Your mom is getting ready to shoot her first scenes this week.

Continuing on, almost as if she was wanting to get it all out in the open before she lost her nerve (as well as avoiding looking at your gobsmacked face), your mother explained, "Jan and Brett...he uh, he runs...well, I suppose it's my website now, they uh, they arranged a little photo shoot for me yesterday. And well, it was fun. Really, really fun. And now I've got a few scenes for a new movie to shoot, which is happening this week. I'm really quite excited about it."

"This week? You're starting this week?!" you squeaked, pushing the image of your mother and Summer Rain writhing about between each others legs out of your head, not quite believing how quickly this all seemed to be happening.

"Tomorrow actually," she added, being a little more specific as she shared your exact sentiment, "It is all moving pretty fast, but then again, only for me. Stephanie - the real Stephanie has been doing this for years, so for everyone else it's not such a big deal. Plus, I think I'm ready. It's a scene with me and Jan, and another girl called Tawny. I thought if I started out just acting with other women; you know, friend's and people I knew, it would help build up my confidence and allow me to get a little more comfortable before I moved onto ones with guys."

If hearing that your own mother was taking up a career as a porn star and was about to start shooting in less than 24 hours (seemingly having turned bi-sexual all of a sudden), having the reality brought home that she was also going to have to fuck other men - and no doubt more than one at a time, judging by the past Amber Knights movies you'd seen - was even more of a shock, having never in a million years thought your mother capable of something like that.

"Jesus! You're actually going to do...that?" you asked, hoping somehow that she was joking, "You're actually going to have sex with other guys, on camera?"

"Well that is generally what adult film stars do," she replied, giving you an awkward little smile.

"But what about dad? What about your marriage and your family?" you quickly countered, your mom seeming to have forgotten all about them. "I thought this whole 'break' thing was supposed to help you both work things out, not so that you could go off a become a porn star and sleep with other men!"

Loosing some of her embarrassed excitement at this and letting out a sigh, your mother then looked at you with an obvious sadness in her eyes. "It was, sweetheart, but it's just not working out," she told you, placing a hand gently onto your knee, "Surely you can see that yourself? Your father can barely stand the sight of me. He doesn't return any of my calls. He won't meet with me when I ask. He's not even trying to make thing work." You had to agree with her on this, your dad really had made no attempts to make any kind of reconciliation since she'd had moved out. In fact, he barely even spoke about her without grimacing. "I'm afraid your father just doesn't seem to love me the way he used to," she once again sighed, admitting, "...and quite frankly, neither do I.

"Seeing him like this. Seeing how unaccepting and unwilling to look past what's on the outside he is has really shone a light on our marriage, and I'm not sure I like what I see. Believe me, I wanted it to work for you guys, but it clearly isn't going to. So, I've got to learn to look after myself as best I can and prepare myself for a life without your father. And this is how I'm going to do it."

You weren't sure what to say to this, your mother having a point, but the fact that she was suddenly jumping head first into a life that was the exact opposite of what her own had been was still too strange a concept for you to cope with, having not felt so out of whack since you'd first walked into her hospital room and spoken to her inside that new body.

"Look I know how much of a shock this must be for you," she again spoke after a minute, leaning closer towards you, "But you have to trust me when I say, it's something I very much want to do. It may not be everyone's idea of the perfect career path, but living these last few weeks in Stephanie's shadow I've realized that the porn..." Quickly correcting herself, either because of her new found respect for the business, or perhaps because she still disliked using crude language in front of her children (which would be ironic given the situation), she instead continued, "...That the adult entertainment industry isn't as seedy and exploitative as I imagined it to be. The people are warm and friendly and kind and they seem to take good care of one other. Not to mention that the 'other aspects' of it are a release this body's desperately been needing. Sex isn't a bad thing, Tim, it's a good thing. It's something that everybody does, and I see no reason not to embrace that, as well as get paid and have fun while doing it."

This was just beyond weird this whole situation, and listening to your mother tell you how much she now appreciated sex, giggling a little as she did, wasn't something you'd ever imagined hearing, and finding some words again, you basically told her as much. "I mean, I...I guess. I just never thought that you would...that my own mother would do that."

"I know, sweetheart, and I was hoping that perhaps I'd be able to get away with it without you knowing. But then you looked on my computer...and in all honesty you deserved to know. You might not be entirely comfortable or even happy about it, but this is a new chapter in my life and I want you to accept that fact and let me do what makes me happy. Not just live out the rest of my days alone in that empty house, pining after a husband who no doubt wishes I'd actually died in that car crash to save everyone all this mess."

"Oh God, I'm sorry, mom," you then said, seeing both the vulnerability and sense of loss in her beautiful face, forgetting in all this that she had been through the most traumatic ordeal anyone could imagine; losing both her body and her life. "I am happy you've found something that...well, that you enjoy doing. It's just kind of hard to get my head around it all. I really wanted you and dad to sort everything out and for us to all be one big happy family again. But you're right, that isn't going to happen. I just...I just don't want to lose you is all."

"You won't. Trust me. I may be taking on a new life, but you're still my son and I'm still your mother, and I always will be," she smiled lovingly towards you, her voice soft and soothing, "You and your brother and sister are the three most important people in the world to me. I'm never going to stop loving you and being there for you all. It's just well, obviously things will never quite be the same between us as they used to be. David is too much like your father and doesn't really seem all that keen on spending time with me, and as for Tabitha, even though I'm happy she came over to the house and we had fun the other day, she seemed to see it almost as if it were some sort of novelty, enjoying the pool and the house a lot more than being there with me. You're the only one who really sees me for who I am...your mother, and I'm so glad of that, I really am." Reaching out then with the hand that had been on your knee and gently rubbing it across your cheek, she then told you, "I may want to take on Stephanie's life but that doesn't mean I don't still want to be your mother," laughing a little as she added, "After all, I didn't spend nine months carrying you and nearly 18 years raising you for nothing you know."

Laughing along at this yourself, feeling exactly the same way as she did, you replied with a smile of your own, "I'm glad, mom."

After a brief and tender moment where you both looked at once another with a deep understanding of what the other was going through, your mother then moved her hand away again and made you promise her that "you won't tell anyone else about what I'm doing," explaining that, "You're mature enough to know, and I don't want to keep secrets from you, but I don't think the others will understand...and I'd prefer it if they didn't have to either."

"No, I won't. I won't tell them. I promise," you assured her, not wanting to break her trust again.

"Thank you," she said, apologizing again that things couldn't have worked out the way you both had wanted them to, telling you that "sometimes these things just happen and there's really nothing anybody can do", before rising from her seat again and looking up at the clock. "Now, I'm sorry to rush off, but I have to meet Erica for a costume fitting. The shoot is out of town, so I'll be gone for a couple of days. But I'll speak to you when I get back."

Getting up off the couch and following her to the door, you (somewhat awkwardly) wished her, "Good luck with everything then," to which your mother pulled you close for a hug and gave you a peck on the cheek as she did.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Thank you for being so understanding. I really do love you you know."

"I love you too, mom," you smiled, as you then waved her off and watched her get into her car, no longer just as your mother, but now as your mother; the porn star.