Sidney woke and stretched.  Then with a yelp of alarm, looked down.  She breathed a sigh of relief at having her normal body back.

“Missing it already?” asked Donna with a smirk from the other side of the bed.

“No, I...” Sidney blushed.  “Maybe?  The last thing I remember we were doll-sized and I was falling asleep on you.”

Donna giggled.  “You gave a pretty good accounting of yourself before that, so I forgive you.  Dia made sure everyone was back to normal before the Moon set.  Even the kids.”

“The kids?” asked Sidney.  “I thought they got changed back before we came home.”

Donna shrugged.  “What can I say.  Victor still wanted to be a fish, and he miiight have ended up as a plush one.  And Courtney saw, so she had to go to sleep as a plushie too.”

“So we didn’t have to shrink last night?” asked Sidney.  “They couldn’t have heard us anyway?”

“Well... they were animate plushies, so they could still have heard.  Both were fast asleep, though.”

“So why’d you shrink us?” asked Sidney.

“Because you love it,” said Donna with a grin.  “And I don’t exactly mind, either.”

Sidney snickered.  “Riight.  Next time I should have you shrink yourself tiny enough to dance around my maypole.”

Donna nodded eagerly.  “Oh, that’d be...  Wait, next time?  You’re okay with there being a ‘next time’?”

Sidney rolled closer to Donna and leaned in to kiss her on the lips.  It was no chaste kiss, and both of them had very pointy nipples when it was done.  “Yes.  I see you in there, and I know how much you want this.  I’m not sure if I’m ready for girl on girl, but swapping roles?  I seem to be okay with husband and wife with me as the husband.”

Donna chuckled breathlessly.  “After that kiss it sure felt like you were ready.  Robo-Duncan can handle the kids for a while yet...”

“I...  No.  If the kids are up, we should go see them, not...”  Sidney bit her lip.  Donna leaned in to kiss them again.

“It’s okay.  You’re willing, even if we don’t do it now.  That means a lot.”

Reluctantly they got up, and Robo-Duncan had breakfast waiting for Sidney as well.  She smiled to get such service.  “Can I keep this one?”

“Robo-Duncan has a job to do tomorrow.  As do I.  But I could repurpose the robot you didn’t want to keep.  I think it’d look cute to make her more like Unit Cobalt, except maybe in jade?”

“Can you make her a friendly robot, like Cobalt was by the end of the night?” asked Sidney.  “She was cute.”

Duncan nodded.  “I think so.  Should be able to clone Unit Cobalt’s AI and tweak it a bit through the command interface.  Do you want a headband that lets you train her from inside?”

Sidney considered that for a minute then shook her head.  “Not fan of seeing the world through a screen.  I’d rather be real.”

“That’s not what you said when I offered up the chance to live in Second Life for a time...”

“Oooh, right!” exclaimed Sidney, clapping her hands.  “Can we try that?”

“I don’t have the ‘processing power’ to do that except on the night of the full Moon.  Tomorrow night... once I get home, we’ll see.  It’ll probably be really late, though.  Maybe next month?”

Sidney nodded.  “I can wait on that one.  But... really, tomorrow?  So soon?”

“Yeah.  I have to head out tonight, so I can be in Ottawa when the Moon rises there.  Don’t have to leave until late, and I’ll leave robo-Duncan and Unit Jade here for you.  I can see through either, even when the Moon isn’t in the sky, so I’ll be able to go to work Monday as if everything was normal.”

Sidney whined softly.  “I don’t want you to go.  Can’t we just...”

Duncan touched her lips.  “We’ll have a perfectly normal day today.  How does a picnic in the park sound?”  

Sidney glanced out the window at the gathered clouds.  “It looks a bit on the rainy side for a picnic.  We could go to the mall, maybe shop for some pretty clothes for... uh... Donna?”

“Can Robo-Duncan stay home?”

Sidney pondered that, head to one side as she looked past Duncan to the bedroom, where Donna was curled up in bed.  “Might be more fun than you just hanging around looking bored all day.  Besides, we’d need to see if things fit her.”

“What about you?  If you want to stick with your current look, you’ll need new clothes too.”

Sidney glanced down at herself.  Her nightshirt was hanging like a tent.  “Oh!  I have some stuff from when I was in my twenties that’d probably fit...  But it’s all old and out of style.  Do I really get to stay like this?  Last time you said it’d be better to take small, plausible steps.”

“Do you want me to make you heavier again?”

“No!” exclaimed Sidney immediately.  “No, this is good.  The people who know me best know about magic anyway.”

It did not take Duncan long to get the kids ready to go out.  Getting Sidney and Donna ready was quite another matter.  Sidney had pulled out just about everything she owned in the closet, and sent Duncan downstairs to fetch bags of old clothes from storage.  She despaired of finding anything that would both fit and look halfway decent.  Worse, none of her clothes even came close to fitting Donna.  All Donna had was some of her oldest dancing outfits, and a long coat to cover up with.

“You can’t wear that to the mall!” wailed Sidney as Donna buttoned up her coat.  “How will you try anything on?”

Donna shrugged.  “I’ll be fine.  It helps that I don’t much care how people see me.  We’ll find something cute to wear at the mall, and change there.”

Sidney whined for a while longer but eventually accepted the inevitable.  She found an old dress that “wasn’t too horrible” and wore that under a bully coat.

At the mall, the kids agitated to go buy toys, and were only somewhat mollified by the promise that they’d get to do so “later”.  Donna knelt before Courtney, and very solemnly promosed that they really would make sure she got something fun for her patience.

Sidney expressed concern that they were bribing the kids with toys, but Donna just shrugged and pointed out that they could afford to.

Their first stop was at Sidney’s usual clothing store, where she discovered that she was now too thin to fit anything they carried.  At first she was taken aback by the sales-clerk’s pronouncement, but when Donna pointed out that meant the rest of the mall was now open to her, she cheered out loud.

Their next stop was a store that catered to “teens and streetwalkers” in Sidney’s words.

Donna laughed, and said it sounded promising, given her profession.  Sidney just rolled her eyes and followed her wife into the store.  Donna tried on a shiny red dress that fitted her like a glove, in part thanks to some cleverly arranged spandex panels.  Sidney frowned to see it, but when Courtney pronouncd it “super pretty” she grudgingly conceded it looked good on Donna.

Donna bought the dress on the spot and let the clerk talk her into matching ones in green and blue.  She wore the red one out of the store, leaving her coat open to show it off.

“Planning on building up a full wardrobe?” asked Sidney as they strolled further into the mall.

“Would that be so bad?  It’s not like we can’t afford some indulgences.”

“You’re going to want more closet space,” muttered Sidney.

“Once we turf out a bunch of the old stuff we’re never going to need there will be plenty of space.  If not, I can add a storeroom, clear out the guest room, and use that for Donna stuff.  Would that make you happier?  Making a room for Auntie Donna?”

“I…”  Sidney shook her head.  “You don’t have to do that.  Though if you could renovate the closet to make better use of the space, that’d help.”

“Oh!  Sure, I can do that.  It’d still help to shift the stuff that doesn’t fit.”

Sidney nodded absently, attention on the jewelry store they were passing.  “We can afford sparklies too, right?”

“Anything your heart desires.”

Sidney pulled Donna and the kids into the store eagerly.  She went straight to the display of diamond and white gold jewelry, while Donna distracted the kids with a display of tiny crystal figurines.  

Courtney settled on a crystal bunny as her favourite, and asked about Bunhill as Donna sought out a salesclerk to get the figurine out of the case.

“She’s helping a friend,” said Donna.  “I’ll see her soon, and tell her you were asking about her, okay?”

“Okay Auntie Daddy.”

Sidney had picked out a pretty ring with four diamonds set in a row -- “one for each of us”.  She also had her eye on a matching pendant, and grinned when Donna agreed that she should get both.

With those and the figurines set aside, Sidney pulled Donna to a display of earrings.  “We should get you some pretties too.  How about those hoops?”

Donna protested that she’d never worn earrings before, but allowed herself to be talked into a pair of sparkly sapphire studs.  She tried to protest that she didn’t need to get her ears pierced right away, but magic censorship prevented from explaining why, and it came across as reluctance.  The clerk brought out their piercing kit and before Donna knew it she was sitting and bracing for the poke of a needle.

“See?” chirped the clerk brightly.  “You didn’t even flinch.”

Donna raised an eyebrow curiously.  “That’s it?”

Sidney put the studs in.  “Yep.  And you were afraid of a little needle.”

“Was n…” Donna’s protest died as the clerk held up a mirror to show the stud.  “Oh.  Wow.  They’re lovely.”

“Just as beautiful as you,” said Sidney sincerely, making Donna smile and blush.

They paid for their treasures and Sidney pouted when Donna hung on to the bag with her ring in it.  Donna put a finger to her lips and drew her further into the mall.  Soon they found themselves engrossed in building Sidney a new wardrobe for her new body.

Draped with bags, Donna suggested Sidney and the kids get some lunch while she took their “plunder” to the car.  Once everyone had eaten, they proceeded to the toy store at the end of the mall.  Courtney darted to the huge display of plushies, with Victor toddling along behind, finally free of the stroller.

Courtney ended up with a plush tiger bigger than she was, and Victor got a fire engine complete with working lights and sirens.  He clutched it to his chest as they headed back to the car.

“You can turn the volume down when we get home, right?”

Donna chuckled.  “Engineering or the other way?”

“Whatever works.  It’s so loud!”

“And he loves it.”

It was Sidney’s turn to chuckle.  “You’re going to spoil them rotten.”

“I want today to be perfect.  We’ll order pizza for dinner, and find something to watch with the kids.”

“Homey,” said Sidney.  “Sounds good to me.”

Once the kids were abed, Donna pulled out a familiar jewelry box.  She went to one knee in front of a startled Sidney, and offered it up to her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m…  Proposing, I guess.”

“But we’re already married.”

“You and Duncan are,” said Donna.  She waited patiently for Sidney to reply.

Sidney picked up the ring, rolling it in her hands.  “Four stones.  Me, Duncan, Donna, and Dia?”

“That sounds good.  They should be here.”

Robo-Duncan emerged from the bedroom to kneel beside Donna.  A heartbeat later, the Moon rose and Dia formed, hovering behind them.

Sidney gathered all three into her arms.  “Yes.”

They moved as one to the bedroom, and soon the only things being worn were Sidney’s ring and Donna’s new studs.

*** *** ***

Donna disentangled herself from Robo-Duncan and the sleeping form of Sidney.  Dia nudged power to shift Sidney back to her new standard form.  Donna giggled at the shares thought of leaving her some bonus features, but recalled earlier promises to make sure Sidney always woke normal.

Donna vanished, reappearing at Gwen’s apartment.  She could tell that her priestess was still awake, and blinked into the bedroom.

“It’s time.”

Gwen sat up, then leaned over to kiss Ettie.  Ettie stirred, and rubbed sleep out of her eyes.  “You’re going.”

“I have to, love,” said Gwen.  “War waits for no one.”

Ettie’s eyes glittered with tears.  “Why you?”

“I have to keep Donna safe.”

“And who keeps you safe?”

Donna blinked closer to them, and took their hands in hers.  “I will do what I can to bring her back to you.”

“No,” said Gwen, firmly.  “Your job is to end this.  Nothing else matters, not even me.”

“Gwen!”

“You know it’s true.  This is bad, Donna.  Really bad.  You can’t be even the tiniest bit distracted.”

Ettie was openly sobbing, and Gwen pulled her close.  “It’ll work out, love.  I’m almost as hard to kill as Donna is.”  She drew power around her like armor.  “I’ll come back.”

“You better!”

Gwen kissed her soundly, the got out of bed.  “Let’s do this.”

They shrunk away to barely perceptible size, flew a quick loop around Ettie who was waving farewell, and headed out into the night.

Donna formed a tiny magic-driven jet like they’d used in the past, this time with a built-in GPS.  The craft darted into the sky, arrowing east.

“Not going for Mach 5 this time?” inquired Gwen lightly.

“We’ve got time, and the trackers that picked us up last time don’t seem to care about Mach 3.  We’ll still be there in under two hours.”

“Feels anticlimactic.  Hurry up and wait around for a day.”

Donna reclined her chair.  “I know.  I could have left you a Gwen-bot to keep Ettie company.”

Gwen shook her head.  “Better this way.  She doesn’t understand.  I don’t know what to tell her.”

“Perhaps it’s for the best she doesn’t understand the horrors we fight.  Innocence cannot be regained.”

“Regrets?”

“I’ve had a few.  But then again, too few to mention,” sang Donna.

Gwen stuck her tongue out at Donna.  “Stick to dancing.  Seriously, though.  What we’re facing us insane.”

“Which is why Wilhelm has to die.  Hell, I’m as responsible for this unfolding disaster as I was for Bunhill’s rampage.”

“Which is to say, not at all.”

“Really?  How many people would be alive now if I hadn’t started this crusade?”

“You didn’t kill them.”

“No, but I started this war.  Falls on me to end it.”

“On us.  I will be at your side, shield to your sword.”

Donna held her hand out, and Gwen took it.  “Thank you.  I fear there’s nothing I can do to sufficiently repay your loyalty.”

“I’m sure I’ll come up with something,” said Gwen with a grin.

Talk turned to other things.  Gwen had stories to tell of what she’d been up to with Ettie, some of which made Donna laugh, and others made her blush.  Donna told Gwen about re-proposing to Sidney, which made her coo with delight.

“She really accepted you as her wife?  Oh, sweetie that’s awesome.  Does that have anything to do with your earrings?”

Donna touched her ears in surprise.  “Oh!  I left the real ones at home.  I guess the idea stuck with me.  Sidney’s idea.  I haven’t worn earrings before.”

“And?” asked Gwen after a pause.

“I love them more than I could have ever imagined.  Is that weird?”

Gwen studied Donna’s face and the earrings.  “You really feel like a woman.  You’ve been holding something back before, but the woman I see in front of me is…  Happy.  What about Duncan?”

“I like being him, too.  There’s so many things he has that don’t work as Donna.  I love being a father.”

“I hear a ‘but’.”

“I want to be a mother soooo bad.  And Sidney’s only just barely gotten used to the idea of being with me while male.  I don’t want to scare her off.”

“And you have work to do...” noted Gwen.  “Now might not be the best time.”

Donna loosed a sigh that was almost a whine.  “I know.”

The rest of the cruise was spent catching Donna up on gossip from the club.

As they slowed down and approached Ottawa, Gwen asked if they were going to park in the same lake as last time.  Donna shook her head.  “Bunhill knows that location.  I’m going to go with some random peak instead.”

“Paranoid, much?”

“After everything that has happened?”

“Good call.”

Gwen napped through the day, while Donna spent the day in control of Robo-Duncan, pretending that it was a normal day at work.  She did her best to tie up loose ends, and made sure to leave copious notes on the bugs she was still working on.

Robo-Duncan left work early, and had barely made it home when the Moon rose over Ottawa.  He kissed Sidney, and asked her to wish them luck.

When they appeared in the CSIS Director’s office, the director, Henry and Bunhill all looked relieved to see them.

“Thank God you’re here,” said Richard.

Donna smiled at the Director winningly.  “Not quite, but I’ll take the compliment.  What’s wrong?”

“They’ve started slaughtering civilians in Toronto in wholesale lots.  There were thousands of excess deaths yesterday, entire nursing homes have been wiped out, people are dying everywhere.  There’s mass panic, and an impromptu evacuation is underway.  Every highway in and out of town is jammed full, and that’s causing even more deaths.  You have to stop them.  Now.”