A wake-up call to a new life...

Andrea woke up in the morning cuddled up with Akiko, this time not in an embarrassingly enticing situation. Akiko's head was resting on the pillow facing Andrea, eyes open watching her reaction. Andrea whispered a quick, "good morning," kissed Akiko's forehead before slipping out of the bed, "Thank you for yesterday. Your support meant the world." Walking over to the dresser and closet Andrea pulled out a sports bra and yoga pants, "I have a few appointments for tests this morning, so I'll be a while. You can rest here or head back to the hotel with the rest of the family and I can meet up with you all with any news."

Akiko smiled at Andrea, "I think I'll go and get the rest of the family up and moving. Take them out to breakfast and show them some of the town to keep the littles ones busy. Don't be surprised to see our niece up here talking to the staff. You know how she is about speaking to anyone she can learn more medical, especially advanced and cutting-edge tech."

Andrea smiled at that, "True, she's been hyper focused on her medical career. Tell you the truth, I'd worry about her obsession over it, but I was the same way about finance and had turned out reasonably fine. Admittedly, I didn't have much or a social life and never had a family of my own. Hopefully she'll make time for it where I didn't."

Akiko replied, "I hope so for her sake. That does lead me to ask a personal question if that's alright?"

Andrea looked over too her, "You know you can ask anything. You've been my rock since you got here."

Akiko blushed at the compliment but had a strained smile on her face, "Now, don't freak out. Since you brought up not having a family of your own and your tone suggested you may have wanted different. Also, with how you've always taken care of all the nieces, nephews and even me," Akiko paused for a breath, "Are you...., I mean can you...," Akiko sounded flustered causing Andrea to stop and focus on her. Akiko took a deep breath "Are you capable of having kids if you decide you want to?" Akiko asked before blushing from head to toe and dropping her gaze to the floor.

Andrea blushed a deep crimson, which on her pale features competed with her red hair. She attempted to answer Akiko, but every time she opened her mouth she just stammered, nothing coming out. Akiko looked back up at Andrea seeing the stunned look, the bright red flush and the multiple attempts to answer and couldn't help the giggle pop out. On hearing Akiko giggle, Andrea lost control, dropped her ass into the chair and started laughing so hard she couldn't breathe as tears flowed from her eyes, Akiko's laughter joining a few moments later. It took about five minutes before the laughter stopped and they could talk again.

Akiko apologized, "I'm sorry if that caught you off guard. You don't need to answer it if you don't want to," she said trying to retract the previous question.

Andrea shook her head and waved off the apology, "Don't worry about it, Akiko, it's just not something I've thought about since the ob/gyn appointment." Andrea took a few more breaths before she continued, "To answer your question, I didn't specifically ask that question, but the answer was implied. The doctor told me that all the parts were in proper working order, explain the basics of proper care that you later elaborated on and told me that I would need birth control if I were to become sexually active. Trust me, that freaked me out a bit at the time."

"Okay, that's got to throw you through a loop huh?" Akiko asked.

"Yeah, in more ways than one. First, I'm still mentally at least a man and am very into women. I can say that consciously, I'm not attracted to men. The problem in that this body's subconscious seemed to enjoy the attention I was getting from men and women when we were out with the ladies last week. I know there is another way to get pregnant if I decide to have children, but I wasn't even thinking about that yet. Now, I'm going to have to. I'm still young for now but I'll need to decide before I get too old, again."

"Sorry about throwing such a big issue on your plate while you're still dealing with recovery and testing Andi."

"It's alright Kiki, you brought up something I'd been avoiding and probably would have continued to do so indefinitely if no one had said anything. Really there are only a couple ways for me to choose. If I decide I want children, it's a choice of finding a man which is not something I want, I could adopt, or I can go through IVF."

"Your focus is a defense mechanism, isn't it? Otherwise, your reaction is way to calm for this situation," Akiko stated.

"Yeah Kiki. I use my focus to let me compartmentalize and move forward. That's another reason Klaudia wants me to continue to see a therapist after I get out of here. For now, let's set this subject aside until I'm home, then you can ask me about it from time to time as you want. Fair enough?" Andi asked.

"More than fair enough," Akiko replied, "Again, sorry for bringing it up now."

"It's fine," Andrea replied as she grabbed her clothes and went into the shower. Andrea was in there for about fifteen minutes. When she came out, Akiko was still sitting in the room. Andrea smiled at her, "What's up, more questions?"

"Only one, and it's an easy one," Akiko replied. "Can I raid your closet before I jump in the shower? I want to get cleaned up change before I meet up with the chaos that we call family."

"Absolutely, it's kind of nice that we are of similar size now. I'll text you once I'm done with the doctors today so we can meet up," Andrea said.

Andrea slipped on her shoes and left the room as Akiko was heading into the shower. She had a full morning of testing and meeting with the medical team. Andrea walked down to the physical therapy area where she would work out while the staff tested how well her recovery had progressed. The monotony of the simple physical activity left her mind to wander over the topic of children from earlier that morning. There wasn't going to be an easy or forthcoming answer to that one so once again she tabled that thought. Next, she moved on to thinking about her attractions and desired. She noticed some of the staff, both male and female observing her, looks of appreciation for her body not just medical detachment. Adrea knew that the body that was not his/hers was incredibly attractive and appreciated the attention objectively. The majority of her mind that was still Andrew didn't know what to feel about appreciating men checking her out and that was going to take time to work out. On the other hand, the Andrea and Andrew portions both enjoyed the looks the women were giving her.

The physical therapy and exams went quickly, the staff pleased with her progress at recovery. She was ahead of the schedule of their predictions. After that she headed to Klaudia's office for the mental and emotional evaluations of her recovery. Andrea spoke at length about how she'd been feeling and thinking. She spoke of her difficulties regaining the focus and control that she'd had as Andrew and how that made her a little insecure. Klaudia recommended a few techniques to aid in regaining some of that focus and control. They both discussed the panic Andrea had felt the day before, how to handle such panic attacks as well as recognizing what might cause them for the time being. All things being equal, her mental and emotional recovery were going well enough. Klaudia gave Andrea a short list of therapists near her home as well as in the city near Akiko that she'd recommend along with a release form authorizing the therapist to share Andrea's file with Klaudia so she could continue to monitor her progress. After that, Andrea had a final medical appointment before going to meet the research team that created this procedure. Andrea walked into the OB/GYN's office with a bit more confidence than she had last time. The doctor once again went through the procedures she needed to examine Andrea, once again making her a little uncomfortable. Andrea wasn't sure if that was normal for women or just the male portions of her mind making their voice heard. Either way, the doctor handled the exam professionally and quickly so they could move on. Andrea spoke in depth about Akiko's question that morning and whether it would be possible for her to have children. The doctor assured Andrea that everything was working properly, and children were most assuredly possible.

After taking care of the morning appointments Andrea headed back to her room, took a quick shower to clean up after the workout and exam. Once out of the shower she chose a semi elegant wrap style dress in emerald green and four-inch heeled sandles in black. She applied her make-up as Akiko instructed her going for a casual businesswoman look. Once she was ready, Andrea headed to meet with the research team member. The meeting went great and mad Andrea feel more like her old self when it came to business. The team went over the reports they's gathered from the different staff departments about Andrea's status and recovery. They spoke about how grateful they were for Andrea investment while she reciprocated thanks for their care. The meeting was more a quick review of the morning's reports with a bit of good news at the end. The research team told Andrea that she would be released from the facility in two weeks. After her release Andrea would need to come in quarterly for further testing for the next two years with adjustments to the frequency as more time passed.

After the meeting ended Andrea headed out to the Mustang while texting Akiko she was done. After swapping her heels for the flats she kept in the car, she headed the shopping district she'd gone to with Akiko and the medical staff. They met up for lunch at a diner near the park. The meal was just another Q&A session with everyone around the tables that were put together. Most of them were a little surprised when Andrea ordered a salad and club sandwich instead of the old trusty country fried steak platter. She let everyone know that she would be out of the facility in another two weeks but hadn't yet decided what was next for her new lifestyle. After the meal they explored the shopping district more. Andrea falling into some old habits as discussed with Akiko that morning took the time to get gifts for the family, toys for the kids, specific items picked out by the teens and her brother. For the women, they hit a couple of boutiques while JD and the teens wrangled the kids. It was nearing dinner when they called it a day. Andrea told Akiko to go back to the hotel with the family as there was something she wanted to do. Akiko agreed as she saw Andrea pull a certain business card out of her purse. Akiko felt a minor flash of emotion between protectiveness and jealousy, not sure why she'd feel jealous as she walked back to the cars with the family.

After everyone left Andrea pulled out her phone and made a call to Kelly....