Joe Bates Alternative Endings

Chapter 64B

by Donna Allyson McLeod

Return to Work.

The alarm clock buzzed loudly in Jo's eyes. She slowly awoke and looked at the clock. It was 5:30 AM Monday morning. It dawned on her that this was the day that she had agreed to return to work full time. She was going to be alone tod ay. The 'others' were not scheduled to return to Honeybone for another week.

Jo-Ellen had called Norma in Minneapolis over the weekend and they had a long conversation. Norma had told Jo about the confrontati on with her Board of Directors and how she had given them an ultimatum to either work with her or resign. Two of the directors did just that and Norma IMMEDIATELY replaced them wi th two of the top women managers from the Minneapolis Financial and Personnel of fices. Jo told Norma about her trip to Tucson with Tammy. She also told her abou t her engagement to Jay. Norma was ecstatic about that.

"You have just got to invite me to the wedding Jo." Norma said. "Invite you? I want you as a Bridesmaid if you can Norma." Replied Jo. "Oh Jo, Thank you. I would be delighted."

The conversation focused around this topic for a little while and slowly changed back to Honeybone.

"Jo, I know I told you "guys" to take all the time you needed to get adju sted, but it has been two months now and I could really use you back on the job." Said Norma.

"That's fine with me Norma. I think I have this female stuff under contro l now. I really was calling you to tell you that I wanted to get back to work anyway. How about if I go back on Monday?" said Jo.

"Great. I will call you at your office on Monday." Said Norma.

"What office? All I've got is a desk in the Lab." Said Jo.

"Not anymore dear. Check it out. I had a brand new office built for you in the Executive Complex. You know you are my new Vice President of Phoenix Oper ations don't you?" Norma laughed.

"Really. How do I rate that? There are a lot of others with a lot more se niority than I have." Asked Jo.

"Yes, but they are not friends and confidants of the Chairman of the Boar d. I have taken the liberty of increasing your salary retroactive to January first. I sen t a direct deposit to your bank in the amount of $25,000. How about 175K a year to start plus expenses and bonuses?" Norma Replied.

Jo was dumb-founded. "I don't know what to say except thanks, Norma. Jo stated.

"No thank you required my friend. If it were not for you, I would still b e stuck in that disgustingly old male body. Besides you are one of my best engineers. I f igured you would accept so I have sent the announcement to Phoenix and it should be posted there by now. You should have no trouble from anyone. I know that the word about our sex change is all over the system but I think everyone also kno ws what I will do if there is any discrimination or lack of cooperation." Norma sta ted matter of factly.

They talked for a little while longer about Mary, Jim, Dave and Michelle. Norma was apparently happy that all was going well for them. Jo agreed to be at work at 8:00 AM on Monday. Norma told him that there would be some mater ial for her to review on her desk. Norma also told Jo that she had hired a n ew Executive Secretary for Jo. Her name was Teresa Nicols. "Get to know her Jo." Said Norma. She has a long story to tell and can be a great asset to you."

With that the conversation ended. Jo was intrigued by this development. Norma had hired her a secretary. There must be something special and impo rtant about this girl if Norma had taken the liberty to hire her directly. Thou ght Jo. The usual procedure was to let top management people hire their own secre taries. Well she would find out Monday. Well it was Monday and Jo, even though she knew what Norma had said, felt a little apprehensive. Up until now, she had only interfaced with a few people at the plant. She had not really spent a lot of time there in the last two months but n ow, she had to have total exposure to the employees as a female. Most of her coworker s had not yet met her or the others as women. She was sure that there would be a lot of staring and whispering going on. Well thought Jo, she would make sure that they only saw a professional, and extremely attractive woman Vice President. Jo stretched as she slowly came fully awake. She swung her legs out of th e bed and put her feet on the floor. She looked over to the other side of the bed and d id not see Jay. He was not there. Jo then remembered that Jay had not stayed with her las t night. He had told her that it would be best if she got a good nights sleep so t hat she would be fresh and alert for her first day back on the job. Jo smiled, she thought of how she had come to realize how thoughtful and kind this old buddy of hers/his really was. She understood now as a woman, why she was so rapidly coming to love him dearly. He really was going to make her a wond erful husband.

Jo brought herself back to reality. As was her custom now she checked out her new body for any subtle changes. There appeared to be none. That therapy that she had taken from Dr. Krell apparently had done it's job. Jo stood up and removed her Baby Doll pajamas. Standing naked in front of the mirror she checked her breasts. They also appeared to be the same. Satisfied, sh e went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet and relieved herself. She then stepped into the sh ower. When she finished her shower, Jo blow dried her hair and brushed it out. She had decided to wear a new wig she had purchased. She had decided that she was not going to go to work with the short hair style that she had. Her hair had grown out some over the last two months but it was still quite short. The new wig had been quite expensive but that was because it was a real h uman hair wig and quite light weight. It was very close to his sandy blonde hair and th e coiffeur had styled it, and dyed it to a close match to his own color. Jo finished applying her makeup being careful to do it perfectly. Jo went into the closet and selected a new light green skirt suit. She al so selected a peach colored silk blouse with a ruffled front to match. Jo laid out the clothes on the bed and went to her dresser to select her lingerie. She took out a pink set of ny lon panties and matching lace edged underwire bra. She selected a pink camisole and half slip and light beige pantyhose. Jo still felt a sense of wonderment at how nice the material felt as it s lid over her smooth legs. No wonder women took so long to dress. It was a great feeling to wa tch the beauty of a woman emerge as she got dressed. Jo finished dressing and then put on the wig. It was quite comfortable. T he hair fell straight down to her shoulder blades in the back and rested on her shoulders with the curls gently turning inward. Jo brushed out the bangs on her forehead and satis fied she just stood there and admired the extremely lovely young professional looking w oman staring back. Jo was happy with her appearance. Putting on a pair of two and a h alf inch pumps that matched her suit, Jo was ready to face her employees.

Jo locked up her apartment. As she left, the young woman who lived down the hall was also coming out of her apartment. She saw Jo as said "hello". She looked at Jo with an obvious inquisitive look on her face. Jo decided that this was as good a time as any to relieve her of any furt her curiosity. Jo went up to the woman and introduced herself as Joe Bates' s ister. "Hello, I Joe's sister Jo-Ellen." Jo said. "Hi. I'm Susan Harwick. I've seen you a few times coming and going from t he apartment. You sure look a lot like Joe. I guessed that you were his sister. "How is Joe. Did he move out? " asked Susan. Jo did not want to lie to this woman but she felt that it would be better to fib a little and put this to rest. "Yes, my brother got transferred and since I am getting married to soon t o someone from Phoenix, he let me sub-lease his apartment until after the wedding. Jo said. Jo thought it was a little bit of the truth anyway. "Oh that's wonderful. Congratulations Jo-Ellen. Is the wedding soon?" ask ed Susan. "Well Jay and I haven't set a date yet but I would think it will be somet ime this year." Replied Jo. "I hope you have a beautiful wedding Jo-Ellen. Give my regards to Joe wou ld you." Said Susan. "I sure will. Thanks for the well wishes Susan." Jo said. "Your welcome Jo-Ellen. If I can be of any assistance while your here, pl ease let me know. OK?" "I will do that. Thank you. Bye." Said Jo as he walked away.

Jo went out to the parking lot and got into his RX-7. Jo loved this car but realized that if she was going to present the image of the professional woman she may have to get another more suitable car to meet her needs. Oh well she thought, I can afford tw o cars now. She decided that she would look into another car a little later. Jo adjusted the seat belt so that it rested between her breasts, started the car and drove to the plant.

The first indication that things were different was when she walked acros s the Honeybone parking lot. She had parked in the space marked for the Vice President of Operations. Normally anyone who parked in the reserved spaces that were not authorize d would be immediately challenged by Security. She was not. As she passed the Security shack, the guard smiled and said, "Good Mornin g Ms. Bates." "Good Morning." Jo replied with a smile. Jo continued into the plant. She stopped by the cafeteria and got her usu al cup of coffee. There were several people sitting at the tables. All of them seemed to lo ok her way as she came in but as she glanced there way, they would smile, say hello, and lo ok away. Jo sensed that they were trying very hard not to look conspicuous. "This may not be bad after all" Jo said to herself.

Jo went to the executive wing to look for her new office. She found it wi th no difficulty. It was the corner office overlooking the front entrance garden. Jo was im pressed.

Sitting at the desk just outside his office was a woman of about twenty five years old. She was quite pretty although not what you would call beautiful. She was impeccably dressed in a white blouse and light beige skirt suit. She wore tan low heel pumps. She presented the image of a competent corpo rate secretary. She had short dark brown hair and lovely brown eyes.

She saw Jo enter the office and immediately smiled. "Good morning Ms. Bat es. I'm Teresa Nicols, your new secretary." "Good Morning Teresa, Norma Peterson mentioned you would be here today. Welcome to Honeybone." "Thank you Ms. Bates, is there anything I can get for you?" "No not right now Teresa, except that I am a fiend for coffee. I hope you can make good coffee." "Sure can." Replied Teresa with a smile. "Good. Make it decaffeinated, low fat milk and no sugar. Keep it fresh al l day. OK? Said Jo. "Yes Ma'am." Teresa replied. "Oh by the way, there is a package on your d esk from Ms. Peterson marked urgent." "Thank you Teresa. I will want to talk to you a little later. For now hol d all messages from anyone not on this list." Said Jo. Handing Teresa a list of names.

"OK Ma'am. Just call me when you are ready." Said Teresa.

Jo walked into her new office.

Jo smiled as she looked around her new office. It had been built with goo d taste. It had about it the appointments of an office suited to the female execut ive. The floors were covered with a light blue plush carpeting. The furnishings were not masculine but not to feminine either. Her desk w as not to large but still big enough to do the work necessary. All the furni shings were done in the French Provincial Style in blue and white. There was a small bar recessed into one wall and concealed by French glas s doors. There was a executive's bathroom off to one side of the room and an large private conference room that could only be accessed from her office. Jo was overwhelmed by it all. She went to her desk and sat down. She sat there for a few minutes thinking of everything that had happened in the past two months. She thought of that first day and how she had been so confused. Little di d she realize then that it would lead to this. Jo thought of Jay and her soon to be status as his bride. She smiled. She was content. Glad that the good Doctor could not find a w ay to change her back. Jo would not even think of such a thing now.

Jo came out of her daydream and picked up the package on the desk. It was from Norma sent by priority overnight express. Attached to the outside was an envel ope from the President of Honeybone. Jo opened the envelope.

It read: Minneapolis, June 28th

My dear Jo-Ellen, I am so happy now. The change that you helped me with w as made my life much more bearable. I never thought that I could be so happy and I o we it all to you.

Please understand that I did not give you this promotion just because of what you did for me. I am still the corporate executive that I have always been. I do know pot ential when I see it.

You and I were of course relatively unknown to each other until just rece ntly and I had no reason to seek you out. I have however reviewed you education and record with this company and I really felt that you had a lot more potential.

The fact that you helped me when you did, showed me that you were also a compassionate person and willing to take a risk. You had no way of knowing at the time that I would be able to protect you and yet you took the chance for my sake. Thank you for tha t. I will always be indebted to you for your thoughtfulness. You showed me that you also would be willing to take a risk for the compa ny as well. I need that in an executive. That is why I offered you the position.

Go get em Jo. Make me proud of you.

Enclosed is my plans for the Cage and it's development. Make it happen.

As for Teresa, She is an accomplished executive secretary. Very discreet and noted for being totally dedicated to her boss. She was a HE once. But not anymore if you get my drift. Seems as though she knows Dr. Krell quite well. I'm sure you and Teresa w ill get along lavishly.

Thank you again my dear. See you at the Wedding.

Norma.

Jo finished reading the letter. She felt tears running down her face. She rang the buzzer for Teresa. Teresa came in to the room and Jo handed her the letter.

Teresa read the letter. She smiled at Jo.

Jo got up from her desk, came around to Teresa and took her hands in her s.

"Welcome sister dear. We are going to get along fabulously" Said Jo.

In the following weeks, The others returned to Honeybone. No incidents of recriminations ever occurred. It was as if the "accident" had never happened and that they had always been girls.


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