QUICK NOTE: does anyone know how to properly organize story chapters like this? For my previous stories that were multiple chapters, someone (I assume a BCTS staff member) organized the chapters into a sort of folder-like page for the single story. Example: For Christian's Gender Problem, I wrote each chapter separately, but all four of their links were put on this page: https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book-page/82024/christians-ge... For some reason, every chapter of Lanie's Journey has had its link put in the page for Chapter 1, with no page for the series as a whole. Anyone care to help me fix that?

Without further ado, let us begin Chapter 5.

***

For the next week, Lanie continued to have fun with Rachel, Melody, Taylor, and on occasion Alexis. Aside from going to the swimming pool, they also went to the mall and played board games in the foster home's game room. Lanie also got to meet some of the girls from the other dorms, such as Vanessa, Amber, Lillian, and Rebecca. They were all really nice.

But one day, a week after Lanie had first came to the Pretty And Pink Foster Home, something big happened. Lanie and Rachel were just getting back from the mall when they ran into Ruth in the hallway. "Hello, Lanie!" said Ruth. "Hi Rachel."

"Hi Ruth," said Lanie.

"Are you guys coming in for dinner?"

"Yes, we are," Lanie answered.

"Good," said Ruth, "Because we have a special guest tonight."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

So Lanie and Rachel went to the foster home's cafeteria. They found Melody, Taylor, and Alexis sitting at their usual table with bowls of tomato soup. "Soup night?" Rachel asked.

"Yup," Alexis answered.

"Okay." Rachel and Lanie got some soup of their own, then sat down with their friends. While they were eating, Ruth came into the cafeteria.

"Good evening, everyone," Ruth said, causing all the girls to turn in her direction. "Please welcome the founder of Pretty And Pink Foster Care, Angelina Aguilar!"

Ruth stood aside to let Angelina come into the room. She looked just like in the picture Lanie had seen in the foster home's entry hall, except she looked even better in person. Angelina's hair hung loosely behind her, and her eyes were lined with enough black eyeliner to make an ancient Egyptian jealous. She was wearing a low-cut white dress with a seam in it that showed off her slender left leg.

"Hello, my lovely ladies!" Angelina said with a smile. "How are you all doing?"

"Angelina!" one of the girls, who Lanie recognized as Vanessa, exclaimed. She got up and ran over to give Angelina a big hug. "Oh, it's so good to see you again!"

"Wow," Lanie said to Rachel. "She must really like Angelina."

"She does," Rachel replied. "Vanessa was in an abusive foster home when Angelina found her and transferred her here. She's really grateful to Angelina for getting her out of that hell."

Just like with my dad, Lanie thought. But when she looked back at Angelina, she remembered the circumstances surrounding her transformation and admittance to the foster home. Why had Angelina been so insistent on turning him into a girl? She knew Ruth had been pushing to have boys at this foster home, but what was Angelina being so stubborn for?

Lanie felt her heart rate increase when Angelina approached her table. "Hello," said Angelina. "Lanie, isn't it?"

"Uh...yes." Lanie wanted so badly to start asking Angelina some questions, but she couldn't. Not with the other girls here.

"How are you liking your new home?"

"I like it," Lanie answered, which was true. She'd genuinely enjoyed the last week with Rachel, Melody, and the others.

"I heard about how you ended up homeless," said Angelina. "I'm very sorry."

Lanie nodded. "Yeah, it was...pretty rough."

"But that is the reason why I founded Pretty And Pink Foster Care in the first place," said Angelina, "To provide girls like you with better living conditions."

"Well, this is a lot better," said Lanie. "Thanks for letting me move in here."

"No problem," said Angelina. "No problem at all."

As Angelina was leaving, Melody said "She is such a nice lady."

"I know," said Rachel. "When I first got here, I was still feeling sad about losing my family, but Angelina and Ruth helped me deal with my loss. I still feel sad about it now, but I've mostly moved past it."

Lanie didn't listen to them. She was too busy thinking about how she'd get to Angelina with her questions...

***

Angelina sat at the desk in the foster home's office, sorting through the piles of paperwork. Ordinarily, this was Ruth's job, but since Angelina was the head of the organization, and she was visiting the Nashville establishment, she'd taken it upon herself to help out with the paperwork.

She was distracted from her work when she heard a knock on the office's door. "Enter," said Angelina.

Lanie walked into the office. "Hey Angelina," she said. "Can I call you Angelina? Or Ms. Aguilar, or-"

"Just Angelina is fine. What do you need?"

"To talk. Alone. In private."

"I believe we are already alone."

Lanie took a deep breath before asking "Why did you make Ruth turn me into a girl?"

Angelina blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Why did Ruth have to turn me into a girl?" Lanie asked.

Angelina gave Lanie a quizzical look. "I thought she already explained that to you," she said. "Because we were admitting you to an all-girls foster home, and we couldn't allow a boy to be with a bunch of girls."

"Then why did she even rescue me in the first place?"

"Because she wanted to trick me into letting a boy into my foster home."

"She said something about that-"

"This isn't the first time she's tried to convince me," said Angelina. "For quite some time, Ruth's been insisting we make our foster home coed so that we have less limitations on who we can accept. With you, Ruth thought she could convince me by saying she'd gotten a boy and that she'd already told him we'd give him a place to live. And I have to admit, it was a pretty good tactic on her part. I don't imagine it would've looked good to you if we accepted you into an all-girls foster home even though you were a boy, then kicked you out because you were a boy."

"Well...yes, but..."

"And in any case, I hear you murdered your own father. And by adopting a new identity, you were able to remain safe from the authorities."

Lanie said nothing. She knew Angelina was right.

"Lanie, my dear, I'm sorry that it had to begin this way. I really am. We've never had to do this with anyone else. But given the circumstances, we had no choice but to turn you into a girl. And you have been enjoying your new life here, haven't you?"

"I guess so."

"Great. Hopefully, we can put all of this behind us and forge a brighter future together."

"Well, thanks, Angelina," said Lanie. She felt disappointed that Angelina had basically just reiterated what Ruth had said, but she clearly wasn't going to get any more answers. "I guess I'll talk to you later."

"You too," said Angelina. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to some private business downstairs." She indicated a door at the back of the office that Lanie hadn't noticed before. It had a small sign that said "Restricted Area! Authorized Personnel Only!"

"Okay," said Lanie. "Have a good night."

***

After Lanie had left, Angelina left her desk and went through the door at the back of the room. She made sure to lock it behind her before descending the stairs that led to the secret underground bunker beneath the foster home.

When Angelina got to the bunker, she found Ruth there waiting for her, mixing ingredients in a large black cauldron. "Have you found success?" Angelina asked.

"No," Ruth answered. "I've tried everything I can, but I can't seem to find a way to disguise our gender-swapping potion as regular water."

Angelina shook her head. "Well, hopefully we'll figure it out sooner or later," she said.

"I saw you talking to Lanie earlier," said Ruth.

"Yes, I did," said Angelina. "She seems to be enjoying her new life here with the other girls. But she did come to me in the office just now."

Ruth looked up from her potion. "Did she, now?"

"Yes. She wanted to know the truth about why I had you change her."

"What drove her to ask you?"

"I am not sure," said Angelina. "It seems that the rest of the young ladies in our care have toed the line and kept their little secrets. But it does appear that I quelled Lanie's suspicion."

Ruth sighed. Choosing her words carefully, she said "I am not saying I like males any more than you do. But this is the reason why I've been suggesting we let boys into our foster home. So that the ones like Landon who we decide to turn into girls won't get suspicious about what our organization really is."

"Ruth, when I founded Pretty And Pink Foster Care, I intended it to be a girls-only foster home," Angelina insisted. "You know that. And, in any case, Landon is no more. He is now Lanie."

"And did you tell her the real reason you sent me out to find him-I mean, her? That she's-"

"Lanie will know in time," Angelina answered, smiling evilly. "But the time has not come quite yet."

To be continued...