It was precisely eight in the morning when Heather’s alarm went off. The calm classical music was relaxing in the morning. She sat on her bed and stretched her arms before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. In the shower, she couldn’t help but think about today. Deep down, she felt that their life was about to change dramatically. She knew that it would affect Ryan the most, but whatever happens, she can’t afford to lose her baby.

Whatever happens, they will see it through as a family. Emerging from the shower, Heather saw Jeff was reading something on his phone. “Good morning,” Heather said, walking over to Jeff, both sharing a passionate good morning kiss.

“Good morning, babe,” Jeff replied, breaking the kiss. “I will never tire of kissing you, my love. Are you taking Ryan to see Lynn?” Heather nodded sadly. She dreaded this visit but couldn’t do anything but go through with it. She had to do this.

Sensing her fear, Jeff reached out and squeezed her hand. “Whatever happens, it will be ok. We are a family, and we will go through whatever happens together,” Jeff said, reassuring Heather. He was worried himself. He loved his sons more than anything in the world and would hate to see one of them suffering for any reason. “Anyway, I am going to shower quickly and get ready for the run,” Jeff said, heading toward the bathroom to shower.

Heather walked over to George’s room to wake him up. With half his covers tossed off, George was asleep, and most of his stomach was left uncovered. Heather could see a glimpse of his abs; he was indeed highly fit. The hours George spent many hours working out, lifting weights, and punching that bag had brought him to this point.

George, however, didn’t like to show off that much, especially in front of the cheer squad. These girls were ready to chase after him to the ends of the earth. Seeing he didn’t have a steady girlfriend, all the girls thought they had a good chance. They had been begging Heather to give them George’s number, but they never succeeded. Heather shook her head, considering how many girls would be drooling while seeing this sight in front of them.

Leaning down, Heather brushed some of George’s short curly locks from his forehead and kissed him softly. “George, it’s time to wake up,” Heather said, shaking him softly. George didn’t wake up. Instead, he just rolled to the other side of the bed. “If you don’t get up, I will post your cell number in the cheerleading chat group. I have to say they are dying to have it,” Heather said teasingly.

George’s eyes suddenly opened as he immediately sat upright on the bed. “No, mom, anything but that,” pleaded George. He had been trying his best to avoid the cheer squad girls. George couldn’t let his mom share his number with them. If she did, he would never hear the end of it, and he was not into any of those girls since the only girl he wanted was Nancy.

“That’s more like it,” Heather said with a smirk. “Take a shower and get dressed. I am going to wake up Ryan,” Heather instructed before leaving the room with a smile on her face. She couldn’t help but see how much George looked like his father. She felt terrible for Nancy since she knew that Nancy was into her son, and she couldn’t blame her. This same impossibly handsome look made her fall in love with Jeff.
She just hoped George would gather up his courage and ask Nancy out. She hoped that George would realize that he and Nancy could be a great couple. Heather only hoped that George wouldn’t break the poor girl’s heart. Knowing her son, however, she knew he wouldn’t, but something seemed to be holding him back from asking Nancy out.

Heather always felt grateful for having two magnificent kids that she loved from all her heart. Even though she always wanted to have a girl, she was happy with her sons. On the way to Ryan’s room, she passed a large glass display case made solely for trophies that both Ryan and George earned. Heather and Jeff quickly discovered that the shelves in the boys’ room were not large enough for their awards, so they had a display case made for them.

Looking in the display case, she saw the first-place medal with Ryan’s name. She remembered this medal very well. After all, Ryan won it this year. Two months ago, to be precise, she remembered how the school’s swim team almost lost the relay race, trailing badly, but Ryan swam from behind to win it all on his own. With a sigh, Heather walked to Ryan’s room. As Heather opened the door, a pretty sight greeted her. Ryan was hugging a pillow while sucking on his thumb.

Heather wondered if Ryan knew what he was doing while asleep. She couldn’t help but return to her room to retrieve her phone. Heather returned to his room and was glad that Ryan was in the same position.

With a smile on her face, she started taking pictures of him. Feeling satisfied with the number of photos she had taken, Heather put down her phone and woke Ryan up.

Leaning down over her sleeping angel, Heather kissed his cheek before starting to shake him awake. Unlike yesterday Ryan woke up immediately. He already felt better than two days ago.
“Good morning, sweetie,” Heather said, giving Ryan a hug which he returned. Heather had utterly forgotten that she wanted to speak to Ryan yesterday. Something was bothering him, unfortunately, but she had so many things on her mind that she had forgotten to ask him.

“Honey,” Heather said as Ryan broke the hug. Ryan’s cute grey-blue eyes met hers. He had a quizzical look on his face. “Yesterday at the restaurant, did anything happen? Was there something that bothered you?” Heather’s question was direct. She was used to Ryan telling her about anything that bothered him. She didn’t want this to change; if Ryan can’t trust his parents, who will he trust?

Ryan looked down, remembering the events of yesterday in the restroom. “Mom?” Ryan looked up as his eyes met his mom’s.

“Yes, baby?”

“Am I still a boy?” It was a question; Ryan wanted to know the answer. He could tell that some neighbors thought he was a tomboy instead of a boy, if not all of them. The neighbors just minded their own business, and Ryan was already a well-behaved and well-mannered kid. Besides, they figured his parents allowed their child to make their own choices.

This question surprised Heather. It made her wonder if Ryan heard anything yesterday? If so, how much did he hear? Ryan certainly didn’t show it. Heather wanted to answer yes but couldn’t bring herself to do so. Ryan took after her in many ways. Being brave and never one to back down if Ryan thought he was right were two of them. Ryan would only make a statement if he were sure of himself. Heather knew that, but she didn’t know that Ryan had given up correcting everyone when they thought he was a girl. He doubted if he was still a boy. His question also stopped Heather from giving him a confident answer.
“Why? Don’t you feel that you are a boy?” Heather asked, not giving Ryan the answer that he was still a boy. She wanted to answer him with a confident yes. Heather couldn’t bring herself to do so. It broke her heart, knowing how much Ryan wanted to be a boy, and she couldn’t give him the answer he so desperately wanted to hear.

“Recently, I don’t feel like I am still a boy. I don’t look like a boy anymore. Last week in the locker room, coach Monica thought I was a girl when I was changing for the first swimming class this year,” Ryan said as tears started to leave his eyes. It was the first time he felt like crying, except yesterday.

“Sweetheart, sometimes girls are born and get mistaken for a boy. Once they reach their teens, they will start to grow up like girls….” Heather was about to complete her sentence, but Ryan interrupted her. What his mom said scared him, but it made sense.

“Does that mean I am a girl?” Ryan let his imagination run wild, picturing himself as a girl. Wearing dresses, skirts, and pretty shoes with heels, he saw himself wearing a girl’s school uniform. He hated that uniform more than his own. Thinking about school made him imagine himself now changing in the girl’s locker room. This thought made him shudder.

“Hold on there, sweetheart, don’t jump to any conclusions. Besides, I haven’t finished talking yet,” Heather said, tickling Ryan slightly to make him move away, giggling. Smiling a bit, Heather decided to finish talking. “Look, sweetheart, sometimes as boys start puberty, they start to look a bit like girls, but as they grow up, they start to look more like boys again. There are boys whose bodies keep growing like girls, and eventually, they have to choose which gender they would live as for the rest of their lives. There’s also the transsexual syndrome. They told you about it in school yesterday, right?”
Ryan nodded, answering her last question. “Then what am I? Am I a girl or a boy? If I were a boy, would this problem be fixed? Or would I still look like a girl until I have to choose?” Ryan asked, looking at Heather for an answer.

At that moment, Heather thought that having an intelligent kid also has its downside. Ryan understood that there was an issue with his body and looks. Though he still didn’t get the answer, he was hoping for, and Heather didn’t have it either. “I will be honest with you, sweetie, I don’t know, but your aunt Lynn will be able to help you. We will see her today after we return home from the run. Whatever happens in the clinic and Lynn finds, it stays in the clinic. I want you to stop thinking about it and enjoy your day with Oli and Connor,” Heather explained, hoping that Ryan would do as she said.

Her mother’s intuition was never wrong and warned her that an enormous change was coming. She hoped she would be wrong just this once, but she had never been wrong in 15 years. Even when Ryan was born and the doctors said he would die, her intuition told her that Ryan would live. When George was ten, and they falsely accused him of stealing, her instinct told her that her son was innocent. She stood by his side and proved that he was innocent, even if no one believed him. She just prayed she was wrong this time.

A couple of minutes later, Heather left the room and went to get ready for today’s run. They all wore a similar style outfit for their running. They liked to show that they were a family. Everyone had a favorite color, probably the only way George and Ryan differed from their parents. Yet all wore blue, which wasn’t anyone’s favorite color.

In less than 20 minutes, the family was in front of their home and ready to go running. They took their usual route running through the nearby park. Then they kept going until they reached their favorite coffee shop, where they usually had breakfast after the run. Entering the coffee shop, a beautiful 16-year-old brown-haired girl immediately greeted them.

“Good morning, it’s nice to see you again,” the girl said, not taking her eyes off George, who tried to ignore her stares. “You didn’t come last week. I was wondering what happened,” said the girl as she guided them to a table.

“Thank you for your concern, Jessi, honey. Ryan was sick the whole week,” Heather replied, noticing Jessica was checking out her son. She couldn’t blame her; George was just too good-looking for the girls not to be checking him out. Heather, however, knew that Jessica, like many other girls, didn’t stand a chance. George only had Nancy on his mind.

“Aww, cutie, are you ok now?” Jessica said in a baby tone that made Ryan blush a bit. While they came to this coffee shop regularly, Jessica already knew Ryan since she was a high school student in Ryan’s school; she was also Steven’s big sister. She liked Ryan; he was intelligent, funny, and happy to see her brother being a friend with someone, especially Ryan.

Her dad owned the coffee shop, and since there were few customers during the early weekend morning, she and her dad ran the coffee shop for the morning shift. While the coffee shop had more than one branch, her dad would instead manage this coffee shop on his own. He also made breakfast, which everyone liked.

“Yes, I am ok now,” Ryan said, looking around the empty coffee shop. “Is Steven not here?” Ryan asked, not seeing Steven. Like the rest of his friends, Ryan liked Steven, even if they weren’t very close. Mainly it was because Steven was the quiet type. Even at school during the breaks, he was mostly alone. He knew that Steven sometimes helped around a bit, even if they didn’t let him do any real work.

“Oh, Steven is helping mom a bit at the salon today. He will be here tomorrow, though,” Jessica said.

Ryan was disappointed they would leave tomorrow to spend Christmas at his grandparent’s house. Besides, he was worried about tomorrow; for the first time, Ryan realized that it might be his last day as a boy.

“So, the regular breakfast or something else today?” Jessica asked.

“The regular for Ryan and me, but instead of orange juice can you get him a white mocha, like mine,” Heather said as everyone looked at her in shock. Heather never allowed Ryan to drink coffee, saying he was too young. He loved drinking coffee, especially a white mocha. While Ryan had inherited Heather’s love for coffee, she still strictly forbade him from drinking coffee. She, however, felt that today could be an exception; who knew what this day would bring. Besides, one cup of coffee won’t hurt.

Jessica left after taking their orders. Heather and Ryan always ordered the same breakfast, bacon, and eggs, with French toast on the side and a fruit cocktail drizzled with strands of chocolate. Jeff surmised that Ryan was a smaller version of Heather, perhaps a petite version of her.

Jeff was afraid of what might come, but he was also excited about having a daughter. He always told himself that he would treat her like a princess if he had a daughter. Heather was not the only one who dreamt about having a baby girl. Sitting there, Jeff let his imagination run wild. Imagining Ryan as his daughter, the prettiest and sweetest girl a father had ever seen. Then his mind wandered as he started to imagine his daughter beginning to date.

Jeff immediately shook his head. If he ever had a daughter, he wouldn’t let any boy even think about dating her because he would chase them away. She would be his daughter, his baby girl, and she’s not for other boys.

••••••••••••••••••••••
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Thank you all.
Lajien.