A few more weeks saw the family slowly adapting to their new routine. Karen and the children were gradually getting the hang of homeschooling; Karen had found a pretty comprehensive curriculum that focused on students keeping track of their own progress, which was awfully convenient for her. The kids handled it pretty well, Jenny more so than Benny, and both of them enjoyed having the rest of the day free after they completed their schoolwork.
Karen, in her free time, had taken up research on the Internet to try to find a way to change back. It was slow going, and there were a lot of false leads, but she was determined to find a way to change back. She actually didn't mind it, and Mark seemed to be taking things pretty well, too, but she knew that it would be a lot easier for her children to have normal lives if they had normal bodies. Benny might grow into a normal girl, but Jenny, as a girl with a penis, would find it hard to be accepted in a relationship, outside of fringe cultures that embraced bodily abnormality to the point of emphasizing it above personality. She didn't want that for her daughter.
Both children were spending more time at home than they did before. Benny still went places with his friends, although he went to the mall less often (Karen had always suspected that he and his friends went there primarily for the girls,) and Jenny still played with her friends, but it seemed that they preferred to be home a lot more lately. On the bright side, their sibling bond was stronger than it had ever been, but Karen did worry that they were going to turn into recluses. Heck, she herself had been spending less time with her friends since the change; it seemed that it just wasn't as easy to maintain relationships when an important secret was involved.
Jenny, for her part, was absolutely fine with the whole thing. In fact, she almost seemed happier this way. Part of her ease of adjustment was probably due to the fact that she was several years away from starting puberty, let alone reaching sexual maturity, but Karen had overheard her talking to her stuffed animals about being a daddy some day. Although she was careful not to mention it around Benny, Jenny was still quite excited about the prospect of having an older sister around, and Karen had had to remind her more than once that that might not happen when she'd asked when Benny would start to turn into a girl.
Benny, on the other hand, was less than ecstatic about the idea. In fact, it was the one thing about the situation that still really bothered him. He'd gotten used to sitting down to pee, more or less, and even his shock and squeamishness at the idea of having periods was beginning to wear off (although it would doubtless come back when he started his second,) but the idea idea of developing into a full-fledged girl was still disturbing. Despite his mother's reassurances that they weren't going to make him act feminine if he didn't want to, he knew things wouldn't be the same if that happened. After all, he wouldn't even look the same! He'd have breasts and curves and long slender legs...no, if he started becoming a girl he knew nobody would ever see him the same way again.
After the trial period for the panties his mother had bought, he stopped wearing them; he'd had to switch to briefs instead of boxers to keep the pads in place during his period, and it had been hard finding briefs that snug that didn't cut off the circulation to his legs, but he wasn't going to start dressing girly just because he had girl parts. But if he was just going to turn into a girl, what was the point? No matter how he dressed, nobody would mistake him for a boy. The idea scared him.
One day, Benny had one of the encyclopedias out to look something up for school. He was studying at the kitchen table while Karen took some chicken out to thaw for supper. As she pulled a few pieces out of the bag and set them on a plate, Benny finished his research and closed the encyclopedia. Standing up to take it back to the bookshelf, he hefted it up against his chest, but winced and let out a sharp gasp as the hard cover of the book smacked his nipples. Dropping the encyclopedia, he gingerly poked around his aching nipples as his mother came over to see what was the matter.
"What happened, dear?" she asked, concerned.
"I was picking up the encyclopedia," Benny said, "and it hit my nipples, and it hurt for some reason. It feels like there's litle bumps underneath."
Karen felt around his chest, and sure enough, she could feel breast buds underneath his shirt.
"Oh," she said flatly, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't set him worrying. But Benny could read her expression well enough to understand what this meant.
"I'm turning into a girl, aren't I?" he asked, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.
Karen sighed. "Don't be so quick to jump to that conclusion, Benny," she said. "Yes, it could mean that. This is called 'thelarche,' and it's the first stage of breast development in women." Benny began to sniffle, but she held up a hand and he pulled himself together as she continued. "But, it's also not uncommon in boys. Your father actually had to deal with it when he was a teenager, and two of the guys in his class teased him about it quite a bit - until it happened to them, too. So for all we know, it might be a sign of your impending development into a young lady. But it also might not, since it can happen to boys normally, too."
Benny brightened a bit, and his mother put her arm around his shoulder. "Benny, honey," she said, "you need to stop worrying about this. I know it's a scary thing to think about, but if it's going to happen it's going to happen; one way or the other, there's nothing you can do about it, so you need to accept the possibility. I've already promised you that we'll do our best to not treat you any different, but in the end the person who decides what will change in your life is you. We can all treat the girl Benny just like the old Benny if this happens, but if you can't see yourself as the same person, it's not going to make a difference."
Benny sighed as he got up to put the encyclopedia back, making sure to hold it at his side. Maybe his mom was right, but how was he supposed to just accept the idea of becoming something so completely different?
