Petra was depressed.

A lot of it could be put down to the recent sex change; everything had finally been completed a week ago, and Petra was now a ‘full woman’.

Charlie was doing all he could to cheer her up; his operation had been a lot less complicated, as he had been living the life of a man way before his operation, and Shan had given him something he was planning on doing anyway. He hadn’t been forcibly changed, unlike Petra.

Petra wanted something to remind her of her old life; she wanted something to hang on to, as she was losing her grip on reality.

Charlie hugged her as she cried…

Shan, concerned about Petra because, despite what people thought, she cared about her staff (especially when they followed orders well, as Petra did) called her in to talk to her.

She came into Shan’s office, immediately worried that she’d done something wrong, accompanied by Charlie.

Shan reassured Petra, saying that she was concerned and she wanted to help.

Petra, nervously and haltingly, explained that the psychological problems of suddenly being a woman, especially as it was a ‘forced conversion’, was causing her to become ‘unhinged’, and she was really having problems holding it together.

“If only I had some memories of my ‘old life’”, she said. “I know it’s over, now, but it might give me a little bit of grounding. My parents are no longer with us, but is any of my old things still available?”

Shan had a thought about the problem.

“I know”, she said, “how about a visit to your old flat? You had paid the bills three months in advance, so your old things should still be in it. You could go and choose something from there. Why not take Charlie with you? Make it an afternoon out. I don’t mind…”

Touched by the care Shan was showing, Petra hugged her, as did Charlie.

The trip to Petra’s flat was fairly uneventful.

As it was close to Samoto, the pair walked, most of the way in silence.

One interesting event on the way was they walked past the Chemist that Charlie used to work at (when she was still Charlene).

Charlie wistfully looked in through the window, then came back and hugged Petra.

“I don’t need that life”, she said. “You’re enough for me.”

This made Petra start crying again, so he hugged her, and the pair walked on to Petra’s flat.

Letting themselves into the block, they climbed the stairs and went in.

They didn’t realise that the flat supervisor was watching them. As they went in, he got on the phone…

The phone call was to Peter’s girlfriend, Deborah.

“You said you wanted to know if anyone went in your boyfriend’s flat”, he said. “Two people just did, a man and a woman.”

“I’ll be right over”, said Deborah. “Try and make sure they don’t leave before I get there.”

Deborah jumped into her car and raced over to the flat, just keeping it under the speed limit. Her boyfriend had suddenly disappeared a few weeks ago, with no warning or contact, and this pair might know what had happened to him…

Arriving at the flat, Deborah waited outside the open door, listening.

Inside, Petra was trying to decide what to take. Suddenly, she said something to Charlie that shocked Deborah…

“This is special to me. This will do. My previous girlfriend, Deborah, gave me this on my birthday. There’s a load of good memories in it. I do miss her, still, but I’d never leave you, Charlie.”

Deborah, not believing what she had heard, stormed into the flat.

Looking at what Petra was holding in her hand, she snatched it away.

“Leave that alone, you bitch!”, she shouted. “It belongs to my boyfriend, Peter. Where is he? What have you done with him?”

Deborah was getting more and more angry and she was really scaring Petra.

Charlie stepped between them.

“You leave my girlfriend alone!”, he said.

Petra, looking at the pair arguing, couldn’t take it anymore. With an incoherent scream, she raced out of the flat and ran off up the road.

Charlie, hitting the SOS button on his mobile, raced off after him, calling back “I’ll deal with you, later!” to Deborah.

Shan, tracking Charlie’s mobile, soon came racing up beside him in the minibus, Hannah with her.

“Tell me”, she said.

Charlie, still trying to catch up with Petra, quickly explained what had happened.

“You find Petra”, she said. “I’ll deal with the ex.”

She and Hannah went back to Peter’s flat, where the door was still open.

Inside, they found a dazed Deborah.

Before Deborah could react, Shan and Hannah both grabbed her.

“I’m sure I can find a job for you”, Shan said…

To Deborah’s amazement, Shan kissed her, even as Hannah was holding her arms behind her back. Shan then gave Deborah an injection, and the pair propped her up between them, semi-carrying her back to the minibus.

In the bus, Hannah stripped her naked and fastened her into a transparent bodysuit; Shan then fitted her with a maid hood and collar.

In the meantime, Charlie had found Petra, curled up in a back alley, crying.

“I can’t take any more!”, she said.

Charlie, now exceptionally strong after his operation, carefully picked her up. He then single-handedly carried her back to the flat.

Shan was still at the flat. Hannah had left with Deborah.

Petra, seeing Deborah was gone, picked up the item that she had wanted, a little St. Christopher pendant, and held it to her chest. At the same time, she pulled Charlie to her.

“I’m sorry”, she said. “You are enough for me; I’m just having some real hormone troubles…!”

Leaving and locking the flat, Shan took the pair back to Samoto.

“Oh, by the way, have you met our new maid?”, she asked, pointing to the back of the bus…

Charlie and Petra looked back.

Deborah’s panic-stricken face looked back at them; sealed in her transparent bodysuit, maid hood and collar.

“She’ll get the uniform when she’s earned it”, said Shan. “Would you two like to help with her training?”

“I’d love to”, said Petra, with a smile…

That night, Charlie and Petra were back in bed, in their quarters.

They both looked down at the foot of the bed.

Deborah knelt there; her maid collar was chained to the foot of the bed; she was still sealed in her transparent suit, and she had been fitted with globe mittens to make her completely helpless. She was Charlie and Petra’s toy for as long as they wanted; Shan was in no rush to start her ‘training’…