Chapter 11Decisions   On the way to the hotel Alissa and Jonah agreed to use each other’s names, not wanting to have to expin about the whole PEBS situation to the family. When they arrived at the hotel it was te at night and Alissa's parents were waiting in the lobby for them since they had been informed by the hotel staff that the two were on their way.

  Lilly gave Alissa (Jonah) a hug as she approached and Rasheed spped Jonah (Alissa) on the back telling him that he looked better already after his visit to the hospital. Alissa smiled, returning the hug, and Jonah giggled to himself, amused at the fact that his parents could not tell an immediate difference.

  The two of them filled the parents in on the fact that over the course of the next couple of weeks, Jonah would have to visit the hospital daily to adjust the device that he wore on his leg. Rasheed offered to take him to the hospital, but Jonah polity declined and Alissa expined that she would take him because she did not want to leave him to face those visits without her comfort and support.

  Lilly told them both about the offer to have their wedding during the Ceremony the Moons and gave a loose description of how it would be incorporated as a part of the ceremony if they chose to accept. Lilly looked as Alissa expectantly as she finished describing it and Alissa, after a brief pause, remembered whose role she was in at the moment. Blushing, Alissa told Lilly that the idea of being wed under the light of the two full twin moons as they eclipsed sounded lovely to her and turned to Jonah and to ask how he felt about it. Jonah was visibly more animated about the prospect of the unique wedding. He immediately started talking about pns and arrangements that needed to be made in preparation. Lilly gave him a queer look, clearly surprised about how enthusiastic he was about it. In the eyes of both parents, their opinions of the young man soared, convincing them that he was definitely the right man for their daughter.

  Rasheed took Jonah to the side to talk business and expin the process of setting the booth up the next day since he had finally been informed of the location that had been assigned for his little shop. Lilly on the other hand proceeded to talk to Alissa about the Ibian wedding pnner who she had met with earlier that day and the other wedding details. Both Alissa and Jonah were lost in their respective conversations and were not able to get a word in edge wise when they tried to ask questions to clear up matters on the topics being discussed. Soon, both got to the point where they were just agreeing to make the conversation flow faster figuring they would sort it all out ter. Once the parents seemed satisfied that they had their say, they showed Alissa and Jonah to their room. Rasheed reminded the couple that they were not married yet and to keep that in mind, though Lilly gave Alissa a knowing smile when he said it. The young couple said their good nights to the parents and retired to their room, exhausted from the stress of the day.

  Alissa was surprised to see that the room had its own bathroom complete with running water, a flushing toilet, and a massive bathtub that Jonah informed her was called a hot tub. Asking Alissa if she wanted to take a bath, Jonah started to run steaming water from the faucet into the bathtub. Alissa nodded, thinking a bath would be nice and rexing after the stress of the events that afternoon and evening. When she said as much, Jonah smiled and agreed. He walked out of the bathroom for a moment and Alissa tried to start to get undressed. With the exception of the corset, which, after several failed attempts to unce, she gave up and called Jonah in to help. When he came in, she saw that he had already stripped down to his undergarments and she blushed, feeling a heat rise in her body in response. He unced her corset slowly, running rough hand over the soft skin on her already exposed arm lightly, as he worked the cing with the other hand. Soon as he was done and Alissa was free of the offending article of clothing. After that, everything else came off with ease and she remarked to herself how much easier it was to remove as opposed to putting it on.

  She slipped a foot experimentally into the hot water and felt a shiver of delight run up her spine from the warmth. She climbed into the hot tub eagerly. As soon as she was settled, she noticed Jonah had never left the room and was now as naked as she was. He climbed into the other end of the tub despite Alissa's halfhearted protests.

  “There is more than enough room for both of us,” Jonah said as he climbed in.

  Alissa couldn't help but agree that, yes there was plenty of room, but it did make her a little uncomfortable as it brought to mind the scene that they had almost made in the hospital. Jonah informed her that he wanted to demonstrate what made the hot tub so special besides the massive size of it. Leaning partially out of the tub, he reached over to a panel on the wall that had several buttons on it and pushed the one in the center.

  Alissa let out a cute little “Eep!” of surprise as several jets of water kicked on gently massaging her upper and lower back as she sat in the tub. She could see that there were jets all around the tub and they were all on whipping the water into a frothy, churning pool that swirled around every inch of her body deliciously. Jonah leaned back, obviously enjoying the pleasure the jets were giving him as well.

  Happily enjoying the tub, Alissa had a sudden thought and slid around close to Jonah, cuddling against him. Jonah wrapped an arm around her holding her close to him, one hand with one hand resting lightly on her breast. Surprised at how much she was enjoying the closeness to him, Alissa pressed as much of her body against his as she could, an unfamiliar desire fulling her mind and spreading to the rest of her body. Soon, they were kissing softly while their hands explored each other’s body gently.

  The night wore on for young couple, yet they slept little, enjoying the company of one another completely.

  #

  The next morning, Lilly stopped Rasheed just in time as he was about to knock on the couple’s door to wake up his future son in w.

  “Why did you stop me?” He asked looking at Lilly confused.

  “Think about it honey,” she replied. “The two of them are soon to be wed and they have just spent their first night alone together. What do you think happened between them st night?”

  “Hopefully nothing. I reminded them that they were not married yet and should act accordingly.”

  “Yes, you did, but still, think back to when we were that age and so freshly in love. What did we do behind our parents backs?”

  “God, woman! If you were expecting them to do that sort of thing, why did you insist on them having their own room?”

  “Because, with Jonah getting hurt, our daughter has been bming herself for it and since she feels responsible she would not take kindly to being cut off from him, even to sleep at night. Also, this is the first time those two are going to have any time to rex and get to express themselves openly to one another without having to worry about us disturbing them. This will help them to learn some valuable lessons about one another that they would not otherwise have the chance to learn until after the wedding.”

  “Oh...” Rasheed said trailing off into silence.

  Rasheed left shortly after with Basheer in tow to go set up the booth for the first day of selling. He kissed Lilly on the cheek before he left, giving her instructions to pass on to Jonah when he finally awoke.

  #

  Around mid-morning Alissa and Jonah awoke in each other’s arms, cuddling. For a while they were kissing and teasing each other before finally getting out of bed. When they were up, Jonah helped Alissa get dressed again, though this time Alissa found that she was able to manage most of it on her own, with the corset being the only real problematic part of her wardrobe. She marveled once again at how hard it was for women to get properly dress yet so easy for them to become undressed, it was almost as if the clothing was designed to be difficult. As soon as Jonah finished cing Alissa’s corset, he showed her how to properly brush her naturally curly hair and the tangles out with minimal discomfort.

  Thinking that they were done, Alissa started to leave when Jonah pushed her back onto the bench at the vanity where he had shown her the proper way to care for her hair. Jonah walked over to their bags that were piled up in the corner of the room and fished out a small box with various brushes and powders in it. Bringing it back to where Alissa sat, he showed her the box.

  “What is that for?” Alissa asked, confused.

  “Tell me something,” Jonah said. “Do you think that you look different from what I would normally look like?”

  Alissa examined herself in the mirror and noticed that something was indeed different, though she could not quite put her finger in it. She told him this and he just nodded then informed her that it was because she was not wearing any makeup.

  Opening the box, Jonah walked Alissa through how to apply the makeup in order enhance her natural features. He lectured her on how to tell the right amount so that she would not use too much or too little in case if she had to do it on her own.

  Finally, once Jonah had her squared away, he got dressed himself and the two of them left the room. Lilly met them in the lobby, giving Jonah the message from Rasheed before pulling Alissa off to go meet the Ibian that would help them pn the wedding.

  As Alissa and Lilly went off to start pnning the wedding, Jonah followed the instructions that Lilly had given him so that he could find Rasheed's booth. As he walked through the city, he felt a bit depressed because he knew that he was going to be excluded from the wedding pnning process. Instead, he knew that he would be working with Rasheed and spending the bulk of the day haggling with customers, trying to sell the produce for the most he could. On the up-note Jonah was used to preforming this task in the past, so it would not be anything new to him.

  #

  Alissa was nervous as she rode in the carriage that Lilly had called to take them to the wedding pnner, not sure what she should do or how act when left alone with her. Lilly obviously thought she was her daughter, but Alissa was not sure she could be completely convincing to her. She wished that she was the one that was heading to the square where Rasheed had his booth set up, so that she could learn the trade that Rasheed had hinted at teaching her.

  Instead, she was here in a carriage going to see a wedding pnner about her upcoming wedding and then heading to a seamstress to get measured for a wedding dress. Sure, she was excited about the upcoming wedding, but she was afraid that she might do something that would make Lilly suspicious that something was off.

  They arrived at the wedding pnner’s office and Alissa let Lilly do most of the talking, afraid that if she spoke up too much, she would say the wrong thing. By the time they finished with the Ibian, Lilly was looking pleased with herself about the first meeting and asked Alissa about how she felt with the way it went.

  “I believe it went well, Mother. Isis seemed to know how things work here in Ib when it comes to weddings. Considering how ours will be on the night of the Ceremony of the Moons, she knows what we all have to do for the wedding, and what liberties we can take to make the wedding uniquely ours. I was impressed by her.”

  Lilly looked at Alissa curiously. It was obvious to her that her daughter had been paying attention during the meeting from the response that she had given but Lilly could not help but feel that something was off with her daughter today.

  Alissa saw Lilly's expression and thought she had already done something to make her suspicious, so she stopped talking.

  While they were with the seamstress, Alissa tried to act more natural and rexed, the way she thought that Lilly would expect her to act. After they had finished with the seamstress and were back in the carriage to head to the hotel, Lilly confronted Alissa about her strange behavior. She broke down, knowing that she should be honest before matters got out of hand. She told Lilly about everything that happened in the hospital. Lilly sat there nodding thoughtfully and Alissa apologized to her for attempting to deceive her. Lilly told her that while she understood the reason that they were trying to keep what had happened hidden, she wished that they had been honest with her. Lilly gave her a hug and told her that she would help keep their secret since Rasheed likely wouldn’t understand. Alissa cried tears of relief, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

  They altered their route, going to the square to pick Jonah up. When Rasheed tried to argue with Lilly about taking his help away, she told him that she was taking Jonah to help with some wedding decisions that Alissa had insisted that Jonah have a part in. Finally, Rasheed submitted and agreed to let Jonah go with the women, but told Lilly he would expect to have Jonah again tomorrow. Lilly told him that they would worry about that ter based on how the wedding pnning went with Jonah’s input. Rasheed, knowing he was fighting a losing argument dropped the subject.

  Once Jonah was in the carriage, Lilly informed him that Alissa had told her everything and that no matter what he was always going to be her little girl. Jonah told Lilly that it was only until his leg finished healing then they would use the PEBS again and get things back to the way they should be. Lilly nodded saying that she understood it was not a permanent situation but until things got straightened out for them, she was going to have both him and Alissa there with her for the wedding pnning so that her little girl could get the wedding she wanted.

  Alissa was relieved to have the pressure taken off of her about the wedding and told Lilly and Jonah as much. The two of them giggled at her and told her to rex since it was in good hands now.

  #

  Over the next twenty five days, Lilly, Alissa, and Jonah, were busy pnning the wedding in between visits to the hospital for adjustments to the device on Jonah's leg. Alissa observed how animated and excited Jonah got when discussing the wedding as they id out pns for the event. He seemed to enjoy the challenge of working within the confines of what would be allowed since the event would be integrated in the Ceremony of the Moons. All of Jonah's energy and excitement seemed to be catching and soon Alissa found that she was giddy with excitement as she became more and more involved in the pnning as well.

  On the evening of the twenty fourth day, Alissa was standing in the seamstress's shop as the Ibian put the finishing touches on the wedding dress and she could not help but admire what a beautiful bride she, or at least Alissa, would be. She realized that she had gotten used to this body and had come to accept it as her own over the twenty five days that she had been inhabiting it. At this point the thought of going back to her old body, while somewhat pleasing, was also bit depressing. She had initially been upset and reluctant about the exchange, bming Jonah (Alissa) for it at the time. As time passed, she had grown to enjoy her time as a woman. She knew that as long as she were with Jonah, she would be happy, even if that meant that Jonah wanted her to remain a woman for the rest of her life.

  When they got back to their hotel room that night, she told Jonah as much. Jonah gave her a hug and asked her if she wanted to remain the way they were. Alissa told Jonah that he deserved to get his body back and, as much as she would love to remain as things were, she recognized that they needed to put things back the way they were before, even though she felt that they had grown much closer because of the experience.

  Jonah told her that if it meant that she would be happy, he would remain as Jonah for the rest of their life. He told her that he too, had grown to feel the same way as she did about their situation in each other’s role. They spent most of that night discussing what decision they should make. They both realized that this experience had only grown their love for one another and between the two of them they decided on what they thought would be the best course of action to take. The night drew on as the two lovers shared themselves with one another before falling into a deep sleep. The next morning, they awoke in each other’s arms and prepared for their final trip to the hospital.

  Princessarylin