We garnered quite a few more stares on the way to our table, especially from a table with six college age guys. A couple looked at me a little longer than they probably should have, though it could be they were staring at Natalie. Well, She was a really pretty brunette that had almost perfect proportions and stood around five foot ten. I just tried to ignore them while we wove our way through the room.

Samantha took our drink orders and set menus on the table, saying she would be back in a minute with our drinks. Taking a look at the menu, I could see why Rebecca and Natalie liked this place. The atmosphere was calm and warm, and the food around us smelled good.

“What do you think Sasha? Anything catch your eye?” Rebecca asked while perusing her own menu.

“Umm, I think the grilled chicken salad looks really good, but the grilled salmon salad sounds even better. I think I will go with that.”

“Oh, That’s a good one. I think I’ll have that too.” Natalie agreed with me.

“I think… The grilled chicken sounds the best to me. How do you like the restaurant so far?” Rebecca asked me.

“I like it, although…” I trailed off. The place itself was warm and relaxing, what turned me off was the table of guys. We could hear them talking. They weren’t being loud, though they weren’t quiet either and their voices carried. Typical young men.

“Ya, just ignore them, Sasha. Some people are just like that. I do wish those two would stop talking about me though. Ugh, They’re probably close to the same age as Eric.”

“Ok Natalie, I’ll try. Who is Eric?” I knew who Eric was, yet again it would be odd for me too though, so I played it off.

“Eric is my youngest son. He’s twenty-four now. My oldest son, Brandon, turns twenty-seven next month. Hmm. speak of the devil. There’s Brandon. I wonder what he’s doing.” Rebecca waved at Brandon when she noticed him walking into the dining room.

Brandon paused for a second after seeing Rebecca wave at him, raised his eyebrows, and then walked towards us. The guys at the table called to him while he walked past. He greeted them and said that he would be right back.

“Mom, Nat, How are you two doing?” Brandon asked as he sat down in the chair across from me.

“Quit calling me Nat jerk. You know I hate that.” Natalie spat back.

“Ok, ok. I’m only teasing you. Calm down.”

“Brandon, even if it is a joke, Natalie doesn’t like it. You know that.” Rebecca, You are very scary at times.

“Yes ma’am, sorry.” Yep, he caved like a champ. You would too if you were here, believe me.

“Sasha, this is Brandon, my oldest. Brandon, this is Sasha. You remember Alex?” At Brandon’s nod, Rebecca continued. “It’s a bit complicated, but Sasha is living with Alex now. He had some business in town so Natalie and I are showing her around this afternoon.”

“If you would have said she was Alex’s daughter I would have believed you. Her hair is almost the same color. Nice to meet you, Sasha, I’m Brandon. Natalie’s big brother.” That one earned him a smack on top of the head from Rebecca. The guys at the table started laughing when they saw that and both Natalie and I giggled.

What? It was funny, and it wasn’t like she hit either of them hard. More like a love tap to get their attention.

“What was that for mom?”

“I told you it’s complicated. I taught you better than that.”

“Ah, ok. Sorry? No, don’t hit me again, I get it.” Brandon put both hands up in surrender, making Natalie and I laugh again.

Samantha arrived with our drinks and set them on the table. She apologized for the wait and asked if we were ready to order, so we told her what we wanted. Before she left she said a quick hello to Brandon and asked if he wanted anything. Brandon said he was going to join the other guys at their table and asked if he could get a coffee delivered there. Samantha nodded and left with our orders.

“Brandon.” Brandon stiffened at Rebecca saying his name. “You know I’m not one to judge, but are you sure you should be hanging out with those boys?”

Brandon sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Rich and Anthony. I bet they were talking about Natalie, weren’t they? I swear they are good guys and they don’t mean anything by it. They can be kind of dense though. Natalie does look older than she is… No excuses mom, just saying she does. I’ll have a talk with them.”

“You better do something about it, Brandon, They’ve been creeping me and Sasha out.” Natalie scolded.

“Sorry, Natalie. I promise they didn’t mean to. They are freshmen this year and still have that High School mentality. I know, that doesn’t make it Ok. Jeesh, you can be just like mom. Wait, mom, that’s a good thing.” Brandon seemed to be good at digging holes for himself. I couldn’t help but giggle again.

Can I please stop having that reaction? Laughing is ok, but giggling? No? You hate me, don’t you…

“Is this lunch with the guys, or are you having a team meeting?” Rebecca asked Brandon.

“Team meeting. There is a tournament in Kansas City coming up in about two months so we need to go over the details and make sure our hotel reservations are still good, figure out travel plans, that sort of thing.”

I thought Brandon had graduated college about three years ago. If I remember right, he was going for a degree in education, with a plan to teach at the college level himself someday. I knew it took more than four years and a lot of internship time, I didn’t know what else was needed though.

“Kennith mentioned something about that.” Rebecca then turned to me. “You and Brandon might get along Sasha. He manages the Karate team for the local College as part of his internship. Like Alex, he’s practiced martial arts for quite a few years.”

Small world. I hadn’t heard anything about that. Wonder why Kennith never told me his son practiced Karate.

“You like Karate Sasha?”

“Ya, Uncle Alex would teach me whenever he visited. He is also teaching me Aikido and Muay Boran.”

“Alex knows Aikido?”

“Yep. He’s really good at it too.”

“Interesting, do you know what rank he is?”

“Umm… I think he said first Dan in Aikido and Dan in Karate? I don’t remember what that means though.”

“Dang, I had heard Alex trained a lot, but that’s just crazy.”

“Really? I knew Uncle Alex is awesome!” Yes, I’m talking about myself. I know this. I have to keep up appearances though right?

“Wow Sasha, I didn’t know Alex was like that. You should ask him to train with you sometime Brandon.” Natalie looked somewhat star-struck.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Uncle Alex can get really into it when he trains with other people. He’s good with me though so don’t worry.”

“You would have never thought that about Alex. He’s usually so calm and collected.” Rebecca mused while setting down her tea.

“Ha. Maybe I should see if he would come train with us someday, having the guys work with someone else would be good for them. I’m only first Kyu. The coach is Dan though. Training with the same people can get old and makes you stagnate. Think he would be interested, Sasha?”

I didn’t know if that would be a good idea, though maybe it would help both of us get out more.

“I don’t know. You would have to ask him.”

“Could you mention it to him for me? Maybe that would help.”

“Brandon” Harsh Rebecca. You made him flinch again. “She’s only ten. You don’t need to be asking her to do things like that.”

“I can do that Rebecca. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Ok, I will leave it for now. Do you understand Brandon?”

“Wait… She’s only ten? I thought she was fourteen or fifteen.”

“Brandon”

I have a feeling Rebecca runs the family. Scary.

“Yes ma’am. Sorry, Sasha.”

“Hey Brandon, we’re getting hungry over here. Stop flirting will ya?”

“Shut it Rich! I’ll be right there, then you Anthony, and I are going to have a nice, long Chat.” Brandon snapped over his shoulder. “Sorry mom, I will make sure to work on them.”

“You do that.” I hope you never look at me with that smirk Rebecca.

Rich and Anthony paled at Brandon and Rebecca’s words. Good. Grow up, guys.

After that Brandon went over to the other table and Samantha brought out our food. It looked delicious and tasted the same. While we ate, Natalie asked me what school I was going to go to, and I told them about how we had applied to Plumb Valley. Natalie got excited again and told me she went there as well. She was now going to Winter Valley (an original name I know) which was the affiliated High School.

Rebecca and Natalie both agreed it was the best Middle School in the area and Natalie got excited telling me about how much fun she had there and how good the teachers were. I hope she was right. I was still worried about going back to school. The first time I went wasn’t that much fun. Probably my fault because I was a loner and still scared about my anger issues.

Maybe this time will be different.

I was barely able to eat a quarter of the salad. In my defense, the portion sizes were decent and Natalie only ate a little over half of hers. I still felt like a rabbit nibbling on my salad.

“You didn’t eat much Sasha, are you feeling Ok?” Rebecca asked me with a slight frown. “You’re so skinny, you should try to eat a little more.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“No, I’m not feeling bad. I eat like Uncle Alex does.”

“Like Alex? What do you mean?” Natalie had a puzzled expression.

“He says it’s healthier to eat smaller meals than a few bigger ones. If I can get a to-go box, I will probably eat more later.”

“Ah, I see. I think a lot of athletes eat like that, or I think I heard that somewhere.”

“Are you sure you ate enough Sasha?” Rebecca wasn’t giving up.

“I’m sure. I promise.”

“If you say so. Did you like it?” Rebecca still didn’t look convinced.

“Yes, Thank you. It was really good.”

My phone chimed with a text from Alex explaining that he would be a couple more hours and asking how things were going. I replied telling him that was fine and I was having fun.

“Was that Alex?” Natalie leaned over to look at my phone.

“Yep, He was asking if I was having fun and says that he was going to be a couple more hours. I hope that’s Ok.”

“That took longer than I thought. He must be busy.” Natalie teased.

“That’s fine Sasha. Are you up for walking around and looking at some of the stores? There is a nice downtown street mall a few blocks away. We don’t have to buy anything. Looking can be fun in its own way.”

“That sounds fun mom. That street has some cool stores.”

“Ya. That does sound fun. I like to run a lot, so I should be alright.”

“Oh? That must be why you’re so skinny.” Natalie teased me again.

Rebecca and Natalie laughed when I blushed after hearing that. (Why did I blush because of that? I’m confused.)

Samantha came over after Natalie waved to her and Rebecca paid our bill while we got some boxes and put the rest of our salads in them. Saying goodbye to Brandon as we walked out we stopped by the Escalade and dropped off what was left of our lunch before walking to the street mall.

Browsing around for a little over an hour we happily chatted about the different stores and cafes that were along the street. We did have a little hiccup when they spotted a jewelry store and made me try on different necklaces. They were surprised when they found out my ears weren’t pierced, asking if I had anything against it or if my mom didn’t want me to. I told them that we had not gotten around to it. They vowed that they would convince Alex to let me get my ears pierced. Meh, I had them pierced in High School anyway.

Getting back to Rebecca’s Escalade, I was feeling a little hungry again. Salmon is a good source of protein. Salad? Not so much and walking around made me hungry. Seeing me eat again, Rebecca smiled and watched me in the rearview mirror, looking like a proud mother. That made me blush again. Can I please get that under control?

Arriving at the shop before Alex, we went back into Rebecca’s office to relax while we waited. Figuring this was as good a time as any, I asked Rebecca if she could teach me how to braid my hair like she did yesterday. Both ladies agreed in an instant while explaining that I wouldn’t be able to learn how in a just few minutes and promising to show me a bunch of different ways to fix my hair. Sounds like I’m going to be spending quite a bit of time with these two, especially if they have anything to say about it.

I was standing behind Natalie trying to braid her hair with Rebecca coaching me when Alex walked in.

“You ladies look like you're having fun.”

“Hi, Uncle Alex. Rebecca and Natalie are teaching me to braid.”

“Oh? I could have taught you that.”

“Now now Alex. Even though you braid your own hair, this is different.” Rebecca admonished.

“We also agreed to teach her a lot of hairstyles so you’re going to have to bring her by from now on. Right, mom?”

“That’s true. Alex, we agreed that after school, Sasha should come here and we would look after her for you. At least for a while. Once your restaurant opens up you’re going to be busy for a while. You should also give her permission to get her ears pierced. How does that sound?”

Umm, when did I agree to this? By the way… That doesn’t sound much like a question Rebecca.

“I do have managers Rebecca. I should be able to take care of Sasha when she gets out of school.”

“You do. You will still be busy for at least a few months. You can’t just let the managers handle everything right off the bat.”

“I’m going to have to for the Kansas City store.”

“While that may be true, you still need to be at this store to make sure you learn what’s needed to manage the store if something comes up. You better learn how to keep the books and track inventory as well. Trust me.”

“You’re right. I need to be around for the first few months at least. Are you alright with this arrangement Sasha?”

“If it’s alright with you and Rebecca, I don’t mind.” What could it hurt? I liked Rebecca, and Natalie was fun to be around. If it helped Alex and the restaurant, it was fine with me.

“Alright, it’s a good idea. About you getting your ears pierced. If you want to that’s fine with me. Truthfully I don’t know if that should be my decision or not. That’s up to you.

“Thanks, Uncle Alex.”

“You will have to go with us, Alex. As her guardian, you will have to sign the forms. How does tomorrow afternoon sound?”

“I have school, tomorrow mom. I want to go with Sasha and help her pick out her first earrings.”

“You only have classes in the morning and one after lunch. We won’t go until after your class is out. How does two sound?”

“That’s fine with me as long as Sasha agrees. Can I talk to you outside for a minute Rebecca?”

“Of course. Be right back you too.”

(Alex POV)

This was going to be an interesting conversation. I had no clue how to bring it up. Rebecca was a good person so she shouldn’t give me too much crap about it, though it was still embarrassing that I had to ask someone about this.

“What did you need Alex?”

“Well, I have to get Sasha a physical for school.”

“Yes, that’s pretty standard now, what’s the problem? You can take her to your primary physician. They should be able to handle it.”

“Well, you see. I know that my primary can handle that. Don’t women need a special doctor as well? Please don’t laugh. You know I have no clue about these things.”

“Sorry, Alex. It is funny though. I bet you never imagined you would ever have to talk about that to someone.”

“No… You’re right about that.”

“She is still a little too young to need that. I will give you the name and number of our doctor though, just in case something comes up or she needs help. They can also give her advice if she ever needs it. Don’t be scared to ask me as well Alex.”

“Thanks, Becca. I really appreciate it. Sorry for asking you something like that.”

“It’s fine Alex. You’re doing good. I can understand your apprehension. I might as well let you know, you shouldn’t have to worry about her getting her menstrual cycle for a couple of years yet either. Haha. Calm down. You needed to know that as well.”

“…Thanks. I did need to, that doesn’t mean I wanted to. This is nerve-racking. I promised Zeke and Valeria I would take care of her, and I love her like a daughter. I just don’t know if I’m up to it Becca. I want to be, and I couldn’t stand it if something happened.”

“I understand Alex. You will do fine and you have us to help. We will make sure nothing happens, I promise. As I said, if you need help with anything, ask. We’re here for you both.”

“You don’t know how much those words mean to me, Becca. Thanks”

(Sasha POV)

While I worked on Natalie’s hair and we chatted, I kept an ear on the conversation outside Rebecca’s office. I couldn’t hear everything that was said, though I got the gist of it.

Crap.

At least I had a couple of years before I really had to worry about that. Knowing didn’t help much.

“Are you ready to go Sasha?”

“I think so, how does this look Rebecca? I know it’s not very good yet.” I had only managed to get one side braided. Natalie’s hair was only just past her shoulders and it took forever to get that far. How did Rebecca do mine so fast?

“That’s not a bad first try Sasha. You just need practice. You should try to get it a little tighter here next time unless you want them to be less pronounced. Try to keep all of them at the same tension.” Rebecca pointed to the front of one of the braids.

“Mm, I thought something was wrong.”

“It’s not wrong dear. Don’t worry.”

“I’m going to go look in the mirror, don’t leave until I get back Sasha. Ok?” Natalie jumped up and rushed to the bathroom before I could answer.

“You might be in for a hard time Sasha. Natalie always wanted a little sister, and I think you might have been waylaid.” Rebecca was laughing as we walked to the front door.

“…”

“I think you might be right Becca. Natalie seems to have attached herself to Sasha.”

“Ha-having a big sister would be nice?” Sorry, I can’t think right now, please try again later.

We heard someone squeal behind us and I was almost tackled from behind.

“You mean it, Sasha?! Your big sister Natalie will take good care of you, I promise!”

“…” My mind went completely blank. How did this happen? Does this happen in real life? I’m not in some light novel right now, right?

“Natalie” Rebecca sighed her daughters’ name. “Calm down.”

“I can’t mom! I’m so excited that I have such a cute little sister!”

“We will talk about this later. For now, let go of Sasha so they can leave. The coat and hoodies are in the back of my Escalade Alex. We can grab them on the way to your pickup.”

“Thanks again, Becca. I’m glad we can count on you.”

“You’re welcome, Alex. Come on Natalie, quite smothering Sasha.”

After I was finally untangled from Natalie, we walked to Rebecca’s Escalade and she handed me a thick, dark forest green wool trench coat that flared out past the waist like a skirt and would probably reach my knees. It had a deep fur-lined hood that folded back into a wide collar. there was also a three-inch wide belt that wrapped around the waist and was held in place by three belt loops.

“Are you sure I can have this? It’s so nice.”

“I remember that coat. It’s really warm and soft Sasha. Too bad, I outgrew it so quickly. Maybe I should find another one so we can match!”

“Please take it, Sasha. It will probably be big on you for now though. Why don’t you try it on?”

“Ok, Thanks Rebecca, Natalie.” It was big for my small frame. The bottom of the coat went to my knees like I thought it would and the waist was a little low, that would give me more time to grow into it before I would need something else. If I ever did. I still didn’t know how much I would grow yet.

“That looks really cute on you Sasha. It makes your gorgeous hair stand out and matches your eyes.” Natalie was vibrating at this point. How much energy does this girl have? It’s scary in its own way.

“It really does look good on her. Here you go, Alex. I found three hoodies as well. Two are zip up and the other is a pullover. They are about the same size, though they should fit alright.”

“Thanks again, Becca. You didn’t have to.”

“Nonsense. You don’t have to thank us, Alex. See you tomorrow Sasha. I hope you had a fun afternoon.”

“Thank you, Rebecca. I had a lot of fun. Thank you to Natalie. I really like the coat.” This habit isn’t going away any time soon, is it. At least I’m starting to get used to it. Kind of.

“Ugh, I can’t wait to see you again tomorrow Sasha! I had lots of fun today.” Natalie gave me another bear hug. Uncle, uncle. I can’t breathe Natalie!

Untangling myself from Natalie again, Alex and I got in the pickup and left for home. When we go there I changed and we did our customary workout, then I showered, went to my room, and flopped onto my bed. What a day.

“Hey Sasha, How are you getting along?”

“Jacobus! You scared me. Where have you been?”

“I was nosing around trying to find a way to help you. Where else?”

“When you say help…”

“No, like I said, that’s not possible. We still haven’t figured out what went wrong.”

“Okay… So, what are you here for?”

“I found out you needed more than only the memories, so I came to give you a boost you could say.”

“About the memories, how the heck did you do that? I can actually feel emotions from them and see things that never could have happened. Today I had a memory of Valeria brushing my hair while humming a song and I felt sad like I had lost something.”

“Oh, that’s easy. Those were daydreams and fantasies Valeria had. They were what she wanted to do if she ever had a daughter.”

“That’s… I don’t know whether to be impressed, or disturbed.”

“Hey now.”

“Ya, ya. So, what’s this boost?”

“Well, We figured out that we need to change you a little more. Make you more like Zeke and Valeria. Nothing major, I promise.”

“You said that last time.”

“I know. The main reason is to change how you end up. As of now, you will end up being as tall as Alex is, with a similar build, and that won’t work with your new body. That’s part of your dysphoria. If you take Zeke and Valeria, their daughter would still end up being quite tall, and if we make you take more after Valeria, very beautiful as well. That’s what we need to do.”

“And your saying I need this and it will help? How much like Valeria and how tall are we talking?”

“Body wise, probably a little thinner than she was with about the same assets. Height-wise, I would guess around six foot? Maybe a touch shorter.”

“The same assets…”

“Hey, I’m trying to be polite.”

“Well, I can live with that, though six foot for a woman is tall.”

“You might be a little shorter, not much though I’m afraid. It’s still better than six foot seven though.”

“I could live with being that tall again.”

“Trust me, you don’t want that. You won’t be able to completely get rid of the dysphoria if you become that tall again. It will be easier this way.”

“If I need this to happen, let’s get it over with.”

“You know Sasha, I have been paying attention to you as well. I know you’re worried that you are losing yourself and changing. You are changing, there is no denying that. You should know that whatever happens, however you change, you will always be You. No matter how you change, your sense of who you are will stay the same.”

“That actually makes sense in a way. What about my personality? Why am I acting so different from normal? Take the giggling and blushing, or how I talk to people now.”

“Well, most of that is the age regression, and part of it is the memories I made. You remember how I used some of Valeria’s daydreams?” I nodded. “There is a very slight possibility that how your acting is also connected to how her daughter acted in those daydreams…”

“JACOBUS!”

“I know, I know. Sorry. Most of it is from the age regression though. It might be for the best as well. You’re having fun and getting along with people, making new friends. You won’t lose you because of it. I promise.”

“I will hold you to that.”

“Give it time and let things be. It will help you adjust as well. Try not to fight it so much and you will figure that out.”

With that, Jacobus held his hand to my temple. This time was different as my whole body felt warm, not just my head. He was gone by the time I noticed he was done.

Chicken. He knew I wanted to punch him.

I dressed in my nightgown and hoodie and was asleep before my head hit the pillow