Believe it

That night they returned to their usual sleeping positions. Eric slept soundly now that his girlfriend was back to using him as a body pillow. Even if it did take some skill to slide out of bed without waking her. Of course after he showered, shaved, and dressed he would climb back into bed for a few minutes so he could hold her a few minutes more. "Stay." She whispered half asleep.

"I wish I could."

"It's my birthday." Jodie whined.

"You've got it the wrong way round babe, It's mine." Eric laughed and kissed Jodie's head. "We'll have fun when I get back home."

Later, Lauren had caught Jodie humming while she applied her makeup. "Someone's in a good mood. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with what happened to the kitchen table would it?"

Jodie didn't bother to hide her goofy smile. "Maybe." The tabletop fun had certainly added to her good mood but she couldn't help but feel it was due to the new relationship she had given herself to fully. The small part of her that said she shouldn't be enjoying every kiss was silenced by the erratic beating of her heart.

Everything just looked and felt better today. Jodie wasn't even depressed when she washed her breasts this morning. They still remained a distraction however but in a much more enjoyable fashion than before.

Thoughts constantly nagged at her not to find enjoyment in these moments since they were not permanent. Whenever Jodie felt these thoughts begin to start she would distract herself as best she could and dove into reading magazines and blogs or chatting with Tiffany. She was tired of being sad. She just wanted at least one day away from it to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday. He deserved a normal girlfriend for at least one day after all she put him through.

Eric returned from work around lunch time, "Did you forget your lunch again?"

Eric smiled at the memory, "No. Janet called me this morning. Apparently you're not answering your phone." Jodie shrugged. "She's been trying to remind you that you have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. So I figured we could go do that and I could take you out to lunch." Eric smiled.

Jodie sat her magazine down and practically leapt into Eric's arms to kiss him, something she couldn't have imagined herself doing a few weeks ago. She wallowed in his strong and welcoming arms. She was quickly becoming used to the feel of Eric's body against hers.

However long these feelings lasted she didn't care, she would ride this high for as long as possible.

"I take it you like my idea." She nodded silently as she kissed his neck enjoying his masculine scent. "Uh...baby we…" Eric's voice faltered as she slowly nibbled on his ear, "We should probably go now."

By the time they arrived at the office building they were already ten minutes late. Eric and Jodie wore matching smiles as they pulled up to one of the meters outside the entrance. Jodie's smile quickly vanished as she remembered her coworkers and boss could be around any corner. The less time she could spend with Adam the better. Especially if that time risked her relationship. "I'll be back soon." Jodie tried to make a mad dash for the building but Eric grabbed her arm.

"Hey, don't be nervous. I'll be with you every step of the way."

"You really don't have to."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Jodie swallowed hard as she tried to think of a good excuse. "Because, like, it's a company doctor. So, like, employees only. Ya know?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I just sat in the waiting room."

"Yeah but, my insurance didn't totally kick in yet so, like, I don't want to risk having to pay full price you know?" Jodie looped a strand of hair around her finger and made herself sound as ditzy as possible, "I know I'm not good with numbers but paying more is a bad thing right?" Jodie laughed while Eric simply nodded.

"Yeah, paying full price is worse." Eric still wasn't happy about not being able to support his girlfriend. "Okay. I'll be here if you need me." Before Jodie got out of the truck they shared one more deep kiss.

In Dr.Foo's office Jodie nervously sat in the large chair. Its soft cushion was perfect for the long wait Jodie had. "I'm sorry about the wait." Dr.Foo said as he entered. "I had...a quick bite." Ben cleared his throat.

"I know. Tiffany apologized too." Jodie smirked, thoroughly enjoying seeing Ben blush.

"She is not shy, that's for sure." He sighed as he opened Jodie's file on his desk. "Alright, bp is good. Mm. Mhm."

"So, I'm, like, all good then?"

"Well I did have a question, how long have you been on hormones?"

"What?" Jodie choked.

"It's just that when I did your blood draw you had obviously not been on it very long or an extremely low dose which I've only seen in my transgender patients who have recently started their transition."

"Tr-transgender patients? I'm-I'm n-" Jodie tried to catch her breath which had suddenly become very absent from her body. If he...if people heard about this... she'd go to prison! The men's prison knowing her luck! No one would believe she was transgender! "You... you haven't, like, told a-anyone ha-hav-"

"Okay, just breathe." Ben took hold of her hand and took a long slow deep breath in guiding Jodie to do the same. Soon, Jodie's breathing returned to normal. "Feeling better?" Jodie nodded, "Good. Now as to your question; I haven't told anyone, nor could I due to the hippocratic oath. But beyond that, you're Tiffany's friend. And I would like to think we could be friends as well."

"You...haven't told anyone here?"

"No one outside of this office knows or will know unless you share that information yourself."

Jodie scoffed, "yeah right."

"Do you feel up to asking my question now?" Jodie slowly nodded. "Okay, can you tell me how long you've been transitioning?"

Jodie shook her head, "I haven't…"

Ben's brows arched in surprise, "Do you not have an endocrinologist?" Jodie bit her lip, genuinely confused. "They're someone who prescribes hormones." Jodie shook her head once more. Her heart pounding in Her throat leaving her unable to even think of a halfway decent lie. "That is surprising. Would you like me to give you the number of one? I know one not far from here that will take the company's insurance."

"C...can't you do it?" Jodie wasn't sure why she asked but the fewer people she had to directly lie to the better. Right?

Ben's face softened, "I would love too, Jodie, but that unfortunately is not my field. You need someone who knows what they're doing that can really help you on your journey." He was right, she knew that, it's just too bad this wasn't the journey she wanted to go on.

Jodie thought for a moment and she could see herself if she didn't at least follow along with this until she can get where she can fix it. After all, she already had breasts. It's not like there was anymore they could do to her. "Okay."

"You want me to set it up?" Jodie nodded.

After a quick call, Jodie had the name.and number of yet another doctor to help her on her way to femininity. The most awkward part for Jodie however was when Dr.Foo returned he began her breast examination. What followed was her best friend's semi-boyfriend groping and massaging her breasts with his cold gloved hands while a nurse stood in the corner and wrote down anything of note he casually mentioned.

Jodie's eyes roamed over his office, searching for anything, any topic of book, chochkie, or knicknack, she could talk about that would lessen the awkwardness. "D-did you always want to be a doctor?" Jodie fumbled over the words still refusing to make eye contact with the man holding her breast.

"No, actually. Originally I wanted to be a big rig driver."

Jodie for the first time looked at Ben's face, believing him to be joking, but his face remained as fixed as a statue. "Really? I thought doctors were born with steth-" at that moment Dr.Foo's thumb grazed Jodie's left nipple, "a steph-seph-those things in hand."

Ben smiled, "Stethoscope, and no." Ben removed his gloves and threw them into a medical wastebasket, "I kinda bounced around trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do."

"What made you finally decide to be a doctor?"

"Hmm." He washed his hands for the fifty-eighth time that day before he continued, "I was six months into working with the 451st when I realized being a doctor was what I needed to do."

"451st? You were a soldier?"

"Close, firefighter. Now, as far as I can tell you're healing quite nicely, make sure to keep massaging your breasts daily. Any lingering pain should go away in the next week...but honestly I see nothing that would keep you from returning to work in a few days."

"That's great." She lied, but the sooner she could save up to get rid of her breasts the better.

Ten minutes later and she was being walked to the elevator by a man who believed she was a transwoman. "Tiffany wouldn't care, by the way."

Jodie's heart jumped into her throat. "I thought you said you coul-"

"I haven't and I won't, like I said. But if you were ever worried how she would react she wouldn't care. She just isn't the type who would."

"You really like her, huh?"

"What's not to like? She's that rare combination of beautiful inside and outside." Jodie smiled, it warmed her heart to hear him speak so sweetly about her friend.

Jodie thought for a moment what she should say, she didn't consider herself trans, but what would an actual transwoman in her situation say, "I know. She's totally great but…,like, I don't want anyone to, like, think of me as trans...I'm totally just a girl and that's all." Jodie hesitated a moment before adding, "Does that just, like, totally not make any sense?"

Ben smiled, "It makes perfect sense." Jodie returned his smile and reached out so she could give him a hug. As they hugged her smile broadened with pride feeling as she had managed to nip a possible issue in the bud before it could become a much bigger problem.