As Kayla and Martha were making small talk to one another, Jo was sitting quietly in her lap, watching with awe as she gazed upon the mountains up ahead.
Joe D'Amico had been an isolated teenage boy. He never had many friends, and the ones he did have, he was, at best, seen as a bit awkward or as a lovable loser, the kid who didn't quite belong but was accepted out of charity. He didn't even have even have any special talents to fall back on. He wasn't exceptionally intelligent, or funny, or good looking, or artistic. He just existed. Someone like Emmett from The Lego Movie was Joe's projected life path, except that this wasn't a movie, and he had no special calling. Would anyone even miss him if he had died tomorrow? Joe didn't think so.
At worst, he was seen as more than a bit creepy. When news had first spread that Joe was seeing a psychologist, Dr. Von Hauser, the isolation he felt had become deeper and more pronounced. Maybe it was his imagination, but after his first couple of sessions, he suddenly felt more isolated and put upon, words with friends and teachers more terse and ominous. Rumors had spread among the more gossipy of the student body that he was seeing a shrink, because of his deviant sexual fetishes(He had been caught several times in the library accessing pornography, and not even straight, vanilla porn, it was the kind where grownups dressed up like babies or women were force fed until they became obese). In fact, the actual reason he was seeing a shrink was because he honestly couldn't concentrate on his schoolwork. How could he? His life sucked. He had no father at home to speak of. His parents had divorced when he was a baby, and by all accounts, Dad was a deadbeat. Therefore, Joe had been raised by his single mother, and she was no prize either. No money came in except for welfare benefits and a meager minimum wage paycheck. He didn't even have a computer at home, and the TV was an old fashioned CRT model from the late 1980s that didn't work sometimes. Joe wouldn't admit to himself or anyone else the truth that his mom honestly tried her best despite the difficult circumstances they were in(She worked three jobs, and looked perpetually exhausted), because all he saw every day was mediocrity and gray skies. He had no hope, and no future. Even his Aunt Cathy, who was a bitch that was probably more childishly catty than the mean girls at his school, saw that Joe and his mom were losers.
Then he had received the ring from that old lady at the grocery store for performing a good deed, and everything, his whole world, changed for the better in an instant.
Jo thought back the moment she had first gotten the ring, and when she had first used its awesome, terrifying power:
"It all began when I made her clothes disappear" she thought with intense frustration.
The magic ring had been his moment. It was his "Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes Spider-Man" once in a lifetime, shooting star ultimatum that would have changed his world and lifted him out of poverty, propelled him out of mediocrity, and halted the weird looks from his peers. He could have created something beautiful for himself, and he had blown it. Fucked it up completely because he hadn't thought things through.
He wondered why he had been so stupid with the ring, allowing Dr. Von Hauser to notice him turn invisible, and worse, not realizing that turning into a baby would nullify his ability to speak. He hated it! HATED it!
But yet...
These people were really nice. Jo had not gotten used to being a baby or a girl, fighting off the power of Greta's wish through sheer bloody mindedness, but for the time being, he didn't necessarily mind being with the Saviano's. Sure, they were a little too old fashioned for his taste, but they were loving, and they loved her. Loved her so much that they were willing to drive cross country on a whim, just for little Jo, the feral child who had ended up on their doorstep unannounced.
Jo turned her eyes at Martha. It was ironic, she thought. Martha was apparently the born woman in this relationship, but she more or less had taken on the more dominant, fatherly role, while Kayla, the new woman, was the more nurturing, affectionate type. When Jo had formed her false messages about Dr. Von Hauser's abuse, it was Kayla who had gotten the most up in arms, the most angry, as if Jo actually were her child and her maternal instincts had kicked in.
Jo wanted to get that ring back more than anything. She didn't like what Dr. Von Hauser had done to this world. A world full of women sounded nice to a teenage boy, to be surrounded by endless chances to score, but Jo didn't want to grow up watching a female Rambo run around killing female soldiers of fortune. She didn't want to listen to lesbian love ballads, or grow up wearing dresses. More importantly, he NEEDED that ring, if only to help his real mom.
**
Greta and Jean continued driving towards Anaheim when Jean's eyes grew large, pointed her finger towards a figure to their immediate left, and implored her wife: "STOP! STOP! LOOK!".
The German beauty took her eyes off the road in front of her for a split second and gazed her eyes on...the world's largest block of Swiss cheese. It was easily as large as a three story house.
"How wasteful" she said dismissively. "So many people starving, and we have eyesores like that". She continued speeding along, her foot on the gas pedal driving faster away from it.
"I wanna see it" Jean interrupted her.
"Seriously?" asked Greta impetuously, not even acknowledging Jean. "I thought better of you than that."
"Yeah, but we took this road trip to see the sites" defended Jean. "To meet people. To see how all the new women are holding up in this world that we had created together. I just want to follow wherever our whimsy takes us. And you have the ring. If the cheese smells or something, you can turn it into whatever you want it to be. You could transform it into an unending regenerating block of cheese, where whenever anybody cuts a chunk of it off it, it just grows back. Hell, you can turn it into a pile of money and distribute it to the poor for all I care, but please, engage my curiosity honey?"
Greta sighed. "Ok...darling. I'd do anything for you" she said uneasily at first, but then with more confidence once she realized that it wasn't just words, she actually was in love with her receptionist/wife now. She saw no easy way off the highway to get to the cheesy site(No pun intended), so she wished that she was in the parking lot of the tourist attraction. Jean saw the ring make a brief glow, and there they were, inside the gravel parking lot, perfectly lined up with all the other cars of curious tourists. Greta turned off the engine, put her keys in her brown, faux-leather purse, and exited with Jean to witness the glory of...cheese.
The motorcyclist right behind them on the highway had seen Greta's car vanish in thin air, and had recorded it on their dashcam.
**
Katharine giggled as she cut the carrot cake, doling out slices to Logan and to her wife Sophie, who had transformed into an utterly dazzling princess of a woman, her face could melt steel with its adorableness, and she sat down to enjoy desert. The dinner table was tableclothed, and even some candles were lit.
"It feels like it's been forever since we've all eaten together at home" said Katharine, attempting to make conversation. "So Logan" she said, playfully side-eyeing her new daughter. "I see you've gotten a new haircut".
"Technically it's the same length and shape as it was when I was a man" said Logan, feeling it up with her left hand self-consciously.
"I know. It's just...Never mind" said Katharine.
"What's wrong with being butch?" asked Logan, clearing the air. "It's my decision."
"Nothing" said Sophie. "I just...I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting it, and I don't think your father was either."
Logan stared at her parents. Both of them were utter femmes like Allison was. Her father looked like a girly-girl version of Logan herself, only older. All her clothing had transformed somehow into trendy boutique wear that Logan wanted Allison to try on.
"To be frank, I don't know why I turned out this way. This just feels like me. Even after all that's happened, I just feel more like a boy. I mean, if cutting myself wasn't big enough of a red flag, I don't know what is. Being a girl is just something I'm going to have to get used to, but it doesn't mean that I have to fully embrace it. Nice cake, Da...I mean mom."
**
"OK, Ms. Armitage, it seems that you have made a miraculous recovery from your numerous conditions thanks to the Great Change. I can't explain how your spine completely realigned itself, but one cannot argue with results. I don't see any more reason to keep you all cooped up in here, so you'll be discharged soon. Do you have a means to get home?" asked Doctor Forestenzer.
"Actually, I do. I called up my granddaughters, and they will be picking me up shortly."
"I see" said the doctor. "And I'm presuming they're old enough to drive you home?"
"Yes" laughed Julia softly. "They are."
"OK then" smiled Eliza, who had gotten used to Ms. Armitage as a long term patient and had become friendly towards her. "It's been a pleasure serving you, Ms. Armitage, see you around." She then walked out of the room to check on other patients.
Julia watched Dr. Forestenzer's big heart shaped bottom do the rumba in her tight pants as she began to get dressed herself. She was going to miss that lady, but she missed being home even more.
Lilli and Dani, her two granddaughters, dialed the phone in their grandmother's room.
"Ahoy hoy?"
"We're in the parking lot now. Going to be seeing you any minute" said Lilli.
"Thanks, darlings" said Julia, and hung up to put her top on, which had magically resized to fit her now smaller, younger frame.
Julia smiled. She didn't get along with her daughter Ashley at all, or her husband. Julia and her daughter fought like cats and dogs, and they had their entire lives, but Lilli and Dani were the best, the apples of Julia's eye. Lilli was a strong, independent young lady, and Dani was too. The latter had been adopted from Japan years ago, but she fit right into the family. Even before the Great Change, Dani had been very busty for her age and short stature, but she acted more like a tomboy than anything, which pleased Julia.
She wondered if she had any time to finger herself to the thought of Doctor Forestenzer one more time before they got here. She hadn't been a lesbian before the Great Change, but had adapted to it as quickly as one could under the circumstances.
**
Regina and Aziz both grinned at one another as they held hands inside the grand room where a thousands different curiosities were being experimented on by a thousand different people(Some clearly not human). Regina saw Aziz point towards her temple again, indicating another private telepathy chat.
"Oh my god! How exciting is this!?"
Regina thought "It's almost impossible to believe in!"
James walked towards a very tall, practically giant man(He was nearly ten feet tall) and introduced his two new comrades, and competitors.
"Hey, these two women are my new friends, and I thought that I'd show them some parallel universes. Do you mind."
The tall man, who had no mouth, merely nodded. Aziz and Regina had felt safe around this man for some reason. He radiated peace.
"OK" said James, climbing aboard into the machine, Regina and Aziz stepping in right behind him. Regina felt that it was almost like an amusement park ride. The machine used to travel to alternate universes looked like it was something just out of H.G Wells. James was staring at a computer monitor with a floating touch keypad. He pressed a key, and suddenly, a long list of places, some with quite vague, alphanumeric code names like "A1542G". Others were more straightforward. Every fictional universe, and every permutation of that universe, such as Oz, Narnia, Middle-Earth, Westeros, the Star Wars galaxy, etc, was somehow present. Aziz touched her temple again and talked to Regina. "OH MY GOD! WE COULD VISIT THE DEATH STAR! LETS GO TO THE DEATH STAR!". Regina was somehow more reluctant.
"Are there any parallel universes where we could find out how the Great Change happened?" she asked.
"Certainly" said James, typing in the proper search terms. "Oh, this is interesting" he said. "There are over 100,000,000,000,000,000 permutations of how the Great Change could have began. Let me...you don't happen to know your universe's designation number, do you?" he asked, turning around to the two ladies.
"No" said Aziz
"No" also said Regina.
"Shit, I didn't think so" said James. "Um...hold on."
James began waving his hands, reciting some arcane gibberish langugage, resulting in a green display suddenly appearing in front of the two.
"OK, got it. A6Z92...1" he muttered, snapping his fingers. He typed in the code, and pulled the lever.
The machine vanished from the laboratory that existed right outside of time and space. When the machine reappeared, it landed in the waiting room of an office building. James, Regina, and Aziz stepped out.
"Where are we?" asked Aziz in Arabic. Regina looked at her. "Aziz? Say something in English."
Aziz tried, but couldn't.
"Oops" said James, snapping his fingers. "Translation spell" he smiled. "In the pocket universe where we just came from, it translates every language automatically. Sorry. So this is Earth?"
James was fascinated as he saw a blonde woman nursing on two babies, one black, and one white. She looked terrified.
**