A Second Chance

"It's a frosty morning out there folks, careful on those roads. We're getting reports of delays and traffic all over so there's not rush, just a relaxing slow commute into work this morning. Don't worry about it being minus three out there though, we've got some songs lined up that'll keep you-"

Natasha Love taps her steering wheel to turn off the radio while waiting for the lights to change, feeling like a bit of serene quiet before getting to her office just a couple of miles away.

The lights change to green, she checks it's safe, then goes. Her foot is only on the accelerator for a few seconds before an ear shattering smash and everything goes black...

~

Charlotte Love is anxiously sitting on what seems like the longest bus journey of her life. She'd already been at work when she received a call from the police saying there had been a serious accident involving her mum Natasha and self-driving car. Paramedics had rushed her to hospital.

Tears well up in her eyes and she sniffles wiping them away. "She'll be okay. I'll get there and she'll be fine and happy to see me." she repeats in her head having to think hard about every word to keep herself from breaking down.

The receptionist at A&E types Natasha's name in and reads her details without revealing anything through her expression. "If you just take a seat Charlotte, a nurse will be right with you".

"Is my mum okay? Can I see her?"

"The nurse will explain everything, please take a seat."

"Oh. Okay."

An excruciating half hour passes.

"Charlotte Love?" A nurse asks, sitting next to Charlotte in the waiting room.

"Mmm." Charlotte nods "Is she okay?"

The nurse pauses. "She's been seriously injured..."

The nurse continues, going into unnecessary detail for an erotic story like this.

"... she's in the surgery now but we're not expecting her to be out until late tonight. We'll know more then."

Charlotte has streams of tears rolling down her cheeks. "O-okay then. Should I just... wait here?"

"That's up to you but best to wait here in case we need to talk to you for anything urgent."

"Alright... thank you."

~

"Charlotte?"

Someone's voice saying her name jolts her awake.

"Sorry Charlotte, I thought you'd like to come through and see your mum."

"She's okay?"

"Yeah she's just waking up. The operation went incredibly well."

The... operation. Charlotte considers the wording for a moment but quickly casts it aside over the joy of hearing her mum is okay.

"She's just through here."

Charlotte follows the nurse down a corridor along rows of opaque glass examination rooms until they reach one near the end. The nurse opens the door and shows Charlotte in.

"Baby!"

"Mum!"

Charlotte rushes to her mum's bedside crying with relief and joy.

"Mum you're okay. I thought..."

"I'm okay sweetie, I'm okay"

Natasha is lying down in an inclined bed. Something about her is different, in fact a lot is different. It takes a few moments for Charlotte to notice anything.

"Mum... your hair."

Natasha is completely bald.

"Yeah... I was- they've had to do a lot."

"A lot? But you look fine!"

"Here." Natasha gives Charlotte her hand to inspect.

"What am I looking at?"

"Have a feel, they haven't got it perfect yet."

Charlotte takes her mum's hand and feels her skin. It's smooth. So smooth it reminds her of latex.

"Apparently there wasnt much left of me, so they've given me this body. A 'life suit' or something."

"But you can still feel things? Like this?" Charlotte turns Natasha's hand over and traces a line along her palm. Natasha closes her hand and holds Charlotte's finger.

"Mhmm, everything feels very... normal."

"That's fantastic to hear Natasha." A woman's voice interrupts. Charlotte turns to see a doctor holding a tablet, checking Natasha's file. "It's amazigg to see you're doing so well, this is really exciting stuff."

"Thank you. I don't know how, but I really feel fine."

"You're very lucky. This is the first time any member of the public has been given a life suit. I'm sure there'll be kinks to work out, but it really saved your life. But that's basically it, you should be able to go home today."

"Today? Really? That's... it?"

"Belive it or not! We'll give you some medication to take but it's nothing serious, and we'll book you in for regular checkups."

"Wow..."

"Yeah it's something else isn't it. Anyway I'll leave you alone for now, and I'll see you later to sign you out."

The doctor and nurse leave the room.

"This is... crazy. I can't believe you're okay." Charlotte says once it's just her and her mum.

"I can't believe it either. I'm so sorry I worried you."

"Don't be silly mum, it's not your fault at all. I'm happier than ever knowing you're okay."

~

The pair splash on the privacy of a taxi home. Natasha's clothes were destroyed in the accident and Charlotte hadn't had time to go pick anything up from home, so she's wearing a set of badly fitting scrubs the hospital provided, Charlotte's jacket and some slippers.

The mother and daughter sit quietly for the journey, Charlotte's head resting on her mum's shoulder, their hands wrapped together. Both are shocked by the rollercoaster of events, neither expecting to leave hospital so soon, neither having had time to process all their emotions.

Natasha wiggles her toes, her almost-bare feet getting cold in the simple slippers in the footwell of the taxi. The cold is uncomfortable, but every time she feels something familiar it's relieving, a sensation this high-tech but first-iteration new body is able to replicate. She squeezes Charlotte's hand as a reassurance to herself, prompting her daughter to nuzzle her head against Natasha's shoulder.

Both women are nearly asleep by the time the taxi slows and pulls up to the house. They lift their heads from resting on the other and look outside at their house, snow falling gently on the few inches of snow already laying on the ground.

Natasha's slipper sinks into the fresh pillowy snow as they thank the driver and get out the taxi, before rushing to the door to get out of the cold neither of them are dressed for.

"Gosh. Home." Natasha exhales.

"You get comfy mum, I'll bring you some tea to warm up."

"Thank you sweetheart. That sounds perfect."

Natasha steps out of her slippers onto the wooden floor, noting the change in texture on her soles, and walks slowly to her bedroom.

She takes out a fresh set of clothes from her wardrobe. She feels oddly alien in her own space but gracious for the little things like finding her clothes neatly folded away from the laundry she'd done just a couple of days ago.

She takes of Charlotte's jacket and lays it in her bed, then the almost-paper-like scrubs. As she stands back up from taking the bottoms off, she catches herself in the full length mirror, naked. She realises it's her first time seeing her body in full, the nurses had leant her a small mirror to look at her face but that was all she'd seen. Maybe that was for good reason. Except for her hair, her head and face had been recreated nearly perfectly. Her body was generally the right proportions, however all the details were virtually unrecognisable.

"Oh..." Natasha mutters under her breath.

She faces the mirror straight on and steps closer, looking in her reflection then down at herself. She'd been fit and active at 45, but her body before the accident had hinted at her age. Her hand travels over her now hairless and blemish-free skin and rests on her hip. Then her eyes slowly wander down over her form, every feature seemingly now curvier, chiseled and perfect. No sag, no stretch marks, no scars. They'd gotten the colour of her areolas wrong and were a light brown. Turning to the side, she follows her defined shoulders cut into her back and then falls down the smooth curve of her back to her butt. She thinks to herself "I look... young".

She pulls herself away from the mirror, a little stunned by the changes and desperate to fully re-discover her new self, but conscious of keeping her daughter waiting. She slips into her clothes and walks barefoot back to the living room where Charlotte is sipping from her cup of tea, another left steeping on the coffee table.

"Everything okay? Is the suit... thingy alright?"

Natasha sits down beside Charlotte on the safe and picks up her tea.

"Everything's alright sweetheart. It's just going to take a while to get used to."

"We can go wig shopping or find you something online?"

"Yeah..." she runs her hand over her head, still expecting the feeling of her fingers combing through her hair. "That'll also take some getting used to."

~

Charlotte pulls back the duvet and slips into the cool bed, shivering for just a moment before her body heat warms the sheets and it quickly gets so cozy she couldn't bare the thought of having to ever get back out. She turns out the bedside lamp but props herself up with a pillow against the headboard and starts scrolling through her phone, catching up on social media before trying to sleep.

She scrolls to a low effort ad for cheap wigs and scrolls on, thinking how successful her and her mum had been that day shopping for something high quality for her to wear. The dark brown wig they'd found for her mum and gotten styled to be shoulder length and wavy had looked stunning on her.

Charlotte had also noticed how young her mum now looked with the wig on. Her new pore-less skin and lack of wrinkles meant they could easily pass as sisters. Charlotte did wonder at the time about even being seen as the older of the two, a very weird thought that makes her cringe a little being reminded of it now.

Still she's filled with joy. Having her mum back and being able to return to some degree of normality so soon had avoided a lot of trauma. Charlotte can't help but smile as she answers some messages from concerned friends before putting her phone away. She adjust the pillows, rests her head down and closes her eyes to sleep.

"....mmm" a short sound comes from somewhere.

Charlotte doesn't think much of it. It could be anything.

"Mmm" another short sound. This time sounding like it's coming through the wall from her mum's room nextdoor.

"Mmmm.... Mmmm... Mhmmm." Rhythmic and getting more drawn out. It didn't take any guesswork for Charlotte to know these were her mum's moans.

Charlotte feels conflicted laying in bed, her eyes now open. Self pleasure is natural and normal, and her mum is no exception but she's being unusually loud and only two days after narrowly surviving a serious accident.

The moans continue, the rhythm getting ever-so-slightly faster.

Charlotte wonders if it's not unusually loud at all. What if sound had always travelled easily between their rooms and her mum thought she was being quiet. That would mean... her mum had been able to hear her all these years too. Charlotte had never worried about being overly quiet before.

The moans were reaching a crescendo, barely a pause between them, sometimes skipping a beat, accompanied by sharp breaths. Then finally, a longer pause and a deep sigh.

Charlotte could exhale, realising she'd been almost holding her breath in anticipation. She felt hot too which she puts down to a kind of sympathetic excitement for her mum, glad in a weird way that she could find enjoyment even in her new body.

Eventually Charlotte's racing mind tires itself out anxiously thinking about what she's witnessed and she falls asleep.

~

Charlotte blinks away but closes her eyes and keeps them shut for a few more minutes. She remembers the night before and bounces thoughts around her head trying to compartmenalise in the hope she can avoid awkwardly thinking about it with her mum later. Of course this doesn't work, thinking about it more just dredges up other invasive and unhelpful thoughts, and she begins to feel anxious.

Charlotte takes a meditative deep breath and tries to clear her buzzing mind, then she slowly gets dressed and heads to the kitchen for some breakfast.

When she turns the corner into the kitchen she sees her mum dressed in a bath robe with her back towards the door, her left hand helping support herself leaning in the counter, her right obscured but clearly moving in a desperate rubbing motion. In the same moment Charlotte clocks what her mum is doing, she's already started saying:

"Good Morni-"

"Oh!" Her mum jumps and quickly stands up straight, clutching and pulling either side of her bath robe to cover herself before turning around. Charlotte can hear her breathe in from across the room.

"Sweetie! Good morning! Sorry I... just had an itch."

Natasha's face is blushing pink and she's still breathing heavily. She knows the lie is flimsy at best.

"That's okay mum. I hope it's nothing wrong with the life suit." Charlotte, generously, doesn't call her out on the obvious fib. She knows her mum was pleasuring herself.

"Oh I'm sure it's fine."

There's an awkward pause as both women meet eyes.

"... Can I make you a coffee sweetie?"

"Ah thank you mum, that would be really nice."

Charlotte goes to sit at the breakfast bar, taking out her phone to avoid conversation, to distract herself from last night and now... this.

Natasha turns away from her daughter and quickly fixes her robe, tying the belt together a little extra tight so there's no chance of another faux pas. She glances back and see's Charlotte on her phone, and chooses to leave to her it rather than make conversation. Probably a good idea to give her mind time to cool down from the powerful thoughts of self gratification and urge to finish what she started anyway.

The rest of the day goes by uneventfully. Charlotte and Natasha mostly stay to themselves, enjoying meals together and chatting like normal, the awkwardness of the morning seemingly quickly forgotten.

In the evening Charlotte and her mum watch some TV together, rewatching episodes of sitcoms they'd watched many times before in favour of having to find anything good to watch.

"One more?" Charlotte asks as the episode ends having lost count of how many they'd watched already.

"I think that's all I can take! No I better go to bed. I'm still meant to be resting anyway."

"Awww okay. I'm not tired yet so I'm going to watch another if that's okay with you mum."

"But I don't want to miss a good- oh no that's right the next episode was a snooze anyway. You got ahead."

"Yeah don't worry you're not missing much. Just one of those flashback episodes about Kara."

"Ugh those are the worst. I'm glad you're watching it then and not me."

Natasha sits up and gets off the sofa. "Goodnight!"

"Night mum, sleep well."

Charlotte relaxes back into the sofa and watches the next episode. When the credits roll, she turns it off and makes her way to bed.

Charlotte stops dead as she approaches her bedroom.

"Mmmhmm..." a moan comes from her mum's room. Charlotte realises what's happening... again and steps carefully towards her own room before changing into pyjamas and getting in her own bed. She lays awake for a while listening to more moans through the wall hoping it will end soon. When it doesn't stop after 5, then 10, then 15 minutes, what Charlotte was worried about comes to pass. The intrusive thoughts return and she begins imagining her mum, the beautiful woman she holds all the respect in the world for, her closest friend, reduced to desperately touching herself. It's... hot. Troublingly so. Charlotte makes herself angry thinking and then enjoying the thought of such taboo subjects and closes her eyes tight to try and control herself. When she can't get her mum off her mind she gets more frustrated, deciding to call a stop to it.

Charlotte gets out of bed and walks to her mum's door, taking loud footsteps out of performative anger (but really to try and warn her mum of her own approach before an inevitably embarrassing confrontation). She reaches the door and pauses, praying for the moans to stop but they continue.

She knocks on the door.

"Mum, can you be a bit quieter please?"

"Mmm... Oh gosh... Sorry sweetie!... Mmm... I'll be done... soon!"

Charlotte is shocked. Her mum's just going to keep going? Not even a pause while they're talking through the door? "O-okay" is all she can muster and she walks back to bed both defeated and confused.

Back under the bed covers Charlotte is even more uncomfortable than before. The moaning hasn't stopped and her mum appears to have lost all sense of shame. She listens to sounds of ecstacy building and building, now incapable of distracting herself from the igniting and undeniable arousal she feels. She gets angry and embarrassed when she briefly fantasises about touching herself too... just as her mum obviously starts reaching her climax.

Natasha's loud panting signals an end to the session. Charlotte tosses and turns for an hour afterwards replaying it in her mind and feeling the arousal and embarrassment again and again in cycles until eventually, exhausted, she falls asleep.

~

Charlotte spends the next day avoiding her mum Natasha. She's afraid to open the pandoras box of confronting her mum's new habits, but even more so the feelings she has for her. Her mum really is her best friend, it would be heartbreaking to mess that up especially so soon after getting this miracle second chance together.

Avoidance works... until the evening when Natasha knocks on her daughter's bedroom door.

"Charlotte are you there? I haven't seen you all day!"

"... Yeah mum I'm here."

The door handle turns and Natasha pokes her head through the door. Charlotte is sitting in her bed reading a book.

"Do you want to come and watch some TV?"

"I..." She's hesitant, but watching TV together is an ewsy excuse not to have to talk to eachother. "Sure, mum. I'll be there in two minutes."

"Great! I'll get it ready for us."

Charlotte finishes the chapter, folds her page, closes her book and takes a deep breath. She swings her legs over the bed side and gets up to head to the living room.

Natasha is sat at one end of the sofa using the remote and Charlotte sits down at at the other end, consciously leaving space between them.

They watch an episode and chat a little, asking about eachothers days which they know have been uneventful. Another episode starts playing and Charlotte begins to feel more comfortable. This isn't so bad she thinks. She's not actively fawning over her mum and she's keeping her cool. Her mum acts totally normal too, not a hint that she'd been caught twice yesterday getting herself off by her daughter.

But it all changes when there's a brief encounter between lovers on the TV. It's nothing explicit or steamy, just two characters in a will-they-won't-they finally confessing their feelings, but it hits so close to home for mother and daughter that they can both feel themselves blushing. In fact, Natasha feels a lot more as she slips a hand down past the waist of her loose fitting trousers, desperate to extinguish a fire that's been building all day, relinquishing all fear of her daughter seeing her give in like this.

Charlotte would need to have her eyes checked if she didn't notice the motion to her side. The tender scene on the TV had already come to an end, but her mum had stopped watching to focus on herself.

"Mum! What the hell I'm right here!"

"I'm sorry sweetie..." she exhales a sigh of pleasure "... do you mind?"

"Do I mind? Are you asking if you can keep... doing *that* right next to me?" Charlotte fights herself to keep her eyes off her writhing mother sunk into the opposite end of the couch.

"Mhmm... I know it's not right but... gosh I need this"

"No mum, it's not right to do that next to me. Can't you just stop?"

"I suppose..." her mum stops hesitantly, stroking herself a few more times before taking her hand away and letting her pent up breath escape. "Sorry" she says sheepishly.