There were two mysteries to solve; what had happened to the real Stephanie, and who had changed Steve into a perfect copy of her? Also, there was another big mystery… why? What would anyone have to gain? Possibly, the aim was to torture Steve; after all, he was now stuck as a bizarre copy of his own sister. To all intents and purposes, he was now Stephanie. Had the real Stephanie just wanted to disappear, for some reason?

There was also something very strange happening…

Steve was really getting used to being Stephanie. She was also ‘growing’ on both Patricia and Steph’s mother. They were both still calling her Stephanie, and she wasn’t correcting them. With Patricia, it was something more…

Patricia said that ever since the ‘change’ she had found Stephanie to be more caring, not less as expected. Being in bed together after she had collapsed was the best night she had ever spent with her. She almost didn’t care whether the ‘situation’ was resolved or not, she just wanted ‘her’ Stephanie. As far as she was concerned, that was the one sitting next to her at the moment.

She said so, kissing Stephanie as she did. Trouble was, doing it started Stephanie crying…

“I don’t deserve you!”, she wailed. “You’ve been nothing but caring to me, and I’ve treated you like dirt! I’m sorry I blamed you for what’s happened to me…”

“It’s not your fault”, Patricia said, kissing her back. “You obviously didn’t ask for this. Can you remember anything of how you ended up like this?”

“A little”, Stephanie admitted. “I’d gone for a new job, just down the road from my flat in Manchester. The woman, who looked just like you, Patricia, suddenly straddled me and kissed me. She must have had something in her lipstick; all at once I was drowsy and almost unconscious, unable to do anything for myself. I was stuck into some kind of machine, then I woke up here like this…!”

Stephanie started sobbing again.

“It’s all so confusing! I’m scared…!”

“I’m not surprised”, said Patricia, hugging her. “To have all that done to you against your will, as well as the hormonal and other problems you must be going through, would be overwhelming for most people. I do think you’ve been coping amazingly well, actually…”

“Are you sure?”, sniffled Stephanie. “I’m just finding it all so bewildering. I almost overbalanced when I first stood up, as I wasn’t used to coping with the weight of my breasts. Why would anyone want a pair like this, anyway? They tug on me all the time, and they’re giving me a real backache…!”

Patricia laughed, she couldn’t help it. Stephanie was so natural discussing ‘women’s problems’ and so easy to get on with. She hugged her.

While all this was going on, Steph’s mum had been listening carefully. She had also been typing various things into a search engine.

“Aha!”, she suddenly cried. “Found them!”

“The organisation that did this to you is FemZone Genetics, in Manchester, England. Their director is a woman named Rebecca Brady.”

Patricia gasped.

“Rebecca’s my sister…”, she said, shocked…

“That’s why I thought the woman that took me was you”, said Stephanie. “I’m so sorry I blamed you…”

“Stephanie, please, you have nothing to apologise for”, said Patricia. “On the other hand, wait until I get hold of my sister…!”

“Want to come and see your old stomping grounds?”, Patricia asked, a wicked smile on her face…

Patricia was really loaded, not just ‘rich’…

It took her thirty minutes to get clearance for her private jet to fly to the UK, with three passengers, Stephanie, Steph’s mother and her. They all piled into her limo and were driven to her private airstrip.

She was absolutely fuming.

“What the hell is wrong with my sister? She had no right to screw with your life…!”

Stephanie did her best to calm her down, but she was almost beside herself with rage. Stephanie suddenly realised though, that the rage was because she cared about her…

“I’ll teach that bitch to mess with my girlfriend”, she said.

It was Stephanie’s turn to be upset.

“But… I’m not your girlfriend”, she said. “I’m just a cheap knockoff. A copy. I’m not even a real girl.”

Patricia spun, fire in her eyes.

“Don’t say that! Don’t ever say that! It’s you I’m in love with, you damn idiot, and don’t you forget it! Not that tramp of a girl that lied to me and left me!”

Stephanie was shocked into silence.

Her hand gingerly slid over to Patricia’s. Patricia grabbed it and squeezed it, then pulled her close…

Steph’s mum was watching all the time; however, she was getting more confused by the minute. ‘Steve’ was acting more and more like Stephanie as time went on; her mannerisms were getting progressively more female. The hormonal changes were obviously really affecting her emotional state as well. She pulled Patricia to one side to have a word…

“I think we’re losing her”, she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I think the changes are progressive; she’s getting more and more like the Stephanie I remember as time passes. The changes must still be going on inside her. Whatever they did to him to turn him into her, it must be cumulative.”

“Maybe so, at the same time, though, the ‘other’ Stephanie was never this thoughtful, or caring. I hope that lasts…”

“I think it might; both Steve and Stephanie were caring, if they had a reason, Steve more so than Stephanie. Now Steve is Stephanie, you should end up with the best of both…!”

“I still can’t believe someone did that to him! Especially against his will…”

“Yes, I know. What the hell reason would they have for doing it?”

“I’ve no idea at the moment, but I think it’s connected to wherever the other Stephanie went…”

The flight took some time, so they all drifted off to sleep.

Patricia awoke at one point near the end of the journey to find Stephanie wrapped around her.

“Oh, I hope you don’t change too much…”, she whispered…

The announcement then came to strap in for landing.

Reluctantly, Patricia unpeeled Stephanie from her and strapped the sleeping girl into her seat, then strapped herself in, after making sure Steph’s mum was ok as well.

Twenty minutes later, they were on the ground at Manchester Airport…

A private hire car was waiting for them.

It only took fifteen minutes to get to FemZone Genetics; the receptionist gulped as soon as they walked in, then dived for a phone.

“That’s right, you skank, be afraid!”, said Patricia. “Tell my sister I’m here to see her!”

Patricia had recognised the receptionist. She had started off initially with Rebecca as an escort…

Rebecca came charging out.

“What’s…?”, she started to say. Then she saw Stephanie…

“Oh my God, it can’t be!”

Stephanie just smiled and waved, cheekily. She was enjoying Rebecca’s discomfort too much to dirty her hands by hitting her. Patricia, however…

The slap echoed around reception. It was so hard that Rebecca stumbled and nearly fell over…

“What the hell was that for?”, she cried.

“Screwing around with my girlfriend!”, cried Patricia.

“I gave your girlfriend back to you!”, Rebecca said. “The real Stephanie was having an affair, seeing someone else behind your back! I know she was, because… that someone was me! She preferred me to you, she always has. At the same time, she told me that her brother, Steve, really had the hots for you. His only problem was his sex. I did something about that. I did it all for you, so we could both be happy…!”

“Did you ever think about Steve’s feelings? He almost went insane! He’s been a real mess! Did you ask him?”

“There wasn’t time! Stephanie refused to go back to you; you’d have realised something was wrong if she hadn’t come back to you soon. As it was, we had to leave Steve’s memories intact; our kit can’t reliably transfer memory, only physical attributes.”

“You’re wrong about that”, Steph’s mother said. “She’s developing the same mannerisms as her ‘doppleganger’…”

“That’s not possible…!”

“Oh, you’d better believe it! I should know, I’ve been bringing ‘her’ up for long enough”, her mother said.

At that point, the real Stephanie walked out from upstairs.

“What’re you doing over here, tart?”, she asked. “Missing something?”

Patricia’s Stephanie had had enough. She walked over to her ‘other half’ and belted her. Hard.

“Don’t talk to her like that!”, she cried. “She showed you nothing but love and support, and you just dumped her! Cast her aside! Well, guess what! She loves me! She’s mine now; you don’t even deserve to speak to her!”

She walked back and stood by Patricia, a smug grin on her face.

“You don’t seem to mind being a girl too much, ‘Steve’”, said Stephanie.

“That’s because for once in my life, I’ve found love”, she said. “It would have probably helped you, too, if you hadn’t trampled all over it!”

At that point, the police turned up. Patricia had called them. She gave them a complete recording of Rebecca’s ‘confession’ from a mini dictation machine that she had had in her pocket all the time.

The three then walked out, smiling; back to the airport, and a new life for ‘Stephanie’, as Patricia’s girl, back in the States…