Carrie reached for the keyboard and began typing. Todd tried to follow what she was doing, but her hands were a blur and his perspective on the screen was less than ideal. He could only wait hopefully to see what she did.
When Carrie finished typing she said, "Brace yourself."
She hit a key, and Todd felt his body start to grow. The fur faded away as his nose shrank back to human size while his body grew larger and slimmer. In seconds he was human again and naked, and still crouched on the table next to Carrie.
Blushing, he carefully climbed down off the table. He found it strange to stand on two feet again, even though it had only been a half a day since he was last human. (It had felt like years.) Carrie averted her eyes and handed him the lab coat she had been wearing.
"Thank you," he said, surprised at his own deep human voice. He cleared his throat. "I mean it. Thank you."
"You're welcome," she said, still averting her eyes.
"Can I ask... why?"
She sighed and crossed her arms, still not looking at him. "Well, I figured I would hate being a rodent if I were you. I figured that keeping you as a pet would just depress the hell out of both of us after a while. I don't know. I just decided to chance it." She looked him in the eyes. "I want to believe that you can be a good guy."
"I can," he said. "I will be."
She stood up. Her body still benefited from all the extra inches he had added to it earlier in the day, so he had to look up to look her in the eyes.
"Don't you want to turn back?" he asked. "You know, back to how you were?"
"Why would I?" she said. "It's amazing being big. I feel like a superhero at this height. Yeah, I'll get looks, and it'll be hard to explain, but screw it. I've given up giving a shit about other people's opinions at this point. Life's too weird to be normal."
Todd smiled. "I like that." He expected the conversation to continue, but Carrie just walked past him to the door. "Wait!" he said. "You're leaving already?"
"Why not?" she asked. "We're done now, right?"
"I suppose." He fidgeted with his hands.
"Unless you have something to say."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh?"
Todd sighed. "What I did to you was just wrong on so many levels. I took advantage of you. I should have asked for your permission. I should have stopped when you wanted to stop."
Carrie looked at him, measuring him up.
Todd said, "I should have just said, 'hello.' I wish I had just said, 'hello.' I think we could have been good friends. And, I understand if you never want to see me again after what I did, but I hope that you will see me again. I hope that you could give me another chance."
She looked had him uncertainly.
"It's your choice. You can make all the choices from now on. Whatever you want."
Carrie smiled. "That's dumb."
"What?"
"That's dumb. I mean, if we're going to be a couple--and that's a big 'if'--then we'll have to be sharing the choices. We would need to share if we want it to work. You know?"
Todd smiled. "I think I'm starting to learn."
"He can be taught." She walked closer to him. "Look, you were dumb, but this was, without a doubt, the most interesting day of my life, even if it almost killed me and ended the universe. I think you're worth another try. At the very least, I know you won't be boring to be around. Let's just try starting with a date, a normal date. Just hit the reset button on the whole relationship. Pick me up at 7. Wear a nice shirt. We'll eat a meal and talk."
"Sounds like a plan."
"One stipulation, though."
"Oh?"
"No global catastrophes or sci fi gadgets." She smirked. "Agreed?"
He smirked back. "Agreed."
"We can save that for the second date."