all this fur. His tail kept surprising him. The thing snaked behind him and did strange things to his sense of balance. Getting dressed was tricky because of it. He ended up wearing his pants low in the back, and pulling on a long t-shirt to hang down over his waist. He needed the loose shirt after trying on one of his nicer ones, and finding how tightly it pulled over his chest. Even the t-shirt stretched enough to outline those heavy breasts so that everyone would end up staring at them. He couldn't quit looking at them in the mirror himself. It was strange to see them from this angle! And the way they felt against the fabric, against his fingers...
A knock on the door. Sam answered it, blushing. Rena was there with a huge grin. "Wow. I'm actually a little jealous."
Sam felt his blush deepen. "I probably look like your sister."
"My sister's still human, so you're cuter. Come on; Luxor's buffet is the best and I'm starved."
Sam tried not to make eye contact with anyone they passed in the hotel hallway. They were staring at him. He just knew it.
"How is it?" said Rena. "Any observations from a medical perspective?"
"It's a new way of looking at things, I'll say. Everything's taller... How are you walking faster than me?"
Rena stopped and turned, one hand on her belly. "Ha! I bet you're walking wrong. Take a few steps." Sam did, and she grinned. "Let yourself sway more. It's how you're built."
Sam tried heading farther down the hall, feeling himself swing and wiggle his hips with every step. He started to complain, but Rena said, "There, that's better. Perfectly normal, and I hear it's fun to watch."
"Not when it's yourself!"
Rena passed him and tweaked his tail. "What, you're not attracted to a shapely raccoon-girl butt? Those instincts must've kicked in fast!" Sam was so busy sputtering in protest that he forgot how he was walking, which was probably the point.
Everything felt new and different this morning. Sam rode with her to the great hovering black pyramid for breakfast, where even the food smelled more vivid. He kept holding bits of fruit to his big nose before eating them. Eventually he stood up and headed for the bathrooms. Rena piped up, "Remember which one!" around a mouthful of waffles and ice cream.
Sam came back looking shaken. "Still okay?" said Rena with a more serious look.
"Different," said Sam. "So... have you ever gone through this yourself? Been a coon-man?"
"No, but remember I was human before I grew all this fur. I guess it'd be fun to try sometime, if I had someone to walk me through it. Even they gave me as much grief as I'm giving you."
"You're not..."
"Admit it!"
Sam grinned. "Yes. If I were your sex-swap coach I'd probably taunt you about any outbreak of macho instinct I spotted in you. Probably get you to go shirtless by the pool."
"Ooh. Can I talk you into borrowing a bikini and lounging out there?"
Sam thought about it. "I don't think I'll get another chance to fill one out this well."
So they went. It felt wonderful to plunge into the hotel pool and feel the cool water play all over his body, tickling his fur and the skin beneath it. He struggled to keep afloat with the water weighing him down, then climbed out and found a shaded beach chair to sprawl on. His bikini top tugged his breasts close and it felt like he had almost nothing on below it. After a few minutes of Rena's questions and teasing he managed to stop caring, and to enjoy the feel of all his curves.
"Was he staring at me?" Sam asked Rena. He hoped that man in the green trunks didn't come over to talk.
Rena said, "Are you kidding? He was checking me out."
Sam stuck his tongue out at her. The two of them chatted about nothing, on and on.
4.
There was lunch, and walking around the UNLV campus, and watching the dolphins at the Mirage together, winning cash at blackjack, and dinner at a pizza shop that tourists didn't know about. Sam didn't much care where she took him. There was food and endless sights to see, and their whole lives to talk about. But somehow time passed despite his wishes, and he found himself standing outside his downtown hotel. Being dropped off.
Sam had just handed her some money for gas, and that turned into the two of them holding each other's hands, smiling nervously. "I guess it's about that time," Sam said. "My flight's tomorrow afternoon, and this crazy spell must be wearing off soon."
Rena nodded. "I, uh... I'm not attracted to girls, you know."
"What? I didn't think you were."
She looked away for a moment, then back at him. "Just didn't want you to get the wrong impression. If you're going away, I mean. I had a wonderful time. Not because of the silly magic experiment, but because you were just fun to hang around with."
"Yeah." He had to say more than that, of course. "Can't say the girl part of it was something I'd repeat, but being with you made it fun. I would never have done half of that stuff without you there."
Rena twitched her nose uncertainly. "Part of why I was interested in you -- in talking with you, I mean -- was that you've got magic of your own, for medicine. There was something I was wondering about. You know that spell that paramedics use to slow down an injured person, don't you? Like partial suspended animation?"
"It was part of my training, yeah. What about it?"
She took his hand and rested it on her curved belly. "This. I'm a little scared of what's happening to me, and I need to finish this degree before I can do anything else. I need to slow things down."
Sam hardly heard her. His delicate fingers were splayed across where he'd expected to feel soft flab. Instead, Rena was firm and tight like a drum, warm and fuzzy against his clawtips. What amazed him most was the thought that as big as she was, she had a long while to go.
She must have seen his expression. "Yeah, yeah, the miracle of birth. You get used to it after a while and either want it done with, or just to hold off until your mind and your life catch up and get you ready to be..."
"A mother?"
She nodded, blushing. "Do you think you could do this for me? If you can't, I understand."
Sam thought carefully. "I've heard of something like this being done, and I've done the spell a dozen times. Are you sure about this, though? Slowing down your pregnancy would mean being stuck like this for around twice as long. You said you're nearly four months in, right? Could you stand another ten-plus months instead of five?"
"Can't say I'm looking forward to the weight and all, but..." She slid her hands around her stomach, with her ears flicking this way and that. "I do kind of like having my baby around, more than I'd like to admit. Grows on you. I just need time to get things done so that I don't end up secretly resenting the kid."
"If that's really what you want, then I'll try it on you. We're at my hotel, so..." He blushed.
"Your room, yeah."
Soon, Rena lay on her back, on Sam's bed, still dressed. She unbuttoned her blouse to leave her belly exposed, with grey fuzz arching up proudly. Sam studied his training materials again, crouched beside her, and began to work. His hands rubbed over her stomach. The whole time, he was trying to think of this job as just medical practice, helping out a person in need who he'd never see again. It was true, right? But touching Rena sent shivers of excitement through him and gave him the new feeling of his chest tingling, poking out against his shirt. Sam blushed and hoped Rena wouldn't notice. She was warm and fuzzy and wonderful against his fingers.
"Is it working?" she said.
Sam concentrated on the spell. He could feel the energy of it flow from him into Rena and her baby, easing their instinctive need to grow, to bloom so quickly. He sensed them as carefully as he could, then nodded. "It should work. You're going to be stuck like this for a while."
Rena propped herself up on her elbows and gave a nervous smile. "Mmm. You're good at this. Mind if I stick around for a while? The spell on you should be wearing off soon."
Sam's heart was beating quickly, he realized. Stress from his worries about the work on Rena. He held one hand against his chest and felt the breast hanging there. "It's been fun."
The raccoon-girl leaned up to kiss him on the nose. "If you're ever in town again, stop by."
"Are you hungry? There's an all-night cafe downstairs."
"Always am. Bring me something? I feel like staying here."
Sam wriggled his whiskers nervously. "So... we'll eat up here in my room, while you watch me turn back?" He wondered if she could see him blushing under his fur. Right now he wasn't equipped for it, but if Rena was eager to stick around until he was a guy again, this night might get more interesting than he'd planned. Rena was grinning up at him. "You don't have to, uh, thank me in any particular way. Really, don't feel obligated. You showed me a great time."
She stretched out luxuriously on his bed. Sam had to admit she was... beautiful? Was that the right word? Right now he was missing some of the usual hormones to distract him from her mind, from how they'd been talking all day and enjoying just being around each other. She was smart and witty and playful and ambitious in a way he'd never seen in a woman before, not in someone who'd give him the time of day. "Let's think about it," Rena said. "Get us some chicken, okay?"
Sam headed downstairs to get some take-out food. He had a plane ticket out of town for tomorrow, and was starting to regret it. While sitting at the cafe counter he realized that this was just about the first time he'd been alone all day. Usually he needed a break after trying to be social, but this woman had made him comfortable. He drank a soda while he waited for the food, swirled the ice cubes around in his glass, and thought.
Suddenly, he felt like someone had grabbed his stomach and twisted it in knots. Sam doubled over in his chair and coughed up soda. "Ah! What?"
The waitress had walked over with a box. "Are you all right, miss?"
Sam said, "I think so," but then he wasn't. It happened again, painful for a moment, but then the pain faded out and he had only the sense of someone pouring a glass of warm water into him. And another, and another...
"Ma'am, what's going on? Can you breathe?"
Sam gasped and nodded. He wasn't choking, but he suddenly had some idea of what was happening instead. He sat with his shapely legs a little farther apart. There was a weight startling to settle in his stomach... no, lower than that. The pouring feeling went on and on in waves, pressing against his navel from inside. By this point the waitress gaped. Sam said, "Magic accident!" and stumbled off of his stool.
He hurried down the hall toward the elevator. This couldn't be happening. Every few seconds there was a tiny surge inside him. He jabbed the elevator button and rocked side to side on his widening hips. His tail lashed the air and he found himself leaning backward to keep his balance. "How?" he said. He was trying to think of all the possible magic mistakes they could have made. Sam wobbled into the elevator and willed it to hurry up to his room, to Rena. Another surge, and he whimpered. His belly had curved out and steadied, except that now he could feel something moving in there. Sam was staring down at his transformed body with a shocked look on his muzzle when the elevator door opened.
A raccoon man towered over Sam from the doorway, looking as terrified as Sam felt. His face's fur was matted with tears and he said, "Sam? Is that you?" His hand flew to his muzzle as though he was startled by the deep voice.
Sam stared at him. Flat chest, a head taller than him, clothes stretched tight. "Rena?" He waddled out of the elevator and the man hugged him.
The man sounded hysterical. "My baby! Is that... did you...?"
Sam blushed and reached down to put his hands on his own belly. The feeling was disturbingly familiar. Instead of the firm, warm weight he'd felt from Rena, that he'd admired from outside, the faintly squirming pregnancy was right there beneath his own skin. He shuddered, hardly able to breathe.
Rena's ears flicked back and forth and his hands lurched forward to press against Sam. "Oh god. That's my kid in there! I thought I'd lost it! How did this happen?"
Sam couldn't quit staring at himself. "I... I need to sit down."
5.
They were in Sam's room, with Sam sitting on the bed and hands on his belly. Rena paced. Sam murmured, "You got me pregnant?"
Rena wasn't in much better shape. "You took my baby."
"Took? I didn't ask for this!"
They yelled at each other for a minute. Sam knew it made no sense, in the back of his mind, but he was trying not to panic and someone was wriggling inside him. After a while he wiped away tears with one fuzzy hand and said, "Enough. Let's think about this. We got linked, somehow, between you working a spell on me, and me using my own magic on you. Two magic-users interacting that... intimately in one day might've messed things up."
Rena blushed. "Intimately. Yeah. And when it hit, you came running for me."
Sam looked down over his breasts at the bulge filling his lap. "I thought something might be happening to you, too. And once I realized I was probably getting a baby, and that it might be yours, I had to come find you." He looked up at the raccoon man. "And you'd come running to find me."
They looked into each other's eyes. Rena was taller than before, and looked terrible in his blouse and girlish pants. Still, this was the same woman who'd talked with him so cheerfully and made his vacation something special. He couldn't blame Rena when they'd both agreed to mess around with magic for entertainment.
"Um," said Rena. "I'm sorry that this happened to you."
Sam nodded. "Sorry. So, did you actually go male?" Rena's pained expression told Sam all he needed to know. Sam forced himself to smile. "I guess I'll get to coach you on that after all. Another day of us being all messed up, huh?"
Rena was quiet for a moment. "Sam, I don't think so. Do you actually know of any spells to transfer a pregnancy like this? Or any case of an accidental gender swap?"
"Between two people?" Sam searched his memory. "Never heard of either." The consequences were starting to sink in.
"Then I suspect this isn't going to just wear off in another day. And if it did, it'd be dangerous to have my baby go through it again. We shouldn't fool around with this."
Sam didn't want to risk hurting the kid, either, even though the thought that this baby was actually inside him, right now, made it tough to focus on the moral theory of it. "Then what do we do?" he said.
Rena shook his head, started to speak, stopped, and paced the room. When he came back, he slowly knelt beside the bed and took Sam's hand. "Will you marry me?"
"What!"
"Please, Sam! You're... you're currently the mother of my kit. I can't help that I'm a guy right now, and you... Why are we pretending? You're a woman now, a lovely coongirl that I've managed to get knocked up by being ridiculous. If I walked away from you now I'd be just as bad as the guy who did that to me. It's our baby now."
Sam breathed faster. He took stock of his changed body, of the soft fur around his breasts and of the womb that was suddenly full. It was his responsibility now. Her responsibility. It was hard to argue with herself that she was still male when she could feel her baby starting to churn. When the thought of that caught her attention and made her rub fingers along her belly, spellbound, murmuring, "Our kit..."
"Stay with me. At least until the little guy's born. Five months... ten, I guess. After that we could try to undo this safely, and I can be your wife."
Sam looked back up at him, and laughed. "I came to Vegas looking for some gambling and relaxation, and I'm going to end up with a husband?"
Rena's hands squeezed hers. "A devoted one. We'll get through this together."
The plane ticket was lying on the table. Sam could fly home tomorrow and file a very unexpected plea for maternity leave, but there would be no escaping from what fate had in store for her. Much better to have the father here with her. Sam leaned back, closed her eyes, and said, "Yes."
6.
They went to one of the chapels north of the Strip, where the priest dressed like Elvis and asked no hard questions. Just asked if Sam would promise to love Rena tender, and not to step on his blue suede shoes. Sam said yes even though she wasn't sure. Was this love? Maybe it would be, in time.
Rena wore a rented tuxedo that made him look almost confident in his new body. Bright, hard-working, responsible. He'd make a great father. Sam wore a dress for the first time in her life. And Sam was reaching behind her, raising her up in strong arms, carrying her back into her hotel room... and laying her down onto the bed. Sam blushed up at her new husband and helped him slip out of his tuxedo jacket. Neither of them had really talked about the honeymoon, but what better way was there to learn about their new bodies? Sam smiled nervously down at her and said, "Can I help you with that dress?"
She said, "Next time, you know, you're the mom."
"Are you sure? Not even a coin toss?"
Sam giggled, loving the way their voices sounded now. Here in the little room, everything seemed right with the world. "I don't know. Give me a reason to want to keep the breasts, and everything else."
He did.