Andrew thought that they should try to rescue Dr. Wendz since he had promised him he would be able to de-age him so he could be with his love. However he didn't hold out any hope of that happening since the dreams showed him as the age he was now and he knew enough about biology to know that it would be difficult to do that. Though trying to rescue Dr. Wendz would only result in at least himself being exposed which Mary and Adam had pointed out so even though he didn't want to he would not try to rescue Dr. Wendz. But that didn't mean he couldn't go check up on his love. He was pretty sure he knew which room she was in and if he remembered right there was a tree that would allow him to look into the room. He quietly sneaked out and once outside he was away from the cabin a bit he sniffed the air and could tell that it would rain soon though it probably wouldn't be until the afternoon and he took off for the hospital. He quickly set off to check on his love to make sure she had survived. He was sure she had since the dreams were of the future but there was a part of him that was worried and needed to be set at ease.
Andrew moved quietly keeping to the shadows as much as possible in light of the fact that he might have already been photographed. He didn't see anyone and was soon at the hospital. He thought he knew which room his love was in and so set about finding the window. When he found it though he was surprised to see a weregecko clinging to the side looking through the window. The were had a camera and seemed to be taking pictures through the window. There was a slight breeze which carried the stranger's scent to him and his away from the stranger. Andrew grew a bit angry at the stranger taking pictures of his love evidentially without her permission. He wanted to grab the stranger's camera and break it into a million pieces but that would expose him so he stayed quiet and back from the stranger. Soon the were left and he was able to see through the window to look at his love. He smiled as he saw her sleeping peacefully in her were form which looked just like she did in his dreams except a bit younger. Satisfied that his love was alright for now he found a comfortable position in the tree so he could keep watch over her. It may lead to his discovery if anyone happened to find him but he didn't want to leave considering what he had seen.
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Rikki smiled as she entered the dance hall wearing her fairy costume. Halloween had always been her favorite time of year as far as she could remember and this year was especially special with her having become a girl just days ago. "I'm going to go change into my costume," Diane said in Rikki's ear. Rikki nodded and Diane made her way to the restrooms.
Rikki looked behind her to see her new parents enter dressed as ancient Greeks. She had to smile some more thinking of the love they've been showing her since she had become a girl even though she wasn't their biological daughter. She knew that they wanted to be right by her side to shield her from from those that haven't met her yet but they stayed back to give her a bit of space. She looked around and spotted Eric Anderson and Julie Stovall. Both of them had treated her just like anyone else her first day of school though they had to know about what she was before. She went over to them and said, "Nice costumes."
Eric smiled and said, "Thanks. I got the idea from a dream I had after learning that Julie was a weremermaid. I like your costume as well."
Rikki smiled and said, "Thanks, as far as I can remember I've always liked fairies and this is the first time I was able to dress up as one."
"How do you like your new life?" Julie asked leaning a bit on Eric.
"Oh I'm liking it a lot," Rikki said her smile widening. "I know I wasn't very happy before and I wish I could remember more of the life I had just for comparison. The only thing I don't like about it right now is almost everybody staring at me and asking if I really had been a 40 year old man before becoming a fourteen year old werecheetah. I just can't remember being older than I am now though."
"They'll grow tired of staring at you and asking you that question," Frances Twist said coming up behind Rikki.
"I hope so," Rikki said.
Suddenly she found herself near the door waiting for someone. It wasn't long before the doors opened and a wild eyed man with scraggly brown hair and beard came in. He was wearing a trench coat and he pulled out a gun yelling, "DIE MONSTERS!" She noticed a single silver bullet fall to the floor before he got the gun up ready to fire.
Rikki awoke and sat up panting scared about the last part of her dream. "Bad dream?" the nurse asked. She smelled like a raccoon.
Rikki nodded and said, "It was horrible. I was at a Halloween dance and some guy came in with silver bullets calling us monsters and telling us to die."
The nurse smiled and said, "Well it was only a dream probably caused by what you had heard of weres before you became one. I will tell you that you don't have to worry about touching silver. It may cause a very mild rash which will quickly heal once contact is broken. The problem comes when the silver gets inside us. While the silver itself doesn't kill us it does lower our healing rate down to that of a normal so a wound that normally wouldn't kill us but would kill a normal would kill us as well. Of course the bullet doesn't have to be silver in order to kill us. A shot to the head with regular bullets would do it or one right to the heart."
"Thanks," Rikki said smiling. It had put her mind at ease a bit to know that silver itself wouldn't kill her. She changed back into her human form and went back to sleep.
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Diane took a deep breath as she looked around the dance hall. It had been rented out for Rikki and Andrew's wedding since neither of them were particularly religious. She was a bit sad that she wasn't included in the wedding party but she hadn't even been sure she could attend with her class schedule and where she was attending. Moon Lake had a good college but she had been accepted to Yale which she hadn't thought she would be considering that she had to repeat a grade. Some strings must have been pulled to get her in like strings were pulled to drop the Statute 1A violation charges she was facing a few years ago. Well she was happy for her niece/sister and wouldn't dwell on not being in the wedding party. She was just glad that she was able to make it to the wedding.
She was about ready to make her way to the seat reserved for her when there was a slight throat clearing behind her and someone said, "Sorry miss but are you Diane Tucker?"
Diane turned to see a police officer standing behind her. He looked a little nervous and was probably pretty new to the force. She nodded and said, "Yes I am. Why do you ask?"
The officer looked like he would rather be shoving silver nails into his eyes and under his fingernails than doing what he was as he said, "I'm sorry to have to do this on this day but I have to place you under arrest for vandalism, destruction of property, and theft."
"What?" Diane barely managed to get out being extremely shocked.
"The high school was vandalized last night and some equipment was stolen," the officer said. "There were a few witnesses who saw you coming out of the school. We were able to get a warrant to search your hotel room and found the stolen equipment. Now please cooperate since I don't want to make a big scene and ruin this day more than it has to be."
Diane complied with the officer and allowed herself to be handcuffed so she wouldn't totally ruin Rikki's day. There would be a mar on it with her not being there and Rikki would probably worry about why she wasn't but at least the wedding would continue. As the officer read her rights she wasn't worried about being found guilty on the charges since she had a strong alibi but she was worried about being charged with the Statute 1A violation that the DA had promised he would do if she had gotten into trouble again.
Diane tossed in her sleep while she dreamt though her dream didn't cause her to wake up.
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Kathy smiled as her family gathered for Christmas. It was good that they could all be here this year. The only one missing was Sally and her husband Mark though she had promised that they would come and should be here soon. She rubbed her swollen belly as she and Frank were expecting another foal. She noticed Rikki coming over with a swollen belly of her own as she and Andrew were expecting another cub and a baby, fraternal twins this time for them. "Has Sally and Mark arrived yet Mom?" Rikki asked.
"Not yet," Kathy said with a little sigh. "I hope Sally doesn't get too depressed seeing us pregnant."
Rikki sighed as well before saying, "If she would only become a were then she could become the girl she's always wanted to be."
"I know but she doesn't want to become a were and without becoming one she's limited in what can be done to make her female," Kathy said with a little sadness. She and Frank had adopted her when she was a little boy after her whole family was murdered for their support of weres.
Just then a four year old girl came running up to Rikki crying and saying, "Mommy, Uncle Frankie said Santa isn't real."
A frown crossed Rikki's face then she yelled out, "FRANKIE!"
"You yelled sis!" Frank Jr. asked as he came into the room.
"Did you tell Rose that Santa isn't real?" Rikki asked in a low tone.
"Of course I did," Frank Jr. said nodding. "She needed to know the truth." Rikki's hand shot out and grabbed his ear hard upon which he said, "Ow ow ow sis, that hurts."
"Need I remind you that the vast majority of normals thought that weres didn't exist?" Rikki asked growling a bit.
"No," Frank Jr. said realizing that he had really upset his sister by telling Rose that Santa didn't exist.
Rikki nodded a little then said, "That didn't change the fact that we existed. The same can be said of Santa. Just because the majority of people say he doesn't exist does not make it so. Now is there anything you would like to say?" She let go of Frank Junior's ear so he could speak without the threat of more pain.
Frank Jr. knelt down in front of Rose and said, "Look Rose your mom is right. Just because I think he doesn't exist doesn't mean that he doesn't. I'm sorry that I said that to you."
"Really?" Rose asked sniffling.
"Really," Frank Jr. said and hugged his niece.
Kathy smiled in her sleep. She wouldn't remember this dream when she woke up but it did cement the idea of naming their child Frank if they had a boy.
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Rikki woke up and stretched as best she could in the bed hooked up to various monitors and with a catheter in her. She woke up with the feeling that someone else besides the nurses had checked up on her through the night. She noticed a TV in the room so she switched it on and she saw a logo for a news program. She was about to turn it when one of the anchors said, "Good morning Moon Lake. Our top story this morning is a strange one even for Moon Lake. Early yesterday afternoon a male normal was scratched by a werecheetah. However instead of being exposed to another form of the were virus, as is usual in these cases, he was taken to the hospital. We were able to learn that the man had Klinefelter syndrome meaning he had an extra X chromosome and this had the effect of rendering exposure to another form useless. The staff at the hospital were able to save his life but there was an unexpected development. During his treatment he actually changed his sex to female. We have some video of his transformation." A video showing Rikki as she had been and her transformation into her present body played. It was obvious that it was shot through the window but it was clear enough that there was no mistaking the man becoming a girl. The video ended and the anchorwoman came back on saying, "As of this morning the hospital would neither confirm or deny this event taking place. Over to you Bob."
"Well Crystal this would explain the rumors of the council considering making it law for normals wanting to join one of the single gender were groups to get tested," Bob said as the camera focused on him. "If those rumors are true I would think it would be a good idea for all normals to get tested. Accidents do happen after all and there's always the possibility of another rogue."
Rikki turned the TV off asking herself softly, "Did I really look like that before?" After a brief pause she shook her head and said, "Doesn't matter this is me now. Though I wonder who saw that."