Waking before the Sun

Andrew woke feeling more energetic than the previous times. Sitting up in bed, looking at the wall clock it was a little after 5 am. Andrew climbed out of bed heading for the closet for clean clothes. Opening the closet and seeing the women's clothing caused a discordant set of thoughts and memories flash through his head causing a temporary bout of confusion. Standing frozen in front of closet trying to pick out clothing was a strange experience as it used to be simple, grab a pair of boxer briefs, t-shirt, whatever colored shirt he wanted to wear, and a matching suit and he was done. Even the day before when Klaudia showed him the clothing that the nursing staff had gotten for this new body they kept the choices limited and easy. Now, Andrew was cursing the efficiency of Deena and her staff. The closet wasn't packed to bursting but contained many more choices than the previous day. He recognized the basic idea of what everything was and appreciated the suit she had bought for his new self but most everything else confused him, nothing more so than the bras, panties and other lingerie. Andrew had always appreciated women in lingerie but was not really able to contemplate wearing it himself.

Andrew wasn't sure how long he stood there staring at the clothing when a familiar voice startled his out of his state, "Morning Ms. Graves. How are you feeling this fine morning?" asked Klaudia in a chipper tone.

Seeing that the sun had risen while he started into the closet Andrew took a deep breath and let out a sigh, "Better, more energetic and utterly confused," he answered.

Hearing the sigh and the slight sound of defeat in her patient's tone Klaudia walked over to Andrew and placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking past him, she saw the now much fuller closet with the different styles and choices she frowned and shook her head, "I told them to hold off on adding all that to your closet for a few days, or at least another day until we other ladies had some time to sit with you and the psychologist to work through some of the possible landmines of being a woman now. I figured it would be better to wait until you had time to talk to someone and choose the name you want to use going forward." Klaudia stepped in front of Andrew blocking off the view of the closet with her larger frame. "Let's try this," Klaudia hedged leading Andrew back to the bed, "for now, I or Terry will make sure one of us is here in the morning to help you with clothes until you're more comfortable with choosing them for yourself. This will give you time to adjust to women's fashion while learning how to wear some of the more exotic items you never had to worry about before," she paused waiting for an acknowledgement.

Sighing again, Andrew nodded, "That would probably be very helpful, thank you."

Klaudia smiled, "again, you're more than welcome. There is something else I'd like to suggest," she said before taking a few breaths, seemingly to build confidence for her next topic. "I want to suggest that while you are deciding on what your name will be going forward that having some people call you Mr. Graves while others call you Ms. Graves is most likely making it more difficult for you to move forward. That being said, I heard your lawyer friend call you Andy yesterday, so I'd suggest you allow the staff to use Andy until you choose your new name. I'm going to tell you not to rush into the choice as you will be here in recovery and therapy for a couple weeks at least so there is time to make the choice. Until then, the staff should use Andy and Ms. Graves in order to aid you in adjusting."

Andrew took a closer look at Klaudia while thinking about what she was saying. He'd always been sharp, capable of reading a room and the people in them, so he was feeling a little foolish when he asked, "You're not just the Head Nurse are you? You're the psychologist. You met me as a nurse so that I wouldn't be uncomfortable with talking to you making it easier to help me."

Klaudia smiled wider than she had yet, "I knew you were intelligent and was banking on the discordance caused by your change to give me more time before you caught on. I apologize if the deception if it upsets you, however, I would do the same thing again to ensure my patient's well-being. I can recommend another therapist who can be read in on this if you'd prefer to work with someone else."

Aurthur let out a sharp bark of laughter which then caused him to start giggling which he couldn't stop until he was short of breath. The bark of laughter was laud and sharp as he was used to but the pitch coming from his new body made it sound more like the yapping of a small dog like some women carried in their purses which is what set of the giggle fit. The giggling felt **** at first before it began feeling much better like stress was melting away. At some point the giggle became infectious as Klaudia joined in with him. Once he was able to catch his breath Andrew replied, "Not a chance. Any doctor who is able to put ego aside for the good of a patient has my respect. I'd prefer you to stay and continue to aid me even if you no longer act as nurse, I'd still prefer you to come in and talk with me. As for the fashion and other aspects on being a woman, I'd like you to arrange for my younger...," Andrew trailed off for a moment before continuing, "I guess she'd now my older sister Akiko Graves to be the first of my family to visit. Since she is now the closest to this body's age. I can't be acting like a 51-year-old man in a 23-year-old woman's body when I get out of here and she should be the best choice to aid me for the time being." Andrew laughed, "I guess that's at least a saving grace to being retired young, I don't have to worry about slipping back into a career and deal with the awkward social situation I'd have with old work friends. It's going to be interesting just interacting with most of my family."

Klaudia chuckled, "as you say. And as for calling you Andy and Ms. Graves for the time being?"

Andrew sighed and dropped his shoulders, "I always hated being called Andy. While I know it is technically gender neutral, it always made me feel like a little girl." Letting out another small chuckle Andrew continued, "I guess since I am now a young woman the name is a better fit until I decide what to put on the legal forms. Yeah, Klaudia, go ahead and change the charts and let the staff know to use Andy and Ms. Graves so that I can start getting used to being referred to as a woman. Can't guarantee I'll like it or that I will always react politely while I adjust, nothing to do about it though but move forward."

While Andrew was thinking and talking Klaudia had been busy getting clothes together for him. "I'll make the call today, how much do you want me to tell her up front?"

"Let her know that the transfer was a success and warn her that the new me may come as a shock. Beyond that I don't want you to tell her much more than you have to. I want to see her reaction being my youngest sibling for deciding what to tell the rest of the family before they see me. That being said I would prefer you be with her or in the room with me when we first see each other. I am not so prideful as to say I'm not scared silly that my family won't be able to accept this new me that I can't ask for help with my nerves."

Klaudia nodded and handed Andy the clothes she gathered for her, "I'll take care of that and will be here for you. Now, lay back and I'm going to send a nurse in to help you get cleaned up and dressed for the day. Your physical therapy will start shortly to help rebuild those muscles that haven't been used much recently, we'll keep our therapy sessions more informal like this unless you decide you want to sit in my office and talk at any point."

Andrew nodded, "There is one thing I need to let you know and you can pass it to the rest of the team as well. When I ordered a meal last night the steak which I normally loved just didn't satisfy me like it used to while the salad and fruit I normally wouldn't have asked for tasted far better than ever before. I don't know if this is a temporary or permanent change which concerns me and I'd like to know what else I can expect going forward?"

Fortunately, Klaudia had been turned away from Andy so that she didn't see the initial reaction of her eyes widening before they narrowed again, "I'll pass that along to the rest of the team and get a diet plan set up for your near future which will contain a mix of some of your older favorites that you told us about when we gathered all the data from you for the research side of this as well as new flavors and options to see how your body treats them. I'll also have them order a full allergy panel to ensure there are no kitchen mistakes. Your diet for the next couple days is most likely to be bland until the results come back." Klaudia was concerned about the drastic change is tastes and would be looking deeper into this. "Okay, I'm heading out to take care of your request and you're heading for more testing and physical therapy."

The rest of your day and the next few consisted of more physical, psychological and mental testing than Andy had known existed paired with exhaustive physical exercise meant to strengthen Andy's muscles. As those days of exercise, therapy and testing passed Andy started to feel better and healthier than he had ever previously, even at his prime in high school and college. An unexpected side effect of this was that his body was on a natural high and Andy just wasn't sure what to do about it or really, how to bring it up to even Klaudia or another woman on staff. He really didn't want to bring it up with any of the male staff either. There was another bonus to the exhaustion and physical activity, it let his subconscious work over choices in the back of the mind. At the end of the first week being awake and moving Klaudia come is with news both medical and familial.