Artemis limps home after the beating he just received from the guys in his neighborhood. His stupid uncle purposely made him play football with the guys, even when he told his uncle he didn’t want to play. They beat the daylights out of him on the field and he might have sprained his ankle. His wrist was hurting him again. It was swollen right now, and it hurt when he tried to use it.

Artemis walks into the trailer he was living in with his Uncle and his girlfriend. He finds the two of them passed out on the sofa. He heads into the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat or any ice he could use on his wrist. There wasn’t anything in the refrigerator or any ice in the freezer. He checks the cabinets and they were empty as well.

He walks over towards his uncle to see if there was any money laying around he could grab. If there was, he could go get a hot dog or something. He hasn’t had anything to eat all day long. He spots three-dollar bills laying on the sofa near his uncle. He moves carefully over towards it and just as he was about to grab the money. His uncle reaches out and grabs his slender hand.

“Trying to steal from me Boy?”

“No sir, I was hungry and was going to go and get some hot dogs with it.” Artemis was scared and the grip on his good hand was painful.

“I don’t care, boy. You don’t deserve any food and you don’t steal from me.” Artemis Uncle tosses him over the coffee table and causes him to knock over a half-full bottle of beer.

Artemis lands on his back with beer spilled on him. His right wrist hurts even more from him using it to break his fall. He watches as his uncle takes his belt. He tries to block the belt with his good arm as his uncle whips him with it. His uncle whips him several times with the belt across the face and his arms.

After his uncle stops “get out of this house, you brat!”

His uncle walks around the table and picks him up by his hair and drag him over to the door. He tosses Artemis out of the trailer into the rain and mud. It had started raining a few minutes after he got home.

Artemis watches as his uncle slams the door shut. His right wrist was throbbing with pain and now he was wet and muddy from hitting the ground. He stands back up and pounds on the door.

“Let me in! Let me in!” He keeps pounding, till the door is pushed open and hits him in the face.

“Get out of here you little brat and don’t come back!” He slams the door shut and locks it.

Artemis could feel blood leaking from his nose, where the door had hit him. He grabs his old rusty girl bicycle and pedals away from the trailer.
He had found the bicycle in the woods nearby and fixed what he could. He knew his neighbors wouldn’t help him. They didn’t like his Uncle and the last time they did help; his uncle and his uncle’s girlfriend harass and threaten them.

He bikes away from the trailer park and heads off. He doesn’t know where he could go and get help. It was getting dark outside and the rain was coming down. He didn’t know where he was going, but hopefully, he could find somewhere.

As he is biking away from the trailer park. He passes a few businesses and wonders if they let him do some work around their business. He stops at a few and speaks to the managers on duty. They tell him he is either too young to work at their business or he needs his parent’s permission.

As he is pedaling away it starts to rain again. He spots a garage with the lights still on. He peddles over to it and tries the door, it was locked.
He walks over towards one of the windows to see if anyone was still working and spots a young woman grabbing some tools and heading back to a car that had its hood up.

He knocks on the garage door, hoping the mechanic inside will allow him to come in and clean the place.

Roxana wanted to get the car that belonged to Mrs. Donner done tonight. She knew Mrs. Donner needed her car, to get to her doctor appointments and to pick her grandchildren up. As she was heading back to remove the alternator on the car, she hears someone knocking on the garage door. She looks towards the door and spots a person looking in. She couldn’t tell who they were. She grabs her taser and heads toward the door. The places around here have been robbed a few times and she wasn’t going to take any chances.

She opens the main door “were close.” As she looks at a young kid standing in the rain.

“I was wondering if I could clean your garage for some money?” Artemis shivers as he keeps getting wet.

Roxana looks at the condition of the teenager standing in the rain. The poor thing looked like someone beat the crap out of him.

“Look, why don’t you come in out of the rain.” Roxana opens the door wider for Artemis to walk in with his bicycle.

“Thank you.” He wheels his bicycle in. He was still limping from the injury he had gotten earlier.

Roxana closes the door and relocks it. She turns around and looks at the poor kid.

“Let me get you a towel. There’s tea, hot chocolate, and coffee over there if you want something warm to drink.”

“Thank you.” Artemis leans his bicycle against some seats and limps over towards the table she pointed at.

Roxana watches as the kid walks over towards the coffee machine. She had seen bruising, on his face, hands and now he was limping. His clothes looked like he got into a fight or something.

“Where are your parents?” Roxana leans against her counter and watches the kid.

“My Uncle threw me out of the house and told me not to come back.” Artemis was holding back the tears that were threating to come.

“What did you do to deserve that?” Roxana couldn’t believe a guardian would throw a child out.

“I don’t know. Ever since I came to live with him. He was okay at first, but later he started treating me like I was a burden to him.” Artemis use
to love being with his uncle.

He was fun to be with and was just like his father. They would go fishing and mudding in his truck. When his uncle tried to get him to play sports at a company picnic He wasn’t very good, and the bigger kids just ran right over him.

“Look, I have a job I need to finish on a customer’s car. If you’re hungry, there’s some luncheon meat in the refrigerator in the back. Why don’t you stay out here and wait for me? You can spend the night at my place tonight.” As Roxana starts heading back towards the garage.

“Thank you.” Artemis was thankful that Roxana was letting him stay overnight with her.

Roxana goes back in the garage and works on Mrs. Donner’s car.

Artemis finds the luncheon meat Roxana told him about and fixes himself a sandwich. He grabs a bag of chips from the box that had a variety of them. He heads back into the waiting area of the garage and eats the sandwich and chips.

Afterward, he picks up a magazine and starts reading it. He wasn’t really into cars, but the one he picked up was a gardening one. It had a nice article about growing plants and flowers. He reads the article.

He shivers from the a/c kicking on. After about an hour, Roxana comes walking into the office wiping her hands.

“Come on kid, lets head home.” Roxana gently shakes the boy’s shoulder.

Artemis wakes-up. He must have dozed off. He gets up and follows Roxana out of the office with his bicycle. Roxana picks the bicycle up and put it in the bed of her Ford Ranger. The rain had slowed down some.

It takes about twenty minutes for Roxana to drive to her two-story house. She notices that her friend was home. She pulls her truck up on the other side of the Honda Accord. The motion lights come on lighting the area.

“Leave your bicycle in the back. No one around here will steal it.” As she dashes from the truck to the covered porches.

Artemis was right behind her as they ran towards the porch. Roxana opens the door and walks in. Artemis was right behind her.

“You live here?” He was looking at the place as they walked in. There was a staircase leading up to the second floor to his left and the
entrance to the living room was right across the hallway.

“Me and my cousin Stacy.” She leads him up to the second floor and to the guest room.

“You can sleep in here tonight. By the way, what is your name?” It just dawns on Roxana she never asked the boy his name.

“Artemis Sandy, ma’am.” He sits down on the quilt covering the bed.

“My name is Roxana Iron, it's nice to meet you Artemis. After your undress, why don’t you go ahead and take a bath? I’ll get you something to wear to bed.

“Thank you.” He watches as she leaves the bedroom.

He heads towards the bathroom. He spotted it when he came upstairs. The bathtub looked like the bottom of a river. He fills it up and gets in.
Roxana looks through her stuff and grabs an oversized nightshirt for Artemis to wear. She didn’t have any underwear in his size that he could wear. She lays the clothes out on the bed for him. She picks up the ones he took off and notices they were in poor shape. She looks at his shoes and they had holes in the bottom of them.

She’ll have to go by either a payless or Walmart and pick-up the poor boy some clothes. She gathers what she has so far and takes it to the bedroom where Artemis was going to sleep. She hopes Artemis will be okay.

Artemis finishes his bath and dries off. He covers up a yawn as he stumbles into the bedroom covered up as a girl would. He spots the nightshirt laying on the bed and slips it on.

Roxana had taken a shower while Artemis was in the tub. Once she was done with her shower and was dressed in her nightgown. She goes to check on Artemis and notices he was in bed and sound to sleep. She notices he had welts on his body where someone used a belt on the poor kid.

If her father saw this kid, he would be pissed and would want to go after the person who beat this child. Her father was a retired cop and lived down in Florida with her mother. Her mother was a retired school teacher.

The next morning, Roxana’s alarm clock goes off. She hits the snooze alarm and goes back to sleep. A few minutes later, the alarm goes off again. She drags herself out of bed and head to her bathroom does her morning business.

She gets a dress and goes to check on Artemis. She finds him sound asleep. Roxana just stands in the doorway and look at him. He looked so young and so feminine. His features were so soft and didn’t look like a normal teenage boy. He had soft curls to his shoulder-length reddish-brown hair. He had a body most girls his age would kill for. He was very petite.

Stacy was coming out of her bedroom when she noticed her cousin Roxana standing in the doorway of one of the spare bedrooms they had. She was curious and walks over to her.

“Watch you looking at?” Stacy sticks her head into the room and noticed a little girl sleeping on the bed.

“Someone I brought home last night. The poor thing had been abused and thrown out of their home.” Roxana didn’t know what she was going to do.

“How did you come across them?” Stacy was curious how her cousin came across the young girl.

“He came up to the garage, asking if there was any work, he could do to earn money.” Roxana just kept watching Artemis as he slept.

“That’s a he? You have got to be kidding. I thought he was a young girl. He’s too pretty to be a boy.” Stacy looked closer at Artemis’s facial features.

They were too soft to be male features. The jawline was all wrong, the small nose and ears. The short petite body and hands.

“There’s no way that is a boy. He’s too cute and could pass for a ten-year-old girl.” Stacy was sure the boy could easily pass as a little girl with
no problem.

“Here’s one of his shoes.” Roxana picks up one of Artemis’s shoe and gives it to her cousin.

“It’s a size three and a half.” Stacy worked at a teenage girl clothing store.

“Well, before I can take him to work with me. He’s going to need some clothes to wear.” Roxana saw the condition the clothes he had on last night. They were in poor shape.

“I’ll go and get some clothes for him. I know approximately what size he should be. Does he need clean underwear?” Stacy was good at guessing people clothes size.

“Yes, he needs clean underwear.” Roxana spotted some blood in his underwear, some rips and tears in the underwear.

Stacy gets dress and heads out to purchase some clothes for Artemis. When she walks past her cousin's pick-up truck. She notices the rusty girl’s bike in the bed of the truck. She could tell that it had been fixed. The pedals, chain and rear wheel looked brand new. So, where the brake pads on the rear brakes.

Roxana decided to let Artemis sleep. The poor kid looked exhausted last night. She closes the bedroom door and heads downstairs to fix a cup of coffee and pay some bills.

Stacy goes to a few stores to buy clothes for Artemis. The clothes she buys were gender neutral that either sex could wear. The underwear, on the other hand, were panties a ten-year-old girl could wear. She tried to get just plain white or color panties, but they were sold out. So, she brought a few packages that had butterflies and kittens on them.

Back at the house Artemis wakes-up. He was confused where he was until the events from last night came rushing back to him. His bladder also was a pressing matter as well. He gets up and heads towards the bathroom. He sits down on the toilet, instead of standing to pee. His penis was small, and he had to get really close to the toilet to pee. So, he sat down on the toilet seat and did his business.

After Artemis finish doing his morning business. He heads downstairs and looks around. He wanted to see, who was home. He walks into the kitchen and spots Roxana sitting at the counter drinking her coffee and working on her laptop.

Roxana looks up and notices Artemis standing in the kitchen. The nightshirt she gave him to wear, was baggy on him.

“Well good morning sleepy head. Did you sleep alright?” Roxana had to admit her cousin was right about Artemis.

Artemis smiles at Roxana “yes ma’am. The bed was very comfortable.” He had never slept on anything so comfortable before.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Artemis’s stomach growl, since the only thing he had yesterday, were the chips and sandwiches he had at the garage.
Roxana heard Artemis stomach growl “I think we better put some food in you.”

“Sorry.” Artemis was embarrassed that she heard his stomach rumble.

“It’s okay. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about being human. So, what would you like for breakfast?” Roxana locks the screen on her laptop.

“If you have waffle mix, I can make waffles.” Artemis spotted the waffle girdle on the counter, next to the toaster oven.

“I think we do have some waffle mix.” Roxana looks in the pantry and spotted the box of waffle mix they bought a few weeks ago.

“How about if I help you?” Roxana gets an apron and put it on Artemis.

Artemis looks at the apron and notices it said “I’m not short, I’m concentrated AWESOME”

Roxana puts on one that said, “you can’t scare me, I have two daughters.”

Artemis looks at Roxana and the apron she had on. He wonders if she had children. He didn’t see any signs of children around the house.

Roxana spots Artemis looking at her Apron “this use to belong to my mother. I and my younger sister used to drive her crazy.”

Roxana misses her little sister. She was in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk, Va. Right now, she was on a six-month deployment.

Roxana and Artemis made a batch of waffles by the time Stacy comes home. She comes walking into the kitchen and notices Roxana and Artemis eating.

“I hope you made enough for me.” She hangs her purse on the back of a bar stool.

“Of course, cousin. I would like for you to meet Artemis. He helped me make the waffles while you were gone. Artemis, this is my roommate
and cousin Stacy.” Roxana introduces Artemis to Stacy.

Artemis looks at Stacy “hi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Artemis. While you were asleep, I went out and we got you some clothes to wear.” Stacy left the bags out in her car.

“Thank you.” It was rare for Artemis to receive new clothes.

After breakfast, they gather in the living room. Stacy brings in the bags of clothing she bought for Artemis.

“Here, why don’t you try these clothes on. You can use the downstairs bathroom to change into them.” Stacy hands Artemis a bag that had
some clothes in them and the panties she bought him.

Artemis heads into the bathroom and starts changing clothes. He notices that there was a package of panties in there in his size. He never wore girl panties before and they felt nice in his hands. He spots how to slip them on. He pulls a pair of jeans and a nice t-shirt on. He walks out to the living room, so Roxana and Stacy could see him.

“Stacy, were the panties that were in the bag for me to wear?” Artemis looks towards Stacy.

“Yes, I tried to find some boys underwear in your size, but they didn’t have any. I got you the panties. Is that alright with you?” Stacy knew she was lying, but just looking at Artemis right now, she was right. He looked like a ten-year-old girl. His hair needed to be trimmed, but he could pass as a girl easily.

“How do they feel?” Roxana was curious.

“They feel nice, thank you.” Artemis didn’t mind wearing the panties. They felt nice and smooth under the jeans.

Artemis tries on all the clothes Stacy bought for him. The last set of clothes he was trying on, was a denim overall for a girl. He could wear it to work in the garage.

He comes out and shows Artemis and Stacy. He liked everything Stacy bought for him. Including the boots and tennis shoes.

“Artemis, could you come over here and sit with us, please?” Roxana pats the space between her and Stacy.

Artemis walks over and sits between Roxana and Stacy. He wonders what they wanted to talk about.

Roxana looks at him still dress in the overalls and still couldn’t get over how much of a child he looked. His baby face and wide eyes, perky nose and petite short body.

“Artemis, can you tell us why you can’t go back home and how old you are, please?” Roxana had her cell phone ready to record the conversion.

Artemis takes a deep breath before he begins “I don’t know why my uncle doesn’t want me to live with him anymore. Yesterday, before I arrived at your garage, Roxana. I had just left the football team my uncle signed me up with. We lost the game because I tripped out on the field. The guys were mad at me and several of the bigger guys beat me up.”

“Didn’t your coach do anything to stop them?” Stacy was looking at Artemis as he was trying to hold back tears.

“No, ma’am. He had taken all the equipment to his truck and stayed there, while the guys beat me up. When I got home, I was hungry because
I hadn’t had anything to eat all day. I saw that my uncle had some money on the sofa. My uncle and his girlfriend were passed out on the sofa.
I tried to get it and he accused me of stealing. I was just going to buy some hot dogs and buns down at the Piggy Wiggly. He grabbed my hand accused me of trying to steal from him and tossed me onto the living room table. He took his belt off and started whipping me with it. ” Tears started sliding down his cheeks.

“Is that the first time your uncle beat you?” Roxana was concerned.

“No, ma’am. There have been a few other times. Since my uncle met his current girlfriend, he changed. He and I use to have fun and do things together, but now it’s like I’m a burden to him. He has changed.” Artemis was crying by now.

Stacy wraps her arms around him and pull him onto her lap and just hold him. She looks towards her cousin. She knew they needed to know more about Artemis.

“Artemis, how old are you?” Roxana looks towards Artemis as Stacy held him.

Artemis stops crying and looks at Roxana “I’m fourteen, but I’ll be fifteen in a few months.”

Stacy looks down at Artemis and couldn’t believe he was fourteen years old. He didn’t look it at all. None of his features showed that he was a boy. She did spot a few secondary features that a normal teenage girl would develop. She saw it in the blue jeans and the overalls she was currently wearing.

If Artemis had normal male hips, the overalls would be a little loose on him, however, they were tight at his waist. Plus, his legs were nice and slender. His facial features were feminine in nature. His eyes were larger than most boys, his nose was small and cute. His lips were full, and his eyelashes were long and dark. Even the hair on his scalp was fuller. He didn’t have a deep voice or broad shoulders like a boy did.

“Artemis, I have a personal question to ask you. Have you started growing hair down at your groin area?” Roxana had a sneaking suspension about Artemis.

“No, ma’am. I’m still bald down there and I get teased by the boys in my gym class for how small my penis is. I don’t even have any testes like other males.” Artemis got teased a lot because how he looked.

“Well for now. You're going to live here with me and Stacy. I have an aunt that works for social services. We’ll see about becoming your legal guardians.” Roxana's heart went out to Artemis.

“Thank you.” Artemis hugs Roxana and Stacy.

Later in the day, Stacy and Roxana take Artemis to a salon. They have his nails and toenails done, after getting his hair styled. They go out for dinner.

On Sunday they lounge around the house in their pajama’s watching movies and playing a few board games. Stacy had bought Artemis a footie jumpsuit with little pink flowers on it. They got Artemis’s ears pierced.

On Monday, Roxana takes Artemis to work with her. She was going to meet with her aunt at her garage.

“Artemis, you can’t come into the shop area, because you aren’t 18yr. old. So, I’ll need for you to stay up here at the office. My office manager should be coming in, so why don’t you act as her little helper.” Roxana couldn’t let Artemis in the shop area due to OSHA regulations.

“Yes, ma’am.” Artemis had worn the denim romper Stacy bought her with her new tennis shoes.

She was wearing one of the t-shirts that had the garage name on it under her romper. Artemis didn’t mind being treated like a little girl.
Everyone she encounters thought she was ten years old.

Even Roxana’s office manager thought she was ten years old. Elizabeth came in to help open the garage and spotted an auburn hair little girl sitting at Roxana’s desk playing on the computer. She didn’t know who the girl was but figured Roxana knew who she was.

She was rather cute and helpful throughout the day. When Roxana’s aunt showed up. They went into the conference room and spent at an hour or two. Elizabeth watched as the girl she came to know as Artemis was called into the conference room. She stayed in there for about an hour or so.

When they were done, Roxana grabs her purse and her and Artemis goes out for lunch. Artemis and Roxana come back later from lunch. Artemis heads back to the office, while Roxana worked out in the garage.

While they had been at lunch. Roxana made a doctor’s appointment for Artemis. Roxana went over what was going to happen with her since she was underage. Roxana’s aunt was going to ask for Artemis uncle to terminate his paternal rights. Until that matter is taken care of, Roxana will be Artemis legal guardian.

Roxana wanted to get everything taken care of, before school starts. The thing was Roxana was concerned about Artemis, because of how young she looked. Also, if she was what she thought Artemis was. It was going to make life a little more difficult for her.

A couple of days later, Roxana takes Artemis to the doctor for a physical. When they arrive, Artemis became nervous. Roxana notices that Artemis was nervous “what’s wrong, Artemis?”

Artemis looks at Roxana “I’ve never been to a doctor before.”

Roxana thought that was strange. If Artemis was playing sports, she would need to get a physical.

“Didn’t you see one before you started playing football?” Roxana locks the truck up and takes Artemis inside the doctor’s office.

“No, ma’am. I just showed up at the football field and started training.” Artemis follows Roxana into the doctor’s office.

Roxana goes up to the receptionist to let them know they were there. Fifteen minutes later, they are called and escorted to an examination room. The nurse takes all the preliminary data like blood, weight, height, heart rate, temp, and blood.

The doctor does a full work-up of Artemis. The doctor does an ultrasound and finds out that Artemis is intersex. That she had everything she
needed to be a fully functional girl, except the vagina opening.

Artemis couldn’t believe that she was a girl, instead of a boy. The doctor also confirmed what Stacy thought about Artemis. She was slowly developing breasts.

“Well, it looks like we have to get you a training bra, young lady.” Roxana places a kiss on Artemis forehead.

Three Months Later:
Roxana, Artemis end up going to court with her uncle. The judge hears the reports about Artemis living conditions and how she was treated when she was living with her uncle. The judge terminates Artemis uncle paternal rights and allows Roxana to adopt Artemis as her own daughter.

After the custody battle, Artemis and Roxana found out that Artemis had a trust fund that had been set up by her grandfather. Her uncle had tried several times to get the lawyer who handles it, to give him money from it.

One Month Later After the Adoption:
Artemis has corrective surgery to give her the opening she needed to connect her outside with her inside. As for her growth situation. The doctor found out that Artemis growth hormones were low and that was why she was physically smaller than the average girl her age. Even if she took the growth hormone, there wouldn’t be much improvement. If they had caught it earlier when she was a baby, it might have made a difference.