You were pretty sure you said. "No way." But your words came out silent. The good doctor knew what to say, though.
"Yes, that is Randall. Take a moment, son, breath and let it absorb." He said, calmly.
"We're so sorry, Timothy." Kerry said.
"Your mother is dead, Tim, but we were able to save Randall using her body." Saunders tried to explain.
"How can you do that?!" You said in outrage, your voice but a whisper.
"It was the only way, if not for the operation Randall would be dead too. His body was in critical condition and your mother was healthy, all but the damage to her brain. It was unprecedented but we did what we thought was right!" Kerry said, the strain of the past hours clear.
"So my mom is gone?"
Saunders put a hand on your shoulder. "She's gone, we tried everything but it was no use, I'm sorry son." You knew you should react, say something, cry, anything. But you stared at your mother, the woman who had given birth to you and raised you, mostly alone for your whole life, and tried to reason that inside was now your best friend from childhood, Randall. The guy that called women 'chicks' and had an even bigger obsession with girly magazines and the female anatomy than you, was not in your middle-aged mother.
"So what are we going to do, then?" You asked, hoping one of them would have an answer. Your father had died when you were young, leaving you and your mother with a hefty life-insurance check. All the money didn't matter squat when you had no parents, and right now you needed somebody to tell you what to do.
"Listen Tim, this is very important. What we did here was dangerous, and the public doesn't know we have these capabilities yet. We need you to keep this secret, for the sake of you, your family and especially Randall, His parents have consented to keep this a secret, we need you to also." Kelly said seriously.
"How are we possibly going to keep this a secret?" You asked.
The doctors exchanged glances. "Well, Timothy, Randall is going to have to take on your mother's persona, and you're going to have to keep it a secret."
You shook your head childishly. "No way, this is not happening."
"Unless you want Randall to be hounded by the media for the rest of his life, you're going to keep it secret, and he's going to have to do the same thing. Imagine how difficult it will be for him, Tim, he'll need your help. You didn't like it, but you realised he was right.
Your attention was drawn to the bed, where your mother, or, Randall, seemed to be stirring.