The Legacy

Charlie woke up feeling groggy. That wasn't too unusual, he drank a lot and did more than a few drugs, though not as much of either as he once did. Last night it was just drinking. Charlie's mother had died in a car accident, and even though Charlie was trying to straighten out his life, he still had to go get drunk.

Charlie's father Robert, didn't approve, but Robert hadn't approved of anything Charlie had done since Charlie was in his teens. Charlie's twin sister Carla was a different story. Robert doted on her and always had. Carla made good grades in school and always did what the family expected.

It was no great shock when Robert told Charlie that the entire estate, some hundred million dollars or so, would go to Carla, with nothing to Charlie. In truth, Charlie had no one to blame but himself. When he hit his teens, Charlie became a wild child – drugs, alcohol, and sex for starters, then theft and selling drugs when he ran out of money and couldn't get more from his family.

The first time or two, Charlie's parents bailed him out or tried to fix things somewhat, but they finally gave up and let Charlie go to jail for a while hoping that would straighten him out. Needless to say, it didn't. If anything, he went even wilder when he got out of jail. His parents cut Charlie off, financially and emotionally.

Slowly Charlie was starting to turn things around, but it was damned hard. Few people wanted to hire someone with a criminal record, so he worked a lot of odd jobs. When his mother died, Charlie attended the funeral, as did Robert and Carla, and many other people. Most of them barely acknowledged Charlie.

Charlie's family didn't talk to him, but through a few others who would, Charlie found out his father had cancer and Carla was going off on a sabbatical to a religious retreat overseas. Charlie continued to struggle, financially and other wise, as he heard his father's condition was deteriorating, the cancer was spreading.

It was Charlie's friend Kyle who came up with the idea. Since Charlie was the bad child, and Carla was the good one, maybe Charlie should pretend to be Carla.

"You're out of your fucking mind, Kyle. No one would believe it and why should I dress in drag just to try to get a few bucks from the old bastard?"

"You got any better ideas, bitch? First off, you and Carla are about the same size and have similar features."

"Yeah, but there's some big damned differences between me and my sister."

"She's getting the family money and you aren't. You want to keep scraping by and living day to day?"

"No one would ever fucking believe I'm Carla, for starters."

"What if I could make them believe it?"

"That would never work."

"Try it. What do you have to lose? You got nothing now."

"So what can you do?"

Kyle started by having Charlie get rid of all his body hair. Depilatory creams did most of that, along with shaving his underarms, and cleanly shaving his face. Charlie never had much facial hair anyway, but a really close shave reduced that even more.

Kyle had Charlie brush out his hair, which was almost shoulder length anyhow, then Kyle took Charlie to a salon and had Charlie's hair cut and styled similar to how Carla wore hers. Kyle took Charlie out shopping. They got some bras and some women's jeans and tops, along with skirts and shoes, mostly flats and low heels. Kyle made Charlie go in the women's dressing rooms to try on the clothes, which embarrassed Charlie, but he did it.

They hit a specialty shop and bought some breast forms, and some sexy panties which tucked his penis out of sight. Kyle then took Charlie back and had him dress in panties, bra with breast forms, skirt, and top, along with some nice open flats. Charlie still didn't exactly look like Carla, but it was now easier to believe Charlie was a woman.

He then took Charlie to get a nice manicure and pedicure, and bought Charlie some makeup, also having the woman there do Charlie's makeup and explain to him how it should be done. There were still some subtle differences. Charlie's nose had been broken a few times and didn't look quite right for Carla, and her lips were fuller, while Charlie had a hint of an Adam's apple.

The differences were small enough that more than one person saw Charlie and greeted him as Carla. Charlie worked to speak in a slightly higher pitch and most of the folks never knew the difference. Charlie was shocked at how easy it was to fool most of these people.

"This ain't gonna fool my old man though."

"Chill bitch. We can get you even closer."

"Shit man. I don't have the money for the nose."

"Relax, girl. I can get the money for what you need."

"Don't fucking call me girl, you asshole. And how the hell am I supposed to pay you back?"

"Look, if you are going to pull this off, you need to get used to being thought of and addressed as a girl. Besides you can pay me back as you get money from your old man."

"I don't know about this."

"You want to stay poor the rest of your life?"

"What happens when Carla comes back?"

"Even your old man doesn't know, but I found out Carla has stage four ovarian cancer – already metastasized. She didn't go to a religious retreat, she went for some experimental medical treatment."

"Shit. What does that mean?"

"Means either you become Carla, or the money goes to the animal league or some shit like that."

"But won't people know if Carla dies."

"We just have to keep that secret, and turn you into Carla, at least as far as anyone can tell."

Charlie sat, shaking his head for the longest time. He looked into the mirror and was shocked to see what appeared to be Carla in his reflection.

"So what do we do then?"

"I know a doctor who can fix the nose, shave the Adam's apple, and inject some collagen in your lips. I've got some friends and will try to keep Carla a secret, but keep tabs on her."

Charlie had the surgery done, at which point he looked very much like Carla. Kyle also arranged for Charlie to have his facial hair lasered, so it would not grow or need to be shaved. He also had some other suggestions.

"You want me to do what?"

"Hormone replacement therapy."

"Why, in God's name?"

"Women's skin is softer, more translucent, and has a slightly different smell than men's. The hormones will change that, along with changing your body shape slightly to make it more feminine, and it will give you some real boobs."

"I don't fucking want boobs. I'm a man for crissake."

"If you want that hundred million, then you are going to be a woman and you'll be Carla."

"I want the money, but I don't know if I can do this."

"If you don't get the money, how the fuck do you think you'll ever pay me back?"

"I'll try to find some way."

"Look, Charlie is a fuck-up, everybody knows that. Carla isn't. If you want to straighten out, what better way than to change who you are and how people see you?"

"How do I know Carla won't come back and screw this up?"

"We'll go see Carla. She's at a clinic in Europe."

"I don't have a passport, and even if I did, I wouldn't look like the picture."

"You'll travel on Carla's passport."

"What did she use?"

"She used a passport in your name, and checked into the clinic under your name."

"Why?"

"She wanted to hide her illness."

Kyle bought two airplane tickets and they flew to Europe. There was a tense moment in security when they got to the body scan, but Kyle discretely told the TSA folks that Charlie was pre-op transgender, and might show up as such on scans.

Charlie was shocked at how Carla looked when he saw her. She'd lost weight and cut her hair in a short masculine style, and looked for all the world like a guy. She was pale and it was pretty obvious that she was not well. Charlie was in a cute skirt and top, with full makeup and low heels.

"Well, I guess now you're the sister and I'm the brother."

"I don't know if I like it."

"I want you to have a better life, and I think you want to change that around too."

"But is this the way?"

"This is one way, and it gives you a chance to get Dad's money, which I may not live long enough to get."

"How bad is it?"

"They took my ovaries and uterus, then gave me chemo and radiation until it almost killed me."

"But if it got rid of the cancer..."

"But it didn't. This is a last ditch effort and a long shot at best."

"Shit, Carla, I lost Mom, I'm losing Dad, and I'm losing you too."

"Do you want to lose all of us and also spend the rest of your life in poverty?"

"What about you? What if your treatment succeeds?"

"I have money of my own, and even if I didn't, I don't think you'd let me go without."

"No. You kept me afloat at times when I was really fucked up. Besides, if you recover, you can go back to being Carla and I'll be Charlie again."

"We'll worry about that if it happens. In the meantime, Kyle has kept me up to date, and I approve of what the two of you are doing."

Charlie cried, messing up his eye makeup. Charlie and Carla hugged each other, and Carla sent Charlie on his way. Kyle and Charlie did a few tourist things before going back. It let all of Charlie's surgeries completely heal and gave time for the hormone treatments to begin to take effect. Charlie first noticed his nipples getting more sensitive, then his breasts began to grow. He still used padding in his bra, but didn't need the breast forms any longer. Charlie began adding fat around his hips and losing around his waist, giving him more of a typical female shape.

They came back, and Kyle told Charlie it was time for the real test – going to see his father. Charlie was very nervous, but Kyle told him it would go just fine. Charlie's Dad was at home, with in-home nursing care. It was obvious that the old man was ill, just as it had been with Carla.

"Well, daughter. You've been pretty absent since your mother died."

Charlie was a little surprised that his Dad would address him as Carla, with no hesitation.

"It was a shock to me too, and I've been trying to get my head back together."

"What happened to your worthless shit of a brother?"

"I... am paying for treatment for him to straighten himself out."

"Just throwing good money after bad. That boy is hopeless."

"I have to try though."

"For a smart girl, you're really caught up in wishful thinking."

"But how are you doing, Dad?"

Charlie's father looked at him and shook his head, frowning. He then sat back in the chair at looked hard at Charlie before continuing.

"It's just a matter of time, and I know I don't have a lot of time left."

"Please don't say that, Dad. I'm not ready to lose you too."

"You know that Charles is cut out of the will completely. He is to get nothing. And I've got good attorneys to make damned sure that happens."

"Then that means..."

"I told them everything is to go to my daughter. If my daughter dies first, it goes to selected charities."

"It isn't about the money, Dad."

"It's always about the money – at least for Charles."

"I think he's changing."

"You've always had a soft spot for your twin – misplaced in my view though."

"You might be surprised."

"I might, but I probably won't. It's been lovely talking with you, my dear, but I'm tired. Come see me again soon."

"I will, Daddy."

Charlie slowly began to get used to dressing as Carla. He acted like her and everybody seemed to accept him as Carla. Charlie moved into Carla's flat and continued to get advice from Kyle. Charlie's breasts gradually grew to a nice b cup, which is about the size of Carla's boobs. Charlie began to think of himself as 'she' and as Carla.

Charlie got a call from a company that Carla had done some contract work for, saying they needed some help.

"I don't know. I'm still coping with my mother's death and my father's illness."

"Just take a look at it for us. See what you can do. Last time, we paid $100 per hour, but we can go $150 this time if you can handle it. We expect it to run 200 hours or so. You can use $30,000 for five weeks work, right? "

Charlie told them to send it. When he first looked at it, he was totally befuddled, but as he looked at it further, it made more sense to him. He probably put in more than twice the expected hours, but actually finished it within five weeks. He was very hesitant as he submitted his results.

"Well, Carla, I can see you were a little off your usual, but it is still a decent job."

"If you need me to redo anything..."

"No, it's still better than what most of what my folks could do. It's a very good job, just not as mind blowing as normal."

"Thanks. I hope to hit my stride again soon."

"Since you're back now, we'll have more work. Count on it."

Charlie started regularly getting contract work from that company and a couple of others, and was surprised to find he had a aptitude for it. He guessed it must run in the family, and he was sorry he hadn't realized it before.

One day, Kyle dropped by one day with some news.

"Your sister has died."

"Oh my God. What do we do? How do we hide it?"

"We don't hide it."

"But that messes everything up."

"Carla checked in there and was being treated as Charles. She made sure the death certificate shows that Charles died."

"But the body?"

"She told the staff to make sure she was cremated. We'll go get the ashes."

Charlie, now Carla, went to her father to give him the news.

"Dad, Charlie has died."

"Overdose?"

"No, he had kicked all his drug habits. They said the cause was heart failure."

"Well, we need to get the body back here for burial. He deserves that, at least."

"He had arranged to have his body cremated, but I'll bring back the ashes."

Kyle and Charlie, or Carla version 2, went to get the ashes and bring them back. They also got a copy of the death certificate.

"Kyle, the death certificate says Charles was male."

"Carla chose that country and clinic because she knew she could specify her gender and they would respect that."

"Then we're clear?"

"The only thing that might ring alarm bells is what's between your legs."

From that point, the person who had been a guy named Charlie, now was a woman named Carla. There was a nice funeral service for what everyone thought was Charlie. Everyone seemed sad that Charlie had died, and wished that he'd been able to straighten his life out. Even their father seemed genuinely sad at the death.

Several people remarked they were glad that Carla had Kyle in her life now. She tried to explain that there was nothing serious between them. They gave her knowing smiles and told her that when she didn't have to go public with it until she was ready.

"Kyle, these people seem to think we are lovers. What the hell am I supposed to say?"

About that time a woman walked up to them.

"You too make such a sweet couple."

Carla smiled at the woman before replying.

"We aren't at that point yet."

Carla's father walked up behind them right about that time.

"Well maybe you need to get there, girl. I don't have much longer, and I'd love to see you married before I go."

"Daddy, I'll get married when I'm ready, not before."

"Then maybe I need to figure out how to get you a little more serious."

Carla kept visiting her father regularly, and he often mentioned that she needed to get married. She tried to deflect it. As far as anyone but Kyle and one doctor knew, she was completely female, but Carla knew better and was frightened that someone would find out.

Her father more clearly began to decline and was often on pain medication when she visited. One day, her father told her something that shocked her.

"Carla, dear, your brother was such a waste, that I worried what he might try to do to get his hands on my money."

"But he's dead now, Dad."

"The two of you looked so much alike, I worried he might try to disguise himself as you for the cash."

"He couldn't possibly do that now, could he?"

Her Dad gave her a sad look, before continuing.

"I had a rider in my will that for you to claim the estate, you'd have to have a doctor chosen by the executor, check to verify that you were female."

Carla's blood ran cold. She still had a prick and balls. Any doctor who looked between her legs would see that clearly.

"But you can eliminate that provision now."

"There's no need, and it shouldn't be a big deal, just a routine check."

Carla went to Kyle and told him about that.

"Well, you've come this far, are you going to give up now?"

"But they'll cut off my..."

"Carla, darling, your body is female everywhere except between the legs. You dress like a woman, you act like a woman. That's the only thing standing between you and millions of dollars."

"That's the only thing tying me to what I used to be."

"What you used to be was a drug addict and a thief. Leave that behind. Embrace the new you."

"I don't know if I can give that up."

"You either give that up, or you give up the riches that are yours for the asking."

Carla cried, and Kyle held her and comforted her. At first she welcomed that, then began to feel a little weird about having him hold her like that. The really strange thing was that she was beginning to have a sexual attraction to Kyle, as well as to some other men. She still was attracted to women as well, but was a little scared by it all.

"I could just walk away from the estate, and walk away from being Carla. I've straightened out my life and am making a decent living now."

"You've making a decent living as Carla. How many of those folks would hire Charlie. And you wouldn't be able to access Carla's bank accounts either."

"What if I want to be a guy? What if I want to be with a woman? What if I want to have kids?"

"One effect of the t-blockers and estrogen was to make you infertile as a man. Most of the rest can be reversed, and the boobs excised, but you'll never have kids, either as a man or woman."

Carla spent days thinking about it and crying, before she decided to go ahead with the surgery. Kyle arranged to have it done by a surgeon overseas. Carla told her father she had to get a medical treatment and would be gone for a short time. Her father kissed her and told her he hoped she was better soon.

The doctor explained that he would use the skin from the penis and testes to build a vagina and labia. She woke up after surgery, very sore between her legs, but the doctor told her the operation had gone perfectly. She would have packing in her new vagina for a few days, then that would be taken out and she'd have to use a dilator, essentially a dildo to stretch it out for a few months.

The doctor assumed Kyle was her lover, and told her it would be several months before she could use her vagina for sex, and might need lubrication then. Carla didn't want to tell him that she had no intention of letting Kyle stick his dick in her, even as she got goose bumps at the thought of it.

It took about a week before Carla could move normally again. She and Kyle flew back to see her father, who was now just weeks from death. Just before her father died, Carla told him that they should get that 'routine' check done to verify that she was female. Her father's doctor was visiting and the two of them, along with a nurse, went to another room, where he very briefly examined her and told her father that Carla was indeed female.

Carla's father died shortly after that, and she was caught in a whirlwind of the funeral arrangements, funeral, and burial. There was an enormous outpouring of respect for her father. Again people lamented that Charlie had gone so far wrong, and sympathizing with Carla over having lost her entire immediate family.

Kyle was at her side throughout this, and everyone assumed they would marry soon, much to Carla's chagrin. A few weeks after her father's death, they sat down to go over the will. Carla then got her last shock.