The next hour or so was a rather awkward affair, to say the least. Stan was a bit of a mess of emotions, and George was aware of this, careful not to provoke Stan. He didn't really understand what Stan was going through. How could he? He could empathize, but he had nothing to really compare this to as a point of comparison.

Still, despite Stan not being in the best place right now, George noticed Stan was really trying to be helpful. George wondered why. He wasn't... attracted to George, was he? No, that wasn't it, he didn't think at at least. Maybe it was just decency. Or, most likely, Stan wanted to find out more and George was Stan's best shot.

In that, Stan was right, but not as much as Stan probably hoped. He would tell Stan all he knew, but he wanted to make sure he got all the clothes he needed packed up and in easy grabbing distance from the door. Call it a hunch that Stan probably won't like what George had to tell him.

Speaking of telling him, he found himself getting nervous about that. About half-way through packing up clothes, George looked over at the bottle of rum.

"Mind if I have some?"

"You gonna pay for it?"

"If I have to, yes."

"No, here, better you drink some anyway, saves me the temptation to drink all of it."

Now, a half-hour later, the bottle was about a third full. Stan was drunk at this point, and George was pretty close to it. Wow, having a woman's body below your neck really does make a difference with this, George realized.

"So," Stand said as they got everything to the door. "What do you know?"

"Okay, so, Stan, sorry," George said, doing his best to be a bit more professor-like now that he had to explain what he knew. "So, we didn't seek her out. I want you to do know that. She had to have known someone. She's not a researcher, I don't know who she knew. Also, I am sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have scared you like that. In my field our sense of humor can be a bit, well, off."

"Yeah, I'm not worried about that. What about her? Who did she know?"

"I have no idea. None. The strange thing is, now that I think of it, she seemed to be hiding something."

"I think you said all this."

"I might have. I only know a couple of other things. First, she said she was leaving town. She mentioned a friend from her college days. Weird name, at least for now. Began with a B, I think. What was it."

"Bruhilda."

"Yeah, damn, isn't that from a German legend? I think so. You heard of her."

"She mentioned her friend. That's a big help. Anything else?"

"That was the big thing. The rest, I don't know, I know I said I thought she was hiding something and I don't mean to go back to it, but I feel like there's something more there that I missed. Stuff that wouldn't been obvious then, but now, maybe."

George leaned against the wall, rubbing his feminine shoulders with soft hands. "Sorry, I don't mean to, just, feels strange is all. This whole body."

"George, I, please stop. I'm really trying to be nice here."

"I know, but remember, you're the big, strong one now. I'm not and I volunteered to go into a potential minefield to have a conversation that no one is prepared to hear. Please consider that."

At that, Stan stopped, then took a swig of the rum.

"I hadn't thought of that." He said, now feeling ashamed. "I mean, if you hadn't acted like that from the start... why did you?"

"I thought she overplayed your reaction and I'm too much in my own little world to realize these things sometimes. I know that is a very weak explanation, I know how it sounds, but it's all I got. I am sorry."

"Okay, I think we understand each other a bit better."

"Good. But, back to her, if we could. She kept mentioning training. Did she work out a lot?"

"She did keep in good shape. You'd know better than I would now."

"I haven't tested her body in a bench press or on a treadmill." He said with a laugh. "But, no, she mentioned workouts when talking about this. Mentioned advice. Did she have a gym or a personal trainer even?"

"Yeah, she did have someone she paid for sessions every so often. She probably has his contact info, I think he gave her a card. Knowing her, she threw it in a drawer. Think he knows what she planned?"

"I think you're a bit too drunk, now, of course, so am I now. No, but I bet we can see if he helped her find someone as a trainer for the gym where she's actually at now. Might be enough."

"Good idea. Hey, sit down a minute, if you don't mind."

"Sure." George said, sitting down on the couch. Stan sat beside him.

"A bit close, aren't we."

"Shit, yes. Oh well, I'm not getting back up. The room stopped moving just now. So, why'd you do it?"

"Me?"

"Yeah?"

"Plan was originally for me to have that body. I think I mentioned that. As for why I agreed to have her body instead. Well, any port in a storm, I guess."

"Huh?"

"I wasn't being too choosy, Stan. I don't want to say more. But, I'm fine with this. I'm not fine with how this ended up with you and your father in the mix, though."

"Yeah, yeah." Stan said. He stopped talking a moment, taking a bit of time to think. George didn't say a thing either. It was a few minutes before Stan spoke.

"So..."

He looked over. George had fallen asleep. Well, rum will do that, Stan thought drunkenly. He tossed a blanket over George and walked upstairs, stripping to his boxers before laying in bed. He was out before he even went to pull his blankets up.