A journey that started so many years ago
A journey that I learned from as I grew
I never chose my path in life, my path chose me
As I walked alone looking for happiness
All I could find was a world of hate
Maybe someday things will change
But my destiny will remain the same
To find true friends who really care
In this day and age is really rare
It always gets better, so they say
But first I must know how to make the pain go away
It’s been a long battle
One that many will have to travel
I remember what someone once said to me
Keep your head up, always be proud

The Confederation, a group of independent worlds bonded together for mutual trade and defence, have a dirty little secret in how they make their trading ships - hijacking the souls of dead transgendered. Please follow one subject's rebirth into the Confederation.

Apologies in advance, this one's mostly setup. Thanks to Bailey Summers for test reading (but not editing - all mistakes are mine), sorry I couldn't implement all of your suggestions.

CHAPTER 32
He was smaller in the bed, but the smile was almost there. I had gone in with Darren, of course, the day after Albert had resurfaced. That smile, just the tiniest of quirks on the right side, and a tic in his speech that a stranger would miss.

CHAPTER 31
Naomi rang the following evening. We had sorted out everything we thought they might need in addition to what we had packed in haste the day before, and Simon once more had done the shuttle run, accompanied by Merry. His face had lit up when he saw her, and I got a sly look of guilt when I winked at him over her shoulder as they embraced. Naughty vicar.

CHAPTER 30
Ginny was on the phone a little while later, as Darren all but dozed in Chantelle’s arms, exhausted by his emotions.

“How is he, Gin?”

CHAPTER 29
I was out of the door as soon as one of the boys could fit my bike into the back of a carrier and drive me round. Steph was at the door waiting.

Please see notes at end

It’s another sad day for the sky is filled with dark clouds.
It’s been like this for many days, and the rain just never seems to go away.
Oh how I wish I could go out and play, but what fun would it be anyway.
I no longer laugh and I can’t smile, why must I live a life of denial.
Ashamed of what others might think, the pills still in my hand ready to swallow.
Some people told me to pray, but why bother, god hates me anyway.
Some wish I was dead, others want me to move ahead.
As the pain becomes too much to bear, I find there is no end to the fear.

CHAPTER 27
Merry was looking at them with a very practised eye, I realised. This wasn’t a woman flicking through the racks with a vision of tiered romance and fluffy whiteness, this was someone with very clear ideas as to the ideal wedding dress. I turned on her.

CHAPTER 25
It was a good job the others were late back, because our clothes took a little while to find. I grabbed one of my ‘Tabitha’ nighties after a rinse of, well, just there, and joined my lover in our bed, where he had already settled himself after making two cups of tea. He took one look at the nighty, and simply shook his head.

This is a bit shorter than I usually deliver, but the reason should be obvious.

CHAPTER 23
“Hold still!”

“You are tugging too hard!”

“You are not getting wed with hair all over the place, woman! Now bend forward, I need to do the back of the garland”

“If I bend forward, I’ll burst the bodice”

“Well, you shouldn’t be so big!”

CHAPTER 22
I was staring at a water jug. The bastard was empty, and someone had superglued my lips together with rancid cheese.

I, Messalina by Janet Baker

This short story is a vile little postscript to the life of Messalina, Empress of Rome. The story ventures into bestiality and thus the reader is forewarned.

According to Wikkipedia;

Roman sources claim that Messalina used sex to enforce her power and control [over] politicians, that she had a brothel under an assumed name and organised orgies for upper class women, and that she sold her influence to Roman nobles or foreign notables.
Juvenal is also highly critical of her in his Satire VI translation by Peter Green.

I wrote this for Bob using characters from Donna Lamb's Blue Moon and Green Sun:

 
Indigo Sky
 
by Donna Lamb and Erin Halfelven

Trope: Averted
by mittfh
 
Copyright © 2011 Ben Norwood.
.

Teaser:When your wife presents you with a maid's dress and tells you to get changed, it can only mean one thing...
...or can it?

CHAPTER 18
Kate looked at me sharply the next morning.

“Why, Annie?”

“Why what?”

“Why no sleep? I can see it in your eyes, trust me I’m a doctor and all that shit. Nightmares again?”

CHAPTER 17
Of course they had to come round the next day for dinner, and that had to be arranged for a restaurant as we simply didn’t have the room, which meant a LOT of telephone calls to find somewhere that had space for well over twenty folk, and only the Parson’s Pig had space enough among all the office parties.

CHAPTER 16
There was more, of course, more of their voices and power, and I wept, but Eric was there, and Merry joined me as I dropped out of the playing, her arms a comfort above and beyond the joy of the music.

CHAPTER 15
“You need a hat in His house, Annie!”

“I am not playing Saburo in some bloody milliner’s nightmare, Merry! It’s a meal for crumblies and a carol service, not a royal garden party”