**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ A sad evening \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** Jeff rolled around once more in his bed and pulled the blankets up over his ears. Outside it was snowing, and inside it was barely above freezing. On top of that his wife Maggie had snagged his snug thick pillow in her sleep. He could grab it back of course, and normally he certainly would have, but today had been a hard day for the both of them and he was just glad that at least Maggie had finally managed to fall asleep. Earlier today they had visited the hospital for the results of their fertility tests and those results had been quite depressing. Jeff and Maggie had been trying to get a child for years, but today all their hopes had been obliterated with one shake of the doctors head. Maggie was infertile and the doctors had told her she would never have children of her own. She was devastated after that and had not eaten at all during dinner and had gone to bed directly after. Jeff was also extremely upset so he had followed her to the bedroom and had held her in his arms until she stopped sobbing and fell into a deep sleep. ............ Staring at her sleeping face in front of him still made him feel sad. Maggie was smiling now, probably happy dreaming, but he knew that she was still broken inside. He rolled around once more but sleep would not come for him. Frustrated he sat up, grabbed some warm clothes and went downstairs. He made himself a cup of warm chocolate milk and ate a cracker with cheese while he stared out into the dark night through the glass door of the kitchen. In the cold dark sky the stars were beautiful and it had been a long time since Jeff had been able to count so many of them. Without really knowing what to do he grabbed his wooly coat, his scarf and sturdy boots and walked out in the dark night. Outside it was extremely cold but totally quiet, a true winter wonderland. Today's snows had covered the ground and the trees in a thin layer of pristine white and because their house was in the middle of nowhere the only source of light was the small lamp above his front door. Jeff took a few steps outside, kept walking for a while and watched the sky in awe. There was no hint of a cloud, no moon, and therefore the stars seemed brighter than he had ever seen before. For just a moment he even forgot about the troubling news he and his wife had received that day, but it still kept nagging at him from the back of his mind. He stood there for minutes, just staring blankly at the stars with a sad expression on his face. **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ I wish upon a star.... \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** "Whoa, was that a falling star?" From the corner of his vision he had seen one of the thousand pins of light quickly moving, but when he turned his head it was already gone. Jeff kept staring and staring, and that's when he saw it again. Not feeling the cold seeping deep in him, Jeff kept staring with his mouth open. Above him tens of falling stars lit up the sky in perfect harmony. Jeff was a teacher at the local high school; He knew that the falling "stars" were just particles of a dust or rock burning up high in the earth's atmosphere, but that made the experience no less magical. He wanted to go inside to get his camera, but he was afraid that it would be already over by the time he had found it and he did not want to miss out on anything. ................ As the last "star" made a smear of light in the sky Jeff felt the child in him surfacing, as happens to all of us when we experience something truly special. He slowly opened his mouth in awe and with a smile on his face he did something he had not done since he was twelve years old. "I wish upon a star......." "I wish my wife and I could have children together"....... "I wish my bed would be warmer on this cold, cold night"....... (and with a smile) "Oh, and above all, I could really use an extra fluffy pillow for when my wife decides to steal mine again." Jeff laughed at his own stupidity and for the first time today he somehow had peace with the realization that a child might not be a possibility. He still had a wife, which he loved more than anything in the world, he had a house and a good job and a warm bed to return to. Thinking of that bed he lowered his eyes at the snow, stuffed his hands deep in his pockets and traced the steps back to his house. Inside he took off his coat, went to the toilet, and gulped down a last glass of water before slowly heading up the creaky stairs to the bedroom again. He slowly rubbed his hands to drive away most of the cold, undressed, and carefully to not wake up Maggie he slipped under the blankets again, still shivering a bit. **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ A warm bed \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** Jeff tried to go to sleep, he truly did, but his mind kept going over and over everything that had happened today and he was still so very cold. Staring at the alarm clock on his nightstand Jeff watched as it read 1:00, then 1:30 and finally 2:00. He grumbled at it and slowly turned over on his other side. He saw Maggie was still sleeping, her beautifully thick straight red hair draped around her head and her shoulders under the thick blanket. Jeff smiled a bit when she let out a cute little snore and twitched her nose. Snoring was something they both had only done when they had a cold, and he normally hated the sound when he wanted to get asleep. This time though it was so faint, so unexpected, that he thought it was extremely cute. Jeff reached out a hand and slowly stroked his wife's face with his fingers on her exposed cheek; but he was quite shocked by what he felt. Maggie's exposed skin was warm, much warmer than you would expect, and that made no sense at all in this cold night. He leaned in closer to her, and saw she was blushing, and felt she was literally radiating warmth. The pale skin on her face, dappled with cute freckles around her nose and cheeks, was extremely warm. Jeff's initial reaction was to wake her up or maybe even call a doctor, but somehow he knew that whatever was happening to her was "good". He could not describe how he knew this, but he felt it, an energy or creature of peace was here with them in their room at this very moment. Carefully placing an arm around her shoulder he hugged her close, savoring her warmth against his belly like he used to as a child when his mom made him a hot water bottle for in bed. Face to face and crawled up against his wife, he gave her one last kiss on her nose and Jeff finally felt sleepiness rushing over him and he slowly felt himself drifting away. \*......gghh.......\* Jeff woke up all confused in the middle of the night. He slowly turned around and on the red digits of the alarm clock it read 4:12 in the morning. He turned his head at his wife again when he heard the sound that had awoken him again. \*.....ggggghhhHHHHZZZzzzzzzz.....\* \*.....gggGGGHH....ZZZZZzzz....\* His wife was slowly snoring, not loud, but in the deep of the night any sound was usually loud enough to wake him up. He lovingly tried to wrap his hands around her again, but something felt "weird" this time. He pulled up the blankets a bit to reveal her once extremely slim body and his eyes went wide in a mix of shock and excitement. Maggie was still Maggie, no doubt about that, but she had grown quite a bit more curvy in the hours that he had been sleeping. Her thighs had broadened, her belly was now a bit chubbier (but still visibly fit and definitely not flabby), and her breasts had grown at least two sizes bigger. The entire thing was ridiculous, no one could grow that much body fat in a few hours, but he liked the changes, and he knew for a fact that Maggie would like them too. He snuggled up to her, still careful not to wake her up and tried to wrap his arms around her again. This time he managed better and pressed himself firm against her chest for a moment. To his surprise Maggie's snoring stopped instantly, and for the first time that night she stared at him with sleepy half-open eyes . Her mouth curled up in a cute smile, and a faint, sleepy angelic voice emanated from between her lovely lips. "Hmmmm..... It's so.. so warm Jeff.....Don't...Don't worry, I can hear it in my head........ Everything will be all right honey...", and she closed her eyes and drifts away again. Jeff just kept staring at her in confusion. Did he just imagined that? He tried to shake Maggie a bit by the shoulder, but she was clearly not awake anymore (If she ever had been). Maggie rolled over, turning her back on him and started snoring softly again. **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ A nice and fluffy pillow \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** Still confused, but glad his wife was so happy in her sleep he softly stroked her back under the blankets. He started at her shoulders because he knew she liked that, drawing his hand down her now shapely and soft waist until he reached her...her..... Wait what? Something was odd. Above Maggie's buttocks Jeff could feel something.... fluffy. At first he thought it a piece of clothing, or even a plush animal, but when his tug caused Maggie to grunt in her sleep he realizes it was part of her. Slowly pulling the blankets up again and shining under it with his flashlight a smile formed on his face. Situated above Maggie's plump behind was a cute fluffy tail, twitching under the blankets, as if it had a mind of its own and was eager to be touched. Jeff stroked it again and again, this time without reaction from Maggie. He was amazed by how soft, warm and agile the new appendage was. He kept petting it, almost addicted, when he saw small white hairs poking out of her also milky white skin. They spread slowly, in all directions, all over her curvy behind and upward from her tail all the way to her neck. Hypnotized Jeff kept watching and watching as the hairs grew longer, thicker and curlier. The hairs grew out to a layer of fur, and the layer of fur thickened and lengthened into a fully fledged wooly coat. Amazed by the process Jeff did not even keep track of time until he turned around and saw it was already 5:30 am. Jeff could not care less about what time it was though, after all, who thinks of sleep when a miracle is happening in front of his eyes? When the wool reached her neck it got thinner and slowly grew shorter until halfway her neck. That is where it stopped. Jeff thought the transformation was finally finished, but one quick glance at her hair told him differently. Emanating from her scalp, Jeff could make out that her hair was turning white. Not old lady white, but a clean, pristine "holy" white, almost shining, as white as the snow outside. The whiteness crept down and down her hair, taking all colour with it until it reached the tips. Jeff carefully thrust himself up with his elbow, slowly bend over Maggie's face, and saw that her eyebrows and even her eyelashes had also turned white. Jeff fell back on the bed behind her while he stroked the wool on her back, thick and soft, and he pulled himself close to he. The wool was warm and clean, and it made him think back to those ugly but snug sweaters his old grandma (God rest her soul) used to make him. He snuggled the wool, twisted curls in it with his fingers, brushed his face against her neck and tried to make sense of the situation. He quickly realizes that it did not make any, not one tiny little bit, and that only made it more magical. ............. When Maggie, still deep asleep, turned around on her back Jeff embraced her, and face to face with the one he loved he put his head on her wooly breasts and slowly drifted asleep with a smile on his face, instantly forgetting the last thought that crosses his mind. ***" ......Now this is a fluffy pillow...." *** **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Joy in the morning \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** When the first rays of light pierced through the window and found their way to his face Jeff woke up again. Next to him was Maggie, beautiful with the sunlight reflecting from her wool and hair. Her face was like an angel, smiling and pure, as if there had never been anything wrong with this world. As always on their Sunday off, Jeff got out of bed first, went down the stairs, and prepared some tea to wake her up with. He was still not sure how she would react to her new body, maybe she had even been awake this night and found out already, but somehow he knew that she would like it. Still in deep in thought he carefully walked up the stairs until he heard something. The sound was definitely coming from their bedroom, and Jeff wasted no time, and ran to the door as fast as he could with the two hot mugs of tea. He reached for the door with his elbow, threw it open, and found his wife still asleep and lying on her side in the bed. Something was wrong with Maggie though, her face was still smiling, but there was now also a hint of pain on it. As Jeff got closer to her he could see that her face was flushed, and she panted a bit like someone with high fever. When Jeff walked closer and put a hand on her forehead he felt that she was incredibly warm. Not sure what to do, he shook his wives shoulder once more. "Wake up honey, come on...." But Maggie did not wake up. Jeff just stood there, not sure what to do, when his mind slowly shifted into second gear. Now it may have been that he remembered his three wishes, it may have been a hunch, but he grabbed the blankets and tore them off, fully revealing Maggie for the first time. Jeff's eyes went immediately to her belly, which had grown an awful lot since he left the bed, and with a frown he realized it looked almost like she was.......... The frown on his face went to a grin, the grin turned into a smile, and the smile turned into laughter. Filled with joy he kept staring at his glowing wife, who was slowly waking up. .............. Maggie opened her eyes, a bit dizzy but feeling extremely comfortable. At first she thought she was still under the blanket, but a voice inside her told her that was not the case. Somehow she knew all that had happened. In her dreams she had felt herself changing, and she had also felt something growing inside her, and she could swear she even felt a kick at times. With a smile she rubbed on her big wooly belly and faced her husband who was still standing at the foot of the bed with a blush on her face. "Jeff... I think I may be pregnant" **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Epilogue \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** "Jessica, stop running around!" "Phoebe, stop bullying your brother!" ............. *Someone idly passing by the small house on the hill would laugh at the voices coming from inside and continue on their way, but we take a peek inside. Not because we have to, but because we can* ............. Maggie is cleaning up in the kitchen, Jeff is reading the newspaper in his chair, and their three young children are loudly playing in the living room. Even though they can be annoying sometimes, Maggie loves them with all her heart. At first it was hard to get used to being half a sheep, especially when she had to quit her job as a swimming instructor, but she had found that a bit of wool and an unhealthy appetite for cabbage was a small offer for three healthy kids. They were triplets, born three months after that joyful night. The doctors had been amazed by their appearance, had wanted to examine Maggie and the kids or put them on gene therapy, but she did not want any of that. Maggie was happy with what she had become, and in fact she felt better now than she had ever did. Whatever had gotten into her that night however, it had been heritable. Her kids all had some "sheep" in them. One of them had furry ears and a fluffy tail, the second had hooves for feet, and the third had the weirdest mutation a kid could have, He just loved vegetables. ............ *And here we end our little story. Does that mean Maggie, Jeff and their sheep children just disappear like they never existed? No, of course not. We just drift away from them, slowly and slowly floating higher and higher, onwards to the next adventure. *