School starts again the following week.

Once your dad had returned home, you spoke briefly about your mom and what had happened, with him looking rather uncomfortable and simply reiterating pretty much word for word what she'd said, telling you all that it was "for the best" and "not to worry", which was admittedly easier said than done.

The next week went pretty slowly, and though you did see your dad a little more (finally venturing out of his study for longer than twenty minutes at a time), you didn't really see your mom all that much; it taking another three days for her to reappear. Apparently she was settling in well at her new place, enjoying having Pescara around for company and having also stuck most of the 'naughty artwork' (as she had it) into one of the spare rooms for the time being while she found something more tasteful to replace it. She had also seemingly ventured out in public for the first time, needing to buy food and things from the store seeing as Stephanie's supplies were getting a little bit low. Though she was still a little uneasy about it and had made sure to wrap her pneumatic body up in as many lairs as possible (as well as wear a pair of sunglasses to avoid anyone recognizing her), she told you it had gone pretty well, blushing a little as she mentioned a few young guys who were 'checking her out', though quickly veering off the topic - it not really being the kind of conversation a mother and son should really have.

Though you did offer to come over and help with anything she might need done at the house and although she was grateful, she declined, reminding you that the holidays would be over soon and you would be back at school, needing to place your focus firmly on your final year. This though made you groan, the holidays having gone by way too fast, what with the accident and everything that had happened after, and you were kind of dreading going back.

Not that it could be avoided of course, and after one or two more brief visits from your mom, one in which she gave you both Stephanie's home and mobile phone number in case you ever needed to call her, school eventually reared it's ugly head, and in no time at all you were back sitting in class (having to go through once again, more than your fair share of classmates and teachers telling you how sorry they were about your 'mom's ****').

After one particularly long and boring day that seemed to just drag on and on, you headed up to your room and crashed on top of your bed, glad to be home, and looking over at your phone, decided to give your mom a call, seeing as you hadn't seen or heard from her for a couple of days.

"Hi, sweetheart. How are you doing?" your mom asked on answering the phone, having presumably recognized your number from the caller ID (not sure if she was actually answering the phone to anyone else just yet).

"Hey mom, I'm okay. Pretty rough day at school though. How about you? How come you haven't been over in a while?"

"I'm good, and sorry I haven't been round, I've just been a little busy lately," she replied, sounding slightly nervous and a little embarrassed for a moment as she explained, "I uh, I decided to use one of Stephanie's credit cards to buy a few new pictures and pieces of furniture for the living room, you know to make the place look a little more 'me'." Presumably the nerves you could hear were due to her feeling guilty for using money that technically wasn't hers and you were about to assure her that it was okay, that Stephanie's money was now her money, just the same as everything else, when she continued, "...But I've been having a heck of a time trying to get everything assembled since the delivery men dropped them off."

Chuckling a little at this, your mom being useless at putting stuff together (barely even able to work the DVD player on her own), you told her, "You should have asked me to help. I can come over right now if you want," eager to both help and to see her again.

"Oh no, no it's okay. It's all sorted now," she replied, dashing your hopes, before sounding a little nervous again, "I uh...I actually got some help already."

"You did?" you asked, more than a little surprised by this answer, "Who from?"

"Uhm, this nice lady called Erica. She's here now as a matter of fact."

"Erica? Who's she?"

"Well she'd actually a friend of Stephanie's," your mom said, her tone suggesting that she was worried about what exactly your reaction would be, this being a lot bigger step than simply using her credit card. "She just showed up at my door the day before yesterday. Apparently she'd left quite a few messages on Stephanie's phone, wondering where she was while she was...while I was in the hospital, and rather foolishly I never even thought to check. It was a bit of a shock at first of course, having a complete stranger just turn up at the door, but she's actually very friendly and a lot of fun. We both get on great."

This was just incredible to hear, and quite shocking at the same time, and the first question that immediately popped into your head was of course,, "Is she a...a...you know?(not quite able yet to just come out and say 'porn star')"

"No, No. She's a designer. She makes clothes and costumes and things," your mom replied, causing you to let out a sigh of relief, before adding a little less confidently, "Well, she did admittedly make some outfits for some of Stephanie's uh, well, movie work, a lot of her clothing had to be custom made you see, but I uh, I get a little lost when she starts talking about all that..."

You weren't surprised, and while hearing that this Erica woman made costumes for porn movies wasn't quite as bad as her actually staring in porn movies, it was still pretty trippy, especially now that your mom was hanging around with her, and it left you a little lost for words, not being entirely sure what to think. "Wow. And she...she just thinks you're the same Stephanie?"

"Yeah, I think so. She did point out I'm acting a bit differently a few times but I told her I was in an accident a few weeks ago and hurt my head, so she probably thinks that's the reason why...or something. I don't really know. It's just good to have a friend again, you know, someone to talk to....even if she is almost half my age!"

"Well that's...great, I suppose," you told her, happy in a way that she had a new friend (no longer having any of her old ones), though still being a little unsure if having one who worked in the adult movie industry was such a good idea, especially seeing as your mom hadn't seemed all that comfortable with that particular aspect of Stephanie's life. "Are you sure though," you said, putting this very though to her, "Are you sure it's wise to be hanging around with one of her friends?"

Your mother's reaction, yet again continued to surprise you, as she said, "I don't see why not. She's a person too you know, Tim, and right now I'm enjoying her company and she's enjoying mine," either trying to remain purposefully ignorant or having really taking the whole 'accepting who Stephanie was' thing very much to heart. "Now, I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'm showing Erica how to make my world famous lasagna and I don't want the sauce to burn. I'll speak to you soon."

Feeling a little short changed by this, but your mom obviously being in a rush now to get off the phone, you told her, "Oh, okay. Bye, mom," before she too said her goodbyes and proceeded to hang up, leaving you feeling more than a little uncomfortable and slightly weird at the thought of your mom hanging out with one of 'Amber Knights' friends as if it was nothing. Sure, she might only be a costume designer and not actually another porn star (as far as you knew), but still, she worked in the exact same business, and as naive as your mother was acting, and as glad as she was to once again have a friend, you still weren't quite 100% comfortable with the whole idea.

Not that you could really do anything of course, seeing how she was all the way out there and you were stuck here, feeling especially frustrated that she'd cut you off so soon. This feeling in particular was rather odd it had to be said, seeing how before the accident you and your mom were close sure, but you'd never felt so anxious and eager to both see and to speak with her before. Perhaps it was simply to do with the fact that she was no longer living here, you thought to yourself, your mom no longer being available to you 24 hours a day like she used to, pushing out as you did the far more troubling and embarrassing desire that you had to once again see that gorgeous, smoking hot body of hers...