"That" Carmela told Tom "Is the most awesome Christmas present idea ever. Aziza will be thrilled. I mean, she loves you, but she does miss having a girlfriend."
"Thanks. So you can do it?"
"Turn you into a woman for a month? Yeah, no problem. The only thing is that you might like it too much to turn back." She smiled.
Tom rolled his eyes.
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Sunny, Regina and Sheena were home for Christmas, after an extended tour of the multiverse. Danielle, Misty and Rain were happy to see them, and intrigued by the lovely black woman they had picked up along the way. "This is my ex Barry, from the universe of the Great Change" remarked Regina. "Well hello Barry" said Rain, the interest in her eyes unmistakeable. "My name is Rain. I heard there were some beautiful women in that universe."
Regina was showing off the magical devices she had picked up while visiting a universe with "actual elves!" in the meantime, Barry and Rain were making serious eye contact.
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Three months earlier, following another miserable night with Seth, Lydia Tullio had decided to get to the roots of why she was so unhappy and why her marriage, despite her best efforts, was so hopeless. (Seth being a workaholic was definitely part of it, but the problem seemed much bigger than that.) Following a course of directed meditation, sensory isolation and deep brain stimulus she had found an answer that was at first shocking and even horrifying, but over the next few hours had come to seem obvious, even banal.
The day after Thanksgiving, Lydia announced to her family that she was transitioning to male. This would be Lawrence's first Christmas.