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Chapter 4
by croland
What is Diana trying to tell Tom?
She wants to change the plan
"I think we should change the plan." Diana said.
Tom took a step back and Diana let him out of her embrace. She hated to see that look on Tom's face, but she understood his misgivings. She had expected this reaction from him. In her memories of the previous Diana she remembered thinking of her husband as a coward. But Dr. Kahn had been able to see that he just wasn't as assertive as his wife, and she understood Tom's anxieties. That new perspective made a trait she had once found infuriating into something merely slightly annoying.
But she knew she could work with that. She knew some of Tom's timidity had come from when her old self bullied him. That seemed so senseless now. There were far more effective ways to handle their relationship. She just needed to give him some time. However frustrating it may be.
"Diana told me that she wanted me to put Dr. Kahn's identity in her body." Tom said, his voice starting to get steely at the most frustrating time possible for Diana.
"I am Diana, Thomas." Diana said using his full name like she always did to show her displeasure. It was frustratingly familiar to Tom.
"But you told me-" He started.
"And now I'm telling you something different. I'm telling you the old version of me didn't know the consequences of that. And she, I, am telling you we have to change the plan. We can't let her become Sophia Kahn." Diana said.
Tom saw the desperation in her eyes, and his resolve waivered.
"What do you mean?" Tom said.
"She wanted to live Sophia's life for all the wrong reasons. She would make a terrible therapist. Look Dr. Kahn understood us really well. I have her memories, and I remember seeing how I bullied you, seeing how the way my mom treated me made me just like her. I can let go of that now. I don't know if the old version of me can do that. Even now it's like I'm seeing my own personality through the lens of Dr. Kahn's memories. When I asked you to put this sticker on this body, I did so knowing that having Dr. Kahn would make a healthier version of myself than I ever had the courage to try to become. I'm afraid that if we give the old version of me access to Dr. Kahn's identity she won't have a similar epiphany. I think it would be the opposite. I think she would be bitter. She would see ever single one of her flaws, and instead of let go, she would get defensive against a version of herself that no longer exists. I think she would take her anger out on her patients. My patients, Tom. Remember we came here because I was also bitter about not having a job. I don't want to go back to having to look for a job. I only have experience in non-profit, I don't want to work there any more, and I don't want to have to go to medical school again. The old Diana didn't think that part through. I promise if she were still here, she would tell you the same exact thing." Diana said.
"She can't stay nobody forever." Tom said.
"I agree." Diana said, pulling on Dr. Kahn's training to keep her voice level and calm. Diana was showing him that she had heard his concerns. It worked as she could see Tom show some first visible signs of relaxing. "Right now we don't even know the consequences of giving her my old identity. Think of it like this. When I became the hot new version of your wife, Diana willingly gave herself up to become me. She made a choice. Now that version of me doesn't exist any more, and the new version is telling you that this is what is best for her. I have elements of Sophia in me that have a right to Sophia's life. You can't ask me to give that up, to let my patients go to a mentally unstable bully, because an old version of me didn't understand how deeply sick she was."
"Well if she isn't going to be Sophia, whose identity would you give her?"
What will Diana write on the second sticker?
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Identity Control
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