Saturday 6th January 2029
"How many layers have you got on?" Tom chuckled at his daughter who was sitting at the breakfast bar in her pyjamas with her dressed gown on and a blanket wrapped around her. At 10 years old, Ella had grown a lot and with her hair down to her bum, it was even longer than her mother's. Not that it could compete with the thickness of Sam's hair because it was much thinner. And despite the long, incredibly well looked after, naturally wavy hair, Ella had turned out to be about as girly as Sam was and much preferred to get muddy and play with the dogs in the park than she would play with dolls or have a tea party.
"It's cold." Ella protested whilst she watched her mother cook them all a bacon sandwich. Despite the heating being on, Ella felt the cold even more than Sam did because she had the healthy eating habits of her mum as well as the fast metabolism as her dad so she was in perfect health except for her blood clotting disorder which was well managed.
"Should I put Daniel's bacon on or do you think I should leave it?" Sam queried.
"Depends if he plans on rising from his pit anytime soon." Tom chuckled at his 14 year old son who had turned out to be as lazy as his father, if not more so and he rarely rose before 10am unless he had to i.e. for school. He wasn't overweight, in fact he was very fit compared to many of his age because he managed to get into the gym for free under Sam's membership, plus he had swimming lessons, Air Cadets and school football every week.
"Well he-"
"Mum!" Sam heard her son shout from upstairs.
"Calm down mate, where's the fire?" Tom asked sarcastically as his son leapt down the stairs and ran into the kitchen where he found his whole family was staring at him wondering what on earth had troubled him because he was up so early - well it was 8:30am but for him it was early.
"My voice has broke." He stated happily. "It's finally bloody broke!" He laughed.
"Oi, language." Tom scalded.
"What do you mean finally? You're only thirteen." Sam stated.
"Yeah but I'm like the last one in my class; I was the only boy who talked in the same pitch as the girls. But not anymore!"
"Wow, there was me thinking he might be a bit embarrassed by it." Tom said sarcastically.
"Why would I be embarrassed about it? Everyone on the planet goes through puberty when they grow up, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Daniel stated wisely.
"Exactly. That's the kind of attitude I like to hear." Sam said encouragingly as she wanted her kids to be open with them as much as they wanted to.
"I'll have my bacon sandwich with ketchup and a glass of orange juice please." Daniel requested cheekily before he strolled into the living room.
"You wish. I'll tell you when it's ready." Sam shouted to him before she looked at her daughter who appeared to be in deep thought. Sam wondered if it was time for her to do what she had planned, but she concluded that it was too early, or was it?
Ella had just walked into her room with a thick fluffy towel wrapped around her body after having a shower when she noticed a box on her bed which, as usual, was perfectly made up to match her immaculately tidy room. It was a rectangular box, the right size to fit A4 paper in it, and it was 5 inches high with a floral pattern over it. She made sure her towel was tightly around her before she sat down on the bed, pulled the box onto her lap and lifted the lid off.
It was filled with a small can of deodorant, a packet of regular sanitary towels, and another pack of pads but for nights, a box of panty liners, a small box of tampons, a pack of feminine wipes, a facial scrub, spot cream, a pack of two training bras, a small calendar where each month could be torn out and used as a bookmark, a single disposable razor with a plastic safety cover over the blades, shaving foam and at the bottom was a thin pink book all about puberty for girls.
After getting changed for the day, Ella was just about to exit her bedroom to talk to her mum when she realised that Sam was in fact about to knock on her door, which had been closed whilst she got changed.
"Can you and I have a little talk?" Sam requested with a small smile on her face to reassure her daughter that it wasn't anything bad.
"Yeah, sure." Ella nodded as she let her mum into the room and then closed the door.
"Listen, all the things in the box, you don't have to use until you want to. I just thought it'd be easier than having to ask me each time for something different." Sam explained. "Do you know what everything is for?" Sam asked as she knew she had signed the permission slip for Ella to had sex education in her Life Skills class, but she didn't know how much she had actually learnt in a class with all of her friends.
"Not everything, no." Ella admitted as she pulled the box out from the bottom of her wardrobe and she went and sat on her bed so Sam sat on the other end of the bed with the box in between them.
"We can go through it if you'd like." Sam suggested and Ella gave a small nod so Sam crossed her legs to get comfortable and then lifted the lid off. "Right, I'm sure you know what deodorant is. it's is one of the few things in here that I think you can start using now if you want to and you might not like the smell do this one; if you don't just let me know and I can get you another one." Sam said as she put the can aside and picked up the pack of normal pads and the night pads. "Right, I've got to be honest, I don't know what they teach at school these days so how much do you know about periods?" Sam asked.
"Everything. Well, everything I need to know at my age I think anyway." Ella replied.
"Well there's an explanation in that puberty book or you can just ask me if you want to know something... I just got you these pads to start off with so that you've got something you can use if you start but I want you to know that sometimes, it can be hereditary at what age women in a family start their periods, and if I'm honest I started mine when I was nine, just like you are now. But that doesn't mean you're late in starting, it's just an indication." Sam explained. "Do you know about tampons?" Sam asked as she put the pads in a pile with the deodorant and picked up the small box of light absorbency tampons and they were the teen version so they were small.
"Yeah but I never want to use them. You can take them." Ella frowned.
"No, you keep them. Trust me, you might be a bit scared to use them but it's a lot easier than you think. Plus if you start, what are you going to do about your swimming lessons?"
"Mum, I just don't like the idea of-"
"It's alright, you don't have to think about that now we can face that when we get there." Sam said reassuringly as she put the box aside. "But you should know that the Von Willebrand Disease could give you-"
"Really heavy periods." Ella interrupted. "I know, I've looked it up."
"Ella you shouldn't-"
"And before you say I shouldn't trust everything I read on the internet, I was looking at the NHS website." Ella stated.
"Oh, well okay but you do know if you want to know anything you can ask me or dad right? Ever since you were diagnosed we've learnt a lot about it."
"I know." Ella nodded. Sam then picked up the pack of training bras that she had gotten her and realised that there was only one in the pack that was supposed to contain two. "Have you got one on now?" Sam asked.
"Yes. I know you might not think I'm old enough but it's embarrassing getting changed for PE and-"
"Ella, it's okay. I got them for you to use, not to just sit in a box for months." Sam said reassuringly as she placed a hand on top of her daughters. "Does it fit alright?"
"Yeah, it feels a lot more comfortable than wearing nothing."
"Do you want me to get you some more in that size then? There're a few more patterns you can get in that style."
"Yes please." Ella nodded.
"Okay, right I think these are pretty self explanatory." Sam stated as she picked up the small tube of neutrogena spot cream and a facial scrub. "I don't think you need to use these yet for a while. Just wash your face like you normally do because these are more for when you start to get greasy skin or whatever." Sam explained as she put the two aside and then picked up the box of panty liners. "Do you know what these are for?" Sam asked and Ella shook her head. "Well, did you learn about what discharge is?"
"Yeah; it's this disgusting gooey stuff that comes out when your reproductive system cleans itself." Ella replied confidently.
"Couldn't have put it better myself." Sam smirked. "Have you had any?" Sam asked curiously but Ella just shrugged so she moved on despite the fact that Sam knew it was almost certainly a yes. "Okay well I use these sometimes just to feel a bit cleaner, but you can also use them on the last day of your period or so when the flow is really light and it's not worth using a pad." Sam explained before she put them aside and picked up the feminine hygiene wipes. "Right, these can just help you feel cleaner as well if you're out and about while your on your period, or I was thinking maybe when you go camping with brownies and you don't have showers then you could use them to keep yourself clean." Sam stated before she put that aside and picked up the disposable razor and shaving foam. "Right, you definitely don't need these yet and I don't want you to start shaving until you ask me, but, I just wanted you to see what it looked like and so that you have these when you do want to start." Sam stated before she put those on the top of the pile and took out the only things that were left in the box; the book about puberty and a bookmark calendar thing.
"Right, obviously this is to read through, but the calendar is so that you can start marking things out so say if you had a bit of a stomach ache, but then it went away, that could be a sign of you starting, or if you start getting discharge on a regular basis you can just note it down and keep a track of how things are going." Sam explained. She then put all of the things, except the book because Ella began to have a look through it, back into the box neatly and then into the bottom of her wardrobe.
"Thank you so much mum." Ella said gratefully as she got up and gave Sam a hug. Sam enjoyed every moment because a hug from her daughter was now a rare commodity.
"You're welcome. I just want you too feel prepared and not be needing anything, and I want you to be open with me because I'm a doctor and I can promise you that nothing you will ever say to me will be something that I haven't heard before." Sam stated as she reluctantly let go of her little girl who wasn't so little anymore.
"Even if... I don't know whether I'm normal?" Ella queried timidly.
"Ella darling, in this day and age there is no such thing as normal." Sam sighed. "Everyone is different-"
"But all my friends are the same and I seem to be the only one who's different." Ella said worriedly.
"Alright, different how?" Sam asked.
"At lunch, they'll sit on the field and watch the boys playing football and they'll all talk about how hot they think one boy is or how much they fancy another but I just don't feel any of it. It's like I'm not attracted to boys at all." Ella admitted.
"Why haven't you said anything about this to me before?"
"Because I only realised it last week. Honestly." Ella replied and it put Sam at ease that her daughter hadn't been keeping her feelings bottle up for ages.
"Okay well, listen. One: you're only nine years old so I doubt that any of your friends actually love any of those boys, two: you've still got years to find out what you find attractive, and three: if you mean what I think you mean, then there's no shame in being attracted to someone of the same sex as you." Sam said reassuringly.
"So you wouldn't kick me out if I turned out to be a dyke?"
"Don't say dyke, it's not a very nice word. And some people can find it demeaning. But I can promise you that if you are homosexual, we'd never kick you out, not in a million years." Sam said reassuringly.
"But what about Dad?"
"Your father, doesn't make judgements on people's sexuality. He likes them if they're a nice person, or if he they're horrible then he won't but he wouldn't love you any less because if your sexuality; he accepts you for who you are." Sam stated.
"You won't, say anything to him or Daniel will you? It's just I'm not actually sure and-"
"It's just between you and me kiddo." Sam smiled. "But I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything yeah? If you want to talk to me about the stuff in the box or puberty, it's fine. Or if you want to talk to me some more about sexuality, it's okay. I will always listen to what you have to say."
"Thanks again. I mean it, I really appreciate what you do for me and you're an amazing mum and I know you always listen, I'm not scared to talk to you about anything and when I've told my friends that they're jealous of me because you're so approachable." Ella stated gratefully.
"Stop growing up so fast." Sam joked halfheartedly. "You're so mature for your age, you're even more mature than Daniel and he's four years older than you."
"I'll always be your little girl." Ella smiled.
"I know you will." Sam smiled in return.
"Our kids are growing up Tom." Sam sighed as she laid next to her husband in their double bed facing the ceiling under their thick duvet and blankets to keep them warm in the winter.
"I know." Tom huffed. "Hey, how about we go in the caravan somewhere this half term? Spend some time together as a family?" Tom suggested.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Sam smiled. "Where were you thinking?"
"I dunno... Maybe Dorset? Or somewhere nice and rural with lots of space where the dogs can go running and you can smell the fresh air."
"Sounds great." Sam nodded. "Does this mean that you'll be organising it seeing as you suggested it?" Sam asked cheekily.
"I don't see why not." Tom shrugged. "Oh um, how did it go with Ella? Did you give her the box?" Tom asked as he knew how much time and effort Sam had put into making the little 'puberty kit' for her daughter.
"Yeah, we had a good chat." Sam nodded - she had no intention of discussing what Ella had talked to her in confidence about because she was just so, so relieved about what Ella had said about being so 'approachable' and easy to talk to and she didn't want to lose her daughter's trust.
"Well, night night." Tom kissed Sam and then turned on his side so he wrapped his arms around her torso and rested his head in the crook of her neck on her pillow.
"Night." Sam whispered.
Coming up: How will Ella deal with her first period when her disease causes such heavy bleeding?
Thanks for reading! There will be more on Ella's sexuality later on in the story and I thought it would be a good topic to explore so please review and let me know what you think of it :)