Unexpected Journey a Few Steps More

Erin Stanner looked up from his book at the clock. His wife was late coming home from work, thankfully, though it didn't happen very often. When the housephone rang he almost got up until he heard a familiar voice coming from his office, "Almost home sweetie, not too late as I promised."

True to her word, he only read two more chapters when he heard the garage door open.

"I'm home!" his wife Kathy called out.

Setting the book aside, he crossed the living room to find his wife setting down a couple of bags on the kitchen table.

With a grin, she skipped over, giving him a lusty kiss and a hug. "How was your day?"

"Busy, Kumar's done with most of his work now, waiting for Andreu to finish his," Erin replied, taking a look at the bags. "Did you eat?"

"Yep, had a chicken sandwich from the deli downstairs before it closed."

"So, what's in the bags."

With a grin, she grabbed Erin's hand with one hand, the bags with the other, pulling him upstairs. "Come on, let me show you."

"So, how's Henry?" He asked as he watched his wife kick off her shoes.

"Pain in all of our asses; Joy says hi, by the way."

"Say hi back."

"She thinks we should get a pretty good bonus for this campaign; that's what Henry has been telling her."

"Sweet, maybe we can go someplace nice for your birthday."

"That would be lovely." Kathy chirped happily as she pulled out a half-a-dozen familiar-looking garments.

Before he could comment on them, she said, "Oh, I talked to my sister today."

"Grande."

"Oh, don't be like that. Anyway, she invited us both to her house for Thanksgiving."

Erin sighed at the look his wife gave him. "Still quite a bit a way off."

"I know you don't really get along with most of my family, but Mom wants you there. You know how much she adores you." Kathy said almost pleadingly.

Two years ago, on Christmas Eve, right before Erin and his wife moved, he had walked out of her parents' home during dinner, claiming that he felt under the weather. After that, his wife spent the holidays with her family without him.

Running his fingers through his hair, Erin grumbled. "Fine, as long as they keep their opinions to themselves, I'll even stick around for dessert. Now, those look like bras."

"Good eye."

"Well, pretty normal, I guess." Of the half a dozen, they were plain white. "I can see you hiding a couple."

Kathy gave a nervous grin and then showed him the pair. "The red one is for you, and the lavender one is mine. I also got matching panties, plus some other things."

Erin gave his wife what she called the eye. Almost jumping in excitement, she opened a third bag and laid out two sets of rather pretty lingerie. One was a deep royal blue, the black, and truthfully, the thought of seeing his wife in either set was making him hard.

Except that he knew that Kathy was going to pester him into wearing one. Why in the hell would she think that he would agree. God knows he loved her, but she was like a woman possessed since he started growing tits.

"Maybe the two of us could dress in them for my birthday?" She said hopefully.

Right, he thought as much. Erin looked them over; they were rather sexy. Still, this was stupid. Part of him wanted to tell her that she was insane; another part, which had gotten stronger in the last month or so, seemed to say yes.

Reluctantly, he gave an answer. "Maybe, however, if I do, I will get to buy a few more anime t-shirts I saw online."

Kathy groaned. "But you're a grown man; why do you want to wear those things."

Erin rolled his eyes, as the two have had this same argument since college. "That's my price, and I'll think about it even then. I'm not really sold on wearing those things you bought, even if they are white, and you can bloody well return that pack of panties I see hiding behind your back. I like my boxers."

Grumbling, Kathy set them down and then picked up one of the bras. "I know you're not necessarily thrilled with wearing a bra, Erin, but you don't like men's support ones. And really, it's not like anyone, but the two of us are going to see you in one. I assume you will still wear the other when you go shopping or out to lunch. But at least try them on, OK? There's no need for you to be uncomfortable all the time."

"Fine, fine, whatever. I'm pretty good at taking these things off, but how do you put one on?" Erin asked as he looked it over.

Pulling off the clothes from the top half of his body, his nipples immediately went erect in the cold. Sticking out his hand, his wife passed him one of the bras with a smile.

"Here, let me help," Kathy said, taking the bra from his hands. "The easiest way is to unclasp it like this. Right, now, step forward and let me wrap it around your chest. OK, see, now let me do this. All set; now spin it around and slip your arms into the straps."

Erin followed her directions and soon found himself wearing an actual bra.

"OK, lean forward a little; you're out of sorts. Your breasts are supposed to be in the cups, not where they are now. Better?"

"Still a little pinchy," Erin complained, playing with one of the straps.

"OK, give me a second."

Suddenly, he felt his wife fiddling around with the back when suddenly it was no longer uncomfortable.

"How does it feel?"

"Much better, thanks," Erin said, then looked at the mirror above his wife's dresser, and his world stopped.

He wasn't a huge man, only one inch shorter than the national average of five-foot-nine. He didn't have a lot of hair on his body, which was a gift from his dad's side of the family, and had a small frame, making his breasts appear bigger. And even though his face wasn't exactly what one would call rugged, when did it get softer.

With his icy blue eyes and short pitch-black hair, what he saw in the mirror for the first time, if he didn't know better, was a young woman. No classical beauty that was for sure, but if he had passed that person in some hallway, he probably wouldn't have questioned her gender.

The looks he had been getting from some people when he was out of the house made much more sense now.

"Kathy?"

"Yes, sweetie," his wife set her chin on his shoulder, looking at the mirror with him.

Turning to face her, Erin asked, "How are you OK with all of this?"

"What do you mean?" She replied, passing him his t-shirt before opening his dresser to put the rest of the bras away.

"I look like a girl. For heaven's sake, I'm your husband; don't you find this upsetting?"

Kathy tilted her head. "Yes, well actually, I mean no, you're still you, and our sex life has gotten better for it."

"It's always about sex for you. Well, to me, it wasn't ever bad. I would say now our love life has gotten weirder."

Kathy frowned. "A good weird or bad weird."

"Fine, a good weird even with adding all of this and, well, other things." Erin looked up at the mirror again. "You have always pushed me to be more adventurous. I guess you have finally worn me down. But I'm a little afraid."

Kathy stepped forward and held her husband's hand. "What can I do?"

"Can you make me a doctor's appointment?"

Surprisingly, it didn't take months, only a few weeks, for Erin to get an appointment. He hadn't gotten his own family doctor yet, even after two years of living in the area, but the practice his wife has been going to managed to get him in, thankfully.

Not that he was terribly worried; for the most part, he felt great, but something felt off. His wife, of course, insisted that she go with him, taking the day off, although the atmosphere right now was a bit tense between them.

"You're angry," Kathy commented, realizing her husband hadn't spoken to her most of the way to the office.

Erin, who had been double-checking his personal information on the doctor's website through his computer pad, gave his wife a look. "Annoyed, three hours late, Kathy, and no call or text."

"I told you I lost track of time. And my phone died."

"And I thought you were dead in a ditch someplace. And you would be just as annoyed with me if I did the same. Is that true? Anyway, here, take a look. Does this look right to you?"

Kathy nodded, then looked over the information but smiled when Erin leaned over and kissed her on the head.

"Dufus, stop making me worry."

"Sorry," she whispered, leaning over and placing her head on his shoulder. "Looks fine, by the way."

The two didn't have to wait long as one of the nurses called his name. After the standard height and weight check and once again confirmation that the information on the table was accurate and that he was here for Gynecomastia, the two were brought into another room.

"Please, just take a seat; the doctor will be with you in a few minutes."

Sitting on the exam table, Erin looked around. "They don't seem too busy, so hopefully, it won't take all day."

As predicted, a thirty-something woman dressed professionally entered the examination room, introducing herself as Doctor Abrams.

Taking a seat in front of a laptop, she quickly checked his charts. "So, how long have you been experiencing breast growth?"

"Going on, wow, over four months now." Erin looked at his wife for confirmation, who agreed. "We read that the issue might just disappear, but obviously it hasn't."

The three then went through the list of things he had been eating, drugs taken, and anything that might have been causing this. Pretty much the same list Kathy had found on the internet.

"You were taking Maxprofil?"

Erin nodded. "For my stomach, but I didn't like the side effects. It was great for three or four days of the week; the rest I spent in the toilet. Thankfully, whatever herbal capsule my wife found seems to work most of the time.

"Most of the time?" Kathy turned to her husband. "I thought you weren't having stomach problems anymore."

"Not normally."

Doctor Abrams frowned. "Let's get back to that later. What type of herbal remedies are you taking?"

"It's just a probiotic," Kathy replied.

"Could that be a problem?" Erin asked, concerned.

The doctor leaned back. "Well, most of them are not FDA certified, so we're never really sure what's in them. I would recommend you stop taking it. Now, Mr. Stanner, let's take your shirt off and take a look."

A few minutes later, the doctor commented, "Well, there is some breast growth."

Which caused both husband and wife to snort.

Doctor Abrams then began to examine Erin's breasts. "I see a little bruising?"

"It's from that men's bra thing." He then shivered as his nipples were examined.

"That's more for compression than support. It is not something you want to wear all the time; it can cause some tissue damage when used in the long term as well."

"I don't wear it much. And since I work from home, its usually not a problem. Kathy also got me something that I can wear around the house."

"Good; if you're not too embarrassed, perhaps get a fitted sports bra. You will probably be a lot more comfortable."

Erin nodded. "I'll think about it. So, what do you think?"

"Have you had any other symptoms beyond stomach issues?"

"Well, I'm a bit more emotional. I get a little more irritated. My wife might have noticed."

"It hasn't been too bad, and most of the time, it's my fault," Kathy said, giving her husband a warm smile.

"Definitely sounds hormonal. We won't know for certain until we get a good look at your blood, but I'm pretty sure that's what we're going to find. I can prescribe something that will hopefully help."

"Will the breasts disappear?"

The doctor shook her head. "Unfortunately, no, there is significant growth. They might shrink a bit, but we would have to schedule surgery to get them removed. I might recommend a biopsy in some cases, but I think we can hold off for now."

"You're talking about a Mastectomy?"

"I am."

"I'd rather not," Erin stammered. "I don't mind them."

"You don't?" Kathy asked, surprised.

"They're kind of growing on me." He grinned.

"I'm sure in more ways than one," the doctor said with a small laugh. "Alright, if they aren't impacting your everyday life."

"Not really."

"Still, let's get your blood drawn and take a look anyway."

"So, you don't think there isn't something seriously wrong with me?" Erin started to feel a lot better now, giving his wife a hopeful look.

"Beyond the hormonal imbalance, no. We can do something about that, but we will still need to monitor things. I'd like to see you again in a few weeks."

"Shouldn't be a problem. As I said, I work from home, so my schedule's pretty flexible."

"See, sweetie, there aren't tumors," Kathy said seriously with a grin.

"No, definitely not. Go ahead and get dressed." Doctor Abrams sat back down in front of the computer. "Now let's talk about your stomach problems; what have you been taking? Reading through your charts, I see you have tried a few things."

Erin reluctantly slipped the compression bra over his head. "Yeah, and hated every one of them. Right now, an antacid, but it's been pretty rare."

"How many times a week?" the doctor asked.

"Two, maybe three times," he answered, looking at his wife, who was now not a happy camper. The two would probably be having another conversation about his health later. "It used to be worse; I used to throw up half my meals."

"I'm going to prescribe you with Umoprazole. You take it only once daily, and the side effects are pretty mild. In most cases, there might be an increase in the smell of your urine and a color change. I also had a call with your gastroenterologist yesterday."

"OH, you spoke to Doctor Harper?"

Of all the doctors Erin had seen throughout the years, he was the best one.

"I did; he is the one who recommended Umoprazole. This isn't something you really can ignore, Mr. Stanner. I can also recommend a few gastroenterologists and an endocrinologist for this hormonal issue in the area."

"Can I keep seeing you instead?"

The doctor smiled. "Of course, as for your breast's growth, I'm positive it's a hormonal imbalance. I'll make some phone calls, but let's take you downstairs and get some blood drawn. We have a few options as you're not interested in surgery."

As expected, the two had a bit of a fight on the way home from the doctor. Eventually, Erin agreed to keep his wife informed of any stomach issues, and she promised to do better about calling home if she would be late from work.

"So, what's up with the comment about the doctor's husband when we were leaving. She looked like she bit a lemon when you mentioned him."

Kathy laughed. "Well, he was in my management class my senior year."

"Wait, did you know the doctor from before?" Erin said, surprised.

"You expect me to trust just anyone with my cute little husband. Anyway, we have known each other for years, but we are not exactly friends. Really, only professionally. I went to her last spring when I had that ear infection."

"And."

Kathy laughed. "OK, fine, fine. You have to promise you won't say anything. I don't want to embarrass her."

Erin nodded.

"So, I had lunch at the Fox's Den a few months ago. There, sitting in one of the booths, was the good doctor sucking face with someone, not her husband."

"And knowing you, there was no way that you wouldn't go over and say hi," Erin commented, shaking his head.

"Oh, course," Kathy cackled.

"God, you're evil sometimes."

"You know it, baby, but please don't say anything."

Erin nodded in understanding as he turned into their driveway.