When Cat woke up, the catheter was gone from her crotch and she felt relief the tube was no longer in such a sensitive region. She smelled hospital food and her stomach rumbled.
[I don’t think we’re able to eat anything else. We went four months without anything solid in our shared stomach. Do you remember how the nurse gave us water yesterday?]
The food, if that could be called it, was on a floating tray over their stomach. Cat tried to prop herself on her elbows but felt a sharp pain coming from the left shoulder and gave up. Probably one of the titanium pins poking her flesh from the inside. She instead pressed the nurse button.
[You know, Catherine, I have an odd feeling about our current predicament. I somehow feel like I was not the first one to wake up hospitalized in a woman’s body.]
The feeling of deja vu was so strong it threatened to break some invisible fictional wall.
[Someone must’ve been in exactly the same situation as us, that’s what I’m trying to say. The angel we saw was too nonchalant in its offer to let me live again in your body.]
[It literally said that every soul sees it differently. I saw it as an angel, you probably saw it as the grim reaper. The truly wicked sees it as a demon.]
Catherine sighed.
[How are you now?]
[Hey, not only watch. You can also taste and feel everything I taste and feel. Like the sweet aroma of this hospital gruel,] William joked and sucked in a lungful of the inane scent.
Cat chuckled, [Yes. Because someone would eventually broadcast farts. So, I think I’ll try this out. How bad can it be?]
Feeling vengeful, Cat grinned. [Too late. My stomach is grumbling.]
Cat took the spoon and slowly shoved the gruel down her throat while Catherine whined and pleaded in their mind. It tasted as awful as it smelled but Cat was really starving for food. Four months without eating anything did that to a person. She stopped on the fifth spoonful, not willing to subject both of them to the food torture. At least it had some inane gelatin to wash down the bad taste.
[I don’t think TripAdvisor rates hospitals.]
Cat’s stomach gurgled as it tried to remember how to process food. Or it somehow knew how awful the gruel was. She burped.
[Might as well hit the loo while we’re at it.]
Cat’s crotch tingled. She could feel a bladder begging to be emptied. Curious, she moved some muscles down there, trying to make sense of her new anatomy.
[I’ve never done it as a girl. You can call it scientific curiosity.]
Her lame excuse didn’t work on Catherine.
Cat slammed her right hand against the bed railing, shaking the tray arm. “Goddamit, Catherine!”
The floating tray swayed and dropped the gruel plate on Cat’s lap. Their hand hurt.
A nurse entered. “What’s wrong, Catherine?”
Cat shook her head and felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She thought she should get a better hold of her emotions. These sudden swings were no good. The loss of Dahlia hit her like the sucker-punch she hoped Catherine’s rapist would get by the dozen in jail.
“I dropped my food,” she lied.
The nurse approached and examined the damage, “Oh, dear. I’ll get you a clean blanket, don’t worry.”
“Before that, can you help me go to the bathroom?”
“Sure. Let me help you.”
She disconnected some wires from the electrodes on her skin and helped her get off the bed without spilling more gruel on her gown. Cat shivered as an air-conditioned draft hit her bare skin. She wasn’t wearing anything but the piece of blue fabric the hospital provided. It rustled against her nipples and she was sure they would be bruised by the rough fabric. Instead of panties, she still wore diapers.
“Cold,” Cat remarked with a shiver. “Can I get some clothes? At least underwear?”
The nurse smiled, “of course, my dear. Once we confirm you can use the toilet properly, we can remove your diapers.”
“Indeed,” Cat nodded.
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It was technically the first time William attempted to walk on Catherine’s former body. She finally saw a titanium pin jutting out of her left shoulder she hadn’t noticed yet because she hadn’t yet moved the left arm with the IV.
“I’m becoming a robot,” she half-joked, half-lamented. When the nurse tried to hide a chuckle, she added, “Too bad I didn’t get adamantium claws, right?”
The nurse made an ‘O’ with her mouth. “You heard of it?” She asked, clearly ashamed.
Cat smiled and shook her head, “The doctor told me. I don’t mind. Now, please lead me to my throne.”
“As you wish, Your Highness,” she replied and pretended to do a curtsy. “Can you hold onto the bed frame while I get a wheelchair? Or can you walk?”
“I can barely stand up,” Cat confessed.
“Sit down on the chair. There’s a wheelchair that can fit over the toilet seat, it’s very comfortable. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The nurse left the room and Cat saw the cop that wanted to handcuff her outside briefly. Her left arm flopped by her side while the IV drip kept chilling her veins. Winded by what little movement she made, she barely had the strength to bring her right hand to her face.
[What a mess, Catherine.]
[I accept your apology. Now, can we talk about my… curiosity?]
[That’s not how I want things to work out, Catherine. You can feel the same things as I do. Can’t you feel my sorrow?]
Cat could only hear Catherine’s voice in her head but the girl was getting better at displaying her emotions through non-verbal utterances, like a sniffle or a grunt along with a whole range of groans, snickers, sighs, and other sounds. She could tell the ghost was being honest in her apology. The nurse came back with the wheelchair after they talked a bit more. Cat tried to learn as much about Catherine's life as possible. What she liked and disliked, her friends and acquaintances, her life, and so on. The wheelchair had a white plastic U-shaped toilet seat in the middle. Cat found it very conspicuous. Getting on the wheelchair was a challenge in itself. The nurse offered to call another person to move her but Cat wanted to try it herself. She moved with shaking limbs and plopped on the open seat of the toilet wheelchair.
“I’ll remove the diapers only when you are over the toilet. That’s to avoid any accidents during transportation,” the woman explained.
“It seems I really need that physical therapy.”
“Yes, your muscles were severely damaged. Everything was,” the nurse replied with awe.
They entered the bathroom and Cat couldn’t help but try to look at herself in the mirror. She remembered Catherine’s face from their out-of-body experience, but seeing it in the flesh (literally) was another thing. Fortunately, the mirror was slanted down, probably for accessibility reasons.
“Oh, hello, gorgeous,” she quipped at her reflection.
Catherine exulted with a squeal and said,
“Definitely,” she ignored the nurse’s puzzled look and replied. [I can’t wait to see everything,] she teasingly sub-vocalized to add.
“Ye Royal Toilet, Your Highness?” The nurse offered, shaking Cat out of her loony streak.
“Sure. I might need some help undressing. Would you do the honors?”
Once the wheelchair was over the toilet, she removed the diapers and tossed them into an oversized trash bin. Catherine felt her crotch free for the first time. It was… odd. She could feel some dangly bits but it was further back than a scrotum.
“I swear I’m not trying to stand up or even moving from here. Could you please...”
“Say no more,” the nurse chuckled to ease Cat’s obvious tension. “I’ll be on the other side of the door in case you need help.”
The woman left Cat alone in the toilet.
Cat wiggled her muscles as if doing Kegels. “It feels odd.”
[My body, miss tag-along. I did ask if you would hand it over.]
[Say that to the reaper, not the judge. Although I don’t think we want to meet them anytime soon.]
The air conditioning was chilling Cat’s exposed unmentionables. She was starting to get aroused. The ghost didn’t reply.
[Catherine, we are in this together. We gain nothing from antagonizing each other. Remember, we need to somehow redeem your soul so you don’t go to hell. Now, we both know I can eject you and I promise I won’t. Ever. But can you try to not make me consider doing it?]
Catherine didn’t answer. It took Cat some time to finally relax her abdominal muscles and let nature do its job.
[Too late. It is weird.]
[Tsundere. Look it is a first for me. You probably didn’t get aroused because you were used to it, you’ve done it since birth.]
[Hey, I am not… never mind. Here it comes.]
She got goosebumps as it came from the wrong place (in William’s male mind, at least) and sprayed out everywhere.
Cat just groaned and let nature run its course. Now she was even more aware of the differences between her new and old bodies. She could feel dangly bits flapping freely down there. Cat had ignored the proprioceptive feelings from that region but now that it warmed up and got loose it was impossible to.
Catherine shared all feelings of the body, including pleasure. And she couldn’t fight the sensations either as she was, in the celestial’s words, “just a passenger”. That didn’t stop her from saying whatever she wanted with her spectral mouth, though. Of course, the soul-tenant’s complaints would be thoroughly ignored because Cat intended to fully explore her new condition. If only the painkillers and other medication didn’t interfere with her arousal or will to do anything lewd with herself.
The feeling of deja vu intensified. Was William the first man to find himself in a female body by divine fiat? That couldn’t be true although it must be a rare occurrence. Did this very scene repeat itself every time someone found themselves in such a condition? Probably.
If heaven and hell were real, then other things depicted in what a layperson considered as fiction might be too. Myriad worlds with magic and people transmigrating or even reincarnating everywhere. A mage who found himself in a princess's body by accident. The possibilities were infinite.
----------------------------------------
"I'm done here," she called the nurse out loud. The door opened not a second after. The woman was smiling and hiding a hand behind her back.
"How did it go?" She asked happily.
"Normal, I guess?" Cat tilted her head. "How did you expect it to happen?"
"I don't know. Don't flush it, I'll pull you away." The nurse examined the toilet then flushed it herself. "No blood, good," she cooed. "You don't move, miss. I'm going to wipe you and give you a gift from the nurses."
Cat smiled and leaned back on the wheelchair. The nurse wiped her and of course, the ghost couldn't keep her silence.
"Understood, my lady," Cat answered out loud. The nurse stopped and looked at her, sharing a smile. The reincarnated girl didn't correct her own mistake.
Cat pursed her lips. "Any discomfort?" The nurse asked, worried.
"No. Not at all."
She stood up and revealed a gift-wrapped package. "Something from the girls. A brand-new and clean set of underwear for you, Catherine."
Cat let out a peal of laughter, which she regretted immediately as her body complained about the sudden movement. "Oh, that's delightful. I was worried I'd have to wear diapers forever. Or walk around butt-naked. Not that I can walk, mind you."
"No-no. You deserve some decency. Now, these aren't fancy or anything but they are surely comfortable."
"I don't mind at all. Thank you, honestly. Thank you so much. Would you do the honors?"
"It will be my pleasure."
The nurse took the opportunity to change Cat's hospital gown too. She felt weird how these small things one took for granted can have a deep impact on a person once it is denied to them. Having underwear hugging her body felt so good she let out a few tears. The bra was like a hug and the panties kept the rainforest in check despite some specter wishes for deforestation. She was wheeled back to bed and once again fell asleep. Not much to do while hospitalized.