[One month after Maxine had received that letter upon their return from France]

“Hello, I’m Maxine Saunders. I have an appointment with Dr Hillier at 2:30,” said Maxine.
She was the offices of a doctor just off of Harley St. Adrian had insisted that she do her transition properly but privately. Today was her first visit to the Psychologist who would supposedly help her transition.

“Dr Hillier is a little behind schedule today. Please take a seat. She should be ready to see you in ten minutes. Please take a seat,” said the receptionist.

Maxine looked at her and mentally shook her head. From the bad hair colour, to wonky and obviously well past their best false eyelashes and even worse lip liner to clothes that would only be suitable for a twenty-year-old and not someone in her fifties, she hoped that she’d never ever get to look as bad as that.

Maxine shuddered at that thought as she sat down and picked up a glossy magazine. She put it down when she realised it was about properties in the country. Then her mind kicked in and she picked it up again.

Her interest was even more piqued when she saw an advert for a property in Reigate that was on the same street as Adrian’s house. She gasped when she saw the asking price for the house. It was close to fifteen times that of her family home. She’d known that their bit of Reigate was expensive but it hadn’t hit home until now just how expensive it was.

This one fact hammered home yet again that she was in a different league now. The fun days out with her sister when she pretended to be Maxine seemed an awfully long time ago. She was in a different world now and she’d never been happier in her life.

She smiled to herself when she remembered approving a contract worth almost half a million pounds only the week before.

---

When she was called into see the doctor, Maxine was almost ready to flee but she gritted her teeth and went into the Lion’s den or to be more accurate, the doctors consulting room.

“Please take a seat, Ms Saunders, said the doctor. Maxine sat and looked at the doctor.

“Thank you for coming to see me. I would not normally see someone without a referral but Mr Forsythe was very persuasive and I owed him a favour from when we were at University together.”

He looked directly at Maxine before continuing.
“Well, we are here now. Why don’t you tell me how Maxine came into this world and what are her desires in life?”

Maxine smiled and took a deep breath before answering.

“Some years ago, my sister Dawn and I would go out together with me wearing her clothes. I treated it as a bit of a lark. Even our mother was in on our little games. I didn’t treat it seriously but it was fun. Then a little over a year and a bit ago, my sister had a little accident the day before she was due to go to a job interview. To cut a long story short, I was persuaded to go in her place as Maxine. The plan was to pretend to be her my Mother said that it was wrong so I went and presented my CV at the Interview.”

Maxine spent the next fifteen minutes relating how she’d gotten to where she was today.

“That really is some story Maxine,” said the doctor when she’d finished.
“What about the future? What do you think it will hold for you?”

She thought for a second and then said,
“I wasn’t sure at first but as time went by and the people I was working with treated me as a woman and appreciated what I was doing I began to realise that Maxine was who I was. I mean really who I was and what I was...”

She paused for a second,
“What I was and to use a horrible business expression, what I was bringing to the table. That never happened with Thomas. Then,”

Maxine smiled again,
“Then at the beginning of last month, I was doing some shopping at Sainsbury’s in Redhill when I found myself being chatted up. When I got home, I tried to find any trace of Thomas in me. He was gone. Being a logical sort of person, I then weighed up my options. I was pretty sure what I was going to do in general terms with my life when Adrian offered me a job and a completely new direction to my life. It also confirmed what I needed to do for me. Nothing that has happened to me since has caused me to change that view. If anything, events since then have confirmed to me that I'm doing the right thing. Maxine is who I am and will be for the rest of my life. There is no way in hell that I'd want to be Thomas again. He's like some fuzzy doppleganger now.”

The doctor thought for a moment.

“You seem to have covered all the bases.”

Maxine smiled.

“I’d like to think so but I’m sure that there are things I have not thought of but they will come in time and possibly with your help and guidance.”

The doctor laughed.

“Many of my patients are nowhere near as determined and sure of what they want out of life as you clearly are.”

“A lot of that is down to my Mother. She has been testing me since I first became Maxine. A lot of my thoughts and decisions have been prompted by her.”

“You seem to have a really good relationship with your Mother?”

“I do. She has been a rock to me these past months.”

“Does she not mind losing a son?”

“Probably, but it was her who christened me Maxine. That would have been my name if I had been born a girl. To be honest doctor, when I look back, I was very much a non-entity as a male. When I went shopping for the first time as Maxine after my job interview, I felt good. I never felt like that when shopping for male clothes. Then it was in, get something and out again. Now it is different.”

“What about your sister? Wasn’t she pretty instrumental in you going to the interview as Maxine?”

Maxine visibly sighed before answering.

“My sister is a mystery. One minute she was getting her act together and going to University to study Law and then she got the party and clubbing bug. Now she’s living on benefits, doing nothing with her life despite having a young son to look after and to top it all, she hates me. She is still resentful of me getting the job that was apparently hers. I’m sure that she could have gone to the interview but to be honest I think that she couldn’t be bothered.”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“About taking her place? None in the slightest. I seemed to impress my old boss by my directness right from the start. She offered me a job but not the one that was advertised. Dawn is and always has been a bit of a wild child. I’m the more logical, sensible child.”

“Where is she now?”

Maxine sighed.

“She’s sofa surfing in Devizes or Frome or somewhere. Well, that was the last we heard from her. It is a shame really but she had a hard time when Dad died. She seemed to grow up pretty quickly and helped Mum a lot. Around the time of her ‘A-Levels’, she seemed to revert to a rebellious teenager.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“Sad. I know that she could make something of her life but she seems to feel that the whole world is conspiring against her and owes here a living.”

“How does she feel about you?”

“As I said, she says that she hates me. I don’t know if that is real or just a bit of envy.”

“Does that bother you? I mean how she sees you?”

“It does and it does not. It does because she is my sister. It does not because I know that both my Mother and I have tried to get her to grow up and face reality. So far, she has refused. Perhaps one day? I don’t know. I’m not her but if she needs me than I’ll be there for her. The same applies to our Mother but even her patience is wearing a bit thin these days.”

The Doctor smiled at Maxine.

“You seem to have a pretty sanguine view of the world?”

“As I said, she had to grow up pretty quickly after my Father died. He was killed when the helicopter he was a passenger in crashed as it took him out to an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria. He’d always told us that going to work was a risk and that doing his job was a risk. He’d been in the oil industry for all his adult life and had become one of the best if not the best wellhead engineer on this side of the Atlantic. We… we missed him and still do but he always told me to be myself and to look after my Mother. I am being myself now. Maxine is who I am. I have a great opportunity to make something of my life. Dad did it and so can I. We are different people but a lot of what he said to me when we’d go fishing on the Canal sort of sunk in. At the time, it didn’t but now his words make a lot of sense.”

The Doctor looked up at the clock.

“Sadly, our time today is almost up. I need to think on a lot of what you have said but honestly Maxine, if there were more people like you coming to see me then I’d be out of a job.”

“Eh?”

“Maxine, you are about the most level-headed person I’ve seen this year. I think a lot of that is down to your parents.”

“Thanks Doctor.”

“You have been living as Maxine for almost a year now. I could sign you off as having done your RLT but I rarely do that. Let’s say that you are ten months or so into your RLT. You are doing well, very well indeed. I will prescribe some testosterone blockers and we can take things from there. Then I’ll see you in a couple of months to see how the blockers are working.”

“Doctor?” asked Maxine.
“I’d like to wait on the blockers if I may. I want to get some of my sperm frozen. I really do prefer women rather than men and if… if I get into a long-term relationship we may want a child.”

The doctor smiled.

“Maxine, what did I just say about your level headedness? Then I will see you in a month to start the blockers.”

Then she thought for a second as Maxine stood up to leave.

“Please wait a moment Maxine. I’ll let you have the details of a good facility for storing your sperm.”

She did a brief search on her computer and wrote down the details.

“Here you are,” she said handing the details to Maxine.

“Make an appointment for one months’ time. If you have your sperm sorted then we can give you a full physical and then start you on those blockers and some low-level female hormones.”

Maxine smiled.

“Thanks Doctor. I’ll see you in a month.”

Five minutes later Maxine walked out onto the street. She was visibly shaking. The last hour had been harder than she’d envisaged. Then slowly a smile spread over her face. As she walked towards Marylebone High Street, she said to herself, ‘well done girl’.

---

Adrian was eager to hear all about the visit to the Doctors. Maxine was a bit reluctant to say anything other than,
“It went as well as I hoped it would. But, he said that I had my head screwed on right.”

Adrian was happy with that.

Maxine followed up on the sperm bank and with Adrian’s support donated what the nurse called ‘a good viable wad’ for storage. Maxine had not thought anything about it but once Adrian mentioned it, Maxine was sold on the idea. She knew that in her heart that one day, she would marry a woman.

---

[one month later]

Maxine returned to see the doctor for her second appointment. This time, she underwent a full medical so that the Clinic had a base level of data for later in her treatment.

“Maxine, I’m very pleased with all your stats especially the BP. If you are ready, then I’ll prescribe the blockers and a dose of female hormones to start you off on the next phase of your transition.”

Maxine grinned back at the doctor.

“It won’t be a bed of roses. You could suffer any number of side effects in the next few months. I have a leaflet describing them. Read it and give it to your partner. If you suffer any of the more severe ones then make an urgent appointment here. We keep one or two slots free every day just for this purpose.”

Maxine didn’t respond.

“Please promise me that you will do this? You are not alone on this journey. We are here to help as I hope will be your partner.”

“I promise Doc.”

“Good. Now you can get dressed while I prepare your prescription.”

On her way home, Maxine took a slightly roundabout way home and went to the dress shop in Wimbledon. Her dresses were ready for collection and she couldn’t wait to try them on.

“Ah, Maxine,” said the proprietor, Emma Francis.
“Your order is ready. Won’t you please come on through to the back?”

The two other customers looked at Maxine and then proceeded to look down their nose at her. They were dressed in expensive outfits which were a far cry from Maxine’s chain-store skirt and top. To her they were functional but she hoped that these dresses would up the stakes a bit when it comes to business meetings.

As Maxine walked through to the rear, another woman appeared from what was obviously a changing cubicle. The wedding dress that she was wearing was in Maxine’s opinion, hideous. The skirt was so full, it could have been from pre-civil war America or even late Georgian England. The wearer brushed past Maxine as if she wasn’t there. As she went into the main shop there were ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the other women.

Maxine went into the back of the shop shaking her head. She hoped that her wedding dress would be a lot more elegant than that.

“Rather gross wasn’t it?” said Emma.

Maxine was unsure about how to answer.
Emma smiled.
“It is and I made it but the Mother is paying for it and her desires and those like her make this place possible. But is does mean that there are times when I have to grit my teeth, make the dress and take their money. Mrs Constance Hargreaves-Thompson is one of those times.

Maxine understood perfectly.

“Now down to business,” said Emma.
“I think that these will satisfy your requirements.”

Emma pulled back a curtain to show six dresses on a rack.

Maxine’s heart started beating a lot faster. This would be the first time that she’d had anything made for her.

Emma pulled one dress off the rack and presented it to Maxine.

Maxine’s smile told her that it was just what she wanted.

“Why not go and try it on?” suggested Emma.

Maxine didn’t say anything but took the dress and headed for another changing room.

A minute or so later, she emerged with a huge smile on her face.

Emma checked the fit and pronounced it perfect.

“Is it what you wanted?”

Maxine’s smile told Emma that it was.

Twenty minutes later Maxine left the shop carrying her dresses with a huge smile on her face.

---

Cliff picked Maxine up from Redhill Station an hour later.

“Been shopping then Maxi?”

“Sort of. I just collected something that I ordered a couple of months ago.”

“You seem very pleased with yourself?”

“I am Cliff. These are the first bits of clothing that I’ve had made for me.”

“I guess that Adrian will be pleased then?”

“He knows nothing about these.”

“Oh!” was all he’d say but he did it with a big smile on his face.

Adrian was involved on a conference call when Maxine arrived back in Reigate so she went upstairs and changed. For this reveal, she went the whole way and with different makeup, one of the dresses and tights and shoes. When she looked at the result in the mirror, she thought that she looked the part.

After a little bit of preening in the mirror she went downstairs.

As she went into his office, he looked up from the papers he was studying and said,
“Oh, you are back then?”

Maxine was about to tear him off a strip when she saw a faint smile on his face.

“You look very nice by the way. Very professional indeed.”

“Thanks. I wanted something that said that I meant business but also said that I was a woman, well looked like one at least.”

Adrian chuckled.
“You are all woman as far as I’m concerned.”

Then he added,
“How was the Doctors?”

“Very good. No, make that excellent. I have the prescription for the blockers and female hormones. I’ll go into town and get them tomorrow.”

Adrian got up from his chair and came around to Maxine’s side of the desk.

“You really do look the part. Not that you didn’t before but the dress makes you look so professional. So many businesswomen seem to think that they have to dress like a man to succeed. I have never thought that and seeing you like that just reinforced that view.

Then to Maxine’s surprise, he took her in his arms and really kissed her. This was the first time that Adrian had done that.

Once the initial surprise had worn off, she responded and the kiss became quite sensual.

When they broke free, both of them were smiling.

---

[three months later, at her Doctors]

“Well Maxine, I can see from your blood test results, that you are handling the hormones very well. Any side effects to report?”
“Just some itching here,” she replied pointing at her upper chest.

The doctor smiled back at her.
“That is to be expected. You are developing breasts.”

Her grin told him that she was pleased.

Adrian was just as pleased when Maxine told him later in the day. The pair went out to dinner that evening at a very nice place somewhere deep in the Sussex countryside.

[to be continued]

[Authors Note]
That’s all from this story for the present. There is a lot more to come but I’m having some issued with juggling some timelines and for once, I know where it is going to end. Getting there is a bit of a problem as my imagination is… shall we say, quite fertile at the moment. It will come but I’ll need some time to get there.