This choice: It's Natalie, the pregnant teacher. • Go Back...Chapter #6It's Natalie, the pregnant teacher. by: Wassel   Your first thought as you looked upon the peacefully sleeping face was that the doctors had gotten the wrong room, or that this was some kind of weird joke, as that was definitely not Randall lying there...it was a woman. A very beautiful woman.
"That...that's not..." you stuttered, unable to properly get the words out as you pointed to the figure on the bed, looking back round at Kerry and Saunders standing behind you.
"It is, Timothy," Kerry relied, placing a hand on your shoulder, and telling you as matter-of-factly as he could, "that's Randall."
"Oh my...God!" you silently murmured to yourself, realizing what the doctor was telling you was true, but being unable to properly accept it as that. There was no way in hell you could possibly recognize her as such, as your closest friend; the woman before you looking nothing like the curly red haired boy you'd been friend with ever since he'd dropped a pile of mud on your head in preschool. This woman was pretty. She had shoulder length, dark brown hair, cute, girl next door like features and was very much older than Randall had ever been, looking to be in at least late 20's - early 30's. Her body was of course mostly covered by the green hospital bed sheets, but it was obvious from what was visible that she had rather a slim, petite build, with rather large, sizable breasts pushing out from beneath her gown. What was slightly harder to discern was, what exactly the large spherical bump that was sticking out from her stomach was, the shape being too perfectly rounded to be just a rumple in the bed sheets. That's of course when it hit you, when you suddenly realized what it in fact was; That bump was her stomach. She was pregnant! She was very, very pregnant!
"She's..." you began to say, realizing now that that wasn't quite right, "I mean, he's...pregnant?!?" the shock of this major revelation nearly being as bad as the fact your best friend was now a girl.
"Yes, Timothy. He is...now," Kerry said from behind you, before leaving his position and crouching down by your side, looking over at the strange figure in the bed. "That was one of the reasons why the operation was so necessary," he explained, pointing towards the very obvious bump beneath the sheets, "We had to save, not just your friend's life, but the baby's as well." This was just insane, you thought, hearing this, unable to get your head around the fact that not only was your best friend now a woman, but he had a little life growing inside him, inside his belly. It was crazy! "You see Miss. Stevens here was seven months pregnant when she came into the hospital today for a routine checkup," Kerry continued, as you sat there dumbstruck looking at the strange pregnant woman lying on the bed, "Everything checked out fine. The baby was fine, she was fine, and then suddenly, just as she was getting up to leave, she had a brain aneurysm and collapsed right there on the hospital floor. There was unfortunately nothing we could do for her, she was dead before she even hit the ground, but the baby was still alive, at least for a short period. We could keep the mother's body functioning for a while on life support, but it would not have long.
"A cesarean section could have course been performed, but even then the survival rate would not have been good, not for such a premature baby. Fortunately your friend here had just been brought in, in dire need of a new body after the car crash had all but destroyed his. It was a chance to save both lives I simply could not pass up. And while it may not seem like the most age or gender appropriate transplant, there really was no other choice. The operation had to be performed immediately or your friend Randall and the baby would both have died."
"Jesus..." you mumbled, letting this all sink it, the doctors words somehow making this seem all the more real, and yet at the same time, all the more like you were in some sort of crazy dream. "I can't believe it...I can't believe that's him..."
"It is," Kerry once again assured you, his voice becoming a bit more softer and more friendly as he spoke, "And you're going to have to help him through this when he wakes up. This is going to be an even greater shock for him than it is for you; suddenly finding himself in the body of a 31 year old pregnant woman."
"Who is she? I mean, who was she?" you asked, looking again at the attractive female face before you, needing to know more.
"Her name was Natalie Abigail Stevens, she was a kindergarten teacher."
"And...and the baby?"
"Oh, the baby is a girl," Kerry smiled, "...But as for who the father is, we simply do not know. Miss. Stevens was single and never came accompanied by anyone else to her hospital appointments, other than the occasional friend. Her parents it appears are both deceased, but she does have a sister somewhere in Australia."
"Listen, son, this might not be the best time right now, but there is something we do need to talk about," Saunders suddenly interjected, stepping forward and looking down at you with a very serious expression on his, stern, gray face. "This situation...what has happened to your friend, well it would probably be best for all parties involved if none of this was made public. Although Doctor Kerry's procedure saved both Randall and the baby's life, it was not officially sanctioned by the hospital or by the medical board, and if wind of any of this got out, things could get very messy indeed. And not just for us, but for everyone involved. The media attention, press intrusion, not to mention the legal ramifications of Randall now being in the body of this woman would be overwhelming. Which is why when he wakes up and once he's got a handle on everything that's happened, we're going to request he keep things quiet and go on living as if he were actually Miss. Stevens, and we'd like you to do the same."
"Wait, what?" you asked, not entirely sure you'd heard him right, "You want me to what? Pretend like my friend isn't some pregnant lady now, that I don't even know him? You've got to be kidding me!"
"It's not that we want you to pretend you don't know each other, Timothy," Kerry replied, "We just want everyone else not involved with this procedure to think that Randall died in the accident and that Miss. Stevens simply had a little scare during her check up and had to be kept in for a few days. You and your family will still know the truth as will Randall."
"What about his parents?"
"We can inform them, if he wants us to, but nobody else can know. He'll have to take up her identity completely and you'll have to play along, at least in public."
"The rest of your family and your girlfriend have already agreed and signed the waver," Saunders informed you, holding out the clipboard in his hand and giving it a quick tap with his finger. This came as a huge shock to you, not believing your family could decide something like that so quickly, this being your friend's entire life they were talking about here. How could they make a decision like that without even discussing it with you, or with Randall? Of course you knew deep down that this was probably the most sensible option all round and that it was purely in your friend's best interest, but still, you couldn't help but feel like this was a betrayal somehow, a betrayal of his very identity, to pretend he'd simply died.
Continuing on about the various legal matters and forms that would need to be signed, you found yourself zoning out from Doctor Saunders' voice and your attention drifting back again towards your sleeping friend, lying there peacefully on the bed, without even the the faintest clue what had happened to him. It just seemed to so wrong, so unnatural that this could happen, and even though you knew that you had to try and be strong for him, to be the friend that you had been since kindergarten, you weren't sure what the hell you were going to say to him; knowing full well that things would never be the same for either of you from this moment forward.
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