Lilly was back home now. Home after... after a very strange day.
"Hello sweety," smiled her mother.
The squirrel girl jumped up and hugged her mother tightly, her little shoes almost slipping off.
"Oh my- is everything okay?" The elder woman asked concerned as she rubbed her smooth skin on her daughter's furry face.
"Everythin' is perfect mom," she said happily. "I- I helped Jenny an' Artemis. I- I actually can help people," She said still in awe as she reflected everything that happened.
Mrs Gordon grinned. Of course she knew her daughter could do anything. "My goodness. It sounds like you had quite an adventure little lady."
Lilly felt herself blush under her fur and tried to look modest- but there was an excitement in her. It was like a spark had been lit, eliminating all her self doubts since she had in this form and even doubts she once harboured as a boy- all of those doubts were gone. She could be happy... she could help her friends... she could learn magic... she could be a magic girl! (if- well- she wanted to be.) "I had the bes' adventure ever," Said the squirrel girl. She wanted to help Jenny wherever she could and would follow Artemis to the moon and beyond.
"There will be other adventures I'm sure sweety," she said rubbing her fur. "But you have to promise me you will be careful too." She was happy to see her daughter so happy. Sometimes she wondered herself if the reason Lilly was unhappy at first was to do with her own abilities as a mother. Lilly is- or was her eldest... maybe she was a little rougher in it with him- her- or- well no matter. Having Lilly like this was almost like a 'redo' of her errors. Not that she felt she made many, but she could offer the girl the benefit now of her greater experience.
Lilly was staring a little at her mother's pregnant belly. "M-Mom? Does havin' um- a baby- does it hurt?" She asked.
Her mother just smiled and embraced her daughter. "Oh honey... It can, but it is worth having you."
The squirrel girl continued to stare with her almond eyes. "I- I worry though about you, an..." when she was a boy, she never said it.. but the idea of her mother having a child terrified her. More so the idea that her mother might...well... didn't it hurt so bad that- that- it could- could- she shut her eyes unable to even picture it.
Mrs Gordon so the fear in her daughter's face. "Honey... I'll have to be honest with you" she said while putting her on her knee as she shifted her body. "There are few things harder then having a child... The doctors will make sure they do everything they can to help. I have done this twice before though, and the first one is always the riskiest," she said while patting her head. "There is less to worry about now, but we must have some faith too."
Lilly bulked a bit at this revelation. "I- I mus' have made you worry an'-"
"Like I said dear, you are worth it... as is Stacy... and this one. You're going to be very special to help me with the baby too now." she said a little happily.
"R-really?" She said a little excited.
"Oh yes. This baby will need her big sister, so much."
Ricky heard the front door open and could feel herself tensing. Anne gave a comforting smile as she stood up from the kitchen chair, as did Ricky. Never had the machine-like girl felt a sense of dread and foreboding as this. She could almost feel things inside actually 'rattle'- a new experience to be sure. What could she say? What would her mother say? God- what would her father say?
"Ricky? are you ho- Oh-" The young mother looked confused at the two girls- "Who are you?" She did a double take as she took in the strange changed being. She had never seen the changed quite this up close and this one seemed stranger then most. Yet there was something about her that was fascinating to behold. She could hear the gentle tick the robot-girl emitted as she moved her hand upwards in a cautious gesture.
Ricky wasn't sure what to say as she gazed at the puzzled familiar face, that used to see her in recognition. A recognition that had to be earned again. "M-M-M-om" she whispered, the stammer echoed in perfect timed harmony as it reverberated around the mechanism of her being. She couldn't say anything more though.
Ricky's mother blinked and glanced at the 'normal' girl for some kind of explanation.
"I'm Anne," said the girl introducing herself and deciding she might be able to smooth this over. "Please- I know this might be really hard to believe but... This- This is Ricky..." she gestured to the robot girl biting her lip. God- even she was feeling the tension now.
The young woman gasped. "What? Ricky?" She looked at the little clockwork girl with the strangest expression of shock and even a little awe and most of all, curiosity.
The girl carefully stepped forward, with the gentle clicking of her gears in each step. "I- I'm s-sorry- m-mom," said the clockwork girl as all the gears inside her seemed to be turning to their limit.
The woman wasn't one hundred percent sure if to believe- but when she saw the machine-girl looking so upset, she felt such a pang of empathy that she rushed to her, and bent down to wrap her arms around her strange body in a gentle embrace.
Ricky was so shocked by the sudden familiar hug that in an instant, all her springs just lost their tension, returning to their soft gentle ticking. Seconds seemed to go by, all timed perfectly by her mechanisms. The sound had a rather calming effect on the two of them.
"Is... is that really you Ricky?" Her mother asked softly.
"Y-yes Mom. Please- don't be angry-" The clock work girl couldn't seem to cry any tears. Her eyes remained as they were, but expressed their sadness in the way the mechanical iris's enlarged, reflecting her mothers image in the flawless glass. Her stammer wasn't even the result of gasping, it was more just an emphasis of an cho in her musical voice- like the trilling of an instrument. Not even an electrical synthesised tone, but something so different and strange there was no exact way to describe it.
"Honey, I could never be mad at you," she said while continuing to look her over. She touched her strange skin, the curious small hands she now had... even the rather pretty, though mechanised face. "But I am confused. How did you change at night?" She was sure Ricky was fine before he left for school.
Her father at this point came in. "Hello? What's this?" There was no disguising the curiosity the elder man had to the strange changed girl.
"It's our son dear. It's Ricky." explained the young woman said with- a very surreal calm. It was almost impossible to believe just how well she was taking this. Her son had become a girl! A- mechanical ticking clock girl?
Her father's jaw just about hit the floor. "W-what?" He went right up to his son turned mechanised-daughter, to inspect her. "My God!" He exclaimed not really sure quite what to say, instead just questioning the situation. "No- really? Really?" This had to be some kind of trick. The sun turned people into- well- not something like that! "Really?" he asked again.
"Yes," said Ricky looking down a bit. She felt just a little ashamed now. That- that this thing she was had in some way taken the familiar from them. It took 'Ricky'... that must be what they are thinking that she was now going to be hated and-
Her father suddenly hugged her too.
Anne smiled watching them all. This was going surprisingly well. They must be a good family to just 'accept' this. Well maybe not quite 'accept', it was clear that Ricky's mother must have been mentally prepared for the strangeness to eventually come their way... but still, given what their son had actually become it was going to take a lot of getting used to.
"Are you a friend of his?" Asked Ricky's father looking to Anne.
The nerdish girl gave a very humble look. "We met recently. I saw her just outside the school when she... wound down. I- well- I wound her up again and made sure she got back home."
The two looked behind the clockwork girl, only now noticing the key as it rotated. It was so obvious now, it was hard to believe they didn't notice. They also noticed her strange, hair, looking her over in every angle as it seemed to change colour when they moved around her.
"No- that can't be real," decided Ricky's father. "Son- let me have a listen."
"Yes Father," said Ricky- she didn't even think of objecting as her father pressed his ear to behind her back and she became- oddly still. Ricky's father heard what could only be described as the unquantifiable number of strange cogs whirling and buzzing, and the click as something slipped on the key shaft. He could hear the single gentle tick, and then looked at the key. "Does that hurt?" he asked concerned.
"No Father," said Ricky calm at this very awkward inspection. She felt a little happy to answer these questions. It- was a little strange now that she thought about it... but... the questions had to be answered. They were her parents.
Her father then carefully inspected the key, giving it a very gentle tug. Ricky felt her body get pulled along with it. "Hm. Maybe we can pull it out?" He thought aloud.
Immediately Ricky tensed at that. Her father did not say it with any maliciousness. He was only trying to help.
"I- don't think its the kind that comes off," said Anne quietly. "It looks solidly part of her."
"But he can't walk around with that in his back." Her father thought. That would make her look- well- just a little weird?
"He- She- seems to have done okay so far," thought Ricky's mother. "I think we should take her to get X-rayed before we do any tampering." She agreed that while it was a good idea to see if they can do anything to improve Ricky's situation, she wasn't about to allow anything rash.
Ricky's father nodded. "Yeah, I guess you are right. Sorry son, I was just thinking to help you."
"It's okay father, I know" Ricky said softly looking down as the shaft did another little click. Having this key behind her back was probably going to be the hardest thing about her transformation. It was something she had to carry... possibly forever. For a machine entity like her, forever might be a very long time. It's not as if there was any cure in sight... and she was only just starting to process the implications of it all.
"We owe you a debt Anne," said Ricky's mother. "You saved our son. I don't even want to know what would have happened to her if someone else took advantage of her- wound down state." Just picturing this clockwork girl alone on the street, unable to move sent a very fearful shudder down her back. Knowing that it was her son, made her all the more concerned at the implications.
Ricky bit her lip. That never occurred to her. What would happen if... if some stranger- it didn't bare thinking about. Her mother was right, Anne may well have saved her life.
"It was nothing really," said Anne still being very modest.
"Nonsense dear. Please, our home is your home. I can not thank you enough," Ricky's mother gave Anne a tight embrace, making the nerdy girl blush a little. Ricky's mother had no doubt that Anne being around was very fortunate. She then turned back to the clockwork girl. "Oh Ricky, what am I going to do with you?" She said shaking her head. "Will you go to school at the day time now?" Her voice was a little disappointed. She had not spent quite as much time with Ricky as she had when she changed shifts.
Ricky glanced to Anne. "A-Actually mom... I'd rather stay at the night schedule."
"Oh? Why's that? I'm sure you would fit in better."
As they talked, Ricky's father continued to prod and poke Ricky's Metallic key. Ricky didn't seem to object at all, though the clockwork girl looked down. She could not even look her mother in the eye, as she thought about what happened to her. "Mom- I- I want to study with Anne and- the people I know." She said simply. "I would feel better. I don't think I need quite as much sleep either any more so... I wont get tired. I just- I just want-" she wanted to keep things as they were. Even if they could never be... just 'being' in a familiar setting is all she wanted for now. She couldn't handle more changes, or even other changed people.
"Hm... well, I guess that is understandable," she thought after a while. "At least I can still spend more time with you," she said smiling.
