Demand answers.

Josh blinked, clearly taken aback by Brooke's outburst, and she watched as his eyes flicked over to the IV bag next to the bedside before returning her gaze again. She might've even been able to articulate herself further if it didn't feel like her heart was going to crush her rib cage to dust with the speed it was moving. Instead, her lips moved to try and form complete sentences but all Brooke managed to do was look like a fish struggling to breathe on dry land.

All of this was impossible.

Literally.

Her parents had dozens of pictures of her and her siblings. Like all well-adjusted parents seemed to do, each of the ones taken when they were younger seemed as if it had been taken on purpose to cause the maximum amount of embarrassment for any one of them. Brooke had distinct memories of sitting next to whomever it was she'd been dating at the time and putting her head in her hands as they brought out the well-worn scrapbook after countless dinners. They had far beyond the obligatory staged photos at a photographer's studio, surrounded by a stuffed animal that was several sizes too large for her and in clothes she'd probably never wear again. When she'd been young, she'd been the most stereotypical girly girl that one could possibly imagine and as she'd grown up as a preteen all of those old memories were painful reminders of how garish her sense of fashion had been. There'd never been a moment of confusion as to her identity; never before had Brooke had it cast into doubt. She'd been as cis this morning as she had the day she'd been born.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Even the timber of her voice, innocuous only minutes ago, now seemed as if yet another part of her body had betrayed her.

"Brooke... please..."

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!?!"

"...if you don't calm down, I'm going to have to..."

"SINCE WHEN DOES CHECKING TO SEE IF I DIDN'T CRACK MY GODDAMN HEAD OPEN OR BREAK EVERY OTHER BONE IN MY BODY ME TO... to..."

Brooke's throat suddenly felt dry and she could feel the edges of her eyes start to burn. No, she won't cry. She refused to. She'll find out the name of the doctor who brought her in, what kind of fuck up he'd made when reading his charts, and make him squeal like a pig with the lawsuit she'll be sending his way. It's fitting considering she's out in the middle of the sticks, after all.

"...I didn't ask for this. Please, just... fix me."

Despite her self-righteous fury mere seconds ago, the words came out of Brooke's mouth in a mewl that sounded pathetic even to her ears. For his part Josh looked genuinely concerned, his face one of utter confusion as he stood there, clearly unsure if he should move closer to her to try to offer more of his previous bedside manner.

"Dr. Weller said you were an excellent patient. There weren't any complications, despite how bad the crash was. Seems like you've got a guardian angel working overtime for you."

Sensing that her rage had seemingly subsided somewhat, Josh closed the gap between them, lowering himself onto the uncomfortable looking white plastic chair that was next to the monitor and computer in the room. He'd himself to try and put on a reassuring smile, that much Brooke could tell. It didn't quite meet his eyes.

"I don't even think we'll have to keep you here that long. It should only be a few more days, really. Nothing's the matter, Brooke... uh, well, except for your car."

Josh gave a snort at his own attempt at levity and Brooke feels herself stiffen a little harder at his tone. His voice was rich, warm, and has a smoothness to it that wouldn't be out of place in some sappy Hallmark movie. She almost hated him for it. If only he hadn't been this hot then she probably could've continued on her tirade.

"But if you feel like something's wrong, then we definitely would want to know it. You seemed really upset a few seconds ago and I want to know why that was. Don't feel ashamed; you can tell me anything."

"I feel..."

Like what?

"...Wrong. Not myself. Just get the doctor, Josh. I want to talk to Dr. Weller."

He nodded wordlessly to her, trying to flash her another comforting grin as he walked over to the door of her room and let himself out into the bustle of whatever hospital she'd been driven to. Brooke tried not to pay attention to the fact that his nurse scrubs had managed to outline his ass perfectly, but her penis sure did. To her horror Brooke felt a small bit of precum leak its way out that dampened her gown and the sheets on top of her.

It took several minutes, but eventually, there's a knock at the door and a professionally pleasant voice makes its way through the metal and glass.

"May we come in, Ms. Groves?"

"Sure."

A few seconds later, Josh and a smaller man, somewhere in his 60s with an impressive light gray mustache and goatee, step through and into her room. Just as Brooke had thought, Josh moved to the side so that the physician could step towards her and lower himself to her level.

"Well, well, if it isn't our trooper," Dr. Weller says, giving her a glance and leaning back into the same plastic chair that Josh had sat in minutes ago. "Glad to see you're up and at 'em so quickly after everything you went through."

Brooke said nothing now. A part of her was completely exhausted from the brief outburst she gave earlier. All of this was far, far too much for someone like her to have to handle.

"But Josh told me that you might have..." Dr. Weller paused, casting a searching glance to Josh, before turning to look at her. "...concerns over what happened earlier and that maybe you're still not feeling better after all."

She nodded stiffly. Her... erection had subsided not long after Josh had left, but it had returned now that he was present again. A part of Brooke wished she could just reach down and be down with it, but another part of her wanted to make sure that she didn't acknowledge it for as long as she was able. Forever, if possible.

"How can we help make you feel better? I'm sure it wasn't easy knowing you went through something as possibly traumatic as a car crash."

"Doctor, would it be possible for a woman to..." Brooke trailed off.

It sounded insane.

She sounded insane.

"...You know, grow something? Down there?"

Against her better judgment, she pointed to the blankets where her crotch was. To his credit, Dr. Weller only very briefly gave a glance to the spot before looking back to her.

"Well... of course, something like an STI could cause a growth. I take it you're sexually active?"

Hesitating a moment, Brooke nodded affirmatively.

"Have you had yourself checked recently for anything?"

Brooke gave a second nod. "It was only a few months ago, but with my normal doctor. Yearly checkup," she added, aware that it would be Weller's follow-up.

"Any encounters recently?"

"No, not recently."

Before she can stop herself, she glanced wistfully at Josh but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Then I'm afraid I don't understand the question, especially as it relates to your accident."

"..."

Brooke closed her eyes and steadied herself with an enormous breath. She waited for several seconds before she looked at him again, putting as much of a serious expression on her face as she could muster.

"Doctor, I realize I'm about to sound completely bats- uh, nuts," Brooke corrected herself sheepishly, "but I think I might've grown... you know, a penis."

She waited for a laugh, an expression of incredulity at how absurd the question was, or even a scoff if his outer appearance was merely part of the act he put on as part of his Hippocratic oath. But Dr. Weller did nothing of the sort. Instead, he looked at Brooke, as if he were attempting to divine some kind of secret that were hidden deep within her.

"I beg your pardon, Ms. Groves?"

"A penis. You know, male sex organ..." Brooke trailed off. She really hoped that he wouldn't her to explain such a thing in further detail but the look on Weller's face of polite confusion never wavered.

"All babies, last I checked, are born with them, Ms. Groves. I've helped deliver a few in my time, so I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about."

Now it was Brooke's turn to simply sit and stare. The words had come to her mind, filtered through it, and yet it was as if her brain were completely unwilling to process the statement.

"All... babies?"

"Of course. What would you think they had?" Dr. Weller asked, his frown disappearing into his facial hair, brow furrowed.

"I... I..."

Brooke didn't know how to respond. At first, she assumed that it was a prank, but as she looked from the doctor's face to Josh's, both filled with bewilderment at her line of questioning, it felt as if the universe had thrown its hands up in the air and abandoned her.

"Can I please see an anatomy chart, Dr. Weller?" Brooke asked, desperately trying not to break into hysterics again. "It... it'd help."

Frowning and beginning to look concerned, Dr. Weller nodded at Josh, who wordlessly opened a clipboard and pulled out a piece of paper to hand back to his superior. Passing the item over to Brooke, she weighed the option of actually looking down at it to confirm the truth of their statements. On the one hand, she knew she wasn't crazy. There had definitely been two of herself this morning, two of the very same make and model of her car, and then it'd seemed as if they'd joined into one before she'd driven off the road. That and she'd never been diagnosed with any kind of mental illness; it didn't even run in her family either. But that didn't necessarily mean anything, of course. Plenty of people who had lost their grip on reality always thought they were in control the entire time.

Brooke wasn't ready for what she saw on the piece of paper as she glanced down at it however. A man and woman stood next to one another, arms hanged straight at their sides, as they stared mirthlessly into some invisible camera. As her eyes traced their forms, she slowly but surely had her line of eyesight drift downward to their genitalia.

The woman in the picture had a penis just like her. A scrotum, just like her, she was sure. Brooke barely registered a note by the company that'd been printed on the image as to the minor differences between a male and female penis, but she didn't care. Not anymore.

Brooke felt herself faint.