As Daniel regained consciousness, his last thoughts and memories began to drift to the surface. He remembered lying there, in that freezer, for who knows how long, unable to do more than remain still and look around with his eyes. It had felt like ages to him, but what he was certain of was that it had been an agonizingly monotonous experience.
Then, much to his surprise, the freezer door had opened one day, and his mind had gone into a frenzy, divided between hope and despair. It had been Doctor Laura, accompanied by a few associates in lab coats. When she had looked down on him, it was with a look of sympathy, and it had frightened her.
However, she had then proceeded to smile tentatively before she said, "I don't want to get your hopes up, but we may have stumbled across a way to improve your condition. We haven't been able to perform any tests with it, and it may just make matters worse, but we don't want you to be in this condition any longer than necessary."
"So," she had gone on, suddenly dead serious, "wink once if you'd rather not take the risk, or..."
He had winked his eyes twice before she'd finished giving her instructions. He was sure that the look in his eyes had said enough, though: anything would have been better at that point.
And, so, it was with a building anxiety and hope that he opened his eyes and tried to sit up in the bed he found himself in... and up he went! So overwhelmed was he by being able to do such a simple thing, after being unable to move for who knows how long, many of the details about his place of recovery went practically unnoticed at first. It didn't help that he was naked and had a good view down his own cleavage, cleavage which he shouldn't've had.
It wasn't until Doctor Laura had cleared her throat that he turned his head in her direction and realized that he wasn't alone. He opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't know what to say.
"How are you feeling?" Doctor Laura asked, sounding concerned. "I'm sorry that we haven't found a way to restore you completely back to normal, but we thought that you might prefer a significant step in that direction instead of being in your condition any longer than necessary."
When Daniel's eyes began to tear up, and his lower lip began to tremble, she worriedly prodded with, "Daniel?"
He suddenly buried his face into his hands and began to sob. Not because he was sad or upset, but because he was so relieved and happy. He didn't want to become a cake like that again; he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. It was just so good to be able to speak, to move, to LIVE, that he wasn't offended by having girls bits one bit. It was far better being a living, breathing, female ANYTHING than a... a THING. An IT.
Doctor Laura was soon at his bedside, holding her and trying to soothe her with her voice while offering up apologies. By the time he realized that she was misunderstanding his behavior, he managed to compose himself enough to croak out, "No, it's okay... I can live with this... ANYTHING's better than... Than..."
"Are you sure?" Doctor Laura inquired quietly, somberly. "You're more human than cake now, but it was only luck that we got you this far along after this much time. We'll need to keep an eye on you for some time, test you daily, and hope that this treatment is stable enough to use it on the others."
Daniel nodded his head against her shoulder. Now that he had gotten that fit out of his system, he began to take more notice of his body, and he began to notice something: he didn't just feel good, he felt even better than that, beyond what he could ever remember as a human man. Even as he thought about it, it felt like his energy levels were about to go through the roof. However, rather than reach or breach that point, it leveled off and began to have a sort of carefree effect on him. He wasn't sure if it was because of how long he had been stationary as a cake, or what, but...
When Doctor Laura drew away from him, he immediately took the opportunity to get out of bed and stand on his own two feet again. Despite being in a female body, and having not moved for so long, he hadn't had much problem moving around and keeping his balance. In fact, he felt rather spry, which inspired him to do some stretches and a few exercises that he could do in place.
Doctor Laura watched this development with some bemusement. "I take it that everything's alright? Nothing out of place?"
Daniel paused and couldn't help smiling as he replied. "Nope! I'm not sure what it is, but I'm feeling pretty good right now. If this is normal for this kind of body then I don't think I'll mind waiting to be fully restored!"
A bit surprised to hear that, Doctor Laura furrowed her brow and asked, "Really?"
Daniel looked down at his new body, his longish red hair falling over his face, and without really thinking about it he cupped the fairly large yet perky breasts on his chest. While he hadn't tried to elicit any sensation from a known erogenous zone, his flesh seemed to come alive where he touched, which seemed to stir the new equipment between his legs. Rather than get excited, scared, curious, naughty or whatnot, it seemed to add itself to the overall feeling of well-being. Maybe under different circumstances he might try to see what would happen with a bit more adventure, but that would have to wait until he had some privacy.
He smiled absently, which Doctor Laura took to be his answer with a shake of her head.
"Anyway," she said, as she reached over and pulled up a food trolley that had been put aside earlier, "we figured that you might be hungry when you wake up. However, due to how little we've gathered about your new biology this early in our studies, we're not exactly sure what should be in your diet. So, we thought that you might find what's best for you by taste-testing the selection we have here."
Daniel didn't really feel hungry, but he looked over the items of food on the trolley as they were uncovered just the same. There were small portions of meats, vegetables, fruits, dairy, grain and the like, but the only thing that made him pause was the slice of strawberry shortcake. He shuddered at the sight of it, having had quite enough of cake after his last experience with one. Besides, at that point, wouldn't it be a sort of pseudo-cannibalistic act to eat such a thing now?
Other than the fruits in general, which were decent enough as far as his new taste buds were concerned, the only thing that really stood out were the strawberries, which were actually quite tasty. Everything else was a bit on the bland side, or worse. Well, except for the slice of strawberry shortcake, which he hadn't the nerve to try out. Once it was the only thing left, and Doctor Laura had made a gesture to try it, he sighed with resignation and gave it a try.
It was a good thing that he had been sitting on the bed when that first piece had made contact with his tongue: he'd never tasted anything so good before, much less something that had the effect of sending a sensual zing throughout his body. Before he knew it, his eyes had rolled into the back of his head and he fell backward onto the bed.
"Wow," was all that he could manage to say.
"Huh," Doctor Laura thought to herself. "I guess Ericson's suggestion was on the money. I suppose it makes sense that his body would develop that kind of need for it, given that his body is still comprised of so much sugar and strawberries. Not only does he seem to need a lot of sugar in his diet, to the point where even his sweat is saccharine, but his blood, breast milk and mucus are all strawberry-based."