By the time the child reached the age of seven, the young boy's form being covered by a blanket fetched by Doris, he was finally capable of speech. Breaking his lips from his mother's breast, the child coughed several times as he registered that he was still changing. "I---I...Ethan...? Ethan Dunn? Oh. Ohhh it's been---how long has it been? I've---I've been awake. Aware. Inside of her for...for the entire time!" He then coughed again and grunted, "Oh---Oh I'm---I'm still changing! Gimme some room!"
Ethan motioned, and Doris cleared off another table haphazardly, scattering anything on it off to allow for some room for the growing child. When Melissa, in her pained and delirious, sanity degraded state, tried to move to push his head back on to her breast, he swatted it away and glowered. It was clear as Ethan picked him up that the boy did not want for his mother's milk - especially not after all he went through. "Carl?" Ethan asked, "How---How do you---?"
"Feel? I feel fuckin' rough! I'm growing up too fast!" As surreal as it was to hear a now eight year old talking like that as Ethan put him on the table, Ethan didn't blame him. He motioned for Doris to go get some new blankets for him, and the woman ran out of the room to do that - as fast as her tubby body could go.
Carl's legs pushed out from under the blanket as he hit a growth spurt to age 10, his form starting to change from merely a child to a prepubescent. Long and gangly, and his face glancing around, gritting his teeth and then spitting out baby teeth as his adult teeth came in. "Fuck this hurts..."
"Do you---want any painkillers?" Ethan asked.
"Dunno what effect they could have on my growing body. I'd rather not risk it." Carl shook his head, and then gulped as he aged up to 11. Doris returned with a larger blanket - covering the youth's legs as Carl propped himself up on the table. "Ooh, I just know puberty's gonna hurt like a bitch..."
"Honey, don't curse like that! You're my baby boy!" Melissa piped up.
All three - the doctor, the assistant, and the growing boy - shouted at her, "Shut up Melissa!"
This was then followed by Carl wincing and visibly gripping his shoulders, writhing under the blankets. It was clear he was growing into vibrant athleticism, becoming a strong athlete even at this age, and the beginnings of puberty began to register. His features became less round, slightly more angular, longer in the face. He grunted again and just about everyone jumped in place when they heard something pop under the blankets, "...shoulders just popped wider..." Carl groaned, "Ohh my body...it hurts. I'm like, going through puberty all at once!"
The athletic boy's features kept changing, his hair growing longer and settling into a length just above his shoulders, thick and dark. His handsome features clearly indicated his swimming jock history originally was preserved and if anything enhanced. Carl kicked at nothing as he let out a slight moan. The 13 year old seemed to realize something.
"Carl? Everything alright?" Ethan asked, knowing he was probably a bit doting and maybe a bit annoying to the boy, but knowing this was a heretofore unknown situation.
"I---I uh..." Carl blushed a little bit, looking down at his increasingly broad chest and tight abdominals, "My---my balls just dropped. Hurt like a mother---" He then let out another gasp and a grunt as his chest and most of his shoulders popped out from under the blankets. His height increasing and Carl muttering a string of curses under his breath as he reached 5'10''.
"So there's nothing unusual? No strange aftereffects of---" Ethan asked, frantically writing things down by now. Damn him but this was yet again inciting him to curiosity and scientific thought about the Chronos virus. Among other things, it had caused a man to become a hybrid of his own genetics and that of the woman who he had been in contact with. He knew it was unwise, but now, Ethan started to think about how things might go with more testing. He cursed his own nature in wanting for such tests - to submerge himself in this world again when he had experienced that kind of nightmare...!
It was almost like he was living his own iteration of Frankenstein. Except the doctor learned exactly fucking nothing.
"Aside from the fact I'm...growing up at an accelerated rate..." Carl muttered as he stretched, groaning as he felt his abs pop into more relief on his stomach, keeping the longer blanket over him as his changes slowed.
By the time Carl reached the age of fifteen, he looked similar and different from how he was at the initial infection with the Chronos virus. He had Melissa's dark, wavy hair instead of his own hair. And he seemed broader, slightly taller than he'd been before at sixteen. By far he was more hale and healthy than he'd ever been before. His body had almost became too muscular for swimming, but maintained just enough leanness to do something - more in the line of endurance swimming than speedy races. His features still boyish, lacking any hint of facial hair, but broader than he'd been before.
"I---I uh..." Carl breathed as he stretched his legs, "I think I'm done changing for now." He flexed one of his biceps, watching with some disbelief as he saw the muscle pump up. "It's...it's been so long since I've been able to feel any sense of strength in myself." Carl was almost sobbing at this point in the midst of laughing...and honestly, Ethan didn't blame him. Being aware and---and intelligent while being stuck inside of someone in such a state...it must've been terrifying.
No one was meant to endure that kind of existence. It was a wonder Carl was just subtly traumatized by it. But now he was okay. Mostly. He was out and he was alive. Older than he should've been upon being born. But it was a relief that he was back - as long as it took for that to happen. Carl blushed a little as he looked at Ethan, "Can I uh---can I get some clothes? Do you guys have any like, hospital gowns or anything?"
"Doris, go get one of the gowns for him." Ethan said to her.
"...Right. I'll just file this under the most bizarre things to ever happen to me in the course of my job, and go from there." She remarked, and then left again to get Carl his hospital gown.
Ethan breathed and took a seat on a chair right by Carl. The doctor breathed and swiped sweat off of his brow. He'd never thought he might end up back in this sort of thing again. He glanced over at Melissa - the strain and her---well, how she was now just left her asleep. The pain from him growing then and there while she was birthing him must've been outrageous. He kind of pitied her. She didn't ask for anything like this to happen, yet here it was.
Carl for his part started looking at Ethan, remembering the crush he had since his return to his youth. He liked Melissa back during the initial use of the virus...but he also quite liked strong, sturdy Ethan. He hoped on some level that he could grow some more, to be of legal age, so he could actually do with Ethan what he wanted to... When he had been originally in his teenage years, so long ago, life hadn't been how it is now. The LGBT acceptance movement had barely been a thing. Nobody knew what a bisexual was, and anyone he knew associated it with deviance and the ancient greek tendency for decadence. This...this was a chance. Carl smiled a little. This was a chance to really live like he should've been able to all the way back.
"So Carl..." Ethan asked, fetching some paper to start writing more material down, "Let's just...go through some questions. I have to make sure everything's alright, and how you're feeling. This is after all a remarkably unusual situation."
"Fine with me," Carl nodded, "As long as talk about what it was like...in there..." Carl winced as he took a glance at his would-be mother's stomach, "...is very clearly off limits. I've...got anxiety about it, let's put it that way."
"And I don't blame you." Ethan responded, and started considering what to ask first...