Sam was resting at home, when the phone rang.

“Is that Sam Harrison?”, the voice said.

“Yes?”

“Ah, good! This is Nurse Bishop, at Breckenridge Hospital. Our patient has your number under emergency contact.”

“I’m surprised by that”, Sam replied. “I don’t have any living relatives.”

“She needs to see you as soon as possible”, the nurse said, as if Sam hadn’t spoken. “Can you come straight in?”

“Like I said, I think you’ve got the wrong person”, Sam replied. “I don’t have any relatives.”

“Your address is 35 Greenland Drive?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“And the name and phone number are obviously yours. Please, just come in. We’ll sort all this out when you get here. You need to come to Everlands Ward.”

Now thoroughly confused, Sam headed into the hospital.

He checked with reception where Everlands Ward was and went straight there. As soon as he entered the room, the young woman in one of the beds tried to sit up, smiling.

“Mum! You made it! I haven’t seen you for ages!”

Sam took a step back. Why the hell was this stranger calling him ‘mum’?

“Do I look like a woman to you?”, Sam asked.

“Come on, mum, stop larking about! I need you…!”

The woman tried to sit up and reach out to Sam, but she was too weak and she slumped back on the bed.

Even though he didn’t know her, Sam was still concerned, and he went and sat by her. The woman reached out and weakly squeezed his hand.

“Thanks for coming mum. I really appreciate it. I know you’re busy…”

The woman managed to lift herself gently, and snuggled up against Sam.

“I feel better already…”

When the nurse came over to check on them, the woman was fast asleep against Sam’s side.

“That’s the first time anyone has been able to get her to sleep”, the nurse said. “I’m Nurse Bishop, by the way. We talked on the phone.”

“Like I said, I don’t know her!”, Sam said, perplexed. “I don’t have any living relatives. Also, why the hell is she calling me her mother? You can see I’m male.”

“I can’t help with that”, she said. “All I’m concerned about is the welfare of my patient. And, as far as I can see, you are good for her.”

Sam been absent-mindedly stroking the young woman’s head as she slept against him. Something did feel vaguely familiar about it…

“Edie”, Sam said. “Her name’s Edie…”

“Yes, it is”, the nurse replied. “Edie Annabelle Harrison. Her mother’s name is Samantha.”

“I wonder where she is?”, Sam said…

Edie chose that moment to wake up, and she’d heard part of the conversation.

“You’re right here, mum”, she said. “Where did you think you were?”

She pulled herself up my arm, kissed me, then slid back down onto the bed.

“If only I didn’t feel so weak…”

“What’s wrong?”, Sam asked.

“As far as we can tell, she’s seriously anaemic. She could really do with a blood transfusion, but we haven’t got any of the right type in stock.”

Sam had a hunch. “Check mine…”

Sam turned out to have the right blood type. While they ran tests, they also found something very strange…

The nurse came hurriedly back into the room.

“We can use your blood, Sam. It’s an exact match for Edie. However, something is a bit strange…”

“What?”

“We ran DNA tests while we were at it, to see if you had any other conditions that might affect our patient. You have a full familial match to Edie. Also, according to the results…”

“Yes, tell me!”

“You are female, not male, and are indeed her mother.”

“That’s not possible! Look at me!”

“I knew it was you!”, came the squeak from the bed…

Edie was ecstatic. She’d been 90% sure anyway that Sam was her mum, but now, the results proved it!

Sam, on the other hand, was flabbergasted.

“Edie, love, I’m not a woman!”

“Oh yes, you are”, the nurse said.

Sam just stared at the nurse, in shock…

Whatever sex he was, Sam had still agreed to the transfusion, so they set that all up and it went ahead. Edie got stronger and stronger.

It was Sam’s turn to be tired and need rest afterwards. He was resting on his bed when he felt a little weight alongside. Edie had climbed in with him…

“Thank you for saving my life”, she said, snuggling down next to him.

The nurse found them both in the same bed later, fast asleep. She didn’t have the heart to move them…

Next morning, both Sam and Edie were feeling a lot better. However, Sam was also feeling a lot more like ‘herself’…

His skin from eyebrows down had gone completely smooth, no stubble or hair at all. He was also starting to develop curves…

“That’s better”, said Edie, looking at Sam. “You looked ridiculous as a man, anyway. You weren’t fooling anyone.”

Sam sat up with a gasp.

“What the hell…?”

He still didn’t have much in the way of breasts, yet; they were still ‘man boobs’ as one of his mates had jokingly said during a drunken night at the pub. People had thought he was just effeminate, as he did often display woman’s mannerisms. Sam had just put it down to being weak as a child…

He said this to Edie, finding that he could confide in her.

“You’ve always been like that, mum”, she said. “I never cared; I loved you anyway. I just didn’t like people being so hurtful to you. Trouble was, you had to go and make it worse by dressing like a guy.”

“I’d love to see you in a dress again”, she said. “They used to really suit you, especially blue ones. They brought out the colour of your eyes…”

Sam was amused, but shocked at the same time. He really couldn’t picture himself wearing a dress…

Over the next few days, Edie got a lot better.

The doctors finally agreed to release her but insisted that she stay with a family member. That meant no going back to university for the time being. Her course had been put on hold, to resume the following year.

Edie stared meaningfully at Sam…

“I can’t… I’ve only got one bedroom… I’ve no idea how to take care of you!”

“It’s all right, mum! I can take care of myself I just need someone to keep an eye on me. Besides, I’m worried about you. We need to get you off of this being a man kick that you’re on. It’s not doing you any good…!”

“Ok…”, said Sam, giving in…

They set up a camp bed in Sam’s bedroom. Edie loved the idea; she drove Sam nuts by bouncing up and down on it.

When they got back, Edie took Sam by the hand and led him over to a little used wardrobe in the corner of the room. They opened it together…

The blue dress was swinging on a hanger. Drawers underneath had tights and underwear, as well as a padded bra.

“There you go, mum! Everything you need!”, Edie said.

Sam just stared in disbelief. He was sure all that kit hadn’t been there before…

Edie left him alone with the contents of the wardrobe, saying she was going in the living room to watch TV.

Sam started looking through the drawers. He found himself picking out an outfit to wear, completely by reflex. He stripped, then started changing over.

To his amazement, when he went to put the knickers on, he realised he was now female between his legs…

It made him shiver when his hand brushed against his vagina for the first time…

Now determined, he carried on getting dressed, using the padded bra as he was still fairly flat chested. Then he put on the dress, and a pair of white flats.

He looked in the mirror and his mouth dropped open.

A woman stared back at him. Attractive, quite normal. No sign of ever being a man at all.

Hesitantly, he closed the wardrobe and walked into the living room…

Edie looked up, saw her mum coming out of the bedroom, squealed and ran to her.

“That’s more like it!”, she said. “I knew you could do it!”

“I’m all woman now”, said Sam. “You were right all along.”

“Of course I was!”, said Edie. “Don’t you think I’d know my own mum by now…?”

The pair, happy together, then settled down on the sofa to watch TV, cuddled up against each other…